USNews.com: Inside Washington: Paul Bedard: : When Capture and Trial Aren't Enough

November 03, 2006

When Capture and Trial Aren't Enough

Here's a rare chance to help write a new book and humiliate Enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden. World Ahead Publishing tells our Suzi Parker that it's collecting ideas for 101 Uses for Osama bin Laden. Until November 12, the conservative publisher is soliciting your ideas at usesforosama.com. While hounding him militarily is the Pentagon's job, says the firm, "doling out the humiliation he so richly deserves, well, that's our job," adds the publisher. "The flea-ridden beard, the shifty eyes, the dime-store turban, the lousy videos, the camels, the Whitney Houston obsession," says World Ahead. "If the guy wasn't a grotesque mass murderer, he'd be a joke." And once it's published, some of the proceeds will go to the National Military Family Association.

Posted at 07:11 PM by PaulBedard

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WHAT IS THIS?

Have you ever wondered what reporters do with all the stuff they collect but never write about? Well wonder no more. The bosses here pay me a good chunk of change and haven't ever choked on my Amex bill so it seems only proper to dump out my notebook every week. It won't be just news we didn't use. The blog will sometimes write about the process of getting stories-like why we choose Charlie Palmer's (quiet, spacious) for source lunches on Capitol Hill over Bistro Bis (crowded and noisy). Or why it's hard to get reporters at U.S. News to answer their phones on Fridays (it's our deadline, silly.) We'll even include pictures of our travels. Don't hesitate to applaud or criticize. We might just run your comments. Go ahead and email me at pbedard@usnews.com.

HISTORICAL STUFF

In Washington Whispers One Year Ago: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy can be one of the Senate's blustering best, but we found him in a candid moment last week when he sized up his speech this week at the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago. "You're gonna miss a great speech there," he said with a chuckle. "Same one I've given for 40 years. It's going to be breathtaking."

Five years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney knows how to keep reporters happy. Flying home on Air Force Two from an energy policy town hall meeting in Pittsburgh, his press corps asked stewards for beer. Breaking with practice, the jet was dry. Scribes whined to Cheney who found two bottles of vino, red and white, to give the pampered pressies.