We Have A Winner In The LA Times When Will The LA Times Correct The LA Times Contest!

When this cowboy woke up bright - well, OK, I guess the bright part can be debated - and early - also equally debatable - this Friday morning, after a long night spent happily dreaming of a wild Palomino stallion I once chased - unsuccessfully - across Northern Nevada one summer (a clear Freudian metaphor for my always unsuccessful chase for facts in the LA Times), I cleared my sleepy eyes to discover that LA Times had finally fully corrected the date on which the City of Los Angeles was incorporated.

And that historic date is, of course - as any sentient person in this city knows - 1850 and not 1870.

Now to err, of course, is human. But to have an article starting on the front page of the paper of record for Los Angeles by two excellent writers get that date wrong and to have that article posted on a Monday night, and then for both of those reporters and every single other person who works at the Los Angeles Times read that incorrect date and then still take until Friday to make that correction - what does this tell us about the LA Times and its commitment to Los Angeles - or the truth?

Everything!

And many thanks to Kevin Roderick over at LA OBSERVED for also pointing out that the article itself had not yet been fully corrected as of last night.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2005/12/correction_o_the_four_day.html

Doubtless, this was the only reason it did get finally corrected.

OK! Now who over at the LA Times won the when will the LA Times correct itself contest?

(for details - check last night's night post - http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/12/day-five-and-la-city-incorporation.html

Well -- I can't say! I mean, I actually don't even know that person's name but if you read last night's post, I had already made a judgment worthy of Solomon and so the contest participants agreed this morning that the person with the after midnight until Noon today entry was judged the winning entry.

Now as for further 'when the the LA Time correct the LA Times' contests to be held within the LA Times... I propose you hold a three part contest between now... and the end of time... to see how long with will take the LA Times to correct three of its most... mind numbing... errors of the past year. And these errors are in order of no importance whatsoever:

1. Mike Davis blatantly lying about housing prices in San Francisco.

http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/04/mike-davis-lies-again-and-la-times.html

http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/04/day-four-of-la-timesmike-davis-lack-of.html

2. Not one, but two fabricated quotes (which the author himself proudly admits he fabricated and which the LA Times was informed that the quotes were fabricated even before the article was printed!) in the recent LA Times magazine error-ridden, libelous hit piece, I mean... fair and balanced, well reasoned article... on Wyatt Earp.

http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/11/wyatt-earp-dry-gulched-by-la-times.html

3. And the infamous - is there any conceivable fact of any kind we did not get wrong - Katrina/earthquake editorial.

http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/09/los-angeles-times-editorial-on_08.html

My guess for all three corrections is... when hell freezes over.

And, as always, if anyone at the LAT would like my assistance to correct the hundreds of yet uncorrected errors still in the Times of this past year - or if anyone wants me to read the LA Times before it goes to print to fact check it - just let me know!

Lastly - some good news!

The LA Times editorial page used to be the single most error filed part of the paper.

Word for word - it had more errors than any section of the paper. But - it is now - word for word - one of the most error free parts of the paper.

So there is hope!

UPDATE!

I might add that while I never did manage to snare that Palomino menioned in the first paragraph, I did ensnare his colts and mares (several of whom were already in foal) and as my purpose of catching him was to stud him out, that summer ending up being productive as well as enjoyable; particularly as one of the foals ended up being a virtual carbon copy of him.

UPDATE!

OK - if I expect everyone else to be... honest... I guess I have to admit my previous update did not quite reflect the total reality of 'my' capture of that particular stallion's mares, foals, fillies and colts (to use the proper equine nomenclature).

That's because I kind of... sorta had... absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with their capture.

What really happened... ahem.... was that when I tried to to rope the stallion, Mr. D (my horse) decided that rather than helping me capture the stallion, he was more interested in battling the stallion for ownership of his mares. And in the battle - I quickly - and bloodily - ended up being kicked out of my saddle by the Palomino's hooves.

They all then galloped away with D in close pursuit of the stallion and his herd.

Two hours later, a bleeding and pretty chewed up D returned to the water hole. He was also 'encouraging' the lead mare to return with the herd - minus its former leader - to the water hole where I had waited and waited and waited. The was because Bachelor had dropped me off there while he tended to other (emergency) business and I was on foot, a cardinal sin for any cowboy.

Mr. D then trotted past me (after gulping down some water) while the others watered themselves - looking even more pleased with himself than usual - if that was actually possible - and I then had to endure his - endless- 'I Am King Of The World ' dance around his new family - as he pranced around on his hoof tips before he finally deigned to come over and allow me to mount him.