You Heard It All Here First

The L.A. Times is giving reports of Kim Jong Il’s demise the Big Sneer:

But the speculation may have less to do with political forces inside North Korea than outside. In particular, President Bush’s reelection has emboldened critics of the North Korean regime in the United States and in Asia who want Kim ousted. The North Korean Human Rights Act, passed in October, allocates up to $24 million to promote better conditions for North Koreans, and has revitalized an activist movement made up largely of Christian missionaries.

I almost thought that the L.A. Times was getting its news from me (damn you, link me!) until I read about . . . Christian missionaries? Oy vey! What would my mother think? Or his? Or his? Well, maybe, if “largely” means “between one and twenty percent,” or if by “missionaries,” the writer means any Christian who attends a church at least one a month. Hey, they’re all missionaries in a way, aren’t they? Anyway, nice to know that the media blackout on the NKHRA can safely end, now that a decent interval has passed since John Kerry called for bilateral talks with the nice man who runs the gas chambers. The news blackout on said gas chambers continues, alas. Thus, unbiased reporting quashes the necon cabal’s rumor campaign to make North Korea safe for Baptist missionaries . . . right? Well, not quite right:

There are certainly signs that something is amiss in the secretive regime. Kim purged his powerful brother-in-law from the ruling Workers’ Party this year in what was believed to be a struggle over succession. And a decision in the summer to place new restrictions on foreign aid agencies and crack down on the use of cellphones also might indicate a feeling of insecurity on the part of the government.

All of which means the following: something may be happening, and then again, maybe nothing’s happening. It depends on who you quote. This reporter doesn’t know anything more about what’s happening in North Korea than the rest of us, but we certainly learned plenty about her opinions from reading that piece. At least we bloggers are willing to admit we’re speculating–and that we’re opinionated–instead of hiding behind quotations and doing it vicariously.