Where have all the proofreaders gone?

Remember the day when you could scan an entire newspaper and not find a single error? Those were the days of the proofreader. The proofreader, in my opinion, is one of the noblest professions.

But they are no more. Apparently, they no longer exist.

Case in point: The other day, the local newspaper carried a headline referring to Bush's inagural address. This was no small headline either. It looked like this....

A call for global liberty


I stared at that headline for a few seconds, shocked that such a flagrant misspelling could occur in a major headline. Oh sure, it's to be expected in a little article in the back of the paper, but on the front page? And a headline?

Since when is "destruction" spelled l-i-b-e-r-t-y?

I say it's time for the return of the proofreader.