Squaring The Boston Globe

I Have Moved

2008-06-27T08:14:00.002-04:00

Thank you to many readers for your good wishes, thoughts, and prayers.

At first I thought that our battle with cancer would be a very private thing. Wrong again! Very wrong.

Though some of it is private, so many people, (family, friends, and colleagues) want to know what is going on with us and want to offer their support. So I have opened a site on CaringBridge to provide news of Charlotte’s illness and treatment. That’s the news that matters to me right now, and that’s where you’ll find me.

Best Wishes,
Harry

Adieu

2008-06-05T07:01:00.003-04:00

In mid-May my beloved wife began a dizzying series of medical tests that last Friday determined she was suffering from cancer. Because of this, I no longer desire to blog.

My sincere thanks to all readers of this blog; past, present, and future.

Harry

Hoya Saxa

2008-05-15T06:17:00.002-04:00

Off to DC today for a graduation weekend. See you next week.

Whose dog is that?

2008-05-14T06:22:00.007-04:00

From today's Globe:

Correction: Because of incorrect information provided by a watchdog organization, a front-page article on May 3 incorrectly reported Oregon's status on allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they will turn 18 by Election Day in November. Oregon lets 17-year-olds register, but they must be 18 when they cast a ballot in any election.

What’s the difference between a watchdog organization and a special interest group?

Is it perhaps that (in the journalist's opinion) watchdog organizations are trying to do good? Perhaps even doing it for the children?

As of now I am declaring this lowly blog to be a watchdog organization.

BTW the May 3 article referred to is here.

Who chooses these Obama photo ops?

2008-05-13T05:56:00.007-04:00

First bowling gutter-balls with honkies in Indiana.

Then takin' it to the hoop.

Today a backhand shot in a dingy pool hall.

What comes next? Tap dancing?

"Today's patriot is tomorrow's terrorist"

2008-05-13T05:28:00.015-04:00

The Globe reports that UMass and Beacon Hill are tripping over each other in a rush to revoke the honorary degree given to Robert Mugabe in 1986. UMass President Jack Wilson yesterday recommended that the degree be rescinded.

Said State Rep Kevin J. Murphy:

"I'm thrilled that president Wilson has lent his support to calls for revoking President Mugabe's degree," he said. "The University of Massachusetts has always prided itself on being a forward-thinking member of the global community, and it is an honor to support Zimbabwe's people in any way we can."

All the corpses Mugabe has made since 1986 would thank you for your courageous support, Kevie-boy.

Trustee James J. Karam said that he supports stripping the degree and that universities should be cautious in awarding honorary degrees to international politicians. "Many times, today's patriot is tomorrow's terrorist," he said.

Or perhaps today’s facts are yesterday’s smears from conservative attack machines.

And as happens so often, the Globe story’s last paragraph is reserved for the mention of contrarian allegations:

But some observers say that Mugabe was guilty of human rights abuses throughout his time in power and that in 1986 he had a history of violence against his people.

Indeed! I'm truly shocked! How dare some observers say such a thing? To find out, let’s pull something out of the vast memory hole, shall we?

Below is a story from July 1985 (BPL card required) that was published in a then-reputable Boston newspaper, 10 months before Robert Mugabe was honored by UMass.

MUGABE VOWS TO ESTABLISH 1-PARTY RULE IN ZIMBABWE
The Boston Globe
Jul 7, 1985

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, more powerful than ever after a landslide election victory, vowed yesterday to create a one-party state in the next five years, and threatened tough action against minority whites and black opposition leaders who stood in his way.

He said that whites "who have not accepted the reality of a political order in which the Africans set the pace have to leave the country."

Mugabe told a news conference hours after election results were announced that he would not feel bound by the British-drafted constitution, which protects the rights of minority political parties in this former colony until 1990.

He accused black opposition parties of "organizing counterrevolutionary activities" and warned they would "have no one to blame but themselves when the hand of law and order exercises itself over them."

Mugabe said his winning 63 of 79 National Assembly seats contested during last week's elections, the first general elections since independence in 1980, was a mandate to "unite our people under one political umbrella."

"This is a mandate for us to unite our people." he said. "We believe in the inexorable law of unity. You must be united or else you stand divided and perish."

He said he would not be swayed from his goal of a single-party state by unfavorable reaction from the international community, which has given millions of dollars of aid to his government.

"The Western world . . . can go hang. The Western world can say what it wants," he said. "As long as we believe we are right, we will do what we have to do in the interests of our people."

Mugabe, whose major rival, Joshua Nkomo, made a sweep of 15 seats in troubled Matabeleland province, dividing the nation on tribal lines, was angered by whites who voted for conservative Ian Smith in separate elections on June 27 .

Smith won 15 of 20 seats that are reserved for whites until 1987 under the constitution drawn up at a peace conference in London in 1979. He was the last white prime minister of the country when it was called Rhodesia, a breakaway British colony.

Who could have imagined from reading this cheery report in 1985 that Mugabe would turn out to be an unworthy dictator rather than an African Messiah? Give him an honorary UMass degree! He hates Apartheid, doesn't he? That means that he’s on the right side of the most important issue. How bad could he be? Besides, he’s a member of a minority group!

The Politics of Poor Journalism

2008-05-12T08:08:00.004-04:00

A Globe front page story today headlined “The politics of commencement” notes that Catholic universities in the US are awarding far fewer honorary degrees to politicians. In classic Globe fashion, the story far underplays the important role of the US Catholic bishops, who have urged this change. Excerpts from the Globe story (emphasis mine):

The 4^th paragraph:

After repeatedly getting criticized by conservative Catholics, and after years of pressure from the Vatican and some American bishops, Catholic colleges and universities are now shying away from politicians - especially those who, like Kennedy, Kerry, and Pelosi, support abortion rights - as commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients.

…and some American bishops? But reading much further down, the 14^th paragraph reports:

In 2004, the presidential candidacy of Kerry, a Catholic Democrat who supports abortion rights, led to the creation of a task force of bishops examining how the church should relate to such politicians. That task force failed to settle the prickly question of who should decide whether such politicians should receive Communion, but it was clearer about commencement, declaring, "The Catholic community and the institutions which are a part of our family of faith should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

What are the facts? In fact the above statement (which is online in its entirety here) was ratified by a vote of the entire congregation of US Catholic bishops, not by some American bishops. Furthermore, this same statement should be known in the Globe newsroom. It was the reason that many Catholics (including Boston Cardinal O’Malley) chose not to attend a 2005 dinner ceremony where the Mayor of Boston was presented with an award by Catholic Charities, a story which the Globe put on its front page.

With superb irony, today’s Globe also carries a story about an attempt to rescind an honorary degree that UMass awarded in 1986 to a most unsavory politician, Robert Mugabe. At the time, according to the Globe story, UMass referred to Mugabe as a “champion of human rights”. Why?

The underlying reason Mugabe received honors from UMass and other schools was so that these institutions could publicly thumb their noses at the white minority South African regime, which supported the policy of Apartheid. In time, the much despised white South Africans enfranchised native Africans and thus relinquished their power democratically, showing themselves to be far more attuned with liberal democratic values than honorees such as Mugabe.

That universities would stain their record by honoring Mugabe is a better example of the “politics of commencement”, where moral posturing and political correctness can far outweigh common sense.

Don't Call Obama A Politician!

2008-05-11T06:05:00.004-04:00

Joan Vennochi throws some water on the "Santo subito!" emotion among Democrats for Barack Obama:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright called him out as a politician, a description that angered Obama as much as any other declaration by his former pastor because it exposed an unflattering truth. Obama held Wright close when it was politically advantageous and cut the controversial minister loose when it was politically advantageous...He argues that he's best suited to challenge Washington's political culture because he isn't steeped in it. Today, Clinton is scorned by Democratic insiders and McCain is more maverick than darling of the GOP.

The View From Terminal A

2008-05-09T06:01:00.005-04:00

Just got back in town yesterday at 5:30PM and a few minutes later I walked through the new Terminal A at Boston’s Logan airport. I had to record these 2 pictures for posterity. They show just one tiny bit of the cost we pay each day for our government’s self-righteous obsession with the strange participatory ritual we now call airport security.

I was struck by the stark contrast between how the airlines and the TSA manage their queues. Note the complete lack of queue at the airline check-in counter (left), and the usual long queue at the TSA checkpoint (right).

There were no innovations like touch-screen check-in kiosks on 9/11. In the 6+ years since then, most airlines have streamlined their own check-in processes so that they are faster and easier, not to mention more secure – even for we cattle who must fly in coach.

During the same 6 years the government, through the TSA, has done very little innovation. Though a high percentage of travelers are frequent (meaning weekly) flyers, the TSA security policies do not ~~discriminate~~ differentiate among any classes of passengers. All are subjected to the same process, day after day. The unimaginative uniformity of the TSA’s policies continue to severely damage the airline’s business-critical customer experience, all the while the TSA goes on charging the airline’s customers a fee for its work, and thus contributing even further to the woes of the airline industry.

Many Democrats seem sure the government would do a much better job than this of managing all our health care policies. I’m sure it would be fairer in the same idiotic sense that TSA security policies are fair – meaning uniformly inconvenient and thus questionably effective.

This lunacy of TSA policy reminded me of Peggy Noonan’s remarks last week in The View From Gate 14:

America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don't you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.

And, as always: Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terrorist? Why this costly and harassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would agree that all this harassment is the government's way of showing "fairness," of showing that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice? Our politicians congratulate themselves on this as we stand in line.

All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control, that common sense is yesterday...

Another Globe Story Doesn't Add Up

2008-05-08T23:54:00.006-04:00

Blogger Bill Schaeffer notes that this Boston Globe sob story about SUVs and high fuel prices features a very atypical driver as its poster child. Says Bill:

He must be driving around 961 miles a week; that’s almost 50,000 miles a year. Wow. And it’s costing him around $11,000 to do that much driving. So basically the story from the Boston Globe is that consumers that drive over three times the yearly national average are facing a financial burden. Yep, sounds like NEWS to me.

Is this what happens when professional journalists go trolling for victims to feature in their sob stories?

The Bitterness of Small Think Tanks

2008-05-07T06:15:00.002-04:00

Susan Milligan reports in today’s Globe:

Deep racial divisions emerged in yesterday's critical Democratic primaries, with African-American voters overwhelmingly supporting Senator Barack Obama and whites casting their votes solidly with Senator Hillary Clinton in both North Carolina and Indiana, according to exit polls.

Apparently Sunday morning isn’t the only segregated time in America. Election days are segregated, too. But though the voting in yesterday’s Democratic primaries was racially polarized, neither the Dems nor much of the press are too concerned or using words like “polarized”. Milligan finds a hopeful voice from a liberal think tank:

"I think this whole issue of elitism was sort of settled" with yesterday's contests, said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a liberal think tank formerly known as the New Democrat Network.

Sort of settled, Simon? Sort of not. Simon sounds slightly bitter and defensive to me. Didn’t somebody recently say:

You go into these small liberal think tanks in Washington and, like a lot of struggling advocacies in the Northwest, their ideas have been ignored now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to hopes of gun control or secularism or antipathy toward questions they claim are sort of settled or pro-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Red State Visiting

2008-05-05T04:16:00.004-04:00

I'm away this week visiting a Red State so posting will be irregular.

Funny, isn't it, how the media couldn't use the color red for the more leftish states, but instead used the extreme left's favorite color to designate conservatism.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' 2-Party System

2008-05-02T06:10:00.002-04:00

The impotent state of the Massachusetts GOP gets plenty of ink on the front page of today’s Boston Globe. But the story by Matt Viser seems contented with 1-party rule. Only in the 17^th paragraph of the story does Viser write:

Critics say that having such one-party dominance on Beacon Hill results in more checks and fewer balances and limits creative tension in the political process.

More checks is apparently a used as a pun here, as in more government spending. How not funny.

I interpret Viser’s unnamed critics to mean people who vote Republican.

Chasing the Arugula and Collard Green Vote

2008-05-01T05:47:00.007-04:00

This news today from the Globe’s Campaign Notebook:

Hillary Clinton's campaign apparently believes that poet Maya Angelou can help her make inroads among African-Americans and the liberal intelligentsia - two groups in which rival Barack Obama dominates. Clinton's camp released an open letter from Angelou last week. Now she's featured in a 60-second TV ad the campaign announced yesterday will air in North Carolina…

Heh.

In the context of the Globe’s writing, isn’t liberal intelligentsia a redundant term?

Did Yuz Evah Notice They Cahhnt Say Theyah Ahhs Well At All?

2008-05-01T05:23:00.002-04:00

Yesterday’s News

2008-04-30T06:07:00.006-04:00

Only today, now that suitable reactive statements have been issued by the Obama campaign, the Boston Globe actually reports yesterday’s news to readers; the propositions at the core of the controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright:

Answering questions submitted by reporters on Monday, Wright praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as "one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century," and said it's possible that the US government created the AIDS virus and introduced it into the black community...

While these remarks actually were reported in the Globe yesterday, the reports were buried deep in background material. Today’s act of journalistic backtracking was accurately predicted yesterday by blog reader flymorgue:

Prepare yourself for the 'inverted article' tomorrow where the Globe writers are tasked with describing Obama's disavowal of an incident of which Globe readers are ignorant. It is such a classic Globe style, perfected in the Swiftboat days, of explaining a response first, and then the 'response to' in the second paragraph.

Actually it was the 7^th paragraph, but that’s an improvement. Peter Canellos, the Chief of the Globe’s now 1-man Washington bureau also writes on the Wright story, also one day late:

Now, after Obama's uncategorical repudiation yesterday of the man who presided at his wedding and the baptism of his daughters, voters and other political observers will inevitably wonder what took so long - and how Obama could have misjudged someone to whom he was very close.

Globe readers (or C-Span watchers at least) were wondering about this yesterday, too.

Unlike Canellos, Globe political columnist Scott Lehigh applies a low quality smokescreen:

What's really relevant here is not what Jeremiah Wright says but what Barack Obama believes.

The issue voters are weighing does not concern Mr. Obama’s beliefs, but rather his judgment, as Canellos correctly observes.

The Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal site today carries a column by Heather McDonald of City Journal that reports what still remains unmentionable in the Globe at least, that is the content of Wright’s remarks before the NAACP Sunday night in Detroit:

At the NAACP meeting, Mr. Wright proudly propounded the racist contention that blacks have inherently different "learning styles,"… Pursuing a Ph.D. by logging long hours in the dusty stacks of a library, Mr. Wright announced, is "white." Blacks, by contrast, cannot sit still in class or learn from quiet study, and they have difficulty learning from "objects" — books, for example — but instead learn from "subjects," such as rap lyrics on the radio. These differences are neurological…Whites use what Mr. Wright referred to as the "left-wing, logical and analytical" side of their brains, whereas blacks use their "right brain," which is "creative and intuitive."

It seems that many of the very people in politics and media who so often claim to be longing for “a national dialog on race” are at this very moment too squeamish to even mention these propositions of Rev. Wright, let alone say to anything even slightly critical of them. The Globe has been completely silent.

Some dialogue.

And this squeamishness remains despite the fact that Wright’s NAACP speech was televised live on CNN (and remains on YouTube with segments here and here). Heather McDonald concludes that:

Mr. Wright's speeches have shown how quickly academic insanity becomes incorporated into practice.

Indeed. Just ask Lawrence Summers.

Was there news yesterday?

2008-04-29T06:15:00.006-04:00

Jeremiah Wright’s speeches in Detroit Sunday night and at the National Press Club Monday morning are unquestionably the most explosive story so far in the 2008 presidential campaign.

You would never guess that from reading today’s Boston Globe.

On the Globe’s front page Wright get’s only a pointer item to a very understated story on page A6, and a second context story from AP with a few extended quotes. The Op Ed page is silent. Globe Washington Bureau Chief Peter Canellos writes today about Obama’s stance on affirmative action. Is the Globe so tight on cash these days that poor Peter doesn’t have access to C-Span?

But of course Wright's remarks are not a big story, correct?

Wright merely served as Obama’s pastor for 20 years. It not like they had a close relationship, the way Mitt Romney did with this groundskeeper.

This is not as relevant as the story the Globe wrote about Mitt Romney’s Latin American groundskeeper hiring illegal immigrants. Now that was big news and was all over the front page, because it was relevant to the campaign. But this story about the man who married Obama, baptized his children, and served as his pastor for 20 years is not that big. It’s not that relevant.

Wright thinks the government created HIV to harm blacks? No big deal. He uses security guards from the Nation of Islam at the National Press Club? Unmentioned. He invokes some bizarre forms of phrenology (phrenology is a safe word choice here. Let’s not be the ones to use the R-word) while speaking to the NAACP (!) in Detroit and says that black people and white people are different because they have different kinds of brains? Also unmentioned.

Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web, James Taranto asked with tongue in cheek, “Democratic front-runner Barack Obama was supposed to unite the country, overcoming racial and even partisan division. How's that working out?”

Not much news about that in the Boston Globe, James. It must be working out just fine.

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright

2008-04-28T05:53:00.002-04:00

Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham writes of her experience being sworn in as a citizen of the United States at Boston's Faneuil Hall.

When it comes time to take our oath of citizenship, the sea of raised right hands - high and low, smooth and lined, black and white - is a beautiful sight.

Together, we renounce all other allegiances, swear we will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and promise to bear true faith to its principles.

A citizenship ceremony is truly an inspiring sight. In 2004 I had the good fortune to stumble onto one while conducting a tour for foreign visitors. It was s a great way to explain our nation, without requiring words.

Victims Wanted: Contact the Globe Today!

2008-04-25T05:43:00.005-04:00

Ever wonder how Globe reporters get in touch with the dodgy folks who often end up as sad sack poster children for Globe stories? For example last month, the Globe ran a “tough economy” story that featured a family who had moved to Maine and were suffering from high gas prices. But both mom and dad still commuted to work from Maine all the way to Massachusetts. I asked how does the Boston Globe always find "poster children" such as this?

Here is one way. The Globe’s main web page solicits people to get in touch with reporters who are working on future stories. From reading the solicitations, it appears that the story line is in place long before the story’s sad sack poster children are chosen. Here are 5 of the first 6 solicitations found on the Globe website today:

Hard economic times and spring break
Are hard economic times forcing you to forgo Disneyworld with your kids this spring break? Please tell us about your closer-to-home spring break plans. Send emails to schweitzer@globe.com.

Own an SUV?
As gas prices rise, the value of SUVs is dropping. We're looking for SUV owners who've found the trade-in value of their SUV is less than expected. E-mail krasner@globe.com to discuss.

Summer camps and the economy
Has the tough economy affected your plans to send your child to camp this summer? Globe reporter Erica Noonan would like to hear your story, please email her at enoonan@globe.com.

Taking money from your 401(k)?
Have you had to make a ''hardship withdrawal'' from your 401(k) retirement savings account? Globe reporter Ross Kerber would like to hear about your experience — email him at kerber@globe.com.

Retired but still working?
Are you retired from a corporate job and now working some place else -- like at a Home Depot or Borders -- because you want or need to continue working? Contact mpothier@globe.com to tell us about it.

Do you feel you are a victim of hard times? Call us now, please!

One More Cut

2008-04-24T22:50:00.000-04:00

Poynter has posted a memo from Globe Managing Editor Marty baron indicating that 23 Globe newsroom staffers have accepted the most recent buyout offer.

My own former employer was a firm that repeatedly offered employee buyouts, and each offer was less generous than the previous ones, as people needed less incentive to leave. I doubt his will be the last one at the Globe. Its lost advertising and subscribers are not going to come back again.

Hat tip: Massachusetts Liberal

One More Reason to Distrust the Media

2008-04-23T06:08:00.006-04:00

“Leave me alone. Do you know who the f--k I am? I’ll have a news crew down here in minutes and you will lose your f---ing jobs, f-------s. I’m a bigshot in Boston and I’ll have your f---ing jobs. You think your[sic] a f---ing tough guy, you just watch and see what the f--k happens to you when I get the f--k out of here.”

According to a Massachusetts State Police report (documents linked by the Globe here and here, with a story here) these are the words of Randi Goldklank, the general manager of WHDH (Boston’s TV channel 7) when confronted by State Police before being arrested at Boston Logan Airport Monday evening.

I find the media arrogance displayed here far more appalling than the vulgarities.

One can blame alcohol for these remarks, but I don’t think alcohol comes close to excusing them. I doubt the arrogance they expose disappears entirely when Boston Channel 7’s Bigshot GM returns to sobriety. Of course (we will doubtless be assured) this case is an aberration within mainstream media and journalism. Very atypical. Most media people don’t think like this.

Yes, there is a difference. Most media people are not the boss. Some are surely of better character.

The Boston Globe featured a quite complementary profile of Goldklank last September. Snippet:

"Television has such an impact on people and the information they get," Goldklank says. "It's a public service, but it's also exciting. I wanted to be a part of that."

Refer to the rant quoted above for an elaboration of Goldklank’s concept of “public service”.

WHDH placed Goldklank on administrative leave Tuesday.

Hat tip: Universal Hub

The News Mausoleum

2008-04-22T21:10:00.002-04:00

In Commentary John Podhoretz reflects on the recently opened $475M “Newseum” in Washington DC, calling it “The News Mausoleum”. Podhoretz connects both the failing business model, and the arrogance of mainstream media to their former status as regional monopolists. This blogger has made similar observations, but not as well stated as this:

This labor-intensive process is precisely the model that has been upended in industry after industry, driven to painful change by technological innovation and competitive threats…Feverishly anticipating the demise of their 19th-century industrial product, newspapers are once again renewing their efforts to take advantage, somehow, of the growth of the Internet. But they are uniquely ill-positioned to do so. When it comes to reporting the news, their greatest competitive asset is the size of their news-gathering and news-writing staffs. But they can afford those staffs only because of advertising revenue. And, on the web, they will generate only a fraction of the advertising revenue they have been able to generate in print as an effective monopoly. Moreover, and unlike the case with every other rival they have faced in the past, the technical cost of competing with them is astonishingly low…

The prospect is a very stark one for people who work in, write, and edit newspapers. For these people do not think of themselves as “content providers.” They think much more highly of themselves than that. They believe they play a vital role, perhaps the most vital role, in the defense of the freedoms of every citizen. After all, who else is there to keep a vigilant watch over the official custodians of society? Who else is there to protect the people from the depredations of business and government? Is not freedom of speech—the very freedom that enables journalists to ply their trade—the first of our freedoms, primus inter pares, and who will guard it if not they?

Historically speaking, this attitude is of relatively recent vintage. It may, in fact, be an artifact of the rise of the same highly profitable monopoly newspapers and shared-monopoly television networks that were so profitable and consequently grew so powerful that they gave the members of their news force reason to believe they were not just working stiffs—the general attitude of newspapermen throughout most of the preceding era—but akin to a democratic nobility.

The immodesty of this idea led many newspaper professionals of the late 20th century into a category error. They came to confuse the significance of the subjects they were covering with the act of covering them. Proximity to the news made them a species of news. They wrote about government; therefore, they were equivalent to the government in importance. They reported a war, and their act of reporting a war came to loom as large as the war itself. Today, the death of a journalist in a war zone is assigned vastly more weight than the death of a soldier.

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-22T10:13:00.006-04:00

Globe columnist Alex Beam today describes the state of Earth Day as an event that was once historic has become farce.
You know the slick green tide is coming in each year when Vanity Fair publishes its Armani-scented "green" issue, which celebrates the eco-worthiness of such regular guys as Leonard DiCaprio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last year, you may remember, Leo was posing on an ice floe with a cute little polar bear photoshopped in for the occasion. Leo has since moved off the glacier into an eco-friendly New York luxury apartment, boasting low-emissions paint and, of course, solar panels.
Sorry, Alex, but I believe the level of committment expressed at the original 1969 Earth Day was equally shallow.

The value of the male schoolteacher

2008-04-22T07:07:00.003-04:00

Derrick Jackson recalls his son’s teacher Patrick Cunningham, and reflects on the cultural losses that result from the ever-increasing rarity of male schoolteachers:

That is a good argument to coax more men into the profession. "The problem is, for both men and women," Cunningham said, "is that this is a job where too many people ask, 'Why would anybody do this?' It is almost like becoming a priest or nun or something like that."

A good question, Derrick.

That they may have life, and have it abundantly

2008-04-21T06:50:00.004-04:00

Today in the Globe James Carroll meditates on the passing of one of his mentors, Lutheran Bishop of Sweden Krister Stendahl. Excuse Jim for overstating:

Krister Stendahl argued that Christians - at least since Martin Luther, if not since St. Augustine - had misread the testimony of that early apostle. In this misreading, St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus was taken as rescue from a troubled preoccupation with sin and guilt, establishing the paradigm of Christian grace, which saves, against Mosaic Law, which condemns. Stendahl showed that St. Paul's conscience, instead of anguished, was "robust." His stance before God was overwhelmingly one of confidence, not terror. God's constant love, not God's threat, was Paul's driving force.

“Be not afraid”, as John Paul II always said.

Look in the Mirror, Scott Lehigh

2008-04-18T05:45:00.011-04:00

Boston Globe political columnist Scott Lehigh writes a deeply sarcastic column today criticizing the media managers of Wednesday’s Democratic debate, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC TV news for focusing their questions on non-issues and trivia.

Lehigh is so peeved he concludes:

…no doubt that's why I'm not a network anchor or even a chief Washington correspondent. After all these years of covering politics, I still don't have any idea what's really important.

I’ll tell you what's important, Scott. The critical issue in 2008 is the hiring practice of Mitt Romney’s groundskeeper. At least your own Boston Globe colleagues thought so when they put that trivial non-story on the Globe’s front page.

Scott, rather than dump on ABC, clean up the Globe's act. If you want to see regular examples of the media alienating their customers through arrogant decisions to focus on non-issues and trivia, there's no need to turn on the boob tube. Read your own rag.

Too Much Red Ink

2008-04-18T05:04:00.001-04:00

And speaking about squandering opportunities, here is a excerpt from a Goldman Sachs report on the New York Times Corporation issued yesterday :

NYT reported weak first quarter results that were well below expectations…The negative advertising revenue trends seen in January (down 9.8% y-o-y) and February (down 8.3%) continued, as March numbers fell 11.1%. The weakness was mainly seen in classifieds, which dropped 25.7% y-o-y in March (down 22.6% YTD). Moreover, the New England Media’s performance was particularly bad (down 25.9% y-o-y).

Patronage Uber Alles

2008-04-17T05:05:00.004-04:00

I skipped the 21^st Democratic presidential debate, but from reading the reviews it sounds like the program lifted the spirits of Republicans. Peter Canellos writes in the Globe:

The first half of last night's debate in the august National Constitution Center in Philadelphia was a tawdry affair, as ABC news questioners called on Obama and Clinton to address a year's worth of dirty laundry, and each combatant eagerly grabbed at the chance to besmirch their rival a little more.

And Joan Vennochi today writes of Democratic women voters frustrated with the exclusion of the Florida and Michigan delegations, who aren’t getting any help from the local pols:

Kennedy, Kerry, and Patrick are mistaken if they believe all their female supporters can be counted on to stay there.

Joan, where they gonna go?

The Democratic party apparatus holds our state government in a vice. That’s why we have such open, uplifting, and lively debate in our legislature. There is no creditable opposition. These ladies are merely discovering the downside of a one-party state. It is patronage uber alles, and alles includes the electorate.

Out of Town News

2008-04-15T00:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks for visiting, but I am on the road and quite isolated until Tuesday April 22, so please keep your expectations low.

That one is out of the park

2008-04-15T00:42:00.000-04:00

Roger Kimball:

I rankled at the description of Obama’s bitter-small-town-guns-and-God comment as elitist. It was smug; it was self-righteous; it was blinkered, bigoted, emotionally impoverished, and otherwise odious; it but it was not in any normal sense of the word “elitist.” I do not live in Pennsylvania. But I do live in a small(ish) town; I think the Second Amendment is a vital prophylactic against the untoward prerogatives of state power; and I’d sooner “cling” to religion than the hectoring, welfare-state, just-let-us-tell-you-how-to-live-your-life directives dispensed by Michelle and Barrack Obama. But what bothers me about such directives is not their elitism but their arrogance.

Can you spell that please?

2008-04-14T07:52:00.003-04:00

Forget global warming, there may be a hyphen shortage coming. I hope the linotype machines at the Boston Globe are ready for it.

Here is the first of what might be a trend. A Sunday Boston Globe article on ~~perverts~~ unwelcome touchers riding the MBTA began with the name of a person with a double-hyphened triple-surname:

Malikah Fardon-Jones-Finney.

But wait, there’s more!

Ms. Fardon-Jones-Finney has a 12-year old daughter. In 10-15 years, her daughter may well pick up yet another surname and hyphen.

I’m lovin’ it.

Hat tip: TJIC

Hillary worries about "intrusion of government authority"

2008-04-14T06:40:00.007-04:00

Every 4 years it seems that leading Democratic presidential candidates come down with a short-lived empathy for pro-life voters. That empathy goes along with similarly periodic ploys towards gun owners, advocates of controlled borders and (this year) embittered Midwestern religionists:

Boston Globe, July 5 2004:

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa -- Amid a three-day bus tour in which he highlighted his values and cast himself as an acceptable alternative for conservative voters, John F. Kerry was quoted yesterday as saying he believes life begins at conception, but continues to favor abortion rights.

Boston Globe, April 14 2008:

GRANTHAM, Pa. - Senator Hillary Clinton said last night that the potential for life begins at conception …Clinton was asked whether life begins at conception, which opponents of abortion contend makes termination of a pregnancy the ending of a life. "I believe the potential for life begins at conception," the senator from New York said. "For me, it is also not only about a potential life. It is about the other lives involved." She said she came to support abortion rights after much soul-searching, but said it should be used rarely. "I have concluded . . . that individuals must be entrusted to make this profound decision, because the alternative would be such an intrusion of government authority that it would be very difficult to sustain in our kind of open society."

The lady now recoiling in horror at the prospect of such an intrusion of government authority is the same person who in 1993 was the architect of government intrusion to the point of control in the entire US health care system.

These are signs of an election coming.

Parsing Senator Obama

2008-04-13T13:29:00.002-04:00

Victor Davis Hansen does a superb job parsing and dissecting Barack Obama's revision to his condescending remarks in San Francisco. Entitled "Why Orwell Matters", it is a must read.

An Enjoyable Spectacle for Republicans

2008-04-12T07:58:00.003-04:00

Obama’s condescending remarks on small town Pennsylvanians get 2^nd billing (and of course no links to the original story ) in today’s Boston Globe “Campaign Notebook”, which carries the headline “Bill Clinton remark renews controversy”.

One must wonder if the rule at the Globe is the more damaging the story the less visible the coverage. Recall that the Globe was completely silent about the 2004 Swift Boat Veteran charges against Kerry for 2 ½ weeks.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

A McCain spokesman said Obama "shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking." Excuse me for not being shocked breathless by finding such condescension in Obama when it is so common in academia and the media. Fortunately, that attitude does not do well at the polls.

Obama has just shot himself in the foot. The McCain campaign may not be savvy and ruthless enough to make him pay for it, but (fortunately for Republicans) the Clintons surely are. They have 10 days to work him over with this before the Pennsylvania primary. These next 10 days could be an enjoyable spectacle for Republicans.

A Name to Watch

2008-04-11T05:17:00.002-04:00

The headline of the Boston Globe’s “Campaign Notebook” today informs readers that:

Out of the campaign trail limelight, Romeny still on the political hunt

Maybe the Globe should assign a full-time reporter to this Romeny guy, or at least a proofreader part-time.

More Un-Plain Speaking

2008-04-11T04:33:00.006-04:00

From Globe campaign reporter Foon Rhee today, a story headlined “Husband's legacy poses a dilemma for Clinton” begins:

It is one of the central challenges of Hillary Clinton's campaign: How to take credit for the accomplishments of her husband's presidency and profit from his popularity while distancing herself from his past and present positions…

Uh-huh.

…many voters do not want to return to what Kettl described as "the drama of the Clinton years."

And what does such “drama” consist of? Don't ask, don't tell. Foon's apparently does not ask and the story does not tell.

Are readers all assumed to all know and agree, so there’s no reason to be specific? Or is Foon deliberately avoiding descriptive words such as “scandal”?

Another Headline Half-Truth

2008-04-10T06:05:00.004-04:00

The text of an AP story today begins like this:

NAHAL OZ, Israel - Militants from the Gaza Strip slipped across the border and opened fire at a fuel depot in southern Israel yesterday, killing two Israeli civilians in a brazen daylight raid that threatened to set off heavy combat after a monthlong [sic] lull.

The Israeli government held Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for the attack and sent tanks, troops, and aircraft into the Palestinian territory. At least nine Palestinians died during the day, including two at the depot and seven in Gaza.

Many newspapers ran this AP story today. Here are some examples of headlines they used.

The Guardian:
Gaza Gunmen Kill 2 in Southern Israel

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Palestinian militants from Gaza kill 2 Israelis in border attack

San Jose Mercury News:
Attack on Israeli fuel depot breaks calm, threatens talks

Houston Chronicle:
Palestinians kill 2 Israelis in attack on Gaza fuel depot

But our local broadsheet runs the story under their own unique headline.

The Boston Globe:
Border clashes kill Israelis, Palestinians

But remember there is no bias at the Globe, folks. No agenda journalism. These are professional journalists at work. Nothing to see here. Move along now.

Forgiveness -- Late and Early

2008-04-09T06:21:00.007-04:00

Yesterday – 22 years late – the player who nearly was the MVP of the 1986 World Series, Bill Buckner, received forgiveness from Boston Red Sox fans at Fenway Park. Forgiveness coming so late and amid such riches is still a good thing for all, but hardly matches the divine example of forgiveness, as St. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us:

But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Or from 2 Corinthians:

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Tax Your Wine, Not Just Their Cigarettes!

2008-04-09T05:39:00.010-04:00

Our leaders on Beacon Hill continue to show an astounding lack of creativity, especially with regard to raising taxes. From today’s Globe:

The proposals would tighten corporate tax laws - bringing in $204 million next year - and would raise $152 million by increasing the state's cigarette tax by $1 per pack.

Are we simply passing the increased tax burden to smokers yet again?

Whatever became of that f-word (“fairness”) that so many politicians and editorial writers are so quick to use (without defining)? How is it “fair” to hand a major share of new tax burden to a lower-income demographic as a sin tax? Has any research shown that the health benefits caused by the tax are worth the high incremental costs to lower income households? Of course not. The Democratic legislature is desperate for new sources of cash and is simply tightening the screws on an unpopular whipping boy. How nice. How liberal. How progressive.

And exactly how is this better (demographically speaking) than taxing casino gambling? Not much.

So here’s a proposal. Beacon Hill thinks it’s grand to raise the cost of a pack of cigarettes by roughly 20% through new taxes. Then why not at the same time impose a new tax that raises the cost of a bottle of wine by the same percentage? That would undoubtedly reduce the uneven demographic impact. It might cost our Beacon Hill hacks something out of their own pockets, too.

Show us you care! Pick up at least some share of the new tax burden, or please stop calling yourselves liberals (or even more ironically, progressives).

Blaming the Victim

2008-04-08T06:16:00.002-04:00

A front page headline in today’s Globe reports “House in fatal blaze had history of violence”.

Odd. Every house I’ve seen just sits there.

Tasty Leftover

2008-04-07T07:01:00.002-04:00

It’s a boring day for the Globe, so let’s have a tasty leftover. On April 1 Alex Beam and Mark Feeney penned a well aimed parody of Deval Patrick’s book that appeared in the paper. Snippet:

Furthermore, I understand that, from a strictly business-as-usual, get-elected political standpoint, serving on the board of Ameriquest might not have looked good. Yet looks can be deceiving. (That’s why we need nice drapes -- just kidding.) The average voter was unlikely to grasp the particular personal appeal to someone like myself -- someone whose life has been a "quest," a distinctively "American" quest -- of a name like that company’s. For that matter, the average voter could hardly understand how much good can be accomplished from the "inside." Texaco, Coca-Cola, Ameriquest -- even as I type the names I feel the burden once again weighing down my shoulders -- they were tough, tough jobs, but someone had to do them.

Reaching for the Nutroots

2008-04-06T09:07:00.005-04:00

Stretching to make a point, Joan Vennochi today ventures into nutroot absurdity:

Kerry - the Democratic presidential nominee still haunted by how the votes were counted in Ohio in 2004...

This is pure buncombe, unless Joan means that Kerry is haunted by the fact that he received fewer votes than Bush. To my knowledge, not once has John Kerry ever claimed that Ohio was stolen from him in 2004.

In fact if any state was stolen in the 2004 election, the most likely suspect is Wisconsin, where more than 100,000 voters registered by mail in the weeks before the election and on election day itself, and by law were placed on the rolls even though virtually none of them responded to official requests for verification. Kerry won Wisconsin by less than 12,000 votes out of 3,000,000 votes cast.

Still Tripping Over Crime

2008-04-05T13:22:00.003-04:00

Former Hillary supporter and new Obama convert Tripp Jones:

Twenty years ago, as a staffer of Governor Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign, I observed the use of the now-famous "Willie Horton" ad to undermine a good man's character, fan the flames of racial division and distract voters from the most important issues of the time. Not this time. We have an opportunity to show that we have learned from our mistakes.

If Mr. Jones still thinks that the Willie Horton ad was designed to undermine Dukakis’ character, fan the flames of racial division and distract voters from the most important issues of the time, rather than to question Dukakis’ judgment and illustrate his unpopular liberal positions on crime, then Tripp has not learned very much from his mistakes. It is exactly this kind of thinking that could allow Democrats another 4 years to ponder their mistakes without the presidency.

Deval Patrick's Book Proposal Showed Clintonian Honesty

2008-04-05T10:50:00.006-04:00

Deval Patrick’s book deal gives another gift today:

Governor Deval Patrick said in his book proposal that he was able to "fill the Boston Common recently with ten thousand people," a boast intended to prove to publishers that his message of hope and optimism generates enthusiasm and will translate into sales. But Patrick left out a key fact about the Oct. 23 Boston Common rally. It was held to celebrate Patrick's endorsement of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, who stood by Patrick's side at the event.

Which the Republicans treat appropriately:

"Is this book fiction or nonfiction?" said Barney Keller, spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party. "Governor Patrick couldn't get 81 legislators to vote for his casinos. Why does he think that 10,000 people would come to hear him speak? Next thing you know he'll throw out the first pitch at Fenway and claim 30,000 people came to see him do it."

Together we can get Deval a 7-figure advance, even if he has to embellish things just a tiny bit.

Un-Plain Speaking in Today's Boston Globe

2008-04-04T06:53:00.004-04:00

Today’s lead Globe story begins with a dishonest choice of words under the headline “Democrats shift strategy on Iraq debate”:

Lacking the votes to end the war, Democratic leaders said yesterday they will try to make the US troop surge in Iraq "irrelevant" by shifting the war debate away from the impact of the recent US offensive and instead make the case that the price paid in lives, treasure, and military readiness was not worth it.

For the word “impact” above, substitute the word “success”. It is more accurate but apparently unpalatable to the Globe newsroom and, sadly, to Democratic party leaders.

On the local front, Deval Patrick’s $1.35M book deal will be giving gifts to his opponents for months or years to come. From today’s Globe:

The 65-page pitch letter that led to his $1.35 million…details a strategy to sell at least 150,000 copies through a "vigorous media campaign," a nationwide book-signing tour, multiple speaking engagements, and efforts to persuade big corporations to buy the book by the carton, activities that promise to pull Patrick away from Massachusetts and the State House during the last year of his term.

Scott Lehigh:

During his rocky early months, Patrick's blunders - the Cadillac, the drapes, the in-hopelessly-over-their-heads top staffers, the phone call to Citigroup on behalf of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest - were attributed to inexperience. I've since come to suspect that a certain self-absorption makes the governor dismissive of political niceties and disdainful of his critics.

A certain self-absorption, Scott? Speak plainly! The appropriate word is arrogance.

The End of History Upon Us

2008-04-03T05:33:00.006-04:00

I’m still smiling at this quote from yesterday’s Boston Globe:

"Among Millennial students, whether it's race, gender, or nationality, the borders are coming down," said James Baumann of the Association of College and University Housing Officers. "The lines just aren't there anymore."

Paging Mr. Frost:

IT IS ALMOST THE YEAR
TWO THOUSAND

To start the world of old
We had one age of gold
Not labored out of mines,
And some say there are signs
The second such has come,
The true Millennium,
The final golden glow
To end it. And if so
(And science ought to know)
We well may raise our heads
From weeding garden beds
And annotating books
To watch this end de luxe.

-- Robert Frost

The Other L-Word: Lewinsky

2008-04-03T05:12:00.005-04:00

Joan Vennochi broaches the subject in her Globe column today, and does well with it except that Joan seems to believe that Hillary was still deceived by Bill after the scandal broke (as Hillary said in her biography).

I doubt it. Most everybody suspected Bill was lying. What was astounding was the brazenness of his (or their) lie.

And then there’s this snippet from Joan:

Monica Lewinsky was destined to come up in 2008, and Chelsea Clinton was the obvious avenue of inquiry.

Stupid me. I would have thought the obvious avenue of inquiry would be for someone in the press to discover their cojones and ask Hillary (in the words of Senator Sam Ervin) what did she know and when did she know it?

Is this Globe Story Running A Day Late?

2008-04-02T06:34:00.005-04:00

I understand why the Globe did not run this story yesterday.

Just below I wrote about six mainly silly tidbits from today’s Globe, but forgot the silliest of all, the Globe cover story. Today it is of colleges reaching the “Final Frontier” in equality and becoming gender blind in their housing assignments. Some college men and women can now choose to be assigned as roommates, and we are supposed to believe that most of those who do are “just friends”.

What do you call the situation where men and women are living together for long periods without having sex? If they are in college it is called gender neutral housing. Otherwise it’s called marriage.

We learn that gender neutral housing offers escape from an oppressive gender binary. Then again, so does death.

And one wonders how if it is such a good thing for colleges to be gender blind, why is it such a bad thing for them to be race blind?

Finally, I can't help bet feel slightly sad for the young woman in the page one photo, because the Globe story reveals that her male roommate’s girlfriend has no misgivings that he is living with her. I don’t claim to understand women, but I believe many women would find that insulting.

Here are a few delightful sips from this superb Globe howler:

"It's a new world, and gender has taken on all kinds of new definitions. It's about being more inclusive, and it's about keeping pace with the times."…

Students say that although administrators and parents may perceive gender-blind housing as essentially sanctioning sex, the vast majority of mixed-gender roommates are platonic. Their living situations are about mutual compatibility, not romance, they say….

The campaign contends that traditional rooming policies wrongly assume that men and women cannot live together non-sexually and "needlessly reinforce an oppressive gender binary."…

At Clark, sophomore Jason Carmignani, has shared a bedroom with a close female friend, Yael Bassal, since December in a six-person suite. The pair is not romantic, and Carmignani said his girlfriend has no misgivings about his living with a woman….

Party Time

2008-04-02T05:54:00.006-04:00

Last night I attended a blogger party graciously hosted by Miss Kelly (thanks much, lady). Two different people I met told me right away that blogging about silliness in the Boston Globe was “the easiest job in the world”.
I hate to be found out so quickly.

Today’s Globe illustrates their point. Here is one day’s gleanings:

First: The first is a good read. Jeff Jacoby hears the loud complaints about the film Fitna and asks “Where’s the outrage?” over Jihadist terror? Bob Dole didn’t get an answer to that question either.

Second: A Globe Editorial on the dysfunctional family of Liquarry Jefferson:

The boy's extended family was so well known to police in 2004 that they launched a special effort to surround the younger members with social services.…This is a smart approach that recognizes that police and state human service agencies can redeem young people despite their toxic families.

Globe editors are horrified at the alleged intolerance of a religious figure or a politician who privileges certain family structures and says that alternative family structures are not preferred and not as socially beneficial. Yet the same Globe doesn’t mind calling particular families “toxic” (an accurate term in this case, IMHO). I don’t understand the Globe’s grounds for complaint.

Third: The Department of Homeland security will bypass environmental regulations to complete construction of 670 miles of the US border fence. The predictable howl:

Wildlife groups reacted with dismay. Brian Segee, a lawyer with Defenders of Wildlife, said, "It's dangerous, it's arrogant, it's going to have pronounced environmental impacts, and it won't do a thing to address the problems of undocumented immigrants or address border security problems."

Uh huh. No follow-up questions.

Fourth: AP reports:

In New Hampshire, officials have been warning residents for weeks to prepare for the flooding after a winter that dumped more snow in some areas than has been seen in a century.

Conveniently, the story avoids making any mention of global warming. Did Al Gore spend last winter in New Hampshire?

Fifth: A Globe story about a blog post by Deval’s Chief of Staff at Blue Mass Group:

Under fire for traveling to New York for a book deal as his casino legislation was being defeated in the House, Governor Deval Patrick is now moving toward a decidedly different place: back to his base.

Deval is under fire for that? Who knew? I read the Globe, but somehow I didn’t see that story make the front page.

Sixth: They are breathing easier over at the Mass Lottery these days, and the Globe gives the Lottery a superb puff piece about their marketing prowess:

"Our mission is to raise revenue for the cities and towns," said Mark Cavanagh, the Lottery's executive director. "All of our profit goes to the cities and towns. . . . There's nobody behind the curtain. There's no casino owner taking the profits out of state. So if the players are entertained and they're playing responsibly and we have a responsible product line, we think it's our job to try to increase revenues, but do it in a responsible manner."

And later we learn one part of the Lottery’s definition of playing responsibly:

Texas has a $50 scratch ticket. (Cavanagh said the lottery has no plans to go higher than $20 because it could encourage people to gamble irresponsibly.)

The very same story reports that Mass Lottery games are specifically designed to encourage clients to play repeatedly.

The lottery sends 71 percent of its sales back to players in prizes, compared with a national average of about 57 percent, the analysis showed. Most players do not win much, but the experience of winning even a few bucks is enough to keep them playing.

So plunking $50 for one ticket is somehow not playing responsibly. But plunking down $20 3 times in a row and winning $10 is. Go figure.

Sleep well tonight, Massachusetts! Your Massachusetts State Lottery is on guard against irresponsible ~~gambling~~ gaming.

Stupid Professor Tricks

2008-04-01T00:14:00.016-04:00

The Boston Globe should change the name of its Ideas section to Conventional Wisdom or better yet Clichés. Last Sunday’s section featured a remarkably foolish piece by one Professor Richard Florida, who is (drum roll, please!) "director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management". Now, I love both the UofT and the city of Toronto, but this professor and his silly article are not scoring points for their MBA program.

The article concerns the balance between the genders in marriage aged urban populations. Here’s a well worn cliché it uses:

One reason young women in the prime marriage years - the 25-44 age range - flock to big cities is to compete for the most eligible men. And smart women who gravitate to vibrant cities are more likely to stay single - for longer, at least - because they rightly refuse to settle for someone who can't keep up with them intellectually or otherwise.

Take that, feminists! Then follows this astounding exhibition of purest stupidity:

But women do have an advantage in the American West and Southwest. In greater Los Angeles, for example, there are 90,000 more single men than women. In Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, single men outnumber single women by roughly 65,000.

Women have an advantage dating men in San Francisco, eh? Tell me more, Professor!

Apparently it never occurs to the professor to adjust his data for what polite society calls alternative lifestyle choices. The fact that a dating scene with a large surplus of young men is considered optimal by many of the young men who live in the Bay Area somehow seems not to have occurred to Professor Florida.

How and why did the Globe select this piece of drivel for the Sunday magazine? Did they read it first or just forward it straight to the printing plant?

P.S. This is NOT an April Fool's Day post, or article. The Globe ran the article on March 30.

Buyer's Remorse?

2008-04-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

From today’s Boston Globe lead Editorial:

The proposal's defeat was a foregone conclusion, but many of Patrick's hard-working allies felt abandoned by his retreat. "It's hard to imagine a more inept act," said one of Patrick's State House supporters…It is true that former governor Weld spent the last six or seven months of his tenure writing a first novel, "Mackerel by Moonlight," but Weld had already checked out mentally from the job. We expect more from Patrick, whose promise has so far not been met.

A bit of buyer’s remorse, perhaps? From the same page on October 29, 2006:

At times in this campaign we have worried that Patrick's policy proposals were not detailed enough, and that if he won without an explicit to-do list he would lack a mandate to govern. But perhaps the new approach Patrick brings to politics -- a collaborative, consensus-building leadership style that assumes the best of people -- is his mandate. If he comes into office with the voters' strong support for this kind of governing, he could change the dynamic on Beacon Hill in profound ways.

Bill Can't Feel Your Pain

2008-03-31T07:02:00.004-04:00

Senator Joe Lieberman:

"It's not the Bill Clinton-Al Gore party, which was strong internationalists, strong on defense, pro-trade, pro-reform in our domestic government…It's been effectively taken over by a small group on the left of the party that is protectionist, isolationist, and very, very hyperpartisan. So it pains me."

Bill and Hillary have made the required ideological adjustments and don’t feel your pain, Joe. It may pain you more come November.

Honesty Appeals Across Party Lines

2008-03-30T11:01:00.003-04:00

Here is a loyal, honest Democrat writing on Deval Patrick’s week:

AFTER 15 MONTHS in office, Governor Deval Patrick is ready to write a new chapter in his political life. From "Together we can," it's "Me, me, me."…A trip on that day for that purpose proves one thing: politically speaking, the great communicator is deaf… At least DiMasi cared enough about the issue to exert influence up until the votes were cast…the governor could have demonstrated grace in the face of defeat, as well as gratitude to supporters, especially those legislators who did as he asked and stood up to DiMasi…He was going to change Beacon Hill's culture and priorities; and when he said that, no one thought he meant casinos for Massachusetts and a $1.35 million book deal for himself..it looks like he is doing a version of what his predecessors did: moving on.

Patrick's book, said the publisher, will draw upon the governor's "extraordinary journey from Chicago's Wabash Avenue to the Massachusetts State House." Will it end on Inauguration Day? It might have to, because the chapter after that could be very thin.

Joan Vennochi has can write as a Democrat without discarding her honesty. This is unlike her colleague Scott Lehigh, who one day phones in an absurd and dishonest Op Ed piece copied from Howard Dean’s talking points, and then three weeks later tells readers the unsurprising news that things have changed.

Do You Suppose?

2008-03-28T05:51:00.007-04:00

Do you suppose that if Mitt Romney, rather than Deval Patrick, had traveled to New York to pursue a personal book deal for his autobiography on the same day that a major piece of his program was being decided on Beacon Hill...do you suppose it is remotely possible that the Boston Globe would run the story on the front page rather than page B1?

Of course not! Remember, the political liberalism of professional journalists does not slant their news reporting.

Profiles in MSM Courage

2008-03-27T12:09:00.003-04:00

The Chinese government is now conducting a tightly scripted press tour for invited foreign journalists. The tour was interrupted by protests from Tibetan monks. The NY Times (which was not invited on the tour) reports that:

On Wednesday, the reporters on the tour received a detailed schedule for the trip and shown a video about the riots, said the reporter present in the group who did not want to be identified.

A reporter who did not want to be identified? The Times does not explain why. But if simply speaking to an uninvited NY Times reporter is taboo for this press tour, it must be some swell Potemkin Villages they are seeing.

Why Does It Take a Kid to Ask This Question?

2008-03-27T05:16:00.004-04:00

Globe columnist Joan Vennochi laments the “misspeaking” of presidential candidates. In this era when so many Internet eyes are watching and comparing, it’s much harder for candidates to get away with “misspeaking”. Of Hillary, Joan writes:

As a candidate, Clinton carries the weight of her husband's long list of lies about sex and other matters, as well as her own dishonesty during and after his administration. Dick Morris, a onetime Clinton friend turned nemesis, lists as Hillary Clinton's "admitted lies": being under sniper fire in Bosnia; saying that daughter Chelsea Clinton was jogging around the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when she was actually watching it on TV; contending that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary; and learning from the Wall Street Journal how to play the futures market.

These are the admitted lies, which makes this list far shorter, doesn’t it, Joan?

Yesterday a student at Butler University was not answered when he asked if Hillary’s January 1998 rant on national TV about her husband’s innocence and the “vast right-wing conspiracy” supposedly attacking him was honest or was another unadmitted lie. What did she know and when did she know it?

With all those reporters and journalists hovering around Hillary for so many months, why is a college kid the first to ask this question?

Some Dems (besides Scott Lehigh) Still Not Worried

2008-03-27T04:52:00.001-04:00

Today’s Globe carries an article on the Democrat’s dilemma, which some Dems still refuse to acknowledge. Tennessee Governor Bredesen is worried and proposes a mini-convention of superdelegates to prevent a brokered convention.

Bredesen said he remains open to other suggestions, however, "Most of the other suggestions seem to be, 'Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best,' " he said. "Hope is not a strategy."

That’s news to Obama.

Perhaps for balance, the Globe story carries quotes from “two veteran Democratic operatives” who are not worried. These may be the only 2 Dems on the planet still smiling, except for Globe political columnist Scott Lehigh. The pair is:

Michael Feldman, senior adviser to Gore's campaign in 2000 and
Mary Beth Cahill, who [for part of the time] managed Kerry's 2004 campaign

If they are not worried, Republicans should not worry, either.

I wonder what veteran Democratic operative and big time loser Bob Shrum thinks?

17th Century Native American Suburbanites

2008-03-26T05:35:00.009-04:00

From a Globe story about Natick citizens who yesterday voted 2-1 in favor of keeping the name "Redmen" for school teams:

Redmen traditionalists say the name is part of town history and refers to red athletic jerseys, not the Native Americans who settled in this Boston suburb in the 1600s.

Native Americans moving to the Boston suburbs in the 17th century? Red flight? Were they forced out by the Puritans? Driven out by the high wampum downtown real estate? Or is this just another Globe cow pie in print?

Tell me more, please.

UPDATE: Reader Adam Gaffin also choked on this Globe story, but knows more Natick history and gives it here (no courteous hat tip, Adam?).

Bad Times or Bad Decisions?

2008-03-26T00:31:00.011-04:00

Tuesday’s Boston Globe has a wannabe sob story about how the hard economic times are driving New Englanders to “channel their inner Yankee”.

The sad foolishness of what passes for journalism at the Boston Globe is epitomized in this simply dreadful story. It is on page 1 above the fold and 4 columns wide, with 2 photos and charts, and completely worthless. Incidentally the charts aren’t referred to by the story. The charts show consumer spending trending away from personal items, but the charts also show that trend has been going since the year 2000. What is the news here?

The cover photo shows a large family (parents plus 5 children) in a large home having dinner in their large dining room (complete with fireplace). Dinner is pizza and salad. Dad is pouring the wine. Wine for dinner in tough times? Well, dad has turned the wine label away from the photographer. Perhaps it is a lower quality wine than dad wishes to show publicly. Maybe it’s just Australian plonk. The story tells us that this poor family has not been out to a restaurant in 6 months, and that dad drives 60 miles each way to work, and the heating bills for their big house now run $2400/year. Are you crying for them yet?

Most of the people profiled in the story merit little sympathy. Their economic distress, such as it is, results as much from bad decisions as from bad times. Here are some of the facts reported in the Globe story concerning one Kathleen Carter of Kennebunk, Maine, the poster child for this story:

Four years ago Kathleen and her husband moved from Massachusetts to Kennebunk, Maine.
Her husband still commutes from Maine to his job in…Massachusetts.
Kathleen, a soloist, commutes to Massachusetts about twice a week for church gigs.
The family gasoline expenses run about $600 per month.

The Globe reports that Kathleen’s heroic sacrifices to make it in this rough economy include:

Attending free concerts in Maine rather than traveling to Boston for the Boston Symphony.
Watching the Portland Sea Dogs minor league baseball team instead of the Red Sox at Fenway.
Her daughter transferring from UVM to the University of Maine for in-state tuition.
Buying a used radiator covers instead of new plant stands for her sprouts.

The Globe story reports:

Even before college costs were added to the equation, the family was in debt, with the balance on their credit cards "out of hand," Carter admitted, because they had to use them for basic purchases. "When it comes right down to the bone of the matter, we're hurting," said Carter. "I say, 'Any day now, I'm going to find a job.' Well, I've been saying that for two years."

Yes, lady, get yourself a job. A real job. Please.

And how does the Boston Globe always find "poster children" such as this?

Giving succor to Hillary

2008-03-25T13:10:00.001-04:00

Adam Nagourney writes in the New York Times:

There remains at least one scenario where Mrs. Clinton could win. It is an increasingly unlikely one and one that could traumatize the Democratic Party. Still, it gives succor to her supporters, and presumably Mrs. Clinton herself...

Not to mention the delight it provokes among Republicans!

Have You Heard of Massachusetts?

2008-03-25T08:42:00.004-04:00

David Brooks on the Obama-Clinton stalemate:

Are leading Democrats so narcissistic that they would create bitter stagnation even if they were granted one-party rule?

David, have you never heard of Massachusetts?

Separate and unequal exercise

2008-03-25T06:26:00.008-04:00

In today's Globe Harvard Professor Harry Lewis smells hypocrisy in that the university now forbids men from using a gym during certain hours in order to accommodate extreme Muslim norms of female modesty, while the same university administration refuses to offer the slightest accommodation for ROTC, ostensibly because the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy is discriminatory:

The counterargument goes, however, that if ROTC were accommodated, the benefit to cadets would be far less significant than the injury to gays and lesbians. Indeed, some claim that no price would be too high for Harvard to pay for uncompromising adherence to its nondiscrimination policy, even the loss of all government funding, if it came to that.

Is the gym exception merely a reasonable kindness to conservative Muslim women? Then Harvard's failure of courtesy to its cadets suggests that politics determine what forms of discrimination are inoffensive.

Sadly Harvard (in step with many US universities) has become a laboratory for study of the limits of identity politics. It appears that such politics at this limit approaches a tyranny that will gladly sacrifice consistent logic to preserve political norms.

Note: The Globe ran an AP news story on this policy March 4.

I did NOT have text with that woman!

2008-03-25T00:21:00.005-04:00

Imagine this:

A high office-holder is sued by a low-level government employee who claims unlawful treatment by the official.
The official gives exonerating testimony under oath in his own defense.
New evidence then comes to light making his testimony highly questionable (not a stained dress this time, but text messages).
The official is then charged with both perjury and obstruction of justice.
The official says he will remain in office and stay "focused on moving this city forward." He said he was "deeply disappointed in the prosecutor's decision" but looks forward to a jury trial, where he expects "a full airing of the facts in the case that will result in my full and complete vindication."

Does this scenario sound familiar?

It’s happening in Detroit now. The high official is the mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick. He was sued for unlawfully firing 2 Detroit police officers, who claim they were fired because they had investigated the mayor’s office. The suit went to trial, during which questions of Kilpatrick’s use of staff to cover up his affairs became an issue. Kilpatrick denied under oath that he and his chief of staff were having an affair. His chief of staff also denied the affair under oath.

Kilpatrick is now being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice by the county prosecutor, who while a fellow Democrat and an African-American like Kilpatrick, is female. She says:

"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," said Worthy, like the mayor a Democrat. "Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people's lives were ruined, the justice system severely mocked and the public trust trampled on."
She added: "This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get."

Tom Wolfe could not make such a story up, but its eerie similarity to the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton will probably serve to remind Michigan voters of those happy days of the Internet bubble and Clinton’s trials.

How much would you want to bet that no mainstream media reporter has the nerve to ask Hillary Clinton (who is now busy trying to stop the “disenfranchisement” of Michigan Democrats) what she thinks about this squabble? Too bad.

Hat tips: WSJ (Subscription required) and WWJ.

Why is Tibet so different?

2008-03-24T06:25:00.005-04:00

Criticizing the Chinese government for its plans to control Tibetan institutions of the Buddhist religion, a Globe editorial writes:

Somebody should tell the current Chinese rulers of the Middle Kingdom that their imperial mandate of heaven does not extend to the pure mountain air of Tibet.

What, I might ask, makes the Chinese government less legitimate in the pure mountain air of Tibet than in the polluted air of China’s cities? Dissent? Culture? Religion? Its legitimacy is not different if judging by the standards of our founding document.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

I doubt it

2008-03-23T18:59:00.002-04:00

Sally Lehrman of Scientific American writes in another sorry Globe Op Ed piece:

It's true that racial harassment has reached levels never before documented in the workplace, according to government data.

I doubt it. Though this certainly implies that government did not document “racial harassment” in the workplace prior to Emancipation.

Hillary's "Veracity"

2008-03-22T08:21:00.003-04:00

The Clintons? Stretch the truth? Only stretch it?

This headline reminds me of the old Bert and I story:

“Whadayah think uh that new man out your way?”

“Oh, I dunno.”

“Whadayah mean you don’t know? Would you call him an honest man or would you call him a liar?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a liar. But I’ve heard tell by them as knows, that when he wants his cows to come home, he has to get someone else to call ‘em.”

What a Real Loss Looks Like

2008-03-21T07:14:00.006-04:00

Deval Patrick’s casino bill was predictably defeated yesterday. The Globe’s headline (above) is delightful. However, unlike casino customers, casino developers leave the (legislative) table immediately when they win. They keep coming back only when they lose.

A more substantial loss yesterday was the death of British actor Paul Scofield at 86. The Globe’s obit calls Scofield a “towering presence on screen, nearly invisible off”. The planet, and show business, would be better off with more of such.

Here is a short clip of Scofield in the 1966 file “A Man for All Seasons”, speaking lines that many in government (both parties included) seem unable to grasp. This is especially true of Massachusetts.

Now that's news!

2008-03-20T06:15:00.006-04:00

Jeff Jacoby had a fine critique in yesterday's Globe of Obama's speech.

But the most astounding news of this day either did not register on the Globe's news radar or could not pass through its secular liberal editors. Britain's Telegraph reported yesterday:

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi. Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb..."St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ," said Mr Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life," he added.

Not newsworthy?

Hat tip: Peter Robinson

Better Candidates for What?

2008-03-19T12:55:00.000-04:00

Reuters on the latest Zogby presidential poll:

"The last couple of weeks have taken a toll on Obama and in a general election match-up, on both Democrats," said pollster John Zogby…"It's not surprising to me that McCain's on top because there is disarray and confusion on the Democratic side," Zogby said.

But 2 weeks ago the Boston Globe’s guru Scott Lehigh assured us:

For all the fretting about divisiveness and for all the talk of attacks, the tougher fight we've seen in recent weeks has made both Obama and Clinton better candidates.

Maybe Scott was being Clintonian. Maybe he meant they are becoming better candidates for the Senate.

Got Kool Aid?

2008-03-19T00:23:00.003-04:00

It’s only a poll, but the Globe’s Foon Rhee reports:

The latest national poll offers some more good news for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and more worrisome numbers for Democrats.

While Josh Green at the Atlantic says the Democrat Superdelgates should end the nomination contest ASAP:

Keeping their powder dry profits the superdelegates, but comes at the expense of their party. It shouldn't take Solomon to see that.

Wiser than Solomon, Scott Lehigh said you’re wrong! “Let the contests continue!”, he cried.

Why don’t you guys see if Scott still has any of that special Kool Aid he drank?

Recycling

2008-03-18T00:24:00.008-04:00

Below is a recycled story of a visit with the Boston Globe Ombudsman
(back in the days when the Globe had an Ombudsman on the payroll).

On my way to a Boston trade show in April, I stopped for a visit at the Morrissey Boulevard complex of the Boston Globe. My visit was hosted by Richard Chacón, who was then the Globe Ombudsman. Richard toured me around the huge Globe complex and gave me some insight into how the newspaper comes together each day.

For 2 years I have authored this blog focused on the Boston Globe, which is usually quite critical of the paper. Did Richard expect that like Jonah in the belly of the whale, I would repent my past criticism after spending a just few hours at the Globe? Hardly. He did believe, though, that having some insight into the Globe’s workings would make any criticism more informed. I hope he was right. So here is a first impression – the points that stick in my mind after seeing the Globe in operation for the first time.

The Globe building has a typically grandiose 1960s corporate HQ lobby, full of granite, marble, and other signs of organizational pride. There is a huge stone map of New England on the rear wall and another wall has a huge fabric tapestry containing an image of the front page of the Globe from April 4, 1872. This may be the first paper since the continuous production of the Globe or have some other historic significance, I’m not sure. Anyway, I spent some time reading the 1872 paper, and much of the front page is devoted to covering the content of the Sunday sermons that were delivered in various Boston churches the day before. How times do change.

A Chance Meeting
While I was waiting in the lobby to meet Richard, I introduced myself to one Globe reporter who was there for a minute. When he found out I was a blogger he asked me if my blog was one of the “media bias blogs”. I told him it was, and he said that in his opinion “a lot of what may appear as media bias is really a result of laziness, incompetence, or organizational stupidity.” He related an example of one story that had been growing in importance for about a week. It was not covered by the Globe for several days because the key reporter on that beat was off on vacation and so the Globe’s antenna was impaired.

This is an interesting observation. Everybody who has worked in an organization, large or small, knows that work processes and practices are never all they should be, and that these issues always interfere with the organizational mission to some degree. Why should the Globe be any different? It cannot be. Of course we all know of organizations where the burden of organizational dysfunction eventually outweighs the ability to provide value (FEMA comes to mind as an example). The relevant question is how often and how badly such dysfunction impairs the Globe. Besides the inevitable issues mentioned by the reporter, there are also certainly dangers from group-think, ideological bias, and (of course) external competition. It is the external competition, I believe, that by far receives the most attention from Globe people today.

US newspapers are struggling. Circulation and ad revenues are declining. The creation of powerful, free Internet-based news sources and advertising/trading platforms (such as eBay) have changed the business more than any other form of competition since broadcasting. Major newspapers have responded by focusing more on local and specialized content, and by providing their own Internet content. But the business models for the newspaper business remain “in flux” as consultants politely say. My post-visit impression is that this external challenge causes far more anxiety within the ranks of Globe people, compared to accusations of liberal bias.

The Liturgy of the Hours
The most persistent impression to a new visitor is of the cavernous newsroom, which is on the 2^nd floor and runs at least half the length of the building. When you see pictures of the room, it looks light and airy, but my recollection is of a very well-worn interior environment. The wear comes from almost continuous occupation. Each day a newspaper goes through a complete cycle as the product is produced. My visit was at the very beginning of the Globe’s daily cycle, starting at around 10AM.

The content creation process continues for each day’s Globe until the ‘first edition’ of the day’s paper is released to the building’s press plant at about 10PM. The paper goes through 3 more editions each day. The 2^nd edition has updates of financial information and minor changes. The third edition has late sports stories and other content changes, especially updates to page 1 for late news. The 3^rd edition is what most subscribers living near Boston’s Route 128 beltway receive. Finally the 4^th edition is usually not a big change over the 3^rd, but it is released later and is targeted for distribution by newsstands within the city of Boston.

How do you tell which edition you are reading? The 1^st edition gets 4 tiny stars in the margin at the upper left of page 1. For each succeeding edition one star is removed. For you algorithmic types, that means the edition you are reading is expressed as 5 – S, where ‘S” is the number of stars you see in the margin.

Newspaper stories have variable gestation periods, depending upon their subject. The stores are assigned to reporters by “assigning editors”. Globe reporters are assigned to ‘beats’. This might be City Hall, Universities, the police department, or a suburban region. Senior editors at the Globe are responsible for prioritizing the stories within their own beat.

The reporter writing the story and this editor are the primary people responsible for the story’s content and accuracy. They collaborate to write the story and take primary responsibility for its accuracy. This may seem to be a fragile system, and it is. It relies on the good faith efforts of people to produce a quality product. Would extra check help to eliminate bias? I doubt it. Additional approvals would not have much value given the very tight schedule that constrains production. Besides, having fewer approvals concentrates responsibility (and accountability) for a story’s accuracy.

When a story is passed by an assigning editor, it goes to a 2^nd editor who focuses more on how well the story meets the paper’s style guidelines. The style guidelines provide a uniform guide for editing all the paper’s content. They would make interesting reading. I think responsible newspapers would do well today to publish their style guides, so that critical readers can evaluate them.

The Morning Meeting
The highlight of my visit was to attend a daily morning meeting in the Globe newsroom. There are 2 such meetings each day. The meeting is brief, lasting only 20-25 minutes. It is a meeting of Globe Senior editors, those who are responsible for various sections or departments (National, Local, Business, Health/Science, Sports, graphics, photo, etc.). The Globe’s Washington editor attends via conference call. The Globe’s Managing Editor simply calls on each editor by name and they report the top 2 or 3 stories that they plan to run, give a thumbnail sketch of each story and maybe mention where their people are now deployed. Each editor talks for only 1-2 minutes. Then the next editor is called on by name and does the same. When all the editors have had their say, the meeting ends.

Not very exciting, but it is communicative. In 20 minutes one gets a good summary description of the content of tomorrow’s Boston Globe. On the day I visited about 80% of the stories appeared in the next day’s paper, and many of those that did not appear the next day appeared a day or 2 later. Seeing the stories in the paper the next day recalled the meeting and made me appreciate its significance. It is a meeting about tomorrow’s paper. There is another such meeting in the afternoon that I understand includes some discussion of which stories should appear on page 1. But that’s it for formal meetings. The overwhelming majority of the real work is done outside of meetings (isn’t that always the way!).

Layout
I didn’t see the layout process, since it happens during the late hours of the day. What I did notice about the process is that the advertisers get first pick. In other words, the areas of each page in the day’s edition of the Globe that are committed to advertisers are marked off first and the layout editors fit the news stories into the remaining space within each section. I don’t know why this surprised me. I already knew that magazines operated this way, but had just never thought about it in the context of newspapers. The customer comes first, and the Globe is an intermediary with 2 groups of customers; subscribers and advertisers. You would expect that the group that provided the most revenue would get higher priority service, and that is what happens. No big deal. Do the Globe layout people know who has bought particular ad space? I believe they do know what firm will be advertising in each area, but they do not know the ad content.

Layout is one of the last editorial processes, and most of the layout goes on from about 6-10PM within a large circle of workstations at the south end of the Globe newsroom. Since I was visiting in the morning, this area was completely vacant. I could only see a little of the debris left over from yesterday’s layout.

The Ink-stained Wretch as Author
Another aspect of the Globe that I could see and did not expect was to get some sense of the excitement of their business. We’ve all heard many people in the news business say that they love it. We’ve also heard them say (ad nauseum) how very important their business is, and cringed at the implied arrogance. Leaving arrogance aside, it is easy to see a sort of romance in the daily creation of an intellectual product which begins in the intangible and ends up on the doorstep and in the hands of hundred of thousands of people. Frost uses this image to describe the delights of authorship:

I told him this is a pleasant life
To set your breast to the bark of trees
That all your days are dim beneath,
And reaching up with a little knife,
To loose the resin and take it down
And bring it to market when you please.

Bloggers especially should be able to appreciate this creative aspect of news-papering. Like any author, a blogger is delighted to find readers. Reporters and editors are writers, but in a collaborative, structured and sometimes chaotic process that repeats on a daily or weekly cycle. They do not have a blogger’s freedom to produce 'when they please'. Are they proud to have their work in wide circulation? I am certain of it. Are they entitled to that pride? Most of the time.

But back to media arrogance. Is there a further analogy between newspaper reporters and bloggers? Many bloggers have been sickened by the insufferable arrogance of major news media personalities (Dan Rather first comes to mind, but any such list would be long). On the other hand, I can think of other reporters who are personal heroes (Claudia Rosett, William Langewieche, and the late Mike Kelly fit in this category). Are there similar characters within the blogosphere? Certainly. The hero class for me includes Power Line, Andrew Sullivan, and many others. In the wildly over-arrogant class, I would enshrine the Wonkette and her ilk.

What contrasts Dan Rather and the Wonkette from the “heroes” is that becoming well known seemed to bring out more of their character weaknesses. The greater the fame, the greater the pathology. Character really does count. Wanting to be well-liked, well known, or well respected is not in itself a bad thing. But vice is only intemperate pursuit of what is in itself good. Hollywood is literally a global machine for identifying people who have developed extreme forms of this pathology. Our culture mistakenly refers to these as celebrities. It should not be surprising that the creep of Hollywood into the news media should result in circuses like today’s broadcast news. The same phenomenon occurs in print, but on a thankfully smaller scale, and even the blogosphere as it matures may see the same pathology in some cases.

Lessons Learned
The biggest change in my own perception of the Globe is a better appreciation for the separation between the news and the Op Ed content. These two operations go on in entirely separate but parallel processes, until they are combined in the day’s paper. The location of the Globe’s Op Ed content is well standardized within each day’s paper, but the degree of separation between the news and Op Ed processes is greater than can be communicated to the reader by just the layout. The reader often simply flips between pages . Perhaps the Globe should use red ink ( pink?) for the Op Ed content. Either of these color choices would be fitting. Seriously, since my visit I have revised upward my expectations for Globe news coverage and reduced my already low expectations for the Op Ed content. Realizing that most of what I find deeply offensive in the Globe originates in the Op Ed process helps me to enjoy the rest of paper more.

Finally, I learned some appreciation for the Globe’s esprit and for that of the whole newspaper business – a business that worries deeply about disruptive competition from the Internet in ways that remind me of the automobile business during my youth in Detroit, when today’s automotive climate of heavy government regulation and global competition was just beginning. The newspaper business has real concerns about competitors from the Internet. Yet the Globe and newspapers have at least two sustainable advantages. First, they deliver their product daily to my doorstep before breakfast in a form that, while venerable, is quite satisfying and will remain so. Second, they can marshal a relatively large group of talented people to create their product. If they do their reporting jobs well, they may even be able to support an insular Op Ed board that seems to believe their target market is the Harvard faculty, and others who react with hostility when ideologically challenged.

Say it ain't so, Joan!

2008-03-16T22:23:00.002-04:00

Joan Vennochi:

And, the Democrats are also giving up the political high ground. The battle between Obama and Clinton is mean and petty, not high-minded or inspirational. No one's debating issues, and forget about vision...Karl Rove couldn't have planned a more divisive contest.

Are you sure, Joan?

I agree with you, but your colleague Scott Lehigh reassured Democrats in the Globe just 10 days ago that this was all going to work out fine for them! Being a savvy, plugged-in Democratic thought leader and political columnist for (ahem!) the Boston Globe, Lehigh must know what he’s talking about, right Joan?

Good News is No News

2008-03-16T21:50:00.005-04:00

It is news when good news from Iraq, which is so rarely reported on the front page these days, appears there. This is due to the occasions of the 5^th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war and the 1^st anniversary of the “surge”.

Sunday’s Boston Globe headline trailer reports:

“…attacks in Baghdad and across the country have plummeted, and a relative calm has settled in…”

Who knew from reading the Globe the last 6 months? However we used to read daily front page stories about Iraq in the Globe when things were worse.

Why doesn’t the Globe get up their moxie and ask the presidential candidates about this? Or why doesn’t the Globe editorial cloister comment on their 2007 pre-surge editorial “Bush's refusal to face reality?”

THE INCREASE of US forces in Iraq that President Bush announced last night offers practically no chance of thwarting the Sunni Arab insurgency or quelling the sectarian civil war that is turning life there into a nightmarish inferno for Sunnis and Shi'ites alike.

Of course Globe editorialist work entirely separately from the reporters.

Though they seem very much of like minds to me, except of course Jeff Jacoby, who has a fine column today on the political repercussions of Bush's decisions as Commander-in-chief.

Senate Elevators and Operators

2008-03-14T06:15:00.009-04:00

On page one of today’s Globe Susan Milligan reports that Hillary Clinton exaggerated her role during the Clinton administration in supporting the SCHIP program…which after all is for the children!

We are shocked, shocked.

The Globe front page photo (above) shows the junior Senator from New York inside a reserved Senate elevator. The elevator appears to have a human elevator attendant/operator. Quite a throwback! But that’s not featherbedding, we assume it is required for security.

The Globe photo brings to mind the humorous YouTube ad placed this week by Massachusetts Senate candidate Jim Ogonowski, that poked fun at official Senate perks, including the “Senators-only” elevators, which Ogonowski carefully skirted (below).

The Difference Between Law and Economics

2008-03-13T07:21:00.004-04:00

An article on gasoline pricing in my local newspaper illustrates the different perspectives of law and economics:

State law prohibits businesses from adding a surcharge to transactions when consumers pay with a credit card. But the same law does allow businesses to offer a discount to consumers who pay with cash.

Thus, explained Charles Carroll, deputy director of the state division of standards, it's legal for a gas station to charge $3.13 a gallon and then subtract 5 cents a gallon when customers pay with cash. However, it's illegal for a gas station to charge $3.08 a gallon and then add 5 cents a gallon when customers pay with a credit card.

We can be thankful to live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where consumers are so effectively protected by law from rapacious businessmen and heartless market forces.

Giving Readers Crop

2008-03-13T05:43:00.004-04:00

Today’s Boston Globe carries a New York Times story profiling Ashley Youmans, now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré. She is the young woman whose assignation by an escort service to former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer caused his resignation yesterday.

Both the Globe and the Times use the same picture of the young woman. But (in the opinion of this knuckle-dragging ignorant blogger) the cropping job performed in the newsroom removes certain details that may provide information to readers. As a public service, this blog presents above the original photo alongside the Globe’s cropped version.

Readers are invited to judge for themselves whether the Globe’s editorial choice in cropping this picture omits several parts of the story that are newsworthy. This is another example of the Globe acting, in the words of Mark Steyn, as “the genteel Victorian matron discreetly draping chintz over the provocative piano legs of the story”.

Hat Tip: Power Line

Halting "Labor Scofflaws"

2008-03-13T05:13:00.007-04:00

There is a deliciously ironic story on page B1 in today’s Globe by reporter Maria Sacchetti. It begins this way:

Governor Deval Patrick launched an initiative yesterday to crack down on unscrupulous business owners who dodge taxes and other costs by paying workers in cash or by calling them independent contractors. State officials hope that the initiative will bring in millions of dollars in revenue.

Union leaders, business owners, and others say they are being squeezed out of the market by companies that skirt the law, including hiring illegal immigrants. Such abuses are common in the building industry, critics say.

Yo, Maria! I’ve got a tip for you!

Are you looking for an example of an unscrupulous business owner who dodges taxes and other costs by paying workers in cash or by calling them independent contractors, including perhaps hiring illegal immigrants? Look no further than Publishers Circulation Fulfillment. They hire hundreds of independent contractors in the Boston area, and nobody seems to know what their immigration status is, although these “independent contractors” who deliver your own newspaper, Maria, mostly speak native Spanish or Portuguese.

PCF’s phone number, Maria, is in this want ad, but if you walk from the Globe newsroom over to the Globe business office, I believe you will find somebody who can get you in touch with the right people.

Good luck with this tip, Maria. We’ll all be waiting for your next story!

This Says A Lot

2008-03-12T07:48:00.000-04:00

Rick Klein writes at ABC News how the Clinton Campaign plans to use the 6-week interregnum in primary voting to its advantage:

But Clinton's campaign has proved more adept at seizing control of the race when no one is voting.

True, and that speaks volumes about the Clinton mode of operation.

6 Gaffes in 6 Days

2008-03-11T20:47:00.004-04:00

Now make it 6 Democratic gaffes in 6 days (in the Kinsleyan sense of “gaffe”). The first 5 are listed in the post below. The 6th and best so far is again from Geraldine Ferarro, who just won’t shut up:

In a follow-up interview today, Ferraro said her company had been deluged with vicious e-mail messages accusing her of racism. But far from backing off from her initial remark, Ferraro defended it and elaborated on it.

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," Ferraro said. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

Not bad. Tell me, Scott Lehigh, are the Dems still all excited about their long campaign?

Scott Lehigh: Democratic Cheerleader

2008-03-11T17:15:00.001-04:00

Today brings yet another superb Kinsleyan gaffe to the Democratic campaign, this time by Democrat (and Hillary Clinton supporter) Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro is a former House member from NY and was Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984. She says:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.

"I was reading an article that said young Republicans are out there campaigning for Obama because they believe he's going to be able to put an end to partisanship," Ferraro said, clearly annoyed. "Dear God! Anyone that has worked in the Congress knows that for over 200 years this country has had partisanship - that's the way our country is."

Yo, Scott Lehigh! Are you still enthused about the prospects for another 3-5 months of days like this? Just six days ago this blog laughed out loud when you assured Boston Globe readers:

Democrats will probably wish their own nomination were decided and worry that the continuing campaign will put their party at a disadvantage. They should take a deep breath. For all the fretting about divisiveness and for all the talk of attacks, the tougher fight we've seen in recent weeks has made both Obama and Clinton better candidates.…Nor has this campaign deteriorated into truly worrisome territory. It's actually been rather tame. Instead, it's generated huge excitement among Democrats…Let the contests continue.

During the last 6 days:

The Clintons dangled the VP spot in front of Obama, who responded by mocking the feeler before the Clintons rescinded it.
Gary Hart and Tom Daschle knocked the Clintons on Sunday morning TV.
Samatha Power called Hillary Clinton a “monster”, then was forced to resign.
The issue of seating the Michigan and Florida delegations remains unresolved, though still disputed, with time and money running short to resolve it.
Ferarro has all but called Obama an affirmative action baby.

That is just to mention the most notable cases!

If you’re still so enthusiastic, Scott, please let your readers know. But excuse me for suspecting that your Op Ed analysis was really just partisan cheerleading.

Hillary Clinton as Brer Rabbit

2008-03-11T00:44:00.001-04:00

Am I the only person old enough to remember the Uncle Remus story of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Tar-baby?

Or am I just the only person foolish enough to note that the Clintons' arrogant public dangling of the VP slot on their ticket in front of Obama is much like the behavior of foolish Brer Rabbit, who was angry because the mute and dangerous Tar-baby was not showing him the proper respect?

Offering Number Two

2008-03-10T07:30:00.003-04:00

From a Reuters story in today’s Boston Globe with the gaffe headline “Clintons push Obama as a running mate”("Clintons" are indeed running for president):

Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who has endorsed Obama, derided the Clintons' suggestion.

"The first threshold question about a vice president is, are you prepared to be president?" Kerry said yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"So on the one end, they are saying he's not prepared to be president. On the other hand, they're saying maybe he ought to be vice president," Kerry said.

Delightfully succinct, Senator Kerry. And from the Sunday congregation of “Meet the Press”:

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota also mocked the idea.

"It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position," Daschle said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

They are indeed running “number two” and offering “number two”.

Loves it!

2008-03-09T00:36:00.002-05:00

Democrat and former Colorado Senator Gary Hart on Hillary Clinton:

By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power. She has essentially said that the Democratic party deserves to lose unless it nominates her…For her now to claim that Senator Obama is not qualified to answer the crisis phone is the height of irony if not chutzpah, and calls into question whether her primary loyalty is to the Democratic party and the nation or to her own ambition.

Thanks, Gary. Welcome to the vast right wing conspiracy. Could not have said it better myself.

Conservative bloggers can simply cut and paste quotes from Dems for the next 4 months. Take yet another deep breath, Dems.

Ain't "change" grand?

2008-03-08T09:51:00.003-05:00

Isn’t “change” going to be wonderful?

In today’s Boston Globe the front page points to a pair of stories about the politics of personal destruction and the politics of concealment. But unbelievably, not a single Republican is involved.

First, the story of an interview taken in the UK by the British paper the Scotsman of Obama confidant Samantha Power. The Globe’s story omits the full quote. Here it is:

"We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win.

"She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark.

Ms Power said of the Clinton campaign: "Here, it looks like desperation. I hope it looks like desperation there, too.

"You just look at her and think, 'Ergh'. But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."

A classic Kinsleyan gaffe.

Next the story that the Clintons will not release 1000 pages of documents related to the 100+ pardons that the Clinton administration gave on its last day in office, including one to fugitive financier Marc Rich. No mention in the Globe that the Clintons have also refused to make public their recent tax returns.

This is “change we can believe in”, huh?

Republicans can expect more of the same on a daily basis until July.

Take another deep breath, Dems.

Is this a Lamaze class?

2008-03-07T07:16:00.001-05:00

March 5: Globe columnist Scott Lehigh cheers up the Dems:

“They should take a deep breath.”

March 7: Globe columnist Ellen Goodman cheers up the Dems:

“…take a deep breath”

Driving Miss Hillary

2008-03-06T07:09:00.002-05:00

Hillary Clinton quoted in today's Boston Globe story "Trench warfare for a party's soul":

Sounding newly confident, Clinton even hinted at the possibility of Obama as her running mate. Asked on CBS's "The Early Show" whether she and Obama should form the so-called dream ticket that some Democrats want, she replied, "That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me."

Haven't they read Scott Lehigh?

2008-03-06T00:32:00.003-05:00

From the lead story in Thursday's WSJ on Obama and Clinton (subscription required):

Their battle is now certain to go on at least to the next big-state showdown April 22 in Pennsylvania, leaving Democratic leaders worried it will drain the party of cash and unity -- and produce a nominee bloodied by attacks that Republicans can adopt as their own.
The deepening rift contrasted with the Republicans, where Sen. John McCain, after sealing his nomination Tuesday, started mobilizing his support and raising money for the general election.

Impossible! Haven't these reporters read Scott Lehigh's superb analysis in yesterday's Boston Globe?

Riding the Redeye

2008-03-06T00:06:00.003-05:00

I'm riding the red-eye tonight so I'll miss Thursday's Boston Globe.

There's a great AP story in Wednesday's Globe about this newly discovered photo of Helen Keller as a child with her teacher, Anne Sullivan. They had been together only about a year when the photo was taken.

Keller lived in my town, Wrentham, for years.

Boston Globe: Hillary Clinton now "more likable"

2008-03-05T06:27:00.006-05:00

The Republicans are indeed lucky in their political opponents. After last night the prospect for the Democrats is to have their nomination decided by the preferences of their Super delegates and/or a convention credentials fight over the disenfranchised Michigan and Florida delegations. It appears quite likely that the nominee will not be known until the actual convention floor vote. While this is certainly “exciting” to watch, it is no way to begin a united and successful national campaign. Ask Hubert Humphrey. He lost to an opponent far less appealing than John McCain.

The Clintons and Obama will continue to spend vast amounts of money and energy struggling against each other for weeks to come. They will continue to split the primaries evenly, and thus split their party evenly as well. For the next few months both of them must still compete for the support of the extreme left of their party. Democratic primary voting has also broken along racial lines in that Obama is polling overwhelming majorities of the African-American vote. The Democrats cannot now nominate Clinton without giving an unforgettable and historic insult to their party’s most loyal voting block.

Clinton still trails in delegates, but the Clintons will never give up. Obama-smitten and Jagermesiter-hazed, Andrew Sullivan accurately observes of their character:

This is how the Clintons usually prevail - they grind you down. They don't care what happens to their party or their country (remember the 1990s?). They have no shame and no scruples. They will say anything. But they will never willingly relinquish power or the chance of power. In a free country, that is their right. And I'm not impugning that. But the refusal ever to concede or to champion others or to settle for a mere eight years in the White House is in their blood. You can only defeat them if you treat them as they would treat you.

Today’s Boston Globe has a good story on the campaign by reporters Scott Helman and Susan Milligan, and a very partisan (and doubtful) Op Ed analysis by columnist Scott Lehigh, who maintains that the Democratic campaign is not headed to a train wreck but rather toward an exciting finish. One passage demands a fisking:

Democrats will probably wish their own nomination were decided and worry that the continuing campaign will put their party at a disadvantage.

Not just probably, Scott. It is their one point of agreement at this moment.

They should take a deep breath.

For all the fretting about divisiveness and for all the talk of attacks, the tougher fight we've seen in recent weeks has made both Obama and Clinton better candidates.

But only one of these better candidates can be the nominee. A large segment of the party continues to become more deeply invested in a candidate who eventually will lose the nomination. This is nothing short of a Godsend for Republicans, who desperately need such miracles and now watch in astonishment as they continue to occur.

An indifferent debater when this started, Obama has developed into a convincing verbal combatant, and a particularly adroit counterpuncher. An awkward and presumptuous frontrunner, Clinton has become a feisty, and more likable, underdog.

Lehigh is truly stretching to complement Hillary here. “More likable” indeed! More likable than whom? Richard Nixon, perhaps?

Hillary is often compared to one female character in the Wizard of Oz. This comparison is unfair to the Oz character, who never makes her audience cringe by pretending to be something other than what she actually is.

Nor has this campaign deteriorated into truly worrisome territory. It's actually been rather tame. Instead, it's generated huge excitement among Democrats.

Let the contests continue.

Indeed they will, Scott. And despite your spinning, Republicans can now expect even more good news in the days to come.

Thank you, Democrats! Thank you.

Ecoterrorism is different

2008-03-04T06:37:00.018-05:00

You won’t find any reference to this AP story on the Globe’s front page. The Globe’s shameful half-truth of a headline is “3 luxury homes burn near Seattle”. The story begins like this:
WOODINVILLE, Wash. - Fires gutted three multimillion-dollar model homes in a Seattle suburb yesterday, and authorities found a sign purportedly left by ecoterrorists that mocks claims that the homes were environmentally friendly. "Built Green? Nope black!" said the spray-painted sign that bore the initials of the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front. Crews removed explosive devices found in the homes…
Do you suppose that if some unhinged right-to-life wingnut had firebombed a Seattle abortion clinic instead, the press coverage and commentary would be more extensive? Do you think the story would be left off the front page? Would the headline disingenuously read "Clinic burns near Seattle"? But this story is “merely” an attack on property. Ecoterrorism is different and not as newsworthy, I presume.

P.S. This is the most dishonest Globe headline I have seen since a suicide bombing was reported as a “Fatal blast in Israel”.

An Understated Globe Headline

2008-03-03T16:18:00.007-05:00

The Clinton's ability to spin their press coverage remains astounding. If Obama had lost 10 consecutive primary/caucuses to Hillary Clinton (as she now has to him), can you image the front page headline of the Boston Globe reading "Urgency growing for Obama"?

I somehow doubt it.

Markets still exist, as do discounts

2008-03-03T00:41:00.003-05:00

MassPIRG (wouldn’t MassPRIG be a more accurate name?) has issued a report lambasting the new more competitive market for auto insurance. The Globe dutifully ran an echo-like story on the same day, not written by Bruce Mohl (who seems to know something about the insurance business) but by reporter Jeffrey Krasner, who is far more docile at accepting and regurgitating spoon-feeding from the likes of MassPIRG.

The Globe ran an editorial on the same topic Saturday, which said:

…the Patrick administration's "managed competition" auto insurance plan could turn out to be a junker for perfectly good drivers considered poor risks in the eyes of insurers because they are young, unmarried or renters.

The Globe apparently forgot that young urban renters now benefit from large subsidies in the current scheme ($400 per year per car according to this Globe editorial. Can’t they remember?). So what is happening is the partial unwinding of this subsidy, nothing more.

The one perfectly valid point of protest is that insurers are offering discounts as important incentives to attract desirable (that is, low predicted risk) customers. The factors used to award the discounts correlate well with other factors that are prohibited by the state insurance commission for use in setting rates.

Here is an excerpt from a post 5 months ago predicting the futility of this regulatory strategy:

The ugly head of market competition emerges from yet another mole-hole!

Many companies appear to be using proxies for those factors today. Under the existing auto insurance system, where Massachusetts regulators set all the rates, companies are allowed to offer discounts on the state-set rates to members of groups or associations. Many of these groups fit targeted education, occupation, and income levels insurers believe have lower loss experience.

Horrors! Please rescue us, oh wise Commissars of Insurance!

And our always confident Massachusetts Division of Insurance gives the proletariat this statement of assurance in today's ~~Pravda~~ Globe:

"As we move to give drivers more choice and lower premiums through managed competition, we expect these discounts may become less and less relevant as a competitive environment creates lower costs for a greater number of people"

Not only are these regulators able to simultaneously set so many business policies and also set rates at the market-clearing prices, they confidently predict that the appeal of discounts will soon wither away in our worker’s paradise. Such discounts must be mere vestiges of bourgeois capitalism!

The appeal and importance of discounts is greater than ever, since rate-setting remains tightly constrained by regulatory policy. Surprise, surprise!. Regulators can do their damnedest, but competitors in a market will find a way to compete, just as rainwater will find a way to the sea.

Pinch Sulzberger Demands More Heads in Buyouts

2008-02-29T07:18:00.012-05:00

5 year trend of New York Times stock price vs. the S&P 500 Index

The Boston Globe is offering employee buyouts again, and seeking a reduction in force of 60. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s quota of heads is 20 while the flagship New York Times will reduce 100 positions.

Certainly the newspaper’s major problem is the loss of its near monopoly on local advertising revenue, but the chronic drop in circulation is a corollary. Yet the Times finds itself disrespected by a significant segment of its available market for subscribers. Rasmussen Reports this week (emphasis mine):

Just 24% of American voters have a favorable opinion of the New York Times. Forty-four percent (44%) have an unfavorable opinion and 31% are not sure. The paper’s ratings are much like a candidate’s and divide sharply along partisan and ideological lines.

By a 50% to 18% margin, liberal voters have a favorable opinion of the paper. By a 69% to 9%, conservative voters offer an unfavorable view. The newspaper earns favorable reviews from 44% of Democrats, 9% of Republicans, and 17% of those not affiliated…

I suspect opinions of the Globe are similar. John Hinderaker of Power Line blog comments:

There is a lesson here: if a newspaper devotes its resources and its inherited goodwill with the public over a period of decades to advance the interests of one of our political parties, sooner or later people will notice.

Indeed.

Granted competition from the Internet is their #1 threat, and also granted that Republicans are minorities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. But why should struggling newspapers continue to antagonize a substantial segment of potential subscribers?

Because Pinch Sulzberger is happy to do so, I’d surmise.

That is why the Globe has seen its last circulation revenue from this household.

Audience Shaping

2008-02-28T12:40:00.009-05:00

The story about the Comcast-paid seat-warmers at the recent FCC hearing was broken by the Save the Internet blog on Tuesday, as far as I can tell. Check it out. They really have the scoop.

The Herald had the story yesterday. Nothing yet on this story from The Pulse of Boston (as the Globe calls itself).

What is fascinating about this is how poorly this will action reflect on Comcast in the corporate world and the world of PR, though the same behavior is a common practice among politicians with close friends in organized labor, as the recent Deval Patrick episode shows.

A Comcastic Hearing

2008-02-28T09:36:00.006-05:00

Comcast packed this week’s FCC hearing on Comcast network management practices with Comcast employees, and held the seats with paid seat-warmers so that the Comcast employees wouldn’t have to sit there all morning.

It seems to me that Comcast has borrowed a sheet from Deval Patrick’s casino playbook.

Technology Review reports:

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice confirmed to The Associated Press that the company hired people to fill seats after the hearing room doors opened at 7 a.m. and before the 11 a.m. start. As Comcast employees arrived, they replaced the hired seat-warmers. Fitzmaurice declined to say who or how many were hired, how the company found them, or how much they were paid.

The company said it ''informed our local employees about the hearing and invited them to attend. Some employees did attend, along with many members of the general public.''

The words “invited them to attend” are deliciously euphemistic, considering that Comcast feeds their children

Discomfort = Disorder

2008-02-27T06:54:00.002-05:00

Massachusetts convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek (formerly known as Robert), who is suing the Commonwealth for a state-funded sex-change operation claims that she has not been allowed to have court-approved hair-removal treatment or access to a specialist to discuss her testosterone levels while her case is being ejudicated.

The Globe’s story repeats what to the unenlightened seems a faux-pas by the Massachusetts Corrections Department:

lawyers for prison officials said Kosilek has continued to receive adequate treatment for gender-identity disorder.

“Gender identity disorder”? What possible gender identity is today allowed to be classified as a disorder? None I can think of offhand (being personally out-of-date in such matters), but Wikipedia explains:

The core symptom of gender identity disorders is gender dysphoria, literally being uncomfortable with one's assigned gender.

So, the shrinks explain to us, our gender identity is only a problem if it makes us uncomfortable.

To what degree?

MassBay President Berotte Joseph: "Great job, Queenie!"

2008-02-26T12:44:00.002-05:00

Carole Berotte Joseph, president of MassBay Community College (unaffectionately known on campus as “the Queen from Duchess County”) has made the news in the Boston Globe once again today.

Joseph spent $90,000 of school funds on her own presidential inauguration. Last July the MBCC nursing program was sanctioned for understaffing. In November the MBCC faculty passed a vote of no confidence in Joseph, accusing her of creating “institutional chaos”. Today the Globe reveals that MBCC spent between $452,000 and $614,000 for consultants during the past fiscal year. The school’s total annual budget was $37M. The largest consulting engagement reported by the Globe was for a local branding consultant, Forge Worldwide.

The graph above shows per-student spending at various community colleges as reported in the Globe’s article, using the $614,000 figure for MassBay, which the Globe cited.

Ms. Joseph’s regal response is that “Criticisms about spending in the public relations and marketing areas are shortsighted.” The Globe reports:

information technology services, which had been completely outsourced, are now done in-house.

That’s bucking a global trend! If the school cannot attract and maintain enough nursing faculty to avoid censure, how well can it attract and maintain IT professionals and programs? We shall see, as Ms. Joseph continues to fly into the ground while the MBCC Board of Trustees enables her.

Of course if Joseph was a white male rather than a Haitian female, she would likely be long gone by now. But because only racism could motivate criticism of double-minorities in power who abuse their office and institutions, she remains in place.

“Doing a great job, Queenie!”, as George W. Bush might say.

The Genteel Victorian Matron

2008-02-25T12:47:00.002-05:00

Two people were shot and wounded and a policeman was injured early Monday morning inside the Aria Boston nightclub during a melee that involved dozens of patrons. The gunman, one Damion Jamaal-Anthony Haley, was arrested at the scene and already had 6 outstanding warrants.

Boston Herald readers are told that the evening’s event was sponsored by “Girls Gone Wild” (no, I’m not linking). The Globe’s story by reporter Brian R. Ballou is yet another example of Globe journalism as “the genteel Victorian matron discreetly draping chintz over the provocative piano legs of the story” (to quote Mark Steyn ). The Globe editors apparently decided that the type of event was irrelevant to the outbreak of violence and do not report on its sponsorship.

James Carroll: "national security is bogus"

2008-02-25T12:14:00.003-05:00

James Carroll pens an astoundingly obtuse Boston Globe column today, even by Globe standards (“The ghost story”). But Carroll does articulate his amazing assumptions about our nation’s defense. He declares that the concept of national security is “bogus” is that our military expenditures are a hopeless attempt to “escape from the existential dread that comes with life”.

Somehow, I still believe our investment in a common defense is an attempt to reduce (not eliminate) the risk posed to the United States by nations and parties that wish us ill. Carroll clearly disagrees. He insists on the concept of “security” being a binary variable, rather than a matter of degree.

OK, Democrats (including Barack and Hillary), it’s time to give your own answer. Do you agree with the James Carroll, or not?

Excerpt:

In this era, humans have been cut loose from ancient moorings of meaning and purpose. The context within which this condition is most manifest in the United States is the debate - or, more precisely, the lack thereof - over what is called "national security." The phrase is potent because it promises something that is impossible, since the human condition is by definition insecure. When candidates vie with one another over who is most qualified to be "commander in chief," and when they unanimously promise to strengthen military readiness, they together reinforce the dominant American myth - that an extravagant social investment of treasure and talent in armed power of the group offers members of the group escape from the existential dread that comes with life on a dangerous planet. That such investment only makes the planet more dangerous matters little, since the feeling of security, rather than actual security, is the goal of the entire project…

When that consensus assumes, for example, that World War II was "good," or that the United States arms build-up "won" the Cold War, it protects the militarized economy, the status of the military-industrial elite, the iron lock of incumbents on office. Any reinterpretation of this salvation history, it is feared, would undermine the economy, disempower the elite, unsettle politics - and deprive the citizenry of meaning in an otherwise meaningless world. Voters may want change, but not change at this level. Yet "national security" is bogus - part ghost story with which the nation scares itself at bedtime, part nightly prayer with which it then goes to sleep.

Does this paper need Mark Steyn or what?

2008-02-23T21:04:00.002-05:00

No columnist would add more to the worse than mediocre Boston Globe Op Ed page than New Hampshire’s Mark Steyn. Is that why he is certain never to appear there? Such is the Globe’s complete lack of business sense. At NRO Mr. Steyn skewers both the Clintons with the same needle:

Bill Clinton understood a crude rule of show business — that, if you behave like a star, there are plenty of people who’ll treat you like one. The apotheosis of this theory was his interminable ambulatory entrance down mile after mile of corridor at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles, when Slick Willie finally out-Elvised Elvis…And, worst of all for Bill and Hill, the Dems found a new star — their first in 16 years. Look at it from Hillary’s point of view: She’d expected to run against the likes of Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd — the usual mediocrities and misfits. Then Barack Obama came along, and did what the Clintons did in 1992 — saw his opportunity and seized it. All of a sudden, she’s the Bill Richardson — worthy but dull, earthbound, and joyless, lead weights round her ankles.

She has a melancholy dignity in decline. She knows she would make the better president, but every time she tries to explain why it sounds prosaic and unromantic. Bill gave the party an appetite for slick lounge acts, and this time round Barack’s the guy delivering it in buckets of gaseous uplift. Can Barbra Streisand and the Supergays get Hillary airborne again? I doubt it. Go back to that Staples Center entrance in 2000, and try to imagine Hill walking that walk. How far would she get before the applause died away and she’d be padding that endless corridor to no audible accompaniment but the clack of her heels?