20070522 TimeWatch Tracker

TimesWatch Tracker

Documenting and Exposing the Liberal
Agenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest Analysis

Tuesday, May 22 , 2007

Today in TimesWatch:

(Headlines link to online postings with links to cited articles & sources)

Make sure to check out our sleek new website at www.timeswatch.org, now updated throughout the day.

Top Book Critic Loves Gore's "Fiercely Argued" Anti-Bush Screed

Liberal book critic Michiko Kakutani's review of the eco-activist (and former veep's) newest screed against Bush, "The Assault on Reason," lead Tuesday's Arts section. You can tell Kakutani liked the book because, as is her habit in such circumstances, instead of actually critiquing it, she simply pulls out chunks and strings them together into paragraphs.

"In 'The Assault on Reason' Al Gore excoriates George W. Bush, asserting that the president is 'out of touch with reality,' that his administration is so incompetent that it 'can’t manage its own way out of a horse show,' that it ignored 'clear warnings' about the terrorist threat before 9/11 and that it has made Americans less safe by 'stirring up a hornets’ nest in Iraq,' while using 'the language and politics of fear' to try to 'drive the public agenda without regard to the evidence, the facts or the public interest.'"

But don't think that Gore's book is some kind of hyper-partisan hit piece, like the kind those nasty neocons write. (Back in January 2004, Kakutani described "An End to Evil" by conservative hawks David Frum and Richard Perle as having "all the subtlety of a pit bull on steroids…smug, shrill and deliberately provocative.")

Far from it: "And yet for all its sharply voiced opinions, 'The Assault on Reason' turns out to be less a partisan, election-cycle harangue than a fiercely argued brief about the current Bush White House that is grounded in copiously footnoted citations from newspaper articles, Congressional testimony and commission reports -- a brief that is as powerful in making its points about the implications of this administration’s policies as the author’s 2006 book, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' was in making its points about the fallout of global warming."

As good as "An Inconvenient Truth"? Truly a Times' stamp of approval.

Moral Equivalency Between Israel, Palestinian Terrorists

Business as usual in the Middle East yesterday, as Israel killed four terrorists, while Palestinians killed an Israeli citizen. Yet the headline to the Tuesday story by Taghreed El-Kohdary and Steven Erlanger treated the incidents as if they were morally equivalent acts -- "Israel and Palestinian Militants Carry Out Deadly Attacks."

"The Israeli Air Force continued its strikes in Gaza on Monday, killing four members of Islamic Jihad who the Israeli Army said were preparing to launch rockets against Israel, and one member of Hamas at what it said was a bomb-making factory.

"On Monday night, an Israeli woman was killed when a Qassam rocket launched from Gaza hit a car in the Israeli town of Sderot. Two men were wounded, one moderately and one slightly. The woman, who was standing next to the car, died in a hospital. She was the ninth Israeli to die from Palestinian rocket attacks in the past seven years and the first since November; her name was not immediately released."

"Saint Albert" Ministers to the Environmental Heathens

Contributing writer James Traub went to Al Gore's Nashville mansion and talked to him by the pool for the Times' Green-centric Sunday Magazine (no mention of carbon footprints or carbon offsets) and came out with "Al Gore Has Big Plans." Sounds scary already.

But first, a little historical revisionism: "Six years after the Supreme Court declared him the loser of a presidential race that seemed his for the taking, Al Gore has attained what you can only call prophetic status; and he has done so by acting as he could not, or would not, as a candidate -- saying precisely what he believes, and saying it with clarity, passion, intellectual mastery and even, sometimes, wit. Everywhere he goes, people urge him, almost beg him, to run for the presidency. He probably won’t -- though he might. ('It’s complicated,' he told me, 'but it’s not mysterious.') He says he thinks he’d be better at it this time than he was last time. And he probably would be: Gore really does know how to hold 6,000 people in a room. But sometimes one person is one person too much for him. Given his druthers, he’d really rather talk about complexity."

Bush actually won the official vote count in Florida, the Supreme Court simply declared the decision valid.

Once he delved into the science, Traub made some unscientific leaps, extrapolating current phenomena into future hazards:

"By 2005, climate science had advanced to the point where the urgency of reducing CO2 emissions had become manifest, though only to the small circle of cognoscenti. And that was the problem. Gore had talked himself blue on the subject without making much headway. In mid-2005, he began talking to members of 'the green group,' as the environmental lobby is collectively known, about marshaling a popularizing effort. Nature has a way of chipping in on climate change, and the apocalyptic images of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans at the end of August 2005, made such a campaign seem not only more urgent but also more compelling. Gore was the obvious candidate to lead the crusade.

But the Al Gore of September 2005 was not the Saint Albert of today. That Al Gore was a harsh partisan, and all too apt a symbol of the hectoring, holier-than-thou stance of the environmental movement….And Gore says he believes that once people understand the science, they’ll share his sense of urgency. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, and balmy winters, and animals evacuating their habitats, and all those terrifying pictures of melting glaciers, that sense may already be taking hold."

Traub strengthened the flattering image of Gore (who once likened Internet critics to "digital Brownshirts" and calling the internal combustion engine the greatest enemy of mankind) as a high-minded avatar of sweet reason.

"The very fact that Gore feels that this requires an explanation shows what a high-minded rationalist he is. He says he believes that ideas were given a fair hearing on their merits until television came along and induced a kind of national trance. This is a hoary line of argument, but Gore adds a novel neuropsychological twist, explaining that the brain’s fear center, the amygdala – 'which as I’m sure you know comes from the Latin for ‘almond’ ' -- receives only a trickle of electrical impulses from the neocortex, the seat of reasoning, while sending back a torrent of data in return. This explains why 'we respond to spiders and snakes and claws and fire, but we are less likely to feel urgency and alarm if the threat to our species is perceptible only by connecting a lot of dots to make up a complex pattern that has to be interpreted by the reasoning center of the brain' -- well, it’s quite a challenge for the explainer."

(Gore's new book is "The Assault on Reason;" much of his interview with Traub is an assault on Times Watch's patience.)

"Gore used his last dram of political capital to persuade Clinton to sign the Kyoto pact; it was never sent to the Senate, where it surely would have died an ugly death. The Clinton administration thus surrendered without firing a shot. For Gore, it was a humiliating denouement."

Traub ignored the inconvenient truth that the Senate rejected the Kyoto Protocol by a 95-0 vote.

Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard has more on the Times' going ga-ga over Gore.

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Quotes of Note

NYT In Denial on Terror Plot

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Elsewhere on the Web

Parody: New York Times' "most e-mailed list" tearing newsroom apart (The Onion). :more...

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20070510 Baltimore’s 15 minutes of fame

Seems Robert Murrow of the Baltimore DPW is no Limbaugh Fan

May 10^th, 2007

Laura Vozzella and Nicole Fuller have a story in the Baltimore Sun about how Baltimore has had 15 minutes of national spotlight fame…

Meanwhile, it seems that Baltimore Department of Public Works employee Robert Murrow is no Rush Limbaugh fan.

Gee, imagine that. In Baltimore. In cobalt-blue Maryland. Oh, I’m shocked.

In a town so tough that most murders get just a few paragraphs in the paper, somebody called The Sun about 8 a.m. Thursday with a tip about a vandalized billboard.

By noon, the story was all over the Internet, Rush Limbaugh was kicking off his national radio show with it, and City Hall was fielding calls from as far away as California. By 5 p.m., the story had become one of the three most popular individual articles in the history of the paper's Web site, with nearly 200,000 page views.

There's a reason the story had legs. The paint-splattered billboard featured Limbaugh's mug. And the tipster was a spokesman for a city agency -- the one responsible for cleaning up graffiti -- who let it be known that he was no "dittohead."

I was amused with the quip:

Sometimes public officials have second thoughts after they say something on the record and try to take it back. And sometimes, especially if the officials aren't very high-ranking and the news value isn't that great, reporters will let them off the hook.

Since when has a Baltimore Sun reporter had the humanity to not punch-up a story with a trivial off-moment at someone’s expense?[1]

"Something can go from zero to a million miles an hour in a couple of clicks," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "That makes us sort of a hair-trigger world."

With the increased mercurial nature of “news” these days (especially when it represents a manifestation of the coarsening of the public dialogue) comes an increased responsibility. Always think before one engages the mouth and taps on the keyboard and contemplates hitting the “send” button.

In the words of one of my liberal critics, who has never seen fit to follow his own advice, “Words have meaning.”

In the past, words only had meaning if you were a conservative. Liberals were exempt and seem too frequently to get the benefit of “reporters will let them off the hook.”

Aside from how repugnant Imus’ words were about a class women’s basketball team, was the fact that Imus was often considered the darling of the left - - and many of us conservatives were dumbfounded to watch the likes of the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson go after him with such alacrity and success.

For many, the differences between the mouths of Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson and Imus are relatively indistinguishable. At least so I am told. Imus was never my cup of tea and I don’t believe I ever listened to a minute of his show. And I have always avoided bestowing any credibility to Rev. Sharpton or Rev. Jackson.

Often the relatively unspoken cynical humor when someone like Imus commits a faux paux is to suggest they change parties and everything will be forgiven.

But apparently Mr. Murrow’s taste for Mr. Limbaugh did not get him a pass from the Baltimore Sun either.

I pay little attention to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Rosie O’Donnell, or Ann Coulter – except for the occasional humor factor.

And at the kitchen table level of most American families the red-blue thing is not real and only fodder for cable news and partisan newspapers who masquerade as neutral news providers…

I thought Alec Baldwin’s vituperative outburst was a private matter and should not have been fodder for “news.” As was also Senator Barack Obama’s recent gaffe about “10,000 dying in the Kansas tornado…

So is the mercurial nature of what some folks consider to be “news” these days really doing the public a service?

Perhaps what is “news” these days is the level of unchecked violence in Baltimore City with seemingly no hope for an end…

Many folks have suggested that as a result of the last election which saw the Democrats re-take the Maryland Statehouse and make gains in the Maryland General Assembly; the Baltimore Sun would have to start going after liberals… Too few conservatives to misrepresent…

Well, maybe yes and maybe no. Many of the recent dynamics in Maryland politics that would have caused uproar when there were conservatives in decision-making roles have barely been mentioned since last November’s election…

So should have the Baltimore Sun identified Mr. Murrow and gained fifteen minutes of fame off the back of an otherwise hardworking city employee who is actually a human being?

You be the judge. He is – for the most part - not a spokesperson for the Baltimore Public Works Department; Kurt Kocher is.

Mr. Murrow’s chief sin was being a paper cut in shark infested waters.

Unfortunately the Baltimore Sun was rewarded for it and that only encourages more folks to lose their voice when working with a Baltimore Sun reporter. One doubts that the Baltimore Sun thought of that as accountability is not in the lexicon of that august Calvert Street institution.

Mr. Kocher’s response did not surprise anyone. For those of us who have worked with him for many years, he is well known for being a squared-away kinda guy.

Of course, the other relatively un-discussed portion of this story is the fact that anyone would find Rush Limbaugh threatening enough to feel the need to deface his picture. And that is a subject for another moment of stolen time at the keyboard.

Meanwhile, yes, Mr. Kocher’s admonishment was appropriate. Now that we’ve covered that base; let’s give Mr. Murrow a raise… for being a real person.

_____

[1] Then again, maybe I should take that back… After a disastrous string of reporters in Carroll County who would bash their mothers in order to hype a misleading story – and attempt to get reassigned away from the Carroll County beat; recently folks are saying that they are getting to a comfort level with Laura McCandlish, who seems to be human after all. Ms. McCandlish seems to be overcoming the distrust the Carroll County office of the Sun took years to earn. Nevertheless, there are still folks who avoid the Carroll Sun like the plague and that is really not fair to Ms. McCandlish, who seems to be trying hard Hiring an actual human being to be the lead on the Carroll County beat must have been a mistake. But I digress.

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20070402 Baltimore Sun parent company sells to Zell

Baltimore Sun parent company sells to Zell

April 2, 2007

The Baltimore Sun is carrying a story:

“The parent of The Sun, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Cubs announced today that it is selling itself to real estate mogul Sam Zell.”

[…]

The sale is the latest transformation for The Sun, which was founded by the Abell family in 1837. And it comes as the media industry is beset by a steady decline in advertising revenue and circulation.

Times Mirror Co. purchased The Sun, the former Evening Sun and WMAR-TV in 1986 from the A.S. Abell Co. for $600 million. In 2000, Tribune acquired Times Mirror, which also owned the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, in a deal valued at $8 billion in cash, stock and debt.

[…]

Theodore G. Venetoulis, a publisher and former Baltimore County executive who has been leading a local group interested in buying The Sun, said last week he is still hopeful that Tribune's new owner would have to shed some properties to pay down debt.

Venetoulis, Abell Foundation President Robert C. Embry Jr. and other unnamed civil leaders emerged as potential buyers for The Sun as Tribune put itself up for sale in September under pressure from its largest shareholder, the Chandler family. Venetoulis said the group has approached all potential buyers of Tribune to express its interest in purchasing The Sun from them should a deal go through.

Editor and Publisher has more details here: “It's Official: Tribune to Zell -- But Cubbies Not Sam's Club,” by Mark Fitzgerald.

“CHICAGO Tribune Co. is going private in a deal engineered by Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell that will give shareholders $34 a share in a two-stage transaction, the media giant announced Monday.”

The Tribune web site is carrying this story: “Tribune to Go Private for $34 Per Share.”

CHICAGO, April 2, 2007 -- With the completion of its strategic review process, Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) today announced a transaction which will result in the company going private and Tribune shareholders receiving $34 per share. Sam Zell is supporting the transaction with a $315 million investment. Shareholders will receive their consideration in a two-stage transaction.

The Los Angeles Times is carrying its own unique take on the matter: “Real estate magnate wins bidding for Tribune.”

The deal represents the second potential sale in a little more than a year of one of the nation's top newspaper operators. McClatchy Co. of Sacramento bought Knight Ridder Inc., previously the second-largest chain by circulation, in March 2006. But McClatchy's subsequent swoon on the stock market – and Tribune's trouble finding a buyer, despite its roster of marquee assets – became emblematic of the decline plaguing old media companies trying to compete with the Internet.

The transaction would … would turn the 160-year-old Tribune and its flagship Chicago Tribune … over to a quirky businessman whose previous investments have not had nearly such a high public profile.

And the deal would effectively liberate the Chandler family of California – owners of the Los Angeles Times for more than a century – from a newspaper business with which they have become disillusioned. For the second time in seven years, the Chandlers helped push The Times into the hands of new, Chicago-based owners.

In 2000, the pioneering Los Angeles family sold its control of Times Mirror Co. to Tribune…

[…]

Zell, a maverick who fancies Ducati motorcyles, leather jackets and rousing games of paintball, had himself not entered the bidding until early February, after Tribune's deadline for offers.

Reading the rest of the Los Angeles Times piece is worth your time. Click here: “Real estate magnate wins bidding for Tribune.”

(Note: I have a free-lance contract with Patuxent newspapers: “The Baltimore Sun Co., which has 1,550 employees, owns The Sun and several weekly community newspapers in the region through its Patuxent Publishing Co. and Homestead Publishing Co. divisions….”

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20070324 Reporters on the move

Reporters on the move

March 24^th, 2007

Saturday, March 24^th, 2007 was, I think, the first story by Justin Palk as a reporter for the Frederick News-Post.

The article, “Yard waste collection set to begin next month,” was originally published today, March 24, 2007.

Justin Palk is perhaps one of the quickest reporters with the copy, (although, most all of us agree, the reigning record holder for being consistent and prolific, is Tom Stuckey, now retired, who was the AP Bureau Chief in Annapolis for many years. Read: “Go Ask Stuckey,” which I wrote for The Tentacle on December 6^th, 2007.)

In the past I could attend the same event with Mr. Palk and by the time I got home and called Mr. Palk with a question, he will have already traveled to his office and filed his article and be headed back out the door…

Several weeks ago I learned that Mr. Palk was moving on from the Carroll County Times to the Frederick News-Post. His first day with the Frederick paper was March 20^th, 2007.

At the Frederick News-Post, he will be initially covering the City of Frederick.

I was an elected official when Mr. Palk came with the Times in May 2003. I always appreciated his no-nonsense straightforward style. Over recent years he has covered a couple of the local Carroll County municipalities and the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis.

I guess one of the reasons I seemed to consistently understand Mr. Palk was the fact that before he started with the Carroll County Times he used to be a “software developer at Veridian Systems in Ann Arbor, MI.,” according to his Carroll County Times web site bio.

The web site bio also indicates that “He received his master's degree from the University of Maryland in May 2003, and his BS in computer science and English Literature from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in December 1999.”

His articles will be missed at the Carroll County Times. Reporters come and go over at the Times, some ya miss; others – you don’t.

Mr. Palk will be missed – especially his coverage of Annapolis.

Hopefully the Frederick News-Post, which I read online, almost every day, will quickly figure out that he will attract many readers by letting him travel over to Annapolis once a week. He has developed too big a following.

We wish Mr. Palk the best over at the Frederick News-Post. Frederick’s gain is Carroll County’s loss.

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20070314 Grocery Store check out line literature

Grocery Store check out line literature

March 14, 2007 Daily Photoblog

I was minding my own business in the grocery store check out when I noticed a couple of folks ahead of me getting all animated and gesturing towards the grocery store check out line literature.

Amused and curious; when I got to that place in line I looked to the shelf and just cracked-up.

Hey, whatever floats your boat?

Who knows – maybe the articles are true?

It was first time I have ever seen folks actually purchase these papers. Except when I was younger I would purchase them from time to time for collage materials.

I could go on – but I guess I’ll stop while I’m behind.

What a hoot.

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20070305 Frederick News-Post web cast

Cliff Cumber – star of the print and now visual media

March 5^th, 2007

As all of the internet media continues to vertically integrate we find Frederick News-Post journalist Cliff Cumber debuting as a luminary of the small screen in the Frederick News-Posts’ web cast, http://fnp3.newspost.com/.

But Cliff, we gotta tell you that Tina Wiseman with “Tina Tells All,” stole the show.

When is Doug Tallman going to get a web cast with the Gazette? Or Justin Palk or Jamie Kelly with the Carroll County Times?

Maybe Ms. Wiseman knows – get her back on the screen…

Go here to find the web cast - or here. Way cool.

And let’s weigh-in on from whom we wish to see in additional web casts?

Justin Palk?

Jamie Kelly?

How about Kelsey Volkmann with the Baltimore Examiner?

Come a little closer and I’ll tell ya a secret. The Carroll County Times has some of the very best news photographers around, so what’s up with the mug shots of Jamie and Justin anyway? Gentlemen, news web casting is the next cutting edge – go grab a news photog now and get us a better publicity shot…

Kevin

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20070301 The Present Winter Union Bridge Pilot Feb 27 1920

The Present Winter Union Bridge Pilot Feb 27 1920

March 1^st, 2007

A colleague recently shared with me a quote for whom she could not remember who to credit, “February is the Monday of the year.”

February has never been my favorite month. I so dislike the short days, the cold, ice, and snow.

An old long defunct Carroll County newspaper, the Union Bridge Pilot wrote on February 27^th, 1920, “‘If March comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion,’ is another weather legend that has been handed down from early times, and is still believed by many.”

Well, let’s hope. For me, spring cannot come soon enough.

The rest of the article reads as follows. I have re-paragraphed it for easier reading. For some reason old newspapers rarely believed in paragraphs…

The Present Winter

Union Bridge Pilot, February 27, 1920.

In commenting on the weather conditions which we have just experienced the Frederick News says the following: "Three weeks of the ground-hog's reign closed Monday. During that time, it has rained 9 times, snowed five times and hailed twice. There were cold, clear and cloudy days and a few warm days.

Yesterday was St. Matthias' day, and having found plenty of ice, according to tradition he broke, and spring is at hand. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this week are emberdays which rule the weather, for three months.

"If March comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion," is another weather legend that has been handed down from early times, and is still believed by many.

During the past 12 years, this prophesy has never failed, said one resident yesterday, in speaking about weather legends. "Still another prediction calls for a wintery March. The caterpillar was black at the tail, and this signifies that the latter part of the winter will be the hardest. The only question raised is to decide whether February is to be considered the last of winter. February is really the last winter month, as spring begins the third week in March. The chickens were heavily feathered which called for a hard winter. "

People in discussing the weather predictions for the next month differ on the question as to whether the end of the winter is at hand or whether March must be considered.

According to time worn predictions March of 1920 will be considered a part of this winter, and the hardest part of the winter is ahead. A late spring is looked for, but this is merely supposition on the part of ones making the prophesy."

20070226 A twelve-year old sets the Washington Post straight

A twelve-year old sets the Washington Post straight.

February 26^th, 2007

Fishbowl DC had an interesting post today in which it called to our attention a letter from a 12 year old who says that she does too read the newspaper.

Not only can she read – but she can write also.

Well, I gotta tell ya. I teach an after school class at a middle school. This semester we are using the “Newspapers in Education” curriculum because I also worried that young adults are not reading the newspaper.

Oh how wrong was I.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how much that age group is reading the newspaper… Of course much of it is determined by what they observe at home.

When asked why such-and-such was their favorite section, often the response was because a parent liked that section…

Find the Fishbowl post here: “Monday, Feb 26 Little Kids With Big News Appetites”

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20070210 The Examiner hires Pentagon Veteran journalist Rowan Scarborough

The Examiner hires Pentagon Veteran journalist Rowan Scarborough

Saturday, February 10^th, 2007

The Examiner is reporting that it has hired veteran Pentagon journalist, Rowan Scarborough.

In an article written by Michael Neibauer on February 10^th, 2007, the paper reports that Mr. Scarborough, “has covered national security since 1989 for The Washington Times” and written book about Donald Rumsfeld called Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander.

“Given the times we live in, our readers deserve timely and knowledgeable information about a broad range of national security issues,” said Stephen G. Smith, The Examiner’s executive editor. “As a Pentagon reporter for The Washington Times over the past 18 years, Rowan has distinguished himself as the best in the field.”

Before going to the Times, Scarborough worked for Defense Week, the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal and the Salisbury (Md.) Daily Times. He served in the Navy as a hospital corpsman, graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism and completed a media fellowship at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Read the rest of the article here.

For news junkies and those specifically interested in cutting edge coverage of military issues, this is great news and will work well to round what many of us have come to understand as excellent – fair and accurate reporting of the news by The Examiner.

Kevin

Disclosure: The Examiner recently carried one of my columns, Tribute to New York Post’s Washington, D.C., Bureau Chief Deborah Orin-Eilbeck in Washington Examiner, February 7th, 2007.

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20070110 Tapscott and Surber have moved their blogs to newspapers

Mark Tapscott and Don Surber have moved their blogs to newspapers.

January 10th, 2007

Don Surber has moved “Surber” to the Charleston Dailey Mail.

Mark Tapscott has moved “Tapscott’s Copy Desk Blog” to The Examiner.

For the last post on “Tapscott’s Copy Desk Blog,” go here.

For a post on “Surber,” in which he discusses moving his blog and that “Blogs may save afternoon newspapers,” go here.

These are two of my favorite blogs and I’m quite fascinated by this latest turn of events.

Although "The Tentacle" is online publication; I have one foot in the traditional print media and one foot in the blogosphere. In addition to The Tentacle online publication, I have a weekly column and I write articles for “The Westminster Eagle:” and a blog, “The Winchester Report.”

I like the independence of having a stand-alone blog. But then again, the idea of being paid for something I am already doing – and enjoy doing for long hours; is well, rather intriguing…

On the contrary, as much I enjoy the solitary of having a stand-alone blog, with no word limit and no one to answer to but my readers (and my wife,) I rather enjoy working my editors on the columns at The Tentacle and the Westminster Eagle…

Mr. Surber’s post, “Blogs may save afternoon newspapers,” is an interesting read…

Your thoughts?

Kevin

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20061228 Real Editor seems to have annoyed ScrappleFace Editor

“Real” Editor seems to have annoyed ScrappleFace Editor

ScrappleFace Editor Responds to Real Editor

December 28^th, 2006

In what is tantamount to must-read Internet, a “real” editor, from of all places, the Utopian Republic of San Francisco, seems to have attempted to take to task ScrappleFace for a satire piece he wrote, “One Year Later, Some Katrina Victims Still Slow to Respond,” and ScrappleFace drops the palliative vehicle of humor and responds.

The result is a very real and serious manifesto that cuts right to the quick of the matter, for not only the media’s response to Katrina, but much of what is wrong with our country today.

Please find the time to read his entire post: “ScrappleFace Editor Responds to Real Editor.” It is more than worth every minute of your time.

Mr. Scott wrote in his ScrappleFace post:

“In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, journalists sought someone to blame. They, predictably, found President George Bush was the best scapegoat. But in lashing out, yet again, at their favorite source of all discontent, they missed a bigger target. If anyone “out there” is to be blamed, it is the large, remote, centralized federal government which has become a surrogate father to so many millions of Americans.”

[Meanwhile… I wrote several columns about the tragedy of Katrina in The Tentacle:

October 5, 2005 “Kurosawa's History of Hurricane Katrina” American Anthropologist Ernest Albert Hooten once said: "History is principally the inaccurate narration of events which ought not to have happened." How will history record Hurricane Katrina?

September 14, 2005 “Katrina – Who Did What and When?” The intemperate criticism directed at the Hurricane Katrina response – the rescue and recover efforts – is more polluted than the floodwaters of New Orleans and contributes nothing to a noble American tradition of coming together at a difficult time and helping fellow Americans in a time of need.

And

September 9, 2005 “Shut up and call the cavalry” Compassion exceeds all else in importance on the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Only the truly heartless can be left untouched. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and the rescuers.]

Mr. Ott begins the post by saying”

“… since ScrappleFace began, my little satirical stories have reached millions of people. Those who read them on the website, for the most part, understand the satirical context. However, thanks to the magic of clip-and-paste, many stories have been ripped from their context and distributed … causing consternation and ill-will in some cases. Normally, the vast editorial staff at ScrappleFace when notified of such offenses, dutifully ignores them, preferring to let the work speak for itself.

We simply continue to ply the trade of creating “fake but accurate” news that we learned in journalism school, and at the feet of Dan Rather and The New York Times.”

With that, he isn’t even warmed-up yet. It gets better.

Apparently, Mary Ratcliff, the editor of the “San Francisco Bay View,” took offense at one of the pieces and has decided to climb upon the soapbox of moral authority and lecture Mr. Ott.

Right from the get-go, one can tell what is coming. Usually such folks – total strangers – in a manifestation of their total disdain for authority and their moral superiority begin with the condescending salutation of addressing you by your first name…

“Dear Scott,

I hope the story you wrote, “One Year Later, Some Katrina Victims Still Slow to Respond“, is satire and is not based on comments actually made by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. An excerpt from your story had been sent to me, and I forwarded it to this list…”

Usually such folks are total hysterics who feed off the tender morsels of found tidbits of a story and at that - - they draw broad-sweeping, self-adulating conclusions that are inaccurate at best, if not intellectually reprehensible.

The “tender morsels” are then extrapolated to the far reaches of reduction add absurdum.

Witness:

“If your story is satire, please tell that to the people on this list. As you can see, your story has caused them immeasurable pain. Think for a moment how it would feel to be condemned by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the person next in line to become president of the U.S. if something should happen to the president and vice president…”

This priceless. San Francisco representative Nancy Pelosi has not even been coroneted the Speaker of the House and here, in one mere sentence, Ms. Ratcliff has her speaking with the imprimatur of the president. Oy vey.

Having been the CEO of a local government with a larger than average share of morally superior secular progressives in our esteemed constituency; that believes that the job of government is solve every problem known to humankind; I’ve been there and got the t-shirt.

Such folks are insufferable. Usually such precious moments are full of breathless thespian pious pithy protestations and appeals involving, “Do the right thing…;” “it’s for the children;” or “everyone agrees…”

If the performance is in a public setting, usually the local newspaper will ignore 90% of the thoughtful comments and responses of well-intentioned citizens and report upon the small minority of folks who attempted to promote their miss-guided agenda by being unpleasant.

In 2005 I chaired a public meeting in which one of these actors began to launch into a soliloquy only to pause to look around the room and discover that the press was not there. At that point she lamented the lack of the press and fell silent.

It was profound. In other words, if she couldn’t grandstand for the local press, which loves her theatrics and words of wisdom, it was not worth her time to venture an opinion. (And no, insiders should be aware that in this example it was not the “RO Factor.”)

Mr. Scott warms up by writing:

“Your email address indicates you are an editor of something. Part of an editor’s job is to check sources before “going to press.” You clipped and pasted a bit forwarded to you from a satire website and sent it out as if it were something that Rep. Nancy Pelosi said. Now, you have asked me to write to this group of people (on a listserv) who have endured some of the harsh realities of life, that I might somehow atone for the confusion you have caused.”

He then continues later with:

“Over the decades, we have ceded power, authority and responsibility to the federal government far beyond anything envisioned or desired by our founders. As a result, instead relying on our own intelligence, resources and ability to work with others in our communities to solve problems, we have turned to Washington D.C..

This is not a matter of ‘blaming the victim’, because the victim has become so immersed in this twisted view of human life that he cannot see what has happened. The federal government’s dehumanizing effect has torn up neighborhoods, torn apart families and turned brave, capable people into compliant recipients of redistributed wealth.”

Mr. Scott at this point just gets better and better – and better.

Read the entire post here.

I hope Mr. Scott runs for president in 2008.

####

20061214 10 Most Read Articles on NYTimes from the past two weeks

10 Most Read Articles on NYTimes.com from the past two weeks

@TIMES - Inside NYTimes.com

Thursday, December 14, 2006

-----------------------------------------

Here are the 10 Most Read Articles on NYTimes.com from the past two weeks (as of 9 a.m. ET, December 14).

=========================================

1) Rumsfeld Memo Proposed 'Major Adjustment' in Iraq By MICHAEL R. GORDON and DAVID S. CLOUD

Published: December 3, 2006

Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H.

Rumsfeld submitted a memo to the White House that acknowledged that the administration's strategy in Iraq was not working.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/world/middleeast/03military.html?ex=1181451600&en=41324795eaad1313&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at1

2) Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect's Isolation By DEBORAH SONTAG

Published: December 4, 2006

A tape provides the first concrete glimpse inside the incarceration of Jose Padilla, whose detention became a test case in the fight against terrorism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/us/04detain.html?ex=1181451600&en=d58e5bb93ae22a66&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at2

3) Dueling Views Pit Baker Against Rice

By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: December 8, 2006

Many of the critiques in the Iraq Study Group's report boil down to the differing views of a former secretary of state and the current one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/world/middleeast/08diplo.html?ex=1181451600&en=89238c88009b4f8f&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at3

4) An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Published: November 29, 2006

The Antikythera Mechanism contains "an unexpected degree of technical sophistication," scientists said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/science/30computecnd.html?ex=1181451600&en=b6e37ebf2f33883a&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at4

5) Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn't Clear By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN

Published: December 2, 2006

Children who do not conform to gender norms are starting to be supported in their choice by parents and doctors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/02child.html?ex=1181451600&en=0de9c781cd024c23&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at5

6) Prisoners of Sex

By NEGAR AZIMI

Published: December 3, 2006

In Egypt and across the Arab world, homosexuality is becoming a political issue. But as gay people become more visible, they could wind up even less free.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/magazine/03arabs.html?ex=1181451600&en=c2a93022121d5a92&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at6

7) Off to College Alone, Shadowed by Mental Illness By LYNETTE CLEMETSON

Published: December 8, 2006

For young people with serious mental disorders, the transition to college can be particularly fraught.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/health/08Kids.html?ex=1181451600&en=70a85891d162a834&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at7

8) Early 'Maybe' From Obama Jolts '08 Field By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: December 4, 2006

Senator Barack Obama's move has created complications for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/washington/04candidates.html?ex=1181451600&en=6f27c753ef7f9560&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at8

9) Praise for Gibson Film, Quandary for Oscar Voters By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: December 5, 2006

Hollywood's tight-knit community of Oscar voters may find itself facing a difficult dilemma in the coming weeks: Will they consider Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" for an Academy Award?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/movies/05apoc.html?ex=1181451600&en=719c8c8b146a7acc&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at9

10) The Weighty Responsibility of Drinking for Two By JULIA MOSKIN

Published: November 29, 2006

Americans' complicated relationship with food and drink -- in which everything desirable is also potentially dangerous -- only becomes magnified in pregnancy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/dining/29preg.html?ex=1181538000&en=6c6e85af699f7ed8&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at10

TimesSelect

=========================================

The Perfect Gift - This holiday season, give TimesSelect gift subscriptions to your friends, family and co-workers.

http://www.nytimes.com/products/timesselect/egctssell.html?excamp=mkt_at11

Travel

=========================================

Where to go in 2007

The party destination of 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10Istanbul.html?ex=1181538000&en=2b5f836aa72e9e9f&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at12

The luxury destination of 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10zambia.html?ex=1181538000&en=a0ce827c15572f92&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at13

The family destination of 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10family.html?ex=1181538000&en=4a431c0eda5f0a98&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at14

DealBook

=========================================

Craigslist Meets the Capitalists

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/craigslist-meets-the-capitalists/?excamp=mkt_at15

The Double-Bonus Game

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/commentary-beat-the-clock-and-get-a-double-bonus/?excamp=mkt_at16

Goldman's Other Magic Number: $16.5 Billion

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/goldmans-other-magic-number-165-billion/?excamp=mkt_at17

Technology

=========================================

Holiday gift ideas

10 most popular cellphones

http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/products/cellphones/popular.html?excamp=mkt_at18

10 most popular digital cameras

http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/products/cameras/popular.html?excamp=mkt_at19

10 most popular camcorders

http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/products/camcorders/popular.html?excamp=mkt_at20