Haven't blogged here for a while but had to say something about Jose Vargas's moving account of his life as an undocumented alien.
In all evidence, Vargas is a massively talented, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who anguished over the secret of being an illegal alien for 18 years -- what a story! His simple, straightforward account deserves another Pulitzer in a category that doesn't exist.
A sidebar is how the pusillanimous Post once again failed itself and failed journalism in spiking the story. I'm glad I already canceled my subscription (and earlier this week rejected another desperate call to re-subscribe for pennies an issue). Graham should retire and Brauchli should be fired. Once again, the New York Times proved itself virtually the sole hope for the future of daily journalism in this country.
But the main story, and hopefully the main impact, is to address this burning issue and to find a political solution. The government faces the choice of deporting Vargas, not likely to be a very popular move, or proposing a solution to illegal immigration. We'll see what happens.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Paul Benedict Arnold Krugman?
Oh my, Paul Krugman appears to have defected to the troglodytes with a superficial swipe at Modern Monetary Theory.
Fortunately, the ever-vigilant Bill Mitchell is ready to reply chapter and verse.
The question is, since Krugman himself says the argument is not really topical right now, is why he has a bee in his bonnet to make this point now?
Fortunately, the ever-vigilant Bill Mitchell is ready to reply chapter and verse.
The question is, since Krugman himself says the argument is not really topical right now, is why he has a bee in his bonnet to make this point now?
Politico
More evidence that Politico is moving toward a pronounced right-wing bias. Talking Point Memo's Josh Marshall drew attention to this story:
Let's start from a much more reasonable premise. Americans in the mid-term elections were concerned about unemployment and were unhappy with what a Democratic administration and Congress were able to achieve to reduce joblessness. So many Democrats stayed home and many others voted for Republicans.
When these Republicans got to office, they used this "mandate" to pursue a blindly ideological path of austerity designed to sabotage the role of government. People definitely don't want that and the polls reflect this fact.
As for Politico, I'm beginning to suspect that it's being groomed for sale and Murdoch is one of the prospective buyers.
There's a feature piece in Politico today that perfectly captures the assumptions most national political reporters, especially at certain publications, bring to the core questions of budgetary politics. The gist of the piece is that 'we' all agree that the message of the 2010 election was that the public has decided that government is too big and wants dramatic budget cuts. But now it seems like the governors who are really going whole hog on this -- overwhelming Republicans -- are getting really unpopular. Ergo, the public isn't really ready for the "grown-up conversation" about budgets that it seemed they might be.The actual piece by Alexander Burns is even more mind-boggingly obtuse than you would think from this critique:
It was supposed to be one of the clearest messages of the 2010 elections: Voters were finally fed up with government spending.How convoluted can a logic get?
It felt like the usual rules had changed, and that Americans were worried enough about the size of government to support a new era of belt-tightening. They wanted leaders to make the tough choices – and would stick by the ones who did.
Now, a new wave of polling has challenged that consensus, raising serious questions about whether voters really are yearning for a grown-up conversation about the cost of government — or would simply rather keep punting the problem down the road, just like in the past.
Almost every governor who’s tried to deliver a take-your-medicine message has paid a price. And widespread polling data suggests a chasm between what Americans say they want and the price they’re prepared to pay to get there.
Let's start from a much more reasonable premise. Americans in the mid-term elections were concerned about unemployment and were unhappy with what a Democratic administration and Congress were able to achieve to reduce joblessness. So many Democrats stayed home and many others voted for Republicans.
When these Republicans got to office, they used this "mandate" to pursue a blindly ideological path of austerity designed to sabotage the role of government. People definitely don't want that and the polls reflect this fact.
As for Politico, I'm beginning to suspect that it's being groomed for sale and Murdoch is one of the prospective buyers.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Exposing Christie
This front-page story exposing the lies behind Chris Christie's "straight talk" is why I switched my daily subscription to the NY Times from Washington Post:
Christie’s Talk Is Blunt, but Not Always Straight
Christie's apparent sincerity and plain truth-speaking shtick are simply deceptive courtroom practices transferred to the political arena. This is the point I was making in my earlier blog on Straight Talk.
Maybe Christie fooled juries with it and he certainly has snowed most of MSM, but his lies are too big to escape notice forever.
Christie’s Talk Is Blunt, but Not Always Straight
Christie's apparent sincerity and plain truth-speaking shtick are simply deceptive courtroom practices transferred to the political arena. This is the point I was making in my earlier blog on Straight Talk.
Maybe Christie fooled juries with it and he certainly has snowed most of MSM, but his lies are too big to escape notice forever.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Shame on the Post
The Washington Post continues its abominable, one-sided coverage of the Madison protests. The p. 3 story today, by Brady Dennis and Peter Wallsten with no dateline, again parrots Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, adopting his narrative throughout, with no counter-balancing comments or perspective from the unions. In fact, there does not appear to be a single live quote in the long story -- that is, a quote that does not come from a public appearance available to all media or a press release.
The reporters should be ashamed of themselves. The national editor or whoever is responsible for this coverage should be ashamed of himself or herself, and Marcus Brauchli should be ashamed of himself for letting the newspaper that made Watergate happen sink to this level.
The story does deal with the prank call from Ian Murphy, posing as David Koch, to Walker. Instead of exposing Walker to the ridicule he deserves for being taken in by this hoax, the reporters simply quote his affirmation to the faux Koch that "This is our moment."
Would it really kill these full-time staff reporters to pick up the phone and talk to somebody at the unions?
The reporters should be ashamed of themselves. The national editor or whoever is responsible for this coverage should be ashamed of himself or herself, and Marcus Brauchli should be ashamed of himself for letting the newspaper that made Watergate happen sink to this level.
The story does deal with the prank call from Ian Murphy, posing as David Koch, to Walker. Instead of exposing Walker to the ridicule he deserves for being taken in by this hoax, the reporters simply quote his affirmation to the faux Koch that "This is our moment."
Would it really kill these full-time staff reporters to pick up the phone and talk to somebody at the unions?
Hello New York Times
I had put my NY Times subscription back down to Sunday only because daily home delivery is a bit pricey, but yesterday, right after I canceled my Washington Post subscription, I called up to restore it to seven days a week. (But see update below.)
Yesterday, the Times had two or three stories taking a union angle on the Madison protests (while still reporting what all those governors were doing). And today it had this nice little story about Wisconsin and Indiana Democrats on the lam in Illinois.
As the great media shakeout proceeds it does look like the Times will consolidate its position as the national quality daily. They, too, do many silly things and the deterioration in quality -- in copy editing alone, for instance -- from their previous high standards is noticeable. But all in all, they still get the job done.
I do find the way overrated Andrew Ross Sorkin's shtick with his "Dealbook" annoying -- WTF kind of annoying -- but you have to take the good with the bad.
Update: Sigh. Seeing the magazine preview today in the Times online with yet another fawning portrait of Chris Christie by Matt Bai makes me realize how unsatisfactory even the Times can be.
Yesterday, the Times had two or three stories taking a union angle on the Madison protests (while still reporting what all those governors were doing). And today it had this nice little story about Wisconsin and Indiana Democrats on the lam in Illinois.
As the great media shakeout proceeds it does look like the Times will consolidate its position as the national quality daily. They, too, do many silly things and the deterioration in quality -- in copy editing alone, for instance -- from their previous high standards is noticeable. But all in all, they still get the job done.
I do find the way overrated Andrew Ross Sorkin's shtick with his "Dealbook" annoying -- WTF kind of annoying -- but you have to take the good with the bad.
Update: Sigh. Seeing the magazine preview today in the Times online with yet another fawning portrait of Chris Christie by Matt Bai makes me realize how unsatisfactory even the Times can be.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Goodbye Washington Post
I'm just staggered by the one-sided reporting in today's Post on the biggest story in the country. An off-lead story on the union protests in three states bylined by Michael A. Fletcher and Brady Dennis and datelined Trenton, N.J., of all places focuses almost exclusively on the point of view of these brave governors.
The story goes on and on like this, giving most of the facetime to the "plain-spoken" Christie, who is one of a "growing group of governors that is attacking yawning budget deficits by facing down public employees and promising not to raise taxes."
There is not a single quote from a union official, not in the top of the story, not in the middle, not in the bottom. How one-sided and irresponsible can you be and still get away with it?
It's the last straw. I've put up with the sloppy and biased reporting up until now, the useless and desperate cosmetic changes, the gutting of the reporting staff, the flippant idiocies of Dana Milbank, the rank inconsistencies of Fred Hiatt's editorial page and reluctanly renewed my subscription. But I'm calling today to cancel. Goodbye Washington Post. R.I.P.
The budget fights initiated by Republican governors represent a multi-state effort by like-minded politicians to solve budgetary problems in part by weakening public employee unions and demanding significant concessions from workers. After the November elections, Republicans now control many more state legislatures and governorships.
Although the particulars may differ - some governors are seeking to end collective bargaining rights, others are not - the state executives share both a political philosophy and a conviction that the public is prepared to support these measures if they help fix long-term budgetary problems.
Republican officials said there is no coordinated campaign underway. Governors are loosely communicating, sharing text messages and occasional phone calls as they offer moral support to one another.
The story goes on and on like this, giving most of the facetime to the "plain-spoken" Christie, who is one of a "growing group of governors that is attacking yawning budget deficits by facing down public employees and promising not to raise taxes."
There is not a single quote from a union official, not in the top of the story, not in the middle, not in the bottom. How one-sided and irresponsible can you be and still get away with it?
It's the last straw. I've put up with the sloppy and biased reporting up until now, the useless and desperate cosmetic changes, the gutting of the reporting staff, the flippant idiocies of Dana Milbank, the rank inconsistencies of Fred Hiatt's editorial page and reluctanly renewed my subscription. But I'm calling today to cancel. Goodbye Washington Post. R.I.P.
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