Did WGBH Run New Hampshire Public Television Out Of The Bay State?

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Several days ago the hardwatching staff noticed that Channel 11 and Channel 44 were missing from our television.

So we tasked (as they say) our Investigative Unit (aka the Missus) to find out what was up.

And here it is:

Channel 11 (New Hampshire Public Television) is no longer available to Massachusetts Comcast subscribers.

Channel 44 (WGBX) is now located at Channel 16 on your Comcast dial.

Handy WGBH chart:

According to credible sources, “Massachusetts PBS” grew tired of competing for viewers with “New Hampshire PBS.” So it leaned on Comcast to dump NHPTV in the Bay State.

Why, subsequently, WGBX moved from its established identity as Ch. 44 to Ch. 16 is not clear, although it’s reasonable to believe that the Boston public broadcaster just wanted a lower dial position.

Which – how to put this – was totally idiotic, since the Ch. 44 audience has a VCR flashing 12 o’clock . . . 12 o’clock . . . 12 o’clock . . . and is the last group in the world that might chase a TV station across the cable universe.

Then again, WGBH management are the same people who thought converting 89.7 FM into a news/talk radio station living off WBUR’s rejects was a good idea.

(Full disclosure: The hardworking staff used to work at WGBH. We no longer do. And we currently contribute analysis to WBUR. But that doesn’t mean we’ve gone stupid.)

WGBH, on the other hand, well . . . you be the judge.

P.S. WGBX’s move to Comcast Ch. 16 has displaced the Lifetime Channel, which currently only exists in HD format. More shuffling, no doubt, to come.

 

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Detroit Mercifully Puts The Yankees Out Of Our Misery

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

This is the way the World Series chase ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

The 2012 ALCS saw the Detroit Tigers sweep the Chernobyl – sorry, New York – Yankees, who submitted one of the most pathetic postseason performances in major league baseball history.

For those of you keeping score at home:

The numbers are just devastating, as this New York Times piece details:

In Playoffs, the $200 Million Yankees Give Their Poorest Effort

DETROIT — When it mattered most, $200 million could barely buy a hit.

The Yankees, the richest and most accomplished team in baseball, were swept from the postseason on Thursday, embarrassed and undone by a staggering and costly display of ineptitude at the plate.

Alex Rodriguez, with 647 career home runs and a $29 million salary for the 2012 season, managed a single hit against Detroit, and then was unceremoniously benched as the Tigers ran off four straight victories. Robinson Cano, widely regarded as one of the most talented players in baseball, endured an 0-for-29 streak that now stands as a major league record for postseason failure, and batted just .075 in the playoffs.

The Yankees, who led the major leagues in home runs during the regular season with 245, failed to score a single run in 20 straight innings against Detroit, scored in just 3 of 39 innings over all and never had a lead in any of the four games. The same offense that produced the second-most runs (804) in baseball during the regular season could barely manage a bloop single as the Yankees suffered their first postseason sweep since 1980 and only the fifth in their mostly glorious 27-championship history.

But entirely inglorious this year.

Exhibit Umpteen: Their .157 batting average in Game 4 for the series.

That’s not even anemic. It’s just pathetic.

Hot Stove must-read: Brian Costa’s clever piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.

A Five-Point Plan for the Yankees

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is campaigning on a five-point plan to fix the U.S. economy. But the plan leaves one all-important question unanswered: How to fix the New York Yankees?

Three years ago, I know that many Yankees fans felt a fresh excitement about the possibility of a new dynasty. When that hard-fought postseason was over, Yankees fans were eager to go back to work. They were ready to live their lives the way they always have: self-assured, superior to others, confident in their future.

This, we were told, was change we could believe in. But today, we know better. The hope created by winning the 2009 World Series has been lost. For the first time, the majority of Yankees fans doubt their children will celebrate as many championships as they did.

Just the other day, I was at a factory in Ohio, and I met a fellow working two jobs to afford a visit to Yankee Stadium. And do you know what his young boy wants for Christmas? A Baltimore Orioles hat!

Yankees fans have been patient. They have supported their team in good faith. But today, the time has come to turn the page. Now is the time to restore the promise of the Yankees, and I have a five-point plan to do it.

Check it out.

It . . . just . . . might . . . work!

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (‘Binder’ Blinders At The Boston Herald?)

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The local dailies look back at Mitt Romney’s hiring record as Massachusetts governor and see – wait for it – very different pictures. Details at IGTLTDT.

 

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Is The Mass. GOP Laundering Money For Mitt Romney?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Interesting NPR piece about the $236 million raised in the past few months by Romney Victory, Incorporated, “a joint fundraising committee that allows donors to give far more than the usual $5,000. Its limit is over $75,000 per person.”

And its horizons go far beyond that. Because Romney Victory is in part a money-laundering scheme:

Romney Victory is deploying some of its millions in a new way for presidential campaigns. It has sent $8 million payments to four states that are not in the heat of the contest. Oklahoma is about as Republican as states get, but GOP leaders there set up a committee just in time to take the Romney Victory Funds.

Political scientist Keith Gaddie is at the University of Oklahoma. He says it makes perfect sense to transfer funds to noncompetitive states.

KEITH GADDIE: The committee chairmen there don’t have their own temptations or their own needs to use the money. That means that you can move that money into a state like Colorado or Missouri or Wisconsin or Ohio where it’s needed.

Other uncontested states laundering Romney Victory money: Vermont, Idaho, and . . . Massachusetts?

State party officials in the fourth state, Massachusetts, didn’t respond to an interview request.

So the hardworking staff has sent its own interview request to the Mass. GOP.

We’ll keep you posted.

P. S. Here’s what we sent:

Greetings, Mass. GOPniks,

You’ve been accused of money-laundering for Mitt Romney by NPR’s All Things Considered.

Campaign Outsider summary:

http://bit.ly/R5IOFM

Any comment?

Sincerely,
The Hardworking Staff

‘Nuf ced.

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Mitt Romney’s Feminine Problems

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

In the wake of Barack Obama’s dope-slapping of Mitt Romney in the Boffstra at Hofstra (pat. pending), the former Massachusetts governor (R-Blinders Full of Women) is scrambling to regain his footing with female voters.

Exhibit A: This new TV spot featuring a woman plugging Romney into the Googletron.

 

Exhibit B: This new TV spot featuring former Romney female cabinet members in Massachusetts.

 

Exhibit C: This email from Romney’s former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey.

Friend,

Women have become accustomed to strong words from politicians on equality and our role in the world. They are, after all, trying to win our votes. But when Mitt Romney talks about women, when he says he believes that we can do any job a man can do, I know from experience that he’s speaking from the heart.

I served as Lt. Governor with Mitt Romney when he was Governor of Massachusetts. In fact, of the twenty top positions in the Romney administration, ten of them were filled by women, more than any other state in the nation. Romney’s Chief of Staff was a woman – Beth Myers. As we took office, our administration actively sought to recruit the best and brightest women the Commonwealth had to offer. And Governor Romney wasn’t just checking a box. He sought out our counsel, and he listened to our advice. We didn’t always agree, but we were always respected. Mitt Romney didn’t judge the people who were in his administration by their gender. He wanted the best, male or female. There’s no greater evidence that Mitt Romney will represent all Americans than his record of treating all people fairly and impartially. His was a brand of leadership that got things done by bringing people together, not dividing them.

We need that kind of leadership today. People are hurting in this country, and women especially have been suffering. The numbers are stark. Five-and-a-half million women are unemployed. Under President Obama, the number of women living in poverty has climbed to a record high of nearly twenty-six million.

Despite President Obama’s best efforts — and despite his soaring rhetoric — his policies simply haven’t worked. In the two debates we have seen so far, we’ve heard the President give excuses for his disappointments, but we haven’t heard him offer a specific plan or concrete proposals detailing how the next four years will be any different than the last four years.

We can’t afford four more years of the status quo.

What we need is change, and that is precisely what Governor Romney is offering. He has a plan that will create twelve million new jobs, one that will get our economy moving again and lift Americans back out of poverty. He’ll do it by offering strong leadership and by working across the aisle with Republicans and Democrats.

I know that he can accomplish these goals because I have seen him do it before. And when he does succeed, millions of women will have good jobs with rising pay and new opportunities to fulfill their dreams. That is the kind of empowerment and equality that we need now more than ever.

Kerry Healey

Message: I care.

About women.

At least for now.

 

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (Boston Herald: Too Much Candy!)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The feisty local tabloid is not at all pleased with the moderator of last night’s presidential debate, CNN’s Candy Crowley.  And it’s written all over their front page. Details at IGTLTDT.

 

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Correction o’ the Day (BU Today Rules!)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

From Tuesday’s New York Times:

OBITUARIES

An obituary on Wednesday about the publicist Lois Smith misstated the source of her comments that began, “I’m so glad I’m not doing publicity now.” They were taken from an interview Ms. Smith gave to the Boston University Web site BU Today, not to The Hollywood Reporter.

Go, Terriers!

 

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Dead Blogging The New York Presidential Debate And ALCS Game

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff decided to try something different last night: We listened to the presidential debate while watching the Yankee game. Any similarity between the two is purely coincidental.

9:03-9:15 “You’re a liar!”

“No, you’re a liar!”

It’s going to be a long night.

9:21 “Candy, can I just say something, here? He’s a liar!”

“No, he’s a liar!”

Are we there yet?

9:31 [Bottom 4th: Detroit 1, New York 0.]

9:35 Mitt Romney (R-I’m Talkin’ Here) drags out “top 5% will still pay 60% rate” dodge. When will someone point out that 60% of reduced tax revenues is money in top 5% pockets?

9:40 Wait – all of a sudden Romney is a proud ex-governor of Massachusetts? He balanced the budget four years running? (It’s a constitutional requirement.) He appointed a bunch of women to his cabinet? (Welcome to the 20th century.)

[The home plate umpire apparently put his contact lenses in upside down, because that pitch wasn’t even in the same zip code as the strike zone.]

9:42 Gotta ask America: Do you want to wake up every morning to Romney’s smug, condescending smile? Because he thinks even less of you than he thinks of Barack Obama (D-Is Romney Still Talking?).

9:45 Question to Romney: Are you George W. Bush in venture capital drag?

Romney: No, because I’ll crack down on China.

Obama: Anyone who thinks he’ll crack down on China is on crack.

[Top 5th: Miguel (Triple Crown) Cabrera doubles. Detroit 2, Yankees 0.]

9:50 Obama defends his first term.

9:52 Romney blowtorches his first term.

9:58 Question on immigration from a woman whose name no one can remember. Anyone got a name tag policy?

[Bottom 5th: Detroit 2, Yankees 0. Are the Bronx Bumblers really gonna get shut out again?]

10:02 Romney: No, Candy, I won’t answer your question. I’m going to continue . . . (At this point the hardlistening staff is starting to wonder if Romney’s not just a little too hot for a town hall format.)

10:08 At long last, Libya. Obama talks about Iraq, Afghanistan – anything but Libya.

[Top 6th: Three up, three down.]

10:14 Obama: Yak yak yak act of terror yak yak yak greeted caskets yak yak yak . . .

10:17 Question for Obama: What have you done about assault weapons?

Obama: Yak yak yak broader conversation yak yak yak comprehensive solutions yak yak yak . . .

(Closed captioned for the Obama-impaired: Nothing.)

Romney: Two words – Fast & Furious (also describes Yankee fans jumping ship).

10:26 Romney: On Day One I’ll declare China a currency manipulator.

Obama: China currency up 11%.

Romney: Don’t care.

(Over all, the Chinese haven’t been demonized like this since the last Fu Manchu movie.)

10:30 Last question: What’s the biggest misperception about you?

Romney: That I don’t care about the 100%.

Obama: That I believe he cares about the 100%.

[Super: “Yankees haven’t scored a run in 18 innings.”]

10:39 Merciful end to the debate.

[18 innings? Make that 19.]

11:15 [Merciful end to the game: Yankees – finally – score one in the 9th, but strand two, lose 2-1.]

 

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (Yesterday’s News Tomorrow, Globe Division)

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Question: Should the Boston Globe have cited both news sources that beat the broadsheet on the Harvard Voice story? Details at IGTLTDT.

 

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Perkins School Gets Blindsided By The Wall Street Journal

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

From Monday’s Boston Herald:

Perkins has a new vision

School for blind shortens name, introduces new Braille device

The Perkins School for the Blind is shortening its name but continuing its global mission of helping blind and visually-impaired individuals reach their full potential in society through its academic and technology offerings.

A key tool to achieve that goal will be the new Perkins SMART Brailler, which will be unveiled today at Perkins’ Watertown campus. Resembling a typewriter with Braille keys, the $1,995 device has a computer with an audio/visual output that says each letter a blind or visually-impaired user types out.

Carolyn Assa, Perkins’ executive director of communications, said the device can work in several languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Portuguese, and helps users better find their literate footing alongside sighted individuals.

That’s the latest in a long history of technological advances the Perkins School has developed. But it didn’t register with everyone.

From Monday’s Wall Street Journal:

New Gadgets Assist the Blind

Companies Are Developing Technologies That Allow Visually Impaired Users to Feel More Connected to Society

For decades, technologies to assist the blind have focused on the simple mechanics of day-to-day living—helping the visually impaired safely cross a street or turn on a stove.

Increasingly, a new generation of products is on the rise to help enhance visually impaired consumers’ emotional well-being and keep them more connected to society.

“That’s really where the frontier is,” says Julian Dailly, external-affairs director at the Royal London Society for Blind People. After all, says Mr. Dailly, the challenge of being blind can be “as much about being depressed as it is about getting down the street.”

From entertainment to fashion, a number of companies are developing new technologies that they say can help boost individual confidence and allow visually impaired users to participate more completely in society—by helping them to enjoy Broadway theater and TV programs, to pick out color-coordinated outfits and more.

No mention of Perkins in the Journal piece, but plenty of attention to Talking TV, Voiceover, and etc.

The hardworking staff might be biased here (we contribute, along with the Missus, to Perkins), but it seems a nod in Perkins’ direction might have ben appropriate in the WSJ piece.

Especially in light of this:

Globally, there are 285 million people who have some form of sight loss, including 39 million who are blind, according to the World Health Organization. The overall graying trend across Europe and the U.S., as well as significant swaths of Asia, also has increased the need for assisted-reading and other technologies to help cope with diminished vision.

Which means a whole lot of people could use an international Braille machine a lot more than a Broadway theater device.

But maybe we’re just old-fashioned in a new-fangled world.

 

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