Bill Keller’s Revisionist History

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff finally got around to finishing New York Times executive editor Bill Keller’s 8000-word wet kiss to himself about his handling of the WikiLeaks documents (and manhandling of Julian Assange, apparently) over the past six months.

Along the way, Keller talked about a couple of other controversial Times reports:

The first, which was published in 2005 and won a Pulitzer Prize, revealed that the National Security Agency was eavesdropping on domestic phone conversations and e-mail without the legal courtesy of a warrant. The other, published in 2006, described a vast Treasury Departmentprogram to screen international banking records.

(Note the helpful link to the Pulitzer.)

Keller talked about the process of dealing with the White House over such delicate material, and hearkened back to 2005:

I have vivid memories of sitting in the Oval Office as President George W. Bush tried to persuade me and the paper’s publisher to withhold the eavesdropping story, saying that if we published it, we should share the blame for the next terrorist attack. We were unconvinced by his argument and published the story . . .

Yeah, after having held it for a year at the White House’s request.

But that doesn’t make as neat – or as tough – a story, does it?

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Boo-Hoo Boehner Gets Tough

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Kleenex) gave his first Sunday squawk-show interview to – surprise! – Fox News Sunday, where he said umpteen times to host Chris Wallace that he would “follow the will of the House,” which loosely translated means “I’m not answering this question.”

But the most interesting part came at the end of the interview, when Wallace posed viewer questions:

1) “Why do you cry so often . . . It makes you look weak – or strange”

(Cryin’ John’s response: “I’m not going to apologize for being emotionally attached to the things I feel most strongly about.”)

2) “We like you – why don’t you stop smoking?”

(Smokin’ John’s response: “Why do we bring this up again? You know, smoking – it’s a bad habit, but I have it. It’s a legal product, I choose to smoke – leave me alone.”)

Good for you, Mr. Smoker of the House.

Video:

Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.

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WSJ Goes Postal

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Excellent charticle on the U.S. Postal Service in the Wall Street Journal’s This Week wrap:

Among the high/lowlights:

• The USPS now handles about 150 billion pieces of mail a year vs. 200+ billion per annum in 2005-2007

• Post Office income (after expenses) has fallen from about $5 billion in 2001 to an $8 billion deficit in 2009.

• Harry S. Truman was a U.S. Postmaster

• Knute Rockne was a USPS clerk

• Rock Hudson was a letter carrier

• Walt Disney was a substitute carrier

Those last two tell you everything you need to know about the U.S. Postal Service.

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Labor Unions The Fall Guys In Central Falls, R.I. Fall

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Remember the Rhode Island city that fired the entire staff at its high school last year, only to hire them back several months later?

That was Central Falls, the subject of a current Wall Street Journal Cross Country column:

‘The City With a Bright Future’—$80 Million in the Hole

In the late 1960s, Rhode Island’s public employees got the right to collective bargaining. It was all downhill from there.

Welcome to Central Falls. Motto: “The City with a Bright Future.” Population: 19,000. Median household income: $22,000. Elevation: more than $80 million under water.

Visitors to this tiny town on the banks of the Blackstone River would never guess that it was once a prospering manufacturing hub. Thousands of Irish and Scottish immigrants flocked here in the 19th century, drawn by opportunities to work in the mills and mines. But since Rhode Island’s public employees received the right to collectively bargain in the 1960s, government unions have driven Central Falls into the ground.

Nut graf:

Last year, labor costs made up roughly 70% of Central Falls’s budget. (The finance director of Pawtucket, a neighboring town, tells me theirs is closer to 53%.) Unable to pay its bills, Central Falls wanted to declare bankruptcy, but the state intervened and put the town into receivership.

No question labor unions in America are their own worst enemy: intractable, myopic, and tin-eared.

But is it really that simple: Abolish labor unions and municipal problems magically disappear?

Sounds more simple-minded, don’t you think?

 

Image: Christian Science Monitor

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The New Republic Gets McLuhan Wrong

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

From John McWhorter’s piece in the February 3rd edition of The New Republic:

Fighting Words

IN THE WAKE OF the tragedy in Tucson, numerous commentators have called for increased policing of inflammatory language. Not literal policing, of course; what these commentators seem to want is some recognition from the culture that certain kinds of political rhetoric are so extreme that they should be universally condemned and socially marginalized.

But McWhorter wonders if it’s “really possible to do something as quixotic and indefinable as policing incendiary political language.”

The problem, he says, is that language is a runaway train:

Language exists in two forms in modern times: speech and writing. Writing is an invention only some thousands of years old, produced and received more slowly than talk. It encourages reflection, objectivity, and extended argument–something almost impossible to convey amidst the overlapping chaos of conversation. Writing is, in the McLuhanesque sense, cool.

Except – not to get technical about it – Marshall McLuhan said that print is a hot medium, that is, a medium high in information, low in involvement. A cool medium, by contrast, is low in definition and high in involvement.

It’s the difference between a lecture (hot) and a seminar (cool).

Not to get technical about it.

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Style Bustin’ (WCVB Edition)

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

From Friday’s Boston Globe Names column:

Changing channels for styleboston

Producers of styleboston celebrated the TV show’s move to Channel 5 with a party the other night at the Taj Boston.

Hold it right there.

Styleboston is not a “TV show.”

Styleboston is marketing material tricked out as programming content, a condition the hardworking staff has chronicled on numerous occasions over the past year.

From its Scene Spotter features to its Trendsetter segments, styleboston is a kept program, selling off its content to the highest bidder.

And WCVB is styleboston’s, well, rhymes with limp.

Which means not celebrating the other night were:

1) Legit journalists at WCVB who worry that styleboston’s ads-in-sheep’s-clothing will taint their legit journalism

2) Anyone who believes they have a right to know when they’re being advertised to

WCVB should not be in bed with styleboston.

In fact, no one should.

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The BBC Lays Down The Law

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

My BBC appeal about a removed comment has now been settled.

From the Beeb’s Central Communities Team:

Dear Campaign Outsider

Thank you for your email. As you say, your comment contained no content discussing the subject of the blog post it was posted beneath, just the title of your blog entry and a link to your blog, so there is very little editorial justification for the link to your site. The BBC cannot be used simply as a platform to increase the profile of other websites as this breaks the guidelines on promotion and advertising.

Regards

BBC Central Communities Team

Fair enough.

Next time, I’ll just clip ‘n’ paste the post. I don’t want to get in Dutch with the BBC again.

Not to be confused with the Dutch Caribbean, which the Beeb just dumped in its current cost-cutting frenzy.

Much worse than dumping me.

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Spitzermann

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Via MarketWatch:

Will Olbermann replace Parker-Spitzer?

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Keith Olbermann, who on Jan. 21 exited his “Countdown” show on MSNBC without warning, needs a job.

And CNN needs a spark at the 8 p.m. hour.

So, is it a matter of supply and demand? Perhaps Olbermann could eventually replace the flagging “Parker-Spitzer” talk show on CNN and serve as a stronger lead-in for Piers Morgan.

C’mon, MarketWatch – get creative.

Olbermann replacing the Parker-Spitzer Odd Couple is a yawn.

Olbermann-Spitzer, on the other hand, is a nightly train wreck – which is, after all, the business cable news is in business to promote.

Spitzermann.

It’s the Ultimate Keith.

Ask for it by name.

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Appealing My BBC Ban

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

So a little while ago I offhandedly mentioned how the BBC had removed a comment of mine from their website for being “advertising or promotion,” apparently because the comment included a link to this space.

I briefly flirted with the idea of posting a link to that post on the BBC site, just to test their resolve or consistency or I dunno what, but finally decided to avail myself of their appeals process to get the comment reinstated, and thereby, well,  justified.

So I sent the BBC Central Communities team the following missive:

Dear Sir or Madam:

My comment was removed because:

“Comments on the BBC blogs may be removed if they contain advertising or promotion.”

The blog my comment linked to contains no advertising. The link merely led to the post my comment mentioned.

Therefore, I respectfully request that my comment be republished.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

John Carroll

In return – so far – I received this:

Thank you for contacting us about the BBC Blog Network. We will read every email but we regret we cannot guarantee a personal reply.

But if I do get one, you’ll be the second to know.

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BBC Cuts Include . . . Me!

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Campaign Outsider

Who ratted me out to the Beeb?

The other day the hardworking staff posted a comment on a BBC.com story about Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. For a value-added element, the comment included a link to our own contribution to the SOTU chin-stroking, Dead Blogging The State Of The Union Address.

The comment went up, and all was right with the world.

Until today, when the hardcommenting staff received this:

Dear BBC blog contributor,

Thank you for contributing to a BBC blog. Unfortunately we’ve had to remove your comment below.

Comments on the BBC blogs may be removed if they contain advertising or promotion. For more information, please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/moderation.shtml#a

Please note that anyone who seriously or repeatedly breaks the House Rules may have action taken against their account.

Please do not reply to this email. For information on appeals visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/moderation.shtml

Regards,
BBC Central Communities team
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/

Ooooh . . . the Central Communities Team. Sounds downright Orwellian.

Not to mention, including a link to a blog is “advertising or promotion”?

Geez – those Brits are strict.

Of course, given the Texas chainsaw cuts the BBC is making right now, you wouldn’t think they’d have time to give me the axe.

But they did.

So now I have to decide: Do I do the same thing with this post that got the other one bounced – that is, link to it in a comment?

This requires some thought, so I’ll get back to you.

Meanwhile . . .

Free the Campaign Outsider One!

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