more katrina myths de-bunked

the bogus media reporting of exaggerated and sensational claims became so ingrained in the american psyche that a musician who will be soon forgotten was compelled to ascribe racist tendencies on president bush (crooks and liars has the video).

along the same lines as a la times analysis [bugmenot login] awhile back, knight ridder examines the data of katrina deaths. an analysis of (albeit incomplete) data finds

For example, a comparison of locations where 874 bodies were recovered with U.S. Census tract data indicates that the victims weren't disproportionately poor. Another database, compiled by Knight Ridder of 486 Katrina victims from Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, suggests they also weren't disproportionately African-American.

while mother nature didn't discriminate along the lines of poverty and race, the elderly were disproportinially hurt

de-bunking katrina urban legend

in the wake of hurricane katrina, the MSM was pretty happy with its coverage of the aftermath including a 're-discovery' of race and poverty. however, it soon became apparent that the media reported exaggerated claims of deaths, crimes and environmental impact. (nevertheless, spike lee still promises his sensationalist take)

given some time and perspective, several media outlets re-evaluate the situation surrounding hurricane katrina.

libertarian reason magazine examines several of the urban legends reported as fact by the MSM. an AP account of a helicopter being fired upon painted a picture of anarchy. upon contacting every organization with helicopters operating during katrina (including the coast guard which saved 33,000 people--terrible government response...), no credible report of a helicopter under attack was found.

reason continues to dispel myths such as 7 year old rape victims and piles of dead bodies in the superdome/convention center

From a journalistic point of view, the root causes of the bogus reports were largely the same: The communication breakdown without and especially within New Orleans created an information vacuum in which wild oral rumor thrived. Reporters failed to exercise enough skepticism in passing along secondhand testimony from victims (who often just parroted what they picked up from the rumor mill), and they were far too eager to broadcast as fact apocalyptic statements from government officials—such as Mayor Ray Nagin’s prediction of 10,000 Katrina-related deaths (there were less than 900 in New Orleans at press time) and Police Superintendent Edwin Compass’ reference on The Oprah Winfrey Show to “little babies getting raped”—without factoring in discounts for incompetence and ulterior motives.

with the benefit of time and perspective, reason concludes

At the same time, it is plausible that the exaggerations helped make the outside response quicker than it otherwise would have been, potentially saving lives. As with many details of this natural and manmade disaster, we may never know.

But in the meantime, truth became a casualty, news organizations that were patting their own backs in early September were publishing protracted mea culpas by the end of the month, and reputation of a great American city has been, at least to some degree, unfairly tarnished.

the unskeptical media envisioning a sensational story partially bares the blame

feigned shock

the la times appears to appear [bugmenot login] genuinely troubled by preliminary election results from iraq.

The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month.
More clearly than any other measurement since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, preliminary results from the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections show Iraq as three lands with three distinct identities, divided by faith, goals, region, history and symbols.

while these results fall short of optimistic desires for a more national result, the results are not entirely unexpected

[The preliminary election results] show a nation starkly fragmented into ethnic and religious cantons with different aims and visions.
Nine out of 10 Iraqis in the Shiite Muslim provinces of the south voted for religious Shiite parties, according to the early results from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. Nine out of 10 Iraqis in Sunni Muslim Arab areas of central and western Iraq voted for Sunni parties. Nine out of 10 Iraqis in the Kurdish provinces of the north voted for Kurdish candidates.

la times staff reporters Borzou Daragahi and Louise Roug invoke the MSM favorite anonymous source

"Iraq is still very much in a stage of identity politics"

despite being only 2 and a half years old, iraqi elections exhibit similar characteristics to american elections, a country 2 and a half centuries old. an examination of a 2004 election breakdown reveals some voting patterns by race, religious affiliation and region demonstrate divisions along "distinct identities, divided by faith, goals, region, history and symbols" that the la times laments in iraq.

back to iraq, i think the reason for these results derive from the national slate structure of elections thusfar. once elections become 'more local', the voting and representation may not have the 'stark differences' of these recent elections.

how else do you explain a 'loser' democrat getting elected in relatively republican nevada?

anonymous animus

i realized the reason the fact that former president bill clinton authorized the rendition program has not made a big splash in the MSM over here...

the source isn't anonymous...
apparently, venerable news outlets like the NYTimes, Washington Post, LA Times, etc prefer their sources be nameless people unwilling to stand up for their beliefs (preferably placing the bush administration in a bad light)

despite the public's dislike of anonymous sourcing and the media 'ambivalence' over leaks (deemed good when it makes stories and sells papers, but bad when done by bush administration insiders), the media cannot wean itself off anonymous sources

here's a suggestion, save 'anonmyous' for STD e-cards

commercial icon lives on forever

Michael Vale, who played the Dunkin Donuts baker, passed away on christmas eve.

the "time to make the donuts" campaign lasted about 15 years, elevating the donut chain's visibility

all in the 'family'

Phyllis Klingebiel needed a kidney due to a degenerative genetic condition. since no one in her biological family proved to be a match, she faced the prospect of years of dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant.

navy man Mark Greshan stepped forward to offer his kidney.

"I'm forever indebted to this young man for this gift," Klingebiel told a newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark. "He's a walking angel on this Earth."

over the past 30 years, Klingebiel along with her husband Herbert took care of 67 foster children. Greshan entered the Klingebiel home at 7 years old, in their care for 11 years

"After six months, I knew this was my home," he said at the Klingebiels' house a day before the operation. "It wasn't 'foster child,' it was `son.'"

happynews.com (great idea for a website) serves up a picture of the happy mother and son

'fake but accurate' spreads

cbs-60 minutes-mary mapes-dan rather seemingly introduced the policy of "fake but accurate" during memogate. newsweek dutifully appropriated it during flushgate. the practice, long prevalent in movie pr and science, involves 'molding' facts to comply with a specific viewpoint.

the senior senator of massachusetts apparently adheres to this policy as well. when an anecdote he invoked to slam president bush turned out to be false, the wall street journal's best of the web details kennedy's response

Kennedy, meanwhile, apologized for slandering America's dedicated law-enforcement agents by portraying them as totalitarian thugs.
Ha ha, we fooled you! Here's the actual Kennedy response as reported by the Globe:
Laura Capps, a Kennedy spokeswoman, said last night that the senator cited "public reports" in his opinion piece. Even if the assertion was a hoax, she said, it did not detract from Kennedy's broader point that the Bush administration has gone too far in engaging in surveillance. [emphasis added]

...fake but accurate...

i very cynically add that occasionally kennedy expresses support for causes before he's against them, grasps at whatever may be politically convenient to make his point, or forgets some things when they are not convenient

the revolution will be delayed

apparently, the tweaks to the nielsen ratings methodology lead to slower ratings numbers:
MONDAY NIELSENS DELAYED
(that link may get updated, but trust me...)

adding insult to insult

my opinion of alotta people in the media is well known: out-of-touch, pessimistic, self-congratulatory (even when unwarranted), whiny...

add petty to that list.
an abc news reporter complains about dick cheney's mp3 recharging behavior...
while i don't agree with the thought, pieces on cheney's "imperial" nature have some value, not his plug etiquette

way to stand up for principle

the ny transit strike appears over.

while there appear to be a few sympathetic voices who lazily bring up race and class in their apologist accounts. time even brought up the shakespearean "pound of flesh" regarding negotiations.

however, the ny post's ryan sanger takes another view in terms of class

[T]ere is a class confrontation of a kind going on — but it's not between rich and poor. It's between the working class and what might be called the government-worker class.
The gap between the two groups has been growing for a while.
The private sector has been groaning under rising health and pension costs for years....
Yet the benefits for public-sector workers keep getting fatter and fatter.
The reason is fairly simple. While only 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized these days, some 40 percent of public-sector workers are unionized. And while the rigors of the free market forced private companies to become more efficient, the government faces no such constraints.
Instead, pliant politicians simply give the unions whatever they want, driving up health and pension costs — and sticking taxpayers (the ones trudging over the Brooklyn Bridge this week) with the bill.

the strike was essentially well-compensated workers taking an illegal action to garner even better compensation.

i don't believe the workers got the better of the pr war.

as for standing up for a principle involving public transportion, this action falls only about a little short of a truly principled action

who pays for these things?

given the questionable nature of studies, i'm always surprised of the preponderance of them.

a study in the British Medical Journal finds that the best way to counteract a hangover is...not to drink (via the uk register).

but that seems groundbreaking compared to some british outfit (via the uk register) whichadvises that skimpy outfits could leave people susceptible to the cold

public humliation as punishment

following the example of some virginia deadbeat dad measures or going old school with the pillory, some european countries may allow music companies to publish names of some some convicted file sharers. to add insult to injury, the repeat offender infringers would be required to pay for the ad space outing their own guilt.

in a slightly different vein, a florida teen pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter which he admitted on his blog (via the uk register) during the aftermath of the accident.

unlike some internet companies which appear to get a free pass, individuals are still responsible for activity on the internet.

up, up and away

while the WB struggles [bugmenot login], the young man of steel show smallville has bounced back surprisingly well in a seemingly tough time slot.

a coupla years back, WB execs (sillily) moved solid ratings hit smallville to wednesday nights where it would soon get crushed by fellow genre show lost and undercut by demographic competitor america's next top model. the guys behind smallville weren't exactly thrilled when another move would lead to a face-off against ratings stalwart survivor, buzzworthy everybody hates chris and somewhat ailing alias and the oc

Instead, in a twist that has surprised the producers and challenged the conventional wisdom of the TV industry, "Smallville" has, in its fifth season, become a standout hit for the WB. The series is having its best season, up 28% compared with last year, with an average of 5.5 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

the move may have 'helped', but as a fan of the show the 'fortress of solitude' phase of the show deserves credit too.

WB execs appear to be looking to continue smallville's success with a partial aquaman spin-off springboarding off smallville

nielsen finally acknowledges tivo

i mentioned this briefly before, but now details of the integration of pvr use into nielsen ratings become known. nielsen will begin publishing 3 sets of numbers for 'live viewing' / + same day playback / + playback within a week.

however, i didn't know the meager samplingI

Initially, the change will go nearly undetected. Next week, just 100 homes with DVRs will become part of Nielsen's sample of 9,000 homes from which national ratings are projected. [emphasis added]

so only 9000 homes outta 110 million households determine what we watch?

we don't get french benefits

just like the guy in the fedex commercial, slate's fred kaplan is always wrong...
...about NK being a legitimate partner...about a 'breakthrough' in nuke program talks 24 hrs before they predictably fall apart...counseling defeatism in iraq...declaring the vote a disaster when iraqis didn't heed his advice...then suggesting the iraq-democracy experiment doomed...

now he suggests president bush openly declare war on the iraqi people

For a brief spell a few weeks ago, President Bush departed from his monochromatic view that the Iraqi insurgents consisted entirely of Saddamists aching for a comeback and jihadist terrorists aiming for a caliphate. He acknowledged a third—and much larger—group: "ordinary Iraqis" who simply oppose occupation. Now he seems to have dropped the complexity. "The mission of American troops," he said in Sunday night's speech, has been "fighting Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists."

The omission of the third group—those who are fighting strictly against the occupation—is not a small matter. To ignore this group is to misunderstand the insurgency's dynamic, the main ingredient of its appeal, and the dilemma that underlies the stateside debate over whether to withdraw U.S. troops. [emphasis added]

is kaplan suggesting President Bush publicaly state that the "mission of the American troops" is to fight "ordinary Iraqis"?

how would that play on al-jazeera>?

putting aside the intensely stupid notion, the political process (that kaplan has pooh-poohed at pretty much every step, as noted above) is supposed to address the "ordinary iraqis", not military force.

and fellow slater wonders whether journalists are underpaid...

oh, woe is us

evidence mounts that the news media is out-of-touch, overly pessimistic, self-satisified (even if not warranted)...
one theory chalks this up to the legacy of watergate...

now, Daniel Gross wonders "Are Journalists Underpaid?"
[granted, this piece may be a satire...but i didn't grasp that]
some of the high(or low)lights:

It could also damage journalism. The journalists who write these stories about people who can't afford to live in New York can't afford to live in New York, either. And that's a trend that may prove just as corrosive to establishment media as any disruptive technology.

or bogus reporting like nyt jayson blair, cbs memogate, cnn eason jordan saying military targets journalists,.... there's just too many corrosive elements

here's where i believe this must be satire, because it's so over the top

Journalists have long suffered from what David Brooks...identified as status-income disequilibrium. Journalists received low wages compared to many of their peers and neighbors but enjoyed higher prestige and job security.

one would think the prestige and job security would be enough to offset the perceived "low wages".

Most experienced reporters and editors at the publications in question earn salaries in the low six figures. They can expect salaries to rise by a few percentage points a year, if they're lucky. Salaries that barely pierce six figures certainly aren't insulting to most Americans. But everything is relative. A couple doing quite well—he's an editor at the Journal, she's a reporter at the Times—could make up to $250,000. But after New York taxes, New York child care, and New York housing, you're not left with much. In New York City, you can't buy a co-op or a condo with only 10 percent down. In most desirable suburbs, you can't buy a starter house for less than $700,000. When children arrive, the couple has to choose between living in an expensive town with good public schools (which means long, painful commutes), or the prospect of private-school tuition at $25,000 per kid per year. Given the types of lives many journalists wish to lead—and think they're entitled to lead by virtue of their education and positions—the wages aren't anywhere near sufficient. [emphasis added]

the best part is when Gross concludes that NY journos may be "bourgeois and ambitious"...

2 late late show strategies

the late night talk show is a tough, fickle business...
just ask chevy chase, magic johnson, jon stewart, and bill maher...

being a fan of jimmy kimmel live (i have it on tivo season pass), i have witnessed several changes including removing the drinks, getting rid of weekly co-hosts, going 'unlive', changing the set
...alotta tweaks along the way

the strangest development was the ratings bump following jimmy...putting on a tie...

kimmel competitor craig ferguson has gone the other way [bugmenot login], going more casual. ditching the traditional yuck-a-minute monologue, ferguson goes more conversational and anecdotal. the article follows the evolution of a particular night's monologue

examination of media bias

given the often slanted reporting, public perception of media bias remains well-founded...

a UCLA polisci professor's study (FWIW netlingo definition) examines media outlets for left-right/conservative-liberal bias (via drudge).

somewhat surprisingly, the wall street journal news division tilts left as does drudge(!)

"One thing people should keep in mind is that our data for the Drudge Report was based almost entirely on the articles that the Drudge Report lists on other Web sites," said Groseclose. "Very little was based on the stories that Matt Drudge himself wrote. The fact that the Drudge Report appears left of center is merely a reflection of the overall bias of the media."

quite unsurprisingly, the judgement of the MSM

"[A]lmost all major media outlets tilt to the left."

of particular note, is the attempt to compare news outlets with corresponding members of congress like senator joe lieberman, former senator john breaux

to insulate the study itself from charges of bias

The researchers took numerous steps to safeguard against bias — or the appearance of same — in the work, which took close to three years to complete. They went to great lengths to ensure that as many research assistants supported Democratic candidate Al Gore in the 2000 election as supported President George Bush. They also sought no outside funding, a rarity in scholarly research.
[snip]
The results break new ground.
"Past researchers have been able to say whether an outlet is conservative or liberal, but no one has ever compared media outlets to lawmakers," Groseclose said. "Our work gives a precise characterization of the bias and relates it to known commodity — politicians."

interesting all around

when more is not better

studies (FWIW) of embryo implantation suggest the use of one embryo yields better results in terms of risk-reward. implantation and birth rates were similar whether one or more embryos were used. however, the use of a single embryo led to less risky pregnancies than multiple embryos.

i suppose fertility clinics prey on the frustration and hopes to extract more money from their clients

sullied sport of boxing

another championship fight, another controversy...

a no-name russian guy is a heavyweight champion of the world, beating a guy who only got the title because the guy who beat him was stripped for a positive drug test (did you follow that...?)

silly myth repeated almost every year

with the loss of the previously undefeated colts...

the old miami dolphins-champagne myth will be bandied about all over the place...

it's a nice little story, but not necessarily true

when a hallmark just won't do

for those people who've contracted STD's, and have difficulty breaking the news to people, their prayers have been answered...

the anonymous STD e-card

the e-card options (some disturbingly sunny) abound

headline-grabbing but weak

ny state attorney general eliot spitzer, certainly knows how to garner headlines, but not necessarily win cases.

spitzer has run into some trouble in his case against nyse head dick grasso, angering entreprenuer turned billionaire ken langone. langone dubs spitzer's tactics anti-business, going so far as to actively oppose spitzer's gubernatorial bid, in an increasingly personal battle

unclean slate

slate's fred kaplan has an astonishing record on international affairs....

assigning equal blame in the on-again-off-again negotiations regarding north korea's nuke program, before suddenly realizing the NK dictator was a bit wacky, only to loudly proclaim a breakthrough just 24 hours before it fell apart.

shafer is establishing a similar record on iraq....
after stating the iraqi constitution had a
'chance at success', then declaring its passage a 'disaster' but a week later, his premature withdrawal fixation, shafer now downplays the parliamentary elections

this stuff is so pessimistic it seems like parody

faking it

a korean scientist went public with a stem cell breakthrough about 6 months back.

apparently, it's much easier when you fake it [bugmenot login]. while specifics details of the lie are unknown, the ramifications will be widespread

If the work does prove to be largely fraudulent, it will be a major scientific setback for one of the most talked-about new avenues of biomedical research. It could also be a major political setback for the field, which has long been mired in controversy because it depends on the creation and destruction of human embryos.

unfortunately, chicanery like this may dissuade funding and support for future research

wacky wiki

i often use wikipedia as a quick reference...

however, since former journalist John Seigenthaler went public with a faulty entry, the site has been under fire. meanwhile, this site has been skeptical of the project all along.

in a bid to improve its system, wikipedia now requires registration to edit entries. at the same time, journal Nature vets scientific themed articles with relatively positive results.

[update: the uk register dashes the nature analysis with some perspective]

all in all, use wikipedia (and the rest of the internet) with some skepticism...
but who didn't know that already...?

baby on board

arizona driver Candace Dickinson comes up with a novel excuse for driving in that car pool lane despite no apparent passenger....

she claims her pregnancy should allow for the exception to the rule.

her court date is in early january, but i wouldn't get used to the $350 pending in fines

no such thing as bad publicity?

kazakhstan has had enough with sasha baron cohen's hijinx, utilizing official means to combat borat's silliness.

now, the country has pulled borat's website from under him citing silly things like rules and regulations

[note: i'm not sure why this story interests me so much...]

retro names

following the lead of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, the 'silicon valley of india' Bangalore will change it's name to Bengaluru.

while the brits basically anglicized the names to make it easier for themselves, indian officials have steadily returned to more traditional names

unbroken and unbowed

despite prominent congressmen referring to the military as "broken", and open hostility by lefty cities and institutions of 'higher education'...

personnel numbers for the military still show strength.
confidence in the mission, perhaps best demonstrated by strong re-enlistment. the recruitment problems of the past spring appear to be rectified with healthy numbers as of late

the 'next larry bird'

josh levin, slate's sports nut, examines the annoying sports media cliche to anoint the 'next larry bird'

The allure of the Bird comparison is that many of the qualities that made him great—his court vision, his anticipation, his leadership—are stereotypes associated with white basketball virtue.

levin includes reference to several 'great white hopes' like the duke big men, keith van horn, euro dirk nowitzki, even former bullet faves tom gugliotta. the players suffer the burden of comparison, and even bird doesn't particularly like the whole thing.

speaking of mega corporations

business week online's atlanta bureau chief dean foust examines the current situation of hometown giant coca-cola.

foust suggests coke is essentially thinking too small, simply tweaking its lackluster marketing strategy or slight product tweaks (that don't necessarily work). foust doesn't suggest a core company changing move, but rather the pepsi strategy of broadened its product offering with fritolay. while pepsi's strategy has succeeded to the point it has eclipsed coke in some respects, the fear of diworsification looms...

stating his case

former aol bigwig steve case left awhile back...

now, he suggests [bugmenot login] that little AOL-TimeWarner transaction he helped engineer be undone.

When the merger was announced, analysts believed that Time Warner's music, movies and magazines along with its cable systems would speed up AOL's transition from phone dial-up to broadband, and that AOL's Internet mentality would accelerate growth at Time Warner. Neither has occurred.

however, he takes the decidedly contrarian view that AOL was held back by the transaction, particularly due to the lack of true integration across the merged company.

following the example of some integrated media companies like vivendi universal and soon viacom, case prescribes a drastic corporate re-structuring along various business lines. case cites the success of warner music since it split from the parent corporation.

while there is a bit of revisionist legacy-saving rhetoric in there, there doesn't seem to be much of the fabled and often promised synergy among the divisions as currently structured.

spending other people's money

the newspaper that covers congress, the hill details some of the extravagent spending on capitol hill.

each office gets about $1.2 million to essentially run their office (that's ~$3300 a day by the way). some of the trinkets include plasma tv's, herman miller chairs, and my favorite a $3000 auto signature machine.

of course, lawmakers could return any unused money back to the treasury (and taxpayers), but some of these 'perks' appear too valuable. the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) will soon release its study of legislative office spending habits.

i can't wait to see how little fiscal responsibility is out there
(on both side of the aisle)

xbox madness

the 'see no evil, hear no evil...' policy of ebay (and internet companies in general) continues.
ebay helps defraud people looking for the much sought after xbox 360. note the "This auction is not for a Xbox 360 game system, but a picture of one" disclaimer.

speaking of wacky xbox news, even microsoft's steve ballmer's kids can't get a deal on the systems and shell out the big bucks...

control is relative

after the first coupla days of the saddam trial, several watchers suggest saddam has taken control of the proceedings...

a man complaining about underwear is not in control...

poor poor yankees

i can't really explain it, but i get a sense of glee that the yankees lost loads of money this past season.

for the last several years, the yanks have vastly outspent other teams without world series success.

perhaps, the red ink explains the relative quiet of the team this offseason.

the madness and the mania

march madness fans will be even more mad this time around as cbs will stream out-of-market games over the web through elite 8 games.

this way i can watch 2 or 3 games at a time for 12 hours straight...

more super bowl entertainment controversy

the announcement of the rolling stones as super bowl half time entertaiment caused a hubbub in host city detroit.

critics expected the nfl to delve into local motown for talent. in an attempt to make-good, the nfl adds stevie wonder as pre-game entertainment.

bad week for hillary

the ny daily news looks into $20 billion of 9/11 aid money secured by NY Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer

So whatever happened to the President's promise, which was later increased to $21.4 billion? And, what happened to the money we did get? Did it go to those who needed help the most? Or did some of it end up lining the pockets of the wealthy, the well-connected and hucksters who played the system?

Four years after 9/11, it is time to lift the veil of our collective sorrow and examine without sentimentality or fear of political incorrectness what was done with the generous commitment underwritten by American taxpayers.

the results are "sad and disheartening." the NY senators who requested the money should have been watching, but instead alotta money went to pork projects, giveaways, and (all but) fraud.

this $20 billion doesn't even include standard anti-terrorism money, nor $7 billion in victim compensation, nor any significant progress at rebuilding Ground Zero,

to make matters worse for hillary, she gets heckled at a seemingly friendly event for her (politically motivated) hawkish stance on iraq

bad economy reporting

speaking of lame media...

the media's coverage of the strong economy has been rather abysmal.

in a surprisingly balanced story [bugmenot login] maybe recent changes will succeed where the previous interesting but failed attempt did not take), the jobs report is rolled up with other recent strong data to paint a picture of the economy.

The job boost is the latest evidence that the U.S. economy has shaken off the ravages of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast and consequent higher gasoline and natural gas prices.

The government reported this week that the economy grew by a 4.3% annualized pace in the third quarter, far above the historical average near 3%. Other recent reports signaled strength in business spending, consumer confidence, new-home sales and retail sales.

but the NY Times mentions poll results [bugmenot login] suggesting bush does not get credit for the strong economy.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll last month found that 52 percent of Americans believe that the economy is getting worse, compared with 18 percent who think it is getting better. Sixty-four percent of respondents said the economy was not good or poor. A Harris poll last month found that 68 percent of Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track. Mr. Bush's approval rating last month for his handling of the economy stood at 37 percent in an Associated Press/Ipsos poll.

perhaps it's because the times all but demands the president mention iraq when talking about the economy....
or the times' incessant pooh-poohing of the economy

Moreover, Mr. Bush and his allies ignored or glossed over statistics suggesting that the economy, in the short run as well as the long run, faced big challenges.

in a wacky article, which clearly opines

By most measures, the economy appears to be doing fine. No, scratch that, it appears to be booming.

But as always with the United States economy, it is not quite that simple.

For every encouraging sign, there is an explanation.

despite all the silly nicknames implying credibility, the NY Times continues its slanted/biased and questionable behavior.

skeptical of the skeptics

ralph peters, who excellently questioned the media's coverage of military personnel numbers, continues to slaps the media in general.

A SPECTER is haunting journalism: the specter of Watergate.

Three decades ago, two young reporters became the story and crippled American journalism.
[snip]
Overnight, journalism became an upwardly mobile profession — and our country is much the worse for it.

In place of the old healthy skepticism, we have arrogant cynicism. The highest echelons of the media and government became preserves for America's most-privileged. An Ivy League degree was the ticket to a reporting job on a major daily. And incest produced the usual ugly results.

"Mainstream" newspapers lost touch with American workers because the new breed of journalists didn't know any workers.
[snip]
The other product of the Woodward-Bernstein cult was the rise of the self-adoring conviction that journalists were above patriotism, the law and common decency.
[snip]
After Watergate, patriotism became an embarrassment among journalists. They're "citizens of the world."

to make his point, Peters mentions such luminaries as Bob Woodward, Judy Miller, Dana Priest. Peters concludes

As vile as Richard Nixon was, I'm no longer certain that Woodward and Bernstein did our country a service. The post-Watergate journalist's unexamined conviction that he or she is "beyond good and evil" has done far more evil than good.

Actions have consequences. Today's journalists refuse to accept that the rule applies to them. The wages of irresponsible journalism are death — for others. Expose a crucial clandestine operation, shatter a policy or wreck a struggling state, and you get a Pulitzer Prize. The motto of journalists today is "Nothing's ever our fault."

The republic suffers.

the kids these days

unfortunately not all kids are as productive as this one...

the bbc reports (via the uk register) some kids are torturing pets for their own enjoyment, video taping it for future enjoyment. animal torture is often considered a warning sign for future bad behavior.

on a much lighter note, some go out for a joyride (again via the uk register). the uk times chimes in with the best headline while another has the picture of the offender...

well at least they may be able stop smoking...

still stinking after all these years

the story of fema's inneffectiveness has been told repeatedly. the democrats even tried to take advantage of the agency's tarnished reputation. but fema's missteps has not often been presented quite like this [bugmenot login]

The box that Jose Luis Porras Jr. refers to is a mobile home. He's glad to have a roof over his head, "but check it out," he says. "Is there any other shape to call it?"

The home is in a village of 152 trailers, divided into two clusters on the outskirts of this border town west of San Antonio. The Federal Emergency Management Agency assembled the village in the fall of 1998 to house the hundreds of evacuees, like Porras, whose houses were destroyed by a tropical storm that drenched this normally arid corner of Texas.

The village was meant to be temporary.

Seven years later, the village remains, with no plans to dismantle it. And, most disheartening for Porras, he and his family remain, along with a dozen other evacuee families who have no means of getting out.

Porras, 41, has been following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and news of the FEMA trailer villages being built for Gulf Coast evacuees. His counsel in one sentence: Beware the word "temporary." [emphasis added]

this story cannot be true...
because the then-fema director James Lee Witt who was appointed by bill clinton, dubbed a "miracle worker" by such a neutral source as clinton policy advisor bruce reed (also a DLC bigwig), supposedly turned around fema from its abysmal performance

In Washington, the common joke was that every storm brought two disasters: one when the hurricane arrived and the second when FEMA arrived.

however, several families have been stuck in housing intended for 18 months for seven years

tv sked tweaks

after fox reconsidered moving it's terrible but ratings behemoth american idol--perhaps as a sly pr move, nbc shakes up its line-up to bring back the must-see tv comedy line-up to thursday night.

i'm not sure of the wizdom of putting perhaps the lone bright spot on its schedule, the quirky and funny my name is earl, against ratings juggernaut csi...

but i'm sure nbc knows what it's doing....well, maybe not as a distant 3rd is pretty bad...

selective news reporting

with the shake-ups in tv anchors involving tom brokaw, dan rather, peter jennings, and just recently ted koppel, alotta avid newswatchers look ahead...

ny magazine does a whole 'next big star' piece and focuses a bit on anderson cooper

Life is tough for television news anchors these days, especially the ones who aren’t Anderson Cooper. Even Cooper’s having it rough lately; at last count, he’s down to only three or four fawning media profiles a week.

Much as the news chiefs might not want to admit it, Anderson Cooper is the best hope for the future

forget the fact that the best cnn can say is that he's getting beat by less...or that greta outdraws him by a million viewers...cooper is doing worse than the aaron brown, the guy he replaced...

...that's quite a star...

doctor who in america

being one of the few statesiders to have seen the bbc's new doctor who, any news of US distribution hits my radar screen.

with the second season approaching (with a new doctor), the bbc plans to issue dvd's in the US before securing a traditional tv outlet. perhaps, they are looking to follow the family guy, firefly and (in a way) the chappelle show, with solid dvd sales leading to better things down the line.

boiling down tv

in the spirit of 25 word novel summaries teevee.org summarizes today's tv crimed dramas

more decline of espn

awhile back i lamented the state of espn...

but this guy goes a step further, or about 50 steps further with an itemized list of espn flaws.

while i agree with alotta of it (stuart scott and the like adding their schtick to highlights, self-importance of sports reporters, throwing in entertainment like bad reality tv and b-grade movies), some of it not so much (olbermann can stay gone--he's king schtick)...
but it is a compelling read

serial meddler

no one can question his success, but daniel snyder definitely subscribes to a hands-on management style, evidenced by his time as Washington Redskins owner.

Baltimore has its own activist owner in O's owner Peter Angelos

since gaining control of six flags, he's decided to ditch Mr Six, the dancing old guy from the amusement park's ad campaign.

the company is in pretty bad financial shape, so snyder looks for a change in strategy.

you can NOT be serious

this night on Hardball with Chris Matthews...

Chris Matthews maintains the military should only be used for self-defense...
that so 9/10 thinking...or maybe not given Matthews state-of-mind...

and seymour hersh cannot come up with a difference between 'insurgent' and 'terrorist'...
he has to be TOLD by chris matthews that terrorist TARGET CIVILIANS...

[note: transcript to follow, if available]

just encouraging him

the borat-kazakhstan feud continues with the former soviet republic taking the iran pr strategy of an extensive ad in the NY Times, prompting more hijinx (including video) from the 'comedian'

dinosaurs to hit screens everywhere

and i'm not talking about king kong...

the rolling stones will perform at halftime of superbowl XL (with the obligatory delay)...

anything to make money and goose record sales...

i'll take fx and usa, and hold the qvc

the fcc plans to 'suggest' 'a la carte' pricing for cable channels instead of those ridiculous packages offered now.

in a bit of a reversal [bugmenot login], the fcc now surmises that consumers would pay less a la carte than in the current package scenario since consumers would only pay for what they'd want

A year ago, an initial report concluded that consumers would save money on an a la carte plan only if they subscribed to fewer than nine channels, the Journal said. The average cable subscriber watches 17 channels, the FCC staff found, suggesting a rate increase of anywhere from 14% to 30%, according to The Journal said.

the cable industry will likely 'resist' this to say the least...

media's iraq coverage and blow-back

the media loves polls, gauging sentiment, and reporting on polls gauging sentiment...

unfortunately, the media sees through the prism of perhaps the most negative outlook on iraq. [fortunately,] the negativity hasn't entirely rubbed off on the general public, the military and the iraqis themselves. in fact, the people believe all this bad-mouthing the military effort in iraq may (surprise! suprise! surprise!) lower military morale [bugmenot login], further seeing the sniping as an attempt "gain a partisan political advantage."

this past weekend, the wall street journal suggests the speech bush should give [bugmenot login].

And we are winning. Soon Iraqi forces will be able to maintain order in the few hot spots that still exist in Iraq. We will stay the course until they are ready. We made no mistake ending Saddam's rule. We have brought not only freedom to Iraq, but progress to most of the Middle East. America should be proud of what it has accomplished. America will not cut and run until the Iraqis can manage their own security, and that will happen soon.

the speech lists the accomplishments while still addressing the violence and terrorism.

unfortunately, with the sign-off of arthur chrenkoff's Good news from Iraq series, only the conservative media covers it
...like the chicago sun-times

There's too much static noise out there regarding the war. It's filling a vacuum caused by the administration's failure to keep us regularly updated on what is happening throughout Iraq. It's time for the Bush administration to step up and tell us what is going on -- with regular reports, weekly updates, fireside chats, talks with soldiers -- through the entire country of Iraq.

We're getting our reports from hotel rooms in Baghdad.

It's time for the whole story from over there.

...and the ny sun

Does [Frank] Rich think his own colleague and the Associated Press are also part of what he derides as "propaganda" and "the disinformation assembly line"? And when it comes time for a new generation to ask their elders what they did during the war to end the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, what are the editors of the Times going to have to say for themselves?

now, if only this would hit the traditional MSM...but that's not likely given the media's sentiment...

kim jong il, media critic

north korea is a notoriously enigmatic country (particularly for one commentator), partially due to the lack of media access.

kim jong ill didn't appreciate a cnn documentary which includes footage of an apparent public execution.

"CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past," KCNA said. Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image."

In the process, the U.S. broadcaster has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration," it said.

mickey kaus chimes in with a paragraph which just missed the final cut

"Floundering tool Jonathan Klein thought tarnishing the democratic struggle of the Korean people would promote further his career and make up for failure of his overemotional pretty boy Anderson Cooper in the crucial 25-54 demographic."

talk about kicking a struggling news network when it's down...

the science of 'beer goggles'

leave it to the land of the 'liquid lunch' to examine the concept of 'beer goggles'.

while conventional wisdom chalks up the phenomenom simply to consumption of alcohol, University of Manchester professor Nathan Efron develops a formula which also includes such factors as lighting, distance and eyesight.

the uk register better explains the sliding scale

more iraq war opinion

continuing with that iraq sentiment bit from yesterday, the conservative-leaning washington times adds more detail to the pew research center mentioned in that prior poll. essentially reiterating the la times editorial

When asked whether they thought democracy would succeed in Iraq, only 33 percent of the journalists agreed that it had a chance. The number was even worse in academe -- 27 percent of respondents thought the effort would succeed. Among the military, however, the number stood at 64 percent.

the washington times adds

Negative press coverage of the war in Iraq in recent weeks has emphasized rising pessimism among the American public about the conflict. But a new survey found that 56 percent of the public thinks that efforts to establish a stable democracy in the country will succeed.

the times continues with details about the decision to go iraq and its effect on terrorism, detailing the lefty opinion of the media and academie with more positive views amongst the military and public in general.

xbox 360 launch

despite my absence from the recent video game console market, i'm still intrigued by the goings-on...

in its bid to gain "leadership" in the market, microsoft goes with the obligatory fanfare for its xbox 360 launch.

however, since this is microsoft (and me covering microsoft), things don't always go smoothly...
the finances look shaky as each xbox 360 loses ~$125 (with the hope of making it up in games)...
shortages are expected, but execs try to shoot down conspiracy theories that shortages were planned to amp up the hype...
somewhat lukewarm reviews, crashes and matrix-esque glitches probably don't engender confidence...

some in the media are going even further with the lingo

rebates galore

with holiday shopping season around the corner, retailers and manufactures promise rebates on all sorts of things.

- "Nearly one-third of all computer gear is now sold with some form of rebate, along with more than 20% of digital cameras, camcorders, and LCD TVs, says market researcher NPD Group."

the deals appear almost too-good-to-be true"Hal Stinchfield, a 30-year veteran of the rebate business, calculates that some 400 million rebates are offered each year. Their total face value: $6 billion, he estimates."but sometimes it is too-good-to-be true

"Why the rage for rebates? The industry's open secret is that fully 40% of all rebates never get redeemed because consumers fail to apply for them or their applications are rejected, estimates Peter S. Kastner, a director of consulting firm Vericours. That translates into more than $2 billion of extra revenue for retailers and their suppliers each year."

sometimes the companies' business models rely on unredeemed rebates

The impact on a company's bottom line can be startling. Consider TiVo (TIVO ). The company caught Wall Street off guard by sharply reducing its first-quarter loss to $857,000, from $9.1 million in the same period last year. One reason: About 50,000 of TiVo's 104,000 new subscribers failed to redeem mail-in rebate offers, reducing the company's expected rebate expense by $5 million.
[snip]
The quest for buyers who don't end up collecting a rebate has spawned special industry lingo. Purchases by consumers who never file for their rebates are called "breakage." Wireless companies that pay 100% rebates on some cell phones, for example, rely in part on "breakage" to make money. Rebate checks that are never cashed are called "slippage."

however, shenanigans surrounding the rebate redemption process prompted both regulator oversight and even retailer policy changes.

polls, polls, everywhere polls

having established my fascination yet skepticism of the countless polls out there, the media loves them (especially when it's bad for bush).

instead of focusing solely on the usual america-centered polling, relative la times newcomer max boot examines [bugmenot login] polls not typically covered:

Yet in a survey last month from the U.S.-based [conservative] International Republican Institute, 47% of Iraqis polled said their country was headed in the right direction, as opposed to 37% who said they thought that it was going in the wrong direction. And 56% thought things would be better in six months. Only 16% thought they would be worse.

American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians. The Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations just released a survey of American elites that found that 64% of military officers are confident that we will succeed in establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. The comparable figures for journalists and academics are 33% and 27%, respectively.

a further signifier is the healthy reenlistment rate of the military. Boot continues with various political economic, media and military progress in iraq which does not receive much press here. but, Boot concludes

This is not meant to suggest that everything is wonderful in Iraq. The situation remains grim in many respects. But the most disheartening indicator of all is simply the American public's loss of confidence in the war effort. Abu Musab Zarqawi may be losing on the Arab street (his own family has disowned him), but he's winning on Main Street. And, as the Vietnam War showed, defeatism on the home front can become self-fulfilling.

fearless cable news prediction

given the ratings trends, i predict MSNBC will pass CNN in ratings (especially the 25-54 demographic) within a few years...

it's much more likely that cnn hits third rather than first in the niche it created...
and it's own Headline News may be breathing down its neck by then...

[full disclosure: as if you couldn't tell, i'm no fan of CNN]

one way to get rid of inflation

in an effort to downplay the notion of inflation, the government will stop publishing M3, the broadest measure of money supply.

[S]keptics note that M3 - which includes the very biggest deposits not contained in M2 - is rising about 7.5 percent right now, compared with just 5.6 percent growth at the end of 2004.
M2, on the other hand, has a more modest 4 percent growth, which is down from 5.6 percent last year.

over the last several years, money supply has increased at an (un)healthy clip. since increase in money supply is the underlying cause in price inflation, getting rid of M3 allows for further massaging of CPI and various other measures the government uses. (although i prefer real world measures like the 12 days of christmas index)

it's in the government's interests to work the numbers since benefits and salaries often have cost of living adjustments tied to CPI.

birds of a feather

no wonder david shuster does such wacky reporting on hardball with chris matthews...

his boss is a bit wacky

he suggests america should have attempted to 'learn' from the terrorists trying to kill us:

"If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil -- they just have a different perspective."

the national review media blog has more on the wackiness

which way is the wind blowing

so former panderer-in-chief calls iraq a "big mistake" on foreign soil just last week, after years of hawkish iraq rhetoric" [bugmenot login] before and after 9/11

"So, you're sitting there as President, you're reeling in the aftermath of this, so, yeah, you want to go get bin Laden and do Afghanistan and all that. But you also have to say, 'Well, my first responsibility now is to try everything possible to make sure that this terrorist network and other terrorist networks cannot reach chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material. I've got to do that.'

"That's why I supported the Iraq thing. There was a lot of stuff unaccounted for."

however, former president clinton warns against premature pullout in a wide-ranging speech once back in front of an american audience.

...reminiscent of the SNL skit lampooning john kerry as a panderer (rather than a flip-flopper) tailoring his message to his audience...

no anti-us ad turned down

but speaking of people who hate america, the NY Times accepted an ad from Iran defending its nuclear program.

given the NY Times stock chart, i don't think they will be turning away anyone's money

way to take a stand

writer kurt vonnegut pulls a Bill Maher and expresses a strange admiration for terrorists. vonnegut's words of praise include refering to terrorists as "very brave people" with "sweet and honourable" intentions who are "are dying for their own self-respect", even comparing their tactics to Truman's decision to use atomic bombs during Japan.

vonnegut's inflammatory rhetoric has increased recently (especially with President Bush's election)

oily politicking and grandstanding

in a bout of political opportunism, the senate held hearings to brow beat oil execs for being profitable. some even suggested/demanded that some of the profits be confiscated through a 'windfall tax'.

however an examination of oil industry finances reveals some startling statistics:

[O]ver the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy.

the graphical analysis of taxes and profits boggles the mind.

also note that the 'windfall tax' around 1980 crippled the industry 5 years later. the best way to ensure lack of exploration and investment would be to levy such a tax again.

cutting off their nose to spite their face

remember those ridiculous rumors, irresponsibly parroted by the loser democratic candidate for president [bugmenot login], of a military draft if bush were re-elected...?

never mind that pretty much only democratic congressman Charlie Rangel and new lefty darling John Murtha supported this notion...ironically even Rangel voted against his own ridiculous bill...

the surest way to ensure the reinstitution of the draft would be to ban military recruiters as the voters of San Francisco have. if more cities were to take similar actions, military recruitment would plummet, prompting the need for...
the military draft.

pot meet kettle

the last few days, howard stern has criticized rush limbaugh for a $49 gift subscription program for members in the military

howard got a hold of a clip from the ratings-challenged Countdown with that ex-SportsCenter ex-MSNBC ex-Fox Sports Net anchor back-with-MSNBC guy (i know that's a really unwieldy title) for fodder on his show: mark's friggin archive (scroll to "Keith Olbermann's New Fan - Howard Stern. 11/16/05. 10:10am") and/or stern's archive (3rd item in "TODAY’S SHOW COMPANION")

meanwhile, a Sirius subscription to listen to howard stern would cost nearly $250 a year--$13 for a subscription (for their car) and an additional $6 (subscription for home/work).
don't forget the pay-per-view service howard plans (No pricing has been set, although there has been talk of a $10 a month introductory plan.)

that's nearly $400 a year compared to the $50 plan which prompted howard's ire.
way to "line your pockets" howard --that's an inside joke among stern fans

in order to avoid credible criticism of hypocrisy...
i'm calling for howard stern to personally fund a discount program for policemen, firemen, or any group howard deems worthy of a subsidy.

i doubt this will ever happen...
$100 million a year doesn't go as far as it used to...

i want my sat-tv

the Texas town of Clark changes its name to Dish taking up EchoStar's offer of free service for the town's 125 residents.

"We accepted this challenge because we believe this relationship will give us a unique opportunity to put our town on the map," said Dish Mayor Bill Merritt.

i wonder if this is factored into property tax assessments?

freeh-k the 9/11 commission

former Director of the U.S. FBI Louis Freeh questions, in an opinion journal piece [bugmenot login], the 9/11 Commission for chiming on matters outside its scope

This self-perpetuating and privately funded group of lobbyists and lawyers has recently opined on hurricanes, nuclear weapons, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and even the New York subway system. Now it offers yet another "report card" on the progress of the FBI and CIA in the war against terrorism, along with its "back-seat" take and some further unsolicited narrative about how things ought to be on the "front lines."

Freeh critiques the Commission due to its active suppression of able danger. Freeh effectively recaps the able danger story.

he invokes the statements of 9/11 families demanding further comment and/or investigation then concludes

The 9/11 Commission gets an "I" grade--incomplete--for its dereliction regarding Able Danger. The Joint Intelligence Committees should reconvene and, in addition to Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11 commissioners appear as witnesses so the families can hear their explanation why this doesn't matter.

the 9/11 commission was supposed to be the final word, but it appears incomplete.

sow-ing some reality

conservative commentator thomas sowell critiques liberal hobby horses such as 'universal' this and 'price control' that "with little or no awareness of the economic repercussions of turning that wish list into laws."

sowell cites the pharmaceutical industry, mass transit and rent control to demonstrates some flaws in these. but don't expect these calls to go away because its too pander for votes by demonizing bad guys because as Sowell comments:

"But the lure of the free lunch goes on."

hypocrite michael moore

my lack of fandom of michael moore is evident.

michael moore gets called out as the preachy 'do as i so...' hypocrite he is. drawing from Peter Schweizer's book Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, uk independent writer janet street-porter (via seattle post-intelligencer) alludes to the deceits of Fahrenheit 9/11, easily rebutted.

the article catalogs instances of hypocrisy, elitism and divadom.
it's a good read

good news/bad news for TiVo

disclosure: i've been a dedicated TiVo user since 1999, a bit perplexed that it hasn't garnerer more of a user base.

'internet monitoring company' brandimensions conducts a dvr study which finds TiVo being attacked from both sides--current users and potential customers. however, at the same time, tv execs back TiVo's innovative pvr/dvr technology as increasing viewership.

TiVo is kinda stuck in a dilemma...
the 'early adopter' nature of the TiVo fan base may contribute to the first finding. these guys are on the leading edge. once happy with the technology, they now demand multi-tuner TiVo's and/or HD ready units to keep up with their AV demands.
on the other end of the spectrum, the 'mass market' may be happy with the simpler options offered by their cable companies. the crippled dvr tech may be good enough for their needs.

fortunately, TiVo has fans among the tv execs who tout the results of a study which demonstrate increased viewership, less commercial avoidance, etc. granted, its in their interest to stress these numbers to keep ad buyers happy.

interestingly,

"Nielsen Media Research will begin releasing data Dec. 26 on viewership that includes same-day DVR viewership and seven-day DVR viewership in addition to the current ratings numbers."

i've always been a bit skeptical of traditional nielsen ratings. tivo reports popular shows, actors, directors.

organized IE-switch campaign

using some tools from explorer destroyer, the Kill Bill's Browser campaign launched to 'suggest' an alternative to M$'s Internet Explorer.

it's more pro-active than the simple 'get firefox' buttons, but not so intrusive to be annoying...

[disclosure: if you're viewing this site with IE, you'll already know that i have joined in the fun]

speaking of precious americans

stunning actress brooke burns suffered an injury...
invoking julia louis dreyfus's elaine character when learning about her himbo boyfriend's accident, "what about the face...?", it appears the former baywatch and future co-star with SI/morphing rebecca romijn in a (soon-to-fail--i mean air) WB show will be okay...probably much better than ok actually...

meanwhile, jaime pressly is 'ecstatic' that My Name is Earl allows her to "get noticed for something besides my T&A." the role of scheming ex joy on NBC's breakout comedy really suits pressly, accentuating her 'strengths'