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Archive for the Newspapers Category

Money “In The Bank” Or “Under The Mattress” (October 8, 2012)

Posted in "Fiat ______", Economics, Gold Standard, Hyperdive Economic Collapse, Journalism, Newspapers on October 8, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

$ “They say that something is ‘money in the bank’ if it is a sure thing, but you must wonder whether ‘money in the bank’ is really ‘money in the bank.’”

C “Or money in the credit union. The Federal Reserve can create electrons but it cannot quickly create hard dollars. The time will come when enough citizens simultaneously conclude that the financial system is a rigged chimera with a false facade.”

$ “Like the week of September 15, 2008.”

C “Exactly. With so few physical dollars in the bank to respond to demands for dollars, a financial institution will need to limit withdrawals to a small sum per depositor, perhaps $100. Assurances that the funds are insured will not be reassuring. The typical depositor does not want to hear that the account is insured when he or she wants to withdraw money from the account. That event either will be the Big Jolt or will be caused by the Big Jolt that will lead to a collective loss of faith.”

$ “The news outlets will be forced to take a short break from the stories about rescuing kittens from trees to relay stories of angry depositors.”

C “And the populace will come to realize that money does not grow on trees. So your money is only money in the bank if it is under your mattress.”

$ “The alternative is to leave the money in the bank and get .0000001 percent interest on the funds that you may never see again.”

C “Seems that a few dollars in the pocket are not a bad idea. After a Big Jolt, inertia and habit will incline others to accept dollars in the transition for some time.”

$ “Both paper dollars and gold may lose their luster at the same time. The stuff does not offer much heat whether measured by calories or B.T.U.s.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Is The Gold Standard Really The Gold Standard? (January 18, 2010)” and “Fiat Gold” / Fool’s Gold (May 2, 2011).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“I will use my Fe [guns] and my Pb [bullets] to protect my Au and my ETOH.”

“I will use my skills and resources to develop a sustainable supply of clean H2O and to provide enough cals. [heat inside the body] and B.T.U.s [heat outside the body] to sustain me, my family and my community.”

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Excellence In Journalism? Time For A True Trophy (September 24, 2012)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, English Language, Facebook, Google, Journalism, Language, Newspapers, Press/Media, Writing on September 27, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J1 “Awards shape behavior.”

J2 “The palette of Pulitzers runs the spectrum from purple prose to yellow journalism.”

J1 “And the Pulitzers for black and white journalism run the route from The New York Times group of writers to The Washington Post Writers Group, with a few side shows. The trophy could be transported on the Eastern Airlines shuttle between the New York and Washington airports named for political types, with a few side trips.”

J2 “I concede that the Pulitzers generally reward solid work, yet they only consider conventional and narrowly defined writing drawn from an exclusive clique of writers.”

J1 “They are an exclusive group because they exclude not because of excellence. Then the Online News Association Awards emerged to emphasize ‘high-tech bells and whistles’ rather than quality and integrity. The corporate sponsors call the shots. The Googles and the Facebooks buy the beer and balloons and make the party possible. Gobs of gaudy high-tech gadgets on a screen define journalism.”

J2 “But in the end that is what the readership wants. Journalists cannot lose sight of the legitimate needs and concerns of the reader. We need to sell the product without selling out.”

J1 “Journalism needs a new way of thinking and a new award. Awards shape behavior.”

. . .

[J1 = Journalist 1; J2 = . . . ]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Here today, gone today

Where’s the tofu?

Too much sizzle, not enough tofu

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Mitt’s “Destructive Destruction”: The Bane of Capitalism (July 9, 2012)

Posted in Economics, Economics Nobel, Newspapers, Presidency, Press/Media, Romney on July 9, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J1 “Facts are facts. Mitt never created jobs in America. He destroyed jobs in America. Mitt never created wealth. He expropriated wealth. Some call it ‘creative destruction.’ It is not ‘creative destruction.’ It is ‘destructive destruction.’ Let’s call it what it is.”

J2 “Seems to me that if you acquire a company with one thousand employees with borrowed money you do not intend to pay back and fire four hundred employees, you have not created six hundred jobs. The risk-taking entrepreneur who worked late and on weekends thirty years ago to build the business and expand to one thousand employees created one thousand jobs. Mitt is part of the problem, not part of the solution. But journalists can’t say that.”

J1 “I know. I understand.”

J2 “Then you are not a journalist.”

J1 “I can live with that. But I still maintain there should be a decennial Pulitzer awarded for Truth. And an occasional Nobel in economics awarded to someone who knows something about economics.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Bain Capital – the bane of capitalism

Eviscerating America is not building America

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SCOTUS on TV: “They Might Not Be Such Bastards” (March 26, 2012)

Posted in Constitution, Courts, Health Care, Journalism, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Newspapers, O'Bama, Supreme Court on March 26, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1 “The Supremes are hearing oral argument on ‘Romney – O’Bama Care’ this week. The Supremes get free health care for life and get to decide whether ordinary Americans get health care. They don’t get it.”

C2 “Are they listening or just sitting there allowing the barristers to babble. Thomas is asleep.”

C1 “Or are they just blow harding to hear themselves blow hard. ‘Romney – O’Bama Care’ is about personal responsibility and now the blow hards are contending that it impinges on personal freedom. Cameras in the court room would provide some insight.”

C2 “Everyone might play for the camera.”

C1 “The lawyers and the Justices. They can be so churlish and childish.”

C2 “Or arrogant bastards. I was in the lawyer’s line last December minding my own business and listening to the other conversations. She observed that the cameras likely would change everyone’s behavior. And she matter-of-factly observed that the cameras might make the Justices behave more civilly. ‘They might not be such bastards,’ she opined politely.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Breaking News: Supreme Court Elects To Decide 2012 Presidential Election (January 16, 2012)”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

SCOTUS – The ultimate Reality Television?

Who owns the courts?

If you’re not an intellectual, at least be intellectually honest.

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The Drums of War (February 20, 2012)

Posted in Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Journalism, Middle East, Newspapers, O'Bama, Press/Media on February 20, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

+ “Can you hear the drums?”

– “Loud and clear. Five by Five. I can smell them; I can feel them; I can taste them; I can see them. Those who decide have decided to go to war with Iran.”

+ “I sense it too. O’Bama’s comments before the Super Bowl were not reassuring. Some of the militaristic rhetoric may be designed to force the players to reconsider diplomatic alternatives. Von Clausewitz and all. Most efforts appear to be directed at concocting a ruse or pretext or charade to go to war.”

– “The only thing left to do is to fool the public. That doesn’t even require creativity. The American Empire is now committed to prosecuting two wars at all times. We lost in Iraq, proclaimed victory and claimed to withdraw. Now America has a free, but very expensive, pass to invade another country.”

+ “There really is no overriding strategy. Imposing sanctions is the tactic to date. The problem with sanctions is that a people may learn how to hunker down and live with them. That which does not kill me and all. And God bless the American public. However, forty-five percent of the public will not even notice the different consonant.”

– “The ‘Iraq, Iran, who cares, they are all towels’ mindset. When the war starts, the most likely public reaction will be a quizzical look and a question asking whether we didn’t just leave there.”

+ “The group known as the Press does not seem as united in support of an attack as the gang was in early 2003. Yet those calling for war are muting the few voices of dissent. The drums are drowning out the guitars.”

– “We just refuse to learn from our mistakes. What if we decided to do something right and learn from our success?”

. . .

+ “Some say Falklands; some say Malvinas.”

– “If you look at the map, you say Argentina.”

+ “If you wander around the Isla and talk to the folks, you say Britain.”

– “Geographic location versus self-determination. History seems to emerge historically and not logically.”

+ “History is like that. So the only way to settle the matter is to embrace the time-honored tradition of killing batches of eighteen year olds.”

– “Certainly trendy through the ages. It is about sovereignty, yes, yet it is always about oil.”

+ “Perhaps they need to respect each country’s sovereignty and work on an arrangement to share the offshore resources in shared waters.”

– “Deploying Billy was entirely ill-advised, provocative and unnecessary. We just refuse to learn.”

+ “What if Billy had refused to deploy.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran

I’m already against the next war

Jeremy Lin

Peaceful Presidents’ Day

The guitars of peace

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Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Economics, First Amendment, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Newspapers, Occupy Movement, Politics, Society on October 17, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

a “They will only tolerate it as long as they regard it as harmless. When they regard it as a threat to their domination, they will do harm.”

A “Another inevitable repeat of history. But when the Chicago police rioted in ’68 outside the Democratic National Convention and beat and tear gassed the populace, at least they only used night sticks and tear gas as weapons.”

a “There are videos you can download to your tube with a few clicks. You can see that the police even beat the press. Back then, the press got it and got in the way and got it from the police.”

A “Today, the authorities are armed with far more dangerous armaments and arsenals. Even toll booth operators and beach patrols sport their own SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) Teams equipped with grenade launchers and flame throwers. In an old black and white tv show, Barney Fife, a deputy sheriff in a small North Carolina town, carried one bullet, probably a .38, in his shirt pocket and was required to ask Andy, the sheriff, before he could even chamber it. Different times.”

a “Not many police officers realize that the kids are trying to protect the police union while the governor is trying to kill it. When the federal government begins providing Homeland Security grants to allow local libraries to acquire armed drones, will anyone care or comment.”

A “Not to worry, they are closing the libraries. It might be Oak Park, it might be Oakland, it might occur on some other park or land that will become part of our national lore.”

a “Even if the kids keep their heads, the authorities are going to bust them. The problem is that one person may make a threatening comment that will provide the police with a pretext. An undercover police officer could make a threatening comment to one of his colleagues and provide the pretext for a police riot.”

A “A few young Boomers got their heads busted and then when older busted a booming economy. Now the Boomers will bust some concerned youngsters’ heads – the youngsters who must endure the long bust but will never experience a lingering boom.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Ohio – Not Forgettin’ Ohio; The Battleground State Battles On (May 2, 2005)” and the “e-ssay” titled “The Residue of Unrelenting Fear: PTSD Afflicts The Populace (August 28, 2006).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Do you want the kids to be activists or pacifists?

Occupy Mayberry, R.F.D.

Kids (and older kids) who know and care are doing something

The kids are alright

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” – John F. Kennedy

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Occupy America (October 10, 2011)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Economics, First Amendment, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Newspapers, Occupy Movement, Politics, Society on October 10, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A “Commentators are having a hard time because there isn’t one spokesperson to interview nor one manifesto to mine.”

a “Most commentators don’t understand what has happened in America over the last decade, so I don’t expect them to understand what is going on today. I am aware enough to know that something’s clearly wrong, yet it is hard to describe. What I do know is that I don’t have a future.”

A “It’s simple and obvious. The ruling class is strip mining the middle class. And then accusing those who dare to point out the obvious truth that the astute observer is instigating class warfare.”

a “They are clearcutting the kids. They are not allowing a college grad let alone the ordinary Joe to immanentize the eschaton, although they are immanentizing the eschaton in a big way at my expense. I really don’t have much hope of improvement or advancement.”

A “Listen carefully. That may be the big difference this time – an underlying absence of hope and a more pronounced sense of desperation.”

a “Hope died a few years ago. Hope is so 2008. Yet what do you have if you don’t have hope.”

A “When hope totally disappears, an individual who can’t take it often takes one of three paths. At the extreme, he takes his life, takes someone else’s life, or takes someone else’s life and then takes his life.”

a “Someone sure took the life of the American Dream.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Boycott Big Banks (February 1, 2010).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Occupy Wall Street; Occupy Our America

You don’t need a sportscaster to know which way the ball bounces.

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In Sexy Opinion, Supreme Court Affirms First Amendment (March 7, 2011)

Posted in First Amendment, Journalism, Law, Newspapers, Supreme Court on March 7, 2011 by e-commentary.org

Torn from today’s headlines:

A “Justices Rule For Anti-Gay Protestors at Funerals” also reported as “High Court Rules For Anti-Gay Protestors at Funerals” The National Public Radio

B “Justices Rule For Protestors At Military Funerals” The New York Times

C “Supreme Court Rules First Amendment Protects Church’s Right To Picket Funerals” The Washington Post

D “Supreme Court Sides With Churchgoers Who Picketed Military Funeral” The Los Angeles Times

E “Supreme Court Says Anti-Gay Protestors Have A Right To Demonstrate At Military Funerals” The Chicago Tribune

F “First Amendment Protects ‘Hurtful’ Speech, Court Says” The Wall Street Journal

What is The most correct answer? F

. . .

G “Sexy headlines sell.”

H “Didn’t the Supreme Court simply affirm the First Amendment?”

G “Exactly. However, if a sexy headline attracts more readers, go for it. We need people to read. And think. And support the newspaper.”

H “There are winners and there are losers which may be what the public really is interested in tracking.”

G “Perhaps the decisions should be posted in the Sports section of the newspaper.”

H “Judges often make result oriented decisions. They decide who should win and then spin the facts and law to make the outcome appear to the reader to be a fait accompli and beyond reasonable dispute.”

G “In this case, the Justices looked at the law. They acknowledge the hate that motivates the speakers and the hateful message they deliver and reaffirm the fundamental right. Every attempt to formulate an exception undermines the most important Amendment.”

H “I read that Democratic and Republicans leaders of the Senate and a few dozen members of Congress filed a brief on behalf of the family. They endured the vile and evil actions and statements of the protestors. Can’t they just go away.”

G “Law should be removed from the political process. The Supreme Court redeemed itself again in this case and the case involving the Federal Communications Commission and AT&T. The winds are blowing from a different direction.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” dated June 25, 2007 titled “The Supreme Court On Drugs” and dated January 25, 2010 titled “Bill/Melinda and Warren, It Is Time To Get Into The Game” discussing bad hair days at the Court.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

I get along with God just fine; it’s his fan clubs I can’t stand.

I’m a big fan of God; I’m not a big fan of his fanatics.

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Are Journalists Irrelevant or Making Themselves Irrelevant? (Dec. 28, 2009)*

Posted in Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Society, Technology on December 28, 2009 by e-commentary.org

. . .

“Newspapers really are in a death spiral. From my review of the editorial stances and endorsements of the newspapers across the country, however, half of them could fold and probably leave us better off. The Great Divide between the two Americas rages in the country and in the editorial rooms. The way the market is heading, half of the undesirable newspapers will fold, yet half of the ones contributing to the dialogue also will fold. The great loss is the lost possibility that cannot be regained once a newspaper no longer folds paper and instead simply folds.”

“Look at the product. Too many of the columns in newspapers seem to be hissy fits among a clique of columnists. One columnist says one thing and then another columnist inserts ‘not’ at some points and elsewhere deletes the ‘nots.’ The length and style of the columns are formulaic and could be recycled and reprinted every few months. The columnists could be laid off and computer generated columns substituted for their daily show.”

“And yet that is the best case scenario. Other papers promise to deliver only one side of an issue and deliver on their promise. We still return to the need in a Republic for a free and robust press. The First Amendment removes most government impediments, yet the contemporary impediment is economic. Why pay today when information is free or appears to be free?”

“The subscribers and advertisers each pitched in to pay and now both are abandoning ship because the ship is sinking. My friends don’t read papers. The advertisers don’t reach them.”

“There really were no free newspapers or sources of information, yet TV was free from a direct and immediate charge. The advertisers, not the viewers, sponsored the show or paid the freight initially. The auto, food, insurance and pharmaceutical companies paid for the ads up front. Then HBO asked the public to pay to view; the public paid. ABC provided sports for free and then ESPN asked the public to pay to view; the public paid. Now the public willingly pays for some TV. That is what newspapers must do. The Internet is the hybrid ‘television newspaper.’ Induce the public to pay.”

“For what? The major news networks transmit bogus fluff.”

“What about the MacNeil/Lehrer program?”

“PBS? Only if I can record it or view it on line. The news on public television is credible but kind of stodgy. Those of us who will soon run what is left are getting our news and opinions from a former soccer player who realizes that a person must entertain to inform. He both entertains and informs and appears to be speaking truth to an audience raised on lies. That is a workable business model. Provide a quality product and people might pay. What could be more obvious.”

“HBO and ESPN provide divertissements not news. Something unsexy like investigative journalism is expensive and does not pay. The hard task is not merely reporting on findings but finding the findings. That will be the big loss every time a paper folds. We as a society are losing the slim possibility that someone in power will be held accountable for his or her actions and inactions.”

. . .

(* This title was changed in February, 2010 because the prior title was too understated.)

Bumper sticker of the week:

Starting with Monday’s edition, Section D on “Jobs” is now titled “Job”, Section F on “Classifieds” is now titled “Foreclosure Notices”, and the “Sports” are found in Section B and the new expanded section C.

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Archive for the Newspapers Category

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