Pam, Alot

Bush and History

2008-01-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

How many academic careers--history, political science, sociology, etc., do you suppose will be built on studying the George W. Bush administration and the responses, attitudes and thoughts of the American people?

Watching Us

2007-12-23T16:07:00.001-05:00

Update: The ACLU, of which I used to be fond, continues to be pretty useless in all matters except those involving eliminating Christmas displays and protecting Larry Craig's right to have sex in a public bathroom. (And I don't fully disagree with the ACLU on these points.) But really. I wrote an email a couple of weeks ago after receiving yet another donation request. I outlined my issues with this DHS plan. Got an email back this week bragging about everything the ACLU has done recently; not a word of direct response to this question. Not one single word.

This pisses me off. I'm in the Department of Homeland Security database because I adopted a kid overseas 11 years ago? Bullshit. Don't I get a say in this? Who has access? To get cleared for a foreign adoption, potential adoptive parents have to have their prints checked by the FBI--it used to be it was done at the local police station and turned over to the FBI, though apparently that's not allowed anymore. Why would anyone want to keep this information? And why wouldn't anyone be told?
I used to get stopped ALL THE TIME, well before Sept.11 when I went through airport security--someone always had to poke around in my bags, though I never got an explanation other than a BS claim that it was completely random (though when I protested finally one day at JFK Airport, I was told no, it really wasn't random, that I must be on some sort of list, though no one could tell me why. And of course, if it happened all the time, it was no longer random.
Anyway, this is becoming a creepy surveilled country we're living in.

From the Washington Post:
The DHS already has a database of millions of sets of fingerprints, which includes records collected from U.S. and foreign travelers stopped at borders for criminal violations, from U.S. citizens adopting children overseas, and from visa applicants abroad. There could be multiple records of one person's prints.

And this--your employer can decide whether the information should be stored?!!!! And then the FBI will rat you out?:

The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.

12 Days of Christmas and Lots More

2007-12-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

But They Know All About Britney

2007-12-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

On the Upbeat

2007-12-11T08:23:00.001-05:00

Clap on the upbeat, folks. Not the downbeat. It isn't a march. Years ago, a black friend mentioned that white people always got this clapping thing wrong. She was right--most of the time, we do!
Right way.

Wrong way.

Body English

2007-12-09T16:31:00.000-05:00

Can't nobody speak this language? Which sort of reminds me of a great t-shirt I got at a Native American Journalists Association convention several years ago, depicting a long line of Pilgrims awaiting a food handout, offered up by natives, with the caption, "World's Oldest Welfare Society."

Kill Me Now.

2007-12-09T11:30:00.001-05:00

Things Other People Have Accomplished by Your Age

Ew.

2007-12-02T13:37:00.000-05:00

Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists
Jeremy Clarke
Reuters North American News Service
MOMBASA, Kenya, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.

They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is "just full of big young boys who like us older girls".

Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.

Allie and Bethan -- who both declined to give their full names -- said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials.

"It's not evil," said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practise of older rich women travelling for sex with young Kenyan men.

"But it's certainly something we frown upon."

Trouble at the NRO

2007-12-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

The National Review Online, which went after The New Republic, accusing it of printing fake reports from a soldier in Iraq, has run into its own problems with veracity.
Thomas B. Edsall, formerly of The Washington Post and now of the Huffington Post, writes:

There is a growing dispute over the veracity of reporting from Lebanon by former Marine W. Thomas Smith, Jr. who is posting reports on his blog, The Tank, published by the conservative website, National Review Online (NRO). Smith is a supporter of the war in Iraq, and is affiliated with two politically conservative organizations, the Counterterrorism Research Center and the Family Security Foundation. He is the executive editor of World Defense Review, and the co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design.

At question are two reports filed by Smith on The Tank -- reports which appear to be designed to bolster support for the ongoing presence of U.S troops in the Mideast.

Did They Really Do This?

2007-11-29T08:23:00.000-05:00

This should give a whole bunch of cable commentators something to kick around.

Writer's speech 'too Christian' for carol service
By Jonathan Petre
London Telegraph
The Royal Commonwealth Society is at the centre of an embarrassing row after it barred a well-known Roman Catholic commentator from attacking intolerance towards Christians at its annual carol service.

Cristina Odone, the former deputy editor of the New Statesman, was to be one of the "celebrity readers" at the service in St Martin in the Fields church in central London next month, which is attended by diplomats and politicians.

advertisementBut she has pulled out of the event, accusing the society of demonstrating exactly the kind of intolerance she had planned to criticise.

"I am incandescent," she said. "I was told that the words I had written were not appropriate because the congregation would include people of little or no faith who presumably would be upset. Even more insultingly, I was asked instead to read a passage from Bertrand Russell, a militant atheist."

Ms Odone was invited three months ago to take part in the service alongside George Alagiah, the broadcaster, Gareth Thomas, the Government minister, and Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary General.

As an experienced writer and broadcaster on religion, she was asked to write a short piece on the theme of "opportunities for all" that could be "political and controversial".

She developed the theme of secular intolerance towards believers of all faiths, from the British Airways worker suspended for wearing a cross to the Muslim schoolgirl banned from wearing the veil.

"When it comes to expressing their faith, this country's believers have found that opportunities are blocked," Ms Odone wrote.

"Whether it is the boss at work or the head at school, the local authority or the chattering classes, people of faith know that their worldview is under siege, and their allegiances under suspicion.

"To parade this allegiance by wearing a cross, a cap or a veil is red rag to the secularist bull. What little opportunity believers have to bear witness to their faith is being quashed. If you are black or gay or female, your plea for equal opportunity is met with respect, and your campaign is applauded by supporters. But not if you are a believer. In a culture increasingly hostile to God and his followers, expressions of faith have become taboo. The only opportunity we have is for silence."

Who Needs Privacy?

2007-11-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

Privacy? on Facebook? Nah.

About your purchases.

From the Wall Street Journal
Facebook's Tracking of User Activity
Riles Privacy Advocates, Members
By VAUHINI VARA
November 21, 2007; Page D8

Some users of the Facebook Inc. Web site have been startled by a new feature that tracks their activity outside of the site and shows it to their friends -- renewing questions about the privacy implications of a growing practice of exploiting personal information in online advertising.

The social-networking service earlier this month began posting updates about users' activities on Web sites outside of Facebook and on commercial pages within Facebook -- in some cases, alongside ads from the companies behind those Web sites or pages. Facebook is posting users' photos alongside certain advertisements, another feature that has alarmed some privacy advocates and users.

Why Blogging Matters

2007-11-17T21:53:00.001-05:00

Working at Home

2007-11-17T10:22:00.001-05:00

CNN lists copy editing as one of the jobs that can be done at home. That's certainly true for some copy editing, under certain circumstances, among them:

If you're working for a newspaper, you need:

Support from your boss. If they don't really want to do this, your life will be hell.

The technology in place that allows you to, say, read pages, access current information, such as changes in story placement, breaking news--not of the fake CNN kind--or sudden policy issues.

You work relatively independently. If you're supposed to be part of a team that works together, with people finishing each other's work or otherwise directly helping each other, then no. You're not on site and the best technology in the world, short of job site video, can't make up for not being able to see if someone else is lagging or finished early. If you

Commitment. `If you need to be around people to do your best, working at home is not a good idea. If you're truly a self-starter, then this could work. Be honest with yourself. If you would miss the bad jokes, shared desks, the noise, piles of newspapers, midnight runs to the vending machine, camaraderie of like-minded people, then go to the office.

Cooperation in the home office. There's always something going on that hasn't been publicly announced or otherwise officially communicated. But office connections, finding the people who will flag you, is critically important.

If you're doing other kinds of editing--polishing off a book manuscript, editing someone's paper--that could be different. There's a lot to be said for working in your own surroundings and peace and quiet.

Ancient Languages and Cultures Preserved

2007-11-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

Naught for Naughty

2007-11-15T23:26:00.000-05:00

Ha, ha, I didn't notice this before, but The New York Times published a review Monday of a punk band whose name was deemed too vulgar for the paper to print.
This is enough to send copy editors into spasms.

Behind the Scenes at the WGA

2007-11-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal takes a good look at the rush to finish scripts before the Writers Guild strike began.

Scramble to Ensure No Writing Goes On
Union Seeks Scripts
To Monitor Any Work;
Signs of Breaking Ranks
By PETER SANDERS
In the days before mounting a strike against Hollywood studios, film and TV writers did something that might be considered unusual in other labor disputes: They completed -- and were paid for -- a lot of work that was delivered to the companies they were about to picket.

Now, the Writers Guild of America, which represents the striking writers, is scrambling to get copies of all the scripts turned in to studios over the past six months as part of an effort to police the use of nonunion labor to complete or polish union work. So far, however, by most estimates, the union's efforts to collect all of those scripts has fallen far short of its goal.

• The Plot: In a bid to police use of nonunion labor, the striking union for film and TV writers is scrambling to get copies of the large number of scripts its members submitted to studios just ahead of the strike.
• The Subtext: On the eve of the strike, the studios put money in the pockets of the writers they are now trying to wait out.
• The Twist: There are signs some writers may be planning to break ranks.Meanwhile, in the strike's second week, signs have emerged that some writers may be planning to break ranks. Some of the writers for at least one soap opera, CBS Corp.'s "The Young and the Restless," went "financial core," meaning they gave up their status as guild members this week, with plans to return to writing, according to a person close to the show. Other soap writers are considering following their lead -- or writing in secret -- to keep their jobs and their shows on the air, this person said.

And the union takes to YouTube:

Galloway Right On

2007-11-14T08:06:00.000-05:00

Geez, Joe Galloway knows how to make a point.

Memo to Media: I Witnessed 'Waterboarding' -- And, Yes, It is Torture

By Joseph L. Galloway
Did Bill Clinton have sex with that woman? Is Elvis Presley really dead? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear do his ablutions in the woods? Is waterboarding torture? The answer to all of these questions, put simply, is yes.

Defining Terms

2007-11-13T09:50:00.001-05:00

Well, this wouldn't be MY definition of the word "swiftboating" but it does show a word can evolve or, at least, be spun.

The Power of the Internet

2007-11-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

Good grief. I've been talking a lot to my teenager about watching out for people she "meets" on the Internet but who would think this would happen?

As posted earlier, the false sense of community that the web creates can be dangerous.

Update: Of course, if you're a moron who somehow thinks a Facebook page is private, that's an entirely different matter.

The Reagan Fight

2007-11-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

There’s a rather extraordinary three-way battle going on over at The New York Times op-ed page, centering on Ronald Reagan and race.

The public battle started here

and then David Brooks responded with this:

and then today, Bob Herbert speaks, with great authority, here:

I don’t recall op-ed columnists feuding so publicly before, though perhaps during the Vietnam War.

(Mostly) One-Hit Wonders

2007-11-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

Ah, for folks of a certain age, this One-Hit Wonders posting at Metafilter is great.
I can't resist.

Etymology Story Eviscerated

2007-11-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

Oh, good, I wondered where Language Hat was. I'm looking forward to his demolition of this obviously weak New York Times story about language. I know little about the origins of words but even I could see how puny the evidence was for this story.
From Language Hat:
APPALLING NONSENSE WINS AWARD.
Grant Barrett wrote to alert me to this NY Times story by Corey Kilgannon, which enraged me to the point of incoherence. I'm not mad at Daniel Cassidy—he's a genial amateur who got a crackpot book published, no better or worse than the zillions of crackpot books that get published every year, and it's not his fault he knows nothing about language and its history, it's the fault of the educational system, for which linguistics and its results do not exist. No, I'm mad at the Times, which accords his nonsense the kind of respect they wouldn't give theories about how space aliens killed Kennedy or how you can produce nuclear energy at home with knitting needles and walnuts.

Now for Something Completely Useless

2007-11-11T23:23:00.001-05:00

Your name in Binary?
In Binary, Pam Robinson is: 01010000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01010010 01101111 01100010 01101001 01101110 01110011 01101111 01101110 .
Encode your name, find your Power Animal, and check your envowelment at isthisyour.name

Old Enough to Be Brought Back

2007-11-10T23:51:00.001-05:00

Great moments in literary baseball.

Mobs on the Web

2007-11-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

Is this creepy or what?

No place to hide

By Ed Hammond

Financial Times

Published: November 5 2007

One evening in March, library assistant Graham Mallaghan was leaving work at the University of Kent in Canterbury when he noticed a group of people hanging about outside the exit. Some of the group started shouting abuse. “Wait till he comes out, we’ll kick his f****** head in,” one of them yelled.

For Mallaghan this incident was part of a confusing pattern, in which he increasingly found himself being intimidated and threatened with no apparent explanation. No explanation, that is, until an acquaintance told him to look on Facebook, now the most talked about of the online social networking sites.

When Mallaghan logged on, he found a group called For Those Who Hate The Little Fat Library Man, dedicated to insulting him.

One of Mallaghan’s responsibilities is to enforce the library’s noise regulations, and he believes the group was set up by students unhappy with his efforts. Mallaghan, who is 37, says that it quickly began to have an impact on all aspects of his life: “At its peak the group had 363 members. Both my wife and I had the brakes on our bikes cut. People would run up to me and take photos on their phone – at one point there was a competition on the group for who could get the best close-up.”

Websites such as Facebook and MySpace are the primary exports of the Web 2.0 revolution, which brought user-created internet content to the fore. The biggest of the sites, MySpace, launched in August 2003 and now has more than 200 million accounts worldwide. Facebook has gathered more than 49 million accounts so far, including more than five million in the UK, its third-largest market. Globally it is adding 200,000 users a day. The MySpace audience is mainly composed of teenagers, while Facebook’s users are older – dominated by college students and young professionals.

The sites have grown exponentially over the past four years by offering a fast, free and easy way for people to come together online and coalesce into an ever-shifting network of social connections around hotspots of friendship, work and shared interests. This can lend new energy to existing friendships and seed new ones at an astonishing rate. All you need is the patience to create your own homepage on one of these sites and the lack of inhibition required to start sharing details about yourself, your life and thoughts with the world. The doors of the social network are thrown open.

The networking currency is “friends” – online camaraderie expressed in the links that users create between their homepages and the pages of others members of the network. And because you never need leave your computer to stay in touch with your friends, you can have many hundreds of them.

Mallaghan remains perplexed by his experience and believes the huge number of people bullying him had to do with the medium in which they began doing it. “It was as if they compartmentalised online and real life. But I couldn’t do that – their behaviour online had a profound effect on me.” He believes sites such as Facebook “lend themselves to this kind of thing” and worries about how people behave when “something gives them false courage, and they don’t imagine they’re going to get caught”.

When I approached – through Facebook – one of the group administrators, or presidents, of the For Those Who Hate The Little Fat Library Man group, she responded with a statement. “Other than my name being put on the website I had no part to play in this event whatsoever. I do not want anything to do with your story as I had no part in this at all. Do not put my name in any article whatsoever.” But once you are out there on the network, all sorts of unwelcome visitors can come calling, and there is not much you can do about it, except perhaps to stay silent and hope they go away. The founder of the group, Jaspreet K. Hunjan, did not respond to my Facebook advances.

Inconsistent? Who, Us?

2007-11-10T11:35:00.000-05:00

This is an excellent point--condemn others at your own risk.

indu's View: Congress stands no taller than Yahoo 'pygmies'

By Vindu Goel
Mercury News

Lawmaker scolds Yahoo: 'Morally you are pygmies'

Congress has a lot of nerve ripping into Yahoo for turning over identifying information about two Chinese dissidents to the Chinese government.
"Morally, you are pygmies," Rep. Tom Lantos, the San Mateo Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thundered at a hearing Tuesday.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., compared Yahoo to the Nazi collaborators in World War II.
Oh, please.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not defending Yahoo. Unlike competitors Google and Microsoft, the Sunnyvale Web giant put key servers for its Web-based e-mail system within China's borders, opening the door to the Chinese government demands that resulted in 10-year prison terms for the two dissidents.
Yahoo then compounded the mistake by telling Congress last year that company officials didn't know what China was investigating when the information was turned over - a claim that was misleading at best.
But Congress should think hard about how it's undermining civil rights here at home before getting all holier-than-thou on U.S. companies trying to figure out how to do business in China, a place where the government's power can be both murky and threatening.
"I wish Congress would put the practices domestically under the same magnifying glass," said Danny O'Brien, international outreach coordinator at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco group that has advocated for privacy rights around the globe. "This is an inconsistent position."
After all, U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the USA Patriot Act, which essentially gives our government a blank check to snoop on our e-mail, seize our phone records and monitor our Web surfing without even bothering to get a warrant. Investigators simply have to invoke the magic words "national security."

Different Worlds

2007-11-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

There's a really interesting piece here about the differences between working on a citizen journalism site and working with English-speaking Korean reporters, by a Briton. Not terribly relevant to the day-to-day lives of American news copy editors but worth the read for her observations on language and the wide editing experiences she's had in a short amount of time.

Wisdom From the Hinterland. No Snark.

2007-11-09T17:44:00.000-05:00

May I politely suggest that this quote be stamped on the forehead of every editor and reporter in every single newsroom in America? Or perhaps read aloud at the strt of every daily news meeting? This is from a waitress being interviewed over whether Hillary Clinton's team left her a tip:

"You people are really nuts," she told a reporter during a phone interview. "There's kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now -- there's better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn't get a tip."

More details.

ABC and the Swiftboating Remark

2007-11-09T11:32:00.000-05:00

This is the third time I've read something that challenges reporting earlier that week that said Bill Clinton had suggested people were trying to "Swiftboat" his wife. I've challenged it a couple of times. Is everyone still reporting this this way?

Yahoo's Apology

2007-11-08T08:04:00.000-05:00

Yahoo Officials Defend Company's Role in Arrest of Chinese JournalistWASHINGTON (AP) -- Two top Yahoo Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime.
Yahoo gave the Chinese government information about Shi Tao's online activities, and he was jailed for 10 years.
"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-California, said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives.
He angrily urged Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to apologize to journalist Shi Tao's mother, who was sitting directly behind them.
Shi Tao was sent to jail for 10 years for engaging in pro-democracy efforts deemed subversive after Yahoo turned over information about his online activities requested by Chinese authorities.
Yang and Callahan turned around from the witness table and bowed from their seats to Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng, who bowed in return and then began to weep.

Kids in Charge

2007-11-08T07:28:00.000-05:00

Ha ha, from my hometown, where the population has been in steady decline since the early 1970s:

Lorain hires safety-service director

Morning Journal
LORAIN -- Lorain has a new safety-service director -- Andy Winemiller, 21, who was hired last month to work as an administrative assistant for the city.

Interim Mayor John Romoser, who appointed Winemiller, could not be reached last night for comment.

Winemiller will be taking on a big job -- Lorain's safety-service director works as the mayor's right hand man and handles many of the major tasks of the running the city, such as labor negotiations with the city's several unions.

City Hall sources had speculated the job would go to someone who had been in the administration longer, such as Chief Deputy Safety-Service Director Jana Gerbocova or Operations Deputy Michael Scherach.

''I'm going to have to do some learning on the run -- obviously,'' Winemiller said. ''I think the most important thing in my position is to remember to ask questions to those who have been around longer than (me).''

Winemiller said he doesn't believe his newness to the job will hinder him. ''When you're in the position John (Romoser) is in, you pick people who you can trust and are capable. I don't have the working knowledge of the city that Mike Kobylka did, but I'll be in there, working late nights catching up.''

Winemiller replaces Kobylka, 29. Kobylka announced last month he would be leaving his post to become director of advocacy and regulatory affairs with the nonprofit group, MAGNET, a manufacturing advocacy organization with headquarters in Cleveland.

Winemiller, also a candidate for Lorain city council president, was hired last month to replace a secretary in the safety-service department. He had been earning the same wage as a seasonal employee, $7.50 an hour with no benefits. As safety-service director, his salary will be just $500 less than the mayor's annual salary of about $91,000.

Winemiller is a 2005 graduate of Amherst Steele High School and a junior political science major at Heidelberg College in Tiffin.

What a Surprise.

2007-11-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

News Corp. Appoints Opera Singer to Board

News Corp. is overriding the wishes of Dow Jones shareholders the Bancroft family by appointing Natalie Bancroft, a 27-year-old opera singer with little experience in the media, to its board. News Corp. vetoed the nomination of Michael Hill, an outspoken critic of Dow Jones.

The Paper Trail

2007-11-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

Here’s another group opposed to the idea of eliminating, reducing the role of or otherwise disparaging copy editors.

Media Employers Who Downgrade Editing Will Destroy Fabric of Ethical Journalism Warns IFJ
Publishers who think unedited journalism will help them out of the crisis overwhelming the newspaper industry in parts of the industrialised world are in danger of destroying the scope for ethical journalism, warns the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today on the eve of widespread protests across Europe over falling social and professional standards in media.Voices have been raised against this idea, of course, among them:

Doug Fisher

John McIntyre

Forrest Brown

And, of course, ACES.

It strikes me that we in the newsrooms who have been raising this issue may well lose because it is obvious that the people proposing these ideas are driven by fear, which trumps everything else. We’ve succeeded primarily in laying out a paper trail for the future and as a bit of history.

American Indian Program

2007-11-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

The Freedom Forum is encouraging candidates to apply for the American Indian Journalism Institute, an academic, scholarship and internship program for college students run and funded by the Freedom Forum, a foundation which promotes employment diversity in America’s newsrooms.

Pass the word.

Web Site Development

2007-11-02T07:40:00.000-04:00

Stanford is offering a four-day course in web site development that might be of interest to people on the Left Coast. Too bad it's not going to be online.

Edwards' Campaign Paper

2007-10-31T16:55:00.001-04:00

Ha ha. Fake John Edwards' campaign front page, better executed than fakes usually are.

Infographic RIP :)

2007-10-30T21:16:00.001-04:00

Bruce Banned?

2007-10-30T18:42:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know if this is true? Has Clear Channel
banned Bruce Springsteen?

Like the Dixie Chicks, again?

The Story of Dr. Syn

2007-10-30T10:43:00.000-04:00

Jeez, this is depressing. Start here and then go here and start at the bottom.

Oh. Canada.

2007-10-28T20:35:00.000-04:00

If it's not fake news conferences, it's misplaced borders..

U.S. annexes Canadian landmark in tourism video

Matthew Lee
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON – Oh, Canada! The USA is closer than ever.

The Bush administration appears to have annexed a major Canadian landmark as part of a slick new campaign to promote U.S. tourism and welcome foreign visitors to America.

A Disney-produced promotional video released last week by the departments of State and Homeland Security highlights majestic American landscapes, from New England's colourful fall foliage and the Grand Canyon to the Rocky Mountains and Hawaii's pounding surf.

Backed by a soaring orchestral soundtrack, shots of those attractions are interspersed with the smiling images of people of all creeds and colours.

The video, "Welcome: Portraits of America," is to be played at select airports in the United States – starting at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston – and at U.S. embassies abroad.

About four minutes into the seven-minute production, viewers are treated to the impressive sight and sound of water roaring over Niagara Falls before the screen shifts to the Lincoln Memorial.

In showing the natural wonder, Disney's filmmakers, however, chose the Horseshoe Falls, the only one of Niagara's three waterfalls to lie on the Canadian side of the border separating western New York state from southern Ontario province.

Making matters worse, a visitor to the U.S. would not even be able to get the same view of the falls in the video because the scene was shot from a vantage point in Canada, according to Paul Gromosiak, a Niagara Falls, N.Y., historian and author.

Also, he said the video leaves out the two cascades that actually are on U.S. territory, the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

"This is not the United States, this is 100 per cent Canada, shot from the Canadian side. This is an insult," Gromosiak said after reviewing the video at the request of The Associated Press.

Although brief, the appearance of the Horseshoe Falls in a U.S. tourism promotion effort is likely to also vex Canadians, who long have fought to distinguish themselves from their larger and more powerful neighbour to the South.

'Bully' a Bad Choice

2007-10-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

Reporter Bobby Caina Calvan of McClatchy probably should have chosen a word other than "bully" to describe his actions.

Quality Lost?

2007-10-27T12:06:00.000-04:00

This comment was addressed to people attending the Forbes MEET (media,electronic entertainment and technology) conference but has implications for the news biz, too:

Disney President and Chief Executive Bob Iger had some smart words of advice for MEET attendees:
“Quality [content] is only as good as the access that we provide people to essentially experience that quality. In today’s world, unless you take advantage of the access that the technology is providing you, quality is not only meaningless--you’re basically irrelevant. You’ve got to be front and center on these new platforms to maintain your relevance.”

'Endangered by the Work That They Do'

2007-10-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

I'd mentioned this previously, but read what one of the winners of the 2007 International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award winners--there were six of them-- said at the awards ceremony. It is very moving.

From VNRs to This

2007-10-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

So when Washington reporters hint that they play nice with the administration for fear of losing access--a concept that's always confused me--is this what they had in mind? It's important to have access to people who stage events, lie or misrepresent events?

And, while I can't point to exact language, some of the way the Katrina vs. California cable TV coverage has gone is disturbing--no one quite says the Katrina crowds were less docile than the Californians because they were black and poor but there have certainly beeen vague allusions to those issues.

FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA

By Al Kamen
Friday, October 26, 2007; Page A19

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.

Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices. They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets.

Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more questions." Later, he called for a "last question."

"Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" a reporter asked. Another asked about "lessons learned from Katrina."

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far," Johnson said, hailing "a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team."

"And so I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership," Johnson said, "none of which were present in Katrina." (Wasn't Michael Chertoff DHS chief then?) Very smooth, very professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.

Asked about this, Widomski said: "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute."

But the staff did not make up the questions, he said, and Johnson did not know what was going to be asked.

Courage Award for McClatchy-ites

2007-10-24T07:56:00.000-04:00

Hooray for them--McClatchy and Knight Ridder folks have been stupendous in the last several years.

Six current and former Iraqi McClatchy staffers in Baghdad were awarded the Courage Award in New York Tuesday by the International Women's Media Foundation. Four of the six were present for the awards lunch at the Waldorf Astoria, and one of them, Sahar Issa, gave a smash acceptance speech on everyone's behalf. Standing behind her were Ban Adil Sarhan, Huda Ahmed and Alaa Majeed. Not able to attend were Zaineb Obeid and Shatha al Awsy.

A McClatchy fan club, including John Walcott, Mark Seibel, Leila Fadel, plus Knight Ridder alums Clark Hoyt and Steve Butler, led the cheering section.

Is Howard Stern (the radio guy) Back?

2007-10-23T23:03:00.000-04:00

Oh, no. CNN gets suckered. Or something like that. According to Atrios, from the
Most Trusted Name In News

CNN reads your emails.

Hayward from Escondido wrote this:

We drove by a huge wall of flames in our Hummer. Thank God we made it out.

Chyron:

Email From: Hayward Ablohmie
Escondido, California

Tracking Drudge

2007-10-22T10:24:00.001-04:00

The New York Times writes today about Hillary Clinton apparently developing a decent working relationship with Matt Drudge, the conservative blogger who pursued the Lewinsky scandal so vigorously and who is notorious for publishing without fact checking.

But it's not Clinton who interests me in this story. It's the Times' reference to reporters and editors tuning in and following stories posted by Drudge. The lefty blogs all complain about this--usually then complaining about the mainstream media as lazy, stupid, etc., -- so it's curious that the Times would, in effect, confirm it.

Aides in both parties acknowledge working harder than ever to get favorable coverage for their candidates — or unfavorable coverage of competitors — onto the Drudge Report’s home page, knowing that television producers, radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters view it as a bulletin board for the latest news and gossip.

There are a number of bloggers who routinely uncover stories worth national attention. I've listed them on my blogroll at Words at Work. Yes, it might take a little more work to tune in to multiple blogs but it's worth it to not rely on a guy with a political agenda and a history of sloppy reporting. It's not that a blog having an agenda is wrong; it's that the blog reports gossip as fact and others rely on it so much.

So widen your sources, reporters. Stop leaning on one weird guy.

Howie Takes a Beating

2007-10-21T18:42:00.000-04:00

Howie Kurtz is taking a beating at the hands of Harper's magazine. Given how clueless he looked the night on the Daily Show, he probably won't even notice.

Evolution of a Scam

2007-10-21T13:52:00.001-04:00

Just got this e-mail this afternoon:

Greetings.

Please your assistance if fully needed, if you
have been scammed before by
some Nigerian internet users that claimed to be
an online boyfriend or
girlfriend or online Business associate or eBay
buyers/ Sellers, some of
these people claimed to be Americans and these
men and women are
Nigerians, the federal government established
this program to refund the
victims of internet scams, we are assuring you
that for the past 6 months
that we have started this programme we have
sentenced 65 men and 12 women
to jail for their involvement in internet fraud.
Please if you are a
victim and you have evidence to prove, then mail
us for assistance and
directives.

However, lets work together to stop internet
fraud and to make Nigeria a
fraud free country. Thanks for taking time to
read this email and for
further assistance please send an email to
antinigeria.scams@gmail.com
Respectfully,

Anti Nigeria Scams Department

What Is Wrong With Cable News?

2007-10-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

How is it that people like Cliff May keep showing up on MSNBC-TV after comments like this on the Tucker Carlson show yesterday? I thought I had heard it wrong but evidently not. I want some women on TV--are you listening, Mika Brzezinski?--to try calling Rudy Giuliani a Penis-American and see how long you remain on the air.

At least you'd get some respect, which you don't get from the boys on the Morning Joe show.

I understand MSNBC is trying to be provocative. Hence the Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams' routines of attacking Rush Limbaugh and other rightwingers. (Dan's mocking of one of Fox's "you rock" guys was hilarious; Olbermann succeeds in eviscerating the rightwingers almost every time he opens his mouth. But there's provocative and then there's just tasteless; Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough routinely, and even Keith when he uses Michael Musto, are simply tacky.

Here's what happened when Tucker Carlson began talking about Hillary Clinton and her alleged attempt to woo the women's vote:

...this is an amazing statistic: 94 percent of women say they'd be more likely to vote if a woman were on the ballot. I think of all the times I voted for people just because they're male. You know? The ballot comes up, and I'm like, 'Wow. He's a dude. I think I'll vote for him. We've got similar genitalia. I'm -- he's getting my vote.' "

After saying that "the Clinton campaign says: 'Hillary isn't running as a woman,' " Carlson said: "Well, that's actually completely false, considering the Hillary campaign -- and I get their emails -- relentlessly pushes the glass ceiling argument. 'You should vote for her because she's a woman.' They say that all the time.

And Clifford May, ex-New York Times reporter and alleged pundit and serious thinker, replies:

At least call her a Vaginal-American, as opposed to --

Tucker:
Is that the new phrase?

MAY:
I think that is, yeah.

Somedays watching cable is like having a front-row seat at peep show in a men's locker room.

Carey's Got a New Reason

2007-10-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

The indefatigable Drew Carey has some more ideas

Carey targets 'stupid' stuff with new site

By Alex Woodson
NEW YORK -- Coinciding with his first day of hosting "The Price Is Right," Drew Carey and the nonprofit think tank Reason Foundation launched a Web site Monday that will present short documentary videos about current issues.

Reason.tv will feature journalistic videos, hosted by Carey, focusing on such subjects as eminent domain, drug laws and immigration. The Web site also will have community features that will share videos and communicate with the Cleveland-born comedian.

"We need Reason to help fight the stupid drug laws, the stupid immigration laws and stupid big government in general," Carey said.

The first video, released Monday, looks at the problem of traffic congestion in Los Angeles, with Carey escorting a gridlock-plagued worker to his office via helicopter.

Word Aversion

2007-10-09T08:30:00.000-04:00

Now, THIS is funny. There's a Facebook group for people who hate the word "moist."

Language Log has more on word aversion.

Newsvine and MSNBC

2007-10-09T08:11:00.000-04:00

I've been wondering about this for a day or two--putting these two ideas together could be brilliance, or it could be a repeat of the disastrous AOL-Time Warner deal. Some cultures just don't get along. We'll see.

Media Mashup: What Does the MSNBC-Newsvine Mean for Journalism?
MSNBC's purchase of amateur journalism web site Newsvine adds a dose of credibility to so-called "citizen journalism," but also raises questions about how professional and amateur reporters can coexist under one corporate roof.

The deal, which combines Seattle-based Newsvine with Seattle-based MSNBC, is the first acquisition in MSNBC's 11-year history. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The rapidly growing "citizen journalism" movement has emerged in opposition to the so-called "mainstream media." Advocates see citizen journalism as a way to break what they feel is a corporate stranglehold on information.

As such, the MSNBC-Newsvine linkup creates an obvious tension: How can Newsvine maintain its independent, amateur ethos as part of a large news organization staffed by professional reporters? At the same time, how can MSNBC maintain its credibility as it increasingly incorporates amateur news reports?

MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft.

"Anytime you have two different cultures under the same roof, there are challenges," Sree Sreenivasan, the dean of students at Columbia Journalism School and an expert on new media, told Portfolio.com. Sreenivasan is also an on-air tech reporter at WNBC-TV.

"User-generated content is fraught with both opportunities and challenges," Sreenivasan said, adding that when professional journalism outfits link up with amateurs, "there is a risk that credibility goes down."

However, Sreenivasan said, "News isn't only what New York Times editors say it is anymore. Users are increasingly influencing news.

"Moving forward, you're going to see a lot of traditional news organizations getting involved with smaller, more nimble outfits," he said.

The Prize? Journalism Study

2007-10-09T08:04:00.000-04:00

Reality TV show rewards student with a university journalism scholarship
By holdthefrontpage staff
A journalism hopeful from India is to study at Cardiff University after competing for his place on TV.

Ayushman Jamwal, an 18-year-old from New Delhi, has enrolled on the BA Journalism, Film and Media course after beating thousands of other Indian applicants in the New Delhi Television programme Scholar Hunt: Destination UK.

The Apprentice-style reality show was broadcast on NDTV, the largest national English language channel in India with a reach of approximately 50 viewers, and Ayushman scooped the prize after completing a series of tests.

Google Shows Its Colors (!)

2007-10-09T07:42:00.000-04:00

There's a new bit of insanity every day. Every single day.

Google logo tweak sends critics into orbit
By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 9, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Should the world's most-used search engine be more of a Yankee Google Dandy?

Google Inc. occasionally features light-hearted doodles on its colorful home-page logo to commemorate special occasions. But now they are drawing criticism from conservatives for not being more patriotic.

The Mountain View, Calif., company bathes its logo in stars and stripes every Independence Day, but last week's decision to honor the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch -- the second "g" in Google was replaced with a drawing of the Soviet satellite -- is being blasted by some conservatives.

Not only did Google honor an achievement by a totalitarian regime that was our Cold War enemy, they griped, but it did so without having ever altered its logo to commemorate U.S. military personnel on Memorial Day or Veterans Day.

"It's a kick to your belly," said conservative blogger Giovanni Gallucci, 39, a social media consultant from Dallas. "I understand these guys are scientists and engineers and they have their quirks and want to make sure people are recognized who might not normally be recognized . . . but why not celebrate the struggles that we've come through as a people?"

Conservatives see the Sputnik logo as particularly galling because the search giant's in-house artist has tweaked the Google logo for a variety of obscure events, including World Water Day, Persian New Year, painter Edvard Munch's birthday and China's Dragon Boat Festival.

Google regularly gives other U.S. holidays the logo treatment, including Halloween, Thanksgiving and St. Patrick's Day (but not for Columbus Day, which was Monday).

"When they ignore Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I think they're telling us something about the way they view America," said Joseph Farah, editor of WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative website that has criticized Google's logo decisions.

Conservatives have found plenty of reasons to complain about Google, which they see as a liberal enclave because of the corporate causes it champions and the political candidates its employees support.

De-Cluttering

2007-10-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

Bryn Nelson, an old pal from Newsday, has an interesting piece about clutter, over at MSNBC.

Now, if I could just find that piece of paper with Bryn's e-mail address...

New Ideas for Old Newspapers

2007-10-06T21:20:00.000-04:00

Meredith Moss at the Dayton Daily News compiled a list of ways to reuse old newspapers. Some of them are pretty inventive.

The Rollback

2007-10-05T11:39:00.000-04:00

I wonder what the new president will do to unwind the Bush legacy.

What rules and policies we don’t know about will be unwound? And how long will it take to uncover, for outrage to build and for action to be taken?

A couple of the bigger targets at the moment:

Blackwater

FISA

Other

It's All Fun Til Someone Gets Hurt...

2007-10-03T09:53:00.000-04:00

What could possibly go wrong with this?

Leapfrogging mayor 'devastated' after injuring council worker

By Lesley-Anne Henry
The Lord Mayor of Belfast said today he was "deeply sorry" after severely injuring a council worker during a promotional photo shoot.
Jim Rodgers is understood to have left the employee with severe back injuries after he tried to leap-frog over her for photographers.

Lorraine Mallon, who works for the arts section of Belfast City Council's development department, suffered a slipped disc and has not been able to return to work since the shoot last month.
Ms Mallon, who has worked for the council for two years, was dressed as a tomato to launch a gourmet garden event in Botanic Gardens last month.
It is believed Mr Rodgers accidentally struck her with his knee as he tried to vault over her.

Tribune Gets Tax Settlement

2007-10-02T08:42:00.000-04:00

The media conglomerate first announced a tentative agreement in June in the long-running Matthew Bender case.
It said net cash proceeds of the settlement are about $286 million after consideration of income taxes.
The final settlement eases the impact of a ruling that Tribune said at the time could cost it $1 billion unless it won an appeal.
The case stems from the 1998 tax-free reorganization of the Matthew Bender division under Times Mirror Co., which Tribune acquired in 2000. A U.S. Tax Court ruling in September 2000 disallowed it, unraveling hundreds of millions of dollars of presumed tax savings.
The 2005 ruling helped send Tribune and its stock into a downward slide that ended with the company, under pressure from its largest shareholders, putting itself up for sale and ultimately agreeing in April to go private in an $8.2 billion buyout led by real estate magnate Sam Zell.
Tribune owns 11 daily newspapers, 23 TV stations and the Chicago Cubs.
Shares in the company rose 18 cents to $27.50 in Monday trading.
http://www.tribune.com

Questions About Citizenship Questions

2007-09-28T07:45:00.000-04:00

Hmm. I've been reviewing the questions, testing myself, and doing pretty well. Embarrassed to say that I thought there were 29 amendments, not 27, to the Constitution. There are some definite oddities that seem to take up current issues rather than longer-term knowledge of American citizenship.

For example, the test asks who the commander in chief of the U.S. military is. I find that odd, and rooted in current politics rather than wider knowledge. It doesn't, conversely, ask who has the power to declare war. I don't care for the immediate questions--the name of the vice president, for example, or what happened on Sept.11. I realize it shows us who's paying attention to current events but I like broader knowledge and understanding of what the country is all about.

And it seems very executive-branch focused:
Who signs bills to become law?
Who vetoes bills?
What does the President's Cabinet do?
What is the political party of the President now?

I'd love to know how many Americans could answer many of these questions, especially

New citizenship test is unveiled
The 100 questions are more abstract, relying less on rote memory. Some say they're also harder.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration unveiled a revamped citizenship test Thursday intended to promote assimilation and patriotism -- a redesign some critics contend erects a higher hurdle for immigrants who want to become citizens.

The 100 new civics questions -- which test knowledge of American government, history and civics and take effect Oct. 1, 2008 -- will require less rote memorization and are meant to focus more on fostering identification with American values.

Quiz
Would you pass the U.S. citizenship test?For example, applicants may currently be asked, "What country did we fight during the Revolutionary War?" But starting next year, applicants could be asked to explain why the colonists fought the British. They may also have to describe what the "rule of law" is and outline one constitutional amendment concerning the right to vote. (Applicants are asked 10 questions and must answer at least six correctly to pass.)

"This is a naturalization test which genuinely captures the applicant's knowledge of what it is he's about ready to be, a United States citizen," said Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "It's no longer a test about how many stars are on the flag or how many stripes; it's a test that genuinely talks about those things that make America what it is."

But immigrants' advocates who tried to shape the test's redesign expressed deep disappointment. Some, citing a recent 69% increase in the citizenship application fee (now $675), said it was another barrier for legal permanent residents hoping to become Americans. They said that whereas the current 96 fact-based questions could be correctly answered in various ways, the abstract new questions required the exact answers in the study materials.

"We've always been concerned that people with lower levels of education would have trouble with this new test and people of lower income would not be able to pay for the process," said Fred Tsao, policy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "Mexicans, as a group, fall into that category. That's always been a concern. Of course, the administration will deny it."

Karen K. Narasaki, director of the Asian American Justice Center, worked with immigration officials on overhauling the test. She said the update was needed but "they seem to have missed the mark. We do think this adds to the barriers to citizenship."

Narasaki also said she thought the Bush administration might be politicizing the test.

She pointed to Question 67, which she said encapsulated the test's increased difficulty as well as a new political tinge: "The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers."

Conservatives who believe in restricting federal power often cite the Federalist Papers, a series of articles advocating ratification of the Constitution. During the 2006 immigration debate, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) offered an amendment to require that test-takers be asked about the Federalist Papers.

Something in Their Eye

2007-09-26T12:41:00.001-04:00

Oh, now this isn't smart. CBS staffers got snippy when people commented about Katie Couric's Baghdad trip.

Baghdad trip turns out to be not just a snoozefest, but also ratings poison: The "CBS Evening News" tied a record low with just under 5.5 million viewers last week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday. Last week and Memorial Day week are the two least-watched CBS evening newscasts since at least 1987, and probably far earlier.

People who expected CBS to actually report something wrote in to complain, and CBS employees wrote back, saying the complainers probably read blogs, and everyone knows blogs suck.

Fake TV News

2007-09-25T09:29:00.001-04:00

This is overdue--fake news only works if everyone KNOWS it's fake.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a $4,000 fine against Comcast Corp. for airing a pitch for a sleep aid without telling viewers that the spot was financed by the maker of the product.

The fine was in response to a complaint by the Center for Media and Democracy, a media watchdog group, which said it marks the first time a company has been sanctioned for airing a "video news release," a type of programming it dubs "fake news."

A video news release is a sponsored public relations video that mimics actual news reports. Such programs are common in broadcasting and are usually offered to news shows for free.

The fine, while small, is significant for another reason: It is being assessed against a cable company. Comcast Corp. says cable programming is not covered under the statute cited by the FCC.

The company released a statement saying it was "perplexed" by the action and that even if it were subject to FCC jurisdiction, the segment still shouldn't have been subject to sanction.

Bylines in Advertising Sections

2007-09-24T10:10:00.001-04:00

Here's an oddity: Howie Kurtz at The Washington Post reports that staff reporters' stories were used in an advertising section. We need more info: were the articles pro-GM? Did the stories run in full? Were they edited in some inappropriate way? Does The Post plan to continue this with other ads? Does The Post's union have a say in this? Inquiring minds should want to know.

When General Motors ran a six-page advertising supplement in last week's Washington Post, touting its environmental credentials, many newsroom staffers were upset. The reason: The section was filled with articles bearing bylines of Post writers.

Why was the paper lending its credibility to an automaker that it covers? Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. says that because the stories were previously published, "we were not doing journalism specifically for this section."

Downie says he is undecided about such cooperation with future advertisers: "I'm not sure where the line is on that, and that's why I agreed to go this far."

Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell said in her weekly critique that the use of the bylines "bothers the hell out of me" and that "it doesn't blur the line. It obliterates it."

Political-Media Couples

2007-09-23T15:28:00.000-04:00

Where the media and political elite meet in marriage. Some are here because, though technically not media people, they’re frequently commentators on cable news shows:

Just getting started.

Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media critic, married to Sheri Annis, ex-spokesman for Gov. Schwartzenegger

Alan Greenspan, ex-Fed chairman and Andrea Mitchell, NBC correspondent

Joseph DiGenova, ex-prosecutor and Victoria Toensing, Republican strategist

Ken Pollack, Brookings Institution and Andrea Koppel, CNN

Ron Brownstein, LA Times political correspondent and Eileen McMenamin, political director, Sen. John McCain

Matthew Cooper, Portfolio magazine (formerly of Time magazine) and Mandy Grunwald, Democratic strategist

Russ Schriefer, Romney strategist and Nina Easton, Fortune magazine

Jim O’Beirne, Defense Department and Kate O’Beirne, National Review

David Gregory, NBC White House correspondent and Beth Wilkinson, Fannie Mae general counsel

A power couple list.

A few others of interest:
Lynne and Dick Cheney
Bill and Hilary Clinton
Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, and Elaine Chao, secretary of labor

Holy Cow!

2007-09-23T10:02:00.000-04:00

New lyrics for "God Bless America," from the recent "values voter" Republican debate.
"Why should God bless America? She's forgotten who he is." ??

What the Hell?

2007-09-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

When are we going to stop this?

Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented
U.S. Effort More Extensive Than Previously Known

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A01

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.

But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.

The Automated Targeting System has been used to screen passengers since the mid-1990s, but the collection of data for it has been greatly expanded and automated since 2002, according to former DHS officials.

Officials yesterday defended the retention of highly personal data on travelers not involved in or linked to any violations of the law. But civil liberties advocates have alleged that the type of information preserved by the department raises alarms about the government's ability to intrude into the lives of ordinary people. The millions of travelers whose records are kept by the government are generally unaware of what their records say, and the government has not created an effective mechanism for reviewing the data and correcting any errors, activists said.

The activists alleged that the data collection effort, as carried out now, violates the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering of data related to Americans' exercise of their First Amendment rights, such as their choice of reading material or persons with whom to associate. They also expressed concern that such personal data could one day be used to impede their right to travel.

"The federal government is trying to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity Project, an ad-hoc group of privacy advocates in California and Alaska. The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions. . . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and without our consent."

Gilmore's file, which he provided to The Washington Post, included a note from a Customs and Border Patrol officer that he carried the marijuana-related book "Drugs and Your Rights." "My first reaction was I kind of expected it," Gilmore said. "My second reaction was, that's illegal."

Google Newspaper Searches

2007-09-22T08:20:00.000-04:00

I have reason to track the use of stories by other newspapers. For the last few months, there appears to be a dropoff in use of those stories when I use Google*, though if I do an archive search newspaper by newspaper, that dropoff seems minor or even nonexistent. What I'm seeing is an increasing reference to blogs.

It also appears that Google is using a geographical basis -- it most often points me back to the originating newspaper multiple times but rarely beyond, even though papers elsewhere are using those stories. Google has also started an archiving service so I think what's going on is an attempt on Google's part to be more selective, to produce fewer immediate references to the desired material.

In other words, is Google abandoning or at least limiting newspaper citations for blogs and its own archiving system?

MTV's 'Citizen Journalists'

2007-09-21T07:12:00.000-04:00

MTV is hiring 51 "citizen journalists" to report on politics. And they'll be paid.

Here's another political blogging opportunity.

Sorry, We're Too Busy To...

2007-09-21T00:24:00.000-04:00

I'm sure there's a great punchline here; I'm just too busy surfing the Web to figure it out.

Americans giving up friends, sex for Web life

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Surfing the net has become an obsession for many Americans with the majority of U.S. adults feeling they cannot go for a week without going online and one in three giving up friends and sex for the Web.

A survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web, to which 15 percent said a just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days.

Only a fifth of those who took part in an online survey conducted by advertising agency JWT between Sept 7 and 11 said they could go for a week.

Facebook Disputes

2007-09-20T07:25:00.000-04:00

Something seems out of whack here. Blogger David Wescotthas been documenting some debate at Facebook, which has banned photos of women breastfeeding their babies but allows pro-anorexia groups to flourish. Seems odd.

Trade Those Books

2007-09-19T23:04:00.000-04:00

If you love to read but hate parting with books, consider the Paperback Swap Club--you can trade your books with fellow booklovers for the price of postage. And they don't limit swaps to paperbacks.

Outsourcing the Editor

2007-09-17T08:56:00.000-04:00

This web site explains how to save money by outsourcing editorial work. The advice is meant to be applied to technical writing, and does contain a caution on quality work. There's no mention of newspaper issues.

Too Late!

2007-09-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

We should have seen it coming.

New Newseum

2007-09-16T21:32:00.001-04:00

Newseum has revamped its site again. It's even more useful and user-friendly than ever. Great site for any and all news junkies.

The front page link
and the journalists' memorial are particularly interesting, but don't stop there.

"No Need for a Newspaper'

2007-09-16T11:21:00.000-04:00

I don't know if this is what Jonathan Landman meant to say

New York Times deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman, in a memo to staff: "Times have changed. Our online storytelling skills have evolved to the point where you really can get the whole story without reading a newspaper article. It's a remarkably rich experience that goes well beyond using video or maps or pictures to tell a story—something we (and others) have done well many times. The innovation lies in putting them together in a way that tells the story with all the nuance, comprehensiveness, authority and depth that define The New York Times. (It's hard to imagine online storytelling at this level coming from a non-integrated newsroom. Neither 'newspaper people' nor 'web people' could have done it alone.)"

Completely Off Topic

2007-09-15T09:05:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when the kid joins the high school band--the seniors come by about 3 a.m. to "welcome" the freshmen. Oh, yeah--it rained about 30 seconds after they were done. Guess how I'm spending my day? :)

C'mon, Howie

2007-09-14T14:36:00.000-04:00

What? From Media Matters

KURTZ: I think the argument that I've heard Olbermann make in the past about Fox News -- it's not an argument that I embrace -- is that, because it poses as a news organization and puts out dangerous misinformation

BECK: But that's what he's doing!

KURTZ: -- and is -- is a cheerleader for the Bush administration, that it's misinforming our society. But you know what?

BECK: Howard --

KURTZ: They're entitled to do that.
Howie, there's a reason this happens.

Who Reads What

2007-09-13T14:23:00.001-04:00

This is one of those stories that could easily be misinterpreted. The Project for Excellence in Journalism reports on how users select a different lineup of stories from mainstream journalists. I'm not sure why this would be a a surprise, and perhaps PEJ didn't intend it to be.

Gawker raises a good point: if techie readers who identify the kinds of stories they want to read and they're weighted to, say, tech-related stories, is that a fair assessment of what the "average reader" wants?

And my question is, is there no role for people whose job it is to keep an eye on everything going on in the world, and then present the ones that really matter? Not that we do that enough, but just speculating.

This study is getting savaged around the Internet, by the way.

Meerkat Manners

2007-09-13T11:18:00.001-04:00

Well, of course, the meerkats weren't taking pictures of themselves; they would have hired the water buffalo to take care of it!

Snookered Again

2007-09-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

So, we're not going to run out of redheads any time soon? That's a relief, really.

Are redheads going extinct?
by Jacob Silverman
In August 2007, many news organizations reported that redheads or "gingers," as our British and Australian friends call them, would eventually become extinct. Other news outlets and blogs picked up the story, citing the "Oxford Hair Foundation" or "genetic scientists" who claimed that there would be no more redheads by as early as 2060 [source: The Courier Mail]. It turns out that all those people were wrong. Redheads are here to stay and should be around well beyond 2060.

Departures

2007-09-11T12:45:00.000-04:00

Just a few of the people I know who have left the newsroom lately:

Peter, Jamie, Marci, Larry, Mohamad, Roy, A.J., Jim, Dan, Justin, Joanne, Bryn, Amanda.

Saving Journalism

2007-09-09T17:04:00.000-04:00

Back in the end of 1995, I was interviewing with a top editor at a then-well-regarded major metropolitan newspaper and we got to talking about the Internet, still a pretty new concept. We agreed that newspapers needed to respond; he saw the Internet as the end of newspapers. I said I thought we needed to seize control of the technology, control it before others figured out what to do with it. We were both right, I think, in our own way.

He's long since left the newspaper world, to, I think, teach. I'm stumbling around, trying to figure out how we can still do good journalism and not cave into democratically "edited" web sites whose only authority is how many people link to them. I realize that may sound arrogant. But there has to be a place and a way for experienced reporters and editors to cover the news in an intelligent and useful way. The notion of gatekeeper may be gone, replaced in part by simple corporate ownership. But all the bloggers digging through documents or linking to sites with niche bits of informatio and opinion sites in the world can't replace a Thomas Ricks or a Tina Susman.

Citizen journalism has its place but it's not going to do the full job that having a decently financed news operation in place when needed.

Controlling Your Image

2007-09-09T14:15:00.000-04:00

Polygot Conspiracy has a good idea:
I recommend reading a post by danah boyd over at apophenia, controlling your public appearance. This is something people are increasingly worried about - and I’ve heard a lot about it in the past few days, since Facebook announced they’d be making profiles (unless you opt out of it) available in search results. Basically, the question is how to maintain online presence in a way that you’re happy with, in a way that lets you control how you seem to people who may be looking for/at you online, and possibly in a way that lets you keep some sliver of anonymity for some online activities, if you want it.

Track a Missing Aviator

2007-09-09T10:38:00.000-04:00

If you go here, you can help look for missing aviator Steve Fossett. Sounds weird, I know, but you're examining sections of satellite imagery. The site tells you how.

A Different History

2007-09-08T20:38:00.000-04:00

Beloit College annually publishes a list of experiences for that year's entering freshman class, reminding us of that group's worldview. It can be adapted, certainly, to today's high school freshmen, as well.

Here are a few:
What Berlin wall?

They have grown up with bottled water

Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa

Pete Rose has never played baseball

Rap music has always been mainstream

Russia has always had a multi-party political system.

Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears

Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.

They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”

Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.

Fox has always been a major network.

Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.

They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.

Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.

MTV has never featured music videos.

They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.

They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.

Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.

Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

So Much for the Future

2007-09-08T17:18:00.000-04:00

The next time someone tries to tell you what the future will be like, check out
Paleo-Future.

What a Voice

2007-09-07T23:05:00.000-04:00

I never got to see Luciano Pavarotti perform, much to my regret. It's funny how such banal lyrics (for the most part) can produce such dramatic performances, especially with a voice like Pavarotti's.

Seems Like a Good Idea

2007-09-07T14:51:00.000-04:00

Seen on a bumper sticker:
God Bless the Whole World. No exceptions.

Oh, this is interesting. This fine fellow expresses some doubts about the bumper sticker's intent.

Helicopter Parenting

2007-09-07T00:16:00.001-04:00

Of course, I would never do this but for the rest of you... :)
From the Wall Street Journal's blog, The Juggle raises a good question for competitive Long Islanders, among others:

Many parents I know don’t want to become a “helicopter parent,” who hovers over and advocates for his or her child on the playground, at school events, or even when the child starts business school, as we posted about here.

But if a parent wants to adapt a more hands-off approach to parenting, is he or she putting the child at a disadvantage in an increasingly competitive environment? Readers have pointed out how some homework assignments are so tough they practically require parental involvement, as does the challenging college application process....

Pennies for Their Thoughts

2007-09-07T00:11:00.000-04:00

Now this is seriously cool: The MegaPenny Project shows us what an increasing number of pennies looks like.

Avoiding Lolita

2007-08-31T00:21:00.000-04:00

From Slate, a good article about the difficulty of shopping for clothes, especially girls, keeping them stylish but not trampy. Good luck!

Lolita's Closet
Unbearably trampy back-to-school clothes.
By Emily Yoffe

Emily Yoffe was online on Aug. 30 to chat with readers about this article. Read the transcript.
Illustration by Nina Frenkel. Click image to expand.

My 11-year-old daughter and I just did her back-to-school shopping. Shopping for a 'tween is a little like being a presidential candidate—you try to find some middle ground in a world of clamorous extremes. I want her clothes to reflect the fact that she's still a girl, but I'm willing to let her hint at the young woman she is about to become. What I don't want her to bring home from the mall are clothes—and there are plenty of them—that inspire this sort of paroxysm: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins."

Fortunately, my daughter shares my goals: She wants to look stylish while still sweet, trendy but not trampy. The designers at Limited Too, a shrine to 'tween fashion, and I differ on how to achieve this. The chain, which has about 570 stores in the United States, sells clothes to girls ages 7 to 12. According to a Limited Too spokesman, Robert Atkinson, the company was instrumental in creating the 'tween fashion category 20 years ago. This year, 'tweens of both sexes are expected to account for $13 billion of apparel sales.

In our house, we keep rules to a minimum but verboten for sure are belly shirts and anything with writing on the butt. C'mon, there's only one reason to put lettering on your butt and that's to draw attention. Nope, unacceptable here. And while we're at it, is there a reason to wear clothes bragging about how you're high maintenance or spoiled? Grownups?

At the Book Revue

2007-08-28T13:06:00.000-04:00

The Book Revue has a strong lineup of authors coming up:

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 8 pm
MASAHARU MORIMOTO
Food Network's Iron Chef. MASAHARU MORIMOTO will be speaking about and signing his new cookbook, Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking.

Thursday, Sept.6, 8pm
ALAN ALDA
Award winning actor ALAN ALDA will be speaking about and signing his new memoir Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.

Saturday, Sept.8th, 8pm
STEVE ISRAEL
Rep. STEVE ISRAEL will be speaking about and signing his new book Charge!: History's Greatest Military Speeches.

Monday, Sept. 10, 7:30pm
DIGGER PHELPS
Legendary basketball coach DIGGER PHELPS will be speaking about and signing his new book Undertaker's Son: Life Lessons From A Coach.

Wednesday, September 12th, 8pm
BART JONES. Hey. I know that guy! You should check out his book.

Newsday reporter BART JONES will be speaking about and signing Hugo!: The Hugo Chavez Story, From Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution.