Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
How To Read News
Take a look at this, boys and girls. Once Invincible Schwarzenegger Looking More Mortal, ABC News. Lesson One, know when to stop reading.
The story is that Arnold backed down in dealing with the unions. Across several different articles, on this one story it is shocking how difficult it is to get to the meaningful details. Look at this. Paragraph One: He’s showing himself to be a mere mortal, polls down sharply. Three words about the union deal – “significant policy retreat”. Paragraph Two: The numbers that show his popularity down, and high-level details about the poll. Nothing about the union. Paragraph Three: Meaningless and completely disposable.
Paragraphs Four and Five: Now we’re interviewing the experts for some bites. On my own, would I want to go to Phil Trounstine, director of the San Jose State University institute to get his opinion? Do I wake up each morning thinking about all my difficult decisions in the day ahead, with WWPTD on my lips? Phil may be a great guy. I got no quarrel with Phil.
But Phil doesn’t need more publicity. People are already talking about his poll, and they wouldn’t be talking about it if it wasn’t different from everybody else’s. By all means let’s interview Phil, but ask him questions about why we should believe his poll. And I’m not doubting the poll, it’s just that opinions about Gov. Schwarzenegger are in great supply. They’re cheap.
But back to my original point. Once we’re interviewing experts asking for their take on things, we’re done reporting things in the article. Time to go onto another article or get on with your day.
Interestingly, Google serves this story up to me so I can find out what’s going on lately, along with, SwissInfo. SwissInfo begins “California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is showing himself to be an ordinary mortal afterall with a significant policy retreat and a new poll showing his approval rating down…” uh, er, hey wait a minute. This seems familiar. I think I’m done reading SwissInfo. That’s Lesson Two.
Lesson Three: Understand labor unions and newspapers. Chicago Tribune serves up this bite. ” SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — Under pressure from firefighters and police officers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday backed off, for now, his plan to privatize California’s public employee pension system.” Get that? Firefighters and police officers. Oh, that is so rich. The Governor visited a fire hall to find out how everybody’s doing and ran into a bunch of angry faces. No, wait. They burst into his office with their fire hats and police hats and parkas and badges, and let him know how angry they were. Why are you screwing with our pensions, Governor?
Remember this: Newspapers love unions. Unions make news. News is made whenever unions get their way. Like Kevin Spacey said in The Usual Suspects, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing people he didn’t exist.” The greatest trick unions ever pulled, was convincing people they don’t exist. Newspapers, reliably, help out with this. The Peace Officer’s Association doesn’t want something; the police want something. The Fireighter’s Association didn’t pressure Arnold; the firefighters pressured Arnold. United Autoworkers Union doesn’t demand things; autoworkers need things. See how this works?
This may very well be the beginning of the end for California, or at the very least, of Arnold. Certainly it’s the beginning of the end of politics that might have had a hope of being responsive to all of the voters and taxpayers. It’s bad news, a critically important story, and it’s being played like “the police and firefighters can breathe easy, knowing that Arnold is done messing around with their death and disability benefits, for now.”
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