Gaza; Richardson PACs; GOP sarcasm

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Futility in Gaza

Rod Dreher, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, kicks things off by passing on a reader's report of seeing a bumper sticker with a picture of a mushroom cloud and the caption "Obliterate Israel." Dreher concludes that "Jew-hatred is getting to be very scary." Dreher is, of course, correct. Dreher doesn't point out that Muslim-hatred reached scary levels years ago, but selective umbrage is nothing new for Dreher. As usual, blog readers who pointed this out had their comments deleted.

But that's not what drew me into the discussion. One reader accused Israel of firing weapons containing white phosphorous into Gaza. White phosphorous has an incendiary effect that greatly increases the chances of collateral, civilian casualties. Reader "Peterk" dismisses the accusation with "the WP allegation is a non-starter." Reader "ce" pointed out that a UN relief and works compound had been hit by Israeli shells, which, according to a UN spokesman, allegedly contained white phosphorous, "according to breaking news on CNN." Reader "ce" then says, either defensively or sarcastically, "I realize this is not fair and balanced like Fox, but it is where I get my news."

Chalk up a minor victory for conservatives. People are all too aware that CNN's reputation has been tarred, that it is no longer considered a legitimate news source, that a news report can't be trusted until it's reported by Fox News. This has gone too far. Don't ever let anyone make you feel like you need to apologize that you get your news from CNN. Just make sure that you also check out other news sources as well, including Fox News. By the way, Fox News is reporting that UN "spokesman Chris Gunness says the building was hit by what was believed to be three white phosphorous shells." Also, that Ban Ki-moon "says Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has told him it was a 'grave mistake.'"

Over on the Religion blog, reader "DeSoto" defends Israel with, "If a group of thugs is threatening my family, I'm not going to be very judicial in my defense." With all due respect, the dilemma here is the very real doubt that Israel's tactics are making Israeli families safe or only perpetuating a cycle of violence. If Israel can capture or kill the "group of thugs" threatening Israeli families, all well and good. But perhaps Israel's actions spawn more "thugs" than they eliminate. If so, then Israel is not getting closer to its goal.

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Dirty Politics in Richardson

The Richardson Coalition sent out an email asking a lot of vaguely alarmist questions.

"Which City Council candidates got union PAC money during the 2007 election?"
"How much did they get?"
"What might that mean to our city?"

The accompanying editorial reports the results of a push-poll conducted by the Richardson Coalition to promote the allegation that union PACs are bad and city council officials who accept union PAC money are suspect. The question asked in the push-poll:

"During the last election, the largest contributor of funds to City Council candidates was a union-oriented political action committee. The primary receivers of this PAC’s funds are also the four newest members of the City Council. Do you see this as an attempt to influence votes to support the union’s cause?"

So what? Isn't any PAC contribution to political candidates an attempt to elect representatives sympathetic to the PAC's interests? The purpose of the poll and the email seems to be to cast doubt in voters' minds about certain City Council members, who just happen to be the most recently elected members and the newly elected mayor Steve Mitchell.

What the Richardson Coalition doesn't tell voters is that the Richardson Coalition is itself a Political Action Committee, or PAC, the same as the "union PAC" that the Coalition tries to scare voters about. This hypocrisy, this lack of transparency, this attempt to taint council members by association, amounts to nothing more than dirty politics.

I am generally sympathetic to the agenda of the Richardson Coalition, but I am disappointed by this attack. The Richardson Coalition should stick to promoting better government, not attacking others who get involved in local government as well, not using scare tactics to divide our city. The Richardson Coalition does Richardson no good with these tactics.

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Sarcasm is the Protest of the Weak

John Knowles, in "A Separate Peace," has his character Gene say, when reflecting on his youth, "This was my sarcastic summer. It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak."

Two essays today remind me of the wisdom in Gene's self analysis. The first, by former Dallas Morning News columnist William Murchison, is titled, "Those Poor, Poor Terrorists." The second, by NRO's Jay Nordlinger, is titled, "Cheney's a Monster, W.'s Stupid & Palin's a Bimbo." Both headlines drip with sarcasm. Nothing demonstrates more how weak the Republicans are.

By the way, I didn't bother to read either essay. Gene's reminiscences made valuable reading because of the benefit of hindsight (Gene's). Maybe someday, Murchison and Nordlinger will gain that wisdom of hindsight, too, but for now, sarcasm is all they offer, and there's not much value in that.

DISD job fair; Street parking

The Nightly Build...

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May I Have a Word? Job Fair

The Dallas Morning News set off a chain of events with a tweet. Yes, that's right. The DMN has its own Twitter feed. Anyway, the tweet that caused the ruckus:

"Hot after laying off 300 teacher DISD is ... hosting a job fair looking for 200 teachers. Stay classy, DISD."

Tim Rogers, on Frontburner, took exception to the snarky "Stay classy, DISD." Rogers views tweets as news, not opinion, and thinks this particular tweet blurs the boundary between those two domains.

Rogers' blog prompted DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander to object, too. He says the DISD event was not a job fair. It was an "information session." Apparently, the DISD is not hiring 200 teachers right now, just distributing information to individuals interested in becoming teachers next year. Rogers sided with the DISD spokesman, accusing the News of writing a "sloppy headline" and noted that the News changed its story headline to correct "job fair" to "job information session."

All this prompted Michael Landauer, on The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, to stand up for the reporters, tweeters, and headline writers at the newspaper. He asks, "since when do we let PR guys tell us that 'information sessions' for potential hires are not 'job fairs'?" Landauer insists that the DISD event was, in fact, a job fair. The DMN's interview with Dahlander certainly implies that the event was a job fair. He says DISD needs to be "recruiting," that this is the time of year the DISD "begins its search," and that "applicants need to be identified well before this school year ends."

In this little fracas, I'd say the advantage goes to Michael Landauer. Stay classy, everyone.

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Richardson Restricts Residential Street Parking

The Richardson City Council passed an ordinance limiting parking on residential streets to homeowners and guests between 2 and 8 a.m. Officials say the ordinance will only be enforced if they receive homeowner complaints. Adam McGill reported this on Frontburner, which set off a chorus of ill-informed complaints.

Homeowners know who their guests are. Officials will act only upon receiving a homeowner complaint. Yet reader "Jim" asks, "How do you know who is a guest? Unenforceable anyone?"

The ordinance was prompted by the lack of available street parking in residential neighborhoods. The ordinance will ensure that your neighbor doesn't use the street in front of your house as his regular overnight parking spot. Yet reader "Whisky Tango Foxtrot" asks, "I go to a movie at a theater behind your house at 5 p.m., and you come home from work at 6 and have nowhere to park, you’re SOL? ... Worst. Ordinance. Ever."

Again, the ordinance ensures that a homeowner will have parking available in front of his own home, whether he uses it for himself or for guests. Yet reader "amandacobra" says, "No more visiting friends, attending parties or stopping by to say hello. Just forget about it."

Reader "Steve" blames the parking problem on the "Asian population." Reader "Stuart" blames them and the "Hispanic population." As the commentary descends, reader "Brent D." laments, "@Dmagazine. My condolences for the trolls finally finding your once awesome blogs."

Future of news

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What Should Newspapers Look Like in the Future?

William McKenzie, a newspaperman, poses that question in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog. Online. It's like he already knows the answer, but can't bring himself to ask the more difficult question, "How Can Newspapers Make a Buck Online?"

Instead, he laments, if newspapers play even more to online readers, "what happens to people (like me) who like picking up a paper every day?" The cruel answer is that eventually they die, leaving the world to people who realize that anything printed on paper is, by the time it's delivered and read, no longer "news," making the word newspaper an oxymoron.

Another DMN editorial board member, Sharon Grigsby, comments that with the proliferation of online news sources, what makes up the op/ed page of a newspaper is changing. She explains how she tries for a unique range of content, while claiming that "what's fresh and interesting is what drives all the decisions." OK, then, how does she explain the regular space devoted to Mark Davis?

Sharon Grigsby's job of choosing content for an op/ed page is now available to every reader. Pick a feed aggregator (aka news reader, RSS reader, etc.), choose content (DMN, Dallas Observer, D Magazine, Dallas Business Journal, KERA, etc., etc.), then sit back and get overwhelmed by content, all collected in the same place, updated automatically. Grigsby's op/ed page and her job as editor of that page, are both already obsolete.

I've long since canceled my subscription to The Dallas Morning News. I had found that there was little in the paper that I hadn't already read online, word for word, either a wire service news story or an opinion column. The only things I turn to The Dallas Morning News for, even online, is *local* news that can't be found elsewhere. The Dallas Morning News seems to be aware of that, but isn't doing much to dominate the only niche left for it in the future.

Rod Dreher offered his own opinion, not as a comment, but as a separate blog post, needlessly forking the discussion. He suggests that something like the Amazon Kindle may be the next phase of newspapering. Perhaps as supporting evidence that he is, as he says, a "troglodyte," he says he was surprised to learn that you can subscribe to newspapers delivered via the Kindle.

Like the others, Dreher misses the point, too. McKenzie, Grigsby, and Dreher seem intent on finding a magic substitute for newsprint, something to let them continue to sell subscriptions to The Dallas Morning News, only delivered electronically to your Kindle (or something) instead of via paper to your front yard. What they miss is that the next phase of newspapering is already here. It's online. How online content is delivered is important, but there won't be a single method. There will be PCs and smart phones and Tivo and Kindles and new technologies like digital ink and portable, flexible display screens the size of newspapers, capable of being folded and rolled, just like... a newspaper.

The real problem for McKenzie, Grigsby and Dreher is that the new technology allows readers to get content from anywhere, to aggregate what they want, to act as their own editors. Nothing is ever going to be invented that will allow The Dallas Morning News to go back to charging the majority of residents of Dallas $250/year to subscribe to the content selected and presented by the team of editors in a building in downtown Dallas. What they should be talking about on the blog is a new business model, not new technology. The technology shift is already well underway. The business model shift? Not so much.

Craddick comeback; Kirpans; Mean blogs

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Craddick Comeback Depends on Lots of Luck

Paul Burka, on his own blog, asks if former Texas Speaker of the House Tom Craddick can mount a comeback in 2010 and regain the Speakership. To do so, Burka outlines a credulity-stretching series of events that must happen, some of them contradictory. He says Barack Obama must have a failed first two years of his Presidency, so the country turns against Democrats. Likewise, he says that the presumptive Texas Republican Speaker Joe Straus must have a failed term also. The result would be Texans electing a new Republican House in 2010, but with different Republicans. The new Republicans would be the old Republicans who would elect Tom Craddick to the Speakership again. I'd say stranger things have happened in politics, but I'm not sure that's true. This comeback, if it happens, would be the equal of the most unlikely political comebacks of all time.

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Of Kirpans and Letter Openers

Bruce Tomaso, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, reports of a Sikh woman who was fired by the IRS in Houston who is suing because she claims her freedom of religion was violated because the IRS prohibited her from wearing a kirpan, a ceremonial dagger that Sikhs wear as a duty of their religion.

What complicates the case is that the government allows scissors, letter openers, box cutters, and knives in the same building where the kirpan was banned. I don't know if the kirpan should be banned. I don't know if it should be allowed. But I do contend that kirpans, letter openers, and scissors are of similar size and shape and are equally capable of being used to stab, cut or slice. If one is setting security rules, and considering only the safety aspect, all of these should be treated alike. Either allow them all or ban them all. That's not what's happening in the Houston case.

What seemed simple logic to me obviously didn't seem simple logic to others. One reader, "sjjcrand," oblivious to the fact that Sikhs are not Muslims, exclaimed, "The violence associated with Muslims has to stop!"

A second reader, "Peterk," argues that a kirpan should be banned, but not the scissors or letter opener, because those latter objects have non-lethal purposes, but the kirpan doesn't. This reader is oblivious to the fact that security rules are based on the potential threat of objects, not whether the objects have common, everyday uses other than terrorism. Even if you accept this reader's logic, he ignores the fact that kirpans aren't used for stabbing, cutting, or slicing, unlike the objects he's willing to allow. Kirpans are often too dull to be of much practical use. Terrorists would probably prefer to be armed with a pair of scissors than some of the kirpans worn by Sikhs.

Another reader, "Heathen," offered the opinion that what makes the kirpan more dangerous than a letter opener or scissors is that "a religious zealot is attached to the kirpan." I'm not sure how he knows that, unless it's a blanket characterization that anyone who wears religious symbolism is automatically a zealot. Kind of a Catch 22 rule... You can wear a kirpan if you're not a zealot. But wearing a kirpan automatically makes you a zealot. Interesting logic, but difficult to apply in a nation with freedom of religion.

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When Snarkiness Sinks to Meanness

Tim Rogers, of Frontburner, unintentionally uncovered an example of what plagues all too many blogs. A regular reader and commenter, "Bethany," has been missing from the comments section for a while, Rogers noted. It turns out that "Bethany" explained why on her own personal blog...

"I’ve been a long-time commenter on D Magazine’s Frontburner. In the halcyon days when I first began commenting, it was fun. There was some good-natured ribbing here and there, but it was a pleasant read, and I was genuinely excited about taking part in some small way in the conversation when the ability to comment was added. But nowadays, it’s turned into a mean-spirited, modern-day Roman arena, where the object is more often than not to tear down and destroy, not engage in civil conversation."

Do you think this lament by "Bethany" caused Frontburner readers to reflect and resolve to raise their level of discourse on that blog? Think again. After a flurry of mean-spirited responses directed at "Bethany," Tim Rogers was forced to shut off comments. Ironically, in purging the remaining comments, even Tim Rogers' own announcement that he was shutting off comments was purged. What's left leaves no moral drawn, no lesson learned, no closure to this unhappy episode in the blogosphere. Perhaps that's to be expected from a blog that prides itself on being called "a snarky celebration of ignorance." Or perhaps all the blogosphere is infected with the virus.

College football playoff; Economic stimulus

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Another National Champion, Another Asterisk

Jeffrey Weiss, in, of all places, The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, rants (his own word) that college football doesn't need a playoff. He says it doesn't even need the so-called BCS National Championship game. He recommends that the NCAA "kill the BCS and go back to the wonderful free-for-all among the various bowls as they jockeyed for the best possible game." His justification? Entertainment. He offers the Fiesta Bowl contest between Texas and Ohio State as his exhibit A.

I think all college football fans would agree that the Texas touchdown in the final seconds to win the Fiesta Bowl was entertaining. But if Jeffrey Weiss wants to know what could have possibly made the game more entertaining, the answer is obvious: a game where the outcome actually meant something. Because Texas won, they finished the season ranked 4th and Ohio State ranked 9th. If Texas' final drive had fallen short, perhaps the final rankings would have been reversed. Big deal. But imagine if winning meant that Texas advanced to play USC, with the winner of that game playing the winner of a Florida/Utah matchup. Imagine the entertainment of that! Well, your imagination is the only place such entertainment is going to be staged. And that's not nearly as entertaining as the real thing.

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Education a Beneficiary of Economic Stimulus

Rodger Jones, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, is panicking over President-Elect Obama's economic stimulus package. Take education. Jones is disturbed by what Obama said about it:

"To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that's never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. We'll provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with kids in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future."

Jones equates this with throwing money at a problem. He calls it sloganeering. He also objects to the federal government taking the initiative instead of local government. He says, "It's irresponsible to add to the federal debt for a core state or local obligation."

Jones fails to appreciate both the seriousness and urgency of the risk facing the nation. The speech that panicked Jones was not a speech on education. It was a speech on economic "recovery and reinvestment" plans. Obama is focused on jump starting our economy and doing it with spending that invests in our future. Spending on education does that. So does spending on buildings and bridges and energy and health care.

Obama does not pretend that money alone will solve our education problems. Much else is needed. The main purpose of the economic stimulus is to create jobs and get our economy growing again and to do it with spending that invests in our future. As a side benefit of getting our economy going again, we'll find ourselves with lots new schools, classrooms, labs and technology.

That the federal economic stimulus plan includes education in the spending plan will not hurt education in Texas. Fighting the federal stimulus plan does not help education in Texas. Rodger Jones could serve education in Texas better if he worked at reshaping the education system we have now in Texas, improving teacher training, recruiting more math and science teachers, fixing the broken system of funding education in Texas, etc. That way, when the economy recovers, Texas will be ready to take full advantage of all that spending.

Movie list

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What I've Been Watching

Here is a list of some of 2008 movie releases I've seen, in order of recommendation.

1. In Bruges
   An effing great gangster movie with a pair of effing great gangsters
2. The Visitor
   Worlds collide when mid-life crisis meets struggling immigrants
3. Iron Man
   An action movie that doesn't take itself too seriously
4. The Dark Knight
   The best Batman movie ever, which isn't saying much
5. Mamma Mia!
   Not bad at all for an ABBA movie, even if the stars can't sing
6. WALL-E
   Great first half, but unoriginal message movie once in space
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
   More of the same formula, but the formula is good fun
8. Encounters at the End of the World
   Antarctica, as much industrial trailer park as pristine wilderness
9. The Bucket List
   Nicholson and Freeman don't break a sweat in this feel-good movie
10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    Forgettable

Book list

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What I've Been Reading

Here is a list of some of the books I read in 2008, in order of recommendation.

1. Legacy of Ashes, by Tim Weiner
   60 years of blundering and malfeasance at the CIA
2. The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein
   How free marketers exploit catastrophes to remake societies
3. The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell
   A very modern look at some very medieval Puritans
4. 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, by Michael Brooks
   Questions scientists will be working on for the next century
5. The Defining Moment, by Jonathan Alter
   How FDR saved capitalism and democracy in 100 days
6. The Way of the World, by Ron Suskind
   Intermixed personal narratives of ordinary foreigners caught in war
7. The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria
   Not about the decline of America, but the rise of the rest
8. A Splendid Exchange, by William J Bernstein
   A history of globalization; it didn't start with the Internet
9. The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby
   A grab bag critique of American anti-intellectualism
10. The Appeal, by John Grisham
    Melodramatic telling of how our courts are owned by big business

Fairytales; Icing Trees; Indy Star

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New Front in War On Christmas?

Dallas Blog extended its slide into self-parody for a second straight day with a story by Tom McGregor titled, "Demise of Fairy Tales to Political Correctness." Apparently, the counterattack against the War on Christmas has gone so well that Dallas Blog has decided to open a new front. Turn to Dallas Blog for all the latest news on the efforts to defend the Seven Dwarfs from vicious attacks by over-protective parents.

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What Not To Do About Icing Trees

Extending the parody theme, I am not sure whether Frontburner's Tim Rogers was kidding or not when he blogged that his tree is "so laden with ice that its lowest branches are drooping to the ground. Now then. My backyard thermometer reads 34. So I got my garden hose and sprayed some of the boughs, thinking that the warm(er) water would melt the ice." Rogers ought to just tape a sign on his back, "Kick me." Frontburner readers obliged, as expected.

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Not a Prayer

Jeffrey Weiss, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, reports that the Indianapolis Star made some changes to its newspapers. Change always elicits reader complaints. In this case, the most controversial move seems to be the elimination of the daily prayer on page A2.

Someone has to say it. At the rate they are losing readers, newspapers don't have a prayer.

Che Guevara

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Newsflash: Che is Still Dead

Dallas Blog continues its slide into self-parody with a story by Tom McGregor titled, "Che Guevara Undeserving of Heroic Status." Maybe it's the start of a series. Should we expect McGregor to tell us why Hitler, Stalin and Mao are all undeserving of heroic status, too?

Predictions

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Long Range Predictions for Science

Rod Dreher, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, asks readers, "What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?" Dreher himself says he expects "to see quantum physics lead the way in breaking down the barrier between science and spirituality."

I very much doubt that quantum physics is going to give scientists new insights into spirituality. On the other hand, what insights spiritualists like Rod Dreher will claim to derive from quantum physics is anyone's guess.

I expect to see genetic engineering advances that will enable us to create new species. More controversial will be genetic manipulation of the human genome to create babies with almost any physical traits the parents desire.