Thursday, July 16, 2009

Thursday Featured Comment

Under the announcement, which I mentioned previously:

"Hello! This is Gordon of the Prescott Arizona tea Party. I want to invite everyone to come on down and help us set America straight! Please bring your goodwill, signs, enthusiasm and your concealed weapon! See you there!"

And here all this time I thought this was a nice group of people who just like the same canned soft drink.

I'm agog.

Talk of the Town: Canadian health care is first-rate

Finally, an informed answer to the ignorant propaganda filling the letters box about public health care, and with the Talk of the Town imprimatur, no less! Will anyone listen?

Letter: Archivist needs help finding Smoki B-17

Here's another interesting story that the editors really ought to follow up. I've been rather heavily involved in the Smoki story in the past, and I encourage anyone with an interest in local history and a sense of humor to take a good look at what was the biggest thing going on in our little town for seven decades. That they bought the country a B-17 illustrates just how big.

Editorial: Local bars should post gun bans

Wow, the unnamed Courier editor is sticking to his guns on this and making some sense. Calling the booze & bullets bill a "potentially dangerous social experiment" is a fair bit more than I'd have ever expected on the op-ed page about anything the NRA has pushed. I'd have liked to see quotes from some of our local swilleries rather than Phoenix, but overall another cookie is definitely in order.

Most councilors, local mayors oppose Wilson action

Here comes the pile-on about the Mayor's letterhead malfunction from last week. Wilson deserves to take some heat for this, but I gotta wonder: if the signature read "Rowle Simmons" instead of "Jack Wilson," would the Courier have put two reporters on it?

Update, 6:45pm: In the comments it appears that the Mayor also suspects some slant in the editorial suite.

2010 Census committee fans out to spread the word

I like that we're seeing a positive take on the census, which has been under steady attack from the dark side as the vanguard phalanx of Obama's socialist jackboots. I'm disappointed with the emphasis on government funding, however, which in certain quarters will be read as government pork. The core purpose of the census is to ensure the correct balance of representation in Congress. Let's put that up front.

Popular climbing areas reopen to public

Remember that wonky AP story from three days ago? Here it is in our beloved Courier, transcribed with an added quote, but with the lead still wrong. Ayayai, it's like the editors have outsourced the newsroom to a call center in Bangladesh.

Tea Party protest here Friday

Bylined as "Special to the Courier" indicates that the paper endorses and embraces the source, and this is pretty clearly just a press release from the organizers. Maybe I'm blinded by ideology, but I don't recall seeing this sort of favorable treatment for a political protest in the paper before. I guess the editors are gettin' their tea on.

Election: Bell cites role as 'voice of reason'

I've known Bob Bell for a good long time, like him and consider him a friend, but I gotta say that the 'voice of reason' quote will probably raise some hackles among his fellow Council members, and the 'Fox News' quote was just a dumb thing to say. You need to work on your PR, Bob.