Marines exchange fire with Taliban in searing heat (update)

This AP story mysteriously dropped out of the sky onto the Courier website this afternoon. The paper's usual practice has been to use wire stories as inside filler and leave them off the site, since the site doesn't need filler to support the advertising on the edges. Maybe we're seeing a change in policy, and maybe someone just goofed up.

But this may spark up another round of controversy over local vs. general content, with some demanding that the paper furnish national news (with what pages? That takes ad revenue) and others demanding it keep the messy old world off their doorsteps.

I can't see how the Courier can either make any money with or do a useful job of national/world news, and there's plenty of that available already. (If you want that through the Courier site, think partnerships and sponsored links.) I think it could do a lot more with state news, particularly what's going on at the capitol and how it affects rural AZ. But hard local news should always be the main game.

5pm: I notice on VerdeNews.com just the sort of hard info I suggested above. We should see this in the Courier every week, at least. I notice some good original writing over there from the capitol as well. How is it that the Verde crew can afford this, but the Courier won't even carry it?

Open thread, Thursday edition

See anything strange today?

DeMocker remains in jail awaiting trial on one-year anniversary of Carol Kennedy's death

Something about this piece smells bad to me. First I notice that other than marking the anniversary of the widely beloved teacher's death, there is no actual news here. We get the all the news value from the ridiculously long headline. Nothing's happened, there's no new information. Then there's the defense attorney making assertions about the evidence or lack of it, while the prosecutors must follow the straight and narrow path and refrain from comment. I have to wonder whether the defense isn't playing the Courier for a mistrial. In any case it looks like a poor use of column inches.

Editorial: Let's behave like adults on budget

The unnamed Courier editor tells us that all politicians are venal and corrupt, then plaintively asks, "Is it too much to expect adult behavior from all concerned?"

As far as I've seen, and I watch pretty closely, the Courier neither wrote nor carried anything about the budget process until the session was already officially over. It failed to note that the legislative leadership ignored Gov. Napolitano's sensible and on-time budget proposal, thinking they'd get a better deal from her successor. It missed that Gov. Brewer refused to give the Legislature any budget plan other than press releases until a couple of weeks ago. It ignored the process in the Legislature, where a few radical rightwingers held everyone hostage to their idea that the best government is a dead one, and where both House and Senate leadership held up all other business while they worked out pointless deals in back rooms, leaving the bulk of both bodies twiddling their thumbs for months. It failed to share with us that the Legislature and the Governor were working on budget shortfall numbers that were a billion bucks different, predicting this cartoon train wreck over two months ago.

The editor's inclusion of the Dems in his broad slander of everyone down there is particularly idiotic, since the Dems have had exactly no input on the budget or anything else since Napolitano wisely moved on.

No, editor, it's not fair to smear the blame across all desks and both sides of the aisles. This mess can be very clearly laid to the proudly stupid radical rightists in the Legislature and our own Governor Peter Principle, who oddly enough is as close to an adult as we've seen down there in her clear understanding from the beginning that we aren't gonna get out of this jam without some new revenue.

It's supremely easy to say that we can solve a budget problem by "saying no to spending." What's not so easy is identifying exactly where to cut that won't hurt people we can't afford to hurt and create more problems and cost elsewhere. It's an article of faith that government spends too much, but like any faith, it's based more on myth than science.

The solid core of the budget collapse is that Arizona's economy has been based for decades on building new houses, stores, roads and infrastructure, neglecting the industrial and agricultural bases necessary to make that growth sustainable. Any 13-year-old Sim Earth player could have told us that this was coming 20 years ago.

Our collective failure to walk around this obvious hole in the road came about in large part because of our active discouragement of smart, visionary people from getting involved in the political process, leaving it instead largely to the zealots and egotists who don't care that people like the editor constantly accuse anyone in the game of corruption and venality. It's self-fulfilling.

If we want better government, adult government, we have to spend the effort to separate the wheat from the chaff, ignore party labels and encourage smart, competent and committed people to do this important work. It ain't for the money, that's for sure, so let's at least try to give them some respect.

But, almost as important, we need to pay attention to the process and insist that our elected representatives get the job done in a sensible way. Essential to that is good, factual information about what's going on, as well as good thinking and analysis based on that information, and that's where our news professionals have the most responsibility. That's you, Mr Editor. You failed to inform the boss that the employees were screwing around in the powder shed, after you egged them on for years to screw around in exactly this manner. Boom. Now you point the finger. Spare me.

Talk of the Town: 'La Raza' has land title backwards

Judy Dutko writes, "One of the precepts of La Raza, which means "The Race," is that the U.S. stole the American Southwest from Mexico." First I went to the la Raza website to check that statement, and found these:

The term “La Raza” has its origins in early 20th century Latin American literature and translates into English most closely as “the people” or, according to some scholars, as “the Hispanic people of the New World.” The term was coined by Mexican scholar José Vasconcelos to reflect the fact that the people of Latin America are a mixture of many of the world’s races, cultures, and religions.

(I work in the translation game, and deal daily with the misconceptions of amateur translators and resulting problems, so this doesn't surprise me a bit.)

Another misconception about NCLR is the allegation that we support a “Reconquista,” or the right of Mexico to reclaim land in the southwestern United States. NCLR has not made and does not make any such claim; indeed, such a claim is so far outside of the mainstream of the Latino community that we find it incredible that our critics raise it as an issue.

Ms Dutko, who claims to have been a high-school teacher, goes on to detail a version of the history of American acquisition of Mexican territory by settlement and war, asserting that it proves that the U.S. took this land legally. But on several readings of this account, I can't see how the reader could conclude anything other than that the U.S. took the Southwest from Mexico by force, not just by stealing, but by armed robbery. George Seaman gets it right in the comments. Then she tops it off triumphantly with "Contrary to La Raza's claim that we stole the Southwest, note that Mexico held title to it for only 27 years." Um, I suspect that if Ms Dutko owned a car for 27 years and someone came with a gun, threatened her with it and drove off in the car, she would likely conclude that she'd been robbed.

OK, so we have a writer who freely spouts untruths about a favorite right-wing whipping boy, then applies her historical knowledge to prove the idea she intends to disprove. Why should I care?

It's like this. Had the editors left the piece as an LTE, there'd be no foul. The reader could take it as the hamhanded rant it is. But by elevating this ignorant, radical-right harangue to Talk of the Town status, they give it the paper's endorsement as a worthwhile, professional view. Bad choice, guys. If you really want to promote these dumb ideas, at least pick someone who doesn't trip over her own shoelaces doing it. Columns are also subject to fact-checking, or at least they are in professional operations.

Oh, and could someone please go back through the records and find the kids Ms Dutko taught in school? They probably need some remedial help.

Open thread, Wednesday edition

What did you notice today?

State workers to report to work as scheduled (update)

This short piece, credited to Paul Davenport (AP), appeared early this morning. Given the usual depth of Davenport's reporting, I have to think the Courier chopped it down to almost nothing, and I'll watch for it elsewhere on the web to check it. For now, here's what real reporting looks like, and oddly enough the Reps don't come off looking quite so good.

But I'm sure the Courier waved the red machete on this one because there just wasn't enough space on its website. (If you buy that I've got a great deal for you on the Pioneer Parkway bridge. Cash only.)

I expect this is a placeholder for another press release from Andy Tobin shortly to tell Prescott what really went down.

4:39PM: OK, I found it at azfamily.com, and my news nose did not lie, the Courier only ran half the story. Here's the rest:

The Arizona Legislature completed action on budget bills to implement most of a compromise $8.4 billion budget negotiated with Gov. Jan Brewer. However, lawmakers omitted a sales tax increase that Brewer wants to help reduce spending cuts.

The Senate approved the bills early Wednesday morning, about three hours after the House's action just before midnight Tuesday.

Lawmakers missed the Arizona Constitution's deadline of midnight for approval of a new state budget.

The bill's ultimate fate remains in question as it is now up to Brewer to decide whether to sign or veto them.

Spokesman Paul Senseman won't say what Brewer will do, but he says Brewer still wants the sales-tax measure.

Health-care debate v.2: The Maw of Charybdis

We're seeing steady letters on this issue and even a Chris Bergman column over on the pseudo-blog page, but trust me: you won't see anything intelligent about public health care in the Daily Courier. The darksiders have had 15 years to prep and sharpen their misinformation since the Clinton-era health-care debacle, and that will be the bulk of what you hear -- fear-mongering, statistical lies, economic lies, false equivalencies, and finger-shadows that look like big nasty teeth. Try to avoid buying in.

There are a lot of people who truly understand what the right to health means and how a public health-care system actually works. The vast majority of them live outside this country, in countries that are mostly almost as rich as ours -- in fact, the entire developed world plus. And while every group of people on the planet has its 15% share of malcontents and complainers, in all of postwar history not one of those countries has reversed a commitment to the health of all its citizens. The vast majority of the world's rich people -- everyone but us -- pay their taxes and enjoy real health security at low cost. Try to let that soak in. Most of us can't even imagine what it feels like, we're so accustomed to the crazy system we've built.

The darksiders would have you believe that every other rich country in the world is committing economic suicide and marching its hapless populations into Stalinist concentration camps for some dark purpose they won't try to describe. It's just not so. These systems, while as imperfect as any other human endeavor, really do work, and work far better than ours does. Truly. I lived in one of them for seven years.

So if you really want to continue feeding the vampires of the drug and insurance industries, open another vein and be my guest. But if you care about quality of life and security for your children, your parents and even yourself, please take this issue seriously, become informed and help move us all into the 21st century. We can't afford another 15 years till this opportunity comes around again.

Editorial: City let down those who need transport

The unnamed Courier editor stands up for those without cars and against the City bean-counters who've pulled their ride subsidies, anticipating that the state may not provide the accustomed major portion of the funds. Bravo.

I might be a little more enthusiastic if I hadn't been reading the same editor telling us for years that Prescott doesn't need public transportation. It leaves a tinny aftertaste, a bit like crocodile tears.

Letter: Illegal immigrants generate more money than they cost

I don't care for Mr Server's clunky sports metaphors, but he has the facts right, and we see this point made so rarely that it's worthy of note. Here's some research to back him up:

The Wall Street Journal, in its "Monthly Economic Forecasting Survey: April 2006," conducted from Apr. 7-11, 2006, asked 46 economists this question: On balance, has the U.S. economy benefited more than it has been harmed by its current population of undocumented workers? Two of them answered that illegals bring more harm than benefit. The other forty-four agreed that they bring more benefit. There are many more good examples of balanced studies.

There is a lot of subtle spinning around this issue to watch out for. When you see someone reference census data about illegals, for example, bear in mind that the census will more often find those illegals who are easiest to find -- settled people with families. That inflates average family size, and subsequently inflates estimates of education costs. People who actually study this issue scientifically agree that the issue of immigrant cost to society is a boogeyman.

Adventures in Be-Mod

Some of my friends really don't get why I spend any attention or effort on the Courier. "Why do you bother with that rag? Nobody with any sense reads it anyway." I've found that last shot to be more on the mark than not. Newspaper circulation and readership is plummeting everywhere, ask anyone who knows, and in our current parlous economy I hear that Courier ad sales are in the toilet as well. Just stick a fork in it, it's done, right?

Well, I make an important part of my living by writing for a newspaper, so I have a direct stake in keeping newspapers alive. Beyond that, I truly believe that local papers are an important part of the glue that holds communities together. So whatever condition it's in today, it's worth saving and improving. No alt-weekly will ever have the kind of effect that a local mainstream daily can.

What ropes me off is that the people most responsible for keeping our local paper alive and healthy are doing such a poor job of it. Rather than respond to the changes in the industry brought by online content, they cling to outdated models and methods as the print edition slowly diminishes to convenient birdcage size. I can put that down to incompetence and failure of imagination. The nub of the rub, though, is that you can't hope to surf the wave of change if your content isn't up to it, and in that area, through incompetence, ego and disregard for the integrity and care that today's more sophisticated readers demand, the Courier editors and many others just like them are actively killing their own papers.

They are a threat to my profession and our community.

I can't fire them, I can't much hope to educate them, and after years of trying it's clear I can't persuade them. All I can hope for is enough readers demanding a better product -- good ol' market mechanisms -- to get them looking over their shoulders and trying to avoid the pain, like lab rats picking the food door that doesn't shock them.

Behavioral modification. -=zap!=- It's fun!

Editorial: Let's hope new Lowe's trees take

Today's experiment in automatic writing by the unnamed Courier editor scores about par with his handicap. What amuses me is that the Courier once again fails to acknowledge its cheerleading for the Lowe's deal, including the laughable (and ultimately frightening) engineering plans for both ends of that property. You helped make this happen, guys, and you'd gain some props for admitting it, doing more to help get it cleaned up, and using your editorial clout to help prevent future atrocities.

Recorder's Office warns of solicitation letters

Here's another case where the story and the headline don't match. From the headline we expect to read about another scam going around. From the story we find out that our bureaucracy is specifically saying it's not a scam. Was this just a clumsy way of drawing eyes to an essentially boring story, or yet higher-order incompetence in the headline department, which has been the running away goofup leader this year? You call it.

Rodeo madness

Just to remind everyone, I don't care about sports, even when it's covered as news, although I'll also warn you that when you read about sports outside the sports pages it's probably because someone pays the paper a lot of money for it hoping to sell you something. I'm particularly skeptical about sports that involve the abuse of animals, and I just hope one day we will have evolved beyond that, or at least properly criminalized it.

Chamber names tobin top representative

It looks as though this Tobin press release went straight to print without so much as a glance by an editor, which I fear is pretty close to standard practice in the Courier office these days. You couldn't even get the Representative's name properly capitalized in the headline? Really? If I was Mr Maurer, I'd be looking for a better return on the Chamber's money than that.

The key question for readers: How exactly is this news?

Kinkade Gallery gets a good front-page brown-nosing

Regular readers see these Courier-style infomercials frequently, but not so often anymore on the front page and rarely with so many smarmy poeticisms adding spittle to the advertiser's bootlicking. I recall the Courier's embarrassing paean to anti-artist Kinkade last year as well. Since other regular quarter-page buyers don't get this sort of attention, I have to wonder what this particular company has on the editors. Maybe they're just entranced by bad art.

Tuesday open thread

I don't intend to write on everything that comes up, but the plan is to put up one of these every day so you can share what matters to you and point out what I've missed. When I get time, I'll add links to the piece you're referencing if you don't know how.

Return of the Unwelcome Ombudsman

With one exception this blog has been off air for about a year and a half on the theory that the Courier's opening of a full commenting feature would make it directly accountable to readers where it wasn't before. So I gave that a good solid try, and while there is certainly more reader response going on now and evidence that the Courier editors respond to it, I've directly confirmed the rumor that they still refuse to respect readers enough to follow a consistent and reasonable comments policy. Instead they are maintaining the practice they've always followed with letters, and that is to edit them as they see fit, without regard for the reader's expression or even intent, and without admitting they've done so. That's against the rules and custom of modern journalism. So I'm back here, where at least I can say what I think needs saying without the risk of censorship or respins by second-rate hacks who've forgotten what integrity feels like. Welcome to Courierwatch v2, readers, you few but mighty.

Letters: "‘Happy Holidays’ is an appropriate sentiment"

My letter as submitted:

Editor:

I noted Councilman Lamerson's objection to the 'Happy Holidays' sign on City Hall in your story of Dec. 17, and I happened to take a look at it as I went about my business today. I feel compelled to offer my support for the decision-maker behind that sign and deplore the media-manufactured controversy that Mr Lamerson is abetting.

There is, of course, no 'war on Christmas.' I don't know about Mr Lamerson, but I've been seeing and hearing the 'Happy Holidays' greeting since the 1960s, and I'm sure it's older than that. What some people are worrying about now is the conscious choice to make the holiday period more inclusive, in the very spirit of community that is supposed to suffuse this part of the year. To contend against that and in effect declare Arizona's Christmas City as being exclusively for Christians is simply un-American and an affront to all of us who value religious liberty.

'Happy Holidays' is a perfectly appropriate sentiment to trumpet from the top of a public building in which decisions are made that should represent us all. A declaration of religious affiliation, however benign the intent, is clearly not. City Hall made a good decision.

And as it appears in today's online edition:

EDITOR:

I noted Councilman Jim Lamerson’s objection to the “Happy Holidays” sign on City Hall in your Dec. 17 story, and I took a look at it as I went about my business. I feel compelled to offer my support for the decision-maker behind that sign and deplore the media-manufactured controversy that Councilman Lamerson is abetting.

There is, of course, no “war on Christmas.” I don’t know about Councilman Lamerson, but I’ve been seeing and hearing the “Happy Holidays” greeting since the 1960s, and I’m sure it’s older than that.

What some people are worrying about now is the conscious choice to make the holiday period more inclusive, in the very spirit of community that is supposed to suffuse this part of the year.

To contend against that and in effect declare Arizona’s “Christmas City” as being exclusively for Christians is simply un-American and an affront to all of us who value religious liberty.

“Happy Holidays” is a perfectly appropriate sentiment to trumpet from the top of a public building in which decisions are made that should represent us all.

A declaration of religious affiliation, however benign the intent, is clearly not.

City Hall made a good decision.

Fellow editors and others who believe details are important will note the arbitrary (and wrong) changes in quotemarks and graf breaks. I see the proper use of single quotes in the headline, so I can't infer that it's just a stylebook thing. More important are the changes from "Mr" to "Councilman." The changes in the first sentence are clunky, but clearly done for space -- after the arbitrary graf breaks blew air into it. It could be worse, but I have to ask myself: what is the purpose of the extra work someone is putting into the letters? For my answer, I look at the results.

Here's what you're supposed to be doing with letters, folks: Print them as submitted to the best of your ability -- meaning that your only reason to change anything is for space. Readers don't care about your stylebook and their choices do not reflect on you editorially, so there's no point in messing with them unless you intend to control what they're saying.

Editorial: "Border control only way to stop tragedy"

First, thanks to the unnamed Courier editor for mentioning that "Not every illegal who makes it across the border" is a cop-killer. It would have been nice if the quote were more on the order of "Vanishingly few illegal immigrants are cop-killers or violent criminals of any kind," but the truth on this issue would be a lot to expect.

OK, editor, you and grandstanding Phil Gordon want to exhort the country to "secure our borders," and you malign every elected official in this country by implying corruption that keeps them from doing it. In your world, that's logical. So do your readers this respect: show, in detail, how that job can be done, with numbers and engineering.

A whole lot of very smart people have been working on this problem for decades and conclude that not only is it not practical in economic terms, it's not possible, period. You think you're smarter than all those experts, fine: put up or shut up. I think you're blowing smoke up the asses of your readers just to keep them stirred up and fearful enough to keep voting Republican. Prove me wrong.