Good evening,

My dad died this morning.

It was expected, of course. We thought we would lose him in the days after Thanksgiving. But he hung on for several weeks, mostly in a state of half-sleep, awakening for only brief seconds at a time, rarely aware or lucid.

He was comfortable right until the end. The immediate cause of death was kidney failure, a relatively painless and peaceful way to go all things considered.

I arrived in Eugene Christmas Day and have been with him at the nursing home for most of that time. I know he was aware of my presence and the presence of my mom, two of my brothers and a couple of the grandkids. But he couldn't really communicate other than an occasional hand squeeze.

We knew the end was close early Friday. My youngest brother and I stayed with him until about 2 a.m. this morning. He seemed stable enough and so we went home to grab a few hours sleep with every intention of being back at the home by 9 a.m.

About 8:45, I got the call. Dad had died quietly and peacefully just a few minutes before. I believe he chose his time. I don't think he wanted his wife, our mother, with him at the end. He would have worried about upsetting her more than necessary.

I've written here before about my dad, about his career as a toy salesman, his life in the Navy during the war. This probably is not the time or place for much more on a wonderful but unremarkable life, a good life of everyday accomplishment and devotion to family.

A few days ago, before I arrived, my mother was preparing to leave the nursing home for the evening. Dad was momentarily lucid, really for the last time before he died. She kissed him on the cheek. He reached up with trembling hands, tugged her down to him and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Pass it on," he said. Those were, we believe, his last real words in this world.

My dad was a traveling salesman who spent much of his adult life on the road. He knew about driving, about road hazards, drunks and bad freeways. The drive to anywhere from the family home involved two options. We could leave the house and quickly merge on to Eugene's busy, badly designed and dangerous Belt Line Highway. Or we could drive down River Road, the remnants of a rural route lined by small businesses, run down homes and slowed by stoplights at every corner.

Even after he was moved into a nursing home, any time one of his children left to go home, dad would call after us, "go by River Road," meaning be careful, be safe.

Last night, as I said my goodbyes, I held his hand and whispered in his ear.

Go by River Road, Dad. Be careful. Be safe.

steve

Good morning, Netizens...

We could have been a contender, but we didn't even place. I am speaking, of course, of the list of America's most-literate cities (population 250,000 and above) , which was recently released through a study performed by Central Connecticut State University. The study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and internet resources.

This year's winners are in descending order:

Minneapolis, MN 1
Seattle, WA 2
St. Paul, MN 3
Denver, CO 4
Washington, DC 5
St. Louis, MO 6
San Francisco, CA 7
Atlanta, GA 8
Pittsburgh, PA 9
Boston, MA 10

Although at a population of 202,000 we do not technically qualify for inclusion in this study, it poses an interesting question where we would place. It is, however, a fascinating study. You can read more about it here: http://www.ccsu.edu/AMLC07/Overall_Rankings/Top10.htm

Where do you think Spokane would place if we were included?

Hey gang -

Steve's out of the office this week, so I took it upon myself to take down the post Greg Delzer wrote regarding this morning's officer-involved shooting. Greg's post was clearly satirical, but I didn't want people to read it and assume that his position was that of the paper or its editor (or worse, a news story, since it was written in that form).

So I'm opening up a thread for people to discuss the story, if they wish...

Good morning, Netizens...

By now many, if not all of you have learned that Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in Pakistan, thus throwing the entire region into what several U.S. news sources have characterized as absolute chaos and political turmoil. I believe that is putting it mildly.

Educated at Harvard University, Benazir Bhutto came to represent a great percentage of moderate Pakistan's hopes for the future. She was completely opposed to Islamic terrorism in all its many forms, and had spoken out stridently, as recently as minutes before her assassination, against terrorism. She was an advocate of democracy and put the safety and political future of Pakistan ahead of her personal safety. I truly mourn her passage, for she was a courageous spokesperson for Islam and for her country.

Normally I would merely observe and comment only on this situation based upon the facts as are represented in the international news media, which really do not have much of a place here in News is a Conversation. However, the death of this articulate, well-educated woman, the first woman in the Islamic world to hold high public office not once, but twice, has far-reaching and very unsettling implications for everyone, including those of us in the Inland Northwest.

For terrorism has once again struck, this time taking a woman who not only sought peace in her own country, but who sought a greater peace between Pakistan and India, two of the world's Middle East countries that possess nuclear weapons capability. Who had the motive to kill this progressive voice in Pakistan? My belief is that either the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, both well-recognized worldwide as agents of terrorism, had every motive to kill Bhutto, thus furthering their long-term goals of ending dreams of stabbing a knife into the heart of democracy in the Middle East.

Despite being opposed to most of the efforts of our current President's foreign diplomacy, I can state with a certain degree of emphatic belief that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto serves as a brutal reminder to us all despite all the reassurances from our government to the contrary, that although today the terrorists struck in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, tomorrow they could strike us much closer to home than you nor I might think possible, including here in the Pacific Northwest.

In the meantime, I can only voice the heartfelt prayer that Mrs. Bhutto rest in peace.

Of course, as always, your thoughts may differ...

Good evening, Netizens...

As in the previous eleven years of The Used Kharma Lot, it is my tradition that I take time away from things on Christmas Eve to remember the meaning of Christmas. Altogether too often it is contemporary that we get caught up in the Christmas buying frenzy, or perhaps the retelling of the legend of Santa Claus to our kids. However, for me and mine, each Christmas Eve since 1989 I love to tell the story of Christmas, at least as we have it recorded for us in the Books of the Bible. In 1990, Connie Estelle joined in with me after I had switched to the New American Standard Bible version, and contributed the complete King James Version of the Christmas Story, which I include here.

I proudly proudly again continue this tradition this year, exactly as it appeared in 1990 in the hopes that you will take the time to read the
story carefully, especially to your children. Then I only ask that you join me in a quiet celebration of the universal meaning of love at Christmas time, and that you remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good morning, Netizens...

Reading the online paper this dismally gray Christmas Eve morning, there are articles that should please both bloggers and non-bloggers alike, in both the online and the printed editions.

Cheryl-Ann Milsap's excellent piece about re-reading Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” makes for a good read over morning freshly-ground coffee and danish with orange icing. As she explores the age-old story of Tiny Tim and the crotchety old Mr. Scrooge, the years began to fall by the wayside as I recalled the number of times I had read this tale, and I wondered in my heart of hearts how many others recalled Tiny Tim's immortal words, “God bless us, everyone.”

I was particularly touched by Cheryl's strong closing to her piece, where she wrote eloquently, “And when, like poor old Ebenezer Scrooge as he clung to the ghost of Christmas past, we will be "conscious of a thousand odors floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys and cares long, long, forgotten."” and then, with poignancy, “God bless us everyone”.

Right down the page in the online edition, Heather Lally offered some pretty practical checklist of things to bring on Christmas morning, including batteries of all kinds. However, she withdrew from that considerable list to a thesis that I have held for decades, for it is the children who bring the enrichment to Christmas and so many other days.

Gazing quickly through the Blogs this morning, I am found myself entranced by reading the exchanges in A Matter of Opinion with the topic Lynn's column: What do your symbols signify? Dr. John Olson is at his very best, not to be outdone by Lynn and J. Grey, to name a few.

I have several more pieces to compose today, before I wind up this year's Christmas Season, so I must be off.

So here is a wild card, based on the premise that makes Huckleberries Online work.

A snowy good afternoon, Netizens...

I am sick to death of naked opulence, the flush of greed and the pitiful lack of charity that takes place each year at Christmas. However, I have found no lack of humor anywhere on the online stores about Christmas. So, just before I get truly honest with myself in public and thus become very serious about the true meaning of Christmas, I have decided to revisit my heritage of country humor, as I review the Christmas You May Never Believe.

Anyone who wants to can have a close encounter with Santa Claus at any of the malls. The personage of Santa, a well-padded man with false white whiskers and a red suit, is one of the many drawing cards the malls and superstores use to draw buyers in and put them into the shopping mood. If you want to see Santa at the mall, be sure to bring your Visa card, one such advertisement goes.

I have a different view of Santa Claus. Since he, in theory, tramples through houses around the world on Christmas Eve, he must be dressed for all contingencies, including irate homeowners in bad sections of town who frequently have to protect their homes from the riff-raff and dregs of society and crack dealers who shoot at anything that moves near their drug stashes. Therefore, the world-wise Santa for this year has said that the red suit be damned; he is wearing body armor, which is as good or better than the personal protection we never sent to our troops overseas. Since Santa has to wade through people's back yards, often stepping in all manner of vile substances in the darkness, our Santa is equipped with a durable pair of boots, both waterproof, heavily armored and stain-resistant, suitable for all occasions. Since poor Santa in the past has grown tired of dealing with some of the harsher realities about driving those tiny little reindeer through the skies, the reindeer poop that indiscriminately lands everywhere, especially when one or more of the reindeer has diarrhea (Boy, did that ever make a mess!) his transportation needs have changed. My kind of Santa this year has put the reindeer out to pasture and is towing his magic sled full of presents to good little boys and girls with a Harrier Jet, complete with lights and a full battery of missiles fastened beneath its wings for those “touchy” situations in the war zones of the Middle East. The choice was that or flying jackasses, and we already have enough of them in Washington, D.C. I think. My kind of Santa isn't telling anyone who he is smoking in his corn cob pipe, but he does giggle a lot as he makes his rounds of all the good little boys and girls.

As if there weren't enough changes to the harsh realities of Christmas, here are just a few of the truly bizarre and unusual gifts that Santa is delivering this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good evening, Netizens...
In a conversation held originally in the Opinion Blog Dr. John Olsen eloquently wrote the following identified by [] brackets:

[David, i would gently point out that you and christianity are not in the majority even here in the state of washington.. only 20% of people in this state go to church on any sort of pattern of repeatability .... once a month or more... most are unchurched, and could care less about the church as a body that is recognized by a symbol.. ]
Only 20%, John? Although I'll concede Christianity is perhaps the minority in this gawd-forsaken place, I thought there had to be at least 40-45% of the unwashed heathens who actually remembered to attend church at least once a month or perhaps slightly less. If once can concede that organized religion is an acceptance of the beauty of Faith and the spirit can be indwelling in us all, perhaps what modern-day churches need, now more than ever, is a PR campaign for both elements of religious belief I just mentioned. If Madison Avenue can sell Chia Pets to the masses, why not sell the Articles of Faith and the Indwelling of the Spirit?

[I offer too , that I am a citizen of the world and not just of the united states.. a breath from my frail body has effect (if you believe in string theory and chaos theory) as the butterfly who's wings beating eventually changes the air in your house. Parochial... i believe is the word we used to use for the roman catholic schools... and "parochial" does not have a positive inclusive meaning in any dictionary i know of..]
I do being in the string and chaos theories, having been heavily influenced by one or more of their authors decades ago. In the early days of a BBS I started in Stevens County and later brought to Spokane, I invented a fantastic soapbox, (reminiscing a bit back to what Lynn Swanbom wrote) with big chrome handles, giant-sized rubber wheels, a portable, extensible stage, a 1000 gigawatt amplifier and four foot tall speakers so no one would ever miss a word of what was said and an unlimited supply of whatever one wanted to drink. I thought then it could change the world, and for a time, it did.
As for parochial, Websters third definition of it reads, interesting enough, “confined or restricted as if within the borders of a parish : limited in range or scope (as to a narrow area or region.” Of course, I believe in limitless horizons when it comes to education, and thus I too have problems with parochial educations.
[I repeat.. read Paul's letters..all of them if you would.. and then tell me that "christ's" christianity was not all inclusive and filled with love and caring for "other" ( which you do and have done a wonderful job of emulation) ]
Thank you for the compliment, and yes, I have read all of Paul's letters, and given that several were written to a controversial gathering of believers in Ephesus, who fell under fire from other organized religions, and yet persevered.
[Joseph Campbell's writings offer another source of insight and perspective, that is gained by living and being with different cultures (ie non christian cultures). ]
Ah, a breath of fresh air in the sometimes syllogistic arguments, pro and con, of opposing religious beliefs and such. I remember reading a truly dense book written by Joseph Campbell which involved several laudable comments by him about the late Carl Jung, and yet, also contained some nearly vituperative comments in total disagreement to what Jung had written. I believe it was also Campbell who wrote one of the few relatively interesting books on comparative religion where he carefully studied the evolution of the Lutheran dogmas from Catholicism. It was far too long ago to truly do his statements justice, but I do remember quoting a portion of it to a university professor in theology resulted in my public castigation in front of the class. That was shortly before I was quoted in a campus periodical as renaming the class, “The Bible in Brief” to “Holly Bibble in her Briefs”.
[Seperation of Church (soap box) means just what J Grey alludes to... i'm protected by the constitution to set up my soap box right next to yours.. and state my feelings.. doesn't make me right or wrong, nor does it make you write or wrong... it provides for lack of control and containment of ideas and expands the universe..just as my breath when released to the east eventually comes back round to me in a "CHinook" wind from the South and West.. if you look at the currents of the tide, or the winds of the earth.. we are all connected every 72 hours at 30,000 feet...]
There is a minor frailty in your argument here, John. If I subscribe to your theory that our breaths are all connected every 72 hours at 30,000 feet, then perhaps the next breath George W. Bush inhales will consist of an act of profound flatulence which I specifically created just for him. For flatulence, too, is merely another form of gas, is it not?
Now I have to get back to writing about Christmas, but I do so love the exchange of ideas and ideologies that takes place whenever my fortunes are such that you and I mutually put on our thinking caps.

Good afternoon, Netizens...

First Lynn Swanbom and then Rebecca Nappi, each from their individual perspectives as practitioners of religious beliefs, ask the same question, which I find particularly gratifying and appealing:

What do your symbols mean?

It should be noted that neither Lynn nor Bebecca have asked specifically what our religious symbols mean, but have opened the field of discussion wide-open to include all items of symbolical relevance. You can tell a lot by the symbols people encompass in their lives, can't you?

One of my personal symbols is very much an old-world tradition. In a traditional marriage, there is hardly a married woman alive who doesn't
wear her wedding band from the time it is installed at her wedding until her internment in the grave. If she is preceded in death by her husband, one tradition is that she switches her wedding band to her right hand. Men, however, are a mixed bag when it comes to wearing a wedding band. For example, and yes I did look closely, State Rep. Richard Curtis was not wearing his wedding band during his brief stay in Spokane, although in his wedding picture he was. Based upon that and many other instances I can call to mind, the wedding band, and all the permanence that it implies, seems more "portable" to men than women. Until just now, I was uncertain if I could even remove my wedding band from my left hand, so I tried just for the sake of the discussion. I immediately put it back into place, a symbol of permanence, of commitment and of a bond that will last until I am no longer on this plane of existence.

Sister Mary Louise, an old friend and dear confidante, will always represent everything positive, joyous and uplifting I know of traditional Catholicism, although I am not a Catholic. Now well into her 60's, spritely and as entertaining to talk with as her more-worldly feminine peers, she looks sharply at everyone with beatiful gray-green eyes, and perceives so much more about life with extreme clarity than hardly anyone I know. But she has a presence, a purity, a spiritual essence that enthralls all whom she meets, regardless of their walk in life. She has
spent her entire life, from her late teens until now living in absolute chastity and in her own words, having witnessed all the changes of her
years, could ask for nothing more than the challenges and rewards f her life as a nun. It is thus, having known and loved her for who she represents herself to be to so many needy people, that I have come to truly know and respect the religious symbols of her life. Although I have
met many truly Christlike people in my walk through life, I cannot recall anyone more saintly, who is equally comfortable talking to a tough-talking cigar-chomping Longshoreman, a teen-aged Goth jangling with chain mail or an old homeless man eking out a hellish existence on the Waterfront in Seattle. All of them, rich or poor, recognize the tremendous power that is embedded in Sister Mary Louise's spirit, represented by the symbol of the cross she wears around her neck each day. I truly hope and believe that anytime anyone wears a cross, that they will always emulate and adhere to the Christ-like spirit it represents.

Of course, given the time of year, we simply must revisit the symbol of the Baby Jesus laying in a manger in Bethlehem. As a once-student of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, I was horrified in my impressionable years, to discover that much of what we, as Christians,
believe of the Birth of Jesus is inaccurate, at least in one portion or another. According to my somewhat doddering memory, there are at least
half a dozen different versions of the holy birth, and yet the Bible tells us only of one story, of a Babe of immaculate conception, worshiped by men
and angels and laid in a manger. Thus, over the millennial passage of time, it has become the de facto symbol of Christmas to Christians
world-wide. This is where we begin to mix up our symbols, unfortunately, for where our Belief structures have weakened in recent decades, we have invented new symbols of Christmas: the fake Santa Claus, the elves, reindeer, materialism, greed and so forth. Oh, and before I forget, one
other true symbol of Christmas is the look in children's eyes, as they behold the mystery of Faith, and they hear and receive into their hearts
the joy of the Birth of the Christ Child. Behold! Behold! Immanuel! That is the true symbol of Christmas, for without the children, we would
hastily forget, I fear.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good morning, Netizens...

I nearly busted a gut laughing this morning when I read the following in "Slick roads complicate commute" written by Thomas Clouse.

quote:

A cold morning has made downtown streets and outlying roads as slick as a freezer salesman in the North Pole.

and then later on, in the same piece:

Several troopers responded to a WSP patrol car versus deer on State Route 27 at milepost 73. The trooper was not hurt in the collision, but the deer didn't fare as well, Baker said.

unquote

Years ago, writing in such a light-hearted manner in a news story could have resulted in being terminated or at least being forced to pay into our version of Steve's cuss pot, at least given the editor I had in those days.

Just for the sake of the art of news journalism, what guidelines apply to this sort of a writing style in a news story? When can you use it? When should you avoid it? I truly like the touch of humor involved, but oh, do I have memories about trying that very same sort of style myself years ago, obviously with differing results.

Now the hard question: when did the AP style change to where this is permissable?

Good morning,

I expect those of you who read the old print newspaper spotted the Northwest cover Accuracy Watch item on Sunday's improperly toned bald eagle photo.

Newspaper production systems have changed in unimaginable ways in the last few decades. One of the changes involves the way photos are processed.

Under our current system, the color correction required to make a digital photo suitable for the presses is done in the production department. The correction process is designed to take the original photo and correct color densities, primarily, so that the ink on the page accurately reflects the photographer's work.

In the case of the bald eagle photo from Sunday, the process broke down. The production folks are trying to find out how and why.

The result was that the snowy, gray background behind the eagle was made bright blue making it look as if the eagle was flying in a cloudless blue sky. Dramatic, but not at all accurate.

If a photographer deliberately manipulated a photo in that way, our ethics policy would require severe discipline, perhaps even dismissal. But circumstances in the production department are different and it may really have been a technical error.

In any event, we felt obligated to correct the photo and apologize to readers. We take these matters very seriously.

Meanwhile, on an unrelated note, I am sad to report that Frank Sennett, writer of our Hard 7 and Blogspotter columns, will be leaving us. Frank has been named editor of Time Out Chicago, a weekly entertainment and lifestyle magazine.

It is a huge move for Frank and I am very happy for him and proud of him, too.

But I really will miss his columns, particularly Hard 7, which was, always, hard hitting.

If you get a chance, drop in on his blog and congratulate him.

steve

Good morning,

I hope you all had a chance to read the two-story package on new WSU football coach Paul Wulff this morning.

I think even non-sports fans will appreciate the Cougar coach's incredible life story. It reads like a Court TV real-life drama or a Lifetime movie of the week.

Vince Grippi's main story is maybe his best piece of writing since he took over the Cougar beat on an interim basis earlier this year. Here's a link.

Bill Morlin, with a rare byline in Sports, writes about a little-known by inarguably dark chapter in Wulff's life -- the apparent murder of his mother, probably by his father, when Wulff was 12 years old. Here's the link.

Initally, we were all worried that the murder story might cast an inappropriate pall over the Wulff life story. But as Morlin taked with the coach's uncle, who raised him, and with other members of the family, it became apparent that the murder helped forge the man of faith and integrity that Wulff has become.

I don't often write about sports on this blog. We have the Sportslink blog for that (link here). But this package reminds me why our Sports staff is, day in and day out, one of the best in the West.

And if you didn't catch John Blanchette's column on the Mitchell report, you ought to give it a read. Here's the link.

Thanks,
steve

Good morning,

The following post, from Rob, appeared this morning at the bottom of the previous waterboarding thread. (Producer's note: An article appeared in the A section of the 12/14/2007 Spokesman-Review about waterboarding. Read it here)

It's rare to get a front-lines perspective on these matters, so it seemed appropriate to restart the thread with Rob's post at the top.

Here is what he wrote:

The discussion about waterboarding takes me back to '93 when I was a young Marine sergeant going through SERE at Coronado. At the time I was working in Combat Intelligence in a Marine rifle battalion aboard Camp Pendleton.

There are many forms of aggressive interrogation, physical and psychological, that were applied to us while we were in the 'Resistance' phase of SERE. I understood after graduating from the program that at some point I would break under pressure. Everyone does. The point of the exercise, however, is for everyone to learn how to bend for as long as possible.

Fast forward to 2004 when I was a Washington Army National Guard infantry squad leader spending a year in the Green Zone. I saw and heard firsthand aggressive interrogation being practically applied in a live environment and I had no problem with it whatsoever.

Most people on this board can rock back and forth in their easy chairs and fret about what's torture and what's not torture because you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing a two-way rifle range (That means the bullets go both ways). Good for you.

While I don't condone naked human pyramids and walking prisoners around on all fours strapped to a dog collar and leash ala Abu Gharib, I can honestly say that if someone is an enemy combatant who a few minutes ago may have been on the operating end of my M-16, I want to make sure I get the opportunity to find out who his buddies are and where their holes are.

I have been trained in the Laws of War and the Code of Conduct, but many of you need to understand something: War is Hell. And if the way to get out of Hell in one piece is to interrogate this enemy combatant to the fullest extent to determine what he knows in order to save my fellow soldiers guess what? I'm going to do it. And do you know why?

Because those fellow soldiers of mine are your boyfriends, next door neighbors, sons-in-laws, cousins, fathers, guys you partied with in high school / college, husbands, fathers, drinking buddies and co-workers. And the last thing I want to do is have to come home and tell you I didn't do everything to the fullest extent to bring them home alive.

The laws we govern our Armed Forces may be black and white, but war is nothing but shades of gray, but I sleep peacefully at night knowing that most of my men got home alive because I did my job to the fullest extent.

Good afternoon,

What follows is a copy of a memo I sent to the staff this afternoon detailing the last of our rehires and describing our new North Idaho staff lineup.

The memo is relatively self-explanatory. Later, I'll post a complete table of organization for the newsroom so folks will know which reporters are covering which topics.

Also, in the first item below, is an excerpt of a memo sent out to the newsroom managers yesterday describing how our new Innovation team will operate.

Thanks,
steve

Read the rest of this entry »

Good afternoon,

I had a great time this morning with a small group of folks involved in the Northwest Alliance for Responsible Media which is part of the Regional Center for Excellence in Media Literacy.

The latter is a joint project of Gonzaga University and the University of Washington.

The Northwest Alliance is run by Gonzaga, but its membership includes a broad cross-section of academics, community activists and media specialists. Here is a link to their website.

This was my first visit with the group and we had a spirited 90-minute discussion on just about every aspect of contemporary newspaper journalism.

One of the group's goals is to "encourage media to act as responsible, effective stewards of this critical public trust."

And in that spirit, I heard a couple of alliance members comment about the relentless negativity of the mass media, in general, and perceived negatvity of The Spokesman in particular. We're not talking about the big projects, investigations or watchdog reporting that can too often upset people.

The group, instead, was thinking of the negativity of routine newspaper journalism that one questioner equated to the old TV cliche, "if it bleeds, it leads." He wondered if an endless diet of war, crime, violence and social disintegration is the best newspapers can produce.

And if newspapers really are stewards of a journalism that should build community, is such diet necessary?

This is a familiar debate. I contend the paper is full of good news, too. But readers tend not to focus on those elements or remember them because they are peripheral to readers' own primary concerns -- crime, the economy, war, politics.

I challenged the group to audit the paper for the month of February 2008, red penciling to differentiate good news from bad and report their fuindings to the SR staff and to readers through print and this blog.

I hope they take me up on it.

And NIAC readers/posters are free to try that experiment, too. Let me know what you find.

steve

Good morning,

Some of you may remember Sam Taylor, a former SR intern and Idaho native who remains active on our Huckleberries Online blog. Sam works in Bellingham now and writes The Bellingham Herald's politics blog.

Monday, in response to the never-ending debate about reporter bias and concerned he was being pigeonholed by people based on generalizations, Sam posted a picture of himself on Thanksgiving vacation in Idaho, posing with an AK47. Here's the link.

In his post, he asks if the photo alters readers' perceptions of him. Does it make him seem like a right-winger?

The posting led to a writeup in Editor & Publisher and is causing a bit of buzz in the industry. Here is the link to E&P.

Take a look and see what you think. What does his photo say about Sam in particular, reporter bias in general?

steve

Questions, questions today...

I took a call this morning from a loyal reader quite upset that we put Al Gore's Nobel prize ceremony inside the A section while giving Evel Knievel's funeral big display on the Northwest cover.

She challenged our sense of priorities and pleaded that we do more with global warming.

In general, are we underplaying the global warming debate? (Are any of you still in the camp that global warmining isn't a problem?)

Did we overplay Knievel, not just today but since his death? (As one editor remarked this morning, it would have been an easier call had Gore jumped the Snake River Canyon in a rocket sled.)

Thanks,
steve

Good morning,

There is a bit of a buzz on the industry wire this morning over the Pentagon's continuing refusal to help U.S. news organizations tell the stories of American military personnel who have received medals for heroism.

This link will take you to a Baltimore Sun story on the subject.

This is not news to us. All news organizatrions know how difficult it is to get reliable information out of the Pentagon on even positive stories about our military. But this latest refusal seems especially egregious and is helping build steam for Congressional intervention.

Should stories of American valor be made public?

steve

Good morning,

Is waterboarding torture?

Is it acceptable to use gthe term "torture" in headlines dealing with this practice?

Or is it more accurate to call it "aggressive interrogation?"

Thanks,
steve

The first Christmas Milt's wife was gone, he didn't hang up the wreath on the door, nor did he hang the Christmas lights across the front porch. He almost refused to dig out the Christmas tree and ornaments from beneath the basement stairs, but when the kids began volubly worrying, he eventually did that much. God forbid, he refused to unwrap Alice's cherished china Christmas figurines which she had lovingly and meticulously hand-wrapped in newspaper each year, also stored beneath the stairs. Although when the kids came over for their infrequent visits and asked when he was going to dig out the rest of the Christmas memorabilia, the dolls, the various ornaments and that gawd-awfully complex manger scene, also stored beneath the stairs, he said nothing. Once they were gone, after properly hearing out their concerns, he continued to sit before the fireplace, rocking quietly in her rocking chair, quietly watching it snow outside while the multi-hued lights on the Christmas tree flickered in the gathering end of the day.

“I am not depressed, at all,” he stated rather emphatically when various friends and family members continued voicing their concerns for his emotional health. “I just do not feel that much like Christmas this year is all, and besides, I'm not even certain I remember how to assemble that fancy crèche of hers,” adding hastily, “Do you?”

That generally put an end to the conversation, and eventually everyone simply let him be, for no one, save Alice, had ever managed to make sense of the manger scene.

Having endured several heart attacks while impenitently still smoking his cherished pack-a-day of Chesterfield cigarettes, he had always figured, even trusted, that he would precede Alice in the race to the grave. Thus it caught him entirely off-balance when she had quickly been diagnosed with uterine cancer, and died within a despicably short period of months, leaving a massive hole in his life. Instead of their regular-as-clockwork discussions over the morning papers, he sat nearly every day in the breakfast nook gazing out the window, the papers left unread, sitting on the small table just inside the front door where they remained until they were summarily deposited in the trash.

Still, he had made arrangements with the kids to go to their house on Christmas Day, and feeling obligated, he had broken out of his tailspin long enough to dutifully go Christmas shopping at the malls, thoughtfully buying those things he felt or knew they needed, all the while marveling at the crowds, the mayhem and the artifice of it all, for Alice had always taken care of Christmas.

He never said a word to anyone, friends nor family, about it, but on Christmas Eve he sat quietly before a well-built fire in the fireplace in the rocking chair Alice had favored for all the years of their lives together, and quietly reaching deeply into the bag of gifts he had purchased to take to the kids on Christmas Day, he took out a small gift wrapped in tin foil with a red ribbon nearly bigger than the box itself, which he carefully lay beneath the nearly-barren Christmas tree. At one of the trendy stores in the mall he had found a perfect gift for Alice, a delicate china doll of a jovial Santa Claus.

“Merry Christmas, Alice,” he whispered. “You will never know how bleak and inhospitable this all seems without you here.”

With that, he sighed deeply, and remembering to take his personal arsenal of pills, went to bed where he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Shortly after midnight, when all the world seemed to be hushing even its persistent and raucous noises in observation of Christmas Day, the faint sound of Christmas bells rang out from the front lawn, and a chubby old elf of a man descended from a weathered sleigh drawn by eight miniature reindeer. Since he was far too chubby so late in his life to be sliding down chimneys, he simply entered the house via the front door, like most sensible people do.

Sitting in the rocking chair before the embers remaining in the fireplace, he sat quietly rocking for awhile before, reaching into his magical bag of gifts, quietly took out two carefully-wrapped presents which he placed beneath the tree beside the single present with the immense bow.

Thus it was that on the morrow, when Milt arose from his bed, he found a Christmas surprise, one that he never has mentioned to anyone since.

For M... a friend...

Good morning,

I hope you have had a chance to read the Saturday Today section's main story, "Dark Language." Here's the link.

It's one of the better stories coming out of the presidential campaign, exploring how mysogynistic, sexist and worse language is being used to describe Hillary Clinton, lanugage that in any other context would be drawing the ire of citizens of all political stripes.

The story asks, for example, why John McCain could let a questioner call Clinton a "bitch" without telling her the term is inappropriate for a senator and presidential candidate. If Clinton had allowed a questioner to call McCain a male equivalent, say a-hole, all hell would have broken loose.

The issue isn't entirely about Hillary, the story notes, but how slurs against women remain part of our everyday culture.

I thought it was a thoughtful analysis of an under-reported phenomena.

But I've already taken a couple of near hysterical calls from people offended by the story; it's use of crude language upset one while the other saw it as Republican propaganda (that one leaves me puzzled).

But, as the story notes, if Clinton continues to advance through next November's election, we'll be paying more attention to the language used to describe her.

Thoughts?

steve

Good afternoon,

Here is a link to the web story that reports Mayor Verner will provide all of the names of individuals invited to attend her transition meetings (as opposed to an actual transition team).

This is good news. And, to the extent it matters to the mayor or anyone else, the move is much appreciated by the SR news staff (and our legal budget).

I wish she would acknowledge it was a mistake to withhold the names. That would go a long ways toward assuring all of us that she is truly committed to a new spirit of openness.

But even if she lets this episode slip away quietly, the fact of the matter is that she has done the right thing and quickly.

That is good news, indeed.

steve

Golod morning,

There is an interesting debate developing today over whether or not the MSM should name perpetrators of mass murder such as the young man who terrorized an Omaha shopping mall this week.

For the most part, journalists have not challenged the conventional view that full reporting of such incidents demands naming the killer.

But the Virginia Tech shootings and the latest murders in Omaha have prompted at least two well-known commentators to challenge convention.

Here is a link to a piece this morning by Jon Friedman, media writer for MarketWatch. Friedman is unequivocal in his call for news organizations to stop giving mass killers the publicity they seek, even in death.

And Michael Mayo of the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale makes much the same case here.

I'm not quite ready to follow their advice. I think there are equally valid reasons for naming these lunatics.

But the debate is worth having.

What do you think?

steve

Good morning,

Geez, I hate to hit and run. But I am going to be out of the office for a couple of days so may not be able to post much or respond as frequently as I'd like.

Feel free to carry on without me. In fact, I am going to borrow a Dave Oliveria trick and post this as a wildcard. Go to it.

steve

Good afternoon,

Back to business...Was anyone else as surprised as I was to see Verner refuse to name the people she is using as a transition team to develop city policy? For heaven's sake, these folks are going to help shape her first-100-day agenda.

I recall conversations here where many NIAC posters vowed we would see a new willingness to conduct the public's business in public from a Verner administration.

I'd like to hear from those folks about this development. How long will Spokane citizens accept secrecy in city hall?

Verner says she wants to honor participants' privacy. Folks, there is no privacy in conducting the public's business. The public should know who is working with the mayor on her administration. Privacy be damned. This is the public's business.

steve

Good morning,

What follows was written specifically to our North Idaho readers concerned about cutbacks in our Idaho coverage. But some of it may be relevant to others of you interested in the changes here.

Warning, I am long-winded, as usual. And I do not address online much here. No need to remind me of blogs and the digital revolution. I'll get back to those issues soon enough.

Thanks,
steve

I know I sometimes bridle at criticism of the paper, sometimes my reaction is justified, but too often it’s just knee-jerk defensiveness.

But I have to say I appreciate the reaction, even the negative reaction, from North Idaho residents about our cutbacks in the region.

Too many of us, inside the newspaper and outside, too, forget that newspapers are businesses. Strip away the journalistic values at the core, and what we have is a hugely complicated manufacturing business. Our production line produces about 100,000 news widgets daily and manages to deliver those widgets to 80,000 households and 20,000 coin boxes, markets and coffee shops every morning.

The total cost of labor and materials is enormous. That’s why we so rarely see new entries into the marketplace. But the unit price is amazingly low, about 35 cents per news widget delivered to your doorstep seven days per week, only slightly more if you go get it yourself.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good evening,

I just sent a memo to the staff outlining the significant reorganization we implemented today.

It answers some of the questions some of you might have been asking, including the status of our Idaho operation.

It's a long document, so I posted it as an online PDF.

Here is the link:

I will be happy to answer your questions and I solicit your feedback.

steve

Good evening,

I wanted to provide an update on our staffing situation now that I am back.

We made three rehires today from the list of laid off staffers.

The three are:

Thuy Nguyen, who will return Wednesday as an online producer. Among other things, she posts live content, posts documents that accompany stories and handles the Daily Briefing which was suspended in her absence but which will now return.

Lynn Swanbom, who will return Tuesday as editorial page copy editor. Her primary function is managing our letters to the editor, an enormously difficult job. She also writes a monthly column about letters and the topics readers are raising.

Tracy Poindexter, who returns Tuesday as a newsroom editorial assistant. Her return means, among many other things, we can restore Idaho public records, much missed by our Idaho readers.

All three women are among our best and brightest young staffers. I am thrilled we were able to bring them back.

Earlier today, one of our senior staffers posted on Huckleberries Online that these three hires were the only rehires we would be making as part of the reorganization. Problem with her post is that she was dead, flat-out wrong. Her post caused considerable consternation, particularly among those who had been laid off as it suggested we were done with them.

Tomorrow, we'll be posting four additional positions, including two reporter jobs, one online multimedia producer position and one copy desk position.

Furthermore, we were already planning to fill an online programmer job, we filled a deputy news editor job last week and we will replace JoNel Aleccia, one of our top reporters, who resigned today to take a position as national health reporter with MSN.

I'll let you all know how those postings and rehires go as we work through that process. It will take a week or so as we are doing our best to rehire in accordance with our union contract.

Meanwhile, there are a number of significant staff changes to be announced as we reposition ourselves to work with a smaller newsroom. We'll be talking to editors and staffers in the next two days and I hope to post a new organization chart in this space by the middle to end of the week.

We're on track. And while I am devastated by our staff losses, I know we've reconfigured the newsroom in the best way possible to maintain our core functions and maybe even improve in a few areas.

Meanwhile, unless you hear it from me, it's just idle gossip from people who are merely guessing. As I said at Hucks earlier, wild rumors fly harder and faster in a newsroom than in any other business with which I'm familiar. Reporters who are trained and inclined to be skeptical of every source up to and including the Pope, will accept at face value the most outrageous rumors involving their own workplace.

Anyone who has worked in a newsroom knows this is a fact of life.

But within the next few days, we'll be able to put the rumors to rest with some real movement.

Thanks,
steve

Good morning,

I should be back in Spokane about 1:30 this afternoon. I haven't been out of the office for this long in years. But, somehow, the SR folks survived without me. That is proof, of course, that I am not needed and therefore will be fired shortly.

Notwithstanding my "going gently" into the night, I want to once again thank all of those who wished me well during the last two weeks.

I know us boomers have always believed that we were the first to experience any aspect of life that might be significant. So my "revelations" during my dad's final days are surely universal even though I frame them as special and unique.

All of us go through this trauma at some point in our lives. Those of us who are truly fortunate have more time with our parents and so may find some additional level of peace as we confront the inevitable.

When I left this morning, dad was still alive. He has rallied a bit in the last day or two, meaning he has periods of lucidity during which we've had some wonderful conversations.

He was lucid enough Thursday night to visit with his doctor one last time.

"Sol, your body is just giving out," he told my dad. "I don't like to make predictions, but it could be soon, maybe a week, maybe less. Are you ready for your death?"

The question startled me for its bluntness. But dad was unperturbed.

"I was in 1944," he said.

The doctor was confused. "Are you thinking it's 1944 now?" he asked, thinking my dad was delusional again.

"No. No," he said through his oxygen mask. "In the Navy, in 1944, I was ready to die."

I have said here before that dad never saw combat. He was being trained as a Navy medic and as the war ended he was days away from being shipped out for the invasion of Japan. He would have been a corpsman for a Marine unit, a death sentence in the horrific South Pacific campaigns.

Read the rest of this entry »