"Cute" headlines: X-treme version!

I know it's the Xcel Center, but these "clever" headlines have got to end!

RNC gets the keys; time for an X-treme makeover

Not worth the paper it's printed on

I feel for professional writers who work for newspapers, especially those with regular columns. You have to come up with something new or novel to write ALL THE TIME. We can't expect each piece to be a winner. There are going to be some dud columns.

But where do our standards lie? Is there a point where something is so pointless it shouldn't be printed or posted online?

The current issue of the Star Tribune's Withering Glance provides a test case. It is a weekly feature by Rick Nelson and Claude Peck, where they "dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, relationships, grooming and more."

This week's topic: Same-sex marriage in California

The column is simply a long stream of worn-out stereotypes about gays and lesbians. Seriously, why should a trusted daily newspaper like the Star Tribune feel it makes sense to print this tripe? It's not that it is offensive; it's just dumb.

• Withering Glance: Gay marriage, California style

The press corps

In the second paragraph of Dana Milbank's mildly humorous Washington Post column, This is an ex-candidate, he gives us a window into the campaign press corps. They are waiting for their flight from DC to West Virginia to cover the Clinton primary victory.

Let's just say they aren't in a flurry of professional activity in the run up of their journey to West Virginia...

"During the security sweep at Dulles, some [journalists] play Hacky Sack with a cigarette carton. Awaiting the candidate on the tarmac, two guys from CNN toss a football. Aboard the plane, one member of the press corps entertains his colleagues by flopping down the aisle on his belly, like a fish." [Emphasis mine.]

First, I want to know which reporter is flopping like a fish. I think this is hilarious. We suspect that television reporters are secretly crazy, attention-seekers, who realized their acting career wasn't going to take off so they went into TV journalism. Print reporters are those slightly imbalanced policy nerds who don't believe they ever receive enough attention or respect. So, who is this journalist that sees fit to entertain his colleagues by acting like an attention-starved 15 year-old? I love it!

Second, this makes me hunger for more insights into the campaign press corps. My visions are mostly informed by West Wing episodes, Doonesbury strips featuring Rick Redfern and Roland Hedley, and highly unreliable, old Hunter S. Thompson portraits of the campaign trail. What's the real deal?

It is pretty tiring to hear the press talk and write about the press. But this is an area that merits an exception. Next time I want names of those acting like buffoons. I might develop a bit more respect for these journalists; or maybe not.

Perhaps this guy has a career in journalism...

Modest restrictions on teen drivers

Minnesota is at the top of the charts when it comes to teen traffic fatalities. Legislators are thankfully taking some action.

Thanks to Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), new drivers may have some further restrictions soon. A bill passed the Minnesota House, that among other things, would restrict new drivers from driving with more than one under-20-years-old passenger (who is not a sibling) for the first 6 months behind the wheel. New drivers would also be not permitted to drive between the hours of 12 and 5 AM, unless traveling between home and work or a school event.

As someone who believes that the drinking age needs to go down, but the driving age needs to go up, I applaud these modest changes. Of course, I don't think they go far enough. I don't understand why these restrictions couldn't be for the first 12 or 18 months of holding a license--especially on late-night driving.

These modest restrictions will probably only have modest results. But when talking about teen lives being saved, each little bit counts. If we're serious about saving lives on Minnesota's roads, we'd probably also invest in mass transit as a driving alternative for young people.

The Star Tribune gives further details on the measure in an article on Friday. Overall, it is a good piece. I was annoyed by one line about one-third the way in: "The statistics on teen crashes are heart-stopping." In the grand scheme of things, I know it isn't a big deal; but this cute, play-on-words in reference to teen driving deaths has the unintended impact of making light of the subject rather than underscore it. No, the statistics aren't heart-stopping. The accidents themselves are literally heart-stopping. Keep in mind that to anyone who knew a young person who has died in a car crash, it is much more than a "heart-stopping statistic." It is a devastating reality.

Yes, this is hardly bad enough to complain about. It is a pet peeve of mine. Certainly, it could be worse.

Please, news reporters, please stop using figurative language in reference to a subject that is literally true. You might think it is clever writing, but it is cheap and often comes out wrong.

More news on MN AG office disarray

Eric Black seems to be one of the only reporters spending time on this, which is quite disconcerting. Today, more detailed allegations from multiple sources on unethical and union busting practices from Attorney General Lori Swanson and some of her minions. Only Tim Pugmire at Minnesota Public Radio has also given decent coverage to the allegations.

It is also unclear whether state legislators are giving any consideration to holding hearings on these serious allegations. The only lawmaker I know of who has called for investigations is Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano). Emmer is seen as an oddball among some of his own Republican colleagues and is unlikely to singlehandedly convince the DFL majority to hold investigative hearings. Though that hasn't stopped him from trying.

I don't know enough about Minnesota legislative jurisdiction to know who would have the authority to hold hearings. The House doesn't have any judiciary committee. There Emmer has focused his efforts on the all-powerful Rules Committee chair and house majority leader, Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm). The Senate does have a judiciary committee, but I don't know what if the Attorney General's office falls within their scope. Reluctance of DFL legislators in investigating the Attorney General are understandable. She's a DFLer and the Attorney General is a constitutional office elected by the people of Minnesota. Still, if their were allegations of ethical lapses and union busting activities by the governor, you can bet they'd be itching to look at that.

Amy Lawler, the lawyer put on leave last week after going public with some of these concerns responded with a letter and attachments 27 pages long. She presents a pretty damning case on a number of fronts on the goings-on in that office. Check out the full letter here [pdf]. After reading this, I don't know how legislators could NOT call for an investigation.

An aside: Isn't 'Amy Lawler' just about the perfect name for a lawyer?

Attorney in AG office put on leave

UPDATE: The Star Tribune is running an Associated-Press piece right now on the lawyer being placed on leave.

Breaking news from the MinnPost.

Eric Black opens:

"Amy Lawler, the assistant attorney general quoted in a MinnPost story Friday about upheaval, fear and retribution in Minnesota Attorney General's Office (AGO), was placed on administrative leave Monday night, in apparent retribution for speaking to MinnPost."

Lawler was told she was being put on leave because she went to the media about an ethics concern when she should have filed a complaint with the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board instead.

What surprises me after reading Black's original story in the MinnPost last Friday was the lack of further media attention. There seems to be a lot of dysfunction in the office of Attorney General Lori Swanson. As far as I can tell, the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have yet to cover any aspect of this story. Searching on their websites, none of the local news stations have looked at the matter. Not even Twin Cities Public Television public affairs programs Almanac and Almanac at the Capitol. Only Minnesota Public Radio has given the matter attention, running a piece by Tim Pugmire last week.

Avoid the reporters!

You must escape the clutches of aggressive reporters!

Sorry, you will need the <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/" target="_blank">Flash Player</a> to play this game.

What's the big deal?

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) apologized this week when near identical letters to the editor criticizing Al Franken were printed in multiple papers in the state. The letters originated with the campaign and the apology was profuse.

Now, I dislike Norm Coleman just as much as any other Minnesota progressive. But is this really a big deal that many have made it out to be? Sure, it's a bit embarrassing. It's not like they did anything much different than everyone else, they just did a sloppy job by not differentiating the letters from each other.

Voters aren't going to be swayed by this non-story. DFLers should focus on all the good reasons Coleman should not be reelected this November.

Election day in Wisconsin and Hawaii

Today on the Democratic side of the presidential run features Wisconsin and Hawaii. Expectations are that it will be close, although Obama is favored in both states. One article I read from the AP notes that Obama is from Wisconsin's neighboring state of Illinois, implying that gave him an advantage. It fails to note that Clinton is a native Chicagoan herself, or that being from Chicago is not necessarily an advantage with Wisconsin voters.

Each summer, thousands of tourists from Illinois flood over the border to Wisconsin. They practically take the state over. They do much for the Wisconsin economy, and probably wouldn't offend the natives too much if it weren't for their overwhelmingly aggressive driving. If it's summer and someone cuts you off on the highway in Wisconsin, chances are they have an Illinois license plate. The decal in the back window for the Chicago Bears just adds insult to injury.

I'm looking curiously to how the media will spin the results of today's primaries. They've been kind of ignoring them, looking more at the March 4 primary contests in Ohio and Texas, which are more advantageous to Clinton. One kind of thinks that there must be a media conspiracy to keep the nomination contest alive by downplaying Obama's recent and anticipated successes and passing on Clinton's flimsy attacks on Obama without any critical investigation. I say "almost." I don't really believe in media conspiracies, or most other conspiracies for that matter. I do wonder if the conventional wisdom of media professionals is to handle Clinton with more kid gloves after their New Hampshire embarrassment. Of course, there are some notable exceptions to that trend.

"Threats" to the U.S. Nazy

UPDATE: As of Jan 15, it appears that the Associated Press and National Public Radio have now covered this story. But no mention in other mainstream U.S. media as far as I can tell.

Last week we've heard the news on the "aggressive" incident between Iranian boats and U.S. naval vessels (including a destroyer) in the Strait of Hormuz. During the close encounter, the U.S. personnel heard a threat on the radio: "I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes." The Bush administration has been utilizing this for all they can to trump up the threat of Iran.

Then I hear on Harry Shearer's radio program from Sunday that retired Navy officers believe the voice to be from a prankster in the area known as the "Filipino Monkey." Apparently, it is a fairly common practice worldwide, and particularly in the crowded Strait of Hormuz, for pranksters to interrupt other radio transmissions with threats and abuse. The self-named "Filipino Monkey" is particularly notorious and well known in the area.

A Google search doesn't come up with any mainstream media coverage of this important update, which was originally printed by the Navy Times. The highest profile media report comes from the U.K.'s The Guardian, which on Monday wrote:

Rick Hoffman, a retired captain, told the paper: "For 25 years, there's been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats. He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy.

"Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely."

An unnamed civilian mariner told the Navy Times: "They come on and say Filipino Monkey in a strange voice. You're standing watch on bridge and all of a sudden it comes over the radio. It's been a joke out there for years."

The Guardian further notes that on the dubbed-over video released by the U.S. Navy "a strange voice, in English, can be heard saying "I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes." The voice sounds different from one heard earlier in the recording and there is no background noise that would usually be picked up from a speedboat radio." Emphasis added.

One would think that naval personnel would come to the conclusion that the transmission probably came from a prankster. Maybe not in the heat of the moment, though the different voice and lack of background noise seems suspicious. When presented with this theory, the Navy's response has been to shrug and say "we don't know where it came from." It seems clear that this is another incident of the Bush administration flat out lying and willfully ignoring inconvenient facts. And like a repeat of 2003, the mainstream media seems to be going along for the ride. One wonders why both the U.S. government and media have so little credibility...

"Cute" headlines

It's a long standing tradition for newspapers to be clever with their headlines. I often bristle when they go too far into groaner territory--a frequent occurrance.

The Twin Cities Star Tribune is guilty of this trend as any other. Sometimes, their headlines cross from the lame territory to the offensive. This happens when their tongue-in-cheek headline seems to make light of a horrible situation.

Today's example comes from the disturbing random murders in Colorado of young people at a Christian missionary training campus. One victim was a Minnesota native. So, the illustrious Star Tribune puts the headline of the top lead of its website as Victims didn't have a prayer of a chance.

It appears as I am writing this, that they have changed the headline to 2 Colorado shootings, same gunman? Maybe an editor thought better. We'll see what goes in the hard copy tonight. In any case, I think it's a little sickening that someone at the Star Tribune would publish that headline in the first place.