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Work half time, earn $179K — welcome to Congress
… I was so busy keeping my job, I forgot to do my job. — President Andrew Shepherd in ‘The American President’ After the 2012 elections, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leaders called in...
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The feds and computer upgrades: Incompetence often rules
If another reason is needed to wonder about the effectiveness of the federal government, consider its ability to upgrade computer systems. Or, rather, its inability to do so on time and within budget....
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The Kennedy assassination: from Camelot to Clusterfuck
Yes, I know precisely where I was when someone murdered John Fitzgerald Kennedy. No, I do not want to hear where the hell you were. Nor do I want to read or watch any “retrospectives” on his...
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Should the First Amendment protect lying?
I do not know anyone whose parents or church taught them that lying is permissible and bears no taint of sin: Thou shall not bear false witness is ingrained from childhood in everyone I know. Do not...
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How my novel, mapping Utah, came to be — and what it taught me
In November 1989, I asked a remarkable woman to marry me. That didn’t go well. So I drank myself into a stupor deepened by self-pity and hacked away all night long at a Macintosh SE (Remember those?...
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A contrarian’s disheartened view of loyalty
As I age, I increasingly ponder loyalty. Most of us, I suspect, have an understanding of it. Perhaps it’s a feeling that we’d crawl through burning oil and run across broken glass because the person to...
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Advertising’s enticement: You must crave, therefore you must buy
Despite my exposure to what a colleague estimates is nearly 100 million advertising impressions as I approach seven decades of life, I am not taller, I am not more attractive, I am not thinner, and I...
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The daily newspaper editorial: Make it weekly, please
Who — or what — killed the great American editorial? Wasn’t there a time when great newspaper editorials regularly thundered and whispered, sighed and screamed, were outraged or outraged others? Paul...
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Better local news ahead — at Gannett papers? Really?
What? Better local news coverage at Gannett Inc.’s 80-plus newspapers? Seriously? And they’re hiring more reporters, and good ones at that? Huh? Print revenue is still declining but Gannett is...
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America’s war policy a reflection of WWII movies and their unrealistic vision...
My Depression-born parents raised me in a rural idyll during the Eisenhower years. As a child, I snuck into the Garden Theater to watch war movies. They enthralled me: Battle Cry, To Hell and Back,...
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My lot in life: teaching sophomores how to report and write
Like Mom’s admonition to ‘eat your spinach,’ my sophomores should dine on basics. So this week I will teach them how to write a useful sentence. A car hit a pickup today at Smith and Wesson streets,...
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The press isn’t providing what the public desperately needs — news that matters
The daily print journalism I know and love is breathing its last gasps. The craft I practiced for 20 years, and have taught for another 20 years, is limping toward the grave. The newsroom values I have...
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I read books because I need to know … so much more than I do now
If you’re a reader, you probably have a list of “fave” books. Or of books you found “influential.” Or of books you liked because each told “a good story.” Or maybe because the books were filled with...
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When It’s Time to Grow Up
Dr. Denny Wilkins:From one of my senior students … Originally posted on karlybuntich: All around town, the preparations begin. Making our houses seem livable means hours of throwing out the mountains...
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Another fruitless election. Why bother voting for Congress?
Did you vote for a candidate (and more likely an incumbent) who will put the interests of the monied few above yours? Abandon hope all ye who enter here. Post that over every voting booth from now on....
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Rolling Stone’s UVA story flogged as flawed — and rightly so
Critics are panning Rolling Stone’s 9,000-word account of a sexual assault, an account that preceded protests at the University of Virginia and vandalism of the fraternity house at which, the article...
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Too many people + unbridled consumption = trauma for billions
Scratch a problem involving homo sapiens. Smog choking cities. Carbon dioxide and methane warming atmosphere or ocean. Forests rapaciously slashed. No fish where fish used to be. Nuclear waste with no...
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Rolling Stone brass to undergrads: ‘Feel free to fuck up badly; you won’t get...
Originally posted on Scholars and Rogues | Progressive Culture: Rolling Stone’s flawed story and its reaction to a critical report make teaching journalism to the ‘instant gratification’ generation...
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Yo, Bernie: What you gonna do as prez that has teeth?
Bernie Sanders, he who regularly tilts at NSA windmills and shouts at the hot air emitted by billionaires, says he’s running for president. In his 10-minute announcement, he displayed the media acumen...
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