Good evening, 919 Gang. I will be in beautiful downtown
Costa Mesa for a few days. I plan to return Sunday and file that night. Keep
the messages coming.
----------------------------------------------------
REBER: Last night Ernie
Cowan came up with an idea for a tax-supported newspaper to focus on Escondido
news.
DAVID FARMER writes:
I like Ernie Cowan's idea of a fee to support news coverage
in towns that don't have good newspapers. But I fear that American contrariness
would prevent it.
People who won't pay for online news are not likely to
stand still for what amounts to a tax with the same aim. I can see endless
First Amendments lawsuits from all sides.
However, there is an exact parallel in existence. In
Britain, every household with a TV pays an annual license fee of 145 pounds to
support the BBC. It's been in place for years, and seems to work.
But Americans by nature are opposed to
"revenuers," as tax enforcers are called in moonshine-producing
regions. Still, the fee plan probably would work in Canada, where people are
nicer than we are.
RAY HUARD writes:
Regarding
Ernie Cowan's lament about the lack of local news, it's true, I feel the same
way and I live in San Diego. Not to knock the hard work of those still left at
the U-T, I have the sense that I'm missing a lot of what's happening because
the paper has shrunk so much. North County readers do have a couple of
alternatives. There's The Coast News, which started covering inland North
County about a year ago as I recall. They're both hard copy and online. The
Vista Press also has resurfaced in Vista as an online only source of Vista
news. They seem to be making a go of it, so there is hope. I'd be wary of any
news organization that's connected to government.
LEN
NOVARRO Writes:
Concerning Ernie Cowan’s idea about
creating an online community newspaper for Escondido… Former U-Ter Chris
Jennewein created the online local Times of San Diego over a year ago. It is a
fine local product and also has ex-U-T staffer Ken Stone writing for it. The
local product is there. Perhaps Ernie’s efforts with officials can be more
directed to expanding Times of San Diego so that it can deliver that kind of
coverage to North County. No sense reinventing the wheel.
WALT BARANGER
writes:
Ernie's idea for a government-owned
newspaper — that's what it amounts to if a public agency controls the purse strings
— is that you end up with propaganda. It's inevitable; even the BBC
occasionally strays into political minefields, and they have a parliamentary
committee to keep them honest.
Better is a private tax-exempt
foundation, properly endowed, that can print whatever it wants without the
bother of government franchises and oversight. It can sell ads, write
editorials or whatnot and not have to worry about taxes or some crotchety
special district board member getting upset over the way the franchised
newspaper editors cover high school lacrosse.
REX SALMON writes:
Ernie, you’ll be famous as the savior of community newspapers
across the nation, plus journalism books will tell how an old mayor revived the
skills of reporting and writing to new heights while benefiting communities of
many other old mayors.
KEN STONE writes:
I applaud Ernie's idea of a special district for news
coverage. But the hurdles are great, including the necessity of a public vote
to OK the tax and issue of who runs the show. Perhaps noncontroversial coverage
is fine for all involved — but that's not journalism. At some point, an ox is
gored.
How can this be made to work without a herd of sacred cows?
WELTON
JONES writes:
Interesting idea, Mayor Cowan. Fraught
with perils, though. Here are a couple:
WHO decides what is news and what is
feature? Somebody has to be in place to accept that inevitable flack. And there
needs to be SOME kind of feature brightness now and then or this will be a dull
official newsletter thing that nobody really reads. An official organ always
risks inconsequence and usually achieves it.
HOW are you gonna get that money from
the tax parcels? Gotta be a real blanket assessment and can't be discussed as
any kind of "subscription" else people may start thinking of it as
optional. Needs to be financed by ordinance.
WHAT makes this different from, for
example, Pravda?
REBER: I don’t know about
Escondido, but I can’t imagine Ramona, the town that has not backed a school
bond in the 19 years we have lived here, would go for even a tiny tax increase.
----------------------------------------------------
JONI HALPERN
writes:
Thanks to all who have responded to my
invitation to consider income inequality. I appreciated hearing the
compassionate concerns of so many fine journalists.
I would like to add to the discussion
in two ways. First, I’d like to share a poem and drawing that were part of a
children’s exhibition displayed in various venues throughout San Diego County
from 2004 through 2008. The piece I have attached was included in the exhibit
and later became part of a book about the exhibit, Journey to Our Dreams:
Stories and Drawings of Low-Income Children in San Diego County. All the
children who participated in creating this exhibit lived in deep poverty, that
is, at least 50% below the federal poverty line.
Second, I’d like to address something
Suzanne Mack wrote, because her sentiments echo the concerns of many people who
wonder if the help they give the poor in this country, or perhaps any country,
is really appreciated. This question is so much a part of our very human
nature, and all of us have asked it at one time or another.
I can only speak for myself in
answering it. I think giving anything of ourselves is the first step in
learning how deeply we believe in the power of our own goodness. We ask
ourselves: What if we spend our money, time, energy and talent doing something
for someone else, and it has no visible effect on their lives? Won’t we have
wasted our resources? And shouldn’t someone who receives our gifts convey some
gratitude? It is almost as if by giving, we are asking that our goodness be
validated.
But the poet Maya Angelou said
(perhaps quoting Joan Walsh Anglund): “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an
answer; it sings because it has a song.” In my opinion, whenever we give of
ourselves for the good of others, in that single act, we are validating our own
goodness. And this is quite independent of whether we receive adequate thanks
or witness a transformation as an outcome. We sing because we have a song.
---------------------------------------------
TIM WILSON
writes:
In
response to David Farmer’s post on bullfighting, I am with him 100%. I hate
killing anything, especially for sport and have no respect for those who take
the life of the magnificent creatures that roam the earth, large and small,
whether they live on land, in the sea or above the earth.
I
wonder what motivates people to kill a defenseless creature at a safe distance
when they are not doing it to survive or because their life is threatened.
It’s
pure hubris. Machoism, egomania, false pride, whatever you want to call it. Man’s
need to have a perceived dominion over his natural environment.
Anytime
an animal is at a disadvantage to a human, either for sport or entertainment,
it reveals to me the cowardice of the killer, whether a big game hunter, a
matador or a big fish sport fisherman (swordfish, big tuna, marlin, etc.)
The
slaughter of elephants for their tusks, sharks for their fins or bears for
their skin makes me sick. To kill an animal so you can make money off its body
parts or put its head on your wall, sounds like some of the acts of terrorism
being perpetrated around the world, except the victim is not human. I grew up
with guns and love to shoot but I hate to kill.
The
older I get, the more I revere life in all its splendor. Time is the greatest gift
we can share with any living creature, human or otherwise. We were given time
to live life in peace.
There
is a great line in the movie American Gangster (the story of Frank Lucas)
starring Denzel Washington. Lucas says “The loudest one in the room is the
weakest.”
Those
who kill animals for sport or illicit profit are the loudest people I know.
With their actions, they yell out their disrespect for the sanctity of life so
that all can hear, including the creatures they kill.
JOE HOLLY
writes:
Considering
the “sport” of bull fighting, today seems a good to send this photo that I made
at the Zoo a couple years ago…the rhino’s nose was runny for some reason. What
a shame that so many are killed for their horns and left to rot. I added the
red in my Mac.
REBER: Mary and I spent a few hours Tuesday at
the place formerly known as the Wild Animal Park. We saw a two-week-old rhino
so cute you want to hug it, or you would if its mom wasn’t nearby. Hurry to see
it. We were told the little critter will add 100 pounds a month, so the
cuteness will be short-lived.
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LESLIE WOLF BRANSCOMB
writes:
Many congratulations to the winners from the San
Diego Press Club awards last night. I see from photos on Facebook that the
current U-T contingent is much smaller than in years past, but I'd like to
raise a toast to those who weathered the changes and are still there (Matt
Hall, Karen Kucher, for starters). Also a big hand to our UT/Patch alumni,
Chris Jennewein and Ken Stone, who did well in the awards, as did Emmet Pierce
and Jamie Reno, who never seem to stop moving... and winning. Congratulations!
The main reason I'm writing tonight is to weigh in on the
subscription price conversation, which has been going on for years. We have had
home delivery forever, long before I worked for the paper. I was recently
saddened to see a picture online of the demolished press at the Mission Valley
plant, since that means there's no going back. Since the LAT took over the
paper our delivery has been very spotty. We didn't get the paper again today,
for maybe the 15th time since the transition. None of our neighbors did either.
I have given up calling, since they always promise to get a paper out to you,
and it never happens. Also, for the past few months I have not been able to
click on and read stories on the website. It defaults me to the "manage
your subscription" page. I've changed our password several times, but no
luck. It still sends me there and urges me to sign up for a digital
subscription or subscribe... both of which we've done. Repeatedly. For years.
Anyway, some poor lady in subscription services had
the bad luck to call me tonight at home with an offer to renew our
subscription. I unloaded all of that on her, knowing full well she is probably
working from a call center in the Midwest. When I told her I'd worked at the
paper for 18 years I felt like an idiot, because how many times have those of
us in the newsroom heard that from callers who are trying to get a foot in the
door? (Second only to my favorite: "Helen Copley is a friend of mine, and
I'm gonna call her and get you fired!)
So nameless friendly lady caller offered me a deal of $3.96
a month (!) for a year, for home delivery and digital subscription. Auto-pay
from my debit card. By my calculations, that's $47.52 a year. If you buy the
paper from a news stand (if you can find one) at .35 for 6 days a week and
$1.50 for Sundays, that would be $187.20 a year. Prices may have changed. But
if not, that's a savings of $139.68 a year. SOLD! Now, she was nice enough to
tell me (as required by law) that the price may go up after the first year and
we'll continue to be charged unless I call Customer Service and either cancel
the paper or re-negotiate our price. So I figure that's where they plan to make
their money. Unfortunately for them, being the reporter that I was/am, I just
bought my 2016 Daytimer and already made a notation for Oct. 26, 2016, to call
the U-T and either cancel or re-negotiate our subscription price.
So that's my story. I'd like to hear others, as it seems
the price is quite random. I should add that we were in arrears for a couple
months so that may have been a special price offered to longtime subscribers to
entice us back.
REBER: I add
congratulations to all (especially the 919ers) who won San Diego Press Club
awards. I’m not using any names because the list of awards is unbelievably
long, and I might miss someone. You can see the complete list here:
---------------------------------------------------
DAVID FARMER writes:
My wife and I saw a movie this week that I think many
people on this forum would like. It's "Brooklyn," which the AARP has
dubbed one of its "movies for grownups." That organization gave us
free tickets to see the film at the comfy ArcLight Theater in Hollywood.
The story, set in the 1950s, doesn't have much to do with
the New York City borough except as the place where about half the story
occurs. An Irish girl, around 18 years old, gets the chance to move from her
small town in Ireland to America, where her opportunities will be greater. Her
slightly older sister and her mother remain behind.
Since the young woman, Ellis Lacey, has never been far from
home, she encounters daunting culture clashes in Brooklyn. The fresh-faced star
of the picture is Saoirse Ronan. Don't ask me to pronounce that first name. I
still can't get past the fact that Ellis comes out A-lish in the movie.
Ellis fights her way through the thickets of American
commerce, has her sexual awakening, and discovers the man she believes she
loves. But a family tragedy sends her back to Ireland. Besides her grief, she's
assailed there by romantic temptation.
I won't get any more concrete about the plot, but this is
the kind of film I like best--small in its scope and intensely personal. The
actors, including the masterful Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters, are
outstanding. Saoirse, now 21, carries the film. Here she is:
When I looked her up on IMDB, I was startled to find that
she was actually born in the Bronx, USA, to Irish parents. But they moved back
to Ireland when she was three, so I forgive her for how ignorant she is about a
neighboring borough.
The actress and the film's director, John Crowley, took the
ArcLight stage after the movie. They noted that it was based on a novel by Colm
Toibin, another set of names I'll not attempt to pronounce. Ronan and Crowley
told how they worked the stay true to the book.
"Brooklyn"
is a tender, moving and wholly satisfying film. It's full of the kind of events
that could have happened to any one of us, if only we were more interesting
than we are.
--------------------------------------------------------
LESLIE WOLF
BRANSCOMB writes:
Regarding David Farmer's entry on the "European"
clouds... a few years back I went with my sister to Europe in the summer, and
we were in Berlin at twilight, which was about 10:30 p.m. in July. The sky was
an astonishing purple color for a long time. We were at dinner and I didn't
have my camera with me, and this was before the era of smartphones. I've never
seen that before or since.
---------------------------------------------------------
MICHAEL GRANT writes:
I have seen the blockbuster carcinogen news this week about
ham, bacon and hotdogs. I’m not worried about it. It must have been at least 30
years ago, the mid-80s, when the carcinogen news broke about the mutagen. The
mutagen was created when red meat hit a hot skillet. If that was the case, I
columnized, there was no way to explain how I was still alive. In fact
carcinogen discoveries had become such a news staple that I stopped worrying
about them, reasoning that it would soon be discovered that worrying about
carcinogens was, in fact, a carcinogen. I’m not aware if that news has broken
yet, but to be safe, I’m not worrying about it.
-------------------------------------------------------
REBER: I’m sending Happy Birthday
wishes to John Cannon, Oct.29, and Charlie Starr and Kelly Thornton, Oct.31.
----------------------------------------------------------
TIM WILSON forwards:
Sound Advice From a 12-Year-Old
Out
of the mouths of babes:
TIM WILSON
forwards:
How does one understand the Syrian
conflict and the involvement of Assad, ISIS, Iran, USA, Hezbollah, the Kurds,
Russia, Jordan, the Syrian Rebels, the Gulf States and last but not least,
Turkey?
Who
is fighting whom and why? It’s an absolute mess but this video explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKb9GVU8bHE
P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.
