Grumpy Editor

Fox’s Van Susteren focuses on U.S. Marine held in Mexico

One of the least covered current news stories of national interest involves Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, a U.S. Marine with two tours in Afghanistan, strangely being held --- almost two months now --- in a prison near Tijuana after he missed an exit and inadvertently drove across the San Ysidro border with three legal and registered guns and was arrested by Mexican authorities, notes Grumpy Editor.

While few news outlets have run an Associated Press piece on the development, it took Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, a former criminal defense attorney and civil trial lawyer, to go on scene to bring the “wrong turn” incident to national attention over several days last week via her On the Record current affairs program.

She traveled from Washington to the San Diego-Tijuana border and to the prison on the Mexico side --- even duplicating the confusing road route taken by the 25-year-old Marine in the pickup truck he had driven from Florida to make a new start in San Diego.

Van Susteren’s two-days on-scene investigation included live coverage from the area.  She explained to viewers:  “Even prison officials said we could interview the sergeant in the prison. But after we waited outside the prison for two full days, other prison officials decided to keep us out, refusing to let us interview Tahmooressi.”

Jill Tahmooressi, the Marine’s mother, who was allowed to visit him in a gymnasium-like area at the prison, told Van Susteren that when she saw her son on April 14, six or seven guards surrounded him.

Even to this Memorial Day --- marking 56 days Tahmooressi has been imprisoned --- there has been no movement from the White House or secretary of state in efforts to release the Marine who reportedly has been chained to his bed in the Mexican prison.

 

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YES, WEATHER CONSTANTLY CHANGES.  Michael Ramirez at Investor’s Business Daily, had it right with his editorial cartoon showing a white-frocked science professor at a blackboard with lines draw through now passé terms of global cooling, global warming, climate change to underline the updated term --- climate disruption.  Off to the lower right in the cartoon, a little boy adds his thought on the blackboard:  It’s called weather.

 

AS COAL PLANTS FADE, POWER COSTS RISE.  Along with current high U.S. gasoline prices (above $3 a gallon for 1,249 days now) around the country, look for electricity rates to rise 4 percent on average this year, biggest hike in six years, predicted the Energy Department.  Key reason?  Coal-fired plants, dominant sources of cheap power generation over the years, are shutting down around the U.S., socked by environmental regulations and economic forces.

 

FORGET WATER FOR VEGGIES.  It took Congressman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) to reveal in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece on Friday that in the middle of a Golden State drought the “Bureau of Reclamation drained Folsom and other reservoirs on the American and Stanislaus rivers of more than 70,000 acre feet of water --- enough to meet the annual needs of a city of half a million people --- for the comfort and convenience of fish.”

 

‘HAVE IT YOUR WAY’ MOTTO SHELVED.  Burger King scrapped its "Have It Your Way" slogan, used for four decades, for "Be Your Way."  The company explained the new phrase is intended to remind people that "they can and should live how they want anytime. It's OK to not be perfect...self-expression is most important and it's our differences that make us individuals instead of robots."

 

MAGAZINE COVERS SPORT AD MESSAGES.  Time magazine and Sports Illustrated, in the Time Inc. family, debuted small ads for Verizon Communications Inc. near the bottom of their covers.

Social Security recipients COLA boost looming for 2015?

After several years using the term, it looks like print and broadcast media finally will be forced to shelve “tame” in connection with describing the inflation level as the latest year-over-year gain in the Labor Department’s consumer price index jumps to 2 percent, notes Grumpy Editor. 

It also means there is hope for Social Security recipients getting a larger cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2015.  The COLA for this year was a modest 1.5 percent 

The consumer price index (CPI) rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent last month from March as higher costs from food to energy pushed prices upward.  Meat prices, for example, last month posted the largest jump in 11 years. 

That puts the inflation rate at 2 percent through the 12 months ended in April. 

But, with most of Washington looking the other way when inflation is mentioned, one still has to be cautious.

Grumpy Editor points to a Nov. 18, 2010 posting in this space that mentioned a headline over an Associated Press story:  Consumer prices rise moderately but inflation tame. 

Important to observe will be CPI figures from July, August and September.  They will be averaged out to determine the COLA for Social Security recipients and others next year. 

Next inflation rate update is slated for release on June 17.

 

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VA WHISTLEBLOWER WEB SITE CREATED.   VAoversight.org is a joint effort of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Project On Government Oversight (POGO).  It gives whistleblowers the option of providing contact information and features bold-face warnings to avoid using a government computer or phone to submit complaints. “Whistleblowers shouldn’t have to go it alone. We can help whistleblowers hold the VA accountable, and keep the focus on solutions rather than attempts to hunt down those who voiced concerns,” said POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian.

 

IMAGINE, STRAIGHT NEWS REPORTING.  Heritage Foundation, Washington-based conservative think tank, on June 3 debuts Daily Signal a digital news site.  It will focus on “true, straight-down-the-middle journalism,” said Geoffrey Lysaught, Heritage’s vice president of strategic communications.

 

DOES ELEANOR READ NEWSPAPERS, WATCH TV NEWS?  During a discussion of Benghazi on “The McLaughlin Group” on PBS, liberal columnist Eleanor Clift declared U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens wasn’t really murdered but rather died from “smoke inhalation in a CIA safe room.”  Fellow panelists were quick to set her straight, pointing out Stevens’ death (along with three other Americans) stemmed from a terrorist attack.

 

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER SEES CLIMATE CHAOS BY LATE 2015.  The world has “500 days to avoid climate chaos,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned in Washington. “I know that President Obama and John Kerry himself are committed on this subject and I’m sure that with them, with a lot of other friends, we shall be able to reach success in this very important matter,” added Fabius.

 

GANNETT BUYS TV STATIONS IN LONE STAR STATE.  Gannett Co., adding to its growing list of TV stations, agreed to buy six more from London Broadcasting Co. for $215 million.  All are in Texas.

 

NOW, WHICH AUTO WAS THAT?  During CBS’s “48 Hours” on Friday, FOUR auto commercials from different manufacturers ran in tandem.  This sort of thing, confusing viewers, never happened during earlier network days when only one commercial for an advertiser in its field ran during an hour.

Journalism going wrong way, say most reporters, editors

Print/broadcast reporters, editors and producers say they are less satisfied with their work, have less autonomy on the job and see the industry moving in the wrong direction, Grumpy Editor notes from an Indiana University survey that, naturally, received zilch attention in newspapers and radio/TV news.

Among noteworthy survey findings: 

Going wrong way.  About 60 percent of journalists say journalism  in the United States is going in the wrong direction. 

Newsrooms are shrinking. Almost 63 percent of journalists say staffs were reduced during the past year, while only about a quarter say staff numbers remained the same.

Majority have bachelor’s degree.  About 92 percent of full-time journalists have at least a bachelor’s degree --- although journalism majors represent about 37 percent. 

More journalists say they are political independents. About half of all journalists say they are independents, up about 18 percentage points from a similar survey in 2002. The number of those identified with the Democrat Party dropped nearly 8 percentage points to 28 percent, while the number of journalists closer to the Republican Party decreased to 7 percent from 18 percent. 

Job satisfaction ebbs.  Job satisfaction fell to 23 percent from 33 percent of journalists who said they were “very satisfied” with their jobs in the 2002 tally.  This trend continues the decline in job satisfaction that was observed between 1971 and 1992 but was interrupted with a positive bounce in 2002. 

A puzzling element --- at a time when media critics are labeling current journalists, especially those out of Washington, lapdogs rather than watchdogs --- is that 78 percent of the surveyed journalists say investigating government claims is “extremely important.”  The survey finds that percentage up significantly from 2002 and exceeds the 76 percent in the early 1970s. 

 

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TIME FOR A CHANGE WITH CLIMATE.  First it was termed global warming, then (as eyebrows were raised by some meteorologists and atmospheric scientists), it became climate change.  Now, with last week’s 840-page National Climate Assessment report, the phrase “climate disruption” made its debut.

 

ANOTHER L.A. SHAKE-EM-UP STORY.  Under the headline --- Preliminary quake map shows fault lines under schools, hotels, homes --- the Los Angeles Times continues its periodic shakeup of readers.  A story last week pointed out about 12,000 properties lie in the newly drawn California Geological Survey fault zones, roughly 500 feet on each side of estimated fault lines. It follows a Times story last October focusing on “more than 1,000 old concrete buildings in Los Angeles and hundreds more throughout the county may be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake.”

 

‘NYET’ TO FOUL LANGUAGE.   A Russian law signed last week by President Vladimir Putin restricts use of profanity in literature, theater, film and recorded music, effective July 1.  A separate law, starting in August, subjects bloggers --- those with more than 3,000 daily page views --- to hefty fines for using profanity.

 

TIME INC. SPIN-OFF SET.  Time Warner Inc.'s spin-off of publishing unit Time Inc. takes effect on June 6.  Time Inc.’s titles include Time, People, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and Entertainment Weekly.  Along with 23 magazines in the U.S., the company operates 45 Web sites.

 

DYSFUNCTION IN WASHINGTON?  In a TV interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) --- who single-handedly has blocked much movement in the Senate --- declares, "One of the problems that the press has in modern-day journalism is everything you do is a tit for tat. You won't call things the way they actually exist. What has happened here is the Republicans have stopped everything from happening.”

 

MORE ON WASHINGTON FROM THE PRESIDENT.  Variety, the entertainment news publication, reports that at a Los Angeles fundraiser last Wednesday, President Barack Obama said a “disquiet around the country” remains along with “an anxiety and a sense a frustration”…and “the challenges out there remain daunting and we have a Washington that’s not working.”

Nevada utility's rate requests gang up on customers

With NV Energy’s new corporate ownership, coincidentally or otherwise, things move fast in nicking pockets of customers, observed Grumpy Editor.  What’s more, media did not raise eyebrows over the latest developments.   

Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. acquired the then New York Stock Exchange-listed Nevada utility, with 1.3 million customers, less than five months ago.

MidAmerican changed its name to Berkshire Hathaway Energy just last Wednesday.  The renamed holding company, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, a publicly traded company, is led by investor Warren Buffett. 

April 30:  NV Energy filed a proposal with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to close three of its coal-fired Nevada power plants this year and completely end use of that cheap-energy from coal power facilities within five years. The utility said it plans to make up for the lack of coal power by acquiring two existing gas-generated plants in southern Nevada and two solar farms. 

May 2:  NV Energy south filed a general rate request with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.  The effect of the increase would be about 1.85 percent.  The utility figured that is $2.82 a month for an average residential customer in southern Nevada, based on a typical residential bill of $152.97 with an average use of 1,136 kilowatts a month --- in a desert region where residences usually use air conditioning from May to October.

Tacked on to the proposal was more than a 50 percent boost in NV Energy’s basic service charge to $15.25 a month from $10. Unlike retail stores, for example, that include data processing, customer assistance, billing and accounting as the cost of doing business, NV Energy collects a flat monthly charge for those routine services to customers.

A major news outlet said the latest PUC rate hike filing “reflects one of the smallest increases to customers in more than a decade” --- the writer apparently overlooking a 2.75 percent jump effective January, 2012.  More recently, the PUC authorized a boost in NV Energy rates effective only 34 days ago.

NV Energy is not alone in raising rates.  Other states also will see soaring prices for electricity, the result of coal-fired plants closing, reductions in nuclear power, natural gas pipeline constraints and shifting to more expensive renewable energy.  

 

 

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MUCH OF MAJOR MEDIA STILL MUM ON BENGHAZI.  Fresh information last week from more than 100 pages of documents on the Benghazi terror attack suggested a senior White House aide played a central role in preparing former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice for Sunday show appearances where she wrongly blamed protests over an Internet video.  Media Research Center president Brent Bozell declared on Fox News that "this is a media that are deliberately... suppressing the news from their audiences.” The email evidence, he added, proves a "wide variety of people in this administration were participatory" in the administration's lie that a YouTube video was the precipitating factor in the Benghazi consulate strike.

 

U.S. PERSONNEL IN UNIFORM ON TRACK TO DWINDLE.  The House Subcommittee on Military Personnel backed the Pentagon's request for troop cuts.  That puts the numbers for next year at:  490,000 soldiers, a reduction of 30,000; 184,100 Marines, a cut of 6,100; 310,900 airmen, 16,700 less, but no change in the Navy’s level of 323,600.

 

TIME TO TALK, OR RATHER, REMEMBER TURKEYS.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wants to erect a memorial at the Deer Creek Reservoir in Utah near U.S. 189, that reads:  “Drive Safely, Buckle Up: In Memory of the Hundreds of Terrified Turkeys Who Died Here in a Truck Crash.”

 

STANDALONE BUSINESS SECTION RETURNS.  The Houston Chronicle last week brought back its standalone business section to boost business news coverage and plans a new business column in a few weeks.

 

OOPS!  WRONG STATE.  Some editions of The Wall Street Journal on Thursday carried a photo and caption about the collapse of portions of the Florida Scenic Highway when, in reality, the scene showed cars damaged by a sinkhole --- in Baltimore.