Grumpy Editor

Federal workers told to “cool it” at home in hot D.C.

Federal workers in Washington apparently are not considered a hardy bunch when it comes to hot or cold weather, noted Grumpy Editor.

During winter, “snow days” keep many at home. Last week it was the heat.

The government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) encouraged federal workers (those paid by taxpayers) to perform their duties from home as the temperature soared to the upper 90s.

Apparently homes and apartments have better air conditioning than federal buildings.

OPM, which acts as the government's human resources department, said it was reminding agencies about "what they can do to protect all federal workers during potentially dangerous heat waves."

A memo warned “severe heat and humidity seen so far this summer make it necessary for us all to take precautions and protect ourselves and our family's health and well-being."

OPM also reminded federal workers to stay inside as much as possible, wear light-colored clothing and drink extra water.

"I know that all federal employees are dedicated and committed to doing all they can to serve the American people," wrote OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert. She added, “we all must be mindful of protecting our health during severe weather events --- whether cold and storm during winter or the kind of high temperatures and humidity we've been experiencing this summer."

 

One wonders what would happen to these folks if they were transferred to perennially hot summer cities such as Palm Springs, Las Vegas or Phoenix.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Although Hillary Clinton made history as the first woman to secure a presidential nomination from a major U.S. party, some key newspapers around the country placed dominant photos of overjoyed, smiling husband Bill on front pages instead of art of his wife. Among them were the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Detroit Free Press and Seattle Times.

Reaction from Seattle Times readers, for example, was so strong that Leon Espinoza, assistant managing editor, apologized in print and explained: “Wednesday’s front page, which featured a banner headline, ‘Clinton makes history with formal nomination,’ failed to include a photograph of Hillary Clinton, the first woman to lead a major-party ticket, instead putting the visual focus on former President Bill Clinton, who made an impassioned case for her election as the next president. The omission upset many readers. In hindsight, we focused too much on the live moment and not enough on the history being made. We apologize for missing the mark.”

 

A Travel + Leisure ad in the June issue brought some angry reaction from the American Family Association and some readers. A Hilton ad showed a gay male couple in bed holding each other and sharing earbuds. The AFA said it was "unnatural and offensive."

 

Look for some eyebrows raised at judging slated at the Salem, Ore. fair this month. Along with awards for best apple pies and plumpest pigs, pot will be judged for its finer attributes, including color, aroma, leaf structure and lack of pests.

 

Sharp-eyed TV viewers of the Democrats’ convention in Philadelphia noted there were no American flags on the stage on opening day --- but there was U.S. flag burning outside the arena.

 

In business news: Here we go again: Now September was being eyed by the Federal Open Market Committee as the time an interest rate hike may be back on the table after a Fed statement mentioned "near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished”…On the other hand, an overlooked business story last week indicated the weakest U.S. recovery since 1949. Gross domestic product grew at a seasonally and inflation-adjusted annual rate of only 1.2 percent in the second quarter. Also on the negative side: U.S. homeownership rate fell to the lowest level since 1965…End of the line? Boeing Co. said that it might halt production of the two-deck 747 that was introduced in 1970.

 

A Los Angeles Times editor reminded newsroom staffers to keep opinions off social media…Too bad some cable and over-the-air TV talkers don’t get messages to cool it with on-air opinions.

 

Chicago TV news reporter Anthony Ponce, after working at local news stations for 13 years, has become a full-time Lyft driver.

He’ll also be interviewing and recording conversations with passengers to produce a podcast called "Backseat Rider."

SEC set to push scrutinizing pay of CEOs vs. workers

 

Company pay, and how much the boss gets, looms as a big deal in 2016 when the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to require most public companies to disclose the pay ratio between chief executives and rank-and-file employees, notes Grumpy Editor. 

The likely federal rule, not getting much media play, looms as another “rich” vs. “poor” action out of Washington.

Backers see the disclosures as a method to prompt management to cut CEO paychecks while raising lower-level workers’ pay. 

The move is something that would be pretty much out of line a few years ago.  Most workers then would say, “Who cares,” while focusing on improving their own job performances in efforts to reach higher salary levels along with new job titles. 

Meanwhile, the SEC and others in Washington don’t seem to be concerned about growing lofty pay collected by most professional basketball, football and baseball players. 

Latest example:  Yasmany Tomas, 24, a baseball outfielder from Cuba, late last week was in the process of settling on $68.5 million in a six-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

Major league baseball’s minimum annual salary next year rises to $507,500 from $500,000. 

Keep in mind that for baseball, the “year” (including pre-season training) runs about eight months. 

That makes company CEOs earning $1 million to $5 million over 12 months quite a bargain for overseeing companies with far-flung operations and hundreds, perhaps thousands, on payrolls. 

 

FYI, IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE… 

Heavy shopping over the Thanksgiving holiday and into this week follows consumer sentiment that has climbed to the highest level since July, 2007, finds the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index.  In addition, the National Retail Federation expects a 4.1 percent boost in retail sales in the November-December period…Look for TV news tomorrow to focus on footage of cars splashing through water in the Los Angeles area as the first heavy storm since February is expected to dump one to two inches of rain…Media haven’t emphasized the fact that the looting, vandalizing and torching in the Ferguson, Mo. area last week affected about 60 businesses with a dozen destroyed, ranging from storage facility to hair salon…Despite federal attempts to curb its use, demand for coal to generate electric power has been on the upswing since 2012…Getting limited media mention:  The Pentagon, with White House blessing, continues to release detainees from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Five were released late this month, leaving 143 remaining, down from almost 800 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, reveals The Wall Street Journal.  Look for more to be turned loose this month…Nothing to growl about:  The “cowardly lion” costume worn by actor Bert Lahr in the classic 1939 MGM film, The Wizard of Oz, fetched $3.07 million at an auction…Oops!  A Los Angeles Times story reports a crane in Hollywood removes “iconic KTLA radio tower for renovation and relocation,” forgetting that pioneer station KTLA is in TV, not radio…Digital-influenced newspaper title:  With the focus on digital growth, The New York Times in February gives former NPR executive Kinsey Wilson a new title --- editor for innovation and strategy…A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds only eight percent of likely U.S. voters rate Congress’s performance as good or excellent, unchanged from the prior two months.  

Farewell to lady:  University of Delaware’s student newspaper is taking “lady” out of stories that mention Lady Hens, the women’s sports team.  Student editors claim use of “lady” is "inherently sexist," derogatory and redundant since hens are female.

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NIH, CDC wasteful taxpayer-funded programs cited

Swarm of earthquakes shakes up some news outlets

NIH, CDC wasteful taxpayer-funded programs cited

Grumpy Editor ran across a piece by Joseph Rossell, at media watchdog NewsBusters, who cited “the media’s unwillingness to point to wasteful spending” at both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that, combined, award about 64,000 research grants annually.

“The combined budgets of the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, FBI, DEA and Secret Service came to nearly $1 billion less than the NIH and CDC combined budgets,” Russell tallied.

He listed “15 wasteful programs totaling $15,135,574,669” while “NIH and CDC are still having trouble coming up with ways to fund their fight against Ebola.”

Among the rather strange taxpayer-funded programs:

NIH spent $3.2 million getting monkeys drunk exclusively on alcohol to determine what effect the beverage has long term on their body tissue.

Then there’s $90 million that NIH awarded to Chinese researchers for various public health research projects, including $2 million to develop a vaccine for a parasite disease common in China.

Less NIH funding ---$181,406 ---went to a University of Kentucky researcher to study how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.

Congress in 2004 voted to give NIH $1.5 million to spend on four sex studies: Mood Arousal and Sexual Risk Taking, Study on Sexual Habits of Older Men, Study on San Francisco’s Asian Prostitutes/Masseuses and Study on American Indian Transgender Research.

CDC, via ObamaCare, received $15 billion to convince Americans to make “healthy” choices through “Community Transformation Grants.”

Read other ways NIH and CDC spend taxpayer money here.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page at a correspondents’ seminar, declared:  “My big fear is that this administration has been more restrictive and more challenging to the press, more dangerous to the press, really, than any administration in American history in terms of legal investigations and so on. And I think access to the White House has just gotten worse and worse.”  She added, “Decisions are made in closed-door meetings, or with the silent stroke of the president's pen, or because some lobbyist got some congressman to slip his pet project into a bill during the dead of night. We have to take the blinders off the White House. The more people know about what's going on in Washington, and how their tax dollars are being spent, and who's raising money for who, the less likely it is that major decisions will be hijacked by lobbyists and special interests.”  Adding to that, in illustrating the clampdown on details, Bloomberg White House correspondent Margaret Talev noted the White House has stopped providing details on fine wines served at state dinners...With the media spotlight on tomorrow’s voting, Larry Kudlow, in his syndicated column, maintained “the vast majority of political journalists…are missing a very big story.” He called it “the beginning of a new conservative revolution,” pointing out “the Republicans are going to recapture the Senate, picking up more seats than most any forecaster expects.  And the House GOP is going to add to its majority”…In other election-time news, California Gov. Jerry Brown, when asked at a campaign stop in Modesto why he hasn’t done more to lay out an agenda for a fourth term, replied: “I have communicated more completely to the people of California than any other governor in history”…In early voting, a number of voting machines in Maryland and Illinois were electronically switching Republican votes to Democrat, raising suspicions that fraud could be at the root of the malfunctions.  Among those encountering the vote switch:  Maryland’s Queen Anne County Sheriff Gary Hofmann.  The same problem occurred in Chicago where an election official attributed it to a “calibration error”…Tipping off the bad guys:  News reports over the weekend revealed the U.S. is intercepting Syria president’s communications for information on Islamic State militants…The New York Times Co. informed investors to expect a drop in fourth quarter ad spending.  That sent its stock down 6 percent on Thursday.  The Times, which last month announced plans to cut 100 newsroom employees, is working to transform itself into a digital newsroom with specialized stories and online subscription packages.

No stop-the-presses surprise here.  Newspaper headline following Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance Saturday at a Las Vegas rally:  Biden urges Latino voters to turn out for Democrats.

 

Permit for photos shot in forests shakes up press photogs

Confusion prevailed following federal regulations announced last week that starting in November news photographers would be required to obtain permits, costing up to $1,500, to take photos or videos in federal wilderness areas, observes Grumpy Editor.

The Oregonian, Portland, got that information from U.S. Forest Service spokesman Larry Chambers, who added reporters or photographers who don't get permits could face fines up to $1,000.

Liz Close, the Forest Service’s acting wilderness director, told The Oregonian the move keeps wilderness areas from being exploited for commercial gain.  “We have to follow the statutory requirements,” she said, pointing to the need to be in compliance with the Wilderness Act of 1964.

“It’s pretty clearly unconstitutional,” said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Alexandria, Virginia, The Oregonian reported. “They would have to show an important need to justify these limits, and they just can’t.”

The policy, as announced, would also apply to documentary film crews, nonprofits and private citizens who might sell a photo or a video.

However, it would allow members of the press to shoot photos and videos during breaking news events, describing them as "an event or incident that arises suddenly, evolves quickly and rapidly ceases to be newsworthy."

Then on Friday, Tom Tidwell, Forest Service chief, in clarifying the sticky position to media, said, “If you’re there to gather news or take recreational photographs, no permit would be required.”

That undoubtedly brought a sigh of relief to editors of publications such as Sunset magazine which monthly includes color art of national parks and forests. 

The October issue, for example, features illustrations of San Bernardino (Calif.) National Forest, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, Yosemite National Park in California, Olympia National Park in Washington and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Focusing on “hot stocks”?  About 1,000 activists gathered in Manhattan’s financial district last week to chant:  “We can’t take this climate heat; we’ve got to shut down Wall Street”…Then President Barack Obama, also in New York, speaking at the UN Climate Summit 2014, declared:  “Alarm bells are ringing”…Also getting into the climate act (as the not-yet-designated Secretary of Climate) was Secretary of State John Kerry who warned climate change may be “the most serious challenge we face on the planet”…At the same time, the Los Angeles Times reported: “Naturally occurring changes in winds, not human-caused climate change, are responsible for most of the warming on land and in the sea along the West Coast of North America over the last century” based on a study by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington…CNSNews.com noted Oct. 1 will mark the 18th year of “no significant warming trend in surface average temperature," according to Patrick Michaels,  director of the Cato Institute’s Center for the Study of Science…The Journal of the American Medical Association also jumped into the climate act with a lengthy one paragraph shake-'em-up warning:  “The adverse health aspects related to climate change may include heat-related disorders, such as heat stress and economic consequences of reduced work capacity; and respiratory disorders, including those exacerbated by fine particulate pollutants, such as asthma and allergic disorders; infectious diseases, including vectorborne diseases and water-borne diseases, such as childhood gastrointestinal diseases; food insecurity, including reduced crop yields and an increase in plant diseases; and mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, that are associated with natural disasters”…It should be noted that a Gallup poll on “warming” five months ago found “most Americans continue to express low levels of concern about the phenomenon. A little more than a third say they worry ‘a great deal’ about climate change or about global warming, putting these concerns at the bottom of a list of eight environmental issues”…With U.S. military being scaled back, overlooked during the heavy news week but reported in the Washington Times: Russia plans to add 80 warships to its Black Sea fleet by 2020 and expects to complete construction on a new naval base near Novorossiysk by 2016...Leaving a country boosts a company's stock price?  Announcement that Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox Co., maker of bleach and allied products, is exiting Venezuela hypoed its stock $6.66 to $97.23 last Monday…A two-thirds-page Toyota ad in The Wall Street Journal, designed to lure car buyers into showrooms, quoted Prius owners saying:  “We went across the U.S. three times in our first Prius.  The new one’s got a lot of adventure ahead of it”… Indication of things to come?  The Federal Trade Commission sent Grumpy Editor a news release --- in Spanish.

 

Selected for “quote of the year” at Media Research Center's 2014 Gala featuring the DisHonors Awards was columnist Eleanor Clift for her insistence that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was not murdered by terrorists at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, but died as a result of smoke inhalation.

Did Harry Reid/solar story trigger end of cattle roundup?

Coincidence or otherwise, just one day after a story linked Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with the “range war” involving a Nevada cattle rancher’s battle with the Bureau of Land Management, its “troops” --- including snipers among 200 armed agents --- suddenly pulled out of Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, notes Grumpy Editor.

It could explain why the Senate majority leader was conspicuously quiet during the week-long standoff in the state he represents.

The focus was on rancher Cliven Bundy’s 908 cattle grazing on 1,200 square miles of remote mountains and desert managed by BLM and the National Park Service.  Since 1870, the Bundy family’s herd has been grazing on that Clark County land. 

The cattle roundup originally was triggered by supposed endangerment of the desert tortoise.  Then the emphasis was on Bundy not paying grazing fees for 20 years, putting the amount owed at more than $1 million. (NOTE:  A tally by Grumpy Editor finds that based on the current federal grazing fee of $1.35 a month per head and figuring 900 cattle, the annual fee would total $14,580.) 

Then on Friday, a story by Kit Daniels on Alex Jones’ Infowars.com site proclaimed:  Breaking: Sen. Harry Reid Behind BLM Land Grab of Bundy Ranch 

Daniels wrote, “Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for posterity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled ‘Cattle Trespass Impacts’ directly states that Bundy’s cattle ‘impacts’ solar development, more specifically the construction of  ‘utility-scale solar power generation facilities’ on ‘public lands’.” 

Daniels pointed out, “Back in 2012, the New American reported that Harry Reid’s oldest son, Rory Reid, was the chief representative for a Chinese energy firm planning to build a $5-billion solar plant on public land in Laughlin, Nevada.”  (That proposed facility on Clark County land later was shelved.)  See Daniels’ full story here. 

Rory Reid is a former chairman of the Clark County Commission.   

Soon after the Infowars story hit the Internet, BLM director Neil Kornze said: "Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.” 

Just last week, with the protest and cattle roundup under way, the U.S. Senate confirmed the BLM post of native Nevadan Kornze --- who earlier worked on public lands issues in Sen. Reid’s office. 

The cattle were being returned to Bundy after the week-long “bullying” by the feds.  Cost to taxpayers:  between $1 million and $3 million. 

 

In case you missed these…

HARRY REID ORGANIZES ENERGY SUMMIT.  Continuing his focus on solar energy, the Senate majority leader said the annual National Clean Energy Summit Sept. 4 in Las Vegas will spotlight projects where governments and private industry are cooperating on renewable energy initiatives. Booked as keynote speaker:  Hillary Clinton.

 

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS LACK IDENTIFICATION?  In the 13^th paragraph of an Associated Press story on Barack Obama’s Friday speech in New York accusing Republicans of voting restrictions, the president is quoted:  “But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don’t have.”  (Normally, a revelation that millions of Americans are without identification would be stop-the-presses news, something for mainstream media to pounce on.  But now it’s ho-hum, nothing new, end of story.)  

 

MENTION ‘PING’ AND NEWSROOM GETS EXCITED.  CNN yesterday was on day 36 of almost continuous coverage of the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with on-screen headlines:

          New developments

          Search area expands for missing plane

 

STICKER SHOCK LOOMS AT THE MEAT COUNTER.  Allied with the Nevada “range war” (detailed above) and underscoring importance of the U.S. raising more cattle, backyard barbecue chefs and restaurant owners are facing the highest beef prices in almost three decades.  A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.

 

ONLINE OPERATION TO ACQUIRE ALASKA’S LARGEST DAILY.  Alaska Dispatch Publishing LLC, the parent company of the online Alaska Dispatch, said it will purchase the Anchorage Daily News from The McClatchy Co. for $34 million. The sale is expected to close in May.

 

HOUSE RENOVATION UNCOVERS VINTAGE NEWSPAPERS.  Old newspapers filled with history were found under layers of old siding at a Nashua, N.H. house.  Duplicating a time capsule, readable editions of the defunct Nashua Telegraph and Boston Post dated back to August, 1922.

Media miss storm-socked Dakotas, 12 years in Afghanistan

Grumpy Editor notes most print/broadcast media overlooked two noteworthy events last week:  an unusually early and wicked snowstorm packing hurricane force winds that smacked South Dakota and southwestern North Dakota, killing almost 80,000 cattle, and the 12^th year mark reached by the U.S. military fighting in Afghanistan --- making that conflict more than three times longer than the U.S. involvement in World War II.

With the early October storm, up to four feet of snow fell in southwestern South Dakota.

Cattle ranchers, along with farmers, faced a major problem with assistance because of the partial shutdown of the federal government, leaving them without an agency to report financial losses. 

The South Dakota Stock Growers Assn. estimated 15 to 20 percent of cattle died in some parts of the state.  Some ranchers said half or more of their herds were lost. 

A calf normally sells for about $1,000, while a mature cow brings $1,500 and up. 

Todd Campbell, executive director of the Grand River Grazing Cooperative, Lemmon, S.D., said many ranchers had difficulty getting out to their cattle.  Compounding the situation was phone service disruption.

Lucas Lentsch, South Dakota agriculture secretary, termed the early-season blizzard “devastating to our producers.”

South Dakota Cattlemen’s Assn. said the storm’s effects would be felt for years.

 

U.S. troops entered Afghanistan Oct. 7, 2001

Meanwhile with Afghanistan, one of the few newspapers reporting the dozen years of U.S. boots on the ground there was Stars and Stripes. 

Staffer Heath Druzin reported the conflict has been “seemingly forgotten by most Americans who’ve grown weary of war.”  He pointed out the U.S. launched Operation Enduring Freedom on Oct. 7, 2001 and 54,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan.

“That is more, by far, than at any time during the first seven years of the war, yet these days, they garner scant news coverage,” he added.

The S&S writer mentioned Army Staff Sgt. Mike Toole, a member of III Corps based in Kabul, said he understands the dwindling interest back home:  “After 12 years, people are going to get tired of it,” Toole said. “I mean, we’re tired of it, so it makes sense to me.”

But next year will see the U.S.’s “formal mission” in Afghanistan end as troops pull out.

So far this year 104 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, the latest being on Sunday.

 

In case you missed these…

Also not widely mentioned with the partial shutdown of the federal government:  Important information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  That includes auto recalls and safety complaints.  Without the usual warnings, lives and property are at greater risk…Also linked to the shutdown, use of “Gestapo tactics” with harsh treatment of senior citizens --- including foreign visitors --- at Yellowstone National Park, is detailed by the Newburyport (Mass.) Daily News, one of the publications of Eagle-Tribune Publishing Co., North Andover, Mass.  Read the account here.  (For those fuzzy on the Gestapo description, it reflects the German secret police during the Nazi regime, organized in 1933 with its brutal methods and operations through World War II.)

 

Media doings:  A. H. Belo Corp. sells the Press-Enterprise (including its production facility and related land) in Riverside, Calif. to Freedom Communications Holdings Inc. for $27.25 million.  Santa Ana, Calif.-based Freedom publishes California newspapers, Daily Press in Victorville, Desert Dispatch in Barstow, Long Beach Register in Long Beach and Orange County Register in Santa Ana plus more than 30 community newspapers…Pew Research Center reports a growing number of dailies are cutting down editorial and commentary sections due to financial concerns…Jessica Yellin is leaving CNN after six years at the cable network. The move comes less than two months after she moved to “chief domestic affairs correspondent” from the White House beat…With a background of 40 years as a reporter, Ed Rabel, former television news correspondent for NBC and CBS, reveals he is setting up an "exploratory committee" to consider a run for the House of Representatives from West Virginia…Neurosurgeon Ben Carson joins Fox News as a contributor. 

Sequester cuts trigger major air traffic delays, loom as hindering National Weather Service forecasts, too

Not widely grabbing space over the past few days to inform travelers:  Federal spending cuts that furlough air traffic controllers --- requiring one day off without pay for every 10 days work --- kicked in over the weekend, that could delay close to 7,000 flights a day at about a dozen of the biggest U.S. airports, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Thus, few passengers heading for airports are aware that sequester cuts are now triggering disruptions in air travel. 

At Los Angeles International Airport, for example, aircraft arrivals are expected to sink to 48 an hour from 80.  Departures also are affected. 

The Federal Aviation Administration’s plans are “illegal, irresponsible and damaging,” says Nicholas E. Calio, chief executive of Airlines of America, which represents major U.S. airlines. 

Michael Huerta, FAA administrator, says the air traffic controllers furloughs are unavoidable.

“We’re basically dismantling” the world’s safest and most efficient air traffic control system, warns Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

 

Budget cuts could affect weather forecasts 

Also not widely mentioned is that sequester action also could affect the National Weather Service. 

The Washington Post reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposes furloughing employees for four days across the agency that includes the National Weather Service. 

The newspaper notes NOAA would give labor unions the opportunity to offer alternatives to furloughs before finalizing its plan for reducing costs as part of the sequester. 

The union that represents National Weather Service employees criticized the furlough plan, saying it is “unnecessary and places the public at greater risk,” adds the Post.

 

In case you missed these… 

Boston radio stations plan 60 seconds of silence at 2:50 p.m. today to honor victims of last Monday’s Marathon bombing at that time…While much TV coverage of the Marathon bombing saw reporters standing in streets over the past few days, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this morning was still reporting from a breezy, cool (temperature in the low 40s) Boston street corner --- competing with busy vehicular background traffic and sounds --- when his stand-up could easily (and more comfortably) be done from a quiet studio…A first in baseball:  the Red Sox-Kansas City Royals game in Boston was postponed Friday because of local manhunt…Still no explanation, one week after the bombing in Boston, on the role or observations of two law officers with rifles seen on the roof of the Lenox Hotel overlooking the marathon’s finish area in an Associated Press photo by Elise Amendola…Newly christened 21^st Century Fox will include the 20th Century Fox film studio, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox Broadcasting network, Fox News Channel, FX, Fox Sports, National Geographic channels and interests in foreign TV broadcasting companies, including British Sky Broadcasting...Las Vegas Sun editorial cartoonist Mike Smith captures the busy news week with a news junkie saying, "Me? Just trying to keep up with the news" while facing monitiors tuned to NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox, CBS plus You Tube, Facebook and Twitter.  See it here.

 

Sequestration triggers reports of wasted taxpayer funds

With the sequester in place, Washington Times and Wall Street Journal writers are among those pointing out some ridiculous happenings on where taxpayer money is dumped, notes Grumpy Editor.

On the day sequestration went into effect, the Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan tallies more than 400 jobs posted by federal agencies via ads.

Among them:  The U.S. Forest Service seeks a few good men and women to work as recreation aides this summer, the Internal Revenue Service is searching for an office secretary in Maryland, the U.S. Mint wants 24 people to help press coins, and the Agriculture is searching for three insect production workers to help grow bollworms in Phoenix. 

Citing waste of taxpayers’ money as the sequester rolls in, Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley A. Strassel lists some “absurdities in government spending.” 

They include the Environmental Protection Agency giving $141,000 for a Chinese study of swine manure, part of a $325,000 National Science Foundation outlay for building a robotic squirrel, a $27 million project to help fund pottery classes in Morocco, and most noteworthy --- “feds last year held 894 conferences that each cost more than $100,000 --- $340 million altogether.” 

Meanwhile, shutting White House tours in the wake of the sequester is kicking up some dust. 

ABC News' Jonathan Karl, for one, questions the White House's claim that $84 million in cuts, out of a $1.6 billion budget for the Secret Service, caused the end of the tours.  Karl claims, “Tours are open 20 hours a week and use 30 uniformed Secret Service officers at about $30 an hour. Total saved? Approximately $18,000 a week." 

 

‘Snow day’ in D.C. shelves ‘warming’ hearing 

Prediction of a major snowstorm smacking Washington, D.C., led to cancellation of a global warming (aka climate change) hearing slated for the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.  

Most of nation’s capital was shut down for a “snow day” in which federal workers stay home with full pay.  Although the Wednesday storm did not materialize and snowflakes were scant, there was no indication that workers would make up for the lost time in the now budget-conscious Washington. 

The Washington event --- underscoring weather predictions often are fuzzy despite heavy use of large-scale computers and specialized software with input from hundreds of daily observations from land, sea and air --- was followed by a widely covered Friday story emphasizing the planet will be warmer in 2100 than it has been for 11,300 years. 

In the study, published in the journal Science, researchers claim that after a cooling trend that lasted about 5,000 years, about two centuries ago temperatures began to rise and that projections indicate a continued uptrend. 

The National Weather Service, known as the Weather Bureau when established in 1890 (when Ulysses S. Grant was president), is staying out of the discussion which relies on paleoclimatology that reconstructs climate based on geological evidence that includes glacial deposits, fossils, sediments plus rock and ice cores.

 

Washington Post boots indie ombudsman 

The Washington Post is eliminating its independent (non-staffer) ombudsman who fields readers' complaints, investigates, and then writes about them.  The Post created the position in 1970. 

Publisher Katharine Weymouth says she and the Post "remain faithful to the mission" of the ombudsman and added the newspaper planned to appoint "a reader representative (a Post employee) shortly to address our readers' concerns and questions." 

The staffer will not write a weekly column but will “write online and/or in the newspaper from time to time to address reader concerns, with responses from editors, reporters or business executives as appropriate,” adds Weymouth."

 

In case you missed these… 

Rasmussen Reports 56 percent of voters regard news reported by the media as at least somewhat trustworthy, but that includes only six percent who think it is very trustworthy…Toronto Star reporters withheld their bylines from the Wednesday edition in a show of protest against upcoming layoffs and restructuring…The buzz around Hollywood, via “two high-level industry sources” reported in the Hollywood Reporter is that NBC is moving toward a May announcement that the 2013-2014 television season will be the last for Jay Leno as host of the long-running The Tonight Show…TV reports on an abundance of sharks in waters off the Florida coast gained wide coverage in the past few days despite the fact sightings of the toothy marine fish, most of them small and ignoring humans, are normal for this time of year…Time Warner Inc. has decided to spin off its Time Inc. publishing business into a separate company…Redesigned Redbook, one of the Hearst Corp.’s magazines, turns its focus on fashion, beauty and shopping starting with the April issue…The Salt Lake Tribune trims Monday editions to two sections from five in an effort to reduce costs.

Grumpy Editor lists FOMC's meeting dates for 2013

Looks like there will be much to talk about in Federal Open Market Committee meetings during 2013, as each of the eight gatherings is scheduled for two days, compared with only four two-day sessions in prior years, finds Grumpy Editor.

Going into 2013, investors, market observers, economists and business writers will be seeking clues on the directions of interest rates --- which, at the current level, have only one way to go: up.

Analysts and business writers will be paying close attention to wording in statements following each meeting.

Any change in the federal funds rate triggers a chain of events that affect short-term interest rates, long-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables.

That includes employment, output, prices of goods and services plus, of course, the stock market direction.

Scheduled meetings in 2013:

Jan. 29-30

March 19-20*

April/May 30-1

June 18-19*

July 30-31

Sept. 17-18*

Oct. 29-30

Dec. 17-18*

* Meeting associated with a Summary of Economic Projections and a press conference by the chairman.

Note:  Dates are tentative until confirmed at the preceding meeting.

Following the conclusion of meetings, statements are released to media around 2:15 p.m., Eastern time.

Taxpayers to foot $20 million ObamaCare PR push

While the U.S. government over the years has run TV/radio public service announcements (PSAs) --- at no cost to taxpayers --- to inform or educate the public about an issue, now, in promoting ObamaCare, the public relations price tag to taxpayers will be $20 million, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Surprisingly, few newspapers this week mentioned the costly promotion. 

The Health and Human Services Department handed the task to global public relations firm Porter Novelli. 

Based in New York, the PR agency, part of the Omnicom Group international marketing communications firm, maintains 90 offices (13 in the U.S.) in 60 countries. 

What’s interesting about the assignment is that Porter Novelli co-founder (in 1972 with Jack Porter) is William Novelli, who retired in April, 2009 after eight years as AARP chief executive officer. 

His departure came at a time when AARP, representing 40 million people 50 and older, was running into unexpected PR problems with some members stemming from its stance backing what was to be labeled ObamaCare. 

“Health care reform is AARP’s top priority,” declared incoming AARP CEO A. Barry Rand in the July, 2009, AARP Bulletin.  “We simply can’t fix the economy without restructuring the delivery of health care, expanding access and cutting costs."

The lucrative ObamaCare account was being kept secret on the Porter Novelli website.  As of yesterday, no mention was made. 

However, the opening page noted in bold letters that Porter Novelli is “Named Top PR Agency in Spain.” 

The site described what Porter Novelli is all about: 

“Combining the power of immersion with the rigor of data, we create a deeper human insight that transforms the opinions, beliefs and behaviors of those who matter most to our clients.” 

That’s what probably moved HHS to sign the firm.