Grumpy Editor

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.

ABC’s Ross wrongly links shooting suspect to Tea Party

Media folks over the weekend were still buzzing over the major faux pas of ABC News’ veteran investigative reporter Brian Ross who, in haste on television Friday, wrongly indicated the Aurora, Colo., theater shooter may have had connections to the Tea Party, notes Grumpy Editor. 

In a Good Morning America segment with co-host George Stephanopoulos, Ross offered the Tea Party connection after noting a 52-year-old Jim Holmes on a Colorado Tea Party Web site. 

“Now we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colo.,” cited Ross. 

Stephanopoulos ended the segment with, “Okay, we’ll keep looking at that, Brian Ross.  Thanks very much.” 

But James E. Holmes, the shooting suspect who makes his first court appearance today, turned out to be 24 and not a Tea Party member. 

(Grumpy Editor emphasizes taking a few extra minutes on the Web to run down names in the community would have turned up the correct Holmes, with the younger age, on Paris Street, complete with apartment number, in Aurora.)  

A statement from the Colorado Tea Party Patriots said attempts “to characterize the shooter as a Tea Party member without having made any effort to contact our organization are shameless and reprehensible.” 

ABC News later said an earlier “broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect.  ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."

 

Bloomberg Businessweek among magazines seeking input

Magazines, nervous about sinking circulation numbers, are sending out more surveys to readers these days, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Bloomberg Businessweek got into the act with a dozen Web pages seeking input on “how important or unimportant are each of the following attributes in determining whether you read or subscribe to a business/financial news magazine.” 

It sought one response for each item labeled very unimportant, somewhat unimportant, neither important nor unimportant, quite important or very important. 

Among subjects: 

Helps me generate actionable insights 

Is a thought leader and innovator 

Prepares me to lead the conversation 

Presents an intriguing perspective on important issues 

Is smart, demonstrates alertness and quickness of thought 

These were dandy for research and marketing folks to mull and digest. 

But for long-time readers, nowhere was there mention on simply how to improve the publication. 

Bloomberg Businessweek, mysteriously, does not include a staff box in each issue.  Thus, readers have no easy way to email editors or writers with news tips or prompt feedback. 

Now, that would come under the very important category in any survey.

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In Part II tomorrow (July 20), Grumpy Editor will have some things to say about this week's issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.      

 

 

Voters remain fuzzy over Romney’s business experience

Despite Mitt Romney’s many years as a business executive, a Rasmussen Reports survey finds voters are evenly divided over whether the business experience of the former CEO of Bain Capital is a plus or a minus, observes Grumpy Editor.

However, Rasmussen adds, voters in the survey consider Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, more ethical than President Barack Obama.

Attacks on his background have made some voters switch their opinion of Romney's business record and now Americans are equally divided on whether the ex-Bain executive's real world experience is a positive or a negative, according to the Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters.

The latest Rasmussen national telephone survey finds 41 percent of likely U.S. voters think Romney’s track record in business is primarily a reason to vote for him, while a similar 41 percent consider it chiefly a reason to vote against him.

“A sizable 18 percent are not sure,” adds Rasmussen.

"These findings suggest that President Obama's attacks on Romney's tenure as a venture capitalist with the Bain Capital investment firm may be having some effect," notes the poll taker.

Indeed, Grumpy Editor feels some newspaper readers/TV news viewers appear to be confused by the foolish fuss, hypoed by major media overplaying whether Romney was actively managing Bain Capital after 1999.

Most editors are going along with the detraction rather than focusing on candidates' solid plans for correcting the country's economic woes and increasing jobs --- where an improvement would be reflected in a much-needed boost in advertising, especially sought by newspapers with sinking revenues. 

Long sitting spells shorter life expectancy, study finds

Newspaper copy editors plus others such as talk show hosts, bloggers and authors --- or anyone sitting for more than three hours a day --- are among those likely to see life expectancy trimmed by two years, notes Grumpy Editor.

That’s the latest finding based on large-scale studies that followed about 167,000 people in several countries.

“Sedentary behavior is something we need to take note of beyond telling people to get 30 minutes of activity a day,” said Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk of Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center and lead researcher for the study released this week.

Sedentary behavior is “in the same ballpark as smoking and obesity,” said Katzmarzyk.

He pointed out standing shouldn’t be an alternative to exercising, but an alternative to sitting.

“Several studies show that when you’re sitting, your leg muscles are completely inactive,” he added.  “This is when you run into trouble managing blood glucose.”

Longevity looks especially bad for sitters who, based on earlier studies, also smoke, eat the wrong food, put on weight and drink too much.

That describes many media folks that Grumpy Editor has known over the years.

 

Details from 1940 U.S. census go on Internet April 2

Not as speedy as the monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment figures currently released for the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau on April 2 makes available --- via the Internet --- details of the 1940 census from the National Archives, notes Grumpy Editor.

Why the extra long delay?

Official reason:  “Strict confidentiality laws ensure that census records are only unsealed after 72 years have passed."

The 1940 census involved more than 120,000 enumerators who tallied information on 132 million people of which an estimated 21 million are alive today.

Compilation was done the old-fashioned way --- without computers.

It wasn’t until 1951 that the first large-scale computer --- a UNIVAC 1101 with a price tag close to $1 million --- was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The UNIVAC, short for Universal Automatic Computer, was considered to be the first capable of storing and running a program from memory.  (UNIVAC became a division of Remington-Rand Inc.)

The census form in 1940, a year before the start of World War II, contained 34 questions directed at households plus 16 others aimed at 5 percent.

After the lengthy Great Depression (which started in 1929), one of the most sensitive questions in 1940 dealt with personal income.

So it was placed at the end of the survey.

 

Sexy, pesky fruit flies get 'buzz' with alcohol-laced chow

One of the year’s strangest stories --- and space chewers --- to make some front pages over the weekend dealt with (ready for this?) sex life of fruit flies, observed Grumpy Editor. 

It also indicated how University of California, San Francisco, researchers are spending valuable tax dollars in a financially-smacked state. 

Fruit flies normally are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables.  And spotting them shake up produce inspectors, especially in California. 

Associated Press writer Malcolm Ritter gobbled up information based on material in Science magazine that involved a study of fruit flies that could shed light “on the biology of alcohol abuse.” 

The story detailed how fruit flies were studied after being put into containers with a just-mated female.  Then the rejected insects were placed in vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced chow.  “They consistently went for the alcohol more than did the male flies that had just mated,” Ritter reported. 

The story also cited researchers paired thousands of other male flies with dead virgin females, “so they didn’t experience rejection but didn’t have sex either.” 

Wow! 

With newspapers' editorial space getting tighter and considering readers’ increasing interest in the shaky economy, job creation, the conflict in Afghanistan, taxes being pushed, growing use of Air Force One for fund raising, the upcoming election and weird weather appearing around the country, how fruit flies made front pages --- or even the funny pages --- was simply weird.

 

Few raise eyebrows after BLS January employment tally

Heavy broadcast and print coverage Friday and over the weekend stemmed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Feb. 3 news release on employment for January, loaded with upbeat figures amazingly compiled and swiftly released only three days after the end of the first month of 2012, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Most editors and business writers, seeking to get the details out promptly, ran with the information.  Few raised eyebrows.

The story topped most radio/TV broadcasts and grabbed front-page space heralding the pace of job creation as total nonfarm payroll employment in January rose by 243,000 while the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December, according to BLS. 

Job growth was widespread in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing, BLS added.

Government employment changed little over the month, it pointed out. 

But missed by many was this BLS message relating to “changes to the employment situation data”: 

“Establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors.” 

Writers, with more time, would call for a government jargon translator for that line. 

So how many business writers were led astray? 

Newsmax writer Amy Woods related Rush Limbaugh on his Friday radio show said, “The jobless rate reported today is ‘corrupt as it can be’ because President Barack Obama’s administration has decreased the size of the work force.”

Jeff Cox, CNBC.com senior writer mentioned, “The January numbers can be volatile as the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes seasonal adjustments. This year's round produced 1.25 million fewer people in the work force in December, a number that drew some focus as evidence that the drop in the jobless rate could be misleading.”

Some alert business writers pointed out that 11 million people either have stopped looking for jobs or are, reluctantly, working part time.  When that figure is added to the 12.8 million unemployed, almost 24 million people are considered underemployed.

See the full BLS news release here.

 

Veterans Day 2011 deals abound for past, current military

Veterans Day today finds many operations --- from restaurants to parks --- honoring those in uniform, past or present, with special deals and offers; yet the fine gestures often do not make it into newspapers, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Deals and offers range from free lunch or dinner at many restaurants to a free donut at Krispy Kreme outlets. 

Home improvement chains such as Home Depot and Lowe’s dangle 10 percent discounts.  And a number of parks, commercial and federal, offer free admissions. 

Applebee’s, in efforts to get the word out, for example, paid for half-page ads in some newspapers around the country to announce its free meals today to military veterans and active duty personnel.  With almost 2,000 locations, the neighborhood restaurant chain, an operation of New York Stock Exchange-listed DineEquity Inc., last year served more than one million meals to current or former military. 

In enjoying the attractions and to weed out those not qualified, past and present military are required to show proof of military identification. 

Compiling the many Veterans Day offers is a giant task.  Few newspaper editors assign the time-consuming chore. 

But Ryan Guina, an Air Force veteran who writes about military money topics at themilitarywallet.com goes into detail with a long list of operations that offer Veterans Day deals.  He also writes at cashmoneylife.com. 

On The Military Wallet, he explains, “the military will always be near and dear to my heart, and I want to share as much information with our nation’s veterans and family members as I can.” 

The Web site, he points out, is designed to help military members, veterans, retirees and dependents find information about military money matters including pay, benefits, legislation and more.

 

‘Meet the Press’ greets guest with old item from weekly

NBC News’ Meet the Press staffers, for show prep, certainly can dig if they want to in providing host David Gregory with some “gotcha”-type input aimed at a guest on Sunday’s program in which they turned up several lines from a three-year-old story in the Monticello (Minn.) Times, notices Grumpy Editor. 

That’s quite a stretch, uncovering quotes, in going to a weekly newspaper with a circulation of about 2,400 serving a community of about 13,000 people. 

This time it didn’t involve the tougher task of combing through the files of major newspapers, such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times or Chicago Tribune. 

The Monticello Times’ parent company, American Community Newspapers should be delighted, though, seeing some vintage editorial matter from one of its weeklies projected on TV screens around the nation. 

ACN operates 86 community newspapers in four states: Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia and Texas. 

NBC’s spotlight on one of its newspapers should make ACN’s marketing-public relations department joyous.