Category: Media Watch

* “After an extended Arab Spring, the realist practice of supporting favorable autocrats in the Middle East and North Africa seems hopelessly naive. The combined dictatorial rule of 95 years in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya collapsed in the course of eight months, and there is no reason to believe the revolution has ended.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.

* “Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete.”–The anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq.

* “No U.S. leaders dare to tell the truth to the people. All their pronouncements rest on a mythical assumption that ‘recovery’ is around the corner. Implicitly, they say this is a normal recession. But this is no normal recession. There will be no painless solution. ‘Sacrifice’ will be needed, and the American people know this. But no American politician dares utter the word ‘sacrifice.’ Painful truths cannot be told.”–Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

* “The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”–President Barack Obama in his speech to a joint session of Congress.

* “We used the Cold War to reach the moon and spawn new industries. We used 9/11 to create better body scanners and more Transportation Security Administration agents.”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

* “Post-industrial America turned out to be a bust. The time for neo-industrial America has arrived.”–Harold Meyerson, American Prospect.

* “We could really use some patriotic CEOs who understand that to have first-class infrastructure and educational systems, the businesses that benefit must pay their fair share. They can’t complain about government waste and inefficiency–and shift their money offshore–leaving everyone else to pay.”–Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies, and co-author of “The Moral Measure of the Economy.”

* “Sadly, there has been too little progress in fixing our financial system so that it works for all Americans, not just the titans of finance, and few consequences for those who drove our economy off a cliff.”–Phil Angelides, former chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

* “The data is pretty weak. It’s very difficult when we’re pressed to come up with convincing data. When it comes to showing results, we better put up or shut up.”–Tom Vander Ark, former executive director for education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on the challenge of gauging the educational value
of expensive technology investments.

* “Bachman? Perry? Romney? They’re good looking action figures for a partisan sport, not public servants.”–Waylon Lewis, Editor, Elephant Journal.

* “We have the social, economic and racial diversity that some of the other early primary states don’t have. You can’t use the same speech in Dade County that you use in the Panhandle.”–Florida House Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.

* “I think whoever wins it will be the next president.”–Gov. Rick Scott on the implications for the GOP-candidate winner of Florida’s upcoming Presidency
5 straw poll.

* “There’s a good argument to be made that when times get tough financially, it’s better to be tied to the mother ship.”–Rick Danzler, Winter Haven Attorney and former Democratic member of the Florida House and Senate, on the issue of USF Polytechnic in Lakeland becoming an independent university.

* “You got to know him very well, and you have grown to love him. He loved you just as much.”–Dewey Selmon on his late brother Lee Roy’s relationship with the Tampa Bay community.

The case against Alexander Cote Ferrer, charged with second-degree murder, ended in a surprise mistrial recently. Two psychologists declared him incompetent. They had been called in by the judge when the defendant in the “machete case” told his attorney he was hearing voices in his head.

Let’s be honest — if not fair. Anyone else — upon reading about this — think: “I wonder if one of those voices said: ‘Stay with the hearing-voices strategy. It’s working'”?

It wouldn’t seem like a traditional Labor Day weekend without all those full-page, color, daily newspaper ads. From mattresses and furniture to cars and trucks.

And guns.

In fact, nothing says happy and safe holiday quite like Shoot Straight’s huge Labor Day “Right of the People” Sale. And nothing, arguably, says it better than, say, a 5.56 mm, 16″ barrel Assault Rifle for only $799. And for that special somebody: gift cards, of course, are available.

* “Ratings agencies need to be more like ‘American Idol’: providing information, but not making final judgments that drastically influence outcomes. They should be more informative and insightful, but not deterministic. They’ve become excessively powerful and create a self-fulfilling prophesy about what markets will do.”–Bart Chilton, commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

* “If we want to balance the budget over time, we are going to have to elect adults to Congress who are prepared to invest now in our country’s future and then, when the economy picks up, take the necessary steps to get spending in line with revenue. The question is whether politicians who act like adults can win elections.”–Richard Thaler, New York Times.

* “When Jesus gave his red-letter commandment — not a mere recommendation — that Christians were to ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’ who knew so many would find an apparent escape clause subliminally hidden in the passage? Or perhaps it is that since this group has been held captive by the GOP for so long, they suffer from the effects of Stockholm Syndrome, a condition of inexplicable empathy for the GOP’s ruthless position on issues of social responsibility.”–David M. Kennedy, attorney and author of “You Voted for Who? And You Call Yourself a Christian?”

* “When the construction guys take pictures, you know you’re building something amazing.”–Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward on the
construction of the $3.2 billion, 104-story, 1,776-foot One World Trade Center.

* “The news is almost enough to make you jam pruning shears into your eyeball: National courtroom gossip Nancy Grace will have her name in lights on ‘Dancing With the Stars.'”–John Kass, Chicago Tribune.

* “Companies have trimmed a lot of fat. They’re lean and mean and have tons of cash. After 2008, companies had to get their act together, and I think they have.”–Steve Athanassie, president of Trademark Capital Management in Dunedin.

* “I’m guessing we’ll make five times as much in a night as we usually do. Republicans got plenty of money. They take it all from poor people.”–Mons Venus owner Joe Redner on business prospects from the 2012 GOP Political Convention.

* “We can’t grow if we aren’t competitive, if we have a permit process that is a hindrance. We’ve got to be known as a business-friendly city.”–Mayor Bob
Buckhorn.

* “He’s not a big sounding-board guy; he’s more of a lead-by-example guy. You want to bring your young players around and have them meet him to learn how to act and be a professional.”–Bucs’ coach Raheem Morris on Lee Roy Selmon.

* “He did a lot and still had a lot to do.”–Tampa Catholic football coach Bob Henriquez on Lee Roy Selmon.

* “A visionary kind of guy whose embrace of technology, info and outside-the-box thinking has made him, for all intents and purposes, the Steve Jobs of managers.”–ESPN’s Jayson Stark on Rays’ manager Joe Maddon.

It’s always worth a good generational chuckle to see that annual Beloit College Mindset Update, the one that reminds you that the incoming class of college freshmen views the world a little differently. For them, Andy Warhol is a museum in Pittsburgh and charter schools have always been an alternative. And conceivably some in the class of 2015 may not trust anyone older than the Internet, which has always existed for them.

But, seriously, it’s more than an exercise in a fun, cultural phenomenon. It’s actually a reminder to teachers that these newly minted college students bring different perspectives and frames of reference to the university experience. Some things you can’t take for granted.

But regardless of cultural shifts and technological changes, teachers, of course, should have bottom line expectations. We used to call it reading the minutes of previous meetings. Know what happened before you got here.

For example, even if you never knew of a Russia with an official Communist Party or never heard of a Ho Chi Minh City that wasn’t part of the Pepsi Generation, you need to know about the Cold War and lessons still to be gleaned from the Vietnam misadventure.

If not, that’s a serious societal flaw — not a mere generational gap.

* “All of this was done without putting a single U.S. troop on the ground.”–President Barack Obama on U.S. role in removing the regime of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.

* “A pleasant place, with the security of a prison but the facilities of a country club.”–Description of Moammar Gadhafi’s compound by David Blundy
and Andrew Lycett in their book “Gadhafi and the Libyan Revolution.”

* “Today in the world there is no place for authoritarian administrations, one-party rule, closed regimes. … Everyone should know that we are with the Syrian people.”–Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

* “We are neighbors, allies and friends. But you, too, are responsible.”–Mexican President Felipe Calderon in criticizing the U.S. for its lax gun laws and
high demand for drugs.

* “If countries address long term fiscal risks like rising pension costs or health care spending, they will have more space in the short run to support growth and jobs.”–Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund managing director.

* “The country would be well served by a better process for making fiscal decisions.”–Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

* “Everyday people are selling low, watching their 401(k)s evaporate, to big, smart, institutional investors. This is not bulls vs. bears; it is sharks against fur seals.”–Richard Parker, editor and president of Parker Media.

* “One thing to emerge from the Republicans’ attacks on the EPA is the early campaign path of Mitt Romney. Clearly, his strategy is to appear less loony and misinformed than his rivals.”–Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald.

* “My wife basically said, ‘Listen, our country is in trouble, and you need to do your duty,’ and that was a pretty clarion call for me.”–Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry.

* “If the 2008 electorate were going to vote in the 2012 primaries, then Romney could handle Perry. But that electorate no longer exists.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “Of course, if Marco Rubio, the hard-line Cuban-American senator from Florida, snares the vice presidential slot for the Republicans, Democrats will feel pressure to tighten the screws of the embargo once again. And should the Republicans prevail in 2012, relations will almost certainly return to the Stone Age of non-engagement — hinged on the mantra that ‘Fidel will go any day now.'”–Ann Louise Bardach, author of “Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington.”

* “We will turn out the lights, and we’ll lock the doors.”–Michelle Bachmann, in promising to eliminate the EPA.

* “The minute that the Republican Party becomes the anti-science party, we have a huge problem.”–Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.

* “We don’t need a Federal Reserve System, we need a gold standard for our money.”–Ron Paul.

* “You know exactly who he is and what you see is what you get.”–Gov. Rick Scott’s description of presidential candidate Rick Perry.

* “We’re not testing the population at large that receives government money; we’re not testing people on scholarships  or state contractors. So why these people? It’s obvious: because they’re poor.”–Derek Newton, spokesman for the ACLU of Florida, on state testing of welfare applicants for drugs.

* “We believe this law is a form of censorship that directly undermines the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. …”–Journal of the American Medical Association commentary on Florida’s new law banning doctors from asking their patients questions about gun ownership.

* “What kind of message does it send about Florida’s work environment that a nationally recruited talent would be forced out after six months?”–Matt
Puckett, Police Benevolent Association, on the abrupt resignation of Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss.

* “It’s time to halt the ‘duty-free’ shops on the Internet that give a preferential free pass on collecting and remitting essential sales taxes, so the marketplace, rather than the government, can determine who survives and who sends Florida workers to unemployment lines.”–Carla Jimenez, vice president of the Tampa Independent Business Alliance and co-owner of Tampa’s Inkwood Books.

* “This is the beginning of the next chapter in Tampa’s history. We need to raise the bar, raise the money and get this done, because we aspire to be a great American city, not a mediocre one.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on planned expansion of the Florida Aquarium and the Mosaic Co.’s $2.5 million gift, the largest in the aquarium’s history.

It was recently reported that director Kathryn Bigelow, who won the 2009 Academy Award for The Hurt Locker, has begun work on a movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. It’s scheduled for release in October 2012. Chances are President Barack Obama will look good, and the movie could give him a boost in the campaign homestretch.

Naturally, there are those who are looking askance at the project. Specifically Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who thinks that the Obama Administration’s cooperation has security implications. He wants an investigation.

The Administration, via press secretary Jay Carney, dismissed such concerns and noted that no classified information was involved.

But let’s put this in context. This has happened before. There is precedent for the White House cooperating with movie directors–especially where a serious, contemporary issue was involved.

Recall that the Kennedy White House cooperated with John Frankenheimer, the director of Seven Days In May, in 1962. President John F. Kennedy even arranged to conveniently visit Hyannisport for the weekend when the film crew needed to shoot around the White House. He  very much wanted the movie, whose screenplay was written by Rod Serling, to becompleted.

JFK’s cooperation was well motivated–even though the Pentagon strongly objected. The movie’s premise: a military coup.

*Interesting house ad the other day in the St. Petersburg Times comparing the Times to its daily rival, the Tampa Tribune. Across the top it read: “12 Reasons Why We’re Tampa Bay’s Favorite Newspaper.” It then mentioned a bunch of niche writers that the Trib didn’t have–from full-time pop music and book critic to full-time business columnist and society writer.

I get it, but there had to be a way of working in full-time “correspondent-at-large”–or some such appellation–for Susan Taylor Martin. She’s the former
business editor who is frequently on overseas assignment. Most recently writing out of Pakistan. Most newspapers not named the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal or Washington Post, don’t have their own person trotting the globe backgrounding news from international trouble spots. The Wilbur Landrey legacy lives.

If you can reference “society writer,” you can work in Susan Taylor Martin. She’s uniquely good at what she does.

*Speaking of the Times, how about making that (movie) Critics Calls more, well, useful.  All movies–from The Help to Change Up–must fit into a
three-category key: “Don’t Miss,” “Don’t Hurry,” “Don’t Bother.” Cute. Problem is, a lot of movies fall between “Don’t Miss” and “Don’t Hurry.” They just do. Maybe “Do Consider.”

A lot of us were appalled by reports of ABC News paying for access to Casey Anthony and her family. ABC would follow that up by paying for an interview with kidnapping victim Jaycee Lee Dugard.

What is no less appalling, however, is the realization that there is a tradition for this sort of media manipulation.

A recent New York Times piece chronicled a brief history of this sordid practice. It included:

* Esquire magazine paying $20,000 in 1970 to Lt. William L. Calley Jr. of My Lai (Vietnam) massacre infamy.

* The Hearst Newspapers paying for a high-profile attorney for Bruno Hauptman, convicted in the 1935 Lindbergh kidnapping case. The arrangement bought them exclusive access.

* And to its credit, the NYT underscored its own role. In 1912 it paid the surviving operator of the Titanic’s wireless communications system $1,000 for his
harrowing accounting of escaping death.

* “We have men who have divorced themselves from life and love death more than you love life, and killing is one of their wishes.”–Al-Qaida in Mesopotamia spokesman Abu Mohammed.

* “I make no apologies for being reasonable.”–President Barack Obama, in responding to Iowa voters asking him about the compromises he has made.

* “The U.S. economy is highly resilient. We believe that the U.S. economy will achieve even better development as it rises to challenges.”–Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at a Beijing meeting with Vice President Joe Biden.

* “You’re safe. Please understand that no one cares more about this (debt downgrade and China’s $1.17 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities) than we do, since Americans own 87 percent of all our Treasury bonds, while China owns 1 percent of our financial assets and 8 percent of our Treasury bills, respectively.” —Vice President Joe Biden to an audience at Sichuan University.

* “Flexible, diversified and wealthy economy.”–Fitch Ratings’ rationale for maintaining its AAA rating of U.S. debt.

* “It really isn’t that hard to turn the economy around. All you have to do is prioritize spending.”–Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.

* “A former Jimmy Carter Democrat, Bachmann is an unwavering social conservative whose faceoff with Obama would energize black voters, whose support for the president has waned. … Black rage over Bachmann’s assertion in January that the Founding Fathers ended slavery– which they didn’t–would help get disillusioned blacks back into the Obama fold and to the polls on election day. So, too, would another Bachmann faux pas. In a mindless attempt to win over right-wingers in Iowa, Bachmann signed a ‘marriage vow’ document that suggested black children were better off when they were born into slavery ‘and raised by a mother and father in a two-parent household’ than are black children who were born after Obama took office.”–DeWayne Wickham, USA Today.

* “…Obama is enjoying an August political mini-comeback–simply by reaping the indirect benefits of Perry’s candidacy. The Texan’s entry makes it more likely that the Republican nomination battle will go longer, get uglier and force Romney further to the right.”–Mark Halperin, Time magazine.

* “The conventional wisdom in Washington is that nothing will pass because Republicans are committed above all else to depriving the president of any victories. … But polls that show tea party Republicans are currently less popular than atheists or Muslims could change their political calculation. Swaggering Republican honchos may find that they need to be seen as getting a few things done, even if it means the president gets a little credit, too.”–Jonathan
Alter, Bloomberg News.

* “Is multiculturalism a success here? Or does the sudden eruption of flash mobs suggest that the curtain has begun to be pulled back on diversity’s dark side here in America?”–Pat Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “He’s the patriarch. If you want to do anything in Republican politics in this state, you almost have to go see Jeb Bush.”–State Sen. John Thrasher.

* “Ultimately I don’t want to do anything that will end up in any racial profiling or anything unfair to legal immigrants.”–Gov. Rick Scott on tougher Florida immigration laws.

* “When it comes to the UN, we need to make serious amendments to the treaty, or we need to get out of the UN. We do not need the UN, or any other countries, trying to tell us how to run this place.”–Republican Senate candidate Mike McCalister.

* “I’ll sign the pledge that says I won’t be signing pledges.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, who has announced his candidacy for the 11th
Congressional District seat of Rep. Kathy Castor.

* “Is it an amenity? Sure. We cannot let the streetcar fail.”–Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.