rakemag There’s been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth among the people who write about media concerning the case of NY Times reporter Judith Miller and Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper, who are facing prison time for doing what they think of as their jobs. In case you haven’t been paying attention to such … Read more
We were saddened the Mark Dayton won’t be running again for the Senate. Oh, we didn’t harbor any illusions about his winning. He would have had a six year record as an unapologetic liberal to run against, he’s not the best speaker in the world, and he can’t finance his own campaign this time. Although … Read more
The Editor in Cheese beat us to the punch today in commenting on Verlyn Klinkenborg’s essay in the NY Times on the Iowa brain drain. Klinkenborg blames it a lot on the state’s encouragement of industrial farming and the resultant slaughtering not only of pigs, but also the family farm and all the real jobs … Read more
This story by David Sheff in yesterday’s NY Times Magazine about his accomplished but drug-addicted son is a cautionary tale. I don’t have anything to add to it, other than to recommend it and remember that “there but for the grace of God…”
There were two good pieces yesterday on the role of the press, or lack thereof, in providing information to our people so they can intelligently participate in their government. Jack Shafer, who writes mostly about media for Slate, is one of my favorite columnists. His column yesterday is about what Bush has learned about media … Read more
I hope I’m not going to make this blog a magnet for fundamentalist Christians, (see the posts from Jan. 31 under the title “Try Flowers”) but I can’t help calling attention to this story from Tuesday’s NY Times. I read about some recent Gallup Poll data in Editor and Publisher that public acceptance of Darwin’s … Read more
In the NY Times today was a not-so-startling story about a study done at Harvard finding that an alarming number of people end up in bankruptcy after they get ill and pile up medical bills they can’t pay. The study says that half the people who end up bankrupt do so for medical reasons. And … Read more
Ok, I’m a big Keith Olbermann fan. I have been since his Sports Center days when he once said of a baseball highlight clip, “That’s 6 to 4 to 3, if you’re scoring at home. And if you aren’t, try flowers.” My son, who was watching with me at the time, turned to me. I … Read more
In 2001, keyboardist Herbie Hancock, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, and trumpeter Roy Hargrove teamed up under the moniker New Directions to pay tribute to the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and their chemistry clicked so well they decided to keep the collaboration going. This time out, they’re setting their sights on an even … Read more
Ah, the Windy City! The sparkling lake, the stunning architecture, and the food, oh, the food. It’s a shame we don’t have more eateries influenced by our great Midwest neighbor. But we do have Joey D’s. Tucked in a quiet patch of South Minneapolis (and more accessible than ever with the advent of light rail), … Read more