San Francisco Chronicle Has Had Wrong Prop 8 Headline Up For Almost A Day

Does anyone know what Prop 9 is? Some mysterious initiative that strips everyone of protest rights? I don't know. Maybe the Chron laid off all the online editors? I took this screenshot yesterday at 5:18, and the page is still up here, with the same headline, as of 9:40 a.m. PST on Wednesday.

A Harbinger of the End of the Online Commenting Free-for-All?

According to an article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday, a judge told a local paper in Alton, Ill., that they must disclose the identities of two anonymous online commentors (a new word?) who posted their thoughts on the beating death of a 5 year old. The judge found that the two posted information that might help the murder investigation.

The Alton Telegraph tried to quash the subpoenas for the commentors' identities by asserting Illinois' journalism shield law, which protects anonymous sources, but the judge axed that attempt.

This reaffirms an adage that most journalists (and probably all lawyers) should know, and likely know already: When it comes to electronic communications, you are never anonymous, and there is no privacy.

New York Times Graphic: 'Roid Rage Responsible for Yankees - Red Sox Rivalry?

According to the Times, "For those keeping score, six of the key participants in those two series ['03 and '04 ALCS] have been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs."

Like Ants Scurrying Under the Magnifying Glass

Byline Beast of N.Y.: Times’ Sewell Chan Racks Up 422 in Year

On average, if you pick up a copy of The New York Times, Mr. Chan’s name will appear in it 1.15 times. Since he debuted in The Times in November 2004—with a contributor’s credit on a story about the lowering of terror-threat levels—Mr. Chan, now 28 years old, has recorded more than 600 credits. He has covered Hurricane Katrina, the transit strike, the Lake George boating disaster and the fine print of the municipal budget. “He’s a terrific reporter,” said former metro editor Susan Edgerley, who hired Mr. Chan away from The Washington Post. “He’s hugely energetic. He’s curious, smart. He loves coming to work every day. He’s a joy to have in the newsroom.”

More on Reporting v. Blogging

I just read an S.F. Chronicle article from about a week ago that relates to my post on Herb Caen from yesterday. According to reporter Joe Garofoli, savvy Bay Area politicians are courting local and statewide bloggers to further their political ambitions.

A couple money quotes:

It's a relationship bloggers and politicos think can be mutually beneficial - particularly for the candidate, as the relationship is largely free of the adversarial pushback pols receive from traditional media.

And:

While there are bloggers who break news, most do not consider themselves journalists in the traditional sense, but rather opinion-makers who sometimes report. Many are partisans, political geeks who, if they're not tapped into the local political party apparatus, are hardwired into online networks of like-minded people.

Lastly:

Many bloggers see themselves as serving an adjunct function to journalists. Sure, Brian Leubitz regularly breaks news on the Calitics blog he founded ( www.calitics.com). "But then a (traditional media) reporter will pick it up and do the reporting that I don't necessarily want to do," Leubitz says.

I seem to recall Garofoli as a writer for SF Weekly, though I may be wrong. He appears to have imbued this article with his own grizzled pride at being a "traditional" journalist. I have to say I'm with him on that.

Herb Caen as Prototype Blogger

Herb Caen once told his "legman," the guy who does all of a great columnist's grunt work, that he was ruining Caen's items by doing too much reporting.

That's the irony that stood out to me in this Sunday S.F. Chronicle piece by Jesse Hamlin, who wrote about being Caen's legman from 1979 into the 1980s.

When I started with him in '79, I was too thorough of a reporter, in a way; Herb said I was asking too many questions and killing items. He wanted just enough confirmation to verify the basic story.

Far be it from me to critique Caen, a master of his craft. Caen probably worked harder on each of his columns than I have thus far in my journalism career.

But his philosophy, the need to get just enough for a juicy item, smells to me like what most mainstream bloggers do on the Web today.

What I see in too many bloggers today is a readiness to mouth off on rumors and news events without doing any independent reporting. If traditional journalism gradually crumbles to a hard, indestructible core, the act of making enough calls to dependable sources to flesh out the truth will be what remains. That's the difference between most of us and them.

Caen had his sources, but he didn't need to get to the bottom of the story. That wasn't his gig - didn't need to be. In those days, the Chronicle probably had enough of a staff to get the real news out.

Beware of Salted Prunes

This little sonuvabitch caused some trouble around the old apartment recently.



It claims to consist solely of salt and prunes. You might as well put a label on the atom bomb that says "Ingredients: Plutonium."



Also: It has "pit fragments." Bullshit. It has pits, period.

A Song and a Self-Congratulatory Backslap

Check out an mp3 of Radiohead's Grammy performance with the USC marching band.



Also, I was reading old blog posts, and I stumbled across this one I wrote on Oct. 1:

I would be surprised if McCain wins this election. In the end, I predict an Obama near-landslide, along the lines of a 53-47 popular vote split, if not more. If you look at the Bush-Kerry electoral map from 2004, it seems clear that Obama can turn key states: New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Florida. If Obama can't pull this off, then I have serious questions about the rationality of the American voter.

The final tally: Barack Obama - 66,882,230 53% John McCain - 58,343,671 46%

Damn you Nader voters for screwing up my prediction! But seriously, thank God I was right. Also, the states Obama flipped from Bush to blue? New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Florida (and North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada).

Looking Back

Maybe now is not the time to be thinking about W., but this brief Vanity Fair story written by a guy who was college friends with one of Bush's daughters and invited several times to the White House is a great read.

One month after the worst attack in U.S. history, George W. Bush watched a 100-minute-long Anthony Hopkins film called Hearts in Atlantis.

It is an awful movie, and as it drags on I feel increasingly uneasy. Surely the president should be doing something else. Occasionally he gets a phone call from Andy Card, his chief of staff, who, as I understand it, is in the West Wing meeting with the head of the F.A.A. to determine when Washington’s Reagan National Airport will be safe to completely re-open (some flights began operating earlier in the week). Each time the phone rings, I hope the president will excuse himself to join them. But he doesn’t. Over the phone, the president tells the men to “get that airport opened up!” and then heads to bed.

Notes on Obama's Inauguration

-Welp, I think the Iranians proved today that they're prepared to dislike just about anybody.

-Potential Daily Show headlines? "Obama Sworn In; Sen. Kennedy Stricken by Seizure; Dow Drops 300 Points; Supreme Court Chief Justice and President Both Bungle Most Historic Oath of Office in History". It's only fair, right?

-NY Times liveblog is like a treasure trove of hilarious:

The Bushes Depart | 12:56 p.m. The helicopter steps are folded up. The blade begins to rotate. The Obamas and Bidens are standing still, holding each other’s hands, as they watch the helicopter rev up. We now have lift-off; the Bushes have left the Capitol at 12:55 — almost half an hour ahead of time. The Obamas wave.

The helicopter is swinging out over the Mall first instead of heading directly to Andrews. Surely the Bushes can’t hear the crowd below, but the chant is one that sports fans jeer to the opposing team: “Na Na Na Na/Na Na Na Na/Hey Hey Hey/Good-bye.”

-Did Chief Justice John Roberts flub the oath of office? Investigating. Maybe he was pissed that Obama voted against him and was the president of the Harvard Law Review, while Roberts was only managing editor. Update:Obama has retaken the oath out of "an abundance of caution."


-This from the NY Times story "For City Used to Pomp, a Legend is Born": "'Today, we’re hoping to see history,' Anad Thomas, a 32-year-old nurse from Westchester County, N.Y., said as she rode down 16th Street on a crowded bus just before 7 a.m. Her personal survival kit included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and plenty of tissues, along with a camera."

NOOOOO Anad! Don't eat the peanut butter!!

Ted's Top 26 Songs of 2008

It's nearing the end of the year and that means finals (boo) and end-of-the-year best-of lists (yay). The following is a list of my favorite songs of 2008, but it is not necessarily indicative of my favorite artists or albums of 2008. So, without further ado, here are my top 26 songs of 2008, in no particular order:

- "Electric Feel" by MGMT (Oracular Spectacular)
- "The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room (Album Version)" by Flight of the Conchords (Flight of the Conchords)
- "Shove It (Switch Remix)" by Santogold (I Believe In Santogold EP)
- "He Doesn't Know Why" by Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)
- "Let The Beat Build" by Lil' Wayne (Tha Carter III)
- "Golden Age" by TV On The Radio (Dear Science)
- "Chemtrails" by Beck (Modern Guilt)
- "For Emma" by Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago)
- "Violet Hill" by Coldplay (Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends)
- "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
- "The Rip" by Portishead (Third)
- "Mikey Rocks" by The Cool Kids (The Bake Sale)
- "Trick For Treat" by Neon Neon (Stainless Style)
- "Evil Urges" by My Morning Jacket (Evil Urges)
- "A Little Better" by Gnarls Barkley (The Odd Couple)
- "Gila" by Beach House (Devotion)
- "Control" by Kid Sister (Scion CD Sampler Vol. 22: Fool's Gold Remixed)
- "Oil" by Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood OST)
- "Mykonos" by Fleet Foxes (Sun Giant EP)
- "Grounds For Divorce" by Elbow (The Seldom Seen Kid)
- "Circus of Horror" by Quiet Village (Silent Movie)
- "Dance Wiv Me" by Dizzee Rascal (Dance Wiv Me Single)
- "A Milli" by Lil' Wayne (Tha Carter III)
- "Sentimental Heart" by She & Him (Volume One)
- "Still Here" by Girl Talk (Feed The Animals)
- "Kamphopo" by The Very Best (The Very Best Mixtape)

Baghdad by the Bay

According to the SF Crime blog, San Francisco has surpassed 100 murders for 2008. If you believe the blog, this is the second straight year of 100 murders in the city (the SFPD recorded only 98 in 2007). The 104 murders recorded to date by SF Crime is the highest amount since the 104 reported in 1995.

It might be interesting at this bloody moment in SF to recount an August column by C.W. Nevius in the San Francisco Chronicle:

In July 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom was confronted by a morning radio show caller who complained about the homicide rate. Newsom's flip reply was that if homicide rates didn't drop in a year, the caller could "begin a campaign to recall me. And you know what? I may be right there as a co-signer of that effort."

When it comes to wisecracks the mayor wishes he never said, that has to be at the top of the list.

Oligarchy or Democracy?

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has produced a seven-and-a-half hour State of the City address that is being presented in various "webisodes" on YouTube. This is all you need to know about it:

Why I Love Jon Stewart

Palin Redux

You need not have been following the presidential race closely to know that the Republicans' nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president was, at best, a laughable attempt to win the support of voters who supported Hillary Clinton while, at the same time, lighting a firecracker beneath the red-meat conservative base.

I could cite the interview she gave to Charlie Gibson of ABC News, but I already wrote about that. Her recent stints with Katie Couric of CBS have sufficed to let the average viewer know that Palin is utterly unqualified to hold any position of authority in the federal government, much less Vice President of the United States, and far much less President of the United States. Can you imagine? I cannot.

Here we have a woman who has displayed an incomprehensible lack of knowledge about world affairs, who has come up lamentably short even in the eyes of some of the softest pundits seeking to give her every benefit of the doubt, and who cannot say whether she reads a single newspaper.

Some have ascribed her suffering at the hand of the press to sexism, but that, frankly, is a joke. If a woman does not know what she is talking about, does not understand what Hamas represents, does not know what a $700 billion government bailout of the financial industry entails, then she is not suffering from sexism, she is quite simply not smart enough to occupy the second most important, or possibly the most important office in the most powerful nation in the world.

In what was apparently an actual interview, Palin was asked on Tuesday, "Governor, your candidacy has ignited extreme hostility, even some hatred on the left and in some parts of the media. Are you surprised? And what do you attribute this reaction to?" (I should mention that Hugh Hewitt, a hilariously partisan writer, conducted this interview.)

Palin responded: "Oh, I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It’s time that normal Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it, but it’s motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious, and we put government back on the side of the people of Joe six-pack like me, and we start doing those things that are expected of our government, and we get rid of corruption, and we commit to the reform that is not only desired, but is deserved by Americans. "

And that would be funny, if she wasn't a nominee for vice president, because she can't even give a straight answer to the ultimate softball question of all softball questions. Americans deserve more than "Joe six-pack American" in the office of vice president. Here's a question: If you needed heart surgery, would you ask your sister? If you needed investment advice, would you ask your girlfriend? If you wanted to understand the political atmosphere in the Middle East, would you ask your aunt? These are not sexist questions. If Sarah Palin wants to position herself as a hockey mom, a pitbull with lipstick, an average Joe six-pack, then why can't we question whether we want such mediocrity in the position of ultimate power?

Hewitt also asked: "Now governor, the Gibson and the Couric interview struck many as sort of pop quizzes designed to embarrass you as opposed to interviews. Do you share that opinion?"

Palin said: "Well, I have a degree in journalism also, so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago. But I’m not going to pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrelful. I’m going to take those shots and those pop quizzes and just say, “That’s okay.” Those are good testing grounds. And they can continue on in that mode. That’s good. That makes somebody work even harder. It makes somebody be even clearer and more articulate in their positions. So really I don’t fight it. I invite it."

First of all, the Gibson and Couric interviews were just about as kind as they could possibly be. But what really gets me about that exchange is Palin's response, because according to her own Wikipedia page, Palin spent one semester at Hawaii Pacific University in 1982, transferred to North Idaho College to spend two semesters in a "general studies" program, transferred to the University of Idaho for two semesters (during which time she won her beauty pageant), for whatever reason transferred again to Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for a "term," then finally came back to the University of Idaho for three semesters, eventually earning her BS in communications-journalism in 1987. So not only are her journalism credentials questionable, at best, it appears that her college education as a whole doesn't even qualify her for Teach for America, much less vice president.

Sarah Palin is now holed away in Sedona, Ariz., being briefed by operatives from the McCain campaign and awaiting her date with Joe Biden on Thursday for the vice presidential debate. If her interviews are any indication, Palin will fail miserably. Yet ideologues will still attribute her failure to the "liberal" press, to commentators who aren't yet ready for a powerful, "average" woman to come into great political power.

At this stage, though journalists must remain neutral, commentators and pundits must be honest with themselves, and with the American people. Just because the McCain campaign accuses you of being "in the tank" because you're skeptical, doesn't mean you're doing wrong. In fact, it probably means you're doing right.

I would be surprised if McCain wins this election. In the end, I predict an Obama near-landslide, along the lines of a 53-47 popular vote split, if not more. If you look at the Bush-Kerry electoral map from 2004, it seems clear that Obama can turn key states: New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Florida. If Obama can't pull this off, then I have serious questions about the rationality of the American voter.

Palin and the Campaign

If you're a Democrat, especially one who believes that salvation is riding on the back of Barack Obama, then you might have felt a little shiver after Sarah Palin delivered her biting acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. The days following the RNC have been filled with McCain campaign attacks, culminating in the recent, completely misleading brouhaha over Obama's "lipstick" comment. (Look it up, I refuse to discuss it.) In situations like this, with their presidential candidate constantly on the defensive and suffering beneath a barrage of Republican talking points, Democrats inevitably do what they do best: Freak out and self-flagellate.

But, from what I see, the Obama campaign is actually in a good position. And Obama's counselors, known among journalists for their cool professionalism and self-discipline, don't seem to be freaking out. Here's why: After Republicans put on their biggest event of the election cycle, the RNC, and introduced a vice presidential candidate who can best be described as the juiciest of juicy steaks for right-wing conservatives, the McCain bounce in national polls drew him into a dead heat with Obama. That bears repeating: Barring some dramatic, unpredictable turn of events in the next one-and-a-half months, the McCain campaign has enjoyed their biggest bump in the polls, and all they've done is pulled even with Obama nationally.

It's important to note the word "nationally." Included in such a poll, obviously, are voters in the South, as well as the Mountain West, two regions that I think most people would say are locks for any Republican presidential campaign these days. Yet McCain is only even with Barack Obama. Obama's operatives, because they're smart, can only be encouraged by this. As David Broder noted - coming via the Wonkette post I linked to above - the Obama campaign is playing the electoral college. They don't need to win the South and Mountain West. They need to win Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and perhaps Florida and Colorado. I'd be interested to look at the polls coming from those states.

Meanwhile, Palin's honeymoon has begun to come to an end. Realizing that they couldn't sequester their VP pick in an undisclosed location until Nov. 4, as they might prefer, the McCain campaign let Charlie Gibson go at Palin in her first big, unscripted TV interview since being nominated. Things didn't go super well. Liberal blogs are playing up the fact, perhaps rightly so, that Palin stumbled and evaded Gibson's questions, often repeating certain phrases, mantra-like, over and over. This is in spite of the fact that she was coached by some of the biggest Republican political operatives for weeks. I expect that her failure to address several questions head on - including her childlike attempt to escape a discussion of the "Bush Doctrine" - will get play in the mainstream media. The Washington Post already has a front-page story for Friday about Palin linking Iraq to Al-Qaeda at a speech she gave recently at her son's military base.

So now the tide begins to turn. Right wing stalwarts such as William Kristol and the National Review have turned defensive. Just as Democrats tend to form circular firing squads when things don't go their way, Republicans resort to their own time-tested strategy: blaming the media. Even for a nonpartisan such as myself, there's a delicious irony in reading Kristol whine about the Washington Post "distorting" Palin's Iraq comments, considering how easily he and his cohorts resort to distortions when criticizing Democratic candidates. Turnabout is fair play, and Kristol should know.

It will be interesting to see if the McCain campaign releases Palin from her media exile, or if they interpret the ABC Gibson interview as a failure and squirrel her away for more briefings. I'm sure they'd like to do the latter, but I think the consequences are probably too great. It looks like a lose-lose scenario for the campaign, because it's now clear that Palin is going to get criticized by the press, yet has to go before the press, and at the same time apparently can't handle the questions put by the press, even with weeks of intensive political education.

All Hail the Fake Olympics

For those of us who never believed that China could pull off the Olympics without doing something that made everyone go, "Ohhhh, right, you're still kind of scary Communists," some validating press reports have been popping up recently.

Here's the LA Times blogging a round-up of the most obvious chicanery:

-Fake fireworks in the opening ceremony
-Fake voice for the little singing girl
-Fake wind for the flags (I noticed that one but wasn't really that upset. Flags need to wave, you know?)

And the New York Times with a longer look.

America: Prudency Isn't Our Middle Name

Tax Checks Yield Surprising Growth in Retail Sales - NY Times

Or, roughly translated: Even Wall Street didn't think Americans would spend their money that quickly.

New Ratatat Album - "LP3"

Here's a few tracks from Ratatat's new album. Definitely one to listen to on headphones, or at least in a place where you can enjoy the sweet production. Probably good even if you're just blasting it, too.

Gay Marriage in California?

The California Supreme Court has announced it will issue its ruling about the legality of gay marriage this morning at 10:00 a.m. PST.

The opinion can be found here, when it's published:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/

Expect reporting on the ruling at these sites:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/index.jsp
(CalLaw - free subscription required)

http://legalpad.typepad.com/
(The CalLaw blog, totally free)

http://ebar.com/
(The Bay Area Reporter)

http://www.sfgate.com/
(The San Francisco Chronicle)

And maybe here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/
(The Wall Street Journal Law Blog)

http://www.nytimes.com/
(uhhh... the new york times.)