How Much Coverage is Enough?

Depending on what you watched Wednesday night, you got very different impressions of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq:

Nowhere was the difference between the cable news networks on starker display than in prime-time coverage on the night the last American combat brigade left Iraq following a war that started seven years and five months ago.

MSNBC devoted its entire prime-time footprint to the story, with Richard Engel riding with the troops in a specially equipped vehicle and host Rachel Maddow based in Baghdad. Keith Olbermann anchored the coverage from a New York studio.

Fox News Channel devoted just under 10 minutes to the story, much of it during Shepard Smith's 7 p.m. newscast. The network spent 45 minutes discussing the potential construction of an Islamic cultural center near ground zero, while that story wasn't mentioned on MSNBC at all. CNN, meanwhile, spent an hour on each story.

The news decisions led critics of Fox and MSNBC to suggest politics was at play in the coverage decisions.

Source

Jon Stewart's Bold Take

I thought this fair-minded, bipartisan approach to the Ground Zero "mosque" issue was exactly what both sides need.



[click the image to see the clip]

While I'm on a Roll! TEACHERS...

I saw a discussion about teachers on Chris's blog this past week that I found interesting, and the conversation seemed to stop at a really crucial point. I would have liked to have seen it go forward.

Are teachers, overall, liberal or conservative?

A link was posted by one of the commenters ("Fed Up" or is it just "Fed" now?) showing research to this effect, and I found it really captivating. This research, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) over the last several decades here in America, had some really interesting perspectives on where teachers fall on the political spectrum - in both directions - being both more conservative and more liberal than the regular public, depending upon the issue and the relative level of education to which they are compared.

I would highly recommend the read if you are either concerned about the state of education (as a parent or educator yourself) or if you have reason to fear the politicizing of the classroom, which I think we can all agree is a terrible thing, barring intolerance, in either direction.

Here it is - http://educationnext.org/american-teachers/

Thanks to Kyle Swartz and the Citizen!

http://northhaven.ctcitizens.com/story/north-haven%E2%80%99s-first-blog-news-junkie%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98must-read%E2%80%99

I am ashamed to admit that this blog has not received much of my attention in a consistent fashion. And quite honestly, no one has been clamoring at my inbox for my return, which is fine by me either way.

Anyways, I wanted to write because I was pleased to learn that I got a mention in today's article about Chris's blog, The North Haven Way. No doubt because either Chris mentioned it or Mr. Swartz was familiar with my small body of work. In any event, all notice is appreciated.

I have always applauded Chris on his dedication and persistence. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for his site and its forum, whether or not we all share common views.

If you have an interest in this blog's continuing, don't be shy. Let me know. :-)

Bravo to Chris Peterson

I am very much in the shadow of Chris's blog and for good reason. We've had our debates and disagreements, but there is no doubt that he has shown a consistent dedication to the maintenance of a local forum that I am not likely to match.

My applause is for his recent post defending our local teachers. As a mother and a parent, I have had reason to meet and interact with many of our town's teachers. They are as professional and compassionate a group of people as I have ever met. I personally have never received the impression that any of our teachers care about anything less than the very best possibilities and potentials of our collective children.

Therefore, I thank and applaud Chris because I know that such a position may cause him grief in this political climate and from his side of the political aisle.

Bravo.

Talking Budget Cuts

Short and sweet.

If the town side budget that failed was a recommended 6.3% increase, and the school side budget was a recommended 2.97% increase, why are so many people talking about cutting equally from both sides? If you cut 1.5% from both sides, then the education side would represent an increase of 1.47% and the town side would have an increase of 4.8%, which is still more than 50% more than the education side was asking in the first place.

Add to this consideration of the disproportionate insurance increases on both sides. The education side is seeing an insurance increase of 14.2%, and the teachers have a very high co-pay of 17%, up from 15%.

The town side is seeing an insurance increase of 43.8% and the town workers, though it varies have a significantly lower cost share in their benefits.

Most of the coverage has sloppily averaged the two and said that the town was seeing a 28% increase. That number protects the town side at the expense of the teachers.

How does this possibly makes sense?

McMahon v. Blumenthal

And then there were two!

The Dems Choose Blumenthal

The GOP Chooses McMahon

Mind you, Simmons insists that he's not out of it and that he will move forward with the primary process, but he's already lost a lot of momentum. It will be interesting to see how this play out, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for the more reasonable and un-glamorous candidate on the conservative side.

I think Blumenthal has this, even though he has had a very bad week. Although I would love to have a woman senator from Connecticut, I will not vote for any woman to fill that spot. This particular woman has had a lurid career in a part of our culture that does not improve the general discourse or its civility. I will be voting for Mr. Blumenthal, I believe, as of this moment, because even though he seems to have been somewhat disingenuous about his military service, he is a proven defender of the people in terms of environmental issues and consumer protection.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Well, the budget failed, not surprisingly, by a 2-1 margin.

I say "not surprisingly" because saying no is always easy; and in a climate where many local towns are slashing budgets and even closing schools and our First Selectman made the careful choice to exert no political capital on behalf of his budget, and in a circumstance where people are upset about the building department and the Dems just want to hand Mr. Freda a defeat . . . well, you get the point.

Way to stem the tide of populist anger, Mr. Freda - both in your budget presentation and in your handling of the budget's promotion.

So, now, we're going to see the ugly game of limbo, and you all know the rules and expectations of limbo.

People can just keep turning out to vote no now. It's easy. It's easy to oppose. It's easy to say no.

Now, Mike, it's time to figure out how to produce a budget that retains as much town value as possible that the people can and will say YES to. You'd better get to work, sir.