"Wal-Mart foes drop appeal plans; Pullman group opts not to push issue to Supreme Court"

I love David Johnson. He is the only true journalist we have in the Quad Cities. When you read this article, look at how he covers all sides of the issue, even bringing in Moscow and the recent Thompson rezone.

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

PULLMAN - The legal wrestling over construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter here appears to have ended Thursday with members of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development abandoning their appeal options.

"This is a day for celebration in Pullman," responded a spokeswoman for the competing Businesses and Residents for Economic Opportunity group.

Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson labeled the development "a very good thing," and a Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed the store should be open for business no later than early 2011.

PARD's decision, announced by board member Cynthia Hosick, comes three weeks after the Washington Division III Court of Appeals denied PARD's latest effort to stop construction by upholding a lower court decision.

"The long and pointless legal delays are finally over," BREO's April Coggins wrote in a news release. "Many people have worked very hard to make this day a reality."

Hosick said PARD members voted via e-mail against pushing their case to the Washington Supreme Court. PARD spokespersons have maintained since Wal-Mart announced its plans that a majority of Pullman residents are against the company building a 228,000-square-foot store along Bishop Boulevard.

But BREO representatives point to recent polls indicating most people favor Wal-Mart's arrival and fear other retailers have delayed coming to Pullman amid the perception of an anti-business atmosphere. Coggins called for protection against a repeat. "The laws must be changed to never allow a small group, with absolutely no proof or evidence whatsoever, to subvert the will of the majority for so long," she wrote.

PARD representatives have claimed evidence about unsavory Wal-Mart business practices, coupled with unanswered questions about construction plans. Most recently, the group pointed to a traffic study that shows several million dollars' worth of maintenance and infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the big-box store.

Pullman City Attorney Laura McAloon, who confirmed after the appeals court decision Wal-Mart simply has to apply for a building permit to start the project, more recently warned the city might seek payment of legal costs if PARD continued its appeal methods. "The court rejected all their arguments," she said.

A similar effort by Wal-Mart to build a super center in Moscow was stymied more than a year ago when the company abandoned plans amid a protracted zoning dispute. Part of the property where the store was proposed, however, has now been rezoned to allow big-box stores.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"Neighborhood blogs: the mom-and-pop news business"

Seeing how Pullman is now just a "drop location" to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, the time may be ripe for something advocated by commenters here and reported on by Peggy Sturdivant at Crosscut:

News blogs about Seattle neighborhoods are sprouting like weeds. Their territory can be as small as the blocks immediately surrounding a park or as vast as West Seattle, created to rally against outside forces or in response to a certain event. They can vary from providing news straight-up to being heavily dosed with humor. Still other news blogs are product tests. Some have advertisements, others don't. Neighborhood blogs can even be "killed" and then reborn with advertising and multiuser capability.

The time is coming my friends....

Dead Tree Dinosaur Death Watch, Part II

The layoffs and cutbacks that have hit the New York Times, the Spokesman-Review, and the Seattle Times have now hit the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The Trib likely alienated many readers by having two very left-wing editorialists churning out columns daily. The Daily News, as I have repeatedly pointed out, allows for anonymous and unmoderated venomous comments on its online edition.

The City of Pullman's contract with the Daily News requires that they maintain a Pullman office. Now that that is gone, will they continue the contract? What will happen to the coverage of Pullman and WSU issues? God knows the Evergreen gave up on covering Pullman about a year ago.

UDPATE: From today's Daily News:

"We will continue to have an office in Pullman," Alford said. "Pullman and greater Whitman County are an essential part of our readership area. It will remain an essential part of our focus and a top priority for news coverage.

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Tribune, Daily News announce cost-cutting measures

Drop in ad revenue, rise in cost of materials create financial strain; Trib
editorial writer Tom Henderson is leaving

The Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News are losing five positions as the newspapers face softening advertising revenue and increases in the cost of materials.

Changes that will be most visible involve the reduction of the Tribune's editorial writing staff from two to one with the loss of Tom Henderson and also the closure of the Daily News office in Pullman. Henderson will be moving to Oregon.

Other jobs being cut include the Tribune's newsroom librarian, a position in production at the Tribune, a clerical position at the Pullman office of the Daily News and a customer service and circulation position at the Daily News, said Wayne Hollingshead, chief operating officer of Tribune Publishing Company Holdings, which operates the two newspapers.

Management tried to choose reductions that would have the least impact on the papers' ability to gather news and sell its product, Hollingshead said.

But A.L. Alford Jr., editor and publisher of the Lewiston Tribune, said the choice to reduce staffing for the editorial page, which has had two full-time editorial writers since the 1970s, was "the most difficult" and fell short of the goal of not affecting the news product.

The Tribune is one of the few and possibly the only newspaper of its size in the country that has two full-time editorial writers, Hollingshead said.

Some of the cuts were made through early retirements and not filling positions that were vacant, Hollingshead said. The five positions represent a fraction of the 139 full-time and 59 part-time employees at the two newspapers.

One position that is not affected is that of the Tribune's political reporter. Dean Ferguson is leaving the Tribune to work as communications director for Larry LaRocco.

LaRocco is running for the U.S. Senate seat that is now held by Larry Craig, who is retiring. Ferguson's position will be filled later in the year.

The challenges that prompted the changes reflect the national downturn in the economy, Alford said.

The weakness didn't hit the Tribune and Daily News as early as the Spokane and Seattle areas, Alford said.

The Seattle Times announced it was cutting 200 jobs on Monday.

"Fortunately our nonmetropolitan newspapers have a more favorable situation and outlook than the metropolitan media," Alford said.

Radio and television are working through the same kinds of issues, Hollingshead said. "The first thing to cut is advertising. They cut that and then they start worrying about where is my business."

The cost for the paper that the newspaper is printed on, postage and mileage are all increasing, Hollingshead said. "Anything that we buy that is petroleum-based has just gone through the roof."

Those costs are rising at a time when the papers are paying for a new press and are in the final year of repaying a loan that helped buy the papers back from Kearns-Tribune Corp. in 1998.

"The one-time expenses here are not the issue," Hollingshead said. "It's really the ongoing things that caught us by surprise."

The decision to invest $12 million in a new production center was made in December 2006 and the newspapers wouldn't "be brave enough to proceed" with the plan if it were made today, Alford said.

The newspapers still stand to gain from the new press, which will be operational in June, Alford and Hollingshead said.

One of its advantages is that it will bring "terrific reproduction," Alford said.

The newspapers also expect it will help the bottom line by reducing waste and creating a new stream of revenue by printing specialty publications, Hollingshead said.

Downturns in the economy such as this are ones the papers have weathered about six times since 1968 when Alford became editor and publisher, with the most recent being in 2002, he said. "I have optimism about our region's middle and long-term economy."

The Tribune and Daily News are going to be fine, Hollingshead said. "We're going to do everything we can to continue to produce great newspapers."

The Hit-Job Mentality

Howard Kurtz, media reporter for the Washington Post has had enough:

Memo to political reporters: Enough already.

Is it really necessary to allow operatives from one campaign to attack another candidate without their names attached? These strategists are paid to slam the other contenders. Why should they be able to hide behind a curtain of anonymity? Do you really want to be aiding and abetting that sort of cheap-shot politics?

Exactly. And do we want our community newspaper to aid and abet cheap-shot politics by providing a curtain of anonymity?

"Online Anonymity: The Ring of Gyges Made Real"

Paul Zimmerman has a great post on online anonymity over at his blog.

Now compare with Paul and I have to say about online anonymity with this paper from the Cato Institute.

The writer, Jonathan Wallace, concludes:

Anonymous and pseudonymous speech on the Internet forms a part of the rich tradition of such speech in prior media, including print, and is entitled to the same First Amendment protections. Legislation against anonymity threatens to end that rich tradition and should be opposed. If such legislation is passed, we can be confident that the Supreme Court will again find it inconsistent with our Constitution and our history.

Wallace cites several examples of anonymity and pseudonymity from American history and how the Supreme Court has consistently upheld anonymity as "a shield from the tyranny of the majority."

I generally agree with these sentiments and Oliver Wendell Holmes belief that: “The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas. . . . The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market." However, the Republic is not in danger if commenters must reveal their identities on the Daily News website. It is not whistleblowing that goes on over there, but mean-spirited accusations meant to discredit and defame individuals who have identified themselves publicly. And there is a legal tradition going back to Roman days that guarantees an individual the right to face his or her accusers.

Also, to have a truly open debate and a free marketplace of ideas, one must be able to judge all the merits of the argument. A person's identity has much to do with their credibility and veracity. You wouldn't buy a car without knowing the make and model. Why should you buy an idea without knowing its source?

Victor Davis Hanson, as usual, has it right:

Anonymity on rare occasions may have a place in protecting whistleblowers or honest journalistic sources fearful of retaliation. But lately it is being misused in a variety of different contexts to destroy people and institutions — and as a way for authors of all sorts to avoid responsibility for what they write...

Anonymity is a vicious but seductive Siren that lures its heedless listeners to shipwreck on the shoals.

The End to Sockpuppetry at the Daily News

An end to sockpuppetry at the Daily News? Yep. Managing Editor Steve McClure announced yesterday measures that the Daily News is going to take to cut down on the fraud and abuse regarding online comments. I generally applaud these measures, but still think they don't go far enough. As long as people hide behind anonymity to launch irresponsible, vicious attacks on people who have the courage of their convictions to take a public stance on an issue, I will continue to advocate for an end to anonymity, for I agree with technology writer Mark Minasi:

Instead, I suggest that administrators who run Web sites that host forums and reviews require that their contributors identify themselves. I'm not suggesting censoring any conversation—just cutting out the masked men. Sure, this approach has problems. For instance, what constitutes "identify" and what about sites that cover topics where anonymity is necessary; no question, those are issues that would need discussion. But removing the anonymous from most online forums and review sites would, I think, lead to more information and less flaming. Ad hominem attacks and vicious public spleen-venting accomplish nothing and drive many people away from our online community.

I don't think asking contributors for a real name and perhaps country of origin, no more than that, is asking too much, particularly if it makes Internet conversation the property of us all, rather than the property of the loudest, angriest, and most uncivil.

I will share my views with Daily News publisher Nathan Alford tomorrow when we have lunch and then plead the case to a the Daily News readers.

From yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

COMMENTARY: Screen names and sock puppets collide with online changes

I always thought a sock puppet was just that - an old tube sock on your hand given voice and personality to entertain someone younger than age 8.

Ah, but the Internet has opened a new avenue of opportunity for socks and the puppets they became.

"Sock puppetry" apparently refers to those people who comment online and then respond to their own comment under another name.

I discovered that about a month ago after a meeting with our new group of Town Criers. They had asked about participating in the debate that can occur under their columns in the comment section at DNews.com. Our suggestion was that those can be great conversations, particularly if they use their own name.

Given that our Web site allows for people to make comments without their real name, I also encouraged them not to go in under multiple names to comment on their own work.

One of the Criers shot me an e-mail a few days later to tell me they'd tracked down the phrase for that at wordspy.com.

That's where I discovered sock puppets had evolved.

With changes coming to the comments section of our Web site, they'll likely change again.

One of the changes that will become obvious to those who participate in the comment section is the requirement that online users select a single screen name. Once it's picked, our system (which records comments by username) will attach that screen name that person's postings in the comment section.

Our hope is that it will resolve one of the problems we've noticed since we launched the comment section in March - namely, people participating in the comments forum under multiple names and personalities.

The unmoderated nature of the comment section has led to some wide-open discussions - both online and in our newsroom.

We expect some of the coming changes will allow the debate to continue but provide a greater degree of accountability and give online readers more options to improve the tone.

Another significant addition will be a reader-moderating tool that gives folks on DNews.com the chance to vote up or vote down specific comments. There will be a "thumbs up" and a "thumbs down" icon attached to each comment.

If the cumulative total of "thumbs down" hits six, the comment will minimize and disappear from the main thread of comments. Readers can still go find the comment and, if they decide to, give it a "thumbs up" to vote it back into the discussion thread.

Each user will be able to vote once on each comment.

Participants also will be able to comment on specific comments of another person. That allows users to address the author of a comment while maintaining the general thread of comments on a news article or opinion piece.

The plan is for these changes to take place in the coming week.

Once everything is in place, our hope is that it will allow for a constructive exchange of opinions from the wide variety of people who participate in that forum.

A Duty to Tell the Truth

Satanic Mechanic recently brutally fisked a columnist from the Daily Evergreen that sent must have him scrambling for an electrical engineering textbook.

Undergrad Kool-Aider Haley Paul is back in today's Watermelon with yet another uninformed, sophomoric column about local business that demands a similar response.

Let me take her most outrageous allegations point-by-point:

With a fair number of small businesses around the Pullman and Moscow area to choose from, you too can participate in your own little form of activism. Going to an independently owned store is about more than just buying something, whether it's a sandwich, a book or a shirt. Frequenting small businesses – as opposed to large national franchises – is a way to support the local community. Going to Heros N Sports as opposed to Quizno’s for lunch is a way of quietly saying, “Hey! I like having diversity in this town. I like that every store is not a cookie cutter box store. I like that I can choose from a bagel shop, a panini place, or a coffee shop.”

Has Paul ever heard of the term "sales leakage?" How does shopping in Moscow support Pullman and local Pullman business? And has Paul never heard of franchising? Many national chain stores and restaurants in Pullman are owned and managed by locals. Quizno's is the perfect example of that. Ryan Davis, a Pullman resident, and his brother Aaron, opened Quizno's franchises in both Pullman and Moscow in 2003. They were so successful (Pullman has been one of the top Quizno's franchises inthe country) that they opened a Cartridge World franchise in Pullman last year. Davis is the kind of entrepreneur we need more of here. He has created jobs, provided more services to local residents, and helped keep tax dollars local. Who cares what the name on the door reads? Franchises are great for these local entrepreneurs because you get built-in advertising and reputation and therefore a greater assurance of return on your investment. What's wrong with that? Is a Quizno's sub intrinisically less "local" than a Heroes N Sports sub? Don't you think they both get a lot of their ingredients from the same suppliers? Do both restaurants not pay local wages and taxes? This is just an incredibly naive, short-sighted, reactionary, and elitist viewpoint.

I don’t know about you, but a world solely dominated by McDonald’s and Wal-Mart does not sound all that interesting.

Let me answer this with a quote from an Evergreen story from January 20, 2005:

Six people spent the first 21 minutes of the two-hour joint meeting between the Pullman City Council and ASWSU voicing opposition to the possible construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Several people also wanted a public comment period. April Overlie, a senior human development major, said the retail giant will hurt the Pullman community and that “our community means nothing to them. We are just another statistic.” Overlie also said there will be a meeting of Pullman Against the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 7 p.m. tonight at the Jefferson Elementary multi-purpose room. City Attorney Laura McAloon said the scheduling of any public hearing has not been scheduled yet. ASWSU and the City Council also heard reports about campus safety, game-day parking and recruiting new businesses to Pullman. ASWSU District 4 Sen. Matt Sobotta said the results from a survey of students conducted last year are finalized. “Students want for a sit-down restaurant — a Red Robin or Taco Bell for a fast food restaurant, and Target as a retail store,” Sobotta said. Fritz Hughes, executive director of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce, said the next step is getting together with students and other people in the community. Sobotta said there has been some communication with Taco Bell and Target, but not Red Robin.

So again, it comes to down to the name on the sign. We don't want to be a "McDonald's and Wal-Mart" town, but I guess a "Red Robin and Target" town is okay. What does that possibly have to do with planning? But let's suspend reality for a moment and assume that Paul wasn't being snobbish and really supported an all local business environment. If college students want national chains (and studies show they overwhelmingly do), and college students make up 70% Pullman's population, the market is going to give them what they want. What's wrong with that?

Then of course there are the bigger societal implications to consider when spending money at a large corporation. All too often, large companies fail to practice sound business ethics with practices such as reducing costs at any price by outsourcing jobs to Third World countries. According to the Omnex website – a company devoted to helping other companies find places to outsource “certain repetitive, non-core processes” – taking advantage of overseas labor in countries such as India, China, and Thailand can produce cost savings as much as 60 percent.

So while corporations get bigger and richer, Americans lose jobs here at home, and the few in control make the decisions that affect our society as a whole. The costs of the decisions that corporate executives make are then distributed throughout a society, as is the case with the United States losing manufacturing jobs overseas.

Oh no, not this again. So just because a store is local, they don't get their goods from overseas? Go take a look at the clothing labels in Tri-State, Haley. Just what is sold locally that is made (or even grown) locally? And just what is wrong with lower prices? Do elitists like Paul, who can already afford higher-priced domestic goods, want lower-middle class consumers to have their standard of living diminished?

It's Not The Economy, Stupid

Democratic strategist James Carville coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid." Apparently not. As President Bush's job approval rating hovers in the mid-thirties, the Dow Jones on Friday chalked up the best bull market run in 80 years.

Congrats to the liberal media for distracting voters from the real accomplishments of the Republican administration.

"Opposing viewpoints; WSU students who have served in Iraq have different opinions on war, reasons behind it"

Even though Amy Gray did not make it to the screening of "Outside the Wire" last month, I'm glad she did follow up with two of the vets that spoke that night in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News (although I wonder why she did not mention the event by name). These guys need to have their stories told, and thanks to the CRs, they have had that opportunity.

Brian Schafer will graduate from Washington State University on Saturday, but he won't get to rest for long. Next month, he and fellow WSU student Isaiah Bryant will return for their second tours of duty in Iraq.

Schafer and Bryant are among 93 current WSU students who are Iraq war veterans. They agree that most students don't think about the fact that soldiers are in a war zone and that four WSU graduates have been killed in the war.

"People think they have life so tough here," Schafer said. "It's hard to get along with the student population."

Frank Boothby, veterans coordinator for the WSU Office of Veterans Affairs, said he's sometimes surprised when he talks to civilian students who come to his office doing research for a political science or comparative cultures class.

"They do tend to be relatively unaware of what's going on over there," he said. "It's probably youth. I'd hate to say ignorance, but a lack of hearing much in-depth about what's going on over there."

Schafer and Bryant recently took part in a campus discussion about the war in Iraq, with a goal of educating their fellow students about their experiences. Another WSU student, Dell Hogge, 59, also has spoken publicly about his experiences in the war-torn country, although his views contrasted with those of Schafer and Bryant.

Seeing it first-hand

Schafer, a 24-year-old psychology student from Auburn, Wash., is a corporal in the Marines for the Papa Battery, 5th Battalion of the 14th Marine Regiment from Spokane. The all-male regiment was providing security at the Al Asad air base in the Al Anbar province of Iraq between August 2004 and February 2005. They were stationed in northern Iraq, about 124 miles west of Baghdad.

"We were the quick-react force for the area, on a two-minute standby," Schafer said.

He and six other men were on two-day rotations that required being 12 hours "at the ready." They then had 12 hours of downtime, although they were on alert around the clock. They stayed in portable storage units and could be out the door in four minutes with all their gear.

"We would hear the explosions and we could deploy the whole platoon," Schafer said. "When we got in the vehicles, they'd tell us where we were going."

Everyone from Schafer's group returned home safely, although he remembers hearing a Humvee drive off a 30-foot cliff in the dark because it was driving with blackout lights. Schafer helped rescue the men, who were taken by MedEvac to Germany.

Schafer was in Iraq on Jan. 30, 2005, the day the Iraqi people voted for the first time since the current American occupation began.

"To see them with their purple fingers (indicating they had already cast a ballot) waving Iraqi flags and American flags at the same time - it was a great feeling," he said. "Now they could vote for whoever they wanted, not just Saddam Hussein. They were crying and to see them waving both the flags - it was wonderful."

A different take

Not everyone who has served in Iraq shares Schafer's sentiment. Hogge, a former National Guardsman, returned from Iraq in July 2003.

"The people who serve us are good people who went in for good reasons," Hogge said, explaining that most soldiers enter the service for the many benefits, both financial and educational, and to serve the country. They also join the military because it's a family tradition.

"They're wonderful people in a no-win situation," he said. "The day we arrived in Kuwait, (President) George Bush told us that the war was over. He said that all was left to do was to clean up and go home. As soon as I found out we weren't hauling in food to help people, but concertina wire and ammunition, I wanted out."

Hogge has read dozens of anti-war books and encourages people to read them, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

"We are a mercenary army in the employ of oil companies," he said, wearing a T-shirt with the words "REFUSE ILLEGAL WAR."

One of the four WSU graduates who have been killed was an ROTC cadet from Hogge's platoon, Jamie (Campbell) Krausse. The others were Brian Freeman, an undergraduate, and alumni Damien Ficek and James Schull. Ficek was from Palouse and graduated from Palouse High School.

"I'm not trying to talk anyone out of going. They're doing what they were trained to do," Hogge said. "I just think it's wrong. Jamie's life was lost in vain, so that Exxon could make $39 billion last year - and it really ticks me off."

Hogge is studying Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the hopes he can help other veterans who are returning from Iraq. He speaks openly in support of other soldiers - and against the war. He said he knew soldiers who had nervous breakdowns, becoming highly anxious and hitting the ground when a cloud of dust stirred.

"They thought it was nerve gas," Hogge said. "I'm invested. This is personal."

Schafer's degree also is in psychology. He has done two reports on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and said he may pursue a graduate degree to continue his studies in that area.

"There's guys who came back with us who we don't see much. I don't know if it's deployment depression or PTSD," he said.

To those who lobby against the war, Schafer's eyes twitch in a quick roll. He tells of an Army friend whose job is so classified that Schafer does not know what he does.

"He told me, 'If the American public knew half of what I know, they'd be glad we're over there,' " he said. "When you go, you put your opinions to the side and just go."

Headed back

Bryant was in the infantry with the 792nd Chemical Company based in Yakima. He worked mainly with the military police, guarding prisoners.

"We're trying to win the hearts and minds of the people there. Nowhere in the history of civilization has the goal been to help people. We were there to help people," he said. "The Iraqi people are very supportive. There was huge resistance four years ago, but it's the insurgent groups that are causing the problems."

Bryant's contract is up in October and he intends to re-enlist for another three years.

"I love the uniform; I love serving. Even with some of the crappy stuff that happens, it's great. You make great friends and get opportunities you wouldn't get otherwise."

Schafer said he does not allow himself to think about the dangers.

"I just put it to the back of my mind. I never try to think about it much. You just deal with it when it comes, wake up the next morning and keep going."

WSU College Republicans Statement on Anti-Immigration Fliers

This letter was sent to Mike Tate, Vice President for Equity and Diversity, Richard King, Chair, Comparative Ethnic Studies Department, Ed Weber, Director, Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, ASWSU, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs:

To whom it may concern,

The College Republicans were pleased to attend the forum organized by the Foley Institute. It has however come to the attention of the Club that certain individuals were handing out flyers at the entrance to the auditorium which were political in nature. We would like to make it clear that no one from the club participated in the creation, printing or distribution of these flyers nor did anyone in the Club have prior knowledge that it would take place. As an Organization we are committed to increasing political awareness and improving the level of debate on our campus however we believe that this must be done respectfully. To intrude upon an event that was thoughtfully prepared by the Foley Institute in association with other University groups was inappropriate.

This being said it was equally absurd that many in attendance chose, without evidence, to condemn the College Republicans for events in which we did not take part. It was ill-mannered and indicative of how private political views can cause people to leap to the conclusion that satisfies their prejudices. In the future we would hope that incidents like this not only don’t happen but that there is a mature response from all parties concerned.

Respectfully,

The College Republicans at WSU

Printing an unsubstantiated allegation made by a political enemy of the College Republicans in the newspaper is what is truly absurd here. Where was the fact checking? Where was the reliability checking on sources? Where was the understanding of underlying motives and dynamics between groups? Where was the impartiality? All sadly missing it seems. Between this and the misquoting of Danny Schanze, it is a major embarrassment for the Daily News.

All The News That's Unfit to Print

The Daily News and reporter Amy Gray owe Danny Schanze a big apology and a prominent retraction.

In a story today, it was reported:

Daniel F. Schanze, political action chairman for the College Republicans, asked Hing, "Why would you have laws and not enforce them?" He also asked why Immigration and Naturalization Service agents have been prosecuted "in instances where they have done things I think are reasonable," such as shooting at an armed assailant.

Hing asked for details, which Schanze could not provide, then answered that law enforcement personnel can be prosecuted if they do not follow the law.

"I was on Janet Reno's citizens advisory panel to monitor Border Patrol abuse and minimize it," Hing said, explaining that agents were rarely prosecuted.

The problem is, it wasn't Danny. According to Danny:

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never asked a question. I was barely there, I was sick with a migraine and had a tutoring appointment. I missed the question and answer session!!! I never asked a single question.

The proof is on film here.

Not only do the CRs have to deal with the CES Department setting them up, now they have reporters misattributing who said what.

Burn the Straw Man

From The Fallacy Files:

The Straw Man is a type of Red Herring because the arguer is attempting to refute his opponent's position, and in the context is required to do so, but instead attacks a position—the "straw man"—not held by his opponent. In a Straw Man argument, the arguer argues to a conclusion that denies the "straw man" he has set up, but misses the target. There may be nothing wrong with the argument presented by the arguer when it is taken out of context, that is, it may be a perfectly good argument against the straw man. It is only because the burden of proof is on the arguer to argue against the opponent's position that a Straw Man fallacy is committed. So, the fallacy is not simply the argument, but the entire situation of the argument occurring in such a context.

A great example of The Straw Man is on display in today's Daily Evergreen.

In an editorial today, Haley Paul attempts to take on the WSU College Republicans. I say "attempts" because rather than address the issues the CRs raised about the border fence and English as the national language, she instead addresses the war in Iraq, taxes, student loans, spending on social programs, limited government, and the invasion of personal privacy; issues that the CRs have neither publicly supported nor attacked.

In addition, Paul engaged in another logical fallacy by attacking the entire Republican Party based on the actions of President Bush's administration. This is known as "Guilt by Association," or the "Bad Company Fallacy," which is an attempt to discredit an idea based upon disfavored people or groups associated with it.

The Straw Man argument is a sure sign of a desperate and weak debater. Do the local liberals really have no better comeback to the issues the CRs have raised? Is Straw Men, Argumentum ad Nazium and Argumentum ad Hominem (e.g. the CR's are "racist," the CR's are "homophobic," the CRs are "ethnocentric") all they have? And people wonder "what's the matter with Kansas?"

A Tale of Two Stories

It's funny how two different newspapers can interpret the same event in two completely different ways.

For example, there was this story in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Completion of rural residential laws in sight; County schedules one more public hearing on proposed revisions

Proposed revisions to Whitman County's rural residential laws could become official after one more public hearing.

Public Works Director Mark Storey said Monday that county staff will meet Wednesday to discuss final changes to the proposed laws before sending them to the county commissioners.

If county commissioners approve of the changes, all that remains is a final public hearing on the matter. The hearing has been scheduled for 6 p.m. April 17 at the Public Service Building in Colfax.

Storey said the planning staff and Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy have met a few times over the last three months to discuss changes to the proposed laws to make them more defensible and clear.

Questions about defensibility have haunted the proposed laws since their inception in planning commission meetings several years ago. Commissioner Greg Partch said the goal of the laws is to protect agriculture and open up the county to development, and that finding a way to balance the two takes new ideas.

Some of those new ideas spurred the commissioners to pay $5,000 to a Spokane legal firm last summer to review an early draft of the proposed laws.

Many county residents protested the expenditure, and the commissioners and county staff decided to table the proposed laws late last year after questions about defensibility and clarity arose at public hearings and county workshops.

In December, Tracy wrote a letter to the commissioners and staff outlining his concerns that aspects of the laws including viewsheds and butte protection would be hard to defend because they were relatively new ideas.

Storey and County Planner Mark Bordsen said issues over viewsheds, butte protection, and how the proposed laws coincide with the county's comprehensive plan have been addressed. Avenues for residents to appeal the new laws have been refined, and the document is more defensible.

The commissioners and planning commission have maintained that they want to protect the viewsheds of the county and its buttes and high places. With revisions, Storey said the county has established reasons why those areas should be protected.

Commissioner Jerry Finch said the Palouse is known for its rolling hills and open spaces, and the county wants to protect those assets. Commissioners and staff believe hilltop homes could damage the reputation of the county's emerging scenic byway and interfere with aquifer recharge zones.

Storey said the proposed laws in fact open up space to build by defining the areas needed to protect the buttes and recharge zones. He used a map of Kamiak Butte to demonstrate new areas that could potentially be opened for development. Past versions of the laws restricted development near the buttes. Under the current draft, areas far enough away from county roads and outside of suggested aquifer recharge zones would be open for development.

Other changes include the possibility for families to build additional dwellings on a home site.

"I think we have a fine new ordinance that ... most importantly, protects agriculture and opens up more housing options in the county," Finch said. "I think if people read the revised ordinance critically and try to put aside their emotions they will see we made a great effort to open the county and give them more options."

If one read just Ryan Bentley's story, one would think the rural residential zoning ordinance was on the verge of being passed. Actually, that is not exactly true, as evidenced by Whitman County Gazette publisher Gordon Forgey's editorial from last Thursday's edition:

Miles to Go

After years of debate and hearings, the final draft of the county's agriculture zoning codes was due at the first of the month.

That deadline has been pushed back because the wrangling continues.

Now, Denis Tracy, county prosecutor, says portions of the final proposal are flawed and may, in fact, be unconstitutional.

It is back to the drawing board, specifically in the area of "viewshed" requirements. This is the idea that the beauty of the Palouse should not be marred by the appearance of houses on hill tops. The inclusion of the concept of viewsheds in the proposed zoning ordinance and its ramifications has been a sticking point in the development of the plan.

The plan has made it this far after being run through the gauntlets of land owners and environmentalists.

As each group claims, the plan will impact all the county for years to come. As such, it is important that it be right, rather than rushed.

The final plan may still be months away. More workshops and more hearings will be held. The good news is that about the only group not trying to shape the plan is the Moscow city council and its mayor, but, of course, their hands are full stopping development in eastern Whitman County.

This thing is far from done.

The DST Bug

Tonight, we start Daylight Savings Time three weeks earlier than normal.

According to a story in yesterday's Daily Evergreen:

People might be surprised Sunday morning when some of their clocks are an hour ahead.

This switch is because of a daylight saving time change, a month earlier than usual.

Daylight saving time usually has the country set its clocks forward one hour during April. This year, as a part of the national Energy Policy Act of 2005, DST’s start moved to March.
...

As for local businesses, most expect little impact.

“It really hasn’t impacted us because it’s really a function of the weather,” said Norm Ruhoff, assistant manager of the Whitman County Growers Association.

Associate professor of horticulture Preston Andrews said farmers work based on daylight, not necessarily the number of hours in a day. The calendar change will keep the same number of daylight hours, just switch the times. Andrews said there will be more dark hours in the morning, and more sunlight in the afternoon.

Farmers should not expect much effect, Andrews said. They use the sun, not a clock, and they rely on the weather for growing.

For students, it will be spring break, and the move forward at 2 a.m. Sunday should not disturb them.

As usual, the Evergreen reporter missed the bigger story. There is more to local business than farming.

Fox News reports:

Everything from appointment times to banking transactions could be affected by this switch, and with so many businesses relying on the regulation of an internal clocking system, technology experts are bracing for the upcoming glitches.

"The worst case is that it will wreak all kinds of havoc on your network," said Mark Arnold, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Master Key Consulting, a Bethesda, Md.-based information-technology firm. "You could have employees who aren't able to sign in to the network or you could lose data. A lot of things could go wrong."

The change is especially worrisome for organizations that are sensitive to timed events. For example, Master Key Consulting, an Inc. 500 firm, works within a network that includes businesses on the West Coast, in Alaska, and even China, making time synchronization extremely important, Arnold said. If some people on the network are operating on a different time schedule, it could interfere with standard business communications. Additionally, companies that operate a large mobile network and have employees using mobile PCs will also be affected by the change.
...

Another area that could be a cause for concern for businesses is e-mail. Operations that rely heavily on appointments in desktop calendar programs like Microsoft Outlook will have to install further updates.

ANY business that relies on computers on the Palouse is going to be affected by the earlier time change. As most of you know, I'm an IT professional, and take it from, this "DST bug" has been much more of a hassle than the "Y2K Bug." One reason is that earlier time change received little press and many software vendors waited until the last minute to release patches. I'm sure if the Evergreen has contacted the WSU IT staff, they would have found that they had been greatly impacted as well.

Monday could ber very interesting.

A Bit of Perspective

From today's News Ticker in Graphic Arts Magazine:

Tribune Publishing Company, Lewiston, ID, publisher of the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, broke ground this month for a 30,000-sq.ft. production facility that will be home to a three-page-wide MAN Roland Uniset 75. The new press will add more firepower to company's two-shift-a-day commercial operations and bring full color to 25,000 Tribune and 8,000 Daily News readers.

Congrats to the Alford family. Lucky for them that:

No "consensus building" neighborhood association didn't want the new facility built nearby

No aquinut felt the facility wasn't worthy enough to waste his valuable water since it wasn't a "knowledge based" business.

The Moscow City Council didn't file an appeal to halt construction

No disgruntled former printers held a panel discussion at a local university that garnered front page coverage with no chance for rebuttal.

No "scientist" claimed that colored ink causes impotence in ground squirrels.

No printers union-backed "grassroots" group collected petition signatures of people who vowed never to buy Tribune Publishing Company newspapers.

No local newspaper publisher bemoaned paper carriers' low wages and poor benefits without ever actually talking to anyone who worked there.

Shame on the Daily News

It seems I criticized David Johnson of the Tribune too harshly. Hillary Hamm's story on PARD's "sweatshop" presentation on today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News is horrible compared with Johnson's piece. Hamm never mentions PARD as being involved at all. That would have clearly demonstrated a link with the unions that PARD has consistently denied. Nor does she point out the blatant hypocrisy of how Fuentes doesn't want a boycott of Wal-Mart as that would cost jobs, versus PARD, which has circulated a petition calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart as Johnson did. Apparently the issue of PARD's support of Target, which also buys from sweatshops, never came up either. And of course no one defended Wal-Mart. There were no opposing viewpoints being presented. Shame on the Daily News for buying into all this propaganda lock stock and barrel with no fact checking or opportunity for rebuttal.

Wal-Mart supply workers 'press for change'

Groups want retail chain to take responsibility for conditions at foreign companies that produce its goods

Beatriz Fuentes doesn't want consumers to boycott Wal-Mart. If they did, it would mean the cut-flower plantation she works for in Colombia might go out of business, leaving her without a job.

Instead, she wants people to be aware of the conditions she works under, and why Wal-Mart - which purchases 80 percent of her employers' Splendor Flowers products - should be held accountable.

"Wal-Mart only cares about quality and quantity. They don't care about workers," she said through a translator.

Fuentes, 29, described a workplace where pesticides from flowers make workers sick, repetitive tasks cause back problems and carpal tunnel syndrome, and workers are forced to work as much as 20 hours per day.

Owned by Dole, a worldwide supplier of produce and flowers, Splendor Flowers began to lay off workers who could not meet quotas and tried to run out employees who tried to unionize, she said. The company also supplies flowers to the grocery chain Albertson's.

Fuentes is one of three people who are on tour throughout the United States and were brought to Pullman by the International Labor Rights Fund. The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization is dedicated to achieving humane treatment for workers worldwide.

About 50 people from the community turned out for the event, held in the Center for Undergraduate Education Building on the Washington State University campus. None of the audience members defended Wal-Mart.

The event was sponsored by the WSU Chicano/Latin Student Center, the Progressive Students Union and the department of comparative ethnic studies.

Trina Tocco, campaign coordinator with ILRF, said the group is trying to bring awareness to American consumers about conditions in supply factories that ignore labor laws and retailers who take advantage of foreign and domestic workers.

"Be assured, Wal-Mart is not the only problem. We focus on Wal-Mart because they are the largest. They are the biggest problem, but they are not the only problem," she said. "You can also do this for Nike or the GAP. Walk in and start asking questions."

Led by Tocco, the group initially planned to give a walking tour through the Moscow Wal-Mart. But they were delayed while driving into town, and the tour was canceled. Wal-Mart employees were waiting for the group outside the store and would not have allowed them to proceed with a tour through the Moscow store.

Tocco said they have been able to conduct the tour in some Wal-Marts when managers were not privy to their presence. They also have been kicked off Wal-Mart property.

Police were on-hand in the Moscow Wal-Mart parking lot Monday.

Kotagarahalli Ramaiah Jayaram, a former garment worker in Banglalore, India, said workers made less than $2 a day and were not provided adequate benefits. Injured workers were not allowed to leave to receive medical treatment and risked public humiliation or being fired. His former employer, Textport Syndicate, also made apparel for the GAP and Nike.

Cynthia Foley, an ex-dairy stock worker for a Wal-Mart in Florida, said she experienced comparative conditions domestically by not making a living wage and facing unjust management practices.

"Wal-Mart hires you under the impression that you'll have ... a good-paying job," she said.

Foley was fired after she tried to alert managers to a co-worker who continually sexually harassed her.

"They were trying to keep me quiet," she said. "I'm still trying to fight them."

Jayaram, now an organizer for the Garment and Textile Workers' Union, said workers deserve safe and fair conditions.

"Workers want a reasonable product quota. Workers want a living wage," he said.

Mahlon Kriebel, of Garfield, empathized with the panel, but said United States-based groups such as ILRF are not going to enforce change.

"Don't look to Americans for change," he said. "We're living in a capitalistic state."

Instead, Kriebel believes global unions should be formed to create more strength in numbers.

"Big companies are global. The unions aren't global," he said, adding he had no suggestions as to how global unions would be formed.

Christina Vala disagreed.

The Pullman resident was openly moved by the panel's first-hand accounts and said everyone, regardless of country or political affiliation, needs to rally for change.

"We need to hear these stories," she said. "It's time that we care. This is ridiculous. We can't just sit back and say, 'We're in a capitalistic society.' We can't just sit back and say, 'Oh, well.' "

Tocco said consumers everywhere need to be aware of where their products come from. She suggests communicating concerns with both companies and legislators, buying "ethically produced goods" and financially supporting causes such as ILRF.

"We're part of this because we put on a shirt each morning," she said.

Fuentes is optimistic. She and her co-workers have pushed for improved working conditions such as gender equality and overtime pay, though progress is slow.

"We need the strength to press for change," she said.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Spinning the Unspinnable

Daily Evergreen managing editor Lisa Waananen is desperately trying to spin the unspinnable on the Evergreen's Editorial Blog.

She writes:

Our position is that if any members of our community perceive racism, it becomes an issue the entire community must address. We’re not judges; we’re proponents of open discussion.

Well, some members of the WSU community percieve that the CES department is filled with intolerant, foul-mouthed, and unprofessional professors. Where's the editorial and open discussion on that? What if some members of the community perceived that Muslim students were potential terrorists? Please, spare us the soliloquy. The Evergreen only editorializes and debates viewpoints which conform to a particular liberal and PC orthodoxy. Not every perception deserves public discussion or debate, particularly if no real proof or evidence can be presented. Often, they are simply solutions in search of a problem.

But you must always remember that perception quickly becomes reality, especially when it is memorialized in newspaper ink. It is an awesome responsibility. A printed public apology would be much better than spinmeistering on a blog.

Adult Supervision Required

There is quite a bit of fallout in today's Daily Evergreen over Martin Boston's column last week in which he accused the Pullman Police department of being racist following the tasering of a UI football player outside Mike's Bar (click here to read the PPD press release on the investigation). Even a staff editorial last Thursday alleged that "there is no doubt that a perception of racism exists in this city."

Today, a letter to the editor from a WSU alum accused the Evergreen editors of bad journalistic practices for allowing Boston, with an obvious conflict of interest as he was personally involved, to write a column on the incident.

Another letter pointed out the observation Scotty made earlier about how one of the officers involved in the tasering is African-American and how it is "asinine to accuse that officer of prejudice when he is also a minority."

Then there is a wonderful rebuttal column (which I'm surprised the Evergreeen allowed, knowing how they feel about "non-student viewpoints" ) from the attorney who successfully defended the Pullman Police Department in the recent Top of China lawsuit. Stewart Estes got right to the heart of the matter:

What Boston failed to disclose is that only days before this incident, he himself was a plaintiff suing Pullman Police officers for race discrimination and excessive force. Boston actually sued the very officer he criticized, and demanded $200,000 from him – for being at the Top of China restaurant when officers used pepper spray to break up a fight. We expect objectivity from journalists, and when they are biased, we expect them to tell us about it. We didn’t get that from Boston’s column.
...

Unfortunately, The Daily Evergreen Editorial Board, in a Feb. 15 staff editorial, compounded this problem by using Boston’s sour-grapes diatribe as a factual basis to assert that racial bias may exist in the Pullman Police Department. This paper chose to ignore the fact that a four-year-long, detailed judicial review of police department practices and actions resulted in the rejection of all claims of racial bias. No department in recent memory has been more highly scrutinized.

Apparently, for this newspaper, the mere fact that a disgruntled litigant makes the same tired allegations means the department is again guilty until proven innocent. Likewise, after admitting that he cannot prove his point, Boston said he “would be interested to hear any proof that their actions were not [racist].” What Boston and The Daily Evergreen are saying is that in our country it is now the accused who has to prove it is not racist. Not only is that legally and morally flawed, but I just spent the last four years of my life disproving just that. The staff editorial asserts that the jury’s verdict “only clears [the officers’] names in the eyes of the justice system.” I would ask: Where else can you go to clear your name? By what logic is a jury verdict – the fundamental basis for our freedoms – to be ignored and the “perception” of an embittered, interested party given greater weight?... Baseless claims of racism, even those based on genuinely held beliefs, are irresponsible and damage the decades of work that we have all put into this issue. While feelings and perceptions are, of course, important, they cannot form the basis for a public allegation of racial prejudice – one of the most damaging claims in modern culture. This requires proof. The proof here is that a court concluded that neither the officers, nor the department, have any racial bias.

Touche', Mr. Estes!

Nick Eaton, Evergreen editor-in-chief, writes on the Evergreen Editorial blog :

We stand by Boston’s column as a valid perception of the indicent that occurred on Feb. 11. He was present at the incident, just as other journalists would be if something happened right in front of them. He wrote his column without deceit. And he wrote it without trying to pass it off as objective repoting (it’s a column, after all). Reporting was what the news article was for.

But the paragraph before, Eaton admits:

...we were unaware Boston was a plaintiff in that complicated case until several days after his Feb. 14 column was printed.

Sure sounds "deceptive" to me, as well as a bit unbelievable. The Top of China suit had been going on for how long? How long has Boston been writing for the Evergreen? You don't think that subject ever came up with any Evergreen staffer?

All this comes at an interesting time. There is a bill making its way through the Washington House of Representatives at the moment (HB 1307) that would give high school and college newspapers complete "freedom of the press" (which is ironic, as the Evergreen editors haven't seen fit to extend that same right to the Pullman community).

Columnist Bruce Ramsey of the Seattle Times, doesn't think that's a good idea. He wrote on February 7 that:

Who owns the student press? The bill's supporters said the people owned it, the readers owned it or the students owned it, or some minestrone of the above. Eddie Reed, math specialist at the Tukwila School District, set them straight: "The school district owns it."

Then it should serve the school district's purposes: education, an activity that requires adult supervision.
...

The students who spoke for the bill said they were willing to take the responsibility. But when a teenager says, "I'll take the responsibility," what does it mean? Maybe not a lot.

The Evergreen's overreaction to the tasering incident might prove Ramsey correct. The Evergreen editors in their youthful ideological zeal, and apparently without the benefit of any sort of legal review, are heading into dangerous waters with completely irresponsible and unfounded accusations of racism against the Pullman police. God forbid any harm to persons or property comes as a result of it. At the very least, it doesn't help with WSU minority recruiting efforts, supposedly such a big issue on campus.

Let Your Fingers Do the Googling

I have been ignoring the media orgy following Anna Nicole Smith's death. I care even less for the nuts of PETA. But this op-ed in today's Daily Evergreen is indicative of how even a little research goes a long way towards good journalism:

Smith was not a philanthropist, conservationist or activist. As far as I know, she did not volunteer her time reading to children at the local Boys & Girls Club, and never donated her money to help fight AIDS. Recently in American history, we have lost some of the greatest contributors to humankind, but for some reason, their deaths received half the amount of attention of Smith’s death. For instance, in March 2006 Dana Reeve, singer, actress and wife of actor Christopher Reeve, died from lung cancer. After her husband’s horrible horseback-riding injury, which left him paralyzed, the Reeves were dedicated to improving the quality of life for people suffering from paralysis. According to the Christopher Reeve Foundation Web site, the couple helped raise millions of dollars for paralysis research. Dana was an amazing mother, wife and role model who spent a decade of her life fighting for a cure to spinal cord injuries. Other major American icons who died last year, but earned little attention compared to Smith, were Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist and wife of the late Martin Luther King Jr.; Nellie Connally, survivor of the presidential limousine attack carrying President John F. Kennedy and active fundraiser for breast cancer and diabetes; and Thomas Abercrombie, famous photographer for National Geographic.

Ummmm, not exactly. While certainly not on the level of a Coretta Scott King, Smith wholeheartedly embraced the de rigeur celebrity liberal orthodoxy and did her part for a radical cause:

PETA's Statement on Anna Nicole Smith's Death

February 8, 2007

PETA is extremely upset by the news of Anna Nicole Smith's untimely death. She was a great friend to animals and used every opportunity to speak out against senseless cruelty. We always thought Anna Nicole was a perfect fit for PETA because, just like us, she not only hated cruelty to animals and loved her dog but also couldn't be ignored, and no matter what people thought of her, they always had an opinion, one way or another. A long-time vegetarian who had slimmed down into a stunning beauty when she stopped eating meat, Anna Nicole spoke out against Iams because of its cruel animal tests, spoke up for baby seals bludgeoned to death for their fur in Canada, and posed as Marilyn Monroe in one of PETA's most striking ad campaigns, "Gentlemen Prefer Fur-Free Blondes." It is a tragedy when anyone passes away before their time, but with Anna Nicole, animals have lost a true hero and PETA has lost a good friend. We will miss her.

I'm not even going to get started on another op-ed in the same issue by our old pal Jimmy Blue, who writes that "the masses should not suffer a restriction of their civil liberties because of the unfortunate mistakes of a few" and "the government is put in place to help society and keep control, not to hold our hand when we cross the street" with regards to a proposal to ban iPod usage by pedestrians in New York. He just from buying an iPod at a Pullman Wal-Mart.