The Alleged Editor

Playing Musical Electric Chairs

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Generally speaking, NPR’s reporting tends towards restraint, so Thursday morning’s headline stood out: “3 Months Of Hell: U.S. Economy Drops 32.9% In Worst GDP Report Ever.” Yesterday’s Gross Domestic Product estimate from the Commerce Department was “Horrific,” Economist Nariman Behravesh told the network’s Scott Horsley. “We’ve never seen anything quite like it.” Even that shocking presentation, however, fails to convey the full magnitude of just how screwed we truly are. NPR’s report, and the GDP estimate on which it’s based, are both snapshots—still pictures of a changing scene. And, like all pictures, they leave out what’s beyond the frame. While the report does acknowledge the …

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Pick a Crisis, Any Crisis

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Tuesday’s Herald carried a piece by Paul Briand—one of the Hedge-Fund-Owned Local Daily’s few writers still based in this area—headlined, “Purple Principle podcast seeks political middle ground in U.S.” A five-person team is exploring “whether political factions—with blue liberals on the left and red conservatives on the right—can somehow find some common ground in the purple middle.” In the marketplace of mainstream journalism, editors know readers are eager to start their day by snapping open a fresh paper and finding a story that gives them some slight thread of hope—a story that nurtures, however briefly or improbably, the comforting illusion that there may in fact …

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Fri, July 31

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1999—Eugene Shoemaker becomes the first Earthling whose cremated remains are interred on the moon. 1996—Gerald Ford and George H.[H.] Walker Bush uphold the dignity of their former office by speaking for pay before followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. 1974—Richard Nixon’s former advisor John Ehrlichman gets a free five-year stay at a felons’ country club. 1972—Tom Eagleton withdraws his candidacy; the public is shocked. 1971—The “Justice” Department OK’s ITT’s ownership of Hartford Fire Insurance; ITT’s recent $400,000 “contribution” to the GOP convention is a mere coincidence. 1971—Dave Scott drives the first motor vehicle on the moon. 1961—Bruce Britt Sr. outruns cops at 120 mph, …

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Thurs, July 30

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1975—Jimmy Hoffa is last glimpsed by anyone who’s talking. 1969—“I think that history will record that this may have been one of America’s finest hours,” says Richard Nixon in Saigon. 1956—Congress adopts “In God We Trust” as the national motto. 1945—The U.S.S. Indianapolis, having delivered the Hiroshima A-bomb to Tinian, is torpedoed and sunk on its return trip. Its sinking goes unnoticed due to security precautions. Drowning, exposure, and sharks claim 879 of the 1,100 aboard. 1938—Adolf Hitler pins the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle on his pal Henry Ford. 1917—A statement read in Parliament from Lt. Siegfried Sassoon says …

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Wed, July 29

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1994—Being a good, pro-life Christian, Rev. Paul Jennings Hill uses a shotgun to kill Dr. John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett, wounding Barrett’s wife June in the process. 1986—Ex-Chaplain Charlie Liteky renounces the Medal of Honor he was awarded for bravery in Vietnam over U.S. policies in Latin America. 1981—Congress passes Ronald Reagan’s tax cut for the rich. 1974—The House Judiciary Committee again impeaches Richard M. Nixon, this time for abuse of power and violating his oath of office. 1970—Thanks to a five-year grape boycott, the United Farm Workers win their first contract. 1967—Bum equipment and bad procedures let a stray electrical charge ignite …

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Tues, July 28

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2012—Three elderly troublemakers infiltrate Oak Ridge, Tenn. and spill blood on its nuclear weapons plant. 2006—A wild storm topples the partially-renovated steeple of North Church and its attendent scaffolding onto Pleasant Street in Portsmouth. 2003—Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who once said Americans smoke Cuban cigars “at the cost of our national honor,” is photographed in Jerusalem lighting up a $25 Hoyo de Monterrey. 1957—An Air Force C-124 with engine trouble jettisons two core-less nukes 100 miles off Atlantic City. 1945—A B-25 hits the Empire State Building; six floors burn, 13 die, 26 are injured. Among them: elevator operator Betty Oliver. The cable of the elevator evacuating …

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