The Curmudgeon Speaks

I read a story in the NY Times that I thought was appropriate to the season. Kind of a warm fuzzy story with a hint of hopeless optimism (or maybe that was the wine). Like all newspapers, the Torrington, Conn., Register Citizen, is struggling to maintain readership and ad revenue. In an attempt to involve the local citizens, the paper has added a service that I know would attract me. They have converted their news room into a coffee shop. They workers still meet to discuss stories for the next issue, but they invite the citizens to participate and share a cup of coffee.

The Register Citizen has adopted a version of the Google business model. If Google assumes Google benefits when people use the Internet, The Register Citizen seems to assume they benefit when anyone becomes a participant in local news. The offer an online version of the paper, put effort into their own blog, and even attempt to develop the journalism skills of interested citizens.

So, good on ya Register Citizen. You are a little out of my news region, but perhaps the links in this piece will bring you a couple more readers. I did enjoy your piece on the Possum Queen competition, but most of your news is just too local. Blog on.

The holiday season is a time for giving. I agree, but I need less help than others must assume.

First, I have decided I am anti-diamond. Doesn’t it seem like there are an unusually high proportion of advertisements for diamonds this time of year. Now, that the political ad season has past someone is determined to torture me with diamond ads. I do not plan to go to Jareds or to purchase chocolate diamonds. The sentiment in these ads seems to be that I if really love my wife I would let her and everyone else know by purchasing something that the ad folks promote as the symbol of affection. Of course the more costly the symbol the more appreciation. Who gets to decide which symbol serves as an expression of affection and why is a public display acceptable as a way to express private feelings? What does this say to people who must spend their resources on more basic and useful things?

My suggestion – travel – together or alone. Give the ones you love an opportunity to experience and learn. A rock is just a rock.

Second, this also must be the time to ask for money for charitable causes. We seem to be receiving a large number of phone calls. This must work because people are in a positive mood. I do not know how to sort out which cause is most important. I think during the holiday season responding to human suffering is most important. Cindy adopted a family through a service organization that attempts to assist victims of domestic violence. This is a holiday decision. We seem to have received many requests from the various colleges we have been associated with as students and now as university employees. Returning money to your employer seems a strange thing to ask. I know enough about the way state institutions work to know that the state provides a fraction of what it costs to run the institutions and alumni money is really necessary to provide a reasonable level of service. However, this would seem to prioritize a gift to the institution from which I graduated over the institution that employees me.

So, I think I am set. I have a plan.

I am a big fan of bookstores and coffee shops. I like it best when I can enjoy both at the same time. I don’t actually purchase that may books in paper format any more. At least not like I did a few years ago. I still listen to audiobooks and read using Kindle for the iPad. I think sitting in the middle of stacks while trying to write is inspirational. Some folks go to the library for this setting, but most libraries don’t have a coffee shop and most don’t have the kind of books written in the past year or so. Libraries smell like old books. I think historians like this smell, but not those of us who write about technology.

Grand Forks has some nice coffee shops, but not the kind of book store I like. Evidently, there is not a market for a real book store in Grand Forks. I don’t get it. Every suburb of Minneapolis has a Barnes and Noble or a Borders.

UND has outsourced the college bookstore. Barnes and Noble was here for a few years. Then came Follett. It started out as a book store. There was a large section for selling course books for students and a reasonable trade book section. I guess the kind of books I read are called trade books. Then they decided to interchange the part of the store dedicated to trade books with the part of the store dedicated to clothing and other UND branded goods. Evidently folks in Grand Forks would rather buy sweatshirts than books.

When I go the the coffee shop to work I feel like I sitting in the corner of Younkers or Daytons. It is just not right. College book stores need books.

I happened across the National Geographic documentary “Camp Leatherneck” on netflix streaming last night and watched it. I recommend it.

I had no intention of watching the program as a prelude to Veterans’ Day, but it ended up as a great attention getter. Whatever the political overtones to our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no denying the commitment and courage of the soldiers serving there. The term patriot has been stolen and cheapened, but some still deserve the title.

If this is democracy, we need to move on to democracy 2.0. Maybe we need to move back to democracy .9. I thought last year I was voting for some ideas I valued – for a better method of assuring health care because my wife has a preexisting condition, for a more supportive approach to the less fortunate. This year I have no idea – the rhetoric seemed to about what candidates were against and not what they would accomplish. I voted against the candidate who seemed to be running on the platform that his opponent voted for Nancy Pelosi and against North Dakota. They must mean THEIR north dakota – the place where people take care of themselves and save what is left for a rainy day. Never did figure out what that was supposed to mean and it seemed to lack a plan beyond rolling back what had been accomplished. Glad we can’t roll back preventing a total collapse of the economy.

I can’t resist a follow-up to yesterday’s post. If you look carefully at the ad Google assigned to the page (lower right hand corner), you will note a link to information about an iPad app allowing users to view Republican election news. My comments were about ND Democratic Representative Earl Pomeroy. My post was hardly pro-Republican. I did use the word Republican in my post several times, but mostly to note why I thought a recent attack ad was unfair. So much for using context to understand intent. Perhaps I should consider restating my analysis.

I am working on a 365 photo project. That means I take at least one photograph each day. It is not an easy task and some of my photos show the strain of the commitment. I was in the Union today and I noticed that North Dakota Congressman Earl Pomeroy was walking about shaking hands. I decided a photo of ND’s only representative would be unique. I approached and just motioned that I wanted to take a photo. My Pomeroy nodded and after I had taken the picture came over to talk.

He asked how I was doing. I suggested he was in a tight race and I liked his most recent ad. I actually do. The Berg/Pomeroy contest is close and evidently both parties are pouring huge amounts of money into the campaigns because the ads associated with something like the evening news nearly fill all of the available time. Most have been quite negative. For whatever reason, the Pomeroy camp is now trying a different approach. The ad has been called an act of desperation by some. Evidently this time of year the strategy is to give the opponent no credit for anything. Anyway, it was a brief conversation – my choice. I felt a little strange taking the time talking with anyone engaged in such a competitive race of national significance. He wanted to know what I did. I said I worked in the Psych department. He said that he was a graduate of the political science program. I guess that was a connection of a sort. I wished him good luck and I added that he had my vote. He does. Time for him to spent time on someone else.

I think election ads would be great fodder for exercises in critical thinking. What credibility do we give the source? How effectively do we differentiate fact from opinion?

Here are a couple of examples from the recent ad by Earl’s opponent.

1) Evidently Earl votes in the same direction as Nancy Pelosi most of the time – 90+. Nancy Pelosi must translate as devil or the anti-Christ or something. I get the impression the ad creators assume North Dakotans will regard this as very disturbing data. Yes, I understand Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat.

I started thinking about the percentage. It does seem that 9o% is close to 100% supposedly indicating that Congressman Pomeroy cannot make his own decisions or something. I wonder about the 90% thing because I am sure that most people understand percentages and this seems very high. However, what do you think the agreement is on any given vote. I am guesing many votes are not controversial and everyone votes in the affirmative. What would be the voting record of the Republican with the lowest overlap with Nancy Pelosi? Would Republicans vote against any Republican who agreed say 50% or the time with Nancy Pelosi? How about 70% of the time? So, if Nancy Pelosi voted to adjourn for the day, should all Republicans vote to the contrary? The 90% thing is not what you need to understand. You need to understand how Congressman Pomeroy voted on issues that interest you.

2) It annoys me when people degrade by using “cute phrases”. So, educators sometimes use the phrase “drill and kill” to indicate their disagreement with a focus on memorization. It is a manipulative device that indicates nothing about the quality of the argument. So, the ploy in this case is used to describe Congressman Pomeroy’s support of health care reform as a vote for Obamacare. Just to be clear, the present approved health care legislation was not the proposal offered by the President. It was the bloated plan necessary to make some progress on health care and to avoid wasting a great deal of time getting through a lengthy delay and threat of fillabuster. This is what we call the political process and all involved own the result. I am not a defender of the games that are involved in the process. The President did want to change health care in our country. He did want to find a way to make certain anyone interested was covered by insurance and that some would not be excluded for pre-existing conditions. If you are against these improvements or if you took advantage of the Democrats wanting to assure these opportunities and complicated the process with your additions – stand up.

I thought the title might expand my audience to include those leaning to the right.

So, my wife receives the following notice regarding her (our) federal tax payment. Neither of us could make sense of what the problem was, but she was to provide additional information. Of course, the scanner provided notification that the request was fraudulent, but the emall address should also have been a clue.

It is election season and political campaigns offer the curmudgeon plenty of material for a post. First, my friend, Tom Petros, is running for state office. I have never actually known anyone who was running for office this well. I would not bet on Tom’s campaign. Tom is a democrat in North Dakota. Second he has a Ph.D. I don’t think voters will ever know much more about Tom and both factors will work against him.

The 30 second television campaign ad signifies to me all that is wrong with the political process. Just what can you really explain about the complex issues we all face in such a short time frame. Take a picture of the candidate in working clothes talking to working people. I guess we all work. I mean people who earn their living in construction, farming, or an energy industry are considered real working people. If you don’t want to go with the working man theme, take a picture of the candidate with a rifle or shotgun out in the field. Show a flag or a military picture if possible. Mention you are “fighting” for something. Explain how many generations your family has lived in the state. Then, if there are a few seconds left, use a catchy phrase and possible work in a sound bite focused on an actual issue. My favorite meaningless phrase of this season is the “North Dakota way”. Evidently there is a secret way of doing things that folks who grow up here understand that has eluded the rest of us. Evidently it is passed down from generation to generation like a secret hand shake. I guess if you live in North Dakota you should support anyone who has learned this secret way of doing things.

My favorite “campaign logic” is used in an ad by now Govenor Hoeven who is seeking election to the U.S. Senate. For anyone who does not know, North Dakota is one of only a few states that has done quite well in these difficult economic times and is actually running a budget surplus. In typical North Dakota fashion, however, there is a movement to squirrel these funds away in a rainy day funds. It is what I as an Iowa farm boy refer to as the farmer logic. You never say times are good. Times are either bad or they will likely be bad next year. Anyway, the logic of the Hoeven ad is that anyone who has been so successful as the governor should apply these same principles and set the entire country on a more productive path. I will admit that Governor Hoeven has not screwed things up, but the state of the ND economy is not a function of brilliant leadership. North Dakota happens to be sitting on the Bakken Formation allowing for an oil drilling frenzy not present elsewhere (at least for some time). When energy costs go up elsewhere, a state with oil, coal, and wind power will do very well. The ag economy has also done very well in recent years. Then there are all of those Canadians flocking across the boarder (with our blessing and with money) to buy stuff and then go home. Finally, North Dakota has a very sparse population and probably with good reason. It can be a difficult place to live and this factor may limit many of the social challenges faced in other states. So, if you happen to be sitting on top of tremendous energy resources, have a second area of the economy that is doing very well, have few serious social problems, and the opportunity to sell lots of stuff to people with money, I know someone who can set you on a productive path. Of course, if you are in this situation I could probably do the same.

I think ads share some characteristcs with Twitter. There is not much there and you need to add a lot from your own knowledge. If you like someone, you agree with what they have to say and if not, you disagree. You fill in the blanks according your own biases. At least with Twitter, the 140 characters change from tweet to tweet. With the ads, they must assume the few seconds of content are quite difficult to understand because they repeat the same message time after time after time.