Walter C Uhler » Entries tagged with "Philadelphia Inquirer"
Another Media Clown Show Stupifies Minds About Penn State
It started with the grand jury report released in November 2011. First, very few Americans knew that the grand jury report was a summary of testimony, not a transcript of testimony. Second, very few Americans knew that New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler once said: “a grand jury would ‘indict a ham sandwich,’ if that’s what you wanted.” Third, America’s news media did nothing to enlighten them. Thus, very few Americans were mentally equipped to question assertions made by the individual who summarized Mike McQueary’s grand jury testimony. Consequently, too many Americans fell too easily into righteous indignation when they heard or read that McQueary supposedly testified he “saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cultural Criticism, Current Events, Media, Sandusky Scandal
The Freeh Report and Joe Paterno
Part One: The Philadelphia Inquirer Mangles the Flawed Freeh Report What do you do when reporters from a major metropolitan daily newspaper—in this case, The Philadelphia Inquirer—demonstrate that they are completely incapable of reading a published report—in this case The Freeh Report—and providing their readers with a coherent summary of its contents? What do you do when the egregious misreading of that report by these reporters presents its readers a very false picture of how officials at Penn State handled Mike McQueary’s allegations of child molestation by Jerry Sandusky in February 2001? Perhaps you would recommend that the Philadelphia Inquirer receive the “death penalty” and not be permitted to publish its sludge for a full year! Readers of my website might recall that, on 9 February 2012, I wrote … Read entire article »
Filed under: Current Events, Media, Sandusky Scandal
Incompetent Journalists at the Philadelphia Inquirer Slandered Joe Paterno
On Sunday, 5 February 2012, the Philadelphia Inquirer featured Michael Smerconish’s opinion piece about Joe Paterno; further demonstrating that the newspaper has been overrun by journalistic mediocrities, if not morons. The inordinate amount of pure rubbish about Paterno in the Inquirer has been astounding. Consider the column by Bob Ford, “Indictment of former Penn State coach on sex-abuse charges could bring down Paterno,” published in the Inquirer on 6 November 2011, one day after the Attorney General’s office issued the grand jury’s presentment indicting Jerry Sandusky, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. Although its title says the indictment “could” bring down Paterno, Ford’s third paragraph actually asserts that “Paterno cannot and should not survive…” The outrage permeating Ford’s article indicates he uncritically accepted … Read entire article »
Filed under: Current Events, Sandusky Scandal
Legacies? How About “Good Riddance to the Swine?”
Tony Auth’s political cartoon in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s January 14th edition is the quintessential picture that is worth a thousand words. It tells you almost everything you need to know about the uniquely evil Bush/Cheney regime — i.e., its lies about Saddam Hussein’s WMD, its illegal torture at Abu Ghraib, its illegal wiretaps, its pathetically immoral and incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina, its ideological trashing of politically incorrect scientific findings, its oversight failures, which contributed to Wall Street’s collapse and Cheney’s devilish torching of the Constitution. Moreover, it deftly pencils in the world’s feeble response to such evil: the hurling of shoes at Bush from all corners. As such, Mr. Auth’s cartoon serves as a one-stop reminder of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Politics
Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Gushes over Bush, Columnist Panders to Anti-Immigration Crowd
Liberal critics of the Philadelphia Inquirer have watched in amazement while the newspaper’s management outsourced much its international and national news gathering responsibilities and promoted the famously incompetent conservative ideologue, Kevin Ferris, to the post of Editor of the Commentary Page. And when we thought things couldn’t get much worse, the paper added Rick Santorum – yes, THAT Rick Santorum – to a bullpen of columnists already overstaffed with right-wing warmongers, who had gotten it so wrong on Iraq. Representative of this sorry situation is the latest piece of claptrap written by Ferris: “An Iraq campaign for hope.” There, he gushes like a child and waxes euphoric about the “passion and enthusiasm” of President Bush – as if Bush has ever … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq War
Stinky Inky, Part VI: Carlin Romano’s April Fools’ Joke on His Philadelphia Inquirer Readers
Judging by his article, “Russia’s culturati a pale imitation of worthies of ‘Utopia,’” Carlin Romano and the editors of Philadelphia Inquirer have conspired to subject their readers to an infantile April Fools’ Day joke. Thus, readers of the April 1, 2007 issue of the “Inky” might be forgiven, if, after reading Romano’s review of Tom Stoppard’s 3-part play, The Coast of Utopia, they had no better understanding of 19th century Russian intellectual history than they had before falling for his joke. The real joke, however, concerns Mr. Romano’s apparent ignorance of 19th century Russian intellectual history. It seems to be no more informed than that held by the woman I encountered on February 24, 2007, during the intermission of the third play of Stoppard’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cultural Criticism, Russian History
Stinky Inky, Part V: Dinesh D’Souza and the Smatterers at the Philadelphia Inquirer
This is how it works: The increasingly decadent and profit-driven book publishing business, which is “more concerned with the sensational than the sensible” publishes Dinesh D’Souza’s new book. (Quote is from Alan Wolfe’s review in the January 21, 2007, New York Times Book Review.) The book provides conclusive evidence, not only that D’Souza is an ignoramus — although earlier evidence was already quite persuasive – but also that the Hoover Institution hires hacks, provided they are conservative extremists. Yet, notwithstanding numerous scathing reviews – for example, Professor Wolfe writes that D’Souza is “a childish thinker and writer tackling subjects about which he knows little to make arguments that reek of political extremism. His book is a national disgrace.” … Read entire article »
The Nation: Editor's Picks
- Why Investors Must Do More Than Divest From Fossil Fuels June 17, 2013 Dan Apfel
- The Making of a Global Security State June 17, 2013 Tom Engelhardt
- Will Obama Blow His Chance With Iran's New President? June 17, 2013 Bob Dreyfuss