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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Education / Politics / Media If I Have to Read Their Editorials, So Should They

Posted by Goldy on Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 12:02 AM

I hate to fisk the Seattle Times editorial board two posts in row... but Jesus Fucking Christ, do they even bother to read one paragraph before writing the next?

Mercer Island has had school-bond failures; voters rejected measures in the 1970s and again in the early 1990s. Several smaller school-construction measures in the mid-1990s were offered and approved instead.

This should serve as a warning to other districts, for example Seattle Public Schools, which plans to ask voters for $1 billion in ten months for operating and construction costs: nothing will come easy.

Mercer Island is an example of the end of the days when voters were inclined to approve every levy or construction bond. Districts must more closely chart critical upgrades on a schedule calibrated to economically precarious times.

So what they're saying is that this bond failure signals "the end of the days" when voters would approve "every levy or construction bond," an assertion they make just a few sentences after pointing out that Mercer Island rejected school bonds in the 1970s, and the 1990s, and again in 2012—you know, about every twenty years or so—clear evidence that voters have never approved every levy or construction bond. So... then... this bond failure isn't all that special after all, is it?

Um-duh, duh-um, duh-uh... way to undermine your own thesis, guys!

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Comments (17) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

So, did it get more than 50%?

Cause that is a majority.

Mercer Island for the NBA Stadium Site!

Posted by Will in Seattle

on April 24, 2012 at 1:11 AM

Dude, it's middnight. Go to sleep.

Posted by fARTing on April 24, 2012 at 1:12 AM

Goldy, did you actually read that sentence?

Mercer Island is an example of the end of the days when voters were inclined to approve every levy or construction bond. Districts must more closely chart critical upgrades on a schedule calibrated to economically precarious times.

Proofread before you post, kids. Especially when posting after midnight.

Posted by Terry Nguyen on April 24, 2012 at 1:13 AM

Goldy, did you actually read that sentence?

Mercer Island is an example of the end of the days when voters were inclined to approve every levy or construction bond. Districts must more closely chart critical upgrades on a schedule calibrated to economically precarious times.

Think before you post, kids. Especially when posting after midnight.

Posted by Terry Nguyen on April 24, 2012 at 1:15 AM

Another hard on for Seattle Time eh Toby?

Posted by Kinison

on April 24, 2012 at 6:04 AM

School levies also failed in Seattle in the 1990's.

The Seattle Times doesn't remember what they wrote two paragraphs before and you want them to remember twenty years ago? Get real.

In the instant information age, twenty years ago is so long ago that it didn't happen.

Posted by Charlie Mas on April 24, 2012 at 7:09 AM

Even Joni Balter could kick your ass, Goldpussy. No wonder you're divorced. Who wants to babysit a whiny cunt like you?

Posted by BetarayBilly2 on April 24, 2012 at 7:48 AM

Mercer Island is an example of the End of Days.

Posted by PCM on April 24, 2012 at 7:59 AM

The Times is not known for its consistency in its editorials. Take their other editorial about the Seattle School Board not having any way for the public to hear/see the superintendent finalists.

When things are swinging in control THEIR way, the Times loves it. When they don't get to be part of the exclusive team, they hate it.

Welcome to the world, Times.

As far as this particular editorial, well, I would like to hear what the Times will say to SPS asking for near (or over) $1 billion in Feb. 2013. They need the dough but will voters give to them over the seawall? Libraries?

Posted by westello on April 24, 2012 at 8:12 AM

How bad do you want to work for the Seattle Times?

Posted by JF on April 24, 2012 at 8:32 AM

@10: I already work for the Seattle Times. I'm their Volunteer Ombudsman.

Posted by Goldy on April 24, 2012 at 8:50 AM

The Seattle Times editorial staff has it easy. They can write any kind of mindless, error-filled, self-contradictory crap that they want, and they never have to actually defend it. They never enter the discussion in the comments section. They never respond to the criticism of their thinking. They don't have to.

While you and I may read the Times online and we read the comments that follow the articles (often comments that disprove the statements made in the article), the big-time decision-makers in Seattle read the paper-and-ink version of the Times which has only the original column with the Times' opinion and none of the feedback that proves how empty that opinion actually is. Consequently, an inane editorial by the Times carries more influence than the truth or a rational line of thought.

I can only wonder what it must be like to be able to publish such utter crap and not only never have to answer for it but to see it actually become the common wisdom.

Posted by Charlie Mas on April 24, 2012 at 9:03 AM

The only rerason it failed is that there are too many cranky old people who feel that since they no longer have children in school they no longer need to worry about the condition of the schools.

Sort of like what's wrong with pour country right now.

Fuck those old duffers, they can't start dying off soon enough for me.

Posted by pasta65 on April 24, 2012 at 9:10 AM

All sentences of the form "the end of the days when X" are referring to The Imaginary 1950s, which is the mystical golden age all conservatives hearken back to.

Posted by Fnarf

on April 24, 2012 at 9:54 AM

Because pineapples have no sleeves!

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on April 24, 2012 at 10:12 AM

Not defending the times, and dont agree with their position, but they didnt contradict themselves (which doesnt mean they arent wrong given the actual history of levies in seattle). Those sentences say that mercer island is *already* an example of the end of the days *in seattle* when levies are rubberstamped.

When you take someone to task for making a mistake, you better be sure that they actually made that mistake, or you end up doing a lot of dmage to your own credibility.

Posted by Xtoph on April 24, 2012 at 12:58 PM