The worldwide Jack Webb

There are so many mistakes, misunderstandings and outright lies on the internet that fact-checking has become a growth industry. It always makes me think of Joe Friday's phrase 'Just the facts ma'am' from television's Dragnet.

I love this development, even though it often spirals wildly out of control: Media Matters loves to hammer Fox News, for instance, leading to a website critical of them from the opposite end of the political spectrum, and so on. The back-and-forth buzzing wears thin quickly unless you're committed to the subject.

Most of the attention focuses, rightly, on the major media, but no one is safe. If you write it on the internet, even one little twitty tweet, don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you. The term 'crowdsourcing' was coined to describe the sharks that will school if there is a little blood in the webby waters.

I got hooked on The St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact during the last presidential election, but I don't go there much any more. Like FactCheck.org and, to a lesser extent, the rumor debunkers at Snopes.com, they miss the lowlights that satisfy my perverse sense of humor.

Nah, give me the kind of errors Craig Silverman collects in his Regret the Error Columbia Journalism Review blog and like-named website: (Warning, close your eyes when you go over the next sentences if you are easily offended -- they're from Gawker -- 'nuff said.) "Earlier this week, we called congressman Jason Chaffetz a self-hating weirdo, an asshole, a probable closet case, and the son of Kitty Dukakis. He is not the son of Kitty Dukakis. We regret the error."

An extreme example, but I liked it. More representative is the Washington Post's Correction (Crunk) of the Year after they mistakenly claimed Public Enemy's song was saying 9/11 was a joke instead of the 911 emergency system. Here's the Post ombudsman writing about the fiasco, just because I like the headline: A spotty record on counter-errorism.

The local media's errors are usually so prosaic by comparison: the Saipan Tribune dropping $10 million in its headline and story Senate supports $6M ship disposal program or a couple of stories in the Marianas Variety where charges were stated as facts instead of alleged. A problem there: I could cite them, but even a lowly blogger has to be careful about what he 'publishes', particularly if he has cause to think it's untrue.

I was happy to see Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's transparency in saying Jenner & Block still on NMI payroll for $50,000 a month. (In an interesting contrast of editorial emphasis, the Tribune headlined that Fitial won't block 'green card').

At this late date, particularly since it was one of the issues in the election, I'm not interested in arguing the merits of the contract. I would, however be interested in a little fact-checking on the total cost to-date. I really don't have a clue with all of the figures that have been tossed around, and some of them are so outrageous they should be debunked.

Not real fact-checking, but I've been bemused by some of the articles about the ongoing employment controversy at Northern Marianas College. President Carmen Fernandez seems to be staying in the background as much as possible: "Fernandez’s office stated"... and "The office added,".

Say hello to my little friend

Disturbed, likely to become depressed, this swirling mess of clouds is expected to pass near Guam on Tuesday, says the National Weather Service. It's about 500 miles East of Guam.

SINCE OCTOBER IS ONE OF THE PEAK MONTHS FOR TROPICAL CYCLONES IN MICRONESIA...RESIDENTS OF THE MARIANAS SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THIS DISTURBANCE. WEAK DISTURBANCES CAN QUICKLY INTENSIFY THIS TIME OF YEAR IN THIS PART OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC...AND WATCHES OR WARNINGS MAY HAVE TO BE ISSUED ON SHORT NOTICE.

To my caffeinated eye, it's bound to pass through the Mariana Islands, and I WISH THEY WOULDN'T SHOUT.

Passing the buck and passing the budget

The Saipan Tribune has a counter on its front page: xx days without a government budget for FY 2009. (Click on the picture of the front page in the online edition.)

Does anyone care any more?

I've enjoyed the online Marianas Variety more since they added a 'comments' feature, though there are only a dozen or so regular users. One thing I've noticed in the last 60 days is no one comments on the budget stories; okay Friday has an exception, just to prove the rule.

Is the budget too complicated? Are people burned out because the budget is never passed on time?

People complain about crime, and about soft sentencing, but not about the Attorney General's inability to attract enough prosecutors to avoid plea bargains. Should there be enough textbooks for all of the schoolkids? How about money to keep skilled medical professionals? The list is long.

How about jobs? That should get someone's attention. There's no way departments can take a ten percent cut without reducing employment. This is an election year, of course, so the actual decisions (and blame) will apparently be foisted on the Governor-- and the Legislature will only take an 8.7 percent cut.

Did the earth move for you?

I guess there was a 5.6 earthquake up by Anatahan at 10:06 this morning. I didn't feel a thing in Garapan. Did anyone on Saipan or the other islands notice anything?

My power was off and I was just reading, so you'd think I'd notice.

bigsoxfan was admiring my earthquake widget so I scrolled down to check it out.

The USGS says it was 120 miles NE of Saipan about a marathon deep (26.6 miles)

Follow the link if you want to report your ride. I usually do if there's anything to say. Zero responses so far, so they'd be glad to hear from you.

UPDATE: Reported it anyway. 'Missed it' is as useful as any other answer. Hey, everyone in the Marianas wants to be a scientist. Here's your chance.

Fed up

Let's blame the feds. “Federalization” is the Marianas' new code word for everybody's dreams and fears. A bastardized modifier that is usually made meaningless by being used as a subject.

Everything will get better if we federalize. Or worse. Federalize what? The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation? Some people are so confused by the constant demagoguery that they actually expect that to happen. Okay, the real subject, when opportunists and obfuscators aren't trying to score points, is U.S. control of local labor and immigration laws.

Sure, I expect this to work about as well as the pacification of Iraq. But who's to blame?

The feds didn't chase Japan Airlines away, they didn't let Continental Airlines abandon us for Guam. They didn't mortgage Saipan's (and the CNMI's) future for the notoriously fly-by-night garment industry.

Look a little closer to home. It's popular to blame the factories, and I wouldn't even attempt to explain their well-documented abuses away. But they're businesses. They buy cheap (including malleable politicians) and sell dear (the bag we're left holding). They use loopholes like Headnote 3(a) and they push laws and regulations to the limit—some beyond the limit if there's no enforcement. They lobby to keep wages low.

The federal government noticed. So we trundled off to Washington and said, look we know the wage is low, but we fixed it ourselves. No need for “federalization”. The law was unpassed as soon as the immediate crisis was over. We lied to the U.S. Congress.

Plan B was a doozy too. Let's abandon our bipartisan support in Washington and hook up with the sleaziest lobbyist we can find. As a reward, we can read about Saipan sweatshops every time we Google Jack Abramoff. Trips, cash and skyboxes for a few well-connected now-discredited panderers thwarted the will of Congress.

A dangerous game, and they play hardball in the big leagues. Like my beloved San Francisco Giants, our steroidal superstar is gone, with nothing left but swelled heads and shrunken gonads. Oh, and Grand Juries.

So there was an election, the roadblocks disappeared and the legislators who were played and blocked re-introduced their bills. They don't believe our promises and they don't trust our lobbyists. They certainly don't expect our politicians to do anything.

Who can blame them?

Just another talking point

I was amazed to see something from Talking Points Memo in the Marianas Variety. Okay, it's about the Marianas and Jack Abramoff. For good measure it takes a shot at the Saipan Tribune, but I thought they got their news from Townhall. TPM is at the other end of the spectrum.

This is just more unraveling of the Abramoff web. Now it's former Representative and Senate candidate Bob Schaffer with his hand in the cookie jar.

I've followed TPM for quite awhile now. They're very good at digging and bulldog tenacious. And they're very irritating.

I can feel their glee as they kick rocks so I can watch the millipedes and bloodworms scurry for cover. Juiceee information.

Then they editorialize.

Don't believe me? Check out the following video. I can't argue with the facts. It's the spin, the hyperbole, that makes me cringe and want to shout 'you were doing so well, why do you have to go overboard?'

That's just me. What do you think?

No Absoluts

Did you catch this one? It's been all over the internet for a few days. It even ran in the Saipan Tribune.

An Absolut Vodka ad, in Mexico, showed North America as it was in 1848. "In an Absolut world..." The Red State set went bonkers, claiming a liberal conspiracy backing the reconquista at La Raza. Nuts were ponging off of my eyes and ears like hailstones on a tin roof. Fox News of course, a bit subdued and chagrined because Michelle Malkin got there first.

There were calls for boycotts. San Francisco's Skyy Vodka* donned a U.S. flag cape and sycophantically flew into battle.

Absolut caved, of course.

What's the big deal?

In a few minutes I could come up with a hundred places where people think they're on the wrong side of a boundary. Maybe in an Absolut World Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam would be the Chamoru Nation. This is advertising, folks. Nobody is trying to rewrite history-- and it doesn't do any good to get defensive when your sordid past is mentioned.

Some Mexicans don't even want the territory. One man said he wanted to go to Los Angeles to earn dollars, not pesos.

Their government hasn't been terrific over the years. It's dominated by those of European descent. Does it even matter to most indios which oligarchy is in charge? Who asked them? Most probably don't want to go back to the good old days anyway, those Aztecs were pretty nasty conquerors.

Malkin alert

Absolut's not done, of course. They've moved on to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender) community. You might have to explain this ad to your kids. Or not.

Shot or a mix O'Reilly?


* I'm pretty neutral about Absolut; don't even think about it much. The ads are cute, sometimes, and it's better than Skyy's dishwater.

Local food

U.S. Senate aides have asked the Government Accounting Office to sit on their Immigration report for 30 days, according to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial (Saipan Tribune, Marianas Variety)

I don't doubt it for a second, though I wonder why. The Senators, Representatives and staff members behind this bill have fast-tracked federal control of CNMI immigration since day one. No beltway opposition has popped up in public.

We should be surprised that it hasn't passed yet. I've read that the earlier bill was sailing through until Okie Sen. Tom Coburn got a wild hair about guns in National Parks. From the comments I've seen out of Washington, last year's Minimum Wage bill was and is more controversial.

So S.2739 looks like a done deal, but these staffers don't want to take any chances. Who's going to read it anyway? A lot of people in the CNMI, of course, because we're directly affected. U.S. Senators? Not bloody likely unless it's their bill. Try to imagine how many reports they get in one year. They'll read a summary or get a briefing from someone in their office.

Still, we can complain. In the Saipan Tribune or Marianas Variety. That will be read locally and by the Office of Insular Affairs, which drafted the bill. Oh yeah, and probably by some Senate staffers, likely the ones that wanted the report 'suppressed'.

So I guess this is for local consumption. Bota, bota.

Gaining something in translation

A Russian woman just told me she came from Vladivostok City. Nothing special, just small talk about Saipan's weather being better than the cold place she came from.

Only, it seemed odd that she had to add 'city'. I guess I thought Vladivostok was on the short list: if you've heard of Russia, you've heard the name.

Then again, North Americans and, in my experience, Marianas Americans are abysmally ignorant about geography. I was probably hearing a conversational short-cut to avoid, sigh, having to explain it. Again.

About ten years ago I met a Russian who said he was from Novgorod*. City. Now, 'gorod' means 'city' in Russian. He knew that, obviously, but thought I wouldn't.

This in turn reminded me of blithely talking about North and South Vietnam, when, roughly, ‘nam’ means 'the south'. So we were helping South Vietsouth fight North Vietsouth. Sometimes words gain something in translation.

* Actually, it's Veliky Novgorod, The Great New City, or was about a thousand years ago.

Fighting Bird flu

What if they took your rooster?

I’ve been pondering that ever since I read the bulletin board outside of the CHC x-ray room while waiting for my son. I’ll read anything when I’m bored.

There was a memorandum about the Avian Influenza plan. As usual, I immediately thought of roosters. I know what to do when you find bird flu: first we kill all of the chickens*. Slaughter them for miles around. Burn or bury them. That doesn’t leave much room for error on an island the size of Saipan.

The memo didn’t say this, but that seems to be standard practice. Can you imagine the reaction to that reaction? Cockfighters have a lot of time and money tied up in their birds. They’re hard to replace, given that the sport is illegal in the U.S. except for the Marianas. (Somebody might have to correct me about Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa.)

We’re probably on borrowed time. I thought of this again because I saw some feathered friends today who seem to be migrants. Because of our location, they’re probably Asian tourists.

Let’s just hope sick birds get reported. I’m a little worried that someone might just get rid of the carcass to protect the rest of his roosters. We might not learn about it until there’s a human case, and the mortality is high. At least the hospital would catch it quickly. They’ve got a plan.


*Apologies to Shakespeare, and lawyers.