News Cut: February 2, 2012 Archive
The rural doctor (5x8 - 2/2/12)
Posted at 7:06 AM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(7 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8
Rural doctors and better people, Romney's tough day, when business in Saint Paul ain't Grand, weather from rodents, and math fun with candy.
Continue reading "The rural doctor (5x8 - 2/2/12)"
Planned Parenthood supporters fill funding gap
Posted at 10:51 AM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(11 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics
The more we hear about The Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood, the more we wonder how they ever got together in the first place.
On MPR's Midmorning, this morning, Melinda Henneberger of the Washington Post, who writes on the She the People blog, considered the deep political ties of each side involved in Komen's decision to pull a grant from Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening.
Nancy Brinker, the CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the sister of Susan G. Komen, is a well-connected Republican.
Brinker and her husband donated $125,000 to Republicans in the 2001-2003 election cycle, shortly before President Bush appointed her ambassador to Hungary.
"Komen, maybe not so incidentally, has a new relationship with the George W. Bush Institute, which is the policy arm of the presidential library which will open next year," she said. "And Planned Parenthood has strong Democratic ties. Its president, Cecile Richards, (is) the daughter of former late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, who was defeated by George W. Bush."
How badly will Komen's decision hurt Planned Parenthood? Not much, apparently. In the 24 hours since the decision was announced, small donors contributed more than $650,000 to Planned Parenthood, nearly matching the $680,000 grant Komen pulled, according to Henneberger.
(11 Comments)Super Bowl spoilers (continued)
Posted at 12:10 PM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising
Let's continue spoiling the Super Bowl for people who watch it for the commercials.
More companies are releasing the "extended" versions of their Super Bowl ads. Today, it's Kia, because nothing says "buy a new car" like Motley Crew and women in bikinis.
GE goes all squishy with a tribute to people who build turbines in upstate New York.
Samsung makes fun of Apple fans...
How many of these will people actually remember? Here are last year's. You tell me:
(3 Comments)In the military, a suicide attempt is a crime
Posted at 12:41 PM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice
Should the military consider a suicide attempt a crime?
A Marine from California is appealing his conviction on several charges, including trying to kill himself.
Pvt. Lazzaric Caldwell, who was never deployed but has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, slit his wrist in a suicide attempt, while awaiting trial on charges of stealing a belt in Okinawa. He was then charged with trying to kill himself.
Why does the military consider it a crime? The answer is in the decision of a Navy court which reopened the 2010 case last November:
As to the public policy argument, I'm not persuaded that criminal prosecution of genuine suicide attempts should be prohibited under military law. As both parties note in their briefs, self-injury has long been a chargeable offense in military jurisprudence. Conceivably, many instances of malingering or self injury could be concealed in the guise of a sincere suicide attempt. My own personal experience over the past 25 years of active duty service leads me to believe that self-injury, whether it results in an intentional suicide or not, has the potential to cause tremendous prejudice to the good order and discipline within a unit. If a convening authority feels it necessary to resort to court-martial to address this type of a leadership challenge, he or she should be allowed to do so, at least until the executive or legislative branches of government have proscribed this approach by law or regulation.
Dewey defeats Truman II
Posted at 1:30 PM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Media
Remember when the Associated Press was winning plaudits a couple of weeks ago for its ironclad system of checking and double-checking sources, a system that kept the AP from reporting the premature death of Joe Paterno?
The picture in the wallet
Posted at 3:06 PM on February 2, 2012
by Bob Collins
(5 Comments)
Filed under: War
I don't think there will ever be a day when I unfold this picture and fail to stare at these faces for a long, long time. I've carried it in my wallet for a couple of decades now. If you're a long-time NewsCut reader, you know the whole story.
(© John Francis Ficara)
"For all the talk of glory and purpose," The Toledo Blade wrote in an editorial in 1991, "a war is still a war. A president may call the fight just, a protester may argue it is not. But when the talk has passed, the reality of that picture from Arlington remains: In war, soldiers and civilians die. And little boys... fight battles none of us should ever have to face."
One of my first introductions when I moved to Minnesota Public Radio as an editor in 1992, was passing the photo around at a news staff meeting. People looked at me funny, more so than they normally do.
It took many, many years before I was able to find the story of this particular family, the family of Capt. Jonathan "Jack" Edwards, the first Marine killed in the Gulf War of 1991 in Kuwait.
He died 21 years ago today.
His son, Spencer (on the right at age 13), sent me an e-mail today to tell me his family is doing well. His sister, sitting on a lap in the photo, is expecting a baby boy. She'll name him "Jack." Brother Bennett just got engaged and apparently Spencer is about to get married, too, because his soon-to-be father in law stumbled on the NewsCut post (link above) and showed it to him.
"The loss of my father shattered our world and gave us a taste of how unforgiving war is to all," Spencer said in his e-mail, which I hope he doesn't mind me sharing with those of you who've shared this story. "Living in Virginia Beach we are surrounded by a huge military population, and I have seen again and again the effects of war. It never gets easier to swallow. I just wanted to thank you for keeping my father in your heart and mind for so many years. "
When I talked to her a few years ago, Capt. Edwards' mother told me that what the family saw in front of them at Arlington were dozens of photographers invading their grief.
Few photographers show up at Arlington anymore, even though the casualties of war keep arriving. The next will be Will Stacey of Seattle, who was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday. He was the 1,890th to die.
Someone should put his picture in a wallet.
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