Why Counting Alone Is Best
Subject: Overstressing the Overvotes?
Re: " Kausfiles: The Miami Herald Blows Its Pulitzer"
From: Martin Baron, executive editor, Miami Herald
Date: Mon Jan 22 12:17 p.m. PT
Mickey Kaus misinterprets what the Miami Herald has said on the matter of overvotes. The Herald has merely said that overvotes would not be part of the project currently underway with BDO Seidman. We fully understand why others might wish to look at overvotes, and we did not forswear doing so ourselves at some point …
Why didn't we join the consortium? This was a story in our own backyard, and we were ready, willing and fully able to pursue it. ... We felt the need to get started. We didn't, however, feel the need for help from other news organizations on a story in our own state. And we didn't want to get bogged down with cumbersome organizational meetings involving nearly every media group in America.
Subject: Criticism Is Free Speech Too
Re: " Pop: Eminem, Free-Speech Lefty"
From: Benjamin Anderson
Date: Sat Jan 20 11:31 a.m. PT
"Liberal protesters" such as myself have long defended the right of folks from the Commies to the Klan, from the Fugs to Eminem, to speak their minds. However, in doing so, we haven't surrendered the right to condemn the views of a misogynist, homophobic sociopath like Mr. Mathers. Righteous indignation does not a censor make.
[Find this post here.]
Subject: Bare Walls: Naked Power
Re: "Culturebox: The Case Against Meier"
From: Brian
Date: Thu Jan 25 3:31 p.m. PT
No normal human being likes vast, barren spaces or sheer, featureless exteriors. That's why we enjoy filling our homes with plants, paintings, and other decorations. It's why we love to look at the intricate facades of old buildings. It's why the only people who will consent to live in loft apartments are daft college students. But it is the perfect symbol for the overextension of federal power. It seeks to dwarf into insignificance the citizenry that it draws its energy from, and is callously indifferent to its own stated purpose.
[Find this post here.]
Moira Redmond, a former "Fray" editor at Slate, is a freelance writer living in England. You can e-mail her at moirared@hotmail.com.