The second favorite word in the handbook of Daily Astorian typesetters, right behind "grassroots" as many can attest, is shenanigans. Everyone, according to the paper, is up to shenanigans, and the word must be used in a minimum of a half dozen stories a day.
It is a convenient word, since to most it just means "up to something" and after all, isn't everyone "up to something"? Doesn't news sell better if the reader gets the inside on what those "shenanigans" are? Does it matter to anyone that the shenanigans usually end up being nothing? Is there a breaking point when people say, "enough" and is the paper prodding until that point is found?
Amusingly, earlier this summer the self-righteous editor of the paper wrote an editorial criticizing people who turn to blogs for their news. According to Webb, bloggers don't have fact checkers, such as himself, to hold accountable for the content of what they publish.
Hold themselves accountable? Fact checker? Shenanigans!!! Does he recall that word? A word that his reporter, in his newspaper, supposedly quoted one Eric Schmidt of saying in reference to our board of county commissioners. A word Eric Schmidt, with the Association of Oregon Counties, vehemently denied using and which the Daily Astorian, finally and with great reluctance, buried a retraction deep on a back page. Maybe those aren't the kind of "facts" Webb bothers himself with.
Does his boss do any better? According to a port commissioner Forrester supposedly found out, through his reliable sources and connections, that NOAA would never leave Seattle and that the port should quit throwing good money down the drain chasing a pipe dream.
Relying on the newspaperman's expertise for digging up the "truth" doing his homework and all his "fact checking" CEDR recommended to the port to back off going after the NOAA contract. After sinking $35,000 or so in consultant fees to get the project off the ground the port dropped the idea of bringing the NOAA fleet to Astoria, how can you fight with reason? If NOAA will never leave the taxpayer is going to be plenty pissed at seeing all that money spent.
And then the contract goes to Newport! Opportunity sails right past the mouth of the Columbia River, once again. Now where's the shout of SHENANIGANS? Oh the paper shouts it! Shenanigans, look over there! It was the county board that lost the NOAA deal, and mostly just the commissioners who are looking at a recall. Shenanigans! Look over there at NOHA and lets blame that on a commissioner! Shenanigans! One of the commissioners is challenging the petitioners on her recall. Oh, damn, they can only get a picture of her sitting on a bench and talking to people when they come up to her.
BUT WHERE'S THE REAL SHENANIGANS??? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when a newspaper editor and publisher lies to keep a fleet out of the town, in fear that it might bring in another daily paper? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when the same man continues to lie to his readers to keep out any industry that may allow the area to grow and prosper?
Can one man be so petty and small to keep a region destitute solely so he can maintain his own sense power? Maybe, for once, his shenanigans have gone too far and given the choice of his paper of lies or no paper at all people will choose: no news is good news.
It is a convenient word, since to most it just means "up to something" and after all, isn't everyone "up to something"? Doesn't news sell better if the reader gets the inside on what those "shenanigans" are? Does it matter to anyone that the shenanigans usually end up being nothing? Is there a breaking point when people say, "enough" and is the paper prodding until that point is found?
Amusingly, earlier this summer the self-righteous editor of the paper wrote an editorial criticizing people who turn to blogs for their news. According to Webb, bloggers don't have fact checkers, such as himself, to hold accountable for the content of what they publish.
Hold themselves accountable? Fact checker? Shenanigans!!! Does he recall that word? A word that his reporter, in his newspaper, supposedly quoted one Eric Schmidt of saying in reference to our board of county commissioners. A word Eric Schmidt, with the Association of Oregon Counties, vehemently denied using and which the Daily Astorian, finally and with great reluctance, buried a retraction deep on a back page. Maybe those aren't the kind of "facts" Webb bothers himself with.
Does his boss do any better? According to a port commissioner Forrester supposedly found out, through his reliable sources and connections, that NOAA would never leave Seattle and that the port should quit throwing good money down the drain chasing a pipe dream.
Relying on the newspaperman's expertise for digging up the "truth" doing his homework and all his "fact checking" CEDR recommended to the port to back off going after the NOAA contract. After sinking $35,000 or so in consultant fees to get the project off the ground the port dropped the idea of bringing the NOAA fleet to Astoria, how can you fight with reason? If NOAA will never leave the taxpayer is going to be plenty pissed at seeing all that money spent.
And then the contract goes to Newport! Opportunity sails right past the mouth of the Columbia River, once again. Now where's the shout of SHENANIGANS? Oh the paper shouts it! Shenanigans, look over there! It was the county board that lost the NOAA deal, and mostly just the commissioners who are looking at a recall. Shenanigans! Look over there at NOHA and lets blame that on a commissioner! Shenanigans! One of the commissioners is challenging the petitioners on her recall. Oh, damn, they can only get a picture of her sitting on a bench and talking to people when they come up to her.
BUT WHERE'S THE REAL SHENANIGANS??? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when a newspaper editor and publisher lies to keep a fleet out of the town, in fear that it might bring in another daily paper? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when the same man continues to lie to his readers to keep out any industry that may allow the area to grow and prosper?
Can one man be so petty and small to keep a region destitute solely so he can maintain his own sense power? Maybe, for once, his shenanigans have gone too far and given the choice of his paper of lies or no paper at all people will choose: no news is good news.
11 comments:
There can't be shenanigans without mayhem!
You think the people are mad at the port now? wait until Oregon Lng starts suit. The commission has no clue what it is in for.
Doesn't anyone stop to wonder why all the outrage against Calpine suddenly died out long about '04-'05 and resurged against Bradwood? Where were the recalls against the Warrenton city council? Why didn't Jim Scheller, or any of that crowd, challenge ANY of the Warrenton city council members. ALL of them ran unopposed! Why was the outrage against the port for supposedly supporting LNG barely visible from CRK & the Sierra Club? All over the internet in all of their forums and website nasty, nasty letters and posts regarding the heinous actions of the dirty, conniving, supposed behind the doors actions of the county commission. Nary a word about the Warrenton City Council or the Port.
Doesn't that make ANYONE say, "Hmmm, what's up with that?"
I've noticed twice now, in Stevie's op-ed, he mentions salmon spawning grounds around Bradwood. What a crock, he knows better, but he still trys to influence the newbies that don't know better.
Here we are in pretty desperate times salmon wise, and with state operated hatcheries being closed down or operations being drastically curtailed and there is a privately owned corporation willing to plug 50 million dollars into a salmon enhancement plan, so Bradwood will actually BE a spawning ground for salmon and people are AGAINST that?
Hell yeah, environmentalists are against it. They are the same ones who want to close down gillnetting on the Columbia and the fishermen that are buying into the claims of the enviro liar groups think they are buying themselves time. They are shooting themselves in the foot, and stripping the future of commercial fishing on the Columbia away from the next generation.
Rohn says he is protecting the future of fishing and the "traditional" fishing with his vote! He is either a liar or ignorant. Neither should be tolerated as a judge of land use issues. Not a SINGLE fisherman provided ANY proof that his family has "traditionally" fished the Clifton channel. Why? Because it has changed substantially over the past 30-50 years since they have been dumping dredge spoils there.
The Board is a court! Rohn didn't base his vote on FACTS, he went with the crowd emotion, which means he cannot be relied on to give fair and impartial judgment. He should recuse himself until he learns that being a Commissioner for the Board is entirely different then sitting on a school board. He is CLUELESS and the paper aids & abets his ignorance to the detriment of the county he has sworn to protect.
I gotta admit, every time the paper screams "shenanigans" the episode shown here of South Park runs in my head.
I gotta go get my broom!
Ya, good episode. Cows join a cult and all die. Town folk all dressed in green. So much symbolism, goes right with what's going on here. haha! Grab the brooms!
The Port Commission did the right thing and their attorneys should be going after OLNG.
If OLNG wants to come in here they should be treating the Port like a great partner, not an adversary.
EVERYWHERE else LNG corporations are willing to pay a half million to one and a half million dollars to rent the property.
If OLNG can't come up with that and is unwilling to even have volunteered that amount then it says they can't afford it, they are already in trouble.
The time to ask for a million dollars is before you sign a lease. Not after. A deal is a deal until it's proven null and void for some reason and Lord help the fool that thinks he can weasel out of it just because he comes to the realization that the cards should have been played differently.
How is it that you "prove" its null and void, Patrick? Maybe you get more than one lawyer's opinion? Maybe it goes in front of a judge?
Either way, someone who wants to be a good neighbor doesn't wait for it to go before a judge, they take care of the problem when they first notice it. OLNG isn't a good neighbor. If OLNG want people to stand up against the loonies for it, then it better come to the plate with a better plan than hoping for a walk.
As it sits now, OLNG takes this to court stating it is loosing investors because of site control the Port merely has to show how many others are already claiming, in writing, to FERC that OLNG doesn't have site control, people are already arguing that DSL has no right to lease lands it doesn't own.
You don't think the Port would/should get a better deal if it is the landlord rather than the subleasor? You don't think a judge isn't going to look at all of it and see the whole land issue on Skipanon is a mess and has been for quite a long time and OLNG either knew it or should have known it going into the deal?
Um, yeah. IF this goes to court it will show OLNG as idiots. They should back off NOW, take a minor hit and start paying for playing. Port of Astoria, that's US folks, deserves a minimum of 1/2 mil rent starting PRONTO.
If the enviros don't like that they can bring in an industry to match it.
GET off yer wallet, Hansen, cough up the money!
Shenanigans! So it was Forester that told Hauke & Smiles to back off of NOAA? 1) And if they didn't he would have made a mockery of anything CEDR tried to do to promote it, undermining their efforts 2) And because they did he can blame the loss of NOAA on the county commissioners or port or a combination of both!
WOW! And he wonders why no one wants to invite him to coffee discussions anymore? Cause he is a liar that manipulates local affairs not only to his benefit (don't we all try to do that) but to the EXCLUSION of what is in the best interests of the area at large.
BIG difference between people from here, who call this place home, and people who live here and call this place their playground. Forrester is not a local. He has no respect for this area and has always used Astoria as his pissing pool. He always will.
His misleading CEDR on NOAA is just one more glaring example of his not giving a damn about the environment of mistrust he breeds in this town.
The last few days proves the old pattern of the Daily setting out to destroy people is all to familiar...people have got to be getting tired of this routine, I bought a paper yesterday...what a waste of 75 cents....pathetic!
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