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News, Spin

Nothing to See Here, Folks. Let’s Move Along

For the sake of our own sanity, let’s turn off the televisions and Internet news, unless viewing them is part of your job or you have a vital direct interest. Check back when facts are firmed up. May I suggest, this being early afternoon, checking the smartphone, tablet or TV set about 4 p.m. If […]

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News, Spin

Pentagon Toilet Seats: Coming to a Head in 2012?

It’s been a lot of years since talk of military excess rose up. Pentagon overspending once was a talking point every bit as common as welfare, Social Security, crime and abortion rights. We know what happened, 9/11. It may not have been that the U.S. military could do no wrong in the eyes of good […]

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News, Spin

The Paper’s Back

The newspaper is here. It’s unopened in its yellow rain bag, middle of the driveway. I’m savoring the moment, the anticipation. Also, I wanted to write my rationale first. This being Northwest Arkansas, it’s really two newspapers bundled. If this was elsewhere in America, it would be one newspaper with a zoned local (or hyperlocal) […]

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News, Spin

It’s Health Care, Still

Today’s Supreme Court decision that affirms most aspects of the 2010 Affordable Care Act has two main positives — besides the obvious, setting up universal, fairly priced health insurance for Americans. The first is more micro: The worker is not as enslaved to his job now. Over the last four or five decades, the main […]

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News, Spin

The Future, Exactly

Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock. “Today is your birthday.” (This is the special section of the Daily Newspaper Horoscope. You remember newspapers — impartial facts, reasoned commentary, comics for the kiddies, and a Zodiac that isn’t truth, comment or let’s face it healthy for children. Now more than ever, Newspapers Are the Future, especially this […]

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News, Spin

It’s Just a Show

Here we are, 2010, a week before the national midterm elections. Where does the president appear to support his party and his policies and other endeavors. Not an interview with Katie, Brian or Diane — or their seconds, even though they’re all trained journalists. He didn’t drop in on Dave or Jay. The prez is […]