Friday, July 1, 2005:<\/b> In this morning’s papers, we read again of local officials asking people to informally not waste water, before conservation steps are ordered. Again, they say there is no shortage, just that it’s summer and yada, yada, yada.<\/p>\n
In previous summers, though, there have been no mummers like this, given when there’s reporters to repeat them to the public.<\/p>\n
Our reporters ask the officials, is there a drought, a shortage?<\/p>\n
The officials emphatically deny there is any problem at all.<\/p>\n
They have taken lessons from the Donald Rumsfeld School of Press Feeding. Rummie’s still getting good results from his non-denials. (And it must be noted that at least 40 years of presidential administrations have used these techniques.)<\/p>\n
The local officials have been pressed a little. The resulting articles in passing explain that first Beaver Lake is in good shape but our growing communities are outgrowing the pipes and other infrastructure to get the water to their spigots. Second, it’s been a dryer spring than usual.<\/p>\n
The non-denials are annoying; there shouldn’t be any problem with stating the pipes are maxing out.<\/p>\n
But a stronger point to this Brick is, ongoing articles spend so much time giving the current pronouncement then a degree of background information, that the “why” essentially gets buried. This is what a column can do better than straight news and better than editorials.<\/p>\n
This subject could be developed into a straight essay, full of comparisons with previous announcements and a look at, say, Southern California. And goodness knows it is ripe for satire. Hose me down with scarce water, it’s so tempting. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Friday, July 1, 2005: In this morning’s papers, we read again of local officials asking people to informally not waste water, before conservation steps are ordered. Again, they say there is no shortage, just that it’s summer and yada, yada, yada. In previous summers, though, there have been no mummers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":399,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/01\/by-george-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":0},"title":"By George, Part I","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"No, not that George, the other one. Not that George, either. It's not fair to say if George Orwell were alive today, he'd be totally yada yada yada on creation science and intelligent design. But what if Orwell actually wrote about the subject, even though those two terms were not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":123,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/08\/go-hogs-quickly\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":1},"title":"Go, Hogs, Quickly","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. PollockSaturday, Aug. 13, 2005: News item: The Razorback football team of the University of Arkansas is ending a decades-old tradition of open practice. Starting this summer, the sessions will be closed to the public in general and the press in particular. If a tree falls in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":156,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/02\/recipe-for-leadership\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":2},"title":"Recipe for leadership","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005. News item: Walter Sheib, White House chef for over a decade, is resigning \"to pursue other opportunities.\" At a period when departing Cabinet officials are being replaced, amid allegations about an administration cooking the books in intelligence and Social Security, now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/koran-in-a-barrel\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":3},"title":"Koran in a barrel","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, May 22, 2005. So ... if the International Red Cross says some Americans in some way desecrated the Koran in front of Iraqis, Afghans or other Muslims (with comparable incidents already reported months ago as part of the Abu Ghraib initial and follow-up reports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2657,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/02\/stances-with-wolves\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":4},"title":"Stances with Wolves","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is my president\u2019s column for the February 2011 edition of the monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists Columnists get labeled as opinionated. This was brought home again after the Tucson shooting. Americans saw on the air and online -- come on, paper? -- as many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/08\/briefing-room-not-brief\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":5},"title":"Briefing Room Not Brief","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The week's least important news: The White House briefing room is being renovated, and the press was run out of it Wednesday, to temporary quarters. 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