Un-fucking-believable, that Joni Balter is. I’m told by journalism insiders that she used to be a young and eager reporter. But with age, and her acceptance into inner-sanctum of the Seattle Times misanthrope society, she has undergone the journalistic equivalent of atherosclerosis that has left her lazy and apathetic. Worse, her written opinions are banal, and lacking substantive intellectual analysis.
Here is a perfect example of lazy and substance-free Balter:
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has got to be joking, but I fear he is not. McGinn actually argues that if only the failed $60 car tab request to voters had been bigger — $80, if only — the poorly hatched plan would have been approved.
No, Joni. That isn’t what he argued. Here are his words:
I wanted a bolder transit package to get rail out to the neighborhoods. The City Council chose to fund a lot of smaller projects. It wasn’t clear to people what they were getting for their money.
Now, look, I am not a Seattle resident and I’m an infrequent consumer of the Seattle Times’ “product” (I mean, unlike Goldy, I hardly ever comment on their editorials…simply because I almost never bother to read their editorials). I don’t really feel compelled to protect McGinn from that fossil we know as the Seattle Times. But Joni’s claim is lazy to the point of being dishonestly misleading. It’s irresponsible.
McGinn was talking about substantive differences, and how voters might perceive a different value in the more extensive package.
Joni refuses to fire her synapses enough to get past the dollar amount.
McGinn is playing chess. Joni is playing checkers tiddelywinks dead.
I think Lazy is the perfect way to describe that. There seems to be a lot of lazy going on these days, the Tacoma paper’s editorial board is the same way and the governors office is rife with it.
Pssst…I found McGinn’s sole transportation plan…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle
@2
If only that were true!
“Joni refuses to fire her syntheses enough to get past the dollar amount.”
Er, shouldn’t that be “synapses”?
Those aren’t firing either.
Roger Rabbit @ 4
“Er, shouldn’t that be “synapses”?”
Yes it should.
Just goes to show…even a sentence “fixed” by a spell-checker can be livelier and more insightful than the prose of Ms. Balter :-)
Balter has entered the smug and self-satisfied phase of early middle age.
She’s just following the example given by most of the media: all elections are either for taxes (and therefore for Democrats), or against taxes (and therefore for Republicans). They don’t know any other dichotamy (sp?).
and neither do 90% of the HA faithful…
Having taken out after me, and then spewed at Joni Balter, ‘suggest you read Tim Egan’s on-line remarks about Mayor McGinn in his New York Times column.
It should be enough for more curses to echo through the echo chamber, and — in terms of targets — to make it a hat trick.
Daryll, you seen to be abandoning logical argument for hissy-fit personal abuse. Sad to see.
10 – Ohhhh… Please.. you of all people should know better…
Remember the commons? the bag tax???
That Egan shows terrible hack tendencies.
@11
We really should have done the Commons, at least we would have got a nice park down the middle of Allentown.
P.S. The Seattle Times was a big Commons booster, something about owning a bunch of nearby property I think.
@10
Actually, what Daryll’s doing is catching Balter in a bald faced lie and calling her on the carpet. Good for him.
Ok, Im sorry, but what is this article about? Im honestly trying to give this website the benefit of a doubt about its content, but where is the information here?
What you have to understand is that there is a difference between providing enlightning information WITH THE INTENTION OF HELPING PEOPLE KNOW THE FACTS and very biased commentary with the intention of force feeding a personal point of view. And there is also a big difference between truley meaningfull information and partisan fluff with some big words scattered around.
Before you even ask what Im refering to, look at this sentence from the above article:
But with age, and her acceptance into inner-sanctum of the Seattle Times misanthrope society, she has undergone the journalistic equivalent of atherosclerosis that has left her lazy and apathetic.
First of all who talks like that? There are 4 or five words in that sentence that nobody uses in there every day life. Theres a reason that people write like that = When people read a sentence like that that they get fixiated on the bigger words and automatically thing the author is very intellegent, which give the author some leway that he-she wouldnt have otherwise. Instead of reading through the article and searching for the facts and searching for knowledge, a lot of readers automatically revert into a more passive role and instead of searching for facts they subconciencely let the authors views inside of them. Now just to be clear Im not saying that is necessarily what THIS author is trying to do, but it is what a lot of writers SIMILAR to this author do.
Anyway thats all I want to say. And before anybody points out that “this is a liberal website and it has a “liberal point of view” for the twenty millionth time, let me just say I KNOW THAT. All Im trying to do is just be a friendly reminder that it is very important this day in age to be sure that at least some helpful facts and information are included in your articles. I understand that everybody has a political point of view and that this website has a liberal point of view, but please please please make sure there are good hard facts in the articles so people can decide things for themselves.
Shorter @14…
I’m stupid and I don’t know how to find an online dictionary.
14 – Are you for real???
Uhh.. Darry wrote that and it’s intended to be READ… I repeat READ..
No, not spoken aloud.. READ…
Can you READ??? At college level?? Darryl is a college professor after all..
Apparently NOT! Because Darryl presented what Joni Balter wrote and it totally makes up shit about what Mayor McGinn actually said.
So sue Darryl for holding Joni Balter to a halfway decent standard.
Get a grip man!
And another thing this is a BLOG.. as in WEB LOG.. The bloggers are folks from different walks of life commenting on the news, things they read, whatever catches their attention.
It’s NOT a newspaper or a magazine with highly paid professional journalists writing the entries.
It’s like the blogger’s diary of sorts. And we in the comment threads are fellow travelers. It’s either your cup of tea or it isn’t. You decide.
Just to be clear I did NOT say that I didnt understand the words the author was using. What I said is that there are words that are much more commonly used in daily American life that could have been used to get the same point accross. The point I was trying to make (which with all due respect YOU would have understood if YOU would have read it) is that sometimes authors use overly complex words as a way to distract readers from a lack of substancial and informative information. And like I even said in the message I wrote earlier… I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LIBERAL WEBSITE. Please stop pointing that out to me because it wastes my time and yours. The point I have been trying to make over and over and over again is that you can still be a website with a policical point of view AND still provide readers with informative facts and information so they can make up there own minds instead of just being fed your views or somebody elses view. I am not criticizing this website for being for there point of view. In fact I commend the author on this website to a certain degree because he-she openly states that it is a liberal website. I can respect that. What I have a hard time with is when there are virtually no substancial facts in the articles I have read on here so far, and yet the articles are being written in a manor that people who are not familiar with the website coud mistake them for facts. Do you see what I mean? And like I mentioned to you last night, there are actual news articles that link directly to this website, so it would be easy for somebody to mistake this website for a news website. Because of that (whether you like it or not) you do have a certain level of responsibility to the people as a whole to provide at least SOME actual facts and help people who are maybe on the fence make some decisions on there own.
Anyway Im not here to ruffle anybodys feathers, I just want to point out the things that I am seeing. Thank you
To #15: Yep you sure seem to be.
Uhh. It seems you’re accusing me of haranguing you about the liberal viewpoints here.
Again you’re reading challenged. I did nothing of the kind.
I said this is a WEB LOG… BLOG for short.. Ok?
A bit less formal than a newspaper or magazine ok? Maybe you know this, maybe you don’t. From my perspective your expectations seem totally out of joint with what the bloggers do here.
and AGAIN…
Darryl presented two “facts”..
What Joni Balter wrote and what Mayor McGinn said.
Anyone with average intelligence can see that Balter was scribbling a distorted picture of what Mayor McGinn said..
And anyone who’s been paying attention can then confirm that Balter is a sloppy writer who is part and parcel of the Seattle Times’ seemingly inexorable decline.
In nearly twenty years of living in Seattle, I’ve never taken the Times and as long as the Blethen family has anything to do with that fish wrapper, I’m not about to start.
Joel @ 10,
“Having taken out after me”
Oh?!? I don’t recall going after you recently.
“and then spewed at Joni Balter”
…which I rarely do, although should probably do more.
“suggest you read Tim Egan’s on-line remarks about Mayor McGinn in his New York Times column.”
Thanks…I’ll look into that!
“It should be enough for more curses to echo through the echo chamber, and — in terms of targets — to make it a hat trick.”
…or not, since (1) that would only make two targets, and (2) I don’t feel any particular compulsion to defend your Mayor (and I have no track record of doing so).
“Daryll, you seen to be abandoning logical argument for hissy-fit personal abuse. Sad to see.”
Thanks, Joel, I appreciate your concern. But I’ve certainly not abandoned the use of logical argument. This is a blog. I post here as a hobby in my spare time. Sometimes I choose to employ logic (or even objective statistical analyses). Sometime I just feel the need to get something off my chest and rant.
Using one technique doesn’t make the other unavailable.
To #20: I dont appreciate the overly sarcastic tone of your messages. And all the insenuations that I lack the intelligence that you have are very disrespectful and just plain incorrect. I am actually quite sucessful and quite intelligent. I dont really understand why your so angry but I can at least rest assured in knowing that it probally has something to do with something other then me. Just please dont assume that somebody with a different viewpoint then you have is an idiot. And just because I dont intentionally use unnecessarily big words to get my point accross doesnt mean that I dont know what they mean and it also doenst mean that I couldnt use the same words if I wanted to. I just prefer to talk like the typical American that I am. Your hostility to me just comes accross as being angry and snobbish. Even though I can almost guarantee that I make more money then you do. Im not saying that thats important. I just want to point out that if anyone in this conversation has a right to be acting like a snob it is me.
Going back to my original concern with the lack of information and facts in this artical, a lot of what is written is hearsay. That is one place that the liberal bend of this website does bother me a little. Whenever the author quotes a conservative he says “she wrote” (or something along those lines). But when he talks about the liberal in this article it is always something that “he said“, and therefor is unsubtantiated incomplete reporting.
I am an intelligent independant minded person and I like to sort out the facts of partiular situations on my own. But its difficult to do that when I am not given facts… just the opinion of one far left person. It is just very dissappointing for somebody in my position. That is my only complaint here. Nothing to get bent out of shape over.
22 – Oh my! I’m so flattered you’re really really trying to wear me out with “insinuations” about my income level.. and your “right” to act like a snob. That’s rich indeed.
Right wingers do that a lot here I find.
Clue: it ain’t working… Shit like that isn’t ever going to work ok?
AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN….
This is a blog post written by one guy out there. Not an “article” by a professional journalist submitted to his editor to give some extra polish for your standards.
This is a soapbox. Free speech. Raw. Unhindered.
An intelligent person should know that right off the bat..
Take it or leave it.
And you are given facts and you’re too blind to see them. You’re willfully blind it seems.
It’s also hilarious that you find Joni Balter a “conservative”. Go to a right wing blog and she’s practically a communist. No skippy she’s merely a hack writer who toes the line to a great degree in the editorial board room at the Times which these days happens to be quite right wing leaning.
You also seem a bit confused. This blog assumes you have some knowledge of the local lay of the land. If you’re an out-of-towner then you can do a lot better than hang out here.
Whatever.. If you’re inclined to hang out prepare to be educated. It’s the school of hard knocks here.
First of all who talks like that? There are 4 or five words in that sentence that nobody uses in there every day life.
People who enjoy reading would. I agree it’s a complex sentence. It’s like listening to dennis miller or reading Shakespeare. It’s fun to figure out the context dense wording.
————-
Darryl defined his position: What Balter wrote was misleading.
Then, he posted a link to what Balter wrote.
Then, he posted a link to what McGinn ACTUALLY said.
Then, after linking to the facts, he imagined WHY she lied.
This Dennis Miller???
What an ignorant lout. Watching that, I can’t help but conclude that this mentality really appeals to a sizable audience in this country.
Party’n dude does seem to be earnestly trying to do some meta on Darryl’s post – commenting on methods of persuasion related to diction and writing style – though his analysis is sorta, um… rudimentary? no… uh, superficial?, mmm, not quite right…sophomoric? yup, certainly…unsophisticated? that, too. I do give him credit for trying, though.
Arguing against using ‘big words’ in one’s posts, and, later, that you’re wealthy but not a snob, are not likely to be very effective tactics of persuasion around here.
Hey, welcome to the melee – I think we’d all like an intelligent, engaged, thoughtful voice from the right – arguing is fun! Most of the rightward posters around here are idiots, fascists, and/or bible-thumping young-earth cretins – so if you can really engage in substantive discourse, well-reasoned argument, thoughtful, passionate defense of your views – more power to you! Be prepared to be smacked around, however, because you’ll likely often be wrong, and we’ll not hesitate to tell you so.
As Blue John immediately above @24 points out – Darryl engaged in a well-accepted writing form for a blog – he lays out the points one-by-one above – pretty straightforward. I think these are more akin to an opinion piece on an op-ed page – the starting point is some set of contemporaneous facts or observations, which then riffs into opinion and analysis, followed by a thread of ‘amens’ or poo-flinging, or usually some amalgam of the two, from the great unwashed in the peanut gallery.
As most of your posts have been complaints about form – how about commenting on substance? That’s where the fun is!
@25
dennis miller is light years over your head.
partyn hard, you have to understand a few things: ylb pink troll guy, and his boy-toy lee rujax! rosenberg, are at that “below” mediocre position in society. Their anger and obtuseness is a result of jealousy, and a general feeling of failure in life.
You kinda have to get used to it…in fact, once you realize what a pair of sad-sacks these two are, its entertaining to pull their strings and watch them jump.
YOu have to understand that these two are in that stage of realization that their lives just didnt pan out they way they hoped things would…and for some people that is a hard pill to swallow.
YLB, just stay in your basement and be a good little(overweight) boy. You are like darwhyle – neither of you can handle the real world, and thats what makes you scared to venture out into the real world.
rujax is..well he is just rujax. An angry little loser who occupies the lowest rung on the HA ladder….I mean seriously, this loser has blog about people blogging on a blog. Who does that kind of stuff?
Lifes failures have truly made him an angry little man…but he’s fun as shit when you pull on his puppet strings and make him flop around like a carp on the beach.
there are some decent people here..but those two losers are just here to occupy space..kind of like in the real world.
Play a little Dennis Miller and his audience appears right on cue.
Hey I give Miller some credit for reigning in a audience. There’s an oversupply of cretins in the world and he makes a decent living it seems appealing to them.
Let’s see – he condemns moderate muslims for not reigning in the radicals and forgets that most violence in the muslim world is between islamic factions, very little is the al Qaeda type directed outside of Islam.
What else? Oh yeah! He says that louts like him don’t care for the guy trying to put a muslim prayer room (like the one in the Pentagon) near the WTC site but conveniently forgets that the same guy has appeared on the same stage as his beloved George W. Bush and went out on PR tours of sorts on his administration’s dime.
A lousy comedian appealing to cretins..
So flattered that you just can’t get Rujax and I out of your pin head.. And you just can’t stop barking orders like the tinpot wannabe dictator you are.
I gotta give props to rujax – you seem to be really really obsessed with him.
Carry on Mr. iranian oil.
Well those people don’t get out as much as they should. It should be OBVIOUS to anyone after at most a couple of readings that this is not a news site, it’s an opinion site.
Occasionally bloggers do dig up some original stories on their own as David Goldstein the founder of this site did from time to time but most blogs are soapboxes.
Thank you to all the veterans out there…
30 – You’re thanking Roger Rabbit??
Miracles never cease.
LMAO! I assume you mean Darryl. A tenured professor with busy teaching and research schedules, presenting papers at conferences and blogging in his spare time.
Last I looked he also plays the bass guitar, is a licensed pilot and building his own airplane.
Darryl is as out and about there as anyone could be.
It’s you who is so stuck up his own asshole.
re 18: ‘lack of substancial (sick … heh) and informative information.’
re 18: ‘…informative information.’
I can see you did no unwarranted reaching for a word that might have appeared less redundant and therefore less ridiculous. Congratulations on being a man of your word.
Interestingly enough, I could not find a more capacious or abstruse synonym for the word ‘word’. Can you?
re 30: Jimi Hendrix was a paratrooper and John Fogerty also served honorably. Hendrix was also in favor of the Vietnam war, but he later changed his tune.
re 32: That’s nothing. I’m painting the guestroom and thinking about relearning The Seeds version of Hey Joe.
Someone actually bothered to read the drivel posted @18?
To #34: The words Informative and Information have two different deffinitions, so my sentence makes perfect sense. Are you making a big deal out of it because they look similar? LOL! Im sorry that I dont have time to pull out a thesauras every time I have two words that look similar in the same sentence. Everybody keeps talking about how this is an “informal” website that shouldnt be judged by its content, and yet you honestly expect me to stop and look up a synanym for a word that might look redundant in a particular sentence. Do you even see the hypacricy in that? Unreal.