Train wreck of articles in Saturday's paper
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's 2006-04-29 edition contained articles guaranteed to amaze and insult me. Here are a few of them.
We start with Web offers a new way to needle political foes, a soft-pedalling headline to a story about Governor Christine Gregoire's former campaign spokesman altering Dino Rossi's biography on Wikipedia (the article in question). Nice company Governor Gregoire keeps.
On to Teachers union boosts tax plans, complete with this howler:
The Seattle teachers union will begin gathering signatures today for two property-tax initiatives that aim to raise $40 million a year for Seattle Public Schools.
Supporters say the money from Initiative 87 would be used primarily to reduce class sizes, provide free all-day kindergarten and restore arts and music programs to all schools.
How do you get from collect $40 million more in property taxes to free? If someone had to pay for it, it is not free. What is this, new math?
We land on Woman, 76, sentenced in check scam:
A 76-year-old Bothell woman who pocketed more than $215,000 by cashing her dead mother's pension checks for almost 20 years was sentenced Friday to four months of home detention and must repay the money.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle told Joanne Van Dyke she was also ordering her to serve 50 hours of community service "so you can hold your head high and say 'I gave back.' "
First, this blows apart the "respect your elders" argument. Stealing money for almost 20 years? Wow. And then there is the judge's comment. 50 hours of cushy work (she will not get jail time because of her bad health) to give back - what? Over two hundred thousand dollars? Some amount of money to compensate the government for the auditing and cost of criminal charges and court costs? Of course not, that might damage her self-esteem.
I am holding my head high right now - trying to avoid the stink...
Lastly, the PI's headline writers took the weekend off and Captain Obvious filled in for them: Merchants paying higher gas prices, too. You think?