Yet One More Fort Worth Star-Telegram Basher

Currently 65% of my thousands of readers want me to continue bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Lord knows it deserves it. And Lord knows I love to be obliging. But sometimes I am just not able to muster a good healthy level of umbrage over things that are very umbrage-worthy.

So, today I will use a Guest Star-Telegram Basher. Before I get to that, I must tell you that awhile back the Startlegram (misspelling intended, that's what locals often call this paper) had a makeover to supposedly improve the paper's readability. This changed the look of the paper and made it more in line with its content. As in it now it both looks and reads like a very small town newspaper, not the newspaper of record of a city of almost 700,000 people.

And then a few months ago, as the Startlegram continued to bleed money, and lose subscribers, they did a cost cutting move. They cut back on features, axed columns and fired employees, including their liaison with their readers, David House. These moves made the paper even thinner and even faster to read. As in there is much less to read.

And so, in today's Startlegram, in a Letter to the Editor, a reader from Arlington voiced his disdain regarding the Startlegram's plummeting quality.

Here is that letter-----

Voice of Reason Lost

I think the Star-Telegram has a death wish.

First, the management dumbed down and tarted up the format so that it looks like the My Weekly Reader that I read in elementary school.

Then, in an apparent effort to attract young readers, it emasculated the opinions section and changed another section heading from “Business” to “Work and Money.” Why not change from “Sports” to “Fun and Games”?

I find myself more and more reading opinions on The New York Times’ Web site. I didn’t think of doing that before the “new and improved” Star-Telegram debuted.

You’ve offended serious readers and haven’t attracted new, young readers. So what do you do when circulation nose-dives? Cut payroll costs.

This resulted in the final blow to mature, serious readers: Management, in an effort to appease the bean-counters, terminated several senior staff members, notably ombudsman David House.

David was a loyal supporter of the Star-Telegram. I had many conversations with him about the direction that the paper was taking, and he always defended management’s decisions. Too bad the loyalty didn’t cut both ways.

His was a voice of reason and one to whom many readers expressed their concerns. He was a good reader advocate and will be sorely missed by readers who actually read the paper.

— Brian Fels, Arlington

David Cook Wins American Idol

It is late. I am seeing if I can semi-coherently do this blogging thing when it's bedtime. Likely not.

So, despite earlier saying I was not going to watch the finale of American Idol, I did catch the last 5 minutes.

One of the reasons I wasn't interested in watching was the so over the top pimping of the little high school David guy, last name Archeletta. On Tuesday the judges made it seem like the other David, Cook, was doggy doo-doo. And that Archeletta was a shoo-in. That seemed the consensus everywhere.

I remember thinking if there is any sense of good ol' American Justice in the viewing public this should piss them off and those fools who actually vote will vote for the Cook option. Cook is the one I earlier said, early on in the season, that he reminded me of one of my runty, ugly cousins.

And it's not just me who, early on, did not see anything positive about David Cook. That obnoxious, though amusing, Brit, Simon Cowell, early on told the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin, that he had no charisma.

Well, the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin is the winner, by millions of those pseudo votes which determine the winner, you know, votes where people can vote over and over again.

David Archelleta seemed to take the loss well. His dad, not so well.

Dallas Cowboy Scandal Feedback

A week or so I YouTubed a video of the current state of the Dallas Cowboy stadium construction, interspersed with photos of the rubble of all the homes, apartments and businesses destroyed by Jerry Jones and the City of Arlington's Bulldozer Blitzkrieg in the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

YouTube lets viewers make comments about the videos. The Dallas Cowboy Stadium video has gotten several. I'll share a few and stick the video in question down below.

COMMENT #1
"Corporate greed eh? do you have any idea how much revinue is going to be brought in the entire region by that stadium? can you even comprehend the economic impact to the town? You are a propagnda extremist and not very well educated."

(Is this a Canadian I can't help but wonder? What with that "eh?" at the end of his first sentence. I've been bitch slapped by a Canadian? That hurts. The poor Cheesehead seems unaware that the existing Cowboy stadium, in Irving, has not brought any great impact to that town. The area around the current Cowboy stadium is pretty much devoid of development. This person is right about one thing though, as in it is pretty obvious I am not very well educated.)

COMMENT #2 (responding to the Canadian's comment)
"I'd guess this spelling/grammar challenged fool, with a simplistic concept of the economic impact of a football stadium, has been told many a time that he/she is not very well educated. Or just plain stupid."

COMMENT #3
"I'm as disgusted as you are about what was done in Arlington to get the Cowboys a new stadium. Don't these morons realize this isn't how this type thing is done in the rest of the country? Eminent domain exists so that the public can take private land for the public good. Like roads, hospitals and schools. Not for football stadiums. A person should be secure in their home and should be removed from their home for only the best of reasons."

COMMENT #4 (from one of Jerry Jones' victims)
"Thank you for this. My family were among the Dallas Cowboy's and Jerry Jones victims. We were forced out of our home of over 25 years. I will never forgive or forget this. A stadium could have been built without doing this to people. There is plenty of open land in Arlington. The shame of this will forever stain the town of Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys with Jerry Jones answering to God, in the unlikely chance that that it is to heaven he is going when he dies."

Hamilton Jordan, Ted Kennedy, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars & Hillary

Once again this morning I was freshly reminded that I am old. I was surprised to learn Jimmy Carter's chief of staff and long time aide, Hamilton Jordan, was dead after a long battle against lymphoma and prostate cancer. He was 63.

When Hamilton Jordan was in the national spotlight he was a young guy, in his early 30s, which is how I still remembered him. The Carter years don't seem all that long ago. But they were.

And then we have Ted Kennedy's Saturday's hospitalization for a suspected stroke turn into him having the worst type of brain cancer, that being malignant glioma, with a very bleak prognosis and limited treatment options. Some are lamenting this being the latest case of the Kennedy curse. I think not. Teddy Kennedy has lived a long life. It is a sad thing though. I hope he bucks the odds.

Moving to the frivolous. Last night I managed to watch pretty much the entire hour of the American Idol semi-finale. I don't care who wins, either David, Archeletta or Cook. I don't think I can make it through the 2 hour finale tonight. I don't think I could make it through it even if I cared who won. Or if I thought it mattered.

Kristi Yamaguchi won Dancing with the Stars last night. I did not watch it, though I sort of like that show. I like watching people do something that I'm pretty sure I could not do, no matter how much training or practice I put in. But there was no way I was going to watch that show's inflated 2 hour finale.

Moving from the ridiculous to the semi-sublime. Hillary beat Obama badly in Kentucky. While Obama beat Hillary not so badly in Oregon. Obama is very near having enough delegates to win the nomination, needing about 77 more. Hillary vowed last night to continue til every possible voter, of the remaining few, has the chance to vote for her.

I wish Hillary as good a luck as she deserves. Same to Ted Kennedy. Lesser so to the 2 finalists on American Idol, I just don't care this year. Did I care other years? I don't remember.

The Bachelorette 4: Ugh

No. That is not me surrounded by a bevy of beauties. It's someone named Brad Womack. I learned of Brad Womack last night when I lasted about 20 minutes into ABC's The Bachelorette 4.

Apparently Brad Womack is the only bachelor on one of the Bachelor shows to reject all the women. Of his rejectees, the last one rejected, was DeAnna Pappas. In 6 short weeks, with cameras running, and relatively little time together, she'd decided she was madly in love with this Womack guy. And ready to marry him.

Last night it seemed to me that Brad Womack was made out to be some sort of Bad Man who'd broken not only DeAnna's heart, but the hearts of her family and friends and also all of America. I mean those few in America who watched. Now, to me, this Womack guy is the most sane person to have been on one of these type shows. I mean, if after only 6 weeks I had some woman, I barely knew, professing her crazy love for me, and desire to marry me, I'd search for the nearest hill to run to.

Poor DeAnna is sure she is going to find true love. Again. In six weeks. Because this time she is in charge.

You may remember that yesterday we learned that this show is loaded with Texans. Thus giving us in Texas a reason to watch. Well, before I bailed, it appeared to me that the Texas connections were ringers for an early boot. As in they seemed to have some serious personality issues. The Texans were not alone in that regard.

I hope DeAnna does not get her heart broken again. Although, apparently that makes for good television. I won't be watching.

Carrot Top

Some well meaning, I am sure, but, in reality, very rude person, sent me these two photos of the comedian known as Carrot Top.

The accompanying note said I was to take these photos as a cautionary warning as to what will happen to me if I don't stop with the heavy duty workouts and the muscle building steroids.

In the photo on the right it appears Carrot Top is using eye liner. It's been decades since I've used eye liner. And my hair has never been red. And I don't do heavy duty workouts or use steroids.

I take it as some sort of backhanded compliment that my rude correspondent assumed I did. I guess.

World's Tallest Cow? In Texas?

A couple days ago I blogged about the Tallest Cow in the World. Well, actually, I later learned it wasn't a cow, but a steer. Apparently a steer has never been a cow, but is instead a bull who has lost some important body parts.

The supposed, not yet confirmed by Guinness, Tallest Cow is in Britain.

As the Whole World knows everything is Bigger in Texas and that Texans are prone to spinning Tall Tales, so it just seemed to me that there had to be a creature of the bovine persuasion, in Texas, taller than 6 foot 6.

So. Sunday I was up at Lake Grapevine, hiking the Knob Hills Trail. A herd of longhorns roams free in that area. They are friendly beasts, though they look dangerous.

One of the longhorns looked rather tall to me. I had no measuring stick with me. I don't know if the longhorn was a cow, bull or steer. I did not get a good look at its backside.

As you can see, from the photo above, the longhorn appears to be about a foot taller than me. That'd make it about 7 feet tall, 8 feet tall if you consider the horns.

Do I need to contact the Guinness people?

ABC's The Bachelorette 4 & Texas

Go here for this morning's blogging about last night's Bachelorette final episode.

I admit that I do enjoy some of the reality shows. My favorite is Amazing Race. My least favorite of the genre is the bizarre find a mate reality shows. The first of that type, I believe, was ABC's The Bachelor. I did not watch it.

I believe one of the girls who got rejected from the first Bachelor then became The Bachelorette. That lucky bachelorette's name is Trista. She picked her bachelor and became one of the few to actually move on to getting married and having a baby. Usually the relationships on these shows is over by the time the show airs.

The Bachelor format has become a sort of plague on TV. There is currently one on the CW Network where a lonely farmer can't find a wife and so he somehow ended up on a show called The Farmer Wants a Wife. I've not watched it.

VH1 has had at least 3 of these find a mate shows. VH1's are particularly twisted. One is called Flavor of Love. It is currently running. I don't know, or care, if it's a fresh look for love. Or a re-run. Flavor of Love's love seeker is this guy I'd not heard of before, a rapper, named Flavor Flav. He'd been on The Surreal Live where he struck up a romance with Sylvester Stallone's ex, Brigitte Nielson. She and Flavor Flav then got their own reality show that was all about their disturbing romance. Brigitte Nielson has since been on yet another VH1 reality show all about celebs in rehab. Apparently Flavor Flav drove her to drink.

One of the rejects on the first Flavor of Love was this awful woman named Tiffany Pollard who called herself New York. She then got her own VH1 find a mate show called I Love New York. The first season's search for a mate ended badly, so there was a season two in which New York found true love with a guy she called Tailor Made. I thought this would surely lead to a follow up show called Tailor Made for New York. But, instead, season 3 will be called New York Goes to Hollywood. I don't know if she goes to Hollywood with Tailor Made.

There have been other meet a mate shows that follow the ABC formula, like a couple of Joe Millionaires, a couple seasons of one called Love or Money. I'm sure there are others that I don't know about or have forgotten.

The only other find a mate reality show I can think of is also on VH1. And it's the worst. Bret Michael's Rock of Love. There have been 2 seasons of this over the hill rocker's search for a good groupie. This one so appalls me I've blogged about it before.

Slight change of subject. I learned of the new Bachelorette show, starting up tonight, when I read this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The paper today managed to mention CBS news guy, Bob Schieffer, without telling us yet one more time that he grew up in Fort Worth, graduated from North Side High School and Texas Christian University. Or that he was born in Austin.

However, in the article about The Bachelorette it's all about the Texas connections. I'll copy it below for your amusement.

"Bachelor also-ran DeAnna Pappas returns, and this time it's her turn to do the choosing. Big North Texas contingent: Brian W., a high school football coach from Fort Worth (he's one of two Brian W.'s---bet that's confusing): Chris, who's in medical sales and is from Fort Worth and lives in Dallas; and Twilley, a debt manager who hails from Tulsa and lives in Dallas. And host Chris Harrison is from Dallas. Sheesh, I might actually have to watch this..."

Sheesh is right.

Newspaper Content, Bias and Credibility

No. Even though 65% of my thousands of readers are currently wanting me to keep bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this isn't totally about that. Sadly, I saw nothing in this week's Sunday Star-Telegram that annoyed me, other than it being the smallest Sunday paper I've ever seen. But that's the case every week.

So, yesterday I came upon a website called Mondo Newspapers that covers the top 100 American newspapers in depth, based on readership data from the Newspaper Association of America. The order on the list is determined by circulation. This, unfortunately, made USA Today the #1 paper in America.

#2 is the Wall Street Journal with a circulation of 5,147,565 with its content rated very good, its political bias leaning right and its credibility high.

The Dallas Morning News is #12 with a circulation of 1,086,383 with its content rated very good, it's political bias leaning left and its credibility rated high.

Meanwhile on the west side of the D/FW Metroplex the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is #45 with a circulation of 532,774 with its content rated average, its political bias liberal and its credibility moderate. I would have rated its credibility low, but what do I know?

Seattle has 2 major papers, the Seattle Times is #39 with a circulation of 564,028, with its content rated average, its political bias leaning left and its credibility moderate. Just like the Star-Telegram. However, the Seattle P-I, #41 with a circulation of 428,245 is also rated average for content, with a left leaning political bias, with the P-I's credibility rated high. Unlike the Star-Telegram.

Seattle's population is a bit over 500,000 in a metro area of about 2.5 million. Seattle's 2 papers have a combined circulation of 992,273. Fort Worth has a population of about 670,000 in a metro area of about 6 million. Yet the Star-Telegram only circulates 532,774 papers daily. I don't know what to conclude from this, but I do remember Seattle being named as having America's highest number of book buyers and library users. So, maybe more people know how to read up there and so the town is able to support 2 major newspapers.

I won't bore you any more than I already have by listing the stats for more newspapers. Suffice to say there are other newspapers besides the Seattle P-I, Dallas Morning News and WS Journal who rank high for credibility. That quality is also shared by the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and others I'm sure. I'm too lazy to look at each of the 100 on the list.

Men Who Look Like Lesbians

This morning I looked at Google's Hot Trends list. The Hot Trends is what people are searching for. One of the Top 100 was "Men Who Look Like Lesbians." This seemed somehow sort of politically incorrect to me. And so it interested me. There are entire blogs and websites devoted to this subject.

And the #1 Man Lesbian on pretty much everyone's list is Bruce Jenner. There seems to be a consensus that no good comes from a man getting an eyelift. That and some men need to get testosterone booster shots when they reach a certain age.

All this seems sort of rude to me. Yet I do recollect blogging about Bruce Jenner's reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and I do recollect commenting that Bruce and his butch wife look like a middle-aged lesbian couple. I've yet to find out how, besides his reality show, Bruce gets the money to live his extravagant lifestyle. I suspect he may have gotten a huge settlement from the plastic surgeon who botched his face.

Below, in no particular order, are some of the men who those devoted to this subject think look like semi-old lesbians. Some of them I can see why they think this, some others not so much.

Kyle MacLachlan

Clay Aiken

Rod Stewart

Roger Ebert

Tom Cruise

Matthew McConaughey

Bill Gates

Barry Manilow

Robert Redford

Paul McCartney

Al Franken

George W. Bush

Dennis Leary

Don Imus

Jon Bon Jovi