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Posts filed under category: Correcting the Record
Dept. of Corrections
Talk about jumping the gun.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:A Message To Our Readers,
A Macy's advertisement in today's Inquirer incorrectly offered Phillies 2009 World Championship merchandise. The Inquirer deeply regrets this error. Macy's is a great corporate citizen, supporter of this region and our sports teams. We apologize for this error and any inconvenience this caused.This one strikes close to home for the Contrarian -- a native Philadelphian and die-hard Phillies fan who's been crying in his coffee this morning after last night's unpleasantness.
But -- being a contrarian and a die-hard -- I'm still holding out hope that the Phils can win the World Series in seven games.
And if they don't, I'll blame the ad department at Macy's for creating a jinx.
Posted under: Correcting the RecordDept. of Corrections
In our continuing mission to seek out strange and hilarious newspaper mistakes, we came across the following item from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Blogger Fred Witzell wrote to Hurst Mayor Richard Ward that his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns was a disgrace. After that, Ward responded that Witzell was "dumb" and "ugly." Witzell then responded that Ward was an "idiot" mayor. The sequence of events was incorrect Thursday in an article."
He started it!
Posted under: Correcting the RecordGone to the Dogs
Earlier this week, the Waco Herald-Tribune -- now under new management -- published a column "written" by the boss' dog.
No, I'm not making that up. Wish I were.
I've included the link, but I can't, in good conscience, recommend that you click through. The piece is, ahem, howlingly bad.
A sample:
Daily, I sit in queenly fashion up in my daddy’s downtown Waco office building, greeting visitors with barks. I enjoy watching them dance about the room as I nip merrily at their shoes or attack their pants legs. That includes the postman, whom I attack as if I were a Doberman.
Lately, though, I’ve gotten to know the Tribune-Herald, the hometown newspaper that my daddy purchased this summer. It’s a bustling place, full of vivid personalities and rich talents, all serving in different ways as — dare I say it? — the watchdogs of this community.
That’s something a pooch like me can respect and admire.
Call me crazy, but the Trib building spurs my extra-sensory qualities. There are days when I see spirits of yesteryear roaming the place. One day I saw Harlon and Clara Fentress studying the new Trib, smiling upon seeing “In God We Trust” on the masthead of what used to be their newspaper.....This much I know. If I have to wet on a newspaper nowadays, I think twice about doing it on the Trib. Daddy wouldn’t be happy."Obviously, this column was meant to be cute, but I find it rather depressing. The Trib is far too good a newspaper to waste precious column inches on material like this. Especially when all across the country non-canine reporters and columnists are losing their jobs.
These are dark days for newspapers. This cartoon about sums it up.
Posted under: Correcting the RecordA Kinder, Gentler Texas?
Is Texas no longer a tough-on-crime, hand 'em high state?
A recent piece in Time Magazine says maybe so.
The story recounts the reforms the Legislature passed last spring following the Tim Cole tragedy. Cole, as most of you will remember, was a Lubbock man wrongly convicted of raping a Texas Tech student in 1985. Cole was exonerated last year, but not before he died in prison in 1999 from complications of asthma.
Moved by Cole's story, the Lege passed the Tim Cole act that substantially increased compensation for people who are wrongly convicted and later exonerated. Lawmakers also raised funding for indigent defense.
Time writes:
The two new laws are now being implemented, and their backers hope they will mitigate the state's hang-'em-high image."
Grits is glad to see these welcome reforms receive national attention, but also points out that Texas hasn't exactly become kinder and gentler on criminal justice.
I agree: the Time story gives the Legislature far too much credit.
Let's remember that the Legislature didn't pass the one bill that -- had it been in place 25 years ago -- might have saved Tim Cole.
His conviction was based largely on the victim's ID of him as the attacker. A rigged police lineup led the victim to wrongly identify Cole. Witness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions. (The Innocence Project explains why here.)
Last session, lawmakers failed to pass a bill -- Senate Bill 117 -- that would have required police agencies around the state to adopt best practices for photo and in-person lineups. The bill would have made witness misidentifications less frequent.
Instead, some police departments in Texas today are still using the kind of abhorrent lineup procedures that put Cole in prison.
In that sense, the Legislature's reaction to the Tim Cole case isn't a sign of Texas' kinder, gentler approach to criminal justice.
Rather, the Lege's failure to pass police lineup reforms shows how far Texas has yet to go.
Posted under: Correcting the Record« Older PostsDept. of Corrections
This one's too good to pass up.
From the student newspaper at Brandeis:
Correction: The original article provided the incorrect location of New York University's new institution. It is in Abu Dhabi, not Abu Ghraib."
Hat tip to Regret the Error.
Posted under: Correcting the Record -
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