Thirteen days after Al Gore's debate whopper about the student who had to stand in her class at Sarasota High School, the New York Times finally waddles in with a dispatch from Sarasota about the issue. The result is a Times whopper that is right up there with Mr. Gore's. The Times news story refers in the Times' own words to "a legitimate overcrowding problem in a system facing budget problems." So let's have a look at Sarasota High School, the Times-Gore-campaign poster school for the need to solve the "overcrowding problem," which is just a fancy way of saying the need to spend more taxpayer money on government-run schools. As OpinionJournal.com (Disclosure: the editor of Smartertimes.com is a part-time paid independent consultant to OpinionJournal.com) has reported, and as Sarasota High School's own Web site makes clear, the school is hardly hurting for dollars. It has its own "media center," including a TV studio "rivaling any commercial network facility." It has athletic facilities that "rival any high school in the nation" -- facilities that include a football complex with an air-conditioned press box that seats 60 to 70 persons. "Plans are underway for the construction of an Olympic size swimming pool." For the Times to go down to Florida and write a story about Mr. Gore's debate comment and the school's supposed budget woes without mentioning these luxuries raises the very topic that the Times labels its article with today: "The Credibility Issue."
Tax Break: The metro section of today's Times features a front-page report about a new tower in Times Square to be occupied by Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm. The deal is dependent, the Times reports, on Arthur Andersen receiving $10 million in tax breaks from the city of New York; if the firm doesn't get the tax breaks, the article reports, "Andersen has threatened to move some workers to Roseland, N.J., where it has offices." Well, Smartertimes.com is all for lower taxes, but not when the reductions are doled out to big companies on an ad hoc basis. It will be interesting to see if the Times, which has been pontificating in its editorial columns against George W. Bush's tax plan on the grounds that it is slanted toward the rich, will come out with an editorial opposing the Arthur Andersen subsidy. Such an editorial would be unlikely, because the Times Company is itself seeking a similar tax break for its own new headquarters tower near Times Square. What would the city say to an ordinary taxpayer who showed up at City Hall demanding a $10 million tax break and who threatened to move to a low-tax state such as New Hampshire if the request were turned down? "Go ahead, buddy," would be the probable answer. Why should Arthur Andersen (most recently reported annual revenues, $8.4 billion) or the Times Company get special tax breaks while millions of hardworking New Yorkers and tens of thousands of small businesses struggle under the city's unreasonably high tax burden? The Times article doesn't exactly throw this issue into sharp relief, but enough of the key facts are there to show this scheme for what it is.
Enlightened Role: The lead editorial in today's New York Times praises the king of Jordan for assisting in Middle East "peacemaking efforts." The editorial says that the "peacemaking efforts have been aided by King Abdullah of Jordan, who has been quick to assume the enlightened role played by his father, King Hussein." Oh. We wonder what "enlightened role" and aid to the "peacemaking efforts" the Times is talking about. Maybe it has in mind the joint communique issued by King Abdullah and by Muammar Gadhafi, the Libyan terrorist tyrant, after Gadhafi's official visit to Jordan from October 3 to October 7. That communique said that "the talks held by the two leaders reflected an identity of views on various issues of common interest," and it stressed "that Arab Jerusalem was an indivisible part of the occupied Palestinian lands, thus the Israelis must withdraw from it and from all the Palestinian and Arab occupied lands." Soon, no doubt, the Times editorialists will be praising Gadhafi for his "enlightened role" in the Middle East "peacemaking effort."
Wifebeater: The Times metro section today displays a front-page story about "A Movement to Confront Hidden Abuses in Immigrant Families." The lead anecdote is about a woman whose "husband tried to force her to turn over money, then beat her, she said." The anecdote is also used to conclude the article; readers learn that the husband was arrested and that his "case is pending." There's no indication in the article of whether the husband admits or denies the allegation that he beat his wife or of whether the Times made any effort to contact him or his lawyer for his response to the charges. Fairness would indicate that such an effort be made, and that readers be told of the outcome.