NY Times
Sorry about not putting one of these clip-recommendation jawns together last week but nothing really rose to the level of me saying to myself, well, not even saying anything to myself, nothing was noticeably good last week in the funnies. So sorry, peers who wrote stories. Bidness.
This week’s different, though. Here we go.
Finally, it seems that the TBI issue has taken official hold.
The sport’s core paradox is that viciousness as much as grace drives its popularity. A reminder of the pro game’s ultra-macho excesses was the recent death (by natural causes) of Jack Tatum, a brutal open-field tackler dubbed the Assassin. He paralyzed a pass catcher for life in 1978 and wrote popular sports memoirs bragging that “my best hits border on felonious assault.” [New York Times op/ed]
There’s coal in that thar mountain, but wind in that thar sky.
Critics say the practice, known as “mountaintop removal mining,” is as devastating to the local environment as it is economically efficient for coal companies, one of which is poised to begin carving up Coal River Mountain. And that has Ms. Scarbro and other residents of western Raleigh County in a face-off of their own.
Their goal is to save the mountain, and they intend to do so with a wind farm. At least one study has shown that a wind project could be a feasible alternative to coal mining here, although the coal industry’s control over the land and the uncertain and often tenuous financial prospects of wind generation appear to make it unlikely to be pursued. That, residents say, would be a mistake. [New York Times]
‘Bout time the dailies stopped reflexively leaning on their pre-disposed penchant for painting John Dougherty as nothing but a brute because he threatened to shove a paper down a reporter’s throat one time long ago.
Johnny Doc is so far the good guy among a gang that can’t shoot straight. Critics say Dougherty may be doing the right thing but for all the wrong reasons, claiming that he went nuclear after the DRPA failed to hire one of his patronage picks. Regardless, to his credit, Dougherty’s prodding has exposed the DRPA for what it is: a political rat’s nest. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Since Dougherty went on the attack, public-safety officer Michael Joyce resigned after it was revealed that he had borrowed a free E-ZPass for his daughter to use to attend school in Montgomery County. And DRPA Chairman John Estey has proposed a series of reforms, including an end to nepotism and closed-door meetings. (Estey was out of town and not available to comment.) [Philadelphia Daily News]
If this is the best you can do, it’s time to hand the S.J. column to Mike Newall instead of probably putting him up on the layoff block as soon as the new owners’ promise not to lay anybody off expires next year.
A 55-year-old Inquirer driver and father of two grown sons, Biebel was in Aruba with a friend. That same weekend, Holloway, 18, was seen at a bar with Van der Sloot; she missed her return flight to the United States, and her body has not been found. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* Side note to Commissioner Ramsey: Next time you equate reporting corruption within the department to reporters’ inability to criticize one another, remember this post. It’s the latest, of many, which not only proves you were wrong, but that I wasn’t sensationally questioning whether your words translated to an interdepartmental no-snitching code.
The Tillman coverup remains first and foremost a sign that the American government will go to no end to protect the sanctity of their oft-immoral activities.
“His death should have been criminally investigated from the very beginning,” insisted Ms. Tillman, known as Dannie, in a phone interview. “By making up the story they didn’t try to find out what really happened.” [New York Times]
James Surowiecki could well be the best make-complicated-easy business writer in American history. This column is no exception.
… there’s a yawning chasm between the professional and the plutocratic classes, and the tax system should reflect that. A better tax system would have more brackets, so that the super-rich pay higher rates. (The most obvious bracket to add would be a higher rate at a million dollars a year, but there’s no reason to stop there.) This would make the system fairer, since it would reflect the real stratification among high-income earners. A few extra brackets at the top could also bring in tens of billions of dollars in additional revenue. [New Yorker]
And, finally Arcade Fire rulez!
The lead singer, Win Butler, takes a surprising tack: the characters on this album aren’t all drowning, or caught in serial crises—they are getting on with things, and hoping to have children. Even as “The Suburbs” follows characters across lawns and through strip malls, it avoids obvious finger-wagging. [New Yorker]