[Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
Joseph Campbell
josephc at wsu.edu
Mon Aug 29 16:33:30 PDT 2005
A few points to make about the comparison between Vera White's column and Ed
Iverson's column.
1/ Vera White's column is now buried on page 3 of the Daily News. It does
not appear as a weekly op/ed piece. Moreover, her columns have significantly
softened since she's been moved from page 1 to page 3. Much of what she does
is announce events and goings-on in Moscow or the broader Northwest area.
2/ White consistently shows more balance than Iverson appears capable of
doing. She'll joke about e-mail exchanges with Wilson whereas Iverson won't
even allow a mother the right to grieve for the death of her son, so long as
her political stance opposes his own.
3/ White does not put forth preachy, pseudo-philosophical views about the
nature of morality but Iverson does. White is qualified to write her column
since she makes a living as a writer. What is the basis for Iverson's
position? How is he qualified to wax philosophical? In short, White does not
overstep her bounds or area of expertise; Iverson does.
(Admittedly, this is my own pet peeve. Iverson bugs me to no end in part
because I make a living as a philosopher and I enjoy reading the op/ed page
in my leisure. To find, each weekend, someone making philosophical mistakes
that most of my freshman students won't make is more unsettling to me than
it might be to others. But, for those of you with another vocation, I ask
you: How would you feel if they grabbed some guy off the street and asked
him to express his opinions about topics to which you have devoted your
life's work? And no, I am not saying that only academics get to wax
philosophical. But if you're going to give out a WEEKLY column to someone
who intends to wax philosophical, why not give it to an actual philosopher?)
4/ Not all liberals enjoy White's column. I don't wish to speak ill of White
but I will say that if it takes giving up her column just so I don't have to
read Iverson, that is a trade I am more than willing to make.
5/ I agree with Bill that canceling a subscription on the basis of a weekly
column is not a wise decision. But as my posting below indicates, Iverson's
column is not the only reason to think that the Daily News has lost its
sense of balance when it comes to matters related to NSA/Christ Church.
Joe Campbell
On 8/29/05 2:02 PM, "vision2020-request at moscow.com"
<vision2020-request at moscow.com> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Daily News Cancellation Letter (Pat Kraut)
> 2. RE: UI Reveals Initial Enrollment Figures Following FirstWeek
> of Class (Carl Westberg)
> 3. Re: Daily News Cancellation Letter (Bill London)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:33:02 -0700
> From: "Pat Kraut" <pkraut at moscow.com>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
> To: "vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Message-ID: <004101c5acd0$797ae780$65acfea9 at d5b8c8>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> How interesting this is! I stopped taking the DN some time ago because of Vera
> White. I realize that a newspaper should have all points of view but I didn't
> like having her brand of hate in my home. I went on the web and read what
> Iverson wrote and I guess I just think it is a conservative answer to the
> nonsense that White has written for years. Just the other side of the story so
> to speak. Maybe we should all take the paper and keep them honest with our
> letters to the editor and accepting calls for guest articles. It is a free
> press after all that cannot be any better than the community. These two
> different sides are a reflection of the community. I bet most of you love Vera
> White!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: DonaldH675 at aol.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com ; alford at dnews.com ; letters at dnews.com
> Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 11:58 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
>
>
> Dear Nathan Alford,
>
> When I opened the D.N. this morning and saw (once again) an op ed
> piece written by Ed Iverson, New St. Andrews College librarian, I realized
> that it was time to cancel my subscription to your newspaper.
>
> I appreciate the journalistic obligation of the Daily News to include
> conservative perspectives on local, national and international issues. Latah
> County is fortunate to have a number of intelligent, well-informed
> conservatives who could ably fill this role; residents with substantial
> knowledge of the region, long, well-documented records of community service,
> and proven literary skills. Sadly, you have deliberately overlooked many
> eminently suitable candidates in order to provide a public platform for a
> know-nothing newcomer who hectors, lectures, and attempts to proselytize on
> behalf of Douglas J. Wilson. The selection of Ed Iverson as a regular
> columnist demonstrates a critical lapse of judgment on your part and a
> profound failure of imagination and sensitivity to local issues on the part of
> your editorial staff. It is apparent that the DN editors do not serve you,
> or your newspaper well, Nathan.
>
> A newspaper and its editorial board need not endorse or even embrace
> a liberal, progressive agenda to please me. However, I do expect that at
> least a half-hearted, semi-professional attempt will be made to provide
> balance on the editorial page. It baffles and repulses me that you have chosen
> (for what ever reason) to employ a devotee of Doug Wilson as a regular
> columnist. What in the world, or, perhaps I should ask who in the world,
> persuaded you that Ed Iverson was an appropriate or worthy choice?
>
> Fortunately, your father has not completely capitulated to the charmless
> persuasion of Doug Wilson, Roy Atwood, much less Ed Iverson. Subsequently, I
> will rely on the Lewiston Tribune for Moscow news.
>
> Sincerely,
> Rose Huskey
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:29:35 -0700
> From: "Carl Westberg" <carlwestberg846 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] UI Reveals Initial Enrollment Figures
> Following FirstWeek of Class
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Message-ID: <BAY106-F10709ABDF06A4B031D386DEEAF0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> I thought it was quite a robust atmosphere on the U of I campus and around
> town the last week. Along with an almost 5% increase in new freshmen, I see
> a 35% increase in cell phones. I predict the entire incoming freshmen class
> of 2007 will have cell phones surgically attached to their ears.
>
>
>
> Carl Westberg Jr.
>
>
>> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Subject: [Vision2020] UI Reveals Initial Enrollment Figures Following
>> FirstWeek of Class
>> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:23:19 -0700
>>
>> Greetings Visionaires -
>>
>> Contrary to what you may be reading elsewhere:
>>
>> UI REVEALS INITIAL ENROLLMENT FIGURES FOLLOWING FIRST WEEK OF CLASS
>>
>> Preliminary enrollment figures from the University of Idaho's first week of
>> classes show a 4.7-percent increase in new freshmen. This record enrollment
>> of freshman follows last spring's largest-ever graduating class. This
>> year's
>> class also reflects a continuing trend in recent years for increasing
>> diversity, with a 6.4 percent increase in students of color and an 11.5
>> percent increase in first-generation students - those whose parents never
>> attended college. Along with a record number of freshmen, the academic
>> quality of the entering freshman class continues to increase. The number of
>> freshmen with a 3.7 or better high school grade point average increased by
>> 8.6 percent, bringing the average high school GPA for all entering freshmen
>> to 3.42. Students who ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school
>> class increased 9.4 percent. There also is an increase of 14.9 percent in
>> students whose ACT score ranked in the top 6 percent nationally. There are
>> a
>> significant number of National Merit Finalists enrolling at UI this year.
>> UI
>> expects 33 National Merit Finalists on campus this fall, giving UI one of
>> the highest totals for this group of scholars in the Pacific Northwest. For
>> the full article, go to:
>>
>> http://www.today.uidaho.edu/details.aspx?id=3201
>>
>> Take care, Moscow.
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> UI '96
>>
>>
>> "I think one of the best ways to support education is to make successful
>> private schools like Logos prosper through tax exemption."
>>
>> - Donovan Arnold (July 11, 2005)
>>
>>
>> _____________________________________________________
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> http://www.fsr.net
>> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:02:15 -0700
> From: "Bill London" <london at moscow.com>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
> To: "Pat Kraut" <pkraut at moscow.com>, "vision2020"
> <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Message-ID: <02b401c5acdc$ef50f510$0200a8c0 at techlab>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> P-
> given your willingness to engage in the rough-and-tumble of political dialogue
> here on V2020, I am very surprised that you had cancelled your Daily News
> subscription.
> I am glad you are willing to reconsider and resubscribe.
> I think that we continue to need more free speech and more honest interaction
> BL
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Pat Kraut
> To: vision2020
> Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 12:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
>
>
> How interesting this is! I stopped taking the DN some time ago because of Vera
> White. I realize that a newspaper should have all points of view but I didn't
> like having her brand of hate in my home. I went on the web and read what
> Iverson wrote and I guess I just think it is a conservative answer to the
> nonsense that White has written for years. Just the other side of the story so
> to speak. Maybe we should all take the paper and keep them honest with our
> letters to the editor and accepting calls for guest articles. It is a free
> press after all that cannot be any better than the community. These two
> different sides are a reflection of the community. I bet most of you love Vera
> White!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: DonaldH675 at aol.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com ; alford at dnews.com ; letters at dnews.com
> Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 11:58 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Daily News Cancellation Letter
>
>
> Dear Nathan Alford,
>
> When I opened the D.N. this morning and saw (once again) an op ed
> piece written by Ed Iverson, New St. Andrews College librarian, I realized
> that it was time to cancel my subscription to your newspaper.
>
> I appreciate the journalistic obligation of the Daily News to include
> conservative perspectives on local, national and international issues. Latah
> County is fortunate to have a number of intelligent, well-informed
> conservatives who could ably fill this role; residents with substantial
> knowledge of the region, long, well-documented records of community service,
> and proven literary skills. Sadly, you have deliberately overlooked many
> eminently suitable candidates in order to provide a public platform for a
> know-nothing newcomer who hectors, lectures, and attempts to proselytize on
> behalf of Douglas J. Wilson. The selection of Ed Iverson as a regular
> columnist demonstrates a critical lapse of judgment on your part and a
> profound failure of imagination and sensitivity to local issues on the part of
> your editorial staff. It is apparent that the DN editors do not serve you,
> or your newspaper well, Nathan.
>
> A newspaper and its editorial board need not endorse or even embrace
> a liberal, progressive agenda to please me. However, I do expect that at
> least a half-hearted, semi-professional attempt will be made to provide
> balance on the editorial page. It baffles and repulses me that you have chosen
> (for what ever reason) to employ a devotee of Doug Wilson as a regular
> columnist. What in the world, or, perhaps I should ask who in the world,
> persuaded you that Ed Iverson was an appropriate or worthy choice?
>
> Fortunately, your father has not completely capitulated to the charmless
> persuasion of Doug Wilson, Roy Atwood, much less Ed Iverson. Subsequently, I
> will rely on the Lewiston Tribune for Moscow news.
>
> Sincerely,
> Rose Huskey
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> /////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>
> End of Vision2020 Digest, Vol 15, Issue 156
> *******************************************
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