And we have no one to blame but ourselves. As we said in our most recent, yet long ago post, summer laziness was overtaking us in matters of editorial output, and in this case, it slapped us hard across our ample tukkis and denied us a chance for fame and fortune in our chosen pursuit.
The narrative below explains exactly what we mean; let the weeping begin.
The Ostrich puts its head in the Sand(ers)
A few days after returning from our trip, we went off to pre-pay our heating oil plan for the coming year. This brought to mind the fiasco at Thibeault Energy in the past year, in which, as best we know, many customers lost most or all of their account credit balance at the time the company failed. Not a pretty picture.
This is the risk of prepaying, which is how subscribing to The Ostrich works. We had been in the habit of prepaying a year’s subscription, until a few months back when we decided we would not renew until the publication paid up on its delinquent property taxes.
Which means we have no financial exposure should the Ostrich suddenly go belly up, like Thibeault did. Those of you staring at an invoice to renew your subscription might want to think twice before handing over more than a few weeks advance payment. That way, you’re only wagering the bare minimum of cash that they can deliver. Having lived for months without the paper, we can assure you that after a few days, you’ll discover that life goes on just fine.
A day or so after signing up for our oil, a friend asked why we hadn’t commented on the then recent item in which Ostrich editors endorsed the pronouncements of Senator Bernie Sanders, an admitted socialist in the US Congress.
Hypocrisy and sanctimony, thy name is Ostrich, and this item is a shining case study to make the point. This tax delinquent media outlet preaches to us, the little people, about taxes. Which leads to a conclusion that we might well be better off with no newspaper if the only choice is one with no editorial integrity (see previous posts) and a condescending attitude towards its readers. As a reminder, our second nickname for the Ostrich is the NOTWIUN – newspaper of the willfully uninformed.
The Sanders item is loaded with the class warfare rhetoric of big government collectivists - those who believe that government should have no limits, and that its primary role is to redistribute income, and in the process, choose winners and losers, with all the well-known dangers that creates. In doing so, the attitude formation industry, of which print media is part, joins in the slime-pit that is big government politics.
“Working people/families” are the heroes of the op-ed, and “wealthiest Americans” are the villains. And with a 25% increase in federal spending in the last two years, the editors swallow Sanders demagoguery that considers any cuts against this baseline as cruel and inhuman, and certain to result in bodies in the street.
Working people/families is the euphemism usually applied to union members and government employees. I don’t know about you, but we spent 38 years working, and we were neither. And we don’t believe that the choices before us “largely line up against the interests of working families.” In fact, we consider that driving our country jobless and bankrupt does just that.
We also believe the first law of economics cannot be repealed: resources are limited, and there are competing demands for access to them. In other words, we don’t have unlimited resources, and we can never have enough to satisfy everyone’s demand for fairness.
As for those villainous wealthy Americans, they already carry the lions’ share of the tax burden in this country, to the point where half the population pays little or no income taxes. Is that fair?
There we go, getting ready to jump off the rant cliff, and we had no intention of doing so, so we’ll cease the distraction here.
And move on to the editors’ closing sentiment (emphasis ours):
Sen. Sanders is exactly right: This is a “pivotal moment” in our country’s history. What’s required is a true “shared sacrifice” — one that includes the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations.
It’s what working families need and want.
That pretty much captures the overall theme of the editorial. And It had been my intention from my first thinking on this post that I would close it with this passage:
“So The Ostrich wants us to make a ‘shared sacrifice?’ Here’s an idea: how about if they make their point by sacrificing an editor or two, and share the funds saved with the town by paying off their delinquent property tax bills? It’s what Brunswick’s working and property tax paying families need and want.”
And now, the missed opportunity angle. If we had completed this post, with the closing statement above, and published it say, no later than mid-last week, we would have set ourselves to look prescient at the very least, or influential, if we wanted to delude ourselves even further. And in the process, scored a very large scoop for the uncompensated blogging community.
Why? Well in case you didn’t already know, we’ll tell you why. While in town yesterday, we ran across a discarded copy of Friday’s Ostrich, and what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a lead op-ed titled “Gone fishin’.” In the item, Jim McCarthy, once managing editor, and more recently, opinion editor, says his farewells to readers, because ‘it’s time for me to do something different,’ and ironically, we couldn’t agree more. We found this explanation to be, well, a bit ambiguous to say the least.
Said former editor is the primary reason this blog was created, and as readers know, we have had our share of run-ins with him. While we are a charitable lot, it is our belief that the editorial policies of the Ostrich, particularly as expressed on the opinion page, have been a disservice to the community, and very likely a major contributing factor to the sharp decline in circulation figures. So we’ll wish him well in future endeavors and leave it at that.
We have no idea whether this is simply a coincidental change in staff, or an indicator that fiscal matters continue to trend downward at The Ostrich, and we’ll soon see more indications of that.
Either way, it seems like a good reminder to minimize your subscription commitment to them, and a good reminder to us to get our collective publishing energies back on track.
And you can rest assured that your subscription remittals to us are safe; we’re not like all the others.
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