About Town
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Tap into the buzz in Portland, Maine. A collaboration of Portland Phoenix news staff.en-usAbout TownWed, 19 Mar 2008 20:20:53 GMTnewtelligence dasBlog 2.0.7226.0abouttown@thephoenix.comabouttown@thephoenix.com//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Trackback.aspx?guid=1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/pingback.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816.aspxJeff Inglis//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816
Maine lawmakers, having cut $140 million
from the state's education, health, human services, and the criminal-justice system
budgets, have asked the business community to contribute $10 million to the $200 million
in cuts being sought to balance the state budget, according to state Senator Lynn
Bromley (D-South Portland), who is the senate chairman of the Legislature's Business,
Research, and Economic Development Committee.
Today, in response to a claim by Maine State Chamber of Commerce president Dana Connors
that it the state's businesses shouldn't offer their ideas of where to cut spending,
Bromley essentially called Connors's bluff, and invited his organization and other
businesses to do just that.
The carrot she laid out, she told the Phoenix, was that if they can cut $10
million, then they could preserve the state's Business-Equipment Tax Reimbursement
program (called BETR, the program was extended indefinitely in 2006, just before it
was slated to expire, in what a recent Portland Phoenix story by Lance Tapley
called the "Payments Forever"
tax break). If they don't come up with $10 million, then the state's $66-million
BETR fund could be cut, she says, not noticing the other millions we already give
to massively profitable out-of-state companies (see "Tax
Break Heaven," by Lance Tapley, February 22).
Of course, even if the businesses do agree to pitch in $10 million to fill that 5
percent of the state's budget hole, they'll still be receiving $670 million in tax
breaks in fiscal 2009, as we reported last month (see "Tax
Break Heaven" again). And the state's general practice of balancing the budget
on the backs of poor, elderly, and sick Mainers - and continuing to give lavishly
to out-of-state corporations (Wal-Mart, here's $439,000) - will continue.
Lawmakers are even still talking about creating a new tax break for businesses, which
would be a blank check for the wealthiest Mainers and developers to refit old buildings
with taxpayers' money - with almost no limits. We reported on that, too (see "A
'Good' Tax Break In the Making," by Lance Tapley, February 22). Bromley says she
doesn't think new tax breaks should be considered given the budget situation.
But she's quite happy to keep the old ones, and keep the $140 million in cuts to education,
health, human services, and the justice system.
Trying to save a big-business handout//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/19/TryingToSaveABigbusinessHandout.aspx
Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:20:53 GMTMaine lawmakers, having cut $140 million from the state's education, health, human services, and the criminal-justice system budgets, have asked the business community to contribute $10 million to the $200 million in cuts being sought to balance the state budget, according to state Senator Lynn Bromley (D-South Portland), who is the senate chairman of the Legislature's Business, Research, and Economic Development Committee.<br>
<br>
Today, in response to a claim by Maine State Chamber of Commerce president Dana Connors
that it the state's businesses shouldn't offer their ideas of where to cut spending,
Bromley essentially called Connors's bluff, and invited his organization and other
businesses to do just that.<br>
<br>
The carrot she laid out, she told the <i>Phoenix</i>, was that if they can cut $10
million, then they could preserve the state's Business-Equipment Tax Reimbursement
program (called BETR, the program was extended indefinitely in 2006, just before it
was slated to expire, in what a recent <i>Portland Phoenix</i> story by Lance Tapley
called <a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid56713.aspx">the "Payments Forever"
tax break</a>). If they don't come up with $10 million, then the state's $66-million
BETR fund could be cut, she says, not noticing the other millions we already give
to massively profitable out-of-state companies (see "<a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid56716.aspx">Tax
Break Heaven</a>," by Lance Tapley, February 22).
<br>
<br>
Of course, even if the businesses do agree to pitch in $10 million to fill that 5
percent of the state's budget hole, they'll still be receiving $670 million in tax
breaks in fiscal 2009, as we reported last month (see "<a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid56716.aspx">Tax
Break Heaven</a>" again). And the state's general practice of balancing the budget
on the backs of poor, elderly, and sick Mainers - and continuing to give lavishly
to out-of-state corporations (Wal-Mart, here's $439,000) - will continue.<br>
<br>
Lawmakers are even still talking about creating a new tax break for businesses, which
would be a blank check for the wealthiest Mainers and developers to refit old buildings
with taxpayers' money - with almost no limits. We reported on that, too (see "<a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid56725.aspx">A
'Good' Tax Break In the Making</a>," by Lance Tapley, February 22). Bromley says she
doesn't think new tax breaks should be considered given the budget situation.<br>
<br>
But she's quite happy to keep the old ones, and keep the $140 million in cuts to education,
health, human services, and the justice system.<br>
<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/aggbug.ashx?id=1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816" />//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,1056a8ad-c465-4582-bb15-27c955d97816.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Trackback.aspx?guid=e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/pingback.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9.aspxJeff Inglis//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9
Rustic Politics - Overtones of Protest//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/18/RusticPoliticsOvertonesOfProtest.aspx
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:43 GMT<p>
<a href="//myspace.com/rusticovertones">Rustic Overtones</a> have released a
video from a song off their once-and-future "new" album, <i>Light at the End</i> (<a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid44362.aspx">reviewed
by Sam Pfeifle back in July</a>), in honor of today's national release on <a href="//velourmusic.com">Velour</a>.
</p>
<br>
<p>
The song is "Letter to the President," which is in rotation on the <a href="//myspace.com/rusticovertones">Overtones'
MySpace page</a> if you want to just listen to it. You can see the video here, if
you have QuickTime (or <a href="//interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/va90win15082/rustic/video/Rustic-Letter+to+the+President_512K_Stream.wmv/play.asx">click
here to see the video in Windows Media Player</a>, whose embedding doesn't seem to
be working just now).<br>
</p>
<p>
<br>
</p>
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<img width="0" height="0" src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/aggbug.ashx?id=e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9" />//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,e1a251cf-8948-479c-9f0b-2001df75f9d9.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Trackback.aspx?guid=d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/pingback.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613.aspxJeff Inglis//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c6131
UPDATE: With Crosscut
Seattle story link (also
here). Definitely read that story - it has great analysis and some new ideas of
who might buy the papers - including a possibility of the union taking it employee-owned.
Yesterday's
announcement that the Portland Press Herald and the rest of the Blethen Maine
Newspaper group are up for sale has a lot of attention in the expected arenas.
The PressingTheHerald blog (which I
wrote about in the latest issue of the Phoenix) has declared an end to
its six-day-old "Blethen Maine Death Watch," and "T. Cushing Munjoy" has resumed buying
the paper, only to find that he and
Frank Blethen agree on something - that the Blethens will be lucky to recoup half
of the $200-million-plus purchase price they paid for the Maine papers in 1998.
But nobody has addressed what appears to be a clear fact, which doesn't bode well
for the papers' future: The Blethens likely have no prospective buyers.
Most businesses, and particularly privately-owned ones, don't generally announce that
parts of their companies are "for sale." They announce that they have been sold, complete
with answers to the "who bought it" and "when do they take over," even if not the
"how much did they overpay" questions, and reassuring quotes about the future.
Not so this time - the Blethens have basically said, "We need to get rid of these
companies - would anyone like to make us an offer?" They have also engaged the services
of a major newspaper brokerage company, the New Mexico-based Dirks,
Van Essen & Murray, which again suggests they have no idea who might buy the
papers.
Who's left? It's anybody's guess - even the Blethens don't have any ideas. Press Herald sale - who would buy?//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/18/PressHeraldSaleWhoWouldBuy.aspx
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:54:37 GMT<font color="#ff0000">UPDATE: With Crosscut Seattle story link (<a href="//www.crosscut.com/seattle-newspapers/12664/A+sentimental+journey+ends/">also
here</a>). Definitely read that story - it has great analysis and some new ideas of
who might buy the papers - including a possibility of the union taking it employee-owned.</font>
<br>
<br>
<a href="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/17/PressHeraldForSaleForSure.aspx">Yesterday's
announcement</a> that the Portland Press Herald and the rest of the Blethen Maine
Newspaper group are up for sale has a lot of attention in the expected arenas.<br>
<br>
The <i>Press Herald</i> has a <a href="//pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=176241&ac=PHnws">story
here</a>. The <i>Seattle Times</i> has a <a href="//seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004289191_maine18.html">story
here</a>. The <i>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</i>'s <a href="//seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/355298_blethen18.html">story
is here</a>. I'm told <a href="//www.crosscut.com/">Crosscut Seattle</a> will
have a story later today (<font color="#ff0000">UPDATE: It does, and <a href="//www.crosscut.com/seattle-newspapers/12664/A+sentimental+journey+ends/">that
must-read story is here</a>.</font>) <strike>(and I'll post an update to this story
when it's live).</strike>
<br>
<br>
The <a href="//pressingtheherald.blogspot.com">PressingTheHerald</a> blog (which <a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid57848.aspx">I
wrote about</a> in the latest issue of the <i>Phoenix</i>) has declared an end to
its six-day-old "Blethen Maine Death Watch," and "T. Cushing Munjoy" has resumed buying
the paper, only to find that <a href="//pressingtheherald.blogspot.com/">he and
Frank Blethen agree on something</a> - that the Blethens will be lucky to recoup half
of the $200-million-plus purchase price they paid for the Maine papers in 1998.<br>
<br>
Even <a href="//portlandpressharried.blogspot.com/">PortlandPressHarried</a>'s
"T. Flushing Funjoy" is digging around, unearthing the Blethens' <a href="//portlandpressharried.blogspot.com/">corporate
memos and exec-speak</a> from five years ago and ten years ago.<br>
<p>
</p>
<br>
But nobody has addressed what appears to be a clear fact, which doesn't bode well
for the papers' future: The Blethens likely have no prospective buyers.<br>
<br>
Most businesses, and particularly privately-owned ones, don't generally announce that
parts of their companies are "for sale." They announce that they have been sold, complete
with answers to the "who bought it" and "when do they take over," even if not the
"how much did they overpay" questions, and reassuring quotes about the future.<br>
<br>
Not so this time - the Blethens have basically said, "We need to get rid of these
companies - would anyone like to make us an offer?" They have also engaged the services
of a major newspaper brokerage company, the New Mexico-based <a href="//www.dirksvanessen.com/">Dirks,
Van Essen & Murray</a>, which again suggests they have no idea who might buy the
papers.<br>
<br>
We know from <a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid20905.aspx">my story on the
impending sale of the <i>Press Herald</i> back in 2006</a> that some of Maine's big
players aren't interested, and they've likely gotten even less so. The <a href="//bangordailynews.com"><i>Bangor
Daily News</i></a> has <a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid27715.aspx">laid
off workers since then</a>, and while the <a href="//www.sunjournal.com"><i>Lewiston
Sun Journal</i></a> has <a href="//www.sunjournal.com/story/232332-3/Business/Sun_Media_acquires_Kirkland_Newspapers/">been
expanding</a>, their merger-and-acquisition people seem to be focused on weeklies,
rather than dailies. Maybe the Sample Group, who own the <a href="//journaltribune.com/"><i>Biddeford
Journal-Tribune</i></a> and just bought the <a href="//www.timesrecord.com"><i>Brunswick
Times-Record</i></a>, would be interested, but they just <a href="//www.theforecaster.net/story.php?storyid=13976">laid
off people at the <i>Times-Record</i>, only days after begging the state for a loan</a> they
said would <a href="//www.sunjournal.com/story/255169-3/Business/Newspaper_layoffs_attract_scrutiny/">allow
them to keep the newspaper operating</a>.<br>
<br>
Who's left? It's anybody's guess - even the Blethens don't have any ideas.<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/aggbug.ashx?id=d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613" />//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,d144fee9-8bec-4190-8e30-c0a44ba7c613.aspxMediaPortland Press Herald//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Trackback.aspx?guid=8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/pingback.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b.aspxJeff Inglis//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7bPrison life ain't so good//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/18/PrisonLifeAintSoGood.aspx
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:45:30 GMTWell, we knew that. But here's an edited transcript of a talk <i>Phoenix </i>freelancer
Lance Tapley gave last week at the Meg Perry Center, home to <a href="//www.peaceactionme.org">Peace
Action Maine</a> and the <a href="//www.peoplesfreespace.org">Foglight Collective</a>.<br>
<br>
By the way, you can hear this talk online at <a href="//ThinkTwiceRadio.com">ThinkTwiceRadio.com</a> (<a href="//www.thinktwiceradio.com/leisner/audio/080131/tapley.mp3">mp3
here</a>) or rent it and many other progressive videos from Roger Leisner's <a href="//www.radiofreemaine.com/">Radio
Free Maine</a> at <a href="//www.google.com/search?q=videoport+portland+maine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">Videoport</a> in
downtown Portland.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<b style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Prison
folly<o:p></o:p>
</span></b>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<b style=""><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Why?
And what can be done?<o:p></o:p>
</span></b>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<i style="">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
<o:p></o:p>
</i>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<i style="">The following is an edited excerpt from a speech given by </i>Phoenix<i style=""> contributing
writer Lance Tapley on “Human Rights and Maine’s Prisons” at a Peace Action Maine
meeting in Portland on March 7.<span style=""> </span>Since 2005, he has written
about physical abuse and other wrongdoing in the prisons, especially in the maximum-security,
solitary-confinement Special Management Unit or “Supermax” inside the Maine State
Prison in Warren.<o:p></o:p>
</i>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
By Lance Tapley
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
I knew nothing about this subject.<span style=""> </span>Most people don’t.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately,
most people don’t care about it—at best.<span style=""> </span>Including many
who consider themselves compassionate liberals.<span style=""> </span>They appear
to care more about the wrongs at Abu Ghraib or Guantánamo than about the abuse suffered
by tens of thousands of human beings within America’s punishment system.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
“Prisoners have rights?” a liberal friend, a good man, asked me.<span style=""> </span>This
was an admission that he didn’t think of them as human.<span style=""> </span>All
human beings have rights.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Why is this horror happening?<span style=""> </span>And what can be done about
it?
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Let’s start with a few statistics:
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
--2.3 million people are imprisoned in the United States, one in every 100 adults.<span style=""> </span>No
other country comes close.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
--We have 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of prisoners.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
--The US keeps 35,000 human beings in solitary confinement.<span style=""> </span>This
is unprecedented in world history.<span style=""> </span>Only the US has been
able to afford it.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
--We incarcerate at a rate <i style="">five times</i> the rate of 30 years ago.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Here is my best understanding, to date, of what has happened historically.<span style=""> </span>To
be disingenuous, so many people are in prison because they’ve been arrested, convicted,
and sentenced for crimes.<span style=""> </span>In other words: lots of arrests,
a high rate of conviction, and long sentences.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Accounting for the arrests, we have seen a massive increase in the number of police.<span style=""> </span>Bill
Clinton is partly responsible for this phenomenon.<span style=""> </span>There
has been an enormous police campaign against small-time drug dealers and users.<span style=""> </span>Twenty-five
percent of people in prisons and jails are there for drug offenses.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Accounting for the convictions, the poor are often unable to get proper legal representation.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Accounting for the harsh—often, by law, mandatory—sentences, the mainstream—dare I
say, corporate—news media amplify every violent incident into a world-historic event,
scaring and angering people to demand locking up every possible threat:<span style=""> </span>Jessica’s
Law, Megan’s Law, etc.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
There is an underlying theme in these arrests, convictions, and sentences: racism.<span style=""> </span>Nationally,
50 percent of prisoners are black; 30 percent are Hispanic.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
The scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore believes prisons are where many of the uneducated
manufacturing workers of the past, in the age of globalization, are being taken care
of, so to speak—especially the African-American ones.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
There is another, related theme:<span style=""> </span>Thirty years ago the
country took a sharp political turn to the right in reaction to the racial and other
social revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s.<span style=""> </span>The US became
very authoritarian, stern, macho, aggressive in dealing with threats and perceived
threats to law and order.<span style=""> </span>And the liberal leadership didn’t
put up much of a fight because they didn’t have a basis anymore in the working class,
and they got their campaign money from the corporations, too.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Speaking of corporations, another phenomenon to note is the growth of the corporate
prison industry.<span style=""> </span>It is not as big a factor in explaining
what happened as some liberal critics believe, but it is a growing factor.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Much more important, the mental hospitals began closing down 30 years ago, but governments
didn’t fund adequate community support for the mentally ill.<span style=""> </span>So
now many mentally ill people are housed in jails and prisons.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Let’s just touch upon some deeper underlying themes:<span style=""> </span>Ruth
Wilson Gilmore also suggests that the prison madness has occurred because Americans
believe the key to safety is aggression. . . . So here is the connection with my subject
to Peace Action Maine.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Forgive me for getting even more theoretical, but I tend to think the prison madness
also results from a national philosophy of materialism, which is based on the stoking
of individual desire and dissatisfaction—that is, of unhappiness.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Happiness is bad for the corporations.<span style=""> </span>They will sell
fewer goods and services if people are feeling satisfied with their lives, with what
they have.<span style=""> </span>Strong families and communities are bad for
business because sharing means fewer goods and services will be sold.<span style=""> </span>Labor
insecurity and mobility is obviously good for business.<span style=""> </span>This
is not a plot but a system.<span style=""> </span>In an unsettled society, when
your family is broken, if you are rootless, if you are poor and uneducated, if you
are unemployed, if you are perhaps mentally unstable, and if you can’t buy, buy, buy
. . . In this situation, I can’t understand when people <i style="">don’t</i> steal
and strike out in anger.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
An unhappy society not only produces criminals, it finds scapegoats.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
A prisoners’ spiritual guru who spoke in Maine last year, Bo Lozoff, put it this way:<span style=""> </span>We’re
in an forlorn, declining empire of “narcissistic consumerism.” . . . And maybe liberals
are too busy buying things to look into the prisons.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
But, as I read in a recent Maine newspaper editorial, at least locking up so many
people is driving the violent crime rate down.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
This cannot be correct, mathematically.<span style=""> </span>We have four times
as many people in prison as we had 25 years ago, and we started imprisoning people
in big numbers at that time.<span style=""> </span>But the violent crime rate
only began dropping in 1995, and it has dropped only by 55 percent.<span style=""> </span>That’s
impressive, but it can’t be just because so many people are locked up.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Imprisoning so many people also is a factor in increasing the crime rate.<span style=""> </span>Prisoners
teach crime to other prisoners, and the prison administration teaches antisocial behavior.<span style=""> </span>For
example, there are rules against sharing in prison. The recidivism rate—the return
to crime—is extremely high. It is 70 percent in California.<span style=""> </span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
So what can be done?<span style=""> </span>To deal simply with a not-simple
question, I want to read a list of 15 prison-reform ideas I have collected from reading,
discussions, and emails from friends and colleagues in the prison-reform effort, including
from prisoners.<span style=""> </span>Some of these are pretty obvious, but
they are not being done:
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Creation of a state-level group to watchdog
constitutional and human rights of prisoners.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Journalist access to prisoners without censorship
by officials.<b style="">
<o:p></o:p>
</b></span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">A state-funded, independent ombudsman to
investigate claims of official misconduct and rights violations.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">To reduce recidivism, more effort toward
rehabilitation—less warehousing—including more prison jobs, job training, and educational
opportunities.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Parole reinstituted, instead of more prisons
(30 years ago in Maine, murderers served, on average, less than 10 years of hard time
before going out on parole).<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Shorter sentences, instead of more prisons.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">More alternatives to automatic imprisonment
for small probation violations, instead of more prisons.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">More alternative treatment for drug-addicted
petty criminals.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">9.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">More alternative treatment for mentally
ill offenders.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">10.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">More alternative treatment for sex offenders.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">11.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Mental illness treated better in the prisons.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">12.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">Abolish the state prison’s Supermax, which
is a torture chamber, and retain a small number of maximum-security cells, which was
the case everywhere previous to the Supermax construction binge.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">13.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]-->Better pay and training for prison guards; end of arbitrary discipline
by guards.<b style=""><span style="color: black;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></b>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">14.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">End of the surprising nepotism among prison
officials.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pc; text-indent: -1.5pc; line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black;">15.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: black;">New, enlightened leadership: governor, corrections
commissioner, wardens, Criminal Justice Committee members in the Legislature.<o:p></o:p>
</span>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
The biggest reform would occur—everything else would fall into place—if a lot more
people recognized that prisoners were human beings like themselves.<span style=""> </span>As
the old saying puts it, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
Many reformers say citizens will only respond to economic logic: locking up so many
people is terribly expensive.<span style=""> </span>I think that’s a good secondary
argument, but if we don’t place the moral argument first—the argument for human rights—we
run the risk of continuing to see prisoners only as objects, which is fundamentally
why we treat them as we do.<span style=""> </span>What if it could be proven
that torture is cost-effective?
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 3pc; line-height: 150%;">
As Rama Carty, a prisoner at Windham, wrote me, “Being human means evolving toward
the humane.”
</p>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both those
within and without the prison walls need this evolution.</span>
<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/aggbug.ashx?id=8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b" />//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,8e706f08-501c-4a4f-8710-f8b89a4a1e7b.aspxPrisons//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Trackback.aspx?guid=534a0e50-3dba-481b-b8fb-e1ac98fd5ea0//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/pingback.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,534a0e50-3dba-481b-b8fb-e1ac98fd5ea0.aspxJeff Inglis//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/CommentView,guid,534a0e50-3dba-481b-b8fb-e1ac98fd5ea0.aspx//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=534a0e50-3dba-481b-b8fb-e1ac98fd5ea0Press Herald For Sale - For Sure//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,534a0e50-3dba-481b-b8fb-e1ac98fd5ea0.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/17/PressHeraldForSaleForSure.aspx
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:25:57 GMT<img src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/content/binary/060825_inside_paper.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
In August 2006, we used the above graphic to illustrate a story called "<a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid20905.aspx">Press
Herald For Sale?</a>" in which I posited that all signs were pointing to an impending
sale of the <i>Portland Press Herald</i>, and quoted owner Frank Blethen as asking,
in a September 2003 <i>Press Herald</i> article, "Can you just keep going?"<br>
<br>
The answer: Not much longer at all now, what with <a href="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/Default.aspx#a4a49a61a-2ca5-4f98-aa9c-a43133a83a7b">layoffs</a>,
an impending price hike, circulation drops, and shrinking area for news.<br>
<br>
The following is a memo from the Seattle Times corporate office to company employees
that went out this morning.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma;">From:</span></font></b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma;"> Company
Communications
<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, March 17, 2008 11:02
AM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> All Seattle Times<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Message from Carolyn Kelly</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<div>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">I
wanted to let you know about an announcement we are making this morning related to
Blethen Maine Newspapers.</span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">The
Blethen family has made the decision to explore the sale of Blethen Maine Newspapers.
As you all know, the industry economics have been particularly challenging for us
as a small, independent newspaper company. The unrelenting challenges and unique circumstances
here have led us to conclude that scaling back to a smaller organization is necessary
at this time. Doing so provides the best opportunity for success in the long term
for both the Seattle Times Company and for Blethen Maine Newspapers. </span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">The
Blethen family will continue to own and operate The Seattle Times and the </span></font>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Washington</span></font>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"> affiliates:
the Yakima Herald-Republic, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, the Issaquah Press and
Rotary Offset Press.</span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Today's
announcement does not mean that we are out of the woods; we hope it buys us some breathing
room as we transform ourselves. We do not anticipate any changes to our operations
here; we will continue to redefine our business model and work to align our cost structure
with our revenue. </span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">A
copy of the press announcement is attached. If you have any questions, please ask
your manager or department head.</span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Carolyn
Kelly</span></font><font color="blue" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Tahoma;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%">
</span></font>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p> <br>
</o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
</div>
<div>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center">
<img src="//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/content/binary/SeattleTimes.bmp" border="0"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<b><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></b>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<b><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></b>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center">
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;">Seattle
Times Company to Explore </span></font></b>
<st1:city>
<st1:place>
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;">Sale</span></font></b>
</st1:place>
</st1:city>
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;"> of </span></font></b>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center">
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;">Blethen </span></font></b>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;">Maine</span></font></b>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<b><font face="Arial" size="5"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;"> Newspapers</span></font></b>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<i><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></i>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<i><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></i>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<st1:city>
<st1:place>
<b><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Seattle</span></font></b>
</st1:place>
</st1:city>
<b><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> – </span></font></b><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Citing
ongoing challenges in the industry and the need to focus on the future of its flagship
newspaper and affiliate newspapers in the State of </span></font>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Washington</span></font>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, the
Seattle Times Company has announced that it will explore the sale of its Blethen Maine
Newspapers. </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The
sale would include the <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Portland Press Herald/Maine
Sunday Telegram</span></i>, the <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Kennebec Journal</span></i>,
the <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Morning Sentinel</span></i> and MaineToday.com,
a Web site that serves as a news and information portal for the state of </span></font>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Maine</span></font>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">.</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"We
have been proud to be the stewards of these newspapers for the last 10 years.
They provide their communities with high quality, independent journalism that is in
keeping with the best traditions of the Seattle Times Company," Seattle Times CEO
and Publisher Frank Blethen said. "We wish our stewardship could continue indefinitely,
but the difficult business environment and continuing uncertainties require we consider
other options. </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">"The
decision to explore a sale was painful. But a sale may be the best opportunity
for the long-term survival of our newspapers in </span></font>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Washington</span></font>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> and
those in </span></font>
<st1:state>
<st1:place>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Maine</span></font>
</st1:place>
</st1:state>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. "</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p>
</span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Chuck
Cochrane, CEO and Publisher of Blethen Maine Newspapers, said he does not anticipate
this decision will require changes in policies or operations of the newspapers while
a sale is being explored. The three Blethen Maine Newspapers have about 500
employees a</span></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">nd
combined circulation of about 101,000 daily and 136,900 Sunday.</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The
Seattle Times Company has engaged Dirks, Van Essen & Murray of Santa Fe, NM, the
nation's leading newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm, as a broker to assist with
the potential sale. Blethen said the goal is to have the process completed
by at least the end of the year.</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Blethen
Maine Newspapers is a unit of the Seattle Times Company.</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p>
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;" align="center">
<font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">###</span></font>
<o:p></o:p>
</p>
</div>
<br>
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It's kind of a strange day here at the
office, as we're all making sure we vote for Portland in the Bushmills 400 Years contest
(at www.Bushmills400years.com), which
you can read about in Deirdre
Fulton's story in this week's paper.
But then I look at the pile of mail from yesterday and notice that strange box I picked
up, opened, and left on the couch in the middle of the afternoon. It's a sample of
Listerine Smart Rinse, some new mouthwash, apparently. It's one of the odder samples
we get mailed here in the office, in hopes, I assume, that we'll write about the product
in some way. (You caught me!)
Investigating this package is a lesson in modern marketing, and a cautionary tale
for anyone who might think there's such a thing as truth in advertising. It's touted
as having "Magnetic Cleaning Action," which seems odd, because I don't think many
people have trouble with too many iron filings or steel girders in their mouths.
Then I notice that it's in "Berry Shield" flavor, which makes me wonder what it actually
tastes like. (You thought I was going to try that? Wrong. I smelled it, though, and
it smells like berries, I guess, perhaps with a hint of shield.)
This particular product goes even further, offering to show "proof of a cleaner mouth,"
by which the literature appears to mean that there's some sort of dye in this liquid
that tints "food particles and bacteria" so they're easier to see when you spit it
out into the sink. What's preventing them from just dyeing everything you spit out
some color, and then claiming it's all bad stuff the product has "cleaned" out? Nothing.
Making matters worse, they don't actually tell you what's in this liquid. The "active
ingredient," sodium fluoride, is 0.0221 percent of the total. What about the other
99.9779 percent? We're left to guess. What do you think is in it? And would you try
it if you didn't know? Cleaning up//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/PermaLink,guid,f1da4df5-a953-4b33-9fe0-77ededc59354.aspx
//thephoenix.com/AboutTown/2008/03/14/CleaningUp.aspx
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:51:25 GMTIt's kind of a strange day here at the office, as we're all making sure
we vote for Portland in the Bushmills 400 Years contest (at <a href="//www.Bushmills400years.com">www.Bushmills400years.com</a>),
which you can read about in <a href="//thephoenix.com/article_ektid57845.aspx">Deirdre
Fulton's story in this week's paper</a>.<br>
<br>
But then I look at the pile of mail from yesterday and notice that strange box I picked
up, opened, and left on the couch in the middle of the afternoon. It's a sample of
Listerine Smart Rinse, some new mouthwash, apparently. It's one of the odder samples
we get mailed here in the office, in hopes, I assume, that we'll write about the product
in some way. (You caught me!)<br>
<br>
Investigating this package is a lesson in modern marketing, and a cautionary tale
for anyone who might think there's such a thing as truth in advertising. It's touted
as having "Magnetic Cleaning Action," which seems odd, because I don't think many
people have trouble with too many iron filings or steel girders in their mouths.<br>
<br>
Then I notice that it's in "Berry Shield" flavor, which makes me wonder what it actually
tastes like. (You thought I was going to try that? Wrong. I smelled it, though, and
it smells like berries, I guess, perhaps with a hint of shield.)<br>
<br>
This particular product goes even further, offering to show "proof of a cleaner mouth,"
by which the literature appears to mean that there's some sort of dye in this liquid
that tints "food particles and bacteria" so they're easier to see when you spit it
out into the sink. What's preventing them from just dyeing everything you spit out
some color, and then claiming it's all bad stuff the product has "cleaned" out? Nothing.<br>
<br>
Making matters worse, they don't actually tell you what's in this liquid. The "active
ingredient," sodium fluoride, is 0.0221 percent of the total. What about the other
99.9779 percent? We're left to guess. What do you think is in it? And would you try
it if you didn't know?<br>
<p>
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