Closing Up

Due to our recent decision to reenter the bond trading business in New York, I am closing down this site as it will be difficult to be Right in Raleigh when we are not in Raleigh anymore. I have really enjoyed posting and receiving your comments, and for those of you running blogs and keeping an eye on the untrustworthy media, please keep up the good work.

Holiday Break

Traveling for the holidays. Enjoy a Merry Christmas season.

HSAs

The John Locke Foundation examines Health Savings Accounts and finds in favor of these plans. I opened one in 2004 and have been happy with the low premiums and sense that I actually control my health care decisions and can monitor the cost. If any program can lower our health care costs, these HSAs can.
Health Savings Accounts

Truth

For true pictures of the Iraqi election, not what you were offered by the Pandering Pundits of Pessimism, see video at Michael Yon's site here.
Iraqi Election

Keep Talking to Us

I saw most of the president's speech last night (the wife was pissed that it preempted Desperate Housewives), and I agree with the comments of Mary Katherine Hamm at Hugh Hewitt I (HT Mike Williams):

I didn't see it. I read it. It was a good one. I'm not usually wild about presidential speeches because presidents rarely sound like they're just talking to us (and that's what I want to hear) -- just the nature of presidential speech-writing and the fact that they're talking to millions of people at once. Bush is particularly vulnerable to this. He's great when he's just talking to folks; not so great on the soaring speeches of nobleness. Being a war President, however, usually requires the soaring speeches of nobleness.

This one read a little differently. It seemed to strike a balance between the conversational, comfortable Bush we need to assure us and the hard-as-nails, resolved Bush we need to lead a nation at war. Did someone at the White House hear the phrase "fireside chat" as much as I have in the past couple months and take heed?

And I especially like her last bit of advice: I say keep talking to us, President Bush. You're good at it.

Whenever we don't see the president for a while, it seems the news vacuum is filled by the Kennedys and Sharptons and Pelosis of the world. Stay in front of these folks Mr. President, or we are doomed for defeat.
President Bush

Headlines Revisited

After running a number of misleading headlines, the public editor of the N&O, Ted Vaden, decided to address the issue in his Sunday column. He specifically mentioned one of my complaints from earlier in the week, but his explanation was that the headline matched the story, so all is well.

He doesn't note that the story itself was lousy, so matching the headline to the story doesn't really deserve kudos. My request is that the N&O match the headline to the news. The news that day was that the president made a major foreign policy speech in which he commented on a number of important issues regarding Iraq. The headline did not reflect the news, but rather put a negative spin on one minor comment in a multi-paragraph speech.

Politics

Not a Sunshine Patriot

Want to know why a WSJ writer would sign up for the Marines and go to Iraq? Read here about a man who Paine would never call a "summer soldier" or a "sunshine patriot."
Iraq

Job Well Done

I have been back and forth with the N&O news editor, Melanie Sill, regarding what I felt was unfair coverage of the president's speech in Philadelphia earlier this week. So today, when I saw the coverage in the N&O of the president's speech in D.C. (the final in the series of 4), I sent the following note of congratulations:

I would like to compliment your 1A coverage and headlines today, especially in comparison to what I felt was unfair coverage earlier in the week. I think the difference in how a similar event (a speech by President Bush) was reported would serve as a great study for journalists.

In today's edition the headline accurately reported the news of the day without editorializing or providing negative spin: Bush: War will bring a free Iraq, a secure U.S. That is what the president said, and you reported it. The story was also much better in terms of focusing on the main points the president conveyed rather then focusing on the minor comments that might reflect badly on the administration. The story fairly provided quotes from critics of the president's policy, but the news was the speech and that was featured, not the critics response to the speech.

I would have preferred that this "news headline and story" receive the same top center coverage as the previous "negative spin headline and story," but at least it was on the front page.

I have charged David Westphal with editorializing his reporting in the past, but in this case his story was so much better than what you receive from the NYT or AP that I suggest you use his copy more often. Please pass along my compliments to Mr. Westphal on his work.

Regards,
Scott Pierce

I am not going soft on the N&O, but they clearly got it right this time, and if our goal is to improve, rather than destroy the paper (and it is for me), then we have to recognize good reporting (as we do often with military reporter Jay Price).
Politics

Remarkable event in the Arab world

President Bush gave a speech yesterday focusing on the upcoming vote in Iraq. He pointed out that this is a remarkable event in the Arab world. He emphasized the importance of the vote on Iraq's path to democracy. He noted that unlike votes in the past, many Sunnis will participate. We also know that Iraqi security forces will provide the majority of the security at the polling stations. We know that Sunni clerics are calling on the terrorists to not disrupt the vote.

So what headline does the N&O choose to run at the top of 1A?

Bush: Vote won't end violence.

Another sad display of journalistic bias and incompetence.
Liberal Media Bias