http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983 Sound Off BY MIKE JENNER, Californian executive editor | Saturday, Aug 4 2007 9:45 PM Last Updated: Saturday, Aug 4 2007 9:49 PM Reader: Perhaps the people who selected your new format think &quot;change&quot; is important, and maybe they're correct. But shouldn't the change be an improvement? Combining the Local and national news into one section on Mondays does nothing but create a mess. It's a channel-surfing format, and anyone who's ever watched TV with a channel-surfing addict knows how irritating that is! On what you call the busiest day of the week, your readers have to figure out what is local and what is national (or elsewhere) news. Thanks for messing up our week. Traditionally, my favorite part of The Californian was the Local section; it contained most of what I want to read first (after the headlines, of course). Under your new format, I have to deal with irritating &quot;pop-ups&quot; before being able to read the news. You've even moved and changed the weather report, which was perfect the way it was. Another change for the sake of change. Do you have a new CEO (Change Executive Officer)? You've taken a bold, clear, colorful, easy-to-read weather page and denigrated it. It's been miniaturized so effectively that it is now hard to visualize and understand. Even the color has been taken away. And to add insult to injury, it is not even black and white; it's gray and white. What a lackluster way to report the weather. I hope you have another &quot;change&quot; in store for your readers in the near future -- a change back to what was a very good newspaper. -- Fred Mahanagrana Jenner: Thanks for noticing our changes, Fred. We are planning at least one change you might like. In a week we'll relaunch a weather package that will restore color to the page and improve several of the features, such as the national weather map. It won't be the same page we discontinued three weeks ago, but we'll address as many complaints as we can. Our new Monday format (which combines the A section and Local section) is new, and I know it takes time to get used to change. But I don't think the organization of the new section should be too confusing. After the front page and Page A2 comes local news, followed by state, national and finally world news. We'll try to make sure we label these pages clearly, but I'd ask readers to give it more than just three issues before writing it off. And I do look forward to hearing reader comments on the weather changes we'll introduce next week. One thing hasn't changed around here, and that's our commitment to quality local news coverage. We're covering local issues, people and events with the same accuracy, energy and quantity as ever -- and you're getting many more stories and much more depth here than any other place. For people who care about what's going on in their community, The Californian and bakersfield.com continue to be the sources that deliver. Reader: Emily Hagedorn's article in the July 14 edition did a reasonably good job of reporting Bakersfield-area hospitals' above-average fatalities from heart bypass surgery in the 2003-2004 period. Three issues were either left un-quantified or unclear. 1. Memorial Hospital officials stated they upgraded their technology (hopefully reduced the number of fatalities) in the two-plus years since the survey. The survey indicated a risk-adjusted 5 percent fatality rate. I would have hoped Ms. Hagedorn might have reported their current rate. 2. She mentioned that Kern County surgeons didn't fare too well in the survey. For completeness sake, I think the article should have indicated the performance of the best and worst surgeons in Kern County. 3. In the last portion of her article, Ms. Hagedorn stated: Four hospitals in the state performed better than average; none were in the Kern County area, the report found. Four surgeons did better than the average, and 12 surgeons did worse. None of those were local either. In some respect, these statements don't make sense. I believe more than four hospitals in California performing above average and there are more than 16 surgeons doing heart-bypass surgery in California. What was she attempting to say? Best regards, -- Jon Crawford Jenner: The following is Emily Hagedorn's response: I want to correct a couple of facts in Mr. Crawford's letter. Not all Bakersfield hospitals were above average in fatalities for coronary artery bypass graft surgery in the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development's recent report; only Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. And I did not write that the local surgeons evaluated in the report fared poorly. They received average ratings, like most of the surgeons in the state. In regards to Mr. Crawford's first concern, the 5 percent fatality rate for bypass surgery at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital is the most current rate the state has, despite being from 2003-2004. Out-of-date information is a common drawback of many of the hospital and doctor studies that come out. As the story said, the state office hopes to have 2005 data for the hospitals published by the end of this year. That may give us a clearer picture of our local hospitals' performances. The five local surgeons evaluated in the report garnered overall average ratings. The surgeons, bypass surgeries performed and risk-adjusted death rates are as follows: * Dr. Reginald Abraham, 29 surgeries, zero percent. * Dr. Marvin Derrick, 548 surgeries, 4.08 percent. * Dr. Patrick Paw, 313 surgeries, 3.93 percent. * Dr. Sarabjit Purewal, 367 surgeries, 5.09 percent. * Dr. Jose Soto-Velasco, 43 surgeries, 8.5 percent. While the state death rate was 3.08 percent, the surgeons' results weren't statistically significant enough to garner the low rating. Regarding your last concern, 121 state-licensed hospitals and 302 surgeons were evaluated in this report, as the story said. The great majority of both groups were rated as average. Four hospitals in the state performed better than average, and six hospitals did worse, including Memorial. Four surgeons did better than the average, and 12 surgeons did worse. More than four hospitals in the state may be performing above average, as you said, but that's not what this study found. I'm sorry you were confused by the article, and I hope this answers your questions. I encourage you or any reader interested in learning more about the study to go to www.oshpd.state.ca.us. Reader: Californian -- that is how you spell hypocrisy. I must have missed your editorials lambasting Clinton for lying under oath to the grand jury investigating the Lewinsky affair. Caught the one where you directed your outrage at &quot;overzealous&quot; Ken Starr without mentioning he asked the three-judge oversight panel to NOT appoint him to the Lewinsky case. Hmm, that's overzealous? Hundreds of FBI screening reports on congressional members and politicians showed up in Clinton's White House. Mistakenly sent by the FBI, said Clinton. Yeah, right. Four philandering Republicans favoring Clinton's impeachment were outed. Their FBI reports were among those found in the White House. The only Democrat in the whole bunch was James Carville, Clinton's campaign manager. Ever wonder what Carville had on Clinton? Never saw a speculative editorial about that. What about &quot;vacuuming&quot; the Rose law firm files in the midst of Whitewater, storing records in a friend's White House office? Chasing Washington police investigating his suicide from that office? Insisting the Parks Department handle the investigation? A White House security member telling a House committee he toted those records up to the living quarters? The Clintons denying they had a subpoenaed document from that stash, which later showed up in their living room. Where was your anger then? Compare the above to the Valerie Plame case. Special prosecutor Fitzgerald started his investigation by talking to the CIA, Robert Novak and Richard Armitage. He discovered three things: Plame was not a covert agent; Armitage was Novak's source; and Armitage had no criminal intent, therefore no crime had been committed, though your phrasing hints otherwise. Why did Fitzgerald legally restrain Armitage from saying anything and continue the long investigation when he knew who outed Plame from the start? Sounds overzealous to me. Compare the Clinton evidence above to replacing the U.S. attorneys, which always punches your Editorial Board's hot spasm button. I believe it was Maxine Waters who after one hearing said the House didn't have any evidence so they needed to subpoena Karl Rove. More than a hundred people grilled by Congress, 85,000 pages of documents -- and they have nothing? They want more nothing? How Kafkaesque is that? -- Ray Stamper Editorial Page Editor Dianne Hardisty responds: I'm sorry you missed all of the editorials published in The Californian during Bill Clinton's tenure criticizing the president and his behavior, particularly during the Lewinsky scandal. I'm especially sorry you missed our editorial demanding Clinton resign. The Californian was one of the first newspapers in the nation to demand Clinton's resignation in the wake of the scandal. Sound Off BY MIKE JENNER, Californian executive editor | Saturday, Aug 4 2007 9:45 PM Last Updated: Saturday, Aug 4 2007 9:49 PM Reader: Perhaps the people who selected your new format think &quot;change&quot; is important, and maybe they're correct. But shouldn't the change be an improvement? Combining the Local and national news into one section on Mondays does nothing but create a mess. It's a channel-surfing format, and anyone who's ever watched TV with a channel-surfing addict knows how irritating that is! On what you call the busiest day of the week, your readers have to figure out what is local and what is national (or elsewhere) news. Thanks for messing up our week. Traditionally, my favorite part of The Californian was the Local section; it contained most of what I want to read first (after the headlines, of course). Under your new format, I have to deal with irritating &quot;pop-ups&quot; before being able to read the news. You've even moved and changed the weather report, which was perfect the way it was. Another change for the sake of change. Do you have a new CEO (Change Executive Officer)? You've taken a bold, clear, colorful, easy-to-read weather page and denigrated it. It's been miniaturized so effectively that it is now hard to visualize and understand. Even the color has been taken away. And to add insult to injury, it is not even black and white; it's gray and white. What a lackluster way to report the weather. I hope you have another &quot;change&quot; in store for your readers in the near future -- a change back to what was a very good newspaper. -- Fred Mahanagrana Jenner: Thanks for noticing our changes, Fred. We are planning at least one change you might like. In a week we'll relaunch a weather package that will restore color to the page and improve several of the features, such as the national weather map. It won't be the same page we discontinued three weeks ago, but we'll address as many complaints as we can. Our new Monday format (which combines the A section and Local section) is new, and I know it takes time to get used to change. But I don't think the organization of the new section should be too confusing. After the front page and Page A2 comes local news, followed by state, national and finally world news. We'll try to make sure we label these pages clearly, but I'd ask readers to give it more than just three issues before writing it off. And I do look forward to hearing reader comments on the weather changes we'll introduce next week. One thing hasn't changed around here, and that's our commitment to quality local news coverage. We're covering local issues, people and events with the same accuracy, energy and quantity as ever -- and you're getting many more stories and much more depth here than any other place. For people who care about what's going on in their community, The Californian and bakersfield.com continue to be the sources that deliver. Reader: Emily Hagedorn's article in the July 14 edition did a reasonably good job of reporting Bakersfield-area hospitals' above-average fatalities from heart bypass surgery in the 2003-2004 period. Three issues were either left un-quantified or unclear. 1. Memorial Hospital officials stated they upgraded their technology (hopefully reduced the number of fatalities) in the two-plus years since the survey. The survey indicated a risk-adjusted 5 percent fatality rate. I would have hoped Ms. Hagedorn might have reported their current rate. 2. She mentioned that Kern County surgeons didn't fare too well in the survey. For completeness sake, I think the article should have indicated the performance of the best and worst surgeons in Kern County. 3. In the last portion of her article, Ms. Hagedorn stated: Four hospitals in the state performed better than average; none were in the Kern County area, the report found. Four surgeons did better than the average, and 12 surgeons did worse. None of those were local either. In some respect, these statements don't make sense. I believe more than four hospitals in California performing above average and there are more than 16 surgeons doing heart-bypass surgery in California. What was she attempting to say? Best regards, -- Jon Crawford Jenner: The following is Emily Hagedorn's response: I want to correct a couple of facts in Mr. Crawford's letter. Not all Bakersfield hospitals were above average in fatalities for coronary artery bypass graft surgery in the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development's recent report; only Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. And I did not write that the local surgeons evaluated in the report fared poorly. They received average ratings, like most of the surgeons in the state. In regards to Mr. Crawford's first concern, the 5 percent fatality rate for bypass surgery at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital is the most current rate the state has, despite being from 2003-2004. Out-of-date information is a common drawback of many of the hospital and doctor studies that come out. As the story said, the state office hopes to have 2005 data for the hospitals published by the end of this year. That may give us a clearer picture of our local hospitals' performances. The five local surgeons evaluated in the report garnered overall average ratings. The surgeons, bypass surgeries performed and risk-adjusted death rates are as follows: * Dr. Reginald Abraham, 29 surgeries, zero percent. * Dr. Marvin Derrick, 548 surgeries, 4.08 percent. * Dr. Patrick Paw, 313 surgeries, 3.93 percent. * Dr. Sarabjit Purewal, 367 surgeries, 5.09 percent. * Dr. Jose Soto-Velasco, 43 surgeries, 8.5 percent. While the state death rate was 3.08 percent, the surgeons' results weren't statistically significant enough to garner the low rating. Regarding your last concern, 121 state-licensed hospitals and 302 surgeons were evaluated in this report, as the story said. The great majority of both groups were rated as average. Four hospitals in the state performed better than average, and six hospitals did worse, including Memorial. Four surgeons did better than the average, and 12 surgeons did worse. More than four hospitals in the state may be performing above average, as you said, but that's not what this study found. I'm sorry you were confused by the article, and I hope this answers your questions. I encourage you or any reader interested in learning more about the study to go to www.oshpd.state.ca.us. Reader: Californian -- that is how you spell hypocrisy. I must have missed your editorials lambasting Clinton for lying under oath to the grand jury investigating the Lewinsky affair. Caught the one where you directed your outrage at &quot;overzealous&quot; Ken Starr without mentioning he asked the three-judge oversight panel to NOT appoint him to the Lewinsky case. Hmm, that's overzealous? Hundreds of FBI screening reports on congressional members and politicians showed up in Clinton's White House. Mistakenly sent by the FBI, said Clinton. Yeah, right. Four philandering Republicans favoring Clinton's impeachment were outed. Their FBI reports were among those found in the White House. The only Democrat in the whole bunch was James Carville, Clinton's campaign manager. Ever wonder what Carville had on Clinton? Never saw a speculative editorial about that. What about &quot;vacuuming&quot; the Rose law firm files in the midst of Whitewater, storing records in a friend's White House office? Chasing Washington police investigating his suicide from that office? Insisting the Parks Department handle the investigation? A White House security member telling a House committee he toted those records up to the living quarters? The Clintons denying they had a subpoenaed document from that stash, which later showed up in their living room. Where was your anger then? Compare the above to the Valerie Plame case. Special prosecutor Fitzgerald started his investigation by talking to the CIA, Robert Novak and Richard Armitage. He discovered three things: Plame was not a covert agent; Armitage was Novak's source; and Armitage had no criminal intent, therefore no crime had been committed, though your phrasing hints otherwise. Why did Fitzgerald legally restrain Armitage from saying anything and continue the long investigation when he knew who outed Plame from the start? Sounds overzealous to me. Compare the Clinton evidence above to replacing the U.S. attorneys, which always punches your Editorial Board's hot spasm button. I believe it was Maxine Waters who after one hearing said the House didn't have any evidence so they needed to subpoena Karl Rove. More than a hundred people grilled by Congress, 85,000 pages of documents -- and they have nothing? They want more nothing? How Kafkaesque is that? -- Ray Stamper Editorial Page Editor Dianne Hardisty responds: I'm sorry you missed all of the editorials published in The Californian during Bill Clinton's tenure criticizing the president and his behavior, particularly during the Lewinsky scandal. I'm especially sorry you missed our editorial demanding Clinton resign. The Californian was one of the first newspapers in the nation to demand Clinton's resignation in the wake of the scandal. en-us <a href="http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/sentencing_memo_exhibits.pdf">Plame was undercover</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/01/AR2005100101317_pf.html">Armitage wasn't the only one giving her name out</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800916_pf.html">Armitage <em>was</em> the only one who wasn't trying to hurt her personally and professionally, and hurt her husband's credibility</a>.<br /> <br /> But, hey, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair#Notes">don't just take my word for it</a>.<br /> <br /> I mean, it isn't like they were lying about a <em>consensual</em> <em>blowjob</em> or anything. They just outted an <a href="http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340">undercover</a> government agent who's expertise was Middle Eastern (especially Iraqi) weapons of mass distruction. No big loss......<br /> <br /> <strong>FAIL</strong>, thy name is <em>Ray Stamper</em> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125755 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125755 <a href="http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/sentencing_memo_exhibits.pdf">Plame was undercover</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/01/AR2005100101317_pf.html">Armitage wasn't the only one giving her name out</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800916_pf.html">Armitage <em>was</em> the only one who wasn't trying to hurt her personally and professionally, and hurt her husband's credibility</a>.<br /> <br /> But, hey, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair#Notes">don't just take my word for it</a>.<br /> <br /> I mean, it isn't like they were lying about a <em>consensual</em> <em>blowjob</em> or anything. They just outted an <a href="http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340">undercover</a> government agent who's expertise was Middle Eastern (especially Iraqi) weapons of mass distruction. No big loss......<br /> <br /> <strong>FAIL</strong>, thy name is <em>Ray Stamper</em> I guess Ray Stamper also missed the <em>many</em> articles that clearly stated that <strong>Valerie Plame was most definitely a covert agent.</strong> Saying that Armitage had no criminal intent is also a bogus claim. When you out a CIA agent that is undercover and working in a department focused on WMD nonproliferation in the middle east (aka, they were against the spread of WMDs), on purpose for purely political reasons, of course there's criminal intent. He just didn't intend on getting in trouble for it. I'm sure Bush/Cheney reassured him that he wouldn't serve any jail time, and he hasn't.  <br /> It really pains me that you put editorials like this in the paper. People read them and are even more misinformed. I know the Californian has fewer and fewer pages every day, but you should at least put informative editorials in there. It is a disservice to the community to put any story in your paper with questionable facts. Geez, at least put disclaimers at the end of the story to correct the falsifications. Maybe you're just too busy figuring out where to put the local section. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125761 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125761 I guess Ray Stamper also missed the <em>many</em> articles that clearly stated that <strong>Valerie Plame was most definitely a covert agent.</strong> Saying that Armitage had no criminal intent is also a bogus claim. When you out a CIA agent that is undercover and working in a department focused on WMD nonproliferation in the middle east (aka, they were against the spread of WMDs), on purpose for purely political reasons, of course there's criminal intent. He just didn't intend on getting in trouble for it. I'm sure Bush/Cheney reassured him that he wouldn't serve any jail time, and he hasn't.  <br /> It really pains me that you put editorials like this in the paper. People read them and are even more misinformed. I know the Californian has fewer and fewer pages every day, but you should at least put informative editorials in there. It is a disservice to the community to put any story in your paper with questionable facts. Geez, at least put disclaimers at the end of the story to correct the falsifications. Maybe you're just too busy figuring out where to put the local section. You lost me, Pete.&nbsp; Editorials like what? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125770 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125770 You lost me, Pete.&nbsp; Editorials like what? <p>Newspaper Changes:</p> <p>In reading comments regarding the changes in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper, I too was indignant about the black and white weather page and level of reporting.  However;  after cancelling my subscription, I went without the Californian for three days and REALLY missed it.  I missed it, not because of page color or depth of analysis, but because of the "home town", connected feeling.  I resubscribed.   Had to buy  one today at Green Frog.  Oh it was good to sit down with a cup of tea and an old friend.</p> <p>Barbara Harmon Fleming</p> <p>Bakersfield</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125771 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125771 <p>Newspaper Changes:</p> <p>In reading comments regarding the changes in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper, I too was indignant about the black and white weather page and level of reporting.  However;  after cancelling my subscription, I went without the Californian for three days and REALLY missed it.  I missed it, not because of page color or depth of analysis, but because of the "home town", connected feeling.  I resubscribed.   Had to buy  one today at Green Frog.  Oh it was good to sit down with a cup of tea and an old friend.</p> <p>Barbara Harmon Fleming</p> <p>Bakersfield</p> H4F, <br /> Editorials like the one by Roy Stamper above, and the daily parade of misleading editorials that the Californian publishes. There's at least one a day that bashes liberals or just puts out blatantly false information. It's stuff like that that keeps people thinking that Iraq had something to do with 9-11 for example. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125777 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125777 H4F, <br /> Editorials like the one by Roy Stamper above, and the daily parade of misleading editorials that the Californian publishes. There's at least one a day that bashes liberals or just puts out blatantly false information. It's stuff like that that keeps people thinking that Iraq had something to do with 9-11 for example. <p>Oh, okay.&nbsp; I thought you were referring to a particular <em>Californian</em> editorial.</p> <p>I didn't mind seeing Roy Stamper's piece, as long as someone came by and dynamited the hater with some facts -- as indeed took place.</p> <p>That's why I'm being such a hound&nbsp;about an offset to Marylee.&nbsp; I don't want to banish Marylee -- I merely want someone to keep the other side equally honest.</p> <p>I could write <em>some</em> liberal stuff, but I can only take the role-playing so far.&nbsp; Maybe a tag-team?</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125779 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125779 <p>Oh, okay.&nbsp; I thought you were referring to a particular <em>Californian</em> editorial.</p> <p>I didn't mind seeing Roy Stamper's piece, as long as someone came by and dynamited the hater with some facts -- as indeed took place.</p> <p>That's why I'm being such a hound&nbsp;about an offset to Marylee.&nbsp; I don't want to banish Marylee -- I merely want someone to keep the other side equally honest.</p> <p>I could write <em>some</em> liberal stuff, but I can only take the role-playing so far.&nbsp; Maybe a tag-team?</p> I'd consider it, but am quite weary of putting my real name and photo in the paper. I don't really consider myself a journalist either. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125783 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125783 I'd consider it, but am quite weary of putting my real name and photo in the paper. I don't really consider myself a journalist either. I'd tag-team with ya, Hardliner, but as Pete noted, they'd make me use my mundane name.&nbsp; It's bad enough my photo appears next to every post on this blog. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125795 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125795 I'd tag-team with ya, Hardliner, but as Pete noted, they'd make me use my mundane name.&nbsp; It's bad enough my photo appears next to every post on this blog. <font color="#ff0000">Random you commented twice on the same thing you trying to &quot;p&quot; off Sam ?</font> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125800 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125800 <font color="#ff0000">Random you commented twice on the same thing you trying to &quot;p&quot; off Sam ?</font> <p>That's something I do naturally, Ron.&nbsp; No &quot;try&quot; involved.&nbsp; No, it was a glitch and I've deleted the second one.</p> <p>.</p> <p>Pete, I no longer consider myself a journalist but I used to be one.&nbsp; My real reason for remaining anonymous is my sainted grandmother, who doesn't know I'm a blogger.&nbsp; She still thinks I play piano in a...</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125802 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125802 <p>That's something I do naturally, Ron.&nbsp; No &quot;try&quot; involved.&nbsp; No, it was a glitch and I've deleted the second one.</p> <p>.</p> <p>Pete, I no longer consider myself a journalist but I used to be one.&nbsp; My real reason for remaining anonymous is my sainted grandmother, who doesn't know I'm a blogger.&nbsp; She still thinks I play piano in a...</p> My grandmother knows I blog and she's proud of it. She's a real &quot;mother jones&quot; type. The one that's passed on is a different story. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125808 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125808 My grandmother knows I blog and she's proud of it. She's a real &quot;mother jones&quot; type. The one that's passed on is a different story. <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>missed the <em>many</em> articles that clearly stated that Valerie Plame was most definitely a covert agent.</u></strong> </p> <p>The judge in the case (Watson, a Bush appointee) ruled that Plame was a covert agent at the time she was outed.</p> <p>&nbsp;I've noticed Stamper is wrong in most of the letters he sends to the editor and Sound Off.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125816 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125816 <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>missed the <em>many</em> articles that clearly stated that Valerie Plame was most definitely a covert agent.</u></strong> </p> <p>The judge in the case (Watson, a Bush appointee) ruled that Plame was a covert agent at the time she was outed.</p> <p>&nbsp;I've noticed Stamper is wrong in most of the letters he sends to the editor and Sound Off.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> That's why I wonder why they keep printing his stuff. It makes me think Dianne Hardisty wants to misinform. All it would take is a sentence or two at the end in the name of truth. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125820 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125820 That's why I wonder why they keep printing his stuff. It makes me think Dianne Hardisty wants to misinform. All it would take is a sentence or two at the end in the name of truth. Well, Pete, they'd just cry &quot;leftwingmediabias!&quot; if she printed the truth.&nbsp; http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125827 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125827 Well, Pete, they'd just cry &quot;leftwingmediabias!&quot; if she printed the truth.&nbsp; How sad.&nbsp; )&nbsp; :<br /> <br /> There are quite a few people in this town that think the Californian is a liberal paper no matter what they print, so how much worse could it be? Honestly, it's things like this that are probably harming the paper and contribute to the decline of subscriptions. It's as foolish as democratic candidates for POTUS taking advise from the DLC. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125836 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125836 How sad.&nbsp; )&nbsp; :<br /> <br /> There are quite a few people in this town that think the Californian is a liberal paper no matter what they print, so how much worse could it be? Honestly, it's things like this that are probably harming the paper and contribute to the decline of subscriptions. It's as foolish as democratic candidates for POTUS taking advise from the DLC. Wonder how many letters we'd have to send to get them to publish one that said Bush blew up the world trade center using nothing but what he found in Dick Cheney's medicine cabinet. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125840 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125840 Wonder how many letters we'd have to send to get them to publish one that said Bush blew up the world trade center using nothing but what he found in Dick Cheney's medicine cabinet. <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>That's why I wonder why they keep printing his stuff</u></strong></p> <p>The same reason the Californian printed rightwing astroturf letters until they were called on it and publicly apologized. They think they can get away with it. Every time they printed one I'd whip a personal&nbsp;email off to Diane complaining. I wasn't the only one. It took a few emails, but they finally put a stop to it.</p> <p><strong><u>There are quite a few people in this town that think the Californian is a liberal paper no matter what they print</u></strong></p> <p>Bakersfield isn't known for its intellectual community. It's still seen as a backwards cow town to the rest of the state and nation. You can barely convince the majority&nbsp;of the population the world is round.</p> <p>There's not one Liberal columnist printed in the Californian.&nbsp;Conservatives are overrepresented in the paper when you look at Bakersfield's political environment.&nbsp; Conservatives make up approx. 65% of Bakersfield and 99.9% of the Californian's columnists. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125842 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125842 <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>That's why I wonder why they keep printing his stuff</u></strong></p> <p>The same reason the Californian printed rightwing astroturf letters until they were called on it and publicly apologized. They think they can get away with it. Every time they printed one I'd whip a personal&nbsp;email off to Diane complaining. I wasn't the only one. It took a few emails, but they finally put a stop to it.</p> <p><strong><u>There are quite a few people in this town that think the Californian is a liberal paper no matter what they print</u></strong></p> <p>Bakersfield isn't known for its intellectual community. It's still seen as a backwards cow town to the rest of the state and nation. You can barely convince the majority&nbsp;of the population the world is round.</p> <p>There's not one Liberal columnist printed in the Californian.&nbsp;Conservatives are overrepresented in the paper when you look at Bakersfield's political environment.&nbsp; Conservatives make up approx. 65% of Bakersfield and 99.9% of the Californian's columnists. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> That's not completely true though. Leonard Pitts is fairly lib and they have the 2 opposing ladies that comment on the same issue. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125844 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125844 That's not completely true though. Leonard Pitts is fairly lib and they have the 2 opposing ladies that comment on the same issue. <p>There are more liberals in Bakersfield than you think.</p> <p>Some of them&nbsp;just don't know it yet, because they never hear liberal opinions.&nbsp; (They merely hear &quot;liberal&quot; opinions misrepresented strawman-style by right-wing pundits.&nbsp; They never get to hear liberal opinions spoken for themselves.)</p> <p>Pay close attention to the self-identifying conservative bloggers, and see just how often they express liberal opinions.&nbsp; They just&nbsp;<em>think</em>&nbsp;they're conservatives&nbsp;because they've gone most of their lives never hearing media pundits say anything good about liberals.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125849 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125849 <p>There are more liberals in Bakersfield than you think.</p> <p>Some of them&nbsp;just don't know it yet, because they never hear liberal opinions.&nbsp; (They merely hear &quot;liberal&quot; opinions misrepresented strawman-style by right-wing pundits.&nbsp; They never get to hear liberal opinions spoken for themselves.)</p> <p>Pay close attention to the self-identifying conservative bloggers, and see just how often they express liberal opinions.&nbsp; They just&nbsp;<em>think</em>&nbsp;they're conservatives&nbsp;because they've gone most of their lives never hearing media pundits say anything good about liberals.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Maybe we'll really see in the next election. Especially after Diebold is out of the picture. (Woo Hoo!!! We did it, we did it!!! Hurray for Debra Bowen!) http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125851 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125851 Maybe we'll really see in the next election. Especially after Diebold is out of the picture. (Woo Hoo!!! We did it, we did it!!! Hurray for Debra Bowen!) <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Leonard Pitts is fairly lib</u></strong> </p> <p>I consider Pitts to be a left leaning moderate. I haven't read him much in recent years so he may have moved to the Liberal spectrum.&nbsp;He did support Clinton's welfare reform program.</p> <p>I've read a couple of the columns by the two ladies you referred to,&nbsp;but I stopped because the subject matter&nbsp;was mundane and trivial bordering on tabloid.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125854 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125854 <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Leonard Pitts is fairly lib</u></strong> </p> <p>I consider Pitts to be a left leaning moderate. I haven't read him much in recent years so he may have moved to the Liberal spectrum.&nbsp;He did support Clinton's welfare reform program.</p> <p>I've read a couple of the columns by the two ladies you referred to,&nbsp;but I stopped because the subject matter&nbsp;was mundane and trivial bordering on tabloid.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> You guys know that David Sirota is launching a new column, right? http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota.html<br /> <br /> He'd be a great voice for the paper, and a nationally syndicated one. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125856 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125856 You guys know that David Sirota is launching a new column, right? http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota.html<br /> <br /> He'd be a great voice for the paper, and a nationally syndicated one. <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Especially after Diebold is out of the picture</u></strong></p> <p>Pressure needs to be placed on battleground states like Ohio and Florida to take a closer look at their machines as well.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125858 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125858 <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Especially after Diebold is out of the picture</u></strong></p> <p>Pressure needs to be placed on battleground states like Ohio and Florida to take a closer look at their machines as well.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Why is the Californian making so many cost cutting changes?&nbsp;&nbsp; I know they said they were losing money from the decrease in real estate ads, but the loss of revenue from those ads surely can't be made up by doing away with &nbsp;Monday's metro section and changing the weather page to a black and white format alone.&nbsp; </p> <p>The amount of foreclosure&nbsp;notices have skyrocketed.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don't those notices make up for the space lost by real estate ads?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Is a decrease in readership part of the problem?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p>I love TBC.&nbsp; I've been reading it for 49 years.&nbsp; I hate to see it lose the qualities that's made it a class operation for decades.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125861 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125861 <p>Why is the Californian making so many cost cutting changes?&nbsp;&nbsp; I know they said they were losing money from the decrease in real estate ads, but the loss of revenue from those ads surely can't be made up by doing away with &nbsp;Monday's metro section and changing the weather page to a black and white format alone.&nbsp; </p> <p>The amount of foreclosure&nbsp;notices have skyrocketed.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don't those notices make up for the space lost by real estate ads?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Is a decrease in readership part of the problem?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p>I love TBC.&nbsp; I've been reading it for 49 years.&nbsp; I hate to see it lose the qualities that's made it a class operation for decades.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Re: complaints about the facts or lack thereof in the &quot;Sound Off&quot; letter (not editorial, or even opinion piece, but letter to the paper's &quot;talk back&quot; feature), the Atlanta Journal Constitution's public editor wrote <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tuck/stories/2007/08/03/inside_0804.html">this interesting take</a> on LTEs and their relationship to facts according to the AJC's editorial page editor. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125903 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125903 Re: complaints about the facts or lack thereof in the &quot;Sound Off&quot; letter (not editorial, or even opinion piece, but letter to the paper's &quot;talk back&quot; feature), the Atlanta Journal Constitution's public editor wrote <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tuck/stories/2007/08/03/inside_0804.html">this interesting take</a> on LTEs and their relationship to facts according to the AJC's editorial page editor. <p>Jason and&nbsp; TBC are providing a valuable service by reprinting LTE's such as this one for comment online, since it allows the &quot;self-correcting&quot; function of the blogs to go to work.</p> <p>.</p> <p>However, I'd look at a factually-incorrect letter to the editor in the same light as a libelous one:&nbsp; if the editor knows (or can ascertain from readily-available sources) that claims in the letter are not true, they deserve immediate rebuttal or better, restriction from publication.</p> <p>.</p> <p>That goes double for the op-ed columns.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125906 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125906 <p>Jason and&nbsp; TBC are providing a valuable service by reprinting LTE's such as this one for comment online, since it allows the &quot;self-correcting&quot; function of the blogs to go to work.</p> <p>.</p> <p>However, I'd look at a factually-incorrect letter to the editor in the same light as a libelous one:&nbsp; if the editor knows (or can ascertain from readily-available sources) that claims in the letter are not true, they deserve immediate rebuttal or better, restriction from publication.</p> <p>.</p> <p>That goes double for the op-ed columns.</p> What RF said.... http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125923 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125923 What RF said.... <p>I heard today that the NY Times is decreasing the size of it's paper.&nbsp; Seems to be a trend in the industry.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/business/media/18web.html?ex=1310875200&amp;en=58a9433f8bd2b26a&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/business/media/18web.html?ex=1310875200&amp;en=58a9433f8bd2b26a&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss</a></p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125928 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_125928 <p>I heard today that the NY Times is decreasing the size of it's paper.&nbsp; Seems to be a trend in the industry.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/business/media/18web.html?ex=1310875200&amp;en=58a9433f8bd2b26a&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/business/media/18web.html?ex=1310875200&amp;en=58a9433f8bd2b26a&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss</a></p> <p>RF, just to clarify, I don't repost the print Sound Off letters (or the print Editorials, or the opinions pieces that get posted in Fired Up), the folks upstairs do.</p> <p>And I have no idea what any of the editors, on the news or opinions side, think re: the issues raised in the article I linked to, I just thought it was interesting, and interesting that it came up at the same time as we were discussing this here.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_126185 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_126185 <p>RF, just to clarify, I don't repost the print Sound Off letters (or the print Editorials, or the opinions pieces that get posted in Fired Up), the folks upstairs do.</p> <p>And I have no idea what any of the editors, on the news or opinions side, think re: the issues raised in the article I linked to, I just thought it was interesting, and interesting that it came up at the same time as we were discussing this here.</p> <p>Nancy</p> <p>Everyone's getting their news online.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_126188 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_126188 <p>Nancy</p> <p>Everyone's getting their news online.</p> <p>Mr. Mike Jenner</p> <p>Californian executive editor.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I think is time a spanish section, maybe an cultural article or something for to start.</p> <p>A lot of hispanic people is getting the Bakersfield californian.</p> <p>Thank you</p> <p>Benjam&iacute;n Vizca&iacute;no</p> <p>Editor</p> <p>Bakersfield California</p> <p>Spanish: </p> <p>Sr. Mike Jenner</p> <p>Editor ejecutivo de Californian</p> <p>Pienso que es tiempo de incluir una secci&oacute;n en espa&ntilde;ol en el peri&oacute;dico. Puede ser un art&iacute;culo cultural para comenzar.</p> <p>Bastante gente hispana est&aacute; obteniendo &eacute;ste peri&oacute;dico.</p> <p>Gracias.</p> <p>Benjam&iacute;n Vizca&iacute;no</p> <p>Escritor y editor</p> <p>Bakersfield California.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_183980 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_183980 <p>Mr. Mike Jenner</p> <p>Californian executive editor.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I think is time a spanish section, maybe an cultural article or something for to start.</p> <p>A lot of hispanic people is getting the Bakersfield californian.</p> <p>Thank you</p> <p>Benjam&iacute;n Vizca&iacute;no</p> <p>Editor</p> <p>Bakersfield California</p> <p>Spanish: </p> <p>Sr. Mike Jenner</p> <p>Editor ejecutivo de Californian</p> <p>Pienso que es tiempo de incluir una secci&oacute;n en espa&ntilde;ol en el peri&oacute;dico. Puede ser un art&iacute;culo cultural para comenzar.</p> <p>Bastante gente hispana est&aacute; obteniendo &eacute;ste peri&oacute;dico.</p> <p>Gracias.</p> <p>Benjam&iacute;n Vizca&iacute;no</p> <p>Escritor y editor</p> <p>Bakersfield California.</p> <p>I must have had too much joy juice last night or woke up in fantasy land. I could swear that I read in one of the blogs that the Californian has bo liberal leaning columnists. One example, Leonel Martinez, he is about as conservative as the Clintons and OBama.  As far as Valerie Phlame, covert or not, she was responsible for sending a pin-head with an agenda (her beloved husband)  to gather information and he came back and publicly lied (confirmed) about his findings. Charges of treason would not have been too harsh in my humble opinion.</p> <p> </p> <p>Balmy</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_188199 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/12983/#c_188199 <p>I must have had too much joy juice last night or woke up in fantasy land. I could swear that I read in one of the blogs that the Californian has bo liberal leaning columnists. One example, Leonel Martinez, he is about as conservative as the Clintons and OBama.  As far as Valerie Phlame, covert or not, she was responsible for sending a pin-head with an agenda (her beloved husband)  to gather information and he came back and publicly lied (confirmed) about his findings. Charges of treason would not have been too harsh in my humble opinion.</p> <p> </p> <p>Balmy</p>