Are Reporters Just Too Lazy to Check?

Eli,

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was asked at a press conference today how he would answer Republican charges that oil and gas production is up on private lands but not public lands. Salazar responded, "Ed, I would say that those attacks are simply wrong. The fact of the matter is that we are producing more from public lands, both oil and gas, both onshore as well as offshore, than at any time in recent memory."

Are reporters just too lazy to check? Is Secretary Salazar relying on that laziness?

From the Department of Interior Office of Natural Resources Revenue. (Graphs are mine. Data is from the site)

This is natural gas production on Federal lands (on and offshore) since 2001.

This is oil production on Federal lands (on and offshore) since 2001.

Natural gas liquids weren't mentioned by Salazar, but the Interior department also has data on NGLs. Be careful, units for NGL are in gallons, not barrels. (42 gallons per barrel).

I really didn't know which way this would turn out. It wouldn't have surprised me if the Republican claim were totally false.

What distresses me is there seems to be so little regard for the truth by both sides. And is it really that hard to check?

Bill

America the Beautiful

Eli,

I'm lucky enough to travel from time to time. Last week I was in Louisiana. Despite having been to New Orleans often enough as a child, I have never figured out the geography. Did you know there is a causeway about 30 miles long that bisects Lake Ponchartrain?

I drove across at night, with the moon shining on the Lake, but the pictures were terrible. The next day I was able to cross during the day.

I love America. I love the unspoiled nature like the Grand Canyon. I love the man-mades structures that let us enjoy and manage our environment, like the causeway over Lake Ponchartrain. I love the canyons created by the skyscrapers (do we use that word anymore?) in NYC.

We are a blessed and special people to have such beauty all around us.

Bill

Not-So-Crazy Republicans by Ross Douthat

Eli,

I enjoyed this piece from Douthat this morning.

"WITH Super Tuesday in the books, the time has come to praise that most mocked, maligned and misunderstood of Americans: the Republican primary voter.

It touches on some of the issues we have been mulling over about the GOP. One of the comments reads, "I don't think that most people believe that the Republican primary VOTERS are crazy... it's the party leaders and the candidates themselves we're concerned about. From the guys at the top (Boehner, McConnell, Cantor) to the fabulous four - these guys are giving their party the loopy label." (from borntorun45)

Mr. borntorun45, (who I have to believe is a 67-year old Springsteen fan) I think misses the point many Democrats miss and many of the chattering class miss: The leaders only serve at the will of the voters. There can be a temporary mis-match between the leaders and the voters, but our democracy will not let that stand for too long. It's a remarkably effective self-corrective system. 

Bill

The Post Office and the Personality of Politicians

Bill

I can't argue with your anticipatory eulogy for the post office. The cyber age is surely its death knell. Whether or not Congress, no matter which party controls it,  will surrender its constitutional power to establish mail service is another matter.

I went to college at a place famous for producing politicians. Several of my roommates comtemplated political careers after graduation and one even ran for Congress (and lost). When I talked to him about the experience he provided two unforgettable insights; the first was the absolute necessity for any successful office holder to lie repeatedly. As a native westerner transplanted to East for high school and college, he had adopted most of the social values of his contemporaries. But he wasn't going to have any chance in his congressional district as anything of other than a gung ho gun advocate. The second was the relentless  driving force of money in politics, and how he spent most of his campaign time and effort fund raising. Since he hated begging for money from strangers,  it was clear to him that a career as an office holder wasn't meant to be, and he happily moved on tort law.

Politics on both sides of the aisle selects for folks willing to say things and do things that you and I would simply never accept.

It sounds like I'm making your argument about limiting government for you. If only those who argue so passionately in favor of limited government really believed what they say. More likely they're just in favor of their own set of pigs at the trough.

Eli

The Power of Voluntary Associations

Bill

Forgive my recent absence from our conversation. I plead a hectic week returning to work full of various unpleasantnesses; despondent trainees, dissatisfied journal editors, delinquent colleagues etc.

We've talked quite a bit, on occasion with no small amount of passion about the value and the downside  of government regulation. Medicine provides an outstanding example of what you have been arguing for. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Hospitals (JCAHO prounonced "jake oh) began as an outgrowth of the American College of Surgeons attempt to produce a uniform set of standards for doctors and hospitals. In 1918, less than 15% of the nations hospitals met the first published set of standards. By the 50s (that blessed post war Ozzie and Harriet era) standards had improved dramatically and the joint commission offered hospitals a voluntary path to accreditation.  In 1965, as part of Medicare, Congress accepted certification by the Joint Commission as a requirement for payment to hospitals participating in the program.

No one that I know questions the value and the necessity of JACHO, even though she is an annoying  mistress to please. And yet (you knew this was coming), JACHO alone does not seem adequate to the task of providing adequate safety for patients. Hospital culture, like any culture, can be highly resistant to change. It took a series of repeated undercover visits by the state department of health and the threat of sanctions to improve hand washing rates at my hospital to an acceptable level.

Eli

These are a few of my favorite apps...

Eli,

Let's talk about something important: Apps for the iPhone and iPad. Here are some of my favorites:

Day One. I've tried a number of journal apps including My Journal, but I love Day One. It syncs with Drop Box, my Mac, my iPhone and iPad. It has a clean interface, but can't do tables, graphs and pictures, yet.

Evernote. Remember everything. Evernote also created an extension for Chrome, (and Firefox I think) called Clearly. Also marvelous, but not an iPhone/iPad app.

I used to use Instapaper much more before I found Evernote, but I still like Instapaper.

Feedler Pro. I use this every day. It takes all the blogs I subscribe to via Google Reader and cleans them up, in a standard font size. Fantastic. Love Feedler Pro.

Goodreader reads just about everything you can think of: pdf's, word doc, excel files, Apple .numbers, Apple .pages, power points, text files. I can and do link to DropBox and my Mac at home. I read the US military wanted to use it until they found out it was made by a Russian company. 

Netflix is Netflix, but you can get it on your iPad. Bored at work? Fire up some Friday Night Lights!

I also love Zite, PocketPedia2, HanDBase, the Wall Street Journal (they really did it right. Still the best app for digital newspapers, bar none), Convert, Band of the Day, Waze and Epicurious, and of course, Blogsy, which allows me to blog via the iPad

Bill

The Limbaugh Effect

Bill

I could not  agree more with your assessment of both the politics and the substance of Limbaugh's latest descent into tastelessness. But I argue that the pathogenesis of such behavior is intimately linked to the loss of the influence of moderates and the ascent of the most right wing elements of the GOP.  I can understand your contempt for the likes of Ryan Lizza given your politics, but look at who else is making the same point about the long term hazards of the GOPs continued obsession with marginalizing itself.

It isn't good for the country to have one of its major political parties controlled by crackpots. This is true for both parties And while such lurches in one one direction or the other are inevitably corrected by devastating losses at the polls, the country suffers.

Eli