NPR: I Wish To Register A Complaint!

It's funny what we find whine-worthy sometimes. Maybe it's just the writer in me being hypersensitive to this kind of crap:

To: the Editors of National Public Radio's All Things Considered
Subject: Your 02/06/08 article on "Beautiful Children"

The report on the writer Charles Bock and his new book, Beautiful Children, was one of the most disappointing I've heard on NPR in a long time. Although reporter Rick Kleffel was effusive with praise, the piece itself lacked any real substance, concentrating on generalities and vague histories without concrete examples. The excerpt read could have come from any dark young adult novel. Most telling was the lack of any supporting, third-party review of the novel.

The piece sounded too much like a bought-and-paid-for puff piece assembled by a publicist and sold to commercial news outlets desperate to fill gaps in their schedule. I've come to expect higher standards from NPR. This piece did not live up to my expectations.

Sincerely, Elf M. Sternberg, KUOW Seattle Member since 2002.

The article in question is Beautiful Children, A Dark Novel of Life in Las Vegas.

News we can all use: Romney, Hillary, and Japanese Schoolgirls

First, if you're living in a cave, John McCain has become the nominee on the Republican Side, as the Mittster drops out of the race. I get the feeling there was an awful lot of pressure on poor Mitt up to this point, mostly because the party really, really needed McCain to start making his case, looking pretty and calm, while Clinton and Obama continue to race against each other in the Democratic slog.

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Secondly, Hillary Clinton has joined McCain, Huckabee, and Romney in refusing to pledge to respect and restore the Constitution. Ron Paul and all of the other Democrats have signed on to either the conservative American Freedom Agenda or the liberal American Freedom Campaign, both of which call for more or less the same thing. Here's the conservative version:

The American Freedom Agenda's (AFA) mission is twofold: the enactment of a cluster of statutes that would restore the Constitution's checks and balances as enshrined by the Founding Fathers; and, making the subject a staple of political campaigns and of foremost concern to Members of Congress and to voters and educators. Especially since 9/11, the executive branch has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power, and has repeatedly claimed that the President is the law. The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence.

That Hillary won't sign on is a sure sign that something is wrong with her view of Presidential power.

[Edit: As blaisepascal points out, the above about Hillary is completely untrue, and I've already pushed my annoyance at being misled from a usually reliable source upstream.]

[Edit 2: Ed Brayton has corrected his statement. Good man.]

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And finally, a meat packing company in Japan is seeking to copyright the term 女子高生, Joshikosei, or "Japanese Schoolgirl," and is planning a line of "Japanese schoolgirl meat products" (paging Wednesday Addams, Wednesday Addams to the white courtesy telephone, please) including gyoza, meat pies, and more.

Yum.