Rubbing salt in drivers' wounds

Image by chadedwardus via Flickr

The eternal debate: With a soft fish taco, are two tortillas better than one?

Why did Editor Francis Scandale put a large photo of a laughing hyena on the front page today under this headline:

Oil CEOs

flogged over

gas prices

Doesn't look like much of a flogging. In fact, ExxonMobil's chairman and CEO seems to be laughing at the Democratic senators who called him to testify on a bill to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks.

You can't touch me, he's saying. He's also laughing all the way to the bank with the billions gouged from drivers who are paying around $4 for a gallon of regular.

Third-class journalism

The rest of A-1 in The Record of Woodland Park is filled with stories that just a few years ago would have struggled to make the front of the Local news section:

You have to be desperate to lead the paper with alleged exam rule violations in only eight of the many hundreds of schools in New Jersey.

Horse racetracks taken over by private interests? Who cares?

A dated account of flooding in Alabama by a volunteer from Ridgefield Park? Pretty pathetic for the front page.

No end in sight

Is there no limit to the number of Road Warrior columns on long lines at the Motor Vehicle Commission (L-1)? John Cichowski's work is being compared to journalism in underdeveloped countries.

The lead paragraph of a story on the first Business page reports Governor Christie "regaled" 300 Chinese-Americans "with tales of how he tackled New Jersey's fiscal crisis" -- code for cutting programs that helped middle- and working-class residents while pandering to his millionaire supporters (L-7).

El Caney lives

My report that a small Cuban takeout joint in Bergenfield has gone out of business is incorrect.

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung reports in the Second Helpings blog that El Caney moved across the street, something not evident when I drove past the old place recently.

Still, when I want Cuban food, I'll be heading for Casual Habana Cafe on Main Street in Hackensack.

In today's review of Red Hen Bistro in Wood-Ridge, Ung gives me no credit for improving the soft fish tacos by complaining to the chef when they were served to me last June in brittle, fried taco shells that fell apart (Better Living centerfold).

Now, all Chef Carlos Valdez has to do to make them even more authentic is wrap each taco in two soft tortillas -- not just one.

We all go begging in Christie's New Jersey

Image by mali mish via Flickr

Governor Christie is the new Tony Soprano, says Columnist Charles Stile.

Living in a state ruled by Governor Christie is getting more unpleasant by the day. 

He has reduced the disabled and poor to begging for crumbs from his insensitive budget proposal and the middle class to defending their union pay and benefits -- part of his successful strategy of preserving the wealth of his supporters.

Of course, his biggest coup is winning over The Record of Woodland Park and other New Jersey media, who love doing public relations for a politician basking in the adoration of a recession-wracked nation. 

Who loves Christie?

But who exactly loves this Republican bully, who exactly thinks he's "hot" (see A-4). That's never reported, just as we probably will never learn how many of the millionaires he refuses to tax are supporting him financially.

No. Christie and the media prefer the pathetic tales of the disabled and others who can't defend themselves from his budget ax, as readers learn from the story on Page 1 today:

Patients' allies split

on disabled care

(The news copy editor wastes space in the drop headline by saying the hearing was held "at college." What does that add?)

Staff Writer Elise Young, from the paper's State House Bureau, covered the hearing, as did Columnist Charles Stile, who weighs in from the front of Local.

You've got to read Stile's column all the way through to realize he has lost his balls: Social advocates steer clear of Christie

He seems to relish telling readers how Christie stands ready with an ax to cut off outstretched hands and how it would be "suicidal" for social service groups to attack the governor.

However, what he never says is why he and other journalists rarely criticize the thug.

 "Mocking Christie's shared-sacrifice mantra or highlighting the hypocrisy of letting millionaires off without a tax increase for the second consecutive year, while these social service groups skimp and limp along with scaled-down state investment, would be suicidal.

"They run the risk of Christie's countering with his scalding brand of mocking. And criticism in Christie's world is tantamount to disloyalty. Critics are traitors. Or as Tony Soprano, whose Jersey Tough Guy persona Christie sometimes personifies, often said of his exiled allies: "You're dead to me."

It goes beyond that, as viewers of the CBS Evening News know. They saw Christie tell a reporter that a New York Times/CBS News poll that found strong opposition to his anti-union policies must have been worded to get the results the media wanted.

Usual mishmash

The rest of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local news section is a mishmash of police and fire news, government grant news and human-interest stories, with a local obituary thrown in for good measure.

But if you're looking for municipal news from major communities, such as budget deliberations in Hackensack, you won't find it.  

Water, water everywhere

After Monday's deluge, you'll find the misery of people who live in flood zones all over the front-page today. But flooding is not news; it's the decades of inaction by federal, state and local officials the paper should be exposing.

The sidebar on Page 1 about Pascack Brook flooding is written so poorly, readers aren't told until the 13th paragraph -- on the jump page -- that water is released to prevent the Woodcliff Lake reservoir from overflowing.

Editors hide bad news for Christie

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Governor Christie doubts Katie Couric knows anything about public opinion.

Two major stories about Governor Christie appear in The Record today (A-1 and A-7), but the editors were careful to avoid any mention of major opposition to the war against public workers being waged in New Jersey, Wisconsin and other states.

The New York Times/CBS News poll found a majority opposes weakening bargaining rights for public workers. A summary on the Times' Web site reported:

"As labor battles erupt in state capitals around the nation, a majority of Americans say they oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions and are also against cutting the pay and benefits of public workers to reduce state budget deficits."

The poll was reported by the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Monday night, and Christie was asked about the poll results. He accused the media of wording the poll questions to get the results they wanted to keep what he called an entertaining story alive.

He also said he has a better idea of public opinion than Couric, and if that's not the case, the CBS News anchor should run for governor of New Jersey. Click on the following link to see a video of his comments:

Governor Christie dismisses poll results 

Today's front page

A big photo of a murder suspect on Page 1 today carries this heading: "FIRST GLANCE AT SLAYING SUSPECT," a puzzling choice given that his photo also appeared on the front page Sunday and Monday.

Cookie monsters

There is no truth to the rumor that Christie, former Food Editor Bill Pitcher and Project Editor Tim Nostrand are vying for the job of spokesman for Fatboy Cookies (Better Living, F-1).

See earlier posts on the Borgs' jet

What the story doesn't tell you

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Hudson County, where many Hispanics live, wasn't included in a story on how Asians and Latinos have fared in New Jersey politics. The Record once covered the county as part of North Jersey.

How does Editor Francis Scandale lead the paper with a state budget story that doesn't mention how Governor Christie blew $400 million in federal education funds and turned his back on hundreds of millions dollars from a tax surcharge on millionaires?

The Page 1 report by Staff Writer John Reitmeyer also doesn't explore the nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, which could have been replenished by raising the low gasoline tax. But that would have angered Christie supporters in their gas-guzzling limos and SUVs.

In the second paragraph, Reitmeyer comes up with a euphemism for the governor's all-out assault on programs for the middle and working classes. The reporter calls them "a series of unpopular spending cuts" in Christie's first year in office. 

Now, Christie may again pander to the wealthy with cuts in business taxes.

No room on the front

There are a few other A-1 stories in the paper, but they were shut out by a large photo of a Super Bowl celebration in Wisconsin that sports-loving Scandale slapped on the front page, even though it's so yesterday.

On A-3, we learn Christie vetoed an offshore liquefied natural gas pipeline. Who knew a Republican could care about the environment? That story should have been outside, not a sports-related photo or yet another story on the clean-out of a sewerage commission.

The freeing of the young leader of the uprising in Egypt also is worthy of Page 1, but ends up on the back of the section (A-12).

Snow on the brain

Road Warrior John Cichowski's brain has been frozen by all the snow that fell. Today, he gives us another column on the state's new flying-snow law. I'm waiting for a half-dozen or so columns when the broken record discovers all the potholes that have developed in the last few weeks. He needs to get out more.

Hackensack municipal news appears in head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section today for the second day in a row. There are two stories on L-3, as well as a Teaneck story, but the section hasn't had any Englewood municipal news since Jan. 22.

Image via Wikipedia

Rep. Albio Sires

A second look

On Sunday's front page, the sub-headline with the census story said:

Asians, Hispanics show little gain in N.J. politics

Well, what about U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Albio Sires? They are Hispanic, from Hudson County, which The Record once covered, but which wasn't included in the story for some reason.

Huge typo on the Editorial Page

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Turkish coffee is ready to drink when it comes to the table.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Was today's upbeat editorial on the "Year of Christie" written by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin --  The Record's chief apologist for Governor Christie? 

The Woodland Park daily is so eager to praise Christie no one noticed the huge typo on the size of the state budget. It's $29.4 billion, not the $29.4 million that appears on Page A-22. How sloppy can you get?

Doblin is the only Editorial Page editor I've ever heard of whose editorials represent the paper's official position on important issues, but who then turns around and writes opinion columns, most of which seem to be in awe of the governor. 

It's laughable how many references this popinjay makes to Hollywood movies in his columns and editorials.

Today, he was so eager to avoid any mention of how Christie balanced the state budget on the backs of the middle and working classes -- from poor schoolchildren to women to mass transit users -- he apparently deliberately low-balled the size of the budget, using "millions" instead of "billions" in the we-love-the-Republican-bully editorial. 

Let's see if this major error is corrected. Production Editor Liz Houlton usually doesn't bother correcting all the screw-ups by her news copy editors and page proofers. She thinks readers are too stupid to notice all the mistakes in the paper.

World focus

On the last day of 2010, The Record's front page mainly focuses on events outside North Jersey -- in another slap-in-the face to readers in Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties.

The lead stories today and Thursday reveal how well the Christie administration has managed the news media. Just on Wednesday, a non-profit group that pushed the Republican governor's legislative agenda released its donor list, showing how companies and others who do business with the state circumvented the pay-to-play ban.

Editor Francis Scandale ran a huge picture of Times Square getting ready for New Year's Eve, even though the poor cleanup from the blizzard that ended Monday remains evident in Hackensack and many other towns in North Jersey.

No local news

Was the biggest event in North Jersey on Thursday a non-fatal accident on Route 80 east -- shown in a huge photo on L-1 today? And is that a new style -- with the photo over line flush right and the bare-bones caption flush left?

If all head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes can come up with to fill L-1 is that accident and the approval of variances in Lyndhurst, she's not doing her job. But she made sure to get a story on the police chief retiring in her small town on L-3 today, even though there is no Hackensack, Englewood or Teaneck news or anything else from a lot of other towns.

You'll have to pick up the weekly Hackensack Chronicle for a report on the $1.5 million the city has spent on legal fees in connection with lawsuits against indicted Police Chief Ken Zisa and salaries for officers who were suspended after Zisa charged them administratively.

Chinese lesson

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung devotes far more text today to "the story" of Cheng Du 23 in Wayne, the owner and the chef than she does to the dishes she sampled -- now severely limited by penny pinching Features Director Barbara Jaeger. 

Ung doesn't recommend this three-star restaurant (Excellent), if you're "looking for a more formal atmosphere." Would that be a restaurant where you have to wear formal wear? Hasn't she ever heard of a multi-course Chinese banquet? Isn't that formal?

Next to her review in the Better Living centerfold today is a mini-review of Bahama Breeze, a faux-Caribbean restaurant in Wayne that she rated two stars (Good). 

The review, published Sept. 3, 2009, reports she was served "mushy" pasta, raw or undercooked scallops three times, as the staff apologized profusely; "scorched" shrimp and sweet potatoes she enjoyed more than the desserts she sampled. But by giving the restaurant two stars, she has cheapened her ratings for all restaurants that follow.

Jeff Page, the free lancer who writes the renamed Eating Out for Under $50 feature, doesn't even mention if the bread served at Hummus Elite, an Israeli restaurant in Englewood, is any good. He calls it a "kosher Mediterranean" restaurant.

In his review, he cautions readers not to stir the Turkish coffee. Mr. Page, that coffee is brewed with sugar, so no stirring is necessary. 

You'll need strong coffee to get through today's paper. Don't expect anything to change in the new year. Lazy editors and absentee owners add up to bad journalism 365 days a year.