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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Morning Call: We Know What Boys Want!

From time to time, The Morning Call Editorial Board will tell us it believes in diversity, equality, tolerance, yada, yada, yada. All the usual crap. It reminds me of people who make bigoted remarks and quickly add, "Some of my best friends are black!"

Actions speak louder than words, and the Morning Call gods have been busy boys. And boy oh boy are they boys!

Newspaper gods started its purge of women with a lightning bolt to Pam Varkony's Perspectives. Zap! But that wasn't enough. The gods are fickle, and decided to kill Margie Peterson's column, too. They've kept her on, as a copy girl, were she belongs. Remember Mary Youtz? She was an opinion writer on the editorial board. What the hell happened to her? Maybe she retired. I don't know.

Morning Call gods only want members of the penis club writing commentary on their team, whether on the editorial board or as a regular columnist. So much for diversity. All opinions will be the product of middle-aged white guys with facial hair. That should give us lots of room for differences, eh? It also explains why that bastard, Chris Casey, has started growing a beard. Micek had better start working on that hormone deficiency or his entertaining and informative blog will be toast.

25 comments:

Blah Society said...

Did you expect any less?

Bill Villa said...

This could explain The Morning Call's aural fixation on Porn at Parkland, Parkland Porn, Naked, Porn, at Parkland, Pornography, Nude, Porn Porn Porn, at Parkland, Porn, Porn, 14, Porn, Porn ...

Anonymous said...

gee, maybe I should start reading trhe MC again ...

Angie Villa said...

I am cancelling my subscription. I enjoyed Margie Peterson because she seemed kinda real and made some sense.

Well, the new Tribune owner Zell Miller is considered a real maverick and a "bellyin' up to the bar" cussin' strait talker. Now get back to the kitchen little ladies and fix me some dinner!

Tom Foolery said...

Varcony's column sucked and so did Peterson's. They were so bad that I read your blog instead. Seriously, they were boring columns. Someone obviously noticed!

Tom Foolery said...

Oh yea, fix me some dinner!!

Bernie O'Hare said...

Tom,

They were so bad that I read your blog instead.

That bad, huh?

It's Varkony, not Varcony. Maybe you're thinking of someone else. And Pam's column is still running. It's her blog that the MC gods killed. My post was probably not clear enough.

Pam and Marge are both very good writers. Of the two, I really enjoy Pam's style. As I've said before, she makes me feel as though I'm sitting in her living room.

Now they might consider topics that are not of great interest to you, and that's because they give the MC some diversity. People who aren't in our club have a different perspective. It might bore you. It might enlighten others.

Now you get to read opinions offered by no one other than middle aged white guys with facial hair! Maybe one of them should shave to give the paper a little more diversity.

Anonymous said...

whats the big deal here? margie got a PROMOTION and now doesn't have the time to write a column. so pammy isn't a MC blogger,so what she still has her op ed piece in every week. you doth protest too much

Anonymous said...

Margie Peterson was an airhead. Good riddance! Hire a women whose values and beliefs and logical arguments are based on more than "if it can be done, people should be allowed to do it" and "if it's hard, then people shouldn't have to do it" reasoning.

Anonymous said...

Oh, it was a promotion? Geez, that ship will sink faster that I initially thought.

Tom Foolery said...

OK I stand corrected..It's Varkony.. Still never had interest
in her columns..I hate to say it but you're alot more interesting Bernie. Now, what that says for her, I don't know..

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 10:37, If you read Peterson's last column, you'll see that she does not view it as a promotion. Now, the MC editorial board and regular columnists are exclusively white male (middle-aged) with facial hair. The MC has lost its perspective. Now I like to read Bill White. I think Glenn K is a great guy. But if a paper wants diverse views, it needs to attract diverse people.

Anonymous said...

The MCall can immediately address its diversity issue by hiring a
black/asian/hispanic/bi-sexual/pro-abortin/ female evangelican.

Anonymous said...

Dude....what would you and that angry person Villa do if there were no Morning Call to push around.You both are whiners and are probably long lost soul mates.

If you hate the Morninc Call so much here is some advice.......DONT READ IT.For those of us who actually enjoy it your words fall on deaf ears.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Hoofty, Who said I hate the MC? I happen to like the paper. This is what you call constructive criticism.

Pamela Varkony said...

Bernie,

This is a great topic; someone needed to say it. It appears that the Morning Call hatchet fell disproportionately on women, while men either retained their positions or were promoted. In this day and age, it amazes me that a large corporation with a phalanx of lawyers can be this short-sighted. Maybe they don't know how to spell "class action".

That having been said, I exclude myself from the above category. The shut down of my blog was a separate issue for which I bear some responsibility; I allowed my dislike of someone to overcome my professionalism. Moving Perspectives to an independent location was more about my being freelance and therefore not covered by the Call's liability insurance, thus potentially exposing them to an unprotected law suit, than anything else.

And Bernie, thanks for saying you enjoy my writing. I love doing it, both for my column which still appears in The Morning Call and for the new Perspectives. As for Tom and Anon...I learned a long time ago, you can't please everyone.

Now I have to get back to the kitchen.

Bill Villa said...

DA Jim Martin, thanks for dropping by ...

"what would you and that angry person Villa do if there were no Morning Call to push around."

Anonymous said...

the last time i looked at the editorial board liza m and sharon r were on it and they don't have facial hair. and they are not men .but are middle aged. the editorial writers are men but they are writing for the ed board. and now your pammy girl admits she screwed up herself. how is that the MC's fault?????
More sensationalism.

BO since you hurt your back me thinks the little helpers have affected you.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 3:38, The two ladies you mention are not writers. The opinions are coming from middle aged white dudes w/ facial hair.

Pam, who still writes an op-ed, agrees the hatchet fell disproportionately on women.

Bernie O'Hare said...

BO since you hurt your back me thinks the little helpers have affected you.

It's great stuff, man. I'm always a little off, as youy probably already know. But here's what happens. When I take a Valium, I get nice. I even have nice dreams.

Tom Foolery said...

Ok , for Pam's sake, I'll do my best to wade through her Op-Ed's
to see if her columns have become more interesting. It could be my inherent mistrust of Republicans that has tinged my objectivity.

Tom Foolery said...

I've just read Pam's January 20th
on Obama. It was good. I stand corrected..

Bernie O'Hare said...

Tom,

She has some pretty good stuff and her new blog is really hot, with some great commentary as well. In a way, I think she's been set free.

It takes a big man to admit a mistake.

Angie Villa said...

BernO,

Oh my gosh, I meant Sam Zell, not Zell Miller!! Sam Zell is the new owner of the Tribune, Zell Miller is that wacky dem who spoke at the Repub. convention, remember?

Bill Villa said...

"Oh my gosh, I meant Sam Zell, not Zell Miller!!"

An honest mistake. And Sam Zell is easily as wacky as Zell Miller.