rick martinez

Indy Week reports that Orr and Martinez have been named to UNC-TV Board of Trustees. Talk about a dangerous concentration of voices. Maybe now the N&O will drop Martinez from its editorial pages. Or maybe they'll just go ahead and make him publisher.

(expletive expletive deleted)

Ouch. Little Ricky is now "the News and Observer's" Rick Martinez. The stench is contagious.

The latest attempt to absolve Republican legislative leaders of any responsibility for all the pink slips flying into teachers’ mailboxes across the state comes from the News & Observer’s Rick Martinez, whose latest column reads like an only slightly rewritten press release from the office of House Speaker Thom Tillis

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The N&O's continuing reliance on this fact-free tool of Art Pope is an embarrassment to its long tradition of responsible editorial leadership. Please write Steve Ford (steve.ford@newsobserver.com) and encourage him to Dump the Skunk.

It's been a little over a month since our policy of banning links to the N&O went into effect. Although there have been a few complaints from regulars, it has mostly been a non-event. Our own readership has been steady-to-improving, which is unusual for the summer, and we've uncovered a number of new sources of good information. For my part, every story I wanted to cover has been available elsewhere.

We'll review our policy periodically to make sure we're not cutting off someone's nose to spite our face, and we'll gladly lift the ban entirely when the newspaper dumps Rick Martinez from its roster of regular columnists.

One week ago we instituted a new policy banning links to the Raleigh News and Observer at BlueNC. The policy was created in response to the newspaper's reliance on propaganda from the Show on its editorial pages in general, with a specific concern over the use of WPTF's Rick Martinez as an op-ed columnist. For my part, the new policy has been a breeze. It's been easy to find important stories at other sites, with the added benefit of being able to uncover fresh, new sources of information. That said, I'd welcome the chance to resume linking to the Old Reliable. All they need to do is Dump Little Ricky.

Little Ricky spins out of control over bin Laden death:

President George W. Bush invaded only our enemies. President Barack Obama invades our allies.

Obama didn't let pesky international concepts like borders or sovereignty stand between him and a promise to kill Osama bin Laden, even if it was on Pakistani soil and even if it meant doing so without our ally's permission or knowledge.

In his defense, Martinez apparently wrote this diatribe during a nervous breakdown of some sort; a sparking robot head comes to mind. Compare this newfound love of Pakistan with what he said less than a year ago:

Lies, damned lies, and statistics:

According to the Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Consumer Finances (2007), the mean net worth of a family headed by a person 65 to 74 years old was just over $1 million. It was just under $1 million for families headed by a person 55 to 64 years old. Number 3 on the rich scale are families headed by someone 75 or older, with $638,000. In financial terms, and on average, there's never been a better time to be elderly in the United States.

Those of you who follow poverty issues know this is a steaming pile of crap. And damned near every Republican over 55 reading this in the paper should be aware of that, too, but it's hard to see clearly when you've got visions of birth certificates and Don't-Tread-On-Me flags dancing in your head.

Whacked by the irony stick:

We support Catholic education, including the school at our parish, even though we do not have school-age children.

To be clear, I don't dislike public schools or their board members, administrators or teachers. But I don't trust their priorities. Time and again, they put their ideology and interests ahead of individual student needs.

Those words were not snipped and placed together out of context, that's the sequence in which they were written. I'm surprised the dead-tree version of the paper didn't spontaneously combust from the laughable logical conflict.

A sophomoric attempt to discredit the African-American Museum in DC:

The late Sen. Jesse Helms was an ardent opponent of establishing a Smithsonian museum for African-American history. He argued that it would trigger a string of history museums based on race and culture.

The more likely reason for his opposition is the very strong possibility that he himself would be on exhibit, and not in a position of honor, either. Not only did he adamantly and powerfully oppose civil rights, desegregation, voting rights, affirmative action, etc., he also spent 16 days filibustering the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday.

Ricky, why don't you two just get a room.

As GOP chair, he's built a considerable network that could come in handy if he wants to run for statewide office - governor, for example. Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory acts like he wants another run at the mansion, but against Fetzer the coveted conservative mantle a GOP nominee must wear would go to the former Raleigh mayor.

Even a stopped clock is gets it right twice a day:

If more of our sons, daughters, grandchildren and friends were deployed as part of mandated service, there is no way our presidents would have the political capital to get entangled in limited, non-decisive and seemingly unending warfare like that being practiced in Afghanistan.

Another troubling trend stemming from the all-volunteer force is its growing dependence on contractors to do the work citizen-soldiers performed in previous wars...In other words, you and I are funding a second, stealth force in Afghanistan and Iraq outside the direct responsibility and accountability of our military and elected leaders.

Martinez makes some good points in this piece, and I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge that. But I reserve the right to skewer him for future writings. :)