Hearst now threatening to shutter SF Chron *update*

Fresh on the heels of a threat to close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last month comes Frank Bennack and Steven Swartz with another ominous warning:

The San Francisco Chronicle will be sold or closed unless major cost-cutting measures -- including an unspecified "significant reduction in the number of unionized and non-union employees" -- can be realized within weeks, parent company Hearst Corp. said Tuesday evening.

"If these savings cannot be accomplished within weeks ... the company will be forced to sell or close the newspaper," Hearst said in a statement. The company claims the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year, "and that this year's losses to date are worse." The paper has had "major losses" each year since 2001, the company added.

"Because of the sea change newspapers everywhere are undergoing and these dire economic times, it is essential that our management and the local union leadership work together to implement the changes necessary to bring the cost of producing the Chronicle into line with available revenue," said a joint prepared statement by Frank A. Bennack Jr., vice chairman and chief executive officer of Hearst Corp. and Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers.

Fifty. Million. Bucks. In losses.

When I worked for Hearst in the 80's they owned the San Francisco Examiner, and the publisher was W. R. Hearst III, grandson of you-know-who. It was still considered the flagship, the one from which The Chief had built an empire. The company sold off that paper (in a hilarious comedy of very public errors) and bought the crosstown rival Chronicle, the more successful in circulation and ad revenue of the two. They had previously been married in a JOA (just like the P-I, just like the San Antonio Light -- RIP -- and the Express-News).

And now, apparently, they have run that one into the ground.

I suppose Hearst just isn't interested in being in the newspaper business any longer.

Update: And today, the Rocky Mountain News -- two weeks shy of its 150th birthday -- publishes its final edition. No online version will continue to be offered.

(Yesterday's) announcement comes as metropolitan newspapers and major newspaper companies find themselves reeling, with plummeting advertising revenues and dramatically diminished share prices. Just this week, Hearst, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, announced that unless it was able to make immediate and steep expense cuts it would put the paper up for sale and possibly close it. Two other papers in JOAs, one in Seattle and the other in Tucson, are facing closure in coming weeks.

The Rocky was founded in 1859 by William Byers, one of the most influential figures in Colorado history. Scripps bought the paper in 1926 and immediately began a newspaper war with The Post. That fight ebbed and flowed over the course of the rest of the 20th century, culminating in penny-a-day subscriptions in the late '90s.

Perhaps the most critical step for the Rocky occurred in 1942, when then-Editor Jack Foster saved it by adopting the tabloid style it has been known for ever since. Readers loved the change, and circulation took off.

In the past decade, the Rocky has won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than all but a handful of American papers. Its sports section was named one of the 10 best in the nation this week. Its business section was cited by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers as one of the best in the country last year. And its photo staff is regularly listed among the best in the nation when the top 10 photo newspapers are judged.

Staffers were told to come in Friday to collect personal effects.

Piyush Jindal flops

Even most conservatives considered the Louisiana governor's star turn Tuesday night a miserable failure.

This seems to be the least harsh and sums up the man's shortcomings, all of which appear to be style-related:

He looked young and amateurish. His delivery was unprofessional: He spoke entirely too rapidly, something a speech coach would work on in the first lesson. His tone and mannerisms were less presidential than they were something you'd see in an infomercial, and he seemed to be talking down to the viewing public.

So if you could meld Jindal's mind into Sarah Palin's body, you think maybe the GOP would have something?

Nah, me neither.

And that's why Bill White and John Sharp are running for Senate

Because Kay Bailey Perjury Technicality spanks "the longest serving governor in Texas history" like an unruly child. Let's give Harvey Kronberg the chance to shout a little:

NEW POLL PUTS KBH AHEAD OF PERRY 56-31

Company uses controversial robo-dialing methodology but notes it was the most accurate in 2008 Texas GOP presidential primary

A North Carolina polling company called Public Policy Polling reports that a recent poll of 797 likely Republican primary voters puts Kay Bailey Hutchison decisively ahead of Rick Perry by a margin of 56-31.

PPP uses a controversial method of automated telephone polling that has both supporters and detractors. To pre-empt arguments about methodology, the company forwarded an analysis indicating that they had the most accurate Texas numbers in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.

KBH has 76% favorables to RP’s 60%. But the 27% Perry unfavorables lean to Hutchison by a factor of 85-8.

PPP President Dean Debman said, “Rick Perry is in grave danger of losing in the primary. It’s partly because he’s worn out his welcome with a certain segment of the Republican electorate, but he even bigger reason is that Kay Bailey Hutchison is just a lot more popular than him. It would be hard for anyone to beat her in an election.”

Most observers believe that a contested primary would draw well over a million voters rather than the six to seven hundred thousand that normally vote in a gubernatorial year.

The poll results can be found here.

Does an all-out assault on DC, abortion, and running so hard right he's knee-deep in the bar ditch get Rick Perry back in good graces with all the freaks who will vote in the Texas GOP primary next March?

I predict that my year's supply of Orville Redenbacher is going to run out before the summer.

Meanwhile ... what's Boyd Richie telling Kinky Friedman and Tom Schieffer?

Leo Berman, Klucker

I grew up around good ol' boys like him, so I have a pretty good idea just what sort he is.

He's making a public ass of himself again.

Somebody needs to take him to the wood shed, and until either the leadership of the Texas House, or the voters in his district do, it's left to us little old bloggers.

Post-Oscar Wrangle

Vince Leibowitz (who wrangles the best of the Texas left-o-sphere each week) notes: "The round-up got drunk at an Oscar party, and I had to chase it up and down the street before one of the dogs finally caught it. Evidently it was upset that the lady from My Cousin Vinny did not win another Academy Award. "

"You commie, homo-loving sons of guns."

-- Sean Penn, accepting the Academy award for best actor

It was a theme Oscar voters embraced through the evening with other key awards honoring films fostering broader understanding and compassion.

Sean Penn won his second best-actor Oscar, this one for playing slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk in "Milk," while Kate Winslet took best actress for "The Reader," in which she plays a former concentration camp guard coming to terms with the ignorance that let her heedlessly participate in Nazi atrocities. ...

(Eight-Oscars-winner "Slumdog Millionaire") was a merger of India's brisk Bollywood movie industry, which provided most of the cast and crew, and the global marketing reach of Hollywood, which turned the film into a commercial smash, said British director Boyle.

"We're Brits, really, trapped in the middle, but it's a lovely trapped thing," Boyle said backstage. "You can see it's going to happen more and more. There's all sorts of people going to work there. The world's shrinking a little bit."

Meh; there were those conservative protestors outside. Penn again, with the smackdown:

"I'd tell them to turn in their hate card and find their better self," Penn said. "I think that these are largely taught limitations and ignorances, this kind of thing. It's really sad in a way, because it's a demonstration of such cowardice, emotional cowardice, to be so afraid of extending the same rights to your fellow man as you'd want for yourself."

There's just something about the complete repudiation of the hatred and fear and greed of the past several years that I relish lately.

Sunday Funnies (ideology recall edition)

(Click for a larger view. Last panel dedicated to my friend Kris.)

Ben and Jerry's flavor suggestions for 43

You may recall that Vermont ice cream czars Ben (Cohen) and Jerry (Greenfield) introduced a brand following the election of Barack Obama called "Yes Pecan!". With another confectionary hit on their hands, they decided to solicit suggestions for an ice cream flavor that would commemorate the Bush administration. Herewith, a listing of the finalists:

- Grape Depression
- Abu Grape
- Cluster Fudge
- Nut'n Accomplished
- Iraqi Road
- Chock 'n Awe
- WireTapioca
- Impeach Mint
- Heck of a Job, Brownie!
- Chunky Monkey in Chief
- George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
- WMDelicious

That loathsome toon from the NY Post, and more postpourri

-- Sean Delonas, the cartoonist from the New York Post who drew the cartoon that sparked so much outrage, has a long pattern of over-the-top offensiveness more suitable to Hustler Magazine ... or maybe the Washington Moonie Times.

-- TIME has a 25 Best Blogs Index, along with some overrated ones. This blog didn't make either list, so I'm not pimping anything here.

-- Cornyn: No investigations of the Bush administration crimes can be undertaken at this time because of the economic crisis.

-- Now it makes sense: the GOP hates unions because they improve the economy.

-- Sharon "Killer" Keller: a Texas judge who had better start asking for mercy:

This is a woman who voted to deny freedom to a man imprisoned for rape even after DNA evidence showed the sperm belonged to someone else. Her argument: He might have worn a condom.

Later evidence provided proof of his innocence even she couldn’t explain away.

This is a woman who, with her colleagues, appointed grossly incompetent lawyers to handle appeals for indigent death row inmates and then said, “Sorry, your client had his chance,” when skilled lawyers later came in to try to clean up the messes.

This is a woman who, a week before Christmas in 2002, voted to deny freedom to a man who under pressure had accepted a plea bargain for a crime that new evidence showed — “unquestionably,” according to the trial judge who heard the evidence — he did not commit.

Sadly, those aren't even the worst of this woman's crimes against justice.

Chief Judge Keller went home early and was called shortly before 5 p.m. by Marty. Richard’s lawyers were having computer problems and wanted the clerk’s office to stay open until 5:20 or so to receive their filing. Rather than forward the message to Johnson as policy required, Keller instructed Marty to tell the lawyers no. The lawyers made attempts up until 6 p.m. to deliver the filing but were told nobody was there. Richard was executed at about 8:20 p.m.

Two days later, the Supreme Court stopped all executions by injection based on the same arguments Richard’s lawyers made. Richard was the only convict executed until six months later, when the Supreme Court OK’d lethal injection as constitutional.

Here’s the stunner: The morning after Richard’s execution, the nine judges had their weekly conference. At the end of it some of the judges expressed surprise that Richard’s lawyers hadn’t submitted a filing.

Cochran even raised the question — hypothetically, she thought — of what would happen if the lawyers showed up after the clerk’s office closed. She said the court should accept the filing anyway. According to witnesses, Keller said, “The clerk’s office closes at 5 p.m. It’s not a policy, it’s a fact.”

Keller lacked the decency or the courage to tell her colleagues about the call she had received.

This "judge" needs to be immediately removed from the bench.

-- Is it possible that Citi and Bank of America still won't make it? Sheesh.

Sir Allen turns up outside DC

Has John Cornyn returned the campaign contributions from Stanford yet?

U.S. law enforcement officials found Texas billionaire Allen Stanford in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area on Thursday, and served him with a complaint accusing him of an $8 billion fraud.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the FBI acted at the request of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and that Stanford had not been arrested. The FBI gave few other details.

The whereabouts of the jet-setting 58-year-old tycoon who has luxury U.S. and Caribbean homes, had been the subject of intense speculation since he failed to respond to civil charges filed in Texas on Tuesday.

Stanford, two colleagues and three Stanford companies are accused of a "massive fraud" by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

U.S. federal agents raided Stanford Group offices in Miami, Houston and other U.S. cities earlier this week.

The fallout from the SEC charges against the flamboyant, mustachioed financier and sports entrepreneur has rippled far beyond U.S. borders, prompting investigations from Houston to Antigua and Caracas.

Five Latin American countries have now acted against Stanford businesses, while Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is monitoring a possible U.K. link after media reports that Stanford's books were audited in Britain.

The Houston Chronicle has a blog devoted solely to the Stanford developments -- Stanford Watch.

What Change Looks Like 2

Run on Antigua banks as Stanford goes on the lam

Anybody called John Cornyn's office yet to see if he knows where Sir Allen is?

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (Reuters) – Hundreds of people lined up to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Caracas affiliated with Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, a day after the tycoon was charged with an $8 billion fraud.

The whereabouts of the brash, 58-year-old financier were unknown. CNBC television said he tried to hire a private jet to fly from Houston, the site of his U.S. headquarters, to Antigua, but the jet lessor refused to accept his credit card.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stanford of operating a fraud centered on the sale of certificates of deposit from his Antiguan affiliate, Stanford International Bank Ltd (SIB).

The scheme has drawn comparisons with the alleged $50 billion fraud by Wall Street veteran Bernard Madoff.

In the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda, where Stanford is the biggest private employer, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said the charges against him could have "catastrophic" consequences but urged the public not to panic.

Two police officers stood watch at the Bank of Antigua as at least 600 people stood in a line stretching around a street corner, despite assurances from regional monetary authorities that the bank had sufficient reserves.

John Cornyn manages to get involved in every significant Texas-based financial swindle/scandal, yet the brain-dead Texas conservatives continue sending him back to Congress to defraud us over and over again.

All was quiet on Wednesday outside Stanford's Houston office, a day after a raid by federal agents. A man who answered the phone at Stanford's Boston offices but declined to give his name said, "The office is open but we are not doing anything."

Certainly nothing like identifying yourself or closing investors' accounts and returning all their money, eh buddy?

Stanford, who holds dual U.S.-Antiguan citizenship, has donated millions of dollars to U.S. politicians and secured endorsements from sports stars, including golfer Vijay Singh and soccer player Michael Owen.

...

Stanford lived for more than 20 years in the reef-girded island of Antigua, only 9 miles wide and 12 miles long with a population of just 70,000.

He owns the country's largest newspaper, heads a local commercial bank, and is the first American to receive a knighthood from its government. He has homes sprinkled across the region, from Antigua to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami.

I would like for John Cornyn to join Roland Burris on the unemployment line ASAP.

Update: From Trail Blazers ...

Sen. John McCain of Arizona was the first major recipient to step forward (and disgorge Stanford's political contributions). An aide said this morning that he will donate his receipts -- $28,150, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics - to a yet-to-be named charity.

McCain was the 3d biggest recipient from Stanford, his employees and his company's political action committee.

No word yet on disgorgement from the others in the top five, including two Texans: Bill Nelson, D-Fla. ($45,900); runner-up, Dallas GOP Rep. Pete Sessions ($41,375); fourth place Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. ($27,500), and Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn ($19,700).