Citizen Staff Writer
CARLOCK COLUMN
Editor’s note: Judy Carlock reviews the week in news, with her own personal twist.
Isn’t it ironic? Subscribers to Comcast’s high-definition service didn’t get to see in vivid detail the porn clip regular customers caught in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Most of us look better in low resolution anyway.
The “appalled” cable provider offered a $10 credit for customers “impacted” by the clip.
In practice, Comcast can’t tell if you were watching or not. The number to call: 888-315-8219.
Inevitably, the guy-on-the-sofa glitch ended up on YouTube, his privates mercifully blacked out (when I saw it). The actress, beaming resolutely, looks ready to romp.
Is this what they mean by “cardinal sin”?
Mostly it made me think about how cheesy porn is.
Nevertheless, I played it back. For the touchdown.
CHINA ROAD: “Third World conveyance disasters,” one editor here called the all-too-common stories about planes crashing in Indonesia, ferries sinking in Bangladesh or buses tumbling down cliffs in the Andes.
The toll would often be 100 or more.
Such figures dwarf the number of Chinese tourists – seven – killed in an Arizona tour bus crash Jan. 30. In the aftermath, national and state safety officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the wreck.
In a lot of countries, no one would expect an investigation, or even an explanation.
The deaths of the Shanghai tourists serve to remind that whether the toll is 700 or seven, someone’s heart is broken with every life lost.
PINK SLIPS: The Arizona Legislature’s slash-and-burn approach to budget cutting may turn out to be just the medicine our state needs to operate more efficiently.
Or not.
Throwing hundreds of people out of work strikes me as imprudent, even if the government is as bloated as state lawmakers think.
Especially if a wad of federal cash comes our way.
The Department of Administration this week laid off 138 people, or 18 percent of its staff. When the budget gets rearranged – as it must – we may need administrators.
If any of those jobs come back, I hope someone is keeping an eye on the new regime to make sure cronies don’t get weaseled in to plum positions.
Odds are it won’t be the Tucson Citizen. Unless someone passes a journalism stimulus bill.
STIMULATED YET? Even some economists who support deficit spending fear the U.S. House’s version of an economic stimulus bill tries too broadly to enact the whole Democratic agenda.
On the Senate side, the mood may be more measured. Politicians who don’t run for re-election every two years may feel less pressure to do everything at once.
And “buy American” provisions brought concern from President Obama of a “protectionist message” that could affect crucial trade relations.
Even if he doesn’t need Republicans, he’d just as soon have some. For cover.
MAKEOVER MAGIC: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is the stuff of nightmares to me. My dream house is a hotel – one that allows small pets.
The allure of the show, and the fantasies it represents, drew thousands to watch a Tucson family’s house demolished, then rebuilt in a few days.
Just the thought of $50,000 in furniture makes me phobic.
As one online reader asked, “Why does everything have to be overdone???????”
I guess for the same reason you need seven question marks.
Oops. What I meant to say was, “Thanks for reading!”
Very much indeed.
Contact Judy Carlock at 573-4608 or at jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com. For links to the stories she’s writing about, see her column at www.tucsoncitizen.com
Week in Review: Porn, pink slips and extreme makeovers
JUDY CARLOCK
jcarlock@tucsoncitizen.com