The joys of monopoly

The article on the 70-year anniversary of the founding of Quincy Medical Group left me with more questions than answers.

1. What's so special about 70, anyway? Ok, it's a round number and a slow news week, but other than that?

2. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that the QMG is only 19 years old, not 70, since before 1988 there was no QMG, but rather two competing entities?

3. Wouldn't it have been interesting to get a viewpoint from some of the few, very few, independent physicians left in town about how wonderful QMG is, seeing as how they are the ones most directly affected by this behemoth? Instead of getting some bland remarks from people inside the group as to how eliminating competition has been a great boon for the community?

4. And seriously, what's to celebrate about the creation of one dominant medical office that overwhelms and puts great pressure on any competitors?

On another subject, I'm afraid I jumped the gun on linking to "Quincy News Critics"....I think I'll wait a while to link to that blog until it proves its worth. And speaking of links...Quincy Pilgrim, what happened? We hardly knew ye.

A question of taste

Yesterday's Whig presented one of those classic editor's dilemmas. A man in Hannibal killed himself, and a photographer captured the moment when the man's sister collapsed into a friend's arms upon hearing the news. Very nice pic, well composed, dramatic, emotional....but too intrusive into a private moment?

Enthused

Am I the only person left on Earth who thinks "enthused" is not standard English? Saw it today in a Reuters news story and headline about the final Harry Potter book.

Springtime

I love springtime. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and SHOUTfest hype emerges. Wouldn't all organizations love to see promotional articles about their events on the front of the City/County section starting nearly four months ahead of their date? Gosh favoritism is fun.

I also love the editorializing that goes along with it. The passive voice works so well for embedded editorializing: "...speaker extraordinaire Joseph Rojas, whose moving personal testimony in 2005 is still considered one of the most memorable SHOUTfest moments." Not to ignore the loaded and unprovable adjectives flapping in the breeze, but boy I love that passive voice. "Considered" by whom? Promoters who stand to benefit, perhaps? Same as the "estimated" 7,000 who were at the festival last year.....who's doing the estimating here?? And wasn't last year's festival the one where it rained almost all freaking day? I'm supposed to believe that 7,000 people were out there in Clat Adams Park in a driving rainstorm? All day?

Cap it all off with a headline that gives us speculation instead of facts and we've got a real beauty. "Christian rock festival could see record crowd" is exactly as factual as "Christian rock festival could see disappointing crowd" or even "Christian rock festival could be canceled because of tornado."

Hurrah, it's springtime! News on the march!

Fads

Perhaps the most interesting piece in this Sunday's H-W was the Associated Press article on the failure of municipal wireless Internet service to live up to its hype. My favorite quote: "Most people if they are going to do serious work aren't looking to be sitting in a park."

It's a nice reminder that economic development doesn't come through gimmicks like municipal wireless or convention centers. It happens with an educated workforce, quality infrastructure, a manageable bureacracy....all those unsexy things that political leaders are tempted to forget.