"Open Letter to Ross MacKenzie, Editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch"

Mudboy Slim ^ | 9 November 2001 | Mudboy Slim

[Mudboy Slim]

Dear Mr. MacKenzie:

It sincerely pains me to have to do this, but after sixteen (16) years of subscribing to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, I [Mudboy Slim] HEREBY CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION!! Sure, I'll miss the Sports page and its wonderful coverage of my Redskins and my Wahoos, but the rampant LeftWing bias that has overcome this once-great newspaper is more than I can stomach!!

It's not your Editorial Page, Ross, and I will continue to read your column on-line...however, Jeff Schapiro's anti-GOP, anti-Earley Bias during the past campaign was simply beyond my significant capacity to tolerate IGNORANCE!!

So, Mr. MacKenzie, it is with a heavy heart that I bid you and your tabloid 'adieu'...it was a fun and educational 16-year ride.

Good luck in fixing what you must acknowledge is WRONG with the RTD...when Mr. Schapiro is summarily-dismissed, I'll be Bach!!

Quite Sincerely,

MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"the "richmond whines" has been a rag i have LONG avoided, due to its ANTI-SOUTHRON BIAS!"

Slowly but surely, bit by bit, I am coming around to understand yer wisdom, mi amigo.

FReegards, sw...MUD

[Wingy]

Mud, You can't blame me. I cancelled my 25 year subscription to The Times Dispatch when they consolidated with The News Leader and made it just another in the long line of McPapers a la USA Today. I think that was about eight or nine years ago, and when I run across one (Usually at the Jiffy Lube), I pat myself on the back for not supporting local swill.

You Go Mud! (and good luck to the missus)

[Mudboy Slim]

"I will NOT get my victuals at FoodLion!"

HAH...I'm a Food Lion MVP Customer all the way!! 24 oz. Icehouse fer a Buck-Nineteen!!

"(Didn't know the U's were southpaws)"

Oh yeah...Dem PUNKS got their noses stuck so far up Kaine's behind that when they talk, Timmie's lips move!! Gonna be a fun four years settin' Kaine up fer a MAJOR SLAUGHTER by Kilgore '05!!!

FReegards...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

Reckon you always have been, my FRiend...MacKenzie's Editorial Page had me fooled for far too long while the rest of the paper went into the Leftist Toilet!!

Good Riddance...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"We do not subscribe to RTD but I know some folks that do. I'll email it to them and let you know if they join you."

Excellent, my FRiend...the more folks whose eyes we open, the sooner we can expect Schapiro to "take advantage of another career opportunity"...LOL!! I'm slowly but surely convincing other friends and family that Subscribing to the RTD is An Investment in IGNORANCE!!!

FReegards...MUD

[Landru]

"...that's what she just asked?!"

HA!! I'll bet she did.

"Looks like big ol' steaks, baked taters, a nice salad, and some home-made bread."

Alright Bucko, now whose rubbing it in, huh?

"MUD is a man of many talents, cooking being but one of them!!"

Surely my FRiend, eating's among 'em, too. :o)

Hey; how'd your Angel do?
I'll assume she finished & the kids mobbed their Mom with hugs & kisses galore.
...& you?
You just walked around her smiling while pointing her out to strangers & saying, "She's *mine*!"
Geshhh. I can read you like a book, Pal.

{hint: IF you're doing the steaks on charcoal briquets? throw a handful of hickory chips into some water 30 mins before the coals are white-hot & ready...rub those pieces of steer down with a little olive oil. throw the chips on the fire for 2 minutes BEFORE the steaks so they're smokin' real good first; now do the meat as you'd usually. ~Try it.
That'll be how I'll be doing it here for you two, if ever there's the chance... :^) }

[Mudboy Slim]

"You can't blame me. I cancelled my 25 year subscription to The Times Dispatch when they consolidated with The News Leader and made it just another in the long line of McPapers a la USA Today."

You nailed it, my FRiend!! SHEEESH...that's exactly when it started and I first thought it was simply good enough to IGNORE the creeping Leftism in the News Sections and enjoy the parts I liked. However, this Election Coverage was simply more than I could stomach...I'm looking right now at the Sunday (11/4/01) front page headline "Poll puts Warner Up 13 Points!!" and the "poll" was generated by the RTD and NBC-Channel 12!!

Fer anyone who doubts my claims of BIAS...please recall that the final talley was 52-47!!

"I pat myself on the back for not supporting local swill."

I look forward to doing the same!!

"...and good luck to the missus"

Thanks...she finished her first Marathon in under 5:25. We are so proud of her and scurried around the course to cheer her on from 6-7 different locations before my three-year-old zonked out and forced us to miss the Triumphal Finish!! We were waving a collection of American flags and sportin' a sign that said "Run Mama Run!!"

She's limping around now, but has not ruled out future Marathons--which, BTW, she had ruled out a coupla weeks ago!!

FReegards...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"...eating's among 'em, too. :o)"

Matter of fact, yer Right!!

"Hey; how'd your Angel do?"

Under 5:25 and her goal was to finish before 6:00...the Whole Family's so Proud!!

"I'll assume she finished & the kids mobbed their Mom with hugs & kisses galore...& you?"

That was the plan, but JakeyBoy was overcome with all the excitement and fell dead asleep in the drive-thru line at Mickey-D's as we waited fer our Happy Meals...the In-Laws were at the Finsih Line with a Bouquet of Flowers, though...Bless their Lib'ral Hearts!!

"That'll be how I'll be doing it here for you two, if ever there's the chance... :^)

We're gonna use the gas grill this time, but you can count on us taking you up on that offer, my Friend!!

FReegards...MUD

[Monti Cello]

Wahoo Bump.

FR and The Sabre are the staples of my information diet as well. No newspaper can match either.

[AppyPappy]

The RTD is the National Review compared to the Roanoke Times.

[SarahW]

The U's are conservative southern baptists. That's why the no-beer. (They wouldn't even carry pregnancy tests for the longest time, for fear they would fall into the wrong hands. :)

The grocery chain, which has been around since I was a kid, can not compare to any grocery store I have set foot in. Anywhere in the world. In the fashionable west end, we deal with the no-alcholic-beverage situation by having the CVS and a wine shop next door. Works for me. But then, we don't drink much.

[Mudboy Slim]

"Wahoo Bump."

HeckUVA win this afternoon over GA Tech...first home game I've missed this year and probably the best one of the year!! 39-38 win on a 37-yard hook-n-ladder TD with 22 seconds left to play, and no TeeVee coverage...WAHOO WAH!!

"FR and The Sabre are the staples of my information diet as well. No newspaper can match either."

Yep...MUD

BTW...are you a Lurker or a poster on the Sabre?! I save most of my posting for FR, but I do post there occasionally as MudboyHoo...LOL!!

[Mudboy Slim]

"RTD is the National Review compared to the Roanoke Times."

Used to be, maybe, but not anymore. While MacKenzie keeps the Editorial Page pretty balanced, you can't tell the product of the so-called "NewsReporters" from the NY Slimes or the USA Today these days.

FReegards...MUD

BTW...is that Kevin Jones gonna be a stud or what?!

[Mudboy Slim]

"The U's are conservative southern baptists."

Then how can they support the ineffectual CommiePinko Tim Kaine?! The Ukrops are simply opportunists who wield their new-found Power to further their family fortune; otherwise, they'd have quit supporting the LOSERS that have done so much damage to the beautiful City of Richmond.

FReegards...MUD

BTW...I will say that I am really impressed by what Ukrops has done with Johnnie Johnson and the Community Prides, but other than that, their political philosophy is extremely skewed to the Left.

[Mudboy Slim]

The VA Sabre's Coverage of one of the Best Games I Ever Missed!!

LOL...I also missed most of our loss to GA Tech back when we were Ranked #1 and Undefeated due to a WahooWedding, and our First Win Over Clemson that same Season (WahooWedding), and only saw the Win over FSU on TeeVee (NoExcuseWhatsoever fer not Being There LIVE!!)

I couldn't believe yesterday's game wasn't AT LEAST on Televison...but it sounded great on WRVA-1140!!

FReegards...MudboyHoo?

BTW...Gillen's Boys are gonna turn some heads this upcoming Winter and Spring, ain't they?!

[ashrad]

If everyone did as you with not only their newspaper but to TV sponsors of biased news, things would shape up real quick.

I quit watching the networks for over a year now. The networks finish eachothers sentence if one were to flip the channels back and forth. I feel that anyone who is getting their source of news from the networks is a very uninformed person.

Thanks to the internet I have had the fortune of seeing the 'real' news and great investigative journalism that the networks would not DARE broadcast. This site amongst a few others have been great sources for me and I hope that the networks begin to see a great loss of viewers in the future. Disinformation systems ontop of disinformation systems who recieve there information from disinformation systems.

Let's only hope that with Ashcrofts' successful purge of our internet privacy does not bring about the end of the 'real' story.

[coramdeo]

The founders of Ukrops were conservative Southern Baptists. The current generation like to call themselves "Republicans" and "Southern Baptists" so they can be quoted in the Times Dispatch as "Republicans supporting Mark Warner" or "local Southern Baptists question the conservative leadership of the denomination." And so forth. They keep the store policies because its good business practice, they know they could not continue to charge premium prices if they became just like the other grocery stores. However, I did hear recently that they are going to open some stores in the yuppie areas of Richmond, under a different name, that are open on Sunday, sell alcohol, etc.

A question for the rest of you about the Times Dispatch. Does anyone else have experience with submitting letters to the editor? I submitted about ten during the Earley-Warner campaign, each of which I considered brilliant, witty, incisive, etc. They only printed one, and they cut out the conclusion, butchering it in the process (I am an attorney, I was a law review editor in law school, so I know something about writing and editing, and they did a real slipshod job). I am curious whether anyone else had any similar experience during the campaign.

[ReaganGirl]

I'm years ahead of you there Mud. I gave up my subscription to the RTD after reading Tyler Whitley's screed during the GOP primary between North and Miller.

Now I have the pleasure of calling the Governor elect my neighbor. It was bad enough that Carville lived in the hood -- now this.

God bless the Commonwealth!

ReaganGirl

[Mudboy Slim]

"The founders of Ukrops were conservative Southern Baptists. The current generation like to call themselves "Republicans" and "Southern Baptists" so they can be quoted in the Times Dispatch as "Republicans supporting Mark Warner" or "local Southern Baptists question the conservative leadership of the denomination."

That's my take as well...sort of like Panny Rhoads and Linwood Holton flaunting their Republicanism while they trash everything the Party stands for. Unfortunately, I see our Senior Senator John Warner in exactly the same light and would love to locate his replacement in the upcoming Primary Season. Warner is a Cancer on the VA GOP and should be surgically removed!!

"A question for the rest of you about the Times Dispatch. Does anyone else have experience with submitting letters to the editor?"

I used to write monthly and was named "Correspondent of the Day" in '97, '98, and '99, until I started dedicating my writing to FR...LOL!! I respect this audience more than the RTD's..)=^D!!

"I submitted about ten during the Earley-Warner campaign, each of which I considered brilliant, witty, incisive, etc. They only printed one, and they cut out the conclusion, butchering it in the process (I am an attorney, I was a law review editor in law school, so I know something about writing and editing, and they did a real slipshod job). I am curious whether anyone else had any similar experience during the campaign."

The policy seems to be that they will print only one letter per month from any one individual...of course, if you can convince a friend of the legitimacy of your comments, you can send in as many as you have friends willing to sign under your name (and yes, they check)!! As for the staff's lack of editing skill, I agree whole-heartedly...what a bunch of BUTCHERS!! I learned to keep my letters very short and to the point, but they still had the ability to carve out a few words that often lost the meaning of the whole letter...LOL!! Yet another reason to write to FR instead, and to mass email!!

Hopefully, my letter will actually get printed as the RTD staff left a message to confirm the cancellation of my subscription. I'll let you know how they butcher it...betcha there's no mention of my nemisis, Jeff Schapiro!!

LOL and FReegards...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"I gave up my subscription to the RTD after reading Tyler Whitley's screed during the GOP primary between North and Miller."

Considering the RTD was the only paper I had ever subscribed to fer any length of time--Washington Times Weekly Editon, not included--I reckon I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Howver, my eyes were opened over the last coupla months and I won't be allowing their Leftist Drivel into the MudCave until they dispatch with Jeff Schapiro, who makes Tyler Whitley look like a RightWing Loonie in comparison!!

"Now I have the pleasure of calling the Governor elect my neighbor."

Ewww...yeccchhhh!! I wish that we'd had the votes to keep him as yer neighbor 'cuz now I'm gonna haveta look at his new abode outta my office window at work!! Might have to swing by and say "hello" to Ol' HorseFace at Lunch a time or two...LOL!!

"It was bad enough that Carville lived in the hood..."

Shouldn't have told me that...now I'm gonna hound you fer Carville's home address so I can pay that anti-American TRAITOR A House Call!! Guy makes my skin crawl....poor Mary Matalin and the kids.

FReegards...MUD