Lazy Hack of the Day: Cal Thomas
Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist whose default philosophy is a mix of "Cranky old white male extreme conservative" and "a little too religious for comfort." He also has a disturbing face!
Why are we mentioning this guy, anyhow? Well, Carroll Wilson, the managing editor of the Temple (Texas) Daily Telegram, wrote into Romenesko to point out that some of Cal's latest column is basically just an insanely-lazy-bordering-on-plagiarizing rewrite of a New York Times news story from last week. For example, the NYT wrote:
The Transportation Department has used values [of human life] of around $6 million to justify recent decisions to impose regulations that the Bush administration had rejected as too expensive, like requiring stronger roofs on cars.
Cal?
The Transportation Department - yes, Transportation - put our worth at $6 million while seeking to justify recent decisions to impose regulations the Bush administration had rejected as too costly, such as stronger roofs on cars.
Okay, I misspoke earlier. That's definitely plagiarism. Quotation marks, Cal! Even "Jesus" loves them!
