Thoughts On the News

Am I suffering from selective thinking when I believe that the news used to be about real issues that affected our lives? Years ago did the news industry dwell endlessly about a governor of one state who sinned? Perhaps it did and I was not paying attention.

I admit that Mark Sanford's dereliction of duty should be covered thoroughly in South Carolina where their governor was found wanting. However, in any other area of the U. S. that news is only of interest because it exposes they hypocrisy of the conservative right who lay claim to having a lock on morality.

Mark Sanford was one of those Congressmen who piously ranted against the terrible crime by President Clinton and voted for his impeachment. Both men, in their way, lied about sex. I always felt that it was entrapment when Clinton was subpoenaed and asked about Monica Lewinsky. The 'moral posse' knew about the incriminating dress and assumed, correctly, that Clinton would protect himself by lying about his affair. Aha! They had the goods on him: they believed that lying under oath was an impeachable offense. They knew that having sex in the Oval Office would be shocking, but not enough to get him out of office, which was their goal. Without the semen smeared dress, it would simply have been a "he said, she said" story.

Now it is full circle and they have had three Republicans in a row outed for scandals. This is what happens when you throw mud; some of it sticks to you.

Sanford may be relieved that the news about his affair in Argentina has been overshadowed by three prominent deaths. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

In the case of Michael Jackson the news media are excessively covering his untimely death. While I know he was an icon and an extremely talented man I was not a fan. I am one generation ahead of him and "Thriller" was not my kind of music.

It is sad that Michael's talent and popularity contributed to his downfall. I believe that his obsessive weirdness was the result of a tortured soul. I am sorry, but when I think of him at all I see him holding his baby over that balcony and I am appalled by the adulation showered on him.

Hours have been spent covering the Sanford and Jackson stories while real news is not heard of. You really have to dig to find out what is important to our lives. The situations in Iran and North Korea are dire and could plunge our country into another war if not handled carefully. Below are two links to a couple of stories you may have missed about the North Korean and Russian ships. The first link is found on the BBC news site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7260534.stm

The second story is about that North Korean ship on the high seas. Do we have the legal authority to board her?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31473986/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

I may be an old curmudgeon, but I think that these stories are more important than a sex scandal in another state. I don't intend to demean the importance of covering the scandal or the prominent deaths; I just don't think they should dominate the news for days on end.