As I Eat Leftovers--and Cucumbers, mmmmm
There is some serious,
serious,
political sh*t going down in my State Capitol.
Unbelievable. It hasn't hit mainstream news yet--
which is even more worrisome.
I may have to break vow and reveal my state,
because this scandle goes clear to the top and
clear to the West Coast.
And even if you don't know who I mean by that statement,
trust me,
you know who I mean.
So, I will keep my ears and eyes open for you.
Meanwhile, what's all the blabber about
Tom Cruise and Oprah?
Was he a pet monkey?
Someone give me a link.
Also, did anyone hear Clinton on NPR this afternoon?
Nice.
Yet, he seemed to have 3 agendas:
1. Promote the paperback release of his auto
2. Promote his "Intellectual Gathering" coming up
3. Indirectly promote "Senator Rodham"
But I still enjoyed listening to him speak.
I meant to comment/complain about NPR's programming
yesterday, which included the following stories:
A. The modification of America's new Ford Mustang~
stream lined with widerseats and longer waist straps
for those "target costomers"--you know who you are.
B. North Korea's famine and millions who may starve this year.
C. Zimbabwe's new policy of "trash removal" in its
cities' shanty towns--thousands are becoming homeless as
bull dozers (think of _HitchHiker's Guide_) have plunged
into the poorest places and torn down shacks.
Now which of these stories seems out of place?
Ok, and now for the Local Kicker:
Within a One Hundred Mile Radius from where I live,
two police officers were called to the house
of someone's old relative who hadn't been seen in
3mos. Yeah. She was 84.
When the police officers arrived on site,
her young nephew (30ish) came to the door
and told the officers that she had been terribly ill
and bedridden--to wait while he made sure she was dressed.
A few minutes later--the officers heard one single shot.
The nephew had shot himself in the head,
in the living room,
with the 3month-dead Aunt sitting in a chair nearby.
Fo*real* Hitchcock, I sh*t you not.
Last note:
If I ever did have twins,
I'd know better to let them play outside
unsupervised with a new baseball bat and T-ball set.
And if something bad did happen with the baseball bat,
I'd know where plenty of ice was
and some Charlie Brown cartoons . . .
posted by SquirrleyMojo @ 5:22 PM
3 Comments:
It's a strange world we live in where news of car seats for large people is as important as people starving to death and poor people being homeless.
Perhaps are priorities in life are a tad misplaced..
Interestingly, in my high school government class I wrote up a case study on Zimbabwe that concluded it was headed for big, big trouble if it didn't get its act together, which it more or less hasn't, thanks to its, ah, "leadership." Who knew I could be a political analyst?
Anyway. I am less bothered about the news stories than you two seem to be. It's not that I think obesity in America is on par with the other events, but I do think NPR has to weight a lot of factors when picking out news stories --
Audiences always want something of the local/domestic, because that's more immediate and something they can affect. International news is often hard to grasp/comprehend, much less change the force of.
The obesity problem in the US has been a long-standing issue, and the fact that cars are now being designed for heavier drivers is an interesting commentary on American lifestyles.
I also find the juxtoposition interesting-- Americans are busy catering to obesity while North Korea faces starvation.
I mean, how many political stories can NPR's audience tolerate before it loses interest? How many stories of genocide and famine before the audience becomes immune to the effect and just tacks on "one more horror story in the third world" without thinking about the implications?
At least the juxtoposition of these three stories encourages the audience to think about relative problems and how the US fits in (or not) with the rest of the world...
I'm not saying I think the size of the Mustang's seats is anywhere near as important as Zimbabwe's continued downfall or North Korea's crisis. But to the extent that the story can encourage the audience to think... it seems like an excellent mix of stories to me.
i keep checking, but i haven't seen any *seriious* political kaka going down anywhere... ;)
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