Newsworthy?

Left by girlfriend in bar,
drunken German steals tractor,
leads police on low-speed chase.

One might reasonably think that when the two arguably most powerful men on the planet meet for the first time it would be newsworthy. It didn’t seem to be. For hours on end it was once again Michael Jackson. This time his memorial ceremony. With no disrespect, I do find myself wondering if he is really dead or if he will be continually spotted here and there, like Elvis. I also wonder if the second coming will receive quite as much attention. Is there something wrong with me? Michael Jackson was a “Pop Star,” not a Pope or President or Dictator, or conqueror of the world, and certainly not some kind of supernatural being. Anyway, I would like to think that this might be the end of the Michael Jackson marathon, but I know it won’t be. We’ll be hearing about his will, his children, his money, his legacy, his drugs, his death, his brain, and so on probably for years. But maybe, just maybe it will slow down a bit now that he is dead and buried. I don’t know if it was the Michael Jackson obsession that kept us from hearing about Obama/Putin, or if perhaps the meeting did not go well and they don’t want to tell us about it, or what. But I did find the lack of information about it somewhat surprising. It would be nice to have some serious news companies that were interested in news rather than infotainment, but I guess that is something gone forever. It is possible that I just do not watch the right stuff (‘cause I don’t watch very much).

Another thing about the so-called news that can be infuriating is when they tell you something but don’t tell you everything you would like to know. For example, on the Rachel Maddow show tonight there was an anecdote about an artist, enraged at the sight of McNamara lounging in a Ferry bar, who asked him outside for a false message and tried to throw him overboard to his death. I thought this was most interesting, but the guy obviously failed in his attempt, but they didn’t tell you what happened to him. Like, did he go to jail for attempted murder? Did no one press charges? Was it not reported? What? We know the guy lived because he was subsequently interviewed much later, but we were told nothing of what happened to him after his failed attempt. I found this very strange to say nothing of rather disconcerting.

We’re not going to hear the end of the Perils of Palin very soon either. She is not going to let us, and the MSM are going to help her stay in the news. After claiming that the media has been unfair to her, and picked on her unreasonably, and so on, she invited all the major networks to interview her while she was fishing. There she was, dressed in waders, apparently involved in netting fish, but giving interviews at the same time. She had nothing to say except the same nonsense she gave before about doing it all for Alaska, saving the state money, and blah, blah, blah. I must say, for an absolute airhead with absolutely nothing to offer, she does well for herself. I also think that now the media, especially Letterman, will in fact probably butcher her as she seems to be bringing it on herself.

Does anyone remember the Israeli/Palestinian problem, or has it just become lost in the Michael Jackson, Sanford, Palin news? I do not believe the present Israeli government has any interest whatsoever in solving the problem, preferring instead the status quo that allows them to go ahead with their illegal settlements and slow genocide year after year. This raises an interesting question of time. I cannot see that time favors the Israeli position. They simply cannot get away with what they are doing forever. At some point in time their contempt for international law and Arabs is going to catch up with them and they will no longer exist. How long this might take I do not know, but I believe it is inevitable. Thus if they really wish to survive as a Jewish state they had better change their ways now, before it is too late. I wonder if Obama remembers that he told them no more illegal settlements? They certainly are not paying attention and are blissfully going ahead with whatever they want, as they always have, contemptuous of world opinion and apparently safe in their belief that the U.S. will always support them no matter how dishonest, imperialistic, racist, and genocidal they may be. Will Obama actually seriously try to curb them or is it just all talk as always?

Sometimes I believe that Obama really is spreading himself too thin. Granted the problems he has are manifold, can he really juggle Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the economy, health care, gays in the military, immigration, etc., etc.? Obviously it is easier to talk about all of these problems than to take action against all of them at the same time. I fear that because he is trying to deal with too many things at once he is much more likely to agree to compromises that will result in unsatisfactory results everywhere. Compromises rarely result in the best solutions.

LKBIQ:
If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.
Robert Fritz

TILT:
The Platypus is one of the very few venomous mammals.