Wednesday, September 15, 2010

News Notes

Pretty interesting happenings in news these days, I mean it's all totally insane but still remains interesting.  So here we go

Burning of ... anything.  This whole thing is just another situation that baffles me.  The media reporting on something by saying that they shouldn't be reporting on something.  Just because we have Freedom of the Press doesn't mean that it's a good idea to give everything national attention.  I think that Freedom of the Press should come with some inherent responsibility to take a look at the bigger implications of what you are reporting.  How does reporting and publicized some whack job in Florida's antics do anyone any good?  All this is going to do is send an already volatile situation further into a tailspin.  It's fruitless.  I'm not saying we need to tiptoe through the tulips on the issue of the Middle East, Terrorism, etc. but there's little sense in unnecessarily fanning the flames by giving credence to a movement in BFE Florida that would have otherwise been attended by maybe 8 people and maybe made the local rag on page 2.  Now it's a global issue and I'm sorry but questioning if you should be giving this guy publicity won't unring the bell.  It's just irresponsible and dumb and that goes for the idiots in Florida too, but that's an entirely different rant all together.  I'll just say this:  Painting everyone with the same brush is a dangerous game.  There are lots of whites, Christians, men, women, hell pick any dividing characteristics who have done morally terrible things... but you can't judge the entire group by the misguided actions of the few.

Along the same line Fox News... wow.  I truly feel sorry for any American who gets their news 100% from only one media outlet (i.e. Fox News, MSN, etc) because the slant on things these days is absolutely unreal.  I know I've mentioned this before but the most recent interpretation of an interview takes the cake.  One of the leaders of the Muslim group working on the Mosque in NY, said basically he was concerned about the actions that extremists might take if these burning took place, were publicized, etc.  Fox reported this the next day as him making threats of violence against the U.S., which based on their soundbites sounded credible, but if you actually read/watched the full interview, it couldn't be further from what was actually said.  Bottom line it is just plain sad that there seems to be no where in media today where one can get a true report of what has happened.
  
Jets and sexual harassment, this has potential to get me in hot water so I'm gonna step lightly.  First and foremost, harassment is never okay and the situation should be dealt with and disciplinary action should be levied.  But.  This is a two way street.  The NFL needs to seriously, evaluate their policies on women in locker rooms.  They preach and preach to players about avoiding situations that have the potential to result in something that is undesirable.  Placing a young, attractive, provocatively dressed woman (and for that matter men) but women especially in a locker room with 53 men most between the ages of 24 and 35 is a recipe for absolute disaster.  Should they be able to control themselves, absolutely.  Some of these guys put their foot in their mouth on a regular basis with zero provocation whatsoever, you but this woman in there and it's like taking an alcoholic on a brewery tour, it's just not smart.  Furthermore, I Googled the reporter, before forming an opinion I recommend doing the same and watching some achieved interviews and judge for yourself.  Again... not justifying what they did and if they did something there should be actions taken, but come on, the Jets are the only ones guilty in this.


Politics... still can't care... still want to care, but it's just so very hard.  When your solution to stop a brush fire from spreading is to pile more brush in front of your houses, I really don't know that I can get behind the logic. 

Tax cuts... I don't want to pay taxes anymore than anyone else, but with the Bush tax cuts set to expire soon, increased taxes for some segments of the population are likely on the way.  I think the appetite for some modest increase in taxes would be better received if the Gov wasn't walking around with a blank check.  Government spending is absolutely out of control at all levels, local, state, federal.  You can't expect people to willingly pay into a system that is digging a hole of debt that appears to be deeper than any ladder in existence, yet they keep digging.  Furthermore, tax burden needs to be spread more evenly I think that everyone should pay some form of income tax.  If it's 1%, 0.5% or 0.25%, everyone should pay into the system, there should be no free lunch.  Everyone lives here everyone must contribute something. 

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