Am I the only one,
fellow newspaper reader, who is tired of hearing that the presently
declining America is the result of “the mainstream media” not doing
its job of reporting the news? If the “low-information voter” can be
blamed on the media, how does one account for those of us who know
what’s going on?
I was deliberately
“low-information” for the week of my vacation, watching television
only to catch the weather and absolutely not checking anything on
the Internet. When I returned, I perused The Salem News that Chip
had considerately brought in from my front yard each day I was gone,
and the ones that arrived the next week. Here is what I learned of
immediate, essential interest:
1. Iraq is falling
apart. The fantasy, shared by some including me, was that the part
of the world where civilization began, which created Hammurabi’s
code (a primitive constitution), where the statue of a dictator was
pulled down and beaten with shoes, where newly liberated voters
proudly displayed purple fingers, was capable of creating a nation
with Western values of freedom, democracy and fantastic tourism
potential; that it could overcome a tendency of government toward
corruption and a radical Muslim enemy that we underestimated
ourselves until we saw the fallen Towers.
I learned about the
frustration of North Shore veterans watching the collapse of the
country they liberated and tried to make work. Read a
well-researched column by Brian Watson, addressing the above-noted
delusions. Also noted the column by Seth Moulton about “Cheney’s
legacy,” and admit I, too, was astonished to see Dick Cheney on
television blaming Obama entirely for the present situation. Too bad
candidate Moulton didn’t do what Cheney failed to do — admit that
both the Bush and Obama administrations have failed, not to mention
earlier administrations that helped Iraq against Iran, leading to
the total absurdity of now suggesting we ask Iran to help us with
Iraq. In fairness, Moulton’s deadline probably came before Obama’s
bright idea to send 300 “advisers” into the country.
I should also mention
the letter to the editor from Carol Denbo, reminding me of feeling
outraged, as I was leaving for vacation, about five Taliban leaders
being released to Qatar on the assumption they’d be prevented from
returning to active jihad against us.
2. There was also an
excellent letter from James Avallon, “Common Core isn’t common
sense,” that brought me up to date on the new battle to stop the
federal government from taking over state and local education. This
was followed by more stories this week as various communities make
or rethink their decision to drop MCAS in favor of an untried
concept.
3. The Salem News makes
good use of the Associated Press; one of the most interesting
stories was headlined: “Political parties fight to manipulate voting
times, location.” This remains a mystery to me: why anyone should be
allowed to vote early unless he will be out of town or in surgery on
Election Day. What if something relevantly newsworthy happens on the
eve of the election? Has everyone had a chance to see all the
debates? Yet, it seems important to some Democrats that unprepared
voters be encouraged to vote nonetheless, which may explain a lot
about recent choices.
4. Speaking of
elections, I was brought up to date on the results of the Democrat
Convention. Wonder why Republicans fight about the 15-percent
requirement, while Democrats seem to accept that only the
better-known candidates have a chance to enter the primary.
5. While I was gone,
the story about “unaccompanied migrant children” from Central
America arrived in the news. Salem News reporter Christian Wade
wrote an in-depth piece this week about the strain these illegal
minors are putting on U.S. cities, including Lynn. As I write this,
we are learning much more about the problem, including the list of
diseases being brought into our country for which we citizens have
no immunity: scabies, dengue fever and the new,
multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis.
On Jan. 29, the Feds
posted on “Federal Business Opportunities”
an ad seeking vendors to handle transportation logistics for
approximately 65,000 juveniles. “ICE has a ‘mission-critical
responsibility for accepting custody of Unaccompanied Alien Children
from U.S. Border Patrol and other Federal agencies,’ and then,
‘transporting these juveniles to Office of Refugee Resettlement
shelters located throughout the continental United States.’”
Wonderful.
6. One issue I couldn’t
find in the local newspaper was the rejuvenated IRS scandal, as
Congress learns that the emails it’s been demanding from the IRS,
about tea party/conservative groups being targeted by that agency
during the last election, have been destroyed. I did read an
excellent
column by Taylor Armerding in the June 20 Salem News online; you
might want to find it. But first, look at the photo on this column,
then look in the mirror and tell me the truth: Do we look dumb
enough to believe that the disappearance of these relevant emails
was an accident?
7. While I was gone,
Chip told me that House leader Eric Cantor lost his Virginia
Republican primary, and I just read an AP piece in The Salem News
that said “House GOP elects McCarthy, Scalise to leadership.” Not
sure what’s been accomplished here, except to remind congressmen to
spend more time in their districts than in Washington, D.C., which
is good advice. Which reminds me, the BBC version of “House of
Cards” is running now on PBS.
8. I was really glad to
learn that the initiative petition to stop automatic gas tax hikes
got enough signatures to proceed to the ballot. Was interested also
in the list of other viable petitions: I do like voting on these
things myself and expect I’ll be able to find enough information
from the media during the fall to vote intelligently.
There is no excuse for
low-information voters, and with any luck, they’ll sensibly stay
home in 2014 and 2016.
