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Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna
Is the news of the day really important? Or is the public again (still) being willingly distracted from the stuff that really will change their lives?
Here are some samples from today's TV and print news... - Two different polls reported today showed President Obama leading by 8 points in one poll, and Governor Romney leading by a like amount in another poll. Of course, there were different states included in the polls of what they called "battleground states". I guess the press has given everyone something to be happy about this morning!
- Lots of back and forth between the GOP and the Dems over the Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare. Now that the Court has ruled based on their interpretation that the program is a tax, the Romney campaign is apoplectic in explaining that almost the same program which he sponsored in Massachusetts wasn't a tax, but rather was based on "penalties or fees". All the noise seems to avoid much discussion that the taxes or fees or penalties will effect only about 1% of the people in either Massachusetts or in the entire country.
- How about Glaxo-SmithKline, one of the world's largest drug companies, pleading guilty and agreeing to $3 billion fine for Medicare fraud. That amount exceeds the $2.3 billion fine for the same offense levied on Pfizer last year. Any discussion on whether these private sector drug companies can be trusted to operate in the public's best interest? Nah, I'd say just another demonstration that the free market system really has become based more on the famous Gordon Gecko advice to college students in the movie Wall Street..."greed is good."
- Did anyone find any reports on the very active diplomacy going on to prevent Iran's threat to close off the Straight of Hormuz, shutting off more than half of the world's supply of oil? Nah, the public isn't interested in that sort of boring stuff.
- How about today's report that the negotiations between the allies and Syria to stop the killing and oppression in that country has failed, fallen flat to the objections of Russia? That report fell lower on the Daily Sun's news "food chain" than Rubio's book-selling visit to The Villages, the hot weather, a local art fair, a record-sized crocodile, and a new traffic light in Lady Lake.
- Anyone find anything on what's being done to stop the national debt from rising at the rate of $1.4 billion per day? Or how about what Congress will do about the impending large tax increases and damaging spending cuts resulting from their failure, and the failure of the super committee to reach any sort of agreement? Nope. There's all kinds of more interesting political stuff that the public wants to hear about...Eric Holder's conviction for contempt of Congress (even though they really are contemptable!), continued loud public talk about repealing ObamaCare (even though no one has suggested an alternative), whether Mitt Romney really decided to send jobs to other countries, or how President Obama all by himself is responsible for the increasing budget deficit and rising national debt. That's all stuff that gets people's juices flowing!
Well at least we're being spared any soundbites from members of Congress...they're on summer vacation! |
Despite, IN MY VIEW, your last bullet point being a small defense of Obama, and I said that is MY VIEW, I would agree and good luck getting anyone to care about that stuff. Any thread I have begun on the ME is met with great silence.
I might add to your list, and I know you wont agree, the silence on paying for the health care bill but then again that is a few years away.....why worry about 98% of the cost coming due then based on "maybes" Why does not the press discuss this and why in a country where even you compare us to Greece are we not concerned that we just keep spending spending and adding taxes in a few years....oh well, guess that is not important at all.
I would love to hear folks talk about Syria and Russia, the one that everyone said Romney was talking about stupidily.....about the ME in general. I am not sure that Egypt is going to be such a great ally and the entire ME looks shaky to me. I realize before anyone tells me that we should mind our own business but as you VK keep reminding us, this world is so "small" right now, they are as close neighbors. and in fact read about a plot or fake plot or whatever to blow up a plane in conjunction with the Olympics.