What Has Happened to the News?

Dinosaurs Bite

I had to stop watching the Sunday morning news talk shows. Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and This Week With George Stephanopolis were always good for a laugh and a few good arguments with family and friends. Unfortunately political discourse has become like religion, if you don't have facts, go with opinion. What people want to think is more important than analysis of facts. Opinion trumps news.

I have been watching the Sunday morning news talk shows since I was a child and my mother had the shows on as she prepared bacon and eggs for the family.  I watched for forty years, but I can't watch them any more.

These political discussions have become all about who is winning the political popularity contest, or how a particular person should handle a situation for political gain. There is no insight into current events, no pithy one liners that really make you think, too many old white men, the same tired old faces, and still too few women bog these shows down.

The same kind of ideological gridlock that keeps Congress from earning it's salary is echoed in the hollow talk that passes for discussion on these programs. The same old politicians show up with very obvious exclusions to keep the conversation tame. No one challenges outright misinformation. OK once in a while on Meet the Press David Gregory will give it a go. But not like I remember it in the past.

Moderators used to have facts and figures at their fingertips and challenged guests when they played fast and loose with the facts. You cannot really discuss any issue until you can at least agree on the facts. So there you go. I cannot listen to the silliness that passes for news anymore.

I guess I will get all the news I can use on the weather report.

Lucky 2013

Be Different Red BirdsHappy New Year.
It better be.
2012 was one long depression for me with one delight as the American people had the good sense to re-elect Barack Obama to the presidency.
This is why there is only one entry in my blog for 2012.
That entry was about my brother. His loss has colored the year dark for me.

But now we are in a new year and I predict that 2013 will be the "Year of Good Fortune"

My Predictions for Lucky 2013 in America

1. I predict that the shootings of 2012 will force Americans to face our violent culture and begin to heal the fear that has been the driving force behind the violence. 2013 will be the year we stop listening to the fear mongers who see evil behind every tree and open our eyes to the kindness that is human nature. We will change our culture from one of fear to one of cooperation.


2. I predict that there will be a backlash against the political attacks on the worker. 2013 will be the year that the ordinary citizen finds the strength to stand up for herself and show the world that the wealth of this country was created by the worker. Management will realize that there is nothing to manage if there are no workers. In 2013 the value of every member of an organization, from boardroom to bathroom, will be recognized.

 3. I predict that the political turmoil over economic issues in 2012 will force a reevaluation of the meaning and purpose of money. 2013 will bring a new understanding of money and wealth. Wealth will become a tool for the betterment of everyone rather than a measure of success. In 2013 there will be a growing realization that there is happiness in "spreading the wealth."

4. I predict that the weather disasters of 2012 will force us to see Mother Nature in a new light.
In 2013 a new sound will be heard. A long forgotten melody will once again be recognized in the songs of birds and whales, the wind and leaves, water running over rocks. The natural world will grow in significance in the hearts and minds of the people and share a greater recognition in the collective conscience.

5. I predict that 2013 will be the year that America takes a good look inward and begins to heal on an individual level.  Change will take place one person at a time. Like the drops of rain, one by one, fall from the sky to fill rivers and lakes, minds will grow, ideas will spread and person by person America will change.

I predict that 2013 will see a revolution in America. It may not come with pitch forks and torches. It may not come from Washington D.C. It may not come from pulpits and congregations. It may not come from technology and media. But it will come because people are tired of always wanting more.