Perhaps the New York Times scandal involving a lying reporter will also focus on the
arrogance of the ubiquitous newspaper "correction" box that appears daily,
citing the errors from the last edition. It assumes that all else was accurate and belies
the fact that it's actually "All the news (that we see) fit to print."
If the battle among the lawyers over who controls the cases in the aftermath of The
Station fire-and their desperate seeking of anyone with deep pockets-doesn't further
exacerbate the tragedy, I don't know what would.
Reality TV is based on voyeurism, hardly an unknown human condition. But what on earth
are the screaming talk show and news show hosts based upon? Have you noticed that John
DiPietro is actually the quasi-independent man when it comes to obvious biases and
friendships?
The Providence Journal is getting increasingly arrogant, which is the natural residue of
a one-paper town.
Is there actually a rationale that maintains that women can fight and die in Iraq but
can't hit a ball in a tournament with men at another prissy golf club in Connecticut? I
was hoping she'd beat as many men as possible.
The airport security and body searches are so profoundly silly that you have to work to
keep from laughing at the huge symbolism-at great cost-which has been created by political
correctness. Here's a test: If the security guards searched five grandmotherly-types at
our gate but didn't search five obvious mid-Eastern men who appeared nervous, all of whom
sat together in first class, would you sit on the plane without comment and merely await
the takeoff?
When attorneys accept contingency fees, meaning they only collect money if their client
wins, and that money can be substantial, they are no longer advocates or legal
representatives, but have become a part of the case, and that's not what the system ever
intended. It wasn't meant for lawyers to enrich themselves in class action suits which
provide peanuts to the plaintiffs. It was meant to preserve people's rights under the law.
I know a woman who demands special treatment wherever she goes, from retail shops to
restaurants, because her husband is a surgeon. She is outraged when anyone else is shown
preference. The caste system, thank goodness, doesn't operate here and a great many people
are doing noble work, which we all must honor. Is a safely driven school bus or an expert
teacher really somehow less valuable than a doctor?
The Mensa Bulletin has been quite receptive and accommodating in printing
several of my articles. But they rejected one on hypocrisy about race relations which they
said would probably cause "too much controversy." Too much controversy in a
society of high intellects is to be shunned, I guess.
Waterfire in Providence is on a diminished schedule because of budget crunches, and the
amazing statistic is that EACH Waterfire costs from $50,000 to $60,000! One year there
were ten of them. I don't know what that money goes for, but think what it could do for
schools, or the disadvantaged, or road repair, or public health. If Waterfire is more
important than that, then people who think so should contribute to fund it. (How much do
logs cost?)
I continue to believe that Channel 10 is so far in front of the competition because it
was the first television operation here in the late 40s which people turned on and simply
never turned off again.