Current Events

I admit that I'm not exactly up to speed on current events. The reasons are thus: I'm not very well connected to media. The recurring sameness of it all - and I realize that this sounds terrible - bores me. I once counted myself among the NPR nerds of the world. I listened to Morning Edition on my drive to work and All Things Considered on my way home. I had the web page pulled up on my monitor. I found the various dispatches so interesting and the journalistic integrity so refreshing that I looked forward to seeing what was going on in the world. I considered the reporting to be balanced and unbiased - like it's supposed to be. I liked that after listening to a piece on, say, prison health care I would have to decide for myself the right thing to do, having been given all sides of the complex issue.

I'm not sure what happened. I suppose that I got caught up in the here and now, which can be a truly wonderful place and time, and found that I tired of hearing about which childish side had most recently retaliated in the middle east 'peace' process. Likewise, riding the daily Washington spin cycle just feels ridiculous. And, hey, I recognize that there's a lot that I don't know about the way the world works and so I'm hardly qualified to speak on some of these issues, but I just can't truly care about which role a given Capitol Hill actor is playing on a given day.

Take Idaho Senator Larry Craig for instance. First of all, I'm no one to judge to anyone. I've lived long enough to know that people make mistakes and I've sure as hell let people down in my own life. But that's not my point. If you're not aware of Larry's particular problems, then here's one perspective of the situation. You get a little bit different feel for it here. Regardless, his particular actions and belated ownership are not my real concern because, to me, it's just another example of an elected mercenary holding up whatever symbol will be recognized by the most people - today.

Yeah, I know that this post is mostly just grousing. It points out the problem without offering a solution and that's not really productive. And, no, there is nothing new under the sun. I just wanted to get it off my chest.