Monday, June 29, 2009

But wait, there's more!

A former parishioner, now gone to North Dakota, writes on Facebook:

...is frustrated with the U.S. news. 15 seconds on the military coup in Honduras...23 hours a day for the last 4 days on Michael Jackson.

(first I even heard about the coup, btw)

And one of his friends responds,

There was a coup? All I heard was that Billy Mayes died on the news this am!

Freedom of the press is in our Bill of Rights as a significant protection against government intrusion in our lives. The press is there to let us know what the government is doing.

But we've traded our interest in being free for an interest in being entertained. Were Marx around today, I wonder if he might change his view and say, "Journalism is the opiate of the masses" (and he was, after all, a journalist who would recognize the current dumbing down of that profession).

2 comments:

plsdeacon said...

It seems, that with post titles at least, great minds think alike.

But Wait! There's More!

YBIC,
Phil Snyder

Alice C. Linsley said...

Kendall Harmon has a link with comments on the legal action of the Honduran military to remove Zelaya after he attempted to keep himself in office beyond the permitted one term.

The Constitution of Honduras allows for one term in office only. It also states that any elected official who tries to overthrow this law can be removed from office and cannot serve in public office for at least 10 years. In removing Zelaya, the military acted to preserve constitution law.

Article 239 of their Constitution states: The citizen that has discharged the office of the Executive Branch will not again be able to be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in the function of their respective duties and will remain unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.