Too good not to share with you

http://ashleydking.blogspot.com/2009/12/flight-line-and-teardrops-originally.html

Tiger Woods and the “Fourth Estate”

Thomas Carlyle, a famous English historian popularized the phrase “the fourth estate“ about 150 years ago. The phrase is used in reference to the media. Of course in his day the media consisted only of newspapers. The first 3 estates were represented in Parliament by the King, the House of Lords (upper house), and the House of Commons (lower house). Although the first three estates were very powerful, they were by far eclipsed in power by the “fourth estate.”

Is there any doubt that the same is true today? When the press is fixated on good things, good things just might happen. When they are fixated on the negative, bad things always happen.

Of course we understand why they are usually fixated on the negative. It’s because “good news is not good news.” I can come up with many examples of this premise in action. And I will. That’s much too easy a challenge. Can’t we all come up with the names of celebrities and politicians who’s careers have been ruined due to the relentless “investigative journalism” of the media for transgressions that are incredibly common place today? And doesn’t the transgression usually involve some type of marital infidelity. And doesn’t the media usually pay somebody well for admitting they were involved in the marital infidelity? Or to be more to the point…doesn’t the media pay somebody well to admit that they are a home wrecking whore?

Okay, after yesterday’s revelations this subject is getting beaten to death. As is Tiger Woods in effigy. I started this tirade as simply a comment on my daughter’s blog. But the more I thought about it the more I realized I had much to say about the subject. This is going to be a long one! So either sit back and relax and read it, or exit. No difference to me because I’m just venting! My daughter titled her blog entry “Are you REALLY that surprised?”

To me the subject isn’t Tiger Woods at all! The subject is the news media!

Cheating on your spouse is wrong, that’s a given. People do it everyday, that’s also a given. It was bad, it was dishonest, and it totally sucks. Even an atheist would agree with that.

What amazes me the most is what the news media does when there is no "new" major stories to report. They resort to GOSSIP! Isn’t there enough gossip on television already? Aren’t there enough shows like TMZ, Extra, and a dozen others to cover this subject? The answer is yes, of course. But if you’ve listened to the news the last couple of days, on the radio or TV, the ONLY subject being discussed in depth relates to Tiger Woods. That is also true on sports talk stations. Seriously, does this story have anything to do with sports? The Tiger Woods story probably even prevented us from seeing the daily “high speed police pursuit!” I bet a lot of people are pissed!

And don’t give me that crap about role models. Generally speaking sports stars, politicians, celebrities, and many televangelists are the worst role models of all. Money, fame, and power are apparently things most people can’t handle.

There’s a small section of the LA Times called “Jurisprudence” that reports the arrests and legal problems of pro and college athletes. It’s amazing! Especially in the NFL and college. Now don’t go racial on me here. That’s not what it’s about! These morons come from all backgrounds.

Seriously? Why does a professional athlete need to go into a public nightclub and get drunk? And why does he have to carry a gun with him? Why does he have to carry drugs and/or guns in his car? Why does he have to drive his mega-expensive sports car or SUV at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour on public roads and highways? This isn’t the friggin autobahn!

And why oh why don't these no common-sense spoiled brat idiots have the self control not to have their heads turned by a trollop serving them food or drinks in a restaurant or bar? And why don’t they know by now that the odds of this trollop trying to parlay their “affair” into money or 15 minutes of fame are extremely high?

More? Why do actors of both sexes seem to have to marry every co-star of the opposite sex they work with? Aren’t they embarrassed? And don’t they realize that they too will be dumped or cheated on after the next movie? Album? Sports contract? Election? Etc?

The major subject on every newscast, every night, has got to be the war and the economy. We are spending BILLIONS of dollars that we don’t have on the war, and it’s sinking us. Did you know we are rapidly approaching a TRILLION dollars spent in Iraq and Afghanistan? Go ahead and blame the housing market if you want, but please realize that a trillion dollars is a thousand billions…Can you really even wrap your mind around that number?

I’m not saying where I stand on the war (I will if you want me to), but I know a lot of people don’t have a pot to piss in domestically, and social security is about to go belly up, but we seem to have enough to spend elsewhere. What the?

Do you know how much of our gross national product we spend on foreign aid and UN related projects?  Did you know that 70% of the government's incoming tax revenues are already spent before they can decide what to do with it?  Did you know we've spent a trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan?  Did you know that civilian US contractors have made billions in Iraq?

But rather than report the reality of our world. The ”fourth estate” resorts to Gossip because it gets higher ratings!

Okay now that I have that out of the way: 
Do you think Tiger’s injuries were caused by the wreck or by his wife trying to beat the hell out of him with a golf club?  I've got to know!

If nothing I've said in the first 90 percent of this entry convinces you of the power of the media, the statement I just made should…

Okay, I know I got way off of my original train of thought here but I sure feel better!

Welcome aboard

If you've just arrived here in my little corner of the world, my last entry might not make too much sense unless you go back and read the prior entries relating to my time in USMC boot camp.

The easiest way to get to them is to look on the right side of this page and scroll down to the part called "Labels."  There are several blog "subjects" listed there.  To get to the 15 "USMC boot camp" entries just click on that category and read them in order starting with USMC Boot Camp 1 “False Bravado”

I also hope I didn't offend any dog owners in the last grouping.  I apologize if I did.  I've owned dogs and I don't hate them. 

I just don't trust them...

Multiple Dogs

At risk of raising the ire of both friends and relatives...

a) Why in the world would you have a dog in an apartment?
b) Or any place without a yard for that matter?
c) Why would you have more than one dog in a house?
d) Or two, or three, or four, or more dogs anywhere but on a farm?

These are smart people, why can’t they see that? My next door neighbors are amazingly exempt from this complaint. They own 5 dogs and they are pretty darn quiet.

Of course many dog owners are perfectly capable and stable enough to handle the task, but we all know many who are not.

Seriously, Yuck!

Don’t people know that if they have dogs their house smells like it?

Don’t they know if they have more than one dog using their backyard as a bathroom, that their neighbors can smell it?

And how do they then let their children play on that same lawn or patio that is saturated with dog urine and feces?

Many dog owners have a poor sense of smell and are probably septic…

Old Man's Skin

One of the absolute worse things about getting old, is what it does to your skin. I remember when I was young I'd see old folks with scabs, bruises, and purple marks on their skin, especially their arms and hands. I apologize, but I thought it was kind of creepy. Now I'm one of them! Seriously, I think if somebody gave my arm a good whack with a feather, it would do some damage. It's embarrassing and very frustrating. To top it off, there isn't a whole hell of a lot a person can do about it. Today I scraped my arm pretty hard on our shower door jamb. It is neither sharp nor stiff, but scraped the skin right off my arm anyway. I couldn't believe it! It was too big to just put a Band-Aid on. I had to bandage the darn thing. So in a day or so I'll have a scab (or scabs), in a month or so the bruising will finally go away. And then I'll be left with a scar. I should say another scar.

It’s now several hours later… I took a look under the bandage and it looks like hell. Big gouge, crispy dark colored edges, and bruising. It’s not the kind of bruise you get when something hits you hard. It’s the kind caused by blood seeping under the outside layers of your skin. I’m so pissed…

When you let your kids go swimming, or to the beach, or just out playing in the sun, and you let them do it without sunscreen…this is what you are setting them up for…

First Post

I have a lot to say and much of it isn't exactly current. If you know me you've heard some of these stories, but nobody has heard all of them. I can't seem to put them all in a single document, or even remember them all at the same time, so I've decided this may be the only way to go about it. I apologize in advance if the content offends anyone...

If you find some interest in this stuff, or we share some common ground, feel free to tag along. Also, feel free to comment, criticize, or tell me I'm crazy. That is not a problem. Despite what I'll be saying, please understand that I'm very happy and content now. In fact, I'm so very happily married that I can't believe my good fortune. Of course I'm making an assumption that anybody will even read this after I start. But then again, it's really for me. So even if nobody reads it, I'll be happy that it's somewhere other than in my head.

Many of the coming entry dates may not be related to the "date" at all. They may in fact be very old. In my opinion, I had the good fortune of being born at what may not be the right time, but was certainly an interesting time. I may not have been born into the right family, but I wouldn't have experienced all that I did, if I'd been born elsewhere.

As I'm sitting here typing this I can already see that I'm going to have to intermingle a lot of current thoughts, with those of the past. Soon the rambling will begin. There will be some history, poems, song lyrics, and general drivel. No telling what will show up here.