You can read about it here, The Daily Times of Pakistan: ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday against recent legislation allowing one-dish meals at weddings, with the contention that the law had reopened the door to wasteful expenses and weddings had become a financial burden for most people…
A few weeks ago I ate dinner with friends. One of the friends mentioned that, a few weeks earlier, he had attended a party in an upscale neighborhood. At that party, one of the guests announced that she had brought her own bottle of wine because the host’s expensive wine wasn’t good enough. From my end of the table, I blurted out that it is not necessary to have expensive wine to have a meaningful gathering with friends or family. In fact, I added, “wine is not necessary at all.” I was about to elaborate when I noticed that the other adults at the table were staring at me like I had three eyes. “That’s not correct,” they told me, almost in unison. I know that “look” well. I have received that same “look” from various people on other occasions. On one occasion I got “the look” from someone who was trying to justify that an ordinary car wasn’t sufficient, so he needed to buy a BMW. Another person who gave me “the look” was trying to convince me that her $75,000 kitchen remodeling was “necessary,” even though all of the appliances in her existing kitchen functioned perfectly. The problem with her current kitchen was that it was “old.” I have also received that same look from fundamentalists when I explain that the earth is billions of years old. The “look” is a “we-will-pretend-you-didn’t-say-that” look. It shouldn’t surprise me to draw the same “look” from both consumers and Believers, given that wasteful and pretentious spending is the de facto national religion of the United States. We’ve moralized extravagant spending to such an extent that “living the good life” means buying lots of things we don’t really need.
Because I’ve taken the time to read my local newspaper today, I am well-informed. I now know that everybody at the South St. Louis County Dierberg’s grocery store is excited that the winning Powerball ticket was sold right there.
But that’s not all.
Under “Top News,” I can read that the St. Louis Cardinals probably will not be signing a pitcher who was with them last year.
But there’s more: From a local trial, we now know how a St. Louis area man allegedly broke his girlfriend’s neck. And there’s even more news: The colorful banner at the top of the front page reminds me to get ready for this week’s Auto Show at the downtown convention center. Don’t forget the teaser at the bottom right: Buy Sunday’s paper and you can read an article about beer and the Bible.
All of this important information on a single front page! Can you believe that they make their reporters spend years at journalism schools in order to write things like this?
If I were a journalist who worked for this newspaper, this front page would embarrass me. I would keep it a secret that I worked for this paper.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch is not a locally-owned newspaper. It is owned by Lee Enterprises. If you visit the website homepage of Lee Enterprises, you will see lots of web headlines about growing the revenue, increasing the circulation and controlling the costs. You will not see the word “journalism.” …
At his recent State of the Union address, President Bush pointed out a modern American hero:
After her daughter was born, Julie Aigner-Clark searched for ways to share her love of music and art with her child. So she borrowed some equipment, and began filming children’s videos in her basement. The Baby Einstein Company was born — and in just five years her business grew to more than $20 million in sales. In November 2001, Julie sold Baby Einstein to the Walt Disney Company, and with her help Baby Einstein has grown into a $200 million business. Julie represents the great enterprising spirit of America.
What does Baby Einstein sell? An “entire line of playful and interactive DVDs, videos, books, music CDs, and toys.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that products this good will turn millions of babies into . . . well, pooping drooling little Einsteins. Once we harness all of the nation’s cognito-baby-power, solving of the Grand Unification Theory can’t possibly be far behind, I tell you! In fact, whenever a few of those Baby Einstein babies are together in a playpen, you’d better not stray too far away, for those moments when they collaborate and start chanting solutions to Fermat’s Theorums.
It was good to see President Bush getting solidly behind a serious educational initiative like Baby Einstein.
Or has Bush shot crookedly again? It turns out that Baby Einstein excels at convincing you to entrust your baby to the boob tube. …
How often have you heard this phrase: “powerful members of Congress.” It gets under my skin. It sometimes makes me seethe. I saw it on the front page of yesterday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch dealing with the President’s State of the Union address:
The prospects: Democrats in Congress have proposed raising the requirement to 60 billion gallons of 2030. Some experts say big reductions in gas usage won’t happen unless Bush orders much higher fuel economy standards, which powerful members of Congress would resist.
[By the way, I’m not trying to single out the Post-Dispatch. This is just an illustrtion. Almost every media publisher across America also uses this phrase]
So there it is. Some members of Congress are more “powerful” than others. What does that mean? Does it mean that they go to the gym more often so that they have big muscles? Or does it mean something more sinister? And if it’s a sinister thing, why is it so nonchalantly placed on the front page of the newspaper as though it’s not a scandalous thing?
There’s nothing in the Constitution that would give any clue to the mania of “powerful member of Congress.” To the extent that belonging to a particular political party makes one “powerful,” the Constitution is totally silent about political parties. The “power” of Congress should not be determined by reference to who belongs to what club. When it comes down to voting on issues, each member of Congress has the same number of …