Four Not So Random Observations

Most of what I write here is condensed and focused. I proof the articles several times and have my administrative assistant go over them as well. I try to to pick a single topic each week and write something helpful or at least funny. But occasionally I blog the way that most everyone else seems. Today is one of those days.

The firing of Juan Williams from NPR. This was pretty gross. I tend to appreciate NPR so I felt for both parties. On the one hand, I completely disagree with the decision but I suspected (or at least hoped there would be more behind it). We knew that this would become news, right? Especially, very bad news for one of the more grounded sources out there... Certainly Williams comment about anxiety was not something he should have lost his job over. NPR then responded by claiming that he was fired because there was too much opinion in his work. Fox has since offered him a multimillion dollar contract to occasionally appear as a guest journalist. Two thoughts here. First, this man is going to be rich and it seems to me that wealth is a curious bi-product for being a reporter. Second, NPR has never seen so much external publicity. This is an organization that funds programming much the way we do at Saint Francis. A week ago, you could have typed in NPR in any search engine and the only hits you would have gotten would have been directly to stories that they have covered. Now everyone is talking about NPR. What does this mean? Is this a real story or do the sharks celebrate any kind of blood in the water, even when it's their own?

Wikileaks. Is this a trend? Someone seems to be up in arms about the suggestion that there have been suspicious reports about the War in Iraq coming out of Washington. Hmmm. Imagine that. The fact is there have been websites tracking the true cost of the Iraq War for years. As far back as 2008, some sites placed the death toll between anywhere between 100,000 and over a million. Will the Wikileak phenomenon mean that we will have more access to truth? Will it mean that we are more willing to believe it?

Speaking of leaks... Last night I saw the preview for a film called, "Fair Game." It appears that the film actually tells the story about what happened to Valerie Plame and her family. For folks who are sort of into that whole what's really going on around here thing, this might be something to look into. If there is any merit to the increasingly public version of what took place in there, then it seems safe to say that we are living in some disturbing times. Of course, if it's any consolation to Valerie, she now probably has access to the same country clubs that Juan Williams will soon be joining... Spoiler Alert: Sean Penn is in this film.

BofA, Foreclosers, and the new (again) worries over bad loans... Really? Didn't we just suffer through this? I am just a simple man so banking itself is completely confusing to me... But two quick thoughts. First, what exactly is it that now runs our world because it sure can't be people? We have folks who need a place to live and we have institutions that want to make money through the transactions. But don't these folks sort of need each other? How can a ceaseless march to reclaim every possible asset possibly serve the long-term good of either party? What's the value if the bank sells the same property to every possible family? Second, what will happen this time? Did we not just sell the country because the experts threatened us with financial meltdown? So what now? Are we going to do it again? Are those who have so long heralded the blessings of the system finally ready to embrace it's wrath? Isn't this the system that loves to talk about winners and losers?