Friday, March 27, 2015

Reading the news

I admit it--I'm a news junkie. When I was young, our entire household fell into a hushed silence when the evening news came on. Who was it in those days? Huntley and Brinkley? At any rate, no one spoke, and certainly not to my father who listened to every word intently. I guess we absorb those things.
Today I read our daily newspaper, which grows slimmer by the day. Thanks for all the suggestions that I take The New York Times but that's not the news I want--I want Texas and Fort Worth. I watch the TODAY show, though often with one eye. But still I try to pay attention particularly to the news portions that open most segments. On weekends I enjoy sleeping late but then am distressed that I slept through the major news of the day.
Facebook is often the first place I hear of things--like yesterday's collapse of a bridge on I-35 at Salado. I know FB isn't always reliable--Love that quote from Lincoln (tongue in cheek) about not believing everything you read on FB, but they do seem to have major news quickly.
Today, as usual unless it's a really slow day, there's much to ponder. I am relieved for Amanda Knox, finally cleared of all charges in the 2007 death of her roommate. I read a comment who said the roommate has been all but forgotten in this tragedy, and I agree--I grieve for her parents. But I never thought Amanda Knox was guilty, and she's been through a horrific ordeal. I wonder how much of a normal life she can lead now, but I hope she will go forward. And a bit of me hopes she won't succumb to the many book deals that must being pitched her way.
The story of the German Airbus that went down in the Alps will haunt us all--how could a man willingly take all those people, many of them youngsters, to death with him. It's one thing, a very sad thing, to take your own life, but to take so many others with you? The news media is playing the story for all its worth without really adding new material. A tragic indicator of our times.
I'm enough of a Midwesterner (Illinois) to be horrified by Indiana's new law essentially sanctioning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, race, religion, whatever--don't like someone? You don't have to serve them. What a hateful world we're living in.
Which reminds me of the woman legislator (I forget what state) who talked against a proposed anti-abortion bill by revealing that she had been raped, impregnated, and had an abortion. And her male colleagues laughed. Once again, I wonder what this country has come to.
Some of the news is so far out that, tragic as it is, it makes you laugh--the Arizona legislator who thinks church attendance should be mandatory. One wonders if she has any familiarity with the Constitution. And somewhere there's a legislator who thinks gays and lesbians should be summarily shot in the head. Appalling doesn't begin to cover the enormity of that kind of thinking.
I'm going to start watch for good-times news in the media--will report back. If there is any.

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