And then I wrote...
by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"
... that if my name doesn’t appear on the obituary page of this edition, it will mean that I was able to note my 83rd birthday this week.
I note that only because it might give me an excuse for being an old curmudgeon, sort of like what Andy Rooney used to do on his short TV spot weekly.
For example, I often wonder “why is it” that all the bananas on display at the markets are too ripe or too green.
Or why television stations all start their newscasts at 6 p.m.
Or why commercials are all shown at the same time each hour. If you try to skip a commercial spot by selecting another channel, odds are you will find a commercial there as well!
This all came to a head one recent Saturday morning. Most radio stations have lawn and garden shows starting at 8 a.m., summer or winter.
One public radio station does not, and I would want to listen to that station. Except what I get there is my weekly shot of anti-Trump venom and an IV drip of progressive pap!
In fact, I am sick and tired of all the political stuff leading every radio or television newscast. I don’t recall it being that way four years ago, or eight years ago, or a dozen years ago. And there is really nothing different except for the emphasis.
After leaving the Navy, I really wanted to work for the United States Information Agency, figuring it would give me an opportunity to use my radio news degree and also to travel, I spent most of two years trying, including an interview in St. Paul, a written day-long test at the University of Minnesota, a psychological interview at Mayo Clinic and a physical at the veteran’s hospital in Madison. I flunked that last test.
The USIA broadcast American “propaganda” into several nations, trying to guide the politics of those nations. So Russia’s effort in America’s election did not surprise me nor strike me as unexpected. And it now appears both the current and the previous administrations reacted badly to the fact.
Something may come along to drive that topic out of the lead.
This morning, the United States Supreme Court unanimously voted to let the administration’s 90-day travel pause from selected Middle East nations to go into effect. And the court also ruled that a religious institution had been unfairly deprived of funds it merited simply because of religion.
As I write this, there is a rumor that another Supreme Court judge might be retiring. That would give the current president the opportunity to name his second judge.
That may be more important than anything else currently going on in this country!
