Am I wasting my time?

By Dan Barber

I just misspent another week wasting my life reading news articles about people killing other people while our President vacationed at Martha’s Vineyard. I watched televised images of a smiling Obama on the golf course while parents were mourning the death of their children.

There are much more enjoyable things to do then read 

about politics and politicians... there is always star gazing.

I just read an article written by “alleged” Associated Press journalists about how Obama deserves his vacations because he is such a hard worker, and he can still perform the duties of his office during a vacation or game of golf… even going so far as to compare the number of vacation days spent away from the White House with past Presidents.

They also pointed out that President Eisenhower, a Republican, played 800 rounds of golf during his presidency as compared to Obama’s mere 200 rounds of golf to date. To give those AP journalists credit, they did mention that George W. Bush stopped playing golf when there was in increase in the number casualties of Americans fighting in Iraq.

They also failed to mention that President Eisenhower had a much more vast background in management. He was responsible in managing America’s victory in Europe during World War II. To a lesser degree they failed to mention Bush’s background in business and state level executive elected office as governor of Texas before running for President. Obama’s background as a union/community organizer, Chicago politician and mostly absent state senator from Illinois for one incomplete term can’t compare to the qualifications to any U.S. President, democrat or republican in history. But it does explain his ability to conduct work with union/political cronies on a golf course

The most danger we face as a nation is not from inept politicians but from the death of objectivity and ethics in our country’s media. The real business of the news media is not honest journalism the real business is selling advertising space or time. Advertising rates are set by the number of readers, viewers or listeners. Sensationalism draws in the audience and because of that it takes me many hours of reading and watching news reports to try to get to the true story, or root cause of an action that caused interest in the news story in the first place.

My judgment of what is true or bull stool is based on my educational background as a military journalist, common sense, and our country’s history. When I was in school the most serious sin to commit was an “error in fact” which could have caused a failing grade… spinning, or twisting a fact in one of my military journalism classes was grounds for automatic dismissal from the school.

Our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. But, with this freedom comes great responsibility to be honest. Unfortunately the reports that I have seen from news organizations today indicates that honest news reports are dishonestly biased.

To be honest, I lean to conservatism… I want people to possess personal responsibility don’t just take my word for it.