Stateside With Rosalea
Midweek Round-Up
***Two little silent words***
I have to confess, the President's State of the Union address was competing for my attention with a magazine article
about how high school journalism classes start training the media to be obedient puppy dogs at an early age. So you'll
forgive me for mistakenly thinking that he was on an alphabetic roll when I heard "the Netherlands" in his list of
countries that have sent troops to Iraq. Here is what happened, cut and pasted from the official transcript at the White
House website: "the Netherlands -- (applause) -- Norway". While Congress was applauding Dutch courage did the
teleprompter whizz on by?
***What, me surprised?***
Hands up everyone out there in the rest of the world who was surprised by the winner of the Iowa caucuses being someone
who is supported by the Kennedy family. No, I didn't think anyone was. Is the mainstream media here so far up its own
fundament it's reading chicken intestines? No, again. Politics is just another form of entertainment, and the News Guys
are always trying to find ways to make it as entertaining as the Sports Guys' stuff, like football's Superbowl this
coming weekend.
And no doubt the folks in Iowa have an eye on their coffers being replenished every four years by the thousands of media
and political supporters who flock there. Batting their collective eyelids, they pretend they haven't made up their mind
until the last minute, just to keep the suitors coming back for more. Kerry led in the polls the day before the
election; Edwards was endorsed by the most influential paper in the state. What's with the "surprise victory" Reuters
and other news agencies say occurred?
***Meanwhile, back in the Bay***
The new mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, seems to have had a rush of men-, I mean blood to the head. In quick
succession he has appointed a woman to head the fire department, to be acting head of the police department, and to fill
his empty spot on the Board of Supervisors.
This last appointment is typical of how politics works in the US. Remember when he was running for mayor and one of his
opponents bowed out and threw her support to him, thus disenfranchising those absentee voters who had already voted for
her? Well, her niece is the person he appointed as a supe. By golly, she's in a wheelchair too, having become disabled
after a skiing accident. I'm not sure where lifestyle disablement comes in the pecking order of disability rights but
the media say she is an activist in that field.
ENDS