A Tale Of Two Holidays

It's ironic..our two recent holidays.

OK, election day really isn't a "holiday"...yet, tho there are several proposals, in states and Congress, for making it one; in an attempt to encourage voting.  Sadly, too many people take a "holiday" from voting...but that ought to be considered along with other ideas to increase voting.
 
Australia voted recently, where voting is MANDATORY. It apparently works, and I would point out both Australia and the US have England and the British traditions in common.

The other holiday of course was Memorial Day, when we pay tribute to those who gave their lives that we can continue living in a free country, and so far that includes the freedom to ignore elections (and later complain about our public officials!)

Kentuckians turned out for the first holiday by 20%. We consider ourselves a patriotic people; don't we see the irony here?
 
Ironic...and pathetic.

I'm just sayin'...

Election Musings

OK, it's over, and no real surprise it will be Beshear vs Bevin this fall.
That despite a surprisingly strong challenge to the governor from Robert Goforth, and a similar one to the attorney general from Rocky Adkins. If Goforth pledged his support to Bevin, it was pretty lukewarm. Rocky made it clear that if asked, he will help and with his E. Kentucky base that could be important. So also may be the fact  that 395,000 voted in the Democratic primary, versus 259,000 in the GOP. (Statewide they are very close in registration figures.)


But, as veteran political reporter Al Cross pointed out on KET despite Bevin's very low popularity he has 3 major things going for him which could make him a potent candidate this fall: power of incumbency (true, but the last GOP incumbent, Ernie Fletcher, lost); a booming economy (even truer, remember that famous Democratic consultant's maxim.."it's the economy, stupid"), and Trump's popularity in Kentucky (also true, but the vultures are hovering over our Teflon-president and each week comes new anti-Trump revelations. How much popularity he still has in November is anybody's guess.  (And I remember as Watergate hovered over Nixon, who assured us he was not a crook, which he was, he was re-elected.)

As Cross also correctly observed, the major media, print and broadcast, did not spend as much time or talent covering this primary. What will they do this fall?
You could almost hear him saying, "Gosh I wish we had had some independent polls this Spring." Will the media author their own, again, this fall? IF so, will they be any better than in the past, where their track record is poor.Stay tuned.

And stay tuned to KET, which had far & away the most comprehensive coverage--carrying all but one major speech, victory or concession, live, and whose display of the returns was clearer and better than either 27's or 18's. Anchor Renee Shaw didn't mind letting viewers in on behind the scenes chitchat--talking on air to the control room, and telling viewers KET was staying on longer than had been scheduled, while the commercial stations went back to their entertainment schedule.

The only thing one can say that was good about the 19% voter turnout was that it was "better" than the 12.5% prediction. But 19% is shameful in our democracy, and the legislature needs to work on this. There have been a lot of suggestions (some good and some baddd; I plan a blog later on this) but  let's start with a law requiring primary candidates to state their party in all their ads! (Remember this is a PARTY primary, not a PEOPLES' election-that's in November.) To have a party election but not tell the public what party you are in is illogical, immoral and fattening, and should also be illegal. The vast majority of candidates in both major parties did NOT do so, which is truly ridiculous as ridiculous as our 19% turnout.

I'm just sayin'...

Theory & Practice

Our democracy says "no man is above the law."

In practice, it doesn't always seem to work out that way.
(Watch what happens to all in the college admissions scandal.)

Case in point: President Trump.

Since his inauguration I have counted at least a half dozen cases, little known laws, where he is, including declassifying security documents;  accepting certain gifts, etc--some things maybe small, some rather large and important.

Now comes the Mueller report.

It has become increasingly apparent that Mueller (and his team) really feel Mr. Trump DID obstruct justice---in the dozen or so verified instances they cite.  ( Over 500 current and former US prosecutors, of both parties, also think so, as they indicated in a letter to Congress.)  So why no recommendation to indict him?

Because of a long standing Justice Department policy (not a law, just a memo within the DOJ) that you can't indict a sitting president. This has never been taken to the courts to decide (as it properly should have been long before now.) Mr. Mueller has been portrayed as a strict believer in the rule of law. What a great opportunity to get a court decision on this VERY important point.

So, what is it:

A policy memo from some forgotten past DOJ lawyer

or

"No man is above the law."


I'm just sayin'...

Your Freedom...And Mine!

This past May third was World Press Freedom Day, declared  by the UN to call attention to the importance of press freedom for all of us. You probably didn't hear about it in your local news media; I didn't. Local journalists tend to ignore these things, even a lot of First Amendment stories--too busy with pickpockets in Lancaster, or celebrity divorces (which is their perfect right to report while "free.")

Some people think the First Amendment is just for reporters.  No, we may exercise that part of the amendment more than others, but we do so for you. Not just journalists practice freedom of religion, assembly, petition, etc. also you do too.


They're still killing reporters everywhere, including a young lady journalist shot "by accident" in the latest outbreak of "The Troubles" in N. Ireland.
And in Myanmar (once Burma) 2 Reuters reports were released after 7 years in jail. They were charged with possessing government documents after two policemen invited them to lunch, passed them a sealed document, and before they could even open it, were arrested. 
It sure sounds like a set-up to me, especially after the pair had been reporting on Burma's own Holocaust against a Muslim sect for which they won a Pulitzer prize. So far as I know, the police pair were never charged.

We journalists have had our share of real characters in our business. I was mentored by one of them, hired a few of them, and got to know a great Kentucky journalist through his writings. Celebrate press freedom this week by reading an account of his recent death; it's in the Wednesday, May 8th edition of the  Louisville Courier Journal, and it's a wonderful read--reminding all of us of our goal of "comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable" (rather than coming up with some new business plan for these trying days.)  Google: "Filiatreau, a former Courier Journal writer and editor, dies"


And please feel free to pass it on to friends and anyone who might enjoy it as a reminder of the importance of journalism these days---and always.

I'm just sayin'...