Stateside With Rosalea: Two Little Silent Words

***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?

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?

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

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