Guts
: Ken Layne said it well today:
Today is a good day for bloggers to remember that there’s nothing to blog without guys like Pearl out there writing the stories and collecting the news.
Amen to that. It takes guys with guts to get the real facts so pundits can pundit and so we all can be informed.
I don’t have guts. When I was in San Francisco working on the Examiner as an editor and then a columnist, my paper broke the Jonestown story and we lost a friend there, killed in the line of duty. Around the same time, someone I knew was killed reporting in Africa and someone else who was injured while reporting. I decided then that I did not have the guts to be a hard, true reporter; I went into fluff, becoming a columnist and a TV critic and other essentially useless things.
I always remembered that I was not a real reporter and I hold real reporters in respect.
The next time you complain about the media and make fun of the media and whine about media bias and conspiracies, remember what the media really is at the source: guys with guts asking questions it takes guts to ask, guys like Daniel Pearl.
Memorial
: Beliefnet‘s memorial to Daniel Pearl. Says one mourner:
When I was a child, I watched the news and saw these incredibly brave human beings, with a microphone in one hand and the other hand on top of their helmet, trying to whisper there report without attracting the attention of any snipers that might be lurking. My father explained to me that they were War Correspondents. I was overawed. These people who risked there lives, going out there searching for truth and bringing it back to me through my TV set as I ate dinner. I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life. Be brave enough to search out the truth, and tell the world.
Snobs to the left, please
: Ken Goldstein says what I was thinking: How ridiculous of the feds to eliminate VIP screening lines at the airport. I’m (thank God) not a frequent flier these days, so I wouldn’t benefit from them but I have to say that this should be the business of the airlines; they should be free to give extras to their best customers (as airlines do with quick lines through customs on overseas flights). How odd that the Bush administration would be so business-unfriendly. Are they trying to make us regret the federal takeover of airport security?
Blog withdrawl
: I was gone for two damned days because my damned ISP got hit with a damned denial-of-service attack and obviously didn’t know what the hell to do about it (do I sound mad?). So I was off the air for that long and I have to tell you that a forced silence is hell. Blogging is an addiction. Without it, I got grumpy. I got depressed. I lost my appetite. I was about ready to sign up for a 12-step program. But I’m back… tomorrow.
