"One of the things we really ought to be talking about is the real problem we're going to have in this country real soon -- a weak news media that does not have the resources to investigate stories and hold governments and corporations accountable.

"I know we are all (rightly) concerned about paying our bills, but if I were a politician or CEO I'd be jumping for joy right now. Fewer reporters making fewer inquiries into what I do. And since all these lost reporting and editing jobs are not shifting to other media (like the Web), we're headed for the first age in America (in a long time) to feature such a weak media.

"And please don't tell me that Blogger Susie Q is going to do a quality job of reporting, or that crowd sourcing will pick up the slack. I read a bunch of local bloggers who cover the county I live in, and without exception their content is c-r-a-p. It is poorly written, devoid of context, alarmingly incomplete and rife with their own opinions. This is the real tragedy of this mess: An America that's more primed than ever to be without one of its most important institutions."

Until we start "smartin' UP" our kids in Public Schools instead of "dummin' 'em DOWN" we're not going to see a change. We're at the very bottom of the world's education system and not getting any better.

We've put so many PC rules on our teachers that they can't teach any more - they're glorified "babysitters" and our kids have been suffering for years. They graduate from school being able to read comic books if they're lucky - is it a wonder that THEY don't CARE about the news?

Until the education system in this country is FIXED, the news media will never be held accountable and they'll just go on "entertaining" us and we'll keep on buying whatever their sponsors keep peddling cause we've been dumbed down to the point of being that lazy and apathetic.

WE THE PEOPLE don't deserve the truth - we don't demand it.

Hugs BD