Time Magazine is getting heat from some people who think they’ve gone too far by displaying a picture of a terrified 3 year old boy with dirt on his face and blood on his head that will be on the cover of a special edition of the Boston Marathon tragedy. The critics are saying: “This is what the terrorists want” or “this is blood money and exploitation.” Certainly there is some truth to these assertions and I acknowledge this, but I am for one all for showing what “really” happens in war, terror attacks, and some national tragedies “if” the publication is NOT exploitative (I guess this maybe at the crux of what’s going on at Time).

Portray reality – don’t overplay or underplay the savage brutality of terror and war. Yes, the adage ‘If it bleeds it leads’ is a fact and news publications are in the business of making money, but a free press is perhaps the most important staple of an open and transparent democracy.  I actually don’t think we show enough of the unimaginable horrors of war – especially concerning those who survive but are maimed, crippled and damaged. Phil Donahue and Bill Moyers produced a feature documentary depicting the daily struggles of a young man who served his country and was sadly victim of an explosive in which shrapnel tore through his young  body leaving him paralyzed and left to spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair. What is it like having to go to the bathroom in a colostomy bag? Or consider the ordeal of simply bathing when you can’t move and need others to help you do what every other healthy individual takes for granted. The mundane existence of what happens to damaged soldiers, physically and psychologically, is simply not shown ENOUGH ! Before we shuffle off our sons and daughters or before a young person decides to join the military on his or her own, they and we ought to know what they are getting themselves into. Not everyone makes it back in one piece and one has to think long and hard about whether or not you wish to sacrifice life and limb for this country.
I also think we have an obligation to show the public what happens when twisted – evil – monsters blow up innocent people; what is the point of sugar – coating an event when our country is attacked ? Now certainly exploitation and exhibiting carnage for the sake of bloodlust is another matter e.g. thankfully the media had the good sense not to show the bloodied bodies of the children at Newtown.

So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? Is the Time Magazine picture exploitation or not?

Written by Guest Blogger Le Duke De Fromage

While watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics and trying to figure out what was going on, I kept feeling this is just one big commercial. Yes, it was glitz, showy, and glamor but also confusing and at times very messy. Compare it to a Monty Python skit on steroids or a questionable Super Bowl half time show. The blatant selling of England, the host country, was bewildering to non-brits and probably brits alike.
[ except for Mr. Bean, a personal favorite]
The spectacle reminded me of an excellent article written by Frank Deford for Smithsonian magazine on the History of the Olympic Games. Deford,if you are not aware is one of the premiere sports writers in America. He describes the struggles of the earlier games and some of the more outrageous acts committed by promoters and athletes alike. No doubt, this 2012 opening will be included in a later book for some future writer.
Cost estimates for these games are estimated to run over 24 billion pounds.No wonder there are over fifty official sponsors for the Olympics and this does not include the T.V. money for which N.B.C. paid a fortune. As Deford outlines in his history this is a far cry from earlier games,which were run on a shoestring. However, costs escalate as do ticket prices and hosting the Olympics is no cheap venue.The opening night average ticket price was $2500.00 dollars, slightly less than a super bowl ticket seat .Average price for any basketball game is $400.00, swimming event average $700.00 that is if you can get a ticket. Some demand events have been embarrassed by blocks of empty seats held by advertisers, and V.I.P.s who just didn’t show up. Again Olympic spirit at work.
Some countries have been accused of scalping their allotment of tickets to make a few bucks, others make sure that only fat cats and select dignitaries get to attend. Most of us get to watch on the telly which considering the cost of London is the best way. Estimated viewing for opening night was forty million people in the U.S. Of course, one cannot discuss the Olympics without mentioning the contests and the judging of such. Some of the most corrupt,inept, and home country decisions have made the judging an international disgrace.They make Vegas boxing judges look honest. The International Olympic Committee has not been without its scandals either. Corruption, bribes, unaccounted dollars and a host of improper and illegal acts have haunted the Olympics for years.
That leaves the athletes, doping, illegal equipment, questionable sex gender and every other wrongdoing one can name has been leveled against the participants one time or another. To win medal is the goal at any cost. So much for the spirit of the games. Isn’t it also contrary to the Olympic creed to count medals? The thought was to compete on an amateur level with sportsmanship and friendly competition the main goal. Just like the U.S. amateur Olympic basketball team.
There is another side to all the negative,the heart warming stories of individuals who sacrifice their youth for a chance to compete. At times, they actually achieve the goal and everyone feels good.I hope they can cash in and make it pay for all their hard work and dreams.
The games have become a big spectacle with the host country trying to out due the previous one, and hopefully make a few bucks.
Whadayathink? Are the Olympics worthwhile or is it just another sham production hoping to make a few bucks and gain publicity for the host country and a select few of the world’s best athletes?

Sergeant Robert Bales consumed some alcohol and then without further ado went door  to  door and started shooting and stabbing Afghan civilians, mostly women and children; when the killing spree was over, it left 16 innocent people dead. What an alarming and sickening tragedy this is! When I first read about the story, I immediately thought of the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam in 1968 in which 2 dozen soldiers, led by Lieutenant William Calley went berserk and simply cold-heartedly slaughtered more than 500 unarmed civilians. As in the Bales incident, most of the victims were women and children.
Sgt. Robert Bales did not have fangs and breathe fire in fact he was a husband and father who had two children and by all accounts was said to be a solid citizen all around. On the front page of the New York Times there was an article on what it might be like to be married to a man in the military – detailing not just the loneliness of being separated for long stretches at a time but she also elaborated (taken from her personal blog) on the anguish Karilyn Bales felt knowing that her husband was deployed 4 times to the hot spots of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yesterday’s headline read: ‘G.I. Sapped Under Strain’. What surprised me was that Bales had been in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 – more than a decade of hell on earth. This blog is not about exonerating Sgt. Bales for his unspeakably heinous actions but here is a man whose intentions were honorable when he enlisted a week after the terrorist attacks in 2001 and a week ago he had been transformed from being a potential hero into a diabolically mentally disturbed mass murderer. There were strangers in a distant foreign land who were trying to kill him for more than 10 years; the horrors of war he witnessed and experienced I’m sure haunted him day and night. I’m personally left with a feeling of immense sadness and anger over the unthinkable disgust of it all.
I wonder what will become of Sgt. Robert Bales – will he now spend the rest of his natural life in a federal prison cell? I uncovered an article on the web in which Lieutenant William Calley was sentenced to life but he only served 3 and a half years under house arrest; hardly seems fair, does it ? So WhaDaYa Think ? What do you think ? Should we treat Bales just like any other vicious killer or should we take into account the fact that he was completely deranged after serving his country for more than a decade in the heat and stress of combat. For a moment, I feel a bit of empathy for Bales but then I see the dead bodies and all sympathy for the sergeant disappears.

Let us start where we left off – some more of Barack Obama’s accomplishments:

• Established partnerships to share environmental technology with other countries.

• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. (This is simple Keynesian economics; John Maynard Keynes is considered to be one of the greatest economic thinkers of all time. In a nutshell Keynes believed that when times are good, the free market will work and correct itself. However, when things are dire and the market is stuck, as a last resort, Keynes suggests that the only way out is to stimulate the economy by investing in markets that create job such as: infrastructure, education, health, and energy. In even simpler words, provide money for the movers and shakers who know how to turn money into more money. The stimulus plan was working and we were on our way to recovery, 3.7 million jobs were created, however we ran out of money. Now the solution is so simple – WE NEED ANOTHER STIMULUS PACKAGE ! And this is exactly what Obama is trying to do.)

• Put into law largest reform of student aid in 40 years.

• Passed Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.

• Created incentives for farmers to use more renewable energy and be more energy efficient.

• Provided tax breaks to promote public transit.

• Passed Oil Spill Recovery bill in order to remove liability CAP for oil companies.

• Barack Obama works hard unlike his predecessor, W., he has visited more countries and more world leaders than any first term president in the history of the presidency.

• Authorized Bill Clinton to secure the release of two Americans held in N. Korea.

• Made 20 billion dollars in budget cuts.

• Canceled contract for new Presidential helicopter fleet (28 helicopters, 11.2 billion dollars).

• Established Standards For Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment.

• Required large employers to contribute to a national health plan.

• Required insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.

• Prevented children from being refused health insurance coverage.

• Helped Families Save Their Homes Act, helping millions avoid foreclosure – as a result foreclosure fell by 2%.

• The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, advancing press freedom and safety for journalists.

• Awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

• Donated 250K of Nobel prize money to Fisher House.

• Signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

• Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants) after years of neglect.

• Recommitted the U.S. to a policy of “no torture” and full compliance with the Geneva Conventions.  (Barack is a class act; we are better than our enemies.)

• Initiated a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses.

• Removed restrictions and provided support for embryonic stem-cell research and new biomedical research.

• Imposed limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House.

I am tired of hearing people say that Barack Obama is a doing nothing in the White House and that he is a bad president. Are we in the midst of a horrible economy? Yes.  Is it the President’s fault? No. I have some news for you skeptics out there – The entire world is suffering economically!
For those of you who have been casting aspersions on our great president, here is a laundry list of what he has accomplished thus far:

• Ordered and successfully found and killed Osama Bin Laden. This was something the last administration tried to accomplish and failed.

• Put into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the biggest financial reform law since the Great Depression of 1929.

• Closed offshore tax safe havens and tax credit loopholes.

• Reformed deferral rules to curb tax advantages for investing overseas and additionally established new offshore investment policy that promotes in-sourcing. (W. Bush never did anything to promote in-sourcing.)

• Financial reform has strongest consumer financial protections in HISTORY.

• Appointed the first Latina to the Supreme Court.

• Appointed the first black Attorney General.

• Responsible for creating new sentencing laws for powder and crack cocaine. (Before Obama, judges would give harsher sentences for crack cocaine offenders  as opposed to powder – this was just blatant racism)

• Enforced a more thorough criminal history background check for pilots by passing the Pilot Extension Act of 2009.

• The U.S. jail population declined for the first time in decades.

• Cut prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients by 50%.

• Increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to the highest level since 1992. (If you are a republican, you hate this and if you are a democrat, you love it. I am a democrat and I think this is important; besides, if one is not short-sighted, it’s obvious that this will ultimately help the economy. Wealthy people spend a great deal of money on the arts and spending is obviously the key to stimulating the economy. I know, I know –in my last blog I said STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math, is the key to getting back on track but not everyone has the aptitude for these disciplines.)

• Obama and the Department of Treasury sold 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup at a profit.

• Negotiated a deal with Swiss banks to permit U.S. government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals.

• Put into law Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that ensures equal pay for women. (Sorry male chauvinists – women can do the same job we males can do and they ought to be compensated for it.)

• Initiated the National Export initiative, which is expected to double U.S. exports by 2015.

• The Obama administration is aware of the fact that the key to full economic recovery is building small businesses. To facilitate this the administration has made it substantially easier for small businesses to get loans, has passed the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act.