Back from hibernation--Reflections on the holiday--Random thoughts!

Sorry I have been in hibernation, but I just needed to spend time with my wife, check out some medical things and enjoy the holidays. The following is simply a set of random ramblings with no particular ending, and a built-in invitation to respond or not.

First of all, I am still planning on blogging, though admittedly I am not very good at it. I know I lack the wit and insight of many of you, but I will make an effort to comment on the passing parade and ultimate circus.

On the "bailout mentality" now being debated in the country, I wonder what it does in continuing the idea that individual independence, free enterprise, and capitalism lie somewhere at the core of our country's success. What entities and institutions in our country are so important and intertwined with our system that they should be bailed out by we the taxpayers, and our irresponsible and generally dishonest representatives called the Congress, and government in general.

Let's see, so far we have bailed out financial institutions, now part of the car industry, and what next? Who else is so important they cannot fail? Retailers are starting to make some noise, but I was more intrigued by one of the great ironies I read the other day that I would share with you here.

Seems there is a problem with newspapers in this country; they're losing a ton of money, and they owe great debts. Bristol , Connecticut , incidentally the home of ESPN, is one of those cities trying to keep two newspapers going. It also seems Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro sees saving the local newspaper as his duty. But others think he and his colleagues are setting a worrisome precedent for government involvement in the U.S. press.

Nicastro represents Connecticut's 79th assembly district, which includes Bristol, a city of about 61,000 people outside Hartford, the state capital. Its paper, The Bristol Press, may fold within days, along with The Herald in nearby New Britain.

That is because publisher Journal Register, in danger of being crushed under hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, says it cannot afford to keep them open anymore. Can the New York Times and The Chicago Tribune be far behind?

Nicastro and fellow legislators want the papers to survive, and petitioned the state government to do something about it. "The media is a vitally important part of America," he said, particularly local papers that cover news ignored by big papers and television and radio stations.

Here's the rub; freedom and the press to be separate from government and to be the watchdog on the government for the people. The ultimate irony, huh? The very group that needs to be vigilant in searching for truth on our behalf now needs money from the very group they oversee to keep doing their job. So how vigilant will they remain, and how investigative will they be in their reporting when it turns out to be the literary equivalent of biting the hand that feeds it? It is an amazing irony to me, and I am sure to many.

I guess the scariest part, if it would happen is that again it takes from the individual and bestows yet more power on a group of representatives who confiscate the individuals money to do it. Who wants to get off that merry-go-round first?

So, maybe sometime soon, we'll have the American version of Pravda, or maybe we will let failing businesses fail, and use good old American ingenuity to find a way to re-invent the newspaper industry.

Seems there is a

Source: Robert MacMillan, "Tax breaks (not bailouts) for newspapers"

Link to his blog at Reuters.