Home » Nooze (Page 25)

Category Archives: Nooze

Journalism and other myths.

Crazy Gets Real?

Posted on by | 6 Comments

There’s no doubt that we live in a crazy world where just about anything can happen. If only that could be put to a good use.

Perhaps the most festering sore in this feverish world is North Korea. The population is isolated and starving, living in constant fear. That alone is reason enough to do something, but the recent increase in belligerence and danger posed by nuclear weapons makes it imperative that something be done. The Trump administration does have a point.

We can’t do much about it, however, as that would not go well. But China can. In fact, it’s as much in China’s interest that this problem be solved as anyone. So why not at least propose a deal to make it happen?

Continue reading →

Ten Years On

Posted on by | 10 Comments

It was a dark and stormy night …

Ten years ago, I started Barataria with that perfectly awful line. It was indeed a cold, dark evening in April filled with a sense of anxiety. Where has all this gone in ten years? You be the judge.

Continue reading →

A New Low

Posted on by | 4 Comments

The Senate has changed the way democracy operates in the United States. Consensus, established by the Founding Fathers as a requirement for a free and united people, has been replaced by majority rule. The traditions which made this one of many have been gradually decaying, so the vote is essentially a formality in many ways.

It is also a fitting way to mark the end of the American Century.

As we celebrate a decade of Barataria, two trends stand out. The first is the three years down followed by seven years up for the economy, a slow transformational recovery which still leaves far too many behind. The second trend is the one which truly made the other one painful, a decade long descent into disunity, indecency, and idiocy.

Continue reading →

Syria Degenerates

Posted on by | 3 Comments

The US has turned inward. The nooze has become a high-caloried stream of confectionary nonsense from Washingtoon, spiced up with genuine budgetary horrors. The diversions keep coming, keeping everyone’s attention away from the real stories – possible treason and a lot of incompetence.

Meanwhile, Syria has become significantly more dangerous. In the very near future it’s reasonable that the situation will demand genuine leadership and careful negotiation. Given that this is nearly impossible, based on the narcissistic machismo which substitutes for leadership on nearly all sides, the potential for something even more horrible is rising daily.

But it’s hardly being reported at all.

Continue reading →

Fake? Maybe. Fattening, Yes.

Posted on by | Leave a comment

As a decade of Barataria approaches, the stories from 10 years ago have a strange relevance.  This piece is dated for two reasons – there are still local newspapers of interest and there is yet to be a staggering facebook phenom.  But the principle is the same.  It’s not that the news is fake as much as it is largely irrelevant.  It might as well be fake.  The devolution over the last decade is staggering – yet it could have been predicted.  I didn’t.  But the point still stands.

How many times have we read the really big story on the front of the newspaper with great interest? How often have we talked about it with our friends and colleagues the next day?

Continue reading →