Current events

I've mention here a time or two, in reaction to stories about the "death of print" or the "end of newspapers" that the problem is much, much deeper. What we are actually seeing is the demise of the whole mass-marketing phenomenon in which news can ride on the back of advertising. That end is almost upon us:

Not here, of course. We're all just good buddies, right? But elsewhere in our life, we could do with a little more formality:

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Sheep . . .

Yikes!

Americans are spending more than ever on their pets. The tally for 2014 is an estimated $58.5 billion, according to the American Pet Products Association. After food, the biggest amount—$15.2 billion—went to veterinary care. With MRIs, sonograms, and chemotherapy all on the treatment menu, the health costs for many pets can top what well-insured humans pay for their own health care.

Hey, we haven't screwed with the vets enough yet. Let's pile on some more abuse:

New federal rules that make it harder to get narcotic painkillers are taking an unexpected toll on thousands of veterans who depend on these prescription drugs to treat a wide variety of ailments, such as missing limbs and post-traumatic stress.

No, they're not coming after your guns, but they'll be useless so it doesn't really matter:

"The CBS Morning News" today had a tribute to Bob Simon, the CBS foreign reporter and longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent, who did Wednesday night in a car accident in New York City. It featured news clips from his long career, and it was impossible not to appreciate how fearless he was in pursuit of a story. He had reported from just about every war zone there was, starting with Vietnam and including Iraq, where he was captured and tortured for 40 days:

In a moment of weakness or temporary insanity yesterday, I found myself watching "Reliable Sources" on CNN (I know, I know, what the hell was I thinking?) and discovered a panel of news "experts" talking about the Lyin' Brian scandal. (It is a measure of their cluelessness that, three-quarters of the way into a show devotedy exclusively to the Brian Williams sagay, one of them wondered how such trivial stories become such hot topics today.) To a person, the panel members espoused some version of this theory: We should be careful not to judge him hastily.

Sometimes the lameness of an apology tells us more about someone's character than the transgression being apologized for does:

WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.

Every teenager should be required to work a grubby job:

I believe internships and travel are enriching and can help young people build their visions of the world and place in it, and my children have experienced both. But they aren’t a substitute for a grubby job with an unreasonable boss and an inflexible schedule. This too is part of the real world. Nobody wants to hire an attorney or brain surgeon and find out their case is his first real job.