(how my faith in the Media was restored) 

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Okay, so I’m a little ashamed to admit this.  But for a while there I
was beginning to think the major media in this country was not being so
fair and balanced.  I’m referring to their reporting of our new
American reality TV show called The Presidential Primaries.Most specifically, I’m thinking about the inability of their newscasters to pronounce the name Ron Paul.  That seems simple enough.  It’s just two, one-syllable words.  Rawn
Pawl, phonetically speaking.  And you would think these giants of
journalism would have no problem saying something as simple as that.But that’s just my opinion, so I did some field research to test it.
While visiting my neighbors the other day, I asked their two year old
daughter Margaret to say Ron Paul.  Here’s a record of that boots on the
ground field research.

J. Daniel:  Can you say Ron Paul?

Margaret: Wan Paw

Case closed – even a two year old can pronounce his name.

For those of you who don’t know who Ron Paul is, he’s one of the
contenders for President in the Republican Party.   And he’s appeared on
national TV every debate night along with all the other Presidential
hopefuls like Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and hmmmm … I forget the
other ones – oops.

Love him, hate him, or don’t know who he is, he darn near took first
place back in August in the Iowa straw poll, coming in second, just
barely behind flavor of the week Michele Bachmann, who took first place,
and ahead of Mitt Romney, Newt, Rick Perry, etc.

You would have thought the media would be all over that – after all,
it was a pretty big surprise.  But no, all they reported on was Michele,
and Newt and Rick and Mitt.  But no Ron Paul.  And their reporting has
been pretty sparse ever since then.

Huh?  How about the guy that almost beat number one Michele Bachmann -
missed by a nose – Ron Paul?  Not a word.  Not a peep.  Like down at
the racetrack, if the announcer called out the names of the horses who
won first … third and fourth (not that I play the ponies, mind you …
ahem).  Whatever happened to win, place and show?  It’s been like the
major newscasters couldn’t pronounce his name.

Which struck me as a bit odd.  After all, they have no problem
pronouncing names like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدینژاد,
Mahmūd Ahmadinezhād [mæhˈmuːd(-e) æhmædiːneˈʒɒːd] English:
/ɑːkməˈdɪnɨʒɒd/.  You know, that prince of a fellow and Islamic
President of Iran.

So for a while there, I began to have negative media thoughts, like …
well, maybe they weren’t so fair and balanced, or maybe they were
pushing their favorites, and even maybe they were trying to pick – or
anoint – the winner – instead of that silly old boring stuff like just
reporting the news and letting us decide.

I know, I know … rather cynical of me to think that way.

Okay – so that’s all old news.  But here’s where it gets interesting,
because this is a story of redemption, of how my faith in the media was
restored.

It eventually occurred to me that … (click for more Wan Paw)

“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.”

“Merry Christmas, Nearly Everybody!”

“Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.”

Richard Lamm