Well, this brings up something of a hot topic for me. It's rather strongly stated and I'd be more than happy to discuss the issue and my views here or sideline - preferably sideline on aspects that not metro specific.
I believe that one of the biggest problems facing society (this is broader than the city, but I'll bring it back home) is how many lies, deceptions, and distortions of truth are allowed to go unchallenged and unpunished. There are more immediate and obvious problems in our city and world, but in many cases, I believe a large factor contributing to these issues is the lack of information and the difficulty in verifying the information. I consider how much time I spend trying to figure out what the heck is going on and how much I feel I don't know and try and imagine how completely out of touch the average person's views on current events are. I believe in many cases, we have laws in place to deal with this, but they are not aggressively enforced and therefore have little more meaning than the laws about spitting on the sidewalk or wearing a bonnet while driving a car. I guess I might like to see our legal system refined so that it was more clear cut and close a few holes, but I don't fundamentally believe the answer is new laws - especially where they may cut in on 1st ammendment rights. The two factors I hold primarily responsible are media and the executive/judicial branches of goverment. Our media does not do nearly enough to let people know what's going on. Print media does a better job, but that is of limited use when you consider general literacy rates and the fact that most people do get their news from the streets or the TV. Print has some serious issues as well, more on that later. In the case of Scott Dibble and Rich Roche, based on what has been reported here Rich Roche is being deceptive. Unfortunately, each of us can't take the individual time to research each and every issue, so at some point we do have to hope that someone - ideally the media we pay to do this work - will bring the truth to light. By basically stating that Dibble was doing the exact opposite of what he promised to do and did do, Roche is deceiving the voters. If the voters are not basing their decisions on factual information, democracy becomes meaningless. Yes, the list members here and others who have the time and resources to be well educated on the truth are aware of this deception, but how many of you are voting in Senate District 60? How many others will go to the polls to vote for the higher profile US Senate and Gubenatorial campaigns, and when they get to the State Senate ballot will vote with the thought that Dibble reniged on his campaign promise fresh in their minds? I would like to see two responses to this. One, a serious media response. Not just print, but television broadcast as well. Local flavor's great, but not at the expense of informing people about serious issues! Back to the national level again, it is unfortunate to see how much spin the media has done in supporting many deceptive politicians and pundits rather than nipping at their heels. Check out http://www.dailyhowler.com for an enlightening, if slanted and long winded, discussion of this phenomena. I'm certain that the local media won't be doing this, at least in this case, but will they do enough to make sure that the person on the street is aware of what's happening? This should be covered to the point where no one, at least no one in that district, who is paying any sort of attention to current events misses it. Secondly, let's get some teeth in it. At the very least, a civil lawsuit for defamation or something along those lines. If fraud charges can be brought as well, great - it's a criminal act, or at least I see it that way. I don't like frivolous lawsuits, but if a pol (or a pundit/paper) deliberately deceives the masses, they need to be held accountable and it is not frivolous. You should not be afraid to speak, but you should be afraid to deceive. Maybe I view the past with rose tinted glasses and certainly my views are probably distorted, but I seem to remember hearing about a media that administrations feared. If they stepped out of line, the media would be all over them. Where is that today? Sure, Herron got nailed, but it'd be nice if some of our investigative reporters would go after all the day to day deceptions we're exposed to until the point where a politician or adminstrator had to seriously consider the consequences of not toeing the line. Even if it has never been this way, it should be in the future. It'd be nice if our executive and judicial branches followed up by punishing wrongdoers with more than just public perception. - Jason Goray, Sheridan, NE Speaking of journalistic integrity, I've been out of town since last Friday. On Saturday, Dean Zimmerman made a post noting that it only takes 7 council members to constitute a quorom which means that my facts were off when reporting on CM Johnson's action during the motion to vote on preparing paperwork for federal mediation. I am disappointed in myself for getting the numbers wrong, and I've been holding off on sending out corrections until I ascertain whether or not I was right about the impact of her decision to walk out. If someone could confirm or deny my report as soon as possible, I would appreciate it as I feel it is important to issue a correction to everyone I spoke to in as timely a fashion as possible. My original report: http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2002-August/015976.html My followup to differences between the Star Tribune report and my own: http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2002-August/016008.html Dean's correction: http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2002-August/016026.html Also, I had made the request that someone send my apologies to the reporter from the Star Tribune if my information turned out to be incorrect. If anyone did, please let me know as I intend to also send a correction and apology after I know if the analysis of CM Johnson's action was correct or not. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
