Essay: "The Royal Freeloader's Wedding"

Essay: "The Royal Freeloader's Wedding"

Sometime this week Prince William (or is it Harry?) will marry Kate Middleton and help perpetuate the antiquated British royal freeloader family. Everywhere I turn a big deal is made of this soon to be royal union in both the mainstream and tabloid press. Meanwhile, our economy is in a shambles. Our 'entitled' so-called political leaders on both sides of the aisle are eagerly preparing to shred the social safety net and perhaps destroy both Social Security and Medicare, while preserving tax cuts for corporations, millionaires and billionaires. The Tea party, which is perhaps 20% of the electorate (if that) is setting the agenda in Congress, against the best interests of the other 80% of the citizenry. As if two unnecessary wars were not draining billions of dollars from our economy, we now are fighting in three needless, unnecessary battles. Gasoline is about to cost over four dollars a gallon again, which will only worsen the hardship on the middle class and the poor and the economy in general. There is so much important stuff going on and all the media powers that be seem to care about is the British freeloader's nuptials, Lindsay Lohan, "Dancing With the Stars", Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen's meltdown and other assorted bullshit that just distracts the average person from being informed about important information (i.e. "real news") they ought to and have a right to know and care about. I'm kind of pissed off and frustrated about what is going on in this country right now.

Essay: "NY Times Sets Precedent for Charging for On-Line Content"

Essay: "The New York Times Sets a Precedent for Charging for On-line Content"

Within the last week or so the New York Times newspaper has started charging readers to access their website. Although I rarely had the time or inclination to read it that often, the Morrill Memorial Library (Norwood, MA's public library) subscribed to the NY Times in print and on-line and enabled Norwood residents with a library card to access recent and old copies of the New York Times and the Boston Globe (owned by the New York Times) for free on their computer. As of last week that is no longer the case.

I will admit that I am an on-line news deadbeat. As long as it is free, I will read news on-line. However, I may be willing to pay to read the New York Times and possibly the Boston Globe if I need to do so to access their news on-line. A lot of the time I come up with ideas for this blog while reading the Times , but I would not pay to subscribe to the paper copy because I'd have to much clutter in my apartment. On the one hand, it is a shame that computer owners cannot get the best news without paying for it; especially with how lousy our public education system is. On the other hand, as a wannabe journalist or freelance writer, I would support that readers pay for access if this is what it takes for journalism to survive; particularly since some so-called news is corporate or other kinds of deceptive propaganda.