LAMENTATIONS

Once upon a time in what now seems to have been in another space continuance one of the pleasurable rituals of living was  reading the morning newspaper during breakfast.

It is probably a reflection on my apparent senility that I still enjoy-no that is not the right word-still want to read the morning local papers at my breakfast. I do first turn to the obits to make sure my name is not there, then a brief look at the first page to make sure there is no earth shaking story, a few favorite comics that have a story line, the bridge column, and the sports section. If I have time then or at lunch I read the op-ed pages.

Oh yes there was also the evening paper delivered by a boy on a bike who would throw it on the front porch-most houses had  one- or steps and occasionally on the roof,

Gone is the news stands at the station for the commuter to get his paper to read on the train. Lost is that commuter’s art of folding the paper so that he could read all of it without bothering his seatmate.

But those were our days of universal innocence, days when the front door was unlocked all day.

Unimaginable was the cell phone, iPad, texting, email, Facebook, twitter and twatter, and above all electronic editions.

Today our news is fed to us through slanted biased show productions for 30 minutes or an hour. Most news programs consist of crime, scandal, hit and run stories, weather report, and general news often of sensational nature including catastrophes elsewhere in the nation or world. There is little meat.

How many know that;(1) hundreds of illegal migrants being smuggled into Europe were drowned when their “boat” was rammed and sunk by other smugglers, (2) Detroit is trying to make deals with creditors to come out of bankruptcy, (3) Australia in an effort to keep its great tourist attraction from being declared by the Untied Nation as in danger” has proposed a 35 year plan to manage risks to the reef. Environmentalist groups have opposed the plan as being insufficient.,(4) On Thursday Scotland will vote on a referendum to  become independent from “Great Britain”.,(5) There is a heated Presidential race in Brazil that will have an impact on the world.,(6)The Ukraine government is trying to negotiate “special status” with the eastern breakaway region in an effort to appease Putin.,(7) India’s Kashmir region which is Muslim has had disastrous floods to which the government has been slow in providing relief.,(8) he Afghan courts contrary to tribal customs has sentenced five men to death, who while dressed in police uniforms stopped a caravan of cars returning from a wedding, for robbery  and rape of four women.(9) The number of Americans without Health Insurance has decreased significantly this year. However there will be an increase in uninsured in2015 because the “illegals” will not be able to qualify without a green Card.?

That is only a sample of what is in the print edition of today’s Times. You may not be interested in what you do not know, because like most Americans it is not happening to us. Dancing with the Stars is more important.

But the Times is an exception since most papers have lost so much advertising that their circulation has decreased. The circle goes on cut the papers size and contents to reduce costs. More readers stop subscribing and advertising gets even smaller, the paper becomes a daily facsimile of those weeklies like the Suburban News, or the news less Courier. 

That is today’s Star- Ledger. Monday's news about Watson did not get a line in today's print edition.

Breakfast is not the same, but if a paper is not delivered it is not missed except for the break in routine