Weekend Tids and Bits

PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION – seems to be a good opening number for a service at the New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY. The pastor, Ken Pagano, is inviting his parishioners to bring their guns to church, according to a New York Times story you can read at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26guns.html?hp. If you bring your weapon openly to church, make sure it’s unloaded, because deputies will be checking, the story says. If it’s concealed, no problem.

In most states, it’s legal to openly carry a gun – you get in trouble when the weapon is concealed. The nuances vary by state and if you’re thinking of strapping on a holster, visit http://opencarry.org first.

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SOME GUYS GET ALL THE BREAKS – If an elected official has a chance to pick the day for going public with an adulterous affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s luck sets an example. Sanford’s love life had roughly 24 hours in the main media spotlight and was already being edged by Farah Fawcett’s death when Michael Jackson’s demise moved Sanford’s trouble to the “In other news…” sections.

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LAST WEEK WE DISCUSSED. . .

Elephants aren’t particularly afraid of mice, but the Republican Party has gone so conservative that someone yelling “Change!” at a GOP event will start the Pachyderm Party thundering and trumpeting towards the doors at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/elephants-and-mice-republicans-and.html

Something is happening in Iran, but exactly what is information hard to come by. Harder still is information about why we should care much one way or the other at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/iran-turmoil-yeah.html

We need to do something about the environment, if only to shut up the environmentalists whose concern is so all encompassing, they were worried about cow burps at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/radical-reformers-target-cow-burps.html. No confirmation yet on the rumor that some environmentalists have developed such a concern about discharging bodily waste that they hold it as long as possible. Confirmation, of course, would confirm that they are indeed full of it.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford gave in to temptation, but so did the media outfits who quoted extensively from e-mails between the lovers at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/giving-in-to-temptation-south-carolina.html

Michael Jackson’s death sparked a media frenzy of major size and minor importance at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-and-things-of.html

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Giving In To Temptation

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s disclosure that his disappearance over the last few days had more to do with an Argentinean lover than a love of hiking on the Appalachian Trail puts him squarely in a current bipartisan gallery of American politicians with a deer-in-the-headlights moment.

Sanford is a Republican. So is Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, found on the client list of the so-called “DC Madam.” So is Nevada Sen. John Ensign who just said he had an affair with a campaign staffer.

Democrats have New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer patronizing prostitutes and former presidential candidate John Edwards with a campaign videographer.

But what we all have is an ever-growing addiction to Voyeur Journalism. The Sanford story was the hot item on the web and everywhere else Wednesday night, including his teary press conference video.

That Sanford was incommunicado for days after having left his staff with misleading information is a legitimate public question and subject of reporting. That he now says he was in Argentina with a mistress during that time is relevant, but only to the extent that it proves he misled his staff and the people of South Carolina and wasn’t available to perform the duties of his office.

The rest?

The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina, was on line Wednesday with quotes from e-mails between Sanford and his lover, with promises of the full exchange in Thursday’s edition. If there is a public purpose in publishing the governor’s comment on his lover’s tan lines and other attributes, I’m too stupid to see it.

That’s clearly not a problem for the New York Times, which has the tan lines quote in detail on “The Caucus, The Politics and Government Blog of The Times.”

It isn’t a problem at the Washington Post either – the story on their web site carries the same quote.

So does the online reporting of The Associated Press. So does CNN. USA Today’s web site linked to the e-mails on The State’s web site.

There are probably many, many more stories and links using the quotes. If they have a general theme, it is that Sanford, a conservative who spoke often of family values, gave in to sexual temptation.

Kind of like media outfits that once spoke often of journalism standards giving in to tabloid temptation. But don’t expect them to report that – certain things are beyond the public’s need to know.

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