Thursday morning

Thursday morning has arrived as scheduled and I’m ready for it. Or I will be as soon as I have had my coffee. I’m sipping on that first cup and it will take a few minutes for it to have any effect.

Looking at the headlines, I see that the world (my world) has survived the night and that it’s business as usual. The headlines are;

For G.O.P., DeLay Indictment Adds to a Sea of Troubles. Republicans are dealing with a string of ethical issues along with Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and hopeful Democrats.

What I found interesting here was that DeLay was blaming the indictment on a “fanatical” Democrat, Texas prosecutor Ronald Earle, whom he described as "an unabashed partisan zealot.” Mr. Earle responded to the partisan charges, "Our job is to prosecute abuses of power and to bring those abuses to the public” he also said he has investigated four times as many Democrats as Republicans. The truth is this…Mr. Earle only brought the charges and the Grand Jury did the indicting, based on the evidence. They could have viewed the evidence and then told Mr. Earle to stop bothering them, but they didn’t. And these jurors were DeLay’s fellow citizens; Texans. So it looks like his popularity at home is certainly on the wane.  

Fear Exceeded Crime's Reality in New Orleans. A review shows that some of the most alarming stories appear to be little more than figments of frightened imaginations.
    
“A month later, a review of the available evidence now shows that some, though not all, of the most alarming stories that coursed through the city appear to be little more than figments of frightened imaginations...”

This story demonstrates how easily fear creates a new reality. People want something, to base their fears upon and anything will do. A rumor quickly becomes “fact” and that “fact” becomes a headline.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Compass now says that some of his more shocking statements have turned out to be untrue. "We have no official reports to document any murder. Not one official report of rape or sexual assault."

What is it, in our human nature, which makes us want to believe these stories? Why aren’t rumours of widespread “good deeds” as popular? In fact I will predict that most people will not want to believe the truth and will continue to believe that our fellow citizens in New Orleans are somehow less than human.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/national/nationalspecial/29crime.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

It’s a lengthy story but worth reading.