Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wish I Hadn’t Read It


My curiosity tugged me into clicking on a story and now it’ll take time to shake it off!
by Charlie Leck

Ever get drawn into reading a news story that you, later, wish you hadn’t? That happened to me this morning, long before dawn. I had my cup of hot coffee in front of me and life was good. I answered a couple of emails and then popped open, as I do nearly every morning, the on-line newspaper, MinnPost.

There, in front of me, were dozens of good stories I could have read. Representative Betty McCollum, who has faithfully and honorably represented the citizens of St. Paul in the U.S. House of Representatives, evidently failed to use the words “under God” eight years ago when she took the Pledge of Allegiance. Evidently, a video of the moment has, as MinnPost puts it, gone “viral.” Oh, my! I passed on reading the story.

There was also an account of the first debate between Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and her Democratic opponent, Tarryl Clark. I also passed on that.

Actually, there were a dozen tempting little bits that should have tugged me to them before I went where I did…

Arne Carlson, former Republican Governor, has endorsed a couple more Democrats for congressional seats. Wow! He endorsed the Independent in the governor’s race and now Tim Walz and Terry Bonoff for the House of Representatives. What’s up with Arne? Years and years ago he was a Democrat. Maybe, in his sage years, he’s getting things right again.

Mary Lahammer’s column is about the St. Cloud State University poll that shows Mark Dayton (Democrat) with a 10 point lead (40 to 30 percent) over Tom Emmer with Tom Horner (Independent) coming in way back (18 percent). The part of the headline that teased me, however, was that 15 percent of likely voters are still undecided. Still could be surprises on election night!

Former billionaire Chuck Feeney says the Gates/Buffet effort doesn’t go far enough! How could I have passed on a tease like that? Yet, I did.

Instead, I was pulled by this teasing line: “Canadians struggle to understand one of the most unusual serial killers in their country’s history.” And, another little tease was added: “Masterful interrogation draws his confession.” So, I went to the GlobalPost story by Sandro Contenta. I also watched the video of the interrogation on YouTube. I shouldn’t have.

I know you’re tempted, but don’t! Don’t!

I’ll be in a funk all day.

_________________________

You can email Charles Leck
or you can sign-in to post a comment on the blog
or you can click on “follow” in the top right hand corner

No comments:

Post a Comment