{"id":3538,"date":"2009-07-06T14:14:34","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T14:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zmetro.com\/?p=3538"},"modified":"2009-07-06T14:14:34","modified_gmt":"2009-07-06T14:14:34","slug":"change_you_wont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=3538","title":{"rendered":"Change You Won’t Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Wallace<\/a>: <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to slight Michael Jackson\u2019s once-formidable talent, nor do I dismiss his troubled personal life. But have we become so frivolous as a nation that any entertainer\u2019s tragic and untimely death warranted more news coverage \u2014 day after day after day \u2014 than the real issues that will confront each of us now and in the all-too-near future? Apparently so. Most of us know more about the last two days of Jackson\u2019s life than we know about the negotiations in which Washington forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. You certainly know more about Jackson\u2019s death that the names on the list of the 25 individuals who destroyed the world\u2019s financial system. Of course, none of the 25 has died; they still work at the same jobs.
\n


\nLet Them Eat Cowboys?
\n


\nNot to be overly dramatic, but this should remind any thinking person of the declining days of the Roman Empire. Its citizens refused to deal with the decay and legitimate problems of their cities and empire, instead demanding more and more coliseums be built for their personal entertainment.
\n


\nWell, we do have a new billion-dollar stadium for the Cowboys. And it has certainly received far more press coverage than the recently passed House Bill that proponents claim will save the planet from global warming. Yes, forces are gathering to reverse our 100-year history of citizens\u2019 free travel to work and for leisure \u2013 and of that freedom\u2019s benefits to our economy.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed Wallace<\/a>: <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to slight Michael Jackson\u2019s once-formidable talent, nor do I dismiss his troubled personal life. But have we become so frivolous as a nation that any entertainer\u2019s tragic and untimely death warranted more news coverage \u2014 day after day after day \u2014 than the real issues that will confront each of us now and in the all-too-near future? Apparently so. Most of us know more about the last two days of Jackson\u2019s life than we know about the negotiations in which Washington forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. You certainly know more about Jackson\u2019s death that the names on the list of the 25 individuals who destroyed the world\u2019s financial system. Of course, none of the 25 has died; they still work at the same jobs.
\n


\nLet Them Eat Cowboys?
\n


\nNot to be overly dramatic, but this should remind any thinking person of the declining days of the Roman Empire. Its citizens refused to deal with the decay and legitimate problems of their cities and empire, instead demanding more and more coliseums be built for their personal entertainment.
\n


\nWell, we do have a new billion-dollar stadium for the Cowboys. And it has certainly received far more press coverage than the recently passed House Bill that proponents claim will save the planet from global warming. Yes, forces are gathering to reverse our 100-year history of citizens\u2019 free travel to work and for leisure \u2013 and of that freedom\u2019s benefits to our economy.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,21,39,33,40,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}