Subject: Election Weirdness -- Commentary by Patricia Nell Warren
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 15:29:38 -0400

******************************************************************************

NEWS YOU DIDN'T SEE ON TV

A commentary by Patricia Nell Warren                      
10/4/96

*****************************************************************************

WEIRD THINGS  I'VE NOTICED ABOUT THE ELECTION
By Patricia Nell Warren

With a month to go,  major media are giving less space to the Presidential
election. Despite early fanfares from both candidates  about the "moral
future of America," public interest is fading too.  Bob and Jack and Bill and
Al are having  to share major  air time  with  Ellen, Boris and O.J. -- to
say nothing of bombings, the Olympics, Mideast war, and a 7-year-old
 suspended from school for kissing another tot on the cheek.

How seriously can one take a campaign  where  the Secret Service lets Bob
take an unseemly tumble off the platform in view of the cameras?

Why does the White House contest have vanishing credibility  in these
desperate times?  Were there conspiracies to downplay in the no-smoking
conference rooms  of media moguls?  Or are many  Americans finally reaching
the nadir of disgust with politicians?  Is there a feeling out there that
positive change will not come from the Oval Office, no matter who sits there?

Items:

***While Bob and Bill censored  Ross out of  the debates, controversies about
censorship are becoming a daily reality in many  schools, libraries,
communities.

***No sooner has Bob sermonized  about drugs, than we learn our federal
government  is the biggest crack dealer of them all. 

***Bill will let NASA spend billions on a Mars shot -- which will probably
wipe out any budget cuts he got by "ending welfare".

***Even as Bob and Bill are agreeing to quash same-sex marriage, convicted
serial killer Richard (Ramirez) and murderer Eric (Menendez) get to celebrate
high-profile heterosexual marriages behind bars.

***Bill might as well give up on gun control -- some genius in L.A.has
figured out a way to shatter windshields and terrorize people on the freeways
 without even using bullets.

***Neither Bill nor Bob have much to say about affirmative action, though the
country is coming to a boil about it.

***Here in California, Pete just signed  a bill outlawing the import of goods
made by slave labor abroad. Meanwhile, our wonderful U.S. penal system is
fast being subcontracted to private enterprise...which has a vested interest
in large prison populations working for a few cents an hour. 

***Morality aside, Americans  won't worry long  about low-fat diet  if both
parties go on saying  nothing about falling food production.  A recent
statistic from the WorldWatch Institute reveals  that, since 1985, grain
yields are falling behind  population growth.  Erosion, vanishing aquifers,
development have degraded 25 percent of U.S. farmland.  Those well-stocked
grocery shelves in New York City and Peoria are a mirage -- heavy on imports.
 Are Bob or Bill worried about the future of eating?   I wonder.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why the media have shifted focus.  Even
last night's high-profile debate was just the same-old, same-old from both
Bob and Bill.  Urgent problems are out there, grabbing headlines away  from
political charades  that breed  more and more rage, contempt and apathy in
our citizens. The handwriting is on the wall,  big as the HOLLYWOOD sign.
 But are Bob and Bill -- and their handlers -- ready to read it?

Patricia Nell Warren is author of "The Front Runner" and other bestselling 
books, as well as a widely published commentator.  Her publisher is Wildcat
Press. Copyright (c) 1996 by Patricia Nell Warren. All Rights Reserved. 

****************************************************************************
Note:
This column may be crossposted on the Internet, without change and in
its entirety for noncommercial purposes without prior permission from the 
author  -- email us  to let us know where it reappears.  To reprint in print
or other media,  express permission must be asked.  Please call 
213/966-2466, or fax 213/966-2467, or email [email-masked]. 
The last three lines of the column, containing author and copyright 
information, must appear with the reprint.

Wildcat Press, 8306 Wilshire Blvd. Box 8306, 
Beverly Hills, CA 90211. 

******************************************************************************