Craig's Corner

I enjoy watching crime dramas.   I have seen nearly every episode of the longest running (tied) drama on television, the original Law & Order.   Some episodes I know so well that in the first 30 seconds I remember who did it, but I still would watch because the twists and turns were so captivating.   CBS is nick named the Crime Broadcast Service because of their reliance on procedurals with its fall prime time schedule having two-thirds (14 out of 21 hours) dedicated to crime. No wonder then that instant analysis and wanting to wrap up a crime in 42 minutes (leaving ample room for commercials) is a driving factor in news coverage.   Crimes are committed and in the same news cycle the police are expected to find the perpetrator and like nearly all crime dramas, that means the course of justice has prevailed.   Sure there’s a courtroom drama now and then, but the percentage of cases (fictional and not) that result in acquittals is miniscule. In ...

It’s easy to know we’re in the midst of summer.   It’s not because of the record temperatures and humidity scorching the bulk of the U.S.   Just look at what’s playing at the local Cineplex.   The Avengers teamed four superheroes together to launch the popcorn movie season in May.   A few weeks back a reimagined Spiderman opened.   This weekend Batman is on the agenda topping the weeklong ComicCon in San Diego that saw dozens more crusaders coming to the big screen in the next few years. Mythical superheroes got their start in 1938 with Superman.   There have been scores since, with a variety of powers, affectations and costumes – but all with the commonality of a strong moral code to make a difference in their communities and the world.   The ability to effortlessly solve massive problems or rid the world of evil inspires.   They’re also a lot of fun. Superheroes are a cash machine as well – with comic franchises worth billions of do...

Americans celebrated the 236 th signing of the Declaration of Independence last week with traditional bar-b-que’s, time off from work, and visiting with family and friends.   Parades and fireworks marked the occasion for hundreds of towns and cities across the land.   It’s generally a non-religious, non-political holiday that celebrates the principals and ideals of freedom.   So why would anybody vote for anything but American-style democracy? The PRI party won the Presidential election in Mexico last week .   The party had been out of power for two cycles, 12 years.   The Democratic Revolutionary Party has filed a legal challenge after the recount confirmed their loss, claiming the party paid people to vote. They’re unlikely to prevail.   Prior to their ouster in 2000 the PRI ruled Mexico for 71 years . Vladimir Putin was reelected President of Russia in March .   Opposition parties have claimed fraud and more than 20,000 people p...

Did you enjoy the additional time this week?   On Saturday international timekeepers added one second to the universal time clock moving from June 30 into July 1 .   We seem to need all the additional time we can get.   The “information age” we live in has reached a point where receiving information quickly has sped up to the point where experiencing events in real time seems to take too long. Last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) was misreported by the two major news organizations – Fox and CNN.    President Obama, in fact, thought he had ‘lost’ because he was relying on the cable networks for information .   Members of Congress even began releasing statements based on the false reporting.   Within minutes both networks updated the initial reporting, which actually had an element of truth to it, but no context.   It is a 197-page dense split opinion that covers four sepa...