Freedom of the Press

One of those rights we think are inherent. Not so in most of the world.

A fight between Fox and the Obama administration has been brewing for a while, producing no small amount of entertainment value. But as a communications major (a.k.a. journalism major) it did my heart good to see this tag line directly under the headline this morning:

The Obama administration on Thursday tried to make "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the White House pool except Fox News. But the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks decided that none of their reporters would interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included.  

After seeing the way many leaders around the world ride rough-shod over the press -- and get away with it -- it was encouraging to see how things are handled differently in the U.S. An excellent example of true democracy at work!

Earlier this month a new law was pushed through that will likely lead to tighter government control of the media here. The law will allow the executive branch to appoint five of seven members to a new broadcast regulatory body (two directly and three through the ruling party in Congress). This new regulatory body will have the power to approve or terminate media licenses.

So it's been interesting to follow the news here too. During an extremely heated debate over the bill in Congress those opposed were so upset they walked out and refused to vote, ceding a victory of 147-4 in the House. Then one of the Senatorial opponents of the bill ultimately voted FOR it, raising a firestorm of protest within her own party. So why did she change her mind? A lot of conspiracy theories are being thrown about but since my Spanish is still pretty limited I haven't understood most of it.

But it does reinforce my glee when I read the news of what's happening in my home country. Go Free Press!

Yesterday Ivan was running an errand and called home to tell me to go outside and check out the skyline. A great orange cloud hovered over the mountains above us. A fire? No, it was a dust storm! Things have been so dry for so long and the small amount of rain we've gotten hasn't been sufficient. Ivan was driving but watched the cloud in his rearview mirror as it rolled over the city. When he was finally able to stop and take a photo, this is what he saw.

Not much! The dust cloud had completely covered the city. But because it was really windy, it was soon past the city and we once again had clear blue skies. Very odd experience!

I was able to spend a little time catching up on blog reading last evening. The truth is, once I finally sat down it was really hard to get up again! I'm always mentally fried by Friday evening but last night that was accompanied by physical exhaustion too. An afternoon spent cleaning house in stifling heat will do that to you. But the floors are clean, the bathroom scrubbed and the Revolt of the Dust Bunnies has been repelled.

I've been trying to share recipes on Saturdays and I see that Dee has a Saturday Stirrings post up today. Hmmm, which recipe should I include?

How about just pointing you to a recipe for Sesame Noodles on Pioneer Woman's blog that was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE? It took a while to try it, because sesame oil is not carried locally. But during a recent trip to Walmart in Cordoba I scored a bottle. And tried this recipe. Then swooned a little with the first bite. But not enough of a swoon to actually stop myself from gobbling down a plateful in about two minutes flat. I practically INHALED the stuff it was so good! And PW, well she knows how to write a recipe. AND take really good photos along the way. Without having to move everything to her back patio or use a blue bath towel for the background.

[Did you notice I linked you to the recipe not once, but THREE times in that paragraph? I'd hate for you to stress out and spend unnecessary time looking for it -- instead just pick one of the three possible links and then GO MAKE YOU SOME FANTASTIC SESAME NOODLES! Oops, there I linked again.]

This morning I have a date with my computer and an expense report or three. The hard part is done: actually crunching the numbers. No easy feat. It means going through the pile of receipts, figuring out what they're for [if my sweet husband didn't keep a running log of what's going on, I'd really be in trouble], whether they need to be included in the report or not, which category...then comes the MATH, the dreaded and hateful math. The addition isn't so bad but then you get into multiplication on the mileage chart and division when converting pesos to dollars...and pretty soon my head hurts. A lot. Which is why I tend to put off doing the reports until I can't wait any longer. And of course it's much worse because what IS this receipt for anyway and is that a 6 or an 8 or a 3 because the ink has faded and isn't really legible anymore... *sigh* But now I'm ready for the easy (but also time-consuming) part of putting all that fun data into the computer.

Hope you have a great, math-free weekend!