It's The End of the World As We Know It: I'll Pay For That Story!

Thanks for sharing..

The link doesn't work.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080621/ap_on_re_us/out_of_control

Here's an excerpt, if you still can't view it, Spencer:

Everything seemingly is spinning out of control By ALAN FRAM and EILEEN PUTMAN, Associated Press Writers
Sat Jun 21, 3:14 PM ET



WASHINGTON - Is everything spinning out of control?


Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.

Horatio Alger, twist in your grave.

The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country's sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.

The sense of helplessness is even reflected in this year's presidential election. Each contender offers a sense of order — and hope. Republican John McCain promises an experienced hand in a frightening time. Democrat Barack Obama promises bright and shiny change, and his large crowds believe his exhortation, "Yes, we can."

Even so, a battered public seems discouraged by the onslaught of dispiriting things. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll says a barrel-scraping 17 percent of people surveyed believe the country is moving in the right direction. That is the lowest reading since the survey began in 2003.

An ABC News-Washington Post survey put that figure at 14 percent, tying the low in more than three decades of taking soundings on the national mood.

"It is pretty scary," said Charles Truxal, 64, a retired corporate manager in Rochester, Minn. "People are thinking things are going to get better, and they haven't been. And then you go hide in your basement because tornadoes are coming through. If you think about things, you have very little power to make it change."

Recent natural disasters around the world dwarf anything afflicting the U.S. Consider that more than 69,000 people died in the China earthquake, and that 78,000 were killed and 56,000 missing from the Myanmar cyclone.

Americans need do no more than check the weather, look in their wallets or turn on the news for their daily reality check on a world gone haywire.

Floods engulf Midwestern river towns. Is it global warming, the gradual degradation of a planet's weather that man seems powerless to stop or just a freakish late-spring deluge?

It hardly matters to those in the path. Just ask the people of New Orleans who survived Hurricane Katrina. They are living in a city where, 1,000 days after the storm, entire neighborhoods remain abandoned, a national embarrassment that evokes disbelief from visitors.

Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale, due to increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs. That can-do solution to energy needs — turning corn into fuel — is sapping fields of plenty once devoted to crops that people need to eat. Shortages have sparked riots. In the U.S., rice prices tripled and some stores rationed the staple.

Residents of the nation's capital and its suburbs repeatedly lose power for extended periods as mere thunderstorms rumble through. In California, leaders warn people to use less water in the unrelenting drought.

Want to get away from it all? The weak U.S. dollar makes travel abroad forbiddingly expensive. To add insult to injury, some airlines now charge to check luggage.

Want to escape on the couch? A writers' strike halted favorite TV shows for half a season. The newspaper on the table may soon be a relic of the Internet age. Just as video stores are falling by the wayside as people get their movies online or in the mail.

Christopher....it's the same old gloom and doom from the leftists libs.

I find it wicked funny that in Californica they are "warning" people to use less water....yet what about the golf courses? What about the movie studios? Do THEY have to limit their use of water? My guess is no.

I'm LIVING abroad right now and the gas here in the UK is about $12-$15 a gallon. Thank God we don't heat with oil and thank God for nuclear power.

thanks for the info!!!!! I'm awake now!

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for this insight.

I depend on the AP (Almost Professional) news service for the most of the misinformation I use to make bad decisions in my business. I'm glad to know that they have other victims.

I don't get it, Is there anything in that article that isn't true? I'm having trouble finding that, can someone please enlighten me?

"Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism."

All of the above is true, correct?

"Recent natural disasters around the world dwarf anything afflicting the U.S. Consider that more than 69,000 people died in the China earthquake, and that 78,000 were killed and 56,000 missing from the Myanmar cyclone"

All true, right?

"Floods engulf Midwestern river towns. Is it global warming, the gradual degradation of a planet's weather that man seems powerless to stop or just a freakish late-spring deluge?"

True or False? It's not like they say it is definitely from Global warming, like President Bush alluded to!

"It hardly matters to those in the path. Just ask the people of New Orleans who survived Hurricane Katrina. They are living in a city where, 1,000 days after the storm, entire neighborhoods remain abandoned, a national embarrassment that evokes disbelief from visitors."

Very true, correct?

"Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale, due to increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs. That can-do solution to energy needs — turning corn into fuel — is sapping fields of plenty once devoted to crops that people need to eat. Shortages have sparked riots. In the U.S., rice prices tripled and some stores rationed the staple."

True or not true?

"Residents of the nation's capital and its suburbs repeatedly lose power for extended periods as mere thunderstorms rumble through. In California, leaders warn people to use less water in the unrelenting drought."

I seem to remember seeing articles that confirmed this all as true, did you miss those?

"Want to get away from it all? The weak U.S. dollar makes travel abroad forbiddingly expensive. To add insult to injury, some airlines now charge to check luggage."

Very true, without a doubt, correct?

"Want to escape on the couch? A writers' strike halted favorite TV shows for half a season. The newspaper on the table may soon be a relic of the Internet age. Just as video stores are falling by the wayside as people get their movies online or in the mail. "

Also true or am I missing something?

So what is the problem with an article that writes th truth? Isn't tat wha we are all looking for? Or would we rather base what's already happened in this country or may be about to happen in this country on Rhetoric, scare tactics and bold faced lies like a few people here on Gather have beem known to tell and do?

Please enlighten me, I must be missing something here?

whoppee

We just need to remember that blogs are commentary. Some are better researched than others, but they do not require factcheck by definition. Those who comment on blogs tend to provide the factchecking. Blogs are designed to incite conversation and thought.

My only concern is for people who thing a blog is researched news.

I do not think all blogs are researched news Debra, however I do think if someone throws an opinion out there based on what they read, that should be "throughly researched facts" before you say it is true. I have also seen blogs be someone telling you what they did all day, their thoughts about anything and everything, the latest TV Shows, etc.. etc.. Blogs can be on "researched news" and if they are you should make sure that the research is accurate and true.

Yes, it's all true, Bob. Just this morning, I went outside, and a piece of the sky fell on my head! Then, I couldn't ride my bicycle to work because the whole world was spinning out of control!

Wow CKL! Here in England, it's utter chaos as we depend on our bikes! It's a madhouse and we're all gonna die!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I feel fine.

By the way, Bob, here's the crux of my problem with this "story."

"The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country's sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance."

As the English would say, "poppycock!" I'd say "they don't know from tough times," if they ever studied the history of the last century. Heck, just in the last decade of the last century, millions were slaughtered, or died in natural disasters around the world. Those were the "good time" Clinton years, when everything was peaceful, and the whole world got along...not. I could say the same thing about the '80's, '70's, et cetera. Natural disasters happen, and genocidal regimes and groups look to be around for the forseeable future. The US has gotten better at dealing with both, over our history.

Where these writers see dispair, I see hope. I feel the pain of the people being squeezed by gas prices, but who did they vote for when oil was $30 a barrel? A president who vetoed ANWR drilling over 10 years ago, signaling the world that we had no interest in developing our own resources. Hopefully, the price at the pump will change the political dynamic, so that we can start drilling domestically, as well as adding refining capacity, and start building nuclear plants.

Just a quick thought.

Thanks Christopher

the world has ended...errr...well it should have, this article is old and the AP never lies or exaggerates....

Thanks for the comment, all the same, Charles! I'm about to post an "update," of sorts. The WSJ "Best of the Web Today" column by James Taranto has a feature called "Everything Is Seemingly Spinning Out Of Control." It's pretty funny, and inspired by the article I linked to!

Oh dear, you know I have zero time to click on links! Just tell me, is the world ending? I have a hair appointment tomorrow.