Gail Jarvis

Affirmative Action reaches the Presidential Level

As most Americans were born long after affirmative action was implemented, they have to rely on establishment histories to learn about it. But I am one of those old-timers who was around ‘before and after’ this massive federal overhaul of our country’s organizations. I personally witnessed affirmative action’s beginnings; how it worked and how it was propped-up.

“There’s no stopping us. Watch out world, we’re coming.”

Who made this swaggering boast? - (A) Janet Murguic, President of La Raza, (B) Barack Obama, U.S. President or (C) Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The Fading Fourth Estate

This is National Newspaper Week, but there’s not a lot of celebrating going on for this fading industry. In fact, National Newspaper Week might soon be a thing of the past. Newspapers were once called the “Fourth Estate”, meaning they were like a fourth branch of government. As the fourth branch, newspapers were expected to be independent of the other government branches. Hence newspaper readers would have an autonomous source that impartially evaluated the regular branches of government. Sadly, that is no longer the case. If it ever was.