Why newspapers are important

Leave it to newspapers to clean up the details overlooked by the TV media.

In the drip-drip-drip of Ann Curry's interview with the Octuplet mom, the TV journalist left unanswered (and unquestioned) the claim by the mom that she was not on welfare and was relying on "other income."

But the Los Angeles Times clears that up with a story in it's Tuesday edition that the mom is not only receiving food stamps, but also medicaid payments for three of her six non-octuplet kids due to a disability.

A publicist - has anyone asked how this woman can afford a publicist - for the mom says that the food stamps and payments do not qualify as welfare. Technically correct, but it is a careful parsing on the woman's part.

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry when the woman says:
- She worked double shifts to make money for the in vitro procedures and she told people she was saving her money to "have babies;"
- She had been on disability for six years from an injury sustained as a psychiatric hospital where she worked;
- She will use student loans when she goes back to school in the fall to help support her family;
- She is pursuing a career in counseling (who believes this woman can offer sound advice?).

Let's tally it up: 14 kids, no visible means of support. Sounds like she is in the running for her own government bailout.

When all is lost

Just when job losses, company closures and other economic stresses get you down, here's a less-than-upbeat story about the link between economic woes and family murder/suicides.

Two recent cases in Ohio and California brought the issue to the forefront. And while not as dramatic as financial managers jumping from ledges during the depression, it's disturbing because this can happen anywhere.

While the cynic in me says people who do this cleanse the population of weak-minded souls who cannot cope with life, I'm worried about the next step.

What happens when a person decides to take out his/her economic woes not just on family, but on current/former co-workers, neighbors, or other innocent bystanders? If people were worried about one Unabomber, what about potentially 8 percent - roughly the current unemployment rate - of many people teetering on a fragile edge of control in their lives.