Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET by MARGARET DICKSON THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET This, That and the Other Thing Every four years, our national political parties preach to their respective choirs in what appear to those of us watching on television to be huge festivals of self-love and self-promotion coupled with vicious and often personal criticisms of the other guy and his — not yet her — party. I confess to being fascinated all the way around. in Tampa, Fla., chased by Hurricane Isaac. I was riveted by Clint Eastwood's inexplicable conversation with an empty chair. Some Republicans were amused, some were alarmed, but everyone who saw it will remember it. This year the Republicans went fi rst Then came the Democrats a week later in Charlotte, also dogged by bad weather. High on the list of star turns on that stage was former President Bill Clinton, who charmed one and all and confi rmed yet again that he still has "it" — whatever made America fall in love with him in the fi rst place — by doing it mostly off the cuff. Way back when and long before television, political conventions actually chose their Presidential candidates, often after repeated balloting and backroom deal making. Today, though, conventions are largely for show. They energize the party faithful and execute what amounts to gorilla chest-thumping aimed at intimidating the other team. The world has known for months, though, that this year would be an Obama-Romney matchup, so no drama in that department, and only a smattering of official party business at either event. their respective bases and signal to the rest of America that it is time to tune in to Presidential politics as we have been blessed and privileged to do every four years for more than two centuries. All this "feel good" comes with a price tag, with millions spent on both sides to put on their really big shows. And while we are on politics, could anyone possibly have missed that North Carolina is truly a battleground state this year? The Obama and Romney campaigns have bought so much television time, I cannot remember seeing a spot for anything as mundane as paper towels or toilet paper in months and do not expect to see any until the dust clears on Nov. 7. Even so, the conventions do rev up More news from the often-confusing medical front. Norwegian scientists say they have more good news for coffee drinkers. Turns out our daily jolts of coffee, and I enjoy several each morning, may not only wake us up, they may actually do good things for us. Researchers from Norway's National Institute of Occupational Health and Oslo University Hospital found that coffee drinkers experience less intense pain, chronic and otherwise, than do non-coffee drinkers. This is on top of precious studies elsewhere which have suggested that coffee can promote weight loss, reduce the risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease, increase muscle growth, guard against certain cancers and reduce the risk of premature death. Wow! Remember when they told us not to drink the stuff? • • • • Less confusing is a study from our National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It confirms what many have long suspected — that professional football players die from degenerative diseases at three times the rate of people in the general population. Scientists say it is an indication that repeated blows to the head are not just a problem on the football field but that they may causes serious trouble long after players have hung up their helmets and cleats. If I still had boys of football playing age as I once did, this study would give me serious pause. Researchers have found that coffee might just be good for us after all. A big part of me wishes all the money spent on conventions and political ads, especially the negative and misleading ones, could be applied to our national debt. assault in our military services. The filmmaker, Kirby Dick, made another such documentary on the cover up of sexual predators within the Catholic Church that received an Academy Award nomination. The Invisible War will be shown at the Cameo Theater downtown on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. The showing, sponsored by several community groups, will be free. We cannot meet our challenges until we face them. In our community, we are all about things military. Most are positive, and some are challenging. The Invisible War is a Sundance Festival award winning investigative documentary about sexual • • • • MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 6 UCW SEPTEMBER 19-25, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM