the spotlight is always on

the camera's eye is always on these days, for most all of us most all the time.

the camera at our workstation, camera where we shop, bank, and play are inescapable.

when there's no camera there's always our cellphone, broadcasting our coordinates.

governments are spying on us, our companies, and yes, our churches.

the talk of freedom and freedom from is irrelevant banter from a forgotten era.

gannett, google, and thousands of others, track our every thought and keystroke, not to mention the spying efforts of our doubting spouses and lovers.

the next step will be embedded chips with cameras.

we have to talk about the steve jobs story. everybody will be talking about it all day today.

the national enquirer apparently bought pictures of him going into the cancer treatment center at stanford university, not looking good, and very skeletal. this is the same place that was treating patrick swayzee for pancreatic cancer, not that the end has to be the same, but this is a nasty nasty, generally inoperable disease.

jobs received a liver transplant some years ago. his pancreatic cancer has proven somewhat treatable. mostly, it's a death sentence.

wait till you see the pictures.

the pictures will scare investors.

in the past he has been on a 1 year refresh cycle for his personal products, like the ipod.

iphone is on a june cycle. ipad is on an april cycle.

now they see ipad wont be out until fall.

the new iphone is due in april; that will likely be pushed back.

his worsening health causes people to get out of the way of apple for a while.

with the impending jobs pictures in mind, the news media, including our local professionals, bear a heavy responsibility with their choices of what news and photos to print or not.

their stance is more professional and thoughtful, a bit less aggressive than most, but the the camera lens and microphone must shine brightly on public officials, even their pasts.

that's a news professional's sometimes painful role. family members and loved ones are not easily shielded from the shrapnel, and a sometimes leering, sometimes loving public.

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