Since Donald Trump has chosen not to entertain us with his presence as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, we, and the news media, are obligated to find something else to fill the void he leaves in the airwaves. What a disappointment it must be for the talk show hosts and pundits. A really good controversial candidate can go from show to show providing endless face time and hours of programing for the hosts. They didn’t have time to ask him if he would put his hair stylist on his campaign staff so he (or she) could travel with him on the campaign trail.

If Trump’s exit wasn’t disappointing enough, to make things worse, Arkansas’ own Mike Huckabee, preacher turned political star, talk show host says he won’t seek the nomination either. What’s a poor news junkie to do? Being abandoned in favor of serious but not very entertaining personalities like former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and 90s era star Newt Gingrich will require some serious work on the part of the back room news researchers to come up with meaningful stuff to talk about. Ron Paul is back in the contest, but he is too serious to provide much entertainment value.

But wait, they (the news media) suddenly discover that former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has sired a second son who is now 13 years old. Has that information just now surfaced or has it been buried as long as he was the “governator?” I would almost wager that this has now been revealed because he is no longer in “public life.” And, since his wife is now taking some type of “legal action,” we will learn much, much more about the intimate details of their personal lives. This keeps the newsmedia busy digging into files, records and any other source of information and it will appear on YouTube, Facebook, the tabloids and national television, so prepare yourself. Whatever they find will be fair game for any media outlet thriving on sensationalism.

Maybe it’s just the need to fill the gap in major news now that the English Prince has married and life has returned to normal, but there is new news in the IMF (International Monetary Fund) scandal created by the Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

News concerning celebrities (if you can call him that) seems to be of special interest to our culture.

The former French finance minister was reported by one source as having been a potential candidate for his country’s presidency.

If convicted of the most serious of the sexual abuse charges of which he is accused, he could be sentenced to a term as long as 25 years in the United States. In France this would probably be accepted without much fanfare.

Probably we should be given more information on what the IMF actually contributes to society and why this director was in a $3,000 per day penthouse suite. Was he on IMF business or was this/is this, the way IMF money is spent?

As taxpayers we contribute to IMF activities which are intended to help stabilize monetary conditionsaround the world. Our contribution (USA) is reported to be 17.75 percent of their total funds. The director may have financial resources or come from a wealthy family, but if he can put up a one million dollar cash bond and a four million dollar home (in America no less), we should know where the “real money” goes.

Officially the IMF function includes:

Promoting international monetary cooperation.

Facilitating the expansion and balanced growth of international trade.

Promoting exchange rate stability.

Providing resources to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties.

According to a source at The Daily Reckoning, the United States has contributed $58 billion to these efforts which says nothing about room service in his hotel suite.

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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 05/25/2011