chessandlena.com

Here's the best write-up of the financial mess we're in that I've seen.

Seems a number of taverns in Minneapolis have devised a novel way around the town's smoking ban. Drama night! Apparently there's an exception for dramatic works in the smoking ordinance, so if you proclaim the entire bar a stage, and all its patrons merely players, poof, everyone can smoke!

I can't help but find this extraordinarily funny. While the powers-that-be are looking into closing that loophole, two more things come to mind: never underestimate the power of the taverners to overcome by wigglage, and I wonder if the Fort has any similar loopholes in its current incarnation of the smoking ban.

Anyway, go to Minneapolis. Take in a play!

Chez Pazienza, (former) producer on CNN's American Morning, has been fired for blogging. A blog that is critical of CNN in particular and the news media community in general. Well, big whoop, I hear you cry. Dude writing bad stuff about his employer, of course he's gonna get shitcanned. True. But I'm not interested in what happened to him; I'm interested in what he's got to say. About CNN in particular and the news media community in general.

Have you seen the news in the last year? Anna Nicole Smith's death and the subsequent legal kerfufflery was the lead story for days on end. Weeks. Paris Hilton had a meltdown and went to jail, where she had another meltdown. Mel Gibson hates Jews; Britney Spears is off her rocker; Brad and Angelina are doing well; Madonna stole a child away from his father in Malawi; Lindsay Lohan is one paparazzi pic away from starring in her own porno; and, Thank God, Pamela Anderson is dating again.

WHY THE HELL DO WE KNOW THIS CRAP? News Media, can you honestly blame the educated populace for turning to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, so they can at least get their news with a wink, a laugh, and a modicum of intellect? Can you blame us for turning to the blogs, where they can get more careful thought and insight to digest, as opposed to a shot of Paris leaving yet another party? Can you blame us for finally throwing down the shit sandwich you've been feeding us for years? Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck may get better ratings than MSNBC; but they're just wrong, man. WRONG!

Anyway. I didn't really want to turn this into a rant... but there it is. Fifteen years ago, I would leave headline news on as background while I tended to college-ish things like homework and such. Now, I use the internet for almost all news; when I honestly need a TV news fix, I watch as much of our local broadcast as I can stand (most of it, usually), or as much of MSNBC as I can stand (about ten minutes, usually). News media, you should be paying attention. You're losing the war.