Day 320: "Extra! Extra!"

A cherry picker cruises down my cul-de-sac at 3:15 this morning to do God knows what.  Of course that means I'm up and sleep is done.  So, might as well turn on the TV.  "Next up, in search of Big Foot".  Yep, that was the first story of the morning news.  And so it begins.  The elections are over and what's topping the news these days?  Besides Big Foot, some crusty old general hopped up on Viagra and a woman with less self-esteem than a meth-head street walker.  No sooner are we deep diving into the real problems of this country that our attentions are diverted to things that have absolutely no bearing on our lives. How the hell does that happen?  With all the crap that's in the "news", have you ever stopped to think, "Is this really newsworthy?"  I'll be honest it hasn't been until recently that I've forced myself to ask that question.  Don't know if it's the conspiracy theorist in me but when I look at CNN and all the other major news providers and all they're talking about are Petraeus and Broadwell, I can't help but think this is a convenient distraction to other more important things that should be foremost in our minds.  All the political issues that only seem to unfold during election years are now conveniently getting shrouded by the comings and goings of frolicking military leaders, Kim K, lottery fraud or a bunch of brooding vampires.  I need to remind myself that whether it's a general with an open fly, an over paid athlete filing bankruptcy or the latest trash movie, it's all media road kill, nothing more.  The next time something sensational hits the streets, I need to ask myself, "why is this important?"  If there's no good answer then I need to go find out what is newsworthy, even if someone else is trying desperately hard to conceal it.