"And I step outside and say 'Hey!!!!'

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!

In the background my parents TV droned at 7pm... A catchy, thriller-like intro to the special report being broadcast on CNN tonight. An enthusiastic newscaster, I imagine being filmed in front of the White House, begins reporting on how he will be covering the story on the dilemma in Washington and the Clash of the Parties and the debt ceiling crisis!!! Doesn't that sound so...Hollywood? Who the Hell thought that up? Another voice then took over and more matter of factly explained that the special would cover how the Congress and Senate work, while focusing on the debt ceiling issue. And so it begins... as the distraction yammers behind me and continues to trip up my spelling for some reason, I listen to cued music as scenes and cuts are introduced and faded out. I'm hearing those scary words like "Teaparty" "Republicans" and "Liberals." People are being interviewed, and as I briefly left the room to check on my spelling of "factly" I caught the nicely laid out newscast with clear pictures aimed toward pertinent points, fade ins and outs of information and computer graphics.

Suddenly people are asking the public questions like, "Are you well taken care of?" Excuse me? Would someone remind me the last time "they" asked the public that question? In some brief research, it would seem that CNN tries to be pretty even and they aren't a channel that particularly sides with a party; their stories and interviews truly do appear to be about reporting the news, yet it would seem no one can escape Big Brother, even if you're trying to play fair.

What do I mean? Oh? Well... As this Debt Ceiling thing is a very big deal and very real, it's also a little... Staged? Of course, CNN and its producers have had several weeks to gather their information and put together a well informed newscast, but something about their immediacy in reporting makes me wonder. They are reporting on some events that have only just occurred. How could they put all of this together so quickly? Oh, wait! I know!! You don't record everything all at once and can cut and splice different interviews and pieces in later. Well... While, the latter is true, there is still something just a little fishy. (Praise Scooby Doo for putting that word into my vocabulary at the age of 6!)

It's hard for me to admit that I may possibly be over the fence when it comes to being a conspiracy theorist, but in my own defense, I really just think it's being a cautious realist :D Maybe I see things through a darker lens, but so many of the "newscasts" of my adult life have turned into farces. Not even "turned into," but are... So my point?

It all just always seems too well placed. There is some issue that comes to a crescendo and gets us all riled up (so "they" hope)and the news blows it up and the Twitter Whale pops up because everyone is tweeting and Facebook is boring because everyone is talking about this HUGE thing!!!! and then... it's gone. And it quiets down a bit and then the music crescendos again. No sooner does one disaster end that another one begins.

My favorite bumper-sticker EVAR: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."


PEACE ;)

"They Say Music Can Alter Moods And Talk To You"

All these buckets of rain, I've heard enough about. You say that I lied.
I am a gentleman didn't I ask for a place I could stay? What were we both thinking?
The next part just got in the way. You were just always talking about changing.
What if I was the same then, the same I always was?
All these things that you say, like I'll forget about the mind-numbing games that you play.
I am a gentleman, didn't I pay for every laugh every dime, every bit every time and then you feed me some line.
I won't hear one more word about changing.
Guess what I am the same man, same that I've always been.

Days pass and turn into weeks, when we don't even speak. We just lay wide awake and pretend we're asleep.
You go home alone and you're checking your phone and you're looking at me like I'm something you own.

All these buckets of rain, you can't forget about it, you say I never tried.
I am a gentleman, didn't I answer every time that you call, pick you up when you fall
But you never listen at all
You were just always talking about changing.
Guess what I am the same man.

(The Airborne Toxic Event - "Changing")