Boycotting the News

I wrote a blog entry yesterday about the Tea Party Tax Protest. And I was sort of wondering – why bother? But I have to wonder if I should even pay attention to the news.

I mean, I hear about how the politicians screw things up all of the time. I get mad at them, and perhaps you do as well, but did you notice that we normally get mad at politicians that are not representing us? The Alaskans probably love Senator Stevens (he brings home the bacon), but the rest of us see him as why our government does not work, you know, because he wants to build a bridge to nowhere. So if I pay attention to the news, I get pissed at other people's representatives, and I have little recourse to get them out of office (other than training with and using a high-powered rifle, but I just don't have the time to train to because a sharpshooter; plus it is illegal and goes against the teachings of the Church, unless you are talking about the Crusades, and then you could kill infidels after torturing them and chanting from Psalms).

And if I start listening to other news, it just gets me more pissed.

I mean, here is a sample of recent news items:

From Reuters UK: U.S. agents seize suspected Nazi guard. Apparently some 89-year-old guy may have been a Nazi during WWII. And he may have been responsible for a bunch of deaths, but after the war, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio and started living the American dream. And the American Dream does not deal with marching Jews into ovens and killing them. From the article I read, he is a retired auto worker. Anyway, some judge doesn't want him going back to Germany to face charges because he is old and he probably has not killed a bunch of people recently. Oh, I am improvising a bit. Me, I want the American system to hand him over – we get all pissed when we can't prosecute people who have fled to other countries, and then we don't give people back when it is another countries turn to prosecute people for entertainment value and posturing. It just makes me mad, and I can't do anything about it (unless we go back to that high powered rifle solution above).

Then I read about some proof of massive sea monster:

Apr 3 - Just 800 miles (1287 km) from the North Pole, paleontologists believe they have found the fossilized remains of a massive sea monster that lived 150 million years ago.

Predator X -- a new species of a Pliosaur -- is said to have been the most dangerous creature to have lived under water.

The creature was about 50 feet (15 meters) long, weighed approximately 45 tonnes (40,823,000 kg), had a head ten feet (3 meters) long and jaws armed with teeth the size of cucumbers.

Dr. Jorn Hurum, and his team of paleontologists discovered Predator X in northern Norway last October and says the new species of a Pliosaur was more fearsome in power than the land-based Tyrannosaurus Rex.

And there is a link to a 2:12 minute video.

I know the sea monster has been dead for 150 million years, but I once saw an episode of Scooby Doo where a frozen caveman came back to life and chased a bunch of kids around while listening to funky rock-n-roll music. Come to think of it, those meddling kids found out it was not really a caveman, but I still have a fear that someone will thaw out this creature (if it were more than bones and rock), and it would splash around for a bit and then take a bite out of the ship that found it.

News just produces feelings in me that are counterproductive and uncomfortable. And I can't really do anything about it. Sure, some people will say that I should not vote unless I know a bit more about the candidates, but you know, I would argue that we don't generally make good choices about who to elect when we have a bunch of facts. It is all a crap shoot.

Wouldn't it be easier if we just let those suits behind the political machine do their thing, line their pockets, etc., and let the scientists get eaten by large frozen sea monsters while we spend our time figuring out the Wii Fit. And who really thinks that they will get in shape in front of a video game? Maybe those of us who decided not to listen to the news.