When the toddler was an infant, this mother watched a lot of television - mostly MacGyver reruns but also some news (what else do you do when nursing a squirmy infant?). Around the time that the toddler (then infant) arrived, I declined to renew my subscription to the local newspaper - a silly newspaper that hasn’t figured out that more people would read it online (and generate ad revenue) if they offered that content for free. A few months ago, we dropped cable to basic and, having found ourselves not even watching TV much then, we dumped cable completely not long thereafter. Since then, I have pretty much stopped following news. Except on the rare occasion.
Let’s start with the news that I do read… Most of it is depressing. Just check out the headlines featured on Truthout. Death, doom, destruction. As a movie once put it, “The Decline of the American Empire.”
Occasionally, I stumble on news that just leaves me scratching my head. Like this CNN tidbit today. Really now, with all the resources for newborns and their parents (have you ever looked at the shelves in Barnes and Noble or Borders?), can’t CNN send its reporters out to, well, report on something other than babies? Though I must credit CNN for enlightening me today and reminding me why I object to plastic toys - some plastic-y toys undergo a chemical conversion to a date-rape drug when it is ingested (as most kids will do at least once). Yes moms, not only do you have to worry about lead in those toys, but it seems you also have to worry about those toys turning into rohypnol.
To be fair, Fox News also has me scratching my head. I think it is safe to say that most of the Fox viewership probably doesn’t have “green” tendencies. Which made me wonder why Fox has this “Go Green” section accessible from its main website. But then I started poking around at its content and realized that we don’t have to worry too much about Fox educating its viewers. This old one, Mow away your weeds, advocates tweaks to the lawn mower. Why does it feature a nice not-so-green gas mower? Why wouldn’t a push mower be featured? Well, at least they didn’t include a picture of this puppy.
But in searching for silliness for this post, I did find some good, not-so-silly news. At least one person - a politician no less - has decided that clotheslines aren’t so awful. Ontario’s energy conservation head honcho wants the clothesline bans to be rescinded across the province so that people can actually choose not to waste energy drying the clothes that can be just as easily dried on a line outside.
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