CD: Foo Fighters, "One By One"

At work the television is set stagnant on CNN Headline News. Usually I look at Headline News like I look at USA Today, pointing to an article and telling myself "that's not news, that's useless information." You know, those trivial pie charts on the bottom corner of each section, the blockbuster movie previews on the front page that push a real headine involving national or international politics over to the side. And don't get me started on their "Viewpoints" page. Today I tried looking at Headline News from the perspective of someone trying to learn about capitalism. I learned tons. Headline News has about 8 minutes of commercials, like any other channel, as well as promos that start "Up next..." for their own profit. That's probably another two minutes, including inter-anchor banter. They always talk about the new movies out on screen or on DVD that you can buy, which is another four minutes of time. One of their biggest stories of the day was The First Day of the Christmas Shopping Season, complete with footage of people running like Legion's pigs into a shopping mall. Another two minutes. With that, a wonderful little segment on gifts you can buy for Christmas, with new computer gadgets and someone in a Hello Kitty suit. Four more minutes? Then sports, talking about team ownership and trade disputes and contract negotiations. There were some scores too, but let's give commercialism four more minutes here, since sports in America are for-profit industries. What else? Some report about how oil refineries are getting a bad rap for their environmental problems, but don't worry, their stocks aren't slipping and they look like a solid investment. Really, that was the conclusion of the piece. Five minutes there. And I almost forgot the stock market report; another minute! Now, count it up. What did I learn in half an hour?

"And this is what's going on in your town tonight?" --Ralph Nader