A small rant about CNN

I have almost entirely ceased watching CNN; now I go into the library and work or play while I listen to it off and on. The problem is that when I watch it, I get so upset that I talk (or shout) back, and this disturbs my husband's enjoyment and understanding of the news.

Part of my reasoning is below, in an e-mail I just sent CNN/a.m. What do you think of how the news is reported today?

[Dear CNN:] Re Kiran Chetry, et al.

True journalists don't comment on the news, they simply report it.

I don't want to know how your gorgeous Iranian reporter or your excitable but dignified-looking black male feel about the news items on their show; this isn't about them, it's about the news. And when your reporters do go, "What's that about?" it's always with some childish, Liberal, PC or Socialist slant. America needs Edward R. Murrow or the equivalent in times like these, not the Mickey Mouse Club and Annette Funicello.

They may be fashionable, but it's not reporting. If they want to be stars, send them to the soaps. Please: I don't watch the soaps, but I bet they could use all that acting and makeup talent.

When I turn on CNN, I want to see serious news, not a local coffee club (check out that dress! that Botox! That dental work —the glare from those teeth!) show. These days only the BBC and one local channel are getting it right.

Please go back to being the enviable Cable News Network, and quit with the Comedy, New Dealers and Nitwits.

###
All that said, I happened to overhear their "Quick Vote of the Day" — viewers were asked whether the guy with the GETOSAMA license plate (which might be offensive to some) should be forced to give it back. I went and voted No, but then I wrote to am@cnn.com with the subject: The Right Not to be Offended

The body text read, "Does not exist. The right to Freedom of Speech does. What doesn't the State or the DMV understand?"

And then I pointed out, "Speaking of Free Speech, check out how S 1959 and HB 1955, "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007," eviscerates it.

If you ever decide to return from infotainment to journalism, and should you do so before these bills are passed and it's too late, you might warn the American public that the First Amendment is about to be repealed. Maybe you could even help stop these bills' passage; doing so could very possibly save your own industry, if not your job. What will the Administration need with perky infotainers when it controls everything said?"

And I'll be damned if Kiran Chetry didn't read the quip first graf aloud and quote me by name, not 10 minutes after I hit "send." She called my e-mail "interesting." (Wow. So that's what 15 seconds of fame feels like. Sumbitch.)

By pouncing on and repeating only the sound bite and ignoring the serious news in it, the perky infotainer proved my point using my e-mail. I'd lay you odds the director realized it right after she did it.

"In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous." -- Robert G. Ingersoll

18 Ways to Piss off a Pagan

Got this from the Fort Worth Witches' Meetup list, and the poster said she'd gotten it (uncredited) from a friend's blog. If you know the author, please tell me.

18 Ways To Piss Off A Pagan!

1. Be considerate: Rearrange their altar so it looks neat.
2. Blow out their altar candle if it is daylight. (No need to waste a good candle!)
3. Sweep up the salt they carelessly left at the doorway.
4. Sharpen their Athame.
5. Untie the knot in their cords.
6. Try on their jewelry for fashion sense.
7. Pick up their crystals for a closer look.
8. See how far their crystal ball will roll (dogs love this).
9. Use their runes as extra Dominoes.
10. Play "Old Maid" with their Tarot cards.
11. Toss holy water on them "just to see what happens."
12. Ask them if they are a good witch or a bad witch.
13. Debate with them about "True Religion."
14. Ask them if they are Satan worshippers.
15. Tell them how the Bible says they are going to hell, then ask if they can make you a love potion.
16. Point to their pentacle necklace, almost touching it, and ask, "Isn't that supposed to be point down?"
17. Refer to a business meeting as "a come-to-Jesus" meeting.
18. Leave Chick Publication tracts lying about the break rooms and on their desks.

Today's image is "Angie's Tranquil Cats." It was taken very near the summer solstice, which is why the sun is coming almost straight down through the stained glass dining room window. Mo spotted the cats — the big one of which is Stevie the neutered Turkish Van and the little one a tailless female stray, not his spawn — and bade me take a picture. Good eye, Mo; this was the best of 13 images taken. I sent it to my mentor, Meredy Amyx, and she took the green out of it, reduced its size, and sent it back to me for desktop use. Since then an artist has asked if she might paint from it. Nancy's website is www.nancyparkart.com .

I ran an ad in June when a gray tabby female brought her four kittens to our home and basically pointed the finger at Stevie. They certainly all looked like him, and at least three if not all four were Turkish Van kitties. Well, those kittens were gone inside a week, but by then we had also found three strays abandoned up on the frontage lot. This was "Bobbi," the tailless one and the only one to survive — and someone who cannot have children adopted even her!

"Do witches even celebrate Halloween?"

Happy Samhain and Halloween from Star Ranch!

Man, a FOXNews female bobble-head pissed me off the morning of Samhain, making "topical" news out of a for-profit "Witch School" someone has started up North so people can learn to worship the Goddess "properly." (That's a whole different subject, on which more anon.) With a perfectly straight face, this nitwit blonde anchor asked, "Do witches even celebrate Halloween?"

That's like asking, "Do Christians even celebrate Christmas?" Pagans (which broad label includes but is not imited to Witches) invented Samhain, long before the Chrstians co-opted the sun-god's and Mithras' birthday celebrations to divert everyone's attention by celebrating Jesus the Christ's birth three whole months early!

I wish just one of the infotainer talking heads on news stations these days would pretend to be a journalist and actually do a story instead of just reading the TelePrompTer -- do some research instead of striving for the easy laugh and the memorable sound bite.

We are accepting a lot of crap as actual factual news, and it is warping the way we think about life. More on this later, but for now ask yourself: Isn't most of the stuff hidden down in the crawl these days more important than whatever the anchor is laughing about?

(Today's artwork is a jack-o-lantern that Mo drew and I cut. Hope your New Year is a wonderful one!)