Nobody knows nothing

(Yeah, I know the title is grammatically incorrect.)

I finished another dishcloth tonight, but I'll save it for Wednesday. I have something else to get out of my system.

For the last four years I've avoided watching television news as much as possible. The superficiality of it infuriates me. I know the channels have all that time to fill and need to put something on, but at best their information is equivalent to the empty calories in one's diet.

But, if you haven't heard, this is a Presidential election year, and I am drawn to the news despite my misgivings about it. I'm beyond sick of the primaries, but I was curious to find out what today's returns were like. And so I tuned in to a cable news channel to get the skinny.

The catch is that there's limited news to report. Most of the time is filled with pundit and anchor speculation and the spin of politicians and their surrogates. It's spectacular stuff--and not in a good way. Listening to the frequently irresponsible prattling is enough to make me start bleeding from my eyes and ears. (OK, not really, but if you've watched it for any length of time, you know how crazy it can make you.) It isn't journalism, just glorified bull sessions with so-called experts trying to push their agendas and entertain.

And yet I've had a hard time looking away from it, in part because it appears that this stretch of the election season may finally be coming to a close. I'm repulsed by how the information is being transmitted, yet I've spent a few hours tonight consuming it anyway. (It's not like my worst-in-the majors Reds gave me much of a viewing alternative.) I don't know how people watch the news without feeling insulted or going mad. I'll ride it out the rest of tonight, but TV news and I are going to need another nice long separation again.