REMOTELESS IN WAIMANALO

By Ray Abruzzo on 05/16/2008

Ok, I admit it, I have a problem. I'm a junkie. My addiction is not to any by-product of the poppy seed now flourishing in Afghanistan. No, I am not addicted to the poppy that is funding the Taliban and other terrorist groups that have sprung back to life after we shifted our military focus from finding Bin Laden to finding non-existent WMDs in Iraq. No, my addiction is to political news. Since waking up on 9/11/2001 to the image of the second plane cutting through the WTC, I now turn on the television EVERY MORNING while my eyes are still closed, my fingers finding the "ON" button without looking. My first thought being "I wonder if anything happened while I slept and dreamt".

There is always a moment of dread between the click on the remote and the tube coming to life. It's now nearly 7 years later and I am taking the first step by acknowledging my addiction. I just returned from a week in Hawaii attending a family wedding. Seven days with no TV. Seven days of not sleeping with the remote within reach. Seven mornings of hearing a rooster crow followed by hours of nameless other birds, these sounds replacing "Morning Joe" Scarborough or the ear-piercing screech of Pat Buchanan (does that M_____F_____ ever go home????). So, I went cold turkey. No news. (I confess, I did sneak a peak last Tuesday to find out the results of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries). Well, now I am back home. Woke up this morning, my hand instinctively searching for the remote where it fell as I fell asleep. CLICK....pause...dread... So, what did I miss while in Hawaii? After 7 days of no Cable News punditry... NOTHING! NOT A THING!!!!

Being hooked on political news is like being hooked on a soap opera, you don't miss much in a week. Hillary is still saying the race is close. Chris Matthews is still playing HARDBALL (the most misnamed show on TV, ok, maybe second to American Idol). Bill O'Reilly is still a blowhard schmuck mentioning Reverend Wright at every turn. I learn nothing. However, I did manage to catch a rerun of a recent episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Now here's the thing, as Jon Stewart's popularity grew there was much said about the younger generation actually getting their "news" from a spoof news show. At the time, as much as I enjoyed the satire, I did think there was something to be said about the limits of the information obtained on The Daily Show. However, Stewart's recent in-depth interview with former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Doug Feith is more informative than a full 24 hrs of 24 hour cable news. It is a must see for anyone remotely interested in how we got sucked into the stagmire* of the Iraq War. Jon Stewart stays focused, asks the follow ups, gently vigilant, not letting his subject bob and weave his way through the tough questions. Stewart's journalistic stint makes Chris Matthews seem more like Larry David's goofy cousin Andy on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM than a "Hardball" journalist.

The Feith interview is available uncut on The Daily Show website. WATCH IT!!!

ALOHA

*see previous blog entry