A Room Full of Loo Loos

Last night, I sat down to watch Newshour and eat a frozen entree. I've been watching this program since I was in elementary school, so in spite of the horrors they sometimes report, I usually find it comforting. Last night was one of the exceptions.

Last night, Judy Woodruff interviewed a bunch of regular citizens about the Iraq war, and whoa Nelly! it was the worst buzz kill I've had in weeks.

Believe it or not, I often avoid stuff such as letters to the editor, feedback booths, call in shows, etc. I knew this Newshour segment was going to be was going to be especially bad the moment I saw some of the faces on the panel. So I surfed over to the "weird" public tv station, channel 35 (the station that broadcasts programs such as In Bed with Butch and Mississippi Public Broadcasting's I Eat Weeds and Trees), and tried to watch the French language news. When I could take no more Frenchness, I surfed back to Newshour, hoping that the town hall style segment was over. Big mistake. This time, I couldn't turn away. Watching the news in a foreign language with no subtitles was almost easier to comprehend than listening to some of the people in this panel.

I wish I could thank Newshour for knocking me out of my comfort zone and exposing me to different points of view, but I'm afraid it just made me want to slink back into the spelt bread enclave.