I hate the news when elections are near
Ugh. I’m actually interested in hearing about what they’re finding out about the Amish schoolhouse murders, the Turkish plane hijackers, and (if you can find mention of it in the press at all!) Ramadan rioting in France and Britain. But all you ever seem to get is this obnoxious Foley coverage. I’m not apologizing for the man–what he did is sick and he deservedly resigned and should probably face charges along with whatever self-imposed “recovery” he goes for . . . but I don’t want to hear about it any more. That’s not news, that’s political navel-gazing. Even some of the sites that I enjoy reading normally have congealed around this disgusting display of human nature at its worst, and I am glad that I’m not going to be around here in the States for the worst of it, the rest of this month.
I have found this before–sometimes I can watch the news for months, but predictably a month or two before a big election, the news channels become nearly unwatchable, filled as they are with partisan items and intense scrutiny, analysis, and re-analysis of every questionable thing that any political figure has done or said. I don’t even like it when they’re gathering like vultures around political figures I despise . . . it just seems too bottom-dwelling for me to want to linger there.
Add to that the fact that I need to remain somewhat detached from the new TV season starting up, because I’m not going to be able to follow the shows this year, and it makes for arid evenings. Well, only a week or so more of those to worry about–and then I’ll be worrying about a whole new set of things, like adjusting to life in a war zone. 
However, because I haven’t been able to detach myself entirely, I have to make a plug for two new series that I’ve discovered. Heroes on NBC has all the fun of all the superhero movies that I’ve enjoyed for the last few years, with a little bit of mystery and the nagging question–when are these people going to find each other and figure out what they need to do? And, for all the threat in it seems a little Cold War-outmoded, Jericho on CBS is an intriguing look at how people might deal with a horrifying catastrophe. OK, I’m a sucker for disaster movies, so maybe this is also a predictable choice of mine. Anyway, here’s hoping that both of these series are popular enough to come out on DVD next fall so I can watch them that way! Actually, both networks now allow you to watch full episodes online, which is really cool, but I’m not sure if I’ll have a fast enough Internet connection to do that overseas. Sigh.
