(Please note that the clips in this post contain appropriately strong language and may offend some viewers)

Have you ever seen the movie, "Network"?

You should.

In the 1976 Sidney Lumet film, Howard Beale (Peter Finch) does something rare on television. He tells the truth. Not just bits and pieces and what will sell advertising, but the whole truth, as he sees it, about what the media is shoving down our throats. And if there was ever a time we needed a Howard Beale, it's now. Too bad his audience doesn't quite get it. Rather than recognizing his angry rant as an indictment of the ratings-driven media, he becomes entertainment for the masses.

So, what to do? We know what we're being fed. And not just by Fox News, which is fast morphing into a live-action version of the Cartoon Network, but by the rest of the compliant media as well. The've become so damned predictable, you can almost tell when the next fear-mongering news story about an unsubstantiated threat is coming up to hide one of Bush's policy misadventures, or when they'll fill in for a couple days with some missing person story, car crash or convenience store robbery that should be left to the local newscast. Hour after endless hour of "Breaking News" about some sensational story or other, with bits and pieces of other news interspersed, but mostly that, too, is for effect. How many stories have you seen on FISA, the Energy Bill, the S-CHIP bill? How about a story on who really supports the troops? (hint, it's Democrats). Or the WAR for that matter, or the fact that Cheney wants to start another war, or the possibility of a draft, or the newly signed Iran/Iraq oil pipeline agreeent? Go ahead. Google 'iran iraq oil pipeline' and you'll see news articles from India, Malaysia, Iran, UAE, Czech Republic and Oman. Add CNN or NBC to your search, and you get zip.

THIS isn't news?

Of course it isn't, when Bush has a wedding to attend this weekend, Chris Noth is returning for the Sex and the City movie (yay), and the big question, "Obama - black enough?" is still on the table.

We KNOW that a mine collapse, a bridge collapse and the collapse of a starlet's career is a tragedy (the latter to a much lesser degree). We know that on day one of the nonstop coverage. We don't need a week of it, so give us the story and give us an update, but quit circling like a bunch of vultures waiting for something to happen. And here's an idea to fill in the gaps: PUT SOME NEWS IN THE NEWS.

Do they think we're stupid? Do they think we don't notice that they spend a day or two, tops, on a story about real Republican corruption like Abramoff or Foley or Cunningham or Cheney or Ney, or the incompetence of Romney or Giuliani or McCain or Bush or hell, the list is endless, and weeks on end when a Democrat omits a pronoun? Have you seen a Democratic speech covered by the media lately? Isn't it more relevant to our lives to hear about healthcare or the environment or the war according to someone other than Bush, than about Lindsay Lohan's driving woes? Newflash for ya. Dems give LOTS of speeches. I've seen them, and they're pretty damn good, some of them. And they actually contain THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU. They make laws, too, about things that affect your life. Laws that Bush will veto, of course, thanks to the Roadblock Republicans in Congress, but they are out there trying.

Do they think we don't notice that Bush gets endless positive coverage when he manages to stumble through a speech without screwing up royally or offending some royalty royally, and yet NOTHING our Dems do is reported in a positive light?

The economy sucks, the Republicans in Congress are still bending over for Bush, the immoral war in Iraq is killing our kids, and the ones too young to go have no healthcare. The planet is being poisoned, the Vice President is shooting people, our phones are being tapped and our Constitution is being trampled on.

When will the rest of America wake up to the fact that we're losing our country? When their mortgages are forclosed? When their kids are drafted? When the climate crisis can't be stopped? Is that when people will finally realize that GEORGE BUSH IS NOT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

So, what do we do?