"World Awaits Paris Hilton's Return"

The title of this post is actually the headline of an Associated Press article released last night.

CNN (Cranium Numbing News), has scored a real coup by scheduling an interview with the divine Miss Hilton for Wednesday night, when she will appear on Larry King live for the full hour. I can't wait to hear the pearls of wisdom sure to roll from her lips as she gives us her expert insights on the meaning of life and the quality of prison food. Larry King has no equal when it comes to getting the most out of a guest, and I'm sure that all of America will tune in for what will prove to be the best interview of the year.

Oh, I forgot to mention that in order to schedule the important Hilton interview, CNN cancelled Larry King's scheduled interview with Michael Moore, whose documentary on health care, SICKO, has received rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival and at sneak previews held at several dozen theaters last weekend. By all accounts, Moore's film is his best to date, full of humor and pathos, details the quality of the profit-driven health care system in the United States, and shows just how it compares to the health care systems of other industrialized countries. (The film opens nationally this weekend.)

The comparison isn't pretty. The health care industry has already begun spending millions of dollars to smear Moore, and to blunt the rising tide of outrage from the majority of people in this country, who are beginning to call for real reform, such as a single payer system and universal, portable health care coverage--something that won't ever happen unless the legislators in Washington become afraid for their electoral lives.

Anyway, after the Iraq war, health care is the issue of most concern to the American people,but CNN apparently thinks otherwise. They will play to the bottom feeders for rating points, because rating points affect their advertising rates, which affect their profits, which affect their stockholders and corporate bonuses, and what could be more important than that? I can just imagine the CNN producers deciding what to do-" Paris Hilton doesn't get out of jail every day, ya know, but we'll always have lousy health care to fill in when there's no real news ".

In fairness, I should point out that there really is a tie-in (sorta) between Hilton and health care. The health care in Paris, France is the best in the world.

Let's face it, CNN is in a race down the journalism/news ladder, hoping to knock Fox off of the bottom rung. With the Hilton interview, it looks as if they might just get there.