I checked out a story on CNN's website and it led me to TMZ.com. TMZ, which stands for "thirty mile zone" (referring to a Hollywood rule for shooting movies/shows within the city) is basically operated by the paparazzi. Their website boasts that they were "Named one of the year's 50 coolest websites by Time magazine".

Now follow me: TMZ is owned by AOL, which in turn is owned by Time Warner. Time Warner, of course, owns Time Magazine and CNN. So basically, one division of the company is honoring another part. Kids, that's what we call "cross promotion". I used to view CNN as the most reputable news source. As they have grown and combined with other companies, they have relied more on sourcing their news from other places. To use TMZ as their source for entertainment news violates the basic principles these people should have learned from journalism class.

The news that broke this week about Heath Ledger is tragic and the media should have been careful about the facts they report until the details are clear. The Chris Benoit situation is a good example what goes wrong when you report on sketchy details; the WWE had serious PR damage as a result of their actions. TMZ's website today published a number of "facts" about the situation that they later retracted. Among them: his apartment was owned by Mary Kate Olsen, sleeping pills were "strewn" about the room, and that he was found naked on the floor in an awkward position. These reports were repeated through other media outlets.

While these details may seem trivial compared to the bigger picture, it is just one recent example. I remember during the 2000 election, Al Gore was originally named the winner of Florida. When I went to bed that night, they reversed that announcement and named George Bush our next president. Thanks to the internet and 24 hour news channels, news today travels in seconds. The media has got to do a better job of checking the facts and filtering out things that aren't news (i.e. anything Britney Spears does).

Now that I'm done with my rant, I want to move on to something more fun. The previously mentioned George Bush is pushing a $600 tax rebate check for all individuals to boost the economy. I will gladly accept the money and came up with a list of things I could do with the $600. I passed my finance course in college, so I am sure each of these would only cost $600.

1. Buy the Florida Marlins and the Minnesota Twins and turn them into the Tigers and the Red Sox respective AAA teams. This is more of an official name change than anything else.
2. Buy a dolphin, parrot, tucan, rhino, gorilla, zebra, and sea otter for Stacey. That should keep her happy.
3. Pay off all of the fans at every single MSU away game to cheer for State. Turning every away game is the only legal thing I can think of to help them win a national championship.
4. Buy Keifer Sutherland a full-time driver so I can watch 24 in the future.
5. Buyout the networks so I personally can cancel American Idol, Big Brother, any show that involving someone else’s wife or a nanny tell you that your family sucks, Deal or No Deal, any show with Drew Carey as the host, any show that deals with investigators who communicate with dead people, any and all CSIs, and Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
6. Contract the NHL to 20 teams, none further south than the Mason-Dixon Line.
7. End the damn writers strike!