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Tricks and treats from your media ghoul

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: October 24, 2009

For a truly spooky Halloween costume, dress up as a nosy reporter. Scares the dickens out of some folks.

The goblins will get you: Is it just me, or is Halloween becoming more over commercialized than Christmas? Halloween stuff begins appearing in stores in August, for crying out loud. Next thing you know it will be declared a legal holiday and workers will get the day off.

Going up in smoke: Medical marijuana? What's next, medicinal whiskey? Therapeutic cigarettes?

Our health don't-care system: The health care overhaul debate should focus more on the proliferation of TV ads for prescription drugs. Patients often clamor for the latest, trendiest drugs, no matter how long the list of side effects or rigged research. Older, cheaper drugs can be more effective.

Reform, at the very least, should rename HMOs for what they really are - IMOs, or Insurance Maintenance Organizations.

Corporate cockroaches: Ah, yes, the corporate cockroaches are alive and well on Wall Street. That's what I now call these types like those AIG executives in 2008, who almost helped usher in the Great Depression II: The Sequel, eagerly took taxpayer bailout money and then rewarded themselves fat bonuses. Now comes word that executive bonuses could go up 20 percent or so next year.

Do I hear any nominations for the medical insurance corporations to earn this dubious distinction, too?

You are now entering ... the Urban Legend Zone: I still laugh about the time when my friend Tara told me the story about the woman who became deathly ill from licking an envelope because roaches had left eggs on its yummy adhesive. She said it with her best straight face, too, just to mess with my head. To this day I still check before I lick the adhesive on an envelope.

I got to thinking about that story when reading about the birthers' insistence that President Barack Obama's birth certificate was faked.

Methinks the birthers are now entering into that urban legend zone.

And I know some people distrust the "mainstream media," yet apparently they instantly trust the "facts" they get in chain e-mails from some far-out, nutso hate groups. Incredible.

Curmudgeon corner: As if "American Idol" isn't annoying enough with Simon Cowell, now Ellen DeGeneres will be a judge. Bring back Paula Abdul.

Someone in our newsroom who shall remain nameless - editorial assistant Naomi - suggested I despise "American Idol" because of my advancing years. And that would be - W-R-O-N-G.

I have a long history of despising overhyped crapola masquerading as entertainment "news," dating back at least to that blasted "Who Shot J.R." hysteria in the early 1980s from the "Dallas" TV series. Celebrity gossip and stunts might pass for news these days, but it just ta'int so! Stick that in your Twitter and smoke it.

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