My Helpful Reader

Special thanks to a watchful reader, who, agreeing with my critique of the media, brought the following pair of supporting details to my attention:

First, on the subject of financial reporting that's more ridiculous than informative, a CNN.com article compared $8 billion to the following things:
"– A little over four years of domestic sales of Doritos.
– Approximately two-thirds of the annual gambling revenues in the state of Nevada.
– About three days of US oil imports.
– About a month’s worth of US cigarette sales.
– About ten months’ worth of US lung cancer treatment costs. (A worthy effort to be sure, but one that wouldn’t be nearly as costly if it weren’t for the cigarette numbers above.)"

I especially like the last two. Well played, CNN. You've moved from apple pies on the air to Doritos and a complete tangent in print.

Secondly, at one point during this financial meltdown, ALL TEN "Top 10" news stories on CNN.com had something to do with one or more celebrities (this has been uncorroborated by me, and would be hard to do so--even if it were 8 out of 10, I still think it would strongly support my arguments).

Hackery, thy name is American media! And thanks to my helpful reader for giving me more credibility on top of what I can only assume was an already prodigious amount.