Have you noticed that the airwaves no longer carry informative, unadulterated news anymore? “Breaking News” has become the standard, thus all news is presented in an excited, almost breathless, tone. We at home now question the urgency of any segment, particularly when we discover that a cat previously reported as being lodged in a sewer drain has now been rescued. How would we sleep at night not knowing if this miracle had taken place?In a recent 10-minute span on our local TV stations there were three “breaking news” stories. One actually had to do with a cat that had become lodged in a sewer drain and then rescued through the diligence of firefighters. Oh, the joy when Tabby was pulled to safety!

Another breaking news segment informed us that British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s plane had just overshot the runway, but there were no injuries, nor did the 300 unnamed passengers on board realize what had transpired. Had Blair not been on board, we’d never have known that a plane had slipped a few feet off the tarmac.

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