Done, Done, Done.

Done. Done. Done. Done. Done.

That's it. No more CNN. I quit.

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About 6 months ago they held a poll at my gym to determine what stations should be displayed on the TVs in front of the treadmills and stationary bikes. I was shocked at the results because Fox News beat out CNN by a margin of 3 to 1. ( Both are currently available for the treadmill runners, by the way. Fox on Monitor 2, CNN on Monitor 6).

Prior to that poll I was absolutely certain only lunatics got their news from Fox - at least that's what Jon Stewart implies. I never watched it but brief glimpses of Glenn Beck's unfocused ranting and crying seemed to confirm that something was seriously wrong in the Quality Control department at Fox News.

Maybe this is the case, maybe not.

I don't consider myself a slow learner and I feel I am pretty tuned in to how the world works. But I am very embarrassed to remember thinking "Well, CNN may not be the best source for news, but at least it's dignified and marginally less overtly biased than that clearly deranged network over on Monitor 2". To word it another way, if President Obama caught Osama bin Laden and personally ground him to powder for a functional, free cancer cure of his own invention, Fox News would complain about the color of the container it comes in. On the other hand if Obama wins, say, the Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing noteworthy whatsoever, then CNN would praise the awesome if speculative achievements that he will, of course, have in the future... based on iReports, I guess.

I get my news from multiple sources both offline and on. This way I can compare stories from a bunch of different sources, research facts, determine political leanings of the articles, etc. In addition I can go at my own pace which is about 50 times faster than the way the information dribbles out of the speakers of the TV or radio.

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I always avoid clicking on any links that have sensational sounding headlines that are tied to video links - I won't watch commercials if I don't have to. I have already mentioned that the best way to get me to change the channel is to tell me to wait until after the commercial break for an important update. In the rare cases the "pay attention to me" styled headline is too good to be ignored I still don't click on it - I go to Google News, do a keyword search, and scan the dozens of article headlines that come up until I either a) find a link that goes to a mainstream source that does not require me to watch a commercial or b) get all the info I need from piecing the headlines together without needing to actually read the articles or visit the sites.

I will also no longer be listening to CNN (or CNNHN) on XM Radio in the morning any more for two reasons, both ad related. The first reason is the Nancy Grace commercials where she demands that you watch her by saying "Don't make me issue a warrant". The second is Robin Meade's assertion that you would be somehow abnormal if you would rather listen to an alarm beeping than wake up to the sound of her voice.

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I guarantee you that I would cheerfully endure the most raucous buzzer imaginable than to be forced to listen to her awkwardly metered, lilting, permanently fake incredulous presentations of the "news". For those of you that watch HLN on TV, try listening to it with your eyes shut and focus on the transitions between the news articles. You can almost envision the words "OK, be sad" or "OK, now be wacky" at the top of the teleprompter before each article is read. And the fact that large numbers are expressed in unnecessarily dramatic holy-cow-can-you-believe-it tones is also grating (...the crisis could affect (dramatic pause) uh MILLION people!?!).

On a related note, the poll in the sidebar has been updated. I am extremely interested in your opinion.

The last straw was Lou Dobbs sarcastic, uneducated rant Thursday October 8th about NASA's LCROSS mission impacting the moon the next morning. The specifics of what he said are not important (you can probably find it on YouTube or similar) as the fact he was harshly throwing light on the fact he had no idea what he was talking about, but he was "agin it, dagburn it". I was disgusted. There was simply no place for that level of smarmy, insulting anger on a virtually 100% neutral-interest topic. Sure, spending millions on space missions might not be the nation's highest priority right now, but, Jeez, take it down six or seven notches, would you? And the fact that I know for sure he was out to lunch here puts a lot of other stuff he said in the "questionable" column.

I will be deleting CNN from my quick access buttons on DirecTV and on XM Radio. I will still hit the website as part of my morning routine just in case they start to get their act back together.

I will sort of miss Wolf Blitzer and especially miss Jack Cafferty (I love that guy... So angry!).

In the meantime, you can catch me on the treadmill in front of Monitor Two. At least I know for a fact that stuff is all garbage... They don't pretend to be anything else.

Besides, they might be right after all.