tonight's top story
Monday, Jun. 23, 2003 @ 8:32 p.m.

Yesterday I was in the staff room eating lunch. At first, it was yummy.

The television was set to CNN. I don't know why I didn't change it. If I want to be lied to, I buy a Sun. Yes, even though my reading level is somewhat higher than grade four. Yes, even though I don't read the comics.

So CNN. Covering a story about politics. More precisely, their story was to cover one political conference in particular, aimed towards capturing what was ominously labelled..."the black vote".

Ms. CNN, dressed in a classy navy suit with a miniature American flag stuck prominently on her lapel, announced the Republican candidate holding the aforementioned conference had called it because he thought the "black vote" would be the key to his win. He was to cover issues, she informed nobody in particular, which were of specific concern to the black population. She included health benefits, social security and human rights in her short and well-emphasized list. Her teeth were gleaming. Her suit, pressed. And I, choking on my salad.

These issues are also important to the 'white population'. And the 'Asian population'. And the 'Italian population'. But in fact no other population was mentioned.

None of the other populations got their own conference.

Ms. CNN smiled and her pin shone as she mentioned, in closing, that she saw the actions of this politician, as particularly considerate.

I was the only one who left the lunchroom with an empty stomach.