BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Every day that I read or watch the news - more of the devastating effects of Destructive Narcissists and their decisions & behavior are all around us. Lisa & I mention this to each other frequently. Sometimes I wonder, are we the only ones who see this? I have always believed that Britney Spears was the victim of a Destructive Narcissist (Kevin Federline). Federline is all about himself, comes off as the better parent, does all he can to keep his all-important 'image' pallatable - but I watched Britney's acting out after their split with horror and compassion. Shaving off her hair, drinking, possibly drugging, hobnobbing with paparazzi... Britney didn't know if she was coming or going it seemed. Her race from one personal train-wreck to another appeared to be a desperate attempt to run away from pain. Acting out is a hallmark of PTSD, can go on for months are years, and in my opinion - she had it. That desperate attempt to avoid the devastating hurt one feels wh...

by Sheila Gibbons The general election hasn't even begun yet but already we're getting early snippets of retrospection on the campaign coverage so far. In a look at the public's news interests over the past year the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that while women and men might not be on different planets, there's still plenty of statistical daylight between them. Women consistently express more interest in stories about weather, health and safety, natural disasters, crime and celebrity news. Men tend to be more interested in international affairs, Washington news and sports. However, men and women often express comparable levels of interest in the top news stories of the day, the study found. The presidential campaign, for instance, has attracted only modestly greater interest among men than among women. In five weekly news interest surveys in 2008, 37 percent of men and 32 percent of women say they have followed campaign news very closely. Inter...

MORE NEWS CHANNELS, LESS NEWS I used to be a news junkie. By the time I hit high school I was rivetted by the Watergate trials being televised and the Roe v. Wade trial. My friends couldn't understand that I really enjoyed the evening news. It made me think about the world outside of the small, oppressive little town I lived in. And somehow, I felt it connected me to the rest of humanity. But that's all changed. News is now slanted. Stories rise and fall in a few days with zero follow up. The public has a short attention span and big, smokin' ALL ABOUT ME attitude. Everyone's up for their 15 minutes or to cover their own ***. My father, of blessed memory, used to tell me it was the "hooray for me , scr*w you" attitude. He was so right. Nothing real gets covered unless someone up on the media food-chain approves it. Nothing. The news bores me now. It gives me sound bytes instead of facts. Its so blatantly downslid into some sort of sick tabloid-esq...