The following is a guest post from a veteran journalist, who also happens to be a reader of this blog:

OK – have we all gotten over the homely Scottish woman who can sing well? How about the brouhaha over Miss California and Donald Trump and whatever it was that she said that riveted a spellbound nation?

Good. I figured as much. These media creations flamed out about as quickly as they flamed on here in ADD Nation.

Now can we move onto something really important — such as what’s going to supplant Twitter as the NBT (that’s Next Best Thing, for all you folks who actually like to see words spelled out to maximize clarity and avoid confusion. And that was Attention Deficit Disorder Nation in the previous paragraph, as if you didn’t know.).

I mean, c’mon, Twitter is so half-hour ago, for crying out loud. For one thing, the name is just too long. For another, how the hell are users expected to use all 140 characters per Tweet? Do the Twitter-meisters think we’re a nation of Faulkners, Mailers and Joyces?

You can expect to see the NBT coming to a cell phone or other wireless driver- and pedestrian-distracting electronic device faster than you can say Susan Boyle. And I already have a name for it: Blip.

That’s right, Blip. It’s faster than Twitter. For example, it has only one syllable, which is an important consideration in ADDN. Each dispatch is called a Bleep, with the sender – or Bleeper – Bleeping, which gives the technology an edgier feeling than Tweet, Tweeter or Tweeting, which, face it, sound so ornithologically cartoonish (you know, “I taught I taw …”). And, Blip has only 70 characters, to maximize speed and minimize meaning, which seems to be the whole point of modern telecommunications.

But hold on. Blip isn’t even out yet, but it’s already so … last paragraph. Which brings us to the NBT faster than you can say SB. It’s It, which has that great “information technology” connotation, plus it’s It, too. Get It? With a name half as long as Blip, it (or is that It?) has only 35 characters, and its (or is that It’s?) dispatches are called, simply and appropriately, I. After all, that’s where all this fabulous technology is apparently leading: sating our nonstop, 24/7 compulsion to tell the world about, as George Harrison put it so succinctly 40(!) years ago, “I, Me, Mine.”

BTW, 35 characters are enough to sa

How much corn do we eat in a day? The answer is elusive, at best. For the past 2+ decades, the corn industry has been taking over our food supply. At first it was seen as a cheap and viable way to produce the things we eat. Recently, corn has entered almost everything we eat and changed from an additive to a main ingredient. In addition, the corn industry is unlikely to be holding the reins of government and food production as much as it did 20 years ago. Today, that job sits squarely on the large food production companies. Sure, the corn industry still receives massive (I mean MASSIVE) subsidies to grow its crop. In fact it would probably be a money-leaking crop without the help of our tax dollars. But the fact that corn is in absolutely everything we eat and involved in every step of the process to “create” food, tells you of its continued importance. The companies that produce the vast majority of our food now hold more power than perhaps the defense industry… Think about the effect this might have on you and your family…

This past weekend, NOW on PBS aired an interview with the director of a new food documentary entitled, “Food, Inc.“. Robert Kenner made for a good interview subject and I’m looking forward to watching his film (you can watch the interview below). However, seeing this interview reminded me yet again of how little has changed. In 2003, Peter Jennings reported in an hour-long investigative piece on the food industry. “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying” was an incredible look into the food industry and how, without public knowledge or consent, the industry has hijacked our food supply, as well as the lawmakers and regulators who are supposed to watch our backs. Towards the end of Jennings’ piece, he asks if something can be done to change the legislative atmosphere that allows for so much of this insidious behavior to go on…

If you care about what you are putting into your body and about the future for your children, then I would suggest watching three films:

1) “Food, Inc.” – Although I have yet to see it, I’m sure from this interview with Robert Kenner, that it will be worthwhile and factually correct.

2) The ABC/Peter Jennings’ report, “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying” is probably the most in-depth and insightful look at food I’ve seen yet. It superbly explores the politics, money, marketing and public health aspects of what we eat. I have included the report below.

3) “Food Matters” – Another in-depth documentary on food, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to scare the crap out of you (and there is plenty of it in this film), the points made and the facts discussed are very worthy of discussion.

After reviewing these latest reports on the food industry (Food, Inc. and Food Matters), let’s revisit Peter Jennings’ question about change. Has anything changed since 2003 when he first reported on this subject? Perhaps, but I doubt it has changed for the betterment of our health.

Here is the NOW interview with Robert Kenner, of Food, Inc.

Here is Peter Jennings’ report entitled, “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying,” broken up into five parts.

After almost three weeks spent flying and driving around the globe (it felt like I almost drove as many miles as I flew), I’m back to the computer and seeing what’s what with the world. Well, from my little corner of the earth, this is the only news that is fit to print for today:

Conservatives Warn Quick Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays, Marriage

I know it is hard to believe, but I think we have found the answer to the US auto industry’s troubles:

Autoworkers Compete to Keep Jobs, Livelihoods on New Reality Show

The Soviets would be proud. Central American dictators of decades past would be proud. Dictators the world around have nothing on what our government is capable of in corrupting the basic principles and foundations on which this country was founded. Many times before I have written about Don Siegelman’s case. You remember, the former Democratic governor of Alabama who was indicted, convicted and jailed in a case so full of holes, you could fill the Albert Hall. (Siegelman is currently free on bail pending yet another appeal, meanwhile Sen. Ted Stevens’ case has been dropped by the Department of Justice; for prosecutorial misconduct.) From the look of things, Attorney General Holder could spend the entirety of Obama’s first term just reviewing prosecutorial (and judicial) misconduct in political prosecutions over the last 8 years.

A group called “Project Save Justice” has created an hour-long film entitled, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove” detailing the prosecutions of hundreds of people around the country based almost completely on political affiliation and involving dozens of corrupted prosecutors and judges. The film shows how widespread this problem became throughout the Bush years and how the actions of the parties involved have created a calling card of sorts for Karl Rove. The politicization of the Justice Department is a scary, scary prospect and it is not fiction. This stuff happened and real peoples’ lives were destroyed because of how they voted. You can watch the film below, which includes commentary by Scott Horton, a professor, civil rights attorney and editor for Harpers Magazine.

Horton describes how the mainstream media was used in many of these cases to convict the target of an investigation in the court of public opinion often before prosecuting the case in court. This PR game is nothing new, but when case after case shows the systematic use of the media by the prosecution to try and convict, something is seriously wrong (actually, this is a crime). Innocent people are in jail or even worse, dead because of these prosecutions and save for a story here and there about the most vocal victims of this campaign (i.e. Gov. Siegelman), the mainstream media has remained silent. I knew political prosecutions had become more widespread over the last 8 years, but I had no idea how widespread. But this is precisely why often low-level political activists in the Democratic party were targeted… Sensationalism in the media is what sells and only on a hyper-local level will the prosecution of a state legislative fundraiser be reported. Actually, you are more likely to find 10 minutes of your evening “news” broadcast dedicated to the latest health scare (remember Anthrax?) or the price of gas, then a report on innocent member of your government being sent to jail because of how they vote.