CNN vs. TMZ: The Battle of My Bookmarks

I woke up this morning to a 7 AM phone call from my best friend in Texas. This is pretty much a weekly occurrence because she can’t seem to get the whole time zone thing through her head and forgets that I wake up around 8:30 my time, not hers. Well, this morning was like every other; I just hit ignore and went back to sleep. When I did wake up an hour and a half later, I checked my voicemail just to make sure everything was O.K. “OMG! Lindsay Lohan is dummmmb!! She’s going to jail for sure!”

Okay… so as much as I hate to admit it, I’m a big Lindsay fan. I thought she was adorable in “Parent Trap”, I’ve definitely watched “Freaky Friday” more times than I’d care to admit and I loved her in “Mean Girls”. And even through her downward spiral, I was rooting for her; I truly hoped she could start clean after her latest stay in rehab. So needless to say, this brief (but alarming) voice mail prompted an immediate visit to TMZ.com and Perez Hilton.com to get all the facts on the latest Lindsay fiasco.

At the office, the kitchen was buzzing with Lohan gossip, all of us girls sharing the bits of information we had gathered in the short time we had been awake. “Did you see her mugshot? She looked like she was crying.” “Why’d she even wear the SCRAM alcohol monitor if she didn’t intend on staying sober?” “She was chasing another car! Crazy!”

Things settled down around 10:30 AM, and I sat down to write today’s blog, but first I needed a topic… then I remembered what I should have been talking about all morning: The CNN YouTube debates. Just last week, I posted a blog addressing young voters and the need for them to be more politically involved—and informed, and here I was debating whether or not Lindsay would be going to jail instead of who preformed better in the Democratic debates, Clinton or Obama? Pretty embarrassing…

There’s nothing wrong with following celebrity gossip, in fact it’s almost impossible NOT to. (A quick visit to CNN.com and AOL News shows Lohan photos and headlines predominantly placed on the landing page, competing with the debate coverage.) I’m just ashamed that instead of reading up about the debate aftermath, I spent my morning obsessing over Lindsay Lohan, a girl who, despite her signature flash of the peace sign, most likely doesn’t concern herself with politics at all. I mean, I even asked my dad his opinion on her arrest, and we always talk politics.

So, as a result of my humbling realization this morning, I decided I too am going to check myself into rehab, celebrity gossip rehab. I’m replacing my celebrity gossip bookmarks with real news sites and political blogs. There is a little over a year left before the next presidential election and I think when the time to vote rolls around, knowing the exact details of Ms. Lohan’s July 2007 arrest won’t really matter. Besides, we all know the Linds drama will continue for years to come…