The home page on my web browser displays news headlines from the Associated Press, the New York Times, and CNN — as well as technology-related headlines from various publications. I thought it was interesting to see how the collection of 20 headlines from the three serious “publishers” of news fell into categories:

• 4 headlines related to the “real” news associated with Governor Elliot Spitzer’s resignation today.
• 3 headlines related to the prostitute with whom Mr. Spitzer allegedly had his assignation(s).
• 3 headlines related to the latest debate about Hilary Clinton injecting racial issues into the campaign.
• 1 headline related to a story about a young woman who sat on a toilet seat for two years, and then found she was stuck to it.
• 1 headline related to the price of oil reaching a new record of $110 per barrel.
• 9 other headlines related to various topics from the sublime to the ridiculous.

As someone who lives in New York, I was naturally curious to see some of the details about Spitzer’s resignation, as well as the details of the Lieutenant Governor who will replace him. But I really didn’t need to see the details of Ashley/Kristen’s MySpace page, nor the interview with her mother, nor the identification of Client #6. How long will it be before we learn the sordid details of all the other prostitute-ring members with single-digit code-names?

Meanwhile, the news that the price of oil has hit a new record seems to be ho-hum stuff that American citizens and government officials accept as inevitable. George Bush may not be aware of it, but at this rate, we really will be paying $4 per gallon for gasoline in a few more months.

Normally, I would spend the time and effort required to provide hyperlinks to all of the items mentioned above — I’m sure there are a few readers of this humble blog who are muttering to themselve, “Hey! What’s the URL for Ashley/Kristen’s MySpace page? I wanna go there right now!” And there are probably others muttering, “You gotta be kidding about that toilet-seat thing, right? Where’s the link to the article? I wanna see it!” Well, folks, you’ll have to do your own homework this time; I think there are more productive ways for me to spend my time.

Maybe after we’ve all gotten over the tawdry details of Mr. Spitzer’s indiscretions, we can return our attention back to that $110/barrel price-tag for oil — and start figuring out what to do about it. And maybe we can convince the political candidates to stop their bickering and mud-slinging, and start telling us what they would do to wean this country from its growing addiction to ever-more-expensive oil.

But maybe that’s too much to hope for …