Do you know who Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert are?

Can you tell me who the current secretary of state is? Or who the Defense Secretary is?

I bet not.

But I would place money on the fact that you could name me at least two celebrities who are pregnant, the latest color of Britney Spears’ wig or the name of the diet that Jessica Simpson is currently on.

We are pretty pathetic my friends. According to an article in the New York Times, today’s youth is not news savvy. We don’t watch the news like our parents did when they were our age because we have more than one TV in our homes. When our parents are watching about peace talks in the Middle East, we are watching Engaged and Underage or Entourage.

When our parents are reading the Times or USA Today, we are reading Us Weekly or In Style.

When our parents are surfing CNN.com or watching a clip of Barack Obama’s speech on YouTube we are perusing perezhilton.com or watching the clip of LiLo snorting cocaine.

In fact, in a recent survey, only 16% of 18-30 year olds said they read the newspaper on a daily basis.

Today’s current affairs really need our attention as what happens today will most certainly affect our futures (so cliché but true). With a political race starting, the threat of terrorism affecting us on a daily basis and the attempt of peace talks in the Middle East, it is time for us to focus less on the fact that Dina Lohan is getting her own show and more on the fact that we can do something to help global warming or find a way to get involved in the new political campaigns.

I love celeb gossip and fashion just as much as the next person (probably even more so) but after reading this article, I realized that while I can rattle off the latest fall fashions and celebrity news, I am pretty embarassed about my lack of knowledge of current national/world news and politics.

So let’s change that! Click on the links above, grab a latte and read up! Now you can impress your professor, your parents and even that cute guy in the bar. It is possible to know about both poltics and Paris.