Maybe it's just me, but do any of you get the feeling that something funny is going on with the upcoming switch of our analog television signal to digital?

Due to a Congressional mandate that, beginning February 17th 2009, all over-the-air television broadcasts must be digital, if you have a TV that uses an antenna and is not hooked up to cable or to a satellite dish, you will need a converter box to be able to view any broadcast TV news or shows.

The reason for this has to do, in part, with the events of 9/11, that because of the need for more bandwidth for "public safety communications" like Fire, Police and rescue squads, there just isn't enough room in the analog signal that is designed for rooftop antennas or rabbit ears.

If there was just a few mentions of this problem at stores that sell TVs, I might not see anything odd about it, but the beating of the digital switch drum has become so pervasive and repetitive that I'm already contemplating pulling the plug and turning my TV into an aquarium.

There are movements out there that advocate far worse.

Perhaps actually destroying your boob tube is a bit extreme.

There are good reasons to watch the thing, if you're a fan of public television like myself and Mrs. Anthony, or if you only use it to watch DVDs or VHS movies.

Bruce Springsteen wrote a song back in the early nineties called, 57 Channels (and Nothin' On ) and I don't think things have changed much since then.

According to Bruce:

I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills

With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills

Man came by to hook up my cable TV

We settled in for the night my baby and me

We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn

There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on

Though we have refused to sign on for cable or satellite and still use an antenna here at the Organic Dog Ranch to get the local broadcasts, I have seen a few cable shows at the homes of others, enough to know that so far, I've made the right decision.

How many times can you watch "Sex in the City" or "Ice Road Truckers" before your head caves in?

Counterculture musician, composer and congressional thorn Frank Zappa had a dim view of the effects of television as well.

I remember hearing his song, "I'm The Slime" for the first time and thinking: Holy cow, he's right!

I am gross and perverted

I'm obsessed 'n deranged

I have existed for years

But very little had changed

I am the tool of the Government

And industry too

For I am destined to rule

And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious

But you can't look away

I make you think I'm delicious

With the stuff that I say

I am the best you can get

Have you guessed me yet?

I am the slime oozin' out

From your TV set

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission made the statement that consumers have not been given enough information about the upcoming move to all digital transmission in February 2009.

Big retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, KMart, and Radio Shack were officially warned that they face serious fines unless they display notifications prominently, next to any analog televisions, that on February 17, 2009, these sets will no longer function as designed, without the aid of a converter box.

These fines are set at $11,000 per day, up to $97,000.

Congress' conversion to the metric system in the 80s went well, don't you think?

Studies regarding the addictive quality of television have shown how the use of highlighted moments can keep the human survival instinct in high gear and thus, hypnotically connected to whatever is being viewed. Don't believe it? Think about how you feel when you're watching your favorite program.

Does outside stimulus begin to fade away until your become immersed in that show? Consider how many commercials are aired while you watch and wait for your show to come back on. Is it four, five, or even ten advertisements?

Have you seen advertisements that are aired, and directly following that commercial, it runs again? This is conditioning and without question, a form of brainwashing.

February 17th 2009 is the date. The media giants and even your government are not going to let you forget this, and so we have an opportunity to take back our autonomy, to free ourselves from the insidiousness of what Frank Lloyd Wright called "chewing gum for the eyes."

So should you go along with the government mandate to switch to digital TV, pick up that converter box and let the pablum keep oozing in? Or does Bruce Springsteen have the right idea?

So I bought a .44 magnum it was solid steel cast

And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast

'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet

And they busted me for disturbin' the almighty peace

Judge said "What you got in your defense son?"

"Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"

If you're wondering what you might do instead of watching the telly, there's this wonderful invention many of us have forgotten about.

It's all around us, can be educational and positively transforming and you only need the grade school skill you're employing right now to enjoy it.

You guessed it: Read a book.