The Hot Sheets

Did you ever see the movie Men In Black? For those of you that missed that science fiction production, it's the story of a secret organization in charge of monitoring, licensing, and policing intergalactic aliens here on planet Earth. The reason I bring up Men In Black is that part of the movie involved investigating alien encounters, and the information source our hero's used was referred to as the "hot sheets". In the movie, the "hot sheets" included supermarket tabloids such as "Star Magazine", "The Mirror", and perhaps the best known... "The National Enquirer", and we discover in the movie that these publications offer the best source of investigative reporting about aliens on the planet.

For many years now, I've stood in lines at the grocery stores where the above mentioned tabloids are sold. Looking at the sensational headlines these periodicals show on their front page, many of the headlines seem unlikely at least, and a crazy fantasy at worst, though the information is presented as fact.

You should know that I really enjoyed Men In Black, but I never embraced the notion that grocery store periodicals were in fact "hot sheets" of information until today. I learned today that one of the biggest political scandals of the last year was originally reported by The National Enquirer more than couple years ago. Yep... The revelation that John Edwards had an affair and fathered a child that has come to light in just the last few days was originally reported in the fall of 2007 by The Enquirer.

So the next time you see some wild tabloid news headline, even if you don't trust the source, it may turn out to be true... or not.