I often ask myself why certain headlines pass as news these days.

This morning, I went to CNN and came across this headline: "Doctor: Angelina Jolie gives birth to twins."

Now, I know the fact that Jolie has given birth to Brad Pitt's second and third biological children is important to some people. But it is a matter of national news? Every news outlet had this reported in big type at the top of their Web site. Yes, I'm thrilled that she and the twins are healthy, but my goodness! Women give birth to twins all the time; it's not that big a deal, is it? Even the mayor of Nice, France, signed the birth certificate and made a public statement. My guess is that the birth of the fifth and sixth Jolie-Pitt kids in his town was the biggest thing to happen there this century, so I can't really blame him for wanting to capitalize on it.

Anyway, I'm moving on from that.

Next up, we have a headline from this past Tuesday: "When Billy Joel met 'The Stranger'."

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm a huge Billy Joel fan, and I was thrilled that there was going to be a 30th anniversary release -- just in time for its 31st anniversary -- of the album that catapulted him to fame. Now, I don't really care that they got Phil Ramone to remaster the album itself. What I was looking forward to were the extras: a DVD of "The Old Grey Whistle Test" concert that aired March 14, 1978, and a CD of the Carnegie Hall show from June 3, 1977. I was lucky to get those from a friend, and I was thrilled to listen and watch them both. But a feature story about Billy Joel occupying the top story slot (upper left, with photo) on CNN.com for a couple of hours on Tuesday morning (the day of the CD's re-release)? I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. I mean, there was nothing wrong with the story itself, and I would've been happy to click on the link, had it been under the "entertainment news" heading. But I think there are much more important things going on in the world that are more legitimate top stories.

I could go on, but we'd be here all night. So, I'm going to leave it at that.

Oh, and a hearty mazel tov to Angelina, Brad and all the kids.