Appalling priorities

There are men and women fighting and dying in a country far from home under circumstances that are controversial and that matter greatly to all of us, but most of all to their families.

Congress is gridlocked in the disturbing self-serving maneuvering of politicians who are more interested in preserving their positions of power than they are in serving their constituents or their country.

A criminal trial is being conducted with implications for the man next in line for the highest office in this land.

And what is not only the lead item on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but is considered worthy of almost a full quarter-hour and the contribution of no fewer than three guest commentators?

That’s right, the death of a woman who, to paraphrase Attywood,

"…took off her clothes for a men's magazine for a big payday, worked as an exotic dancer and married a billionaire customer who was 63 years older than herself. She spent most of her adult life pursuing that billionaire's estate in courtrooms from Texas to Washington, D.C., recorded her life for a reality TV show, abused drugs, and gave birth to a child whose paternity is the focus of a legal battle."

This is a woman who appears to have spent her entire life in the single-minded pursuit of the self gratification and the satisfaction of her more base appetites, who appears to have never given even the most fleeting thought to serving any needs other than her own.

It is appalling to me that our media, commentators who refer to themselves as news persons, would even discuss the end of such a meaningless life, much less make it a lead story, much less devote more time to it than to all of the matters that I referred to in the beginning of this post.

Anna Nicole, Paris, Brittany… Women who have never done one single worthwhile thing, but who wallow in the adulation of the news media and stand in front of the cameras posturing like prostitutes in the window of an Amsterdam whorehouse.

And national news is after the commercial break.