Blinked

Because the death of a disgraced performer with the face of a Disney character gone horribly wrong, the deaths of four Canadian soldiers- Master-Corporal Pat Audet, Corporal Martin Joannette and Corporal Nick Bulger (Master Cpl. Charles-Philippe Michaud died of his wounds)-went (with the exception of family and friends) largely unnoticed. There is no dignity in death, as there wasn't in life. Four men who gave their lives so that the Afghan people might have some normalcy in theirs disappeared in the mire of a media circus over a "man" who in his later years was noteworthy only for his extremely bizarre behaviour. When individuals of note disappear in the shadow of a celebrity, we know we've gone over the deep end. Whom should we would mourn: thoughtful, giving people people or a freakish, washed-up singer? One would think the answer was simple.

Iran, too, has been tossed under the train. An emergent revolution, another Tienanmen, has become forgotten because some chalky guy died. Where did the press go? Where are the stories of Iranians being beaten or arrested? Iran could be on the cusp of becoming a completely different state (though, not for some time, until fundamentalism completely disappears) but now such things are no longer newsworthy. The force the media had to turn these events into political realities has dissipated. Back to tyranny for the Iranians, I suppose.

The Russians have tried to convince the US that they were truly good people who longed for world peace. They've finally found a sucker: Obama. Russia, which backed (and still backs) North Korea and Iran, which has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which held eastern Europe hostage during the winter, which invaded Georgia last year and which still kills or imprisons journalists is now trustworthy and friendly. I wish Obama would tattoo I'M A MORON on his forehead. It would make things easier.

While the debate in Iran has died down, the crisis in Honduras has not. Why no one questioned Zelaya's actions or the immediate response from socialist wags still troubles me.

There are rumours that Kim Jong-Il will soon face his just desserts. What the next leader has in store for the Korean Peninsula is a mystery.

And finally, Governor Sarah Palin's plans to sue for defamation is scoffed at by various "pundits" but does it have merit? This isn't the case of a human rights commission attacking an editor for publishing cartoons but libel. Is Governor Palin under investigation by the FBI? No. Should so-called journalists report that as true, as they have done with so many other things? No. If she used the money to run for office, I would laugh my head off. So, mongrel bloggers and media, keep printing the rubbish you do. It might benefit someone someday, and not who you may think.