This just in: Anna Nicole Smith is still dead

Yeah, I know. I am sure someone beat me to that reference to the old SNL Franco line, but I couldn't resist.

First of all, it's a terrible thing when anyone dies at such a young age, but I think I heard less about President Ford's death than this ex-stripper, model and alleged actress. Yesterday, the Indianapolis Star had no less than four stories devoted to her on its web page nearly a week after her death.

Who cares who she was sleeping with or what she did with the Bahamian minister? There are wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, a near civil war in Lebanon, disarmement talks with North Korea, a crisis in Darfur, in Chad, and if you want to know anything about these real stories seek out the BBC or any foreign media.

I know I am.

Update: It's rare that I agree with a WSJ editorial, but this is worth noting:

"Breathless commentators these last few days have likened Anna Nicole Smith--whose untimely death, like her much-observed physique, was not the result of entirely natural causes--to Marilyn Monroe. This comparison is preposterous: Arthur Miller, who married Monroe, would have had little time for Ms. Smith beyond the obvious dictates of chivalry. It would be hard to imagine Ms. Smith courted by contemporary playwrights either, and not just because so many of them do not, as it were, handle women well."