Priorities

Here is the current list of "most viewed" stories on MSNBC as of 10:50pm central time tonight:


• The Price of Survival (talks about the cost of search and rescue operations on Mt. Hood)
• Blair to announce Iraq troop pullout timetable
• Britney Spears checks herself into rehab
• Boys prove boring on 'American Idol'
• Gambia's president claims he has cure for AIDS
• Spears' rehab stint is her second attempt
• Drugmaker stops lobbying efforts for STD shots
• Audit finds U.S. anti-terror statistics inflated
• Surgeons who play video games more skilled
• Britney Spears shedding more than her hair

Let's discuss this a bit. Three of the top ten "most viewed" stories are about Britney Spears. One is about "American Idol". One talks about how much it costs to rescue people who climb a mountain. Another talks about how a vaccine maker has stopped lobbying to have states require the HPV vaccine. (Don't even get me started about how they called it an "STD shot".) And also on the health front, our surgeons should be playing video games, and a modern day medicine man (who happens to be president of an African country) says he has a cure for AIDS.

Oh yeah.... There's this war thing going on in Iraq. In all the excitement over Britney, it looks like everyone forgot about it! Except for Britian which now has a timetable for troop withdrawl.

**********************************

I have a few stories I'd like you all to read. In all the "excitement" about Britney and Anna Nicole and American Idol, this type of information doesn't get enough air time or print space.

Wounded and Waiting

Soldiers face neglect, frustration at Army's top medical facility

The Hotel Aftermath

Yes, those stories are long. Not everything is packaged in a pretty little USA Today type snippet. But it is important that the stories do not get buried under troubled blond girls and lost weekend warriors. But when you're done, I have a couple questions for you - especially for anyone who has one of those "support our troops" ribbons or bumper sticker on their car. I want you to tell me, a) is our country REALLY supporting our troops and b) are you?

Of course, AFTER being publically blasted about this over the weekend, the Army is finally making some moves to fix things up. And some other folks are jumping in on the action as well. All I know, is that if any one of you went to visit a relative in a hospital room and it had molded tiles hanging from the ceiling, or dead cockroaches on the floor, or mouse droppings, or a hole in the ceiling of the shower so you could see the bathroom on the floor above, I'm sure things would get ugly pretty darn fast. And can you imagine having ALL of those present in one room? What a way to treat our wounded vets.