The Shawskank Redemption Courtesy of Al Gore's Current TV

The 8th of June, 2007, was the 1,500th day since 1 May 2003, on which our President of these here United States of America, one George Walker Bush, stood on the deck of the battleship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and declared to all and sundry that....

"Major Combat Operations In Iraq Have Ended"

And, for those of you keeping score at home, yesterday, 8 June, 2007, was also the very same day that combat deaths by US Servicemen crossed the 3,500 killed in action threshold.

You can look it up.

I don't know why, but I didn't see or hear any mention of those two facts anywhere yesterday.

3,500 dead in war over a course of 1,500 days is not all that big a deal, it works out to 2.33333 killed a day, which is nothing, compared to the casualty rate of our Civil War of the 1860s, (since Abraham Lincoln's name has come up, see above), in which, in a single battle, in a single afternoon, late in the war, that 3,500+ Americans were killed fighting other Americans.

And those 3,500 dead were on the Union, the winning side, of the battle.

As far as loathing the 'Cult of Celebrity' in America goes, you're welcome to your hate, and shit, but dude, it was ever thus.

Whose face is on the One Dollar Bill?

"First In War, First In Peace, First In The Hearts Of His Countrymen."

From its inception, The United States Of America has been, first, last, and always, about the cult of celebrity.

George Washington was a celebrity, Ben Franklin was a celebrity, Jimi Hendrix was a celebrity, Jackson Pollack was a celebrity, FDR was a celebrity, Thomas Edison was a celebrity, Steve Jobs is a celebrity, Al Sharpton is a celebrity.

Celebrity.

Celebrity.

Celebrity.

Celebrity in America is the engine that drives the train of our culture.

When Clark Gable appeared bare chested on screen in Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" sales of mens white cotton T-Shirts plummeted.

When Monica Lewinsky was mentioned to be a thong wearing gal, sales at Victoria's Secret's lingerie section skyrocketed.

Without celebrity in America, not a damn thing would happen here, so you're welcome to condemn celebrities all you want, but without them, where do you think we'd all be?

More insightful commentary like this here.