I don’t know who these people are and frankly don’t care, but here’s my question: why are they upstaging the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and the fact that we’re destroying the planet?

Yesterday I happen to have lunch somewhere with CNN playing the White House press conference that was supposed to be about Obama’s announced 34,000 troop increase in Afghanistan. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs got noticeably annoyed when three different reporters asked him about the couple that crashed the president’s first state dinner, apparently because they like pretending they are rich and famous. While reporters hammered follow up questions about the potential danger to the president that their gate-crashing signaled, I wondered about the danger to democracy posed by such a shallow, scandal obsessed media. Of course, someone should fix the whole in White House security. I still fear for Obama’s safety and think the Secret Service should take this seriously. But is it really the top story? If the female gate-crasher wasn’t thin and blond, would we be this interested?

I am generally skeptical of conspiracy theories, but part of me wonders who doesn’t want us paying attention to the real news. Aside from the wars and the fact that the climate change bill is barely mentioned, has anyone noticed that part of the reason the dinner for the Indian head of state is important is that that’s where so many formerly US jobs are heading? No wonder reality TV star seems like the most promising career to pursue.