The $2.7 Million Dollar Question

Nancy Grace is back! Brian (and I) have been waiting...those of you who know me well, know that I am a news guru. I read everything I can get my hands on. I read the Maryville, St. Joe and K.C. papers online everyday, as well as CNN online. Why? I love to read, but find myself in need of a quick read, something I can skim to find what I want to read about and learn about. I have absorbed a wealth of knowledge this way. I'll admit right now, I have boycotted anything political...my rule was it is a 2008 election, and I don't want to hear about it until 2008. Well, now it is 2008, and it is all over the map and the news, yet I'm still not ready.

So what was going on in the news today? Nancy is back, as of last night, twins and all. Hillary was brought to tears on the campaign trail yesterday, and McCain appears to have come out on top in his party in N.H. They think Obama needs to change his slogan because people are getting tired of it. Some guy is taking a Mr. Potato Head to meet all the candidates, and is judging their character on how warm they act toward the spud, how receptive they are, how distant they seem. So what is your 2008 election strategy? Cellular One was bought out by AT&T! I figured it must be noteworthy, considering it made it above the fold on the front page of the Maryville paper this morning. St. Joe IS getting an Olive Garden...I had heard rumors, but missed the part where they already built it, and are planning to open in February. Dorothy Hamill has breast cancer, and hopes to return to skating in the next month. And the tragedy in Kenya is just amazing. Iranian boats provoked the U. S. Marines over the weekend. Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant at 16...oh, wait, that is old news, yet it still appears in the headlines. And what will we do if Zoey 101 is taken off the air? Britney Spears...well, that is a whole other blog, not worth my time to type. And don't even get me started on how everyone is feeling about Dr. Phil's meddling in Britney's mess! Some guy killed his girlfriend, then cooked her because "God told him to". I didn't mention anything about the poor and hungry of our world, because frankly, they didn't garner enough media attention this week. And some guy drove drunk the wrong way on a interstate and killed a mother and 4 children. And then came the news tonight of the murdered hiker, apparently alive for several days before being killed and decapitated.

I seriously wonder....about a world where there is so much hatred...about how a human being can be so talented, yet lack the love and support to really be successful...about how another human being can be so cruel and commit such an atrocity to another...about how our society in general accepts the fact that a 30 second commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl costs a mere $2.7 million...count the number of minutes of Super Bowl commercials and multiply. A few years back, Anheuser-Busch bought ten 30-second spots for the game...or why I have to dig so deep in any paper or news source to find anyone doing God's work.

So why the media-themed blog tonight? I guess it started when Brian was nearly brought to tears by the news of the Georgia hiker, what a senseless death. And the whole Super Bowl commercials...that kind of money could literally fund the research needed to find a cure for cancer, but by gosh, at least more people will buy Bud Light or Doritos or Coke or Pepsi. And the amount of money spent on campaigning?

Which makes Brian's plight that much more devastating. I have closely followed the theory that there is a cure for cancer out there, but that it will never be found because it is being suppressed by the pharmaceutical companies. Do I believe that? I'm not sure. But I do believe that a lot of red tape and political crap interferes with the chances for this research to progress at a rate acceptable to the human race. I do think that our priorities as a society and in the world are out of whack completely.

I wonder sometimes if this is the road toward the end, for all of us. When will God finally say, enough is enough. Or are the evils in our society eventually going to destroy our world? So I heard Nancy Grace, talking about the senseless murder of Meredith Emerson. And I looked at Brian and feel like he is being tortured by melanoma, just the same. Obviously, melanoma is on my mind; but I know there are so many other cancers that destroy lives, other diseases that render victims incapacitated and with no will to live.

So I'm going a little political tonight (I guess that is better than going postal). I want to know what our future president is going to do to make our country, our world a better place...not the highways, not the even the schools, but what about the things that matter to the big guy...what about the poor and hungry, what about the violence and what is he/she going to do about the 600,000+ lives lost to cancer alone each year. What is he/she going to do to promote God's work, to bring about the Kingdom of God? Is that even on anyone's platform? Shhh...it might anger the voters because religion can be so touchy. I don't know who I'll vote for; but I do challenge you to look for the candidates who will do just that, promote a country and a world pleasing to God. Maybe then, we could start seeing an end to the suffering brought on by these senseless tragedies.

Back to the Super Bowl numbers...$5.4 million a minute and in that same time frame, one person will die from melanoma. I have always believed that would not be Brian, and I work to keep that hope alive in my heart, as his health continues to fail.

My preaching is over for tonight. My head is foggy. Forgive my seemingly stupid comments tonight, yet I felt like posting. Brian has been sleeping all day, a little less than yesterday. He seems in a daze when he is awake. He is not eating. I gave him something for the anxiety right away this morning when the tears came, and I think that has helped. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.