Sully and Suleyman

As I watched WCBS television here in New York, I heard a brief promo. "Salute Sully, Monday at 5 a.m.!"

Americans are as dumb as dirt. Instead of paying attention to the debate in Washington about the stimulus bill, they are stuck on stupid, worrying about octuplet moms and airline pilots.

The economy is tanking fast and Obama and Congress are making thinks worse with an ineffective stimulus plan. Paul Krugman tells us. ". . . to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts." That is what we should all be worried about. Instead we are besotted with Nadia Suleyman and Chesley "Sully" Sullenburger

No one had ever heard of Nadia Suleyman until she gave birth to octuplets two weeks ago. It turns out she already has six kids, all conceived by IVF, and then had six more embryos implanted in her uterus. OK, that is pretty hardcore, but so what?

I don't know her, I won't be supporting her kids, she hasn't asked me to babysit, so I just don't give a damn. Many Americans do not share my lack of interest. First they were fascinated by the story, then they wondered who the mommy was, then they foamed at the month when they found out she was unmarried. She is the wreck at the side of the road that people claim they won't watch but instead slow down to gaze upon.

Speaking of wrecks. There was a plane crash here in New York a few weeks back. A US Airways jet lost both engines when they sucked in a few geese. Who knew? I thought the worst thing geese did was poop on golf courses, but I digress.

The pilot and co-pilot were forced to ditch the plane in the Hudson river and they did so without loss of life. Sullenburger and the rest of the crew deserve kudos for doing their jobs well, but of course our dumb ass culture and corporate media bent on getting ratings for broadcasting stupid crap won't leave the story alone.

CBS won the exclusive 60 Minutes interview and will be shoving Sully and company down our throats for the next couple of days. The Early Show will devote its entire Monday morning show to the US Airways story. The demand from the media is so great that Sullenburger, the pilots unions, the flight attendants union and US Airways all have their own media representatives deciding who they will and won't talk to.

We don't have the luxury of being distracted by this bullshit. There is not that much to say. The crew were skilled and lucky that conditions permitted them to land safely. End of story. Nothing to see here, just move along.

As for Suleyman, who cares that a weird chick keeps making babies when the nation is on the verge of an economic depression? Unfortunately, too many people care about things that are none of their business when things that are their business cry out for attention.

I will not be watching and Sully or Suleyman interviews. I will be watching Congress.