Gee, Cranky, I think the media blitz has been showing America at its best. It is building solidarity. It is making us forget the issues that used to divide us. It is helping us mourn. It is helping us formulate ideas about what we will do next. It has been reminding us of what is good about America. Internationally, it is building more support in other countries than we have had for years. If people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. are seeing it, I can't imagine it is doing anything but eroding support for Osama bin Ladin and the Taliban. (Does the Voice of America still exist? Does it reach them?) It is putting a human face on America, where people formerly thought of us as the Great Devil. It is waking people up who formerly didn't care what happened to us. It is showing people just how bad terrorism is. Those things are all good.

If you are in a hurry to get back to "business as usual" -- it's too bad that business as usual for you means watching so much junk TV. Maybe you ought to pursue "business better than usual."

But wait-- I have to qualify that. I note that you are remembering a time when you were 12 years old. That's significant. Kids are different. Kids are mostly unable to appreciate the positive effects I described above. Kids DO need "business as usual" to reassure them that life will go on. Parents with small kids SHOULD pursue business as usual to a certain extent. But for them, it's a shame, too, that business as usual might mean watching junk TV. So in that case, TURN THE TV OFF. Or if you have cable, switch to the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, the History Channel, Nickelodeon, Animal Planet, the Disney Channel, the Cartoon Network. Those are all pretty much sticking to "business as usual."

One more thought, Cranky: If too much of the truth bothers you, maybe you didn't come through your WW2 experience as scot-free as you think.