I saw this in the news and instantly thought of Boomsday by Christopher Buckley. If you’ve read the 2007 novel, by the author of Thank You for Smoking, you might have thought the same thing.

I grabbed the book via B&Ns bargain section just a few weeks ago so it the book is fresh in my mind. I let it sit in my “To Read” pile for a while but now that I’ve started I don’t want to put it down. It is good stuffs.

If you haven’t seen the 2005 movie adaptation of Thank You for Smoking, you should. Here is the trailer for starts:

No matter high of a pedestal we put them on (even if it is so high that they are immune to child molestation charges), they do eventually tumble back down to planet Earth plus six more feet. I know MJ was kind of a big deal like 15 or 20 years ago, but come on…

It was reported that at least a dozen fans who were Whacko for Jacko decided to join him in the happily ever afterlife. Or how many people joined MJ related social networking groups after he died? Or people running out to buy albums like they can’t make more now that he’s in a bag. Seriously… If you didn’t care enough to buy the music or join a facebook fan page when he was alive, why now?

I don’t understand the celebrity worship, not even on a small scale. It’s almost like people have to inject themselves into something so they can claim a little piece of history. Speaking of that, go to twitter and check out the recent twitter trend of posting your #lameclaimtofame.

Vice President Biden said yesterday not to fly on commercial flights and that he wouldn’t ride the subway or go to school (he specifically mentions “classroom”). Avoid confined spaces, blah blah blah.

Oh, and speaking of class rooms… A school about 30 miles from here closed early and sent the entire district home at around noon because a child had flu like symptoms.

The whole issue has gotten a little bit silly. It’s gotten so crazy that people went back in time and made couple of terrible commercials warning of the importance of protecting yourself with a swine flu shot. Oh yeah, and those shots in the 70s killed more people than the swine flu killed…

And if you didn’t see Biden telling America to not fly or ride subways, you can here:

The truth is (according to the CDC) “Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and; about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.” Here is a video from Dr. Ron Paul about the evil swine flu. I’m guessing he got a kick out of VP Biden’s advice to the nation.

I just think everyone wants a panic. Maybe they are hoping for a Mad Max or Diary of the Dead situation? It’s almost as bad as wanting for the End Times. Oh wait, I forgot… The swine flu is part of End Times. He told us not to eat the pork. Damn us all to hell!

Update: Joe Biden induced panic has officially hit the airlines. Yep. A jet with more than 260 people onboard including the crew was diverted from DC to Boston because one passenger told flight attendents about her flu-like symptoms. The one passenger was tended to by paramedics and then the plane delivered the rest of the passengers to their destination.

Since the other passengers would not yet being showing symptoms, I guess the flight eventually making it to DC means that someone grounded that plane over irrational hysteria. Otherwise all the people on the flight should have been checked out or treated.

On the 21st, a 52 year-old stripper was assaulted with a shoe. I can imagine that things probably get a little out of hand in strip clubs so the stiletto attack didn’t shock me. What I found disturbing is that the stripper was 52 years-old… Even though G-String Granny might be a catchy stage name, I don’t know that it will bring in the bucks.

Fast forward to last night. Tuesday again in the rubber capital of the world… No, not “rubber” as in a condom. I think they are referring to tires. Anyways, it’s was Tuesday so that means it’s time for another disturbing strip club story. This time it’s about a police raid on a strip club that employed a 14 year-old topless dancer.

I personally have nothing against strip clubs, but these clubs don’t say much for the people of Akron. You have 38 years between in age difference between these two strippers. It makes you wonder if they were related and maybe if mommy had Tuesday nights off? Nah, that can’t be it. Everyone knows that even though stripping is genetic, it is known to skip a generation.

I can’t wait to see what news next Tuesday night brings about Akron strip clubs…