Oh Anna Nicole... Why did you have to die so young? Your skin was still so smooth, your breasts so large and firm. You were as thin as an anorexic teenage cheerleader. Your face was permanently molded into that camera-ready smile. Surely you were in good health.
But alas, it's true. Anna Nicole Smith has passed away at the age of 39.
Yet, as enormous an impact that her passing will undoubtedly have on the world, there is an even bigger story - that there is no other news today. Nothing else important happened. At least, nothing nearly so important as Anna's death.
CNN has devoted the day to her death. As I watch, reporters and news personalities are listening in their earpieces for updates and talking urgently every time there is something new to report. Giant "BREAKING NEWS" graphics are splashing across the screen. Scheduled guests on Larry King Live were booted instantly to make room for Anna Nicole Smith to be covered for the entire show.
They're not stopping there. No single human life will pass unnoticed. For the next 274 years, CNN will devote each and every day to one of the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have died because of the US invasion.
Let us just hope that the world can recover from this grave loss to humankind.