These celebrity deaths do seem to come in threes. On Wednesday, it was Ed McMahon. Yesterday morning, it was Farrah Fawcett. Yesterday afternoon, Michael Jackson.

While much airtime and newsprint will be expended on the death of Michael Jackson, more important things are going on, such as the crackdown on protesters on Iran, the efforts of Iranian opposition leaders to come up with a strategy for dealing with the regime, and North Korean threats of nuclear war.

Still, I can understand why people care more about the stories they can relate to, like the marital infidelities of politicians. Some believe such indiscretions should not spell the end of a political career. Others wonder why these politicians have no shame.

Simon Jenkins believes President Obama is headed for disaster in Afghanistan by following the Johnson pattern in Vietnam. Jenkins may be correct about the folly of attempting to "win" in Afghanistan, but it will not be the political disaster that was seen during the Vietnam War. What Jenkins, and others who share his belief, cannot understand is that the Vietnam War was a domestic political disaster because of the relatively heavy casualties suffered by our military which was composed of draftees. The anti-war movement was propelled by a wave of young people in the streets and on the college campuses because of the real, personal danger they faced. Today, no one need go to fight and possibly die in Afghanistan unless one volunteers for service. The anti-war movement of the Vietnam War Era died when the draft was ended. I believe that today, since there is no draft, and the level of casualties is very small, and press coverage is minimal, President Obama can fight the war in Afghanistan for as long as he wants.