Almost 4,000 dead [Update: 10,000]

To help keep things in perspective: the devastating cyclone in Southeast Asia is believed to have caused almost 4000 deaths. This one event is responsible for as many deaths as the United States has suffered in five years in Iraq. Keep that number in mind when the US media are constantly obsessing over domestic issues, like the latest sound bite from Obama or Clinton.

Update: Now the official number is approaching 10,000 dead, several times the death toll on 9/11. Hundreds of thousands are homeless as well. Right now I turn on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and what do I see? Nothing but ever more rehashing of the Rev. Wright controversy. Give it a rest, people - there are people in the world other than Obama and Clinton!