One of the great mysteries of life next to why Paris Hilton is a celebrity is why anybody cares what celebrities have to say. I would never be one to demand that celebrities should not be allowed to use their celebrity to promote whatever position they believe in. The people in question are after all American citizens and it goes without saying that it?s their right to speak their minds (and of course for all of you out there with weak minds I have to put that in as a disclaimer). Where the issue comes in for me is, why does the media spend so much time covering what celebrities say? Does it really matter to you that Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte slam President Bush relentlessly while gallivanting around with enemies of the United States like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Is it important for us to know and be presented with news reports that actor Richard Dreyfus thinks President Bush should be impeached? Do you find a great impact being made in your life because Michael J Fox has interjected himself in the 2006 elections? For me the answer to all these questions is no. I really couldn't possibly care less where any of these people fall on any of a wide-variety of issues. I mean are the thoughts of those who pretend or otherwise entertain for a living really so pertinent that they deserve top billing on the public airwaves? I've always wondered what qualifies someone to be taken seriously to the point that the media will follow them around and broadcast what they say. Take the recent mini-furor over Rush Limbaugh?s criticism of the pro-federal funding of embryonic stem cell research political advocacy commercials featuring a Parkinson?s disease ravaged Michael J Fox. Why does what Rush Limbaugh say - or what Michael J Fox says - matter to the point that every major news outlet devoted significant time not only reporting on it but bringing in so-called experts to render commentary about it? Michael J Fox is making an ad promoting (inaccurately, I might add) an issue he believes in. He?s exercising his free speech rights by supporting political campaigns of candidates that support those same issues. Good for him I say. But so is Rush Limbaugh, and whether you agree with what he says or not, he has just as much right to say what he said as Michael J Fox does. Or for that matter what the Dixie Chicks say. Recently those three lovely ladies are back in the news with a new "documentary" Shut up and Sing, chronicling their experience in the aftermath of lead-singer Natalie Maines March 2003 criticism of President Bush while on stage during a concert tour in England. Her comment that she was "ashamed" that President Bush was from her home state of Texas precipitated an angry response by many country music fans and Bush supporters. Country music stations refused to play their music and people staged at least one demonstration featuring the destruction of Dixie Chicks CD's. Maines issued a public apology later that year expressing the idea that in spite of her disagreements with him, the President was owed respect by virtue of his office. In May 2006 she retracted that apology stating, "I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever". While this conjures up images of a Nancy Sinatra parody ("These boots are made for walkin, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you") it hardly places Natalie Maines on the roster of a modern day Profiles in Courage. As if it wasn't enough of a waste of our time to have to listen to Natalie Maines opine about American politics and be given press coverage as if she's some kind of a seer, now we can go to the movies and see her in her best rendition of Michael Mooresque kabuki theater. And so this gets me back to my original point: why should you give a crap? The answer is, you shouldn?t. You can certainly do so if you want, but you'll probably find a more productive use of your time watching cheerios get soggy. Obviously celebrities by their very nature will always be seen as an interesting feature to cover by the television and print media. Which is either a testament to how ridiculously bored we are with ourselves? or how utterly lazy the mainstream media is. I'm betting it's a little bit of both.