It would be wrong for me to say the war in Iraq is getting me more upset lately; I started out appalled by it, and it would be hard to see how that could get worse. But the death of Pat Tillman threw some things into a new light. I'm not a huge football fan and had never noticed the guy while he was playing, but I remember the story when he left football to join the Army with his brother. As much as I oppose this administration, this war, and military solutions in general, I had to admire a guy who put his money where his mouth was, especially given a million-dollar-a-year incentive not to. And then refused to talk about it to the press.

So now he's dead, and it would be only another sad story except the day after his death was reported I saw a headline that said, "Manning's Fate Uncertain." And for the briefest moment I thought, Wait, did Peyton Manning join the Army too and I didn't know that? Of course what the headline was about was which team Manning would end up on in the new season. And suddenly I was furious with the American public for buying into the bread and circuses and agreeing not to notice that we're fighting a war and people are dying daily. As long as we can drive our patriotic gas guzzlers and watch our patriotic football games, it's okay with us -- in fact, it's better -- that we're not allowed to see the photos of the flag-draped coffins coming back from somewhere most Americans can't find on a map.