Of pop icons, beauties and politicians ...

We were just getting used to knowing the world was a little less glamorous without the golden locks of Farrah Fawcett. She is at peace now, after fighting her long battle with cancer. News of her death interrupted television shows mid-day Thursday. Before that, we had been discussing with everyone, anyone and no one in particular S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford's present predicament, loves lost, lessons supposedly learned from other 'fallen" people of money, position, influence and power. What's a state to do?

And then the biggest shocker came with the news Thursday that Michael Jackson had collapsed and was dead.

At the same time, there are still demonstrations in Iran and North Korean ships chugging away, getting ready to have "military exercises." Authorities are watching for signs they might fire missiles sometime before July 10 that could hit closer to home than we'd like.

The world is heavily indebted, one nation to another, with nearly all it's people, and businesses, everywhere spending money they don't have. It's a mess out there. We're all over leveraged and long ago over-hedged our bets.

In the midst of all that, there isn't a woman in America who was a teenager in 1976 who didn't want to look like Farrah Fawcett. There isn't a guy around who didn't have her poster and, well, just want Farrah Fawcett (the Million Dollar Man, among them). There isn't a person walking around today who isn't humming "Rocking Robin," "Bad," "Billy Jean," "I'll be there," "Beat it," or some other song made memorable by Michael Jackson. He lives in our heads and souls. His music and movements were sheer genius. As McCartney said, he was massively talented.

What a week for news! Who is to say what today will hold for any of us? Stay tuned. All of life is a soap opera. Will Sanford resign? Hmm. Will he move to Argentina? Hmm. Will Jenny ever return to Columbia? Why didn't Farrah marry Ryan? Why wasn't Michael satisfied with the way he looked? All fodder for our conversations.

Will the legislators in South Carolina let this governor run the state? Will Sanford resign? Sanford's political career in the state was doomed and rendered ineffective long before he became Governor. It's one thing to be elected from the state and go to Washington to represent us. It's another to try to break through a system that doesn't really need a top dog. The state's seniority system allows leaders to rise to the top in Columbia with their subsequent reelections.

Farah Fawcett used her dying days to document her struggle with her disease. That documentary, it is likely, will help raise money for researching a cure for cancer. Michael Jackson was dying to make a comeback. Sanford is, like the rest of us, stuck somewhere between living and dying. I wish him the best, given what he has to work with.

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