A great rant by my friend Lisa....

I always battle nausea when watching overblown television events like the Superbowl. Of course I had to watch it this year - c\'mon, what else is an iggles fan gonna do - but I always find myself squirming when confronted by spectacles like singing celebrities backed by blind/deaf students and an all-military-services choir.

We like to think we \"support our troops,\" that we care about those who struggle with physical handicaps, and that the good ol\' USA is all about celebrating diversity. So when the \'Supe rolls around, we bring \'em all on stage together for a treacly, feel-good display designed to make the average beer-bloated fan get a little misty about what a great country this is.

But we sent those same troops the folks at Bud applauded as they walked through the airport halfway across the world with insufficient gear and little planning beyond the (still awaited) embrace of the \"liberated.\" And face it - those blind and deaf kids were downright scary-looking next to the plastic beauty we\'re used to seeing on the TV. Would we be embracing them if they were really in our living room?

I know, I know - I\'m a dyed-in-the-wool cynic. There is a side of us that really does care about the differently abled and the men and women risking their lives on foreign soil. (My fantasy: printing up thousands of yellow ribbon magnets with \"bring \'em home alive\" printed on them and secretly replacing every \"support our troops\" yellow ribbon magnet I see.) But when the marketers of America unite in a billion-dollar orgy and use actual military and handicapped people as window dressing, it really sticks in my craw. Am I the only one?

Thanks for letting me vent.

Lisa