It's been awhile.

Philoking has been neglecting blog duties for quite some time it appears. Life's been a tad out of hand and I've been trying not to rant over the same things that everybody else is commenting on. But alas, tsunami relief and the shortage of troops seem to be the topics to scribble about (to use Emerson's term).

From the pages of a now old newspaper -- Sandra Bullock gave $1 million for tsunami victims and on the same day it was announced that country music singer Brad Paisley made a donation to a skate board park in his home town of Glen Dale, West Virginia. Seems Brad's a skateboarder too and couldn't fathom the idea of not having a concrete skate park in West VA., a state that has not heretofore known such a modern convenience. Now that's a humanitarian gesture. Not being a fan of country, I don't know if ol' Brad's been singing about our war effort but it does beg the question as to why he and his other big hat wearing, country lovin', moral and God-fearing red staters aren't enlisting in droves. They aren't. It's called hypocrisy.

Of course, Bullock's donation brought a slew of commentary about personalities and publicity stunts. Brad's didn't, presumeably because he kept the amount of his donation secret (but press accounts put the cost of the concrete playground at $200,000 to $250,000, so we can assume it was a modest effort).

Maybe it's time we brought back the draft, including women. Can you imagine General Ann "Kill 'em or Convert 'em" Coulter leading the feared "Screaming Skanks" into battle? Now that would insure victory. How about Tucker Carlson's magnificent "Bowtie Brigade" kicking a little Iraqi ass? They could both operate on battlefield intelligence from Tom "I have a master's degree" Friedman. Even ol' Brad could get in on the action -- wearing his big white hat to let everyone know he's a good guy. If we had a draft, Ol' Brad would be eligible. I wonder if he has a song about dogs, pickup trucks, trains, jail and lost love? Maybe they'll name the concrete "Paisley Park."