Sunday, Happy Sunday

It's the college dropout, his wife and the rock star.

Time Magazine opted for philanthropy as the theme of the year, and it is perhaps fitting for a calendar entry that has been marked by international catastrophe and natural disaster.

The magazine passed up Valerie Plame, J. K. Rowling, the Google guys and President Bush. Probably wise on all those accounts – charity beats each of their causes.

But the claim is always supposed to fall to the most influential person of the year – positive or negative; hence a list of former recipients that includes LBJ in '67 and even Hitler.

So why not give it to Katrina? And if a human body is really necessary, how about Ray Nagin, Kathleen Blanco and Michael Brown? Their incompetence cost an untold number of lives and helped ruin a city once counted amongst America's greatest.

Then again, maybe they aren't as interesting – after all, I am pretty sure they all have college degrees.