With not enough John Roberts news to satiate their August-enhanced thirst for news. You want proof that I have less than zero influence over news decisions at the San Diego Union-Tribune (and therefore why I'm allowed to do this blog)? Look no further than today's A1 centerpiece. Unless I'm mistaken (which is certainly possible, but somewhat unlikely) the Union-Tribune hasn't sent a reporter to Iraq this year. But the paper does decide to send a reporter and photographer to Crawford, Texas, to cover Cindy Sheehan's media circus "protest."

The article itself isn't one-sided. It leaves out a few things I would've mentioned, specifically Sheehan's confliciting accounts of President Bush's behavior during their first meeting, her nutty insistence that the we invaded Iraq for the oil, and her claim that our troops in Iraq are committing war crimes.

But my real criticism is that this is a waste of resources. It's a waste of a reporter and a photographer. It's a waste of valuable front-page real estate. It's a waste of ink.

Courtesy of National Review's "The Corner," we have a very roughly similar parallel between Sheehan and another hero's parent who confronted a president. Only in this case, the hero was a Medal of Honor recipient, and the president was named Clinton.

Timothy J. Komada
Q: Apparently, at the eventual Medal of Honor Ceremony at The White House after the battle, one of the dead soldiers' fathers refused to shake Clinton's hand, rebuking him and stating that he blamed the President for his son's death. Do you recount that

Mark Bowden
A: I certainly will in the book. We may or may not be able to get it in the series, since that took place some time after the battle. That was Randy Shughart's father. MB

Mark Bowden is the author of "Black Hawk Down." I'm sure everyone remembers this incident, because it was plastered all over the front pages of major newspapers and was on all the major network news broadcasts.

Or maybe it wasn't.

I understand Sheehan's grief at losing her son. But she has turned her grief into hatred and made it "all about her." This isn't about her son anymore, it's about Cindy -- and that's the truly sad thing about this.