Thank God the AP is ready for the 'biggest story of our lifetime'

Attytood: At the risk of sounding like Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," since the start of this decade/century/millennium, America and the world have seen a disputed presidential election that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court; the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, killing close to 3,000 people; military action in Afghanistan; an invasion of Iraq that has caused five years of misery, displacement, death and upheaval; saber-rattling with Iran and chaos in Pakistan; famine in Darfur; a hurricane and flood that almost wiped a great American city off the map; inexorable climate change; a crushing rise in energy prices, a plunging dollar and soaring mortgage foreclosures, the rise of China and India as world economic powers, and much, much more.

So I'm trying to get my arms around where this story places on that list...somewhere between 9/11 and global warming, maybe?

The Associated Press began preparing Britney Spears’ obituary within the past mnth, Usmagazine.com has learned.

"We are not wishing it, but if Britney passed away, it’s easily one of the biggest stories in a long time," AP entertainment editor Jesse Washington tells Us.

"I think one would agree that Britney seems at risk right now," Washington adds. "Of course, we would never wish any type of misfortune on anybody and hope that we would never have to use it until 50 years from now…but if something were to happen, we would have to be prepared."

I try to stay away from posting about topics like Britney Spears, as much as that might drive up Attytood's traffic count. But since the subject's been raised, if AP has enough spare journalists to prepare Britney's obit (which must be time consuming, considering her many accomplishments), maybe they could also investigate the ethical issues of obsessive, non-stop coverage by supposedly serious news outlets of a young woman who had a couple of pop hits at the turn of this century and now most likely is suffering from some level of mental illness, not helped by the constant presence of cameras.

It wouldn't be one of the biggest stories of our time, but I'd read it.