This is what my $45 a year membership pays for? This is what you think is important &em; whether the cancer-riddled wife of my former Senator knew about his infidelities in 2006 or 2007?

It's obviously the most important story these days, after all, it's not as though:

• Millions of working Americans are living below the poverty level, slipping further and further each year
• America continues to spend more on healthcare than any other nation, while care continues to fall behind the rest of the developed world
• America nearly has a 3rd-world infant mortality rate
• Tens of millions of "insured" Americans do not have access to affordable healthcare
• Middle-class wages have stagnated over the last 30 years, while the top 1% of wage earners continue to hold an ever-increasing share of wealth
• U.S. schools continue to fall behind other developed nations, in math, sciences, history and basic reading comprehension
• Fewer than 80% of high school freshmen read at an 8th grade level
• Undergraduate college costs for a child born in 2008 is expected to surpass $450,000
• Manufacturing and textile jobs have moved overseas, due to the rising cost of U.S. labor compared to the steeply declining purchasing power of the U.S. population
• High technology and scientifically-oriented jobs have moved overseas because of the poor education of the U.S. workforce
• The U.S. is embroiled in two bitter conflicts with no effective strategic (or even tactical) methodologies
• Former senior-CIA officials have revealed that the Office of the President of the United States forged critical intelligence documents related to critical matters of national security
• At least one former top-CIA official has disclosed intimate knowledge of the deaths of U.S. Intelligence Officers and U.S. intelligence operatives, as well as the disclosure of at least a dozen ongoing into the oversight and illegal trafficking of nuclear materials and energy products due to retaliatory media leaks emanating from the Office of the Vice President of the United States
• A current Senator have been indicted for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in graft from government contractors
• A current Senator is linked to a massive prostitution ring in which the woman at the center died under mysterious circumstances
• The FBI is trying to pin the worst biological weapons attack on U.S. soil on a dead man who, according to colleagues, did not have access to the materials and equipment necessary to manufacture the weaponized anthrax in question
• The U.S. government colluded with telecom companies to illegally collect and analyze every single wireline telecommunication emanating within or destined for the United States
• The U.S. government is illegally detaining hundreds of individuals including children in a network of secret prisons, on both U.S. soil and abroad
• The "presumptive" GOP Presidential Candidate has taken hundreds of thousands in questionable donations, through bundlers, without anyone so much as batting an eye at such things as the manager of a Taco Bell donating $9,200 or an office assistant in Queens, who drives a 15-year old compact car dontaing $61,000 to McCain and the RNC.

I could go on with other hypothetical issues, but I've got real work to do...

So, yeah, Tom, inquiring minds want to know about the sexual infidelity of a former Senator who no longer has a political future, because it's obviously the most important issue facing Americans, these days.

The reason I chose to subscribe to Salon five years ago (and not just read the free, sponsored site) and have continued to do so is because I welcomed the concept of a media outlet beholden only to the facts and its readers and not the corporate sponsors, or its parent corporation's appliance division.

Taking my toys and going home won't have any effect on the tone and subject matter -- it simply removes me from the conversation.

Voicing my dissatisfaction with the article snippet in question, however, is topical and I think, given that I pretty clearly stated the subjects I'd prefer Salon work on, sufficient and effective.

The Edwards story reveals the tendency of the media to cover shallow, sensational topics that easily summarized and reinforce polarizing tendencies amongst consumers, rather than difficult issues of far greater import, simply because that requires imparting a functional level of knowledge to the audience, something that is far too difficult, given the 30-45 second (in this case 3-4 paragraph) length of modern "news" segments. It may be enough to critique the latest red carpet fashions, but it isn't sufficient for an intelligent discourse on topics of contemporary and future importance.

Edwards had an affair. It's not an issue germane or important to the national political landscape, anymore. He's not a Senator (and he was a pretty poor one, anyway). He's not a nominee. He's not going to be a cabinet member (that was over the moment he admitted the affair). He didn't perjure himself. He didn't falsify legal documents or intelligence. He's not your father, husband, brother, cousin, nephew or uncle -- it doesn't affect your life in any way and it's none of your business. Furthermore, his wife has asked that the media consider it a personal matter and move on. So why is it still being tossed about like a rabbit carcass between wolves? Especially when there are so many more important issues that affect far more than the lives of 3 people.