Star power fueled by sex, drugs and alcohol has America infatuated with a band of celebrities who are drinking and drugging and otherwise misbehaving themselves into the headlines.

Don't you know they make their mamas proud?

Meanwhile, back in Smalltown, USA, entertainers of the stage and screen have got a grip on our teens and pre-teens. These entertainers are making headlines for more than their music or acting ability. In fact, the headlines are about anything but their artistic talent - and that's what has much of the nation riveted.

Help me, here.

Anna Nicole Smith. Nice body. Becomes a Playboy Playmate, which does not require a college degree, much less a high school diploma. She marries a rich old geezer who could have been her grandfather. He dies. His kids don't want his money going to his widow. A legal battle ensues. Headlines follow, not only the tabloids, but in the legitimate press.

She keeps the presses running with various twists and turns. She turns up pregnant. Her adult son turns up in her hospital room dead. Then, in a mysterious twist, she turns up dead - leaving behind an infant who is uncertain as to the identity of her biological father.

The story has become increasingly sordid, to the point we're even being told Smith's body is decaying (and singer James Brown's is not - puh-leeeeeze!)

What I want to know is, why in the flying hell do we care?

If nobody had paid any attention to Anna Nicole Smith, she might have had to get a real job, marry someone for the right reasons, had kids she took care of and be in her kitchen cooking chicken-fried steak right now.

The stories of the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton are leading the American public around by the nose. Are we fools? Yes, we are.

We prove it every day as we remain riveted to the soap opera-like lives of the rich and famous.

Ask an average teenager who Nancy Pelosi is, then ask him who Anna Nicole Smith is.

My bet is that he isn't going to have clue who Pelosi is, but will be able to recite Anna Nicole Smith's life story.

We are a nation obsessed with stars fueled by sex, drugs and alcohol, and by that obsession, we are showing our kids that our heroes are dysfunctional celebrities.

Mamas (and daddies), don't let your kids grow up to be like that.