Death On Parade

So we finish up the Terri Schiavo death watch only to be plunged into the Pope John Paul II death watch. On cable, the "news" channels are offering a menu of all death, all the time.
With Prince Rainier possibly waiting in the wings to take over when the Pope expires, we seem to be in for a full season of celebrity mortality.
Meanwhile, I wonder how many children around the world have gone hungry while Americans' attention has been focused on the Pope's deathbed? How many elderly have suffered without medication? How many homeless people slept on sidewalks last night? How many political prisoners languished? How many were tortured?
Something tells me that the Pope would rather we be focused on these issues than on his bedside.