In a culture where being famous for being famous is good enough, why not Kim Kardashian, or other well-known people like her for the top jobs in government?

Famous-for-being-famous people are probably at least as qualified (and a lot richer) than some of the people who head federal departments and agencies, or represent us in Congress.

Famous-for-being-famous people are usually a lot better looking and more charming than your average politician. And this means no disrespect to Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell. Both are senators from some place. Truth to power!

If being married, even briefly, to Brittany Spears — as we all know was Kevin Federline — doesn’t qualify someone for higher office, like director of the FBI or administrator of NASA, what is this country coming to? Lighten up people!

I mention this because it is a Friday in late July. The so-called Dog Days. Things are slow. School is out. People are paying less attention to the news than ever, even though there are wars, disasters, tragedies all over. We are all just a little burned out. The revealed truth hit me yesterday.

How, you ask?

I had lunch on Wednesday with Mark S. — a friend, a very savvy builder. I took him on a tour of Federal News Radio, he was impressed. Or, faked it well. Then I took him to a much larger, much older radio station for a visit. He was impressed until he checked the numbers of the station’s website. It showed something like 334,000 individual hits (up to that time) for the day. He said he would have expected more. Must be the time of year, he said. Slow news days. Less reader/listener interest. He’s almost certainly right. Still, it hurt.

So I ask some more hip colleagues about names I could use in a column that would attract readers. People who are famous for being famous. Maybe contestants on “So You Think You Can Dance” — that kind of fame.

Shefali Kapadia, a reporter for FNR, suggested Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. People who haven’t exactly scaled Mt. Everest or won a Nobel, but who are better known to the public than the most recent recipients of the Medal of Honor, for example.

Produder Ciera Crawford said that Kim Kardashian’s brother Rob was less-famous-for-being-famous than some of his siblings, but still worthy of the top fed list. She also suggested Ryan Seacrest who, up until then, I thought was a brand of toothpaste. But obviously not.

Bottom line is that just about anybody can accomplish something, invent something, make something. But that doesn’t guarantee, or entitle, fame and fortune.

And if you read this far, thanks. Remember it is the last Friday in July. It’s been a tough month. Your vacation is either over, which is depressing, or coming up (and still not paid for) which can be equally stressful. The midterm elections are almost upon us. Gas prices are climbing, but the government says inflation is in check. If past is prologue, 90 percent of the people we claim to dislike if not loathe will be reelected.

So it’s a slow Friday in a slow month. Traditional down-time. We’ll let you know if the presence of some famous names helped. Better yet, let us know.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

Our favorite lavishly rich celebrities commonly pass houses onto each other. For example, Ryan Seacrest’s multi-acre compound in Coldwater Canyon, California was previously owned by Ellen DeGeneres, and before her, owned by Max Mutchnick, and before him the main house was owned or occupied by Jerry Herman, Joan Collins and Totie Fields.

(Source: Variety)

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