The celebrity site TMZ has decided to opine on something other than the latest episode of American Idol — and has its military readers hopping mad. A recent contestant on the show The Bachelor has just returned from a mission on Palau to search for the remains of missing American servicemen from World War II. TMZ calls this effort “BS” and “a ridiculous waste”:

Former “Bachelor” bachelor Andy Baldwin just got back from the island of Palau in the South Pacific — not on vacation, on a mission with the Navy. Now let’s talk about why we the taxpayers are footing the bill on such BS.

Baldwin was among 20 military types who were on a search mission in the middle of the ocean. What, you ask, were they looking for? A B-24J bomber that went down during the war. Not Iraq. Not Vietnam. No, not Korea. We’re talking WWII, as in more than 60 years ago.

Turns out, the military spends $52 million each year to find the remains of missing soldiers — it’s part of the POW/MIA program. That’s all well and good depending on the circumstances. But a crash that is ancient history, at a time when the economy sucks and the Federal government is sucking the life out of everyone with taxes??

A waste of time and money? Sure — if one doesn’t value the sacrifice of these men and their families for the nation. When we send our men and women abroad to fight, we make it clear that anyone captured or killed will get brought back for the proper recognition of their sacrifice for our nation. If that takes days, months, or years, or even decades, we will search until we account for the last missing member of our forces, dead or alive.

That doesn’t just count for the families of the dead in World War II. The men and women who go on these missions, like Andy Baldwin, see the commitment this nation has for their comrades. They understand that America doesn’t consider them a waste product to be forgotten when inconvenient or financially burdensome. Those who serve in our forces deserve that kind of commitment, since they give us their ultimate commitment in return, and don’t ask whether it’s inconvenient or financially burdensome to do so.

TMZ has a poll up at the site asking whether its readers consider searching for the remains of Americans who gave their lives to fight the Japanese is “ridiculous”. I’m certain Hot Air readers will want to cast a vote for that, as well as leave a few comments. Perhaps the staff at TMZ should concern itself with its usual oeuvre of celebrity crotch shots and the latest rumors of who slept with whom in Hollywood. (via Cyber Sherpa)