Thanks?

I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and "at the top of the hour" the national news came on. The person doing the broadcast seemed rather young, but what really caught my attention was the turn of phrase that he used to describe a certain tragedy.

"3 people are dead in California, thanks to the mudslides."

I've heard it used before, but doesn't it seem odd that the word "thanks" would be used in any situation like that?

It's like the mob contracted out the mudslides to do a hit for them, because the people weren't kicking up their weekly payments. (I'm in a soprano's mood, so sue me.)

Go ahead, try out using the word thanks in other situations and it still seems strange.

"Thanks to that jerk who hit my car, my insurance premiums doubled."

I know the guy was probably just inexperienced in writing his scripts, but I think it's a bit insensitive to "give a shout out" to the natural disaster that just killed a few people.

That might just be me though...