"The historical Shakespeare," growled one of the grad students through a full beard, uncapping another bottle. "The historical Marx. The historical Jesus."
"He's right," shrugged Bortz, "they're dead. What's left?"
"Words."
"Pick some words," said Bortz. "Them, we can talk about."

—excerpt from The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, 1965

Savage knives of The Guilty never stop stabbing

It is hard to imagine being more disgusted with those who smirk and point at Martha Stewart's conviction with undisguised glee. The enjoyment they seem to take in her downfall is pure evil. I wish I could say I didn't understand it. What is it about Americans that we can take such pleasure in the pain of another? Do we honestly believe that we are not guilty too? Do we really count ourselves among the innocent? Are we a nation of complete fools, only dragging our eyes from the TV long enough to make some snide comments about the shooting down, whatever their crime, of someone whose worst offense seems to be that they have more money than we do?

Pisses me off is all.

I want to believe that such people are in the minority. That would be a comfort. But here's the thing: How many people doing the war dance around Martha's still living corpse haven't lied, cheated, stolen, coveted someone's else's wife, husband, possessions? How many are hiding nasty little secrets of their own, whether legal or moral, and feeling oh so superior only because they are still hidden?

Oh, it makes me wonder yes it does.

Here's something to clear the palette

I came across a website last week so yummy it was like a big chocolate-covered marshmallow. Epitonic is a music site dedicated to the dissemination of the best in new music. I spent a couple hours there downloading lightning fast MP3's and finding new bands I had never heard of. The site also features streaming audio! To top it all off I found Sister Anne by the MC5. How cool is that? Answer: Extremely cool, if I believed in cool, which I don't.

You should probably check out this site if you love high energy rock n roll. If not, please stay away because we don't need your kind messing things up for the rest of us, you jive-ass turkeys!