i didn't want to make a second post about michael jackson, but...
aside from my simmering rage over the fact that purported major news agencies are spending 3 hours today on anticipating and/or televising the various commutes of the Jackson family on funeral day for every 15 minutes of reports on say, world leaders meeting about economic crises or civil unrest.....
...now we see from a handy helicopter camera trailing MJ's hearse to the staples center that it appears local Los Angeles transportation authorities have pretty much shut down to the public all parts of the route for the funeral procession.
the feeder roads are packed as the Jackson hearse glides alone over five wide-open emtpy lanes of highway.
as a coworker friend of mine was seen to remark on IM:
"what? you're in a hurry because your wife's in labor.... (forget) you, michael jackson's casket is 5 miles away. No freeway for you!"
using public funds to shovel aside thousands of drivers to make way for a dead person who did some great stuff in the 80s but died a mental basket case who, in all likelihood even though not technically proven, did some inappropriate stuff with children. and the funeral / memorial is going to whitewash over that last part.
related: i also saw a clip on The Soup last week showing how Entertainment Weekly had breaking news (the reporter actually called it "breaking news") that Barry Manilow would escort Liza Minelli to the memorial. that's not breaking news, it doesn't even count as plain "news" in the intended sense of the word. it's worthless garbage; for shame!
we live in a loony bin most days here in the United States.
