CNN is running a news conference on the details of the "dignified" memorial for Jackson's service on Tuesday.

Wristbands. A lottery. Bullshit about how money is set aside for this sort of thing like they do for "first amendment marches." Fuck this shit. How many homeless people could have been fed and sheltered for what they are going to spend? 

Have we collectively lost our mind?

Why don't we do like they did with saint's bodies? Cut him up into tiny pieces and let people bid on them. You, too, can own a relic of Michael Jackson. You can set up a shrine to it.

They're having to tell people not to scalp the tickets.

They're having to explain how they can pay for this shit. Special budget. My ass.

I'm so fucking mad.

He was a singer. Not a saint. Not a god.  A man. People DIE EVERY DAY.

You are not honoring Michael Jackson by participating in some "memorial service" that is only lacking fireworks. 

When the Ayatollah Khomeini died, they carried his body through the streets and they crowd was so wild, that they dumped his body in the street.

That's dignity for you.

Let's all look at the dead guy. Let's speculate about his life, desecrate him. He can't defend himself. 

I'm tired of the media, which spent years making fun of him, suddenly acting as if losing him is the greatest loss we've ever had to bear. And I'm so tired of the false sanctimony of those who will tell me that they are genuinely grieving.

I'm sorry for your grief. But if you really loved him, let him rest in peace. Don't you think he's earned it????

But this "Michael Jackson corpse extravaganza" is not the way you lay to rest someone who lived a life perpetually in the spotlight. Even in death, there is no privacy for Michael Jackson.

He was cursed from the day he was born. And now, even in death, he's cursed by those who want to make a buck off his putrifying corpse. 

****update******

CNN, which apparently has discovered that all-Michael, all-the-time is good for its bottom line, is reporting that MJ is to be buried in a $25,000 casket, lined with blue velvet and plated in 24k gold. Oh the lengths people go to in order to believe that they will not rot underground, that their bodies will not break down and be eaten by micro-organisms. 

What horrified me was the interview with some perky young woman from the town where the casket is being manufactured. She said it was "cool" that her town got to make MJ's coffin. Wow. "Cool." When people die, it's cool, don't you know? 

Speaking of cool,  I also have just read that the web site that is sponsoring the lottery for the corpse-o-rama to be held in the Staples Center has crashed due to the demand for tickets.

I'm wondering how long it's going to be before his hairdresser or one of his housekeepers starts auctioning his toenails or hair on Ebay. Relics. The reliquaries in medieval churches are fascinating; how long before we have Jackson relics in various sites all over the country? 

In the meantime, I'm still waiting to hear whether, in fact, Cynthia McKinney is being held by the Israelis. Or whether the new military mission in Afghanistan is proceeding. But what the fuck. Our fascination with celebrity corpses trumps everything else.