Send In the Clowns

"This is not a circus, my friend!" -- Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin

With apologies to the lachrymose jurist, this week will indeed be remembered as the week the circus came to town. And it's been a bi-coastal three-ring circus: The battle over the curvaceous corpse of Anna Nicole Smith in Florida, the ongoing disintegration and rehab hokey-pokey of Britney Spears in La-La-Land, and the farcical trial of Scooter Libby in Washington, D.C.

I guess it's an open question as to who had a worse week, Britney or Anna Nicole? Britney totally lost her composure, while Anna Nicole is just decomposing. On the one hand, Britney has the advantage, in that she's still alive to make a comeback. On the other hand, sometimes you're just better off dead.

After yesterday's ruling, at least we know where Anna Nicole is heading: The Bahamas. The hearings in Judge Seidlin's court were must-see TV. We could not look away, God help us. We. Could. Not. Look. Away. I missed the final part, with the judge crying as he made his decision, but I heard about it. That was enough. All I can say at this point is "Closed casket, people; In the name of all that is holy, closed casket."

Meanwhile, Britney's back in rehab, again:

You put the psycho in,
You let the psycho out,
You put the psycho in and you shake her all about,
You do the rehab hokey pokey until she's all dried out,
That's what it's all about.

Did you see that picture at the top of this post, from her umbrella assault the other night at K-Fed's house? That brought to mind a lyric from a Tom Petty song, "Zombie Zoo."

Sometimes you're so impulsive,
You shaved off all your hair,
You look like Boris Karloff
And you don't even care

You're dancin' at the zombie zoo,
Dancin' at the zombie zoo...

Perfect. And here's the video, you lucky people!



I'll write more about that third ring of the circus when a verdict comes in from the jury in Washington. I don't hold out much hope for Libby getting a fair trial, since the trial is a political witch hunt by an out-of-control special prosecutor. The population of D.C. is overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning. I probably couldn't get a fair trial there, either, if I was on trial for something.