Was out of pocket for the past few days, but not entirely oblivious to the Kennedy funeral -- a media-ginned orgy of hypocrisy, imperial pomp and inflated circumstance. I tuned in in the a.m. and caught live coverage of a priestly disquisition on "justice" I assume in improbable relation to the life of Ted Kennedy at the Boston service and turned it off in a Chappaquiddick huff. I looked in again at the end of the day when the scene had changed to Washington and the continuous coverage now focused on the black-limo-and-Peter-Pan-bus cortege making its way to Arlington. There, the attempted apotheosis continued as Kennedy was interred in hallowed ground. The photos in the next day's paper captured the scene: Kennedy kin playing a new death scene in American history, this time in the dark.

Something I missed last week: "One of his favorite topics of humor was Chappaquiddick."