A milestone of my advancing years is the realization that the music which shaped my adolescence, once labeled anti-establishment, is now considered old-school. Growing old, therefore, means growing less cool. Eminem laments that his music has lost meaning now his that his CDs are being snapped up by the very parents he’s trying to alienate. If you rage against the machine from a minivan with Bob the Builder sun shades, will anyone listen? Maybe this is what drove Kurt Cobain to the end of the road. It seems though, that child porn cuts across musical genres as both Pete Townshend and R Kelly were arrested last week for possession of images unsuitable for viewing. My God! Who’s next, Raffi?

The Middle East sings the same one note opera as Ariel Sharon was returned to the Prime Ministry in Israel. Despite a majority of Israelis favoring a Palestinian state and demolition of Jewish settlements, the hard line Likud party was reelected in the biggest trouncing since the Super Bowl. It took Sharon all of a day to reject peace talks with Yasser Arafat. John Lennon asked us to give peace a chance and look what it got him.