What about that wave of criticism over Paris Hilton's early release from the pokey? Wow. I was listening to BBC World News, and the presenter said they had received 1,000 calls on the topic in about 90 minutes. Only one of those calls was supportive of Hilton--that's 0.1 percent! Someone told me one of the mainstream news channels broke into coverage of the G-8 summit to deliver news on Hilton's predicament. If that's true, that's ridiculous--entirely predictable, but ridiculous.

Hilton kept a low profile yesterday. Photographers couldn't even catch a glimpse when a cupcake delivery arrived at her swank West Hollywood home/cell (I'm sure the cupcakes were prison-issue). I just woke up and have to catch up on the real news, so I haven't seen if there are developments relating to Hilton being called back into court.

What I have seen, though, is the following MySpace posting by my roommate's friend Manya Gorman-Knutson. I think it encapsulates people's feelings quite nicely:

This latest development in the Paris Hilton scandal really goes above and beyond. I typically keep my celebrity gossip to myself; it's my own guilty pleasure and certainly not noteworthy, earth-shattering news. But I'm sorry, did this bitch really just get let let out of jail after serving 5 days of what was originally supposed to be a 45-day sentence? "Medical complications"? The actual reason was probably some sort of "emotional distress" that her shrink signed off on, or the blankets were too itchy for her, or she got her period or something.

Whatever sort of low-class hijinks theses celebrities get themeselves into, whatever sort of tacky behavior will buy fame these days--that's one thing, and honestly, sad as their lives may be, it's pretty entertaining from a distance. But this is a totally different issue to me: this is a clear example of how fame and fortune will sent you skyrocketing above the law in this country.

Anyway, I'm way too sleep-deprived right now to articulate anything else on the subject, other than to say that this goes beyond juicy gossip. It speaks to the state of our class divisions, justice system and socio-economic conditions in this country right now--and it really makes me sick!

Aaargh.