I miss the pre-rehab days, when celebrities had real drug addictions and died from them. Jim Morrison, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Pigpen, Brian Jones, Judy Garland. Marilyn Monroe-- either they died directly from their drugs and drink or from a disease resulting from their addiction of choice. (Morrison's cardiac failure was due to subacute bacterial endocarditis -- SBE, a disease not uncommon among injectiong drug users --- and Pigpen's fatal hemorrhage came from drinking damage. And don't give me any crap about Marilyn Monroe being murdered - that girl was so voluntarily drugged up on movie sets she made Crazy Guggenheim look positively studious ). I liked all of those guys and gals --- but dude, you pays yer money and you takes yer chances.

Certainly, there was no using rehab back then as a penance for a social faux pas, like calling somebody a faggot or saying the Jews start all the wars. Or exposing your lady parts to salivating paparazzi and thus, to every adolescent and post-adolescent male in the world who has internet access.

It's sad that singers, artists, rock idols, famous actors and actresses died of drink and drugs in the past, but at least they actually played with fire; at least they lived on the edge and they knew death was a possibilty, if not a probability. The actors, writers and singers nowadays are such wusses. "Waa, I took an Ambien and crashed into a cop car. I need rehab!" "I'm an anti-Semite! Helllp! It's not my fault!"

Go take a handful of Heminevrin, or chase down a trail mix of barbiturates and aspirin with a bottle of Scotch, bitches! Get real.

Is it some sort of religious requirement that a eulogy be given? Is it a social custom that is rigorously demanded in some communities?

I've been to many funerals and none had a eulogy. The funerals were religious in nature, with religious rites and prayers and sometimes hymns and readings from the Bible.

In what religion or social group is a eulogy demanded from family members?

Spiro Agnew was a smarmy, self-satisfied, arrogant, corrupt thug. He was not treated by the press with this ridiculous "respect for the office" that Cheney gets. He was treated as the lying, cheating, polarizing politico that he was.

It's time the media grew a set of balls and stopped being intimidated by Cheney. He can't ruin your career if his own career is ruined when the truth about him is printed. The MSM needs to treat Cheney as the arrogant, smug, lying, cheating, brutal, bloodthirsty thug that he is.

Media -- the truth really will set you free.

And can we Americans finally demand that "reporters" and "journalists" who are married to high administration officials, or whose children are attending the birthday parties of powerful politicians WALK AWAY FROM POLITICAL REPORTAGE? You are not unbiased when your kid plays with Karl Rove's kid, when you attend the same engagement parties as the Speaker of the House, when you sit with pols at weddings, when you attend Dick Cheney's Christmas parties, when you screw each other behind your spouses' backs..

I'm not afraid of Dick Cheney, why is the press? I'd spit in Cheney's eye given the opportunity and the hell with the consequences. He's a spoiled old man. A powerful spoiled old man, true, but I still don't fear him or what he could do to me.

"we couldn't pry our eyes away from her"

I sure could. Don't know anything about her except that she married a rich old fart and was involved in some lawsuits with his family about money. All the other stuff was just white noise with the words "Anna Nicole Smith" interspersed occasionally.

My sincere condolences on your condition, Ms. Wilson. Must be terrible to have to deal with the heartbreak of Intractable Minor Celebrity Rubber-Necking.