Scott, just keep telling yourself, 'But my thoughts are free'

Salon's lead story today alleges that news media is using heavy coverage of celebrity trials to distract Americans from the war. Come, now -- the month of August is always inundated with silly news. What were we obsessed with in August, 2001, anyway? It was probably some stupid celebrity trial.

Speaking of trials, the L.A. Times' and the S.F. Chronicle's coverage today of the Scott Peterson murder trial differed today in one interesting detail. They both reported on the tapes played in court of Peterson's phone calls with his lover Amber Frey, as secretly recorded by Frey after she realized Peterson was the person they were talking about on TV whose wife had vanished. The L.A. paper went for the "baby talk" angle, but the Chronicle reported Peterson's statement that "he never had freedom from responsibility like Jack Kerouac":

In another exchange, he told Frey about a book he had just read by Kerouac, telling the tale of hitchhiking across the country.

"I never had a prolonged period of freedom like that from responsibility, " he said.

That's okay, Scott. You'll have no responsibilites at all in San Quentin, and they'll let you read all the Jack Kerouac books you want.