Five hundred or a thousand years from now, historians will be able to get a very clear picture of what mattered most to our society—and perhaps, of why our society collapsed—from the lead sentence of the following news story, which moved on the AP wire this morning. Headline: “Battle over Smith burial has new urgency.” Lead: “The drawn-out court battle over what to do with Anna Nicole Smith’s body has a new sense of urgency: the starlet’s remains are decomposing more quickly than expected and a public viewing could be in danger.”

Sweet Jesus, we are finished.