killing a mouseketeer for the good of the state

"I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Oh my God that Britney's Shameless"

The news stories about Britney are increasingly grim – as those of you who faithfully follow People, Us, and the National Star know quite well. As you’ll remember, the hardest working mousketeer has been prosecuted for not seeing “the harm in working and being a mama”. Quite right, but as soon as she revolted, the machinery of oppression came into play, and she was publicly kidnapped. First act: her children were wrenched from her when she showed them some of the fun side of life (which involved the kind of minor pecadillos – not using the safety seat, etc. - that drive the denizens of the gated community crazy, for there is nothing the G.C. believes more than cocooning its brats in an environment of permanent and ruthlessly enforced invulnerability, hence the monstrous SUV, the soccer mom car par excellence, hence the crammed prisons of these here States, hence the insatiable borrowing to keep a country whose main manufacture is serial war afloat), and were handed over to her talentless and Tartufian ex. The court system, that cat’s paw of patriarchy, did its part to shame and injure Britney just as she was showing – finally – some rock n roll promise. Second act: after her kids are kidnapped, she is kidnapped – in this case, by her parents, who are given the power to control this twenty eight year olds assets before she pisses them away – a process that she could do for the next forty years and never reach the bottom of her cash pile. In the timeless fashion of stardom, when the star threatens the money machine, the star is plunged into a psych ward, then dried out by the use of available patriarchal agents, and finally made abject and humble by the same media that has eagerly profited by their much photographed fall. This isn’t hypocrisy, it is factory work, it is plucking the chickens before you cut them up and plasticwrap them. Which of course happened to Brit. No more flashing her pussy, no more harmless Vegas pranks.

Well, the symbol of everything naughties is succumbing to the pressure, as it was obvious from the get go that she would. This terribly sad dispatch from the Associated Press makes LI, for one, itch to start an Amnesty International campaign: surely Britney is being held hostage by the worst aspects of capitalism in the era of the Great Fly:

“Britney Spears will be allowed expanded visits with her two young sons following a low-key child-custody hearing in Los Angeles.

Commissioner Scott Gordon at the Los Angeles Superior Court expanded her visitation rights in a move which will allow Spears to see her children for longer periods, while her former husband Kevin Federline retains custody.

Mr Gordon closed the hearing to reporters moments after the two stars were sworn in following a request by Spears' lawyer Stacy Phillips.

The 26-year-old pop star's appearance at the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, was a far cry from the spectacle of previous appearances.
A sombre Spears, wearing a brown polka-dot dress and white sweater, arrived early for the hearing flanked by her parents and lawyers.

Dozens of people witnessed Spears' courthouse arrival as a front-seat passenger in a white Land Rover, but it did not compare to the circus that surrounded the troubled pop star's January trip to the courthouse, when she arrived in a black minidress and gold platform shoes, then left before the hearing began.
Federline, 30, was granted custody of the couple's two children - two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James - at that hearing.

The court heard police were called to Spears' home after she refused to relinquish one of the boys to a Federline bodyguard.

During a break in proceedings, Spears left the courtroom walking hand-in-hand with lawyer Blair Berk to a lift before returning minutes later.
Outside court, Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline's lawyer, said the longer visits were "recognition of the progress that has been made". Spears smiled briefly but did not address questions as she left the hearing.”

Ah, the prisoner smiles briefly to the unctuous photographers, may they burn in hell. This is what happens when, in a flash of good sense, she refused to turn her children over to the ex’s hired thugs. Oh, on this ruin they will no doubt build somemoney making structure, but remember – a Mouseketeer was sacrificed to build the foundation.
Although I am hoping she takes the opportunity afforded by the court to flee somewhere. I’d recommend Sweden.