The fact is, in the minds of many, Trayvon Martin received the appropriate punishment for a true crime: He was black, male and dared to walk outside. In life, young Trayvon was just a teenager; in death, he has been transformed into a scary, lurking, suspicious, prone-to-violence spook.

The first Van Halen album makes Johnny Rotten out to be what he really was and still is: a hairdresser.

I never think of what it's going to be like later. I only think in the present tense. The only time I think backwards is when I have to reissue something.

America's foreign policy lacks the backbone to do the right thing in Afghanistan - which is leave.

My mother taught me how to read very early on and at school I was ahead of everyone in class... Reading was always something that I liked because I could do it alone and I was alone a lot of the time with my mother working the hours she did. Books became my friends very early on.

I have a house, I try to spend as little time in it as possible. Not always easy on the mind and body, but it's how I got myself to 80-plus countries. This kind of routine forces one to reinvent and improvise. The older I get, the more important this is to me.

America is a country born from semi-mythologized blood, glory and acts of selfless patriotic sacrifice.