A sentence in today’s New York Times, in an article about rock musicians who oppose war with Iraq: “Politics moved into punk and metal, where it offered reasons for adolescent frustrations, and into underground hip-hop, where it has resurfaced periodically among rappers — from Public Enemy to the Roots to Dead Prez — who take seriously the idea of a songwriter as the conscience of the community.” Got that? The Times believes a group called Dead Prez is to be taken seriously “as the conscience of the community.” Much more interesting–and worthy of the Times–is a portrait of Bush by Elisabeth Bumiller.