I am aware that he paid an out of court settlement...however, what parent would take the money and say, "ok, peace," instead of pressing charges or trying to at least bring him down

I'm gonna flip that around. What kind of man pays an out of court settlement to make something like that go away? Unpleasant and repugnant as an accusation like that is, how can anyone not fight it? I can't think of another reason other than overwhelming guilt.

I'm gonna flip that around. What kind of man pays an out of court settlement to make something like that go away? Unpleasant and repugnant as an accusation like that is, how can anyone not fight it? I can't think of another reason other than overwhelming guilt.

I know I'm not the only one who considers the court system a complete mess of corruption and injustice. Sometimes giving in a little is just easier.

Granted, I do have to wonder why he didn't fight it. I'm sure he--and his family--could've hired a defense team (as well as arrange for other kinds of harassment) that would've cleared him (actually, even if he was guilty, he probably could've done this), but it would've been dragged out, possibly for years, with constant media & legal pressures.

But then, that's why I said this:

"Ultimately, I don't know what the truth is, but the entire sordid affair inspires cynicism in me."

Both sides seemed to have made a pretty messed up decision...and if MJ knew he was guilty and so gave the family some of his spare change (and the family said, "Alright! Sports car, luxury cruise, mansion! Hey, we're short of a yacht, especially after the bad luck in Vegas, think Michael Jackson could, uh, babysit our son again?") or it really was a scam against MJ and he just sighed and threw money at the problem to make it go away so he could retreat back to his Never Never Land (and MJ did seem childish enough & living in a fantasy world enough to me that this might seem like a good decision to him) or whatever, it strikes me as unedifying to both of them, and pretty much beyond my ability to comprehend.

Hitler learns that Michael Jackson has died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyTBXzfQJ8

Also, there's another article that makes me doubt this was the real Jackson that died...

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nev...estigators

I know I'm not the only one who considers the court system a complete mess of corruption and injustice. Sometimes giving in a little is just easier.

Granted, I do have to wonder why he didn't fight it. I'm sure he--and his family--could've hired a defense team (as well as arrange for other kinds of harassment) that would've cleared him (actually, even if he was guilty, he probably could've done this), but it would've been dragged out, possibly for years, with constant media & legal pressures.

But then, that's why I said this:

"Ultimately, I don't know what the truth is, but the entire sordid affair inspires cynicism in me."

Both sides seemed to have made a pretty messed up decision...and if MJ knew he was guilty and so gave the family some of his spare change (and the family said, "Alright! Sports car, luxury cruise, mansion! Hey, we're short of a yacht, especially after the bad luck in Vegas, think Michael Jackson could, uh, babysit our son again?") or it really was a scam against MJ and he just sighed and threw money at the problem to make it go away so he could retreat back to his Never Never Land (and MJ did seem childish enough & living in a fantasy world enough to me that this might seem like a good decision to him) or whatever, it strikes me as unedifying to both of them, and pretty much beyond my ability to comprehend.

I have also never been completely convinced that MJ was a child molester. Sure, it's possible, but it seems equally possible to me that he really did live in some incredibly naive, self-indulgent, childish, sheltered world where having sleepovers with "other kids" would seem like no big deal.

It isn't hard to believe that it made him an easy target for some unscrupulous person (or family) looking for a big payday. And it isn't hard to believe that other people around MJ would have advised him to just give them what they want - money - rather than dragging what little private life he had through the mud in a long, drawn-out court case.

It also seems unlikely that someone who was as big a hypochondriac and as germ-phobic as MJ would have very little interest in being so physically intimate with anyone - man, woman or child.

We will probably never know the truth. What little we do know about his life makes me sad for him. It also makes me glad that "we" as a society do not often raise people to this level of mega-star. It seems that level of fame is terribly destructive.

Charlie Daniels had a few words to say about Michael this week in his sopabox. I think he hits the nail on the head with this one.


Michael

If you're like me, you think that the coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been over covered, exploited, and over sensationalized. Some of the cable channels have been wall-to-wall Michael, and it took the resignation of Governor Sarah Palin to push it even slightly to the side.

I mean, how many times do you have to inform the world that a man has died?

How many times do you have to state that there were probably drugs involved?

How many times do you have to inform people that a person has squandered untold millions of dollars? All these plastic-faced Hollywood reporters have purported to have known Michael Jackson when it appears that nobody really knew him at all.

In my humble opinion, Michael Jackson was a deeply troubled individual who surrounded himself with compliant yes men who did his bidding whatever it happened to be, whether it was good for him or not good for him.

Michael achieved the kind of planet wide superstardom that few entertainers have ever known; in fact you could probably count them on one hand.

I know you've heard it said that he never had a chance to grow up, to have a childhood. I believe this is true but have you ever stopped and thought what this kind of early life was like.

It means you work while everybody else your age plays. You're rehearsing a new dance routine while all your contemporaries are going to a basketball game.

Nobody has a greater respect for perfecting your craft, for honing and polishing and being the best you can be.

But at the cost of a childhood, at the price of growing up in a world you have no hope of understanding. Of being a cash cow before you reach the age of puberty.

There's something very sick about this and smacks more of adult greed than adolescent ambition.

I think Michael rebelled against his father when he went on his own, he may have cut the apron strings, but he was ill equipped to cope and turned into a quasi recluse, hiding away in his fantasy, trying to change his face into what he wished it looked like, accepting the adulation of the multitudes but never ever being a part of them, and the world just passed Michael by as he sank deeper into narcotics and unreality.

It is a sad end to a career which could have spanned even more decades. In my humble opinion the surface of Michael Jackson's talent had barely been scratched, there is no way of telling what his later years would have produced.

It's hard to feel sorry for someone like Michael, here's a man who had every luxury money could buy, the adoration of two generations, still able to sell out fifty nights of concerts in London and at the age of fifty showed no dulling of his talent.

But at the same time, by what measure do we judge Michael? Do we take into consideration his childhood, or lack of one? Do we think about the cloistered life he was forced to live from a very early age? Do we hold partially to blame all the people who watched him slowly destroy himself and keep their mouths shut so they could keep their jobs?

Extenuating circumstances? I think so.

Having said all this, I would like to add that I think Michael Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers of the last century, and though musically we worked two different sides of the street, I had the greatest admiration for his work.

His talent knew no bounds.

Now I think it's time we all left him alone.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels had a few words to say about Michael this week in his sopabox. I think he hits the nail on the head with this one.


Michael

If you're like me, you think that the coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been over covered, exploited, and over sensationalized. Some of the cable channels have been wall-to-wall Michael, and it took the resignation of Governor Sarah Palin to push it even slightly to the side.

I mean, how many times do you have to inform the world that a man has died?

How many times do you have to state that there were probably drugs involved?

How many times do you have to inform people that a person has squandered untold millions of dollars? All these plastic-faced Hollywood reporters have purported to have known Michael Jackson when it appears that nobody really knew him at all.

In my humble opinion, Michael Jackson was a deeply troubled individual who surrounded himself with compliant yes men who did his bidding whatever it happened to be, whether it was good for him or not good for him.

Michael achieved the kind of planet wide superstardom that few entertainers have ever known; in fact you could probably count them on one hand.

I know you've heard it said that he never had a chance to grow up, to have a childhood. I believe this is true but have you ever stopped and thought what this kind of early life was like.

It means you work while everybody else your age plays. You're rehearsing a new dance routine while all your contemporaries are going to a basketball game.

Nobody has a greater respect for perfecting your craft, for honing and polishing and being the best you can be.

But at the cost of a childhood, at the price of growing up in a world you have no hope of understanding. Of being a cash cow before you reach the age of puberty.

There's something very sick about this and smacks more of adult greed than adolescent ambition.

I think Michael rebelled against his father when he went on his own, he may have cut the apron strings, but he was ill equipped to cope and turned into a quasi recluse, hiding away in his fantasy, trying to change his face into what he wished it looked like, accepting the adulation of the multitudes but never ever being a part of them, and the world just passed Michael by as he sank deeper into narcotics and unreality.

It is a sad end to a career which could have spanned even more decades. In my humble opinion the surface of Michael Jackson's talent had barely been scratched, there is no way of telling what his later years would have produced.

It's hard to feel sorry for someone like Michael, here's a man who had every luxury money could buy, the adoration of two generations, still able to sell out fifty nights of concerts in London and at the age of fifty showed no dulling of his talent.

But at the same time, by what measure do we judge Michael? Do we take into consideration his childhood, or lack of one? Do we think about the cloistered life he was forced to live from a very early age? Do we hold partially to blame all the people who watched him slowly destroy himself and keep their mouths shut so they could keep their jobs?

Extenuating circumstances? I think so.

Having said all this, I would like to add that I think Michael Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers of the last century, and though musically we worked two different sides of the street, I had the greatest admiration for his work.

His talent knew no bounds.

Now I think it's time we all left him alone.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

Charlie's words were well-chosen.

Charlie Daniels had a few words to say about Michael this week in his sopabox. I think he hits the nail on the head with this one.

I agree - great find, Ken. Thanks for posting it.

Here are a couple of other articles I saw today that I thought were especially interesting.

My Surreal Night With Michael Jackson

From Stevie Wonder to Donald Trump to Cher, The Daily Beast selects the best remembrances and anecdotes from the King of Pop’s storied life.

After reading these, I'm even more skeptical of the child molestation accusations. Even pedophilia seems almost too "normal" for Michael Jackson. What a tremendously gifted artist and tremendously tortured soul he must have been.

RIP

Talking with a friend on the phone a little while ago, she said she was flipping channels and saw CNN talking about Michael Jackson today. Flipped some more, a few minutes later was back and they were STILL talking about him.

I asked what they were saying, and she said she changed it too fast before she could get the gist of it. She's just too sick of it to watch even another second of it.

So just curious...how many are still paying attention? Do you think most people are actually still watching rather than changing the channel? :confused:

Talking with a friend on the phone a little while ago, she said she was flipping channels and saw CNN talking about Michael Jackson today. Flipped some more, a few minutes later was back and they were STILL talking about him.

I asked what they were saying, and she said she changed it too fast before she could get the gist of it. She's just too sick of it to watch even another second of it.

So just curious...how many are still paying attention? Do you think most people are actually still watching rather than changing the channel? :confused:

I had an endcap of Michael Jackson books at B&N Lincoln Triangle. And I got tired of looking at them. Asked a manager, Blanco, "Ain't it time to change this?" "Yes, Blues. Put up what you like."