Slate.com--The Thinking Girl's Way to Kill Time

I have rediscovered my love for Slate.com. The writing is great and not quite as big a pain to view as Salon.com, who want me to shell out for the content (which I can't afford to do), or watch their commercials daily in order to read full articles. As my beloved AB says, "oh, bother."

Of special note should be this terrific article in the law section about the Michael Jackson case. Dahlia Lithwick raises some interesting points on how Jackson's image may win or lose the case for him. Mostly lose. And I have to agree. If Jackson continues to behave like the circus come to town, then I think he will soon find himself doing some serious hard time. In this current puritanical climate, the mere suggestion of impropriety is enough to hang you.

Think about it. Last year his sister accidentally flashed a breast at the Super Bowl (a move, by the way that could have only been seen by a viewer with TiVo, and I KNOW there could not possibly be half a million of those who were really offended), and we are all paying for it still, to wit, this year's lame halftime show. They banned a TV commercial from that same halftime show for merely depicting a minister in the same vicinity as a little girl. Do you really think that twelve middle class folks from the burbs are NOT going to purse their patrician lips, turn up their noses at Jackson's sideshow life and send him off to the pokey, if only for the sin of being an oddball?

And quite frankly, despite the fact that MJ was my first celeb crush, I can't even really feel sorry for him. I have heard all the whining "oh, poor me, I didn't get a normal childhood. Boo-hoo, I had no friends, Dad beat me, etc.." Whatever! You know what Mike, we all have these terrible stories, these injustices from pre-school, childhood, high school that we would like to redress. Guess what, you can't! The past is the past; you are a grown man in your forties. Your famous childhood really sucked? Tough! Get some therapy, build a bridge and get over it. Cuddle-time and sleepovers with little boys are not going to fix your childhood. That ship has sailed, and you need to move on. And by the way, if you are using all of this outre behavior to try and avoid the fact that deep down you are a homosexual, I have to ask, "why bother?" Turn on the TV, MJ...homosexuals are in pretty good standing right now. Ever seen "Will and Grace?" "Queer Eye?" But pedophilia, MJ? That one is never gonna play in Peoria.