Where's an Activist Judge When You Need One?

This might come as something of a shock to some people, but I think the Michael Jackson jury got it right.

Let me be the first to admit I didn't follow the details of this case. And I think Jackson probably did all or most of the things he was accused of. However, I'm not convinced that in his mind he actually understands that what he did was wrong.

I think he's a profoundly unbalanced person, with deep, deep psychological issues, and I really pity him. My guess, if I may be allowed a moment of amateur analysis, is that showbusiness pushed him into an adult world with adult issues long before he was ready for it, and he never really got to be a child. Now he's trying to recapture for himself the childhood he always wanted, and he wants to surround himself with children. I think he truly enjoys their company, loves them deeply, and enjoys being in a position to help them.

That's all well and good, but somewhere in his mind his desire to be like a child himself runs up against his adult physical needs, and the distinction between what is appropriate behavior and what is not was totally lost.

Packing him off to prison might indeed prevent him from having inappropriate access to minors, but it certainly isn't going to help him. (Of course, I'm not suggesting we send criminals to jail for their own benefit.) But honestly...as much as we despise what he's done, can you picture Michael Jackson in jail?

The jury did him an enormous favor, one he didn't really deserve. If he is not able to seize this incredible opportunity to make changes in his life, then his so-called friends need to step in and do a major intervention. Liz, Liza, Jay and others: you need to make it clear to him, no children at his house ever again. Period. Let's not go through this again.

[I do want to be clear: I don't think the jury was convinced he was guilty but rendered a not guilty verdict anyway. The evidence was insufficient and the witnesses had, shall we say, credibility issues. Hurray for a jury that actually upheld a reasonable standard of a burden of proof, unlike the Laci jury which only seconded the verdict Fox News had already reached.]

Likewise, any parent who allows their children near this guy without supervision deserves to be charged with reckless endangerment. The mother in this particular instance should probably go to jail. At the very least, she whored her children out to a media circus in the hopes of making a buck -- and potentially, she knowingly exposed them to physical abuse for the same reason.

Now that that's over with, is there any the media will start covering actual news?