|
Don
Wilson | Eminem | Gym coach Michael Cardamone
| Good-bye, Johnny Cochran
Sermonette:
November, 2003
And now, the
innocent verdict!
Congratulations,
Michael!
I remember clearly when Michael
Jackson went on television back in 1993 to express his outrage
at the invasion of his privacy when police had raided his home
and taken pictures of his private parts. During the build-up
for this trial, we heard that dozens of cops and cars invaded
Neverland and took away boxes and boxes of Michael's private
property. Now, even though a jury has cleared his name,
he cannot escape back to a private home without being continually
reminded of the material they have stolen from him, passed around
and laughed at him.
Michael Jackson, among the
other horrors he has experienced at the hands of Tom Sneddon,
has been the victim of a home invasion.
There are many of us who can
sympathize -- people who have had bad warrants executed on their
homes to search for drugs or paraphernalia. Personally I had
my pepers taken, not returned and my files upset to the point
I have never recovered and I no longer write my friends' names
and addresses into a book. Once the privacy you thought
was protected by the state has been invaded and despoiled by
that same state, trust is forever lost.
So Michael Jackson is part
of a "club" of people who know what it is like to be
raided.
I am so glad that he is not
going to have to join that other "club" of which I
am a member: those who have done time. No matter how well you
handle it, you are forever changed by the deliberate dehumanization
of prisons: those who take you into custody often feel
they are also responsible for punishing you. Your punishment
is loss of freedom, but often they feel they have not done their
job unless they have robbed you of your dignity as well.
Michael, be free and be careful.
Those who would steal your stuff and take your freedom hold grudges
for a very long time.--Steele, June 13, 2005
Waiting for the verdict
in the Michael Jackson case
A word on Michael
Jackson: Watching his distraught father and listening to all the rude and crude commentary,
I hang my head for the human race. This case has seen a
lot of people deny their very humanity. Over and over I
hear the soundbite "What is a 35 year old man doing
with a child in his bed?" said as though the only
possible thing which happens in a bed is sexual molestation.
That is how sick this society is.
Michael Jackson, who is idolized
by millions worldwide, has cultivated a child-view of the world.
He is very clear: adults have betrayed him and he doesn't want
to turn into a betrayer. He had the means to create Neverland
and bring joy to children. He told his rabbi friend that
he would die if he could not be in the company of children.
I think a lot of children will
be damaged if Michael Jackson is found guilty of any of the charges
which have been levelled against him. The social
climate where children learn that although they need hugs and
love, they have the power to turn on those who love and touch
them and have them put in jail is resulting in a tyranny of mischief
which has gone completely mad as truly malicious prosecutors
and cops use these confused young people to advance their
own hideous agendas. Yes, Tom Sneddon is a cold, cold man.
I'm really sorry Michael did
not have enough of a sense of humour to appreciate Eminem's light-hearted
commentary on the Encore album.
Michael, understand that there
are many people in this world who love children and know that
it is not a crime to love them and be physically affectiionate.
I think the head-licking is particularly amusing because I used
to be a big licker of my children when they were small.
My friend Doug took me to see
a movie last week, "The
realm of the unreal," about a man who, throughout
his 79 year long life, wrote an 19,000 page novel and created
tousands of illustrations based on a world where innocent children
were pitted against evil adults. Many of the depictions
were of naked children. His friends and neighbours, who
knew little of the man, helped provide the material so a movie
could be made about his vision of the world.
How I wished that this film
could be shown to Michael Jackson's jury. Henry Darger
would have been locked up as a pedophile for sure if Tom Sneddon
had got a sniff of him. (from the front page).
The inquisition
and crucifixion of Michael Jackson
Runaway
Train coming down the tracks?
The highlight of my television
watching week was Robert Blake's acquittal. The reaction of several
court commentators was surprise. He's weird so he must be guilty,
they said in one way or another. What they don't understand is
that Robert Blake is one of us, not one of them. He has gone
to the edges of the human psyche to express for all of us those
weird parts that we are too embarrassed or fearful to express
ourselves. Including revulsion at women who use pregnancy as
a trap.
Judging from all the jokes,
we are not nearly so tolerant of Michael Jackson's weirdness.
The unexamined aspects of the eternal youth or Peter Pan -- which
Jackson was attempting to communicate with the Bashir tape --
was twisted by a community backlash driven by fear of difference.
Among the shrill reportage I heard the name of Roland Summitt
raised as an expert in sussing out pedophiles. We should expect
to hear the name Kee MacFarlane shortly. These two were experts
for the prosecution in several witch hunting trials during the
eighties and early nineties. Notably the McMartin Day care case
which was, at the time, the most expensive court case in California
history. It took may years to determine that the convictions
were based on hysterical testimony; the "children never
lie" folks continue to claim the overturning of the convictions
was the real injustice.
Remember, these trials had
children testifying to being molested in tunnels which did not
exist, being flown in helicopters with ice cream during nap time.
In the Klassen'Kvello trials
in Saskatoon, we heard testimony from children who claimed those
they accused would have "swearing parties." These parties
were comprised of people sitting around in a circle and taking
turns saying swear words. This is exactly what an adolescent
boy thinks of as really, really bad. We have heard testimony
from the Aviso children along similar lines. In the Klassen Kvello
case, the swearing parties led to blood-drinking parties -- which
would, of course, lead to Satanic ritual abuse. Now that Satanic
Ritual abuse has been so thoroughly discrediited, we find the
Avisos imaginations are not allowed to run quite as wild.
Michael Jackson took the
idea that as an American he could live out the capitalist dream.
Make lots of money, build Neverland, maintain a career based
on remaining forever young. There is nothing wrong with Jackson's
dream. He was sadly mistaken to think that flashy non-conformity
would be tolerated. The records on which he made his millions
were stamped out in a factory, millions of identical disks. As
individuals in a society which produces our cultural artifacts
as records, films and concerts with precise boundaries and conventions,
we are also expected to live within boundaries and conventions.
Those who oppose this ostracization
of Michael Jackson from the community to which he has contributed
much must find a way to communicate this opposition in a way
that will reach fearful middle America. The jury has not yet
gone out.
Anyone who suggests that
Gavin Arvizo and his family are not capable of carrying off a
scam of great magnitude and serious sophistication hasn't been
to a used car lot recently. The stakes are high. They have been
rehearsed and rehearsed. The god who brought the boy his cancer
and allegedly guides his life has a helluva sense of humour.
Or he has been drinking too much jeezus juice.
-- Sheila Steele, March
18, 2005
Shutting down witch hunting
therapists: if we can't shut them down we can at least relegate
them to quack status where they belong
The ubiquitous coverage of
the crucifixion of Michael Jackson has brought all the self righteous
quacks with access to the media back into the spotlight. Or so
it would seem.
There have been pundits who
have referred to the McMartin
day care case of twenty years ago -- not as a miscarriage
of justice against the people whose lives were destroyed, but
as the failure of a fledgling "science" which has now
matured. Now, with a couple of clues intuited from interviews
he has given, and a whole lot of malice, these seasoned network
experts and social workers are able to determine that Michael
Jackson is a pedophile. It looks like junk science is alive and
well in California. The witch-hunters are still around and some
of them are the same people.
It occurred to me that maybe
the reason Carol Bunko-Ruys wasn't present at her trial was because
she had gone to California to practice her craft. On a cancer
patient who, after accepting the generous hospitality of Michael
Jackson now needed to close his eyes and think real hard . .
.
I have heard some extraordinary
comments on TV the last few days. People claiming to be horrified
that any child would be allowed in a bed with a grown man. Has
our culture beome so sexualized that it is forgotten that many
people use their beds to sleep? Or even pile in together and
watch TV?
The vitriol expressed against
Michael Jackson is terrifying. He grew up in a show business
family. He is a show biz person. He has made a lot of money and
lives his life differently from some who have a lot of money
but choose to spend it differently. But his life style and career
persona are being cited as evidence of criminality. Santa Barbara
prosecutor Tom Sneddon's sneering remarks when he announced that
a warrant had been issued for Jackson, while being coy about
what formed the basis for the child molestation charges, sounded
to be like his interest was in something different than the administration
of justice.
Jackson's attorney, Mark Garagos
is aggressively defending his client. Jackson has a website.
He says: Lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons. The truth
will win this marathon in court.--Sheila Steele, November
20, 20003
Joseph Bartucci
Jr. reportedly recovered a "repressed memory" of the
alleged crime after seeing a TV program about the current
sexual assault charges against Jackson, the suit says.
Suit filed against Jackson
over alleged 1984 assault
By Michelle Caruso, Daily
News (NY), November 5, 2004
NEW YORK _ A 38-year-old Louisiana man has sued pop star Michael
Jackson for allegedly sexually assaulting him 20 years
ago, a TV show reported Thursday.
Joseph Bartucci Jr.
reportedly recovered a "repressed memory" of the alleged
crime after seeing a TV program about the current sexual
assault charges against Jackson, the suit says.
Bartucci says he was
18 when Jackson "held him against his will" and sexually
assaulted him in May 1984, according to legal papers obtained
by "Celebrity Justice."
The assaults took place
in Jackson's limousine in Louisiana and in a building in
California, according to the suit filed Nov. 1 in U.S. District
Court in Louisiana.
Jackson allegedly performed
oral sex on Bartucci and tried to force Bartucci to reciprocate,
but he refused, the suit says. The suit seeks unspecified monetary
damages.
Bartucci's lawyers could
not be reached for comment.
Jackson lawyer Thomas
Mesereau also could not be reached for comment, but in the
past he has said that Jackson is a target for bogus, money-seeking
lawsuits.
One legal expert said
the suit may be on shaky ground because 20 years has passed
since the alleged incident.
"I think there
would be questions about credibility because of the timing,"
said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson.
Michael Jackson Pleads
Not Guilty to Molestation Charges
By NICK MADIGAN and TERENCE
NEILAN, New York Times, January 16, 2004
SANTA MARIA, Calif., Jan. 16
- Michael Jackson appeared in a court here today to answer charges
of child molestation, as a virtual circus of fans, reporters
and television crews from around the world waited and jostled
one another outside. Many had been camped out overnight.
The pop star's arrival outside
the courthouse, at about 8:40 a.m. Pacific time, was 10 minutes
later than scheduled. Members of Mr. Jackson's family, including
his father, as well as his defense team, had already shown up
when the sports utility vehicle bearing the singer arrived.
Mr. Jackson stayed inside his
vehicle for several minutes as a swarm of police officers, security
guards and sheriff's deputies tried with difficulty to keep the
boisterous crowd from rushing the vehicle.
When he finally emerged under
a black umbrella to shade him from the sun, and wearing large
sunglasses, he waved and shook hands with members of the crowd.
He walked slowly into the courthouse
with his sister Janet, who is also a singer, arriving a total
of 20 minutes late, which brought a sharp warning from Judge
Rodney S. Melville of Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
"Mr. Jackson, you have
started out on the wrong foot here," Judge Melville said,
The Associated Press reported. "I want to advise you that
I will not put up with that. It's an insult to the court."
The judge set a pretrial hearing
for Feb. 13.
Mr. Jackson's appearance took
only five minutes, but he did not emerge from the courthouse
until about two and a half hours later, after a much longer hearing
on a number of legal issues surrounding the case. The judge said
he would rule later on a limited order barring Mr. Jackson and
his lawyers from discussing the case with the press. But he stuck
to his decision not to release the contents of a search warrant
issued in the case, a decision that had been appealed by the
news media.
The pop star was accompanied
out of the court by his mother, Katherine, and his sister Janet.
Other family members, including his brother Jermaine, were with
him during the court hearing.
Excited fans cheered and jumped
in an attempt to see the pop star, as he left the courthouse
and made his way to his vehicle. When he reached it, he climbed
on top and waved, accompanied by two photographers. Again, security
officials were hard-pressed to keep the fans from pushing their
way toward the singer.
At the scene, the co-counsel,
Mr. Brafman, told CNN that the display of emotion was "an
unprecedented outpouring of love for Michael Jackson," adding,
"I have never seen anything like this."
Asked about the pop star's
behavior, Mr. Brafman said, "There is no rule book how a
Michael Jackson, entertainer, performs, and these people came
thousands of miles to see Michael Jackson."
Busloads of fans arrived from
Los Angeles and Las Vegas before the proceedings, adding to a
group of 100 to 150 people who were already on hand early today;
many waved placards and wore T-shirts declaring his innocence.
Other fans drove in their own
cars from Fresno, Phoenix, Las Vegas and elsewhere, bringing
the number to several hundred.
There were shouts of "Michael,
we love you!" and also "Michael is innocent!"
as the pop star slowly made his way into the building.
"We want him to see that
he has support," said Kristie Dixon, 20, who drove to California
from her home in Charleston, S.C., for the occasion. "If
you dig deep enough into what happened you will see that he is
innocent."
Supporters held candlelight
vigils outside the court through the night on Thursday.
Santa Maria is a short drive
from Mr. Jackson's longtime residence, the Neverland ranch, near
Santa Barbara. After the charges were brought against him on
Dec. 18, he temporarily moved to Beverly Hills, presumably in
an effort to escape the news media's attention.
Today, however, he made the
trip to Santa Maria from the ranch.
He pleaded not guilty to seven
counts of child molesting involving a boy who was an overnight
guest at the Neverland ranch in February and March.
The Santa Barbara prosecutor,
Thomas W. Sneddon Jr., also charged Mr. Jackson with two counts
of giving the boy, a former cancer patient who is now 14, an
"intoxicating agent" before molesting him. The charge,
a felony, refers to alcohol or drugs.
The felony child-molesting
charges alone could bring a 20-year prison sentence if Mr. Jackson
is found guilty.
Mr. Jackson's defense team
expanded on Thursday with the addition of a New York lawyer,
Benjamin Brafman. Mr. Jackson's lead lawyer, Mark Geragos, said
Mr. Brafman would act as "co-lead counsel" and would
appear with him at today's arraignment.
Mr. Jackson, family members
and Mr. Geragos have adamantly denied the charges. Mr. Geragos,
who has said Mr. Jackson will contest the charges "with
every fiber of his soul," said the charges were "driven
by two things: money and revenge."
A decade ago, Mr. Sneddon sought
to prosecute Mr. Jackson on child-molesting charges involving
a 13-year-old boy. But the child's family signed a multimillion-dollar
civil settlement and dropped their complaint before criminal
charges could be brought. Mr. Sneddon has repeatedly denied that
he is pursuing a vendetta against Mr. Jackson.
He has also said that he will
not lead the prosecution team, that the family was not in it
for the money and that boy would testify at trial.
In a confidential memo leaked
to the news media in December, it was revealed that from Feb.
14 through Feb. 27, the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family
Services conducted a preliminary investigation of the boy's relationship
with Mr. Jackson and concluded that charges of illicit conduct
were unfounded.
According to the charging document,
the illegal acts took place between Feb. 7 and March 10.
The family services investigation
began after a British documentary showed the boy holding hands
with the pop star and saying he often slept in Mr. Jackson's
bed while Mr. Jackson slept on the floor.
Mr. Jackson acknowledged in
the film that he at times shared a bed with children, calling
it an innocent and loving act. An official from the boy's school
who saw the documentary telephoned an abuse line, resulting in
the inquiry, according to the memorandum.
Mr. Sneddon has said the memo
would have no effect on the case.
In an appearance on the CBS
News program "60 Minutes" on Dec. 28, Mr. Jackson said,
"Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."
He also said he still believed
it was acceptable to sleep with children.
Nick Madigan contributed reporting
for this article from Santa Maria, Calif., and Terence Neilan
contributed reporting from New York.
Copyright 2004 The
New York Times Company
Memo Could Boost Jacko's
Defense
CBS, Dec. 9, 2003
Los Angeles police and child
welfare officials earlier this year cleared pop singer Michael
Jackson of allegations that he sexually abused a cancer-stricken
boy, according to a confidential government memo.
The internal memo, obtained
by The Smoking Gun Web site, says a confidential investigation
found that the allegations against Jackson were "unfounded,"
months before Jackson was arrested on molestation charges.
The self-proclaimed "King
Of Pop" surrendered to Santa Barbara County authorities
Nov. 20 after an arrest warrant alleged he committed lewd or
lascivious acts with the boy. He was released on $3 million bail,
and authorities said they expect to file formal charges the week
of Dec. 15. He has denied the allegations.
According to the Nov. 26 memo,
the child was interviewed in February by a social worker assigned
to the Sensitive Case Unit of L.A.'s Department of Children &
Family Services and "denied any form of sexual abuse"
by Jackson and said he never "slept in the same bed as the
entertainer."
Jackson is never specifically
named in the memo, and is instead referred to as "the entertainer."
The Jackson abuse case resulted
from an investigation that was launched in response to a complaint
filed by an official from the Los Angeles Unified School District,
the memo states.
The memo indicated that the
school official suspected the boy was being neglected by his
mother and sexually abused by "the entertainer."
According to the memo, the
boy's 12-year-old brother also denied sexual abuse. Their sister
told investigators that she accompanied her brothers on sleepovers
to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, but had "never seen anything
sexually inappropriate between her brothers and the entertainer."
While acknowledging that her
son "has slept in the same room as the entertainer,"
the boy's mother told investigators "they did not share
a bed," adding that the entertainer would sleep on the floor.
According to The Smoking Gun,
the joint probe by DCFS and the Los Angeles Police Department
ran from February 14-27 and, the memo states, the investigation,
"concluded the allegations of neglect and sexual abuse to
be unfounded both by the LAPD-Wilshire Division and the Department."
It is unclear how the Smoking
Gun obtained the government document.
© MMIII, CBS Broadcasting
Inc.
'Michael Jackson's accuser
is a reluctant witness'
ANI, November 30, 2003
NEW YORK: Here's some more
good news for Michael Jackson. As the pop superstar prepares
to battle child molestation charges in court - his 12-year-old
accuser is a reluctant witness.
According to rate the music.com,
Harvey Levin, the producer of American TV's Celebrity Justice
who broke the latest scandal in America, claims young Gavin Arvizo
is not the willing witness, the prosecution first thought he
was.
"This boy told a therapist
that Michael Jackson fondled him in his private parts, but he's
a very reluctant witness. He did not come out and spill his guts
about what allegedly happened between him and Michael Jackson,"
Levin said.
"We're told it literally
had to be pulled out of him, first by attorney Larry Feldman
and then by a therapist, who ultimately got the story from the
boy," he added.
Express Network Private
Ltd. e-mail: info@newindpress.com
US blacks support Michael
Jackson in a time of crisis
AP , NEW YORK, Nov 29, 2003,
"He can't change that
he's black. He's black whether or not he wanted to get rid of
the black nose." --Audrey Martin, 58-year-old Jackson supporter
His once broad nose has been
surgically whittled to the size of a pencil. His formerly brown
skin is now off-white. His woolly afro has been replaced by a
sleek, straightened 'do.
Michael Jackson's physical
transformation -- along with his two marriages to white women
-- has led to questions about his standing in the black community.
But since his arrest on child molestation charges, some blacks
have reacted as if a family member were in handcuffs.
Even though Jackson and some
other black stars "seem like they hang around with white
folks all the time, even though they distance themselves from
us seemingly, at the end of the day, we still claim them,"
says Jamie Foster Brown, publisher of the celebrity monthly magazine
Sister 2 Sister . "Because when black people get in trouble,
white people tend to look at the whole race anyway."
Jackson certainly has plenty
of black detractors, as well as non-black supporters like his
friend Elizabeth Taylor. But judging by the response to his arrest
from chat rooms, radio broadcasts and man-on-the-street conversations,
there is more willingness in the black community to give Jackson
the benefit of the doubt.
"I did a vigil,"
said Audrey Martin, a 58-year-old retired home-care attendant
from Fairfield, California. "He can't change that he's black.
He's black whether or not he wanted to get rid of the black nose."
"African-Americans have
had an extremely negative experience with the criminal justice
system," says Roland Martin, founder and editor of the Web
site BlackAmericaToday.com. "We more than anybody else believe
in innocent until proven guilty."
There has been a tinge of suspicion
that the allegations against Jackson are about more than child
abuse. Jermaine Jackson likened his brother's arrest to a "lynching."
It's a sentiment similar to
when football star O.J. Simpson was charged with murder, boxer
Mike Tyson was convicted of rape, and even as basketball star
Kobe Bryant's rape case proceeds.
"That's the first thing
[blacks] say -- the same thing with O.J. -- they're trying to
bring down a black man," says Brown. "There is a reason
for that, because there's always been lynching, be it physical
or otherwise, since slavery."
Fueling such beliefs are factors
such as Jackson's home being raided on the same day his greatest
hits album "Number Ones" was released, and the jovial
demeanor of Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon
as he announced the charges (Sneddon later apologized).
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson
said the arrest was so "impeccably timed that it leads to
even more suspicions. ... It seems aimed to destroy this media
mogul."
He also questioned whether
the singer was being treated more harshly than other celebrities
-- namely white ones.
In an interview with The Associated
Press, Jackson noted that the bail in record producer Phil Spector's
murder case was US$1 million while Jackson's was US$3 million,
and questioned why there was no massive televised raid on radio
talk show host Rush Limbaugh's home when reports surfaced that
he had bought illegal drugs.
Evoking the cases of other
black male celebrities who have been charged with crimes, he
said: "One gets a sense that there is an emerging pattern
here, and these high profile blacks who perhaps think they are
the exception are maybe the example after all."
Copyright © 1999-2003
The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
Legal Secretary in Old
Case Says Jacko Was Framed
November 25, 2003, Roger
Friedman
A legal secretary who was peripherally
involved in the first child molestation case concerning Michael
Jackson says he was framed.
Geraldine Hughes worked for
attorney Barry Rothman in 1993. Rothman represented dentist Evan
Chandler (search) in his divorce from his wife, June. Hughes
said allegations against Jackson of child molestation arose from
a bitter custody dispute between the Chandlers over their then
12-year-old son.
Soon, Hughes is publishing
a book of her observations called "Redemption: The Truth
Behind the Michael Jackson Allegations." The book was scheduled
for released in January 2004 by tiny Virginia-based Branch and
Vine Publications long before the current scandal broke in the
news.
Hughes, who kept a daily-annotated
calendar during her time with Rothman, told me today in an exclusive
interview that among her revelations is the story of a memo between
the attorney and Chandler.
"Rothman advised the father
how to report child abuse via a third party rather than going
directly to the police," she said. "If it were any
other case, you'd just pick up the phone and call the police."
Hughes said that while she
was still working for Rothman, she and her mother contacted and
subsequently visited private investigator Anthony Pellicano,
and told him what was going on between Rothman and Chandler.
(Pellicano is currently in prison for possessing explosives and
is under investigation for illegal wire-tapping.)
"He thanked me for the
information but he said they were gathering evidence to go to
trial," Hughes said. "He said I could be called as
a witness."
But no trial ever occurred,
as Jackson wound up paying a reported settlement of $20 million
to the Chandlers.
Hughes - who was fired by Rothman
after about six months - claimed the plan to involve Jackson
in the Chandlers' divorce was an "elaborate" one. "You've
got to see the whole plan," she said. She claimed, for example,
that almost none of the Chandler case was recorded, that very
little correspondence exists and that most everything transpired
behind closed doors with no secretary present to take notes.
Nevertheless, a pattern of
unusual activities emerged in the case, she said.
"I was surprised one day
to see the boy in a closed-door session with Rothman with no
adult present," she recalled. "That was very unusual
too."
Hughes also said that even
though she was working closely with Rothman, she didn't know
Jackson was being accused of child molestation until
she heard it on TV during an office lunch break. Until then,
correspondence about Jackson in the Chandler divorce had been
limited to June Chandler's desire to take her kids out of the
U.S. with Jackson on tour.
Rothman, in a telephone call,
confirmed for me that Hughes did work for him at one time, but
that "she was privy to nothing in our office. She may also
be in violation of attorney-client privilege," he said,
adding that he would read her book when it came out in January
and that he wished her luck with it. As for the closed-door meetings,
he agreed that the Chandler case did have little correspondence
in the file. "It was mostly meetings," he said. "And
I take my own notes, I never have a secretary do it."
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. 
