I so would like to give MJ the benefit of the doubt here. I did so with Pete Townshend earlier this year, and I feel compelled to do the same here - fair's fair, afterall. But Townshend was found with nothing after all was said and done, like I knew would happen, and has done nothing in the past that might implicate his guilt. The fact that the family in this case has no desire to settle this time certainly indicates there are more serious charges this time. After reading about the seizing of "many videotapes and photographs of Jackson with children," it's pretty hard to remain impartial.

God, is this creepy or what?

Oh, hell no, for the love of God, no more surgery!

but this would be surgery to undo the other surgery - "anti-surgery"

I'm glad the media cut away from all that boring Turkish terrorism stuff to bring us moment-by-moment footage of Jackson's Lear jet landing. Although it would have been more entertaining if the jet had let the cops chase it around the runway for a while, a la OJ. I was a little disappointed.

Tom, 'with children' and 'doing the wild thing with children' are very different. I don't expect all this overkill in regard to the investigation to pan out. The case will likely turn on Big He said vs. Little He said. (If Jackson was stupid enough to take pictures that are incriminating, he deserves whatever sentence he gets.)

Eric, I did some reading about face transplants earlier this year after writing a blog entry about a severe burn victim in Texas. The procedure is intriguing. Basically, the new face, from a cadaver, is slipped over the patient's skin-stripped infrastructure like a glove.

MD, I have chosen to hope against hope in favor of Michael in the past - I'd say it's looking grimmer in terms of reality regardless of the legal outcome. This smells like compulsion after ten years of warnings and a shot career.

Regarding new faces: fascinating and "ew."

I am keeping an open mind on this one as we all must. The victim initially is never willing to settle and is always willing to testify. That was precisely the case ten years ago until a bit into the whole palava, threat of a civil suit, cheque written, end of story.

Having heard rumours that this new "victim" and his mother approached Larry feldman who previously handled the other "victim" leaves a funny smell. Also, hearing that Michael stopped with the consistent cash flow, the mother and her boyfriend went and asked for more and when it was not forthcoming, then the allegations were made. There is always a phantom psychiatrist who heard it from the "victim". Plus, this Sneddon man seems to have a personal vendetta. He looked so bloody pleased with himself yesterday one would have thought he just won the lottery.

That the law was changed because of the MJ case 10 years ago is troubling in itself. So for 10 years they have just been waiting and drooling at the prospect of catching this man at something. Having watched the dreadful Martin Bashir interview they struck gold. If the accuser is allegedly the boy in the video, it would come as no surprise to me to somewhere down the line find that words were put into that poor child's mouth just to get Jacko. By the way, how are the mother, boyfriend and even the child going to explain all the glowing tributes they gave Michael repeatedly in interviews? Plus, the mother acknowledging that she knew sometimes her son shared a bed with Jacko but she knows there is nothing inappropriate going on. Then money stops and its allegation time. Lets wait and see if cash will not be asked for.

I hope Jacko if innocent sticks to his guns this time and his lawyers carry out a passionate defence. If found not guilty, I hope he will be sensible enough to sue the boy(yes, the boy) the mother, the boyfriend, the sheriff dept, the state of California..all for defamation of character and possible loss of earnings due to being a public figure and having his image tarnished irreparably. They better have waterproof evidence if not I suggest they reconsider thier options before we get to the 9th of January.

Plus, did he have to be cuffed, really? All that was just for drama. Again, why was his bail set at 3 million dollars? Phil Spectre, the Producer of Beatles songs such as "Let it Be" was charged with murder and bail set at 1 million. It all smells like a witch hunt to me. Still, I realise that Jacko is wierd. All this means, one must keep an open mind, nothing will shock me in this matter.

Tom, 'with children' and 'doing the wild thing with children' are very different.

Absolutely, which is why I hold out hope that it's the latter, just him cavorting around Neverland with these kids in the most innocent of ways. It does, however (as Eric says,) look grimmer the more I read about it. I'm not a fan, but he's human and, worst, a celebrity, which makes him a target for greedy people. The timing of this, being on the day of the release of his album, is interesting, but I don't doubt that the police didn't have that in mind when they set about their work that day.

The whole face transplant issue, kinda gross and definitely creepy. Also reminds me of Face/Off.

Let me add, it would be nice this time to not have to see MJ on TV talking about his penis. I can do without that, thank you.

The message I hear in all this is: How dare someone be "weird"? Jermaine says MJ "is not eccentric." As if being eccentric or individualistic or nonconformist is somehow wrong. Grrrr.

Heavy sigh.

Yes, this does seem more grim than the case a decade ago. But I can't shake the feeling that this is all about Sneddon and Co. being determined to take "Wacko Jacko" down and humiliate him to boot at any cost and by any and all means necessary. And the way the media are playing along with it is just unconscionable and sleazy. Shame on them.

Excellent point about alleged killer Phil Spector -- what makes Michael Jackson three times as dangerous than a person believed by some to be a murderer?

I pray he is innocent -- mostly for the sake of the children, but for MJ too. And if he is shown to be guiltless, I hope he sues the pants off of everyone involved and tells them, as he told Gloria Allred, to go right to hell.

As for face transplants: What sane person would want a dead person's face? Ewww. Gross.

All of that is possible, we shall see.

Jermaine needs to look up the meaning of "eccentric."

What bothers me most right now - suspending judgment on this case until there is information upon which to judge - is that Jackson has been allowed by his vast wealth and enablers to remove himself so far from reality.

His level of self-deception is such that he might actually believe whatever has occurred isn't "sexual," etc. blah, blah, blah. When he sits there in front of tens of millions of people and says he's only had, like, two surgeries and that he hasn't done anything to his skin color, it's all the result of a natural condition, he is just a flat out, screaming, no way around it, pathological liar, and that is what makes me think that there has been something going on all along.

If I'm wrong, I will be the happier for it.

"As for face transplants: What sane person would want a dead person's face?"

Well, there was that character in "Silence of the Lambs"... oh, yeah. Point taken.

LOL @ "Although it would have been more entertaining if the jet had let the cops chase it around the runway for a while, a la OJ. I was a little disappointed."

i've been a huge fan of MJ since 1988. i've already gone through the case in 1993 as a fan, and truly - i cannot claim a thing i do not know for sure. but this whole case always sounded majorly fishy, and it's always the same people trying to get MJ to make him go to jail. i do think it's a personal thing, they just hate MJ.

and why would they let a guy who molests kids run around outside jail and ask him to come to prison instead of running after him to get him arrested right away? why do parents still allow their kids sleep over at MJ's when they think he's a child molester? why is exactly the boy that was part of the unfamous, framed interview with Martin Bashir the victim this time. i think they bought Bashir to put him into this situation past February, and they probably bought the boy - Gavin.

i do think MJ's being framed here. in all honesty, i can't believe a word they're blaming on MJ. i maybe would have still doubts in 93, but this time it all looks way too fishy.

In comment #8, please change "latter" to "former."

There's all that, but doesn't anything MICHAEL has done over the last 15 years or so strike you as "fishy"?

It seems to me Michael is the fishiest fish to swim down the pike since Moby Dick, and I am aware that whales are mammals.

well, what is fishy about what he's done? wouldn't you think it's fishy if he suddenly had changed his behavior and had stopped meeting kids after 93? he kept on. it was maybe a mistake on one hand, but on the other hand it just shows he doesn't think he needs to worry about anything he's doing with children.

i just can tell, i've once had an X-bf who was exactly the same, he liked hanging out with little kids, and he actually works in politics fighting for kids' rights. people also started making assumptions about his friendships with kids and wanted to forbid him meeting kids. but having been with him for 2.5 years i do think i can tell although it may be weird to others, his friendships were nothing weird to him, and i never felt there was one reason to worry. it's admiring that he does so much for kids.

but i think society just can't take it if a person only wants good. they think - it's too good to be true.

I want to congratulate Michelle for supporting Michael Jackson under the circumstances. Usually, when celebrities come under fire, fans drop them like hotcakes. So, it takes heart for Michelle to do this.

I have no idea how the case will turn out. If money is the issue, more can be made by not going forward with the criminal case and accepting an offer of settlement from Jackson. (Yes, I know the kid would get a book deal out of a criminal case, but that could turn into next to nothing like Pfc. Lynch's is doing.)

And, sometimes these cases do fade away. There was, as Tom said, Townshend's. And, the charges against that female comedian turned out to be way overstated, too.

That would be Paula Poundstone.

It seems almost irrelevant as to whether or not Michael is innocent. He is "weird," by society's standards, and that means he *must* be punished. It's disgusting.

If he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, yes, of course he deserves punishment of the fullest extent. But there is a long time until that is determined. How horrible that so many have to punish him before he has even been arraigned. And how horrible that it appears that so many people insist on a cookie-cutter world where everybody must behave or believe a certain way or else.

"society just can't take it if a person only wants good. they think - it's too good to be true."

A-fuckin'-men.

Grrrr.

It's sad that Jackson has become more about the bizarre and macabre then the music these last 10 or so years. I guess if he was Alice Cooper some of the bizarre stuff might work for him (not any of this child-related stuff, of course).

Has anybody reviewed Jackson's newest album yet? I read somewhere that his last studio CD sold 2 million (true/false?). 99% of artists out there would be estatic selling 2 million CDs but that is somewhat disappointing to the guy who sold 25+ million with Thriller.

Jackson will always live in a shadow of his gigantic success, I guess.

Maybe if he is proven innocent in all this he'll team up with Alice Cooper

(no School's out jokes, please)

which CD are you talking about? Nomber Ones? it's just been released monday in europe and tuesday, on the day the accusations and warrants started, in the USA. i don't know the number of sold albums, but if it's sold already 2 million, i'd say it's a good job for only these few days.

if you're talking about invincible, which hardly got promotion, due to trouble with his record company that refused to promote his work, then - invincible sold 10 million copies worldwide. still good for an album that probably many still don't even know about, due to the lack of promotion.

Invincible. I realize that Number Ones just came out and that is why I referred to "last studio CD". Wow, then if it sold 10 million that is even better. How many artists can sell 10 million CDs? You can count them on one hand, I'd think, these days.

yes, he's talking about Invincible, which did 2 million in the U.S., and by the way, the "no publicity" Sony did cost $25 million.

this "no publicity" cost a few peeps their jobs also, like tommy mottola who was fired by his japanese boss for his "good job" on that case.

and yeah, just 2 million in the US, but still 10 million worldwide. after the scandal in 93 he'd lost much of his popularity already in the US and he'd not even toured the US any longer, so the number of sold albums is not too surprising.

What is very telling in all this is that the fellow is yet to be charged. Can you beat that?! Hahahaha..they carried out a dramatic 14 hr search on his property, they issued a warrant for his arrest and held a press conference about it that was more like a groove "We got him" shin-dig..they begged for more kids to come forward(If proof were needed that they have little or no evidence, this is it) and yet they have not charged him.

What is the count? Lewd and Lascivious acts. How on earth are they going to prove this? This count does not involve sexual intercourse. So, its a he said/he said thing. This is exactly why they are pleading for more "victims". I hope Michaels Lawyer is ready to send this Sneddon guy into early retirement because this is all unnecessary drama. Atlesat get your self together before you hold a press conference and be ready to charge the man. Michael is yet to be charged, I think that is the most telling thing in all this madness and it strengthens my view that its a witch hunt.

Being wierd and eccentric and maybe even a bit mad, does not make you a pedophile. I believe Invincible sold 6-7 mill, but whats a few mill..its still a great number of units shifted. Further proof that because an Album supposdly does not do well in America does not mean its a complete flop(though theres nothing wrong with the 2 mill he sold there)

Sandra, I am unclear what you mean he "hasn't been charged." He was charged and released on $3 million bond yesterday.

Eric, I was under the impression that as of when he was processed he was yet "to be charged" and charges would be "filed soon"..This I heard from several of the Press there and even Sneddon rambled something similar. In any case I thought once you are in there and arrested, you are then charged etc etc..but I was told not. Which is why I was puzzled yesterday. Hence, my post.

It takes a hell of an eccentric to be the weirdest dude in Hollywood...

Sandra, you are correct, he is being charged "after Thanksgiving" - I find this confusing.

There are probably even stranger people in Hollywood, but they aren't quite so public with their weirdness, nor so contradictory in trying to deny it.