In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson
Fox News Announces "The Five" as Beck Replacement
Next Monday FNC will run a rotating anchor show in Beck's 5 PM EDT weekday spot. I had posted a similar suggestion (but I don't think anyone at Fox News reads this little blog) and am delighted to see Greg Gutfeld and Andrew Napolitano in the mix; I don't see Stossel mentioned in the same news report and that's a disappointment. But Juan Williams and Geraldo Rivera are solid contributors. I'm not a Dana Perino fan and some of the other people mentioned are so-so frequent contributors. The devil is in the details
More Reflections on the Casey Anthony Verdict
I had the same idea as Bill O'Reilly suggested on his post-verdict talking point last night: I think it is highly likely that jurors, given their involvement of one of the most widely followed trials in years, may be looking for a way to cash out of their jury experience.
It's inevitable that certain people would look for their 15 minutes of fame, including alternate jurors. But you have got to be kidding when someone doesn't see a possible motive for homicide. First, not all murders are necessarily premeditated or based on knowledge of the victim. Second, Casey Anthony was a single mother. Ann Coulter's latest column breaks out a number of crime statistics involving single mother households. Granted, it focuses more on the children themselves, but unless the single mother has significant assets or income, she can find herself in a difficult position of struggling to raise a child on a limited income, never mind lead an active social life. There are a number of potential boyfriends whom would be wary about making a commitment not just to a woman but to any children, not to mention to divided loyalties. Perhaps she thought that she could cope with the pressures of single parenthood but she felt trapped, backed into a corner. (I've heard some psychologists on Fox News suggest that the notorious partying of Casey Anthony was a coping exercise of dealing with her daughter's disappearance. My response: what you see is what you get.)
I have not seen research on how single mothers react under cases where their children disappear under similar circumstances. My intuitive feeling is that single mothers would act like any other mothers I know: do anything under their power to fully cooperate with police or FBI agent, not to mislead or obstruct their investigation. If anything, the mothers would join in the search activities--not go out and party all night. I could see taking an occasional break to deal with stress, but Ms. Anthony's behavior came across to me more like she was trying to make up for lost time on the party circuit as a single woman with no dependents.
A couple of other notes:
- I was surprised by the verdict, even though I basically would have concurred with the verdict as I opined in yesterday's post. The prosecution after the verdict admitted they had had a difficult burden to field with a "clean bones" scenario. I agree with that, so the puzzling thing is why, if you know you have a difficult burden under a "clean bones" scenario, do you swing for the fences or do you go for the sure base hit? I believe the prosecution struck out versus going with a more probable conviction on a lesser charge. I believe, at minimum, Anthony was aiding and abetting whom did commit the murder: e.g., a link between the Anthony car and Caylee's remains. There's a link between an Anthony PC and the car (chloroform). You can infer Caylee was murdered; you can infer the murderer was most likely Casey Anthony. But inference does not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt. However, in terms of the verdict, I thought that the prosecution laid out strong circumstantial evidence and outlawyered the defense; under these circumstances, I would think a quick verdict favors the prosecution. Whereas I thought the correct verdict was reached--given the charge and evidence--I thought the jury had jumped the shark (i.e., reached a verdict of guilty) in a quick deliberation.
- I think that the most overrated defense attorney in the country is Jose Baez. Hannity seemed impressed (more than I did) with the closing argument, but to be honest, when Baez starts by calling his own client a liar and then suggests that Caylee died by accident, but it has never been suggested until the time of the trial, and you decide to hide the body of a drowning victim in a swamp so nobody will find it rather than give her a proper burial. You have an allegation that George Anthony, a former policeman and doting grandfather, would be involved in a conspiracy to mislead law enforcement officers, a breach of professional ethics, again without evidence. You have the Anthony men being thrown under the bus in unsupported sexual misconduct allegations to explain their role in an accidental death or to scapegoat Casey's behavior? My conclusion occurred DESPITE Baez, not because of Baez. Can you prove the cause of death based on Caylee's remains? No. (Do we have traces of Caylee's face and Casey Anthony's fingerprints on the duct tape? No.) Is there evidence of a murder independent of the forensic evidence, say, by a confession, a direct witness, videotape, etc.? No. I do believe that Baez did a good thing by starting his post-verdict comments with an explicit knowledge of Caylee's passing, although I would argue that the least he could do. I wasn't convinced at all by Baez' attempts to poke holes in the evidence. In fact, I agreed with the prosecution and think it strongly suggests Casey Anthony had a role in Caylee's circumstances. The problem is that there were structural problems; if the remains had been discovered in August (unchecked lead) versus December, we might had had enough evidence to determine cause of death. If you can't determine cause of death, how do you convict the defendant of murder?
"Casey Anthony was found not guilty. This means that President Obama’s economic team is only the second-most clueless group in America." -- Jay Leno
[What they didn't find hidden in that swamp was justice and common sense.]
"I think the jury from the O.J. Simpson trial retired and moved to Florida." - Jay Leno
[And qualified for the early verdict special.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
ELO, "Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle"
