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Friday, July 25, 2003
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Exhibit A
Today's Kobe update: Just after his press conference detailing his adultery, Kobe bought his wife a $4 million dollar diamond ring. I have no comment on that one way or the other, just thought it was worth mentioning.
OK, I wasn't going to write about this, because it's in poor taste, and it's based on the reports of a bunch of 19 year old kids that are having a field day with the media. But...
Have you seen the reports (and interveiw) on MSNBC regarding the accuser's statements and actions at a party, a couple days after the incident took place?
Apparently, she was having a good time, and was "bragging" about her encounter with Kobe. She then spent some time using words and gestures describing Kobe's "gifts" to the people at the party. The party host, who was interviewed on MSNBC, said it was "unbelieveable".
OK. First, the caveats. These are a bunch of 19 year old kids (five of them confirmed the story at the party) who are getting in the media. Maybe they are getting paid. Maybe they don't like the girl. Maybe they are telling the truth. Who knows?
Second, we keep hearing from some of these same types of people about her "injuries", and the "evidence".
I'm just going to come out and say this, delicately: Is this trial going to reach a point where a part of Kobe's anatomy will be known as Exhibit A? Certainly, if her injuries are the result of any kind of beating or non-sexual activity, that's one thing, and for all we know that might be the case.
But what if her injuries, (the "evidence"), is of a sort that indicates that perhaps some very rough (and potentially unwanted) sex took place? I'm going to be completely honest here and say that I don't know much about rape cases, and the evidence involved. It could be that injuries that result from having an encounter with a "tremendously gifted" person doesn't look anything at all like the injuries that one might have from an encounter with forced sexual intercourse. I really don't know.
Based on conversations I've had with people I know who are "gifted", injury and discomfort are very real problems for them and their partners.
Again, I'n not at all saying that Kobe's alleged gifts mean that no rape occurred. Not at all. We still don't know what happened there that night.
But what I am saying is that if the injuries are of a certain type, and Kobe really is "unbelieveable", then wouldn't it be possible that a part of Kobe's defense would focus on...Exhibit A, and the possible reality that sex with Kobe might reasonably cause injuries to a partner.
But where is the line between those kinds of injuries and injuries caused by forcible intercourse? I don't know.
Yes, there's a crass Johnny Cochrane/glove line joke in here to be made, but I'll let you connect those dots.
I'm just looking ahead to when and if this thing gets to trial, and I just really wonder if this isn't where this thing is going.
I don't think it will get there, the more I read. There are reports that the girl is having second thoughts about the prosecution, though it's the People of Colorado vs. Kobe, and this girl can't stop this train that she has started, even if she wanted to.
11:16:32 AM 
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Good Bugs, Bad Bugs
Why are some bugs "good bugs", and other bugs "bad bugs"? Take Ladybugs. Ladybugs are "good bugs" in the sense that they eat other bugs that bother your plants. But there are lots of "good bugs" from a utilitarian sense, and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about "good bugs" in the sense that you don't mind if they are near you, or even on you.
People will pick up a Ladybug without a second thought, because they are "cute". Nevermind that a Ladybug can give you an irritating bite, or play you for a sap to her Ladybug friends. Their cuteness is an evolutionary trick, and we have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
You know who else is a "good bug"? The famous Granddaddy Long Legs Spider. Here is a spider that is almost as big as your fist, but does anybody fear the Granddaddy? Of course not. But you take a Granddaddy and give him legs as thick and yarn, and you see how many people try to pull his legs off then.
What makes a bug a "bad bug"? It's hard to say. In some cases, it's size. I know there are some very large spiders that are totally harmless to people. And yet, those spiders and I can't have a relationship. We can't even be in the same room together.
In other cases, it's function. Take tics, for example. I hate tics. Who doesn't? Can't we just get rid of ticks for good. Thanks for the tics, Noah. And the mosquitos, too. All 600 species of them.
Why are we talking about bugs? Last night, in my basement, I saw a bug. I don't know what it was, really. It's not a millipede, but it has long legs, and a substantial body, and it moves too fast. It made me jump and scream like a little girl. It's the third such bug I have seen in my basement in the last month or so. The first two met their destiny on the heel of my shoe (and made a bit too much noise and mess for my liking in the process). But this last bug must have been the ringleader, for he was smarter and managed to scurry away and hide during my initial hysteria and histrionics.
Meaning, he's down there, still.
We live in an old house, built in 1925. Old houses have lives and a history that is never meant to be seen by those who use the doors and plumbing and other amenities. Those lives most often are below the surface, in the very walls and foundation of the house itself. If you weren't of a mind to spend much time down in the depths, you might never see the evidence of this other world.
But I am of such a mind. My special workshop is in the basement, as are the laundry facilities, the cat boxes and food, and primary storage. There are lots of good reasons to be in my basement, and soon there will be even more, as we move our TV into our soon-to-be-finished family room.
And so, I have seen things I wish I had not seen. I have seen spiders that my cats wouldn't even play with, spiders that sometimes met the heel, and other times found their way back into the dark recesses. You see them, and you forget about them. You have to. You don't bother them, they don't bother you. That's the rule. You say it till you believe it.
But now these other things, whatever they are, are down there. I don't know where they are coming from. I don't know where they live. I only know that if one of my esteemed guests manages to see one of these bugs, one of these horrifically bad bugs, they they will flee my family room and never return.
And so I make this solemn vow to all my future guests: I will find all the bad bags. They will be removed. You won't need to worry about them at all.
But remember, if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.
10:41:14 AM
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Debunking The Land Bridge Theory
Scientists have discovered an archaeological site in Siberia that places settlements there much later than they believed previously. As a result, the long-held theory that the first North Americans came over on the land-bridge that is now the Bering Strait is in serious question.
The oldest North American settlement is in Clovis, New Mexico, about 13,600 years ago. But the newness of the Siberian settlement raises doubts that the people could have settled in Clovis in such a small timeframe.
Among the other theories are that the first North American settlements were populated by Europeans who skipped across the Atlantic on ice floes, or pre-Japanese whalers who sailed across the north Pacific and moved down the Western coast.
Write those theories down in pencil. The next discovery will probably invalidate them all. But that's why I like archaeology: there is always a next discovery. We are always learning more about who and what we are.
10:06:13 AM
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Max Weisburg, Bookie Savant
I guess St. Paul had a celebrity bookie. His name was Max Weisburg, and he just died at age 79 of pancreatic cancer.
Why is this notable? Because Weisburg had serious mental deficiencies. Essentially, he was a Rain Man Bookie, a numbers and odds savant. Police would routinely raid his home and find six-figure wads of cash, but he would always beat the rap because of his relative lack of mental capacity.
The last time his house was raided, in 1999, officials found $127,000 in cash. The money was confiscated, and although he wasn't convicted, the judge made sure Weisburg was able to keep enough of the money to give his house some much-needed updates.
9:59:38 AM
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Rolling With Saddam
One of Odai Hussein's bodyguards has revealed some interesting details on what Saddam and his sons' outlook was immediately after the U.S. came to power in April. Apparently, they roamed the streets at will, even driving by U.S. convoys at times. Their collapse was shocking to them, and they had no formal plan for a resistance, because they never thought they would need one.
Included in the article is this classic scene:
Saddam Hussein's own astonishment was obvious on Friday, April 11, Abu Tiba said, 48 hours after U.S. troops toppled Saddam's government and his most prominent statue in Baghdad. Saddam and his sons attended Friday prayers at the Abu Haditha mosque in Adhamiya. Word spread quickly among the worshipers, and a crowd gathered around them outside after prayers were over.
An old woman in a black abaya walked up to Saddam and berated him with a boldness that, days earlier, could have gotten any Iraqi killed.
"What have you done to us?" she demanded.
Iraq's once all-powerful leader smacked his forehead with his open palm and pleaded for understanding.
"What could I do?" he asked the woman. "I trusted my commanders. . . . They have broken the oath they took upon themselves to protect Iraq. We hope we will be back in power and everything will be fixed."
That whole smack-the-forehead bit is just too much. "Doh!"
9:34:17 AM
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This Is How We'll Catch Saddam...
From today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune article on the killing of Odai and Qusai Hussein:
U.S. officials said the bodies would be stored in a refrigerated tent at Baghdad International Airport until a family member came forward to claim them.
9:22:41 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Doug Hennessee.
Last update: 8/1/2003; 1:13:21 PM.
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