OJ Simpson

Not all black and/or colored people in this country believed the very black OJ Simpson was "not guilty" in the death of his very white ex-wife, Nicole Brown. I believe he conspired to kill the mother of his children. I also believe was physically involved in the scene of the crime --if not during, then after the deed was done. Even though I believe he got away with murder in ways more Shakespearean that I would care to count, what I do agree with everybody who says the OJ Simpson murder trial was historic.

First, it gave the common person a closer look at the criminal justice system. It taught more than a few people the nuances of being tried for murder vis a vis manslaughter or homicide. There's no going back to trial once aquitted for murder; a painful realization to the millions who thought trying OJ Simpson on that count was a good idea.

Yet the most important lesson learned by the Simpson trial was how far the United States was socially from the days of "To kill a mockingbird". Why? The OJ Simpson trial proved that money and infuence can indeed a black man a "not guilty" verdict.

Which is why, when I read of Mr. Simpson's being held in a county jail without bail, I couldn't help but feel that justice, although deferred, will finally be served. OJ Simpson is waiting looking down the barrel of 30 years in prison for, of all things, stealing "back" his own football memoribilia from associates he claims were going to sell it without his consent.

I all seemed so perfect! How could it possibly go wrong? You get Bernie Kerik's lover, Judith Regan, to edit a thinly veiled tell all book by OJ Simpson and get Rupert Murdoch and Fox to market it to sleaze crazed Americans. Perfect!

You had the tough Bernie Kerik...the sleazy Judith Regan...and of course you had Rupert Murdoch trying to create a new wave of OJ hysteria for his own profit. Clearly it is right-wing Republican family values at it's best, right?

But somehow, this went too far for most Americans...and even for anti-Semitic, lying, splotchy old Bill O'Reilly. There was a mini rebellion at Fox that led to Murdoch backing out, leaving Regan high and dry to once again look like the sleazy one. (And for those who don't know about it, Judith Regan is the woman Bernie Kerik had a year-long affair with, kicking Ground Zero workers out of an apartment overlooking Ground Zero so they would have a place to meet).

So what does Regan do? She takes the Mel Gibson/Saudi Arabia defense: Blame the Jews.

Now, at the risk of fueling her paranoia, since I am Jewish, I just want to say that blaming a "Jewish Cabal" for the collapse of the Kerik-Regan-Murdoch-Simpson Sleaze Scheme and for Regan's getting fired from Harper Collins is just plain insane. At least Mel Gibson had the decency to admit he was drunk and stupid when he blamed Jews for his getting arrested. Regan is just plain nuts and yet this is the woman Kerik and Murdoch loved so much.