"The Rich are Different from You and Me"

wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald.

For more than 20 years, WSJ reporter Dorothy Rabinowitz had exposed the witch hunts of accused child molesters in day care centers, detailing how over zealot prosecutors and hysteric moms encouraged small children to concoct stories.

Yesterday, summarizing the end of the John Karr's arrest and release, she concluded with these words:

In the end, no case was made against the Ramseys or any member of their family. It was impossible, during the last weeks of the John Karr drama, not to be reminded of the bitterness of this saga -- the books written, the libel suits filed and, not least, the unsolved murder. Impossible not to be reminded, too, of what the prosperous and influential Ramseys could achieve, by way of legal protection. Impossible to imagine, either, any one of those scores of accused citizens of modest means, facing investigations of child abuse filed by ambitious prosecutors, doing what the Ramseys could do -- namely, refuse to meet with police and submit to questioning other than on their own terms.

It is possible no one will ever know who killed JonBenet Ramsey. We can know, with certainty, as that case among others has proved, how much legal protection enough money can buy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115689742197749019.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (subscription)

Yes, they have more money.

"...as that case among others has proved, how much legal protection enough money can buy."


unfortunately that seems to be true, not just this case.

I always suspected the half brother.

Means, motive, opportunity. The cord attached to a paintbrush was a kid's weapon. There was no sexual assault. His DNA has never been submitted. He has been carefully shielded from the press at all times, even now when he's grown. His father has the means, motive, opportunity to do that for his son, unlike the rest of us who would have to turn our children over to the law and hope for the best deal we could make with the DA.

He may even have meant only to teach her a lesson about absorbing all the attention, but it went horribly wrong.

Someday he may talk about it. That's the only way it will ever be resolved.

I'm surprised she wasn't lynched.

the editorial board is on the loony side, though their recent editorial about Alaska - posted here - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=229048 was a real surprise.

And, as I commented, Dorothy Rabinowitz has made a crusade about the false accusations of teachers in pre-schools during the 80s.