The girl was thirteen years old. The age of consent in France is fifteen, so Polanski's conduct would have been illegal there, too.

Only people without experience in the criminal justice system believe that police claim they heard from defendants under interrogation.

@pantsless economist

Eli is SO cool. I wish the actress a long and successful career.

I don't watch Palin on TV. I have seen pictures taken during campaign appearances, and it seems she's wearing a new outfit every day.

WTF? You guys ever hear of the Royal Navy? It ruled the world - or allowed the UK to do so for a couple of centuries - and what was it's legacy? rum, sodomy and the lash!

One of the truly great things about our nation (I'm being sarcastic) is that among the elite (e.g. in the eyes of those who make admission decisions as to the University of California) - it doesn't matter which campus) those of Vietnamese, Chinese [doesn't matter what part of China] Korean or Japanese - all same, same…

I think LittleDogToo's articulation of the Palin phenomenon is the best yet.

Clearly: the first may be "too old" but to impress (or at least not offend) the potential in-laws, it is the best

"Chick lit" is used as a pejorative. It is wrong - not simply unfair - to throw Sittenfeld's novels in that pile.

Interesting URL: [www.frontiersman.com]

What is this bit about Todd Palin being a "stay at home dad"?

McCain and torture: I wonder if anybody has compared what the North Vietnamese did to McCain to that which the US (I refuse to say "we") have done to the prisoners at Gitmo? The physical torture may - note "may" (did McCain ever claim he was waterboarded?)- have been worse, but the technology of inflicting mental…

I keep waiting for somebody to do some math - and since I'm getting tired - I'll do it.

@snarkhunting

I know this will sound elitist, mostly because it is.

Comprehensive sex education in Alaska? An acquaintance who teaches middle-school health up in the Valley (where Palin lives) said he is allowed to discuss contraception ONLY when one of the kids asks about it, and then not in class.

PALIN THE HYPOCRITE

The most interesting player in women's basketball at these Olympic games is Becky Hammon, of Rapid City, South Dakota, point guard for the Russian team.

This is the first really stupid thing I've seen appear here in more than a year - it is the "girl's" pushup which reflects the patriarchy belief that girls /women don't have the upper body strength to do "regular" pushups , et cetera, et cetera