What the kid did was wrong, but CHILD PORNOGRAPHY? Is it possible for a child to be guilty of child pornography??

This reminds of the case in Florida ('natch) where a guy busted for two joints - who also happened to have a legal prescription for Vicadin he'd just had re-filled, 64 tablets - was charged with "possession for sale"...of the Vicadin. In a pre-trial hearing to have the case thrown out, his doctors testified to the fact that he indeed needed the Vicadin for back pain and gout attacks. The prosecution argued that didn't matter as - hold on, wait for it - the defendant had no Constitutional "right to prescription drugs".

So, ipso-facto, he's a drug dealer. The moron seated on the bench agreed (!) and barred the doctors' testimony. The defendant refused a plea bargain, another collection of morons in the jury box convicted him and he was sent to federal prison for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.

The appellate court judge who reviewed the case said it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard of let alone seen. He threw out the conviction and ordered the man, who had served three years, immediately released. And the scumbag prosecutors? They immediately had re-arrested and re-filed the charges.

But no, we don't live in a police state. Not at all.

I must admit that I'm shocked by his death. One thing about Pollack was his tremendous energy and vigor. I remember the scene from "Eyes Wide Shut" when he's in the bathroom with the naked, ODing hooker and is putting his clothes on. I was stunned that a man his age (65) had such a robust physique, not to mention scarcely any gray in his chest hair. That such a stereotypically big, strong Russian bear-man could be so quickly laid low is humbling, not to mention chilling.

As for his filmography, it's astonishing that the same man who made "They Shoot Horses Don't They?", "The Way We Were", "Three Days of the Condor", "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa" could go on to make...well, so much crap. It's true that he was a splendid actor in his own right, but it's mistifying why he kept lending that talent to so much...well, again, crap.

I think I'll remember him best for his excellent insights into Stanley Kubrick, featured in Jan Harlan's documentary, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures." He was a great interviewee when it came to the ins-and-outs of the film industry. I had to smile when he said at one point "Usually in this business, when someone refers to themselves as a 'perfectionist' it's understood to be a euphemism for a pain in the ass." I knew that he MUST have been thinking of Dustin Hoffman, given their legendary battles on the set of "Tootsie."

I agree with Stephanie that he was one of the last, true "moviemakers." We need more like him, not less, so his loss stings all the more.

She's been married to Matthew Broderick for years.

...this is a great and propitious day, a day that will ring down through history with a chime that will never die!

Twenty years ago I wept as Jesse Jackson showed who the Democratic Party could have had as a nominee when he electrified the convention with his speech "They Work Hard Every Day." I despaired of any black man or woman - or any woman of any color - coming even close to the nomination of their party let alone the Presidency. Tonight my tears are dry.

At long last, let freedom ring!

Sorry, but the phallic reference was too obvious to leave unmentioned. Columnist Moonbeam needs to pull his head out of his ass.

All of you idiots who think Polanski got away with something, here are the facts of his life:

1. He survived Auschwitz. AUSCHWITZ.

2. He survived Auschwitz by escaping from it. He hid from the Nazis in caves and forests for almost two years. God knows how he survived, but he did.

3. After the war he got to go home to a Poland run by ruthless Stalinists. Hey, more fun and laughs!!

4. His filmmaking gave him an entree to the west, to which he defected in the mid-1960s.

5. He met and married Sharon Tate. In the summer of '69 she and his barely unborn child were slaughtered by the Manson Family.

He paid for ANY crime aside from murder long before he "fucked" a 13-year-old girl. Have you seen pictures of that "girl" - she looks about 19. That doesn't mitiate what Polanski did, but it - and his tragic life - goes a long way towards explaining why he did it.

And now for the "mystery" that will undoubtedly be revealed in this documentary. Polanski agreed to a plea that had him in county jail for X amount of time, plus probation. But the judge double-crossed him, and his attorney told his agent, and his agent helped him get out of the U.S. How did the judge double-cross him? Well, Polanski was supposed to do a few months plus probation, but the judge infamously said, "Wait until that degenerate little fucker gets in here. I'm sending him up for twenty years." That was overheard in chambers by Polanski's attorney.

A man who had survived the hell of Auschwitz, whose wife and unborn child were slaughtered like cattle, might be forgiven for not wanting to spend five minutes in an American prison.