Court TV-Fox News Alert..Search Warrant executed at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

A search warrant has been executed at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

It is being reported that this warrant has something to do with Jackson's relationships with children.

Details to follow.

[xm177e2]

I'll be honest: I pity the guy. He didn't have anyone close enough to him to forcefully convince him how far was 'too far.'

And if we forget to tell Arab youts not to rape white girls, we can't expect them not to do it (which was a liberal argument for sparing the Lebanese rapists in Australia--to be fair, other liberals recognized how despicably racist it was).

You're not supposed to have to tell someone not to molest children.

[buffyt]

I could swear that McCartney did get to buy those back. I will see what I can find....

[Quilla]

A policeman (CID) just came by my office and I relayed a couple of the details about this search warrant to him. He simply said - he's a pedophile.

[per loin]

That affidavit is here

[honeygrl]

"They need to lock his sick father up. I swear that Joe Jackson did something really wrong to those kids for them to be as screwed up as they are. Didn't Latoya say her dad molested them? "

I completely agree with that.

[Petronski]

I thought your joke might need some help for outsiders. It's not pronounced 'du-BWA' like the French, but instead, it's 'DOO-boyz.'

[Dog]

Listen to your mother..

[jimbo123]

Remember, Pellicano was the one who devised the strategy of calling Jackson's first victim an extortionist and was in charge of handling the negotiations of the cash settlement to the boy. Pellicano was the key player in the payoff of the victim.

[Sabertooth]

Come one. A little perspective here, please.

Back atcha.

That you fail to recognize the clear and present sexually predatory danger to every child coming into contact with Michael Jackson speaks encyclopedic volumes about your own glaring lack of perspective.

[Tupelo Honey]

I do recall quite a few nights when I was young though sleeping with my best friend in bed with both her parents. (monsters in the closet yaknow) It didn't seem to be a big deal to us or them. Heck, I remember her jumping in bed still with her parents when she was 16 during a thunderstorm. And once when we were teens, she and I both slept in the bed with her mom during a storm because her dad was out of town.

That's not normal. I am 19, and I would never sleep with my girlfriend and her mom in the same bed.

[honeygrl]

I've read it before. And like I said, if it were all true, and it were your kid, would you settle with money and let the guy who did it walk free?

[Darnright]

>A family that allows their child to be molested for money
have to be as low as the molester.<

If I recall correctly, Jordy Chandler's parents were divorced and Michael befriended Jordy and his mother. His father is the one that blew the whistle on Jackson, and brought the charges against The Gloved One. Apparently, Jackson wined and dined Momma, to get to the child. The boy's dad was not in control of the situation until later.

Sick.

[jimbo123]

Pelicano was Jackson't lead negotiator and was threatening the the victim and his father saying "take the money or else."

[Fierce Allegiance]

It was martin fierro's joke and willie greens comment to which i was responding, but thanks.

And thankfully nobody is getting laid off over this yet.

[buffyt]

Claim:   Michael Jackson owns the rights to the Beatles' songs.

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/jackson.htm

Status:   Mostly true.

Origins:   This

is one of those items which is primarily true, but the answer needs to be heavily qualified in order to avoid being misleading.

First off, when we talk about someone owning the "rights" to songs, what we're discussing are publishing rights. Typically, songwriters assign the publishing rights for their songs to music publishing companies, who perform a number of marketing and promotional services to generate revenue for the songwriters they represent:

• Exploitation: One of the more important functions of song publishers is "plugging" songs -- getting artists interested in recording a songwriter's work. Your song doesn't make any money if nobody uses it, and song plugging was an especially important aspect of the publishing business prior to the 1960s, when many songwriters were not also performers and primarily supplied tunes for other singers.

• Licensing: Music publishers also administer the granting and collection of royalties for various types of licenses:
  • Mechanical licenses: Songwriters receive royalties whenever someone sells recorded versions of their songs. If a songwriter records his own work, he receives royalties from his record label; if someone else records a cover version of his song, the songwriter receives royalties from that artist's record label.

  • Synchronization licenses: Songwriters receive royalties when their songs are sychronized to visual images, typically for use in films, television programs, and commercials.

  • Print licenses: Songwriters receive royalties for the sale of their songs in printed form, generally either as sheet music or entries in songbooks. Publishers who wish to quote or include song lyrics in a printed work must also obtain permission (and negotiate fees) with whoever holds the publishing rights to those songs.

  • Performing rights licenses: Songwriters receive royalties when their songs are performed live for profit or broadcast on the radio, although these licenses are usually administered by performing rights societies such as ASCAP or BMI rather than publishing companies themselves.

The key point here is that holding the publishing rights to songs doesn't really give the rightsholder much "power" over those songs. The rightsholder has some latitude in negotiating royalty rates and determining who may use a song in film or print its lyrics, but that's about it. The chief benefit to owning the publishing rights of songs is that standard publishing agreements call for royalties to be split 50-50 between the publisher and the songwriter(s), so owning the publishing rights to popular songs can be a lucrative form of income.

The Beatles assigned their publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by Beatles manager Brian Epstein and music publisher Dick James in 1963. The Beatles (particularly John Lennon and Paul McCartney) were soon earning so much money from songwriting royalties, record sales, concert performances, and merchandise licensing that they were losing over 90% of their income in taxes, and they were advised to find a way of receiving their revenue in the form of capital gains rather than income (the former being taxed at a much lower rate), such as selling their song rights or putting their money into a public company. The Beatles opted for the latter route, and Northern Songs went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1965. Initially, Lennon and McCartney each retained 15% of the shares, George Harrison and Ringo Starr held 1.6% between them, Brian Epstein's NEMS company was assigned 7.5%, and Dick James and Charles Silver (Northern Songs' chairman) retained a total of 37.5%. In 1969, however, the Beatles lost a buyout bid for control of Northern Songs when Dick James and Charles Silver sold their share of the company to Sir Lew Grade, head of Associated Television Corporation (ATV).

In 1984, ATV's 4,000-song music catalog was put up for sale, and Michael Jackson (who had coincidentally been introduced to the benefits of song ownership by Paul McCartney himself) eventually outbid all other prospective buyers for it, including Paul McCartney, who wanted to buy back the rights to the Beatles' songs but was apparently unable or unwilling to raise enough money to pay for the thousands of other songs in the ATV catalog as well. So, for $47.5 million, Jackson acquired the publishing rights to most of the Beatles songs. (The four songs issued on the Beatles' first two singles -- "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me" b/w "Ask Me Why" -- were not part of the package since they were published before the formation of Northern Songs, and the rights to those songs are now controlled by McCartney's MPL Communications. ATV also did not own the rights to George Harrison songs published after Harrison's songwriting contract with Northern Songs expired in 1968, but they did hold the rights to various other Lennon-McCartney songs not recorded by the Beatles.)

Another key point here is that although Michael Jackson receives 50% of the royalties generated by Beatles songs by virtue of his ownership of the publishing rights, Paul McCartney and John Lennon (and Lennon's estate, now that he's dead) have always received their 50% songwriter's share of the royalties for all Lennon-McCartney songs. Neither ATV's nor Michael Jackson's acquisition of Northern Songs changed that, and Michael Jackson does not now receive royalties that would otherwise be going to the Beatles had he not acquired the publishing rights to their songs (except that, obviously, if Paul McCartney had managed to outbid Jackson for the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog, he and Lennon's estate would be splitting 100% of the royalties rather than 50%).

As a closing note, we should mention that Sony Corp. paid Michael Jackson $95 million in 1995 to merge ATV with Sony and form Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a 50-50 joint venture, so it's probably more correct to say that Jackson now owns half the rights to the Beatles catalog.

Last updated:   7 May 2001

[jimbo123]

What if Anthony Pellicano told you "take the money or you'll be sleeping with the fishes?"

[Petronski]

Heh heh heh.

[ChemistCat]

I met a 38 year old so afraid of storms she would have jumped in bed with anybody rather than be alone.

I don't, personally, see what help another person really offers someone old enough to know that if a tree falls on the house, a tree just falls on the house. Being in a bed with someone else doesn't make you any safer from anything--just doubles the potential casualties if the tree falls on the one bed!

[eastforker]

He won't get it unless somebody loses his job over it.

[buffyt]

Not even at age 6 or 8 would I jump into bed with my friends' parents....