Rushing home for a date with Court TV, relishing these last few moments of pre-verdict innocence, I put iPod on shuffle through the collected works of MJ and had my eyes re-opened to a key Jackson quirk: namely, Jacko’s ongoing habit of ignoring the huge freakish elephant in the middle of the roomuntil he seemingly writes a song about it, practically daring fans to read the compositions as evidence, or at least some sort of hint.

Cases in point: At the height of Jackson’s “rotating race” drama, when every new picture brought another new skin tone, MJ releases the song “Black or White.” At the height of his genderfuck femininity and public speculation about his suspiciously chaste adulthood, MJ releases the song “In the Closet.”

Finally, after a $30 million settlement that resolved some criminal sexual allegations but hung an invisible guilty sign around his neck, Jackson returns in 2001 with Invincible, which opens with the track “Unbreakable,” featuring a lovely cameo by the Notorious BIG and practically gloating about his skirting of prosecuting DA Tom Sneddon….This is the track that shuffled on during my walk home, leading me to suspect a possible acquittal. (The song would make a dynamite acquittal anthem.) But next up was “The Lost Children,” an icky power balled in praise of all the world’s children, in all their endearing juiciness….sigh…