The Oscars, Pistorius and de la Renta.

1. It was handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance: Oscar Pistorius got a 5-year sentence.

2. Oscar de la Renta, who dressed First Ladies and movie stars, has died at the age of 82: "With French lace and delicate embroidery, he helped women subdue their insecurities. And with his eye for a gentle flounce and a keen understanding of line and silhouette, he helped them build a powerfully stylish wardrobe that never denied their femininity nor apologized for it.... Today, there are designers in New York who are more adept at capturing the sexuality of the modern era.... But de la Renta represented a kind of old-school fashion with its emphasis on propriety, elegance and good taste."

"The defence claimed Pistorius sounds like a woman when he screams."

Said the judge, finding that the prosecution had not proved that the Olympian committed premeditated murder when he shot through a door and killed his girlfriend.

The defence says Pistorius screamed when he realised Steenkamp was not in the bedroom. That has not been contradicted, the judge says, and it "makes sense."

This is crucial, as the evidence that Steenkamp was screaming was a major plank of the prosecution’s case for premeditation.

"I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved."

Oscar Pistorius takes the witness stand and weeps for the woman he killed and for himself. He told of his own suffering in life, as a child born with defective legs and as the sometime victim of crime. And:

"When I met Reeva, I think it was just a blessing. I've always wanted to have a partner that was a Christian. She was a very strong Christian."

He then became emotional again as he said "my God's a God of refuge" and his counsel, Barry Roux, asked for an adjournment.

Pistorius, indicted on a charge of premeditated murder.

"As he waited for the brief court hearing to begin on Monday, Mr. Pistorius prayed with his family and wept openly. Close friends of Ms. Steenkamp sat on court benches just a few feet away."

The photograph of Pistorious in the courtroom is so artistically dramatic that it looks like a still from a courtroom drama movie that would make me scoff and say: A real courtroom would never have lighting like that — expanses of darkness, spots of light on key faces in the perfectly assembled backdrop of interesting characters, a light fixture "halo" behind the head of the accused, his face lit from the side to heighten his handsome, chiseled features, a light creating a glow behind his neck and shoulders, his clasped hands, hands that so recently prayed, popping with light from... where exactly? Who is that lavishly scarved woman, perfectly lit, placed just at his elbow? What deep meaning lies in that trio of dark ladies lined up between the accused's other elbow and that theatrically ugly man at the extreme right? Witness that man, center right, who lifts his arm as if to shield himself from The Lord's Justice or to swim away through The Souls of The Damned.

Real life never looks like those cheesy, idiotic movies.

"A South African magistrate granted bail Friday to double amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius..."

"... who is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder in the death of Steenkamp."

CNN breaking news email.

Wow.

If you were him now, wouldn't you attempt to flee?

ADDED: Think he's too recognizable because of his lack of feet? What about the 1-armed man on "The Fugitive"? He escaped notice for years.

Graphic murders... and the graphics they inspire.

The Pistorius case doesn't seem the least bit complicated, but check out the complexity of the graphics the newspapers act like we need to comprehend the miserable scene:



AND: Another article — with another graphic — has the headline: "Image shows dark side of Oscar Pistorius, who keeps a pistol within arm's reach of bed and applied for an arsenal of gun licenses only weeks before the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp." The graphic is a photograph that labels these items: TV remote, AC remote, designer watch, set of keys, handgun. That's a dark side?! Seems to me it's a pretty normal set of items. The message is: Be hysterical on the topic of guns, because somebody is a murderer. How about the detail of the bloody cricket bat? Seems like he was killing her with or without a gun, so this is a particularly gratuitous effort provoking irrationality about guns.

The incredible Pistorius story.

Incredible in the literal sense — not credible:

Mr. Pistorius said he and Ms. Steenkamp had gone to bed early on Wednesday night, but in the middle of the night he heard a noise from the bathroom and went to investigate on his stumps, not his artificial legs.

He was nervous, he said, because the bathroom window did not have burglar bars and contractors who had been working there had left ladders behind. The room was dark, he said, and he did not realize that Ms. Steenkamp was not in bed. He felt vulnerable and fearful without his prosthetics and opened fire at the door, he said, calling to Ms. Steenkamp to telephone the police.

Only then did he realize that she was not in bed, he said. He put on his artificial legs and tried to kick down the door before breaking it open with a cricket bat to discover Ms. Steenkamp.

He carried her downstairs, he said, and “she died in my arms.”

Even the fact that he carried her downstairs makes the story unbelievable. She was shot in the head and still alive. You don't pick someone up and move her around in that circumstance if you want her to live.

"Oscar Pistorius held his head in his hands and wept openly in court Friday as prosecutors said they would pursue a charge of premeditated murder..."

"Chief Magistrate Desmond Nasir delayed Pistorius' bail hearing until next Tuesday and Wednesday and ruled that the 26-year-old Pistorius would be held at a police station in Pretoria until then. Police have said they oppose the granting of bail."

Is it okay to make politically incorrect jokes about whether he's a flee risk? Are we now released from all the old restrictions of etiquette?

Too bad John Callahan isn't still around to make he won't get far on foot jokes.



Meanwhile, Nike's "I Am The Bullet In The Chamber" ad is shot to hell.

"Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday with the murder of his girlfriend..."

"... who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs."

Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the predawn hours in the house, in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria, police said.

ADDED: Photos of Steenkamp.

AND: Here's an article from last November quoting Pistorius's ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor:

“Oscar is certainly not what people think he is. We dated for a year and a half”....

... Taylor first said she was “prepared to reveal what (Pistorius) made me go through,” but in a lawyer’s letter late on Friday evening she withdrew everything she had said.

"It just doesn't make sense to be walking around on your day legs at one height and then you're six inches or so taller on your running prostheses."

"You don't want the sport turning into a circus where, you know, doubles walk in with barely any training under their belt and they are running able-bod (able-bodied) qualification times."

Is Oscar Pistorius a hypocrite?

A Drudgetaposition.

This line-up at Drudge (right now) is no accident. Obviously — don't bore me with disagreement — Obama making the teeny tiny gesture next to the missile launch is a small penis/large penis visual joke. Next to that we see the double-amputee with highly effective prostheses. (Olympics spoiler alert.) It's a challenge to complete the implied statement, but we can see the relationship.


(Click to enlarge.)

The Obama pic goes with "8.254%" and the linked story is about Obama saying, essentially, it's smaller than you think. He's referring to the unemployment rate, which was announced as 8.3%, but if you take it out to another decimal or two, you can see that the rounding, though conventional, makes it look bigger than it really is.

The missile pic goes to a story about Iran test-firing a long-range missile. And the amputee picture is "Legless Pistorius makes Olympic history; Qualifies for 400-meter dash...."

So... at the visual/subliminal level, at Drudge today, it's all about... what can I say? I'll say: masculine power.

Inclusion of Oscar Pistorius in the Olympics - "political correctness gone mad or an inspiring human story"?

That question was asked of Michael Johnson — who has twice won an Olympic gold medal in the event that will include Pistorius, the 400 meter:

“I think it is both. I know Oscar well, and he knows my position; my position is that because we don’t know for sure whether he gets an advantage from the prosthetics that he wears it is unfair to the able-bodied competitors.

"That is hard for a lot of people to take and to understand when you are talking about an athlete and an individual who has a disability. It is a great story, he is a great individual and he has been a great ambassador for athletes with a disability and for people, and how to overcome [that] and continue to strive."

Should Pistorius be allowed to compete?
	He's not that much better/worse than the others, so let's have the spectacle and inspiration.
	Yes. This is great. Even if he could spring way ahead of the others.
	No. Whatever he's doing, it's a different event for him, and this doesn't belong.
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