One year later: Have we learned anything new?

A year ago today, I was riding on the train, coming home from the city, when the talk began.

"Michael Jackson is dead!" a man said.

There were some groans among the packed train-car passengers, but the shock and dismay quickly dissipated. Like any talk about Michael Jackson, all serious talk changed to jokes and laughter.

"He must have died because he was distraught over Farrah!" the same guy said, with a laugh.

I tried to ignore the jokes and, instead, banged out a column on this guy, this freakish entertainer who was bigger than Beatlemania, even as he displayed odd signs of mental illness.

I tried to ask the question: Was he mentally ill? If so, could we have saved him?

A year later, I still don't think we have the answers. I tried to answer the question myself, and my answer now appears on the "Wiki answers" website. But, a year later, we barely have an arrest, or a cause for what happened.

We've had no discussion on how things could have been treated differently. We don't appear to be any less sensitive to the quirks and obsessions that people develop once they achieve some level of fame.

All we have are the jokes.

Here is the column I banged out on my computer just after the news hit:

“A lot will be said about Michael Jackson as we learn more about this story,” Brian Williams said on the “NBC Nightly News.”

“He was incredibly talented, a child star who was an adult with deep troubles and physical and mental health issues.”

Those were the words that needed to be said a long time ago. Michael Jackson was mentally ill. And now he's dead.

But his personal demons brought him down more than the paparazzi ever did. His obsessions impacted him more than being spoiled, and his quirky behavior brought more shame than fame.

The spoiling, the media - those were merely the triggers. The public? They merely watched this spectacle of a life deteriorate from impossible levels of stardom to disgrace.

The spectacle will play out some more in the days ahead. But maybe we'll learn something from this, too. We'll learn that the seemingly inhuman is very human. We'll learn that the spoiled rich could also be troubled souls.

We'll learn that mental illness isn't a lifestyle choice. It's an illness, and everyone is suceptible.

I've never seen anyone in my lifetime achieve the kind of fame he had. It was like living in Beatlemania, even if it was an abbreviated version.

I was never a big fan of his music, but I do own "Thriller." Listening to it today, it seems outdated. But the genius of the pop craftsmanship will live forever. Pop songs just maybe the hardest songs to write.

Sometimes, it takes someone with an obsessive level of drive to make it happen. Look beyond the plastic surgery disasters, and give Michael Jackson his due.

Covering mental health

To paraphrase Bob Woodward, journalists – and their readers – should seek the truth or, more realistically, the “most obtainable version” of it.

But in its coverage of crime that involves people with mental illness, the media has consistently produced information that is incomplete, inconsistent and, as a result, untruthful to the point of outrageousness.

In such matters, the media needs to grasp the complexity of mental illness – which would include developing an understanding of the background, symptoms and effects of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other illnesses – before going to print or doing a broadcast.

Unfortunately, the media has too often chosen the low-road and typically gone for the fear-mongering, consumer-driven components of a story rather than promoting a profound understanding that – if they tried – could attract the same amount of readers they normally get, as well as perform a public service.

The media also have failed to provide a consistent balance in the form of an alternative viewpoint that could help explain – and lend clarity to – such issues. Providing balance in crime news could help shape a new understanding of mental illness and, perhaps, help people better understand why certain crimes are committed.

Perhaps the biggest culprit is the tabloid media, which has developed its own vocabulary of terms to paint people with mental illness as less than desirable. These news outlets routinely dehumanize people by labeling them with derogatory terms such as “wacko” or “loon” – even if the story has a remote connection, or even lacks any association, with mental illness.

Language is, perhaps, the media’s sharpest weapon, and it’s allowed The New York Post, The New York Daily News and many papers like it to be seduced by the need to condense, shock, outrage and, ultimately, demean those with mental illness.

A search of newspaper headlines through the Lexis-Nexis online research site, for example, revealed that, since March 1995, the word “wacko” has appeared in articles published by The Daily News and The Post more than 500 times (The same term was used in The New York Times, which has shown more sensitivity toward mental health issues, 238 times, but not one appeared in a headline). The term was sometimes used to describe some cases where mental illness was not necessarily an issue – but, because of the headline, it’s either unfairly implied or alleged that mental illness was connected to crime, or it was even the direct cause of it.

One such Daily News headline on April 20, 2004 read thusly: WEB HATE SITES LURING SICKOS, WACKOS, WEIRDOS. Toward that end, Michael Jackson was always an easy target, such as this example from the Daily News on April 1, 2004: JACKO GOES MUM BUT STAYS WACKO. On March 14, 2004, this headline appeared in The New York Post: STANDOFF; WACKO HOLDS GRANNY HOSTAGE.

Sometimes, these editorial headline decisions are made BEFORE the facts of a particular case come to light. The Feb. 7, 2007 issue of Columbia Journalism Review, for instance, cited the reporting of the bizarre adventures of Lisa Nowak as an example, noting the former astronaut “soared” across newspaper front pages earlier this year not for her recent shuttle mission to the international space station, but for the details surrounding her arrest and subsequent charges for attempted murder and kidnapping.

As CJR noted, Nowak had recently separated from her husband of 19 years, with whom she had three children. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and worked at NASA for more than 20 years. Many news reports, however, focused not on her accomplished background or her recent marital troubles, but on the sensationalistic case evidence produced by police: Nowak allegedly wore adult diapers so she wouldn’t have to stop during her 900-mile road trip to confront Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, whom Nowak allegedly considered a rival for the affections of another astronaut, William A. Oefelein, according to CJR.

Twenty-four hours after the story broke, it was still unclear whether Nowak suffered from any illnesses related to mental health. Still, the news media jumped on this story and immediately applied derogatory mental health terms to describe the disgraced astronaut and her adventures – none more so than The New York Daily News, which displayed a front page, bold-type, black-and-white headline that said: “Dark Side of the Loon.” To this day, it’s still unclear whether Nowak suffers from any type of mental illness, but it didn’t matter: The Daily News had effectively dehumanized her before she even had a diagnosis from a psychiatrist.

In some ways, television news has adopted the same kind of shock-and-awe philosophy as The Post and The Daily News. The 24-hour news outlets have helped promote that approach by employing commentators who offer strongly worded diatribes that strike a nerve with a public that’s weary of random, unexplained kidnappings and killings in today’s society.

Some anchors will even use the word “loon” to describe anyone who is undesirable or, more accurately, anyone who disagrees with them. In the process, they've reinforced the obvious bias against people with mental illness.

The gotcha headlines and labels, some media have argued, attract people who otherwise wouldn’t give a damn about what’s going on in the world around them. In a Dec. 20, 2001 article published by the Asia News Network, one network executive defended his network’s overall approach to news and how it deals with crime and terrorism stories by saying: “Look, we understand the enemy... They want to murder us. We don't sit around and get all gooey and wonder if these people have been misunderstood in their childhood. If they're going to try to kill us, that's bad.”

But all that is beside the point. To quote Albert Brooks in the movie “Broadcast News,” they’re burying the lead, and not reporting on the root cause of the murder or what can be done to prevent such horrific acts from happening again.

In a June 16, 1995 New York Times article, reporter Lisa Foderaro noted: “Language is such a sensitive area in the mental health field because it can reflect an individual's very notion of what mental illness is – whether a serious disease or merely a psychiatric label put on an emotional crisis or an altered state of consciousness – and because it can be belittling or empowering.” She then quoted Nora Weinerth of the National Stigma Clearinghouse in New York, who said: “When language is used to devalue, it shapes attitudes that, in turn, become public policy.”

Having balanced coverage would perhaps counteract against the stereotypes. In criminal matters, reporters could give mental illness awareness efforts the same kind of respect they give to police departments who want to inform a public about a suspect who’s on the loose. If a reporter discovers that a suspect is schizophrenic, or obsessive compulsive, or bipolar, maybe he or she should call up psychiatrists or the National Alliance on Mentally Illness to learn more about the illness, and then report on it. Psychiatrists, psychologists or advocates could be on the same “call list” – right alongside the police – when a murder takes place and the evidence is clear that the suspect has a mentally illness.

The New York Times is, perhaps, one of the few who “get it” and explore what happens in criminal cases involving people with mental illness as well as revealing the so-called “dark side” of the suspect. It was, in fact, one of the first publications to explore what happened to Andrew Goldstein before he pushed Kendra Webdale to her death on a subway track in New York City. The man was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he had failed numerous times to get treatment before he killed the 32-year-old woman eight years ago.

In a May 23, 1999 New York Times Magazine article, the newspaper explained how there were numerous attempts to get Goldstein help before he committed murder. But the system failed him like it failed many others. According to the Times: “They knew he was dangerous. In the two years before Kendra Webdale was instantly killed on the tracks, Andrew Goldstein attacked at least 13 other people. The hospital staff members who kept treating and discharging Goldstein knew that he repeatedly attacked strangers in public places. They knew because he had attacked them -- two psychiatrists, a nurse, a social worker and a therapy aide in two years' time. Over and over, his hospital charts carried warnings.”

The Times continued: “They knew. Long before this subway push … the state of the nation's shattered mental-health system all but assured such calamities. Yet for each hospitalization – there were 13 in 1997 and 1998 alone – Goldstein was given medication, then discharged, often after just a few days, to live on his own in a basement apartment. And now the consequences were front-page news: ‘Horror on the Tracks,’ read the tabloid headlines, ‘The Face of a Madman.’ ”

Editor's note: This blog post is an updated version of a post from 2007.

Badlands
By Bruce Springsteen

Lights out tonight
trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision
smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire
that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl
I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn
For just the in betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul
I want control right now
talk about a dream
Try to make it real
you wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting

CHORUS
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
and these badlands start treating us good

Workin' in the fields
till you get your back burned
Workin' 'neath the wheel
till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts
learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling
Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight,
I wanna find out what I got
Well I believe in the love that you gave me

I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope
and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these

CHORUS

mmmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmm

For the ones who had a notion,
a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face
that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands

CHORUS

Michael Jackson death is ruled a homicide: Still self-inflicted?

The King of Pop also seemed to be the King of Escaping Trouble, whether his hair was on fire, his house was being repossessed or his nose was falling off. Somehow, he still got the legend's benefit of the doubt.

Score one more hit for Michael Jackson, even in death. Even after his symptoms of mental illness were so obvious that self-destruction seemed to be his obvious demise, he pulled another fast one today: The L.A. Coroners Office ruled his death a homicide.

This may be his biggest comeback yet. Not only have his songs sold at record pace since his June 25 death, he gets to have an eternity without having the same label that was attached to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin or Kurt Cobain.

Or does he? Those intelligent enough to know will view this for what it really was: A man whose personal issues brought about his self-implosion. For the pop mainstream, however, he will be able to retain what he always wanted: Fake dignity masking self-blame.

For the mental health community, it's now harder to hold up his case as an example of mental illness' worst enemy: denial. From this, it makes it harder for the world to learn what's wrong versus what's right.

From The Los Angeles Times:

'Lethal levels' of anesthetic propofol killed Michael Jackson
August 24, 2009 | 1:24 pm

Michael Jackson died of "lethal levels" of the powerful anesthetic propofol, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed today in Houston.

The court documents quote the L.A. County coroner's office as reaching that conclusion after an autopsy of the pop star.

The documents address one of the major unanswered questions surrounding Jackson's death. But they also raise new questions about how Jackson was treated, particularly in the hours before his death.

Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal doctor, told detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for about six weeks. He had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol every night using an intravenous line, according to the court records.

But Murray told detectives that he feared Jackson was forming an addiction and began trying to wean the pop star off the drugs. He lowered the dosage to 25 milligrams and mixed it with two other sedatives, lorazepam and midazolam. On June 23, two days before Jackson's death, he administered those two medications and withheld the propofol.

On the morning Jackson died, Murray tried to induce sleep without using propofol, according to the affidavit. He said he gave Jackson valium at 1:30 a.m. When that didn't work, he said, he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2 a.m. At 3 a.m., when Jackson was still awake, Murray administered midazolam.

Over the next few hours, Murray said he gave Jackson various drugs. Then at 10:40 a.m., Murray administered 25 milligrams of propofol after Jackson repeatedly demanded the drug, according to the court records.

Although Murray acknowledged to police that he administered propofol, authorities said they could find no evidence that he had purchased, ordered or obtained the medication under his medical license or Drug Enforcement Administration tracking number. However, police detectives saw about eight bottles of propofol in the house along with other vials and pills that had been prescribed to Jackson by Dr. Murray, Dr. Arnold Klein and Dr. Allan Metzger.

Other drugs that were confiscated in the search included valium, tamsulosin, lorazepam, temazepam, clonazepam, trazodone and tizanidine. They also found propofol in Murray’s medical bag. Murray told detectives that he was not the first doctor to administer the powerful anesthetic to Jackson.

At least two unidentified doctors gave Jackson propofol in Germany. Between March and April 2009, Murray said he called Las Vegas doctor David Adams at Jackson’s request to arrange for Adams to administer propofol. Murray said he was present at a cosmetologist’s office, where Adams used propofol to sedate Jackson. Since he began treating Jackson, Murray said he repeatedly asked the pop star what other physicians were treating Jackson and what drugs they were prescribing. But Jackson declined to provide the information, Murray told authorities.

Murray said he noticed injection marks on Jackson’s hands and feet. When he asked Jackson about them, the pop star told him he had been given a “cocktail” to help him. In addition to Murray, authorities subpoenaed medical records from Dr. Arnold Klein, Dr. Allan Metzger and Dr. David Adams, the affidavit states. They also asked for medical records from Dr. David Slavitt, who conducted the independent medical examination of Jackson for Anschuntz Entertainment Group, Dr. Randy Rosen and nurse practitioner Cherilyn Lee. They also subpoenaed records from Dr. Mark Tadrissi, who stored medical records with Adams.
Jackson’s doctor told authorities he left Jackson’s bedside for no more than two minutes before returning to find the pop star not breathing. Jackson reportedly fell asleep at 10:40 a.m.

Murray said after monitoring Jackson for 10 minutes, he left to use the restroom. When he returned and saw Jackson wasn’t breathing at 11 a.m. He immediately began attempting to revive Jackson, administering CPR as well as a drug to reverse the effects of the sedative. But police are questioning that account. Cellphone records for the morning of June 25 show Murray made three separate phone calls for approximately 47 minutes beginning at 11:18 a.m.

He called Jackson’s personal assistant to request that they send security upstairs. After a few minutes without a response, Murray told authorities he ran downstairs to the kitchen. He asked the chef to send Jackson’s eldest son, Prince Jackson, upstairs. Murray said he continued CPR and waited for the arrival of paramedics.

Murray has already acknowledged obtaining and administering propofol to Jackson the morning that the pop star died. In an interview with police, Murray told them that he had left Jackson alone under the influence of the medication to make telephone calls to his Houston office and family members.

When he returned, he discovered Jackson was not breathing. He performed CPR, and one of Jackson’s staff members called 911. The 50-year-old pop star was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, where he was later declared dead. Much of the investigation has focused on propofol -- a drug typically administered by anesthesiologists during surgery -- and whether Murray’s decision to give it to Jackson as a sleep aid outside a hospital setting reaches a level of negligence required for an involuntary manslaughter charge.

-- Kimi Yoshino and Andrew Blankstein

Michael Jackson's cause of death in limbo - and so is the lesson to be learned

As much as people like to condemn the tabloids, there always seems to be a nugget of truth in the stories. If we are to believe what we've read, the release of Michael Jackson's autopsy report will be anti-climactic.

But the release of the report could at least validate what's been said, and finally lift the veil on a life that Jackson zealously protected. We can learn something more about the dangers of drugs, the dangers of doctors and dangers of neglecting the obvious signs of mental illness.

From MTV:

More than six weeks after Michael Jackson's death, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office announced on Monday that it had completed an autopsy on the singer that details his cause of death. Those results, however, are being withheld indefinitely to allow police to complete their investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"The investigation was thorough and comprehensive," a coroner's official explained in a news release. But in order to avoid interfering with the ongoing criminal probe by the Los Angeles Police Department into what might have killed the 50-year-old singer, the office will honor the LAPD's request to put the results on a "security hold."

Quoting an unnamed police source, TMZ reported that the LAPD doesn't want the autopsy released, because it could hamper their ongoing investigation. In a statement released on Monday, the police department said its investigation "has included dozens of individual interviews and the service of search warrants locally and out of-state."

To date, the LAPD has interviewed a number of Jackson's former doctors, most prominently his personal physician at the time of his death, Dr. Conrad Murray. The doctor's Las Vegas and Houston offices have been searched in recent weeks, and police have carted away records and computer equipment related to Murray's treatment of Jackson.

Murray reportedly told police that he administered the powerful anesthetic Diprivan to Jackson in the 24 hours before the singer died, and police have identified the cardiologist as a suspect in their manslaughter investigation. Murray's lawyer has said his client did not "prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson."

The doctor was hired at a cost of $150,000 a month to be Jackson's personal physician in the lead-up to the singer's planned 50-date string of This Is It comeback shows at London's O2 Arena. Footage of rehearsals for those shows will now be released as a documentary on October 30.

Jackson was reportedly found in Murray's bed on the morning of his death, and when emergency workers arrived to try to revive the pop star, they are said to have found an IV stand, an empty IV bag and oxygen tanks in Murray's room, all indications of the administration of an intravenously delivered drug such as Diprivan. No charges have been filed in the case to date.

Where are the enablers?

Their best friend was gone, laying in a casket at a star-studded funeral, but Liz Taylor and Diana Ross were nowhere to be found.

Funny. When Michael Jackson was deep in the throes of drug addiction, these two members of the Hollywood elite were always close behind, suffering from their own personal woes of pill-dependency and drinking.

They hung onto him like bugs at a picnic table, supposedly providing him comfort and care while Jackson mired himself in plastic surgery disasters, and began to display increasingly erratic behavior.

Face it: Michael Jackson had mental illness, and displayed symptoms of anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder. In his interviews, he displayed the symptoms of a dope addict, talking as though he had just undergone a lobotomy and failing repeatedly to utter full, coherent sentences.

But he did little to help himself, falling victim to self-medication. Like a typical drug addict, he hung around with a rough crowd. Judging by their own well-documented behavior, these are the kind of people who do more to feed a habit than to end one.

And when the moment to pay a public tribute came - just as the police were searching for clues as to why Jackson died so suddenly - Liz and Diana failed to show at the memorial service and hid behind their public statements.

Liz's problems with drug addiction are legendary. Diana Ross has been accused of drunk driving.

Throw in Macaulay Culkin, who has had his own problems, and you have what they call in hockey a "hat trick" of people who didn't provide the kind of role modeling that could have inspired Jackson to live a healthy life.

Culkin, Ross and Taylor have said little to nothing since Jackson's death, even though Jackson did what he could to provide comfort and care to these people when they suffered through their own person traumas.

Its too bad that Janet Jackson took such an image hit with her "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl a few years ago. Save for that episode, she's led a relatively stable life for someone in show business.

By all accounts, she did as much as she could to steer her brother the right way, and even helped lead an intervention - something that probably didn't sit well with Jackson if he, indeed, was as much of drug addict as reports indicate.

What happened? Janet was written out of the will. Diana Ross is second in line to get the kids.

In the end, Jackson stuck with the people who may have enabled him, not the people who wanted to help him. But, in the very end, Liz and Diana did what enablers do when the heat is on: They were no-shows.

"Dirty Diana" lyrics, by Michael Jackson

You'll never make me stay
So take your weight off of me
I know your every move
So won't you just let me be
I've been here times before
But I was to blind to see
That you seduce every man
This time you won't seduce me

She's saying that's ok
Hey baby do what you please
I have the stuff the you want
I am the thing that you need
She looked me deep in the eyes
She's touchin' me so to start
She says there's no turnin' back
She trapped me in her heart

Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, no
Dirty Diana
Let me be!

Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...

She likes the boys in the band
She knows when they come to town
Every musician's fan after the
curtain comes down
She waits at backstage doors
For those who have prestige
Who promise fortune and fame
A life that's so carefree

She's says that's ok
Hey baby do what you want
I'll be your night lovin' thing
I'll be the freak you can taunt
And I don't care what you say
I want to go too far
I'll be your everything
If you make me a star

Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, no
Dirty Diana...
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, no
Dirty Diana...
Diana!
Diana!
Dirty Diana!
It's Dia...aa...aa...ana!

She said I have to go home
'Cause I'me real tired you see
But I hate sleppin' alone
Why don't you come with me
I said my baby's at home
She's problably worried tonight
I didn't call on the phone to
Say that I'm alright

Diana walked up to me,
She said I'm all yours tonight
At that I ran to the phone
Sayin' baby I'm alright
I said but unlock the door.
Because I forgot the key.
She said he's not coming back
Because he's slepping with me

Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, nah
Dirty Diana, no

Will Michael Jackson's children be "normal?"

Even Michael Jackson knew the masks and veils would have to come off one day, as The Associated Press described it.

But will his children ever be able to live the so-called "normal" life?

After a lifetime of hiding from the media glare at the insistence of their impossibly famous father, Jackson's children are front and center, according to the AP. Though their inevitable debut came a way no one could have predicted, those close to Jackson and the family say his three kids may be better prepared for the onslaught of attention than anyone could expect.

"They are going to grow up in the limelight," said Al Malnik, a former Jackson financial adviser and friend, "but I think because they way that Michael has brought them up and that they have the capacity to deal with it."

They are also — for now at least — being cared for by Katherine Jackson, who has raised a whole family in the public eye, the AP said.

A psychologist, Linda Papadopoulos, told The Daily Mirror that it's traumatic for any child to lose a parent - a hugely defining moment of their lives. In Michael Jackson's case, the children now not only lost their father, she said, but have to see his face in every newspaper and on every television channel around the world.

And then they learn every other significant person in their lives - their grandmother, nanny and the mother they hardly know - is fighting over them. All that can only make the trauma much more complicated and heartbreaking, Papadopoulos said.

The custody battle is going to be destabilising for them, when what they need most is stability, she said.

"When children lose one parent, they become very attached to the surviving one. They fear they will lose them too. This parental role is being filled by their grandmother Katherine, but with her being almost 80, this fear of yet another loss will be very real," she said.

Most children can just grieve for their loved-one privately. But these children don't have that luxury, Papadopoulos said.

"These kids have lived in the shadow of their father during his life and now they have to deal with their grief in the shadow of his death. Less time may be spent on working out how they are actually feeling than on trying to figure out what's going on around them," she said.

The lives of Michael Jackson's children never qualified as normal. They had no mother, wore masks to conceal their faces and traveled the world while being raised by one of the planet's most famous figures, according to the AP.

But by all accounts from those who have watched and been close to the children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris-Michael Katherine, 11, and Blanket (Prince Michael II), 7, are not only normal, but model children: unaffected by fame, sweet, polite and very smart.

"Those kids are exceptionally bright. They really have the capacity and understanding," said Malnik of Jackson's kids, who were home-schooled.

But, as the AP reports:

Whether they will retain those qualities following the death of their father, a potential custody fight and the enormous media scrutiny that they have been placed remains to be seen. Already, they have been on the covers of magazines and tabloids, their images endlessly replayed on television — ABC this week devoted an entire hour in prime-time to an expose on their lives.

Katherine Jackson, who Michael named as his choice of caretaker in case of his death, was named by a judge as the temporary guardian of Jackson's children, and they have been with her and the entire Jackson clan ever since his June 25 death. Their longtime nanny, Grace Rwaramba, has also been with the children, according to a source close to the family who is not authorized to speak for the family and requested anonymity.

While the Jackson family has long been perceived as dysfunctional — their battles have played out famously on the public stage — what struck many people at Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday was their display of unity.

Paris-Michael clutched grandmother Katherine during the service, while Prince Michael held onto his Aunt Janet as his sister made her tear-jerking testament of love about her father. Blanket hid behind a phalanx of Jacksons siblings onstage, and when Michael's brother Marlon broke down while addressing the Staples Center crowd, the entire Jackson family, including the children, embraced in one powerful group hug.

The public images of a Jackson family united in grief may help Katherine Jackson as she heads into Monday custodial hearing involving Mrs. Jackson and the biological mother of Jackson's two oldest children, Deborah Rowe. Rowe, who was previously married to Jackson, has not had a relationship with Prince or Paris-Michael, but since Jackson's death has expressed interest in raising not only her two biological children, but Blanket as well, to whom she has no relation (the mother of Blanket, born to a surrogate, has never been revealed).

It is unclear if a custody battle will develop. Rowe's attorney said she has not decided it she plans to seek custody, and people close to interactions with both camps, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said both sides have been gracious and cordial, not contentious.

Still, some have expressed concern that the Jackson's kids may suffer by being placed with their extended family. Michael's father Joe has been roundly criticized for promoting a record label on television in the days after his death, and Michael had long described him as physically and emotionally abusive. Katherine's age has led to questions about her ability to look after adolescent children.

Dr. Arnold Klein, Jackson's longtime dermatologist and friend, told "Larry King Live" on Wednesday night he feared that the performing family might turn Jacksons' kids into "The Jackson 3, their intelligence dancing away — because these children are bright."

Michael Jackson gets his memorial - but nothing to recognize his mental illness

"Your daddy was not strange," Al Sharpton told Michael Jackson's children. "The way people dealt with him was strange."

Michael Jackson got his memorial today. Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Usher, John Mayer, Lionel Richie and Motown founder Berry Gordy were all there. Some sang; others talked. All paid tribute to the man who, to quote David Bowie, sold the world.

Tucked in the middle of the tributes and in the news articles on the memorial, however, were some poignant words that explained the real tragedy here. Perhaps Al Sharptons words, as glorifying as they were, came the closest, and exposed the elephant in the room.

We've heard dropped hints of anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder, arrested development and even "Body Dysmorphic Disorder," a severe distortion in how one views his or her body. Michael Jackson was a star, a controversial one. But he was symptomatic of mental illness, and his death is more of a symbol of failure and ignorance than hope and promise. The failure to address the "Wacko Jacko" stigma that he carried for so long was, perhaps, the biggest tragedy here.

His fans, instead, gave Michael just what he always wanted, glorifying and deifying an obviously deluded an flawed individual. They talked about how he changed music, which he did. They talked about how he sold more albums than anybody, which he did. They talked about he was as big or bigger than Elvis, which was debatable.

It's certainly reasonable to say that he was the biggest star of the past 30 years, one who united the races for a time before his behavior became, to many, reckless, erratic and intolerable.

These stars, however, reminded us only of the Jackson from the 1970s and 1980s, the child prodigy who became a megastar, because that's what people close to Michael Jackson do. They did and do everything he wanted.

But they weren't the only ones talking. There were the older people from the age of Elvis, and before, who just didn't get what Jackson once met to people.

I read in Time magazine that those from the so-called Generation X, the post-baby boomers like myself who were born in the age of Vietnam and Watergate, most likely remember the first time they heard "Beat It." I was a Led Zeppelin and Clash fan, but I actually can remember -- I remember hearing the song on rock radio, and feeling stunned that Michael Jackson was invading my radio space. Few born before 1960 can relate to that.

There were people who seem to always misunderstand the words of our founding fathers, that all people are innocent until proven guilty. Rep. Peter King of New York used You Tube as a platform for calling him a pervert. Others ripped Los Angeles for spending money on a memorial for an entertainer when the state of California is in the midst of its worst fiscal crisis.

Many of the critics, however, made solid points. Why was this man getting a funeral worthy of a president? We can pay tribute to the music, but can we pay tribute to the man?

The ones who should speak the loudest are the mental health advocates who have been challenging the politicians and the public to better understand mental illness and its potential effects. In terms of effects, Michael Jackson was an incubator for them.

In that sense, he wasn't so much a legend like Elvis. He was Howard Hughes, self-destructive and self-medicating, and he'll be among the many celebrities who became lasting symbols of those with mental illness left untreated.

Maybe the answer is to not try to glorify or demonize. Perhaps the answer is to learn and understand.

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Mental health care independence

Every time I hear any mention of health care, I recoil in horror.

The old conservative feelings in me come out, and I wonder if this is just another blown kiss to industries that support political causes.

I think about the 2000 presidential campaign, when Al Gore talked about health insurance as a "right," not a privilege, and how he wanted to put the nation's security in a "lock box."

Every time he said it, his face contorted in such a phony way that, well, it's no wonder Darrell Hammond from Saturday Night Live did more to destroy his campaign than Al Gore himself. He was such an easy target for imitation.

In this case, imitation was the most sincere form of abuse, not flattery.

On Independence Day, however, I'm not thinking about politicians and promises and tax increases. I think of those who are too dependent on others to stand on their own.

I think of people with mental illness, the people who can't find the same access to medication as Michael Jackson.

If government is going to do anything, maybe the politicians need to only think of the people who are too brain sick to make independent decisions. They're too ill to understand the importance of holding down a job, and get the kind of therapy they need.

When we think of those who died for freedom, perhaps we should consider that they died so everybody could be free to make their own choices to protect their health.

Another king gone

I've been getting requests for other Neil Young songs that speak to the death of Michael Jackson. Perhaps no one speaks better than this one:

In the end, the only one who could help Michael Jackson was Michael Jackson

"To you, Michael is an icon," ... "To us, Michael is family and he will forever live in all of our hearts...."

These were Janet Jackson's words, spoken this past weekend at the BET awards. Well-timed as they were, they were also about saving face in the wake of tragedy.

But actions speak louder the words. Did anyone ever act to save Michael Jackson?

A family with a boatload of money couldn't rehabilitate a man who was 50 years old, weighed 112 pounds and, according to reports, had nothing but undigested pills in his stomach when he was found dead?

If he did have anorexia, as his symptoms suggested, then Michael Jackson may have lived the same destiny that has doomed millions of others with mental illness. He was helplessly helpless, and he ultimately endured the same kind of existence as that of a homeless person who self medicates away their personal demons.

The only differences between Michael Jackson and the man on the street, frankly, is money, and access.

Like a homeless person, he ultimately confronted a society and a system that does more to enable, and less to assist those who can't come to grips with their own fragility.

Indeed, media reports say that, yes, the family did act. Fox News reported that exactly the same scenario almost played out in 2004 in Jackson's rented mansion. Jackson’s brother Randy found him unconscious in his home and immediately called a paramedic friend who lived very close by and who rushed to the house.

Fox News also reported that Jackson’s family started having premonitions of his premature death in 2001 around the time of his New York "30th Anniversary" concert series and were forced to intervene. A family meeting was held and, basically, Jackson was begged to seek help. His mother started asking a lot of questions about how Elvis Presley died.

But Jackson ultimately went his merry way, because that's what many people with severe mental illness do. He further destroyed his reputation, bankrupted his finances and ruined his credibility. He seemed to further isolate himself, and when he did show his face in public, he created embarrassing tabloid fodder that inspired the "Wacko Jacko" headlines.

He was like many of the lost souls I've seen, and interviewed, on the streets of New York City and Philadelphia, each of them with family members who show up every now and then to show they care. They give them money, they talk to them and they shake their hands. But the family gets ignored, and the money gets spent on booze and heroin.

Jackson didn't need his family's money. He had his own, and he had his drugs. Injecting Demerol into yourself, frankly, is like shooting legalized heroin and having the insurance companies pay for it. If the media reports are true, then Jackson was basically a legal junkie with health coverage.

Now the focus and the blame has shifted to his doctor, Conrad Murray. References to Elvis abound: Did the doctor enable him by prescribing the medications that may very well have killed him? Why wasn't he stopped?

Or maybe Jackson was, in the words of David Crosby, too far gone. Instead of blaming the doctor, maybe we need to look at ourselves, and how society treats mental illness. Maybe we need to look at how society creates Michael Jacksons, Elvis Presleys and Marilyn Monroes, only to watch their fragile statues crumble.

In the end, Jackson was helpless to the point of being hopeless. Not a doctor or a psychiatrist in the world could have transformed a man who had nothing left to give.

Neil Young/Helpless

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dream comfort memory to spare,
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless
Baby can you hear me now?
The chains are locked
and tied across the door,
Baby, sing with me somehow.

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless.

Michael Jackson and his missed dual-diagnosis

It's amazing that everybody in my family - except for my 3-year-old daughter - knows who Michael Jackson was. He didn't have a hit for nearly two decades, but they know his music, his persona and his fame.

But they don't remember him for bringing a sort of Beatlemania that transcended racial and ethnic boundaries in the early 1980s. They remember him for being the man who displayed what many have called "bizarre" behavior, the falling star who inspired the "Wacko Jacko" headlines that the tabloids loved.

They don't remember the "Man in the Mirror." They remember the man with mental illness. And now, as this tidbit from The New York Daily News seems to suggest, we discover this was not necessarily a case of a missed diagnosis:

While Jackson family insiders suggested prescription drug abuse - specifically Demerol - might have caused the 50-year-old superstar's heart to stop, Elias said it will be several weeks before toxicology results are ready.

What we likely have here is a case of a missed "dual-diagnosis." This was a man who lived out his mental pain in public. But, as millions of people do when they deal with either a diagnosed or an undiagnosed mental illness, they self-medicate the pain away.

We'll find out more when the autopsy reports are released. But we can look at his history - particularly his recent history - and see that the notion of this being a missed dual-diagnosis is not far-fetched.

In fact, it's downright logical.

I listened to his attorney talk on CNN last night about how he felt that Michael Jackson was a dying man four years ago.

As he suffered through accusations of pedophilia, Jackson broke down in his attorney's presence. He patted Jackson on his back, and all he felt were bones.

Perhaps this was a case of anorexia - and one of the leading causes of anorexic-related deaths is a heart attack. Jackson did look frail and sickly for many years, but the shrinking waistline - outside of his morphing facial features - was the most unpleasant sight of all.

But the lawyer thought that the mental deterioration was even more pronounced than the physical issue. It's almost as if he, and others who knew him, were not surprised by this, and they wouldn't be surprised, either, if drugs contributed.

When you live a life of pain and obsession, and you're haunted by a history of being abused, a shot of Demerol is - for many - their only friend.

Michael Jackson is dead, and now - just maybe - we'll understand why

“A lot will be said about Michael Jackson as we learn more about this story,” Brian Williams said on the “NBC Nightly News.”

“He was incredibly talented, a child star who was an adult with deep troubles and physical and mental health issues.”

Those were the words that needed to be said a long time ago. Michael Jackson was mentally ill. And now he's dead.

But his personal demons brought him down more than the paparazzi ever did. His obsessions impacted him more than being spoiled, and his quirky behavior brought more shame than fame.

The spoiling, the media - those were merely the triggers. The public? They merely watched this spectacle of a life deteriorate from impossible levels of stardom to disgrace.

The spectacle will play out some more in the days ahead. But maybe we'll learn something from this, too. We'll learn that the seemingly inhuman is very human. We'll learn that the spoiled rich could also be troubled souls.

We'll learn that mental illness isn't a lifestyle choice. It's an illness, and everyone is suceptible.

I've never seen anyone in my lifetime achieve the kind of fame he had. It was like living in Beatlemania, even if it was an abbreviated version.

I was never a big fan of his music, but I do own "Thriller." Listening to it today, it seems outdated. But the genius of the pop craftsmanship will live forever. Pop songs just maybe the hardest songs to write.

Sometimes, it takes someone with an obsessive level of drive to make it happen. Look beyond the plastic surgery disasters, and give Michael Jackson his due.

WikiAnswers - Did Michael Jackson have a mental illness

WikiAnswers - Did Michael Jackson have a mental illness

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