The New York Times picks up on the arguments we and other defense lawyers have been making the past two weeks about the Michael Jackson case, even suggesting the case may be too weak to support a filing.

Some hard news: The police spokesman says despite the prosecutor's call for additional victims to come forward, "no one has come forward to tell of separate acts of molesting by Mr. Jackson."

So maybe the defense has been right all along:

Mr. Jackson's defenders and relatives contend that the case is groundless, the confluence of a frustrated prosecutor and a greedy mother exploiting her son's onetime friendship with a rich entertainer.

What brings it home for us is that the mother sought out the services of Larry Feldman, the lawyer who represented and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement for the 1993 accuser, before her son changed his story from "Michael is great" to "Michael took advantage of me." The change in the story occurred after the kid met with a therapist per Feldman's recommendation.

McMartin pre-school, anyone? How about the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials?

In both sets of trials, people urged others to "believe the children." In practice, that generally meant, "believe the children when they are making remotely plausible accusations, but ignore the inconsistencies in their stories."