Bernard Madoff sentenced
150 years [NY Times]

US pulls out of Iraqi cities
Iraqis cheer [CNN]

Jet crashes carrying 153
One survivor found so far [NY Times]

Court overturns Sotomayor ruling
John Roberts: making the world safe for white men [SF Chronicle]

The Pirate Bay goes legit
This should work just as well as Napster going legit! [PC World]

Stop the presses/electrons/bits/telepathic waves!

Pope Benedict XVI has declared that scientific tests actually prove something! This from a man who disputes the scientific benefits of birth control, and who challenges scientific evidence about homosexuality.

So what, you ask, does the Holy Father agree with scientists on? Actually, now that you mention it, it's hard to tell.

"There's some backstage drama that you don't know about. I guess there's a problem with the wireless mics and they can hear what we're saying at The Color Purple!"

That was Kristen Schaal speaking to Eugene Mirman onstage last night at the Wilbur Theatre. The two were reconvening after their respective solo sets when Schaal delivered the news of the audio malfunction, presumably discovered while Mirman - he of the booming baritone - was on stage.

There’s finally a competition show that a lot people really should try out for. Crooked politicians, deadbeat dads, bad singers, murderers, baristas who think they deserve tips, and priests who suck baby dicks - every one of you bastards should head down to Boston Casting on Monday July 13 (from 10am to 4pm) and stick your no talent keister in the running for Spike TV’s new reality show, “America’s Biggest Asshole

The black Lincoln Navigator parked outside the Boston Herald last Friday didn't belong to publisher Pat Purcell. The SUV - which was-a-bumping with the greatest hits of Michael Jackson - was deployed by Big City 101.3 Morning Mayhem host Asia Chandler and her posse of about 20 protesters who were enraged by the tabloid's less-than-sensitive Page One coverage.

Sort of.

Tonight, 8 pm at the Cantab, the Greater Boston Alternative Comedy Sleepover show pays homage to the late, great, silver-gloved one, with a killer line-up that promises what comedian Chris Coxen calls "a taster's choice ride." Mmmm. And, it's free! More mmmmm.

Moonwalking? Combat dancing? An operatic version of a 4th grade play about Michael Jackson and Solid Gold dancer Marilyn McCoo? We don't know what the fuck that even means, but yes, please.

In case the answer is "no": We meant the giraffe, of course!

In luurrrrking around the BET Awards Twitter traffic, we realized that the word "twigga" has metastasized into general usage. Here's a graph of the term's usage over the past week -- note the spike.

Of course, in the interest of fairness, "twigga" still pales in comparison to the use of that other word:

Comedian Paul Scheer -- of Human Giant fame -- paid a visit a couple months back to the auction preview of "property from the life and career of Michael Jackson" at the Neverland Ranch.

He returned, perhaps somewhat shaken, with this Flickr photostream.

The auction was eventually canceled, maybe because, once Jackson signed on for that slate of 50 shows at London's O2 Arena, the need for an a massive cash infusion to shore up his disastrous finances was obviated.

For the past few years, if you've spent your entire day, or at least a few hours of it, glued to the internet when a noteworthy individual passes away, you're sure to find among the sea of respectful tributes, lamentations, and (perhaps most disturbingly) apathetic shrugs a series of tasteless jokes. What's interesting, though, is that now those jokes have become so expected that it's now becoming one of the first things some people think about when they hear news like this.

From the Twitter feed of Editor & Publisher ed Greg Mitchell: “Last nite I quoted from a '72 Crawdaddy piece that I edited, in which Michael J said he wanted to tour with favorite band...Jethro Tull!”

Also: The award for best Jacko mourning photo goes to this one.

As newspaper people, our job here at the Phoenix is to deliver tidbits and features that keep you up on things. From presidential politics to local concerts, we try hard to find information and relay it to you before you find it anyway on Facebook and Twitter.

Our function, however, has been made difficult by the death of pop music icon Michael Jackson, whose polarizing persona has the planet debating and remembering in equal measure.

The Washington Post has an interesting article about a bizarre and secretive home/boarding house/"Christian prayer group" in Washington DC to which unfaithful South Carolina governor Mark Sanford and unfaithful Nevada senator John Ensign are connected.

But way back in May 2003, the Portland Phoenix told you that Maine governor John Baldacci was connected to it too - he lived there when he was a congressman.