"It's important that someone confesses..."

I know many of you consider the Karr imbroglio a distraction from more significant matters. As it happens, this blog shall feature a very significant spy story within hours. Right now, though, I must confess that the Karr/Ramsey business has a can't-take-my-eyes-off-the-car-wreck fascination -- which means that I must indulge in another round-up of mondo bizarro newsbits.

Is Karr covering for an accomplice? Conspiracy fans will get a tingle from this Karr quote, preserved on oxide by his one-time confidant Wendy Hutchens:

"I may or may not have ever been to her grave, I may or may have not ever been to her house."

"Maybe that person who did that ... thinks it's important that someone confesses... And he's chosen that other person to do that in his place ..."

In the meantime, we have additional evidence strongly suggesting (but not proving) that Karr was in Georgia, not Colorado, on Christmas of 1996.

Can we definitively say that Karr was out of state on that holiday? Not necessarily. This story from 2001 notes that a mysterious Jaguar was seen in near the Ramsey home at Christmas, 1996 -- and Karr drove such a vehicle in 1997, although he may not have owned one at the time of the killing. (One of the oddities of this case is that Karr, an ill-to-do teacher, always managed to afford high-end wheels.)

Regardless of where he actually ws on that date, we now know that Karr used this Yahoo email address: December251996@yahoo.com. That choice proves obsession, not complicity. He used that account to correspond with professor Michael Tracy, and signed the emails "Daxis."

A handwriting expert with the Secret Service argues that Karr did not write the ransom note. However, Curt Baggett, co-founder of the School of Forensic Document Examination, insists that Karr is the author. This case establishes a new law of physics: For each new claim, an equal and opposite claim shall emerge.

George McCrary, a long-time friend of John Karr's father, claims that Karr's mother tried to burn her son John alive when he was an infant. Could so early a trauma leave lasting scars on the psyche? I will leave that poser for the pros to dope out -- if even they know.

Finally, a non-Karr note on child abuse: I urge readers to read an original piece by Professor Hex, who discusses Joe Lieberman's previous Republican opponent in Connecticut -- Phil Giordano, an ex-Marine and young "G.O.P. hotshot." Turns out Giordano had a prostitute mistress. He was also recorded as saying "I want one of the little girls" -- referring to the lady's 8-year-old daughter and 11-year-old niece.

The motif asserts itself yet again: Republican family values.