John Karr Superstar

John Karr, self-confessed killer of JonBenet Ramsey, is back on U.S. soil, arriving in Los Angeles from Thailand late on Sunday.

He wasn't treated like an alleged murderer during the fifteen-hour flight. Karr was treated like royalty.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- John Mark Karr, the suspect in the killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, arrived late Sunday after a 15-hour flight from Thailand on which he sipped champagne, dined on fried king prawns and roast duck, and exchanged what he described as "small talk" with law enforcement escorts.

...Karr, dressed neatly in a red, short-sleeve, button-down shirt and black tie, was not handcuffed while being whisked through Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok. At a Thai Airways International departure gate, he talked amiably with fellow passengers.

The 41-year-old teacher sat in a window seat next to Mark Spray, an investigator with the Boulder County District Attorney's office. A U.S. Embassy official and an agent with "Homeland Security" on his T-shirt were also part of the escort party.

Before takeoff, Karr took a glass of champagne from a flight attendant and clinked glasses with Spray, who sipped orange juice.

Dinner on board, served on a starched white tablecloth with silverware, was one many passengers would envy. Karr started with a pate, then had a green salad with walnut dressing. The main course was fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli, followed by a slice of Valrhona chocolate cake for dessert. Karr drank a beer, crushing the can with his hands when it was empty, then moved on to a glass of French chardonnay with his main course.

He later dined on roast duck with soy sauce and yellow noodles, and for his third meal quickly ate a piece of pizza served with chocolates and a bottle of Evian.

This is such a bizarre story. These menu details are so strange.

It's not as if these waning days of summer are lacking in real news.

The situation between Israel and Lebanon/Hezbollah/Iran is a powder keg.

Iran has put the world on notice that August 22 is a day that will live in infamy.

The war in Iraq is far from over.

And what is getting the media's attention? John Mark Karr.

He isn't news. He's infotainment, with the emphasis on the "tainment."

Maybe it's precisely because there is so much heavy news, World War III and that sort of stuff, that media outlets are eager to obsess about this weird Karr guy.

The media even gave the passengers on Karr's flight fifteen minutes of fame, just for happening to board the same plane.

"It seems odd to me. If there is an arrest warrant issued, he ought to be under arrest," said former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant, who was involved in the Ramsey investigation. "It is very strange. Whoever is in control of him ought to make sure he isn't doing things like drinking champagne."

I agree with Grant.

Wining and dining Karr is just not right.

That kind of fare is usually reserved for a convicted murderer's last meal before being executed.

I don't think "alleged murderer being sent back to the U.S." status rates this sort of dining experience.

Other experts called the royal treatment a brilliant strategy intended to get the suspect relaxed enough to talk more.

Well, did this "brilliant strategy" work?

It appears that cameras were focused on Karr much of the time and microphones were being shoved in his face. Is that atmosphere relaxing? Does it induce talk?

Did officials get any new information out of him, or should I say her?

"There is always a reason when the unusual happens," said Denver attorney Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

In this case,the reason for the unusual happening would be incompetence, the staging of a media circus.

We know that Karr is either a murderer or he's a big time liar.

Do officials really think that some champagne and duck would get Karr to fess up to whatever the truth is about him and JonBenet Ramsey?

This is what I think the "brilliant strategy" was really about--

Karr's "law enforcement escorts" dreaded the long flight from Thailand. So, they came up with an ingenious plan to make the time pass as comfortably as possible.

Actually, I guess that is sort of brilliant.