Submitted for your mid-summer enjoyment, we present the case of Bill Cosby, wealthy entertainer, who admits to an affair with one Shawn Thompson. Shawn Thompson (or Shawn Upshaw, depending on the news source) is the mother of Autumn Jackson.

Autumn claims that Cosby is her father--a contention that he denies. However, Cos won't submit to a blood test, and has contributed around $100,000 to Autumn's upbringing and education. Hmm....

Jackson, now 22, conspires with two others (Jose Medina and Boris Sabas) to extort $40 million from Cosby. She threatens to take her story to the tabloids if he doesn't pay up. Her fax threat arrives at the offices of Cosby's attorneys on the very day that his son Ennis is murdered.

On July 25th, Jackson and Medina were found guilty of conspiracy and extortion. Sabas was convicted of conspiracy, and crossing a state line to further the conspiracy. The details of Autumn's parentage were deemed irrelevant by the presiding judge.

Now there's an interesting point. "Extortion" is the act or practice of obtaining something (usually money) from another by force or undue or illegal power. It seems to me, and I'm not alone, that if Cosby really is her father, no crime has been committed.

If one were to send a letter to Kathie Lee Gifford, threatening to tell the media that Cody and Cassidy are her kids, unless she were to pay $10 million dollars, this threat would most likely be dismissed as a communication from a nut case. Certainly, it is possible that a case could be made for harassment, or some such, but this would really be pushing it.

On the other hand, if I felt that a certain man was my father, and he denied it, but contributed to my support, how far could I go to get him to admit it?

No doubt, Autumn's mistake was to involve herself with two thugs to perpetrate a high stakes plot. Had she given up on sensible negotiations with Cosby? Who knows?

Now, with Jackson a convicted felon, Cos has finally taken the blood test. Great timing!!

Whatever happened to old fashioned damage control?

Why didn't Cosby take the blood test long ago? If it came out negative, he could have dismissed the whole incident. If positive, he could have made a deal with Jackson providing a monthly payout that would cease instantly if she were to go public.

Perhaps Cos was the victim of his PR flacks. You know, the kind that said that model Naomi Campbell (a few months ago) was rushed to the hospital because of an overdose of prescription drugs, even though this was denied by just about everyone--including the hospital.

Or, what about the sad case some years ago, when a member of the band Toto died suddenly in his backyard--supposedly a victim of a pesticide. A few weeks later, the true story came out.

Maybe these big celebrities really do believe their own PR. How could "America's favorite Dad" ever have an illegitimate daughter? The screen persona equals the real person, right? What better explanation can you suggest for Cosby's bizarre handling of this matter?