So here are two things we don’t need in the raging Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman controversy. Input from fringe groups, and comparisons to other cases that don’t apply. But don’t worry, we’re getting both. The most prominent fringe group to weigh in on the Martin-Zimmerman matter is the New Black Panther Party. When I call these folks a “fringe group,” believe me, I’m being way too kind.

The NBPP, as the organization is called, has offered a $10,000 bounty for the capture of Zimmerman, who has admitted that he fatally shot Martin the night of Feb. 26 in a Sanford, Fla., gated community. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the major newspaper closest to the insanity swirling around Sanford, Mikhail Muhammad, an NBPP spokesman, announced the bounty at a rally last Saturday.