IS THIS STILL AMERICA?

When I was growing up, back in "the olden days" there were certain things that were sacrosanct. For example, people were deemed innocent until proven guilty. Then the Sam Shepherd case came along and all that went out the window (I grew up in Cleveland so that was my first experience of a trial that was highly political and publicized).

Today, I was watching The Talk on CBS. I don't watch it often because although I like Sharon Osbourne, I dislike Julie Chen (she strikes me as phony and very cold). Last season I enjoyed the interplay between the women on the show but do not enjoy it so much with Leah and Holly gone. Sheryl Underwood is okay; she has grown on me. Aisha Tyler is also just okay but neither of these two woman make the contribution of Leah and Holly.

Now to today's show. The first topic of conversation was Jerry Sandusky. Now granted, the charges against him appear to be pretty horrific. But he hasn't been convicted of anything in a court of law so why is it acceptable for these five women - none of them attorneys and none of them residents of Pennsylvania or familiar with the laws of Pennsylvania - to talk about the man as though he is guilty as charged. He isn't. This country still runs on "innocent until proven guilty" and that hasn't changed unless The Anointed One has done something of which I am unaware!

I lived in Los Angeles (if you can call it living) during the time of the McMartin hysteria. Those people were even convicted and subsequently, the charges were proven to be bogus and their names were cleared. Sam Shepherd was convicted and his conviction was reversed because of prejudicial pre-trial publicity. I was a reporter covering his second trial and well remember the restrictions and pressures exerted on all of us vis-a-vis our coverage. He was acquitted during the second trial although privately I have always believed in my heart that he knew plenty more than he was saying about the murder of his wife. I also witnessed an incident in a restaurant during the trial which convinced me that the man had a strong tendency to use violence toward women.

Getting back to "The Talk" - they further went on to discuss Michelle Bachmann's interplay with a small boy who was clearly being coached by his mother. She was right to dismiss the child because he was being used but the ladies didn't see it that way. Their reasoning was because Michelle Bachmann is anti-gay-marriage, she has no right to ignore a child obviously being used to entrap her.

This is STILL America folks. ALL OPINIONS are worthy of respect - even ones with which you do not agree and ALL accused of crime are innocent until proven guilty. When anything else becomes acceptable, it will be a sad and tragic day for America.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Obama has scheduled himself another 17-day vacation in Asia - sorry, Hawaii! Am I being cynical when I say that we're better off with him tucked away somewhere away from D.C.

JOBS PEOPLE CAN DO RIGHT NOW!

I was speaking to my insurance agent this morning and he was sitting in his home office in shorts and flipflops - because there's about an inch of water in there! His insurance carrier has approved the required repairs - but he cannot find anyone to actually perform the work. And it occurred to me that he cannot be the only person in this country who has been hit with a natural disaster side effect like my insurance agent and, thanks to the shortage of people willing to perform actual physical labor, there are paying jobs out there being undone!

So good old American ingenuity needs to kick in here and those who are able bodied and seeking to earn their October rent and any other needs, make your availability known. Put up flyers at the local supermarket. Make your availability known online.

There are people with a strong need and the ability to pay you to fulfill their needs. Pitch in, do a good and responsible job and earn some money for yourself! Clearly I am not inviting the hustlers and the con artists to weigh in but if we fill the ranks of the available helpers with good folks like ourselves, there won't be room for the jerks!

THERE'S NO ACCOUNTING FOR THE VAGARIES OF HOLLYWEIRD!

Started thinking today about who we choose to accept as "celebrities" and "stars" and realized that there is no rhyme or reason for most of the people who have careers (Paris Hilton comes to mind) despite a noticeable lack of real talent!

Then there is the beautiful and talented Nadia Bjorlin. All you need to do is look at her and listen to the glorious voice and you wonder why she isn't one of the biggest stars ever! She easily sings opera and yet show tunes don't elude her abilities either. She is absolutely gorgeous. Those blue eyes are mesmerizing!

I swear, we are a very weird bunch of people in this nation!

HOPE ALL Y'ALL HAD A GREAT 4th OF JULY

And that most of us remembered what the day was about - which didn't include hot dogs and hamburgers and frightening the neighborhood cats and dogs half to death with fireworks!

HBO to my astonishment actually showed a completely appropriate day of the mini-series about John Adams. I did not know that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. They were good friends and then very much at odds with each other until in their very much later years they mended the rift and became friends again. Each assumed that the other was still alive to celebrate the anniversary.

A great deal of attention was paid to the deep bonds between John Adams and Abigail Adams. They were married 54 years when she died and he was still very much in love with her. Modern politicians should take note.

Finally, saw a Sean Hannity program last week that featured nearly an entire hour interview with Herman Cain. The man is impressive to be sure. And he may be someone the Dems cannot denigrate without shooting themselves in the foot. Of course, now that Joe Biden is on Twitter, we may not have to wait so long to hear HIS gaffes!

In any event, hope you all had a great holiday weekend despite the oppressive heat and were safe and sane and filled with patriotic sentiments.

IF THE WORLD ENDS TOMORROW?

What would you do today, if you knew the world was ending tomorrow as some evangelical nutjobs are predicting (well actually, we'll find out tomorrow at midnight just how deluded they really are).

First of all, let me be very clear about two things: Hawkings is a horse's derriere and yet, given his health issues, I can almost understand why he is under the mistaken impression that there is no God. But he is wrong about that. Second, it won't be heaven to me if I cannot reunite with my departed animals in that place. Sam the Wonder Cat, as well as Boo and Rocky, have been major parts of my life's happiness and if they aren't there, it would be a major letdown.

As to what I would do. First I would tell all my family and friends how much I love them. In fact, within reason, I try to do that every day. Then I would spend the rest of the day playing with Buddy and Rusty and giving them the earthly love they so deserve and crave.

However, I very much doubt that the world is going to end tomorrow at midnight or anytime soon. Doesn't the Bible state that we will not know the hour of our ending? I'm just saying. There was no exception for a miniscule band of evangelical oddballs! But God loves them too.

WANDERING BRAIN EMANATIONS

What deity made Joan Rivers some kind of fashion arbiter? Did she study design? Is her personal apparel fashionable enough?

Who put Bill Maher in charge of deciding the way I'm supposed to think about various political questions? What is his education and background that he feels empowered to blather on relentlessly about whateverinhell wanders through his pointy little head!

How much longer will our Mother Earth continue to exist? As I see it, there are a few countries with (they think) a vested interest in our destruction. And isn't it funny, almost without exception, they are swarthy, women-fearing Middle Eastern types? I can list a number of countries around the world where sanity isn't a feature of national dialogue in any respect.

According to reports, Anderson Cooper and his CNN crew were repeatedly punched in the face whilst wading into the throes of a demonstration in Cairo yesterday. I submit that if Anderson Cooper had actually engaged his brain cells for oh, I don't know, 20 seconds - he would have realized this was a situation where discretion should be employed. Hey, on the relatively secure and safe streets of N.Y. City, should I happen to run into Anderson Cooper, I'd be hard pressed to refrain from punching him in his smarmy little face!

Bill O'Reilly still pisses me off; Glenn Beck's paranoia is a bit off-putting.

THIS AND THAT!

While I was wandering through the news threads this morning, I was struck by several interesting tidbits.

1. Ms. Sherrod is suing Andrew Breitbart for his exposure of her racism (which she fully admitted). She might want to rethink that particular plan of hers - Breitbart is a very canny fellow and may have done what he did for larger reasons than just her racist mindset. Like the $16 million she and her husband got from the taxpayers to compensate them for losing their $9 million worth of farmland!
   
2. Charlie Rangel is holding on by his fingernails to his seat in Congress. Charlie, you may have waited too long - the handwriting is on the wall and you are going to be Nancy Pelosi's sacrificial lamb to her asinine claims to running "the most ethical Congress" in history. Did ya think she liked you Charlie? What's it like under that bus, fellow?
   

LET'S DISCUSS MEL GIBSON

Mr. Gibson has gone from being the Sexiest Man Alive (never bought that one) to being the pariah of Hollywood. This has been a long time coming as the town never quite forgave Mr. Gibson for the immense and continuing success of The Passion of the Christ!

The current situation is immensely sad and troubling, as I firmly believe that Mel Gibson is suffering a total nervous breakdown, the result of guilt, mid-life crisis and the psychosis engendered by his admiration for his utterly demented father whose version of Catholicism is bizarre and troubling to say the least.

First, Mel Gibson's 28-year marriage to Robyn probably wouldn't have dissolved, had he not encountered a Russian woman of questionable character and antecedents. A lot of information is now being revealed about her desire to promote herself through the men with whom she ingratiates herself - ala Bonnie Lee Blakely! Or am I the only person seeing the similarities?

Part of Mel's rant to Oksana the mysterious opportunistic Russian parasite who bore Mel Gibson a daughter 9 months ago includes the comment that he left a woman with whom he had no spiritual dialogue and that he lacks a spiritual dialogue with Oksana as well! I find that comment tremendously telling. Mr. Gibson's father is well known to practice a version of Catholicism that would be unrecognizable to the Pope! And if indeed Mel Gibson subscribes to his father's extreme version of Catholicism, then he is experiencing double the pressure and double the guilt over his recent behavior vis-a-vis his out of wedlock child.

Given the pressures exerted by his admiration and love for his rather nutty father and those exerted by his guilt over breaking a pretty significant commandment (and don't think that we Catholics are casual about adultery because we aren't), added to a probable midlife crisis, Mr. Gibson's psyche is in serious trouble and the man deserves not condemnation but rather understanding and encouragement to seek the help of highly qualified mental health professionals. He needs his friends now and so far, I've seen evidence of one, highly intelligent and surprisingly loyal friend in Whoopi Goldberg whose comments regarding this entire situation yesterday on "The View" were beautifully compassionate about a man with whom she has been friends for many years. My respect for Ms. Goldberg has increased greatly. She is an intelligent woman who doesn't knee jerk unnecessarily.

ISRAEL - WHY THE
ALLIANCE MATTERS!

Israel has always been one of our staunchest allies, as we have been allied to them. When the ninnies in the U.N. Security Council made attempts to condemn the behavior of Israel vis-a-vis the numerous loons who have never stopped attacking Israel since 1948, we have stood by our ally.

Now it appears that all of that has changed - to the detriment of our worldwide reputation. We seem to have abandoned any friendship for Israel, insulting Binyamin Netanyahu during his recent visit to our country and generally behaving in a boorish and immature fashion toward an independent nation (unless Israel, along with Canada and Mexico, is among Barack Obama's 57 state count).

Israel has always, to me, been the embodiment of what this country was before the effete class got their lily white, manicured paws on it! Or rather, before the virulently anti-Semitic James Earl Carter, Jr. was elected president in the 70s as opposed to the virulently anti-Semitic wetback now occupying the White House. I will grant you that Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman weren't especially friendly to Israel but they weren't actively hostile. Do I believe that Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim? I do. Do I believe that he is constitutionally ineligible to occupy the Presidency? I do. Do I believe that he is a socialist at best and an out-and-out Communist at worst? I do. I have every right to believe what I believe - I'm an American citizen dammit and my freedom of thought is sacred to me! To those of you who don't like what I believe, you're free to believe what you like. You'd be wrong 90% of the time - but knock yourselves out!

My advice to Israel is to avoid their former ally, the United States, like the bloody plague until the Kenyan wetback has completed his one-term presidency or is impeached and removed from office entirely (my reasons for not wanting this to happen are enumerated below - that is, the person of the vice president, the appallingly unqualified Joe Biden). So let that s.o.b. complete his term in office and in the meantime, get a Congress that reflects a voice of sanity and constitutional responsibility. To start with, pass a law outlawing "czars". Next examine each and every presidential order issued by Spunky and, if necessary, pass a law that nullifies the crazier ones. Repeal those insane and expensive so-called health care reform bills (both of them) and pass a law that is so eminently sensible as to achieve 95% approval from the American public.

Be patient, as you always are, dear Israel and we'll return to sanity in just another 2+ years! Hell, even the slavery in Egypt came to an end eventually! That's what we need, another Moses. One who has GPS and the ability to use it!

UPDATE: Israel is indulging themselves in practice raids on Iranian nuclear installations. Presumably to see if they can moisten slightly the BVDs of some Iranian nutbars! Or insane Ayatollahs! I love Israel. They have the audacity we used to have as a nation.

BOO BOO, ROCKY AND MY FATHER'S FUNERAL!

Boo and Rocky were born on 3/17/84 (they would be extremely elderly cats now, had they lived) and came to live with me when they were very tiny - only 3 weeks old - since their mother had died (we think she got cabin fever, escaped from the house where she lived and ran out into the street where she met her end under the wheels of a semi).

In any event, they became my boon companions from the age of 3 weeks on, were bottle-fed by me and cherished by me. They were my first brother-cats and were radically different in personality and size. Boo was large, outwardly dignified (inside he was Jerry Lewis, pratfalls and all), intelligent and deeply devoted to me. Rocky was dainty, slim and essentially gormless in every respect. Brains weren't Rocky's long suit. Being lovable was!

During Memorial Day weekend of 1984, my beloved father died in Cleveland, Ohio. Since he had been promising for several years to come visit me in California, I determined that he would keep his promise and thus purchased a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Glendale, California in the Hall of Freedom Mausoleum. A friend in Cleveland arranged for my father's remains to be cremated and sent to Forest Lawn directly. They were almost late for my father's funeral! Which was just like my Dad!

Following the funeral, we had a large gathering at our house in Sylmar. Easily 100 people eventually showed up (most of whom we actually knew). Linda and I cooked massive amounts of food and everyone brought their own liquid refreshment. We propped a large painting of my father against the wall of the covered patio and everyone would drink a toast to him from time to time. When they weren't falling in the swimming pool. Very 80s behavior but somehow I think Gilbert would have approved.

What we weren't monitoring during the time that all these people were milling around the house was the behavior of the two felines in residence - until I noticed that both Boo and, to a lesser extent, Rocky were walking in a very odd fashion. And while our living room was enormous, we didn't have enough seating for as many people who were there. So people were putting their drinks on the floor. Boo was ambling around, taking teensy sips of ONLY the gin and tonic WITH lime. Rocky was quaffing only beer! Only I would have picky drinkers on my hands. By the time their activities came to my attention, they were both pretty unsteady on their feet. Linda and I agreed that the alcohol in the drinks would kill any germs - thus protecting the cats - and we scooped up two inebriated kitties and took them to another part of the house where they could be corraled safely away from temptation and further boozing.

The next morning, I was faced with the prospect of two hungover kitties! But for the rest of their lives and despite the price that they paid afterward, these two babies of mine were both faithful to their quaff of choice! Boo lived to be 19 and Rocky lived to be 15 and they are both still missed. I'm sure they're with my Dad now, telling him all about their adventures.