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.