Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Quacks Me Up

Listen closely...  President Obama is speaking when someone's very unique cell phone ring starts up.  :O)

I'm Shocked, SHOCKED I Tell You! (NOT)

Mark Sanford Admits Additional Liaisons, Contradicting Public Confession

He's "trying to fall back in love" with his wife?  Oh, well then, that makes it all better.

Good God, if I were the wife of this blithering, middle-school-acting, emotional mess of a man who is publicly declaring his mistress as his "soul mate,"  his ass would be meeting my foot and the curb in very short order.

Jenny Sanford - do what your husband has never done - MAN UP.  And then show all those other humiliated, taken-for-granted political wives who have been cheated on but stand by their man at the podium how it's done.

Give him to his soulmate - you deserve better. 

Quite frankly, the only "soul" he needs mated with is the SOLE of your shoe.  And I hope it's a stilletto.

Rap Tribute To BILLY MAYS!!!!

SeanieMic does a nice job remembering pitchman Billy Mays.  I laughed.  I think Billy would have, too.

Ponzology With Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
150 Years of Solitude
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Mariah Carried Away

Culley just shared this YouTube with me.  Not karaoke, more like karayucky.

Outdoor "Bar" - It's A Jungle Out There

Jungle Alcohol - There is a fruit tree in the desert adored by all the animals who cannot wait for it to ripen and drop from the tree. Some animals, like the elephants in this video hasten, that process.

Lying in the hot sun, the fruit sugars begin to ferment - turning to alcohol.  The results?  Hysterical.

This is from a French documentary. Mon Dieu!

Where There's Smoke, There's Ire

Driving eight hours on Saturday - back and forth to Dallas to get Kendall - I did a lot of thinking about a lot of things.

I thought about Michael Jackson and the legacy he has left.  Musically, his memory is without equal.  He was gifted, of that there is no doubt.  Personally, however, the memories are tragic.

You simply cannot be that famous without an extreme toll being taken on your psyche.  One need only look back to Elvis Presley to see that "livin' large" is not all it's cracked up to be - and that often the "large" person is cracked up mentally.

There was global adoration for the man - there always has been.  During the period in which I wrote those pieces about him in 2002 and 2003, I received thousands upon thousands of emails from around the world from his supporters - old and young.

But the accusations hurled against him took their toll.  Acquittals mean little to those who choose to follow the "smoke - fire" axiom.  Believing the worst is a human pasttime.  It doesn't say a lot about us, but it is what it is.

The sad part about this type of accusation is that once it's made - it sticks.  It is a permanent stain that, regardless of mountains of evidence proving innocence, never fades away.

It is the worst accusation that can be made.  That is my opinion, it may not be yours.  Whatever.

But all it takes is a phone call, no proof, just words to completely ruin another's life forever.  And even when the person is completely cleared, when all evidence refutes an accusation?  It simply doesn't matter.  People will always look sideways at the person and wonder.

In the two cases with MJ?  No amount of money would make me sell out my child.  If someone had molested them, and I firmly believed that in my gut?  Keep your money.  All I would want are your eyes on a stick.  It says loads about the people involved in the first allegation that they gleefully accepted money.

As for the second?  There was SO much proof that he never did anything to that child - including incontrovertible evidence that he was not even in the same state as the child on some of the dates listed in the accusation.  The investigation was thorough, and if you took the time to read it, you'd come away not only enlightened, but a tad ashamed at how easy it is for the salacious to be proven to be your emotional beverage of choice in this world.

Anyway, I thought a lot about him and his children.  He is at peace, his children are in turmoil.  My thoughts stay with them.

I also thought a lot about Governor Sanford.

He's a weak ass.  Period.  His pontifications for years about the sanctity of marriage, morality, etc are nothing but words.  He, like so many before him, never walked the walk, they only talked the talk and expected everyone to listen to them expound from their moral highground.

Laughable.

I thought about the whole bring-God-into-my-defense gambit - so predictable from these men who "fall" into their own selfmade quagmires of illicitness.

I'm beyond tired of people hiding behind God.  Blaming it on the devil.  Hell, Sanford's spiritual advisor came out today saying that a "darkness" had gripped Sanford.

Bull and shit.

The only thing that gripped that man was his selfish desires to have some lusty fun outside his marriage vows.  

Sanford's own notion that this just "happened" to him?  Sorry, this is not like a lightning strike.  THAT happens to a person.  Getting hit by a car happens to a person.  Having a heart attack HAPPENS to a person.  Having an affair?  That's a willful act.  That's a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other-and-soon-you-are-f*cking-on-the-floor act.

No one held a gun to his head and made him begin an illicit affair.  No one made him keep it going even after he was found out and began attending counselling with his betrayed spouse.  No one made him fly off to Argentina to his lover's arms over Father's Day, after assuring his wife he would not see the woman again.

The only way the word HAPPEN works in this is that Sanford HAPPENS to be a weak, cheating douchebag.

And you know what?  I like saying that.  I like passing judgment on this prick.  Because he has been found out, has admitted to his transgressions (well, not all of them.  Apparently several other women have now come forward with some pretty hard proof that his dick has wandered in the past).

I like saying it because he has made a career out of being holier-than-thou, out of telling others how to live, how they should live.  And all the while, he was nothing but a Do as I say, not as I do guy.  All the while he was spewing garbage about marriage, and doing nothing to live the life he insisted others aspire to.

He deserves every shred of fallout.  And not a single ounce of sympathy.

Another guy I spent some of my weekend thinking about is Frank Lombard, Duke University's associate director of the Center for Health Policy.  He got busted in an internet sting for offering his five year old adopted son up for sex with a stranger.

Yeah.  I know.  What a guy.  Polish that Father of the Year plaque for him.

I received the first link about the story from a DGMS reader yesterday morning.  It, however, linked to Townhall.com - a little less than balanced in terms of news reporting.  I assured the person I would do additional digging, as I always do before I sit down to write about a subject.  One source is not enough - not hardly.

Yes, Lombard has been busted. 

But the slant of the Townhall piece was far more salacious.  It's not enough that this miscreant and obvious pedophile - who identified himself online as "perv dad for fun" - has been caught.  No, the fact that he is gay (yes, an adoptive GAY parent) is the real meat here.

That his being gay and a pedophile somehow props up the case of bigots everywhere that gays should not be allowed to adopt, ever, ever, everever.

Puh-leez.

By that logic, I don't want my kids going to school with white teenage boys (Columbine), and all past military persons are terrorists (McVeigh), and Christians?  Well, they're all obviously the Christless kind (Roeder).

News flash:  Perverts, pedophiles, criminals of all kinds exist on every level of the social stair, in the every strata of of our economics, in every religion, every color, every profession, every country. 

Oh, and the adopted children in this case are black - another point the "thinkers" at Townhall seem to believe matters.  How?  Are black children somehow worth less?  Well, to read some of the comments, you'd certainly know that belief system is alive and unwell.

People are imperfect - that is brought home to us each and every day.  One need only sign on or open a newspaper to see man's continuing ability to be inhuman. 

A beautiful little boy beaten to death on Father's Day.  Bernie Madoff sentenced to 150 years for ruining so very many lives.  Protesters gunned down in the streets of Iran.  A market blown up in Iraq. 

Each day produces a new offering on the smorgasbord of salaciousness.

I'm going to go lay down now.  I'm full.

Special Moments From The BET Awards Show Last Night

Janet Jackson made a brief appearance on stage and then a beuatiful tribute in pictures took place.

It truly is not hyperbole to say that this one man - Michael Jackson - inspired so very many, and changed the landscape for what was possible. 

We Are The World - Remembering The Magic

I was surfing around YouTube tonight after watching CNN's special on Michael Jackson - The Man In The Mirror.

Remembering when MTV was changed forever - hell, MADE is more like it - when MJ took over the airwaves - I still remember literally stopping whatever I was doing anytime one of his videos came on - they were that good.

And then I started thinking about We Are The World - the first time in my life when celebrities seemed to come together with a purpose beyond self glorification.  Written by MJ and Lionel Richie, it was one of those moments when the "STARS" literally aligned and made magic happen.

Enjoy...

Ferreting Out Some Good Thoughts

I received a request from Donna in VA - she thought I may think it a tad strange, but I don't, and I don't believe you will either - at least not all the animal lovers I know we have here at DGMS.

Donna's family has a beloved little pet - no, not a cat or a dog, but a a 9 year old ferret.  He is in the final stages of life and Donna wanted some good, positive energy to help him cross that "Rainbow Bridge" we've discussed in the comments before.

Donna - I get it.  My ferret was named Tigger and he was smart, sweet, and funny.

Here is Donna's note - I know she and her family will appreciate any support you can send their way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda,
This may truly be one of the more bizarre requests you have had over the years, but you were one I thought of. OUr 9 year old ferret is dying, probably of natural causes, but it is very hard to watchy. I was hoping that you and those DGMS'ers with pets could maybe send good thoughts and help his passage across the Rainbow Bridge, where his best friend will be waiting for him. This is a rough time, he has been my baby for a long time. Contrary to popular opinion, Ferrets are not rats, and they are very smart, very clean, and develop relationships with their caretakers. I am going to miss him so much.
If nothing else, thank you for listening.
Donna in VA