Polanski, Smart, Jon & Kate, Letterman, and school kids singing the President's praises
Polanski update: As movie director Roman Polanski awaits extradition to the U.S. to finally face justice after skipping out on his sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old some 30 years ago, actress and talk show hostess Whoopi Goldberg doesn’t seem to be sure whether Polanski’s actions constituted rape. Goldberg, apparently defending Polanski, as many in Hollywood have, unbelievably, been doing, said “it wasn’t rape rape,” implying that it wasn’t that bad if he didn’t force himself on the girl. Never mind that he allegedly drugged her and that she was 13 years old at the time! The fact that there seem to be so many apologists for Polanski in Hollywood really underscores the depths of depravity to which these people have sunken, even as many in the U.S. and around the world continue to idolize them.
Smart update: Elizabeth Smart, testifying before a court that’s trying to determine whether her alleged abductor is competent to stand trial, has stated that he raped her repeatedly and daily while holding her captive. What’s more, his “wife” allegedly was there the whole time, just like Phillip Garrido’s wife allegedly was there the whole time while Jaycee Dugard and her children were held captive (I recently wrote about such women in my blog post entitled “What’s with these wives?” back on 9/2/09 – I think they deserve every bit of the punishment that their husbands deserve because I think they aid and abet horrific crimes against children). The creep’s competency to stand trial (basically, his ability to understand what’s going on and to assist in his own defense) is in question because of bizarre behaviors like singing “religious” songs (he claims to be a “prophet”) in courtrooms – behaviors that conveniently emerged right about the time he was arrested for kidnapping Smart. I don’t buy it for a second, and I’d love to be the state’s expert on this one! He may be a nut, probably is, but I’ve done plenty of competency evaluations, and a person has to be pretty darn out of it to be incompetent to stand trial. I’ll bet it’s one big act, and I hope to God it doesn’t work.
Jon & Kate update: Jon, of “Jon & Kate” fame, has reportedly been booted from Jon & Kate Plus Eight, and therefore, he’s reportedly refusing to allow t.v. cameras to film his children during the roughly half of the time that they’re in his custody, meaning that Kate Plus Eight will have to be filmed entirely when the children are with Kate. There’s speculation that this will put an end to the show altogether. Good! I’ve said before that if I were the judge in Jon & Kate’s divorce case, I would’ve ended the show long before now – I would’ve told the parents that either the cameras get removed from their homes, or the kids do. Sure, the show probably generated some cash that may or may not (depending on how the parents manage – or waste – it) help the kids out in the long run (like with college), but it seems to me that the damage it’s likely doing (e.g. having the breakup of their family play out on national t.v.) probably outweighed the advantages long ago.
Letterman extortion plot: For the second time in as many weeks, a major celebrity – first it was John Travolta, now it’s David Letterman – is at the center of an alleged multimillion-dollar extortion plot. In this latest case, a CBS news producer is accused of trying to shake Letterman down for two million dollars by threatening to publicize affairs that Letterman allegedly has had with multiple employees. Personally, it’s a lot easier to sympathize with an innocent dad who was just trying to grieve the death of his teenage son privately when extortionists intervened than it is to sympathize with a guy who’d apparently been engaging in some pretty unscrupulous personal behavior over the years until an extortionist intervened. Nevertheless, when the Travolta case went to trial, I wrote about why extortion and blackmail are more heinous crimes than many people might think at first glance. If you missed it, that blog post is dated 9/23/09.
Finally tonight, speaking of “religious” songs (see “Smart update” above), did you hear about the songs that elementary school children were singing about President Obama in New Jersey? If not, you should Google that topic and listen to the songs, with lyrics like: “He said that all must lend a hand to make this country strong again, mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama. He said we must be fair today; equal work means equal pay, mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama. He said that we must take a stand to make sure everyone gets a chance, mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama.” Or how about, “Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans to make this country’s economy number one again!” Now I don’t know about you, but those lyrics sound to me disturbingly close to something that school kids would be required to sing about their “dear leader” in some totalitarian dictatorship. It sounds like idolatry and indoctrination to me, and I don’t want that in our schools with any president in office. I’d give major props to Obama if he’d do the classy thing and say, “I’ve heard about these songs that school children have been singing about me, and while I’m sure that the kids and their teachers were well-intentioned, I’d really rather see the kids’ education be focused on America rather than on an individual American.”
