Spending Twenty Three Hours A Day With Yourself-Kwame Kilpatrick

      Spending twenty three hours a day with yourself, in jail…would lead most people to do some real introspective deep thinking about the reasons you find yourself sitting behind bars.  Especially for a person who had been living the high life as Mayor of Detroit; it is a big lifestyle adjustment.  Kwame Kilpatrick will have just such an opportunity to do some of that self examination.  Yesterday, Mr. Kilpatrick began to serve a 120 day sentence for a variety of offenses.  He lied to the court about a sexual relationship with his Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty, he lied about text messages to the court which confirmed the affair and he also got into a scuffle with officers trying to serve a subpoena.  There were several offenses that the mayor had been accused of.

       At least two of those offenses ended with him pleading guilty to obstruction of jutice & no contest to felonious assault.  He lied to the court…effectively tying the hands of the legal system, for most of the summer, by using his legal team to fight his removal from office.  Michigan’s Governor Granholm had to hold a hearing to forcibly remove him.  After that hearing he was heard to say, “You done set me up for a comeback”.  This arrogance and defiance moved the judge to sentence him to the full 120 day sentence; typically, a person who exhibits good behavior can shave approximately 20 days off of their sentence, not in Kilpatrick’s case.  The judge was clearly put out by the demeanor of the former mayor throughout this whole process.

        The thing is…if someone has been publically shamed by their private and professional behavior; and then, goes on to be legally chastized and still continues to mock and make light of the situation…you have to wonder if they have learned anything at all about how to conduct themselves appropriately.  Will spending this punnitive time in jail help Mr. Kilpatrick to re-evaluate the direction of his life? 

        The things that he has sacrificed by conducting his affair(s) and lying to the authorities and the court, thereby, possibly harming his relationship with his wife and children, having to give up his law license, as well as his freedom; should be counted as natural consequences for living outside the bounds of legal and moral responsibilities to those to whom he was supposed to be accountable to.  And yet, from reading accounts of yesterdays events…it sounds as though Mr. Kilpatrick mocked the prosecutors by saying things like, “I love you man” and asking them “How you doing?  Can’t even smile”?  This doesn’t bode well for learning from his mistakes. 

          Some people would say that his demeanor is encouraged by his supporters; such as those who observed the former mayor being led from the court room, who shouted encouragement to him such as “Be Strong, We got your back, We love you mayor”.  Will he have a political future when he is free to pursue such goals  Where is the accountability?

          After serving the 120 day sentence, Mr. Kilpatrick will also be on probation for 5 years, give up his law license, and repay the city of Detroit $1 million dollars.

         So I say, if you are going to spend 23 hours a day with someone…it might as well be someone you like alot.  Only 119 days to go, Mr. Kilpatrick.  The people that i truly feel sorry for is his wife and children.  I am sure they are suffering more than he is.  They have had to move out of their home, they have lost a large part of their financial support, and, they have to endure the publicity for their husband and father’s actions for a long time to come.  Should he be allowed to run for public office ever again with this legal black mark on his record?

        

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Liar, Liar…Pants On Fire-John Edwards Admits Affair

        Breaking news today that John Edwards is admitting that he lied all through his Presidential campaign when he said, over and over again, that he did not have an affair with a young woman, Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker when the National Enquirer first accused him in October.  She has since had a female baby that he denies is his child; but, there supposedly has been no paternity testing to prove or deny that claim.  Another man has said that he is the father of the child; a man by the name of, Andrew Young.  He  was a former campaign aide.  The child was born in February of this year…the affair began in 2006…but he doesn’t say for sure when it ended…just that the affair ended too soon for the child to be his.

        John Edwards’ wife Elisabeth has fought and battled cancer for years…she was in remission…however, she has now been diagnosed with a form of cancer that is incurable.  I remember an interview, that she did at the time that it was announced she had incurable cancer…and i thought…how strong she was…how composed.  Now to think that she had to also deal with the knowledge of her husband’s affair during that time…just makes me realize how much stronger she was, than anyone knew.  It also makes me wonder how he thought he would be able to support his wife during her battle, run for President, all the while knowing that this affair could harm his family and come out in the press.  How was Elisabeth able to handle the difficulty of the disease as well as the emotional trauma of the affair?

        It was said that as recently as two weeks ago, he was still denying an affair with this woman…and yet, a month ago he had a meeting with her; an now he admits the affair. 

        That can only mean one thing in my mind; somewhere, someone has proof that can’t be denied.  There will be an investigation, i am sure, about whether she was paid hush money as she denied the affair at one point as well.  If it can be proven that he paid her money to keep it quiet…there will be an even bigger news story here. 

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Barbara Walters-Where Is Her Dignity?

         With all of the hoopla surrounding the publication of Barbara Walter’s book called, “Audition” i have to wonder; where is her dignity?  i think she lost it somewhere between bragging on her affair with a married man approximately 20-30 years ago and dishing on the ongoing public tongue lashing of her former co-hosts Rosie O’Donnell and Star Jones.  There is so much more, i am sure, in Barbara’s memoirs but i have to wonder…with all of the truly outstanding news stories she has brought to our attention over the years…why resort to digging dirt?

        After all, the book would have been interesting enough because of some of the all time history making interviews such as Fidel Castro, Monica Lewinski, President Gerald Ford, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Rudy Giuliani former mayor of NYC  and the list goes on.  Then there are all of the famous celebrities she has interviewed over the years as well.  Some celebrities doing a PR spin on whatever scandal they were going through at the time…there would have been enough sex, drugs, violence to attract the gossipmongers to the book strickly because of some of those interviews.

        Barbara’s book would not have been short on excitement, intrigue, or interest had she concentrated strickly on those interviews and all of the behind the scenes regarding them.  I fail to see the need to tell us of her sex life and such. She is interesting in her own right just because of her childhood, her professional life, her adoption of her daughter Jackie and the famous people in and out of her life. 

          I wonder if this type of publicity buzz will have a disasterous backlash when it comes to the sale of the book; or, whether it will bring publishing to a whole new level of indigity itself.  The business of publishing has been going through it’s own destructive roller coaster over the last decade or so; regarding making a profit, plagerism, fictionalized memoirs, editors who publisher hop from one company to another; and then, the spector of how digital publishing is affecting printed publishing financially.  When dignity is for sale we all lose out. 

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Dancing With The Stars Scandal

       Standing in the line at my local Walmart today i saw a headline screaming out at me about a scandal involving Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke of Dancing With The Stars fame.

         Supposedly, the two of them had an affair during their time on the show.  I didn’t read the article…but, later tonight i read online that they are being accused by some as having an affair. 

          I don’t know about you…but i don’t believe it.  I would be shocked if it turned out to be true.  I remember, Drew’s wife was expecting a baby during that season and she was there alot.   She was at many of the dancing practice sessions as well as the performances.   

         It seems to me that she would have had a close up view on how they acted towards one another.    His wife is also a talented and successful dance choreographer herself; so she is aware of how two people appropriately act towards each other when they practice dancing. 

           I highly doubt that she would have been as supportive of  Drew and the show, if she suspected any such rumor as being true, either then or now!  Remember, this was almost two years ago…she would have had plenty of opportunity to sense whether anything inappropriate has been going on during this time.

           I just think sometimes, people look for reasons to splash the latest rumour or hurtful thing to sell newspapers or magazines.  It seems that the beautiful, Miss Cheryl Burke recently broke up with the boyfriend from that time period…so who knows…who is behind the rumors; and, what the goal is by spreading such innuendo.  For the record, i believe they have both denied any such affair.

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