Jackson, Fawcett Dead; Sanford, Not So Lucky
That Teowonna!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
8 comments
What a week this has been. What a 24 hours this has been.
About an hour ago, I got the news that Michael Jackson has died. I must admit I almost cried when I read the news that scrolled across my Blackberry aloud to my fellow Toastmasters at our dinner meeting. If I had been alone, I probably would have cried.
To be honest, I haven’t been a true Michael Jackson fan since “Beat It” and “Billy Jean”. Thriller is arguably the greatest CD ever made, and it still holds the title for best-selling album of all time (according to CNN). It was nominated for eight Grammy Awards and has been certified platinum 20 times. Bad followed Thriller five years later. I must admit, even though there were some awesome cuts on that album (“Dirty Diana”, “Bad”, “The Man in the Mirror” and “Smooth Criminal”), I found my interest starting to drift by that stage in Michael’s career.
Now that I think about it, the lighter Michael’s complexion became and the thinner his lips and nose got, the more my enthusiasm for him seemed to wane. Maybe that’s why by the time “Dangerous” and “HIStory” were released, I had metaphorically sent my fan card back in. Does that make me racist? Hmmm… That’s another blog.
About six hours ago, I got a text from WLTX saying Farrah Fawcett had passed away. Even though I knew she was ill, I was still sadden to hear she had succumbed to cancer. I’m only 36 years old, so Farrah really wasn’t a part of my generation. I don’t have much of a recollection of her, other than “Charlie’s Angels”. Wait. Didn’t she do a made-for-TV movie about domestic violence ? “The Burning Bed”, I think it was called. Ok, it’s all coming back to me now.
Anyway, I had a great deal of sympathy for Farrah and her condition. No one deserves to live with or die from cancer. On May 15 of this year, a special broadcast aired on NBC called “Farrah’s Story”. I didn’t watch it because it was too maudlin. I’d heard enough of her sad story already that week. The day after the show aired, Meredith Vieira interviewed Farrah’s long-time companion, Ryan O’Neal on The Today Show. When I heard O’Neal say Farrah’s first question was, ‘How were the ratings’, I was glad I had not watched the show. What was her motivation for airing that heartbreaking story? To feed her superstar ego? Sad. Very, very sad; trying to hold onto the spotlight even as life slips away. And today, the very day Farrah passed away, Michael’s death upstaged hers.
About 24 hours ago, I got word, again, courtesy of WLTX text, that Governor Mark Sanford admitted to an affair. While the state and country thought he was in the mountains licking his wounds about the stimulus bill issue, he actually was in Argentina with his ‘woman’. And on my dime!
Dang. Another decent man fell victim to lust and the mystic and allure of sex with someone other than his wife. I was dismayed at the realization that even the most stand-up men can fall prey to temptation. Scary.
Articles, blogs, commentary and surveys are all over the internet asking why do politicians cheat. I can answer that for you. Politicians cheat because men cheat. Politicians are no different from any other man. If your man is a cheat, then he is going to cheat; it doesn’t matter if he is a politician or not. So ladies, what can you do to keep your man from cheating? Simple. Don’t marry a cheat!
Back to Sanford, can you imagine when he stepped off that plane to make his way to his ditched SUV and was bombarded with reporters from around the country? Then he realized, “they’re onto me”. May as well come clean.
The humiliation of it all. In a matter of hours, all your personal business and affairs are public knowledge. Your marriage, career, good reputations, and self respect all vanish as cameras flash in your face. Sanford must have wished he could die.
Today is Thursday, June 25, 2009. What a day it has been. Michael is gone; Farrah is gone; and with all of his political hopes and dreams in the toilet, Sanford probably wishes he was. Edit
About an hour ago, I got the news that Michael Jackson has died. I must admit I almost cried when I read the news that scrolled across my Blackberry aloud to my fellow Toastmasters at our dinner meeting. If I had been alone, I probably would have cried.
To be honest, I haven’t been a true Michael Jackson fan since “Beat It” and “Billy Jean”. Thriller is arguably the greatest CD ever made, and it still holds the title for best-selling album of all time (according to CNN). It was nominated for eight Grammy Awards and has been certified platinum 20 times. Bad followed Thriller five years later. I must admit, even though there were some awesome cuts on that album (“Dirty Diana”, “Bad”, “The Man in the Mirror” and “Smooth Criminal”), I found my interest starting to drift by that stage in Michael’s career.
Now that I think about it, the lighter Michael’s complexion became and the thinner his lips and nose got, the more my enthusiasm for him seemed to wane. Maybe that’s why by the time “Dangerous” and “HIStory” were released, I had metaphorically sent my fan card back in. Does that make me racist? Hmmm… That’s another blog.
About six hours ago, I got a text from WLTX saying Farrah Fawcett had passed away. Even though I knew she was ill, I was still sadden to hear she had succumbed to cancer. I’m only 36 years old, so Farrah really wasn’t a part of my generation. I don’t have much of a recollection of her, other than “Charlie’s Angels”. Wait. Didn’t she do a made-for-TV movie about domestic violence ? “The Burning Bed”, I think it was called. Ok, it’s all coming back to me now.
Anyway, I had a great deal of sympathy for Farrah and her condition. No one deserves to live with or die from cancer. On May 15 of this year, a special broadcast aired on NBC called “Farrah’s Story”. I didn’t watch it because it was too maudlin. I’d heard enough of her sad story already that week. The day after the show aired, Meredith Vieira interviewed Farrah’s long-time companion, Ryan O’Neal on The Today Show. When I heard O’Neal say Farrah’s first question was, ‘How were the ratings’, I was glad I had not watched the show. What was her motivation for airing that heartbreaking story? To feed her superstar ego? Sad. Very, very sad; trying to hold onto the spotlight even as life slips away. And today, the very day Farrah passed away, Michael’s death upstaged hers.
About 24 hours ago, I got word, again, courtesy of WLTX text, that Governor Mark Sanford admitted to an affair. While the state and country thought he was in the mountains licking his wounds about the stimulus bill issue, he actually was in Argentina with his ‘woman’. And on my dime!
Dang. Another decent man fell victim to lust and the mystic and allure of sex with someone other than his wife. I was dismayed at the realization that even the most stand-up men can fall prey to temptation. Scary.
Articles, blogs, commentary and surveys are all over the internet asking why do politicians cheat. I can answer that for you. Politicians cheat because men cheat. Politicians are no different from any other man. If your man is a cheat, then he is going to cheat; it doesn’t matter if he is a politician or not. So ladies, what can you do to keep your man from cheating? Simple. Don’t marry a cheat!
Back to Sanford, can you imagine when he stepped off that plane to make his way to his ditched SUV and was bombarded with reporters from around the country? Then he realized, “they’re onto me”. May as well come clean.
The humiliation of it all. In a matter of hours, all your personal business and affairs are public knowledge. Your marriage, career, good reputations, and self respect all vanish as cameras flash in your face. Sanford must have wished he could die.
Today is Thursday, June 25, 2009. What a day it has been. Michael is gone; Farrah is gone; and with all of his political hopes and dreams in the toilet, Sanford probably wishes he was. Edit
8 comments
Thanks Rekaya.
Nakia: You are right. It's hard to know who is a cheat and who is not. I'm certain Jenny Sanford had no idea she was marrying a cheat. Mark Sanford is a tricky one... He is a Type B cheater (I'll expound upon that later) Others men, Type A Cheaters, there is NO doubt what you are getting. There is a Type C also! That's who I'm looking for.
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I guess I will 4th that emotion. What a shock regarding MJ! He'll be missed. And Ms. Fawcett too.
Now Slick Willie Sanford, we have to give him some slack. He got himself entagled with a latin lover. C'mon, y'all know she broke him down. God help him if she had been a full-blooded sister (remember Sunshine from Harlem Nights).
Seriously, people cheat for all kinds of reasons. According to his email, this was his first time around the cheating track. Hopefully, he learns his lesson and gets it together. But he knows he really does need to resign. By his own words in 1999, that's the right thing to do.
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Thanks for the post on Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett…love, love, love the spin on including Sandford’s career among the deaths this past week.
Regarding Sandford and his ‘confession’, "As a consequence I hurt her, my wife, Jenny, my boys ... I hurt a lot a lot of different folks," the governor said...He's a pig. He mentioned the side piece first...He should have just kept his mouth shut. I will not be distracted from what’s really going on. Sanford is being groomed to run for president in 2012…what better way to get redemption than for wifey to publicly forgive him-and quickly too because the American public has such a short memory? His political career should be dead, but who are we kidding, he didn’t offer to step down as governor and the party did not demand it. Sanford should hope I change my party affiliation before he runs for the nomination.
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You know Mark, I don't think Sanford should resign. I think he should hang in there for the remaining of his term, if he can. If he gets impeached, then that is another story. Resigning will completely end his political career... impeachment too. That why I suggest trying to serve his term out as low-key as possible. But I don't think Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is going to allow that. Delete Reply
I hear you. Sticking in there would be to Sanford's best interest. At least he'd have the opportunity to try to salvage his political career. However, his staying put isn't in the best interests of his party. 1) The Republicans high and low (including Sanford) went on record saying Clinton should resign over the Lewinsky ordeal. 2) His remaining in office undermines the Republicans' claims of "morality" as a key element of their political platform. 3) Now the party has to decide whether to condone his behaivor or take action against him. At least if they impeach him now, they can fill his positon with a Republican.
Between you and me, his affair doesn't reach the level of impeachment as it is a personal issue and not political. It just looks pretty bad on him and his party.
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Excellent post! This year has been like no other when it comes to celebrity deaths. I recall being off that day and reading the news online of Farrah Fawcett's death. Because she had been sick and we knew the end was near, that helped soften the blow a little. Wow, I didn't know Farrah asked Ryan about the ratings of the TV special. Sad indeed.
I literally started to shake a little when I first heard the news about the death of Michael Jackson later that day. It took a couple of weeks for it to sink in that he was really dead. It was weird that arguably the most famous person in the world was dead.
Because Mark Sanford's world was crumbling around that time, I jokingly said that part of him was glad about all of the Michael Jackson coverage because it got people's minds off of his affair. In case you'd like to read them, I included links to the posts I wrote on Farrah and MJ:
http://popculturedish.blogspot.com/2009/06/farrah-fawcett-1947-2009.html
http://popculturedish.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-dead-at-age-of-50.html
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I agree with you regarding MJ!! God rest his soul and Farrah as well. I have to admit that I wasn't much of a fan as of late either. With all the scandal and eccentric behavior, he was the butt of many of my jokes. Of course the initial shock made me want to mourn the 80s MJ, vivid memories of my giant Michael Jackson button flashed before me. That was the 80s! Of course, the mommy and rationalist in me kicked in this evening. My son was neva going to Neverland! I don't want to seem insensitive, but the man had pedophiliac tendencies! I would be a pseudo-hypocrite for jumping on the we want Michael back wagon now. Yet, I've asked God, the final Judge to have mercy on his soul.
...and as for the Sanfords' without a Scarlet Letter emblazed on the chest, there is no concrete way to determine a cheat. We are all, (men too) just taking chances out here. Delete Reply