Anthony Weiner: Been There, Done That

Anthony Weiner, NYC, May 2011 (Pre-"Weinergate") (Photo credit: Tony Fischer Photography)

Stop us if you've heard this before.  A Democratic congressman from New York had to resign a couple of years ago because he was caught tweeting pictures of his private parts on his phone to different women.  Now he wants to run for mayor of New York City, but he's still allegedly doing it, this time texting ten different women while referring to himself as "Carlos Danger".

OK, so you have heard this one.  The man we're referring to is Anthony Weiner, who has once again embarrassed his wife (who used to be an aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who knows a thing or two about such matters), family and constituents with his seeming inability to focus on serving the people instead of serving himself.

Poll numbers, such as the one taken by New York's WNBC-TV and the Wall Street Journal that has Weiner trailing his Democratic opponent by nine points, aren't quite enough to convince Weiner to drop out of the mayoral race.  And he shouldn't.  Voters have enough bad choices as it is.  Why should Weiner be any different?

Weiner is just one of a few individuals who have lately grabbed headlines for behaving badly in public, but insist on staying in politics anyway.  The others:

• Bob Filner, the Democratic mayor of San Diego, is accused of sexually harassing several women.  Despite pleas from city officials and concerned citizens for Filner to resign from office, he has so far refused to.  But he did say he'd go into treatment for a couple of weeks.  We'll see if any of it took.
• Mark Sanford resigned as governor of South Carolina in 2011 after his affair with an Argentine woman became public, all the while claiming he was hiking up the Appalachian trail when he was really in Buenos Aires with his sweetie.  After his divorce from his wife and subsequent engagement to that Argentine woman, Sanford is now a Republican congressman.
• Eliot Spitzer was once Governor of New York, until his alleged dalliances with prostitutes forced him to resign.  Two failed TV talk shows later, Spitzer is running for office again, this time for New York City comptroller.  Oh, and he's on a tour to promote his latest book.

We hate to harp on this time and again.  With Syria and Egypt in crisis, Detroit in bankruptcy, Bradley Manning going to prison and Edward Snowden stuck in Russia for unearthing classified documents, the news media seem to be more interested in a couple of politicians who couldn't keep it in their pants.

They need help.  And so do we.

The "Seinfeld" Prince

In the aftermath of news that Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, has given birth to a baby boy that will someday become the King of England, a thought occurs:  As third in line to the throne, that kid will be waiting decades behind (in ascending order) father Prince William and grandfather Prince Charles.  However all of them will have to wait until Queen Elizabeth II's reign is over.  She recently celebrated her 61st year on the throne, and show no signs of slowing down.

The name of the future king is George Alexander Louis, or Prince George of Cambridge.  The name might be a tribute to British monarchs of the past, but it sounds like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge might also have been fans of the 1990s sitcom "Seinfeld".  Let's break it down:

• George is for George Costanza.
• Alexander is for Jason Alexander, who played Costanza.
• Louis is for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Benes on the show.

Whether it was intentional or not, the new prince has a lot riding on his shoulders.  Royalty may not be what it used to be, reduced to figureheads who don't do much except sit in huge palaces, do charity work and become fodder for the tabloids.

There have been six kings named George in British history.  Two of them who stood out were George III, who managed the feat of losing the American colonies.  George VI was the last man to rule prior to Elizabeth II, having ascended to the throne in the wake of Edward VIII's abdication so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936.  George VI served during the World War II era and afterwards until his death in 1952.

The person missing from all this is Princess Diana, Prince George's grandmother.  She was singled out by a celebrity-obsessed public and media because of her seemingly fairy-tale romance with Prince Charles, the details of her personal life breathlessly chronicled by Fleet Street, until she was in a fatal car accident caused in part by the very same celebrity-obsessed media.  Thanks to her, the royal family will never know another moment's peace.

By the time George VII becomes King sometime during the second half of the 21st century, we will know a lot more about him than any other ruler in history.  Will he accept his role with dignity and grace?  Or will he be just like George Costanza?

George Zimmerman: "Not Guilty" Doesn't Mean Guilt-Free

Six women jurors in a Florida courtroom gave George Zimmerman a new lease on life Saturday night, acquitting him of the murder of Trayvon Martin.  How long that lease lasts is anyone's guess.

The jurors ruled that Zimmerman did have the right under Florida law to defend himself against a 17-year old wearing a hoodie, who he thought was up to no good in the neighborhood he lived in.  No matter that the young man was unarmed, just coming home from a trip to the convenience store.  One confrontation later, and the young man was no longer a threat to the community.

Even with an African-American man in the White House, the state of race relations in this country vaulted what would have otherwise been a local Orlando news story into a national controversy.  Politicians, demonstrators, and 24/7 news coverage made sure we didn't forget that Zimmerman was white and Martin was black.

Because it happened in Florida, the whole world got to see the trial televised live.  The problem with that is, while we hear about possible clues and speculation from legal analysts, a sequestered jury only gets to hear the evidence presented to them by the defense and the prosecution, as dictated to by the presiding judge.  So a lot of the evidence which would have turned the case around against Zimmerman (who didn't testify in his own defense) never made it to the jury.  As it was, the jury did the only thing they could do under the circumstances, which was to acquit Zimmerman.

This trial went the way of similar verdicts involving O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony, in which most of America thought they got away with murder.  George Zimmerman may be a free man today, but in truth he really isn't.  He's in hiding because of all the death threats he's been getting, and the legal system may not be done with him yet.  We hate to say this, but Zimmerman might have been better off if he were convicted.

Aside from a few skirmishes, the reaction to the verdict across the country has so far been gratefully muted.  We may not like the decision, but we have to live with it.  Just like we have to live with those trigger-happy people who have delusions of grandeur, heroically defending their lives, their property and their loved ones from real or perceived miscreants as if this were still the Wild West.  We also have to live with racial profiling, (fill in the blank) While Black, and being careful what you're wearing so nobody else gets the wrong idea.   And that is why Treyvon Martin is dead today.

Oh, "Big Brother"

English: Julie Chen and Les Moonves at the Vanity Fair celebration for the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Big Brother", a reality competition TV show CBS promotes as lightweight summer entertainment, got some unwanted publicity.  Three of its contestants are in hot water for uttering racist and sexist comments live on the air, and two of them have been fired from their day jobs.  Until recently, the network declined to address this matter either to the contestants or the viewers, and they've taken serious heat for this.  But it's better late than never.

We'll talk more about this later.  But first . . .

"Big Brother" is a European import that's been running the American version on CBS since 2000, and is currently in its 15th season.  It takes 16 strangers (known as "houseguests")--mostly of the young and beautiful variety with the occasional minority, middle aged person and gay/lesbian contestant thrown in--and moves them into a specially-designed "house" with cameras, microphones and one-way mirrors everywhere, cut off from the real world.  The last one to survive weeks of backstabbing, "showmances", silly games and other assorted drama wins a half-million dollars.

Julie Chen, who used to be a CBS morning news anchor, has hosted "Big Brother" from the beginning.  Her husband is President and CEO Les Moonves, who has guided the network to the top of the broadcast TV heap for more than a decade.  Which means that as long as Chen remains married to Moonves, she'll always have a job at CBS.  Right now, her other gig is co-hosting "The Talk", the network's daytime ripoff of ABC's "The View".

Now back to our story.  The three houseguests made their allegedly racist and homophobic comments on the live feed that runs 24/7 on CBS' website.  Two of  the women have been fired from their jobs outside of the show (for the record, they were for a modeling agency and as a pageant coordinator), and the other's employment status is pending.

Since the 16 original contestants entered the "Big Brother" house, they are cut off from the outside world.  No TV, no Internet, no smartphone.  It's also possible that they could not have known about Paula Deen's career implosion, caused by her alleged use of the N word decades ago.

Some people would like to see the offending houseguests booted off of "Big Brother".  It's not likely that it will happen before the show concludes its run in September, because once the other houseguests vote to evict them, some of them will remain sequestered to serve as a jury to determine the show's eventual winner.

In reality television, producers don't look for solid citizens.  Instead, they want people with outsized personalities and good looks who could shake things up.  They do conduct background checks, but sometimes let things slide with disastrous results.  It's all about goosing up the ratings.  The more controversial the contestant, the better the network and its advertisers like it.

So what's a couple of people who say nasty things about gays and minorities?  For a show that's struggling in the ratings as "Big Brother" is, you can't buy this kind of publicity.  Now all they have to do is to stem the tide of viewers spending more of their time outdoors, instead of watching a bunch of pretty and obnoxious people hamming it up in a closed environment.

Paula Deen: Recipe for Disaster

Paula Deen holds court (Photo credit: Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway)

Until recently, Paula Deen was a popular TV chef who sold her Southern brand of cooking (meaning lots of butter, sugar and fat) to an America that had grown weary of dishes that were good for them, instead of food that tasted good.

Now Deen's desperately trying to save her livelihood, becoming the latest celebrity to lose credibility and millions of dollars for saying something inappropriate.  It came in a deposition for a lawsuit filed against Deen, in which she allegedly admitted to having uttered the N word way back when.

With that, at least a dozen companies have so far bailed on Deen, including Walmart, Target and Sears.  Her TV show has been canceled by Food Network.  Because nobody wants to do business with a racist, whether real or perceived.

Deen's Apology Tour has so far succeeded only in making her look like a sad and desperate woman.  She got mixed reviews on her "Today" show appearance, in which she wept, read Bible passages, and declared "I is who I is".

It's been almost 150 years since the end of the Civil War, when thousands of soldiers died because both North and South had different visions of what the future of the United States should be.  The North wanted to keep the union together.  The South wanted to form their own country, so they could keep their slaves and their cotton.

Today, we're still fighting that war, even though thousands of Northerners have come South in search of better jobs and a better climate.  The political structure of the nation is weighted toward the South, but much of the economy is in the North.  Racial attitudes have improved considerably, but there's still work to do.

We castigate public figures who use racial or sexual slurs, whether they're innocent or not.  Why do they do it?  Is it because it's part of the environment they live in?  Do they think it's cool?  Or do they think that, once they've said it, it won't come back to haunt them some day?

Deen should have known that the antebellum South of "Gone With The Wind" and the attitudes that came with them are, well, gone.  She may now claim to have the utmost respect for the African Americans and anyone else she offended for what she allegedly said long ago, with her bank account and reputation in tatters.  Once she gets familiar with her new reality, she can let the healing and forgiveness begin.