Michael Jackson Memorial Circus & Real Heroes
This is a “repost” from my Twitter account:
$50 says Jacko is still alive and will burst out of his casket with Bubbles and Macaulay Culkin and burst into song while fireworks explode.
I half-expect it to happen. Only MJ could get away with it too. Mostly.
In the meantime, real heroes are dying in ever increasing numbers in Afghanistan — Obama’s War.
“Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media,” Martha Gillis wrote to the Washington Post. “Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?”
Gillis’ nephew, Lt. Brian Bradshaw, 24, died in Kheyl, Afganistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Bradshaw, of Steilacoom, Wash., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was one of at least 13 U.S. soldiers to die in Afghanistan since Jackson’s death on June 25.
Since January 20, 2009, over 70 American servicemen have died in Afghanistan.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
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I have noticed that CNN.com has stopped the headlines with the number of service people killed in action. I wonder why that is?
Comment by TnnsNE1 — July 7, 2009 @ 11:39 am - July 7, 2009
Very true, Tnns. I have decided it is time to start keeping track again and will do so as regularly as I can here at GayPatriot.
Comment by GayPatriot — July 7, 2009 @ 11:41 am - July 7, 2009
Over on Ace, Rep. Peter King sums it up:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/289390.php
“Let’s knock out the psychobabble. Michael Jackson was a pervert, a child molester, a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in day out, what does it say about us as a country? … There are men and women dying in Afghanistan. Let’s give them the credit they deserve… Let’s take some time out to look to the people that do make us a great country, the men and women of the armed forces, police, firefighters, teachers, volunteers… They’re the ones we should be glorifying.”
Now, maybe you disagree that Jackson ‘did it’. (I always concede it’s possible that Jackson didn’t – even though Jackson paid the first kid $25 million in 1994, and even though the jurors at his 2005 trial said afterward that they believed he did it, it just hadn’t been proven well enough, i.e. beyond any reasonable doubt.) Fine. It’s still undeniable that Jackson was a drug-addled show-business attention-whore with a disturbed, narcissistic relationship to children. And that our culture focuses on him, not on our real heroes, speaks to the sickness of our culture.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 11:49 am - July 7, 2009
Congressman Peter King made similar, well-publicized comments yesterday.
Comment by Ignatius — July 7, 2009 @ 11:52 am - July 7, 2009
On a related note, I found this commentary very interesting:
http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/29/how_michael_jackson_answered_the_ayatollahs_prayers
If you can ignore/get past some of the bias re: climate change legislation and Obama-mania in the commentary, it is a good indictment of our celebrity obsessed MSM.
Comment by Neptune — July 7, 2009 @ 12:01 pm - July 7, 2009
Bruce, if I may, I’d offer up only one criticism of your post – this is not “Obama’s” war. This is our war. Bush sent the troops into Afghanistan, and rightly so, since it was terrorists that started this conflict. I would like to have seen Bush commit the troops to Afghanistan that Obama has (though I am sure the planning began under Bush with Secretary Gates, so really I give neither president credit or blame here).
I think we didn’t emphasize the battle with the Taliban enough because of the conflict in Iraq, but I think it’s getting the attention it deserves now. Afghanistan remains a challenge, but hopefully this surge will be as successful as the surge strategy in Iraq was.
Comment by Neptune — July 7, 2009 @ 12:06 pm - July 7, 2009
It turns out that Ringling Brothers, the actual circus arrived today for shows beginning at the Staples Center tomorrow. The irony is almost too much.
Comment by Neptune — July 7, 2009 @ 12:25 pm - July 7, 2009
I’m still not sure why Jackson’s relationship with children was any more “disturbed” than, say, The Wiggles, Captain Kangaroo, any number of birthday clowns, library story-time people, camp counselors, scout leaders, etc. How is what Jackson did any different than a pastor having a sleepover for the youth group in the church basement?
In any case, the soldier’s duty is to die for freedom, not glory. I suspect that most soldiers don’t want any earthly honor–they just want to know that the people they leave behind are free and happy. In God’s eyes, their sacrifice is much more important. I like Jackson, but he will only be famous on this planet. This is all he gets. In the next life, the least will be the first. Let him have his little party for now. It will turn out that an anonymous soldier sacrificing for a greater cause will have a much nicer time in the world to come than a really good singer and dancer. God will have mercy on us all.
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 7, 2009 @ 1:18 pm - July 7, 2009
That Michael Jackson was an extraordinary and gifted person, there is no doubt. But is his death worth all the air time that it has received? Farrah Fawcett died several hours before him and received little notice. Even less time was given to the deaths of Gale Storm (My Little Margie) and Karl Malden. Military personnel who die in combat deserve a few minutes of recognition by the media so the nation will be reminded day after day who has sacrificed to preserve the liberties we celebrated, nationally, this past Saturday.
Comment by Roberto — July 7, 2009 @ 1:43 pm - July 7, 2009
I am a little sad for the loss of artistry but that grief started about a decade ago. I won’t be flip about his death but at the same time… he was mortal like the rest of us. This is all too much.
Comment by Randy — July 7, 2009 @ 1:50 pm - July 7, 2009
From patience and generosity, I will take one more stab at explaining it. First, I’ll repeat from earlier:
In other words: He *wasn’t* a pastor. Nor was he a camp counselor. Reality-check time. That’s for starters. There’s also the simple matter that pastors and camp counselors don’t literally sleep with children, in a doomed effort to recover their lost childhoods. Although there are unfortunately some predators or disturbed individuals among them, their basic role is to *serve* the kids. Whereas Jackson used kids as props in his personal narcissistic theater of the absurd – and possibly much worse. Or, as Jackson put it to interviewers while he was alive:
That’s not serving kids, and it’s not letting them have sleepovers with their peers.
Now it’s my turn to say what I’m not sure of. What I don’t understand, Ash, is why denying the truth about Jackson – that he was, if not an outright pedophile, at the very least a drug-addled attention-whore with a disturbed, narcissistic relationship to children – is so important to you.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 1:56 pm - July 7, 2009
Michael Jackson is dead?!?
When did this happen?
Comment by Draybee — July 7, 2009 @ 2:14 pm - July 7, 2009
While that may be true, it is also true that glory – i.e., appreciation and honor – is part of the payment that we, as a society / culture, morally owe to our heroes. Just because the hero doesn’t or shouldn’t expect us to reward him or her with prestige and admiration, doesn’t mean that we don’t still morally owe it, and are kind of weird for giving so much more of it to Britney and Michael.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 2:20 pm - July 7, 2009
And please don’t forget Mollie Sugden of Are You Being Served? fame.
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — July 7, 2009 @ 2:30 pm - July 7, 2009
Mrs. Slocombe died?!?!
Comment by Neptune — July 7, 2009 @ 2:34 pm - July 7, 2009
#14
Oh no. I hadn’t heard that.
Can’t beat the different hair colors, jokes about her “pussy” and “Capt. Peacock. Are you free?”.
That’s a classic show if there ever was one. First Brit-com I ever watched.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — July 7, 2009 @ 3:04 pm - July 7, 2009
So Capt. Kangaroo is on the same level as John Wayne Gacey? Really, Ash? Really?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — July 7, 2009 @ 3:06 pm - July 7, 2009
Miss Sugden passed away a few days ago.
“Mollie Sugden, 86, who played the formidable saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the BBC’s long-running comedy series Are You Being Served?, has died.
“Ms. Sugden built a career playing strong-willed, overbearing women. As the bossy saleswoman who dominated the underwear section at the Grace Bros. department store, Ms. Sugden delivered double entendres in a perfectly outraged voice, shaking her tightly curled, dyed hair.
“The show ran from 1973 to 1985 and at its height attracted audiences of 20 million.
“She was born in Keighley, in northern England, in July 1922, and trained at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she met her husband, William Moore. – AP”
No one uttered the word “pussy” with such bravado.
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — July 7, 2009 @ 3:13 pm - July 7, 2009
Miss Sugden passed away a few days ago.
No one uttered the word “pussy” with such bravado.
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — July 7, 2009 @ 3:14 pm - July 7, 2009
The latest conspiracy theory: Sarah Palin killed Michael Jackson.
Comment by V the K — July 7, 2009 @ 3:14 pm - July 7, 2009
Sorry for the multiple posts — I have no patience when it comes to technology.
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — July 7, 2009 @ 3:25 pm - July 7, 2009
Wow, so much anger and hatred thrown at one person that none of us actually knew. I am by no means MJ’s biggest fan but I would give him the benefit of the doubt here. It isn’t his fault that the troops are getting less attention this week than his passing his does. Throwing out accusations like child molester is awful when not one person here could actually show evidence of its proof. I am not saying one way or the other if he has done any of that I am saying it is disgusting to throw those words around. I know there are those that love to do that but we should try and rise above. What I did hear on the news this week was that the troops are starting to pull out of Afghanistan. Thanks Obama.
Comment by mike — July 7, 2009 @ 3:50 pm - July 7, 2009
PS: If there is an “attention whore” this week stealing the spotlight from the troops its Sarah “I’m resigning but I’m no quitter” Palin. That’s right Sarah, start moving those scandals are hot on your heels baby.
Comment by mike — July 7, 2009 @ 4:00 pm - July 7, 2009
Because it is thought by most that “gay” means “pedophile,” I don’t think that gays should accuse other men of being pedophiles. We should be aware of how loosely that horrible term is spread around.
Imagine a single, middle aged man who decides to coach a Little League team. Let’s say he has lots of money and is doing as a volunteer. As a reward for winning the tournament, he invites his team over for a sleepover, fully chaperoned. But–one of the kid’s parents needs money. So, she puts the kid up to accusing the man of molesting him. None of the other kids report anything. None of the chaperones report anything. But there’s still a trial. He is acquitted. But he has to live with the accusation for the rest of his life.
There are lots of single men, gay and straight, who want to work with children but fear lawsuits. At the Omaha Children’s Theater, which is run mostly by gay men, they have to have two adults at every rehearsal. Can you imagine the lawsuits if there was ever a rehearsal with just one adult? Ask around at the children’s theater or museum in your area–are the gays there afraid of being alone with kids?
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 7, 2009 @ 4:26 pm - July 7, 2009
I do not even know where to begin. What kind of a person would even equate a pastor with a pedophile. Youth groups sleeping in a church basement is not someone putting liquid (alcohol) in a baby bottle and then all piling in bed together.
The man was a PEDOPHILE!!!!!
Comment by PatriotMom — July 7, 2009 @ 4:44 pm - July 7, 2009
I wouldn’t say that the Afghan war is Bush’s or Obama’s, but I do remember an awful lot of lefties over the last five or six years saying that the “real” war should have been in Afghanistan where Usama was really from. (Actually he was Yemeni and from anyplace he could hide and establish terrorist training camps.) The war in Afghanistan is going to be in tougher terrain and harder to pursue the enemy over the borders into Pakistan (even thought Obama also said he would do that to get Usama.) Let’s just see how long it takes before the anit-war left start signing a different song and I don’t expect the Virginia Pilot (where I am from) to start the “daily death toll” from Afghanistan like they had from Iraq.
Comment by Linda Strickland — July 7, 2009 @ 4:47 pm - July 7, 2009
Did you see him put the alcohol in the baby’s bottle? Or was that something reported by a kid who’s parents put him up to it and which he denied later?
There are any number of pastors who have faced allegations of pedophilia. As have scout leaders (which is why the Boy Scouts don’t want gay men as leaders). As have little league coaches (did you see the oh-so-funny bit on Family Guy where Peter hires a molester for his kid’s team?) and children’s theatre directors. Are all those true just because somebody said them?
I think the accusations against MJ were put up jobs by scheming parents looking for money–they were false. MJ never put alcohol in anyone’s drink–although that’s the sort of thing most kids would get on a camping trip with “the guys.” It is hard to see how the gay community can support people making false sexual allegations. Every time I say that gays shouldn’t exploit young people, I’m told in no uncertain terms that it never happens.
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 7, 2009 @ 5:10 pm - July 7, 2009
Where are all the lefties crying over all the members of the armed forces that have died in Afghanistan since President Obama took office? When are we going to see the anti-war freak show demand our pull out of Afghanistan? How about the Code Pinko gals? ANSWER? Oh, I forgot, it is because we are fighting in Afghanistan. And Barack H. Obama is the commander-in-chief. I think that there will be a clamor on the left within six months to get out of Afghanistan. The trick is whether President Obama will end up going along with that.
Comment by Mark J. Goluskin — July 7, 2009 @ 6:45 pm - July 7, 2009
Neptune,
I agree, it’s our war.
Julie,
Well hells, you’ve just depressed me. Molly’s gone, Wendy Richard died in Febuary (Always thought she was my kind of girl) John Inman died in 2007…
Hells.
Comment by The_Livewire — July 7, 2009 @ 6:53 pm - July 7, 2009
OJ wasn’t convicted, so he must be innocent, right?
I believe the OP has to do with perspective, with or without allegations of pedophilia. I’m not willing to go as far as Peter King and some in this thread, but that a pop star willingly — even teasingly — implied as much to a sickeningly fascinated media should help sober a few of us. I don’t question a parent making a seemingly opportunistic allegation so much as I question the same parent for allowing their child to be put in a position that gives the allegation credibility. If such lawsuits were shakedowns (something I find difficult to entirely believe), Michael Jackson should reasonably have paid a steep price for encouraging them. If there was/is truth behind them, he did not pay nearly enough.
Comment by Ignatius — July 7, 2009 @ 7:29 pm - July 7, 2009
Ash- Regarding #8, if I might tweak your statement “the soldier’s duty is to die for freedom, not glory.” When I read that, the first thing that popped into my head was a quote, which I believe is attributed to General Patton. “It’s not your duty to die for your country, but to make the other b*stard die for his.” Otherwise, you make it sound as if our soldiers are some kind of suicide soldiers. Unlike the jihadists, our guys would prefer to live.
Comment by Louise B — July 7, 2009 @ 7:46 pm - July 7, 2009
Louise B, good point – The soldier’s duty *isn’t* to die for freedom. It’s to protect it (as successfully as he or she can).
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 8:07 pm - July 7, 2009
The point is, God is aware of the soldier’s sacrifice. That’s more important than a big funeral.
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 7, 2009 @ 9:28 pm - July 7, 2009
That makes no sense to me. First, again this is what I said:
So I don’t “accuse” Jackson of being a pedophile. Rather, I accuse him of having a disturbed, narcissistic relationship to children – because the facts strongly suggest that, for starters. But here is the more important point: Because, in fact, “gay” does not mean “pedophile”, there is absolutely no reason whatever for gays to be overly sensitive (i.e., sensitive beyond the requirements of facts and justice, which must always be honored) about accusing anyone of being a pedophile. Some pedophiles do happen to be gay (i.e., same-sex oriented). Many more are not (i.e., are heterosexually oriented). Hypersensitivity on that score is a position of weakness, i.e., of undue fear and guilt.
A carefully constructed example that does not map to Jackson’s. Jackson’s would look more like this: Rather than defend himself, man pays 1994 kid $25 million, whereupon the kid instantly changes his story and develops “I can’t remember” syndrome. In 2005, when it comes to the attention of the police again with another kid, there is tons of evidence of creepy behavior at trial… but high-priced defense lawyers raise enough doubt about a key witness (the boy’s mother) that the jury can’t convict beyond a reasonable doubt, even though several of them wish they could have and say so afterward.
On the evidence of your previous defenses of Jackson, Ash, you wouldn’t believe PatriotMom if she had.
Just to bring some facts into this, here’s Wiki on Jackson’s second molestation case, the 2005 one:
That, right there, is majorly creepy – even if it is true that they weren’t in the same bed (in that instance) and weren’t having sexual contact. It is an adult emotionally exploiting a child. The adult is conducting an ongoing emotionally intense relationship with a child *for the purpose of meeting the adult’s needs*. Ash: Are you really incapable of recognizing that as exploitation? Seriously?
Wiki continues:
Note Macauley Culkin’s in particular. He called the molestation charges against Jackson “absurd”, yet his testimony confirmed that he and several other boys certainly did sleep in Jackson’s bed, many times, as part of ongoing emotional relationships (I won’t call them “friendships”, because they were clearly in Jackson’s interest far more than the boys’).
Ash – Do you really not see it? Do you really not see that, even if “nothing happened” and so very many people who testified about Jackson’s sexual contact with young boys were crooks and liars, it was all creepy, creepy, creepy? All about meeting Jackson’s needs. Nothing like a church, or a summer camp. Do you really not see that saying, “It was all innocent” and “You can’t prove anything happened”, is in no way a defense?
I say again: The grownup Jackson was a drug-addled show-business narcissist and creepy attention whore who, *at a bare minimum*, emotionally exploited children for his own needs.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 9:28 pm - July 7, 2009
(And quite possibly did more.)
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 7, 2009 @ 10:15 pm - July 7, 2009
#22: “What I did hear on the news this week was that the troops are starting to pull out of Afghanistan. Thanks Obama.”
Yeah, mike. Pulling out of Afghanistan just as the Gitmo detainees get closer to freedom and a return to homicidal extremism. Now we have yet another confirmed former Gitmo detainee fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. What is the number up to now of Gitmo graduates that have returned to their jihadi ways? 75? 80? Naturally, this story is on Foxnews.com for the moment, but nowhere to be seen on cnn.com or msnbc.com. Signing an executive order to close Gitmo was, after all, Obama’s FIRST act as CIC. And you don’t feel foolish typing the words “Thanks, Obama”?!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/07/gitmo-inmate-leading-fight-helmand/
Comment by Sean A — July 8, 2009 @ 3:32 am - July 8, 2009
P.S. I’m sure this is an observation that has been pointed out before, but it seems that the majority of the Obama sycophants on this blog all start their screen names with lower case letters. Coincidence? Or one big pile of yarn-haired sock puppets all with the same IP address?
Comment by Sean A — July 8, 2009 @ 4:04 am - July 8, 2009
Sure, ILC, and Palin is really Trig’s Mom, etc.
I’m sure that Jackson’s kids appreciate all the effort people are making to destroy their memories of a loving father.
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 8, 2009 @ 11:23 am - July 8, 2009
It’s the “loving” part that is being worried about here.
Comment by The Livewire — July 8, 2009 @ 11:26 am - July 8, 2009
ILC: Comes out with factual accounts of testimony against Jackson.
Ashpenaz: Can’t handle it, just comes out with snark.
Typical!
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 8, 2009 @ 11:27 am - July 8, 2009
I guess the elephant in the room is, why didn’t Michael Jackson like to share his bed with little girls?
Comment by V the K — July 8, 2009 @ 11:30 am - July 8, 2009
P.S. Ash, I had asked you:
Tell you what, I’ll accept it that you’ve effectively answered, “no”.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 8, 2009 @ 11:31 am - July 8, 2009
Heh – V, well, in the accounts I read, the boys said that Jackson would look at girl porn mags with them. One kid wouldn’t join in and Jackson allegedly told him “Hey, you’re missing out on some pussy!” Having said that – It is a fair question.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 8, 2009 @ 11:35 am - July 8, 2009
I have not read any unbiased account of Jackson’s dealing with children. I wasn’t there. He was acquitted in a court of law where he had the chance to face his accusers. His children loved him, and I choose to respect their memories of their father.
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 8, 2009 @ 10:01 pm - July 8, 2009
Ashpenaz, the jurors said that within the scope of their instructions, they were bound to find him not guilty (beyond a reasonable doubt). Two of the jurors afterwards, however, said they are convinced that Jackson molested at least some of the children.
Also, Jackson settled another case for (I believe) $10 million. Now, it’s entirely possible that Jackson was innocent here, the parents were golddiggers, etc., but the settlement clearly puts Jackson’s innoncence into question. If it was me, and I was innocent, the “victim” would be lucky to get $.10 from me.
As for the children, yes, it would be difficult to hear about the truth of their father. A truth that includes, at the very least, an unhealthy relationship with preteen boys,* and one that includes him risking the death of one of them with that balcony stunt. But I think it’s safe to assume that the children are not reading this blog. I would never tell them to their face what I thought about their father’s behavior.
*In case it needs to be spelled out. My criticism of Jackson should not be construed to mean that all adults who interact with children in a healthy manner are pedophiles, or border on it.
Comment by Pat — July 9, 2009 @ 7:20 am - July 9, 2009
Another way of saying, “I refuse to believe the testimony of any child harmed by him, whether it was sexually or emotionally or whatever. I won’t believe it, I won’t believe it, I won’t believe it! I’m impervious to the evidence of their testimony.”
So was O.J. Simpson. Newsflash: O.J. still did it. And Jackson still paid MORE THAN ONE of his accusers multi-million dollar settlements for them to change their stories.
Translation: Maintaining illusions is more important than the harm done to Jackson’s victims, or believing the testimony some of them gave in a court of law. Or, as TL had put it: It’s the ‘loving’ part that one should rightly question.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 9, 2009 @ 9:03 am - July 9, 2009
Michael Jackson was innocent!How dare you judge him you fools.
Comment by Debbie — August 15, 2009 @ 5:02 pm - August 15, 2009