A person with knowledge of the situation says Los Angeles officials are holding closed-door talks about a possible event for Michael Jackson on Tuesday at a downtown arena. The person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said the event would take place at the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers. It wasn’t immediately clear if a funeral or a public memorial was being discussed for the entertainer — or both.

All of this for a man accused multiple time of inappropriate acts with a minor. Regardless of what may or may not have happened with Jackson, experts agreed that children should not be sleeping in the bed with unrelated adults, as the pop star has admitted he’s often done, saying there was nothing sexual about it. Borack said, “It just opens the door for misunderstandings at best.

In a lengthy and emotional interview with The Associated Press in his Statehouse office, the governor described five meetings with Maria Belen Chapur over the past year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York before they met there again intending to break up.

He said he met her two other times, including their first meeting in 2001 at an open-air dance spot in Uruguay.

“There was some kind of connection from the very beginning,” he told The Associated Press, though he said neither that meeting nor a 2004 coffee date in New York during the Republican National Convention were romantic.

His interview was the first disclosure of any liaisons with Chapur in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which Sanford admitted to a total of five encounters over their eight-year relationship.

He previously announced he would reimburse the state for money spent during a government trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008 when he saw Chapur. It was then, he said, that their relationship became physical, and the e-mails they’d exchanged for years reflected their anguish over what they had done.

“Now I am frightened,” he told the AP, describing his state of mind at the time. “It was before safe. But now it’s not safe. We gotta put the genie back in the bottle.”

He insists no public money was used for any other meetings with her.

He saw Chapur again in mid-June of this year, visiting Argentina without telling his staff he was going to be out of the country. He instead led them to believe he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

By the time he returned to a puzzled public, staff and family, his public image and emotional state had unraveled. He admitted the affair at a rambling press conference.

Now Sanford is attempting to salvage his personal and professional lives. He and wife Jenny, parents of four sons, say they are trying to reconcile their 20-year marriage but have not been sharing the same house for several weeks. Jenny Sanford found out about the relationship in January when she discovered a letter the governor had written to his mistress. She did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The governor said he met Chapur in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, in 2001 after his final term in Congress and before his first term as governor. He said the two struck up an e-mail correspondence after meeting on a dance floor — a chance encounter during which he counseled her into the night about her failing marriage.

For the next seven-plus years, Sanford said, the two exchanged messages, sometimes sporadically.

They met in New York two more times in 2008: two nights in Manhattan in September and three nights in the Hamptons in November. Each time, Sanford claims he flew coach, paid for it himself, paid for the hotels in cash and told his staff he was reachable via cell phone.

“At that point I was very careful, everything was paid for in cash,” Sanford said. “And you won’t find a credit card record.”

In early 2009, after Jenny Sanford discovered the affair, the couple went into counseling. She has told The Associated Press that he asked her several times to visit the mistress and she refused.

But the governor claims he wanted to end the affair in person and, with his wife’s permission, went to New York with a “trusted spiritual adviser” serving as chaperone. The three went to church and dinner together and parted ways the same night.

But he visited Chapur again in Argentina on June 18, the trip that brought the whole affair to light.

Just found out Michael Jackson has died. He was 50 years old. Michael suffered a heart attack earlier this afternoon at his home paramedics tried to revive him but were unable to. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back. Jackson was said to be dead on arrival of the paramedics. Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive. We will provide more details as they become available.

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. Referred to as the “King of Pop” in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and Thriller—credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool—helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as “Black or White” and “Scream” made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

Jackson has donated and raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his foundation, charity singles and support of 39 charities. Other aspects of his personal life, including his changing appearance and behavior, generated significant controversy, damaging his public image. Though he was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993, the criminal investigation was closed due to lack of evidence and Jackson was not charged. The singer has experienced health concerns since the early 1990s and conflicting reports regarding the state of his finances since the late 1990s. Jackson married twice and fathered three children, all of which caused further controversy. In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges.

One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records—including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”—13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and the sales of over 750 million albums worldwide. Cited as one of the world’s most famous men, Jackson’s highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, has made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades.

It appears the Republican party is desperate. Sarah Palin’s (Bristols mom in case you have been living in a cave) fifteen minutes of fame has come and gone so apparently its time to roll out the booze swilling, sex crazed, daughter who recently had a baby (she’s 16). So what’s the best forum to have this underaged mother speak upon.

 

Abstinence of course!

Governor Palin (now GRANDMA governor Palin) should have read Marketing for Dummies before advising her daughter on making such a laughable move. In a recent interview with Good Morning America, Bristol says “regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only 100 percent foolproof way to prevent pregnancy. This appears to be in direct contradiction to what she told Fox News saying “abstinence wasn’t realistic for all teens.”
It appears that Bristol is on her way to being a good Republican with her double speak and contradictory comments we have all grown accustom to from the GOP.

This is not about Natasha Richardson or her recent death from a skiing accident. It is how I feel in general.

Every single day someone famous or well known dies. There are hundreds of traditional news stories and thousands of internet articles.  I hear people say “oh that is so sad” or “I feel terrible” or “I am really upset”.  To me these are incredibly “fake” comments in response to public media situations. If anyone actually felt bad single every time someone died they would be miserable 24 hours a day forever. Not just today or tomorrow, but every day for the rest of their lives.  That is just silly.

I feel bad if people I know intimately die. I feel bad if someone in my family dies. I know these people. I have a relationship with them. I have actual feelings for them. I don’t know Natasha Richardson. Some say she was a good actress. That is wonderful, but it does not make me feel more for her now then I did a month ago.

For example I am sure a great doctor somewhere on the planet just died as I was typing this post. I don’t feel sad for them, and realistically neither does anyone else with the exception of those immediately related or attached to them. Those people who make the “oh that is so sad” or “I feel terrible” comments are not going to be upset over this death. They just are not. And going back to what I said earlier, if they did have a profound emotional response to every single death in the world, they would be in the loony bin for deep depression.

What is more realistic is the emotional shock reaction people have to these very public death situations. Sure the deaths of Princess Di and John Kennedy were sensational and (more…)

“Octu-Mom” and the relentless stories and reports about her every move just wont go away. A quick Google search for Nadya Suleman brings up hundreds of new stories in the past 24 hours and thousands of blog and forum posts. An image search for her name brings up tens of thousands of images, cartoons, and much more. How did this madness happen? How are we celebrating a woman who has ABUSED THE PRIVELEDGE OF GIVING BIRTH?

If I hear one more story about this Anjelina Joli obsessed, milking “the system” publicity hound and her 14 children I am going to scream. Let me say this again - THIS WOMAN HAS 14 TOTAL CHILDREN AND CAN NOT AFFORD THEM WITHOUT HELP FROM YOU AND ME.

• There are reports that Nadya Suleman or a close family friend is trying to sell the video showing the birth of the 8 babies to the highest bidder. Does this not bother you? She is selling the video of the birth of her kids??
• There are reports that Nadya Suleman is getting paid to make appearances everywhere and there seems to be no end in site. WHY are we making this “news”? STOP paying her and then let’s see what happens.
• There are reports that Nadya Suleman is getting a new 3,000 square foot home. People are losing their homes because they can not afford them. And now this woman, with no real income, is UPGRADING her living conditions. Ridiculous!
• There are reports that Nadya Suleman may or may not be shopping a reality TV show to the highest bidder.
• There are reports that Nadya Suleman is getting $135,000 a month of free child care from a charity. (more…)
  

The numbers on the digital clock on my DVD player keep changing. 11:54pm, 11:55pm, 11:56pm.  Only 4 minutes to go now.

4 minutes till entering my 5th decade on the planet. For all you math majors out there that means 4 minutes till I turn 40 years old. How the hell did this happen?

I can still remember a good chunk of high school and at least 3/4 of college like it was last week. When I started my first job after graduating I had grand plans to save every penny I could and retire before turning 40. Now I’ll be lucky to stop working before I am 80. Assuming I make it past 70 that is. 11:57pm. 3 minutes left.

I wish I could slow down the clock but it keeps marching forward. Only 2 minutes of my 30’s left.  And speaking of my 30’s I had no problem with the past ten years. They actually felt pretty good. If 1999 - 2009 was the prime of my life, then what will the next decade bring? Are my 40’s the beginning ….. of the end?

I have partied hard, enjoyed an occasional drink, smoked a few cigars, rarely slept more then 4 hours a night, ate way to much fast food, and definitely not flossed my teeth enough. I am pretty sure that (more…)

Our new President signed the $787 BILLION dollar stimulus plan into law today.  I guess that is a good thing but I just don’t see it yet. I am someone who still has a job but is SLOWLY DROWNING. To make matters worse I can actually SEE the hypothetical water slowly rising above my head. With each passing day, week, and month I fall further and further into debt and operate at a quickly growing loss.

With less and less funds available I regularly short one bill this week to pay another, and then do the same thing again the following week. And I see no end in site. Where is my stimulus plan? $800 for couples in tax breaks is not going to cut it to be honest.

There are about 150 million tax paying adults in the USA. If you divide the 787 billion dollars up among them that is around $5,200 each or $10,400 per tax paying couple. Right now I could use $10,000+ a whole lot more then what is currently being proposed. Maybe that is selfish but I HAVE TO look out for what is best for me and my family. And right now I need to figure out how to pay for day care next week, purchase some milk for my son, and put gas in my car to get to the job I hope will still be there next week.

I guess I just don’t get it right now. Billions are going to the car industry. Billions more to the banks and even more to the housing industry. Billions of dollars here  and billions more there.

But where exactly is the money FOR ME? (more…)

I did it again. I know better and this is not the first time I have done it. Why can’t I just SHUT my mouth and not stuff EVERYTHING I see into it!

Each year I end up with the worst stomach ache and living on the toilet after Christmas Day. I just can not stop eating. And this year we went to THREE different houses to celebrate the holiday and basically at THREE different HUGE holiday meals. I am an idiot and paying for it now. It is 4:30am and I am basically dying.

Just so everyone understands, the day was awesome in general. A lot of happiness, family and friends, and GREAT food. Way to much great food. In the morning we prepared a giant breakfast meal of left over ham, breads, and sides from the big Christmas Eve dinner we had hosted. While we were eating our 2 year old son went through his presents at a buzz saw pace. We went directly from there to our brother in laws house with an even bigger home made lasagna feast prepared with (more…)

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old  friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many  years.  No one  knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the  early bird gets the worm; life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t  spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when (more…)