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Thursday, June 13, 2013

WHO CAN YOU TRUST?


The husband of a pregnant actress, accused of sending poison-laced letters to President Obama --

who originally blamed her husband for the crime --

 says it's "heartbreaking" to think that his spouse implicated him, but he harbors no anger and hopes to move on with his life.
"The way I look at it, being angry is a waste of energy," Nathaniel Richardson told ABC News. "She has done this to herself. She has destroyed my reputation and my life but there's a way up from this and if I sit here and focus on anger, I can't focus on getting on with my life."


George Takei | Photo Credits: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

With about 4.2 million "likes," George Takei is one of the most popular celebrities who maintains a Facebook account. But fans were disappointed to learn recently that many of Takei's witty posts are the work of ghostwriters.

The news broke when comedian Rick Polito let slip in an interview with media analyst Jim Romenesko that he gets paid $10 a post to write for Takei's Facebook. The reaction from Takei's fans, via Twitter and other forms of social media, ranged from disappointed to outraged.

But Takei himself brushed off the "scandal."

"What is this hoo-ha about my FB posts?" he wrote in an email to Wired.

"I have Brad [Altman], my husband, to help me and interns to assist. What is important is the reliability of my posts being there to greet my fans with a smile or a giggle every morning. That's how we keep on growing."




The New York Times published the first installment of the Pentagon Papers on this day in 1971.

Although voicing a complaint about the press rather than the politicians, no less than Bob Haldeman, Nixon’s Chief of Staff, may have been the first to articulate the most enduring legacy of these events -

But out of the gobbledygook, comes a very clear thing:

You can't trust the government;

you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment; and the – the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this,

because it shows that people do things the President wants to do even though it's wrong, and the President can be wrong.



Perhaps Fernando Pessoa, Portugal's most important 20th century poet (though largely unpublished and unknown in his lifetime), has a way of looking at all of this:

As long as I feel the full breeze in my hair
And see the sun shining strong on the leaves,
I will not ask for more.
What better thing could destiny give me
Than the sensual passing of life in moments
Of ignorance like this?
After his death in 1935, over 25,000 poems, letters and other bits were found in a trunk, written by Pessoa and his handful of "heteronyms" —
sustained fictitious personas, each given a distinct biography and writing style by their creator.
The postmodern result, say the critics, is "one of the most remarkable bodies of work of the century." Pessoa himself was a man of reclusive, legendary oddness among Lisbon's cafés.

12 comments:

  1. I trust no one in important positions. They're too paranoid and will throw anyone under the bus.

    Excellent post!

    Hugs and chocolate,
    Shelly

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  2. Shelly:
    I mistrust anyone who would spend millions of dollars to obtain a job that pays $100,000 a year!

    I'm glad you liked my post. :-)

    How is your husband doing?

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  3. Makes me wonder what that man did to his wife that made her so vindictive, and that made him not want to retaliate. Hmm.... As for trust, nope, not coming from my background.

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  4. I don't trust the man's face ... or his reaction. If you are cut, you bleed. You may bind up the wound quickly -- but there is blood at the start.

    Trust has to be earned. Give it away at your peril, right?

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  5. Trust is a fragile thing that must be gained or earned. I do not trust very many people at first sight. My maternal grandmother had a sixth sense about people, and I think I inherited it from her.

    Body language, dialogue, and behavior of a person says a lot about who they are. Facial expressions before a person 'catches themselves' are a giveaway. Not everyone has the same principles or beliefs. For some, it's the survival of the smartest, and 'who can I rip off next'?

    Those who get my trust have shown me that they care about others, that they have a heart and recognize such in others. I like my politicians honest, and my presidents/prime ministers squeaky clean (no side affairs - no lying - no funky sidemen)

    BTW - I don't trust our politicians in Canada, either, we have corruption scandals in the east in Quebec, particularly.

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  6. DC is just another Hollywood, but with uglier actors...

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  7. i am not touching this one... and anyone who thinks that celebrities have real time to choke/squeeze out a facebook poop quote every hour, come one... they have lives and can afford for someone to do it for them... bravo mr. sulu, you have been accused of going where no man/woman has gone before.

    see i brought it all together and added a star trek reference.

    jeremy

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  8. I agree with you when you say, truth has to be earned - as does respect. And I also don't trust that man's face.

    A completely out-of-the-norm post, and thoroughly enjoyable.

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  9. I meant 'trust' not 'truth'.

    As you were :)

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  10. James Patterson has a legion of writers cranking out books in his name. The cynical me wants to know what's the difference? As for the husnband/wife thing....hmmmm. Dunno. Unless they live very separate lives, i have to wonder if he didn't know something was up. Come on, now.

    As for the gov't? Even if a genuinely good guy goes to DC, he's going to have to make compromises to accomplish anything. Too many rich men holding purse strings and clout. By the end, so many compromises have been made, he's as muddy as the rest.

    I seriously believe we no longer live in a democracy. The few ultra rich control policy. And they make sure it benefits themselves, and the rest of us be d****. Sorry for language!

    Provocative post, I like it!

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  11. D.G.:
    Even when people try to lie, there are "tells" which give them away to students of body language.

    Of course, certain body cues can mean multiple things: the rigid, stiff posture and facial features in a woman could mean she is judgemental and uncomfortable in your presence -- or it could mean that life has simply burned her out with too many heart blows. We have to be careful.

    Like you, I think it is never a bad habit to be wary of strangers!

    Nicole:
    At least when Hollywood makes a bomb, the whole country doesn't suffer!

    Jeremy:
    I can understand comedians like Leno or Letterman using ghost writers -- but for Facebook?

    Facebook purports to be a scrapbook of who we are -- not who someone else is.

    If Mr.Takei's career is in such shambles that it is dependent on the number of "Likes" on his Facebook page, then he has my sympathies.

    It doesn't matter to me. I just pointed it out as an indicator of the trust factor in today's news.

    Clever to slide a Star Trek reference in! :-)

    Kittie:
    Yes, Jeremy has humor and wit!

    Wendy:
    His face did ring the alarms as it did with you! I try to make my posts interesting and enjoyable, asking questions of me and you. :-)

    Words Crafter:
    James Patterson's use of desperate, young writers hoping to edge into publishing makes me uneasy. But he makes no bones about it.

    Washington, DC makes me uneasy all the time -- all that power, all that money and few to hold the elected accountable. Greek Tragedy time!

    I look at the headlines and at the history of this country and thought how they paralleled one another. I'm happy you like my post! :-)

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