When PC Becomes BS

While I was getting ready for work this morning, watching The Today Show like I always do, I saw something that made me so angry, I could have spit nails. There was a doctor being interviewed by Matt Lauer. He had been SUSPENDED from practicing medicine because, after months of treating an obese woman and not getting her attention, he told her that she would likely outlive her husband and be fat and old and alone. HE TOLD HER THE TRUTH. Tough to swallow? Yes. Shallow? Yes. Insensitive? Yes! But True? Yes. When did this country become some obsessed with being PC that you could actually be accused of malpractice? Doctors are not paid for their bedside manner. They are valued for their knowledge and power to help and heal. That's it. Now, this doctor has lost his practice over something as stupid as this. It just makes me wonder when the pendulum will swing back the other way. I'm ready for it, and I think America could use a big, swift, honest kick in the pants!

If you want to check out the video, it's here:
Doc in trouble over obesity warning

R.I.P.

Have you ever known that feeling of ultimate contradiction that an incredible novel gives you? You just devour the words because you simply can't get enough. But, toward the novel's end, you are sad that there won't be any more left to read about the characters when you turn that last page. Well, that is precisely howI felt watching the end of Six Feet Under last night. Alan Ball is a genius. He proved that in American Beauty and has done so once again with the final episode of this highly acclaimed show on HBO. 9pm couldn't come fast enough yesterday, and yet, once the show started, it hit me that there would be no more to see. No more Nate. No more David and Keith. No more Claire. No more Ruth. They are all gone. I really believe that this little feeling of sadness I have carried with me all day today is the mark of a good work of fiction: it draws you in, makes you feel something so deeply, brings you as high as you can go, and then leaves you with a sad little smile when it's over. What do you like about fiction? TV? Movies? What juices you up?

Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

Let the Punishment Fit the Crime...The first time I ever heard this line, I was 8 years old and watching Haley Mills in The Parent Trap. The movie is about a set of identical twins separated at birth who find each other at summer camp. When they meet, they hate each other and each tries to sabotage the other. When they go too far, the camp director decides that the most fitting punishment she can give them is to force them to spend every waking (and sleeping) moment together. The movie story ends happliy, but that line still sticks in my head and pops up now and then when something stirs my memory. So, when I saw this today, it immediately reminded me of that particular line. What real purpose would it have served if this girl had been thrown in prison? She would have been invisible and anonymous within the prison walls...actually allowing her to pull the "disappearing act" she tried months before. We, the dutiful tax payers, would be feeding her and doing her laundry and providing her with cable TV. Instead, seeing her on the court house lawn in Lawrenceville today - mowing the grass - for all the world to see, I am reassured that our justice system still allows for fair and sometimes even humorous punishments that actually fit the crime. And, good for Jennifer Wilbanks, who obviously has a sense of humor...she's mowing the lawn in a hat that says "Life is Good." Yes, Jennifer, it sure is.

...For Little Girls

Well, the last time I posted, I was submitted for an upcoming documentary series called Daddy's Girl. Well, it was all fun and games until the casting agent actually called from LA on Wednesday, saying that I was "the perfect candidate" for their show. I had to ask myself...Could I really be that "perfect" if this is the type of show I am perfect for? But I digress. So, to my dear friend Jamie who helped me drink a bottle of wine and followed me around last night with a video camera and listened to me blather on about nothing, I appreciate you more than you will ever know. Thanks for indulging the reality star in me. And now, we wait...Again.

Thank Heavens for....

Ok, so you should all get a good laugh out of this one. Someone, who shall remain nameless, was brilliant enough to submit me for this show. Now, we wait....