Cecile

My friends children were there often and one was a girl.  She was there a lot and sometimes MJ would drive them around and they would throw water balloons out the window at people.  It was her and another child actor and they used to go places and do dumb stuff like have hot dogs and french fries.  MJ hadn’t morphed his face much at that time, but he wore a beanie or a baseball cap hiding his hair, and sun glasses.  They would go to movies at times and do some other stuff.  My friends daughter brought a friend now and then - I think my niece went once.

As with Mr. Wow - I am on the fence about the molestation because there were so many times people illegally tried to illicit money out of him.  It was a regular occurrence -He wasn’t stupid, but unless on stage, in large social groups he was inept. 

Mr. Wow

Funny thing, my friend who used to work for him just called me.  We talked about the movie and all the hangers on.  She watched the credits and said that a few of them were still there - didn’t do him much good.  I have been on the fence about the molestations because my friends children were around him a lot and they swear he would have never done that.  Who knows in the long run.  

I think you are right …he "sought out his destruction."  He was a mature deal maker, and understood his brand, but he never reigned in the hangers on, and never grew up emotionally.  When my pal read the credits of who "creatively" contributed to the design of the show, she balked big time.  NO way.   

I am with you - "considering what us mere mortals have to go through, dealing with lousy childhoods.."  I agree, I don’t weep for him either, he had the means and the power to change all of that if he wanted to. 

This just in:

 The Women’s Conference - Empowerment, Inspiration and Education for Women - The Home for Architects of Change

P.S

Because it is State sponsored, most of it is recorded and published on line at a later date.  There are interesting speakers and Ms Shriver can really pull the celebs.  It will be interesting to watch this year since it is so hard to get tickets.  They are gone within the first 5 minutes of availability. 

Mr Wow

The thing I could never understand about the plastic surgery was that they were all singers and nose jobs really change the way the sound resonates. In many cases making the nose smaller inhibits the voice, hence they all have small voices.  

Mr. Wow

A lot of handlers, - he was like a territory they fought over -like a possession.  They told him what he wanted to hear and he kind of set it up that way.  It took him a long time to learn, and by that time it was too late - he had closed himself in to his world and locked the door. 

Mr. Wow

One of my friends was MJ’s chef for a long time and would fix the popcorn before the movie nights that "ET" - that is what they called her, came over to watch movies.  My pal always said MJ and ET were so normal together - just like friends talking at the dinner table, other family members were there and they would all talk and laugh.  Friends enjoying each other without the pressure of the media stalkers was the impression I always had.  If they hadn’t been celebrities no one would have cared.

You are right, being beat is being abused.  In the long run he may have reconciled himself and could forgive therefore love his father, but love and like are two different things.  You can love someone - see and accept them for who they are, but it doesn’t mean you have to like them or their behavior, nor does it mean that you have to be around them.  

I saw This Is It, it held some interest for me about the creative process and how people approach it.  Another show I have been enjoying is Art In The 21st Century on PBS - which reveals the creative process of artists.  This Is It didn’t reveal much more than I already knew about how he worked but it was interesting to see him "at it".  I enjoyed it for that reason.  I didn’t have a lot of expectations about it, or what it would give to me - it is just a movie, although  I do believe that the concerts would have been spectacular - a real visual and musical event.  The dancers were marvelous when you could see them in action.

Many say he was all about love.  I don’t know - his life seemed more about creating an environment of love for himself - like having children so that they will love you. Maybe - I don’t know.  He was always the "Boy in the Bubble" to me.    

Laurel

I have to admit, I believe there are more people that don’t move on to other drugs from weed, but there are a lot that do.  I also agree that people shouldn’t be harassed for it using it on a casual basis.  The point is the cartels back most of the marijuana production in this country - except for the farm in Alabama that grows for medicinal use.  The cartels back most of the farms in NoCal but where are they paying taxes?

I am a cancer survivor and used weed for nausea during chemo, and thank God I could.  It didn’t really lessen the pain in my body but it really helped with the sickness.  It increased my fatigue - but I didn’t care.

I just think you are missing the point about the cartels - they are essentially a narco-state that doesn’t negotiate and unless there is a big boycott we will continue to see Hispanics die so Americans can get high.  You can’t separate the two.  I mean think about it, what would it take for the US govt to work with them.  We would have to give murderers huge concessions in order to bring them to the table.  THey don’t have much restriction now - what would make them want to come and pay taxes?  If the smoking crowd would say "we won’t smoke until you clean up your act" the power would be in your hands.  You could change the world. 

Laurel,

The fact that alcohol and marijuana are both drugs is what complicates the issue.  Most people just keep their drug use simple and stick to marijuana, but it is becoming more and more a gateway drug.  I don’t know if banning something makes it more enticing or not.  People liked to drink, man evolved from early times with some kind of fermented brew that was imbibed, so they had the habit and wanted to continue it.  I grew up in the 60’s and certainly had my share of fun, but I saw many of my friends that got paranoid when they smoked weed.  My husband didn’t smoke it because it always made him anxious.  So it affects many people in different ways.  I have a friend that has smoked for the last 40 years.  I don’t judge him, but he isn’t a very productive person.  He was obese for a long time, cut back his weed use to lose weight, but said he couldn’t get off of it and doesn’t try anymore.  It is his life, he can do whatever he wants to.  He has a right to choose what he wants to do with his body. 

I believe people have a right to choose and make decisions about their own lives, but many meth users were weed users first, and meth is a scourge and is destroying families and children in those families.   They are starved and neglected for their parent’s habits.  They steal to keep using.  Look what happened in the Netherlands, crime increased dramatically in those towns with the marijuana cafes.  

Some people are responsible users as my friend is, but his doctors want him off the stuff because what it is doing to his lungs and arteries.  He doesn’t like to drink or eat it, so habit wins out.

Isn’t the type of hemp that is smoked a different type of hemp that is used in other products?  There are several varieties of the plant.  I would agree that other products should be made out of it.  Why not?  It would also be a great alternative fuel.

As for politically incorrect?   Ask the Hispanics south of the border how many family members or members of their government, police force, special agents, soldiers etc, have gotten killed so that the flow of marijuana to the US and Canada does not stop?  Hispanics die so America can get high?  It is a $60 billion dollar industry in the US that the cartels control.  I live in California and have been going to Yosemite for 30 years and now those forests are riddled with Mexican drug cartel operations to supply America’s habit.  They bring workers in - and if they leave are hunted down and disposed of so that they don’t reveal where the growing sites are.  

Isn’t it politically incorrect to ostensibly fund corruption in another country?  If Americans did not keep the drug lords so rich which supplies them with the cash to bribe government officials and essentially create a narco-state within Mexico.  This resulting in a government unable to help the poorest of their population, reducing them to have to leave their families to come to the US just to get work to be able to feed their children?  Isn’t that politically incorrect?  I ask the question because when someone wants to light up do they ever consider the unintended consequences of getting high?  Do they really need to get high?  How important is it really?  More important than the lives of all people that have been killed over it?

If someone could prove to me that the Cartels would be "legal" and could be taxed - and taxed richly because of the health and social problems that drugs create, then I would go for it.  But after watching 60 MInutes the other night and seeing that our government can’t even control Medicare Fraud - even after it was reported for 6 years - it leads me to believe that they will not have much control over the cartels.

If you can guarantee that no Hispanics will die so others can get high, then I will retract my statement about political correctness.

Let me ask you - has it ever occurred to you that if all the weed smokers boycotted it for a month or two in an effort to stop the drug lords, wouldn’t that make it a little easier to get it legalized?  The smokers can control the cartels - all they have to do is stop.  But they don’t - or is it that they can’t?  Would it help Mexico be able to clean up it’s corruption enough to putting the money towards building industry so that their citizens have jobs?

I know.  It made me laugh as well, knowing her aunt who was very conservative and particular about all of her arrangements.

F P

I am with you.  Cremation is the only thing that makes sense to me.  I mean, like I am going to know?  

The funny thing about cremation is they put more than one body in at a time  and they divide the ashes up in equal amounts, so the family doesn’t really know who they got.  You could get some odd character’s ashes and think they were you family member’s.  My cousin in Nevada found out that two prostitutes had been cremated at the same time as her aunt. Oh well.   

Yes Sibelle

I have done a little research because many times when I post the way I see this issue I get challenged that it is not harmful for you.  It is usually by someone who then goes on to defend what a great thing marijuana use is.  It always amazes me how politically incorrect it is to smoke marijuana for so many reasons, especially that it is destroying Mexicans, but the smoking crowd is just too far removed from seeing all the unintended consequences of imbibing.  Alcohol is a dangerous drug as well but it is legal so it just complicates the issue.  

I guess people have a right to do what they want with their body, but I think one of the big arguments going on within the healthcare debate is lifestyle choices and how it affects the cost of medicine.  So if smoking, drinking, using hard drugs, overeating and lack of exercise cause health problems wouldn’t smoking dope do the same?  If we legalize it are we agreeing to pay the costs for healthcare that it will incur?