Bill Cosby's Attorney Monique Pressley LIVE

I have no idea if Bill Cosby is innocent or guilty of rape, just that he's innocent until proven guilty.

due process

“the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.

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When Media Makes a Star...They Make You the Sucker.

Why are we so addicted to fame? To celebrity? Why do parents let their kids do anything just to get on TV? Why is the media so addicted to celebrity?  Why are we hard-wired to copy celebrity?  How is celebrity used to control us?

Well, Starsuckers (below) exposes the "shams and deceit involved in creating a pernicious celebrity culture". You will see never-before-seen footage, and undercover reporting that combine to expose the "cult of celebrity", created by our celebrity obsessed media, who work for the "profit-at-all cost" corporations.

Starsuckers reveals:

• Media's constant reinforcement of the importance of celebrity, and its effect on children
• The press addiction to celebrity coverage.
• Celebrity control over the press.
• The illusion of celebrity endorsed charity.
• The publicists who swap out truth for pure fiction.
• Profit, profit, profit.

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Ashton Kutcher Paving the Way for Celebrity in the 21st Century

It's not very often I post anything about celebrities as I find the glitter and sparkle of Hollywood the most boring thing in the world. I'd rather stare into space, bored out of my mind, than open up People Magazine. However, every once in a while, a celebrity intrigues me because he's not like all the rest.

The first time I ever saw Ashton Kutcher, he was in his underwear, hosting Saturday Night Live. I then saw a couple episodes of Punk'd and concluded, rather unfairly - I've yet to see one of his movies - that although entertaining, he was just another empty-headed, pretty boy from Hollywood.

Upon hearing of his relationship with his current wife, Demi Moore, as chauvinistic as this will sound, it intrigued me... somewhat. Although, Demi Moore is gorgeous, could pass for 30-years old, and men of all ages find her extremely attractive, I wondered why a man in his twenties, who could have any "girl" he wants, would go for someone so much older. Of course, if Demi were the male and Ashton, the female, I wouldn't have thought twice.

Fast forward to post election, and one day, while I was busy doing something else, I had Real Time with Bill Maher on in the background. I heard Kutcher articulate something I was thinking earlier, and as enamored as I am with my own thoughts (as this blog proves), I immediately tuned in and was impressed with what he had to say.

Some of Ashton Kutcher's quotes from that show:

Regarding whether churches should have to pay taxes:

"I think it should depend on the philanthropic nature of the organization. If they can show that what it is they do is a philanthropic act, then I think they should be exempt, and if they can't, then they shouldn't have to pay the taxes."

Couldn't agree more. For example, the Catholic Church...yes, with all its gold, is also the biggest form of universal health care in the world. Not to mention, all of the other altruistic projects the Church gets involved in that would otherwise be ignored by the rest of world.

Regarding what the U.S. could potentially cut:

"Let's stop sending things to Mars...There are thousands of children sold into the sex slave trade every single day..."

Regarding the "big three" bailout:

"You know who should bail them out, the oil companies...the only reason they're in decline is their allegiance to oil companies, and there are some folks on (I think he said Wall Street) that could pitch in as well"

Best idea ever!

Then, a few months later, I discovered him on Twitter and qik, where he basically lets the world get a glimpse of his reality, on a pretty regular basis. He also uses Twitter to collaborate with his followers, as he does when he asks for ideas, and occasionally, he will post what he's reading as he did in this tweet:

# latest winner i've read is a book called Natural Capitalism by paul hawken, amory lovins, l. hunter lovins. recommend per econ. recovery 8:54 PM Feb 3rd from web

# gonna start a new book tonight. the end of poverty by jeffrey sachs. very excited 8:50 PM Feb 3rd from web

These simple tweets prompted some to accuse him of claiming he's an expert on economics. What? All he did was recommend a book for consideration in order to recover the economy...two very good books, I might add.

It's not that Ashton Kutcher has transformed himself into a Gandhi like figure. He's still the same guy who likes to have fun. Sometimes, as on Punk'd, his fun is at the expense of someone else, but never in a mean-spirited way. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for others. In particular, Perez Hilton, who takes pleasure in delivering his blows way below the belt - no, not those kind of blows - attacking people who have not willingly entered the world of celebrity.

In response to Hilton's invective against his stepdaughter, which I won't repeat, Kutcher could have stooped to his level with an equally cruel attack, but he did not. Rather, he asked Hilton to leave his stepdaughter alone. Despite his more than reasonable approach, Kutcher, not Hilton, as far as I know, was criticized.

I fully realize that Ashton Kutcher does not need me or anyone else to take up his "cause"and that unfair assessment is par for the course of celebrity. Nevertheless, when someone who seems to be trying to take advantage of his position in life to better humanity, rather than remain in a self-absorbed cocoon, preoccupied only with what's best for them - like I would do if I were a celebrity - treated unfairly by the press, I think it's wrong no matter how much money and fame the person has.

The bottom line is there is more to that pretty face than meets the eye. Ashton Kutcher is actually very insightful and a very intelligent guy. Moreover, he seems to care about issues that will affect all of our lives, and he doesn't take himself all that seriously. While it's true there are many celebrities like him in that respect, the thing that differentiates him is his willingness to cross the great divide that places celebrity on a pedestal for others to worship from afar.

So, just as Craig Newmark is one of the few examples of a corporate leadership who is paving the way for 21st Century America, Ashton Kutcher is one of the few celebrities willing to sacrifice some of the allure - which can translate to power - that makes a star, a star, in order to collaborate and share his own humanity with his fans while trying to make the world a better place.

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The Last Three Decades of Swag Flag.

In The Sopranos episode, "Luxury Lounge" the morally obscene world of mobsters juxtaposes the meaningless existence of Hollywood swag, when Christopher goes to Hollywood to make a movie. While there, actor Ben Kingsley introduces him to the "goody bags" celebrities receive just for showing up, and he is overcome with envy and mugs Lauren Bacall for her $35,000 swag bag.

In a nutshell, the juxtaposition and intertwining of these two worlds, in this episode, is what America has become in the last three decades. The celebrity "swag bag" — the most prestigious of "bags" can total $100,000 — epitomizes our paradoxical system that rewards greed and punishes need. Showering thousands of dollars of products on people who can afford to buy the items 100 times over makes little sense when over 45 million, mostly working Americans, go without or must ration the essentials, yet this is the way our system is designed to operate.

"Picking through $35,000 gift baskets is disgusting and shameful. My suggestion was to have the Academy commit to [charitable] contributions in the name of the winners." - Edward Norton

The "swag bag" is symbolic of what occurs everywhere in our culture. People who truly need basic necessities - food, shelter and health care - must navigate through an incredibly punitive system just to obtain, what amounts to crumbs, while those of us in society who need the least - working mostly in white-collar environments - have access to free food and stuff on an ongoing basis. Most meetings, seminars, receptions, training, etc. that take place fairly consistently in a white collar atmosphere, usually include at the very least, free food, and the higher up the ladder the more of those type of events one attends, and the better the food and freebies.

On the other hand, lower income areas, many times do not even have access to grocery stores, hence little if no access to fresh produce and healthy food. Not only that, if they do need assistance, they must conquer countless bureaucratic stumbling blocks, making their way through a maze of paperwork and red tape.

While it's true that American hunger - food insecure more accurately describes hunger in America as it refers to the inability of people to obtain sufficient food for their household, and recurring food insecurity and involuntary lack of access to food can lead to malnutrition - is not on the scale of third world countries, many Americans often times must choose between food and rent; food and health care, etc. If healthy food is available, and that's a big if in some areas, it's more costly, forcing many to purchase highly fattening food with very little nutrition, if any, hence the obesity problem so prevalent in lower income areas. Of the 36.4 million Americans, including 12.4 million children, only 10% of that total are on welfare.

As actions speak louder than words, we believe Paris Hilton deserves the 30 swag bags of bling she supposedly took from Sundance more than children deserve to eat healthy food. Why? Because she's entitled, as are so many undeserving Americans who are either born into the right family, or are ruthless enough to climb to the top, or just plain lucky. Obviously, there are many talented and deserving Americans who have "made it" to the top, who understand that they did not get there all by themselves, as well.

Overall, our society punishes the truly needy, as if they deserve their plight, and until deep structual change takes place, the rich will keep getting richer and the poor, poorer because our system is designed to make it happen that way.

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Have You Thought About the Life of Your Clothes Today?

If not, you should be ashamed.

Why? Because apparently, the "life" of your clothes is more important than the lives of real life, human beings.

Well, at least more important than 400 Congo victims who sought refuge at a Roman Catholic church, Christmas day, in a remote part of eastern Congo, only to be "hacked to death and forced into fires" by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group.

In the last half hour to 45 minutes (it's now 10:30 AM EST), CNN reported on the following stories:

Swishing where women get together to swap gorgeous clothes and party at the same time, designed to "encourage people to think about the life of their clothes".

A white American woman who disappeared from a cruise ship (apparently a suicide).

An essay contest to win "free" tickets to Presidential inauguration where a donation is highly encouraged (The theme of the essay is "What the Inauguration Means to You." Essays are due by 1/8/2009).

The brutal year for investors, dismal housing market, and consumer confidence.

The fighting taking place in Gaza.

What do all these stories have in common? That's right. They all involve white people.

At the same exact time, the BBC was reporting (yes, I was listening to both) on the aforementioned Christmas Massacre in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Yesterday, I compared Obama to Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, essentially praising him for what he's accomplished in Rwanda, however I neglected the dark side of that leadership - except to mention the spillover of Rwandan genocide into Congo - and that is the exploitation of Congo, where over 5.4 million Congolese deaths can be traced to Kagame's regime.

The death toll and carnage is far greater in Congo, than Darfur, yet numerous celebrities, such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Don Cheadle have joined in to raise money and focus media attention on the terrible tragedy of Darfur, which is wonderful, but what about the Congolese? Surely, there are other celebrities out there...

And, why is CNN reporting on what amounts to a woman's free-for-all over large sacks of designer frocks, instead of reporting real news? Could it be an issue of complicity involving Western companies, who profit immensely from genocide who sponsor media conglomerates?

I mean, what's more important? The life of 65-million dark-skinned people or the massive mineral wealth, that these 65-million people live amidst? If you chose "massive mineral wealth", you win free tickets to witness the giant plunder of, paradoxically, the richest country on earth.

This support of militias takes the form of arms transfers, financial assistance, military advice and training and safe harbor for those who flee the Congolese national government. In fact, several United Nations reports have accused Rwanda and Uganda of siphoning off Congo's mineral wealth with the complicity of Western companies

This is genocide.

• 1,250 Congolese citizens die every day. That’s 38,000 each month
• Over ¾ of the population is now malnourished
• No access to healthcare except what the Catholic Church provides.
  
• Rebels routinely hack off limbs and the lips of civilians
• Tens of thousands of children have been abducted to be fighters and sex slaves, and another 26,000 people have fled into the forests and a further 6,000 have sought sanctuary around churches.
• Brutal, mass rapes effect victims’ from 4-years old to 80, and subsequently disowned by their own families after being raped.

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