[Talk Host]

Remember the Elvis coverage for us in 1977.

[katezbox]

I had just started my first job.... Also remember Princess Di, Marilyn...


I turn of the channel if it gets to be too much. Like Elvis and Marilyn, he was a great talent but a tortured soul.

[billethkid]

It is all about show business which by it's very nature has no connection what so ever with reality.
And of course the media eats it up....the old making a banquet out of a ham sandwich approach to making a story.
I thought it was/is disgusting excess begetting disgusting excess!

btk

[sandybill2]

I think there has been enough coverage---just wonder how long it will go on. Don't know how others feel but I think it was terrible that they paraded his three children on camera/stage and even expected his daughter to make a statement about her father. My heart breaks for the children--the little one looked like a frightened deer caught in headlights--wide-eyed and so very shy. Can only hope and pray they can have some sort of normal life but I guess time will tell.

Can anyone name the last brave soldiers who died in defense of our country?
Aren't they the real hero's and the ones that should be honored?

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by sandybill2

I think there has been enough coverage---just wonder how long it will go on. Don't know how others feel but I think it was terrible that they paraded his three children on camera/stage and even expected his daughter to make a statement about her father. My heart breaks for the children--the little one looked like a frightened deer caught in headlights--wide-eyed and so very shy. Can only hope and pray they can have some sort of normal life but I guess time will tell.

I'm afraid the coverage will continue to drag on. My guess is that the will, custody of the children, cause of death etc. will continue to be a circus.

[Muncle]

I was going to make a facetious suggestion about TV building a monument to him, maybe at LSL, where fans could bring flowers and other tributes. Then I heard this AM that a Congressperson (okay, it is Sheila Jackson Lee, not a real legitimate Congresstype) has proposed a Congressional Resolution honoring Michael Jackson (no relation) and the Rev Al Sharpton wants the USPS to issue a stamp for Michael.

How can satire or intentionally facetious comments compete with these guys?

Oh -- off topic -- if the name Sheila Jackson Lee sounds familiar, she is the brilliant representative of the people who asked NASA officials if the Mars Rover could be maneuvered to get a picture of the flag Neal Armstrong had planted.



`

[jdsl1998]

I thought the tribute was well done. He did do alot for the music industry and his music will live on for many lifetimes. I'm sorry his children went up on stage at the end. I can only hope his little girl WANTED to say what she said. I have been humming/singing his tunes in the last week. It will be over soon and just his music and dancing will live on. I don't listen to the news or watch tv too much, so I don't feel overloaded. I have too much fun with all the other things to do in The Villages. I moved to The Villages to enjoy my life, so, I'll keep on humming great songs as I scoot along in my cart with the wind in my hair.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by jdsl1998

I thought the tribute was well done. He did do alot for the music industry and his music will live on for many lifetimes. I'm sorry his children went up on stage at the end. I can only hope his little girl WANTED to say what she said. I have been humming/singing his tunes in the last week. It will be over soon and just his music and dancing will live on. I don't listen to the news or watch tv too much, so I don't feel overloaded. I have too much fun with all the other things to do in The Villages. I moved to The Villages to enjoy my life, so, I'll keep on humming great songs as I scoot along in my cart with the wind in my hair.

I agree with you that his music will live on ....... But I have read many books about his life starting with a biography by J. Randy Tarabelli some many years ago and I must say that it was obvious even than that he had a real problem with his attraction to young boys for the purpose of sexual gratification. He was aquitted and so we must listen to people say he was innocent, but I don't believe he was. He wanted it to be alright somehow, but it wasn't and isn't and it makes me sad that money can protect a person from justice. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I only wish he could have continued forever to be the little guy with the great voice and dance steps that we all fell in love with a long time ago.

I personally believe that no one forced his daughter to say what she did. Now those adorable kids are left with an aging grandmother to raise them and not very dependable aunts (at least in my view) to take up the slack. Poor children didn't ask to be born and now they have no real heritage and a very uncertain future with a heck of a lot of money. Not a good combination. That makes me so sad.

The children really tug at my heart strings.

[nONIE]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I agree with you that his music will live on ....... But I have read many books about his life starting with a biography by J. Randy Tarabelli some many years ago and I must say that it was obvious even than that he had a real problem with his attraction to young boys for the purpose of sexual gratification. He was aquitted and so we must listen to people say he was innocent, but I don't believe he was. He wanted it to be alright somehow, but it wasn't and isn't and it makes me sad that money can protect a person from justice. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I only wish he could have continued forever to be the little guy with the great voice and dance steps that we all fell in love with a long time ago.

I personally believe that no one forced his daughter to say what she did. Now those adorable kids are left with an aging grandmother to raise them and not very dependable aunts (at least in my view) to take up the slack. Poor children didn't ask to be born and now they have no real heritage and a very uncertain future with a heck of a lot of money. Not a good combination. That makes me so sad.

The children really tug at my heart strings.

Gracie I so agree with everything you said in this post, however I do believe that from all appearances(unless they were just for show) that the children are loved by the Jackson family. Actually, werent they raised up to this point by a nanny anyway? How much worse could it be to be raised by a family that loves and cares for you. Just because Michael is gone doesnt mean that their upbringing will slide downhill. It might even be better for the kids. JMHO!

Jurek, Thankyou so much for your post. This definitely tears me up inside, God bless their families.

[collie1228]

It's amazing how our country has slid into this celebrity worship mentality. MJ was a pretty good entertainer up through the "Thriller" album, but it was all downhill (downhill like a cliff) after that. One of the networks (Fox I think) showed a "documentary" a few years ago, done by a Brittish journalist, which was an amazing look into Jackson's lifestyle, with Jackson's participation. I hope it gets shown again soon, but there is a good description of it in Wikipedia. Jackson later repudiated it. I didn't watch any of the memorial tribute, but here are a few over the top comments which were published over the last two days. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said "He called us into public service". Huh? Reverend Al had this message for his children: "There wasn't anything strange about your daddy". Double huh. And finally, the news shows focused on Brooke Shields at the memorial, giving a weepy testimony about her deep friendship with Michael Jackson, then she later told reporters that she hadn't seen him since Liz Taylor's eighth wedding in 1991. The best line I heard was this - Of all those people who were heaping praise on MJ and who scorned those of us who thought he was (at best) weird, would any one of those people let their son stay overnight with MJ unsupervised? I think not.

[schotzyb]

Originally Posted by rshoffer

Since we're putting things in perspective.... we pay people tens of millions of dollars a year to play 180 baseball games... how much do we pay people in uniform? The value system of Western culture (not limited to 'our country') reveals itself in many, many ways.

And sell out stadiums and cheer for a player after he isreinstated from a 50 game ban for use of illegal drugs!! Now there is real value at it's finest!!!

[Keedy]

Wow...Now were picking on professional baseball? What would half the retirees do without ballgames to watch? I was a big fan until they went on strike in 1994. I haven't watched a game since, but I have 3 brothers who have not missed a Red Sox game in their lives.

[schotzyb]

Originally Posted by Keedy

Wow...Now were picking on professional baseball? What would half the retirees do without ballgames to watch? I was a big fan until they went on strike in 1994. I haven't watched a game since, but I have 3 brothers who have not missed a Red Sox game in their lives.

Not picking on professional baseball itself,just the multi millionaire players that can get away with practically anything and their adoring fans(the ones paying their salary) cheer for them and sell out stadiums so they make another million or ten and go break a few more rules and get their hand slapped and back at it again.

[Keedy]

Originally Posted by rshoffer

Since we're putting things in perspective.... we pay people tens of millions of dollars a year to play 180 baseball games... how much do we pay people in uniform? The value system of Western culture (not limited to 'our country') reveals itself in many, many ways.

Don't forget the coliseum in Rome.....They got sold out crowds all the time.