A Little Respect

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 - 8:34 a.m.

Last night's Christmas episode of South Park was stunning.

It will be repeated over the weekend. If you thought Mr Hankey was bad, you ain't seen nuthin yet.

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T-Mobile took our complaint and said they'd get back to us after their investigation was complete.

Great.

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Bernard Kerik didn't get out of the spotlight in time. The man Rudy Giuliani recommended to George W Bush for the office of the head of the Department of Homeland Security has two mistresses in addition to his wife -- which upon reflection, is probably something Ru-Giu (roo-joo) probably didn't find anything wrong with.

Ronald Reagan usually didn't mention nominees until AFTER the FBI investigation was complete. I guess they don't make presidents like they used to.

I am exactly the last person in the world who would pass judgement on somebody due to their personal life, as long as they were capable of doing their job.

But I think our President should have waited until the investigation was complete before putting Kerik up for public scrutiny.

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Speaking of personal lives -- this one hits a little close to home. I would almost feel remiss if I did not mention this story in passing:

LONDON (AP) - Andy Bell, lead singer of synth-pop duo Erasure, said he was ``feeling fine'' six years after being diagnosed with HIV.

In a statement posted on Erasure's Web site, Bell, 40, said he had been diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in 1998 after falling ill with pneumonia on a trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca.

Bell, who recently had a double hip replacement, said he remained healthy and was ``feeling fine - in fact I have never felt better.''

``Being HIV does not mean that you have AIDS. My life expectancy should be the same as anyone else's, so there is no need to panic,'' he said.

``There is still so much hysteria and ignorance surrounding HIV and AIDS. Let's just get on with life, i.e. music, doing a live tour and generally having a good time.''

Bell and former Depeche Mode and Yazoo keyboardist Vince Clarke formed Erasure in 1985 and have had hits including ``A Little Respect,'' ``Sometimes'' and ``Ship of Fools.''

Okay. a couple of things here.

This particular health situation has been a part of the world for twenty years now, and it galls me that there is so little attention paid to it unless somebody famous steps forward and announces they have the problem. But it's a double-edged sword; sometimes when somebody mentions their own health circumstances, it gets interpreted as a publicity ploy, which is sad and stupid. I daresay most people in the public eye would rather keep as much of their personal lives as private as possible.

Andy Bell should not have been forced to go public with this.

Also, I will bet you dimes to doughnuts that the creature who has been impersonating Andy Bell on America Online will exploit this piece of news in any manner possible.

This wouldn't be a surprise, as sociopaths have absolutely no conscience.

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I think that's it. :-)

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