So as we enter another summer weekend I can’t help but start it off being really pissed off at how utterly arrogant and callous much of society has gotten.

As I was driving home from a late night of work that went from Thursday into the wee hours of the morning on Friday, I turned on the radio to listen to the news. In what was perfect timing, I caught it just as the anchor was reviewing the headlines before another never ending commercial break. In this teaser were the following highlights:

“Reports confirming that a prominent Democrat has a lovechild are about to surface and in Philadelphia, the Eagles have signed Michael Vick on for a one year contract. More after this……….”

With my eyes on the road I couldn’t help but wonder if I heard right.

The lovechild thing was not actually shocking. So another pol stuck his pole where it doesn’t belong, but if I heard it right, the Michael Vick thing was more than shocking, it was downright disgusting.

When the commercial ended the news reported that the Democrat with the lovechild was John Edwards. The same John Edwards who 4 years ago was John Kerry’s Vice Presidential pick and who only a year ago was crisscrossing America while preaching his virtues in an attempt to become President of the United States.

The scandal is just an extension of the same one that was discovered shortly after Edwards finally gave up his bid for President. At the time we learned that while the former Democrat Senator was dragging his loyal and cancer stricken wife around the country with him, when she was home, he was out and at play with a freelance writer helping out his campaign. Johnboy denied this at first and then he finally admitted it.

But then came the allegations that he tried to use campaign money to payoff his mistress and keep her quiet.

Those charges are still being investigated.

Not long after that came word that Johnny’s mistress had a child and that she believes it is his.

Well now we know. It is! Ain’t it great!

The whole thing pisses me off. I don’t care who is sleeping with who. It is none of my business but when you have the nerve to cheat on your ailing wife and sire a child with your mistress and at the same time, ask a nation to believe and trust you and make you their President, there is something wrong and it is so wrong that it compels me to not trust anyone who asks me for their vote.

But just as my disappointment in the sincerity of man was settling in, again, the news report continued and confirmed that I heard right the first time. The Philadelphia Eagles hired Michael Vick.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!????

Michael Vick is a callous thug with no compassion, decency or morals. This is a man who for years was operating a dog fighting ring and was breeding, selling, training and transporting dogs for the purpose of dog fighting. Beyond the mere illegality of this activity is the brutal reality of what is behind it.

The dogs dragged into this reprehensible activity are trained in ways that could only be described as torture. The goal of those behind dog fighting is to develop a killer instinct in the animal. This is achieved by conditioning the animal to survive by being vicious. They are often starved for food. They are often beaten and they are almost always forced into a life that has no companionship, no comfort and no love.

This to Michael Vick, a so-called professional football player, was a “sport”. So much so that Vick used the wealth he accumulated from playing the game of football to turn in his sprawling estate into a dog fighting training ground and kennel.

When police discovered the facility on his property they also found 55 dogs. All of which were being slated for an eventual fight to the death that Vick and his cohorts would gamble on.

After pleading guilty, this scumbag, served 18 months in prison for his crime.

Now that he served the required time in prison for the death and torment of the animals he procured for sport, the Philadelphia eagles come along and scoop this athletic young man up to be on their team. They say that after serving his sentence everything is fine and dandy.

If Michael Vick stole a piece of jewelry or was caught speeding I would agree.

But Vick did more than just commit a simple transgression or demonstrate that we are all imperfect. He devoted lots of time and money to a premeditated and prolonged demonstration of a true thirst for blood that proved him to have no regard for life or decency at all.

He took innocent animals that are known for their intelligence and loyalty and then starved and tortured them in preparation of a struggle for survival that included being bitten, chewed and torn open and apart? The fortunate ones died quickly. The less fortunate ones lived on to endure the pain of their wounds for a while longer while the others lived to lick their wounds as they healed so that they could be forced to fight again.

This conduct is inexcusable and although one may be able to legally fulfill some indiscriminate sentence of punishment for such a crime, they can never erase or make up for the torment that those animals went through and it can never bring back the loyal companions who were cheated out of life.

Ultimately, although there are no legal grounds which allow a civil society to enforce any additional penalties upon Vick regarding the crimes that he served his legal sentence for, there are still acceptable and even appropriate consequences. There is a deserved lack of respect for him. There is legitimate reason not to put this man on a pedestal.

As a result, the National Football League never should have reinstated Michael Vick in the first place. He should have been banned from playing professional football. But he wasn’t. Even so, you would think that there would not exist a single major league franchise that would want to tarnish their reputation by embracing this subhuman disgrace to society. At least you would think that.

But Noooo…….The Philadelphia Eagles felt the need to bless their roster with Vick.

I don’t know who has less shame, Vick or the owners and managers of the Eagles?

These people have absolutely no decency or respect. Not for values, or standards of decency and certainly not for their fans who are overcharged for the opportunity to support the team.

Michael Vick is the same professional football player who the NFL fined $10,000 after he famously gave fans the middle finger when he lost a game for the team. He is the same man who has had several run ins with the law connected to drugs and whose own girlfriend, Sonia Elliot, sued him because he knowingly had genital herpes, did not tell her about it and subsequently spread them to her.

Is this the type of character that the Eagles want to reflect on them? Is this the type of athlete that athletic oriented youngsters should be compelled to look up to on the field of play? What is the message here? Is it that the dollar is the bottom line and that winning is everything?

Whatever the motives behind the Eagles move to sign up Vick, the message is WRONG!!! And the fans are the only ones who can correct it. Philadelphia Eagles fans and the citizens of Philadelphia now face a moment of truth. If they have any shred of decency in them, they will boycott the Eagles and they will not sit silently by and allow the “City of Brotherly Love” to embrace this man of hostile indifference and callous disregard.

As for me, the only way I will ever watch or go to a Philadelphia Eagles event will be if they strip Vick down to his skivvies, slather him in a chum of raw meat and drop him on the field amid four dozen rabid Doberman Pinschers, German Shepherds, Pit Bulls and Rottwielers.

Michael Vick is an example of what men of character should not be and as such he should not be held up as example of the type of man that a professional sports team should associate with and reward a lucrative salary to for playing a game he loves.

So as I start this summer weekend off not only do I do so already pissed, I am disappointed.

I am pissed at these examples of the fact that some of those who should be the best among us are actually some of the worst among us.

I am disappointed in the fact that among our political leaders, even those who would approach the highest office in our land are capable of being the most corrupt and misleading characters in all the land.

I am angry to see that in the area of one of our nation’s greatest pass times, we have people with such a disregard for decency and lack of respect that they would reward the most despicable and heartless in the land and offer them up on a national stage for all to cheer on.

I can only hope that on Monday, the next time I give the news a chance, there will be something positive revealed in it.

Maybe I will hear a story about a politician who donated a kidney to a needy constituent or even just something less dramatic like a politician caught on camera turning down a bribe and reporting the attempted bribe to the authorities. Maybe I will hear a story about three thousand Philadelphians showing up outside of Veteran Stadium to protest the teams acquisition of Michael Vick and that hundreds of season ticket holders are demanding their money back.

I won’t hold my breath.

But I also won’t wait to hear about some examples of decency, compassion or altruistic outreach. This weekend I will make it a point to take it upon myself and be responsible for setting a good example and demonstrating sincere acts of altruism.

I probably won’t be donating a kidney but I am pretty sure that I won’t be torturing animals or cheating on my partner.

Extending their celebrity franchise into politics, the National Enquirer is apparently launching a bipartisan campaign to investigate America’s best-looking national politicians.   For months a lonely beacon of truth about John Edwards, the Enquirer is now looking into Sarah Palin.  Not surprisingly, they find a mother-daughter catfight in this ‘Jamie Lynn Spears’ family.  Says the Enquirer:

“Palin planned for the wedding to take place right after the Republican National Convention and then she was going to announce the pregnancy.But Bristol, 17, refused to go along with the plan and that sparked a mother-daughter showdown over the failed coverup.”   

With John Edwards absurd half-denial, half-confession, the media, finally freed of all restraint, has taken our tips and is finally digging.  It gets uglier and uglier, (Rielle Hunter’s father apparently specialized in horse electrocution for dollars) especially if you were an Edwards supporter. 

On the bright side, Inside Edition finally found a hot photo of Rielle.

 

I never went to journalism school, but I’ve been published in the LA Times, NY Daily News, the LA Weekly and most of the airline magazines, among others.  Freelancing for the National Enquirer five years was my J-School; thank you Steve Coz wherever you are.

So allow me to help the august J-School grads who run America’s top papers solve the John Edwards paternity puzzle. 

Short of a DNA or blood test, you’ll never know for sure.  But if you can get three sources to agree, you’ve got something you can probably run with.

Camp out outside Rielle Hunter/Lisa Druck’s house in Santa Barbara.  Pull out some diapers from the trash.  Do some DNA analysis if you can, then try to get a John Edwards drinking glass, or cigarette.

That’s pretty CSI-ish, but the best journalism is talking to people–lots of them.

Where does Hunter/Druck come from?  Does she have a mother, a sister, a favorite aunt? Where did she work? A coworker she talks to? Does she go to a Starbuck’s?  A Ralph’s? Where does she get her hair done? What gym does she go to? Who are her friends? Who is her doctor?  Who works in her doctor’s office?  Who sat next to her in the waiting room at her last appointment?

Talk to all these people.  It’s not brainsurgery.  Sooner or later (in my experience, much sooner than you think, as people love to talk) you will find something.

Ask Mrs. Edwards–I’m sure Edwards told her something.  Watch her eyes when she gives her answer.

Yes, all this takes a strong stomach.  But that’s why you became a journalist in the first place, isn’t it?

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you The Enquirer story about John Edwards’ unzipped adventures was probably true.  Even the LA Times is admitting the mainstream media missed the story, although they could have had it at any point.  When Edwards finally admitted it August 8, they ‘unleashed the hounds,’ as the old Jerry Seinfeld commercial put it.

From Stephen Glass to Jayson Blair to the LA Times untrue rap murder scoop to Judy Miller and the missing WMDs, the ‘reputable’ media has a sordid recent history of fabrication and ’stenotyping’ the word of ‘the authorities’ rather than investigate to find out what is really the truth.

It bothers me, too, as an alumnus of The National Enquirer, that I used to get no respect from people when I told them I wrote for them.  “That rag,” they used to say disdainfully.  Well, what is a rag but a newspaper or other publication when confronted with a truth they’d rather not dig, instead puts its head in the sand? 

Frankly, it was shameful that the mainstream media didn’t devote any of their (admittedly dwindling) resources to following it up; even if the LA Times is down to 750 or so reporters, couldn’t a couple have gone out and dug up the dirt on the woman, the philanderer and the wronged wife? Even The Nation has regrets for backing Edwards.

But he was my top choice of the Democratic three for President, because I liked what he stood for.   As my father, a smoker, used to say when he tried to dissuade me from smoking “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Thankfully, I listened.

The story no one wants to read (except everyone) about the politician with the brave cancer-stricken wife and departed son cheating with documentary film maker Rielle Hunter.  

As an alumni of the National Enquirer, I have to hand it to them, running the stakeout in the wee hours of the morning at the Beverly Hilton, and actually having the cojones to confront Edwards. 

“Senior NATIONAL ENQUIRER Reporter Alexander Hitchen asked Edwards why he was visiting Rielle and whether he was ready to confirm that he was the father of  her baby.

Shocked to see a reporter, and without saying anything, Edwards ran up the stairs leading from the hotel basement to the lobby. But, spotting a photographer, he doubled back into the basement. As he emerged from the stairwell, reporter Butterfield questioned him about his hookup with Rielle.
    
Edwards did not answer and then ran  into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER about what he was doing in the hotel.”

I’ll bet that one or both of the reporters is a graduate of the esteemed Fleet Street school of journalism, where the qualifications are simple: rat-like cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability.  Or as I like to say, “If you really want some shit, get a Brit.” 

Is it news? Oh G-d, who knows–but the LA Times has covered it, even if they pooh-pooh it in their Opinion Blog. The Enquirer staked out Gary Hart 20 years ago and caught him making hanky-panky.  Republican Senator David Vitter was named in a prostitution scandal, and of course ‘wide stance’ Idaho Senator Larry Craig.  (This one more than most is news, as he pled guilt to a crime.)  And yes, the Kennedys did it and everyone kept their mouths shut.

Is this story relevant only to Edwards, his wife and alleged mistress? Possibly (see above) but everyone will have an opinion about how awful it is (either the story or the alleged infidelity.) Gawker says cheating on your sick wife is a hallowed political tradition, practiced by John McCain and Newt Gingrich.

Should it impact Obama’s choice of a running mate?  If true, it probably will; another depressing sign of America’s political immaturity and hypocrisy.  French PM Mitterand’s mistress and wife both attended his funeral; Sarkozy divorced his wife and remarried his girlfriend in office.

Is it true?  Sorry, Senator; my money’s on the National Enquirer.  They don’t cover politics but they cover celebrities, and they wouldn’t throw resources at this story if they didn’t think they had something.

BUSTED: JOHN EDWARDS & THE MOTHER OF HIS LOVECHILD

Former Democratic presidential candidate and 2004 vice president nominee, John Edwards, has been photographed by the National Enquirer leaving the hotel room of a woman the magazine claims he impregnated.

The photographs were taken at 2:40 in the morning. The Enquirer claims Edwards and blonde divorcee Rielle Hunter are having an affair even while Edwards’ wife has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The magazine also says Edwards pretended to be in Los Angeles to attend a homeless conference but took the opportunity to visit Hunter and his newly born child.

The Enquirer story comes out on the same day that Time magazine is running a story that says Edwards is a finalist for Barack Obama’s choice as vice president.