DRUNKEN SEX AND THE PAUSE BUTTON

Psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, recently posted a "tweet" asking the question: "If a girl is drunk, is it OK to have sex with her? "

The tweet apparently outraged quite a few people according to the Huffington Post, which more and more is starting to resemble TMZ.

Although Twitter, a media tool, has been abused many, many times by celebrities, athletes, and just about anybody else who has no brain pause button,  this tweet by Dr. Phil made perfect sense to me.

I'm apparently in the minority once more.

Reactions from McGraw's "twitter tweets" included one individual who questioned whether he had just forgotten about Steubenville and what happened there to a girl who was raped while drunk. There were several more in that vein and by now his question has probably gone viral - for all the wrong reasons.

The question was removed from Dr Phyl's Twitter page due to the irate response - and that's a shame.

After the question was posed, the remainder of the message stated: "Reply yes or no to drphyl#teensaccused." He clearly was soliciting opinions on the subject of accountability - which appears to be holding on by it's fingertips..

Texan therapist Dr. Phil is extremely well trained and has clearly earned his spurs, but, to confuse his therapeutic TV approach and the issues addressed to actual in-depth analysis would be foolish.

To the man's credit, he says as much during his show - (still listed in the entertainment section of your local newspaper) usually prescribing more comprehensive client based counseling by credentialled experts as a necessary follow-up.

 My daughter Beth recently sent me an interesting column by LZ Granderson, a CNN contributor and a senior writer for ESPN. One quote in particular seemed to fit well with this blogs subject matter.

"We don't teach accountability, we don't expect accountability, and I'm not sure we even know what accountability looks like anymore. Some of us have become  so addicted to pointing fingers at others for all the wrong that happens in our lives that self-assessment has become synonymous with blaming the victim."

I truly believe Dr. Phil's "tweet" was an attempt to try and determine just how many in our male population still don't get it when it comes to drunken sex.

Unfortunately, his question - limited by 34 characters - inspired irrational rants and raving by many individuals who apparently have no pause button in either their brain or their fingers.

Probably just a coincidence, right?

THE LAZY SUSAN AND THE CATBIRD SEAT

Back in the 60's and 70's we all went to each others homes - and ate the hosts' veggies and dip with relish (pun intended if it included those miniature weiners).

We did that - sitting at various positions around the coffee table - courtesy of something called a "Lazy Susan" that, if lucky, you could spin around to get at your favorite hors d' oeuvres.(spelling optional)  But clearly, the best seat was in the middle of the couch fronting the coffee table - and within easy reach of the food.

Even now, upon arriving at someone's home, I immediately scope out the couch. It's still close to the goodies and usually provides the best view of the game du jour too.

This also describes what goes on in Washington every two years.

A life long Republican, I initially welcomed the Tea Party. I honestly believed it was something positive that would help our staid GOP - maybe even be the source of a Third Party. I believed we needed fresh blood and it was time to replace some of  of our "elder statesmen" - retiring their powdered "Whigs" in the process.

 Dad said, "You got to be careful what you wish for." He was right - I was wrong. The Tea Party scares the hell out of me.

Let's take the budget crisis as an example. The Republicans have agreed to work with the Democrats on the budget. That is, if they will agree to "drop-kick" Obamacare.

Mike Lee, a Republican Senator from Utah, wrote a lame rebuttal to an editorial column in USA Today chastizing some Republican  politicians for threats the editors described as "having a temper tantrum."

The reason for USA Today's editorial umbrage was apparently that the Republicans - in all their wisdom - have once more threatend to shut down the government, a position the newspaper calls both "dumb and delusional".

Lee's position? "We should use Congress' power of the purse to deny funding for this unfair (Obamacare) law. Congress controls the power to appropriate funds, so defunding Obamacare is simple."

One reader echos my sentiments when he writes in the Letters Reply section: "His (Lee) "the sky is falling" approach to wanting the Affordable Care Act defunded is similar to some who opposed Medicare before and after LBJ signed it into law."

Look, there's nothing wrong with being a member of the "opposition party".We are clearly a country without a rudder, whose citizens desperately want and need more responsible leadership from both sides of the aisle.

However, the image I come away with is that the Republicans are simply fighting for the seat on the couch with the best access to the "Lazy Suzan."

If they keep up with this foolishness - it's doubtful they're going to make it to author and humorist James Thurber's "catbird seat" in 2014.

IT'S STILL ABOUT WHAT'S RIGHT.

Were you statisfied with the outcome of the first OJ Simpson trial? How about the debacle involving Roger Clemons? Do you believe that A-Rod will beat the rap in this latest  matter?

Do you  believe Lance Armstong will ever do any jail time for what he did - including his law suit against a man who clearly was just trying to save a great sport - and whom Armstrong  - and his attorneys - attacked as if , the accuser - not Armstrong was the bad guy?

If you weren't don't waste your time in reading anything more.

This is a difficult subject for a blog. The reason being is that if we had done anything wrong to the extent that the defendants "might' have done - and we could afford their services - we would have run - not walked - to secure the services of the attorneys defending them . That is, if we, had the financial resources- to hire them.

Yeah, that would be a bundle - one heckuva lot more than the government and the MLB or the federal government would apparently be willing to pay an equally intelligent group of attorneys to prove their case.

You see, what we do with our adulation of athletes is to give so many of our heroes a "get out of jail free" card. What about the ones - the majority - who are not cheating?

 Do you remember what it was like to have to stay after school in detention because the kid who threw the spitball at the teacher was unwilling to admit his guilt - and because we didn't want to be a (fill in the blank).

 We so desperately want to have these athletes whom we have rushed toward  or possibly stood in line to get an autograph - maybe even for both ourself and our kids - perhaps on a signed paper or piece of clothing  - a tee shirt or out of desperation, even a bra  - whatever, from whom we are willing to accept almost any outrageos behavior as long as they continue to represent  our sports team - with whom we non-athletes, wannabees, or has-beens  vicariously claim we have some association with that specific athlete - or team.

While we do this we have the gall to make our kids change their clothing if their shirt or blouse celebrates the latest rap artists of the day - some of whom are allowed to use the N-word in impunity - without fear of repudiation..

And, when they ( our jock heroes) do wrong - as often will happen with athletes who see our adulation as that  "get out of jail free card" - our first response to someone like an A-Rod is to blame the authorities - and not the athlete.

If a legal defense team is able to prevail and keep their client our of jail - (read A-Rod) it may not be a win-win proposition for either the law - or our society..

It's not only the prosecution who are so convenient for us to blame for failing to fulfill our latent desire to punish someone  -  it's us.

Maybe it's time for someone in authority to hire and pay adequately bright prosecuter attorneys with equal skills - to try these cases and teach our kids "it's not right to do wrong."

 I truly believe fair and effective jurisprudence was never meant to be a tug of war decided by which team could effectively hire the best ringer. In my opinion it's still about what's right and what's wrong.

For all of the athletes who are accused of doing wrong in this recent scandal - only one, A-Rod,  has decided to attack the system.

Why? Because due to our adulation and willingness to support paying him an outrageous salary - in a vain attempt to find a hero who is not as tainted in our eyes as those predecessors who we are sure doped up  - he can afford to do so.

How in the name of everything that is holy can we call this "justice"?

Forget about the price of the expensive shirt you no longer are proud to wear but reluctantly are now willing to throw in the trashbin . What about the value system we need and want to teach our kids and grandkids?

Let's face it. There's a lot of blame to go around here.