A Poem for Claire

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This is from Barry:

Dear Dr. Laura:

I was a participant in an unwanted, unnecessary divorce…because my wife wasn’t ‘happy.’  I have 3 minor children who, despite my tremendous efforts to the contrary…only get to see me 7-10 days a month.  I do everything I can to remain in their lives so I might display to them the importance and value of good character, good values/morals, and integrity….

For Valentine’s Day, I wrote my 5 year old daughter a poem.  I’m not a poet by any means.  I’m your basic manly man.  These words simply came to me in the half-hour it took to write them down.  In it are references to many things we do as a family….I thought you might like to read it:

 A Poem for Claire

 A poem for Claire is what I will try.
 I hope it turns out - ya see, I’m only a guy.
 There are jobs that I have-
 One is being your Dad.
 Out of all of the jobs
 That one makes me most glad.

 We do things we like
 And some we don’t mind.
 I’m pleased that you’re nice
 And so warm and so kind.

 I tell you I’m serious
 But you know that I’m not
 We’re both very silly
 And we smile a LOT!

 We sit out in back
 And look at the clouds
 You see shapes I don’t see
 You make me so proud.

 Walking to school
 Is always so fun.
 It’s been so cold lately
 We can’t wait for the sun!

 You fiddle with your homework.
 Maybe a snack instead?
 But each night we read
 Just before time for bed.

 I love when we play
 You’re so very special
 We dance and we laugh
 Now it’s time to WRESTLE!

 We cuddle on the sofa
 Watch TV at night.
 But we don’t watch a show
 That might give you a fright.

 We make up games to play
 Sometimes go for a hike.
 But what you like most
 Is riding your bike!

 You play Dan-Ball and Rock Band
 And sometimes the Wii.
 ”Daddy, come look!
 Come here! Come see!”

 I’m busy in the kitchen
 Moving fast there to here.
 You’re the first and the loudest
 During our dinnertime cheer.

 I miss you dearly
 When we’re far apart,
 But I’ll always remind you
 I’m in your head and your heart.

 The message is clear
 In this poem you hear.
 Your Dad loves you greatly
 And I will always be near.

 I want you to know
 You’re my best Valentine.
 I will ALWAYS be yours
 If you will be mine.

 I love you.
 Dad

 You’ve made me a better man, Dr. Laura.  I thank you.

John Edwards’ Co-Conspirator in Betrayal

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By this time, you all know that former Presidential hopeful John Edwards is not longer hopeful about too much.  According to press reports, Elizabeth Edwards has left him.

After the Clintons and many other high profile power couples’ personal issues with marital problems and affairs, I think we’re all pretty numbed and crass about it all.

This blog is not about affairs - it’s about another form of betrayal. 

Andrew Young was a former aide of the Edwards’ who was personally intimate with them and a co-conspirator in John Edwards’ tacky affair and secrecy surrounding his illegitimate child.  In fact, in addition to harboring the bimbo in his home, Andrew Young tried to take the credit for this baby to keep his boss in the limelight in a more positive way.

All of this has now hit the fan, and these three are no longer speaking.  Andrew Young has written a “tell-all” book, “The Politician,” which goes on sale this week.  He maligns Elizabeth and John and even goes so far as to say that they both conspired to use her cancer diagnosis to promote John’s campaign for President.  I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it just sounds so disgusting that I can’t wrap my mind around it. 

What a despicable character Andrew Young is!  First, for benefitting from his relationship with the Edwards family (with privileges, opportunities, trust, bonding, financial compensation, power and friendship), and then making money by betraying their confidences when he was a definite co-conspirator in everything they did (which he now criticizes).  People who do that are scum.

Years ago, Eddie Fisher also wrote a tell-all book about the women he was intimate with, including Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor.  Why they, or any of the other women, had anything to do with that toad is beyond me, but they did.  He did a “kiss and tell” book.  Disgusting.  All to make a buck.  He betrayed the tender confidences of women who once cared about him.

I ran into him while he was on his book tour, and we were both appearing on a television interview program.  He dared to come up to me to cheerfully introduce himself.  I cut him short, saying I knew who he was, and that he was a disgusting human being and obviously not a gentleman for the book he wrote and now was hawking.  He looked stunned, and that made my moment!  I turned my back on him and then slowly, deliberately walked away.  He was trying to say something to me, but I just didn’t care.

Instead of buying Andrew Young’s book demonizing Elizabeth and John Edwards, spend that money on buying some good children’s books for your local school library.

Children Today Are Overly Anxious and Depressed

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There’s a new study out from San Diego State University saying that children and young adults today are the most anxious and depressed of the last seventy years.

I’m not surprised at all.  Having too many choices is chaos.  Morals and values have been sacrificed in favor of infamy and fortune.  When sports heroes are infamous and rich because they took drugs to increase their performance, that is demoralizing to kids who work hard to aspire to athletic greatness simply by practicing a lot.  When other young people get famous for flaunting drugs and anti-social behavior, it makes it difficult for the kids who simply work hard.

When you have a major Hollywood producer/director putting together a movie to excuse and explain Hitler (in context, he says), you have a generation that has no clear understanding of evil.

When you have military dying in the fields of foreign countries because we are at war with a religious ideology that wants to terminate western civilization, and one of their combatants is caught and tried only as a common criminal, you have a generation that is confused.

When you have a culture that does not support the basic building block of education - the family - we have children turning to equally confused peers and pop culture.

When the people in positions of power, authority and fame turn out to be of little character, you have a generation that doesn’t know what to respect or whom to emulate.

It all matters.

Our kids pay the price.

Disciplining Other People’s Children

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Here’s a dilemma faced by quite a few of you (according to the emails I get):  Is it okay for anyone other than a parent to discipline their child?  I’ve got an answer.

Or watch other videos at youtube.com/DrLaura.

Read transcript here.

Tiger Woods: Athlete of the Year?

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Big news late last week:  Tiger Woods was named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.  Not only did his “sexcapades” not limit his votes, but more than half of the 56 votes came in after the scandal made news.  I guess the AP-types got confused - maybe they thought they were voting for the “Sexual Athlete of the Year.”

It’s too late now, but it is interesting that the question is being asked after the fact, as to whether or not he should receive this honor.  First of all, “Athlete of the Year,” is not based on anybody’s character - just athletic achievement (unfortunately).  So, the next question is:  is golf an actual athletic sport?  Truly, there is no physical hardship.  Players might get a little winded from walking the course or get sweaty on hot days, but that’s about it.

Someone responded to the question of whether golf is actually athletic or not by pointing out that Tiger was in good shape, and another retorted with “You also have to be in shape to bowl and even to shoot billiards, but to compare those and golf to baseball, soccer, basketball, football, rugby, track & field, cycling, boxing, tennis and wrestling is silly.  Golf requires skill - not athleticism.  Having played it myself…”

Additionally, yet another comment pointed out the veracity of many accolades these days:  “Al Gore got an Oscar, Obama got a Nobel, Bill Clinton got a Grammy.  Nothing is real any more.”

Well, let’s look at the runners-up for “Athlete of the Year:”

1. Lance Armstrong - cancer survivor; won Tour de France six times in one decade.  He came in second with 33 of the possible 142 votes.
2. Roger Federer - more grand-slam singles than any other man in history.  He came in third with 25 votes.
3. Michael Phelps - record-setting Olympic swimming champion.  He came in fourth with 13 votes.
4. Tom Brady:  New England quarterback.  He had 6 votes.

We all know why they gave it to Tiger Woods:  He’s made them more money than any other person in something considered a sport.  Because Tiger is good-looking (as all his bimbos also know) and a terrific golfer, the media turned him into a sensation, and more people showed up to golf tournaments (ka-ching), more photographs and stories were printed about golf (ka-ching), more shoes and stuff with his name attached were sold (ka-ching), and so on.  Just follow the money.  He is a huge money-maker for everyone, and that’s why he got the award.

I agree with the critics who say golf is not athletic.  Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer are better qualified for this honor, but it’s not an honor anymore.  It is recognition of “Ka ching” Power.

The Foundation for A Better Life

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There is very little broadcast television that matters, but there is a lot of broadcast television that tears down morale and morality.

There is one ray of persistent sunshine - the one minute spots produced by The Foundation for A Better Life.  These are the most touching, moving, elevating, lovely video essays you can imagine. 

The one I saw in the middle of watching the 5:30AM morning news showed a ferocious scene of a very physical professional hockey game.  The scene then shifts to the locker room where all these sweaty, huge and muscular macho guys are getting ready for the next game.  One of them is on the telephone, trying to hide his face and voice from the rest of his buddies.  He’s clearly uncomfortable, but doing what the person on the other end of the phone is asking him to do:  sing the “itsy bitsy spider.”  The scene cuts to his little daughter giggling with delight as Daddy sings to her while Mommy holds her on her lap.  Daddy finishes the song, and tells his daughter he loves her.  He hangs up to find his buddies surrounding him and doing the hand motions of the itsy bitsy spider going up the water spout.  He says “Hey, it’s my girl - my daughter,” and all the guys smile like crazy.

It’s just so lovely.  The Foundation for A Better Life has a website - check it out at www.values.com.  Look at their archives.  Be touched and moved like me, and be elevated in your mood as you try to survive the moral decay of our society.  There is a light!

Alienation of Affection Law Could Help Tiger Woods’ Wife

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I understand that the list is now at 14 distinct dalliances by Tiger Woods, and the count is likely to grow.  One of the reasons the legal types are interested in this situation is the precedent for “alienation of affection” suits, which can be filed when an “outsider” interferes in a marriage.  These suits are allowed in seven states:  Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.  Why these suits are disallowed in all the other states is a curiosity.  Perhaps lawmakers in those states were being pre-emptively self-protective.  Who knows?

However, it doesn’t matter that Woods lives in Florida, a state where alienation of affections suits aren’t allowed.  If any of Woods’ professed affairs took place in an alienation of affection state, Mrs. Tiger Woods could sue.  According to my research, the suits rarely make it to trial - usually the threat of such an embarrassing lawsuit is enough to have it end up in an out-of-court financial settlement.

On my radio program, when I discuss with the “wronged” spouse their pain and desire to get revenge with the “other woman or man,” I remind them that it is their spouse who breached vows.  The other individual was just the means to that sad end.  When people don’t wish to leave their marriages, they often focus their rage on that other person to protect their spouse from their rage.  However, I believe it ought to be common understanding that the vows include a warning to others:  “let no man turn asunder” means that no one should interfere with the married couple’s intimacy.  All society has really taken that vow.  Therefore, I believe it is fair that there be some consequence, and perhaps compensation, for the hurt caused.

I think all states should allow such lawsuits, as they respect the sanctity of marriage.

Tiger Woods

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My comments today are short and to the point.

With respect to Tiger Woods:

He is the best golfer ever.

He is a philandering spouse of major proportions.

Should that matter?

It was posited to me that what a celebrity does outside of his or her “famous” activity should not matter to anyone.

I thought about that for about an hour, and then decided this:

That statement is correct, unless that celebrity makes hay (or money) on the issue of TRUST, which Tiger Woods does by using his name and image as a “nice guy” to sell products.  He is untrustworthy…plain and simple, and therefore, should not be representing anything or anyone, because his word means nothing.

He is a great golfer.

So what.

He is not a great man/father/husband.

End of commentary.