Yes, There Is A Sex Tape

If you've been wondering whether or not there really is a sex tape featuring John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, it looks as if there is. Apparently Ms. Hunter has requested a restraining order against Andrew Young, the former Edwards staffer who wrote a book about the affair, demanding that he return a video tape that is of a "very personal, private nature."

News reports are saying that Ms Hunter has been granted a temporary restraining order by a North Carolina court.

There are lots of good lessons to be learned from the whole Edwards mess, but surely the most obvious one is this: NEVER, EVER MAKE A SEX TAPE.

Read about it here.

WTF Headline of the Day

We haven't had a headline in a while and this one was too good to pass up. Enjoy!

Man Hides 44 Lizards In Pants

Almost Time For The Olympics

Even though it's only been a few weeks, the trauma and drama of the unsuccessful Chicago 2016 Olympic bid now seems so 2009. It's time to move on, and what better way to do that than to get into the spirit of the 2010 Winter games, which are now less than 3 weeks away. The marquee sport of the Winter games, of course, is ice skating, and watching the finals of the U.S. National Championships last night has definitely put me in the Olympic mood.

The Winter Olympics don't get nearly as much publicity as the Summer ones do, and in fact, the Winter games always kind of sneak up on me. There's certainly no athlete with Michael Phelps-level star power and press coverage to generate advance interest in these games, and I had never heard of the two women who finished first and second last night and will now represent the U.S. in Vancouver. Apparently a skater from South Korea is favored to win the Olympic gold medal.

NBC is trying to generate excitement however, and I've begun to see their commercials for the upcoming coverage. I'm reminded that like so many other things, the Olympics are now, first and foremost, big business. NBC will make their profit (or not) based on how much advertising they can sell and they've started to hype the games big time as we count down to the opening ceremony. There's been some talk that the Vancouver games may feel like a bit of a letdown after all the excitement of Beijing, but I'm not too worried about that. The Winter games have always had a smaller, more intimate feel to them that I actually kind of like.

By the way, we now know the host cities for the next four Olympics: 2010 in Vancouver, 2012 in London, 2014 in Sochi, Russia, and 2016 in Rio de Janiero. Do you know which cities are bidding for the next games after that, which are the 2018 Winter Olympics? They are Munich; PyeongChang, South Korea and Annecy, France. GamesBids is a cool site that tracks everything related to Olympic bids, and if you're interested, the 2018 winning bid will be announced on July 6, 2011. Any guesses?

In the meantime, on to Vancouver and let the games begin!

"Hell Hath No Fury ...

... like a woman scorned." True? Oh, you bet it's true, as pretty much any woman can tell you. The wisdom of those words has been reinforced in my mind several times recently, due to situations both personal and not.

First, the personal one. One day last week when I opened my e-mail, I had a message from an ex-boyfriend, or at least it looked that way before I clicked on it and opened it. He and I are in touch on a very casual basis, and the subject line was blank, so I admit I was curious when I saw his e-mail address in my In box. Inside, there was no message, just a link, which connected me to a website that sells Viagra and Cialis. Very strange. Later that day I got a second message, this time really from him, saying that someone had hacked into his address book and sent out some rogue messages. He didn't say who did it, but from where I sit it's a stunt that has "pissed off ex-girlfriend" written all over it.

In the public domain, the scandals currently enveloping Tiger Woods and John Edwards both appear to have elements of one or more scorned women at work. In Tiger's case, not only did his wife feel compelled to express her feelings by using a golf club as a battering ram, several of the girlfriends have rushed to speak out and cash in, leading one pundit to opine that if you're going to cheat, you should pick someone who has absolutely nothing to gain by being featured on the cover of US magazine.

As for John Edwards, the hell and the fury bubbling up around him this week is a result of screw-ups too numerous to count, but I read one article that speculated that the National Enquirer's original source for the story and for the pictures-of-John-holding-a-baby was actually baby-mama Rielle Hunter herself. The theory is that if the scandal destroyed not only his political career but his marriage as well, he would then be free to marry Rielle. I don't know if Ms. Hunter was the one who leaked the story or not, but it certainly sounds like something a scorned woman would do.

So I was in the "Just when you thought you've heard everything" zone when I came upon this. Go to Google News and type in "Charles Phillips" if you want all the sordid details. The short version is that a rich (and married) guy's ex-mistress set out to embarrass him, and it appears to have worked. Hell hath no fury? Yeah, that sounds about right.

The Apocalypse Is Upon Us ...

I had trouble deciding on a headline for today's post, given the completely unfathomable weirdness of what I'm about to write about. I also considered "The End Of Civilization As We Know It," and, simply, "A New Low..." So what is it exactly that's got me in such a lather? As I do every Wednesday, I just checked out the weekly "What's in the Fabloids" feature on The Daily Beast, and what did I see but Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. Octomom, posing in a bikini on the cover of the new issue of Star magazine. Oh how the mind reels ...

I've blogged about Nadya before. I've blogged about pictures of women in bikinis being used to sell magazines before. I consider myself to be a pretty astute observer of pop culture, but even so, it never occurred to me that I would be using "Nadya in a bikini" and "this week's cover story" in the same blog post, much less in the same sentence. She actually looks pretty good, fitness-wise, especially for a woman who's given birth to 14 kids, but heaven help us, she's trying to be sexy too, hooking her thumb under her suit bottom in the big picture, and looking flirtatiously over her shoulder in the small one. It's not working for me, but then I'm so not the target audience for such things.

My understanding is that tabloids pay for posed cover shots, and Nadya has to support her family, but did it have to be in a bikini? Unlike other tabloid cover girls, like Heidi Montag and the Kardashian sisters, Nadya's fame and public persona are not based on her sexuality, at least not yet, but maybe Star will change all that. It will be interesting to see how well this issue sells. If we all take a solemn vow and promise not to buy it, maybe we can help to ensure that Nadya in a bikini is a one-time-only event and not the beginning of a trend. Here's hoping...

Memories of Keith

Keith's obituary was published in the Daily Herald on Friday, and it's been so heartwarming to read the comments, mostly from former students. A great example of Keith's legacy after 32 years of teaching.

You can read them here.

Link to Keith's Obituary

Keith's obituary is published in the January 15th edition of the Daily Herald.

Here is the link.

Funeral Information

Keith's funeral has been set for 10:30 a.m. this Saturday, at Holy Family Parish in Inverness.

Click here for the church's home page.

One Journey Ends, Another Begins...

Keith died this morning, about 7:20 a.m., and for everyone who loved him, it is comforting to know that his suffering is over and he is safely in the hands of the Lord. Even so, tonight my heart is broken and I'm feeling such profound sadness at the loss of this wonderful man.

I've started to write down some of my favorite memories of Keith and I'll be posting some of that here as we walk through the next few days. I'll add information about the funeral and any other events as those details are finalized.

For now I'm going back to YouTube, and I'm going to sing along as loud as I can:

So let's worship Him with a mighty voice, like we're already with Him in paradise, Praise God on high! Praise God!

Update

Here is the text of an e-mail message Sue Basten sent out this morning:

Dear Friends,

The time is near when God will graciously take Keith home where his tears and suffering will be no more. Per Marty, Keith's blood pressure is dropping and the doctor said Keith will pass-on either today or tomorrow.

Please continue your loving prayers for our Dearest Keith, Cindy & their daughters. They are forever grateful.

God bless you.

When The Time Comes ...

I spoke with Lynn Robinson yesterday afternoon and she advised me that Cindy and her family have started to make some decisions. When the time comes, Keith's funeral service will be held at Holy Family in Inverness. They're talking about having a memorial event at Willow Creek at some point as well.

Another Song That's Comforting Me

Praise God On High, by Rory Noland, was one of my favorite worship songs when I was attending Willow Creek. In fact, I had said that I wanted it sung at my own funeral, when that day comes. I had been hearing the song in my head for a couple of days, and sure enough, it didn't take long to find it on YouTube.

Here's the YouTube link, and I hope it comforts you as much as it's been comforting me.

On Eagles' Wings

This video is a nice version of On Eagles' Wings that I found on YouTube. It's giving me a great deal of comfort.

Update

For anyone who didn't see Sue's most recent e-mail, apparently Keith is too weak to be moved to the hospice so he will remain in the hospital and receive hospice care there.

All of our prayers continue for Cindy and Keith, and their family.

Keith and Cindy

To everyone who loves Keith and Cindy, this is the text of an e-mail message I sent to Sue Basten when she asked me how Cindy sounded when I spoke with her Thursday afternoon:

Cindy sounded pretty matter-of-fact, considering the circumstances. I think both she and Keith are at peace about the decision they made (regarding not pursuing any further treatment) and they want to experience the next few days with as much love, gentleness and grace as possible, surrounded by their family. I'm sure her emotions are very deep and very painful, but she's working very hard to hold herself together.

She did express some humor, such as Keith dealing with the reality of what happens when you're hospitalized (assistance from a nurse with personal stuff such as bathing, for example). She said she and Keith kind of laughed about that, which I thought was positive. (What else can you do but laugh, so to speak.) I also forgot to mention before that her Mom is coming in Saturday, which will be good.

Overall I was encouraged by my conversation with Cindy, in the sense that she sounded like she's accepted a difficult and unchangeable truth and is walking through it with God's help. For me, I'm particularly grateful that Andrea and her family got here safely, because I was very concerned about that.

I will update this blog whenever there is something to share. Kimberly