On Nancy Pelosi and Michael Jackson

I'd like to thank Nancy Pelosi for nixing the resolution to honor Michael Jackson. It's not like Congress doesn't have anything to do. (Health care, anyone?) But it was a spectacularly bad idea from the start. And now with revelations about the late singer's drug problems, the coroner's office subpoenaing Jackson's medical records, and questions about Jackson being the biological father of his children, what if this had been brought to a vote? Can you imagine the nastiness that would have ensued?

Hopefully this means we'll be seeing less of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the Texas Democrat who introduced the resolution. Jackson Lee attended the memorial at the Staples Center. And for reasons that are unclear, she chose the occasion not only to give a stump speech but to push her resolution. Classy!

For the millions of people around the world who wished they'd been in Los Angeles for the event, count yourself lucky. Traffic in the Valley and near Dodger Stadium was a mess. I had to leave early for work because the freeway was closed for Jackson's motorcade. Even our normally media-happy Mayor left town to vacation in South Africa.

I hope he's back because now we've got to pay the bill. Jackson's memorial cost L.A. $3 million, and some of us (okay, me) aren't happy about it. This includes more than $40,000 that was spent on police lunches from a deli 80 miles away. What's wrong with our local taco trucks? I enjoy eating in new neighborhoods, too, but I try not to on the taxpayer's dime.

Talk about priorities. This year summer school was canceled because city officials deemed it a great way to close LA's $26-billion budget gap. The last time I checked the high-school dropout rate in LAUSD was almost 50 percent. So now we have thousands of students sitting at home watching The Hills or roaming the streets. Terrifying.

Councilwoman Jan Perry told CBS she'd "love it" if the Jackson family helped pay for their loved one's memorial. But so far, Joe Jackson has been mum. He did, however, pull aside a reporter the day his dead son lay in a gold casket to talk about a record deal.

Maybe Kobe and Magic, who praised Jackson during the Staples celebration for helping them be better at basketball, can chip in?

Don't get me wrong. I loved Jackson's music. I'm actually old enough to remember when the Jackson Five appeared on Ed Sullivan. In my 20s, during a brief and unremarkable stint as a jazz dancer, I performed "Beat It" at a gospel church in Oakland. (Thank god for no YouTube then!) The other night my husband dug my old Thriller album out of the closet and we danced to it in the living room.

Michael Jackson was undeniably gifted. But he was also undeniably tragic. And contrary to that gratuitous remark Al Sharpton made to Jackson's children at the memorial, I think most of us can agree on this: the singer was a little "strange."

How many grown men wish they were Peter Pan? And then build a multimillion-dollar fantasy world called Neverland with zoo animals and carnival rides? Or name their child "Blanket"?

Jackson's friends have been appearing endlessly on the talk shows burnishing his legacy. That's not surprising. What is is how they profess to have been so close to him yet apparently didn't notice his devastating drug problem. The Hulk was training the emaciated singer for his "This Is It" tour. Yet when asked about Jackson's health by Larry King, it was all good!

Well, it's all coming out now. Just this morning, a senior law enforcement officer told ABC News that Jackson was "heavily addicted" to OxyContin and taking daily doses of the painkiller Demerol.

During the memorial CNN.com paired with Facebook so that fans could express their grief. For a while I watched the comments scrolling down the screen. Many of them simply said "MJ: RIP."

One can only hope.

Follow Mona Gable on Twitter: www.twitter.com/monalg

Comments

[sherbug]

Miss Mona, the title of your post is very misleading because it has little or nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi. You start off by thanking Nancy Pelosi for not honoring MJ, but then you digress.

You attack SJL for having the audacity to suggest MJ be honored and then you talk about how you were inconvenienced by the MJ memorial traffic and who didn't eat local tacos. Then for some unknown reason you attack MJ's home and his kids, as if it were any of your business where or how he lived or what he named his children. Then you decide that he is not the biological father of those kids and that should also be held against him. As far as I'm concerned, a man who provides everything for his kids is the father, biological or not.

You can go ahead and sit back and pretend that time would be wasted giving MJ a honor, but I would like to see your post from this past February where you complain about the time that was wasted giving Paul Newman an honor.

[MatthewCuthbert]

Well said.

[octopi]

co-sign

[shockjock]

Christopher Columbus et al, murdered, raped and pillaged an entire hemisphere of native inhabitants.
Surely he hasn't been honored? Has he?

[Ahmedkhan]

Puh Lee Uz. The analogy is a bit overripe, don't you think? And who are you referring to, since you use "et al" and then "he"? Are you referring by chance to Europeans? What does Columbus have to do with Michael Jackson?

In any case, the reasoning that "if we do it for this personage, we ought to do it for that personage" is laughable. All the hoopla over MJ has been vastly hyped. Let's all move on.

[M1]

Legalizing medical marijuana use will bring $14 Billion to the State of California and the 3 million for the funeral of MJ won't seem so burdensome.

[Viledems]

And u can guarantee zero social problems for legalization. What a joke!!

[eddiesengola]

MJ was one of the greatest humaniterian and he should be honored.

[octopi]

How many great people have done bad things? Michael Jackson's alleged drug use doesn't change anything about his accomplishments, just as it doesn't change how we perceive President Obama or President Clinton who both used illegal drugs. Michael Jackson kept his drug use to himself, but the tabloids and tabloid journalists want to dig it up and put it on public display as if that is all he accomplished.

[citizensrus]

I loved Michael Jackson. Michael was hurting and there are people who are to blame for his pain. They wouldn't even let him give love without condemning him for his loving nature. Something in Michael Jackson made the selfish uncomfortable with themselves. They didn't want to LOOK IN THAT MIRROR. They killed Michael Jackson. They know it. And now they are trying to assuage their conscience by saying smearing his reputation after death, even though he was cleared of charges in life. They jump at everything there is to turn into a reason to justify their hatred of Michael.
Michael said, We Are The World..Michael understood the spirit. Thats' why he affected so many people. Those who don't understand it, never had the spirit that he was sharing.
Michael, you were the Giving Tree. And I know that your energy is giving..the seeds you scattered, the fruit you shared. You have fans and friends and family who will love you forever.

[Keima]

Well said.

[cakejab]

Some ppl's ignorance and arrogance is astounding. Mona probably never once wondered what all the fuss was about Michael Jackson since no other great entertainer has had all this hoop-la-la from all over the world before. If she wasn't so involved in his and his family's personal life and step outside of her comfort zone of gossip she might get a clue that there was something much more and is the reason for Rep. Lee's brave attempt of a classy stomp speech. Americans pay big money for tabloid journalism, but know little about the contributions to the world that Americans make.

The resolution is well deserved if it only draws attention to the many contributions to the world that Michael Jackson, an American, has made over his lifetime and was recognized by many world leaders. Research on things of importance works wonders unless the gossip is good enough, which for many, sorry to say, it is.

BTW don't forget to count the influx of tax revenues for that week that the State of CA gets to offset that $3 million bill. Tens of thousands TOURIST dollars probably more than make up for it. As to personal inconvenience due to traffic, I would think there have been LA traffic tie ups before and possibly will be again which in the end is a part of big city life, at least the Mayor was warned.

[kidgeon1]

I heard President Clinton say that Michael Jackson gave and raised alot of money for the DNC , why shouldnt he be honored. He also gave money to alot of charities and raised awareness about the poor and Aids which I dont see too many polictians doing at this time. He also sang alot of beautiful songs about peace, love, and helping one another.

[viper234]

I'd like to ask Nancy Pelosi once again to call for Congressional hearings into Bush administration since war she's dismissed this subject with equal haste.

[maribelle1963]

"How many grown men wish they were Peter Pan?"

You mean how many admit it?

"And then build a multimillion-dollar fantasy world called Neverland with zoo animals and carnival rides?"

How is this c r a z i e r than building Disneyland for profit? He built it to benefit himself, his family and kids from charities. Sounds sane to me.

" Or name their child "Blanket"?"

It's a nickname! Didn't you have one as a kid?

Drugs are one thing, but so many commentators seem bent on proving MJ's "strangeness". I wonder why. How "normal" is it to be a mega superstar from age 10?

[citizensrus]

Strangeness is code. These are racists. They can't come out and say they are racists. But they are showing it with every derogatory euphemism they spill out.

[Keima]

True.

[thefallonco]

First of all our mayor was not on vacation. He was committed to an event in Africa and people I know that work for him said that he was unhappy about not being in town. Please ,are you kidding me -- we have a mayor that loves the media and you think he was happy to be out of town during one of LA's biggest event -- get a clue.
When my father died several streets were closed during the funeral processionand many people (who did not know him) were inconvenienced and not one person complained. Really can you be that self centered? The city of LA made a lot of money with people in town for the event and the estate taxes will be huge.
And Nancy Pelosi --at what point does her plastic surgery start to count as being "strange."
If you do not approve of the coverage etc. than quite simply do not watch it -- it really is not brain surgery ---
If you want something to do read comments from Aphrodite Jones -- she was in the courtroom during the trial and witnessed some amazing situations that we were never privy to.
Spend some time learning to be discernible

[Pleneras]

Well said!

MJ gave millions to LA hospitals and the poor saving LA milllions in tax dollars.

[elfNW]

Thank you. Glad to see an entry discussing how overblown the new coverage has been, how overblown the adulation has been. Maybe L.A. can recover the money by building a M.J. shrine in L.A. so that pilgrims can come to it to be cured of blindness, leprosy, … Ask for a contribution from each hopeful soul.

[Pleneras]

Elvis Presley.

http://www.jerrypippin.com/elvis_presley_story_program_one.htm

[Ahmedkhan]

The press coverage and funeral were completely overdone, and we're likely to see more of the same in the coming weeks and months. A congressional resolution to honor the man with all the complicated problems this nation now faces? Absurd. We Americans tend to really lay it on thick and get carried away with our entertainers (and that's all Jackson was, not a saint and not a leader).

I am and will remain a huge fan of MJ's music and respect the extent of the influence, positive and negative, he had around the world. But to be honest, I think Ray Charles and James Brown, my two favorites, were MJ's equal in terms of positive influence around the world, and their memorials were much more restrained and within reason.

Good column.

[jemeagirl]

Mona,

On another note, we just learned that MJ' s estate will pay the IRS as much as 80 million dollars in estate taxes.

So I believe the City of LA can suffer the 3-4 million dollars it costs to cover security for his memorial.

Peace.

[Karl Jonas]

LA gets ZERO from that IRS bill...

[citizensrus]

However, how much did L.A. make in revenue from this event?

[phlashba]

There is NO connection there!

[Texdude]

Don't know where you get your figures from, but assuming they were true, correction: Jackson's estate may "owe" the IRS millions in taxes, but that doesn't mean they will be paid. In life he was notorious for not paying people the money he owed them.

[shela88]

Bravo, Mona..You have spoken the truth which is a risky proposition these days.

[atcrossroads]

"they profess to have been so close to him yet apparently didn't notice his devastating drug problem"

I met MJ once in the late nineties. (Don't get excited, the meeting lasted for about 7.24841 nano seconds) What surprised me at the time was how incredibly easily he got exhausted. I am no fitness freak, believe me, but this man seemed to tire from a 10 minute leisurely stroll through the garden! At the time I decided that he must use a double for his shows, because there is no way that the person I saw would be able to perform on stage for 30 minutes, let alone 90. I didn't consider the drug option at the time. But I also querie how all these people who were so 'close' to him, and who 'loved' him so much, never noticed this, and in all these years never managed to intercede effectivily. For goodness sakes, Britney's Spears' family has stepped up to the plate more than the Jackson family!

[awomaninthemirror]

I agree completely ,atcrossroads. The people he admired the most seemed to have totally let him down through the years. Liz Taylor, herself, admitted " We're going to get him the "best" doctors to help his problem:" . Well .. yeah ..... they helped it alright... When the bollocks hit the fan blades I didn't see her, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields OR Macauley Culkin step up to the plate. And what .... they don't know how to handle a stubborn Virgo????? Gimme a break .... although I know their grief is genuine, at the end of the day , protecting their own celebrity status seemed more important than being a true blue buddy and helping their mate kick the poison cocktails. Makes me cry to think how selfish that was of them. I have a stubborn August 29th Virgo in my ,life. We're great friends and when he starts in with his stubborness, I use psychology! That';s what it's all about : understanding the psychology of a person and finding the ways to interact successfully to get them to understand the logic of things . Hmm, that might be too much effort for some people.