The Great American Freak Show

Let us define freak as follows: a person, animal or plant that is markedly unusual or deformed. Years ago this definition applied mainly to side-show curiosities or things preserved in formaldehyde in laboratory jars. There were, for example, cows with two udders, calves with two heads, and bearded ladies; even remember a mummified Chicago gangster with his chest riddled with bullet holes. There were human fetuses in lab jars that were half fish. Now instead of finding these oddities in carnivals or packed away in medical specimen collections, we live among them.

Poor rich boy Michael Jackson was a highly successful talented song and dance man who had a flair for producing entertainment extravaganzas. He recently died at the age of 50, apparently rehearsing for a final world-wide tour that already had sold out tickets at a minimum of a hundred dollars each – a lot more than the 14 cents I used to pay as a kid to observe the freaks at a sideshow.

Jackson pushed the boundaries of his showmanship. On one occasion, making a soft drink commercial, his hair accidently caught on fire. But apart from his talent, the public seemed equally fascinated by his freakish behavior. He was a black man who managed change his cast white and his nose operations gave him a skeletal visage; he was five foot 11 inches tall and weighted 125 pounds or less at death.

He had been knee deep in court cases involving child molestation; throughout his life he spent millions on a flamboyant self-indulgent life style, yet on his death, it is rumored that he owed a 500,000 million which included a $100,000 pharmacy bill in LA, California. Given the controversy at his death, we wonder whether it will take longer to bury the King of Pop than it did the late black artist, King of Soul, James Brown. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are in the mix, so expect a circus.

Celebrity freaks are expected, as the one recently found hanging nude in a closet in swanky hotel in Thailand with his genitals tied to a string on his hand; these people, dismissed a weirdos, are damaged by too many strobe lights. If you take any entertainment celebrity seriously, you may wish to re-inventory your value system. And I include the metamorphosis of actor to President Ronald Reagan in this wide net.

Another category of celebrity who reeks even more havoc on society is the politician. A sub-category is the Christ-crazy religious freak who works his way into power elected by a like-minded constituency. These mostly evangelical sects use their position to proselytize their beliefs. If they had their way, every billboard would advertise: Jesus Saves; abortionists would be shot on sight, and Charles Darwin's books burned to be replaced with Bible stories. This gun-smitten section of our society also would push for a hand gun in every lunch box.

Still in a democracy you have the power to vote to limit their power. And with the recent presidential election, there is evidence that Religious Rights Power is weakening. Part of it was the stupefying conduct of born again GW Bush. Another is the Republican leadership problem of preaching one thing and doing the opposite.

Islam, Mormons and Confucians have tried to curb man's innate lust by polygamy, allowing him a certain number of wives, if affordable. Turkish and Chinese harems brought this regime to a refined social order. Catholics devised confessions to rid themselves of guilt once they felt sorry for the sins of the flesh. Hence, Europeans mostly in Catholic tradition, appear unfazed by the dalliances of their politicians.

But fornication and adultery were strictly banned by born-again Christians in the US. By preaching family values, the evangelicals believed they could chase the illicit sex demon away. They of course were wrong as many of their heros slipped into that sweet honey pot of sin.

Look, pitiful Barney Franks, Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer let the wrong part of their body make their squalid decisions; unlike the evangelists, none professed a purity of soul. Clinton used Jesse Jackson to promote a half-assed redemption; he denied he had sex with that women; but, Monica's blue dress with Clinton's DNA made him a lying fool.

Edwards was just a horny guy with a sick wife who followed his lolly. You make your own moral judgement. For me he was just too smarmy and his paramour was a hag; but as Kipling said: She was rag, a bone and a hank of hair, but she was his lady fair. Edwards was to betray many people who believed in him.

All these errant demos are creeps who betrayed public trust; the Republicans who commit sexual transgressions are freaks because they professed religious beliefs and publicly castigated those who did not bend to their credo. Foley, Craig, Ensign, Vitter, Gingrich, and now Sanford were spawn from the Religious Right – used their religion to promote themselves, but once they sinned, fell to earth like blazing comets.

Sanford's wife recently had an interview with reporters at the Sanford beach house and explained her devastation over her husbands affair. Stacked on the coffee table in front of her were devotional books. Time has come for the Republican Party to put their religion on a shelf and focus on the kingdom of man.

As far as Sanford's mistress in Argentina, there is no way to determine whether she is worth the destruction of his political career and possibly his marriage. But I will tell you one thing... there are many senoritas with that flair and allurement a lot closer to his home in South Carolina... in Orlando, Miami, and Puerto Rico; for certain, the carfare is a lot less than to Buenos Aires. But no one claims Holy Rollers have judgement. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

Photograph: Painting Saturn by Francisco Goya