I’m still trying to understand the train wreck best known as the Bollea Divorce Scandal.  Accusations of Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, fooling around with women half his age, accusations of his wife, Linda, fooling around with men half her age, declarations of understanding OJ Simpson’s mentality, accusations of steroids and rage….it goes on and on.  Meanwhile, their son recently served jail time for destroying his friend’s life due to his “need for speed” and the consequences of racing at 100+ speeds in a car no one should be allowed to own before they’re 25.  That pesky testosterone gets in the way every time.

Where and when does it stop for these people?  Their over-the-top lifestyles clearly didn’t include room for any level of dignity or self-respect.  That’s truly sad because at one time, at least in the wrestling world, Hulk Hogan was the hero in every kid’s eyes.  This hero was quoted as saying just this week, “I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like OJ, cutting everybody’s throat” to a reporter for Rolling Stone.  The Mrs. has struck back as a result of his latest verbal assault with accusations of fights that went too far and yet another mention of steroid rage due to his chosen career.  They both have excellent attorneys who are most probably lying awake at night figuring out new ways to keep their clients quiet.  Their very public

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lifestyle is left wide open for public ridicule, which is happening on a daily basis.  Keep in mind, this is the same family that had the once-popular reality series, “Hogan Knows Best” that painted a relatively sane picture of an American family - or so we thought.

Neither of these people is hiding their affairs.  Bollea has seen “some shaggy haired pool boy” who’s thirty years younger than his wife driving his Escalade and knows is playing happy homemaker in his house, with his wife and in his bed.  On the other hand, he’s not even tried to keep his own affairs secret.  But despite all of this, and just when you think it can’t get any worse, there’s one fact that seems to have gotten lost in this insanity: They’re still married!

We’ve arrived at the last day of this eventful and historical year.  In hindsight, we realize we’ve witnessed much history and have seen things we never dreamed possible.  The country’s largest companies have found themselves struggling just to keep their doors open, political leaders in new scandals from everything from marital affairs to placing price tags on political vacancies and the unbelievable audacity of one businessman’s belief he could get away with the theft of fifty billion dollars.  Below you’ll find a few more newsworthy events from the last half of 2008. The first half can be found here and here.

July 15 - A woman calls 911 to report her granddaughter has been missing for thirty one days. Caylee Anthony, who was two years old when she disappeared, has since been found murdered less than one half mile from her home.  Her own mother, Casey Anthony, was indicted on October 14 for the murder.  Her trial is set to begin in early 2009.

July 23 - Hurricane Dolly makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the U.S.-Mexico border.

August 29 - Republican presidential candidate John McCain announces his running mate.  AK Governor Sarah Palin comes in with a bang and shakes up the entire election.  She’s well-received and

Anne Pressly

quickly gains a solid following from those not only from her home state, but from the country as a whole.

September 13 -  This is the day most analysts agree was day the chains come unhinged as Lehman Brothers announced it was near bankruptcy, AIG announced it was in hot water because of its underwriting practices and the mortgage crisis finally comes into full light and Americans realized just how bad things were on the economic front.

October 2008 - OJ Simpson is finally found guilty of one of his crimes.  A jury determined he was guilty of several felonies committed during a Las Vegas hotel room break-in.  He’s accused of stealing, at gunpoint, sports memorabilia and other momentos.  He’s facing thirty-three years in prison as a result of this guilty verdict.

October 20 - Anne Pressly, an admired Arkansas news anchor, was found murdered in her home.  A suspect has since been arrested and is awaiting trial.

October 24 - Jennifer Hudson’s family, including her mother and brother, are found murdered in their Chicago home.  A few days later, her nephew is found murdered in an abandoned vehicle.  An ex-husband of her sister is now charged with these murders. 

October 2008 - New legal provisions are passed that require insurance companies to provide the same coverage for mental health as they do physical health.  For twelve years, advocates have worked to ensure this law is passed.

November 4 - National history is made as Barack Obama becomes the first black president ever elected and will be the first U.S. president to enter office during wartime. 

Jennifer Hudson

November 2008 - The pregnant man (who is biologically a woman) announces a second pregnancy.  Thomas Beatie, a transgender who has undergone testosterone therapy but still has the reproductive organs of a woman, gave birth for the first time in March of this year.

December 9 - IL Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested for attempting to sell the vacancy left by President-elect Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate.  He’s also been accused of a number of other illegal and unethical activities.  Attempts are now being made to have him impeached from office.

As we head into a new year, we do so in a recession but also with hopes of effective solutions to these problems and with sincere attempts to leave the “one step forward and two steps back” way of doing things behind.

I’ve been awaiting the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial just so I could post about it. And the day has come. I’m sure anyone would be hard pressed to find more than a small handful of people who believe O.J. did not commit murder in 1995. As we have all heard time and again over the years, he was acquitted of those charges in California. If he thought his life would be one of luxury and

OJ Simpson

overindulgence after the acquittal, he was only half right. He’s redefined overindulgence if for no other reason his extreme narcissism that allows him to believe he’s entitled to all the spoils of a retired successful NFL football player.

For some bizarre reason, he believed he could waltz into a Nevada hotel room and in a Wyatt Earp moment, with guns blazing and big apes on either side of him and demand a host of sports memorabilia be turned over to him. He insists it was stolen from him and he was only reclaiming it. Yeah, well….whatever. Now, much as I was looking forward to the verdict in his trial that concluded on Saturday, I’ve not kept up with the minute by minute goings-on during the trial. Seems as though I wasn’t the only one - not only do most people not even know the district attorney’s name, but we have no idea what shade of blue his or her suit was, nor did we care about the grooming habits, haircuts or love lives of any of the lawyers this go around. And honestly, when I think back to the murder trial in the mid-90s, I can truthfully say I never watched one minute of it, even if it was broadcast on every news network. Still, though, I anticipated the verdict that was announced twenty four hours ago. I doubt anyone, including O.J. Simpson, was surprised at being found guilty on all charges. In fact, I was watching the news when the jurors announced a verdict, which ironically came thirteen years to the day of the verdict in his double homicide case, CNN never even broke in with the familiar foreboding music announcing a breaking news announcement. It was only significant enough to scroll across the bottom of the screen in a red banner.

And here’s where my interest begins to peak. First of all, am I the only one anticipating his attorneys to appeal the verdict based on the jury thinking even if he wasn’t guilty of armed robbery, there’s something he’s bound to be guilty of and since he got away with murder, a guilty verdict would wash, somehow balance the scales? Or maybe they will appeal due to the inability to find a jury who’s lived in a vacuum the past decade and a half and has no idea O.J. Simpson was ever anything other than a football player? And what about the jurors? You know they’re waiting with baited breath for the accusations to start flying regarding their inability to separate the two trials. A jury consists of a panel of people who have careers, kids and bad haircuts; or maybe bosses who they have to make excuses for and spouses who have to make excuses for them - you know, everyday people with lives and joys and heartbreak. There’s a very good chance they will collectively be on the hot seat between the media clamoring for interviews and relatives, co-workers and friends demanding details of whether they ever made eye contact with O.J. or what they had for dinner during deliberations - things won’t be considered normal for them for awhile.

And then - the question on what they did convict him for lies dormant until that almost-certain appeal comes. And then it finally boils down to whether or not anyone cares what he was convicted for, only that this man is finally getting his just desserts. Not very American, is it? Maybe not - but it’s certainly human.