On behalf of all those who sometimes drink to excess (.+++), I wish to say that I doubt his alcohol level was only a .12. There is no way that a .12 would result in his behavior, which was that of a lunatic. Had there been a blood test, I feel certain that some stuff other than just booze would have been found.

Meanwhile, MADD and the Puritans will have more ammo to lower DUI levels once again. Thanks, Mel, you big creep.

This is easily the most entertaining project he has been involved with. Absolutely, hands down, best celebrity melt down story of the new millenium. Certainly not worth raising your blood pressure over! Enjoy or ignore, Celebrities are SUPPOSED to amuse us.

If you followed the evolution of Gibson's publicity campaign for "Passion," you would see that, more than a year before the film opened, Mel appeared on The O'Reilly Factor claiming that "the people that run Hollywood" and "the people that run the New York TImes" don't want his movie out there. A FULL YEAR before anybody saw it, while the Hollywood CW was that no one would pay to see a religious movie all in Latin, so he couldn't get a distributor ( a very reasonable reticence on Hollywood's part, IMHO), Mel was talking to the evangelicals who watch Fox, using the "buzzwords" for Jews (the only people he mentioned by name were the Weinsteins, who, of course, were running Miramax at the time).

This isn't about jealousy over the success of his movie, and this isn't about a private little rant made by a drunk, one night, on PCH. This is about a man who ran the most anti-Semitic publicity campaign for anything so in the U.S. public arena in my lifetime. I don't know if the movie was anti-Semitic or not, because I didn't see it, but the ad campaign was, whipping up a further furor, and successfully baiting Jewish leaders by excluding them from screenings, et.al.

The success of his campaign was very educational. The claims that he was not an anti-Semite, by the right wing, was eye opening. I was not jealous of the success of his film. I was frightened by its success as any Jewish person in this country should be. And no, I'm not some sensitive, paranoid, everything, like criticism of Israel, is anti-Semitic type of person.

Now Mel has finally shown that if it quacks like a duck...

Anybody who works with him, particularly anyone Jewish, should be ashamed.

My sincerest apologies. I loved your latter post, by the way.

Re: Anonymous

Oh, shut the hell up before I hit ya in the head with one of my toy blocks!

Well said; and it gives me a glimmer of hope. Maybe some opposition candidate (I would have said Democrat, but I'm not so sure anymore) could start to make those points from the stump, Americans will come to their senses, and this ugly period of greed, hate and death will be over.

I think it started with Rush. A bunch of disaffected and marginalized people in the early nineties listening to their AM radios and being told that IT IS OKAY TO HATE. And that felt good to them -- because hate is empowering, and when you have very little power hate is about the only thing to climb up on.

It also started around the time that "PC" began to carry negative connotations. What is political correctness, but avoidance of speech that injures or distresses some person or some group? Condemnation of hateful rhetoric has always existed, as you point out in your article. I think what happened in, say, the eighties, is that the social recognition of marginalized people grew so much that our sense of what might offend grew exponentially. Twenty-five years ago, male executives could call their secretaries "girls" and not get any heat from it.

The rapid expansion of political correctness unwittingly expanded the hate, because it left people on the wrong side of the sensitivity issue in a way that was embarassing and alienating. I remember 20 years ago, being told in law school that I should not say "you guys" to refer to a mixed group. Well, duh, I say now. But back then it stung. It stung to be told I used inappropriate speech.

For some people that sting, that sense of social embarassment, drove them away from trying not to offend. And a whole new social group emerged of people unwilling to try, and proud of it.

This kind of merged with the rush-listeners, and left us in the bad spot where we are today.

and forgive him for his years of transgressions....in the name of attacking "political correctness," let me just say this.

Mel has been a well-known asshole and anti-semite for years. Were it not for the fact that his films make so much money, he would be in the position of Michael Jackson....his career would be over.

Just because he plays into the predjudices and ignorance of Christianist Hate Groups, he gets a pass from the religious right and their authoritarian-loving minions.

Even so, Gibson isn't stupid. He is well aware that by playing nice, nice with the knuckle draggers, he is also has to be able to do business in Hollywood, and generate revenue with his product.

Gibson is an antisemite. Only he has to get rip roaring drunk in order to tell you what is at his core. That isn't the booze speaking, that is Mel, striped of his inhibitions letting you know who he is...a mean drunk...with a load of hate, which he learned at his father's knee.

Go ahead and excuse him. That only clears things up about where you stand, because anyone who after Mel's weekend revelations who thinks this guy is to be admired for his religious convictions (ha!)...or is admirable on the basis of his torture porn epic, disguised as a sop to the rubes....or his bullying and obnoxious antics are to be admired.....that tells me all I need to know about you.