A City Without Pity

The horrific torture and death of a pretty eighteen year old Ukrainian girl has shocked the world, and it's a world that doesn't shock easily. Oksana Makar, finally and mercifully died three weeks after being found half strangled, raped, tortured, set on fire and thrown out like so much garbage into a building pit by three sadists who lured her to an apartment with evil in mind. Even after learning all that some local women blamed the victim saying "she was just a loose girl." And all because she met two of the monsters in a bar and agreed to follow them to an apartment. And all because she was young and pretty and wanted to live a little and have a little fun. Her death is a powerful indictment on a city famous for its corruption, for allowing the rich to literally get away with murder. It's an indictment on a country famous for its lack of respect for women. A country where the rich and well connected reign supreme and make their own laws. The tragedy of her life and death now shines a light into that travesty, and the world will be watching very closely to see if these three monsters get punished no matter how influential they are. But let us not forget that these three hateful characters are nothing but a product of a sick society, a society that taught them to disrespect women and treat them like dirt from an early age because women are expendable and only men are valuable.

Meltdown on the Air

So it finally happened, a pilot had an spectacular breakdown in mid air. It took many people to restrain him because he was completely out of it and yelling incoherencies. It must have been terrifying to be on that JetBlue plane and be witness to such a sad, frightening event. My guess is that he was under tremendous pressure for a long time and he finally snapped. He might have been holding it in till he couldn't hold it anymore. He obviously needs help and JetBlue should first investigate the real cause of his breakdown before proceeding to file charges against him. Let's not forget that pilots are only human and with the monster hours most of them are forced to put, I'm surprised we don't get more tragic incidents such as this. My thoughts and prayers are with him.

Of Human Mendacity

The story in the Post about the Queens couple who used and abused a disabled fifty eight year old woman really killed me. They took her out of her assisted living facility and took her into hell, a hell of beatings with inhuman psychological and physical abuse which would have surely ended in death if her niece hadn't finally realized something was wrong. What's clear is that this poor woman was desperately alone and in need of company, so she fell prey to these monsters who forced her to give them power of attorney and were robbing her blind. They should be punished to the full extent of the law for their brutality and mendacity, these human leeches she probably befriended out of loneliness who saw her need for tenderness and human companionship and fully took advantage of it. I don't know the circumstances with her niece or the kind of relationship they had, but one should never abandon a person. We are in this world to help each other, to show compassion and mercy. I know we all lead extremely busy lives but we should always make time for those less fortunate, it's what makes us human, what gives meaning to our lives, caring for others, making time for them before it's too late. Thank God this poor woman was found alive, but the scars of her ordeal will take a long time to heal, if they ever do, and all because of greed and unbelievable cruelty.

Remembering Marilyn

I finally saw "My Week with Marilyn." I had resisted watching this film because I couldn't see Michelle Williams as Marilyn, but boy, was I surprised. Never mind that she's a lot shorter, not at all voluptuous or overtly sensual like the unforgettable Marilyn. She got into the character's skin and very adeptly pulled it off. She captured her innocence, confusion and painful insecurities. She captured her softness and radiant beauty. She captured her melancholy and uniqueness; the strange mixture of pathos and greatness that made her unforgettable. Michelle Williams is a great actress and she did her character justice. Marilyn would have approved of her performance for she brought her back to life with lots of love and compassion.

The Oldest Profession

With the oldest profession in the news again, maybe it's time to take a second look at it and come to terms with the fact that prostitution is here to stay. It has been with us from the beginning of times and it will continue being with us till the end of times. So why then this reluctance to make it legal once and for all? Why can the government have legal places for this sort of thing the way they do in Europe? Why can't the women and their madams pay taxes like everyone else? It's a never ending cycle of catching them and jailing them for a while till the scandal dies down and new ones take their place. The truth is that there's a very lucrative market for it and while there's a market for it more and more people will enter into it for different reasons, some will do it out of necessity and others simply because they like sex with different men and want to profit from it. But regardless of how it comes about, prostitution is here to stay and we should just admit it and get it over with. The whole thing is a charade and a joke anyway, so stop persecuting these women and force them instead to pay their fare share of taxes.

The Price of Hubris

The story of the fight between the Morgan Stanley banker and the New York cabbie has been in the papers for two days now. The big shot banker claims the cabbie tried to rob him by inflating the fare from $200 to almost $300. The cabbie claims that was the agreed upon price and that the banker refused to pay it once he got to his mansion in Connecticut. What is clear is that the fight got pretty uggly and the banker stabbed the cabbie in the hand with a penknife when the outraged cabbie started driving him back to the city. What I want to know is why didn't this executive take a company car? These guys can take limousines for crying outloud and they do it all the time. But putting all that aside, why didn't he just pay the fare and complained about the cabbie later? That would have been the smart, sensible thing to do and he's supposed to be the superior intellect here. Yet he showed unbelievable lack of self control and tact by fighting with the cabbie like a fishwife, and by assaulting him with a weapon. The reason for this is simply "hubris." He was the big shot and the other guy only a "lowly cabbie." "How dared he butt heads with me like an equal?" "This worm I could stamp under my feet?" The truth is that the banker showed his dark side and it wasn't a pretty one. Being used to a world where all his needs are fulfilled right away, where underlings do his bidding with no questions asked, he was challenged by the lowest of the low and he simply couldn't take it so he snapped, embarrassing the high brow company he works for, earning himself a a nice little suspension, to say nothing of a terrible reputation, and that might be just the beginning. I suspect that little wild episode is going to cost him plenty, might even lose him his job, as Morgan Stanley does not like this kind of publicity and the cabbie will end up with a nice chunk of change. Lesson learned here? Treat everybody the way you want to be treated. It doesn't matter what you do or how big you get, we're all equal human beings on this earth, and we all deserve respect for what we do for a living.