Mister D: I’m not going to post anything more about this except for the below. I found it on MySpace from a bulletin post Wendy made. It’s a fair assessment of the problem.
The ugliness about all this Midler press is coming from on-line bloggers who are pretty right wing and they are constantly looking for anything that might make all of Hollywood sound like hypocrites (double click on the word hypocrites and you’ll see that Ms. Midler does not fit the definition…the word is majorly misused)…a major talking point of the right wing. It keeps them from thinking about their own and their party’s weaknesses. In fact, I would venture to say, it just keeps them from thinking period.
Sometimes don’t you just envy these people that they just know the answers to everything. It’s all black or white, right or wrong, good or evil to them. There are no shades of gray, no nuance, no reading or research. No, all the latter have become bad words, unfortunately drilled into them by the Republican party or right wing hate mongers mainly looking for ratings and votes by using this uninformed base to spread their word. The operative word being “using.” It’s sad and pathetic, but wow, can’t you all imagine how easy life would be to think like this. Just put things in one box or the other one. Like I said, shades of gray. But hopefully the majority, from all walks of life, know that life is not that simple.
It’s so easy to criticize those who really try to make a difference like Ms. Midler and others. She has been responsible for saving so many trees, beautifying New York and bringing back to life many communities thru park renovations, beatiful gardens in low income areas, boathouses, etc. She bought acres and acres of land that cost millions in order to preserve the property to preserve the natural beauty and the plants and trees that are indigenous to Hawaii, and in the process of doing so, saving the wildlife inhabiting it. Also something she never talks about much is her work to improve the educational system. Currently most of her efforts are going to improve the New York City area thru “hands on” work.
A person can find fault with anything. After all we are all human, even the “Hollywood” crowd, but they are human, too. We all make mistakes and one of the most courageous things is to stand up and say “I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” This can be hard for anybody. I know from some of the BetteHeads I’ve had to deal with. And then you make the effort to make things right. Which is what Ms. Midler did…right away.
In my opinion, none of us escape from being hypocrites at some point or another. Especially if we are idealists. But the great thing about idealists, if they don’t get frustrated with themselves (it can stop you from doing anything), is that they do strive for excellence and in the process do wonderful work.
The people I find more damaging are those that just lie on purpose and say something else…making life miserable for others, yet profiting from their deceit. They haven’t tried to make a positive difference…they seek to divide people and spread conflict…mostly in the name of politics. Many of the followers of BLB and Ms. Midler know what I’m talking about. Do I need to really spell it out for the others?
I say to the others who make the nasty comments against Ms. Midler, the Pitts, Bill Maher, and a host of others who are TRYING to make some kind of positive difference, take a look at yourself first and ask what you are doing that is any way positive, then concentrate on that, and do better.
E Online
August 23, 2007
If it’s not easy being green, then it’s especially not easy being green 24/7. As Bette Midler might attest.
The entertainer and noted eco-booster is looking at $6,500 in fines for cutting down some 235 trees on a property in Hawaii without permission.
“She’s very sorry that it happened, and accepts responsibility because she’s very active environmentally,” Midler attorney Max W.J. Graham Jr. said Wednesday.
Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources will consider penalizing Midler for her “serious” violation, as a state report termed it, at a scheduled meeting Friday.
Midler ran afoul of the green police last October when, per the report, state land and conservation officials spotted trees being cleared on a 1.3-acre property she owns on the island of Kauai. Among the casualties, it said, were 120 Java Plum, 100 Octopus and 10-20 Madagascar Olive trees, all nonnative species.
According to Graham, Midler’s mistake was an elemental one: “She didn’t understand that they needed a permit to remove the trees.”
Midler’s intent in clearing the trees was to make way for trees and plants of the native kind. Graham described the property, which Hawaii-native Midler has owned since 1986, as a vacant lot overgrown with the likes of the Java.
According to the state, Midler’s camp informed officials in January that it had hired a botanist/conservation biologist to look at the land. Plans to redo the property will move ahead, Graham said.
“We’re going to make the property much nicer than it was before,” Graham said.
Such vows are keeping Midler in good with the green likes of Ecorazzi, the celebrity-ecology blog. “This all seems pretty innocent,” a post said. “Plus, Bette has gone the extra mile in paying the fines, and bringing in a botanist to plant native species throughout. Seems like a win/win.”
Midler, who played Mother Nature in a 1990 Earth Day TV special, founded the New York Restoration Project, aimed at trashing trash in Big Apple parks, open spaces and vacant lots, in 1995. Her earth-hugging ways even became fodder for a 1993 episode of The Simpsons, where Bart and Lisa found Midler picking up litter along a highway.
On her entertainment front, the 61-year-old Grammy winner is scheduled to bring her big, bawdy act to Las Vegas next year as Caesars Palace’s new house act, succeeding Celine Dion.
Midler and choreographer Toni Basil, of “Mickey” fame, were in Vegas on Tuesday auditioning dancers for the show.
Talent, after all, doesn’t grow on trees.
Love, Mister D
