NBC Botches Ann Curry's Departure from the Today Show

The executives at NBC mishandled Ann Curry's exit from Today in every way possible. They never released an official announcement that she was leaving, allowing media to have a field day speculating on her exit and the conditions surrounding it.

As a regular viewer, I start every weekday morning with Today, as I prepare for the work day. A subdued Ann Curry carried out her regular duties until she bid good-bye to viewers just before 9:00 a.m. Having already started work, I missed it live and later watched a video.

If NBC could have treated her with less respect, I don't know how. Meredith Vieira received a two-hour tribute amid a party atmosphere when she departed last year. Ann was forced to wait until her final five minutes before she could say her piece. No party, no celebration of her 15 years of contributions to Today, no parting gifts. She offered an apology for somehow missing the mark, and tearfully expressed her gratitude to the regular viewers of the show. Ann revealed that NBC had given her a "fancy new title" and would lead a group of seven correspondents who will cover the globe. Whoopeee!

While Ann might not have been well-cast as a co-host of Today, she certainly can't bear the blame for the fall in ratings. That must be shared by all concerned, and, most of all, the NBC decision makers, who have had a number of bombs in the past year. Today has morphed from a show that enlightened and informed as well as entertained into little more than an entertainment venue. NBC's abysmal treatment of Ann has convinced me to switch to another morning show, despite my long-term loyalty. At the very least, NBC should issue an official apology to Ann for the appalling manner in which her departure was handled.

I sincerely hope that her colleagues planned something special for her after the show because they should display their loyalty to her and could have done more to ease her out gracefully. Shame on everyone involved in this disrespect and public display of indifference to someone who had handled tough assignments effectively! Al Roker was the only one to show deep emotion to her in an entirely too small window of
opportunity.


Ann reports hard news better than anyone else on that show and should have received accolades for that at least. What a horrible way to end a 15-year run! 

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John and Rielle , No Longer a Couple

Rielle Hunter revealed that she and John Edwards split last week, although she still considers them a family. Quinn, Hunter's out-of-wedlock daughter, is the real loser in all of this drama. She has a mother who made no qualms about going after a married man, telling him when they met, "You're hot!" Her father is a gutless wonder who denied his relationship with Hunter and kept her hidden through much of her pregnancy.

Hunter has a penchant for the glare of the public spotlight and the media is complicit in giving her the stage. Her just-released memoir serves as the reason to interview her, thus giving her frequent on-air exposure. Ham and Wry believes viewers would be better served without the generous dishing out of time devoted to her story. Those who choose to buy her book will most likely do so out of prurient interest because it can't possibly have literary value. This blogger sincerely hopes that it flops.

Hunter vows that she still loves Edwards. Ham on Wry questions what she means by that term. From her statements, it seems she had more of a chemical reaction that eventually led to conceiving Quinn. She resents the moniker "home wrecker", yet she has certainly earned the title. To have carried on with Edwards during his wife Elizabeth's battle with cancer and eventual death ranks on the border of evil. Hunter must learn that you can't build a relationship on a foundation of deceit. Poor Quinn!

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Debby Does Tampa Bay

NOAA/GOES Photo

Tropical Storm Debby confounded weather forecasters for days before finally making it to tropical storm status. The storm's predicted path looped and swirled in multiple directions, rather like that of a giant roller coaster, so forecast models varied in what track the storm would follow.

Tampa Bay received her full fury Sunday, as Debby came ashore delivering high winds that frequently switched directions and dumped inches of rain in under an hour. She's a fickle lady that teases with her waxing and waning onslaught.

This unfortunate blogger had the audacity to venture out this morning and meet some friends who made the unfortunate choice of visiting the area during the rainy season. Three hours after breakfast ended, Debby drenched us with winds that blasted rain from all sides. A drive home that would normally take approximately 20 minutes doubled in length. Black clouds shrouded the skies and created a backdrop for the mini monsoon that made driving at normal speeds nearly impossible.

I arrived home safely by taking a route that kept me on higher ground than my usual route. Once I neared my destination, negotiating the large accumulations of water at lower elevations reminded me of running an obstacle course. I'm certain the ducks are celebrating, but traffic is almost nonexistent as I write this.

Forecasters have reached consensus that Debby will bypass Louisiana, and Ham on Wry envisions raucous celebrations on Bourbon Street. Louisiana should get a pass on all major storms, since it has experienced more than its share of nature's wrath in the past few years. The 9th Ward has still not recovered from Hurricane Katrina, which hit in 2005.

Current predictions have Debby tracking north, so the Florida panhandle and the Mississippi and Alabama coastal regions could be hit. A chance still exists for Debby to strengthen into a hurricane.

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Sandusky's Adopted Son Alleges Sexual Abuse

Gene J. Suskar/AP

In a statement given by his attorneys, Matt Sandusky, one of Jerry Sandusky's five adopted sons, has accused him of sexual abuse. Matt met Sandusky through the Second Mile charity, the same organization where Sandusky met all of the alleged victims.

Debra Long, Matt's biological mother, detailed her concerns about Matt living at the Sandusky home in letters found in his adoption file. Matt attempted suicide a few months after he moved in, and a probation officer later expressed doubts about his progress and personal safety there.

Matt Sandusky was not called as a prosecution witness at the trial, but Victim 4 recounted a story about an incident that occurred when Sandusky, Matt, and he had played racquetball. Afterward, Matt was in the shower when Jerry arrived, pumped soap in his hand, and Matt, appearing nervous, moved to another shower.

The case went to the jury Thursday, who deliberated for eight hours with no verdict. The jury, comprising seven women and five men, returned to the courtroom early this morning and requested that they again hear the testimony of prosecution witness Mike McQueary, a Penn State graduate assistant who later became an assistant coach, and Dr. Jonathan Dranov, a friend of McQueary's. Both testified about the shower incident in which McQueary saw Sandusky in the shower with a young boy. Dranov said McQueary had described the scene and heard sexual sounds but did not include the graphic detail that he gave in his court testimony. McQueary said he didn't tell Dranov everything.

The outcome now rests with the jury. As stated in a previous post about this trial, Ham on Wry doesn't know what the jury will decide. I do know without a doubt that adult men do not belong in the same shower as young boys. At the very least, Jerry Sandusky is guilty of inappropriate behavior.

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Rielle Hunter Tell-all Trashes Elizabeth Edwards

Behold the baby mama of John Edwards' illegitimate child. Too bad Rielle Hunter didn't vet her paramour  more carefully before running headlong into an affair during his run for President. Maybe she wouldn't have changed her mind anyway. After all, she continued the tryst, even after his fervent public denials of his involvement with her. 

Her soon-to-be released memoir has leaked details of selected portions of the book, and the real Rielle has a decided bent toward sleaze. She revels in details about her first steamy sexual encounter with "Johnny", as she delights in calling Edwards and states that she has no regrets about having sex with a man whose wife is battling breast cancer. Her tell-all reveals a self-absorbed person with an absence of integrity and character.

She blames Elizabeth Edwards for "Johnny's" indiscretion, saying that she was "bonkers" and calling her a "witch on wheels." Ham on Wry could suggest a derogatory name for Rielle, but "Johnny" captured it best when he referred to her as a "crazy slut." Anyone with an ounce of decency would never insinuate that a person with a fatal disease caused her husband's affair. That choice lays at the feet of "Johnny" himself.

Quinn, the couple's illegitimate daughter is the loser in ll this. She has two parents so caught up in their separate delusions of grandeur that she will get lost in their battle of egos. Rielle demurs (but certainly not on the basis of decency) when assessing her current relationship with "Johnny." They recently spent a weekend together at his beach house, but she remains vague about whether they will marry. I can't think of two people who deserve each other more!

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Victim 9 Mom Testifies Before Sandusky Defense Begins

Gene J. Puskar AP

The mother of Victim 9, who alleges that he was repeatedly sodomized and forced to perform oral sex on Sandusky testified as the last witness for the prosecution. She blames herself for encouraging her son to spend nights at the Sandusky home, despite his objections, because she didn't realize that Sandusky was sexually abusing him. 

She was a single mom working two jobs and thought her son had been given a wonderful opportunity. On several occasions, he returned home with no underwear after his sleepovers, always claiming that he had thrown away the underwear because he'd had an accident. Her testimony was laced with tears as she told the jury that Victim 9 had developed stomach problems and had difficulty sleeping. She recounted an occasion when her son had called her to pick hi up and was waiting outside with no shoes. Sandusky was not waiting with him.

When the defense began its case, two Penn State retired assistant coaches testified that it was routine for boys to shower in the coaches locker room and that it was common for coaches to shower with young people. Danger! Danger! Ham on Wry could understand if the young boys, not Penn State athletes, showered in a separate are, but together? That's totally inappropriate. If that testimony was designed to mitigate Sandusky's so-called "horsing round" in the shower with a young boy, an incident reported to Penn State officials, it failed.

Ham on Wry closes with a pointed question. If Sandusky's actions had no inappropriate overtones, why did Penn State ban him from taking young boys into the shower room beginning in 2001?

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USAF Unmanned Space Plane Returns to Earth

AP Photo of X-37B Aircraft

Kept secret for the entire 15 months, the X-37B ended its journey into space during the early morning hours Saturday, June 16, 2012 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launched in March 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the space plane extended its original mission from nine to fifteen months. Even though the plane carried no passengers, it  landed flawlessly.

Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre, X-37B program manager,  gave a glowing report of the plane's performance saying, "The return capability allows the Air Force to test new technologies without the same risk commitment faced by other programs. We're proud of the entire team's successful efforts to bring this mission to an outstanding conclusion."

Both the payload carried on the aircraft and the type of experiments performed during the mission are clouded in secrecy because details remain classified. However, officials did disclose that this was the second time one of the X-37B's, specifically Orbital Test Vehicle 2 or OTV-2, had completed a spaceflight.

Speculation abounds that the OTV's purpose involves space spying, although the Air Force firmly denies those allegations. Richard McKinney, the Air Force's deputy undersecretary for space programs, stated, "My words to others who might read anything else into that is, 'Just listen to what we're telling you. This is, pure and simple, a test vehicle so we can prove technologies and capabilities," after OTV-1 landed in 2010.

Ham on Wry has long had a fascination with space and all of its unknowns. We might never solve the mystery of what experiments occurred on board, but shouldn't we believe what officials tell us? These are the same people who say there's no such thing as a UFO.  Yeah, right!

 

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