Hollywood comeback

Mel has done a good deal of charity work. His publicist makes sure people can find out about it.

I was stunned to discover how much time people like David Letterman or Robin Williams had given to the USO -- a very public charitable cause. It turned out that Williams performed for the troops tirelessly, but we never got to hear about it until his death. I'm assuming you'd take a different point of view, but I don't think working for charities then having your PR man leak the info to the press is entirely selfless giving, as you're trying to make it appear.

I will say that Mel's career is a testament to what keeping one's head down can do. It's also a testament to lowered expectations. I remember the stir his divorce from his wife and the first child out of wedlock caused for the director of "The Passion of the Christ." I used to be on the old POTC board on IMDb, and it was sort of sweet how people were swearing that Mel was no longer going to do R-rated secular movies, but was going to devote his life to making Christian movies.

He then got some award and shocked everyone with an F-bomb-laden acceptance speech at a luncheon.

Then the divorce, which shocked many. Then the reason why, which shocked more -- other than the people who'd been hearing of his cheating ways for years in Hollywood. People speculated on when he'd do the right thing and marry Oksana, but that was not to be. And now he's a father again to another child born out of wedlock to a completely different woman, after several girlfriends in between. No shock or surprise at this point -- he's just another Hollywood baby daddy. How the whitewashed have fallen!

"Time to move on from the hate." The usual line, said without a trace of irony. Mel's hate is never acknowledged. Do you really think a man who could sound like the one on those recordings just stopped hating?