Peein' on The Pooh

I'm a pretty tolerant guy. Unlike most radio/TV pundits, it takes a lot to get me "outraged." I'm willing to overlook a lot, forgive and forget, live and let live.

Take, for example, the fundagelicals' favorite artist, Thomas Kinkade. He's made millions selling his inspirational paintings to the Christian market. Good for him.

So what if former business associates and investors are suing Kinkade for taking his company public, driving down the stock price and then buying it back for about 15% of what it was once worth. Business is business.

So what if he gets drunk, falls off bar stools and then screams "F you!' at people who try to help him up. Hard drink will do that to some folks.

So what if he goes up to a woman at an art show, palms her breasts and yells "Great tits!" Artists have a zest for life.

So what if he engages in "ritual territory marking" (his own words) by urinating in public. We make allowances for an artist's eccentricities.

But Thomas Kinkade went too far. According to the Los Angeles Times, a few years back Kinkade was Robert Schuller's guest on "Hour of Power" at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. The night before his appearance he and some friends did some heavy drinking on the town. On the way back to their rooms at the Disneyland Hotel, Kinkade stopped, announced, "This one's for you, Walt," and urinated on a figure of Winnie the Pooh.

Now, that's outrageous. Kinkade says he "grew up in the country," and that's what country folks do. Bull. I grew up on a farm, and, O.K., maybe once in a while, way over the hill on the back forty; otherwise, we went to the bathroom in the bathroom. I still do.

I don't care where you grew up. You don't pee on The Pooh. You just don't.