Sure. Mr. Tough Guy was cursing and name-calling at an 11-year-old girl, his own daughter.

Totally normal, rational, sensible behavior, right?

If somebody recorded everything you said in the middle of a heated argument and posted it on the internet, you would look bad. As would we all.

So cut the guy some friggin’ slack.

To reprimand a 11-year-old for being irresponsible (if true) is appropriate. You tell the 11-year-old that her conduct is unacceptable and irresponsible.

What you DON’T do is humiliate and threaten the child. He really, really sounds nuts.

My father made drill sergeants look like girl scouts. Usually at the end of one of this tirades I would get a whoopin. He used his belt and my brother and I would compare welts afterwords.

Guess today my dad would be arrested for child abuse.

An interesting post on the subject this morning by ThirdScreen, worth checking out:
The Voicemail Solution for Alec Baldwin’s Daughter (and for the rest of us)
YouMail.com

http://blogs.business2.com/thirdscreen/2007/04/the_voicemail_s.html

Sorry. By that I mean Baldwin left a recorded message. He “made” the recording by speaking into a recording device.

Gee, matt, you got me on a technicality, there. 11 is NOT a teenager. And thanks for excusing me. /sarcasm. However, if you had kids of your own (which I’m guessing from your tirade that you probably don’t), you might know that they don’t all wait until they turn 13 to start exhibiting “teenage” behavior.

I don’t really give a damn if you get ‘frustrated’. No one forced you to have a kid. Everyone gets angry. No excuse possible for calling an 11 year old girl a pig.

That’s fortunate, because I don’t really give a damn about your opinion. Who said I was looking for sympathy or complaining about having kids? I simply said that I’ve been in those shoes and understood where the frustration was coming from. Did you miss the part where I said “Baldwin lost it, no excuse, shame on him”? Just because I understand how Baldwin could get pissed doesn’t mean I’m in any way excusing his behavior. It’s NEVER right to give in to anger or frustration it and lash out (either physically or verbally) at a child. Duh. I didn’t think I had to spell that out for you.

Well I would probably pay more for info on Basinger, especially if it included pics. But you’re right. Still, while I don’t follow this sort of news much, I can’t recall at the moment of anything like this happening with other similar trials from OJ, Blake, Spector, Brando, …?

If I were the judge and thought someone in my court and done something like this, I would be sending people to jail.

I don’t know how Baldwin got the recording, though I suspect he probably had to be given a copy of the recording when it was submitted as evidence.

I think Occam’s Razor would point away from Baldwin releasing the recording, but if I were Baldwin and HAD released the recording, you’re damn right I would try to get my lawyer to release that statement.

Again, that’s why I think that Basinger, if she didn’t release it, should be asking the court to find out who did.

And if you were Baldwin and had made the recording, would you also have your lawyer release a statement blaming Basinger?

Entirely reasonable.

Consider as well that news about public figures like Mr. Baldwin is a marketable commodity. Would it be at all possible that outlets that traffic in this sort of news might cultivate sources inside the courthouses of Los Angeles?

Farfetched, I know.

And again, I would ask the court to investigate how the recording was released, because to my mind, releasing the recording is harmful to Ireland and prejudicial to everyone involved and makes the judges job that much harder.

(But who knows, people wisely do not ask me these things often (or more than once.))

Well I do think Occam’s Razor points to Basinger, but I wouldn’t make that conclusion.

I think if I were Baldwin I would consider asking the judge to either a) find Basinger at fault or b) investigate his courtroom or c) both, and failing that, I would move for a different judge. Because if it’s not Basinger, then that court would have to be terribly biased against Baldwin, and I would get that out in the record.

I can believe it was Basinger, or someone involved with the courts that should be tossed in jail for that release (unless for some reason it is considered to be in the public domain), but I can’t see any reason to think this was Baldwin or his lawyer.

Baldwin’s lawyer, Vicki Greene, told TMZ, “Whatever happened yesterday was sealed and confidential. What you’re telling me you’ve got you shouldn’t have.” Sounds to me as though a crime was committed. I would be incensed and demand the court investigates and if it was Basinger, that it takes that crime into account while making its decision on the custody issues.

Exemplary. Tell me, was that sentence at all difficult to write? Others here have found it prohibitively challenging.

“I don’t know how the recording got into anyone’s hands…”

That small truth eludes other commenters and in its absence, they declare that Ms. Basinger must also be at fault.

I’m sure you’ll agree that my assumptions provide an equally reliable measure for evaluating the character of all sorts of people.

I find Glenn Sacks is a pretty sane, rational, and fair minded guy. He does fight for father’s rights, but he also has expressed support for feminism when he thinks that is deserved, and he has called out other men for being assholes and terrible fathers.

He doesn’t let Baldwin off the hook here, but he gives some context to what he thinks is going on.

Quaker, I think it is true that Basinger’s mom has in the past blamed Basinger for wrecking the relations between the Ireland and Alec Baldwin. It’s also true that Basinger was taken to court for denying Baldwin visitation (I don’t know the outcome of that.)

It’s an ugly divorce, but it is not at all clear that either of them are better or worse than the other one.

I also don’t know how a court recording got in anyone’s hands or even why it is considered newsworthy without other evidence of Baldwin being an abusive parent.

It’s also not clear to me that the phrase to “straighten you out” is a threat or should be considered a threat to a judge.

And she’s 11 and not a teenager and so she should be immune to that sort of talk? I am also not sure about that. Baldwin did blow it. His language was horrible. But parents do blow up and say horrible things they regret. And so do kids. At 11 she is a kid and shouldn’t hear this. But other 11 year olds have problems with addiction, and are having kids of their own. Some 11 year olds are joining armies. At 12 and 13 in my religion, kids are considered to become adults. At 18 in our society, kids are considered to become adults. How does that happen if we have an attitude that at 11 they are not expected to deal with some of this behavior?

Custody battles are ugly and a tragedy. And shouldn’t be fought in public.