KIDS _____THE DARNDEST THINGS

   Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby were right: Kids, even famous ones, say the darndest things. Add a couple more verbs, and you have the trilogy of bad form that played itself out - where else - in headlines and online this past week.
   Angus Jones, the young actor from "Two and a Half Men", infamously referred to his bread and butter job as "filth" in an online video that has since gone viral, encouraging viewers to turn the channel from the hit television show that is Jones' meal ticket.
   Where was his mama?  Unless he knew he'd have the winning powerball ticket, why throw your own job under the bus? Had he thought for a second, which obviously he didn't, about the potential long-term consequences of his ill-advised exercise at freedom of speech, maybe he wouldn't have SAID the darndest of things.
   Perhaps he was taking a cue from another youngster, Justin Bieber, who WORE the darndest thing when meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister. I like that kid. I spend every weekday morning with him and my swooning teenager in the car on the way to school, but again, I wondered, where was his mama?
  A small army of people make a lot of money protecting the Biebermachine, his brand and image. Wasn't there ONE person in his circle of handlers that thought the Biebermeister might look better in a collared shirt instead of overalls, and undone at that?  Dear Mr. Greenjeans: Your fame may eclipse that of the prime minister, but it shouldn't be an excuse to disrespect the Canadian leader by leaving decorum back in the dressing room and WEARING the darndest of things.
   And finally, this three-ringed circus of bad behavior wouldn't be complete without perennial problem child Lindsay Lohan, a human magnet for trouble, who this week again found herself in hot water by allegedly DOING the darndest of things in the pre-dawn darkness at a New York City nightclub.  Accused of punching a patron, I wondered again where her mama was? I know, probably down the street at another club.  Even Liz Taylor knew that NOTHIING good happens at 4 a.m. at a NYC nightclub!
    If these overgrown kids, idolized for their fame and antics, had only thought before speaking (into a video camera), looked in a full-length mirror, or hailed a cab after last call like nice (not mean) girls do, they'd be doing a great service to the legions of fans who follow them like puppy dogs, and no doubt now have the mixed message that speaking your mind, wearing what you want, and settling disputes with limbs doesn't matter.  
   News flash: It 'MANNERS' a lot!
   Wonder what Linkletter and Cosby would think?