Beauty and the Beast

"It's good to know that if I behave strangely enough, society will take full responsibility for me." Ashleigh Brilliant

If you want an example of the decline of responsibility in American culture, look no farther than Philly. Especially this week. From the ridiculous to the tragic, we've got your yin and yang news right here.

Two illegal acts, two arrests. One a tabloid dream. The other a family's worst nightmare.

Local CBS TV anchor-babe Alycia Lane was arrested in New York for assaulting a police officer during an argument between Lane's well-lubricated companions and three plain clothes cops.

Lane attacked the cops with her iPhone and some nasty words, "I don't give a f- who you are. I am a reporter you f-ing dyke."

If Alycia Lane is a reporter, I'm the Easter Bunny.

And if Djuan Boyd is a good father, I'm Santa Claus.

Mr. Boyd, a convicted gun felon and drug dealer took his son Dyshon to his grandmother's house. While the adults were downstairs watching TV, 4-year-old Dyshon found a gun in his father's coat pocket.

You know what's coming.

Little Dyshon Boyd will never become a 5-year-old. He accidentally shot himself in the neck with his father's gun. He's dead.

Djuan Boyd is now charged with involuntary manslaughter, illegal gun possession and endangering the welfare of a child.

He should be charged with murder. There was nothing "involuntary" in his negligence. He didn't "endanger the welfare" of his child. He killed that boy as surely as if he'd pulled the trigger himself.

And all you gun nuts can just shut up. You have a kid, you shouldn't have a gun. If you do have a gun, you sure as hell don't leave it lying around the house in your coat pocket. In the same room where your 4-year-old son is playing.

The man is a Beast. Inside and out.

Alycia Lane is only a Beauty on the outside. While she didn't kill anything more than some viewers' expectations and possibly her own on-air future, she showed us her inner beast.

Her behavior was stupid and ugly. Djuan Boyd's was truly heinous. In the end, they're two peas in a pod. Both too selfish, self-indulgent and self-important to care about right and wrong. Both filled with a sense of entitlement that is just plain outrageous.

Alycia Lane may pay for it with her job. Djuan Boyd's young son already paid with his life.