Tomorrow's Blue Plate Special

This is Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin and she's all over the press right now as her own Animal Planet show starts. She is essentially following in the hoof prints of her lunatic father, who pushed the jungle envelope one too many times and got what he was asking for. You cannot fool with nature forever. Let's face the facts. They are called WILD animals for a reason. We will never completely be on the same turf with them. Sooner or later, we piss them off and the fangs come out.

So, now they throw this poor 10 year-old into the mix to keep milking her dumbbell dad's cash cow. It's not like she's being deprived of a childhood as the kid has always been home-schooled, which means she will be better able to converse with a baboon than with the kid next door. But, at the same time, give the girl a break. Let her skip, jump rope, and have a Facebook like all the other youngsters her age. She may think she wants this type of life style now. But, who's saying she won't have a major breakdown 10 years from now and hold the lion cage at some Australian zoo hostage?

Who's to blame here? Well, first point your paw at her idiot mother, Terri, who's allowing her daughter to be exploited in this manner. And how creepy must it be for the kid to watch this footage which features a liberal smattering of Dopey Dad's mug throughout the show? The producers are no better. What a heartless way to keep a franchise alive? By destroying somebody's childhood.

And, of course, there will be plenty of handwringing down the line when the inevitable day arrives that finds poor Bindi being served as the hummus on some alligator's pita bread. Everybody will talk about how tragic the loss is. Mom will show up on Larry King the day of the funeral and talk about Bindi's courage and how she will pledge to carry on her work.

The time to be courageous is now. Let the child be a child. Bindi should be learning how to paint her toenails and not how to milk a rattlesnake.

Dinner last night: Dried Cappocollo sandwich.