There seems to be a whole lot of people saying things that are causing quite a stir lately. Sharon Stone caused a stir at a fund raiser when she not only said that the earthquake against China was bad karma for them because of how they treat Tibetians, but she also sat on P. Diddy's lap and asked him if he'd been spending all his money on crack.

Then we have Scott McClellan, George Bush's former press secretary, coming out with his book where he's basically trashing the president, one of his former best friends as well as the guy he worked for, over many things that occurred during the early White House years.

And finally, though not quite on the same level, we have Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons going off on the referees after a loss the other night.

So, what's happened? Sharon Stone lost a big endorsement deal which will cost her millions, received a lot of bad publicity for piling on people who aren't responsible for how their government is perceived, and is now offering to go to China to help as much as she possibly can. Scott McClellan seems to be enjoying the scrutiny coming from the Bush camp, which can only help his book become a best seller, but after this book where does he possibly think he can go, unless he starts his own company? After all, who wants someone working for them who might turn on them publicly later on? Rasheed Wallace got fined $25,000, which isn't much for a guy who earns $15 million a year or so, but faces the possibility of a big suspension as a habitual rules breaker, which then could start costing him some of those millions he's earning.

I'm someone who's always believed that every person has the right to say what they want to, as it's in the Constitution, first amendment and all, but with that comes great responsibility and accountability. If you're ready to deal with the consequences for those actions then it's all good. People who love to hop on the political correctness gripe feel that they have the right to say whatever they want to about someone else in any fashion they want to say it in, then wonder later on why they're being made to apologize, or possibly losing their jobs, or, in extreme cases, getting hurt physically.

The truth of the matter is that you don't ever get to control the consequences. Unless you've planned for every contingency, you may not like the outcome of the words you utter. Salmon Rushdie had to go into hiding for writing Satanic Verses for over 10 years, and it's not even that good a book (yeah, I read it). There's a newspaper in Denmark that's under siege for printing a cartoon depicting the image of Allah, with the artist under a death threat with a large bounty on his head for the person who can kill him. And who remembers Alan Berg, who was killed by members of a white aryan group because he was consistently bashing them on his radio show, not thinking they might actually decide to come after him?

Sharon Stone and Rasheed Wallace weren't thinking before they spoke, and they're suffering consequences of varying degrees. Scott McClellan isn't going to suffer anything immediately, and I believe that's because this was a concerted effort to release the book while the president is still in office. After all, it's book sales that count, and how big a deal would this be next year on this date? Still, it's risky, and it sets a bad precedent. Even Colin Powell's memoir wasn't as bad as this book purports to be.

Most people really can't afford to take parting shots on their way out the door, especially if they expect to stay in the same line of business. Many do, and they end up suffering the repercussions of those actions. The money people; well, if they never earn another dollar, they're set for life. For the rest of us, we really have to think more about whether it's worth us taking a major hit on the back end for a parting shot now.

All I'm going to say is take some time to think, and think real hard, before doing anything.