Rosie Explains Controversial Photo

(CBS)  When Rosie O'Donnell posted a photo on her blog of her four-year-old daughter Vivienne Rose dressed up in a military costume complete with ammo belt filled with toy bullets around her chest, her fans reacted.

"Many, many people responded to it/in a variety of ways/wild really," O'Donnell told The ShowBuzz exclusively via e-mail Tuesday, writing in verse, as she often does.

Several fan comments were posted on the blog with some calling the photo "horrible" and "disturbing" and others calling it "brilliant" and "powerful."

O'Donnell explained to The ShowBuzz that the photo came out of her children playing a game of make-believe.

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Photos: Everything Rosie

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The kids pick a new costume from buycostumes.com every few weeks.

2"They don't watch TV — this is how they play/the boys had fatigues and were playing war/the girls wanted some/they run around the house with water guns/shooting each other," she said.

O'Donnell is fascinated by the reaction to the simple image.

"It's fascinating to me/that an image of a child dressed up as a soldier/evokes so much attention/yet the real soldiers - their deaths - their wounded bodies/doesn't seem to faze most/or make news," she wrote.

Family is very important to O'Donnell, who said on her blog Sunday that she won't be taking over hosting chores at "The Price Is Right," now that Bob Barker has retired, because she would have to uproot her family and make the move from New York to California where the game show is taped.

O'Donnell had been mentioned as one of the successors to recently retired host Bob Barker. "The Early Show's" Dave Price and "Dancing With The Stars" alum John O'Hurley are some of the others said to be in the running for the job.
By Judy Faber

[cheekygal-2009]

Whatever you do iatackjnkill don't answer the hard questions about torture in secret prisons! Don't answer questions about 15 Saudi National hijackers!

Just pound your brave chest and make up stories about why you can't serve personally.

We BURIED TWO FAMILY MEMBER you flocking idiot and couldn't even see the bodies in the casket because they were not identifiable and we were told it was them with only proof being metal tags.

God will punish you war mongering, war profiteering. How much stock you got in the war machine? Must be lots of blood money in your bank account, huh?

[gunownerdan]

Have you ever had the urge to watch boys and girls of all ages shooting fully-automatic machine guns?
Look no further!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV74rbgIsr8
It's expensive, but definitely loads of fun.

[eitakj]

I probably shouldn't bother with this, but I feel the need to correct your statement about ME living in fear. You couldn't more wrong! I am completely confident that our boys and girls over there are doing their jobs, and doing them well! On 9/11, when the towers collapsed, literally in front of my eyes, I was a bit afraid. But, when I looked up shortly afterwards and saw U.S. fighter jets flying over Manhattan, all fear left me. I felt PROUD to be an American. I knew that our country would never be the same-we'd be better, and we'd never let them win! Yes, I was angry. And, I saw the same anger in our government heads-they promised they wouldn't stop until ALL terrorism was gone, and they're making good on that promise. AQI is one of the top terror sects in the world. They are in Iraq right now-funding & helping to plan more attacks. They attack our soldiers there daily. They attack the Iraqi people. If we leave, they will continue to attack the Iraqi people-and with us gone it will be MUCH easier for them to kill the poor babies you talk so much about.

I beg of you to please do at least SOME research before you comment again. Don't give us web addresses that send us to conspiracy theorists. Do actual research-based on FACT not opinion.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day in our wonderful country. The country where you can believe opinion is fact-freely-without persecution. You may look foolish, but that's your right. You can thank a soldier for that right!

[eitakj]

And, your are right. Sadly, I am no longer young enough to join the armed forces (but thanks for the compliment!). When I did try to enlist, my weak heart was a 'high risk factor' for any comrades on the field, so I didn't make the cut. But, that doesn't stop me from supporting our troops - nor should anything similar stop you. I send care packages to my friends & family that are over there, and I've gotten involved in organizations that send military supplies to troops that can't afford them - bulletproof vests, etc.

I'm sure you don't have any 'friends' there, because you'd probably turn your back on anyone who actually tried to protect our freedom. But, if you REALLY care about our troops, there are MANY ways you can help. Start by going to anysoldier.com or anymarine.com and 'adopting' a few of them. But please, do NOT send them any letters containing your sick thoughts. They need SUPPORT & LOVE from home. They work REALLY hard to protect our freedom & our way of life. Even though they may be fighting for your right to ignorantly shoot your mouth off, they don't need to actually HEAR you shooting your mouth off.


GOD BLESS AMERICA!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
DON'T LET THE TERRORISTS WIN!
NEVER FORGET 9/11 !!!!!!!

[eitakj]

I should've known YOU'D be against the Patriot Act. When the media told me that the 'government was listening to our phone calls' and was 'spying' on us, I applauded. I have nothing to hide! Only people with something to be ashamed of would care. If a terrorist lives in MY neighborhood, I WANT them to catch him/her.

Do you actually know anything about the Patriot Act - please give me a fact - not something you 'heard on tv' - I don't have time for that. The Patriot Act has most definitely increased national security. It has finally brought together the FBI & the CIA - now if one gathers intel on terrorists, the other has access to that same intel - something that most Americans thought was being done already, but it wasn't.

Also, I LOVED how I told you, "your ignorance is completely blinding you" and then you have gall to turn around and tell me practically the same exact thing! How original! What a GREAT argument! You really should try out for the debate team at school, little girl!

[cheekygal-2009]

A "war of choice" should never put soldiers in harms way to make someone rich off their blood. You want so badly to believe in the lies that you are truly blinded and afraid of your own shadow. Boo, poor scared little traitors to America and its people! Thanks to your traitorous ways we have the ill-conceived Patriot Act, spying on Americans who have done nothing wrong, torture in secret prisons. How proud you must be.

You should join up for this war and be a patriotic volunteer and perhaps die for your cause or live with maiming and burns for the rest of your life. July 4th is dreaded by many who freak out at the sound of fireworks as it reminds them of death and dying.

You sound young enough to continue with the torture and killing you apparently agree with. Someone will be glad to watch your 2-year old as other mothers are serving.

Come on, miss patriot, show your guns and bravado.

[cheekygal-2009]

Poor, poor blinded Eitakj! Can't reply to the warmongering profiteers who have gained millions in blood money by our soldiers dying for an unjust cause. Perhaps your bank account is growing with this blood money?

[eitakj]

Um, where have I been? Did I sleep through a draft? I thought that our troops - ALL AGES - had the FREEDOM of CHOICE. Unlike in Iraq & Afghanistan where they do NOT get a choice (and it's WAY different that our drafts) and they are FORCED into the military at ages WAY younger than 18.

Your ignorance is completely blinding you. You, too, are a conspiracy theorist and I refuse to discuss this further with you. I have friends that are for and against the war. And, I love debating with them because they have REAL arguments.

[eitakj]

Um, where have I been? Did I sleep through a draft? I thought that our troops - ALL AGES - had the FREEDOM of CHOICE. Unlike in Iraq & Afghanistan where they do NOT get a choice (and it's WAY different that our drafts) and they are FORCED into the military at ages WAY younger than 18.

Your ignorance is completely blinding you. You, too, are a conspiracy theorist and I refuse to discuss this further with you. I have friends that are for and against the war. And, I love debating with them because they have REAL arguments.

[cheekygal-2009]

The Banality of Greed

"As the Iraq war that Vice President *** Cheney created continues to shred American%u2014and many more Iraqi%u2014lives, further documentation has emerged proving that, even during failed wars, the merchants of death profit. No company has profited more from the carnage in Iraq than Halliburton, which Cheney headed before choosing himself as Bush%u2019s running mate. One shudders at the blissful arrogance of this modern Daddy Warbucks, who sees no conflict of interest over the blood-soaked profits garnered by the once-bankrupt division of the company that left him rich."