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For the sake of her family I hope New York police find the remains of Laura Garza soon. It’s so sad to hear how her brothers and her mother are all hanging on to hope that she’s still alive.

The latest in the case is that the police have searched Michael Mele’s apartment again. They had his girlfriend Lindsay Campbell at the apartment during the search. Police say Campbell is a witness and not a suspect or accessory.

Lindsay Campbell is 19 and had been dating Mele for 3 months by the time of Laura Garza’s disappearance. (Image: Lindsay Campbell)

Congratulations to Bristol Palin on the birth of her son Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. Hopefully Bristol can become an example to pregnant teens and young teen moms that they can still hold their head high and be as proud as any other new mom.

The world wants teenagers to hang their heads in shame over getting pregnant and to believe it’s the end of the world; but when the girls smother the babies with teddy bears and pillows and stab them 130 times to kill because they don’t want them, because they think the babies are bad and blame the babies for ruining their lives, then everyone is in a state of horrified shock.

Teenagers have been getting pregnant since the beginning of time, and no matter how hard society might try to create a world wherein no one under 21 ever gets pregnant, teenagers will continue to get pregnant till the end of time. Maybe it’s time we stopped telling these girls that getting pregnant as a teenager is the end of the world. We can continue to tell them that it’s not ideal and anything they can do to prevent it will be best because being a parent is never easy no matter how old you are; and when you’re a teenager it can be even harder because you still want your freedom to be a child, but you don’t have that freedom because you have to take care of someone else and that’s a huge responsibility.

It’s smart to be cautious and do everything you can to avoid becoming a parent before you’re ready; but if you get pregnant anyway, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not the end of your life. It’s nothing to be depressed about and want to kill yourself over. You don’t have to hide the fact that you’re pregnant for 9 months and then give birth by yourself in your bedroom and then stab the newborn 130 times. Your baby is a gift. It’s not a curse. It’s something for you to love, not something for you to hate. It’s something to take pride in, not something over which to feel shame. If other people are ashamed of you that’s their problem. Let them deal with their shame. If they want to judge you there is nothing you can do about it. You’re only responsible for your own choices, not for the choices of others. It’s not up to you to convince these people that they shouldn’t judge you. They should know better, and if they don’t know better that’s their problem, not yours.

Have a teen who’s pregnant? Stop discouraging her now. Stop preaching about what a huge mistake she’s made with her life. Stop punishing her every day by reminding her of your disappointment. Stop making her feel like her life is over. Encourage her to gracefully accept that she’s going to have a baby. You yourself accept that your daughter is going to be a mom. It might be happening earlier than you and the rest of society think is wise, but it’s happening, and your daughter’s baby does not deserve to come into a world where no one is happy to receive him.

Remember, shame is superficial. Reject it.

A private investigator has come out with claims that he videotaped the area where Caylee Anthony’s remains were found a month before the meter reader found the bones; and he says the video will clearly show that there were no human remains in the area. If there were no human remains in the area in November, where did the remains come from in December? And if the meter reader had been directing authorities to the area since August, wouldn’t the remains have been there in November when the private investigator made his video? Just asking…

Investigators are asking what a private investigator was doing in the area taking videos to begin with. He was working for the Anthony’s so they’re inclined to believe the Anthony’s knew the area was going to have some importance in the case; but are they just trying to distract the public from the question of why if there were no remains in the area in November remains suddenly appeared in December? Which is the more important question, the question of why a private investigator for the Anthony’s was in the area making a video in the first place, or the question of why there were no remains present in November if the meter reader who found them in December has been directing police to the location since August?

Here’s the mugshot photo of that girl Megan McCormic who made up the story about a missing baby so she could get her ex-boyfriend John Buchness back. The imaginary son’s name was Riley Buchness by the way. I’ve seen others referring to him as Riley McCormic but she’d told police his name was Riley Buchness and he had a mohawk, a single tooth and a fake tattoo. If I were Megan McCormic I’d turn my knack for making up stories into a career as a fiction novelist.

She’s kind of pretty isn’t she? Reminds me of Ashley Dupre a little bit. Who knows, she might yet take these 15 minutes of fame shame and turn them into a career in entertainment like Dupre is attempting.

You can get more details on this story at CNN

Apparently, the meter reader who found the child’s remains in the woods near the home of Cindy and George Anthony, called in tips to police back on August 11th, 12th and 13th pointing them to the same location. Police say he’s not a suspect. They say he’s a credible witness; but it does seem strange that the person who found the remains tried to direct the police to the same area where the remains were found three times all the way back in August; and I don’t know about you, but the way he sounded in the 911 tape when he was reporting that he’d found a human skull, it just didn’t sound particularly genuine. Something is smelling mighty rotten here.

I’m starting to wonder if the bones were planted and who planted them? The  police? The prosecution? Could Casey be innocent and the bones have been planted by the real killers? Could the bones belong to someone else and got planted by people who want Casey to be convicted so badly that they planted the bones so there would a body? I guess in that case you’d have to wonder where they got human bones belonging to a child. If the bones were planted it would only make sense if they do indeed belong to Caylee and got planted by the people who really killed her. Otherwise it would have to be that the bones weren’t planted; but we still have the mystery of how come the meter reader tried to get police to search the same area three times back in August and then ended up “stumbling” across the bones in December. This doesn’t seem like something that should be taken at face value.

I just discovered that Scarlett Johansson is selling her used tissue on ebay to raise money for charity. The back story is that she was doing an appearance on Jay Leno. Leno gave her a tissue because she had a cold. I guess she sneezed in it or blew her nose in it or some such. She then said she was going to sell it on Ebay to raise money for Charity; and sure enough she did.

The item is listed in the “Other” sub-category of  “Entertainment memorabilia” . It’s titled: “OWN TISSUE FROM SCARLETT JOHANSSON & SAM JACKSON” with the sub-title “Scarlett Johansson’s tissue!”

The seller of the item is named tonightshowwithjayleno. Not sure if this seller is connected with Jay Leno or “The Tonight Show”. Also not sure if Scarlett Johansson herself is in any way involved with the actual auction but the headlines around the web are all claiming Scarlett is selling her used tissue. She might actually  have nothing to do with it. It might not even be her tissue. It could be a scam.

The description text reads:

During her 12/17/08 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Scarlett Johansson blamed her cold on The Spirit co-star Samuel L. Jackson, saying she caught it from him. She believed that for this reason her cold had some “value.” During her appearance on The Tonight Show, she blew her nose into a tissue provided by Jay Leno. All proceeds of this sale will benefit USA Harvest, the charity of Scarlett Johansson’s choice.

Amazingly, or maybe not so amazingly, the auction has 61 bids so far with the high bid currently at $2,050.00 Folks, that’s $2,050 someone’s willing to spend for a tissue with Scarlett Johansson’s dried snot. And there are 4 days and 14 hours left to go so the winning bid is probably going to be more than double that amount by the time the auction ends.

Scarlett Johansson used tissue auction

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Theoneste Bagosora

By the way, the punishment for organizing a genocide that claims the lives of 500,000 is life imprisonment. Not bad eh? Theoneste Bagosora has been found guilty of organizing and arming the Interahamwe militia, and using his position to direct Hutu soldiers to kill Tutsis. Bagosora is the former director of Rwanda’s ministry of defense. What punishement would be fitting in such a situation anyway? No matter what you do, whether you decapitate him, place him before a firing squad, put him in a den with ravenous lions, put him in a large aquarium with a shark, kick him out of an airplane at ten thousand feet, put him to stand in front of a wall and drive a mac truck into him, run him over with a bulldozer - it would never balance out with the terror and horror he inflicted.

I suppose life in prison makes more sense than sentencing him to die. Death is too easy; but then again, prisoners adjust to their new life before too long so no matter how you punish him, he gets off easy.

Lisa Valentine

Lisa Valentine, a Muslim woman, was arrested and ordered to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court after refusing to remove her hijab (head scarf). The incident took place in Douglasville, Georgia when Valentine went with a nephew to a traffic citation hearing. She was told she could not be allowed inside the courthouse unless she removed the headscarf.

Valentine exchanged a few words with the official explaining that she had been in courtrooms with her headscarf on before. After the official repeated that she could not enter without removing the item, Valentine turned to leave and in her anger apparently uttered an expletive which rubbed the official the wrong way. He handcuffed her and took her before the judge who charged her with contempt of court and ordered her to spend 10 days in jail.

After Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based organization, urged federal authorities to investigate the incident, Valentine was released. She has since spoken out about the incident, stating that she felt her civil and human rights were violated; but based on the comments being left on various news websites there are many people who disagree with Valentine’s viewpoint. A quick scan of a few hundred comments about the incident indicate more people believe Valentine had no right to expect the rules to be broken on her account. If head scarfs are not allowed in the courtroom she should not have gone to court if removing her head scarf was against her religion.

On the one hand I can see the point that’s being made. Rules are rules. Granted some rules are arbitrary and the only way to change arbitrary rules is to challenge them. Most people are law abiding. We tend to accept laws without questioning their basis, but some laws are designed to violate the rights of certain people and such laws should not exist. This is not a statement in connection with the Lisa Valentine situation. Let’s face it, laws banning the sale of ice cream sodas on Sundays, laws banning wearing baggy pants, these are examples of laws designed to violate people’s basic human rights. Not all laws are reasonable; but unless challenged, they remain law.

Was Lisa Valentine wrong to try to challenge the official? Many people seem to think she was indeed wrong; but I would suggest that if more people had the courage to challenge rules they don’t agree with we might have a more open, more tolerant society. Instead we have a situation where a judge can throw a woman in jail and order her to serve 10 days because she tried to stand up for what she considered her basic human right. We have a situation where a person given the authority to make an arrest was able to put a woman in handcuffs because he was pissed off that she not only didn’t immediately leave or remove her head scarf when he told her to do one or the other, but she dared curse in his presence on top of it. How dare she think she had any rights? He was the one in uniform, not her. He had the rights, and the judge had the rights. She, a mere citizen, had no rights.

There are two separate issues here and it seems to me that they are being mistakenly entangled. There’s the question of whether or not Lisa Valentine should have been allowed in the courtroom with her hijab on, and there’s the question of whether or not Lisa Valentine’s civil rights were violated when she was arrested and sent to jail basically for annoying the official at the security checkpoint.

If you want to argue that rules are rules, then fine, rules are rules and if there’s a rule that you can’t go into the courtroom with a head scarf, then Lisa Valentine needed to obey the rule because it was in her best interest to do so. From all accounts Lisa was not trying to force her way into the courtroom. After she was told she couldn’t go in, she asked why and expressed displeasure with the decision; but she wasn’t refusing to leave. In fact, it was when she turned to leave that she was put in handcuffs and she was put in handcuffs because she exercised her freedom of speech by uttering a curse word.

The question here is, was she handcuffed and put in jail with an order to serve 10 days for contempt of court because she did something wrong or because the officer and the judge didn’t like her and what she stood for; and should we be applauding when people in power abuse their power just because the victim is someone we ourselves don’t like for whatever reason we don’t like them?

Heath, Deborah and Adolph Hitler Campbell

This is a tough one. A ShopRite in New Jersey refused to write a child’s name on a birthday cake because the child’s name is Adolph Hitler. The store manager says the store reserves the right not to print anything on the cake they deem inappropriate; but how can you deem someone’s name inappropriate? A name is a name. Even if your name was spelled the same as the “F” word, it is still your name. Should a name, provided it is your legal name printed on your birth certificate,  be subject to a judgement of being appropriate or inappropriate? Just because someone doesn’t like your name or the implications behind your name doesn’t mean they can decide to discriminate against you by refusing you service because, in their opinion, your name is inappropriate. Your name is your name.

Granted parents don’t name their child Adolph Hitler unless they are trying make some kind of point one way or another, whether they are trying to show their support for the  “the” Adolph Hitler, or they are trying to mock people’s sensitivities, or they are trying to make the point that a name is a name, you name your child Adolph Hitler you know you’re going to shock and outrage a good few people, and obviously that is your aim; but does the motivation of Adolph Hitler Campbell’s parents in naming their son Adolph Hitler have anything to do with this particular issue?

This is a case of a store refusing to put a child’s name on a cake because they are personally offended by the name and don’t think it’s an appropriate name for anyone to have. Surely it can’t be legal for them to do that? It shouldn’t be legal for them to do that.

What do you think?

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Two women were fired from the Anderson California Kentucky Fried Chicken for taking a bath in the sink that’s used to wash the dishes. To be quite honest I don’t really have an opinion about this but I figured I’d post about it anyway because it’s just so ridiculous.  The women took the pictures and posted them to myspace. It’s funny, but at the same time it’s not funny you know. It’s funny because it’s so ridiculous you just can’t believe it. You see the picture and you shake your head and wonder what possesses people to do the crazy things they do; but then you think to yourself, there’s a time and place for everything, and at work in the sink is not the time or the place for a bath.

Everyone likes a good laugh. The ladies thought it would be funny to bathe in the dish sink and take pictures and post them to myspace in a gallery with the caption “KFC Moments”. Their employer did not agree.

Apparently a third lady who asked the boss’s permission to bathe in the sink but got turned down quit. It’s not clear if she quit because the boss would not allow her to bath in the dish sink. Source

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