My beloved beagle, Li’l Bit, who I rescued about five years ago and who suffered from senility as I wrote about recently on this blog, passed away a week ago today from kidney failure. She just became sick one day, and the doctors couldn’t save her. She was estimated to be 17 years old.
I love you, Li’l Bit, and I will never, ever forget you. You were the sweetest, most docile little dog I have ever known.
Posted in obituaries, pets | Tagged dogs, obituaries, pets | 16 Comments »
In the season two opener of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Sheree Whitfield gets into a fight with her party planner, Anthony “Tony” Shorter (who sometimes uses the alias “Tyson”, according to a few sites).
When I say “fight”, I mean fight. The guy actually threatens Sheree with physical violence, cusses her out – even calls her “mama” a “bitch” – the whole nine yards. He had to be dragged out his own office to get him away from her. Watch the video, you’ll see what I mean. His behavior is absolutely outrageous, especially directed toward a female.
Sheree should have called “Pookie ‘n’ ‘em” from Cleveland to “whoop his ass”, as she mentions in the clip.
I’m hardly a Sheree Whitfield fan, but I still have to ask … How on earth did a wealthy woman like Sheree Whitfield ever get involved with common trash like Anthony Shorter in the first place?
I did google him like he suggested, by the way, and found out that he banned Sheree from her own party, and that the first thing he said in his response to a site which asked him about the incident was that he “likes pu**y”, as if that is somehow supposed to explain his outrageous behavior (and I don’t believe him anyway, by the way, since straight men are not that flamboyant). According to Google he actually seems to be a nobody, despite his overinflated opinion of himself.
I’m pretty sure I heard the sound of rushing water, as this grossly abusive and unprofessional so-called “party planner” flushed his entire so-called “executive” career down the toilet.
Posted in Entertainment, People in the news, STFU, Youtube, insanetertainment, media, unusual behaviors, women | Tagged Anthony Shorter, party planner, Real Housewives, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Sheree Whitfield, Tony Shorter | Leave a Comment »
I have written before here about my elderly beagle, Li’l Bit, and her health problems when I finally found a vet to remove a large tumor which other vets had refused to remove due to her age. Readers of this blog know that I treat my pets as family members because to me, that’s exactly what they are.
I absolutely adore Li’l Bit in particular, as she was a rescue dog found wandering near a major highway. She was already very old when we got her, and had been severely abused by her former owner, to the point that she had multiple old broken bones and even an abdominal hernia from being kicked, and we took her in and lovingly nursed her back to health in order to make her twilight years as happy and stress-free as possible. She is an extremely gentle little dog, and like a child to me.
Li’l Bit is strictly an indoor dog, and is treated with kid gloves at all times due to her advanced age. She only goes outside to potty, or when the weather is particularly nice so I think she will benefit from being outside. Other than that, she is kept inside my home with me, which is temperature-controlled environment with every imaginable creature comfort. She is not placed in crates or anything of that nature, and my home and lawn are completely pet-proofed to avoid injury, so she has always had the full ability to roam as she pleases. She therefore knows her way around my house and yard as well as I do, and possibly even better than me since animals have better sensory perception than humans.
We are not exactly sure how old Li’l Bit is, though the vet estimates her age at 17. That is very, very old for a dog, obviously, and to put it into perspective, in “people years” she is nearly 100 years old. She has always been quite feeble since we got her. She never runs, and she never plays beyond getting treats or a belly rub from us. She has never even intentionally looked us in the eyes because she is so timid, as you can see in the photo. At the very most she will walk quickly, but she does even that only very rarely. Usually, she walks very slowly. At her age and with her background of extreme abuse, of course, none of that is unexpected.
She does still get enjoyment out of life, in that she knows when it is suppertime and becomes quite excited by food. The vet told us long ago to give her whatever she wants to eat, as long as it isn’t harmful (chocolate, small bones, etc) because at her age, it isn’t going to hurt her and can only enhance her enjoyment of life when she obviously doesn’t have much time left no matter what we do. So after dinner each day, we give her whatever “people food” we have left on our plates. That is the only time she shows any excitement about anything, and boy, does that ever excite her!
More recently, she has been engaging in very odd behavior which the vet cannot explain. She has been given multiple full workups, including bloodwork, and they can find nothing physically wrong with her. She does have some blindness and deafness, and she has arthritis, but all of that is common and even expected in a dog her age, especially one who has been severely abused.
She likes to take walks on the leash, though she can’t walk very far. I take her on a little walk several times a day, and let her determine where to go and when it is time to go home. Even that has become problematic, though, because she has become increasingly confused by the world around her.
The first warning sign that something was very wrong with Li’l Bit happened about a year ago.
She sleeps in my room at night, and she has always been a very, very quiet dog. She is so quiet, in fact, that I had never even heard her bark once. That night, however, she awoke with the strangest howling sound I have ever heard from a dog, a sound so strange that it scared the life right out of me to the point that we both sat bolt upright in bed, with me shaking like a leaf and grasping my other half for dear life. She then began barking like crazy, and walking very quickly around the house, much more quickly than I even thought possible, and was even walking into walls. When I say she walked into walls, I mean that she would walk into a corner of the wall and keep moving her legs as if she were still going somewhere. Try though we may, we could not get her to calm down, or even to notice that we were there. She continued that behavior for almost an hour, with us trying to calm and reassure her the entire time. Later that same night, she did it again, and then repeated the behavior once again several days later.
We of course checked the property carefully each time, thinking perhaps she heard something outside despite her deafness, but our other dog did not react at all though he is much younger and normally reacts quite vocally to outside stimuli, wanting immediately to be allowed outside to investigate. Yet not even the motion detector floodlights had been triggered outside our home, so there was nothing there. So we told ourselves that she had a nightmare, since she had been severely abused prior to the time we got her, and was possibly walking in her sleep and reenacting the abuse by trying to run away from her abuser. I did call the vet, just to be on the safe side, and they said not to worry, that dogs can have “night terrors” just like people do, and given her prior abuse, that was the most likely explanation.
After that happened, however, she started changing dramatically, and her behavior has continued to decompensate severely. Though at first she would come to us for an occasional belly rub or back scratch, she was rarely assertive about getting attention to the point that when she was assertive we were absolutely thrilled, but we would normally have to seek her out to ensure she received petting and physical attention. We didn’t think a whole lot of that, given that she had been severely abused by other humans. Honestly, I thought it was normal under the circumstances.
Over time however she became even more distant, until today, she doesn’t seek or even want any attention at all. Though we do still seek her out to give her attention, she looks at us like she doesn’t know who we are, or what we are doing. The best way I can describe her now is as if the lights are on, but no one is home. The one and only thing which interests her at this point is “people food”, but even with that, she gets so confused that we have to literally lead her to the bowl every single time, even though it is always in the exact same place. Even with our gentle guidance toward the food, she will still try to go in another direction, due to her extreme confusion which seems to worsen when she gets excited.
She used to keep me company during the day as I would work, just basically hanging out in my home office. Now she sleeps during the day, all day, and stays awake at night pacing the floors endlessly and scratching at her ears, though the vet has repeatedly said there is nothing wrong with her ears. To be on the safe side since it was such a problem, though, the vet still put her on a course of antibiotics and an antibiotic/antifungal/steroid ear drop. I always look to see if there is something causing the itching, obviously, and I keep her ears scrupulously clean just to err on the side of caution since a scratch which breaks the skin could result in a serious blood infection if her ears are not kept very clean. I have found, however, that if I scratch her on her side, on the opposite side of the ear she is scratching, she will stop scratching her ear. The vet said that is proof that there really is nothing wrong with her ears, and that the ear scratching is just a “nervous tic”.
Though she was house-trained, so that had never been a problem, she also began urinating in the house, in full view of both of us. Based upon my experience with my late Doberman Pinscher, who started doing the exact same thing which I correctly viewed as a cry for help (the vet determined she had leukemia, though even he didn’t suspect any physical ailment until the blood results came back because it was found so early) I insisted upon taking Li’l Bit to the vet for the soiling behavior. At my insistence they did a full workup, including blood work, but couldn’t find anything wrong with her.
The soiling problem continued, and worsened. It got to the point where, when we put her outside to potty, she would stand there staring into space as if she had no idea what was expected of her. We would have to carry to the grass, and even then it was as if she was lost. No matter how long we leave her outside to potty, she would rarely urinate there, and would instead simply urinate inside whenever the mood struck her, even if she had just been brought back inside. I scrubbed the floors (obviously) not only for hygienic purposes but also to ensure she wasn’t returning to a scent signature; I spent a ton of money on cleaning agents which are made just for that purpose. Again, I took her to the vet, and again the vet couldn’t find any physical explanation for the behavior.
Due to that behavior, I have to watch her carefully at all times, and carry her outside immediately after she gets a drink of water to make sure she urinates. I can’t even just lead her to the door, because she invariably urinates before she gets there. She doesn’t even bother walking into the grass. She will simply urinate wherever she is standing at the time the urge hits. At the same time, I don’t get the impression that she is incontinent, because there is no “dribbling” of urine. It is more like she has simply forgotten everything she has ever been taught, and is incapable of learning it again.
In the last couple of months, the problem began to include drinking her own urine if I didn’t remove her from it the very moment it occurred, whether outside or inside, even though she has plenty of clean fresh water easily accessible at all times. Once she urinated in the floor while I was taking a shower, then just laid down in her own urine and immediately went to sleep; luckily I knew to look for urine, and to check on her, so she was only there for at most a couple of minutes, then of course was bathed immediately. It got to the point where she was defecating in the house as well, and she wasn’t even repeatedly doing it in the same place each time, so she wasn’t following a scent signature and that of course means it wasn’t just a bladder control problem. Again, it was as if she had simply forgotten that she has to go outside to relieve herself. None of that is normal behavior, needless to say.
Recently she was outside for a little while, but when we went to let her in, we couldn’t see her. Our backyard is not an area where our dogs could get lost, mind you. It’s not small but also not especially large, and it is pretty open with the exception of a gazebo near the house and a line of trees for privacy purposes on the sides and back of the property. We freaked out and feared she had somehow gotten out of the yard, though the yard is completely fenced in and none of our dogs have ever gotten out. However, with a dog as old as Li’l Bit, especially with her sight and hearing deficits, getting out of the yard could be absolutely catastrophic, so we were frantic. We found her in the far back of the yard wandering around the trees, lost even though there are only a few trees there in a straight line, and even when we were leading her inside, she was still clearly confused.
Another time recently she was outside on the patio, standing right next to the house, and I couldn’t get her to understand how to get back into the house, though clearly that’s what she wanted to do. Just this morning, she was outside to potty and we found her walking around in circles near the garden shed at the back of the property. We went outside to lead her back in, and she started following us immediately, but she would forget where she was going and just start walking around like she was lost again, even that close to us, and within sight of the house. The poor little dog became lost with us standing right there three times, in the very short distance between the shed and the house, so we finally picked her up and carried her back inside.
Even inside the house, she gets so lost and confused that she will literally walk around in circles and into walls just trying to find the stairs. This happens even when she is standing right in front of the stairs, and even when I lead her to the stairs, she seems to not understand that I am taking her where she is trying to go until she is actually upstairs.
Most disturbingly of all, she stares into space, and she has stopped interacting with us on any level, to the point that she shows absolutely no recognition even when we give her attention. I do not at all get the impression that any of this is due to sight deficit, because she does not react normally to touch either. Like I said, it’s like the lights are on but nobody’s home, and it’s getting worse whether the vet can find something physically wrong with her or not.
There is clearly something very wrong with my little dog, to the point that I now watch her like a hawk even inside the house, and pick her up and carry her wherever she needs to go because she gets lost even walking into another room. If it isn’t explained by a physical problem, as apparently it is not given how many times she has been examined by a vet and given complete blood work, it must be explained by something else.
As readers of this blog are aware, I have cared for my elderly grandmother (who raised me, so she is actually my mother) who has dementia. Time and again, we wondered if perhaps Li’l Bit also has dementia, because the comparisons were obvious. Time and again, the vet told us that dogs don’t get that disease, and that Li’l Bit is perfectly healthy albeit quite aged, and therefore has only diseases typical of dogs her age, such as arthritis. There is not even any evidence of kidney, liver, or heart disease, so she is surprisingly healthy for a dog so old. That’s also what makes this all so confusing for us, in trying to figure out what’s wrong with our beloved beagle so we can help her.
Today, when researching a symptom pertinent to my grandmother’s dementia, I found out completely by accident that elderly dogs (and cats) can indeed become very senile, similar to Alzheimer’s Disease in humans, and that it is likely the explanation for Li’l Bit’s behavior given that she has received repeated complete physicals which came out fine. Unfortunately, since it was not diagnosed early despite our best efforts to obtain a diagnosis, it appears there is nothing anyone can do to help her, much less to reverse the effects. There are medications available, but they are only effective if given early. In Li’l Bit’s case, “early” would have been a year ago when we first sought medical treatment for her symptoms.
From the Merck Veterinary Manual:
Cognitive dysfunction or senility has the following necessary and sufficient condition: change in interactive, elimination, or navigational behaviors attendant with aging that are explicitly not due to primary failure of any organ system. This is a potential animal model for the age-dependent cognitive changes that occur in humans. The affiliated behaviors may be associated with Alzheimer’s-like (senile dementia of the Alzheimer type) lesions. The syndrome occurs in both dogs and cats. It is important to differentiate early cognitive dysfunction from old-age onset separation anxiety. Cognitive dysfunction sometimes involves age-dependent changes in dopaminergic function and microembolic events and is associated with deposition of amyloid plaques; however, the presence of such plaques is not sufficient to diagnose the condition. Many dogs and people with extensive plaque formation experience no decrements in cognitive function.
The following clinical signs may be associated with cognitive dysfunction:
1) Disorientation—the dog or cat seems to get lost in the house or confused when outside. The pet may become increasingly distressed within each episode of disorientation early on in the progression of the cognitive changes, and less so as the changes become more pronounced.
2) Alterations in social and environmental interactions—as cognitive decline progresses, affected dogs and cats interact less with their canine and feline housemates, play less, ignore favored toys, and withdraw from clients, often refusing interaction with them. If forced to interact, the animal can become completely withdrawn, or agitated and more distressed, possibly to the extent of becoming aggressive as a means to decrease interaction. When greeted, affected pets appear not to recognize clients. This profound alteration in client interaction and affect is the change that most distresses clients.
3) Changes in sleep-wake cycle—affected dogs and cats may no longer exhibit standard sleep-wake cycles and instead may pace and/or vocalize during the night. Because cats sleep often during the day as a normal behavior, these changes may be most noticeable in dogs, who will sleep during the day when clients are available to interact with them. Increased vocalization that is repetitive and monotonic is the most common complaint of clients with aging cats. The most distressing aspect of changes in sleep patterns for the clients is that they cannot comfort their pets when they pace and vocalize. Early in the progression of the condition, changes may be manifest only as increased time spent sleeping, which may be considered a normal aging change. Unfortunately, we do not know the extent to which this assumption is true, and such knowledge would allow earlier recognition and intervention for cognitive changes.
4) Changes in elimination behaviors—clients often describe cognitive changes associated with eliminative behaviors as a loss of housetraining. It is likely that there are changes in memory and learning associated with true housetraining (eg, the ability to inhibit elimination unless provided with an appropriate substrate) that are affected as a result of cognitive changes, but in general these dogs are not incontinent. The pets either appear to forget to eliminate when taken to their normal locations and substrates, and then eliminate anywhere when the need is urgent, or they have reduced inhibition and will eliminate wherever they are once they reach a certain threshold stimulus. The extent to which cognition is involved in inhibition of volitional behaviors is largely unexplored in dogs and cats but appears to be important in humans.
There are numerous drugs—and the list is always growing for humans—that may be effective in the treatment of cognitive decline. However, there is only one drug, selegiline, that is approved for canine cognitive dysfunction in the USA. All other use is extra-label, and for some of the medications, canine and feline dosages have not been investigated. Treatment with any cognitive enhancer is likely to be lifelong. Because most of these medications are metabolized through renal and hepatic cycles, pre- and postmedication biochemical evaluation is warranted.
In addition to medications, cognitive enrichment and a prescription diet (Hill’s b/d® ) have been shown to improve learning and reduce signs of cognitive dysfunction in aged dogs. In the UK, a dietary supplement is available that diminishes signs of cognitive dysfunction. The earlier behavioral, pharmacologic, and dietary intervention are accomplished, the more likely that the dog or cat will improve. However, at present the course of this condition can only be slowed, not aborted.
I am brokenhearted, needless to say. I just wish the veterinarian had done a little basic research long ago, when I tried to tell her that there is something very, very wrong with my Li’l Bit despite physical examinations saying otherwise. Perhaps then, though there is no cure, my poor little dog would have been given appropriate treatment early enough to make a difference. It’s too late for Li’l Bit now though, because at this point, her mind is gone and all I can do is either continue to try to make her comfortable, or euthanize her to end her suffering. I don’t know what I am going to do, except that I need to consult with multiple veterinarians who actually understand that particular disease.
Hopefully, however, my experience with Li’l Bit will help other pet owners facing a similar situation, by arming them with information which they can then present to their veterinarians in order to get an early diagnosis.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alzheimer's Disease, beagle, canine, cats, dementia, disease, dogs, elderly, feline, old age, pets, senility, sundowning, veterinarian | 10 Comments »
Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the brilliant Angela’s Ashes, has died at the age of 78. McCourt is also the author of ‘Tis and Teacher Man, both of which are also autobiographical in nature.
I have considered Frank McCourt to be the greatest living American author, since the deaths of writing icons Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Hunter S Thompson.
Though he started his writing career very late in life, after dedicating himself to teaching at New York inner city high schools, Frank McCourt succeeded far beyond his wildest dreams. His life as memorialized in his books stands as a testament to the human spirit, and therefore will live on long after all of us are gone.
Sleep softly, Teacher Man. You will be missed.
Posted in People in the news, celebrities, obituaries | Tagged Angela's Ashes, books, Frank McCourt, Hunter S Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, memoirs, Pulitzer Prize, Teacher Man, Tis | 1 Comment »
Marinade Dave: Team Casey requests fraud trial delay
The prosecution has requested a speedy trial date on the fraud charges against Casey Anthony, under a 2005 Florida law which grants victims the right to a speedy trial.
The accused’s right to a speedy trial is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, but nowhere does the US Constitution guarantee any such right to victims. The accused may waive their constitutional right to a speedy trial, at their option.
Under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, capital crimes and infamous crimes are specified as superior in nature to typical crimes insofar as defendants’ rights, since those crimes require a Grand Jury indictment. The Fifth Amendment also decrees that no defendant may be compelled to be a witness against their own interest.
Since the verbiage of the Fifth Amendment is “be”, not “testify”, it can be interpreted to mean actions other than testifying. It could be interpreted as being forced to defend oneself against a separate but related offense, especially if the defense against the lesser crime would negatively impact the defendant in an infamous capital crime in which the defendant has waived speedy trial as a matter of necessity due to the complexity of the case. While I am a proponent of victims’ rights, the fact remains that states simply do not have the right to override constitutional protections.
An argument on appeal could reasonably be made that, if the fraud trial proceeds first, Casey would be compelled to be a witness, by virtue of simply defending herself, regarding issues directly affecting the capital murder case. After all, the fraud goes to motive in the murder, according to Casey’s own statements to police as well as the prosecution’s theory of both crimes. Furthermore, the fraud charges are clearly inferior to the murder charges, and the alleged fraud took place after the alleged date of the murder.
For those reasons, if the state’s motion for speedy trial is granted against the wishes of the defense, I would fully expect the defense to file an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the new Florida law. I would not be at all surprised if, as a result of the Casey Anthony case, the Florida law granting speedy trial rights to the victim is found to be unconstitutional.
Of course, that is a double-edged sword in a case as infamous as this one, where the nation is watching carefully. An appeal of that nature would undoubtedly cause many to react even more viciously against Casey Anthony. However, it should not have that effect, given that the right of the accused versus the right of the victim is a question of constitutional importance which should and must be clarified.
Constitutional rights are intended to protect everyone, but are particularly important when someone’s life is at stake. The truth is, our constitutional rights are the only thing protecting any of us against the full force and power of the state, especially when one is innocent of the charges against them.
We therefore must zealously protect the constitutional rights of all, regardless of our personal feelings about their guilt. A law which overrides constitutional protections today, and thus helps satisfy the public’s bloodlust against Casey Anthony, could just as easily be used to convict an innocent person tomorrow. That, my friends, is not justice.
Posted in Constitution, Courts & Justice System, Law, People in the news, constitutional rights, crime | Tagged Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Constitution, constitutional rights, Fifth Amendment, fraud, Sixth Amendment, speedy trial, US Constitution, victim rights | 6 Comments »
I have covered comedian David Spates‘ “Talking With Dave” YouTube series on this blog previously. This time, he takes on celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who recently got punched in the face after having confrontations with both Fergie and Will.I.Am of the band Black Eyed Peas. They were (understandably, in my opinion) upset about all the filth he posts on his blog about them.
Disclaimer: I am not a Black Eyed Peas fan, nor do I have anything against them. I couldn’t even tell you what genre they are in, much less name any of their songs.
I have to admit, though, I laughed out loud when I first heard about Perez getting punched. I laughed even more when I heard Perez’s reaction to it. Sheesh, get a grip.
Perez: You got punched in the face for calling someone a “faggot” (among other things). Just exactly what did you think would happen when you did that, especially since you did it in public and, even according to your own statement, did so in an intentionally aggressive manner? Did you think he’d just be flattered and ask you out on a date? Do you actually believe that there are no real-life consequences to the endless filth and lies you post on your site? Do you actually believe that because it’s “against the law” people can’t punch you? There are two kinds of assaults, after all. There are physical assaults, and verbal assaults. You engage in verbal assault every single day, so what makes you think others will not respond similarly, and what makes you think law enforcement will care when it does inevitably occur?
For those unfamiliar with his site … Perez Hilton draws penises (among other things) next to celebrity mouths on his site, and writes all kinds of questionable comments on their photos. That’s not even getting into the fact that a lot of what he writes is not even true.
As just one example, when he heard that Michael Jackson had been taken to the hospital with cardiac arrest, he posted on his blog that Michael was faking it to get out of his upcoming tour. Of course, if Michael was faking, that was one helluva fake-out because he died shortly thereafter at the hospital.
So that kind of blogging behavior, especially on an ongoing basis for years, was bound to end badly sooner or later. I’m just surprised it took so long before someone reacted with violence.
What I’d like to know, and this is a serious question, is how someone like Perez – whose sole claim to fame is engaging in vicious gossip on a website – ever got invited to judge the Miss America pageant. Were Borat and Triumph The Insult Comedy Dog unavailable that day?
In the video below, David Spates explains why Perez Hilton is an idiot. It’s very long, but well worth every minute. It even includes Perez’s actual recorded statement about the incident, as David dissects it all piece by piece with a lot of common sense. There is no actual profanity in it, but there are some words which come close (like “mother fudger”), so you probably don’t want to watch it at work.
David explains my opinion about the incident better than I ever could, including discussing the fallacious logic that someone can’t hit you for bad behavior because it’s “against the law”, so give it a watch.
Posted in Entertainment, Law, Master of the Painfully Obvious, People in the news, STFU, Youtube, celebrities, crazy claims, humor, insanetertainment, internets, media, megabitchery, personal responsibility, unusual behaviors | Tagged Black Eyed Peas, David Spates, Fergie, Perez Hilton, Will.I.Am, YouTube | Leave a Comment »
This is one of my all-time favorite Weird Al songs.
Yeah, I’m actually a big fan of both Alice In Chains and Weird Al. LOL I’m even one of the “Close Personal Friends Of Al” (not really, that’s just the super cool name of his fan club).
I saw Weird Al in concert years ago. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen, hands down, and I have seen a LOT of concerts. He actually changed into the costumes from his music videos, and he walked around in the audience to sing “One More Minute”.
Elf and I got to meet Weird Al and his band afterward, and they were all great. The band in particular was fantastic, and actually hung out with Elf for a while, to take goofy photos. That was cool, especially for Elf, who was only about 12 at the time.
So here’s a shout-out to Al’s security guard Mongo, who got me the passes to the meet’n'greet after I explained to him in front of The Florida Theatre, on a lunch break from defending murderers and all kinds of truly nasty critters, that my son is a huge Weird Al fan. After the show Mongo was actually onstage looking for me, to give me the passes, and of course I wasn’t very hard to spot since I have long red hair. Thanks a million, Mongo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spZzKtjIRZg&feature=channel
Darn it, that wasn’t intended to be embedded because I knew embedding was disabled. However, WordPress won’t let me even just put in the link. Argh.
Remove the space from this, and it should get you there:
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=spZzKtjIRZg&feature=channel
(WordPress is turning into a real pain in the rear end, since they dumbed down the way to post YouTube videos. Argh again)
Posted in Entertainment, Shine on you crazy diamond, Youtube, celebrities, humor, insanetertainment, internets, music | Tagged Mongo, One More Minute, Weird Al, Weird Al Yankovich | 3 Comments »
I previously wrote a post about the arrest of Real Housewives of Orange County and Date My Ex: Jo and Slade star Slade Smiley for nonpayment of child support.
Bear in mind, when I wrote that, I didn’t have anything personal against Slade Smiley. I even watched those two reality shows, though I found them both way too boring to cover here. However, I have covered the Atlanta and New Jersey Real Housewives series on this blog, which is the only reason the information about his arrest fell into my radar at all. As I made it clear in the post, I don’t even have anything in particular against people who get behind on their child support, as long as they are doing their best.
However, though the post was nowhere near as nasty as it could have been, especially given that Slade is hardly poor, I got a nastygram comment on that post, from someone who I’d guess, based upon timing and content, got a trackback on the Slade website embedded in that earlier post. That comment claimed that the arrest was for not paying his attorneys, rather than for not paying child support. That same person also viciously attacked the mother of Slade Smiley’s son, Michelle Arroyo, far beyond what would be considered decent given that she is caring for a terminally ill child (her son with Slade has inoperable brain cancer).
That nasty comment got caught in my spam filter, so even I hadn’t seen it yet when Ms. Arroyo originally commented to ask about my source for the information. In fact, I didn’t check the spam filter until three days after the post, two days after the nastygram, and less than a day after Ms. Arroyo’s original comment. That of course means Ms. Arroyo couldn’t have seen it either until after the fact, and that the nastygram writer had no idea Ms. Arroyo would ever see their attack upon her.
Oops. LOL
Below is Michelle Arroyo’s comment, in its entirety, detailing the real story behind why Slade Smiley was arrested, which is actually much worse than just failing to pay child support.
I have confirmed that this comment was indeed posted by Michelle Arroyo. Her comment has been edited here only for ease of readability, and I thank her for taking the time to set the record straight.
First, I will clarify the reason Mr. Smiley was arrested. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest due to his failure to appear in connection with a Stipulation and Order after Hearing filed October 9, 2007. This Stipulation specifically outlined the eight counts of contempt that Mr. Smiley signed a guilty plea, in order to allow him an additional twelve months to pay the sums due in connection with the contempt and fulfill his court ordered obligations. They date back to February 2005 and are summarized below:
1. Mr. Smiley was given 12 months from Septeber 7, 2007 to purge the (8) eight counts of contempt.
2. The contempt will be purged when the last payment is made to all parties and all payments have been made in full.
3. Payments due for all outstanding attorneys fees court ordered to be paid by Mr. Smiley. Additionally, Mr. Smiley would have to bring outstanding current claims for his half of reimbursement for expenses due for minor child current.
4. Mr. Smiley agrees that burden to prove the eight (8) counts of contempt are met.
5. Mr. Smiley is required to meet with Ms. Arroyo monthly to confer and reimburse the other for their respective one-half share of the expenses for Grayson, including medical costs, therapy cost and school costs.
6. Mr Smiley shall pay 100% of the attorney’s fees and costs incurred relating to and arising from the preparation and court appearances for the contempt including all costs to enforce the Orders made December 14, 2006, December 18, 2006, Ruling made February 14, 2007, May 3, 2007 and to date.
7. Mr. Smiley is to pay child support arrears that were previously being paid by wage assignment directly to Ms. Arroyo within the 12 month period, i.e. on or before September 7, 2008.
8. Respondent shall immediately take all necessary steps to ensure Ms. Arroyo’s access to Grayson’s medical insurance provider.
So you see this is not just about his financial obligations, but his refusal to comply with court orders in connection with his son’s medical insurance and meeting to confer with me with respect to Grayson’s care.
These are the facts of the case pending in Orange County. The remaining outstanding child support, and one-half share for out of pocket expenditures for Grayson for the last two years are being handled through the Los Angeles Court System.
For the record, the http://www.amazinggray.org website was designed solely to keep in touch with family and friends and the groups we belong to that actively advocate for pediatric cancer research, and are involved with groups that focus on quality of life for our children.
Grayson has recovered well from his recent surgery and is looking forward to enjoying his summer with friends and family. Thank you for your effort to post actual facts, rather than the typical tidbit of inaccurate information that was released as a statement from Mr. Smiley’s representatives.
I now understand very well why Ms. Arroyo wanted to set the record straight, especially when faced with the publicity machine behind a reality tv star (including the sock puppets like the one who attacked her here). Slade has said that he didn’t know anything about it, and tried to spin it as if he just missed a payment or two in order to make himself look good, and make his child’s mother look as bad as possible. Of course, the Slade camp also claimed that Slade had only failed to pay his attorneys, then they attacked Ms. Arroyo publicly on this blog.
Obviously, however, he knew about it beforehand, since it was a case ongoing for years and he knew exactly what was required of him by the court. After all, he was found in contempt of court, not once, not twice, but eight times over, in a case involving failure to support a terminally ill child, when he is a reality television star. There was no way he was ever getting away with that, nor should he get away with it.
What I find most disturbing about this situation is that Slade had to be forced by a court to provide access to medical insurance providers, when the insurance is for a dying child. That is absolutely beyond unconscionable.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Family, Law, Parenting, People in the news, celebrities, children, health, law enforcement, personal responsibility, prisons | Tagged child support, Date My Ex: Jo and Slade, Grayson Smiley, Michelle Arroyo, Real Housewives, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of Orange County, Slade Smiley, Slade Smiley arrest | Leave a Comment »
Marinade Dave posted a little research he did on the Casey Anthony case, in which he found that the two houses closest to the area where Caylee was found have the names “Zenaida” and “Gonzalez”.
Interesting, and very strange. Yes, it’s even a little creepy.
Of course, that still doesn’t explain how Casey knew that someone named Zenaida Gonzalez had looked at the very same apartment at Sawgrass where she claimed “Zanny The Nanny” lived (though the apartment was long empty), but nevertheless, it’s still something to ponder.
Posted in Law, People in the news, crime, internets | Tagged Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Sawgrass Apartments, Zanny The Nanny, Zenaida Gonzalez | 63 Comments »
Brown Trial July 9, 2009: The Verdict | Bombs, Taxes, and Red Crayons.
Ed and Elaine Brown, who engaged in a nine-month heavily armed standoff against federal Marshals, were found guilty on all counts. They are now facing a minimum of 30 years in prison before they are even eligible for parole, because one of those counts (charged against each) comes with a term of life. The other guilty counts will likely be ordered to be served concurrently, given that at their ages, they are very unlikely to live long enough to serve even the mandatory minimum.
Click the above link to read details, including Ed’s parting words to the reporters and jury.
I am not surprised by the verdict, nor am I happy that two elderly people will probably never again see the light of day. I actually find it very sad, because this did not have to happen at all.
At the same time, I honestly believe Ed Brown is crazy, and I think he is extremely dangerous, so prison (or a mental institution) is the best place for him. We do have to consider the safety of others, after all. Maybe the judge should order Ed’s sentence to be served consecutively, just to make sure he never gets out.
I just wish Elaine’s attorney had put on a viable defense. It was silly to believe the jurors wouldn’t see right through the “she knew the bombs were there, but she didn’t make them” argument. Her best bet was and always has been a battered spouse syndrome defense.
Oh, well. Maybe on appeal she can claim ineffective assistance of counsel, though it’s unlikely to be successful since trial strategy alone, even if it fails miserably, does not a successful ineffective assistance claim make.
I just wonder if one day Elaine will wake up in her prison cell and realize that, by being a “loyal wife” and standing by her crazy-ass husband no matter what he did, she threw her own life away forever.
Then again, perhaps it is better for Elaine if she never comes to that realization, since the consequences of her decision can never be changed.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Department of Justice, Family, Law, Libertarian Posers, People in the news, US Government, crime, prisons, taxes, unusual behaviors | Tagged Ed Brown, Elaine Brown, guilty verdict, judge, jury, prison, US Marshals | 4 Comments »
Meet Project Runway’s Newest Designers! – - Project Runway : People.com.
Project Runway returns on August 20th on Lifetime.
Project Runway left Bravo after last season, and was quickly replaced by low-rent copycat The Fashion Show, which featured designers who … well, some of them couldn’t even sew, if you can believe that, LOL
The weirdest designer by far on The Fashion Show was Merlin, best known for cracking an actual whip at models when he previously appeared on The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.
Something tells me that The Fashion Show contestants are Project Runway rejects, so I look forward to the return of the original.
Posted in Entertainment, People in the news, insanetertainment | Tagged Bravo, Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, Lifetime, Merlin, Project Runway, The Fashion Show | 9 Comments »
I was one of the billion people worldwide who watched the Michael Jackson memorial today. It was actually very touching, and I have to admit that I teared up more than once, especially when they showed the very young Michael I remember, and especially when his young daughter spoke at the end. The latter broke my heart, but admittedly it would have broken my heart even if her father had worked in a widget factory.
That being said, there was one thing stated which had me fuming at the television set.
That statement in question was that God “took” Michael.
Maybe, but only if the doctor who gave him the deadly drugs thinks he’s God. That’s very possible, since many doctors do have a god complex. However, as for the Almighty taking Michael Jackson, that simply isn’t what happened.
I realize that it may make some people feel better to believe otherwise. However, had the Almighty taken Michael, then Michael would have died from natural causes, even if those causes were secondary to an accident. Instead, he died of very unnatural causes. He died because some extremely unethical doctors wanted to line their pockets with his money, and they wanted to rub shoulders with a mega-celebrity, so they supplied him with any and every drug he wanted, regardless of whether it was safe, or even if it might kill him. They played Russian Roulette with his life, and he lost.
Were it not for those doctors playing god, there is every reason in the world to believe that Michael Jackson would be alive right now, and for years to come. Michael Jackson was a reasonably healthy middle-aged man, as evidenced by the rehearsal video filmed just two days prior to his death, and as evidenced by the fact that no cause of death was found during two separate autopsies absent toxicology reports.
The cops don’t believe God is to blame, either. According to publicized reports, LAPD Homicide Division served search warrants yesterday, upon multiple doctors involved in Michael Jackson’s care.
Methinks somebody – maybe more than one somebody – is in one helluva lot of trouble. Methinks they should be too, no matter who was found dead with bottles – plural – of a deadly anesthetic only used in operating rooms found in their house. Michael’s celebrity has nothing to do with whether what those doctors did was right, or wrong. If they did that same thing to a homeless guy, with no family and no one to care if he lived or died, it would be equally wrong, and equally illegal.
I don’t care if Michael wanted the drugs, and I don’t care how much money he had to buy them. These doctors took the Hippocratic Oath of “First, do no harm” so that they could get a license to practice medicine – which placed them in a position of public trust – and then killed their patient by supplying (and possibly administering) any number of extremely dangerous and even deadly drugs to him, most if not all of which appeared to be unnecessary, and even medically contraindicated in those dosages and combinations.
Personally, I hope they figure out which doctor gave him the Diprivan (as well as anything else which may have played a part in his death, if determined to have not been medically desirable given his health status) and charge them with second-degree murder, thus holding them up as a warning to all others.
Posted in Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Entertainment, Law, People in the news, Science, celebrities, children, health, law enforcement, music, obituaries, religion | Tagged Diprivan, drug abuse, drugs, First do no harm, god, god complex, Hippocratic Oath, medicine, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson children, Michael Jackson memorial, physician | 13 Comments »
Slade Smiley, reality television star of both The Real Housewives of Orange County and Date My Ex: Jo and Slade was arrested for nonpayment of child support.
That wouldn’t really be a huge deal, except that the child for whom he failed to pay support is his nine-year-old son Grayson Arroyo-Smiley, who has inoperable brain cancer and has been fighting the disease since preschool.
Sometimes things do happen in life which are beyond our control – job loss, major illness – and there is no money for child support. I understand that completely, and I’m not complaining at all about noncustodial parents who do the best they can.
In this case, however, the noncustodial parent had his own reality tv show, lived in a McMansion, and therefore isn’t exactly poor. He also put the child’s mother through the incredible hassle of having to go through the court system, when she should be able to focus all her energies on their son and his devastating illness. I doubt Slade is spending a lot of time with the little boy, given that he seems more interested in humping reality star after reality star (the latest being Gretchen Rossi of The Real Housewives of Orange County).
Send some love to Grayson and his mom (Michelle Arroyo) at Amazing Gray. Feel free to send an email to Slade’s site for Grayson as well (which seems to be just another vehicle to promote his own career).
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Law, Parenting, People in the news, celebrities, children | Tagged Date My Ex, Date My Ex: Jo and Slade, Grayson Arroyo-Smiley, Jo de la Hoya, Michelle Arroyo, Real Housewives of Orange County, Slade Smiley | 12 Comments »
“Cop Without a Badge” Re-issued, More Excerpts | ABSURD TO SUBLIME.
There are excerpts at the above link from the book Cop Without A Badge by Charles Kipps.
Reports note that the book has been reissued, due to Danielle Staub of The Real Housewives of New Jersey being a person profiled in that book (which is actually about the exploits of her first ex-husband, Kevin Maher).
Staub was charged over 20 years ago, with crimes related to a kidnapping for ransom related to a cocaine deal gone bad. According to the book, at that time, Staub was a stripper with an endless hunger for cocaine. Staub was then known as “Beverly Merrill”, but has since changed her name.
However, after reading those excepts, is my opinion that the book is horribly written. It is so badly written, in fact, that I wouldn’t waste my money on it, even though I am interested in the subject matter and collect all kinds of books.
I guess at least now we don’t have to wonder why the book went out of print in the first place. LOL
Posted in Book review, Entertainment, People in the news, crime, women | Tagged Beverly Merrill, book excerpt, Charles Kipps, Cop Without A Badge, Danielle Staub, Kevin Maher, Real Housewives of New Jersey | Leave a Comment »
The Real Housewives of Atlanta will return for its second season on July 30 (10 p.m., ET).
Returning this year are aspiring country singer Kim Zolciak, entrepreneur Lisa Wu Hartwell, the outspoken NeNe Leakes and budding fashion designer Sheree Whitfield. Meanwhile, Kandi Burruss, a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and former member of Xscape, will join the mix, becoming the official fifth castmate, replacing DeShawn Snow. According to the network, the newest Housewife’s storyline will involve balancing wedding planning, writing and recording a new album as a solo artist and being a mom. Burruss is friends with Wu Hartwell.
As for the veterans, Bravo notes that upcoming Atlanta episodes will document the development of Whitfield’s She by Sheree fashion line and her dating life, Zolciak’s life after breaking up with beau “Big Poppa,” and Leakes’s upcoming self-help book for women.
via The Real Housewives of Atlanta Returns – PEOPLE TV Watch.
I dunno, I don’t care about She By Sheree at all (unless it fails miserably, like it did the first season when she gave a “fashion show with no fashions”, LOL) or NeNe’s book (though she may actually be able to help some women, and NeNe is a hoot).
The truth is, I only really like these shows when the “housewives” are extremely dysfunctional, which is why I don’t watch The Real Housewives of New York or The Real Housewives of Orange County (bitchy and dysfunctional are two entirely different things). I definitely got a kick out of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, but again, only because they are extremely dysfunctional.
I’ll definitely watch, though, because I did like the first season of Real Housewives of Atlanta. Hopefully the second season is nowhere near as boring as it sounds.
Posted in Entertainment, People in the news, celebrities, humor, insanetertainment, women | Tagged Big Papa, Big Poppa, DeShawn Snow, Kandi Burruss, Kim Zolciak, Lisa Wu Hartwell, NeNe Leakes, Real Housewies of New Jersey, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of New York, Real Housewives of Orange County, She By Sheree, Sheree Whitfield, Xscape | 3 Comments »
Bombs, Taxes, and Red Crayons.
Zoe the Dog was on the porch as well and the witness was feeding her pizza. Once he felt that they were positioned appropriately (he sat between Ed and Elaine close to Ed’s gun arm), he used the code word “party” in conversation and both of the Browns were grabbed, tasered, and handcuffed.
Ed put up a fight and warned the Marshals, “You don’t know what you’ve done.” Elaine became very animated and was yelling profanities.
The jury was then shown a brief video of the scene taken just after the arrest. Dutch’s face is blurred out, and Zoe the Dog darts into the house in fear when Ed tries to talk her while he’s standing handcuffed. A minute later, she’s seen stealing a pizza slice and running.
That sounds like a clear-cut case of petit theft to me. Book ‘em, Dano! 
What are the chances that Zoe the Dog’s theft would be caught on tape, then the tape played as evidence in a federal trial? LOL
Anyhoo, head on over to Bombs, Taxes, and Red Crayons at the above link, and check out JJ MacNab’s latest humorous (and not so humorous) report on the trial of Ed and Elaine Brown, who were involved in a nine-month armed standoff against US Marshals.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Department of Justice, Law, People in the news, US Government, animals, crime, humor, insanetertainment, internets, law enforcement, pets | Tagged Ed and Elaine Brown, Ed Brown, Elaine Brown, New Hampshire, tax protester, tax protester trial, trials, US Marshals, Zoe the Dog | 3 Comments »
This is the video of Michael Jackson’s final rehearsal for his upcoming “This Is It” tour. The song he is performing is “They Don’t Really Care About Us”, and the footage was filmed on June 23rd.
After watching that video, I find it very hard to believe that he was in anywhere near as much pain as the drugs found in his home would suggest. I couldn’t move like that if my life depended on it. Most people couldn’t. Still, his talent cannot be denied, and it does not seem to have lessened with time.
Whether Michael’s pain was real or imagined, it is now gone forever.
Sadly, however, the pain for those who loved him is only just beginning.
Posted in People in the news, Shine on you crazy diamond, Youtube, celebrities, health, music, obituaries | Tagged Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death, Michael Jackson final rehearsal, Michael Jackson final rehearsal video, They Don't Really Care About Us, This Is It tour | Leave a Comment »
Powerful sedative found in Michael Jackson’s home – Yahoo! News.
I have no idea why Michael Jackson, or anyone else, would have a drug of that nature in their home.
Diprivan (also known as Propofol) is an intravenous drug used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. In Michael Jackson’s case, if a Registered Nurse treating him is to be believed, he wanted to use the drug to treat insomnia.
I understand if the guy needed to sleep, because I get insomnia myself from time to time, but The Big Sleep is a whole other ballgame.
I suspect some doctor somewhere is in a lot of trouble right now, whether that’s what actually killed him or not. It’s not as if you can go to your friendly neighborhood drug dealer and get medications of that nature, after all, so he had to have gotten it from a physician.
Posted in People in the news, Science, celebrities, health, music, obituaries | 4 Comments »
“MySpace mom” Lori Drew’s conviction thrown out – Ars Technica.
Lori Drew’s conviction was thrown out today on the basis of legal interpretation. The judge ruled that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act did not apply to the facts of the case.
Lori Drew had made a false MySpace profile, pretending to be a cute boy named Josh Evans. She befriended Megan Meier, a neighbor girl and former friend of her daughter’s, and engaged in an ongoing plot to humiliate and embarrass the 13-year-old, who she knew had a history of serious depression.
Megan Meier committed suicide, many believe as a direct result of Drew’s actions.
Lori Drew admitted to police what she had done, when making a complaint about the Meiers destroying a foosball table she had stored in their garage, but charges were not brought locally. A federal prosecutor in California, home of MySpace, brought the charges in an attempt to make Drew pay for what she had done. Drew was found guilty by a jury.
Many hailed the judge’s action as proper, while others are extremely anger that Lori Drew is not being held legally responsible in the death of Megan Meier.
Personally, I think the judge made the right legal decision in this case, as I have previously stated should be the decision. However, I also think – and have always stated – that Lori Drew should have been charged with any of a number of serious state-level crimes, including child abuse, child endangerment, and possibly even negligent manslaughter, for her actions which led to the death of Megan Meier.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Law, Parenting, People in the news, children, crime, internets, women | Tagged Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Josh Evans, Lori Drew, Megan Meier, MySpace, Myspace suicide, suicide, Terms of Service | 27 Comments »
DEA joins Michael Jackson Death Investigation – KTLA.
It’s reported that Jackson’s body had multiple injection marks when he died. He also allegedly used a slew of aliases, including Omar Arnold and Jack London, along with the name of a bodyguard and the office manager of one of his doctors, to obtain prescription medications.
My concern is that, if someone is getting prescriptions under multiple names, pharmacists cannot tell whether the patient is getting too much of a particular medication, or whether there may be a problem with taking medications which are incompatible. The failure of that line of patient defense may prove to be catastrophic.
At the same time, I understand why celebrities may need to do that, thanks to the out-of-control tabloid press. After all, if I get a prescription, nobody cares except me. If someone like Michael Jackson gets a prescription, millions of people care, so tabloids are willing to pay top dollar for that information.
What do you think? Do you understand why celebrities use aliases when obtaining prescriptions and think it’s okay, or do you think it is a practice which should or must be stopped? Do you think it would be okay if a celebrity only used one pseudonym for medications, as opposed to many?
Posted in Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Law, People in the news, Science, US Government, celebrities, health, law enforcement | Tagged celebrities, Jack London, medication, Michael Jackson, Omar Arnold, pharmacists, prescriptions, tabloids | 3 Comments »
Two anti-smoking drugs to carry mental-health warnings – CNN.com.
The FDA said Chantix and Zyban will carry the warnings to alert consumers to the risks of depression and suicidal thoughts when using the drugs.
The drugs also have been reported to cause changes in behavior, hostility and agitation in users, whether users had a history of psychiatric illness or not. In many cases, side effects started shortly after use began and ended when the medication was stopped. The FDA does not know what is causing the changes and said people taking these products should be monitored by their doctor.
Posted in Science, health | Tagged Chantix, depression, FDA, suicidal thoughts, Zyban | 2 Comments »
The Smoking Gun has posted the Last Will and Testament of Michael Joseph Jackson, for anyone interested.
Last Will of Michael Joseph Jackson
JULY 1–A will signed in 2002 by Michael Jackson stipulates that his assets be placed in a family trust and that his mother be appointed the guardian of his three offspring. The will, a copy of which you’ll find below, lists three executors, including lawyer John Branca and music industry executive John McClain. The will makes no provision for bequests to Jackson’s father or any of his eight siblings, and a court filing indicates that beneficiaries of the Michael Jackson Family Trust are limited to his children and mother Katherine. Six other relatives, including his brother Tito’s three sons, are named as “contingent remainder beneficiaries” who would share the estate in the event that Jackson’s principal beneficiaries died before he did. Branca and McClain believe that the value of Jackson’s estate “exceeds $500 million” and consists of “non-cash, non-liquid assets,” including Jackson’s share of lucrative music royalty rights. In the case that Jackson’s mother were to predecease him (or was unable or unwilling to serve as guardian), Jackson stipulated that singer Diana Ross should be appointed guardian of his minor children. The “Last Will of Michael Joseph Jackson” was executed in Los Angeles on July 7, 2002. (8 pages)
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Family, Finances, Law, Parenting, People in the news, celebrities, children, music, obituaries | Tagged Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson children, Michael Jackson estate, Michael Jackson will, Tito Jackson | 4 Comments »
Unable to sleep tonight, I started searching random keywords on WordPress just for something to do, and ran across a blog which blew me away so much that I had to do a “Press This” about it.
The Opiate Fields is written by a mother who is much like me. Her son is the same age as my son, is also in a rock band, and lost his father as a young teen. However, that’s where the comparisons end, because her experiences with her son are very, very different from mine.
Reading about what she has gone through (and continues to go through) every single day definitely brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “there but for the grace of God go I”.
Her description in the side column is
My son’s life was never supposed to end up this way, with a needle in his arm and opiates running viciously through his veins.
My life was never supposed to end up this way, fearing that each and every moment will be the one when I am told that my only child is dead.
We are both living in a special place in hell, which I like to call “The Opiate Fields”.
It only gets better from there, and I definitely recommend it as a must-read blog. Honestly, I’m still in awe, because I would never be able to write about something that painful, and cannot even imagine living it.
Here’s an excerpt:
I put him in rehab repeatedly even before he was out of high school, trying to stop his downward spiral. When one program didn’t work, I’d try another. I spent literally every cent I had, including the insurance money I received when my husband died, trying to get my son off drugs. I tried being tough, and I tried being understanding. I even went into therapy myself, thinking perhaps it was somehow my fault, and that I was the one who needed to change. Nothing I did, and nothing the doctors did, made a damn bit of difference. He was hell-bent on self-destruction.
By the time he was 16, a doctor proclaimed that my son was a lost cause. I refused to believe that. I still refuse to believe that.
I’m glad to see she never gave up on her son no matter what anyone said. It’s sad that she blamed it on herself, though. Drug addiction of that extreme type and extent is caused by a dysfunction of the brain, not by mothers. Her son may very well be suffering from an underlying mental illness which has gone undiagnosed as well, but she hasn’t said enough about his behavior yet for me to even make a guess about what it might be. It could be a lot of things.
Take a few tissues when you read it, though. It’s just unbelievable to read what that poor mom has gone through, not only with her son, but one of her son’s friends. Un-fricking-believable. In fact, I wouldn’t believe it, except that I actually know some young musicians who use drugs and act just like them, and they have tried similar stunts with me. Needless to say, they didn’t get away with it here, LOL, but she seems like a super nice lady who was just more than a little naive and wanted to think the best of the kids, and as a result has been victimized over and over again by these young predatory drug addicts.
I’m glad to see she finally woke up to their tricks, though. Some people never do, sadly.
Posted in Family, Parenting, Science, children, health, internets, women | Tagged addiction, blogging, drug addict, drug addiction, drugs, mental illness, mothers, opiates, Parenting | 1 Comment »
SIMON COWELL OFFERED $144 MIL A YEAR TO STAY ON ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ – New York Post.
Wow. That’s a LOT of money for judging a singing competition.
Posted in Entertainment, Finances, People in the news, celebrities, media, music | Tagged American Idol, contract negotiations, Simon Cowell | 2 Comments »
Duane “Dog” Chapman may be in the doghouse yet again.
DENVER – A public defender is demanding that TV bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman be charged with felonies for claiming that a man fired a gun at him and his crew while they were filming in Colorado Springs last month.
Attorney William Schoewe alleges Chapman and others made up the claim to boost publicity for the A&E reality show “Dog The Bounty Hunter.” Prosecutors dropped charges against a suspect, saying the evidence was insufficient.
I no longer watch Dog (and haven’t in years) so I haven’t seen that episode, and I haven’t read the police reports, so I don’t know exactly what was said or who said it. What I do recall from news reports, however, is that police found no evidence at the scene supporting Dog’s claim that the suspect had shot at him.
Someone must have told police that the man shot at Dog, though, since charges were brought against him. Without a statement, and without evidence at the scene, the police had no probable cause to charge him with that crime.
If anyone has a link to Dog’s statement to police, or to that episode of the show, please post it. I’d be interested to know exactly what the police were told, and who said it, as well as how the situation was presented on his show.
In other Dog news, Dog’s brother-from-another-mother Tim Chapman was found not guilty by a judge with regard to misdemeanor indecent exposure charges. The judge specifically found that the prosecutor didn’t prove that Tim intentionally exposed himself.
A felony charge of terroristic threatening, due to Tim driving out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell and almost running over a security guard when he was caught with his pants down (literally), was previously dropped. Tim blamed that part of it on …wait for it … Beth Chapman. He was allegedly worried about what she would say.
I have to admit, that’s actually possible, LOL.
Though Tim Chapman blasted prosecutors for what he termed “a waste of taxpayers’ money”, the prosecutor stated that she still believes he intentionally exposed himself.
Chapman states that he fought the charge because his wife recently filed for divorce, and he is trying to get custody of his two young children, but an indecent exposure conviction would get in the way of that goal.
Given the undisputed facts of the indecent exposure case though – that he was clearly seen in his vehicle, in a public parking lot in broad daylight, with no pants or underwear on – it’s still very doubtful he could get custody. Even if one believes Tim’s version of events (that he was just changing his clothes because he spilled orange juice on himself) it still shows extremely poor judgment on his part.
Nevertheless, I don’t think there’s any doubt that he loves his kids and that they love him, so it’s a shame that he and his estranged wife can’t just work things out for the benefit of their children.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Entertainment, Law, Parenting, People in the news, celebrities, children, crime, insanetertainment, unusual behaviors | Tagged Beth Chapman, child custody, Dog Chapman, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, Duane Dog Chapman, indecent exposure, terroristic threatening, Tim Chapman | 4 Comments »
On the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion show, Dina was asked if it was true that she spent a million dollars on her wedding to Tommy Manzo. She said it was not true.
However, in a twist to rival only Danielle’s delusional belief that no one would ever find out that her criminal history was in a book (not to mention public records), it turns out that Dina and husband Tommy Manzo were profiled on VH1’s reality show “My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding”, which proves that she was lying. In fact, at the link below, there is a video from that show to prove it.
Dina and Tommy Manzo on My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding
Total cost of the wedding? $1,150,000
It’s not exactly a flattering portrait of them as a couple, either. On that show, Dina says they dated for five years, and Tommy repeatedly cheated on her. What a catch!
This of course also brings into question Dina’s assertion that her husband was never on the show because he didn’t want to be on reality tv.
There is a treat for fans in that video, though. Look for a younger Lexi and a much thinner Caroline. 
Posted in Entertainment, Lies and the lying liars who tell them, People in the news, celebrities, insanetertainment, internets, media, unusual behaviors, women | Tagged Caroline Manzo, Dina Manzo, Lexi, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Tommy Manzo, wedding | 3 Comments »
CNN offers comprehensive coverage of the life and death of Michael Jackson, for those interested in the topic.
Michael Jackson Dead At 50 – Special Reports from CNN.com.
I was a big fan of The Jackson Five as a little girl, so much so that I still remember all their names. I even remember their cartoon, though most people probably didn’t even know there was one (yeah, I know, I’m really showing my age by admitting that). At one point I couldn’t decide if I liked Michael Jackson or Donny Osmond the best, but truth be told, I had a big crush on both of them. I have always believed that Thriller was the greatest music video ever made.
Nowadays I am hardly a rabid Michael Jackson fan, though, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise just because he passed away. I still enjoy his music, though I don’t go out of my way to listen to it anymore, but through that music he brought a dimension to the lives of many, including me, which otherwise would not have existed at all. Michael Jackson broke through many, many boundaries; without him, I believe the world would be a very different place.
In fact, my own personal world is very different than what it otherwise might be, because of Michael Jackson. He is the reason why, though I grew up in an impoverished area of Appalachia where whites and blacks were still quite separate (and not at all equal), I never harbored any racial prejudice despite my upbringing. Long before he sang about it, Michael Jackson taught me that race is nothing but a skin color. I sincerely thank him for that.
At the same time, the sordid world of tabloid journalism would be quite different as well without Michael, Bubbles The Chimp, Michael’s (alleged) hyperbaric sleeping chamber, and the many allegations and accusations leveled against “Wacko Jacko” over the years. Supermarket tabloids like The National Enquirer managed to stay in business for decades because of Michael Jackson’s antics, and unfortunately, he never seemed to let them down. Despite what the younger generation seems to believe, sites like TMZ and Perez Hilton only built upon that sleazy tabloid style of celebrity “journalism”, they certainly didn’t invent it.
I can’t honestly say the world is a better place due to that particular contribution to pop culture, but I think the ever-eccentric Michael just viewed things differently than the average person, and never realized until it was too late what the press would do if they ever turned against him. And turn against him, they did.
Of course the most obvious subject for the press was Michael’s ever-changing facial appearance. His family teased him relentlessly about his nose when he was a child, from what I have read, and that may have been the catalyst for what appears to have been body dysmorphic disorder resulting in his many (eventually bizarre) plastic surgeries. Michael was very sick, in my opinion, but that can be explained by the fact that he led a life unlike anyone else on earth, from a very, very young age, and under threat of severe physical punishment if he failed to perform perfectly.
I therefore noted the changes in his appearance – after all, it was impossible not to notice them – and never believed it when said his skin color changed due to vitiligo, or that he hadn’t had a nose job. I do have eyes, after all, and I remembered very clearly what he looked like as a child, so I could see that his appearance had changed dramatically, and to a degree which would be impossible without extreme surgical intervention. However, I didn’t engage in the endless discussion and speculation on that subject. Michael Jackson was mentally ill, in my opinion, and therefore in desperate need of help and understanding, not public ridicule.
Unfortunately, when you are a star of his caliber, and when you have that kind of money, others only say what they think you want to hear. That extends to professionals as well, so if one doctor says no to plastic surgery, someone in Michael’s position can always find another one willing to say yes. Perhaps that even ultimately led to his untimely demise.
The other thing which stands out from Michael Jackson’s life are the child molestation accusations. For the record, as I stated publicly at the time of the accusations, I never believed Michael Jackson was molesting children. This opinion has absolutely nothing to do with my enjoyment of his music, and everything to do with the extremely unusual life he had led from a very tender age. In a nutshell, I think his maturity was severely stunted, to the point that he simply could not understand that, as an adult, he was held to a different set of rules. Watching the Martin Bashir documentary only reaffirmed that opinion.
I could be wrong in believing the accusations were false, but I don’t think so, and a jury didn’t think so either.
I did however, as a result of those accusations, learn to harbor a deep and abiding dislike for “journalist” Diane Diamond, then with CourtTV, who clearly enjoyed the power given her to destroy the life of another human being, based solely upon the word of someone who stood to gain great wealth from the accusation. Boundaries of responsible reporting were crossed again and again, as the accusations and eventual trial were covered. The media changed into something more closely resembling a tabloid, and thus became far more vicious and intrusive, almost overnight.
However, I never depend upon the media to tell me what I should think about anything, so I sought to find out for myself. The first accuser’s affidavit simply did not ring at all true to me; I got the distinct impression that they mixed truth with sick fantasy, to create an allegation of child molestation. The second accuser’s mother was known for suing everyone in sight, and both had lied under oath before, so they simply were not credible. The fact that he settled with the first boy does not necessarily mean he was guilty either. He was a mega-celebrity, the biggest recording artist in the world, and many times people in his position will settle out of court, rather than have everything they have worked for destroyed by a single false allegation. This is especially true when he had no way of proving his innocence. If you or I had the kind of money Michael Jackson had, we might do the same thing if faced with those same circumstances.
The question in my mind is (and always has been): What kind of parent would ever allow their child to spend such an inordinate amount of private time with a grown man who was obviously, at best, highly eccentric? As a mother, I would never have allowed that, and I don’t care who the adult may have been, or how much money he may have had. It simply would never have happened.
Since it was grossly irresponsible parenting in the first place, there is no reason to believe those same parents would not also be irresponsible enough to lodge false accusations and even coach their child, in order to make millions off their son’s relationship with Michael. The first accuser’s dad was a lawyer, and he walked away with an astonishing $15 million, but no criminal charges were even brought because they refused to cooperate with the police after they got the money. What does that tell you about the truthfulness of the accusation? The second accuser’s mother sought an attorney to file a civil suit before even going to police, which speaks volumes as well.
Would you tell a lie, if that lie would pay off to the tune of $15 million? Would you let a child molester walk free to molest again and again, if you truly believed they had molested your child? Think about it.
All in all, the media circus revolving around Michael Jackson’s death is much stranger than anything Michael could ever have done in life. Not only did the worldwide web almost get shut down by the news, as website after website – from Google to Twitter – became overloaded with hits, but the mainstream media has covered his death nearly to the exclusion of all other news. Even the network national news covered Michael’s death for most of its newscast, though they had nothing of value to add to what had already been said elsewhere.
Those who demonized Michael in life are coming together to mourn him in death. HLN has turned into the “All Michael Jackson, all the time” channel, and even their infamous Nancy Grace Show – which spent an inordinate amount of time crucifying Michael in the court of public opinion, long before the molestation case ever even got near a jury, and who continued to do so even after his acquittal – has jumped on the “Remembering Michael Jackson” bandwagon, in a shameless quest for ratings. I just hope fans watching that coverage are aware that these are the very same people who played a crucial role in destroying their music idol’s life and reputation when he was still alive.
So, what happened to cause Michael’s sudden unexpected death? Since the autopsy was inconclusive, I think it’s reasonable to assume his death was drug-related, especially since police impounded his doctor’s car in the belief it may contain evidence, and especially since the Jackson family attorney says that he warned about that very possibility long ago. I personally suspected that his death was drug-related when the news first broke that he had suffered cardiac arrest, since a cardiac arrest and a heart attack are two different things, and since he was only 50 years old. What I find extremely unusual about this situation is that a physician was actually there with him, so a lethal drug overdose should not have even been a possibility. I therefore look forward to more news on that front.
As a mother I very much feel for Michael’s three children, who have lived an incredibly sheltered (and more than a little strange) life as a result of their father’s eccentricities and his fame, as well as his infamy. This is going to be terribly difficult for them, as they adjust to an entirely new life without their only parent. At the same time, they will be embraced by the world now, in a way they would never have experienced when their father was alive. I attribute that to what I call “Sins Of The Father Syndrome”, and it is, quite sadly, a phenomenon which is not unusual even among those who are neither wealthy nor famous. It’s just too bad that no one was willing to forgive Michael Jackson of his perceived sins when he was still here to enjoy that himself.
Rest in peace, Michael. I sincerely hope you have finally found the peace you were never able to find in this world.
Posted in celebrities, children, obituaries | Tagged Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson child molestation, Michael Jackson death, Michael Jackson drug overdose, Michael Jackson plastic surgery | 20 Comments »
The Real Housewives of New Jersey aired the second of a two-part reunion show last night. Caroline Manzo, best described as the tough-as-nails matriarch of the group, burst into tears and became somewhat hysterical over something Danielle Staub allegedly planned to do to her younger sister Dina. However, she refused to say what it was, because Dina had made her promise beforehand not to do so.
Danielle claimed she didn’t know what they were talking about, but I got the impression from her facial expressions (or at least, what facial expressions she has left thanks to Botox) that she was not at all surprised by the unspoken accusation, as she would be if she truly didn’t know what they were referencing.
Could it have been a threatened slander suit, over Dina allegedly talking to others about Danielle behind her back? Possibly, but I seriously doubt Caroline would burst into tears over that. She’d just call in the lawyers and say “bring it on”, because Dina cannot be held legally liable for showing others a book, or for stating her opinion about what is in that book. After all, it is reasonable to believe that what is in the book is true, since there was no libel suit when the book was published, and since many of the accusations are supported by public records.
I’m not saying that everything in the book is true, mind you. I previously posted a link to public records about her arrest and conviction, but I have no proof one way or the other regarding any statements made which are not covered by those records, except perhaps that she may be a nymphomaniac based upon her blatantly sexual behavior during the show.
Dina also pointed out that “it didn’t happen”, which means that it was a planned course of action which didn’t take place, and not just something Danielle said. Caroline’s emotional reaction, and the fact that they refused to say what it was, also leads me to believe it was something far more serious than a lawsuit.
Personally I suspect the Manzos were told, whether true or false, that Danielle planned to physically harm, or get someone else to physically harm, Caroline’s sister Dina. That’s a threat I would take very seriously if I were the Manzos, based upon Danielle’s criminal history as well as more than one threat of physical violence which Danielle actually made on the show. Besides, given her previous threats against others, there is no reason to believe she wouldn’t have run her mouth and threatened someone yet again, whether she actually intended to do anything or not.
Do I know for sure that’s what she allegedly did to cause that reaction from Caroline? No, but it must be considered that Caroline’s father-in-law was murdered many years ago, and though the case was never solved, the police believed the crime was perpetrated by the mob. Given that Danielle has had known past ties to organized crime of a different type, I could definitely see the otherwise-tough Caroline reacting that way to that particular kind of threat, even if the threat was not serious enough to involve the police.
Did the accusation surprise me? No, not at all, given the behavior of all of these women (with the exception of Jacqueline). In fact, I’m surprised that it wasn’t an issue long before now, with all the threats flying back and forth. While normally I would write off threats from females as someone just running their mouth, Danielle in particular shouldn’t be threatening anyone, even if she doesn’t actually intend to follow through with that threat. It is entirely reasonable for others to take her threats at face value, and respond accordingly.
Does anyone reading this know what happened, or have any theories about it?
Posted in Entertainment, Family, People in the news, celebrities, insanetertainment, megabitchery, unusual behaviors, women | Tagged Caroline Manzo, Danielle Staub, Dina Manzo, Real Housewives of New Jersey | 11 Comments »
During the first of a two-part Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion special, it was revealed in a conversation, about whether the rumors that the Manzos have mob connections are true, that Caroline Manzo’s father-in-law, Albert “Tiny” Manzo, was murdered in 1983. What happened, and why would it be brought up in that context?
News reports of the era clearly suggest that Albert “Tiny” Manzo was killed in a mob hit, and it definitely sounds like one.
Police who discovered Manzo’s naked, 350-pound body stuffed inside the trunk of his Lincoln Continental in Hillside immediately noticed two things out of the ordinary: Manzo’s massive arms and legs had been wrapped in plastic, and his chest was ripped open with a quartet of gunshot wounds.
Manzo disappeared in mid-August of that year while traveling from one of his two Paterson restaurants to a meeting in Wayne. Police found his body Aug. 22 inside the trunk of his car, which was parked at a Hillside supermarket.
The murder was never solved. The Union County prosecutor and police investigators speculated that Manzo was killed as a result of involvement with organized crime figures. One theory is that he angered local mob figures by attempting to open an illegal gambling club in Paterson without their permission.
Ironically, the friendly and gregarious Manzo had based his mayoral campaign on a law-and-order platform, promising to hold public hangings in the yard of the Passaic County Jail.
That is truly a tragedy and a shock to the family, and I can completely understand why Caroline Manzo is still quite emotional about it to this day, since this gentleman was her father-in-law. If the police theory is right, I have to respect Mr. Manzo for having the guts to stand up to organized crime. I can also understand why Caroline Manzo finds the internet rumors of a Mafia connection to be hurtful.
At the same time, if indeed this gentleman ran afoul of the Mafia because he was opening an illegal gambling parlor without their permission, he clearly wasn’t quite as law-and-order as others might believe.
Does that mean the Manzos have mob connections of any type today? Not necessarily, so I think it is unfair to make that assumption. At the same time, in all honesty, I still did wonder where some of the housewives’ husbands got that much money.
The Manzos seem to have received $500,000 from Albert Sr.’s life insurance policy in 1989, six years after his death. The holdup was because the insurance company, Massachusetts Mutual, refused the claim because he didn’t disclose he had diabetes, so there are court records on that dispute. The policy was initially applied for in June, and the initial payment was made less than a month before his murder, so I’d bet the company suspected he knew he had pissed off the wrong people when he purchased the policy, but they just couldn’t prove it.
Note to self: Never buy a life insurance policy from MassMutual, because their excuse to get out of paying the policy proceeds is ridiculous. Who cares if the man had diabetes, when he underwent a required physical prior to policy issuance (so their own doctor should have tested for that, especially given his massive size), when he obviously died not of diabetes, but from four gunshot wounds to the chest? It wasn’t a suicide, after all, and I’m sure if the man had a choice, he’d be alive to this day. Furthermore, if the insurance company could prove he knew he was about to die, they’d have brought that as an argument against payout instead. So they needed to just pay the proceeds, since they accepted the risk, and not give the grieving family of a murder victim such a hard time. This is in fact a good example of why I hate insurance companies. But, I digress.
It appears that Albert Sr. started The Brownstone as well as another restaurant many years ago, so that alone was a successful preexisting asset which could easily support the Manzo family, but probably not at that level of wealth. However, if properly invested over the years – especially if used to invest in other profitable businesses as I would assume the Manzos have done, since they seem to be hardworking and have very good business sense – they could all indeed live very well even today from the proceeds of that insurance policy. When the policy proceeds were combined with The Brownstone asset as well as the second restaurant (and there may have been other significant business assets as well), the family was surely worth well over $1 million even then. In 1989, that was a LOT of money.
Teresa Giudice’s husband, however, strikes me as nothing but a common thug. I also find it very hard to believe he makes that much money in the construction business, especially after the scene at his office, which suggests his company’s office is smaller and less well-equipped than the home office from which I am typing this. Of course, their McMansion could be built far less expensively by a contractor than by anyone else, but that still doesn’t explain Teresa spending over $100,000 on furniture – in cash, no less – to furnish a single room of that home. Even if her husband inherited money like the Manzos, she spends it like she has a money tree in the back yard, so it wouldn’t last for any sustained period of time even if wisely invested, since very successful investments must be nurtured, and since the current economy appears to have had no negative effect on their lifestyle at all. Quite the contrary, because Teresa said on the show that she pays cash even for shockingly expensive purchases because she “heard” the economy has taken a downturn. I therefore think it is normal for others to have at least some suspicions about the source of their income given all that combined with his persona, his wife’s violent public behavior (not to mention his laughing reaction to it), and the amount of organized crime in New Jersey.
I understand that the “housewives” think that kind of suspicion is unfair. However, surely they realized how others would view the situation, before they decided to star on a popular reality show and spend money like it’s water. This is even more so given some of their clearly threatening behavior on that show, which in Teresa’s case became physical. Besides, people are always going to question where the “housewives” got their money, because those very same questions have arisen with every version of the Housewives franchise. For those reasons, they should have seen the suspicions coming from a mile away.
However, after reading up on the murder of Albert Sr and the insurance dispute which followed, I am going to assume the Manzos got their money through hard work and the inheritance of a long-established successful business, combined with the well-invested proceeds of a long-ago life insurance policy. Perhaps something will come to my attention which may explain how the Guidices can afford their lifestyle as well. Until then, however, I’m certainly not ready to assume they have any current connections to organized crime, unless I see something which clearly points in that direction.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Entertainment, Family, Finances, Law, People in the news, Shine on you crazy diamond, celebrities, crime, obituaries, women | Tagged Albert Manzo, Albert Tiny Manzo, Caroline Manzo, murder, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice | 3 Comments »
For some reason, a number of legitimate comments got caught up in the spam queue over the last week, and I just now realized it. I’m not sure why that happened, since it usually doesn’t, but if you made a comment and it didn’t appear, it should be there now. I apologize for any problems this may have caused.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
“Jersey” Girl’s Sordid Past – June 23, 2009.
The above link contains federal court documents detailing the 1986 criminal arrest and prosecution of Danielle Staub, one of the wealthy “housewives” on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Staub’s past came to light during the show, when the other “housewives” found a book written by her ex-husband, detailing her arrest in a kidnapping plot hatched due to a cocaine deal gone bad. During the final episode of the season, Staub declared
There are only two things in that book that are true. I changed my name, and I was arrested.
However, if the information in these court records is to be believed, there’s a LOT more to it than that.
I still have no idea why she thought none of this would come to light if she starred in a well-known reality television series. Honestly, I feel kind of bad for her, and especially for her children, now that the allegations against her can no longer be plausibly denied even if some of them really are untrue.
All in all, Danielle should have just remained an anonymous “housewife” in wealthy Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Perhaps she did the show because she needed the money, since she has mentioned that she will lose her home if her second ex-husband doesn’t pay her the settlement she is owed, but it seems like it would have been much easier if she had instead just not continued to live beyond her means.
I know, her children are in school there, and it’s not good to uproot the kids if that can be avoided. Well, it’s also not good for the kids to find out that their mother was a coked-out prostitute who was involved in a kidnapping scheme, either. I don’t care if it happened over 20 years ago, her kids didn’t need to know that, at least not until they are old enough to understand.
Mom of the Year, she ain’t.
However, all that being said, I still like Danielle better than I like that wackjob “housewife” Teresa Giudice, though. LOL
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Law, People in the news, celebrities, crime, insanetertainment, women | Tagged Danielle Staub, Danielle Staub kidnapping, Real Housewives of New Jersey | 12 Comments »
… is still found on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of…” series.
Some of the installments (New York, Orange County) aren’t very interesting at all, in my opinion. However, get out of the major cities, and you’ll find that there are some real wackjobs among the wealthy elite.
I previously wrote about the idiocy of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Now, The Real Housewives of New Jersey is on, and it’s even funnier, but again, unintentionally so.
It’s funny enough that “housewife” Danielle had phone sex with a complete stranger named “Gucci Model” who she met on a website called wealthy men dot com (for two years, no less) and actually thought he really was wealthy, and really was a Gucci model. When he stood her up for drinks on what was supposed to be their first face-to-face meeting, the worst she could imagine is that he’s an overweight banker. It never even occurs to her that he could actually be some loser still living in his mother’s basement, though that’s far more likely the case.
She also admitted that she has been engaged … get this …. 19 times. Wow.
Then Danielle starts dating some guy who is supposedly 26, though he looks like he’s in his 40s. Danielle is 46. I’m 46, and even I wouldn’t give this guy a second thought, much less a second glance, because he’s very unattractive and obviously a sleazebag. I guess she’s a cougar at heart, but that’s completely incompatible with her stated goal of marrying an extremely wealthy man (and don’t even get me started on that…)
At some point it turns out that Danielle was arrested for kidnapping and extortion when she was in her early 20s, and her ex-husband wrote a book about it. It appears the book is actually about her then-boyfriend, and that she may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time since she was never imprisoned for those very serious crimes. However, she also changed her name, and of course people find that suspicious when paired with an arrest of that nature.
Why on earth she thought no one would find out about the book if she starred in a well-known reality series – no matter how obscure that book may be – is beyond me.
Of course the other “housewives” found the book (no doubt with the help of the producers), and catty hilarity ensued. Unfortunately, all of them are related except for Danielle, so they really ganged up on her. As Caroline, the family matriarch, stated to Danielle, “Let me tell you something about my family. We are as thick as thieves, and we stand by each other to the end.” Apparently that includes lying to cover for each other, as thieves will do, if the final episode is any indication.
On that episode, Teresa invited Danielle to dinner at a nice restaurant, along with all the other housewives and their families. Teresa is a shameless stage mother (who of course says “I’m SO not a stage mother”, LOL) who talks about sex in front of everyone’s children, and thinks it’s “gross” to live in a house anyone else has ever lived in, so she built a McMansion. By the way, are we really supposed to believe the Jersey housewives actually got that kind of money because their husbands own a banquet hall and a construction business? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not buying that explanation. At all.
At dinner Danielle pulls out the book (which mysteriously appears out of nowhere, again assumably thanks to the producers, since she didn’t carry it in and there’s no way it would fit into her tiny purse), and starts telling the other women how they shouldn’t have shown it to people around town, without even talking to her about it first to find out if it was true (she’s right, they shouldn’t have done that, especially since it was written by her ex and is therefore automatically suspect).
Sure, Danielle could have sued for libel if it was untrue, but she apparently didn’t. Not everyone who is defamed sues over it, though, and it appears to be a very obscure book, so that in and of itself is meaningless. She admits that she was arrested, and that she changed her name. The rest, she says, is untrue. At this juncture, even though she’s more than a little kooky, I have no reason to believe she is lying about that.
The “housewives” argue back and forth, with Danielle accusing Dina of showing it around town, when Carolyn claims she did it instead (though I don’t believe that, since sister-in-law Jacqueline – the token normal in the bunch – said it is a lie, but said nothing at all until the family pulled her into the argument).
Eventually during dinner Teresa lost what little bit of mind she started out with. The nutcase actually flipped a table, and started screaming like a maniac and cussing like a construction worker. At one point she so absolutely hysterical with rage that you can’t understand what she is saying at all … then makes it a point to say that she considers herself “classy”.
Again, as with the Atlanta housewives, you can’t buy this kind of self-delusional comedy.
The strangest thing is that Carolyn tells Jacqueline that, by not sticking with the family during that argument, she somehow hurt Carolyn’s parents (who are Jacqueline’s parents-in-law). I’m still scratching my head about that one, because it makes absolutely no sense. Maybe it’s a Jersey thing, who knows.
As if the housewives aren’t unintentionally funny enough, I found the following comment on Teresa’s blog (link above) on her post regarding the table flipping incident:
Teresa! You shouldn’t feel bad about turning over the table, I think most of us would have done the same thing. Danielle accomplished exactly what she came to your dinner to do, to cause problems. If that wasn’t her reason, she would never have brought out the book, especially the way she did. How dare she illude to the fact that you are stupid!
Well, it is indeed a fact that Teresa is stupid, but I don’t think that’s at all what the viewer intended to say.
The RHONJ Reunion Special is on for two nights, starting Tuesday on Bravo. I will definitely be watching.
Posted in Entertainment, Family, Lies and the lying liars who tell them, Parenting, People in the news, Shine on you crazy diamond, celebrities, children, crime, humor, insanetertainment, media, megabitchery, unusual behaviors, women | Tagged Caroline Manzo, Danielle Staub, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of New York, Real Housewives of Orange County, Teresa Giudice, The Real Housewives of Atlanta | Leave a Comment »
This is the newest “Press This” entry, highlighting blogs I read via RSS feed.
People You’ll See In Hell (which quite amusingly always has a poll at the end of posts, so readers can vote on whether or not the criminal discussed deserves hell) posted the above blog article written by NavyCop, who recently commented on this blog. I’ve been reading PYSIH for quite some time, and it’s a good site for true crime buffs.
Fair warning, though, as the article linked above is not for the faint of heart. It’s an update on the case of a schizophrenic man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus, and explains what happened during the attack.
For the record, most schizophrenics are truly dangerous only to themselves.
Posted in Technology, internets | Leave a Comment »
PDF Documents From WFTV Eyewitness News Orlando.
Please, don’t read that document if it’s just going to upset you. That’s not why I posted the link here.
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Law, People in the news, crime, health, obituaries | Tagged autopsy, Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Caylee Anthony autopsy | 15 Comments »
Here are some internet applications I recommend ….
Google Gears stores a lot of background information on your computer, so you don’t have to wait for everything to load anew each time. You can even download RSS feeds and read them offline, which is what I use it for the most. It is compatible with WordPress, Google Reader, MySpace, and a lot of other sites. Just don’t use it on a public or shared computer, unless you trust the person(s) with whom you are sharing.
Press This is a WordPress application which you drag and drop to your bookmarks bar. Just click on it when viewing a page you want to share, and it will automatically pop up a new post page with the link already included. Look in your WordPress blog’s “Tools” folder (accessible via your dashboard) to get it.
Freecorder allows you to record anything coming out of your speakers, regardless of source, and save it as an audio file. It also allows you to record streaming videos. Best of all, it’s free, and has no ads or spyware. It’s an uber cool app. Of course, be careful not to record anything protected by copyright.
What applications do you use and recommend, what do they do, and why do you like them?
Posted in Technology, Youtube, internets, media, music | Tagged Freecorder, Google Gears, internet applications, Press This, software | 4 Comments »
I’m not vouching for the correctness of this information, since I don’t have time to verify it all, but it looks pretty good and it’s pretty doggone thorough, so I’m passing it along anyway…
PrairieChicken has made a Caylee Anthony case timeline, which readers of this blog may find interesting. Enjoy!
Posted in Courts & Justice System, Family, Law, People in the news, children, crime, internets | Leave a Comment »
This is a strange website forum, to say the very least. Apparently these folks believe that those suffering from psychosis are actually victims of a government mind control program. They even claim that someone who heard voices and later died of a heart attack didn’t have a real heart attack, but was killed by the government using some sort of electronic signal which stopped his heart. In fact, they claim that multiple people have been killed by the government using this alleged technology.
What they don’t tell us is what possible motive the government might have to target these particular individuals, much less kill them.
Very, very strange. I have no idea why anyone would believe any of this, unless they are (a) psychotic, or (b) extreme conspiracy theorists. Check it out for yourself, there are additional links at the top to that same site.
http://peacepink.ning.com/forum/topics/memorials-of-mind-control-and?page=1
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged conspiracy theory, mind control | Leave a Comment »
I previously wrote about the death of little five-month-old Benjamin Sargent on this blog at http://elfninosmom.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/parents-of-the-year-again/
It turns out that poor little Benjamin didn’t starve to death. Instead, he died as a result of his incredibly filthy diaper. No, I’m not kidding; I wish I were.
According to news reports, little Benjamin’s diaper had been unchanged for so long that the waste material ate through his skin and made it into his blood.
Damn, that pisses me off even more. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that. You know these freaks had to smell a dirty diaper. Everyone who has ever been around a baby knows that smell, and it is overwhelming and unmistakable.
The good news is that the sperm donor, James Sargent, was convicted and is now looking down the barrel at that 100-year prison sentence. The egg donor, Tracy D. Hermann, should face trial in the near future. Let’s hope she is convicted as well. I suspect she will be.
Source: http://www.pjstar.com/news/x126918528/Sargent-No-one-would-help-him-with-the-baby
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
This just makes my blood boil.
A woman in Orlando was reported kidnapped by her supervisor at work. Then, the kidnapped woman called 911 from where she was being held. She was speaking in a whisper, and reported that she needed help.
Rather than sending cops, 911 operator Alan Ballard gave her a long lecture on misusing the 911 system, and according to WFTV, said she was wasting his time. Ballard told the victim Loyta Stoley, “You are making us do a lot of work that we don’t need to be doing”.
She was found dead four hours later.
Yet, the 911 operator is still on the job, if you can believe that.
The problem as I see it is that too many 911 operators like to think they’re cops. It’s not their job to solve crime, nor are they in any way qualified to solve crime. as this illustrates all too well. It’s their job to get the information necessary to dispatch police, period. They are nothing but glorified secretaries. If they don’t like that description, then they should get another job because that is the reality.
I have excerpted the WFTV article below. They also have the raw 911 calls on their site at http://www.wftv.com/video/18995814/index.html . The 911 operator spent almost 40 minutes in calls, and still didn’t dispatch police for a kidnapping of a person who was very clearly endangered. There was no reason to believe it was a hoax, since her employer called as well. This is absolutely outrageous behavior by the 911 operator, and there should be severe consequences for it. He should be criminally prosecuted.
I might write more about this later, but at this point, I am too angry to say anything much more than what I have already said. There is absolutely no excuse for this level of incompetence, not to mention arrogance, on the part of a 911 operator. Thanks to him, this innocent woman – who should have been able to assume help was on its way – is dead.
Excerpt from http://www.wftv.com/news/18995756/detail.html
The following is what Ballard said to Sloley when he finally got her on her cell phone more than an hour and a half later.
911 operator: “Okay, we are under the impression that you are being held against your will.”
Sloley: “Yes.”
911 operator: “Okay, you need to talk to me straight up. Are you being held against your will?”
Sloley: “Yes.”
By this time Loyta and her captor had checked into room 548 at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel downtown. Ballard tried to keep her on the phone, but she kept telling him that she had to go.
Ballard took a tough tone with Sloley.
“We’re going to be launching a major search for you and you could be charged with all that expense if you don’t cooperate with me … You need to tell me where you are and not hang up this phone or you are going to be in some serious trouble … We need to look for you just like we looked for that little girl who was missing. If you hang up you are creating a whole lot of work for a lot of people,” the 911 operator told her.
Almost 11 minutes into the call with the victim, her alleged captor, James Clayton, got on the phone with the 911 operator and Ballard told him to stay put and say where he was so police could find them.
“We have launched a major search,” the 911 operator told Clayton.
Even though Ballard has been on the job for nine years, he waited almost an hour before he sent police to talk to Sloley’s supervisor.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 9/11, Alan Ballard, incompetence, Loyta Stoley, Orlando, police | 8 Comments »
Previously, I placed a moratorium on people saying on this blog that Lee Anthony was Caylee’s father. Of course, the DNA has proven that I was right to do that, because he is not the father. That theory is just as stupid now as it ever was.
However, who is the father?
That’s really less of a mystery than it seems. Casey Anthony is known to be highly promiscuous and has had multiple sexual partners – probably far more in her few years of adulthood than most women would have in a lifetime – so it’s very likely that not even Casey knows the identity of the father. It was probably a one-night stand, no more. She may not have even known his name. She may not even have a clue which man is the father at all.
Hey, it happens. In fact, it happens a lot these days.
Unless the defense chooses to claim the father is somehow involved in Caylee’s death, his identity is irrelevant to the case. Either way, paternity cannot be proven without a DNA test from the father. Unless Casey chooses to defy history and tell the truth about something for once, we will never know the identity of Caylee’s father.
For the father’s sake, perhaps that is for the best.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Lee Anthony | 10 Comments »
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