America Speaks Ink

In another case of living by the very letter of the law and violating the very heart of the law, the judge ruled today against George and Cindy Anthony in their request not to make the autopsy report public. Clearly this was going to be a hard thing for these grandparents to accomplish, because, after all it takes extraordinary reasons to seal public records. It was an uphill battle from the beginning when they filed the motion and the only chance they had was to reach for the heartstrings of the judge based on decency.

In a sad result for what is clearly decent or not, the Anthony’s lost their motion to have the autopsy records sealed and now the public will be all over the details. I was split on my decision on whether I agreed with the Anthony’s or not, because I do believe the coroner’s office works for us and there should be no secrets. However, just thinking about those poor grandparents and the rest of that family having to relive the gruesome details of Caylee’s death was enough for me to root for Cindy and George.

The anguish on George’s face in the middle of the courtroom as he broke down, was evidence enough for me to have been justified in championing their cause. Watching George breakdown as he tried to get into the elevator while dodging the cameras being shoved in his face, made me realize that this poor family is in for another round of hyper-exposure.

I am sad that the judge ruled this way and I was hoping that he would see the big picture, because this case has been astonishing. Despite the way you might or might not think of Cindy and George and keeping in mind your opinions of them going on so many nationwide talk shows, I have to say that at the end of the day when all the dust has settled, they really are just grandparents who have lost their precious granddaughter. I have compassion for that. I think George and Cindy are decent people at heart and have just been put into a terrible situation. I think people extending their anger and rage of Casey onto her parents is a little bit too much, even if they hadn’t handled everything properly. But, for God’s sake, how would any one of us handle these kinds of things? Something like this doesn’t come with an instruction manual. We all sit back and say we wouldn’t have done this or that, but you don’t know and you don’t ever want to know.

Say what you want, they’re still human beings who could never have a chance for closure with this insane sensationalism of this case. The ongoing interest has to wear them down, no matter how strong they might or might not be. In the end, the judge followed the law and no one can really fault him for that. There will be many motions and twists and turns in the case to come to get a good gauge on whether this judge will be impartial or not. Until then, I will reserve my judgment. Decency was on the Anthony’s side, however the law was not.

C. Rich

Ok fine. So the judge, who is presiding over the Casey Anthony trial, ruled this week that the public will not be able to see the video of Casey in jail. The video shows Casey’s reaction to remains being found, as reported on TV. However, the public knew nothing of the identity. Not yet anyways. Casey sure did. In the video, Casey hyperventilated, doubled over and requested a sedative or something. Months before, when a small child’s bones were found, Casey had no reaction. This time; however, she reacted almost as if she knew whom they found this time. Especially, where the remains were found. A few blocks from her own home.

Now you tell me, would she have reacted that way to any kids’ bones being discovered? Hell no. Casey already demonstrated a no reaction to that very fact, as noted above. She knew. She has known all along. From day one. June 16th to December 12th, Caylee’s poor remains sat in that, water filled, trash strewn, swamp of a lot. Like the rest of the garbage that surrounded her. Casey decided that this over grown, vine-infested area would suffice as a final resting place for Caylee. And now she is on video, boo-hooing about someone taking her daughter’s remains away. Judge Strickland says no, we can’t see the video based on it being too inflammatory. Why?

I’ll tell you why. It is an admonishment of guilt, that’s why. We, the public, might not be able to see it, but that’s ok. We were described the events by jail personnel anyway. Besides, you can bet the farm that this video will be admitted as evidence. We’ll get to see it then. The defense is under the assumption of a victory, but I see no win here. Just the thought of knowing that Casey reacted in that fashion, which by the way, if you ask me, was the only normal act she’s committed, since July 15th, her arrest. Even that day, Casey acted abnormally. Her child is missing and she walks out of her house in hand cuffs, smiling. Do you see the irking here?

Her whole demeanor throughout this affair has been one of fabricated stories, two I think, of Caylee’s demise, made-up caretakers with no verification avenues. It goes on and on and by now, with Florida’s sunshine law, we all should know it by heart. I know most of it and what I don’t know, of the evidence, there are plenty of people who do. And I know some of them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Casey’s goose is not just cooked, but well done. I wouldn’t even risk contaminating the fork to stick in her, as they say. Still, she’s done.

The public doesn’t need to see the jail video, we’ve read about it. The State prosecutors don’t need it, but they’ll take it. Casey’s bozo of a lawyer doesn’t want it at all. He knows that it shows, his honey of a client, acting guilty as hell. Why else would he want to motion for it not to be released? Invasion of privacy? Yea right. Nothing in jail is private. Not even the jail visits or going to the bathroom. You don’t see stalls around any of the toilets in the cells do you? Privacy violation, my ass. This video they’re talking about. Just throw it up atop the pile of, still mounting, evidence. It is just another nail. A nail of justice, sealing Casey Anthony’s casket of evil. Video? We don’t need no stinking video.

Jeff Payne

A laugh riot of Fox News, MSNBC, and other news stations’ bloopers.

Like the spring flowers that perennially bloom around this time of year, fair-minded justice peeks its head out in the Casey Anthony case. The judge in the Casey Anthony case blocked the staged jailhouse video from being released, stating that it would harm Casey’s right to a fair trial. Finally after all the madness of this case, has common sense raised its head in this unfair treatment of Casey Anthony?

Never before have we seen an individual so utterly exposed before trial. The creepy voyeuristic public appetite will just have to get through the day without some Casey morsels to chew on. The jailhouse was wrong to do this and this writer told you so. Now the law tells you I was right. The tricks of the jailers will not be rewarded and you should all be happy with that. Next time you’ll listen to me. The abuse of the Sunshine Law needs to be looked at here. The judge recognized that enough is enough.

Even with this latest ruling, the chance Casey could have to a fair trial in Orlando is as about as good of a chance as Disney lowering their admission price to ten dollars. At least this was the first attempt to reel back some of the hyper-exposure that left Miss Anthony a victim of mob justice. However, nothing can change the fact that this case should be moved to another venue.

When strangers gather to cry over the anniversary of the death of a child they’ve never met, things have gotten too spooky around Orlando. A chance for a fair trial there doesn’t exist. Anyone with a brain can see that this case has taken on some cult-like kind of thing and should be tried somewhere far away from the strange attention this case draws in Orlando. It is one thing to care about the death of Caylee, it is altogether another thing when you take it to a level as if you knew the child. Compassion is one thing. Cult-like weirdness is another. This case with no cause of death, no eyewitness, no ties to the remains and all of the negative forensic tests needs to take a new posture and bail should be revisited.

This ruling signifies an attempt to return to the law and jurisprudence. Casey Anthony is innocent until it is proven she is guilty. Defendants and the accused have rights. Having this axiom reaffirmed by the judge gives this writer a big I told you so. Chalk one up for justice.

C. Rich

Sitting in a restaurant the other day, I couldn’t help to overhear this conversation in the booth next to me about the job market. This poor guy was talking about spending years working for a major plane manufacturing company and suddenly, without warning, he was laid off. No problem. There were three more plane-making companies in this city, he was sure to get a job with one of them. Nope, nope, and nope. In this recent economy, more businesses were laying off more workers than they were hiring. He did, however, get lucky with one of the suppliers to his former employer. A few weeks went by and, boom. He was let go again. This time the little supply company, he worked for, went out of business. Why? The big company that they supplied sub-assemblies for discontinued the need to out-source. Cheaper to manufacture it themselves; thus, the little company failed. This poor soul, out of a job once again, then said something that startled me.

Almost as if it were a proclamation, he relegated to seeking a job with a company that had been around for years. One that doesn’t look like it’s going under at all. He stated that he was going to apply at McDonald’s! McDonald’s? The people in the booth laughed aloud. I kind of chuckled myself. This man was wearing a white shirt and tie. I took him for an engineer or someone from the corporate side. For him to seek employment with McDonald’s is a vote of no confidence for our job market. With GM’s looming bankruptcy, the entire bank and financial institution’s bailouts, whom can we trust to be around and provide jobs? I suppose, with America’s insatiable appetite for quick food that the fast food industry will be around for awhile. We are the fattest country in the world and we frequent these places, but who can live off of even a manager’s wage at Taco Bell, Wendy’s, or Denny’s?

The job seeker, in today’s times of uncertainty, are rolling the dice when it comes to where they apply for their next job. Some major companies folded in 2008. Places like: Bennigan’s, Comp USA, Linens and Things, Steve and Barry’s, Harold’s, Aloha Airlines, just to name a few. Those are recognizable names and I wonder if any of those employees knew their companies were going out of business. I did know someone who was let go from Linen and Things. This person indicated that they thought the company was doing well, and then they were told they have a few weeks and that’s it. This happened to all their stores in every city. Couple that with the small businesses that also went under and every city had a higher unemployment base. In 2009 the unemployed were applying for the same jobs hundreds more were applicants to. How disheartening to stand in a long line to hand in one’s application.

With that mentality, how does one attempt to work for anyone and not worry now, if that company has lasting viability? A perspective applicant can ask: Is this company going to be around next year? I can see this as a legitimate question during an interview. It is a shame that we now have to consider this previously over-looked aspect of whether or not the job we are applying for will be around in a year. I wonder also if people who have been a part of Any Company USA, at length, will worry if they are next on the chopping block of bankruptcy or the dreaded ’going out of business’ signs. Employees everywhere now have to ask themselves, is my job secure anymore?

Jeff Payne

I’ve never made a public statement for or against gay marriage. Privately I was against it, but as a Right-Libertarian this is one of those issues that I believe should not be debated in Washington D.C., but left up to the states and the people. For me being against it was contrary to a Libertarian point of view, but I never really thought it out too much. It didn’t make sense and I was intellectually dishonest because someone like me who wants the government out of our lives and certainly out of our bedrooms, how could I be against this?

I never took the time to understand for myself “why” I was against it. For me a lot of it came from tradition and a view that marriage was the cornerstone of civilization and it scared me to mess with such a building block of society. I have a very Libertarian view of things like drugs, sex and subjects like this. So why did I resist this for so long? I realized that people were saying this is a civil rights issue and across the world there was a sweeping change regarding this. I just thought, “Oh those crazy Europeans and San Francisco want to turn the world upside down on its head.”

From a religious point of view you will hear that in the Old Testament or The Torah (which should really be the book people read because it is original and has not changed over years or rewritten like the Old Testament) it is stated that a man lying down with another man was an abomination to God. There are a few lines in there referencing this. However, to be intellectually honest there are many things in the Torah that God said that was axiomatic at the time that doesn’t apply today. There are countless examples of this. I mean come on, we don’t make people leave town when they have a boil on their skin and tell them not to return until their skin is clear. It seems to me people are picking and choosing what lines from these old holy books to apply for today.

The gay reference is one people hold on to and use as their reason to be against gay marriage. I know because I did this. Recently I thought about that. Now whether you believe Jesus was divine or not. One thing that is undeniable, the man was a Rabbi and taught a set teaching that is embraced by over a billion people alive today. So if you just look at his “missionary legacy” then there is something missing. With all the words attributed to Jesus of Nazareth and all his teachings, he never utters a single recorded word about homosexuality. He brought a lot of change to the world and old religious views but never mentioned being gay. Why is that? If this was something that would put your mortal soul in jeopardy, don’t you think he might have mentioned it? If it were that important, why would he omit this subject? He never addressed it, not once. I find it hard to believe it was something that he just forgot. He was very clear on how we should live our lives with love for one another. His mission here on Earth was not vague. It was Earth changing and has lasted thousands of years; despite the fact “men” have screwed it all up. Despite how we muddled up his message with our idiocy of being failed human beings.

So for me understanding this, what would be another reason why I should be against it? Is this change so dramatic that it just feels uncomfortable to a lot of us? What would be another intellectual reason I should use to be against it? I can’t think of one. Not a single honest one. If I try to reach for another reason to justify my decent, I find myself reaching for facts that just fit my world view. I can actually feel myself stretching and searching for justification to say I’m against gay marriage. I certainly never had something against gay people my whole life but marriage seemed a little different to me. If I really think about it. Straight people have soiled the institution of marriage for years. The baby boomers already have infected marriage and made it unholy though their abandonment of its stature. The divorce rate with straight people is off the chain and clearly gays are entitled to losing half of what they own, when they break up.

So why am I against gay marriage? Well the answer is succinct to me now. I’m not anymore.

C. Rich
P.S.  I dedicate this article to my Uncle who I very much love.

I will burn through what is yours
As I fire through what is mine
Everything will be at my fingertips
Only what you knew would be left behind

I will caress your insecure ego
Eventually making you mine
And without reproach
You’re molded and refined

You stand there unaware
Of the influence that has crept into your mind
Just a moment I was there
Only a second out of time

You are what I have created
An image of something in my mind
And with all that has been stated
You’ll still never get this rhyme

C. Rich

1949 TV commercial from Camel cigarettes. More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.

Where in the Mission Statement of The Food and Drug Administration does it say that if they have jurisdiction over a product that kills five-hundred thousand people a year, they regulate it and not ban it completely?

If there was a breakfast cereal or some peanut butter that killed hundreds of thousands of people a year, would they regulate it or pull it off the shelves? Now that tobacco is under the umbrella of the power of the FDA, if they don’t ban it aren’t they complicit in all these deaths?

How could the FDA legally not ban a known product under its jurisdiction that kills people? Doesn’t the law require the FDA to protect us from harmful products on the shelf? How could they in the arena of the law turn their backs to a lung cancer holocaust?

Wouldn’t it be fair to say if the FDA doesn’t ban Tobacco that they have lost credibility and that the original purpose of the agency has been completely changed? To take over the most pernicious product in America and regulate it instead of banning it, renders The Food and Drug Administration a fraud and another hypocritical government agency that now is complicit in the horrendous deaths of millions to come. These are questions that I as a cigarette smoker would liked answered.

C. Rich

Strange Creatures Bigfoot – Sasquatch the ApeMan – Cryptozoology. Brought to you by UFOVideo.net.

In a previous article, I introduced you to the Tennessee Bigfoot Lady. Also known as Mary Green, she endured the trials and tribulations of the known and the unknown. Mary suffered somewhat, with married life and became separated, having to raise her children on her own. Quite meagerly, I might add, and ended up doing a fantastic job. All the while, trying to make sense with occurrences happening around her property, leaving her perplexed and scratching her head so often, it is a wonder Mary didn’t go bald. Stoic and with steadfast determination, Mary discovered the identity of her unknown troubles, (Bigfoot) and set forth the wheels of what would become a couple of decades worth of study.

She finally confirmed her strange incidents, over the years, with having a sighting of one of these creatures on her land. Intrigued by this, Mary began investigating further. Looking for tracks around her property, she thought to herself that in no way was she the only one having an encounter with these giants. Starting a web site for people to report their own strange, and unexplainable occurrences, she could interview, investigate and make determinations according to each report. Otherwise, letting others know that they are not the only ones, ‘going crazy’ over this subject. In so doing, removing the monkey on her own back. Mary had no idea the flood gate her website would open in the coming years. Not only were there people reporting sightings of Bigfoot in her own county, but from all over the state of Tennessee. From which, the most sensational report imaginable, regarding Bigfoot, would derive.

Mary would receive e-mails from individuals, who like herself, were having strange happenings attributed from hairy, upright walking creatures. People usually kept quiet about such things for fear of being labeled a loon. However, word got around and Mary was easing the minds of many, who were relieved, that someone else had unexplained events not easy to understand. Mary comforted those with a simple line, “It is ok, I believe you” allowing some to open up and lift a burden carried for years. Years went by, enabling Mary to hone her skills in witness interviewing and investigational techniques, later perfected with hours of fieldwork. One morning, Mary checked her website mailbox and was stunned at what she read.

A lady from eastern Tennessee indicated that her grandfather fed a family of Bigfoot for years on his farm and she grew up watching these creatures. Studying, observing and often times, writing in memo pads and documenting as much as possible. This lady described things that only could have come from someone who was exposed, on a daily basis, to these creatures. In fact, her earliest memory of them came from an encounter with her grandpa, as they were picking berries on his farm. Failing to bring enough water to drink, the grandpa had this lady, who was very young at the time, go back to the house and fetch some more water. As she hurried back to where here grandfather was, she ran smack-dab into the back of one of these creature’s knees. As she screamed in terror, the grandpa came running and got between her and the Bigfoot. She remembers vividly her grandpa talking to it in a tone that one would talk to a nervous horse or something. Soft, slow and calm and to her surprise, the creature spoke back.

Mary was beside herself. She couldn’t wait to reply to this women, but struggled with the, ‘too good to be true’ aspect. Not wanting to fall victim to a hoax, Mary arranged to talk on the phone with this lady before investigating further. Her name was Janice and according to her, it all started on her Grandfather’s farm in the late 40’s. He and his brother were cutting down trees to clear for pasture. After cutting one big tree, the two brothers discovered it fell on a young looking creature, covered in hair. It was hurt pretty bad and they took it to the horse barn to administer to the wounds. The grandfather, thinking this was a deformed, abandoned child, started inquiring around the community, but to no avail. He continued to nurse it back to health. Feeding it, cleaning the wounds and otherwise caring for it as if it were human. On the fifth night all hell broke loose down at the horse barn. In the house at the time, the grandfather ran, and as he approached, saw two, large and hairy creatures, one of them carrying the small one in its arms. It was later surmised, that this was the real parents of the little, injured one.

Years has passed after the incident and Janice’s grandfather started noticing a Bigfoot hanging around the property. It made him wonder if this was the little one that he helped years back. He began to feed it starting a relationship that would last for nearly fifty years. After Janice’s first encounter with, ‘Fox’ (the name her grandfather gave it) she used to accompany him feeding it by the giant oak tree next to the horse barn. He would take the plate of leftovers, set it down and walk back to Janice. Then, they would watch as Fox would come out from beneath the tree, eat the food, then return to the tree. Janice was amazed and realized on one feeding occasion that there was more than one. There was a whole family of them. Fox had acquired a mate. A female Bigfoot that held a baby in its arms! Over the years, Janice said that she watched them from a pine tree. Watched them bury a still born, gather food, sleep, and do other things that, well for lack of a better description, do what a family of these things would do. She wrote down the speech the Bigfoot used and found out by her grandfather that it was a dialect of many Indian languages. These Bigfoot had a language and she deciphered and understood most of what they were saying to each other.

Janice’s grandfather taught them English and the creatures; in turn, translated their form of speech. Growing up learning this language, Janice was able to ‘talk’ to some Bigfoot that Mary Green had been familiar with from another report in a different county. Mary, realizing the usefulness of Janice’s capabilities, took her to an area that had a lot of Bigfoot activity. With Mary watching, Janice went into the woods a short distance and yelled out some Bigfoot words. Wanting to say something that would sure to get a response, she declared (in their language) that she was a female looking for a mate. To the shock of everyone present, there was an answer! Mary couldn’t understand, but she knew that Janice was carrying on a conversation with these Bigfoot. According to Janice, there were four of them. One big male, one female and two juveniles. The big one wanted to know how Janice knew their talk. The female wanted Janice to leave because this was her mate, but one of the younger ones were interested in Janice’s offer. Janice told them that there are some of her friends with her and that they wanted to be friends with them. The big one answered back that he wanted to see Janice, but the female would have none of that and started creating a disturbance by breaking branches and making loud whoops. Janice thought this was a good time to retreat because they were advancing and it was unknown how they would react.. Mary was mesmerized and according to Janice, who said she understood every word, the Bigfoot were becoming hostile from their intrusion.

Over the years, the grandfather aged and died. Janice moved, got married and started a life of her own. Occasionally, she returned to farm and discovered that ‘old Fox was still around. Graying from age and slower than she remembered, she sort of felt sorry for him and left him some food like old times. Janice depicted all these events in greater detail in a book entitled, 50 Years With Bigfoot/ A Case of Co-Existence. Co-authored with Mary Green, Janice tells what inside people in the field have determined could have only come from someone who be around these creatures. This story is a documented story of habituation. Hard to believe, but very credible. I know, I have the book.

Jeff Payne

Finally an old, but fresh face of pragmatic conservatism has a voiceon a left-wing channel. A voice to counter “Radical Liberalism” and their hold on the steering wheel of the future of cable news. Joe Scarborough is the voice of reason in a cacophony of rabid ideologs led by Keith Oberman and his invention Rachel Maddow. Joe was a congressman from Florida that was a part of the 1994 Republican revolution lead by Newt Gingrich. He wasn’t a part of all the compassionate conservatives of the George Bush years that nearly destroyed the world and had nothing to do with the mad hatters convention of bringing freedom to the world by gunpoint.

In fact Joe is a loud voice that shines light on the betrayal of conservatism with the grand plan to end tyranny across the planet. He reaches back to the origins of conservatism to show nothing in this modern day world of “Radical Conservatism” has any relation to the true core beliefs of this hijacked ideology. Just like radical Islam the ideology of Bill Buckley was hijacked and turn into some extreme form of social issue activism.

Make no mistake Joe Scarborough is in for the fight of his life. The right wing social activist will call for his head when he tells them to tone down the abortion and gay rights mantra. Dripping with drool and frothing at the mouth, these misguided conservatives will have him sent to the guillotine before they let Joe muck up their message of the way we are all supposed to live. However, Joe you push back! You are not alone out there.

I saw you debate that cartoon Chris Matthews of Hardball fame and Chris spent the whole segment trying to back you into some abortion dunce cap corner. Your forehead started to sweat and you looked a little uneasy on how to handle it. Let me help you. Next time they try to define you with abortion and being pro-life, just tell them yes you are pro-life. That, as President, it doesn’t matter too much unless you have a Supreme Court justice to replace.

If you are ever in that position to put someone on the High Court. You would put someone in who relates to your thinking on a lot of things. Do not shy away from it, but explain your beliefs, this should be a state issue and if it came to some public referendum in Florida as a citizen you’d vote to ban it. The trick is to do in such a way that shows you believe this doesn’t matter much at the Federal level.

Joe, if you backtrack and try to please Radical liberalism than they will smell blood and it will be ants to the picnic. Take the heat my friend when you piss off  Chris and his ilk. The Hell with them. It is that crowd you stand in contrast to, don’t water down your pragmatism or you’ll lose every conservative like me out there. Joe, there are tons of us; and your voice has been a beacon in the darkness of the Republican Party on that left-wing channel.

If you run for president the only bad thing I see about that would be that I would miss the best morning show in the history of television. The Morning Joe will have to make it without you if you take a shot at Pennsylvania Ave. Practical conservatism vs. radical liberalism is what this is Joe. Nothing more and nothing less. May the wind be at your back.

C. Rich

Bill Maher is the first person on TV to take on President B. Hussein Obama and call him out on the carpet. No one and I mean no one from the left or anywhere else for that matter has even come close.

Check out the video.

C. Rich

HBO’s Real Time – Bill Maher Takes On President Obama – Wants Him To Be More Like Bush In Some Ways – 06/13/09

Can one family have an impact, economic or social, on an entire state? Sure it can. Even if it is minimal, it is still an impact in the sense. Take the Anthony family in Florida for example. George and Cindy, their son Lee and their daughter Casey. They reside in the city of Orlando. Currently, their daughter Casey is awaiting trial for the murder of her own daughter, Caylee. This investigation against Casey has consumed countless man-hours of following this lead and talking to that person. Combing and sifting through many pieces of evidence equating to tons of lab work. When Caylee was missing and up until the point when she was found, many volunteers searched every wooded lot, all the areas of Casey’s cell phone pings, every park she frequented, just to try and find, according to Casey, a kidnapped Caylee. Many volunteers.

It has been reported that some of Casey’s defense may in fact have to be paid by Florida taxpayers. Florida’s state budget is distributed to every law enforcement agency, in every city. That means all state run facilities. This brings us to the city of Orlando in Orange County. The prosecution lawyers, the OCSD, the city of Orlando PD all are basically paid for by taxpayer funds. Now the state may have to foot some of Casey’s bill? Insane. Yet, Casey is afforded the luxury of such high-priced lawyers? I don’t get it.

The cards are stacked mightily against Casey and it is this writer’s belief that Johnny Cochran wouldn’t even get her off, if he was still alive. But, to make the state of Florida partially responsible in remitting payment to Jose Baez, Andrea Lyon, and Linda Baden is nothing less than idiotic.

Let us not forget, that occasionally civil peace is broken every now and then by some loony act, created by ordinary citizens of Orlando, or the antsy Anthonys, or both. This causes a diversion to real news. Who wants to keep being reminded of what we all knew from the very beginning. The Anthonys are not normal, but neither are the instigators. If people would quit poking sticks at them, we could be afforded the absence on TV or newsprint of these wacky individuals. But, no. More seem to need their fifteen minutes of fame than, lets say, a real missing child.

Yes, one family can have an impact. One that is growing every minute. Every second that ticks by, until the start of the trial, increases the size that will eventually make a big difference upon the city of Orlando, the county of Orange, and finally, the state of Florida.

Jeff Payne

A simple change of the windows startup sound and cranking up the volume knob turns into a funny scary prank.

The Anthony family to seal the public records from the coroner’s office has filed a motion. Now, normally in most cases, I would say, “Hell, no! The coroner’s office is paid for by our tax money!” However, somewhere in the law should be a place for just human decency to trump whether it’s lawful or not. This is the argument the lawyer’s should be making to the judge. It’s going to come down to human decency prevailing with this judge and this is the angle any argument should be made. Can this particular judge personally understand that it would be indecent to release this to the public under these circumstances?

I mean I realize that there needs to be extreme reasons why we would seal any of our public records from the public. After all, they work for us and we should never forget that, but I think this case is the exception. I could just imagine them releasing these records and the insane Casey hating mob will turn up the heat once again and start writing blogs and getting on talk radio and discussing and debating the gory details of this poor child’s autopsy. I mean, I don’t care what you think of the Anthony family; I wouldn’t want to put anyone through something like that. To turn on my TV or radio and hear these zealots talking and debating whether or not there was a fracture in my granddaughter’s femur would be beyond appalling. I mean enough is enough.

Just out of pure decency these records should be sealed. It would be disgraceful to have those grandparents relive all of what has happened up to this point, cause that is exactly what would happen if these records are released; the Internet ants to the Anthony picnic. That’s what we’re talking about here.

If common sense prevails, the Anthony family should have decency on their side.

C. Rich

Look at this bad child. He wants those sweeties. The dad can only feel secure that the “curse” will be passed down.

I don’t particularly remember what age it was. Maybe I was thirteen or so. Just as rebellious, I suppose, as the next teenager coming of age. The age of having a smart-ass mouth that riled my parents to no end. They imposed every sort of punishment known to parent-kind, from grounding me to various forms of deprivation. Friends, allowances, concerts, parties and the likes were taken away in hopes of deterring future shenanigans. Sometimes, handed out punishments did have the desired effect. Damn it all! Most of the time, however, the infractions I committed went unpunished for reasons of, “It didn’t work, honey.” Eventually, when all else failed, I then received the dreaded phrase. The one that has probably been uttered through out the sands of time. The curse. Make your parents mad enough and with nothing left to administer, you should here these fabled words, “Wait until you have kids of your own!”Now my mom, I think, was the first to inflict this mysterious, but very true, group of harmless words. Or so I thought. I believed that I may have had those words said to me maybe ten times through my short and tenuous, teenage career. Seven teenage years to be exact, but it only took saying those words to me once. One time, and the curse was embedded into my psyche. My parents probably laughed until I was twenty or twenty-one. I knew I was a bad kid, but not this bad. What did I do to deserve such misery? Misery I had no idea was headed my way in the near future.

This curse seemed to have been passed on to my parents from their parents or my grandparents. With natural supposition, my grandparents probably had it bestowed to them as well. When, exactly these words were first mumbled is anyone’s guess. I am beginning to think back in the caveman days was when it was probably grunted or signed to the offspring of the bear clan. What did the little ones do back then? Grunted the first curse words? Maybe, but I am thinking that they, (the kids) stole a little of the new found fire that was the rage back then. Played with it in the back of the cave and then were caught. Stood before the rest of the cave family, these bad cave kids were stricken to the boundaries of the cave. Told they could no longer go to the mammoth roast, that was to happen in two more suns. I also imagine that the cave kids were given or were grunted the curse. With a guttural, huff for emphasis.

Given all the weapons developed over eons, parents dished out punishments according to the times, but still the same in their base. Julius Caesar told his bad kids they couldn’t attend the chariot races. Which, by the way, didn’t bother them and eventually, they too, were given the five words of future fate. Every century, all the decades, years and days, right down to an hour ago, one father or mother probably and hysterically said these words. “Wait until you have children.”

This brings us to today. Yes, I have kids. Two, but one is 18 now and a year away from his last teenage year. Those are the years that the curse needs to be infused. I haven’t, to my knowledge, yet said those words to the oldest. I cannot vouch for my wife, but I am almost sure she hasn’t either. I have been present to almost all of the punishment disbursement and lately, there has been an escalation in, “OK, what do you think we should do?” instances. The 18 year-old seemed impervious to current day punishment. Take away the cell phone, the X-Box 360, the T.V. the car keys. Nothing worked. My wife was at her wit’s end. One day, she couldn’t take it any more. The 18 year-old said we could deprive him of anything. He didn’t care. One last argument, one last idle threat of, well we didn’t have anything else we could take away. As if right on cue, as he was stepping out the door, and I took a deep breath, and just as I started to yell, “Wait,” my wife stopped me. She said, “Allow me.” and yelled, “Wait until you have kids!”

Jeff Payne

Taser International Inc. put out a statement that they do not recommend using tasers on the elderly. I sat back in utter embarrassment, as an American, that the company that makes tasers, actually had to say that. They literally have to make it clear to the out of control cops across the country that you’re not supposed to blast the elderly with electricity if they get a little ornery. Could you imagine how insane that is? The manufacturers shockingly have to tell the police not to taser old people? What other disclaimers do they need? Maybe they should put out the memo that it is probably not a good idea to taser infants that might be crying because they are hungry.

Week after week, all year long we have been bombarded with images of cops killing and tasering people. It’s almost commonplace on the news anymore. What? Is there some editor asking for the day’s animal story about some dog or cat and now their weekly cop out of control story?

At what point does America acknowledge we have a problem here with law enforcement? Don’t give me that crap about how not all cops are bad and this was one bad apple. Or something even sicker like turning your head when a cop murders someone live on film and then say he thought it was his taser that he was using! People need to wake up and see there is a problem here with law enforcement. It is right there in your face, if you can drag yourself away from pedophilia jokes of late night talk show hosts.

At the very time your federal government is swallowing up freedom in a Jaws like fashion, your police agencies from coast to coast are killing human beings and are whacked out on some drunken binge of tasering. Someone needs to say something here.

I heard some cop was on vacation visiting Mount Sinai when God appeared. The cop, startled, asked Him to identify Himself. God said, “I am the Great I AM.” Apparently the cop kept demanding for some ID and lost his patience and tasered God Himself. Clearly Taser International, Inc. has some directions that come with the purchase of a taser. I’m sure somewhere in there is a warning not to taser anyone divine.

C. Rich