The Average Guy

Hope For Us All

2011-07-05T13:00:00.001-07:00

Not long after the verdict in the Casey Anthony case was read I placed this post on my Facebook page.

We learned one thing today. No matter who you are or what people think about you in America you will have your day in court and when you do the state better prove their charges against you. Love Casey or hate her, agree or disagree with the verdict the big winner today was our system of justice.

The justice system worked today. Why did it work because 12 people got to hear both sides of a case and make up their mind as to what was true and what wasn’t. If this can happen to the most hated woman in America if not the world it can happen for you and I.

I have said since this trial began that Jose Baez will either be proven to be an idiot or genius when this is over and I have bashed him at every turn and while he picked a defense I would have never suggested in the end he did a job that no one thought he was capable of and did it wonderfully and I offer him my public apology.
You may not agree with this verdict but you can take solace that if you are ever sitting at the defense table you have as good a shot as Casey Anthony.

The Defense That Should Have Been

2011-06-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

It has been such an interesting week in the Casey Anthony Trial. This has gotten to be such good television that it is easy to forget a child is dead and her mother maybe executed.

I have been very hard on Jose Baez in these pages while at the same time calling for a fair trial for Casey because I fully believe when the Casey’s of the world can have a true and fair day in court we all can.

In my opinion if I had a dime for every mistake the defense has made in this case I could buy a new home cash.

I have constantly said if handled right this would have been a winnable case.

Let me make it very clear I am not an attorney, I have no legal education, and most of the time I fall asleep before Jack McCoy’s cross when watching Law & Order but I’d like to give you my take on how Casey should have been defended.

To begin with Jose Baez gave much to much away in his opening statement. He has painted himself into a corner that he’s now stuck in and he can’t get out without getting filthy if he can get out at all. The inference of Casey lying because she was molested is absurd and it was seen as the lie it was by anyone with a brain.

His opening statement should have been nothing more than, “A great deal of guess work and rumor has been floating around about this case and my client for three years now and both Casey and myself welcome the chance for not just this jury but the world to finally know what really happened on the day her daughter died and we are sure you will agree that while sad and tragic nothing sinister occurred the day Caylee Anthony died. Instead of doing what you or I would have done after finding a dead child in the pool Casey did what her family has taught her by example all her life. She lied and she hid. She placed her daughter’s body in the trunk of car and kept her there for three days while she devolved the story of a fake kidnapping. When Casey finally laid Caylee to rest she duct taped her mouth and nose to stage a kidnapping and did something that proves her stunted mentality. She placed a heart sticker over her daughter's mouth as her way of saying I love you, I'll miss you and good bye. Every bit of the states evidence will prove this to you.

He should have told a story of a young girl who grew in a home in which lying is not the exception but the norm. A young girl whose maturity level does not match her years and dealt with the tragedy of her daughters drowning by doing what she always did. By abusing her drug of choice for the past year, chloroform and living the lie she created for herself.

That would have left him the opportunity to go anywhere.

He should have stipulated Casey lied to the police and not even questioned the officers. She will be convicted of the four charges of lying to police. No way around it.

By admitting she was abusing chloroform you take away the states power to use it as a murder weapon. At that point all the states evidence of such high levels of what they call a chemical but you call her drug of choice are not just explainable but work in your favor.

As for the examination of the medical examiner I have covered that in another blog but there is line of questioning that should have been followed:

Dr. what is the accepted scientific method for testing if duct tape was applied before or after death?

Dr. did you do any test do see if the tape was applied before or after death?

So Dr. if there is no test to tell if duct tape was applied before or after death is it fair to say no matter how strong your feelings are that it is evidence of murder it is really nothing more than your own personal opinion that has no basis in scientific fact. Is that correct?

As someone who has forgotten more about computers than most people will ever know I can tell you the computer forensics could have been impeached by this simple fact, when you talk about how hard disks store data and operating systems write to a hard disk and how that effects how your browser cache determines the data written in binary code most people’s eyes glaze over and it verbal equivalent of watching paint dry. You could have completely confused the issue by talking about software revisions and known bugs in the software as well as processing speed and the amount of ram in the testing system. Did most of you understand that? Either would most people on a jury.

As to the crime scene you have already admitted this where she placed Caylee to rest and other testimony is moot.

The only question that should been asked of the FBI experts was “Is it fair to say the FBI crime lab is among the best forensic crime labs in the world if not the best”? “What evidence of murder did you find”?

Jose Baez was given a gift from god himself this week that is if he uses it properly, and that is the perjury of Cindy Anthony. This can prove his case in closing.

His closing should be very simple. I have told Casey comes from a family of liars and her mother proved that you when she sat before you and the world and knowingly and deliberately committed perjury. If you want know why Casey could lie to anyone and everyone for 31 days you need look no further than her mother. When it comes to lying Casey learned from the best.

The state has shown you great deal of evidence in these proceedings and if you look at what that evidence actually says as opposed to what the state wants it to say you will see it’s clear that states own evidence supports the defense’s account of how Caylee Anthony truly died.

I took this case because I believe in justice and because I believe in justice I will stand here and tell as Casey’s own counsel she should be punished for what she did. Casey Anthony lied to police and she is guilty of improper disposal of a body, and because I believe in justice I stand before you with a straight face and a clear conscience and ask you not punish her for she did not do. God has already punished her enough for daughter’s accident.

Would this work? It's a lot better than what we've see so far.

Let's Burn Her At The Stake!!!!!

2011-06-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

Casey Anthony may be one of the most hated people on the planet second only to Hitler or maybe the guy who said yes Mr. President Obama care is a great idea.

I have spoken to so many people on this case who feel she should have just been locked away and not even waste the time it would take for a court to convict her. This disturbs me greatly, not because I have any great love for Casey Anthony or think she’s innocent but because when you have this many who publicly want to supersede the Justice System we have a complete breakdown of one of the fundamental principles of our country. The right to have our day in court and face our accusers.

Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do. It can be as simple as drinking the last bottle of water or eating the last apple. Now take that a step further and say a co-worker you have had friction with ends up missing and is found dead. Now let’s say it’s public knowledge you had friction with this person and you end up as a suspect based on that alone. Sound far fetched. Death Row’s in every state have people who were sent there for a lot less. I’m including a link here Linda Kenny Baden was kind enough to send me.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Paul_House_Fully_Cleared_in_1986_TN_Death_Row_Conviction_Case_is_a_profound_reminder_that_our_system_of_justice_must_give_people_every_reasonable_opportunity_to_prove_their_innocence.php

This is just one example. The history of our courts is filled with cases like this.

Please do not mistake what I about to say as my proclaiming Casey Anthony’s innocence I am not. I firmly believe she is 100 percent guilty, but I couldn’t tell you just what she is guilty of and the state of Florida appears to have no idea either. They have presented supposition disguised as facts and have played up the hate factor to this jury.

The testimony of Dr. Vass is a great example. I’ll stipulate there may no one who is more expert in human decomposition than Dr. Vass but his air sampling of the trunk of Casey’s car should have never been admitted into evidence not because it isn’t a good test but because no other independent scientific body has been able to confirm or refute the validity of findings using this method. Why is that so important? Because when you or someone you love is sitting in a court room fighting for your life you do not want the prosecutor offing up some unproven method of testing as evidence against you and yours.

So far I see the state’s case as we know Casey Anthony did something very bad. We don’t what she did, or how she did it or even where and when she did it, but she is the only person who could have done it. We have a theory we’d like you to buy but all we have is that theory.

I’m sorry but it isn’t supposed to work that way here in America. When we bring someone to trail in this country the state is supposed to have real evidence that can answer more questions than it creates.

Why is it so important that this be followed for Casey? Because if the most hated woman in America can her day in court without a malignant prosecution, than there is hope for you or I in the same situation.

If Mr. Baez and his team had simply made the 12 people sitting in the jury box aware of these facts instead of talking about molestation and family dynamics this would have been a winnable case.

So doesn’t that mean Casey who we all know is guilty of something would walk free.? Yes it does. Better a thousand Casey’s should walk free than one innocent person be sent to death row. That is the beauty and the tragedy of our justice system.

King Of Dreams

2011-06-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

If he weren’t holding a woman’s life in his hands I’d almost feel sorry for Jose Baez. He is as qualified to try a death penalty case as I am to remove a brain tumor. He is a man in the deepest of waters with no idea how to swim.

I understand he is a business man. Any attorney with their own practice is as much a business person as someone who owns a shoe store or a shop that installs tires. I can tell you as an independent business person myself that in this economy you take any work that comes your way and thank the gods of commerce for sending it to you, that is unless your job is to keep someone from being executed at the hands of the state. At that point you should have the professional ethics to say this is job beyond my scope of knowledge and experience and pass that client on to someone who does.

I’ll use myself as an example. When I have someone bring a laptop to me for repair that requires it to taken apart I tell that client that I’m very good at taking laptops apart but I’m not very good at putting them back together and I refer them to a guy who owns a shop down the street from me who does quality work.

I think even Mr. Baez knows he’s in over his head. You can hear it in his voice and you can see it on his face when he’s examining a witness. The prosecution has turned every one of his own witnesses against him and just plain made him look foolish.

He is playing Russian with his client’s life and why is that important? Because he has done such a poor job that if Casey is convicted she will be granted an immediate appeal based on what’s called ineffective assistance of council. For the layperson that means your lawyer did such a poor job representing you that you didn’t get a fair trial and the whole thing has to be done again from the beginning.

I have no idea what the estimated cost of this trial will be to the citizens of Orange County but thanks to Mr. Baez you can double it. Whatever agony Casey’s parents are in everyday you can double it. However long justice has been delayed thus far you can double that too.

I don’t envy Jose Baez having Casey Anthony as a client. This case would be a handful for even the most experienced criminal attorney and that’s who should be handling it.

The Big Show

2011-06-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

The Casey Anthony trial is a great example of how our justice system has spun horribly off it’s axis.

I wanted Casey to get a fair trial and even be acquitted if the prosecution couldn’t prove its case not because I believe she’s innocent but because no matter whom the defendant is or what they are accused of the prosecution must meet its burden to keep an innocent person from being convicted.

However to be a fair trial both sides have to play fair. The job of a defense attorney used to be to provide vigorous representation for their client within the bounds of the law; at least it used to be. Now that job has been reduced to placing as close to 12 morons in a jury box as you can and convincing as many of them as possible that what could never happen in this or any other world just isn't just possible but probable.

Defense experts say whatever their paid to say and the truth be dammed. If you watched Dr. Spitz testify this week it was pretty clear even he didn’t believe his own testimony, but only in the paycheck he received and the chance to call himself defense expert on the Casey Anthony trial. A reference he’ll be using long after we have all forgotten about Casey herself.

What should be about finally finding out why and how a small child ended up as a bag of bones in a pet cemetery has become an attraction that has people fist fighting in the public square to catch a brief glimpse of our latest disposable celebrity. Ever since the Simpson trial defendants have become celebrities instead of defendants, and we tune in to see their lawyers do the legal equivalent of a dog jumping through a flaming hoop. It’s all a fabulous show that gets us no closer to an answer.

Today HLN ran a piece about the clothes Casey has been wearing during the trial. What’s next the Casey diet? You can only eat the same things she buys from the jail commissary.

I long for the days when court officers had integrity and the only goal was justice be it a conviction or acquittal.

If Casey walks from these charges we can all look forward to Casey the Lifetime movie , the perfume, the clothing line and of course the reality show, and we'll all try to forget that little bag of bones.

It's Your Fault

2011-06-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

It seems to me the main focus of our justice system has become who is to blame for the things I do and nothing exemplifies this principal more than the Casey Anthony case.

It seems everyone is to blame for the death of Caylee Anthony but her mother.

Cindy Anthony was domineering, George and Lee touched her, Roy Kronk was out to become rich and famous, the police were lazy and never looked at anyone else, the FBI Crime Lab is incompetent and everyone just wants a piece of poor Casey. To use her words she is just as big a victim as her daughter.

Do you feel sorry for her yet? Either do I.

I feel sorry for a judicial system that permits this type of legal Three Card Monty to proliferate in court rooms across America day after day.

The Casey Anthony case would have been entirely winnable had she done one simple thing. Stopped all the lying and finally took personable responsibility for her own actions.

I can promise you 12 decent people would want to believe her daughter’s death was a tragic accident that she was too immature to know how to deal with and covered it up as opposed to a cold blooded murder. She could have walked away with lying to police and possibly neglect and walked out of the county jail with time severed

Instead Jose Baez decided to play the blame game. The truth of the matter is I have no idea if George Anthony ever molested Casey, but I do know women that have been molested and grow up to kill always kill their abuser and not their child.

Everybody in the world has a weird family dynamic of some sort. That’s why the Brady Bunch was so popular. Everybody doesn’t kill and blame the action on their family dynamic.

Instead of acknowledging that the FBI Crime Lab is the best in the world and if even they couldn’t find one bit of forensic evidence that directly ties Casey to the crime scene it should be pretty clear that there isn’t any evidence to find. Instead what we hear is about George Anthony molesting his daughter.

The cross examination of Dr. Garavaglia should be taught in law schools as an example of what not to do with an expert witness. How it should have been handled is the defense should have played up her expertise and than asked these simple questions:

1) Dr. did Caylee Anthony die of an allergic reaction?
2) Dr. did Caylee Anthony die of a previously unknown heart or brain defect?
3) Dr. did Caylee Anthony drown?
4) Dr. did Caylee Anthony choke to death?
5) Dr. did Caylee Anthony die from accidentally ingesting cleaning supplies?

The only answer she could honestly give would be I don’t know and if a physician of her knowledge and experience doesn’t know there is truly no evidence of murder.

Instead we have a circus that is designed to insult the intelligence of the jurors, and is just another blight on our justice system

If the defense had followed this simple truth of personal responsibility Casey Anthony would be back on the stripper pole before you could say hot body contest.

I should tell you if you disagree with I have to say in this blog I tried calling my mother today and the phone went to voice mail because she was napping and my father couldn’t meet me for coffee because his car was in the shop. So if you disagree with me please blame them.

And For My Next Trick

2009-09-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

I am as proud to be an American as any one person can be. I love my country and that is why I am so distressed at the things I see going on around me.

My country is going to hell like a street car with no breaks and no one is doing a thing to stop it.

I was among to say the first President Obama was not my choice but he is my President and for that reason alone I was going to give him a fair chance.

I have given him a fair chance and I have come to the conclusion Barack Obama is the political equivalent of David Copperfield.

He holds the health care debate high in his right hand to deter your focus from the crumbling economy in his left hand.

I won’t insult the intelligence the reader and say health care isn’t an important issue but it pales behind the need to rebuild the economy. As sad as it to say the average American has bigger problems than being uninsured. They are unemployed. The need for basic medical services is superseded by the need to find any method they can to pay their mortgage and feed their children.

If half the effort were made to bring American jobs back to America as there is in passing a bill that won’t improve the lives of anyone at all health care in America would be an issue I’d love to discuss, but frankly we wouldn’t need to because the majority of people would be working and have employer paid heath care and we wouldn’t need a diversionary debate to focus our attention from the rumbling in our bellies.

Hallelujah!!! The Recession Is Over!!!

2009-08-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

The other day I saw President Obama proclaim the recession is over. While I am glad to hear this news I think someone forgot to tell everyone who doesn’t live in the White House.

I am not a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and in fact I don’t even know how to use QuickBooks. I do have something that the higher levels of government and top notch economic scholars do not have and that is my experience as a small business owner.

I had an experience this week that really opened my eyes as to how bad things really are out there.

I was hired to over haul the computer systems of a telemarketing room. I know you hear the word telemarketing and your ready to place my blog on the national do not read list but I have a secret for you. If you really want to know what the economy is like ask the person who spends eight hours a day talking to people all across America trying to sell them something. If you want a real expert on the economy look no further.

With the permission of the people who owned the business I monitored their sales people while I was working. I knew things were very bad out there but I had no idea just how bad. The statics and numbers you hear on the news just don’t hit home until you hear person after person talk about how they are out of work, have no heath insurance, are about to lose their home, how $200.00 which was once disposable income is now a fortune.

All joking aside I honestly believe every senior White House official and economic adviser to the President should have it be a job requirement to spend a week telemarketing. They may have the raw numbers but those numbers would really hit home if they could hear the voices and the stories of their fellow Americans who have and continue to suffer through what I can only guess is economic recovery since the recession is over.

So yes like many others out there I’m very good at identifying the problems facing us but that doesn’t do a thing to fix them. If you’ll indulge me I do have a few ideas that maybe you’ll agree with.

1) Go back to being a nation of producers instead of consumers. Common sense will tell you that the money to consume comes from the money you earn when you produce.

2) Bring American jobs back to America. It is time to either get the labor unions on board with recovery or break them once and for all. Plain and simple the reason so many of our jobs have gone over seas is the unions have out priced American labor. At some time you would have thought it would occur to them that having 60% of what you once had is better than having 100% of nothing.

3) Make low interest loans to companies that will build factories in America and will place a sticker on their products that reads MADE IN AMERICA BY AN AMERICAN.
They will put people back to work. Radical idea I know.

4) Change our current tax code to a flat 10% that every American pays on what they earn, yes even the rich guys too who pay next to nothing now.

5) Face the fact that if the recession is really over it’s only because we are entering a full scale depression.

These are just the ideas of a guy with no economic education but plenty of experience making a living.

It’s time to face facts and stop sugar coating how bad things really are and have a frank and open discussion about how to fix things and listen to every single idea no matter how radical it may seem.

Five Lessons We Can Learn From Michael Jackson's Death

2009-06-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Watching the news coverage of Michael Jackson’s death reminds me of the hostess party scene from the movie Goodfellas where one of the mafia wives says we always talk about them like they’re saints once their gone.

Michael Jackson is dead and there is nothing that can bring him back but the one “redeeming” thing we can take from his death is the lessons we all can learn from it.

1)Unless you love yourself it doesn’t matter how many other people do. This is a man who hated who he was and what he looked like so much he many actually hold the world record for plastic surgeries. No matter how many people packed into a stadium or lined the streets to see him he never liked what he saw in the mirror.

2)Never buy into your own hype. Adoration is more powerful drug than Heroin. When you receive it to the degree he did it’s easy to believe not only do you deserve it but are entitled to it. After the Thriller album he no place to go but down. Very few artists will ever have a success like Thriller and no one has ever had a second one. Fleetwood Mac never had another Rumors and Peter Frampton never had another Comes Alive. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big but you only set yourself up for intolerable pain when you chase the impossible.

3)No matter if you get them from a Dr. or Dealer DRUGS WILL KILL YOU. He wasn’t the first person become an addict and by no means will he be the last. It’s difficult to perform when you’re so stoned you can’t lift your head off a pillow. If you have a drug problem there are many places to go for help call one now.

4)Keep your sexual appetites to yourself. There is an old saying if one person calls you a horse you can ignore it if enough people say it it’s time to buy a saddle. I don’t care how many public denials he made about the molestation charges, He would deny it with a statement and then prove it with his actions. The only reason he won the criminal trial is the jury hated the accuser’s family worse than they hated what he did. If you suffer from a perversion get help don’t flaunt it.

5)At the end of the day no matter how many people know and appreciate your work you are just a person and are open to the same temptations and downfalls as the rest of us and you can pay the highest price there is for it. Your life.

More Of The Same

2009-06-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here reading about another politician who has had an affair. This time it is Senator John Ensign of my home state of Nevada.

Maybe I an uninformed or don’t hold elected officials to the same standard others do but my reaction is so what.

As far as I can tell Sen. Ensign did his job every day, didn’t funnel campaign or state money to her or do anything else even close to illegal. All he did was have sex with a woman who wasn’t his wife and that is nobody’s business except his and Mrs. Ensign.

Does this make him unable or unworthy to carry out the business of the state of Nevada? I don’t see why not.

It is time to realize our elected officials are people just like you and I and susceptible to the same desires and temptations as the rest of us.

I think the Senator did the right thing by keeping this private as long as he did and only came forward to protect himself from the extortion attempt of the husband of the woman he was seeing.

There are some things that are not the business of the people and what an official does at the end of their work day provided it is not illegal is one of them.
This is not a new story. Only the names have changed.

We all remember President Clinton’s involvement Monica Lewinsky. I had no problem with it then or now.

The only thing I feel President Clinton did wrong was lie about it when it became public. He could have saved the country a great deal of time, trouble, and money by coming clean when it became public, just as Senator Ensign did.

When it comes time for the Senator’s re-election I hope the people of Nevada will vote based on the job they feel he has done and not what two consenting adults did on their own time behind a closed door.

Just What Did You Prevent? Nothing.

2009-06-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

I have never understood the view of the select few who use violence in the war against abortion.

I just do not see how murder prevents murder. Yes I know all the standard arguments that by killing the doctor you have saved all the lives he or she would have killed. I understand those arguments I just don’t buy them.

I do not want to turn this blog into a debate abortion itself. If it is something you really want to discuss I would rather save that for another entry where it can be given the full consideration it is due. Today I want to talk about killing doctors.

People who kill abortion doctors always say they are following God’s will yet completely ignore the sixth commandment. If you believe in the Ten Commandments how do you pick this one to ignore.

Killing abortion doctors is not going to stop abortions. Abortions are a business just like the removal of kidney stones or any other medical procedure. As long as there is profit to be made doctors will perform abortions. It is as simple as that.

People who kill abortionists give Christians a bad name (and the people who do this always profess to be Christians). I am sure if you were to poll the Christian population 99.9% would say abortion is murder and it should be outlawed. That is their right. I’m sure the same 99.9% would say it is just as big a sin to walk into a church with a gun and kill someone who performs abortions.

People who kill abortionists hide behind the name of Christianity without really knowing any of its core values. The majority of Christians would never even consider such a thing.

If you are that against legal abortion the way to stop it is to have the Supreme Court overturn Roe V. Wade not by bombing buildings and shooting people no matter what they do for a living.

When you take this route you are no better than the terrorists we are fighting around the world right now.

Why Should You Give A Damn About Amanda Knox?

2009-05-31T00:44:00.000-07:00

I was at my local coffee shop several times today (it seems to be my home away from home). It is a block away from my home and directly across from UNLV or the University of Nevada Las Vegas. It is always filled with college students.
For the “fun” of it I asked several of them this evening a simple question.

Who is Amanda Knox?

One replied that she thought she was a professional skier and the rest didn’t know.
While this was hardly a scientific sampling of the populous it did raise an interesting question for me. If her own peer group doesn’t know who she is or even why they should who else doesn’t know.

Amanda Knox is the American college student sitting in an Italian prison awaiting trial for the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher.

Meredith Kercher wasn’t just murdered she was butchered like a farm animal and all the evidence circumstantial and forensic points directly at Amanda Knox. Or does it?

Starting off the crime scene was processed so badly it made the O.J.Simpson evidence collection look good in comparison.

The authorities point to the clasp of the bra the victim was wearing as having the DNA of both Amanda and her boyfriend on it. It is my understanding from someone close to the case that not only was that clasp not found for 40 something days but it was cross contaminated with other DNA samples.

I am not a crime scene investigator by any stretch of the imagination but I can tell you it doesn’t take 40 something days to process one small bedroom and it doesn’t take that that long to find the clasp of a bra. It’s just common sense.

To make matters worse Amanda has become to the Italian media what Casey Anthony is to our own and worse.

Before ever seeing a jury there was a book on her sex life that was released and is a national best seller.

The problem with that book is twofold.

One Amanda had no part in its writing so nothing in it can be verified as true, let alone even in the same neighborhood as true.

Yet the people of Italy think it is true and that brings up the other problem. The prosecutors are claiming Meredith’s murder was a sex game gone wrong. No one can say what that game was or just who was playing it but the game went wrong and that’s why Meredith Kercher was killed.

Now Amanda “the sex crazed killer” is known all over Italy by the name taken off her Myspace page Foxy Knoxy. It is absolutely true by the way she was called that here at home. It was a nickname given to her by friends on her soccer team that describes her style of playing soccer.

There is widespread talk of her Marijuana use and drinking. If you go to Youtube you can find a video of a very drunk Amanda recorded with her friends. You know what this proves? That she is like almost every other college student her age.

I live a block away from a college and there are three college bars within walking distance of my home and they are packed every night. So this doesn’t make her unique.

What fails to be mentioned is how she has been an Honor Roll student all her academic career right into college.

What also fails to be mentioned is how the Italian Police have who many in the know believe to be the real killer in custody yet persist in their prosecution of Amanda.

This week on Point Blank the talk show I co-host we will be introducing you to the real Amanda Knox. We will be presenting a program that is dedicated to you getting to know the girl behind the stories.

Why should you give a damn about Amanda Knox?

Because if you ever take a vacation out of the United States you could be sitting in a foreign prison for over a year waiting to prove your innocence in a system of justice that does not afford you anywhere near the same rights and privileges ours here at home does, and that is the true meaning of being a stranger in a strange land.

Victory Shall Be Mine

2009-05-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does it seem when Seth McFarlene created the show Family Guy he based the character of Stewie on Kim Jong Il.

They are both about the same height. They both love to build weapons of mass destruction, and they both really want to rule the world.

As I woke up today I am seeing on the news about North Korea launching not one but two new missiles just 24 hours after testing a nuclear weapon that was the size of what we used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I think his intentions are pretty clear at this point.

There is a difference between political posturing and repeatedly kicking someone in the balls.

One is just that,posturing and the other shows you are not just willing but very able to harm at will.

Military action needs to be taken now.

It is not lost on me how I sit in the cheap seats knowing if our men and women in uniform are placed in harm’s way yet again I am too old to join them. It’s a battle I personally won’t have to fight. That doesn't change my mind on the need to have our military handle this. It is not a call I make lightly.

I have said it before and I will say it again. North Korea is the single greatest threat to the security of the United States second only to Al Queda.

I know there are inherent problems with fighting North Korea not the least of which how it will change our relations with China.

I’m thinking China may be getting a little sick of North Korea themselves and may even side with the US if it came down to action. I can only hope so.

Here is the fact of the matter. Do we have to wait until the guy nukes Guam before we do something?

He has all the working parts and components of a nuclear weapon that can hit our shores. Let’s do something now before he assembles them and the only choice we have is to evacuate the west coast.

Amercia's New Courtroom

2009-05-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

This week I was lucky enough to speak with DNA expert, expert witness, and as he called himself on the radio show I co-host talking head Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky.

Later in the day I got an email from Dr. Kobilinsky that contained this phrase:

"I think that we need to consider enacting legislation similar to that in the UK which bars media from discussing the details of a live case. Although I believe that it important to educate the public about our criminal justice system, there may be a cost associated with this mode of education. This is an important subject which needs further study. I believe in fairness in the justice system and a person's right to a trial of his peers in a courtroom, and not on an entertainment television show. Such programs have no legal limitations and can be inherently biased against any defendant." Potential jurors can be tainted by what they hear on TV programs. The judge and jury on a criminal trial will be concerned with justice for a defendant and balance in their perspective and will not be concerned about high viewer ratings and competition with other networks in the way that TV anchors are."

The Dr. makes a good point. The media has become America’s new courtroom. More and more the court of public opinion decides people’s guilt months or in some cases years before a defendant sees a jury. Where is this opinion formed? In the media of course.

High profile defendant’s virtually have no chance of encountering a jury that is in not some way biased or at least familiar with the intimate details of a case long before the summons for jury duty is even cut. More important they may have been exposed to and will consider evidence that may not even be allowed at trial due to pretrial motions.

A great example is the case against Casey Anthony. You can’t go fifteen minutes watching cable news without hearing about the murder case, the civil suit, what she had for lunch, or who she slept with before she was arrested. Tonight Nancy Grace is doing a special on all Casey's lovers. Why?

The remedy for this type of exposure used to be a motion for a change of venue. But the days of national cable news have made this moot. It doesn’t matter where you try Casey Anthony because wherever you go they have seen the same coverage as well.

You can even take this one step farther. There are shows like the ones on Court TV that at least try to remain objective. Then you have hosts like Nancy Grace who wish to prosecute a defendant in the media without the benefit of that person being able to offer a defense.

Whatever your opinion of Casey Anthony I promise you more people are going to remember Nancy Grace crucifying “tot mom” more than anything Jose Baez has said regarding her innocence. Just for the fun of it try to remember as many Nancy Grace quotes on this case as you can and then try to remember some Jose Baez quotes. I promise you Nancy will win hands down.

Why should we care if Casey Anthony, Drew Peterson, Melissa Hukaby, or any other high profile Defendant gets a fair trial? Because next week through no fault of your own there could be circumstantial evidence linking you to a murder and the last thing you need is Nancy Grace telling the entire country what a bastard you are. There is no way to defend against that.

Perhaps we would all be better served if high profile media went back to reporting the news instead of trying to create it.

Til Death Do Us Part

2009-05-21T17:22:00.001-07:00

It seems every day on the news we hear two or three stories of men abusing their wives. Even worse we hear about the Drew, Michael, and Scott Peterson’s (maybe any woman out there should think twice about marrying a guy named Peterson), Chris Colman’s, or the deluge of cases that end with a dead wife.

I didn’t realize until last night just how desensitized we as a society have become to men hitting women.

Last night I met a fantastic woman. She was absolutely beautiful. More important she was twice as smart as she was pretty. This woman could talk me under the table with ease on any topic from the role of Hamas in the west bank to domestic politics and every subject in-between.

We started discussing the Chris brown Rihanna case and I mentioned how I have never laid my hands on a woman in anger. I don’t think she believed me. She kept presenting scenarios in which it might be permissible for me to hit a woman.

If a woman this smart is desensitized to this issue how desensitized must the rest of us be.

Abuse of women takes many forms. Not every abuser kills the woman he’s involved with but that doesn’t make it any less serious a problem.

It makes me wonder just what we have to make even a small dent in this problem, let alone wipe it out completely if we could. I don’t know what the answer to that question is? Before you can solve the problem you have to create a reaction in the general public that goes beyond a here we go again attitude.

If any of you reading this know of a way of re-sensitizing the general public to this problem I would not just love to hear it but I’d like to do what I can to help.

Next Stop On The PR Tour. That Missing Kids Vigil.

2009-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

I am all for raising awareness of missing children.
I am all for rising awareness that Haleigh Cummings has yet to be found dead or alive.

By all means let’s keep her face in the media until we know what happened to her. I would have no problem if we saw her face on the news every five minutes until she’s found.

I do have a problem however with seeing George and Cindy Anthony’s face yet again in the never ending Casey Cool-Aid goodwill tour and press junket.

I cannot believe the audacity of these people showing up at vigil for this poor child. If I thought there was one grain of concern for Haleigh Cummings in their appearance I wouldn’t be writing this but I don’t.

I think the whole purpose of being there was some ill-advised PR stunt to raise goodwill for their daughter. They couldn’t care less if Haleigh turned up in a shoe box as long as we see Cindy on camera getting her 15 minutes. I assume no one has told her everything in this world isn’t about her and Casey. There are other people in the world who are suffering too.

Whoever advised Ronald Cummings to publicly dissociate himself from the Anthony’s sure earned every penny of their money today.

Experts on every show from the local news to the Nancy Grace show have flat out said they are having the opposite effect of what they are trying to achieve with their public appearances, yet they persist with this farce.

Again it leads me to believe this whole thing isn’t about Casey, it’s about Cindy.

She just has this overwhelming desire to open her mouth and be seen no matter what the consequences to her daughter. In her mind judgment against Casey is really judgment against Cindy and we being mere mortals aren’t qualified to judge Cindy.

While I have no evidence of this and it is solely my opinion, I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that the mental health defense that the death penalty attorney who was fired from the case came up with centered around the psychological abuse that is inevitable when you live under the same roof as Cindy Anthony.

Beyond Closed Doors

2009-05-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

There are a great many things about the media coverage of the Casey Anthony case that have bothered me. One of the things that always stuck in my craw is how we have never seen one friend of the Anthony’s or ever heard about any family beyond Cindy’s parents.

This is something I had a long discussion on with the Co-Host of our upcoming show on Blog Talk Radio Gwen Lindsey Jackson. It was her comments that prompted me to dig out a reverse directory and see if I could find any neighbor of the Anthony’s who would be willing to be a guest on our show. Not one would do it but there was one who agreed to speak with me on the phone under the condition that they not be identified in any way.

I gave my word to this person and intend to keep it that they would not be identified under any circumstances but they were kind enough to answer a great many of the questions both Gwen and I were asking ourselves.

So sit back, relax, and let’s take a tour of life with the Anthony’s on Hopespring Drive.

One of the things I was able to learn is the Anthony’s don’t have a single friend in the neighborhood.

This is the type of neighborhood were people routinely gather at each other’s homes for football games, barbecues’, and what have you.

This person was quick to say that George is an okay guy but Cindy was and remains the most hated person on the street due to her constant nasty attitude toward everyone.

I was also able to learn that allegedly Cindy is extremely racist against Hispanics and Casey who was famous in the neighborhood for her one night stands would often sleep with Hispanic men as a way of taunting Cindy.

I was able to learn that George and Cindy would often be seen playing in their front yard playing with Caylee and this person could not recall one instance of seeing Casey join them.

The Anthony’s purposely insulated themselves from their neighbors and the only real interaction they had with the rest of the neighborhood was the yearly garage sale that the entire block participated in. Every year since Caylee was born they would place what this person estimated to be thousands of dollars of toys, clothes, and shoes that Caylee no longer needed for sale.

I was able to learn that the friction between Casey and her mother that has been reported in other media outlets has not been over exaggerated. It was not an uncommon occurrence to have Casey’s screams of F.U. directed at Cindy break the quite peace of the neighborhood as Casey would get in her car and squeal her tires as she sped away.

It appears Cindy never had much tolerance for anyone including Casey’s childhood friends whom Cindy would order out of the house immediately and routinely upon returning home.

This person feels and can list several examples of how anytime someone’s life touches the Anthony’s that person’s life goes bad.

I was able to learn that Cindy not only wore the pants in the family but was also the primary breadwinner as George has never been able to hold a job for any length of time in the entire time this person lived near them.

It has been reported in the media George and Cindy briefly separated in 2005 before Caylee’s birth but I was surprised to learn that George was having an affair and when he left the home he moved in with relatives in a town called Titusville he proceeded to sue Cindy for alimony.

When I asked this person on a scale of 1 to 10 how they would rate Casey’s intelligence they proceeded to tell me how Casey was a high school dropout and proceeded to flunk out of the only 2 courses she took at Valencia Community College.

One thing I found interesting is that from the time Lee moved out of the house he allegedly never returned to the neighborhood again until this case broke. I also found it queer this person could not recall one instance of seeing the Anthony’s ever have guests.

I asked this person if they thought Casey committed this murder and they said yes. Than I asked them what they thought Casey’s motivation was in killing Caylee and without one second of hesitation they responded to separate Caylee from Cindy. That Casey could not bear the thought of Cindy raising her child. This person thinks Casey may have thought that death was better than a life with Cindy. This person than proceeded to quote Cindy’s mother who has made the statement Casey hated Cindy more than she loved Caylee.

I would like to invite any neighbor of the Anthony’s or the Anthony’s themselves to join Gwen and I on the air to confirm or deny what is written here.

There is an old saying that you never know someone until you live with them and this is one of the few times we have been able to meet someone whom has lived among the Anthony’s.

She's A Role Model?

2009-05-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

I think I must be a rarity or at the least a very peculiar person for the times I live in.

I can honestly say I do not judge people by the color of their skin, which God they choose to worship or not, where they buy their clothes, who they go to bed with, or any other criteria you can use to lump people together. I judge people not by their words but by the things I see them do.

This is why my dislike for Carrie Prejean grows on a daily basis.

She is the perfect example of do as I say and not do as I do.

She is a liar and not even a good one at that.

When her first semi nude photos surfaced, she flat out lied about being a minor when they were taken in a poorly thought out ploy to keep them from being seen. Everybody knew this was a lie the second she said it.

For a woman who claims the morality of being Biblically correct in deciding who and who should not be allowed to marry she sure doesn’t take the moral high ground when it comes to getting naked for the camera for a shot at her 15 minutes of fame.

To take it a step further if she really was 17 when the topless photos were taken that is an even bigger statement on her morality or lack of it.

Now the latest set of photos featuring full frontal nudity are out and poor Carrie stands at the microphone lambasting the photographer for taking her picture as the wind blew her vest open.

Come on Carrie. It was a breeze strong enough to blow your cloths open but in the picture you never break pose and your hair isn’t blowing in the wind.

It’s been said by more than one person no one ever went broke by under estimating the intelligence of the American public, but Carrie not one of us is dumb enough to believe that.

I am waiting with baited breath to hear her explain how she was tricked into making the raunchy video of her that’s about to be released, and how it really wasn’t her fault.

If Carrie Prejean is the role model for young Christians I feel bad for young Christians. I think she has tainted the public’s perception of Christians in a sad and ugly way.

She is in the same camp as Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, and every other huckster who hides under the banner of Christianity to get what they want at the time but doesn’t live up to any of its ideals .

Carrie Prejean is not a role model she is just another media whore with nothing of value to add to any conversation. She should do what she does best. Close her mouth and open her shirt.

The Dodo Bird, The Edsel, And Customer Service. Name Three Three Things That Are Extinct ?

2009-05-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

What has happened to customer service in America?

I run a computer repair business and I do okay. Part of the reason I have a steady clientele and get quite a bit of referral business is my customer service skills.

It is a lot easier for my clients to drive up the block to Geek Squad than to drive across town to me. I realize I'm not the only guy in town that can fix a computer. The reason my customers continue to use me is I treat them like gold. I realize all my computer knowledge isn’t worth the price of a cup of coffee without my customers.
Too bad more companies don’t take this attitude.

Any more it seems like major companies in the US act like they are doing you a favor by taking your money and it disgusts me.

A good example is what happened to me this week with my cell phone company. I have one of those unlimited pre pay plans. I pay a set amount every month for unlimited local and long distance calling and a few more features. My bill should never be one penny more that that set amount. I get a text message from them telling my bill is seven dollars more than it should be. So I call into their customer service dept. and they can’t give me a straight answer as to why; but if that’s what it says than it must be that way. After asking the woman if I have a set rate how can it be one penny more than that she gets annoyed with the question and tries to rush me off the phone by telling me to go into a retail store.
Rather than get try to assist me she just wanted to pawn me off on the next poor slob.

At that point I ask to speak to her supervisor and she has the audacity to ask why? So I tell her because you aren’t doing anything to assist me. Her answer? My supervisor is just going to tell you the same thing. I didn’t ask her what her supervisor would tell me I asked her to speak to them. Long story short after about ten more requests and 20 to 30 minutes of hold time the supervisor comes to phone with an attitude of do I really need to be bothered with this. The guy was rude, arrogant, and snotty, he never dealt with my issue and told me if I didn’t like his answer I was free to write a letter to their corporate office.

At this point I am steaming. To add insult to injury, my service which was paid in full in advance was disconnected the next day and I didn’t find out about it for about 8 hours. That is 8 hours that the life blood of existence, my customers could not reach me. I had to call in on a land line and go through a whole rig amoral to get my paid for in advance service back on.

Did I receive an apology? No way, no how.

I won’t even go into the conversation I had with their cooperate escalation department.

This type of treatment of paying customers is an all too common occurrence in our society today.

Maybe it would be one small step to restore our economy if major corporations acted like they were lucky to have your business as opposed to thinking your money belonged to them by divine right.

Just What Would Jesus Do

2009-05-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

I got into what could have been a very interesting discussion today with a lady on Diane Diamond’s Facebook page. Ms. Diamond asked about legalizing Marijuana. (It seems if I ever make a penny on this blog I’m going to owe Ms. Diamond a royalty).

But this blog isn’t about legalizing drugs. For the record I’m for it. If you care to read my comments they were:

Great topic. As a recovering drug addict who has been sober for 15 years now I am in total favor of legalizing not just marijuana but all drugs. Prohibition doesn't work that has been proven time and time and again, Think how many people we could put to work making it. We could tax it.Also if it were legal the price would come down to the point where junkies wouldn't have to steal to feed their habits. For the first time we would have a real chance of regulating it's use. And more important if it's legal there goes half the appeal. When was the last time you saw a guy hanging around a school yard trying to push a six pack of beer.

This blog is about intolerance of other peoples opinions. I knew any chance of interesting discussion was over the second I saw the sentence “I am a Christian”.

It seems to me for too many Christians have no idea what it really means to be a Christian.

This woman spoke of morality. Well morality is subjective. What is moral to me may be repugnant to you and vise versa. Most people out there can understand that and not think ill of someone simply because they disagree on a group of subjects.

It seems to me a great many Christians want to legislate their version of morality and the rest of us be dammed (both figuratively and literally) if we don’t agree.
Being a Christian is more than thinking you have a passkey to heaven because Jesus died on the cross.

Being a true Christian is about loving your neighbor as you love yourself. It is about forgiveness and leading not just by example, but also not silencing people who don't agree with you. It is not about thinking you have some kind of moral lead over the rest of us.

A popular phrase I hear a lot is what Jesus would do. From what little I know of Jesus he would have the gay couple from next door over for dinner. He would be able to separate what he considered sin from the sinner. He would not stand outside an abortion with a sign damming the woman in it but would hug the woman leaving it. He would understand not everyone believes as he believes nor hold that lack of belief against them. That’s what I gathered from the parts of the bible I have read.

Perhaps many Christians don’t subscribe to the fact they are Americans first and Christians second. Because we are all Americans we have to live with the opposing viewpoints that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. There is no group whose ideals and morals that makes me sicker than Neo Nazi’s. That being said I will fight to the death for their right to speak. It is their right under the constitution. It seems to me far too many Christians forget this. They take a my way or no way attitude toward their fellow Americans.

That is not what Jesus would do. What Jesus would do is try to find some common ground and love his neighbor regardless of their political beliefs, sexual orientation, or which God they prayed or didn’t pray to.

Hit Her Again Chris

2009-05-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t heard nude photos of “singer” Rhianna have been leaked to the web. Who did it is still a mystery but my money is on Chris Brown. It’s a classic control and domination move.

Testify against me will you? How do you like this? This tactic is absolutely disgusting. As if some more naked pictures of another celebrity are any kind of real news.

Provided the photos were leaked by him does he really think any judge or jury is going throw out the case because there is a naked picture of her out there. Will this really make her any less a credible witness? I would think this would make more willing than ever to tell the story of her beating.

I hope the source of this leak is tracked down and publicly exposed.

As for the pictures themselves I have seen 7 of them. Two are plain face shots. One has a girl who could be her taking an almost fully dressed photo in a mirror with the camera blocking her face. Carries Prejean’s pics expose more (I never miss a chance to take a shot at Carrie). There are semi nudes taken in a mirror that are of an African-American woman of the same skin tone, but her face is not in the shot.
For all I know it isn’t really her.

I hope she goes after this idiot in court with a vengeance like she should have been doing from the first fist.

The right guy but maybe the wrong time

2009-05-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

It’s been a long time in the coming but Drew Peterson is finally behind bars for the death of his third wife and it looks like charges may be coming down the line for his fourth wife too.

Where do you begin with this guy? His narcissism is unrivaled. This guy makes Casey Anthony look like she has an inferiority complex.

For the record not only do I think he did it but I think he’s proud of it too.
I can honestly see him walking out of court if he’s acquitted and looking right into the camera and saying f#%! you all I did it.

He wants us all to know what he did. He just doesn’t want to go to prison for it.
Unfortunately that is a real possibility.

At this point the only real evidence against him is his attitude. I say that because there is going to be a knock down drag out legal battle as to see if Kathleen Salvio’s and Stacy Peterson’s statements to friends, family, and even their pastors can be admitted. I feel it would be a shame if they weren’t but that is for the judge to decide.

I think the real reason he was arrested at this point and time is the grand jury was about to disband and it has become a now or never situation. His defense will scream that from the roof tops. This could really go in his favor and that would be a crying shame.

Lucky we have a great system of justice in this country that allows 12 people good and true to convict on pure hate alone. If that’s how we have to get this guy I can live with it.

Whats Good for The Goose

2009-05-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

To quote Lisa Bloom Carrie Prejean is the gift that just keeps giving.

From her inarticulate answer at the Miss USA Pageant to her media blitz singing the praises of “opposite marriage” and now semi nude photos.

I personally don’t care what she did before all this but she in her own defense has courted disaster.

In an attempt to keep the media from publishing the photos she is claiming she was 17 when they were taken.

If this is the route she wants to go fine, but the consequences of this debate are rougher than she thought they’d be.

I have this question?

Teenage girls who have participated in the fad known as sexting are facing charges of production of child pornography. If Carrie Prejean was 17 at the time of her topless photos should she also be charged with the production of child pornography?

She has already admitted she took the photos voluntarily.

If little Sally Girl Next Door can face prosecution for sending a naked photo to her boyfriend’s cell phone and be branded a pornographer in the eyes of the law does the same not apply to Miss Prejean.

If I were her people I would really be rethinking this line of defense before Carrie Prejean is remembered only for the pornographer who wanted to decide who can marry and who can’t.

Lots Of Questions Very Few Answers

2009-05-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

There has been no one that has been harder on Casey Anthony and her family than I have been. I have said in no uncertain terms I believe she is guilty of murder and deserves the death penalty. The latest batch of evidence released has me questioning my position. I am not saying she is innocent at this point but I am asking some questions I wasn’t before.

First off the forensic evidence has proven to my satisfaction that she did not place her daughter’s body at the dump site where she has found.

Casey Anthony’s demeanor the entire length of this case has proven she isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I know for a fact she isn’t smart enough to fool the best forensic minds of both the local and federal authorities who processed the crime scene who could not trace back one single solitary microscopic fiber to anything Casey Anthony owns.

Not to blow my own horn but I consider myself a fairly smart man and I could not think of a way to evade or fool the best forensic minds our country has to offer and I ask this question, could you either.

If you and I can’t do it I assure you Casey couldn’t either.

Where are the cell phone pings we have all heard so much about in every area of this case that do not place her anywhere near that wooded area.

I see no major news show admitting their mistake on this. They have simply been acting like this exculpatory evidence doesn’t exist. No one is asking the question if the state was wrong about how Caylee’s body was disposed of what else could they be wrong about?

Today on Nancy Grace they went on a personal attack on Jose Baez that made even me blush. They went into a long tirade about his child support, something to do with a check he once wrote and a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with this case. I have launched some vile attacks against Mr. Baez myself but only about things that apply to this case.

Everyone made such a big deal about the Motion for a Change of Venue made today and engaged in such speculation as to its deeper meaning. The deeper meaning of it is that is what any competent attorney would if their client received the same attention Casey has.

Again I am not proclaiming Casey’s innocence but I am finally ready to listen with an open mind to her defense team.

Will Blog For Food

2009-05-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

I have to wonder just how the times we live in have made the man I am instead of the man I should be.

For those not aware I live in Las Vegas, NV. You can’t walk 20 feet anywhere in this town without someone coming up and begging you for money. They are at every stop light with their cardboard signs reading Hungry Please Help, Disabled Vet, Spread the Love, and my personal favorite Why Lie I Need a Beer.

Call me cruel but I work for a living and that’s how I get my money. Nobody gives me anything and I don’t ask for anything that I don’t feel I’ve earned.

I never have had one attack of conscience in saying no to anyone until today.

I had just parked and was walking to pay my cell bill and I passed a teenager holding one of those cardboard signs who looked me in the eye and asked could I spare some change so see could get some food for her son. I gave my standard sorry and my first thought was she wants money for drugs. I’m funny about drugs. I won’t pretend I have never done my share drugs; I’ve done my share and yours too but I’ve been clean for 15 years so If some is looking for drug money they are asking the wrong guy.

So went to pay my bill and I started thinking what if she really does have a son that’s hungry and I didn’t do anything to help? Am I so jaded that I did I not do what I could to feed a kid? After all it’s not the kids fault they are hungry and it may not even be the mothers fault.

I decided I wouldn’t give her any money but I’d take her to the supermarket and buy her a few meals.

When I went back she was gone and it was the first time a beggar made me feel like a first class prick.

Even if she was trying to scam me for drug money I should have bought her some food.
If you know how to decide who to help I’d sure love to know because I can’t figure it out.

This Is How You Can Defend Those People

2009-05-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Today I am doing something different with my blog. I am speaking with famed defense attorney Mickey Sherman. From his time as an Asst. Prosecutor and Public Defender with the Stamford Superior Court to being an A list defense attorney, Mickey Sherman has navigated through more of the criminal justice system than many of us would want to experience firsthand. Besides being the bestselling author of “How Can You Defend Those People” Mr. Sherman has defended both Andrew Alex Kelly and Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.

He is a television legal analyst of note having shot the pilot for Court TV and has appeared on almost any show you can think of when an expert on criminal law was needed.

Beside all of the above he is a hell of a nice guy taking the time to share his insight with an unknown blogger.

1)Has there ever been a time when Mickey Sherman the defense attorney was overshadowed by Mickey Sherman the man and you said I can’t defend this person?

Absolutely----but not for the reasons most people think. I don’t beg off defending someone if I think they are guilty or if I think they are horrible people. I take a pass on cases when the mere allegations are too upsetting to me for some reason. Specifically child molestation cases and stranger rapes are not my thing. Oddly, murders and robberies, etc present no problem. I also won’t defend someone when I get a vibration that I can never make them happy no matter what. I explain this in my book, “How Can You Defend Those People” where I also interview a lot of notable criminal defense lawyers about what cases they will NOT take as well and why.

2)Would you want Casey Anthony as a client?

Sure. Why not?

3)Without going into the validity of “Ugly Coping” do you think 12 people in a jury box will buy it?

You never know what a jury will do. So often they disregard the prosecutor AND the defense arguments and solve the case themselves, armed with their vast CSI experience from watching TV and reading books.

4)Using on the evidence that’s been publicly released at this point, how would you defend Casey?

I would make a deal. I think she is nuts but no jury will buy an insanity defense from her.

5)Do you foresee Obstruction of Justice charges against Casey’s parents and brother? If so how would you defend them?

No way. These people are all victims of this crime as well. They made the mistake very early on in thinking that the media was their ally. When the cameras turned on them, they imploded. I feel badly for them.

6)Beside the fact that she is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law what do you think the general public has missed about this case?

They have missed the point that the dumping of every tidbit of the states’ case into the media is just not the way the system ought to work. I would like to know WHY we are allowed to see and hear the conversations she has had in jail with her family. Would this happen if you or I were being prosecuted? It is just so wrong, regardless of her guilt or innocence.

7) The media attention this case has gotten has obviously hurt Casey’s defense. Is there ever a time it is good for the defense? Can you site a case of yours where media attention either helped or hurt your case? Have you ever used the media to sway the outcome of a case?

I have had cases where the media will be totally helpful on Wednesday and absolute poison on Thursday. One has to understand that the media is not your friend. (Except when you marry one of them like I did…..Lis Wiehl of Fox News) But my close friends in the media, to whom I am not married, will and have turned on me in an instant if it makes a good story or if they feel it is appropriate.

8)What is the most misunderstood thing about defense attorneys?

That we are human beings who do CARE about our clients AND the victims.

9)Do you think the legal definition of insanity should be broadened and if so how?

It doesn’t make a difference. The American public no longer believes in the Insanity Defense in the wake of the “Twinkie Defense “ case in San Francisco or the John Hinckley case. The public does not trust the medical professionals to keep some insane guy or woman in a hospital long enough to protect everyone. It is just easier to ignore the law about insanity and find the person guilty and lock him up. Jeffrey Dahmer was found “sane”. Nuff said?

10)How would you defend Melissa Huckaby based on currently known evidence?

In spite of my answer above, her only defense could be insanity.

11)It’s pretty clear Melissa Huckaby has severe mental problems how much of an obstacle will current laws be in defending her.
Mr. Sherman refers back to question 9.

12)Does a client facing the death penalty make it easier or harder for you as defense attorney? Is there ever a time it works in your favor?

If there is no offer of a plea bargain, it is an easier case in one way in that there are no difficult decisions to make in terms of taking a deal or going to trial. If they do offer life in prison or something else, then it is an extraordinarily difficult job since you have the person’s life in YOUR hands,

13) Will Nancy Grace ever allow you to answer a question?

She is actually a very good friend and is a very, very good person. I have known her since before she was on TV. I covered her cases in the early months of Court TV in 1990 when she was a prosecutor in Atlanta. She may appear to be rude or tough but then again, she invited people like me to be heard on her very wide platform.

14)Is there really an upsurge of female killers or is media coverage of such crimes just getting better?

I don’t believe there is any change in the demographics of murderers out there. We have just learned that their cases are infinitely more fascinating and they get much better TV ratings.

15)What is your opinion of the air sampling technique used by The Body Farm?

I think it stinks.

16)Have you ever wanted to give it all up and become a prosecutor?

I was a prosecutor for four years after having been a public defender out of law school for a year. Most career defense lawyers have the same history. We learn how to try cases as a prosecutor and then go into private practice to use those talents to make a living. I loved being a prosecutor, No pressure, You get to play God from 9 to 5 each day. A great myth is that the defense lawyers and prosecutors are natural enemies. This is far from the truth. We all work in the same factory and are generally very friendly to one another. We speak the same language. My wife, Lis Wiehl of Fox News, is a third generation Federal Prosecutor.

17) Do you think juries are too dependent on forensic evidence and does it surprise you Scott Peterson was convicted considering the utter lack of it?

The “CSI Effect” has changed the criminal trial process. Every juror watches these shows and they expect to see DNA, blood spatter testimony, Gunshot Residue and bug evidence in the trial of a guy charged with stealing a Kenny G CD.
Scott Petersen was different deal. The jury apparently hated him and loved his slain wife and child. His demeanor was perceived as arrogant and phony and he was going down no matter what. I was at that trial. I met his family and Lacie’s as well. They were all very nice people. It was a terrible tragedy.

It Just Takes One of You To Believe Me

2009-05-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have had occasion recently to speak to a high profile defense attorney and someone very close to the Casey Anthony case. I asked both these people how they would defend Casey if she were their client. That got me thinking about how I would defend Casey Anthony If I had to.

Please keep in mind I am not a lawyer. I have never even played one on TV. I know just enough about legal matters to have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.
I have made my feelings about this case quite clear in previous blogs. I simply found it an interesting experiment to see if I could stand by Casey’s side with a straight face for a little while.

The Opening Statement

The best you can hope for in an opening statement is to take every single piece of damming evidence the state has and assure the jury that you will provide reasonable answers that explain the true meaning of that evidence. The only thing you ask for in return is to please pay the same attention to those explanations that they did the media coverage. There is a story to be told here. Its story you haven’t heard yet, and it’s a story that you need to hear. I am convinced that once you hear it you will see fit to acquit Casey Anthony on the charge of murder not just in the first degree, but will agree there is no way she could have physically harmed her daughter.

Evidence Leading Up To Caylee’s Disappearance

The first thing the prosecution is going to do is present the computer searches on how to make chloroform, neck breaking, household items as weapons, est. The first thing is do not impinge the integrity of the computer forensic investigators. You have lost any argument you have the second you do that. There is a reasonable expiation for what the investigators found on Casey’s computer.

Will you the reader please open a new tab or page in your web browser and go to http://google.com. Please do a Google search for Hiren’s Boot CD 9.8. The first listing is for a site called http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Please pay attention to the BIOS / CMOS Tools.

What these tools do is allow you to crack and remove the password on someone’s computer if that password is at the boot level.

The next section I’d like you to look at is Password Tools. What these tools do is allow you to bypass a users Windows log in. Using this tool I could sit down to your computer and log into your Windows User account as you and your computer wouldn't know I wasn’t you.

Now please go to http://download.com and search for a program called Get/Set File Time/Datestamps

What this program does is change the creation date, time, and last access time and date of any file on your computer.

Using this program I could sit down at your computer and type your confession to shooting John F. Kennedy and create a file creation date of November 22, 1963. Your computer wouldn’t know it wasn’t true and if your computer ever fell into the hands of a forensic examiner they would have no choice but to say your computer shows you confessed to killing president Kennedy that day it happened.
These are tools any 9 year old that know how to web search can download.

How would anyone but Casey have access to her laptop? Casey was promiscuous and a drunk on top of it.
There were many occasions Casey was passed out at someones home and any one could have anything to her computer.

Who would do such a thing? The real killer. This person is smart enough to fool even some of the best computer forensic examiners in the country. The investigators were absolutely right about what was on Casey’s computer they were just wrong about how it got there.

Thirty One Days of Fun
The fact of the matter is Casey never wanted to have a baby. Yet she couldn’t kill her fetus, she wanted to place the baby up for adoption. It was her mother who micro managed every aspect of Casey’s life that forced her to keep Caylee. The fact of the matter is Casey was glad when Caylee was kidnapped. It allowed her to live the life having a child robbed her of. She was happy to have Caylee be someone else’s problem for a while. This makes her guilty of the worst kind of child neglect it does not any way make her guilty of murder. Remember Casey could have killed the child she didn’t want in the womb and no one would have been the wiser. When you see Casey partying during that thirty one days all you see is the Casey that was there before Caylee was born. That is the simple explanation.

No Forensic Evidence At The Dump Site

Anyone who has ever watched Forensic Files knows you go no place on the face of the earth without leaving something behind or taking something with you. Even more important is the fact that if you own a cell phone you have tracking a device on you at all times. Where are the cell phone records that show Casey spent any amount of time what so ever at that site. If the state had them we all would have known about it way before now. Every single shoe Casey owns did not show a soil match for that site.
The Autopsy

The medical examiner says Caylee died of homicide by undermined means. If you cannot determine the means by which someone died you can’t say it was homicide. There is absolutely no way to say Caylee didn’t choke to death on a cookie, or have an allergic reaction to a peanut. I spoke with the offices of 10 Medical Examiners across the country the day I wrote this and not one could give me a technical explanation of homicide by undermined means. It’s a buzz word and a catch phrase that doesn’t mean a thing.

The toxicology results show Caylee wasn’t drugged. The only test not performed was for chloroform because it is a normal component of decomposition and she would have shown a false positive. Is it just a coincidence that the agent the state claims was the murder weapon is the one thing they can’t test for?

The Smell In Car

It is impossible to deny that cadaver dogs hit on that car or thatsCaylee’s body was in the trunk. When Casey was too drunk to drive and parked at the Amscot Check cashing she was so inebriated she left her keys in an unlocked car. The state has not shown from the time Casey parked to the time it was towed that no one had access to that car. To say it was Casey who had the body in the trunk is impossible until you can prove that one else was in that car until it was towed and the state has not met its burden on that count.
Closing Statement

The fact of the matter is the Casey Anthony we all saw walk into jail was a spoiled, narcissistic, 22 year old alcoholic. I wonder if you know anyone that meets the exact same description. The Casey you see sitting before you today is older, wiser, sober, and through the type of reflection that can only come from great pain has learned quite a few life lessons. I would ask you to focus on that Casey now. Did anything I said here make you think twice about this case? Is it clear that the state has not met its burden of proof in charging Casey with first degree murder?

When deciding her guilt ,for any of the evidence to make sense, it all has to make sense and there is just too much of the state’s case that does not make sense.

If we as a society are going to pass judgment on Casey Anthony let’s do it in separate trial for child neglect. Let’s not convict her for something the best legal minds the state of Florida has to offer could not prove she did.

It was an interesting experiment for me. Did you buy any of this? If you did there is a guy in Orlando who wants you on his jury.

You never really know someone till you meet them in court

2009-04-30T16:40:00.001-07:00

I have changed my mind.

I fully am in favor of Senator Patrick Leahy placing members of the Bush administration on trail for the interrogation of terrorist suspects.

I think we should have a nationally televised trial where Senator Leahy and others can speak their minds to their hearts content on the subject.

Let them prosecute. convict, and sentence these people.

Than the next day let President Obama go on national TV and publicly pardon them and publicly thank them for their patriotism and their service to the United States. It wouldn't break my heart any if they got a medal while he was at it.

An open letter to the Christian right

2009-04-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

I had a great deal of sympathy for Carrie Prejean after her deliberate and malicious censorship at the Miss USA pageant.

I made my feeling on this known in a piece called Lookout !!!! Here comes the GayKK
http://drewrutbergaverageguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/look-out-here-comes-gaykk.html

Well it appears she is no longer the PR prop of Perez Hilton. She is now the PR prop of the Christian right.

Perez Hilton may censored her but The Christian right is just plain using her.

If you have seen the commercial they are running it is clear they are willing to deny millions of Americans equal treatment under the law.

Gays and lesbians are American citizens first and homosexuals second. As American citizens they should receive every right, privilege, and protection any other citizen would. This not about sexuality it is about citizenship.

In their ad they use the scare tactic that gay marriage is bad for small business. I have racked my brain to figure out how this can be. I have tried to find some logic in this that could possibly explain that position and I just can't. I know of no business person who values the money of a gay married couple any less than the money of a heterosexual.

They say it is bad for religious groups. How? It's not like these people are members of your congratulation anyway. What's so sad is if you were less worried about what they do in bed as opposed to what they do in the world maybe they would be. Or are you only concerned with the souls that 100 percent agree with you. Using the same logic Jews, Muslims, or anyone else who is not a Christian is bad for religious groups too.

Perhaps the members of the Christian right are unfamiliar with George Washington's comment "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense founded on the Christian religion". I think he has a better idea than any of us what our country was founded on.

The funny thing is most people do not discriminate against you for your beliefs, I know I don't. I don't hate you, I don't want censor you or impinge upon your right to speak any way. I just wish when you did it with same spirit of loving thy brother( no gay pun intended) that the savior you worship did.

A bunch of little Bin Ladens

2009-04-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

I am frighted by the news coming out of Pakistan.

How close are the Taliban to over throwing Pakistan?

Why should Americans care what the Taliban does? Because if they take over Pakistan they have access to and can use Pakistan's nuclear weapons as they choose.

These are people who do not take a lets agree to disagree attitude. These are people who want you dead if you don't subscribe to their brand of radical Islam. These are the people who have aided and abetted Osama Bin Laden.

Are you a woman with a college education and a good job? They want you dead.

Is Jesus Christ your personal lord and savior? They want you dead too.

Is Mohammad nothing more than than the guy who runs the corner store to you? Guess what they really want you dead.

When they took over the country of Afghanistan they made no secret about what they wanted or how far they are willing to go to get and keep it.

Having nuclear weapons in the hands of these people are a disaster in the making for every citizen of the world.

I hope President Obama will use every resource available to him available to aid Pakistan in preventing this from happening not just because they are a friend of the United States be because it is the right thing to do for them and us.

100 Days of Change

2009-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you today marks the first 100 days of President Obama's first term.

I have made no secret on this blog and to people who know me I didn't want him to win the election.

I have also made no secret that he has pleasantly surprised me.

100 Days is enough time to either make the American public give you chance or begin to write you off.

I find it disturbing he has had such a tough time getting a cabinet together.

I do not agree with his stimulus package. I think there are much smarter idea's we should be trying.

I feel it was wrong to release the memo's on terrorist suspects interrogations for a variety of reasons.

I think he should have fired Janet Napolitano for her insulting comments about the people who protect our freedom. These are only my opinions he's President and I am not.

All that being said he has done quite a few things right in my opinion as well.

Preparing to end our presence in Iraq gets a big thumbs up from me.

Sitting down to the table and trying to find common ground with the rest of the world and changing our countries image gets the same thumbs up.

His handling of the pirate situation was the right thing at the right time.

The fact he wants credit card agreements written in plain language to protect you and I from hidden increases in interest that could break a lot of people gets a check mark in approve column from me.

It's only 100 days but he has done with it is sure impressive to me.

SVU Is No Threat To You

2009-04-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

I’m sure Jose Baez will scream bloody murder about tonight’s episode of SVU claiming it is just one more example of the media trying to convict his client in the court of public opinion but this is a 15 minute discussion at best.

While this story is of course loosely based on Casey somehow they morphed it into a lecture on vaccinations. That’s TV at its best. Take two things people care about, throw them in a blender, water them down, and fit it in 45 minutes.

I thought Gail O’Grady did a great job as Cindy portraying her control freak personality to a tee.

Mandy Moore would have been more believable in this role than Hillary Duff but I’m sure that’s something I’m sure she been hearing for years.

They even reference George’s suicide attempt.

I say let’s give this show the one day of discussion it deserves and move on to more important topics.

Mr. Baez no one holds a bad TV show against your client. We hold the fact she drove around with her daughter decomposing in the trunk against her.

That's The Money You Could Save By Taking The Death Penality Off The Table

2009-04-28T12:59:00.001-07:00

I almost find myself feeling bad for Jose Baez.

Say what you want he tries, boy does he try.

His ploy to get the death penalty off the table by trying to scare the citizens of Florida with a huge bill for the trial is the desperate attempt of a desperate man to outrage the public and taint the jury pool.

He knows as well as we do that if this is a death penalty case he is losing his media ticket. He is not qualified in the state of Florida to try a death penalty case and if he is booted off the case no one has a reason to put him on TV anymore.

As for the good people of Florida while I haven't seen any poles stating it I don't think they would mind footing the bill for a Casey Anthony death penalty trial. I think they like the rest of us want to finally get as close to the bottom of this case as we can get and if she's found guilty they would agree she should pay with her life.

My advice to Mr. Baez would be to stop talking about money and show us something that you or anyone else has not been able to produce thus far. Some evidence your client didn't kill her daughter.

One More For The End Of The Road

2009-04-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

In an all too familiar story the April 20th edition of the Las Vegas Sun website reported:

An 18-year-old UNLV student has died from injuries suffered late Wednesday in a crash involving a suspected drunken driver.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the student as Lindsay Mychael Bennett of Las Vegas, who died after she was struck by a driver going the wrong way shortly before 9:30 p.m.
The cause of her death was several blunt force trauma injuries from the collision, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office said. She died of her injuries Friday night, authorities said today.

This happened a few days before her 19th birthday.

The driver in a suspected DUI crash that killed an 18-year-old UNLV student has been identified as 45-year-old Vladimir Lagerev.
Lagerev was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of death from DUI alcohol, involuntary manslaughter and no proof of insurance, according to detention center records.

I do not agree with charging this man with involuntary manslaughter. I think he and any drunk driver who kills someone should be charged with first degree murder. I think if you get behind the wheel of a car drunk you have made a decision that it is worth someone dying for you to get home from the bar.

Driving drunk is just like walking into several crowed movie theaters with a loaded gun and firing random shots. You may not hit someone the first 30 times you do it but eventually you’re going to hurt or kill someone.

A death resulting from drunk driving should be a mandatory life without parole sentence. Will that keep people from driving drunk? About as much as the death penalty has stopped murder. What it will do is take one criminal who endangers the life of everybody who is unlucky enough to be on the same road and make sure he or she never has the chance to do it again.

He Fell Hooker,Line,and Sinker

2009-04-26T23:07:00.001-07:00

Today Diane Diamond put a up a question on her Facebook page that read:
Informal poll: Do you believe CraigsList CEO when he says “I would not describe any section of our site as ’sex related.’” He goes on to admit Craigslist has an "erotic services" section. Your thoughts?
I don’t think you can discuss Craigslist Erotic Services section without discussing prostitution.
Stating this prompted this reply to my post:
"Victimless crime must be stopped NOW, by any means necessary!"

The problem with that statement is more often than not prostitution is not a victimless crime and the victim is often the prostitute herself.

More and more men and women are victims of human trafficking within our borders. The U.S. Department of Education website says:

What Is the Extent of Human Trafficking in the United States?
Contrary to a common assumption, human trafficking is not just a problem in other countries. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C. , and some U.S. territories. Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female.
According to U.S. government estimates, thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked to the United States for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. An unknown number of U.S. citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor.

A great deals of these people are pimped on Craigslist. They are victims.

The man who visits a prostitute and doesn’t use a condom runs the risk of exposing anyone else he sleeps with to any number of sexually transmitted diseases including but not limited to:
Urinary Tract Infections
Chlamydia
Genital Herpes
Syphilis
Gonorrhea
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
Aids

That woman who catches any of these diseases from her husband is a victim.

In theory I have nothing against prostitution. If this is how a woman chooses to make her living far be it for me say she shouldn’t be allowed to lease out her body. This is why in a previous post I said I am in favor of legalizing prostitution.

When a woman can work in a legal brothel where she has regular visits with a physician, use of condoms is enforced, and she is there by choice, two things happen:

1) It’s no longer a crime and 2) You reduce the victimology of prostitution by a good 99%.

Until that day the true number of victims of prostitution may never be known.

Octonausea

2009-04-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

This woman can’t win for losing.

Everyone got so upset when it looked like she would be living off our tax dollars.
So she sets up a deal for a reality show.

Now everyone hates that.

Would you prefer she go on welfare?

Remember you didn’t like that idea either?

The argument against her having a show is it exploits the kids. Using that logic lets yank Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People Big World, and Gene Simmons Family Jewels off the air. They have kids that are part of the show too. If it’s okay for them why isn’t alright for Octomom?

Now the newest “controversy” is she may have been a stripper for a year. I couldn’t tell you how many women worked their way thru Medical and Law School as strippers. Supporting your kids is just a good reason to strip as getting a college degree in my book. Should we plaster those women all over the news too if they happen to have a high profile practice?

If you don’t like the idea of her getting a show change the channel when it comes on, but don’t criticize the woman for coming up with a way to support her liter without taking one penny of your money to it.

Because I'm The Mommy That's Why!!!!!!!

2009-04-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

I’m sting here watching the week end repeat of the Nancy Grace Show and it finally dawned on me what I feel the true motivation of George and in particular Cindy Anthony is in the staunch defense of their daughter.

If you listen to Leonard Padila who by the way is one of the very few people to spend time with family away from the media glare, Cindy runs the house.

I think it is a fair assessment to call Cindy Anthony a control freak and a narcissist. Go back to the first Today Show appearances about the time Caylee’s disappearance was first known. You will notice a pattern that follows every time the Anthony’s appear before the media. Cindy is the mouth piece and George rarely speaks unless spoken to.

I have no doubt that Cindy loved Caylee as if she were her own daughter because after all she practically was.

Tot mom (sorry to steal your phase Ms. Grace) may have been the bio mom but Cindy was Caylee’s mom where it counted.

Caylee was one more person for Cindy to control.

So why do everything under the sun to free her alleged killer?

Because the control freak and the narcissist must have her way.
The media appearances by Cindy are one of the few areas she has any control of anymore. She approves the outlet, she approves the questions, and she is running the show. That’s the control freak in her. It's the same reason Casey is becoming bulimic in jail.The only control she has anymore is if and when she purges.

The narcissist in her worries about what people think of Cindy when they see Casey. In her mind a conviction against Casey is a conviction against Cindy and there is no way she will have that.

That is why Cindy will do everything in her power to see Casey walks free. It’s the ultimate control, She will hve Casey under her thumb forever, and Cindy gets to say I gave you life twice.

The Jerry Lee Lewis of Bolingbrook

2009-04-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Drew Peterson is a lot of things.

Retired police Sargent.

Narcissist on par with Casey and Cindy Anthony.

Author of a best selling book on how to pick up women (well give him time).

Media darling or at least he probably thinks so, and now ventriloquist.

If you saw the interview with his 16 year old son Thomas than you know the kids mouth was moving but Drew's words were coming out. If this kid truly had something to say I would have loved to have heard it, but this was just a PR stunt on par with The Anthony's appearance on the CBS Morning Show. An attempt to win over prospective jurors in the up coming civil suit.

I feel bad for Drew Peterson's children. I cant imagine what it's like to lose my mother the way they did and have so many people convinced my father did it. I'm sure with every new TV appearance by Drew their lives get just a little harder.

I would like to give Thomas one thing to think about. The civil suit is not a way for your grandparents to hassle your father. It is more than taking money from him and giving it to you. It is a way to make the man whom they feel is responsible for the murder of your mother be held accountable until the legal system has the type of evidence that will stick.

Thomas the "best dad in the world" would have listened to what you have to say instead of writing a script for you.

A Cheap TV. A New Client. And A Happy Ending?

2009-04-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

I love Craigslist.

I have them to thank for the fact I have any clients at all.

When I started my computer business the only two things I had was an idea and the desire to be self employed. What I didn't have was an advertising budget. I was able to compete on equal footing with Geek Squad and the big computer businesses in my area because Cragislist let me advertise for free. Hardly a day passes that I don't get a call from a Cragslist ad. I'm sure you could fill pages with business who have the same story.

I love the Rants and Raves section. you'll find some the smartest people you have never heard of and some of the biggest morons ever patiently waiting for you.
I have gotten incredible bargains on televisions, ipods, computers, and anything else you can think of.

That's why it saddens me Craigslist is the one of the biggest pimps in America.
I think it cheapens it to have ad's for prostitutes in every major city in America.
Now they charge $5.00 an ad to post in their erotic services section. They are making money pimping prostitutes pure and simple. And if you don't believe the majority of these ads are from hookers just read a few.

Would Phillip Markoff have done what he did if there wasn't a Craigslist? I'm sure of it. But Craigslist made it easy for him to find his victims.

Personally I think if prostitution were legal and every town had a redlight district where the acts of prostitutes could be taxed, regulated, and the women were protected this whole argument would be moot.

Until that day the only way for Craigslist to have a happy ending is for them to stop selling happy endings in their Erotic Services Section.

Re victimizing the people we want to help

2009-04-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I had a very interesting conversation with a woman who along with her child had been a crime victim. Her story belongs to her and until she wishes to publicly share it we’ll keep it that way.

One thing she talked about was how seeing her case and similar cases on the news forced her to live thru the crime again all over again.
This got me thinking. Since I started my blog I am a part of the media. A small part but a part just the same.

When I write about Melissa Huckaby would it hurt the parents of Sandra Cantu if they had seen it? Am I re victimizing Mrs. Cantu? I fear maybe I am and if so I am sorry for that. I feel this woman has gone thru enough pain without some jerk on the internet or a CNN reporter talking about her daughter’s killer.

When we report on cases like this yes we remind surviving victims their loved one is gone forever. I hope we also draw attention to the killer and apply public pressure to see that after their fair trial they get the harshest sentence possible. I wonder if Casey Anthony would be facing the death penalty again if the case wasn’t featured on Nancy Grace almost every night.

I hope we are teaching the lesson to the Melissa Huckaby’s, Casey Anthony’s, or Phillip Markoff’s in the making that you are not as smart as you think you are and there is still time for you to get the help you need before you hurt or kill someone.
I write because I want to be read. TV news both local and national isn’t as much about informing as it is about selling advertising, but that doesn’t mean we don’t do a genuine public good as well. We are showing criminals that you will be caught and the price of your 15 minutes of fame is prison.

I think with every story we bring forward on violent crime we make our communities just a little safer.

I’m sorry if that means re victimizing you. I feel for your pain and I wish all victims all the relief and recovery they can find. Even if we in the media slow that process down for you hopefully we are helping to prevent the next victim and that I hope you will understand and agree with that.

Nuremberg, DC

2009-04-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

If we are going to place members of the Bush administration on trial let’s do it for they did wrong not what they did right.

I have said it before even if we tortured terrorists so what. If these interrogation techniques prevented even one more attack like the World Trade Center they were worth it.

The F.B.I. and the C.I.A have the unenviable position of being silent heroes on the war on terror. We only hear about the few things they missed and we never hear about how many terrorist attacks they stopped dead in their tracks because someone finally gave up the information after being waterboarded.

Sen. Leahy and others who would prosecute the people who saved untold numbers of American lives seem to me like they are only trying to make a name for themselves. I wonder if Sen. Leahy would be so quick to do so if his wife or one of his children had been in the twin towers that day.

If you are going to prosecute members of the Bush administration how about doing it for lying to the American public and getting us into a war that we had no business fighting. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and while I have no proof of it is my feeling is this was known all along.

So I say again if we are going to place members of the Bush Administration on trial let’s do it for what they did wrong not what they did right.

The Hugh Hefner of Hooterville

2009-04-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does seem like every other day were hearing about another woman Ronald Cummings has been involved with. Now we are finding out of one of the women "Cobra" bailed out of jail is the mother of a one year old disabled boy Mr. Cummings has all but ignored until he needed some good PR.

I think this shows Mr. Cummings real attitude toward children. They are pawns to get what you want. What they are really good for is getting back at woman who walked out on you or to smile with before the media.

I can only hope he cracks and he cracks soon because all to few stories on Ron Cummings end with where is Haleigh.

Since when did hot dogs become Chinese Food

2009-04-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

It seems even the babies born in our local hospitals have a sticker in their neck that reads made in China.

It is a loteasier to ask what isn’t made in China anymore.

Please don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against China or its people. I admire the position they have cut out for themselves not just as a super power but as an economic force to reckon with. Remember when America was an economic force to be reckoned with too?

I understand that some people because of finances have no choice but to go Wal-Mart or the dollar store and buy a cheap plastic dish or worse tonight’s dinner made from foods that were made in China. The truth is I’ve been there myself.

Beside the destruction this is doing to our economy, the other problem with it is Chinese manufacturing and safety standards are subpar compared to our own here at home. Americans are getting sick and dying from Chinese made products like milk, baby formula, the paint in our children’s toys, to the dry wall in our homes.

I am the guy who would stand on his roof with a megaphone screaming buy American till I lost my voice and then start a recording of the same message.

The problem with buying American is it’s a lot like going green.

It’s a wonderful idea that most people agree with and they do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint, but it just isn’t practical to ride a bicycle on the 25 mile commute to the office.
I would like to see us all try to increase our American footprint.

I do what I can.

I try to shop at local shops instead of Wal-Mart or other large chains. I do my best to keep the money I spend as close to my own neighborhood as possible.
If there are any American cars companies left when I’m ready to buy again it will be made in America.
I try to go to Mom and Pop coffee shops and restaurants instead of a chain.
These are only small first steps we can take to recover our economy. The largest journey begins with a single step.

I would like everyone who reads this to try something for me.

For one day please make everything you buy an American made product. Than please let me know how much more you paid for that product and how far out of your way you had to go to find it.

How to fix our economy in 7 days

2009-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sell raffle tickets at one dollar a piece and the winner gets to give Casey Anthony her lethal injection. I'll put up a five spot right now.

LOOK OUT!!! Here comes the GayKK

2009-04-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Losing the Miss USA pageant may have just been the best thing to happen to Carrie Prejean. If she had won I’d have no idea who she is. From what I can tell she did lose because of her answer. It appears she was penalized by Perez Hilton.

Let’s face it the Miss USA Contest is about bouncing breasts in a small bikini. There has never been a pageant winner who has represented me in anyway nor are pageant winners designed to represent us.

I could see if Perez Hilton gave her a zero because the wording of her answer wasn’t as articulate as it could be. She appeared nervous and did stumble over her words but that wasn’t the reason he gave her a zero. He gave her the zero the censor her because he didn’t like what she had to say.
In a previous blog I have made my position on gay marriage clear. It sickens me gays are treated as second class citizens but I am just as sickened by censorship in any form by anyone.

Mr. Hilton the first amendment of the Constitution of The United States guarantees us free speech; it is what allows you to do what you do without fear of reprisal or censorship. The same thing it does for you it does for Miss Prejean and every other citizen. By attempting to censor her you actually placed any progress the issue of gay marriage back a few steps.

Perhaps you would have more progress with an intelligent debate after the fact than you did trying to be a pink Nazi.

I don’t agree with Miss Prejean’s position but I will defend her right to scream it from the mountain tops to the death.

And the award for best couple in a drama goes to

2009-04-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

They must grow young women different down in South Florida. First we have Casey Anthony who the Orlando police detectives that interrogated her say she is the toughest nut they have ever tried to crack. And now we have Misty Misty Croslin Cummings. I want to how this 17 year old girl has outwitted both the local police and the F.B.I.

I wish there was a way for the disappearance and murder of a child to get national media coverage without turning the case into a circus. More on this in a bit.

First off I have seen nothing that even suggests this child was abducted. The first rule of any type of forensics is we go no place on the face of the earth without leaving something behind and bringing something with us. Where is the forensic evidence i.e. hair, fibers from clothing, shoe prints, dirt from shoes that doesn’t match the dirt around the trailer, tool marks on the door locks, or anything else you can think of from someone who didn’t belong in the home.

Why do I think this hasn’t been found? Because I don’t think it exists. Everyone keeps sticking to the time line of Ronald Cummings finding out his child was missing after he returned home from work. I don’t buy it. His 911 call sounds as rehearsed and polished as a person of his elk can make it.

Let’s suppose for a moment all the stories we have heard of Mr.Cummings being both a physically abusive spouse and father are true, it makes more sense that perhaps Hailey did any number of things he considered wrong before he went to work. Perhaps he smacked her hard enough that she fell and hit her head. He doesn’t strike me as a man who would cold bloody kill his child but he does strike as man who will lose his temper and act out of anger in a New York minute.

My feeling is this is what happened and he and Misty concocted the farce of her being abducted to cover their tracks. What I don’t understand is how haven’t the police broken these people? After all it’s not like Ron and Misty are the sharpest tools in the shed.

What really disgusts me about this case is I haven’t heard the term where’s Haily in weeks. I’ve seen her mother trash that father and father trash the mother and the mother’s attorney who is taking every opportunity to smile for the camera and trash anyone she can along with her bounty hunter Cobra. Maybe it’s just me but I’d take anything with not just a grain but a shaker of salt said by anyone who wished to known as Cobra. I have heard everything you can hear except WHERE IS HAILEY.
If no one else cars enough to ask I will. Where is Hailey Cummings?

No funny tag line

2009-04-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

As distasteful as it may be let the defense team of Melissa Huckaby exhume the body of Sandra Cantu. It is a shame the family has to go thru this but it extremely important that Melissa Huckaby gets a fair trial.

Let her private pathologist espouse all his theories about how the prosecution and the state pathologist got it wrong. The injuries the state said are evidence of rape could have happened from Sandra riding a bicycle, blah, blah, blah, and so on.
Why do we need to listen to all this. So once Melissa Huckaby is convicted and sentenced to death we won’t have to deal with an ineffective assistance of counsel appeal. We’ll just have to wait for the 20 years of appeals before she gets the hot shot she so richly deserves.

Her defense is beginning to take form. Now we are hearing how she was raped by a police officer when she was 18.

I have a great amount of sympathy for any woman who experiences the physical and emotional trauma of rape, but I find it an insult to any woman who has been raped to try to use this as a defense for the murder of an eight year old girl.
According to wikianswers.com 191,670 women were the victim of sexual assault in 2005 alone. These women have had a hard enough time regaining some semblance of normalcy without some pedophile using the horror they live with everyday as a ploy to stay off death row.

That being said I hope she does use this defense. I know that 12 decent people sitting in a jury box will see this defense for what it is and convict even faster because of it.

Some straight talk about Adam and Steve

2009-04-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Being an atheist I can say with what I feel is certainty that God didn’t make Adam and Steve. God may not have made them but biology did. People act like homosexuality is something new. It’s been here since we have been here and it’s not going away either.

This brings us to the issue of Gay Marriage. As far as I’m concerned it’s really a non issue. We don’t tell blacks they can’t marry. We have no laws on interracial marriage or on any religious groups getting married. The only people left in America who faces discrimination for simply being who they are the gay and lesbian community. As far as I am concerned as a private citizen it is not my place to put restrictions on what two consenting adults do behind a closed door.

I have known gay people over the years and this is what I found out. The only difference between them and me was who they loved. If we are essentially the same why should I have the right to marry and protect the person of my choice with health insurance, life insurance, and the knowledge that I am respected for being nothing more than being who and what I am.
Earlier I called this a non issue and say this because it goes beyond being a simple issue. It’s a travesty that millions of Americans are being denied to the fundamental right to live their lives to the same full extent you and I do. If we were doing this based on the color of someone’s skin we’d all be up in arms, but we act like it’s ok to do it based on someone’s sexuality and that sickens me. If we are to truly be that land of free and the home of the brave we shouldn’t discriminate against anyone for anything.

At the end of the day is the gay married couple living next door to hurting you in any way?

I know the standard argument it sets a bad example for the children. Lord knows we wouldn’t want our kids learning to judge people by their deeds and actions as opposed to who they sleep with.
And of course there has never been a boy who grew up in a happy two parent family who turned out to be gay has there?

Elections and laws are about making things better for America (or at least they are supposed to be) not for keeping one very large segment our population second class citizens.

Thank you for calling Dell this is "Dave"

2009-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Okay I’ll start of by saying this is a completely selfish one but the first job to bring back to America is computer tech support. I repair computers for a living and tonight I had to call Dell for a client’s laptop. So whom do I end up speaking to? “Dave” in India. I’m sure his name is Dave about as much as mine is Patel.

Call me crazy but I think if you have but I think if you have trouble with a product of an American Company you should be able to speak to an American about it. Not only is an insult to the value of my dollar to have to speak to India when I have a problem you just plain can’t understand them and they get an attitude with you when you ask to speak with an agent in the US.

I am as close to an expert on computers as any one person can be and I can tell you these people are not knowledgeable and are untrained. They have no idea what term customer service means and 9 out of 10 times you have to tell them if you follow the suggestion they just made to you, it will make the problem worse.

Plain and simple if you’re an American company and I gave you my hard earned money for your product let me speak to an American when it needs fixing.

What companies like Dell and others who ship tech support jobs overseas need to learn is what little you are saving in salary you are losing in brand loyalty.

He's gone and done it again

2009-04-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

Once again I have to put another check mark in the he did something right column for President Obama. I like the idea of reaching out to our enemies depending on of course which enemy is it is. Personally I see nothing wrong with extending the hand of friendship to Hugo Chavez. Unless I’m mistaken the worst thing he has done is call George W. Bush the devil and frankly you don’t have to go to Venezuela to hear that statement. There are plenty of people here at home that would be glad to tell you the same thing.

As far as I can tell the worst thing that can happen in having Mr. Chavez as a friend of the US is we have one less enemy. Perhaps we may even learn how his country has all but wiped out the use of gasoline and how his country runs almost exclusively on renewable energy.

As far as starting talks with Raul Castro I’m all for that too. I don’t think President Obama is asking for too much from Cuba and apparently either do they as they are willing to talk.

I like how President Obama seems not to put taking a put up or shut up attitude with these people. The US for reasons both real and imagined has had a tainted for too long and I see the President doing what he can to fix this. Perhaps we may be moving into an era of understanding of who we are as a people and what we stand for that other people can relate to.

In his speech today the President said he is making sure that our nation is a leader, not a lecturer, of democracy. I can buy that whole heartily provided he doesn’t make the same mistake President Bush did which is force democracy on people who want it. It’s time for us to face that are people out there who don’t want freedom and wouldn’t know what to with it if they had it. As long as their governments aren’t a threat to the American people I say leave them alone and find what common ground we have with them.
It wouldn’t hurt my feelings any if for the first time in a long time more people liked the US than didn’t.

The Spector looming over you is your cellmate Bubba

2009-04-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while justice can be delayed without it being denied. I am of course referring to the Phil Spector case. The tragic truth of this case is everyone from his ex-wife Ronnie to The Beatles and The Ramones saw it coming decades ago and no one did a thing to stop it. Being an expert on music trivia (I know that and $17.50 will get me a cup of Starbucks) I have known Phil Spector would kill someone for years.
If Phil Spector were just an average person like you or I he wouldn’t be considered eccentric but would have been committed to a mental intuition years ago. From the stories of him stealing the master tapes of John Lennon’s Rock and Roll album to pulling a gun on the band the Ramones because they wanted to leave his house (kind of sounds like Lana Clarkson doesn’t it). If you or I had done that we would have been immediately prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
This brings up the issue of gun control for me. Before I’m haunted by the ghost of Charlton Heston and I have the NRA at my front door I agree with the statement that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Every word of that is true but there is a second part of that gets left out. Most of the people who kill others with a gun wouldn’t have for lack of a better word the “guts” to kill them another way. They wouldn’t lift a knife or a baseball bat to do it. It was the gun that made it easy for them to kill.
How many people would be alive today if this easy method of killing weren’t so easy to acquire. After all it doesn’t take much thought, energy, or guts to just bend your finger.
I think the framers would agree with me. In the early days of our country the purpose our keeping and bearing arms with to protect us from an oppressive government. While our government may have its share of problems I wouldn’t describe it as oppressive. I don’t think any of us have to keep a gun under our pillow lest we need to keep government agents from dragging us away in the middle of the night.
Times have changed and Phil Spector is the perfect example of what was once a great idea living past its time to come back and shoot us in the foot.

Like uh Republicans are like sooooo cooool

2009-04-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

If you can get past her valley girl voice Meghan McCain is actually worth listening to. She makes an excellent point in that the Republican Party’s biggest problem is the Democrats but the Republican Party itself. I was an Alex Keeton Jr. dyed s in the wool Republican myself until George W. Bush took office. I know consider myself to be a Republicrat. That’s a cross between a Democrat and A Republican. Fiscally I lean hard right. I think we need a strong Republican to lead us out of the coming depression, yet in all other areas I find myself identifying with the Democrats.
Ms. McCain is right when she says the party needs to change not just to survive but to any chance of thriving. The first step is the Party needs to stop being the mouth piece and the strong arm enforcer of the Christian right. As I recall there is supposed to be a separation of church and state and the Party has lost sight of this. One basic tenant this country was founded on is freedom of religion. Freedom of religion gives any of not to practice what the majority of others are and be penalized for it.
If you want to take Obama in 2012 get out of our bedrooms, get out of women’s doctors’ offices, get God out of politics and send him back to church where he belongs and tell us how you’ll fix our bank accounts. James Carville said it best. It’s the economy stupid. Keep your focus there and you may be able to fix things.
As for Meghan McCain from now on I’ll be watching and listening because it sounds like you actually have something to say and that puts you a step above Sarah Palin.

It's always the little guy

2009-04-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

I find myself very concerned by the situation in North Korea. Kim Jong Il may be short on stature but his big on ambition and his ambition is to one day to rule the world. He sure loves to snub his nose at the United States. I think we are a strong enough country we can take some name calling, but this guy is moving beyond name calling to launching a missile that can hit our shores if he wants it to, he is set on restarting his country’s nuclear program and dead set on doing it in secret. This week he refused nuclear inspectors access to his program (sound familiar).
I am not a war monger. I firmly believe putting our soldiers in harm’s way is always a last resort. The men and women of our armed forces have been stretched too thin as of late but I fear we may not really have a choice. All the lies or bad intel depending on whose story you believe we got on Iraq actually applies to North Korea. This guy just doesn’t care who he kills to get what he wants. It’s not about gaining real estate or winning people over to what he feels is a better form of government. For him it is about ego and power. It’s not about leadership it’s about domination. Now he is saying he will consider any sanctions we place upon North Korea for this launch an act of war. Would he really start a war with the United States? Not directly but I wouldn’t put it past him to attack South Korea or Japan with would mean the immediate involvement of the US. What he would be doing is starting a war with us by proxy.
The problem of being in war with North Korea is they too have allies. Russia which I don’t think is in any position to jump into the fray and Red China. Could we take North Korea? Properly as quick as we took Iraq but China is the problem there. This is a country that outman’s us several times over. They have the same military technologies we do and more important they hold trillions of dollars of US debt that would crash our economy even worse if they called it in. Of course China would have a lot to lose too being as almost everything sold in the US is made there anymore. If I were president I would ask Hu Jintao to intervene and help protect both our interests in region. If we were involved in a war with North Korea China has as much to lose as we do.
That being said Kim Jong Il cannot be allowed to continue on his current path. I wonder how many lives both European and American would have been saved had we gone after Hitler 5 years before we did.
The question is do we wait for North Korea to put a war head on their next missile launch or do we enlist the help of the Chinese government to nip this in bud now?
Right now North Korea is like having pre-cancerous cells on our face. Do we remove them now with little pain and side effects or do we wait till they grow in to large tumors that will kill us. There has to be an answer in the middle and I wish I knew it.

The next Selena?

2009-04-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here we go again another story about Rihanna. I’ll save my tirade about dancer’s getting recording contracts over singers for another time. It’s time to put the story of her beating and if you’ve seen the pictures, it was a beating to rest.
Suppose the story we all heard about her hitting Chris Browne first is true. I say so what. I am a 44 year old man who has had his share of relationships with woman. I have been cursed at, pushed, and even slapped by a woman. In my 44 years I have never laid my hands on a woman in anger.
I know it’s a crazy idea but maybe just maybe Chris Brown could have pulled the car over and walked away instead of beating the living shit out of her. Her statement to police makes his attack sound like a street fight. What is this girl Chris 110 pounds. Was she really any kind of physical threat to you? Was your life in danger?
Before Mark Geragos who is possibly the worst defense attorney second only to Jose Baez claims he saw his mother abused so he just did what comes naturally and needs treatment and punishment I don’t buy it. That’s the defense they use for child molesters and I don’t buy it from them either.
Heres the fact. Chris Brown kicked the shit out of a girl. Such a big man he can beat up his girlfriend. I wonder if he’s that tough around other men.
As far as Rihanna goes she doesn’t want to leave him because she loves him and her loves her. If she doesn’t get away from him what he’ll do is love her to death.
Men who hit women never do it once. It’s an instinct and a lifestyle. He may feel bad afterwards but not bad enough to not do it again if you look at him wrong or he considers you stepping out of line.
There are some women out there who truly don’t know who to turn to for help or have a way to support their children and we as society need to more for these women, But Rihanna isn’t one of those women. Unless she has really bad management she has the money to leave and leave now without blinking an eye.
Is Rihanna a role model? Not to me but to little girls yes. Honey if you didn’t want to be a role model you picked the wrong business. You are directly responsible for telling young girls its okay for a man to hit you, and for that I find Rihanna deplorable. Next time he beats you up it is your fault for staying and being there for it.
When Chris Brown kills you we’ll all watch the movie they make and move on with our lives. You’re not Elvis people will forget quickly.
Sometimes you have to take responsibility for saving your own life.

SSSHHHHH

2009-04-17T11:55:00.001-07:00

There is a bible verse that reads:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Notice how it says a time for silence?

As I have stated in previous posts I agree with quite a bit of what President Obama has done and applaud a more open door policy on what our government is doing to whom, but the release of how we interrogate terrorist suspects should have remained classified.

These are people that would gladly walk into a public building and blow up themselves and everyone else around them. I have no sympathy for these people. We haven’t had an attack on our shores since 9/11 and I’m sure the info we gained from these interrogations were a huge part of it.

Call me cruel but I’d rather see someone water boarded than have that same person or someone he knows walk into a building that my five year old daughter happens to be in and blow it up.
The world has changed. Our enemies and their tactics have changed and we need to change along with them so you can sit in McDonald’s in New York City, dance in a night club in Los Angeles, or take an Amtrak train to Chicago and not worry about being blown to bits.

The fact remains while we should aspire to as much transparency as possible there are things that have to remain secret in the interest of national security.

Junk Science

2009-04-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how defense attorneys always call forensic science junk science unless it it’s being used to free their client from death row.
The latest person the jump on this band wagon is Jose Baez. Mr. Baez please stop insulting our intelligence. Are you and you alone privy to some knowledge that the scientific community at large isn’t? In law school between torts and writs were you trained in the processing of DNA and how to analyze it?
I have one big question for you Mr. Baez .If a hair belonging to Jesse Grund has been found within 5 miles of Caylee’s body or a fingerprint belonging to Amy Huizenga were found on a coke bottle within two miles would it still be junk science? I don’t think so.

Hulk Hogan and The Spirt Of Christ

2009-04-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hulk Hogan speaks about how in his Rolling Stone interview he spent three days talking about living in the spirit of Christ. While I am not a Christian myself I do know enough about Jesus to say he would never identify with OJ Simpson nor understand slitting a woman’s throat because she is divorcing you.

Maybe I have it wrong but I was under the impression that Jesus was about love and forgiveness. This sure doesn’t sound like the spirit of Christ to me. If he really thinks this perhaps he should spend a few years with someone who is highly trained in the spirit of Sigmund Freud.

This is what happenes when Sarah Palin thinks for herself

2009-04-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

Palin in 2012? I hope not. her comments in Indiana recently unwarranted at best. Okay we get it you didn't have an abortion. You never miss that opportunity to remind us both you and you daughter didn't have an abortion. People are losing their homes and jobs Governor and I think their are more important things you could be discussing.

As for the issue of abortion I'll make my position clear so we can move on. I feel abortion is murder. I agreed whole heartily with Bush's ban on third term abortions. That being said this is only my opinion and I think abortion is every woman's right to choose. This is an important right that needs to be preserved.

So Governor if your making a bid for 2012 please stay of women's womb's and tell us your ideas for fixing the economy. If you want me to take your bid seriously I would like to hear how you would bring American jobs home where they belong.

I find it hard to believe a woman smart enough to become Governor of Alaska wouldn't take President Obama to task for his reversal of President' Bush's short sighted and frankly uninformed ban on Stem Cell Reseach.

A few words on President Obama. I never made any secret that I did not want to see him win this election. I just plain didn't think he had the experience to fix our current problems and frankly the comments of his wife and pastor made me see red. I knew from day one I would find a lot wrong with his presidency.

What's surprised me is how much I am finding right about it. Almost every week I find President Obama doing something that makes me say it's about time.

The first thing was his lift on the ban on stem cell research. Anyone who has problems with this life saving and enhancing research just plan never took the time to learn the facts.

I am pleased he is pulling us out of Iraq where there never was a threat to the US and is focusing on Afghanistan where there is a true threat to the US.

I thought his handling of the pirate situation was dead on ( no bad pun intended). There are many terrorists out that I'm sure think the US under Obama is an easy and open target. I think President Obama has taken one important step to prove this isn't true. He took decisive action and provided a proportional response.

I agree with the first steps he has taken with Cuba. The ban on Cuba has been as effective as the war on drugs. It's been decades and all we have have accomplished with it is making people leave on homemade rafts.

During the election I saw red when he would speak about talking to our enemies. I even made jokes about him having Osama Bin Ladin to white house for a state dinner. As I watch President Obama I'm starting to think that dialog is the important first step to understanding. It's a lot harder to hate someone when you have some common ground. He was smart enough to realize this before any of us ot at least me.

So far this man has taken office with a dignity and courage to change things that are important to the American people that we haven't seen in a few generations.

I used to get frustrated during the campaign with his whole hope and change speeches saying hope without the right type of change is just wishing. So far his changes for the most part have been the right kind and yes even I who was so against his winning am experiencing a bit of hope.

I just fell off the turnip truck today

2009-04-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here watching Nancy Grace and I am disgusted at how stupid defense attorneys think the general public is. Today this guy is sitting there with a straight face saying Casey's partying during the the 31 THIRTY ONE days her daughter was "missing" isn't reverent and is only being brought up to smear her.

Mr. here's a lesson for you anyone who has seen episode of Law and Order knows. It speaks to motive. It speaks to the fact that she wasn't concerned about finding her child because she already knew where she was.

It speaks as loud as Scott Peterson telling Amber Fry his wife was dead. It speaks as loud as Stacy Peterson going missing after telling Drew she wanted a divorce.

It's speaks loud enough that the only person who can't hear it is a defense attorney.

Mr. Baez there is only one way to win this case. Plead your your client out to involuntary manslaughter claiming an accident and save her life.

Everyone forgets that Casey is facing up 60 years for the bad checks. With all the publicity Casey has gotten I'm sure she'll get every day of it.

A special note about Nancy Grace. I had only caught her show a couple times and quite frankly found her to be obnoxious. Well Nancy I have been watching you every night since this case broke and I see the frustration you have when you ask a straight question to a defense attorney and you get an answer that has nothing to with you asked. Keep up the good work !

BTW Nancy i have a fantastic idea for your show both you and the network would love.

More Steroids Please

2009-04-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Terry Bollea is the poster child for steroid induced brain damage. Not just in his O.J Simpson statement to Rolling Stone Magazine but also what I assume was supposed to be an explanation for said statement.

I'm one of the people who is lucky enough to have never seen his reality show but if his wife's claims are true two things are clear 1) He suffers from roid rage and 2) He is a classic abuser on par with with Simpson.

Jane Velez Mitchell said it best he should take his head wrap and crawl under a rock and disappear.

I hope we are not seeing another O.J. or Robert Blake in the making but i fear we are.

I'm afraid the only way to prevent this may be to have his son Nick drive him home.

You can't turn a screw with a hamer!

2009-04-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Everyday I watch the news and I pay great attention to the state of the economy. Everyday I find myself a bit more disappointed at how things are going. I find the stimulus package to at best in effective. The idea behind a stimulus is to stimulate and I don't see that happening. What I see is our country heading for a real depression and my opinion is maybe that's just what this country needs. Harsh words I know but I do have a reasoning no matter how skewed it may. The financial foundations of our country are rotten to their core. If you know anything about construction you know no matter how great a building you place on a bad foundation it will crumble. Right now no matter what we place on our foundation it is still bad and leaves anything placed upon it to crumble.

I do have some ideas on how to fix our foundations.

First and foremost we need to go back to being a nation of producers instead of a nation of consumers. Common sense will tell you people get the money to consume from the goods they produce. i.e. I work, I get a paycheck, I spend my paycheck. Now this brings up another issue labor unions. They have to be either broken or adept a whole new attitude. Once upon a time labor unions we one of the greatest friends the American worker had but as of late all they have accomplished is out pricing American labor. Is it any wonder so many companies ship our jobs overseas with what the unions charge for American labor. What would happen to our economy if just 50 percent of our unemployed people made less than the unions are charging for labor but they were working? I'll tell you an economic boom. I wish I could take credit for this phrase and I remembered where I heard I'd give the proper credit but it goes like this. We will not have economic recovery in this country until there is a sticker on most products sold here that reads MADE IN AMERICA BY AMERICANS. Ask yourself this? Would you Gladly pay $ 20.00 more for your next television if it had that sticker ? I would.

Next step CLOSE OUR BORDERS. If you have illegals who can be used as slave labor to keep from paying a citizen a decent wage plain and simple your taking a job away from am American here at home. We have real problems that need to be solved. Before we can worry about anyone Else's problems we need to solve our own. I know the Statute of Liberty says to give me yourtired your hungry and your poor. The problem is that describes us right now. We need to help ourselves before we can help others.

Common Sense In Hard Times

2009-04-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take an economist to tell we are in the toughest times we have seen since the depression. More businesses are folding than ever. There people however that try to take advantage of this.

United Airlines now wants to charge extra for overweight passengers sitting rising fuel costs. Give me a break. If obesity is considered a disability under the law I would think it would be a violation under the Americans With Disabilities Act. This is absurd at best. If i weigh 75 pounds can I get a discount because it takes less fuel to fly me than someone who weighs 250 pounds. I doubt they will do that.

In in airport you can't be profiled for the color of your skin, your religion, or even your style of dress but United Airlines wants to profile you and tax you for the size of your ass. I see a lawsuit coming and good luck to whom ever brings it.

Today's Jane Velez Mitchell

2009-04-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

I wonder if these types of shows put defense attorneys on the show for the comedic value. These are people who would say with a straight face that the men who crucified Jesus aren't guilty of murder because Jesus carried his own cross with means he committed suicide by crucifixion.

The defense attorney on Jane's show had me laughing out loud. Just once I'd like to hear a defense that doesn't insult my intelligence. This woman was saying there is no autopsy finding that shows murder. I think it's a safe assumption Caylee didn't die of old age. Or is it more reasonable to assume she commited suicide and duct taped her mouth and tripple bagged herself.

What no one has said is Casey is a serial killer in the making. If she had gotton away with Caylee's death Casey would become a black widow. She would marry and kill men for their life insurance.

If they didn't break up I'm sure Jesse Grund would have been her 1st victim. There has never been a guy luckier to break up with his girlfriend than Jessie Grund.

Casey Anthony getting Death?

2009-04-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

Is this a ploy to get her to take a plea? I don't think she could get a plea deal if she begged and pleaded at this point. There are far too few cases where prosecutors will take a case all the way and this is one of them. The Orange County DA's Office has garnered a great deal of respect by the way they have handled Caylee's death and they have earned it. Maybe just maybe they put death back on the table because this woman murdered her own child, drove around with her body in the trunk of her car and dumped her in makeshift pet cemetery.

Jose Baez

2009-04-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have heard of Keystone cops but this guy is the Keystone lawyer. He seems to be involved in some odd competition with someone someplace to see who can look the most stupid in front of a camera. I can't believe the things that come out of this man's mouth. Can anyone answer for me has this guy ever won a case.

I understand that under our system of justice every person is entitled to a competent defense (that leaves Mr. Baez out) and it is better that 1000 guilty people go free as not to convict one innocent one, but i will never understand how anyone with the slightest interest in justice or slightest bit of self respect can defend a Casey Anthony.

What does this guy think ? If he get her off she'll marry him. If she does I'll bet dollars to donuts he'll be dead in few years of an unexplained heart attack along with anyone else Casey would later marry.

It appears Jose Baez is to the practice of law what Joan Baez is to good rock n roll. I bet the DA's office secretly loves this guy. With Baez at the helm of the defense they could almost phone their case in.

Melissa Huckaby

2009-04-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Poor Melissa Huckaby. Crying in court as the charges are read against her. Having to hear about all the things she did. If you haven't figured out I'm kidding yet this woman is a waste of skin. It appears she feels so bad for Sandra Cantu but not so bad as not to rape her with God knows what and murder her. I can only hope she will receive the same treatment as any man who committed this crime. We need equal rights for this woman. Any man who did this would be getting a lethal injection and my only regret is I can't push the plunger on the syringe for her. If there is such a place as hell I can promise you Melissa Huckaby will be the hostess at the door.

More On Sandra Cantu

2009-04-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well i am very surprised at how this turned out. I and alot of other people were wrong on this one. Once again kudos to the Tracy police dept. From what I can tell they did everything right on this one. They left no stone unturned and they got their killer. It would be ridiculous to say that the arrest will help Sandra's family heal or use the term closure. But I hope they have some small amount of solace in fact this woman will never see the light of day.

Sandra Cantu

2009-04-11T02:53:00.000-07:00

What can really be said here that carries the gravity of what happened to this poor child. Tragedy doesn't begin to cover it. I was expecting the Tracy police to name a suspect today. At least thats what HLN was reporting. I have seen alot of people being very critical of the Tracy police dept and I think it has been completely uncalled for. It's clear these men and women have busted their rumps to try to find this little girl alive and as close to well as possible and instead of a pat on the back they get name calling from a bunch of arm chair quaterbacks.

Let's assume that Sandra's killer is a pedofile with record and I'm sure he or they will turn out to be Sandra's death is not a faliure of the Tracy Police but a failure of our court system, prison system,
and our law makers.

Here are the facts. Pedophila is disease. Not only is there not a cure but there isn't even an effective treatment. Once a pedofile always a pedofile. How many more children need to be murdered before these guys start getting life without parole on the first sentence. If we can't do that I am all for letting them serve their time in prison and be released directly to mental institutions under they die of natural causes.

How many Sandra's have to die before we fix this?

Octomom

2009-04-11T02:52:00.000-07:00

Oh my God isn't there anything important to discuss.

Zanni's Civil Suit

2009-04-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here watching Jane Valez Mitchell or Nancy Lite as I like to call her and watching the Anthony's Depositions in The Zanni Suit. As I have made very clear thus far I am not a fan of these people at all, but I do have to say this about Zanni suit. It is absolutely unfair what is being done to these people in these depositions. The lawyer for Zanni is just as bad as Leonard Padilla in my opinion. Here we have another guy who has nothing in the world to do with this case inserting himself into to make a name for himself. I think it's a pretty sad satate of affairs when someone can ride the death of a little girl to bank. If this is how the man sees the practice of law, to explot the death of a child he is no one I would ever want representing my interests in anything. If he wants to work for DA 's Office so bad and try cases perhaps he should give up his private practice. if not when George and Cindy said she isn't the one that should have been the end of the deposition.

Casey Anthony Case

2009-04-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

I have been following this case from almost day one. In fact it this case that got me watching the Nancy Grace Show. I have never had any doubt whatsoever in Casey's guilt in her daughter's death. It was clear from the beginning the child was dead and Casey did it. I applaud Nancy Grace for how she jumped on this case and gave it the type public exposure that will ensure Casey's conviction. Charles Manson and his girls may have even been pleaded down to lesser crimes if their case didn't receive the public espouse it did. I won't pretend shows like Nancy Grace aren't all about getting ratings for their respective networks but they do serve a purpose and have even changed the way our legal system works a small degree. But, I digress back to Casey.

I think one aspect of this case that has been sorely ignored by Ms. Grace and the rest of the mainstream media is the involvement of George, Cindy, and Lee Anthony in this case. It is my opinion that while they had nothing to do with Caleigh's death they are as guilty or more guilty than Casey after her death. They have most certainly obstructed justice at every turn and insulted the intelligence of not just investigators but the general public in the flat out stupid and desperate statements they have made to investigators and the press. I am surprised at the sympathy they continue receive. These people are plainly accessories after the fact. In cases like this there are two things you can always count on. Opinions and facts. Here is a fact. After calling police and telling them "it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car" what does Cindy Anthony do? She washes all her daughters clothes that are in the trunk. Any person with a smallest bit of intelligence would know if the car smelled of a dead body anything in the car is evidence. I assume Cindy is an intelligent woman having been college educated and received her degree as a Registered Nurse. I don't know her background as a nurse but I am assuming she at the very least did an ER rotation. I'm sure if she did she was taught the importance of preserving evidence. If she didn't learn that in the hospital setting I would think at some point her homicide detective husband would have mentioned it. I would really like to know if once the investigators got the clothes from the trunk were they damaged by bleach? Why is this so important? Because anyone who has ever worked in a hospital knows that a 10 to 1 solution of bleach and water kills anything. This is just whats used to sanitize the counters in hospital labs where blood and urine is tested. I'm sure Cindy was aware of this after all I am.

I think Casey's family kniw for alonf time that the child was dead and that thier daugther killed her and they have done everything in their power to concel evidence, to lie about indisputable facts, and generally try to free a cold blooded child killer. It is my opioion they are as disgusting as their daughter.

Welcome

2009-04-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

My name is Drew Rutberg and I own a small computer business in Las Vegas, NV specializing in Data Recovery and Computer Forensics.
I started this blog because I am a fan of TV shows like Nancy Grace and Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell . I also enjoy political commentary.
One thing I have noticed about these type of shows is how commentary is always offered from so called experts in their fields and there is a lack of common sense to what they have to say.
Well i am not an expert on anything. I am just an average guy and these are nothing but the thoughts of an average guy. If you agree with me fantastic. If you don't let me know what you don't agree with.