I hope they keep making these types of posters!

Click to enlarge.

Father and Son Arrested for Harassing Palin Family

This whole situation seems rather odd, and is mostly a he-said, she-said type of deal. The two men at the center, accused of harassing and stalking Sarah Palin and her daughter Willow Palin, are Craig and Shawn Christy, a father and son, who claim to have done nothing wrong and that they are, in fact, the ones who are actually being harassed.

Karen Christy, Craig's wife and Shawn's mother, says that they've done nothing wrong. She says that in 2009, Willow and Sarah Palin began sexting their son Shawn. This seems to be the beginning of everything. Both mother and daughter deny ever having done any such thing, and the Christy's are accusing the Palins of using their political standing and weight to have all manner of law enforcement, including the FBI, harass them over the whole sordid situation.

However, while the family maintains that they are not a threat to the Palins they also do not deny that the phone calls were made.

"...and said Craig and Shawn made the recent phone calls to try to locate an original copy of a letter threatening Willow Palin that was submitted as evidence against Shawn earlier this year."

Shawn Christy denies having any involvement in the letter.

However, the thing is, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things. Even if the right way doesn't appear to be working, that doesn't mean you get to break the law in order to make things work for you. Craig and Shawn Christy did make the phone calls in question.

There were hundreds of calls, and just the recordings of the ones from Shawn alone include tirades laced with profanity and promises that the phone calls would continue nonstop.

I understand the frustration of the Christy family. They feel that they've been wronged, and perhaps they have, by the Palin family, by the Palins' legal team, and by law enforcement working on behalf of the Palins. It's gotten to the point that they feel this is a conspiracy against them and no one will listen. And that desperate times are starting to call for desperate measures to end the harassment against them.

However, this is not an excuse to begin harassing the Palins. It's not very bright, for one thing. It gives the Palins more ammunition against them and makes them look even more guilty of everything else. Which will make things even worse for them in court.

Being fed-up and at wit's end doesn't give you the right to break the law. I can understand their motivation and their desperation, but it isn't a valid excuse. They did the wrong thing and now they're going to have to pay for that. And, if they were truly innocent of wrong-doings up until this point, that makes their behavior this time even more unfortunate.

If Karen Christy's assertion that they seem obsessed only because they've been harassed by the Palins and law-enforcement and legal teams working on behalf of the Palins, and are trying to get the truth out to the public and to the justice system, they are going about it the wrong way and are instead helping the Palins sink their ship.


CORRECTION: I originally made it seem as if only Willow Palin was accused of the sexting, but both Willow and Sarah Palin have been accused of sexting Shawn Christy.

Breastfeeding Mom Told To Leave Women-Only Gym

A Texas mother was in a gym with her small son who is still breastfeeding. When it was time for him to have a meal, she went to the Kids Club area of Pure Fitness gym in Houston, TX and sat down, making sure it would be impossible for the kids in the room to see her nipples or her breasts, and proceeded to feed her son.

After a few moments, someone approached Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser and, according to her, asked her to stop breastfeeding. When she said she wanted to speak to the manager, the woman who approached her said that she was the owner and then proceeded to ask Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser not only to stop breastfeeding but to leave the gym.

It should be noted that the gym itself denies this happened, and say that they never asked her to completely stop breastfeeding nor to leave the gym. They just asked her to go to a different part of the gym where there were no children and where it would probably be more comfortable to breastfeed. They say that they felt uncomfortable allowing her to breastfeed in front of the children because there was no way to know if all of their parents would have thought it was acceptable. Without a permission slip signed for such a thing, they felt the best thing to do was to ask her to go to another part of the gym.

Personally, I am more apt to believe Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser's version than the gym's. I feel that right now they're trying to cover their asses and since it's just her word against theirs...well it's pretty easy to say she's lying. I've seen enough people in positions of authority act the way that Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser describes to feel it's more authentic. But, I could be wrong, I guess.

Either way, she's fighting back. And so are her supporters. This has not just been taken to the media, there's been an organized nurse-in scheduled for August 26th at the gym by people who support Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser and her right to breastfeed wherever she wants to.

Also, regardless of your views on this, in Texas it really is discrimination for this gym to have done what they did. By Texas law, it is a legal right for a woman to breastfeed anywhere she is authorized to be. This means not just where she's authorized to breastfeed, but anywhere is allowed to go where she is NOT breastfeed she is also allowed to breastfeed in those areas. So, she had every legal right in Texas to breastfeed in the gym and to breastfeed in the room she was at.

So, if you don't agree with Ms. Montgomery-Schlanser...well that's your prerogative, but the law in Texas says her rights were violated, regardless of whether or not you or the gym like it or not.

Anchorage Mom Arrested For Hot-Saucing Son

A mother from Anchorage, Alaska has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor child abuse for forcing her adopted son to keep and hold hot sauce on his tongue for lying until he admitted it. Only when he admitted it, did she allow him to spit it out. But, the punishment didn't stop there. After that, she gave him another punishment, also for lying. She made him get into a freezing cold shower and stand there until she told him he could get out.

There are advocates of these punishments, and some people don't think they cause harm. But, they do and they are child abuse. It is not the same, as someone actually posits in the video, as feeding your child something with hot sauce on it. In that case, the hot sauce is probably minimal and if it's too hot the child probably has the option of not eating it or of finding a way to cool the heat. In the case of this punishment, it is forced. And, what is the point of punishing the boy twice in ways that he obviously finds traumatic for the same wrong action?

The woman blames her actions on being fed-up with her kids, and with him in paricular because conventional methods don't work. This is often something that you hear when parents resort to violence to discipline their kids. And it isn't a good enough reason, sorry. You don't legally get to beat or torture your child until they do what you want them to do. It doesn't even really work. Ruling by fear of the parent really just makes the kid get better at being sneaky and lying, especially if they do something wrong and it's an accident and they don't feel they can trust their parents to understand it was an accident. I'm aware lying is not an accident, but I'm speaking generally here. Also, in a situation where the lie is only strongly suspected but not already confirmed by other sources, such torturous and traumatic behavior could cause the child to admit to something he did not do. Which will further alienate the parent from the child. I know if I were this kid, I'd never want anything to do with either of those creeps again when I was able to get away from their care.

I think that it's outrageous this woman is only up on charges of misdemeanor child abuse. In my opinion, she should be up for a stiffer crime than that. At least take the word "misdemeanor" off of it. This woman needs to do jail time, in my opinion. And that boy, and the rest of her kids, need to be taken out of her custody for good. She can't handle being a parent when her kids misbehave, then she can't handle being a parent period and shouldn't be allowed to keep her kids.

Taking kids out of the custody of the parents is always extreme and isn't to be done lightly, but if it means they don't have to endure trauma and torture, then I think it's the lesser evil. The woman's husband is a police officer and I guess he's apparently fine with what she did. Which is even worse. It teaches the kids they don't get help from police when they're in danger.

The only reason this ever went so far in the legal system is because video footage of the punishment she was giving the boy was aired on the Dr. Phil Show. Afterward, so many of the viewers were heartsick and worried for that boy, and the other kids in the household, that they contacted the Anchorage Police Department, where the father worked of course, and reported the abuse that it just could not be ignored and something finally got done about it.

I just hope that this judge throws the book at this woman. I feel that some responsibility should also be placed on the father, since he obviously knew what was going on and did nothing about it. As far as I'm concerned, you do not ever treat another living creature this way, especially not one as helpless against you as a child. I don't care how fed-up you are.

Bachmann Promises $2 Gas If Elected

I think that Michele Bachmann is confused about what the abilities and responsibilites of the President of the United States are. She seems to be treating this somewhat as a campaign you'd see in a public high school for class president. You know, where they make promises about candy machines they can't keep.

Now, she's promising that if she is elected president she will make sure that the gas prices at the pump are down to $2 again. This hasn't been seen since shortly after Obama was elected president. And there's a reason for that.

For one thing, no one world leader has control over this, and certainly not the President of the United States. It's not something that works that way. You'd have to slash the price of oil per barrel. And the only way to slash it like that would be for a global depression, not just a recession, but a global depression. Global.

So, essentially, Michele Bachmann (R-MN) just promised a bunch of people that if they elected her president, she would cause a global depression and bring down the price of gasoline at the pump. Well, I guess she could manage that...considering the way the borrowing system is set-up for the world. And, I would not be surprised for a red-hot second if her policies really would cause untold troubles not just for the US but for the global economy itself.

It's nice to see that she's decided to try honesty for a change. You heard her yourselves, folks. She promised a global depression if you put her in the White House.

Pastor of Megachurch Found Dead in Hotel Room

Pastor Zachary Tims Jr. was found dead in his hotel room on Friday by hotel employees. He heads an 8000-member ministry called New Destiny Christian Center near Orlando, Florida. He was 42.

He was visiting New York and was scheduled to go to Texas next. When he was found, the doors were locked from the inside and there was no obvious physical trauma to the body. He had an envelope of a white powdery substance in his pants, presumed to be some sort of drug. The autopsy was inconclusive, but we'll have to wait some weeks before anyone knows the results of toxicology.

Rev. Tims is no stranger to controversy. He has had drug problems in his past, but most notably from before he became a born-again Christian and before he started to minister. The public story as to why he no longer took drugs is, to me, dubious. It seemed it was an instant miracle from God and that he was then immediately called into the ministry and got two college degrees. Those who knew him and attended his services say that his method of ministry is different and appealed to young people.

As we all know, there is no instant cure for drug addiction. So, if it is true that he tried to kick it by himself and never got any help for it from a professional facility or counselor, it's unlikely he ever actually quit drugs, or if he did that it lasted very long. So, the fact that he may have had drugs on him or in his system is not too surprising to me. I do find it a little odd that if he was in that room alone and was already taking drugs while in there...that an envelope of more drugs was found in his pants. Why would he need to continue to hide the envelope if he was alone in the room and didn't expect to be disturbed? After all, the hotel staff had to find him. Not a friend, family member, church member, or colleague.

However, the drug thing wasn't an issue in his pastoral life, as it was something that he claimed was in the past and if it wasn't he seemed to have hidden it well until now. But, a controversy that occurred while he was in the ministry business was one all too common with megachurch pastors. He was married, but had an affair.

His affair was with a stripper and when it became public he and his wife, Riva, whom he had four children with, divorced in 2009. However, despite that he seems to have kept in close contact with his family, as Riva is on the record for saying that shortly before he died in New York he was vacationing with them in Puerto Rico.

This sort of controversy, the drugs and the cheating, is not new at all to the megachurch pastors of the United States. And it will not end with this man. Quite personally, I think that these megachurches are scams and so are most of the personal stories they try to sell people to prove that their god is real. It's so rampant that I'm surprised anyone wants anything to do with a megachurch.

But, that's beside the point. I'm sad for his friends, his family, his colleagues, and all those who knew him personally and who are mourning his loss. Whether he was a scam artist or not, he will be missed by many people and it's always tragic when a person dies so unexpectedly, with suspicious circumstances but no real answers.

I hope that the toxicology report can shed some light on the cause of death, since the autopsy could not. Even if it isn't what they want to hear, at least they'll have an answer.

Search Intensifies for Missing Tourist in Aruba

Apparently, yet another tall blond woman has gone missing in Aruba. This time, however, the suspect is not a native to that area. Instead, the suspect is a man named Gary Giordano, who is also a tourist, and traveled to Aruba with the missing woman, Robyn Gardner.

No physical evidence to tie Mr. Giordano to any crime involving Ms. Gardner has yet come about, but they are now uncovering some interesting circumstantial evidence against him.

Apparently, Mr. Giordano took out a $1.5 million accidental death life insurance policy on Ms. Gardner shortly before they took the trip to Aruba. The insurance policy names him as the sole beneficiary and was only good for the duration of their trip. He tried to begin redeeming the insurance money two days after reporting her missing, saying she had disappeared while they were snorkeling and he has no idea what happened to her.

So far, the search for the woman has turned up nothing.

It might also be interesting to note that this man also had pictures of the woman that were, according to at least one source, pornographic in nature, and in many of them you cannot tell whether Ms. Gardner was awake or not because you cannot see enough of her.

"You only see organs," Julia Renfro, editor-in-chief of Aruba Today, told People. "You don't know if she is awake. There are other pictures where she is posing naked."

I'm not sure if the photographs have anything at all to do with her disappearance. People allow significant others to take pictures of them like that quite often. At the very least, while not everyone does it is still not uncommon. So, the possession of pornographic photos of Ms. Gardner by Mr. Giordano is not in and of itself suspicious or strange.

Ms. Gardner apparently does have a boyfriend back home in Maryland, the state that both she and Mr. Giordano reside, but this also doesn't mean a whole lot. She seems to have willingly gone to Aruba with Giordano. Their actual relationship is not known, nor is their behavior toward one another on the trip, but they did share a room at a Marriott hotel. It's worth mentioning, I suppose, but the existance of a boyfriend back home likely means nothing to the case.

But, if you ask me, that insurance policy needs to send up a gigantic red flag. In fact, it should be neon red with flashing and sparkling lights.

This insurance policy seems to have been tailored from the start with her death in mind as inevitable and not possible. This insurance policy was taken out shortly before they went to Aruba. Did she have a policy on him? Did she even know he had one on her? It was made specifically to last only for the duration of that trip. And it made Gary Giordano the sole beneficiary. It was so new, that he even had to call and ask to make sure that the paperwork had been received by the insurance company. He couldn't stand waiting more than two days after reporting her missing before he had to start trying to collect the insurance on her, which was only apparently good for accidental death. Convenient that it happened mysteriously while snorkeling, with no sign of a body anywhere.

Actually, no. The absence of a body is not convenient for him as far as getting the insurance is concerned. If there's no body, she might just be missing but still alive. At least, as far as the insurance company is concerned. And they will use that as a reason to delay paying the money. But, it is convenient for Mr. Giordano in the sense that at the very least if there is no body there can be no proof that if she is dead it was by murder instead of an accident.

We all know how well the police in Aruba did their jobs when Natalie Holloway went missing. Let's just hope that since Mr. Giordano is not a native of Aruba, and doesn't have any rich relatives who are judges or politicians and upstanding members of Aruban society that they will actually do their jobs this time. That they will eventually find the Ms. Gardner or her remains, that her family will have some form of closure knowing what happened to her if she is dead or will be able to be reunited with her if she is somewhere alive, and that Mr. Giordano will pay for it if he has done anything to harm or kill her.

I really hope that this doesn't end up being another situation like with Ms. Holloway. The families of murder victims don't ever get real closure. Finding the remains isn't enough for real closure, neither is the person who did it getting caught and put behind bars forever or even being executed. Because, none of it brings back their loved one. That person is still dead and gone, unexpectedly and for no real reason. But, at least having the remains of the victim, being able to lay them to rest in whatever way they see fit, maybe even having a place to go to visit with the victim as if they were still there is still a comfort, even if hollow. And, having the knowledge that the person who did it is no longer out there and able to do it again to someone else's family members, that they are being punished for the crime against that person, is also a comfort even if also hollow. It will never be the kind of comfort and closure that they want, but it will be something at least.

A judge has ruled that there is enough evidence to hold Mr. Giordano in Aruban custody for another 16 days. He was first detained, if I am not mistaken, when he tried to leave Aruba.

There is other suspicious circumstantial evidence cropping up against him, as well. Blood was found behind a restaurant they are known to have eaten at, and witnesses have said that Ms. Gardner had appeared "woozy" at that time and that Mr. Giordano had been exhibiting erratic behavior.

Also, when he tried to leave, he did not mention that Ms. Gardner was missing, but rather just told customs officials that she was instead taking another flight. When he was apprehended and taken into custody, he was drenched in sweat.

It does appear that the Aruban police may be taking this case much more seriously than they took the Natalie Holloway case. Which, at least for Gardner's family, is a good thing. Maybe they will actually get some real answers here and actually solve this case.

I don't know how well Ms. Gardner knew Mr. Giordano. So, I can't say that the moral of this story is not to go on a trip, anywhere, with a man you just met. Generally, most crimes like this are perpetrated by people you think you know pretty well and often have actually known for a lengthy period of time.

However, I can say that at least one moral of this story is that if you are too stupid to adequately cover up your crime, and feel the need to leave too many suspicious trails and witnesses behind you, then you probably should not attempt murder, let alone actually carry it out.