Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Warning: Potential Vomit Ahead

Karen and I were talking last week and I asked her about last Monday's Oprah show. I had remembered that she was talking a lot about this upcoming show and she had not mentioned it. She confessed that she didn't bring it up because the show was far more disturbing than she thought and to talk about it again was too tough. You see, Oprah's show was on the topic of child pornography, child abuse, and child predators. After Karen started to tell me about some of the details I was blown away. If you go to Oprah's website you can see a visual representation of how fast child pornography can spread across this country in a 24hr period. It's listed under "Most Populars". The part that made Karen physically ill and stunned was the fact that it's graduated from sending pictures to live streaming video of people abusing children and babies. Oprah reported that 70% of these cases are people abusing their own children.

Oprah did a follow-up comment last week on her show that said after this show aired she started getting emails and letters from pedophiles angry with her and defending their actions. They claim what they are doing is natural and shame on her for making it sound like a bad thing. One letter was signed, 9 angry penises.

I can not even express the anger, fear, and disgust I have over this information. Whatever you think of Oprah I commend her for bringing this to light. Law Enforcement officials do not have the man power or the resources to effectively combat what I call an epidemic and moral breakdown. It takes action. We need to fight and let our US senators know that this is something that takes precedence over other issues. You can either go to your state government website and find links to your state Senators or you can find a link Here for Oprah's Senator List where she gives you the link and a letter you can send to your Senators.

Now, I personally feel building more prisons and incarcerating offenders is not the ultimate solution. We need to petition our state representatives to approve programs to fix the problem and not isolate the problem. Most sex offenders abuse based upon compulsion. No Sex Offender Registry or time in prison is going to stop them. I agree Internet porn fuels the minds of offenders and law enforcement needs to go after them and porn websites with a vengeance. However, there needs to be more. Most offenders are victims of child abuse themselves. Most of the time by a family member. There needs to be government programs to repair these people emotionally and mentally. The cycle needs to be broken. It takes brave people like yourselves to stand up, make a voice, get in deep prayer about this, and say that is not acceptable.

I beg each of you to take a few moments and do this. It must be stopped and it's only going to get worse unless we take ACTION NOW!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Neighbors.....

Since it's Fantastic Friday I thought I would share who my Blogspot neighbor is. You ask, how do you know who your blogspot neighbor is? It's simple. It's sort of a fun way to see what other blogs are out there in Blogland. In fact, your blog neighbor changes by the minute. All you have to do is go to the top of your blog and hit, "next blog" and Waaaaa La! there's your blog neighbor. Now, sometimes you'll encounter blogs from other countries in languages you don't understand. Actually, lately that's happened a lot. Then you encounter blogs that are really suprising and interesting. The featured Neighbor Blog today is, Man Made Marvels . A blog on Made Made Marvels. The great thing is? If this blog didn't interest me I could click next and venture into another blog.

Some might say, Joe you have too much time on your hands, I say, True, but won't you be my neighbor?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sign Lady Expose'


At the beginning of the summer Karen noticed a lady walking up and down our street holding a sign. The first time it happened back in June she thought the lady was advertising an event, a store opening, etc. Well, when she started to make more frequent visits to our street my lovely wife became more concerned and also very intrigued.

Well, a few weeks ago sign lady shows up. This time Karen can tell she is targeting the house on the other side of the cul de sac from us. You see we live on one corner and this house is on the other corner. Karen was trying desperately to make out what the sign said. It was obvious that she was trying to relay a message to our neighbors home. Finally, she came into the Cul de sac and Karen could make out I Love You (in form of a heart) and someones name. She thought maybe Jim. Then she moved to the front of the house but across the street. This woman knows boundary limitations for restraining orders I suspect. Our first thoughts, "An Affair to Remember" but not in the romantic Cary Grant way. I thought, this chick was dumped and she's not letting go. I'm getting the play-by-play of this over the phone while I'm at work. Next thing Karen says is, "Oh my gosh, she's blowing kisses at our neighbors house". I'm like, call the police. Karen's like, and tell them what? A Looney is blowing kisses at our neighbors house? I said, Precisely! Karen says, she'll be gone by the time they come and they'll think I'm nuts. Besides she says, she's starting to leave. Oh Wait a minute, she's walking back and unrolling her sign again. Karen said she flashed the sign one more time then rolled it back up and walked off down the street. So like I said that was about a few weeks ago.

So yesterday, Karen is going out to the car to get something out of it and who is standing on our lawn but Lady Blowakiss. Karen yells over at her, "May I help you?" the lady responds, "No, you may not!". Karen replies, "Well, can I ask you what you're doing?", the lady responds, "I'm Protesting. I've called City Hall and they know all about this!". Karen goes, "What are you protesting?". Lady responds, "My daughter-in-law won't let me see my grandson and he's my best friend". Karen responds, "Well, I don't think they're home". Lady doesn't respond. I would hate to think she's been doing this the whole summer and my wife points out to her that her protesting is literally ineffective because her target is not home.

I for one am a bit relieved. I just had visions of a heartbroken paramour pulling an Amy Fisher in our hood. I just can't stop wondering how she feels making a public spectacle of herself is going to make them want to have her around their child.

I think it would be funny the next time she's out there is make a sign that reads, "I "heart" the Sign Lady" and stand across the street from her and point it at her.

Have a great day!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Fellow Hurricane Suffers....

My In-Laws live in Florida and I received this "funny" email from Karen that express the frustration of living in Florida and dealing with Hurricanes. I thought with all my friends in Louisiana battling and worrying about what Hurrican is going to hit next, here is a posting to let you know that you're not alone: