- Jeez…..I know some people aren’t fit to be parents and typically I applaud those who realize this and give up their child to be raised by someone more capable, but this one pushes the limits of that thinking. This unidentified mother really wanted to be rid of her son, so she drove all the way from the Atlanta, Georgia area to Omaha to drop off her….wait for it….wait for it….12-year-old son and take advantage of Nebraska's safe haven law. Yes, it took this woman 12 years to figure out that she couldn’t or didn’t want to be a parent. Nice move, lady. I’m sure your son won't have any emotional scars or trauma from being so unwanted as to be driven halfway across the country and dumped like an unwanted puppy on the side of the road. And why did this mother make the decision to abandon her son like that? According to Capt. Jim Davidsaver of the Lincoln Police Department, the boy's mother told police she was unable to discipline her son and dropped him off at Bryan LGH East Hospital. Yes, she felt her son was too unruly and instead of, I don’t know, making the effort to actually parent him and administer some parental discipline, she decided to drive hundreds of miles to take advantage of Nebraska's safe haven law,which took effect in July and allows parents or guardians to drop off children up to 18-years-old at the state's hospitals without fear of prosecution. The boy has been placed in residential shelter care for the time being and he is the 20th child to be dropped off under the Safe Haven law since the law went in effect. Not sure this is what Nebraska state officials had in mind when they enacted this law. If it were, Governor Dave Heineman wouldn’t be saying that if more out-of-state children are dropped off, it may prompt him to call a special session of the legislature to fix the law. Nor would forty of the 49 state senators have agreed to change the age limit on children who can be left at hospitals to 3-days-old. So in trying to decide if this mother is a good parent for letting go of a child she can’t adequately care for or a total douche bag, I’m going with the latter…..
- It was a day for the chalk this past college football Saturday, with the top-ranked teams around the country coming through when it counted and depriving us of the upsets that always add the bulk of the intrigue to fall Saturdays. For starters, No. 1 Texas did its job in setting up an in-state clash of the titans next Saturday, downing No. 7 Oklahoma State in an exciting duel, 28-24 thanks to a late-game defensive stand. It wasn’t the offensive shootout that we’d hoped for, but Oklahoma St. did prove that they are legitimate and a player on the national scene despite the loss. Meanwhile, the nation’s No. 2 team, Alabama, trounced hapless Tennessee by a 29-9 count, winning easily and adding gallons of lighter fluid to the “Fire Phil Fullmer” bonfire at UT. Third-ranked Penn State won a battle of boring, defeating Ohio State in Columbus in a 13-6 barn-burner that may have set college football back 20 years. Other than this snooze fest, most of the other top team played high-scoring, fast-paced affairs, with Oklahoma (58-35 over Kansas St.), Florida (63-5 over lowly Kentucky) and Texas Tech (63-21 over No. 23 Kansas) lighting up the scoreboard at a record pace. The one interesting non-Top 25 game of the weekend featured Navy, which defeated Southern Methodist 34-7 without throwing a single forward pass. Yes, 49 runs, zero passes, thanks for a real lesson in 19th century football, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo. I know you were down to your third-string quarterback and all and that you run the overwhelming majority of the time even when you do have your starting QB on the field, but NO forward passes? Feel free to mix in a pass or two next game, either that or suit your guys up in leather helmets with no face masks and keep score on a hand-operated scoreboard. The other development from the weekend that has me excited is that non-BCS unbeatens and threats to crash the BCS party such as Ball State, Tulsa and Boise State kept on winning, inching closer to the top 12 of the idiotic BCS rankings and a guaranteed slot in the BCS system. On the whole, not the best Saturday of the college football season, but there were a few bright spots and enough oddities to make it a good one……
- So is Ted Stevens more qualified or less qualified to be a United States senator now that he has been found guilty Monday of all seven counts in his federal corruption trial? On the surface, it might seem that being a felon seven times over would be a negative in terms of someone having a job with serious responsibilities, but let’s remember that we are talking about the U.S. Congress here, people. So when Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is convicted by a jury of “knowingly and willfully” scheming to conceal on Senate disclosure forms more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from an Alaska-based oil industry contractor, I tend to think it makes him more capable of being a true senator. What is the U.S. Senate if not a haven for liars, cheaters, manipulators and criminals who try to squeeze every possible dollar and perk out of their position for every day they are in office? Thus, I like to think of it as a minor detail that Stevens faces a maximum sentence of up to 35 years in prison -- five years for each of the seven counts - because I like to think positive, not focus on the worst-case scenario. After all, the judge has the discretion to give Stevens as little as no jail time and probation when he is sentenced, so there’s no reason he can’t keep right on passing pork barrel legislation, sexually harassing staffers and enjoying bribes from all sorts of lobbyists. Besides, even though he’s been convicted and mountains of evidence exist against him, my man Ted Stevens isn’t giving up, saying after the verdict, “It's not over yet.” Now I don’t know if that’s just because dude is old and senile, but he and his legal team are in fact pushing for a new trial. So don’t let this little matter of a criminal conviction and possible prison time sway your vote, Alaskans, as you decide between Stevens and his Democratic challenger, Mark Begich, in next week’s election. Don’t turn your back on a man who has served you in a marginally ethical manner since1968. Never has Ted Stevens been more qualified to be a United States senator, so don’t let him down now……
- Not a tremendous surprise here, that Disney's “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” clawed its way to the top of the weekend box office class with $42 million, easily outdistancing the horror sequel “Saw V”. A G-rated film that teens and pre-teens love is bound to out-earn an R-rated, lame sequel to a horror movie franchise that ran out of actual intrigue three installments ago. As the creators of the “Saw” franchise continue to whore out their concept and show a total lack of creative and cinematic credibility by trotting out the same tired crap five times in a row, it was actually funny to see them get their ass kicked by a bunch of singing, dancing teenagers. “Saw V” brought in $30.5 million and finished in second place, which is fitting because it’s a second-rate movie at best. The overall picture for movies this weekend was good, as the top 12 films took in $120.5 million, up 41 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Saw IV", equally moronic to its most recent sequel, led the weekend with a $31.8 million debut. Adding to the positive news for HSM 3 is the fact that the film also pulled in $40 million in 19 other countries where it has opened, among them Great Britain, Germany and Spain. Here is how the top 10 shook down from the top to the bottom: 1) "High School Musical 3," $42 million, 2) "Saw V," $30.5 million, 3) "Max Payne," $7.6 million, 4) "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," $6.9 million, 5) "Pride and Glory," $6.3 million, 6) "The Secret Life of Bees," $5.9 million, 7) "W.," $5.3 million (yes, Oliver Stone, you are still a drug-addicted kook), 8) "Eagle Eye," $5.1 million, 9) "Body of Lies," $4.1 million, 10) "Quarantine," $2.6 million. A pretty diverse group of films overall, but the one common them for at least half of them? They absolutely suck……
- Welcome to Lynwood, California, or as I like to call it, the home of Hooker Cam. Seems city officials in Lynwood have gotten a little tired of women plying the world’s oldest profession on their streets, so they have enlisted the help of a new tool in the fight against prostitution - surveillance cameras. Officials have installed four Advanced Surveillance and Protection, or ASAP, cameras on major roadways throughout the city in hopes of shutting down pimps, ho’s and johns. “We have had problems for a long time, and the businesses and residents that reside in that area said, `you know, we need to do something about it,"” Lynwood Mayor Maria Santillan said. The cameras are up and running 24 hours a day and are monitored around the clock, so it’s just become a lot harder to score a decent hooker in the area. “Don't come to Lynwood if you're looking for a prostitute, they're aren't going to be any around,” Sheriff Lee Baca said Saturday. Yeah, either that or they are going to find ways around this new system, move to new locations and away from the eyes of your cameras, Sheriff, one or the other. You may feel confident because your new cameras cam zoom in on individuals soliciting prostitutes and take a picture of them or videotape the incident, but it won't be long before the affected parties learn where the cameras are and make adjustments, it’s just human nature. When one choice is taken away, people will always seek out another means to get their freak on, period. So while you may hope to install nine more cameras by early December, by no means are you ever going to stamp out this skanky profession for good. But hey, at least you can feel good about placating the citizens who just five months ago marched down Long Beach Blvd. -- a notorious area for prostitution -- amongst used condoms on the street, demanding the city take action. The result was the new cameras, which cost about $20,000 each, for a total of about $250,000. Best of success with this new approach, Lynwood, may your streets be hooker-free…..although I wouldn’t count on it…..
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