Accident My Ass

Nothing has gotten under my skin more these past two days other than my broken TV and reading about this story of the tragic murder of Yardley Love.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/death-of-virginia-student-yeardley-love-an-accident-say-lawyers-for-suspect-george-huguely/19463887?icid=main|aim|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Fdeath-of-virginia-student-yeardley-love-an-accident-say-lawyers-for-suspect-george-huguely%2F19463887

I think it's disgusting that his entourage of defense attorneys' are coming out and claiming it was an accident after he admitted to police that he practically beat the woman to death. If you read the link, he apparently has a history of abusing alcohol. I don't care what anybody says. Alcohol abuse is never an excuse for murder or violence.

What further irritates me are the reports I have heard from a former UVA graduate and friend/Victim's right's advocate with a horrible sexual assault case of her own while she was there, is how the University is encouraging students who may have known about this perp's history of violent outbursts to remain silent and not talk to the media. In my friend's case, they did the exact same thing to her. Shut Up. We want to make this go away. Since when does silence solve the problem of rape, domestic violence or murder? I am tired of all these "prestigious" universities trying to sweep campus crime under the rug. It only magnifies the problem. The friends of Ms. Love have a moral obligation to cooperate with the authorities on what they knew of her relationship with this psycho bastard, and the university has no legal authority to try and stop them.

Stupid Athletes And Their Sense of Entitlement

It's hard for me to know what to make of this one. 2nd accusation of sexual assault on this asshole in a year. Let's face it- rapists don't have stellar track records for refraining from re-offending.

I don't know what to make of this arrogant football punk, "BIG BEN." I've read that is his reputation in any establishment he frequents. The first accuser's case has all kinds of problems because she went the civil route in pursuing the complaint- not a wise move, but I understand why victims do that because reporting it to legal authorities is such a painful process. Even if she is telling the truth, it unfortunately makes her look like she's a gold digger. It's too hard to tell, and she has an alleged rocky psychiatric history even before her accusation. Who knows who's telling the truth.

But in the most recent allegation, the victim did everything right and went to the police and the hospital, knowing exactly who he was. Why put yourself through that knowing you are going to get villified by the media as a slut and a cash whore who was asking for it? That's just what the media does when you accuse a celebrity of sexual assault. Even when not dealing with a celebrity, in my own experience, even cops and prosecutors and defense lawyers have made comments like that to me. Perhaps not as directly, but still. I am tired of the victim blaming in this society.

Whether these accusations end up being decided true or false in a court of law will have to remain to be seen. But the issue of him being stupid freaking idiot is clear. When you are as famous as Roethlisberger, already have one sexual assault complaint pending against you, why put yourself in a sitaution partying it up with a bunch of twenty year college females? I mean seriously... how dumb as fuck and senseless can you be? It appears to me that his fame has given him such a sense of entitlement that he has no care in the world for respecting other people. Not such a good role model if you ask me. Plus- I think he's UGLY AS SIN. Why women rally around him like he is Brad Pitt is beyond me.

Not a priority....Ummm.... WHAT?

I have never heard of a more outrageous comment to address a human crisis like this in my life. It's ignorant and insensitive as fuck comments like these that so many rape victims don't come forward. I am outraged that anyone representing any country could make such a comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake

I have mixed feelings about this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS2mfWDryPE

This is a link to the controversy of an anorexic French Model who agreed to volunteer to pose for an ad campaign in Italy raising awareness about Anorexia.

I was not going to post a picture, it's too disturbing. But on the one hand, I see both sides to this argument. I am not sure that this ad campaign sends a very good message to people with Anorexia. I see the interviewer's point about it having a negative influence on women, as I also see the point that Isabelle was too sick to consent to do this. The weird freckle thing has me a bit puzzled. Although, I know better than anyone, people with eating disorders have a lot of physical hangups in addition to their own hangups with food.

If on the other hand, she is truly serious about getting well, then perhaps this could be a positive thing. Although she has made progress, her weight is still too low in my opinion to be thinking rationally to do this on their own as an outpatient. Sadly, at her age, no one can force her to go into inpatient treatment. I hope she does recover and it's not too late for her. So many promising souls are slaves to this God awful and often misunderstood disease that it costs them their life. I am praying it doesn't turn out this way for Isabelle Carro.

Well Well Well.... True Colors Do Indeed Shine Through!

A dear survivor friend of mine posted this link on her facebook page today.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/18/2010-02-18_crystal_gail_mangum_stripper_in_duke_lacrosse_rape_case_charged_with_arson_and_a.html

Crystal Gail Mangum... the infamous false Duke Lacrosse Rape Accuser, appears to have gone off the deep end yet again when arrested for assaulting her boyfriend. Just Who is the victim here, and who is the offender?

The Duke case always fascinated me. As a rape survivor myself, my gut usually tells me to trust the victim making the complaint, because I know better than anyone what defense lawyers do to smear the reputations of assault survivors who are brave enough to come forward. It takes some pretty gut wrenching courage.

However, as this clearly disturbed girl's past began to unravel with documented reports of other accusations she made in the past believed to be false, along with the inconsistencies in her Duke tale, it became impossible for me to believe she was telling the truth about being raped and was better suited to the profile of a pathological liar than a rape victim.

Don't get me started on my beef with Mike Nifong and how he pursued this case despite all the damning information that was a matter of public record on this crazy chick that came out in the media.

As we can see from her most recent violent antics, it is clearly Ms. Mangum who has the problem.

I think Mangum should have served jail time from the get go when it came out she was lying, even though I stand by my belief the Duke boys weren't exactly choir boys either. But, she has a distinct patten of reporting false accusations, and it is women like her who bias prosecutors and law enforcement from "real victims" who are telling the truth, making us feel helpless to be heard. I really don't have a lot of empathy for any gender who report false accusations when it comes out plain as day they were lying later. Why? Because it makes the process so much harder for so many people like myself and many others I know who fight like hell to pursue true justice.

I guess her recent arrest for this assault and what I am sure will be jail this time around, better than none.

Rest in Peace, Phoebe Prince

I have been nursing a pretty nasty stomach bug and haven't been able to blog much, but I saw this story, and I was really pretty outraged, to say the least.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1246284/Teenage-Irish-girl-emigrated-America-hanged-cyber-bullying-torment.html

This beautiful young girl with her whole future ahead of her immigrated to America from Ireland with her family only to be ridiculed and tormented by her classmates with all kinds of Internet and text threats, labeled all kinds of derogatory names, all out of cruelness, jealousy, and downright evilness. These taunts resulted in taking her own life.

I love facebook and the convenience of modern technology with texting and wireless email, but I don't think it was invented or intended to be used as a tool to promote harassment and verbal abuse. This is just heart breaking, and I can't imagine how her family must be feeling right now.

I don't understand how parents can let their children have such free reign over the Internet. They should be more aware of what websites and electronic gadgets their kids are using and just what they are using them for. Clearly, this girl was being bullied, and the school failed to recognize the signs and protect her. Even if she was too afraid to come forward to report these incidents, I have little doubt that the signs she was in trouble were there, and those in the system employed to protect her failed her. Thoughts?

No more frapps for me from the starfucks folks

And no more sausage egg and cheese from Micky D's. On the rare occasions I allow myself to induge in fast food junk, the fast food/coffee houses featured in this heinous story will no longer be graced by my patronage.

Thanks to my friend Liz for alerting me to this story.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/teenage-starbucks-barista-sues-sex-demands-work/story?id=9631145

I have major problems with how both the media and these corporations themselves blame the victims and brand them as sluts who should know better. Having had sex before at 16 years old does not give your employer carte blanche to sexually harass you.

Young teenagers are impressionable and easy to take advantage of. A 24 year old manager should know that engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16 year old barista is asking for huge trouble. The parent/victim bashing is so typical of what goes on in these types of cases and it really pisses me off. I wanted to smack the Starbucks human resources representative featured in this story. Gee... when you were sixteen, I bet you were perfect. Never smoked a joint, never fooled around, never touched a drop of alcohol. No siree... you were too busy reading your Bible. And as for your role as a parent and instilling positive values in your children, good luck if you think when your kid is 16 they will do everything you taught them. I'm sure Robert Chamber's mother tried her best, and now look at him...

I'm glad this prick went to prison. He deserved it, and starbucks should pay up.