Insomnia + Casey Anthony=?

If we have already convicted her in our minds did she really get a fair trial?

That thought rattled around in my brain for quite some time today. My exposure to this case is just about zero. Let's say on a scale of 1 to 10 with a 1 being a coma patient and a 10 being a complete media hound I would be a 3. I was peripherally aware of Florida v. Casey Anthony, only because of information bleed through.

I have never heard nor seen any coverage of the case. The only thing I know is the fact that there was a court case that had the attention of many people or at least that was the information gleaned from the media outlets reporting on it. Today a verdict of not guilty was returned by a jury of her peers.

So I've decided to delve into the information and see what comes up.

First stop on the internetz is CNN's Summary of Proceedings

All right looks like a very nice set up concerning the 6 weeks of testimony.
Lots of video but hey its highlights.

"From the prosecution, jurors heard a time line of the defendant's activities before her mother reported Caylee missing: parties, drinking and sleepovers with men." -Is "sleepover with men" legalese speak for fuckin?


"No one else benefited from the death of Caylee Marie Anthony," said assistant state attorney Linda Drane-Burdick in her opening statement. "Caylee's death allowed Casey to live a good life, at least for those 31 days." -  Ah. Gotcha. The prosecutions motive for the crime.

From the defense, jurors were presented with an image of loving mother, whose dysfunctional family forced her to live in a state of denial. They argued the family held dark secrets, including that Casey was sexually abused by her father and brother.
The defense also revealed their theory of the case: Caylee drowned in the family pool as the result of what Baez called "an accident that snowballed out of control." He said it was an accident to which Casey's father, George Anthony, was privy. Baez said George Anthony tried to cover up the drowning at Casey's expense. - Classic Everyone did it but Me

 Internet searches as evidence. I must say those particular words are quite leading.

The testimony of Casey's father is powerful.

 The Next Is an AP Story via the Columbus Dispatch

Prosecutors hammered away at the lies Anthony told when the child was missing: She told her parents that she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny, a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time with a rich boyfriend, who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her. - Wow thats not even a good lie. Seriously Zanny was the best she could come up with? talk about having to come up with a name at the spur of a moment and then being stuck with it to cover a lie.

Prosecutors also focused heavily on an odor in the trunk of Anthony's car, which forensics experts said was consistent with the smell of human decay. But the defense argued that the air analysis could not be duplicated. - This is true. Science does like repeatable tests.

Baez said the toddler drowned and that when Anthony panicked, her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a murder by putting duct tape on the girl's mouth and dumping the body in the woods. Anthony's father denied that. -More of the spread the blame game.

Found a good analysis of the Prosecutions basis for a motive back on CNN

". . . unless she (Casey Anthony) was seriously mentally ill, and no available evidence showed that. -Hmm i may not be a psychologist but I'm pretty sure based on what Ive read and watched in the last few hours that she very well might be a sociopath.  

Then there is the prosecution's second alleged motive for murder. At 2½ years, Caylee was getting to the age where she could reveal her mother's lies. But her parents, and anyone close to her, was probably aware of her propensity in this area.-Ok this combined with the fathers testimony that I has me thinking that perhaps his suicidal thoughts or what not, could be stemming from the fact he realizes he has raised a sociopath. Or that he has always known and wasn't able to save his granddaughter. Then again, what do I know?

All right what else does the internetz hold?

A take on the media's role

 The New York Daily - Not exactly reporting the story so much as filtering it

So what do I think?
Casey Anthony is in all probability a sociopathic succubus.

Is Casey Anthony a good mother?
If you are a parent, you don't wait 31 days to report your kid missing, I imagine its more like 31 seconds in regards to a 2 year old.

Did she kill her daughter?
Based on what I've watched and read over the last 3 hours, I'm going to have to say yes.

Do I think the prosecution had an air tight case?
Not by any means.

Am I happy with the Verdict?
Happy or Unhappy doesn't enter into the equation.

Is there reasonable doubt?
I'm going with yes.

Is Justice Blind?
Don't know, but it sure is retarded sometimes.






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To Whom it May Concern

Time again for another installment of random thoughts and musings.

To Whom it May Concern: You always have the coolest profile pics on facebook. Wish I was that photogenic!

To Whom it May Concern: Team America, Fuck Yeah!

To Whom it May Concern:I decided the other day that I want kids. So if you have one or more you would like to share parenting with or would like to help me make some kids let me know. Second option is preferable but not a deal breaker.

To Whom it May Concern: Sometimes you just have to straighten the flamingo and whack away at the hedgehog. Hopefully no one calls for you to be decapitated.

To Whom it May Concern: Best Independence Day I have had in a loooong time. Plus Great Picture! Taken Just Before Fireworks Started

  To Whom it May Concern:I don't care if you are Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Socialist, Gay, Straight or Somewhere in between, Rich or Poor, Black, White, Brown, Yellow, or Mixed, Muslim, Jewish, Christian or Atheist. I don't care if you pay attention to politics or not, have any interest in history or economics or could care less, I don't care if you believe the moon landing was staged or the Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy. I don't have any objection too however the hell you want to live your life in your own home. I really don't care if you want to fry bacon in the nude or cover your self in honey and roll around in a fire ant nest, whatever floats your boat. Please, Please, Please, start doing just a little bit of investigating into our government. Presidential Elections are not that far away, additionally 33 Senate seats as well as the House of Representatives. Every Election is important, But I really do believe the elections of 2012 will be important to the future of this country (Assuming the Mayans were wrong about the end of the 5th cycle:) I don't care who you vote for just make sure it's YOUR decision, not the result of blindly listening to the "unbiased" media outlets.

To Whom it May Concern:

To Whom it May Concern:Glad you got to spend a week with someone who means so much to you. Hope you guys can work things out.

To Whom it May Concern: Early twenties is way to young to perish from cardiac arrest.

To Whom it May Concern: It been nearly a year. I miss you terribly Uncle Donnie.

To Whom it May Concern: Keep it going dude, sobriety isn't easy, but in my opinion worth it.

To Whom it May Concern: The world needs more Double Breasted Sunsuckers.

To Whom it May Concern: Whatever.

To Whom it May Concern: Wear those shorts every day and be sure to bend over alot.

To Whom it May Concern: You are kicked off of Team America for being a dyed in the wool bigot. Seriously. 

To Whom it May Concern: We haven't had a standoff between federal law enforcement agencies and a compound of survivalists or religious whack jobs for a while. I'm thinking we are due. Plus the media needs something to distract it for a while.

To Whom it May Concern: Fuck, I'm getting old.

To Whom it May Concern: Summer Movies so far on a 5 star scale: Thor 3.75 stars well worth watching, X-men First Class 4 stars excellent movie, Green Lantern 2.5 stars decent, Transformers Dark Side of the Moon 3 stars worth watching if you can suspend disbelief.

To Whom it May Concern:  You are entitled to your opinion. I will defend with my life your ability to express any opinion on any topic you wish to talk about or cover. I cannot help the fact that you are almost always asinine and wrong but hey, no one is perfect.

To Whom it May Concern: Scott Pilgrim versus the World = Awesome.

To Whom it May Concern: Hopefully Coming Soon: A as yet untitled short story Involving:   

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To Whom it May Concern

Yet Again more Random Musings:

To Whom It May Concern: Drunk + Motorcycle = Bad Mix all The Way around

To Whom It May Concern: I cannot wait to meet you. Hurry up October!

To Whom It May Concern:  Eric Idle and Clint Black? Yes please.

 

To Whom It May Concern: More than two months ago, President Barack Obama abruptly took the nation to war against Libya, a country that had not attacked us or threatened us. His ostensible purpose was to protect Libyan civilians from the government of  Gadhafi.   Obama acted after getting authorization from the United Nations, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, rather than Congress, which is. Specifically, the framers stipulated that Congress has the power to "declare war," giving it the chief responsibility except when the president needed to act quickly to repel an attack.

But in the ensuing centuries, presidents of both parties have often trampled over their original limits, and Congress has usually let them. This has not gone over well with all lawmakers — like the senator who said in 2007 that the president has no right to go to war on his own, barring an actual or potential attack.

His name was Barack Obama. But President Obama has thoroughly repudiated the simplistic notions voiced by Senator Obama. In some ways, he has also been even more aggressive than his predecessors in doing whatever he pleases.

A rare attempt by Congress to reassert its authority came in 1973 when it passed a law called the War Powers Resolution. It places mild restrictions on the president, requiring him to report to Congress when he puts American forces "into hostilities." If Congress doesn't give approval of the operation within 60 days, the law says, he has to bring it to a swift conclusion.

But regarding Libya, the 60th day came and went last month without the slightest recognition by Obama. Meanwhile, the administration claims it is abiding by the law while declining to bother explaining how on earth this can be.

One possible excuse is that we are not at war in Libya. Defense Secretary Robert Gates insists the term "war" is inappropriate for what he calls a "limited kinetic action." He can call it a Hawaiian luau if he wants, but the fact remains that the U.S. apparently is still flying missions over Libya and hitting military targets.

The War Powers Resolution does not contain a giant, honking exception for such activities. In fact, the authors seemed to have Libya in mind when they said the rules apply anytime American forces venture "into the territory, airspace, or waters of a foreign nation, while equipped for combat."

It doesn't matter if our pilots are up there firing missiles and dropping bombs or looking for topless beaches: If they are in combat aircraft over another country, the law applies.

 Rather than insult our intelligence with hair-splitting arguments about why the law exempts this undertaking, he has chosen to simply pay it no mind.

The administration has brushed off questions about its compliance with the law. But officials have said Obama "may order forces into limited military engagements on his own if he decides it is in the national interest, and that the NATO-led campaign in Libya is such a conflict."

Really? Can someone direct me to the provision of the Constitution that blesses "limited military engagements" authorized by the White House in conjunction with NATO? Or the section in the War Powers Resolution that says, "Invalid in cases when the president claims a national interest"?

To Whom It May Concern: Far be it from me to tell you what to wear, but you can wear those shorts anytime you want. In fact wear them more often.

To Whom It May Concern: Do What you have to to get your life on track brother. Wish I would have had the foresight to do so at your age.

To Whom It May Concern:You are intelligent, funny and beautiful, you help others without thought of reward,  yet you appear to have a hard time seeing any of these qualities in yourself. Wish I could figure out why.

To Whom It May Concern: Tattoos rule!

To Whom It May Concern: Blood Bowl 2011 World Cup Starts Soon!

To Whom It May Concern: What is greater than the Gods, More Evil than the assembled Legions of the Nine Hells and the Abyss. The Poor Have it, The Rich cannot get it, and if you eat it you will Die?
Answer: Nothing. Nothing is greater than the Gods, nothing is more evil than the assembled devils and demons, the poor have nothing, the rich need nothing and if you eat nothing you'll die  


To Whom It May Concern: Luv Ya. Always Have. Always Will.

To Whom It May Concern:

What, does his Chuck Norris Chest Hair give him damage reduction or something?

Justice Is the Butter on our Muffins!

The Air Ship is crashing, the passengers are panicking and the Bound Fire Elemental is breaking free, what do you do? And don't say you lick your finger and touch her brownie, cuz I'm pretty sure that's not going to help.

What do you mean I can't buy a sheep in this Village?

I always sort of wanted one of those knives you strap to your calf like that. Everybody has them in video games and movies now man. It's like THE place to put your knife.

What about a butcher's block? Or a drawer?

 Yeah, that's great if you are like fighting a home invader or something, but what if you get caught in an underwater net and you have to cut your way out and there is a shark coming?

 I'm guessing I'd drown and then my dead body will be eaten by a shark. I try to avoid scenarios involving underwater nets. Even the possibility of an underwater net and you can count me out.

 If you're not strapping a calf knife then we might as well count you out of everything, because when trouble arrives you're going to be looking through a drawer and you're going to end up fighting with a whisk.

The local Magistrate is not impressed with your story of extraordinary circumstances and mistaken identities that  led to your slaying the village idiot. He probably would have bought the "because he was annoying" argument. That or a hefty bribe, either way you spend a fortnight in the oubliette and contract the filthy fever.

Wizards Spring Break  998Y.K.!

To Whom It May Concern: Would a box full of Bubble Wrap be a bad gift?


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It's Been A While.

Yep. It has been a while since I wrote much of anything other than school work. And this is no exception. Having completed my math course successfully without having my head explode, I'm now in Sociology. A course which I enjoy immensely as it forms a symbiotic relationship with history.  This weeks studies have focused on Societal Stratification and Class Differentiation as well as Global Inequality, the Legacy of Colonialism, Gender and Racial Stratification and the role Mass Media plays in the socializing of children and adults. I'm not going to bore you with all of those topics, just one. My opinion of the sociological construct that is the middle class.

Falling between the upper class and the lower class there are three other classes within the sociological model. These classes are labeled the upper-middle class, the lower-middle class, and the working class. Roughly 80 to 95 percent of the population can be ascribed these labels of societal stratification. A widely accepted definition of what it means to be middle class is if the household income falls between 75 and 125 percent of the nation’s median household income (Roughly 35k - 65k.) 

As the gap between the upper and lower class continues to deepen, the middle classes are under intense pressure as well.  The high concentration of vast wealth in the hands of a relative few, hearkens back to the feudalism of bygone eras, where wealth and power rested entirely with the land owning aristocracy. It was the emergence of the middle class in medieval Europe, in the form of merchants, craftsmen, and the priesthood that began to loosen the grip of the landed gentry. Our society has concentrated the wealth in the hands of relatively few, while at the same time weakening the middle class. The possible dangers range from minor to exceedingly dangerous. On the minor end would be a reduction of standards of living. If one cannot afford to own the newest, shiniest piece of technology, one may be disadvantaged in some respects, but can certainly continue living. Further down the scale would be lack of access to healthcare, housing, or economic security as well as other aspects of society that will have continue to exert disadvantageous pressures. At the far end of the scale would be revolution or civil war. If enough of the population living under what Marx referred to as “false consciousness” wake up and assert themselves, then massive social upheavals could result. Examples would include the French Revolution, the Servile Wars of Ancient Rome, and of course the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The middle class in my opinion serves as a safety valve of sorts for society. It gives people something to strive for, in our society this would be wealth and economic security. Without this possibility the poorest and disenfranchised have no goal to strive for,  those who once held middle class status may become upset and agitated that said status was lost. In short, the middle class may be thought of as a sort of opiate for the masses. Without the hope of advancement, people would be much more likely to objectively look at their position in society and the inherent inequities of power and wealth distribution.

Schaefer, R.T. (2009) Sociology: A brief introduction (8th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill

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What The?

So being who I am, I have to share this  to make sure it's not just me. I am presently undertaking SCI 207 Environmental Studies. Essentially its one big happy science class with a hippy, tree hugging twist. I cannot really complain about that, as the class is actually pretty interesting and a great refresher on life sciences basics. Plus cool things like the Cambrian explosion and mass extinctions and lions and tigers and bears oh my! 

Anyways, This week, one of the discussion questions was in regards to nuclear power. Here is a post written by a fellow student from the discussion boards . (Direct Cut and Paste, No Alterations):

If you had to argue the benefits of nuclear energy, they would be nuclear  power plants are more safer during the last years. Better calculations risks of technical systems. The more complex a system is, the higher the likelihood of missing out certain risks. The problem is perception the waste problem has a solution the current policy is to bury-long-lived wastes in a respository that is under construction, with current technology they can be consumed. There are various risks involved when using nuclear energy as a source of power. We argue that the benefits greatly outweighing more. If this would occur there would be no way of preventing the reactor from overheating. The use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world.


Seriously?!? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!? Let's break that paragraph down.

If you had to argue the benefits of nuclear energy, they would be nuclear  power plants are more safer during the last years. Serious Grammar Nazi Alert! So your saying that reactor walls and containment systems become stronger with age?

Better calculations risks of technical systems. That's right, do not push the shiny red button, might be risks of technical systems

The more complex a system is, the higher the likelihood of missing out certain risks. Well shit Joe Bob, make it more complex, that way we miss out certain risks.

The problem is perception the waste problem has a solution the current policy is to bury-long-lived wastes in a respository that is under construction, with current technology they can be consumed. Ok, at least here there is something resembling an idea or two, they are just jumbled, intertwined, and hopelessly confused.

There are various risks involved when using nuclear energy as a source of power. At Last! A complete rational thought!

We argue that the benefits greatly outweighing more. Ummm there is more than one of you trying to type? Is that why it is difficult to make this a useful informative sentence such as, "I would argue that the benefits of nuclear energy greatly outweigh the negatives associated with its use."

If this would occur there would be no way of preventing the reactor from overheating. By Olympus!! Sure would helpful to know what exactly is causing our reactor to meltdown.

The use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world. All right! The second cohesive thought present in this paragraph.

 How exactly am I supposed to respond to this fellow student in an appropriate manner? Sure I can pick it apart and make fun of it, maybe even divine some of the intent behind it, but seriously comment on it? Highly Doubtful.

Any Thoughts?

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To Whom it May Concern.

Yet more random thoughts and musings from the mind of Foodie.

To Whom it May Concern:
Every one in life has something they are skilled at or have a talent for.

Everyone makes mistakes.

Unfortunately, your talent appears to be making mistakes and what's worse is, you never seem to learn from them.

To Whom it May Concern: I told you there would be at least 3 Super Bowl commercials that had monkeys. At least I won one of my bets. Stoopid Packers.

To Whom it May Concern: Lunch was great, we really have to do it more often.

To Whom it May Concern: Today is day 46

To Whom it May Concern: 6 years, 357 days, 16 hours, 29 minutes, 42 seconds.

To Whom it May Concern: The pen might indeed be mightier than the sword, but words only have as much power as one allows them to have, while a gladius thrust into your midsection is going to hurt regardless.

                                                              (Sorry bout the subtitles)

To Whom it May Concern: What would be the coolest gift? An orbital Space Cannon with plasma discharger and GPS targeting! Or you know. . .  socks are cool too and probably more useful.


To Whom it May Concern:

Have we reached the tipping point over the cliff of collapse? Or is there still time to save the world from the destruction we hath wrought?

No, this time I'm not even thinking about the potential for political ruination and civilization crumbling to barbarism. Though barbarism is certainly the path of least resistance if there is world wide famine or gods forbid global warming and shit.

Yeah, Ive heard that quote as well. I don't think the exact number of meals away from anarchy we are really matters. The point is; take away all the creature comforts, deprive people of food, rest and relative safety and those wonderful, intelligent, caring, ethical, talking monkeys are going to be up in arms willing to do anything to survive. or you know, at home waiting for the government to save them.

Yeah and then the aliens show up. Dude seriously, how do we get from environmental studies class to space aliens in the span of a couple minutes?

I was speaking broadly about things like monoculture fields, our dependence upon pesticides selecting insects with immunity to survive, Monsanto's Terminator technology and domination over agribusiness, pollution of every sort, clear cutting, etc. etc. etc. you know that environmental mix and how much of our food supply is corn and soy.

First of all it doesn't matter if the aliens are cannibals because cannibalism implies you eat members of your own species, secondly If your not going to take this seriously, I'm going to have to find somebody else to help me with my homework.

What ever dude, I'll call Alf. at least he ate cats. 


To Whom it May Concern: Why is the Alphabet in the order its in? No seriously, Why? Who got to decide and when?



To Whom it May Concern: The movie "The Sweetest Thing", yeah I liked it. Not sure why, but perhaps its satirical look at women and relationships, with characters that were complete caricatures and exceedingly bawdy humor. Especially the line, "How do you not know what a glory hole is?!?" or  "That is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean, I flew across that room. And you got fucked in the eye!"  That's pure comedy gold my friend.   

To Whom it May Concern: Wow, all I can say is Wow.

To Whom it May Concern:I hope the weather is nicer next week when you come for your visit. Though part of your Minnesota cold weather endurance may yet be intact, nobody really enjoys -2.


To Whom it May Concern: Hakuna Matata! At least you are out of an untenable position.





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The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary