Disturbing story, amazing response

Yesterday I was extremely depressed after reading the article about the NY bus monitor who was bullied to tears by students. As if reading about it isn’t bad enough, there the entire attack was caught on camera & uploaded to YouTube.

I heard about this story for the first time yesterday morning… and it was hardly in the national news at all. A fund for the bus monitor, Karen Klein, had just been started and had just reached the $5,000 goal.

I woke up this morning to see this story on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, and all other major news outlets. And that vacation find for Karen? As of right now, it’s at $146,847. The support for this woman has exploded over the past 24 hours. It gives me chills just thinking about it.

Below I’ve pasted a CNN article about the bullying, the outcry, and the outpouring of support. You can find the video on any news website… but I am not going to post it because it was just too hard for me to watch.

Middle schoolers bully bus monitor, 68, with stream of profanity, jeers

By Faith Karimi, CNN

(CNN) — A profanity-laced video of middle school students in upstate New York verbally abusing a bus monitor is sparking an outpouring of support as strangers worldwide rally to her side.

Students taunted Karen Klein, 68, with a stream of profanity, insults, jeers and physical ridicule. Some boys demand to know her address, saying they want to come to her house to perform sexual acts and steal from her. Another said, “you’re so fat.”

One comment from a boy aboard the bus was especially painful. He told her that she does not have family because “they all killed themselves because they didn’t want to be near you.” Klein’s oldest son took his own life 10 years ago, according to CNN affiliate WHAM.

The bullying continues unabated for about 10 minutes in the video, reducing Klein to tears as a giggling student jabs her arm with a book. Recorded by a student Monday with a cell phone camera, the brazen example of bullying went viral and spurred international outrage.

The incident occurred in Greece, New York, near Rochester. Klein is a bus monitor for the Greece Central School District and the harassers hail from the Greece Athena Middle School, media reports said.

Teens charged in alleged bullying of student who later committed suicide

Klein described her tormenters “regular, normal kids” and “one on one, they’re OK.”

“Just don’t get a bunch of them together. That’s when the trouble starts,” she said.

As the intimidation unfolded, she said, she tried her best to disregard the harassment and didn’t hear everything that was uttered. But she said the hazing hurt deeply. At one point, she said, she told two children, “I am a person too. I shouldn’t be treated this way.”

Klein told WHAM that she doesn’t know if bullies can be charged. But, she said, “they should have some form of punishment.”

CNN attempts to reach all parties involved Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The video prompted an outpouring of support and a fundraiser by an international crowd funding site that had gathered more than $100,000 by early Thursday.

Teen expelled for using stun gun against bullies

“Let’s give Karen a vacation of a lifetime. Let’s show her the power of the internets and how kind and generous people can be,” the fundraiser’s organizer said on the website. The organizer did not respond to CNN requests for comment on the website.

The school district said its bullying team and the local police are conducting an investigation.

“We have discovered other similar videos on YouTube and are working to identify all of the students involved,” the school district said in a statement.

Teen says bullies beat him, sues New York schools

It did not elaborate on whether the additional videos are related to Klein’s case.

“While we cannot comment on specific student discipline, we can say that students found to be involved will face strong disciplinary action,” the school district said.

The students are minors, according to the school district. CNN does not name minors involved in alleged crimes unless they are charged as adults.

Officials involved in the investigation will hold a news conference Thursday.

Klein said she hopes the spectacle “might help other people.” And, she said, she hopes that these children “get their share of someone bullying them.”

“I hope what goes around comes around,” she said.

Obesity is “exceeding our planetary limits” … literally

MSNBC: Report: World’s population is 17 million tons overweight.

Here are some of my favorite little gems from the article:

•  ”Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said increasing levels of fatness around the world could have the same impact on global resources as an extra half a billion people.”
• “Despite only making up five per cent of the world’s population, the United States accounts for almost a third of the world’s weight due to obesity, the researchers found.”
• “If every country in the world had the same level of fatness that we see in the USA, in weight terms that would be like an extra billion people of world average body mass,” he added.
• “We often point the finger at poor women in Africa having too many babies. But we’ve also got to think of this fatness thing; it’s part of the same issue of exceeding our planetary limits.”

‘Levi Johnston penniless, living with his mom’ … Is anyone really surprised?

I mean, did you expect anything less from this class-act: ??

Yeah, didn’t think so.

He made more than $1 million but “squandered it on guns, boats and four-wheelers”? And he fails to pay child support? What a winner. His current fiance must be thrilled to have snagged him (you know — the fiance that is having his other baby & naming her after a gun?).

Source says Levi Johnston penniless, living with his mom

By Us Weekly

He’s not the Thrilla From Wasilla anymore. Bristol Palin’s baby-daddy, Levi Johnston, is now penniless and living in his mother’s Alaska home, a source tells Us Weekly.

“Levi made more than $1 million and squandered it on guns, boats and four-wheelers,” the source says of Playgirl’s winter 2010 cover model, 22.

The cash certainly didn’t go to Palin, 21, for their 3-year-old, Tripp. “Levi hasn’t paid child support in nearly two years,” says another insider. “And he has little contact with Tripp.”

Meanwhile, the onetime mayoral hopeful is expecting a daughter with girlfriend Sunny Oglesby. (They told Inside Edition they plan to name her Breeze Beretta, after the gun.) Says the first source, “Levi is confused about his life.”

Levi Johnston’s former rep Tank Jones — with whom he recently parted ways — counters that Levi is doing great.

“I wanted to work on other projects. This was a mutual decision,” Jones tells Us of his decision to cease working with the Alaska native. “I would think he would want to do some different things too. I would never leave him at a low point.”

Does organic food turn people into jerks?

MSNBC: Does organic food turn people into jerks?.

Not only do I love the title, but the article is pretty good too I have to admit, I like to try for organic when I can… but this article made me want to eat crappy processed foods just to spite these organic bullies!

Coach suspended for Whitney Houston slur he wrote on Facebook

Coach suspended for Whitney Houston slur he wrote on Facebook.

What an idiot.

So John Kelly, the president of a suburban youth baseball team, posts a racist rant on Facebook, which includes the phrase: “I’m so sick of reading about this dumb stupid N – - – - – Whitney Houston.” Understandably, one of the player’s parents saw this post and deemed it highly inappropriate, resulting in a complaint against him. Kelly is now upset that he has been suspended over this little mishap.

Well, John, maybe you should have thought about that before posting that stupid remark. 

Here are some other priceless quotes from the article:

“Since the posting, Kelly told the Sun-Times his life has been ruined.” Hmm, ruined? At least you are still alive and well, not struggling with substance abuse, and you don’t have idiots writing racist comments about you when you can no longer defend yourself.

“He said he’s worried about the effect on his business and his kids being taunted.” Well, John, that’s why we think before we say things. And judging by what a caring soul you seem to be, I’m pretty sure you don’t worry about anybody else but yourself…

“He claims he’s not a racist and said he didn’t realize he’d used the word in the post.” A. I don’t believe that. Your fingers typed the n-word without your knowledge? Come on now. B. I’m sorry but using the n-word kind of implies that yes, in fact, you are a racist.

Kelly also says, “I do stand behind everything I said except the ‘n’-word. I regret using that adjective. Does that make me a racist? Are you kidding me? It was the farthest thing from my mind. I have some amazing friends who are black.” A. Okay, we get it… you stand by “everything you said.” Unfortunately, no one cares about your opinion at this point. B. I have noooo idea why anyone would think that an individual who uses the n-word is a racist. Are you kidding me? C. Pulling the “I have black friends” card is weak, dude. And based on what I’ve read, I highly doubt you have any friends at this point.

Detective: Josh Powell computer depicted parent-child sex

Via MSNBC -

Detective: Josh Powell computer depicted parent-child sex.

I do not understand why in the world Josh Powell would be allowed to have his children visit him at his own home if this was the case. If child pornography was found on his computer, he should not have even been allowed to even see his sons. I truly think the justice system failed these little boys.

In defense of my great state :)

Yes, I sometimes makes jokes about South Carolina and some of the weird embarrassing interesting individuals from the Palmetto state that make the national news. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love my home state.

I must say that the media’s portrayal of this state during the GOP Primary is quite biased – I mean, one journalist described South Carolina as “a place famous for surfacing the dark undercurrents of American politics.” Come on… really? And a recent MSNBC panelist claimed that all of South Carolina hates Obama “because he happens to be black.” Hmmm… you want to show me the statistics that you based that little “fact” on?

So let’s set the record staright, shall we? I’m sure there is a lot to be done to improve upon South Carolina, but that can be said about every state. So why don’t we cut the Palmetto state a break and take a look at what this place is really like…

Stop stereotyping South Carolina

By John Avlon, CNN Contributor

(CNN) — We’re in the thick of the South Carolina Republican Primary, and all the ugly old stereotypes are being deployed as shorthand for one very beautiful state.

You know, the characterization of South Carolina as a swamp of sleazy politics and brutal attack ads, a Bible Belt bastion of rednecks and racism, a state defined by Bob Jones University.

Sometimes these stereotypes are floated in political conversation as evidence of how “real” the state is in determining the true feelings of the conservative base.

Yes, South Carolina is conservative — especially compared with Washington, Los Angeles and New York City. But it is complex and constantly evolving, containing one of the oldest cities in America and a growing population, especially along the coastline. My family moved there when I was 14, and we love the state — and especially the elegant, functional and lyrical city of Charleston — with the zeal of the converted. For my parents, it is home.

So below are three stubborn stereotypes about South Carolina that need to be confronted with facts.

This isn’t Strom Thurmond’s state anymore

South Carolina is sometimes stereotyped as a lonely bastion of rural white social conservatives. In fact, the state is nearly 30% African-American — more than double the national average. An influx of immigrants from other states and retirees looking for a better quality of life have helped transform the state over the past three decades, boosting its population 15% in the past decade alone.

Most of this growth has happened on the coastline — especially around Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island– and the booming Greenville-Spartanburg metro area in the Upstate. Thanks to a combination of Right to Work laws and reduced tax burden, major manufacturing companies have relocated plants to the state, including BMW and Boeing. Nearly 60% of the state population lives in cities, towns or suburbs — and just more than 40% of the state was born elsewhere.

“People don’t take into account the general migration of wealthy, well-educated, generally successful retirees and their families to South Carolina and the South in general in the last two decades,” attests Will Cathcart, former managing editor of The Charleston Mercury.

This influx also makes for more in-state political diversity than is commonly understood.

Longtime Charleston Mayor Joe Riley is a Democrat who recently won his 10th term in a nonpartisan election. Democratic House Whip James Clyburn also hails from the state. But perhaps the ultimate symbol of how South Carolina has changed is U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, an African-American tea party conservative who defeated former Sen. Strom Thurmond’s son in a 2010 primary to represent the First District, where the Civil War started.

Bob Jones University doesn’t represent the state

Yes, there are many social conservatives and evangelicals in South Carolina — especially in the Upstate, near controversial Bob Jones University. But they are seen more as a local curiosity than a real barometer of statewide opinion — small businesses and the beach and hunting culture define day-to-day life in South Carolina more than the Bible Belt. Sixty-percent of GOP primary voters identified as evangelical four years ago, but that’s the same percentage as the Iowa caucuses.

And while just 11% of Iowa caucus-goers identified as moderate, in South Carolina that number grows to 24%.

Finally, don’t forget that John McCain won the South Carolina primary in 2008, notably without major evangelical support. Fiscal conservatives and military veterans responded to his message of political reform, a local tradition carried out by Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Gov. Mark Sanford — before he went hiking the Appalachian Trial. The Bob Jones University president endorsed Mitt Romney last time around — despite maintaining that Mormonism is a cult — and Romney came in fourth.

Gov. Nikki Haley doesn’t speak for the Tea Party

Elected in 2010, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is a rapidly rising star in national politics.

It’s easy to see why — at 39, she is the first female and the first Indian-American to hold the position of South Carolina governor. A tea party favorite in 2010, her surprisingly narrow election — 51% to 47% was nonetheless a reminder of the reality of the New South, and the growing diversity of the Republican Party.

When she endorsed Romney, it was considered big news and the news release headline was dutifully reprinted — “Romney receives Tea Party support in South Carolina.” But Haley’s national profile is outstripping her in-state popularity, which stands at 34.6%, according to a recent Winthrop University poll.

Surreally, this makes Haley less popular in South Carolina than President Barack Obama, who clocks in at 44% in the same poll and who lost the Palmetto State by 9 points in 2008. The real leader of the tea party in South Carolina — and a national force as well — is Sen. Jim DeMint, and he’s not endorsing any presidential candidate this time around.

There’s no question that South Carolina is pivotal for the Republican presidential nomination — the winner has been the nominee since 1980. But the differences between the Palmetto State and the New Hampshire primary or Iowa caucuses should be understood with the proper perspective.

One of the biggest differences is the state of the local economy — Iowa and New Hampshire have unemployment rates well below the national average, but in South Carolina the unemployment rate is close to 10% — adding to the calculus that Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC made when it decided to unleash the anti-Bain Capital ad.

Likewise, Rick Santorum might do well in the state as much for his focus on strengthening U.S. manufacturing as his much-vaunted social conservative purism. And if Romney does win the primary, it will be aided in part by the fact that he is the most center-right figure remaining in the Republican field.

As CNN heads down to Charleston for Thursday night’s debate, it’s all just a reminder not to fall back on lazy national narratives but instead find the real facts when it comes to the great state of South Carolina.

Don’t pay your $75 fee? Then firefighters will watch as your house burns down

Soooo, let me get this straight. Instead of helping to save a family’s home from completely turning to ash, firefighters stand by and watch because the family didn’t pay their $75 “subscription” fee. They couldn’t put out the fire and then figure out the money issues afterwards? The town can’t come up with a different, more humane approach??

This story makes me wonder what’s next… Will police subscription fees become a reality, too?? Imagine that — a police officer not helping a victim during an attempted murder or rape because the victim didn’t pay their “fee.” Wow.

Firefighters let home burn over $75 fee — again

By msnbc.com staff and WSMV-TV

SOUTH FULTON, Tenn. — Firefighters stood by and watched a Tennessee house burn to the ground earlier this week because the homeowners didn’t pay the annual subscription fee for fire service.

“You could look out my mom’s trailer and see the trucks sitting at a distance,” Vicky Bell, the homeowner, said.

For Bell, that sight was almost as disturbing as the fire itself.

“We just wished we could’ve gotten more out,” she said. 

It’s the second time in two years firefighters in the area have watched a house burn because of unpaid fees. Last year, Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in a house fire, along with three dogs and a cat, because the fire fee wasn’t paid.

Related: No pay, no spray: Firefighters watch home burn

People in the city of South Fulton have fire protection, but those in the surrounding county do not unless they pay a $75 annual fee.

The city makes no exceptions.

“There’s no way to go to every fire and be able to keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department,” said South Fulton Mayor David Crocker.

Crocker said that by now, everyone should know about the city’s fire policy.

“After the last situation, I would hope that everybody would be well aware of the rural fire fees, this time,” he said.

In a nearby county, rural homeowners can purchase a $110 subscription to cover fires, but they can also pay on the spot for fire protection: $2,200 for the first two hours firefighters are on the scene and $1,100 for each additional hour, according to dailytimes.com.

Bell and her boyfriend said they were aware of the policy, but thought a fire would never happen to them.

The city has received a lot of criticism over its policy, but has refused to change it.

Interesting article about “penny auction” sites

When commercials for sites like Beezid.com started popping up on my television screen, I was thoroughly confused. How in the world does a site sell brand new iPods for $1.75 and TVs for less than $5??

My thoughts:

a) this commercial looks like an elementary school kid filmed it in his basement, hired a desperate wannabe-model to be the spokesperson, and used software from the 90′s to put it together.

b) this has to be a scam… but I don’t understand how it works. Do people actually believe this stuff? Is this site actually making money?

I read the follow article and it was very informative. Apparently people do try to use these sites… and get scammed. (Shocking… if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…)

Craigslist users fight surprise $89 charges from penny auction site.

PS: Regarding my little issues with Account Assure, which I wrote about last month — Just FYI, contacting the Better Business Bureau and filing a formal complaint goes far. Not only did I feel better that perhaps someone in the future would benefit from my warning, but the BBB contacted Account Assure and shared my letter with then. I received an apology letter from the company as well as a$3.10 refund. #Winning

MSNBC: “From bikinis to legal bombshells: Baez’s winding path to stardom”

Very, very interesting article about Jose Baez, Casey Anthony’s attorney.