BLAGO'S IN THE JUNGLE BABY!

Just when I thought the ousted Illinois Governor couldn't possibly get any more camera time... NBC wants him for a reality show called "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" That's right... impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich wants to sweat it out in the Costa Rican jungle. One problem though.. he is currently not allowed to leave the United States. His defense attorney is asking a judge to lift that rule and allow him to be part of the show. I guess I can't blame Blago for wanting to do the show. His political career isn't looking good... and he does enjoy being in the spotlight. I'm not sure where else he would go from here. NBC says the show dumps 10 celebrities in the jungle to test their skills at adapting to wilderness. Thoughts??

The Issue of "Sexting"

If you are new to the word "sexting" it is the act of sending explicit texts or pictures through a cell phone. It's very popular among teens and unfortunately even younger minors. As it stands, teens across the country have wound up on sex offender registries because of scenarios like this: 17-year-old dates a 16-year-old... the girl sends her boyfriend an explicit picture of herself. They get in a fight and out of immaturity, he sends it to her entire family. Police get involved... and he is charged with distributing child pornography. He winds up registering as a sex offender and his neighbors get email alerts that they are living next to a child predator. There are a million issues here. First let's start with the end result...
Should a 17-year-old be on a sex offender registry for a picture his girlfriend sent him? Probably not. I remember what it was like to be 16 and I am pretty sure that most girls sending out picture of themselves know exactly what they are doing and like the attention. Is it immature? Absolutely. Should he have sent it on to her family? Absolutely not. But let's take a step back for a minute. There is a bigger issue when minors are sending pornographic pictures and texts to each other. As if there isn't enough pressure on teenagers, girls now have to compete with each other via cell phone??? This is an issue parents need to address and monitor. I know she's not paying her own cell phone bill. That means PARENTS: You have some control. PLEASE USE IT! And please talk to your kids about sexting and the repercussions later in life. Not only could their boyfriend get mad or jealous and send it to anyone in the world... but those pictures could pop up one day when your teen tries to get a job, run for office, or any other time they come across someone in life who wants to humiliate them.
This is a tough issue for me because although I think there should be consequences for forwarding a naked picture of someone... I also don't think boys like the example above should have that shadow cast over them when the girl never should have sent the picture in the first place. There has to be another way.
Lawmakers in Vermont are currently trying to legalize teen "sexting" so that teens in this situation won't have the stigma of being a sex offender. However, when we make it legal... it makes it okay for minors to send either other sexual images. We also can't say that's okay. I don't know what the solution is, but I will say... it starts at home. Parents take heed.
If anyone else has any brilliant suggestions, feel free to post!

SUPER SECRET FAKE COP CARS

On my way to work almost daily I hit the breaks because I think I see a car that might be an officer. They are often in the corner of a used car lot, or an empty parking lot. However, they are facing the opposite direction, parked in the grass, and do not seem to be a car that is for sale or in the parking lot for any purpose. Upon closer inspection, these cars are definitely deserted and often beat up and might not even run. It makes me seriously wonder if troopers and police scour used car lots or other places of opportunity, notice a car that may look like a cruiser in the dark... and ask them to park it that way so it looks like someone is staked out. I guess if that is the goal, it works... because I slow down every time. But now that I've discovered this, I notice them more and more! Look around on your next drive, tell me if I'm crazy!