I Hate You Now!

What’s up with Hilda and Santos being together as if he actually made it?! That really confused me, because I was sure he died at the very end of last season, and he did! So all that stuff, was just a fantasy, ’cause Santos died in the shooting at that corner store. Hilda is depressed in her room, and at last, near the end of the episode she admits to Betty that he’s gone. I am wondering if he had to die, because that guy that Hilda met in Mexico really liked her….

I never really thought Betty as a type A personality, but she can pull it off…well as a slightly psycho Betty. We all know it’s because of Henry getting his ex-girlfriend Charlie pregnant(that’s if it’s really his) and her father being held up in Mexico, and her sisters fiancé dying. Henry returns because he still loves Betty but his pregnant ex is still in the way of their happiness.

Daniel is in the hospital recuperating with Alexis, who is still in a coma. He blames himself for the accident because he was popping pills. His mother who is on the lamb with her new BFF Yoga in the Hamptons, wants badly to speak to Bradford. She wants to convince him to call off the wedding. I honestly don’t think Bradford knows ‘who’ he really loves.

Amanda starts the season off being fat after learning she’s the daughter of Fey Summers. I really love the scene in the elevator when Amanda and Bradford make the same expressions which leads Marc to believe that he could be her father. So they start their investigation….

The second episode, after getting rid of Henry in the first one, he comes back because he loves her, and needs a job, but Charlie once again is standing in the way. If it wasn’t for Christina telling him the truth about Charlie, this romance that never truly started wouldn’t’ have had an inkling of a chance! So Betty, after Henry comes to her house drunk on wine coolers, agrees to wait until they find out if he is the father.

Betty made a deal with the dev- I mean Wilhelmina to bring her father back home, if she kept quiet about her “Afternoon Delight” with her bodyguard. Bradford cancels the wedding to bond with Alexis who is awake and surprised that she/he’s a woman. I love Wilhelmina’s breakdown on the roof of the building-priceless! Amanda decided to keep her mothers old, sick dog, and Ignacio held at gun point ends the second episode. They simply cannot kill him off, not after they killed Santos! Stay tuned…

School shootings, bullying, attacks, and hostage situations- these terms have become common place in the news around the start of school. What causes these occurrences to happen, and how can they be prevented from occurring in the future? These questions have been at the forefront of every prospective and current teacher’s mind since the first school shooting and every year the violence seems to grow. There have been warning signs, videos, hit lists, and the students that have committed these heinous crimes all appear to have met the same psychological profile. Though the questions remain, how were these signs missed, how were the weapons so easily obtained, and what can teachers, as well as parents and school administration, do to avoid these situations in the future?

This essay will give a comprehensive look into the school massacres that stand at the forefront of history’s mind: Columbine, Arkansas and Virginia Tech. Giving not only a look into the mind of the killers, or as much of one as possible, a look at the school, and the peers that had been killed; Looking for not only patterns, but a way to call this to an end- even if it is only one battle a time. Every year the death toll grows in schools nation wide, and while to some it may be obvious why these killings happen, to others the elephant in the room goes unnoticed, and the ignorance of others has now caused blood to be spilt on the hallow grounds of the nation’s schools.

Theories

Many have theorized on why these heinous crimes continue to not only occur but the phenomenon is growing. Each year the headlines read the same thing: shooting, massacre, ten, twenty, thirty-three dead. Every theory of why this phenomenon has come to light from violent games, neglect, bullying, to psychosis and pop culture to blame. If there was somewhere to place blame, the media tried it. The underlying problem varies from person to person and shooting to shooting. Some wanted the fame, others wanted revenge, and then some- some just wanted to see death. While each case is different all the perpetrators appear to have the same general type of personality: anti-social and withdrawn.

Now, taking a closer look into this odd but common occurrence, not every child who has been picked on, neglected, harassed, or abused has lost their mind and “will to live” and shot his fellow students. On the contrary, while this is getting alarmingly more common the type remains the same, a mental defect on some level in conjunction with other goings on. Many have theorized that the psychosis that often times ensues predeceasing the shootings is influenced by the parents or extenuating circumstances which cause a mental break. Though each case is individual there are common strands which link them all together in a blood soaked vicious cycle. These common strands can help in the pursuit of a solution to this growing epidemic of fame-by-loss, and is a means to an end of the loss of young lives at the hands of mentally disturbed persons that can validate in their own minds the loss of human life.

Columbine

Littleton Colorado April 20^th , 1999 Columbine High School. This is a name and date that will live on in infamy as the worst school shooting in United States history. Until recently, this was the highest death toll in any school massacre in The United States with twelve dead and twenty-three others wounded. On that faithful day, just after 11:15 A.M., Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold came to their school dressed in black trench coats, armed with bombs and fire arms ready to carry out a plan that they had concocted and worked on meticulously to put into place over the past year. For years it was believed that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were lashing out in an act of aggression against those that had teased and taunted them over their high school career, but later investigation by the FBI and their team of Psychologists and Psychiatrists showed this to not only be a falsification, but a complete fabrication (Cullen, 2004).

Special Agent Dwayne Fuselier was assigned to discover the truth behind the two murderers, why did they do this? Fuselier was quoted to say “If you want to understand “The Killers” stop asking what drove

them,” (Cullen, 2004) as Dylan and Eric were two drastically different people who not only were not ostracized by their peers, but accepted by what many would call ‘Their clique’ as all students fall into their groups as high school carries on. What they were looking for was fame, not only to be famous but fame on a historical level. Eric as the ring leader of the pair was what one would call the diabolical genius. While Klebold was depressed and aching inside from depression, he simply did not have the clout and charisma to wrangle the plan together. Harris was not only charismatic, but smart, calculating and cold, while Klebold had a hot temper; the pair seemed to complement one another perfectly: Ice to cool the fire, and to get into the history books by bombing their school. (Cullen, 2004).

Klebold was depressed, clinically, and suicidal- making him not only the perfect rube in the ploy as he was easily controlled, but he would have enjoyed the sudden position of power…to be remembered. While Harris was as close to a modern day Hitler as one could imagine, seemingly a baby faced brilliant boy, one that often people saw as nice, inside he was calculating and psychotic. While he was without conscience and to him was beyond reproach he had a messianic superiority complex; thus leading to his self righteous disposition and lack of empathy when dispatching his class mates. No revenge, no pain on his part, but the mere desire to be infamous and remembered as the man that brought on the greatest attack on a hallowed and central institution in the American way of life.

Jonesboro Arkansas

March 24, 1998

Westside Middle School, just after 12:40 P.M.: the fire alarm has been pulled and hundreds of students are rushing from their classes to the fire drill designators. Two students are absent, lying in the near by woods with rifles, and as the crowd rushes forth they open fire. Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson, ages eleven and thirteen respectively, had laid in wait for the on rush of frightened students. As they came forth they started shooting, killing four students and a teacher while injuring eleven others. The children were caught shortly after the shooting and taken into custody, while the third member of the party who pulled the fire alarm was not caught. The boys plead guilty to the crime and were remanded to state custody in a juvenile detention center until their twenty first birthdays.

While it is unclear why the two cousins committed these crimes, it is clear that their motives may have been influenced by a bad break up. Jennifer Nightingale, a student at Westside Middle School, and a friend of one of the gunman was quoted to say “He told me after seventh period [Monday] that he was never going to see me again and I wouldn’t be able to see him again because he was going to run away.” Jennifer also indicated that one of the gunmen had recently broken up with his girlfriend but did not indicate if one of the victims was the ex-girlfriend (CNN interactive 1998).

In 2005 Mitchell Johnson was released after serving seven years of his sentence, only permitted to be held until his twenty-first birthday. Upon his release his mother said that he regretted his actions and wished to become a minister (CNN interactive 1998). Golden was released in May of 2007, he having served as much time as he could under the law. He claimed that it was blind rage, and that not only did he not recall the shooting after seeing one of the victims shot in the head, that it was pushed upon him by his accomplice’s drug use. (J. Gambrell 2007). Even after all these years the motive remains unclear, and while neither party is speaking as to why it was done, it is clear that the motive appears to be out of the norm. What is clear is that the guns were stolen, there was a plan, and that it was carried out with deadly accuracy. While it appears that the lack of observation may not have been on the school’s shoulders but in the parents. Surely there was evidence of the plans at home if not at school, with possible drug use in the picture and a well thought out plan to obtain stolen fire arms somewhere there had to be evidence that this was going to happen, only adding to the fact that teachers and parents need to unite on the front ensuring that our schools and students are safe.

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech, just over one year ago Cho Seung-Hui opened fire at Virginia Technical college killing thirty-three of his fellow students and injuring countless others. While it was made clear that Cho had never been socially active or actively involved in any form of emotional interaction with other humans he did see a psychiatrist and was seeking counseling at the bequest of his parents and family. Cho was born in South Korea and in 1992 when he was eight years old he and his family moved to Maryland. By this time Cho had already started to show signs of severe social anxiety with selective mutism (ch.8 pg.5 Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel 2007). All precautions had been taken in addressing his dire mental situations. The parents were actively involved in his life, and though they both were working fulltime and often times long hours, every effort was made to assist in his social adaptation into the American way of life.

Though in the spring of his eighth grade the Columbine massacre happened, and while he was already exhibiting signs of depression his psychiatrist made him swear that should he have homicidal thoughts that he should alert family or someone at the school right away (ch.8 pg.5 Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel 2007). Shortly following the Columbine attacks Cho did alert his school officials to the fact that he wanted to replicate the massive shooting. Though this was cause for alarm he was treated with therapy and antidepressants, seen to make a full recovery within a year. This is a prime example that everything had been taken into account, and that the proper measures had been taken. So what went wrong?

As Cho attended college he was not openly accepted by his peers or overly social, keeping to himself for the most part repeating behavior that had been going on for years: Quiet, reserved, not particularly active in social situations. Cho was being the same kind of man he had always been, while to his fellow students he did seem odd, he later made it obvious that the resented the actions taken to help pry him from the protective shell he had so carefully built up around himself. In his final words he expressed disdain towards those who had what he did not, and how he felt his soul had been raped. Leading one to believe that he not only was teased, as the quiet ones generally are, but that racism had also played a part in his life.

Cho appears to have exhibited the same social signs that Eric Harris did predeceasing his course actions against Columbine High School He had wanted to make a difference as Cho said “This is not for me, but my children and my brothers and sisters,” wanting to make a point. Though he appeared to take steps to cover his tracks, he mailed NBC a video confession, he left the payment slips for the guns in his back pack, and then he killed himself. In a way, he was looking to be a martyr. Though even in death Cho seemed to go unnoticed, for on the in memory they rang the bell thirty-two times, and released thirty-two white balloons (S. Rosenthal 2007) once again neglecting that there had been a thirty-third death on the hallowed grounds of Virginia Tech.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after deep study of the three most infamous school massacres, it has come to stand that there is not a “cookie cutter Killer”. There are copy cats, there are psychopaths and then there are those that are mentally disturbed and have been teased and razzed so much and for so long that something in them finally snaps. It is not merely one thing, or one event that causes these killings, but a good many working in conjuncture to fuel the fire. The ways to stop these events has no defined path, no step by step, or

School Shooters for dummies book. It is careful observation, watching the children throughout their academic and emotional lives, and getting the parents and the teachers involved.

Prevention is being available, making a report with the student, and trying to have the parents involved as well. No one person has the perfect life, but the grass always seems greener on the other side. As more teachers enter the field, it has become obvious that they need to be more involved with the students as well as the parents in order to maintain a healthy atmosphere. To mind bullying, and acknowledge when help is needed. To assist in the careful grooming of the child to ensure they grow and develop correctly so these events can be avoided in the future, as none of these crimes went without warning signs. With enough study and observation, these crimes could be called to a stop with a trained eye, and a focused and involved community. With trained eyes and active community these situations can be avoided by getting the students the help they need, from counseling to therapy and if needed, for examples following Cho’s case, being committed.

Bibliography

A Time Line of Recent Worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html.

Arkansas School Shooter To Go Free, Mitchell Johnson Was Convicted Of Killing 5 People When He Was 13 - CBS News. (2005, Aug. 11). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/11/national/main770335.shtml.

CBSNews.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/guns_in_america/html/framesource_schoolmap.html.

CNN - 5 dead, 11 wounded in Arkansas school shooting - Mar. 24, 1998. (1998, March 2). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/24/school.shooting.folo/.

Cullen, D. (2004, April 20). At last we know why the Columbine killers did it. - By Dave Cullen - Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.slate.com/id/2099203/#sb2099208.

Cullen, D. (2004, April 20). At last we know why the Columbine killers did it. - By Dave Cullen - Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.slate.com/id/2099203/sidebar/2099208/.

Gambrell, J. (n.d.). The Morning News: News : Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden likely to be released Friday. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/05/24/news/052507arschoolshoot.txt.

Hauser And O’connor, C. (2007, April 16). Virginia Tech Shooting Leaves 33 Dead - New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1.

Official Site of the Governor of Virginia-Chapter 8. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport-docs/8%20CHAPTER%20IV%20LIFE%20AND%20MENTAL%20HEALTH%20HISTORY%20OF%20CHOpdf.pdf.

Official Site of the Governor of Virginia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport.cfm.

Rosenthal , S. (2007, April 21). Susan’s blog: The Virginia Tech Massacre: Cho Seung-Hui delivers his message . Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://powerandpowerlessness.typepad.com/susans_blog/2007/04/the_virginia_te.html.

Virginia Tech Gunman Cho Seung-Hui Video Clip. (2007, April 18). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXeMvo09YF4&NR=1.

Why Do School Shootings Happen?, Are Mass Killings On Campus A Mostly American Phenomenon? - CBS News. (2007, April 22). Retrieved April 27, 2008, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/19/sunday/main2708452.shtml.

The Factory Previously known to the world as Electronic Arts, has struck again. The Need for Speed franchise never seems to get tired, seeing a benchmark so high that few arcade racers come close, much less threaten the games obvious superiority. With Need for Speed: Carbon (NFSC), EA brings to us a stew of the best of its predecessors, and then some.

The Story

The game starts off where NFS: Most Wanted Ended- your unceremonious return to your old city of Palmont. A flashback also ensues, informing you that you high- tailed it to Rockport in the first place because you ticked a bunch of people off plenty. You must redeem yourself in the eyes of your former peers, not to mention one highly cheesed-off ex-girlfriend(played by the hot but not Josie Marian Emanuelle Vaugier ) . You need to take over the territories of the other gangs in the city, bringing back the old sense of order that you left behind. If you can’t figure out how, perhaps you should read a different review.

The story ( and I use the term very loosely) progresses in the mixture of full motion video and CG that Most Wanted brought to us. Unfortunately, while the acting was hilariously tacky, the acting in this one rivals the movie industry’s prize turkeys.

Which Door?

When you start off, you get to choose from three car classes- The Muscles, Exotics, and the Tuners- each with its own advantages and quirks. The Muscles are insanely powerful and slide like oil on a banana skin, the Exotics are natural superstars, and the Tuners on embarrassing number of customizations. The Muscles are undoubtedly the most entertaining, you can handle any thing. Overall, though the cars handle pretty much the same way as Most Wanted- rock solid, but with sufficient variations to keep you entertained.

Mi Amigo!!

The first addition to NFSC is the crew - your wingmen, who will help you out in your races. You can choose only one per race- either a blocker, drafter, or scout. Blocker will(duh) block your opponents from threatening you , drafters will let you ride in their slipstream for a boost and scouts ride in front of you, making off the fastest way through the track. The addition is neat , but your wingman’s constant chatter can get on your nerves, and strangely, he always manages to come ride next to you the second you take the lead.

Pretty Pretty?

NFSC’s Palmot is a grey city, whose well lit night time environments really show off the lighting effects the game is capable of. For the looks, NFSC is unnecessarily resource-hungry. Cars look slightly better than Most Wanted, the road looks far worse; there was no justification for the fact that the only card that can run it at 1600 x 1200 and everything turned on without framing, is the 8800GT.

Another new feature is the over hyped Autosculpt, which takes the number of ways you can customize your car to obscene highs. Quite nice if you’re into the sort of thing, but ultimately, it’s just eyewash.

Brass Tacks

To win territories in the game, you have to race against the bosses in a three tiered event. The first is a basic Most Wanted style race on a city track followed by the Canyon Duel- the most refreshing part of the game. This is a two stage affair where you first follow your opponent along a winding canyon track, gaining points as you inch closer. In the next round, the positions are reversed and you lose more points if your opponents close. If your points come down to zero you lose. And yes, this is the first NFS since NFS2 where you can fall off a cliff(or canyon tracks in the case) and lose the game.

Drift races make a comeback again- another lemon of a decision. While handling does change dramatically, these cars are not built for drifting well-realistic games like Project Gotham racing or the insanely arcade-ish Ridge Racer are much suited for such activities.

The rest of the game is pretty straightforward, and if you’ve played Most Wanted recently, irritatingly repetitive- including the cop chases. There are some little things that are quite neat- traffic now responds to oncoming racers with nervousness, and it may even be possible that cabbies are the worst of the lot. Even in the Canyon Duels, your opponents start making mistakes if you stick to his/her bumpers for too long.

Bottom line

If you’re just off Most Wanted high, wait for a few months before you go near this one - Most Wanted is a far superior game, and won’t tax your graphics card as much. If you’ve never played a NFS title, Carbon will prove it’s quite enjoyable.

Johnny Blaze has a flaming skull head and a CG body because he is cursed by the devil after selling his soul (technically he leases his soul he doesn’t actually sell it) to save his father from dying of cancer and then the devil watches as the father dies performing a carnival stunt driving a motorcycle through a ring of fire but the devil waits to collect until he needs Jon most which is when his son raises some chumpy elemental demons to bring about the apocalypse whereby the devil then evokes the contract at a most inconvenient time in Johnny’s life, turning him into a flaming, ghostly, instrument of revenge that spouts very forgettable and sometimes perplexing one-liners but worst of all stands-up his extremely hot ex-girlfriend, not for the first time.

It’s not really that complicated. In fact the whole megillah can be summed up with a Top Eleven style list: (Some lists go to ten but mine go to eleven!)

Number Eleven. This takes place in the American West, a red state like Texas, where cowboys roam and the antelope play. Don’t forget that. But if you do, there are deserts, motorcycle shows, guys in sleeveless denim who treat their busty women-folk like busty women-folk should be treated, and bars in the middle of nowhere just begging for a reunion with the devil’s little boy and his twitchy little demon friends.
Number Ten. The devil’s son is a spoiled rotten kid. An ingrate, prep school, pretty boy who thinks he knows everything. His friends are all losers and they get shit-canned pretty quick by Ghost Rider. As a matter of fact, Ghost Rider has a harder time lassoing a police helicopter than he does ridding the world of the eternally cursed former angels cast from heaven into demonic elementals.

Number Nine. In what could have been played as one of this year’s great tongue-in-cheek, over the top, classically evil rolls to rival The Emperor from Star Wars and Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Peter Fonda plays none other than the Devil himself, in the creepy flesh. If you know Peter Fonda’s work then you know he oozes Chester-The-Molester-type-creepiness. But he plays it way to straight. One can see him mouthing his Academy Award speech as he exudes his awkward, unintentional, schmaltzy, performance.

Number Eight. The whole thing is just another in a long run of mindless, MTV Video style movie dreck, with the occasional Matrix effect thrown in. The best I can tell, it was plotted with a ten-pound bowling ball, a yard of rope and a copy of “How to write a screenplay for thirteen year olds in three days or less.” This movie was cobbled together like a MySpace page with everything cool slapped in wherever they could find a blank space.

Number Seven. They took Ozzie Osborne’s classic, heart thumping, cooler than cool, metal anthem, “Crazy Train” and made it dull. When I am usually pumping my fists to the throaty guitar riff I was staring at the screen, mouth opened wide, hoping that the 50-ounce soda I just drank would kick in so I could spend a few minutes at the urinal.

Number Six. Waiting for the time when my bladder would finally kick in was the most conflict and tension in the entire movie. It turned out that my bladder had more depth than any of the characters.

Number Five. Sam Elliott never even showed up to play his part. Seriously. The best special effect in the entire movie was how they cut Mr. Elliot from previous roles and simply pasted him into this movie. No kidding. See this movie just for this amazing trick of modern movie magic.

Number Four. Apparently they blew the entire FX budget on the Sam Elliot cut-and-paste so there was nothing left over when it came time to animate the Ghost Rider. Fortunately they had some old Herman Munster body shots that they were able to salvage. That and the cheap overstock of Halloween Skulls they cut in almost saved the Ghost Rider character. Almost. Not quite but you have to give them credit for doing what they could with limited resources.

Number Three. They didn’t write one word of dialogue or an entire scene. They took a bunch of undergraduate film school student Screenwriting 101 papers and threw them up in the air. “Over here is the drunken, semi-abusive father. I found a scene where he leaves his girlfriend standing in a field of purple heather. In the rain. She’s holding her suitcase! This guy’s a Carni! Cool! Motorcycles. A best friend. A drunken father! He’s dying. Oh, oh, oh! A deal with the devil! An ex-girlfriend! What’s this? The Carpenters? A monkey doing karate? What the heck do I do with this stuff? Oh, just throw it in the middle for laughs. Leave no cliché unturned. No bad pun un-punched. Who needs tension, meaningful dialogue, subtlety and story?” I waited for the moment when Nicolas Cage would turn to the camera with his dumb grin, wink and whisper, “Now this is the part when…”

Number Two. I gained exactly three pounds watching Ghost Rider. The popcorn and sugar from the soda had nowhere to go considering the fact that I expended not one ounce of energy in my brain trying to think about the plot of this movie.

Number One. Nicolas Cage has the uncanny superpower to invoke one role in one great movie and has recycled it for almost every film he’s every done since. (And doubly for Ghost Rider.) Raising Arizona! He’s naïve, confused, troubled, somewhat out of place, has a slightly raspy voice, beady eyes and a perpetual furrowed brow. Unfortunately he does it so well it’s not acting anymore, it’s just Nicolas Cage in another movie. Can somebody get this guy a roadmap, please?

Two Stars. One star for zaftig, Eva Mendes, and another because after all the contrived scenes and ridiculously short battles, the way in which he defeats the son of the devil actually makes some sense. It’s too bad that by the time it comes, you just don’t care.

Miranda Lambert follows her release Kerosene from 2005 two years later with a strong sophomore album. Well, this is not actually true, this is her third album but the first one was self titled and independent album which was released 2001 with financial backing from her father, country guitarist and songwriter Rick Lambert.

After getting some publicity and getting to be the famous looser placing third in the Nashville Star she scored a record deal with Epic Records. Kerosene did rise all the way to #1 as an album in the country charts. Little surprisingly it did NOT have any TOP10 singles at the charts, Kerosene landed at #15 for Hot Country Singles.

Now two years later Miranda appears to be little older and even stronger and still very unique site in Nashville, mixing rock and attitude with her perfect country voice and maybe the best of all her excellent song writing skills! Being only 23 years old she has accomplished plenty!

First release from her new album Famous In A Small Town is sitting at #46 in Hot Country Songs while I’m writing this review.

If you are wondering how I could write this before the actual release date tomorrow 5.1.2007 I have to confess that I only listened the songs in CMT, they let you hear the whole album with John Deere as a sponsor.

I predict there will be plenty publicity in upcoming week considering Miranda Lambert and her now boyfriend Blake Shelton are going head to head on the charts, they both are releasing their country albums tomorrow! I bet they are the hottest new couple in Nashville, watch out Tim & Faith! No duets in this album though… =(

Each song:

GUNPOWDER & LEAD

This sounds bit like her hit Kerosene. I’m gonna show her what little girls are made of, gunpowder & lead.. I like the tune, not so country but more rockin’. Great lyrics!

DRY TOWN

Very country! Back to the basics and honky tonk! No liquor around, it is a dry town! Story telling song. I get all Coalminers Daughter feel. Not my biggest fave in the album.

FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN

I saw the video of this track. Good staff. Miranda sounds true and honest and has a beautiful country voice. She can write some lean and mean lyrics! Slower tune but not slow enough that I’d call it a ballad. The band is tad too loud for me but melody is very nice.

CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND

More Rock! Funky beat. She shows some awesome attitude! Very original and fun. She truly has her own style, I love the fact that she is not trying to fit in any older stereo types. She totally rocks being mad as hell! And laughs it off…

LOVE LETTERS

It is almost too much to move from previous track to this beautiful gospel influenced ballad. She sings very good vocal. All Sunday at Church, Hank Williams Sr sounding tune. Could turn into a Classic. Everyone who loves old country will love this track. Bit old fashion for my liking..

DESPERATION

Long intro. She starts almost too quietly. Dee-ee-speration, I’m still desperate for you.. Slower sad love song. I love Miranda’s voice here. Monotone beat and simple and it all works well together.

MORE LIKE HER

Girl and the guitar. Country twang in her voice. My favorite in this album. Just flows and creates this beautiful aura around you. Yes it sounds tad cliche and old fashion again, but she sings it straight from the heart! I get chills listening to this song. LOVE IT!

DOWN

More of her unique style! Being a bad #ss singer she is! It does not get any more Western Movie soundtrack than this song! More I listen to it more I get the Dixie Chick feel. I bet she is a fan! Down is where I’m going, Pain is what I’m showing..

GUILTY IN HERE

More traditional story telling country. Easy listening. Too many elements cramped together for me. Great melody, her vocals are decent but not her best in the album.

GETTING READY

More funk. Great beat. I get this being in the woods with shamans and all spiritual feel. There is absolutely nothing country about this one! Kinda British Annie Lenox style (did I even spell it right…)

EASY FROM NOW ON

Ends up returning to her roots. She is a Nashville girl after all! Beautiful ballad. Promises it will be easy. I think it will be pretty easy to predict that she will make all her fans happy and get plenty new fans after releasing this album!

I get little mixed feelings of this album. The lyrics are brilliant, she keeps up with the angry cheated girlfriend theme with poise. There is not any bad tracks for me but she jumps from old traditional country to very new and rock party beat so many times that I don’t know if I like the album as one! It is like listening two sides of Miranda, one meant for young hip party girls and the other targeted for good old country crooners. It will be interesting to see if she will make it big, I think her vocals and production in the album are top quality.

This Album was released May 1st 2007 in Sony Record Label

“You are giving my girlfriend and me a ride to the movies Friday night, aren’t you?” Jake asked as he leaned through the window of my Rabbit. “I’m sure you can get a date by then.”

It had been one of those Mondays that had dragged on and on at Riverton High and the last thing I needed was Jake bugging me about taking him and his new girlfriend to the only surviving drive-in movie theater in town. Not because it was old and somewhat dilapidated, but because I didn’t have a girlfriend to take. I knew the reason he wanting to go to the drive-in. He want to be able to kiss his girlfriend without anyone bothering him. But I didn’t want to sit there like a idiot while he and his girlfriend were all lovey-dovey. So the minute Jake started badgering me about taking him and his girlfriend I told him I would not do it without a date.

“I’m not exactly Don Juan, you know,” I said and slid the key into the ignition in hopes that would get Jake to back away from my car so I could leave.

“Neither am I and I get girls to go out with me,” Jake said as if he knew the secret to every girl’s heart.

“No date, no ride,” I said and fired up my Rabbit. “And it looks like I’m not going to have a date. If you would have asked sooner, maybe I would have had time to find someone.”

“A week should be plenty of time.” Jake stood back and ran his fingers through his black hair. “I’ll even bet I can find someone you can take by the end of the week.”

“Really?” I asked and slipped the car into gear. “That’s fine as long as she’s not ugly.” I said and drove out of the school’s parking lot.

I had never had a blind date before, but all of Jake’s past girlfriend had been pretty cute, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a date he would set me up with - unless he decided to be a jerk about. And I didn’t think that would happen since he knew I would never drive him anywhere again. I had worked hard the summer before so I could buy my first car. I didn’t like friends taking advantage of me just because I had it. Jake knew how I felt about that.

Jake avoided the subject all week until Thursday, the day before his big date.

“Have you found a date for Friday night?” he asked as he plopped down beside me on the lawn in front of Riverton High during lunchtime.

“No.” I told him. The truth of the matter was I hadn’t even tried. I figured he would find someone cuter than I ever would.

“I’ve asked everyone I know,” he said. “Everybody’s busy.”

“Everybody’s busy or no one wants to go out with me?” I asked.

“It’s not that nobody wants to go out with you, it’s just that none of the girls I asked have met you, so they don’t want to take a chance at getting stuck with someone they won’t like.”

“How about one of your ex-girlfriends?” I asked. “I’ve met a couple of them.”

“Are you kidding? They won’t even talk to me let alone go out with one of my friends.”

“Well, ask someone you don’t know.” It somewhat surprised that the guy who had a new girlfriend nearly every month couldn’t find one girl to go out with me.

“Why don’t you ask someone?” Jake asked as he jabbed his pencil into the lawn.

“It’s a little too late for that, now.” I didn’t know any girl who would go out with anyone other than a boyfriend on a day’s notice. And I wasn’t anyone’s boyfriend. I suddenly felt like a real loser. If Jake couldn’t find someone to go out with me, then I must be at the bottom of the scum barrow as far as girls were concerned.

“It’d be a whole lot easier if you’d just ask some.”

“For you, maybe. Besides, you said you could find a date for me to take.” I wasn’t going to ask anyone this late in the game. I pretty well knew there would be no going to the movies since I didn’t have a date. “You better tell your girlfriend to forget it.”

“I’ll find you somebody,” Jake said. “I’m not going to pass this up. I refuse to lose this one just because I couldn’t get someone to take us to a movie. She the nicest, cutest girl I have ever met.”

That was saying a lot. Several of Jake’s past girlfriends were the nicest and cutest girls I had ever met. But that made no difference. “Don’t expect me to give in.” I told him as I got up and strolled to the school.

Jake waited for me in the school parking lot on Friday morning with a stupid grin that covered his entire face. “I found a date for you.”

“You did?” I asked as a vision of a blonde beauty with great legs danced through my mind. “How cute is she?”

“Not bad.” He smirked.

His smirk told me something wasn’t legit. “All right, cough it up.”

“What?” His sheer innocence almost made me laugh.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Well…she’s my aunt.”

“Your what?” The blonde made a hasty exit. “No way.”

“She’s all I could find in such a short time.” His smile vanished. “She’s really not a bad looking lady.”

“You mean ‘old lady.’” I grabbed my books, hopped out of my car and marched into the school.

“She’s not that old.” Jake stumbled behind me. “She’s quite young for an aunt.”

“Absolutely not.” I stopped and crossed my arms pulling my books against my chest. “It isn’t happening.”

“I’ve already set it up.” Jake pleaded. “She can hardly wait to meet you. She likes younger men.”

I almost told him to get on his knees and beg like he really meant it, but that wouldn’t have changed my mind. Then again, seeing him really squirm and beg might teach him a thing or two about setting guys up with his aunt. Instead, I said, “No way am I taking your aunt out. End of story.” I trudged off to my locker.

“I’ll pay for everything - gas, the movie, popcorn, sodas - everything.” He followed me to my locker.

“I’m still not doing it.” I flung my locker open and tossed my books in.

“I’ll give you ten bucks.” He tried to appeal to my greed, which wasn’t going to work either.

“Ten bucks won’t do it,” I said.

“Come on. It’s only one night,” he pleaded. This time I thought he might just get down on knees. “You’ll be going out with a real woman.”

“Is she really cute?” I closed my locker. Why did I ask that? I asked myself. It wasn’t like I was planning on taking her.

“She’s not bad, honest.”

I thought about it for a split second, but going out with his aunt? That would be like going out with his mother. “I don’t think so.”

“I’ll give you twenty bucks.” Jake was almost on his knees now.

“Beg all you want. The answer is still ‘no.’”

“I’ll buy you a tank of gas plus give you twenty.”

“Plus pay for the movie, popcorn and sodas?” I figured if I didn’t have to pay for anything plus got twenty bucks and a tank of gas for taking her, how could I lose? It wasn’t like I was marrying her. Beside, taking out an older woman could turn out to be quite interesting.

“You drive a hard bargain, but it will be worth it,” Jake said as he dug out his wallet, pulled out a twenty and handed it to me.

I slipped the twenty into my wallet. “If she’s ugly, I’ll kill you.”

“She really not,” he said, beaming. “Be at my place by seven tonight and don’t be late.” He warned.

I had a feeling there was still something he wasn’t telling me, but I all ready accepted the twenty. Then it hit me. “Is she married?” I asked.

“She’s never been married,” Jake said just as the bell for the first period rang. “Not that she hasn’t been asked. She hasn’t found anyone she wants to marry, yet.”

Evening came quickly. I picked Jake up and we drove into Spokane. All the way there, I kept thinking this was a dumb thing to do. But it was too late to back out now. We picked up Jake’s girlfriend first - a little blonde fox named Crystal. I could see why he didn’t want to lose this gal. They hopped into the back seat. After Jake hasty introduced her to me they started kissing. I’ll never know how Jake squeezed a word out between all the smooching, let alone the directions to his aunt’s house, but he did. It turned out we had driven right by her house to get to Crystal’s. This can’t be good, I thought as I pulled into the driveway and parked the car.

“Hold on,” Jake said.

“Okay, what’s wrong with her?” I asked.

“She’s pregnant.”

“What!” I almost jumped over the seat so I could punch Jake in the nose.

“She’s due in about two weeks.”

“Two week?” I was halfway over the seat. “You told me she wasn’t married.”

“Calm down,” Jake said. “She’s not married but she’s living with her boyfriend.”

“You little turkey.” I grabbed for his throat. Almost made it, but he slipped out of the car.

“It’s not that bad.” He danced back and forth on the other side of the car.

“It’s not?” I threw my hands up. “A pregnant woman living with the father-to-be boyfriend?”

“That’s not quite right.” Jake slithered around to my side of the car.

“I suppose he’s not here right now and that makes you think everything is okay.”

“He’s here. But he’s not the father-to-be.”

“What?”

“She’s only been living with this guy a couple of months.”

“Let’s go home.” I shrank in the seat. I was no longer in a mood to watch a movie nor did I want to get mixed up with this mess.

“You made a deal.” Jake yanked me out of the car. “She’s waiting for you.”

“What am I going to tell her live-in? ‘Hi, I’ve got a hot date with your lover?’” I slid back into my car.

“It’s taken care of.” Jake jerked me out of the car, again. “She’s explained it all to him. He’s thinks it’s cool someone as young as you is willing to take her out. It makes him proud that he’s dating such a popular woman.”

My heels left ruts as Jake dragged me to the door. He knocked and she let us in. Jake was right about one thing - she wasn’t bad looking, considering.

“Aunt Diana, this is Rick.” Jake introduced us. “And that’s Roger watching TV.”

Roger cocked his head and raised his hand. His eyes never left the football game. Diana told him good-bye. He didn’t even grunt.

Even though Diana was as big as a bus I didn’t want to come across as a real jerk, so I offered her my arm as she waddled to the car. She snuggled up to me. Her belly rubbed against my elbow, sending shivers up my spine.

I drove to the Auto-Vue without saying anything. Of course, Jake and his girlfriend kissed like a couple of long lost lovers all the way to the drive-in. I stopped at the entry booth and handed the cashier the money. She looked at me, at Diane’s belly, then back at me. She rolled her eyes, shook her head and gave me the change with a look of disapproval. I steered the car in and parked in the back row with the hopes no one would notice us - especially me with a pregnant woman.

“Can’t we get a little closer?” Jake managed to ask between kisses. “We’ll get a better view if we’re closer. Besides, I don’t want to walk a half a mile to the concession stand.”

I wanted to say, “It appears to me you want to kiss, not watch the movie.” Instead, I fired up the Rabbit and pulled up next to the concession stand. After some thought, I figured I probably wouldn’t be seen by anyone I knew since very few people came to this old drive-in anymore.  There was only about three dozen cars there and the movie was to start in five minutes.

I fiddled with the speaker mainly to focus on something other than my date until the movie started. James Bond had my attention when Jake said, “I’ve got to go to the restroom.” He jerked his head in the direction of the concession stand.

“Okay.” I was surprised Bond was doing more kissing than Jake, but when nature calls, there was nothing else to do but answer.

He tapped me on the shoulder and jerked his head again.

“Oh.” I got the hint. “I need to go, too.”

When we reached the restroom, Jake said, “You better put your arm around her. Otherwise, she’s going to feel bad. Like you didn’t what her to come.”

“I guess.” I glanced in the mirror and ran a comb through my hair. He was probably right. I had paid little attention to her since I had helped her to the car and putting my arm around her would be no big deal. It didn’t mean I was in love with her or anything like that. It would be just a friendly gesture.

I slid back into the car, slipped my arm around Diana and tried to ignore her belly rubbing against my side. After a short time, I was more interested in what Bond was doing than Diana’s belly.

“Let’s go to the concession stand.” Jake said ten minutes later. “I’m thirsty. What would you like to drink?” he asked Crystal.

“I’ll take a large Coke,” Crystal said.

It was the first time I heard her say anything, that wasn’t a whisper, since Jake had introduce us. Too busy kissing, I figured. Or possibly trying to keep his hands out of her pants.

I asked Diana what she wanted and she said Seven-up, Sprite or whatever lemon-lime drink they had. I inched out of the car and followed Jake to the stand. I knew there was more to it than just wanting to get drinks.

“She’s feeling pretty bad,” he said. “She knows you just as soon she wasn’t here. You better kiss her.”

“Do what?” I glared at Jake.

“Kiss her. You want her to feel like you wanted her to come, don’t you? You don’t want her to leave without having a good time, do you?”

“I suppose.” I dragged my feet on my way back to the car, edged in and gave Diana a smack on the cheek.

“We forgot the popcorn.” Jake hopped out of the car. I reluctantly followed him back to the concession stand.

“You can do better than that.” Jake scolded. “That little peck will make her feel worse. Make her feel like the woman she is. Give her some serious osculating on the lips.”

“Enough!” I spat out. “All I want to do is watch the movie and get out of here.” That wasn’t being a gentleman about the situation, but what teenager would want a pregnant woman for a date? Besides, she doubtlessly already figured out that Jake was telling me what to do. What girl, or woman, would want her date to kiss her because someone told him to?

“She’s going to feel pretty lousy,” Jake warned as he ordered popcorn.

“I don’t care. I’m not kissing her on the lips.” I strutted back to the car, jumped in and stared at the screen. I really didn’t want Diana to feel badly about the situation, so after a bit, I slipped my arm back around her shoulders.

After Bond outwitted his enemy, I drove Diana home.

“Did you have a good time?” she asked as she lumbered out of the car.

“Sure,” I lied.

“Me, too.” She gave me a peck on the cheek. “You’re a real nice guy.”

“Thanks.” I almost pushed her into the house and got out of there.

I drove to Crystal’s house. Jake and her stood on the porch kissing for about fifteen minutes before I switched the car lights on and off a couple of times. Crystal opened the door and slipped into the house. Jake trotted back to the car and scooted into the front seat.

“She’s a real cutie, isn’t she?” he asked.

“She sure is,” I said as I drove out of Crystal’s driveway and turned onto the street.

“Not like your date.” Jake snickered. “Wait until I tell all the guys you took out my thirty-year-old pregnant aunt. And you even kissed her.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I said

“Oh yes I would.”

I pull the car to the side of the road, reach over, grabbed the passenger door handle and pushed the door open. “Get out.”

“What?” Jake asked.

“I said, ‘Get out,’” I pushed him out.

He stood holding the door open. “Your not leaving me here, are you?”

“Just watch.” I crammed it into first gear and peeled out. I hadn’t felt so good since Mom threw away my training pants.

Even though I had put on a big show, I wasn’t the type of guy who would abandon a friend no matter how lousy he was, so I drove down the road far enough to be out of Jake’s view and pulled onto a side street. About fifteen minutes later, Jake strolled by. I pulled out and stopped next to him. He jumped in.

“Are you going to tell anyone about tonight?” I asked him.

“No,” he said.

“Even after I get you home?”

“I won’t ever tell anyone. You’re my ride until I get a car. I don’t want to jeopardize that. It’s no fun having to walk everywhere.”

“Good,” I said. “Let’s shake on it.”

We shook and as far as I know, Jake has never told anyone to this day.

Internet has proved to be very good platform for finding people, there have been several instances where people have found their intended target in record times which otherwise would have been impossible. If you are looking for an old pal from your school or on a search for your old ex-girlfriend or for that matter are looking for people who belong to your family and have lost contact with them, Internet is possibly the one medium through which success could be guaranteed to some extent.

One of the best places to search for people online is through the social networking sites. In the past decade, social networking sites have become very popular. With millions of users logged in every day, your chance of finding someone are likely to be effective with some of the search features provided in these sites, for some instance, if you have forgotten the last name of person, you could easily identify him here if you remember his school name or any other details of him. Write down the names of the social networking sites that are popular and start searching on them one by one.

The best way to find a person is to sign up in as many social networking sites as possible and search the person you’re looking for. Many social networking sites are free of cost, so it would only be your time and effort that you will need in finding someone online.

Whenever you are creating a user profile in a social networking site, make sure that you give as much relevant information as possible; this becomes very important if the other person is also searching for you. It is very much possible that he or she may find you even before you find him/her. Upload a picture and post messages on the site. Avoid giving out too much personal information like your phone number, which might easily be misused on the Internet.

For those of you who are trying to locate people from your previous workplace or people with whom you had professional contact, websites such as Ecademy, Linkedln and zoominfo could do the job for you. With these websites you could easily locate people from business and professional backgrounds.

You can also search for people on internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo search, Ask Jeeves, etc. It also helps if you can give some additional information such as unique achievements, hometown and other information if you have any. This helps you to weed out unnecessary information and results. This becomes very useful, if the person you are searching for has a very commonly used name.

Check your local telephone directory and other listings such as the electoral list, this helps if you know that the person whom you are searching for is perhaps in your own city or jurisdiction. It also helps if you have the correct the first and last name, further it would be great if you know more information about the person as this aids in finding the right person.

Care should be taken when accessing certain sites during your search, as much as possible avoid searching on dating sites as many of these sites charge you for a fee and many people do not use their actual names when they sign up for these sites, making it tough for you to find. There are many sites that charge you for searching people online. It is very difficult these days to find some legitimate websites because some of these are scams. So it is best if you stick on to the popular ones, unless you find anything that is useful, and verified.

According to the Rutland (Vt.) Herald, the Windsor Junior-Senior High School offered shelter to Windsor County and Windham County police last week while they received training instruction on what to do when a gunman invades a school. The training is being provided by Vermont State Police, and is one of many being performed throughout the state of Vermont.

These training exercises are a result of school shooting incidents such as the one that occurred last year in Essex Junction. In that event, Christopher Williams allegedly brought a gun into the school, killing a teacher and wounding another in a search for his ex-girlfriend.

Detective Trooper Steven Otis of the Rockingham police barracks says the training is referred to as “active shooter intervention”. The types of situation they are training for are those incidents similar to the one in Essex Junction with Christopher Williams from last year. According to Otis, training has also taken place at a nearby airport.

Randy Christensen, the school resource officer at Windsor High School, offered the school for training the police officers because he has experienced school violence first hand. Christensen worked as a police officer in Lake Worth, Florida when a thirteen year old boy brought a gun to school and killed a teacher. He states that while he and his fellow officers were well trained, they hadn’t received training on what to do in that type of situation. He believes that training for guns and shooters in schools is essential to protect students and faculty alike.

Back in January, a teenager that was hunting squirrels near the middle school was mistaken for a threat. Officer Allison Forney of the Bellows Falls Police Department said that in that situation, “training would have been helpful”. Part of the training would include how to separate threats from innocents, such as the hunting teen.

The commander of the state police outpost in Rockingham, Lieutenant Jocelyn Stohl, agrees that the training exercises are necessary for officers to determine actual threats from perceived ones, and will also help hone the officers’ skills. She states “when an event does happen, we can make an organized and standard response. Overall, since September 11, our state has come up to speed very quickly. Here, we’re going to select the first responders. In this state, anyone can be a first responder, so you have to train the people apt to go through it.”

Windsor Schools Superintendent Brenda Needham named school security as one of her top priorities, prompting her to support Christensen’s decision to offer the high school as a training site. She told reporters, “We pay a lot of attention to safety and security. We reached out to the police. I thought we might serve as a vehicle for state police and local departments to use for a training site. We certainly want to support any kind of exercise, and I’m happy to have them here. We have a very safe school, but we are proactive in these matters. We know you have to be diligent about security.”

Source: The Rutland Herald, 2007, http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/NEWS02/707020367/1003/NEWS02

Expect the unexpected is the phrase always associated with Big Brother and this season is no exception. This season started out with 7 girls being let into the house, just as they were getting comfortable they sent in 9 guys, the biggest number of people on a big brother season yet. Then the twists begin.

The first twist that we find out is that unbeknown to her Sharon’s ex-boyfriend is also going to be a house guest. We find out that they were together for a long time, but broke up because he cheated on her. The second twist that we find out is that Ryan and Jen are dating and they are both going into the house to try and win together. As the house guests get to know each other Julie appears on the screen with another twist. Julie explains that they have paired each of the house guests with another house guest as their “soul mate” She explains that you will have to do everything with your soul mate from the competitions to HOH and even being put up for eviction. Julie then pairs everybody up.

The partners are:

Alex & Amanda
Ryan & Allison
James & Chelsia
Jacob & Sharon
Matt & Natalie
Joshua & Neil
Adam & Shelia
Parker & Jen

So that means that the ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend are paired together, and the real life couple Jen and Ryan have different partners. There is also a gay couple. Most couples were happy with the choices, while Sharon was anything but happy. Sharon was really upset that not only was her ex in the house but that she had to be paired with him. Jacob on the other hand didn’t really seem to mind, he even stated that he knew Sharon was his sole mate. The Other very unhappy couple was Adam and Shelia, they got off to a lousy start by Adam calling her “Ma”. Shelia was very upset saying that he was not her type at all.

The first competition begins right away. Julie explains that the winners of this competition will have to evict another team within hours. They go outside and the competition is all set up, each team has to choose one person to put on a harness and that team member has to hold the other team member in the air without letting them fall on the bed below. Adam And Shelia are the first to drop out followed shortly by Joshua and Neil. When half of the couple have dropped out Julie lets the house guests know about the second part of the competition. If they can manage to grab a pillow from below them, and then are the winning team they will win $10,000. The final two couple come down to Matt and Natalie, and Parker and Jen. Jen and Parker have a pillow so they tell Matt and Natalie they will be safe if they drop out. Matt and Natalie decide to drop out, so the winners are Parker and Jen.

What will happen next? Who will Parker and Jen choose to evict? We will have to watch tomorrow to find out, be sure to come back tomorrow for my next article on everything that happened in the ext episode of Big brother 9 ’til death do you part.

Most of the readers will probably find it hard to believe that the context of this article was written by a single divorce mother of two sons. Nevertheless, it was.
First, I was married at the tender age of seventeen and had my first child at the age of nineteen. My husband was a good provider, throughout our eight years of marriage. However, he never understood the meaning of the word faithful. I do not fault him for this because he was only nineteen when we wedded and I believe he was just too young.

I had one thing going in my favor at the end of our marriage. I had been working throughout our entire 8 years of marriage, only taking the allotted six weeks maternity leave offered to me when I gave birth twice. At the time I was an Administrative Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer of a large metropolitan hospital. I made a decent salary and because I worked for a hospital, I had an extensive benefit package. My husband continued to supply support, when business was good. He was a Self-Employed Electrician and a very good one at that. Then he got re-married approximately three years after the divorce. His new wife had two children from a previous marriage. Eventually they had two children together. At first the child support checks amounts were less and then I started receiving them less frequently until I started receiving nothing.

By this time, I was re-married and my husband made a good salary. It was hard to prove and pinpoint my ex-husband’s salary because he was self-employed. So I never did bother to take him to court because I did not see the point anymore.

But then my eyes were awaked to the other side of the child support issue through my eldest son feelings of helplessness. He and his son’s mother gave birth to my beautiful grandson in 2006. My son was only working a Security Guard job with no benefits and he knew he would need something better. He was laid off from the Security job and decided to take a training course that lasted for 90 days without pay. The important thing is if you were one of the few selected to be hired, you would no longer have a job you would have a life-time career. So he decided it was worth the risk.

It was to my son’s understanding that his son’s mother, who went to school to become a License Beautician during her pregnancy. It was understood that she would not start work until Joey, my grandson, was at least six months old. It is going on 2 years and Joey is now in day care all day, from 8am to 5pm. She still has not attempted to find employment, as of yet.

My son was one of the men chosen and was hire on a permanent status to work in a high security section of a large airport. Since 9/11, they check had his background, families background checked, fingerprint sent to the FBI, etc. He passed all their tests and was hired. However, he was punished severely by the child support system for trying to better himself.

When he started receiving a paycheck every two weeks and was depositing them into his checking account because of the odd hours he works and felt the need to have a car. He was only trying to save up to $2,500 to buy himself something decent to use for transportation. Well that didn’t last long. The long arm of the Child Support System, were able to reach into his account and take out the entire amount he had saved. They left him with a zero balance. He was only out of work for ninety days for training and they wanted that back pay for those checks that were missed while he was in training. He would never would of had a problem with paying extra child support payment to cover the back payments he was behind in. That opportunity was never offer to him. Instead they reached into his account and emptied it.

I have a cousin who was married and had five children with his wife. His wife left him for another man and she had very good employment. The only thing she wanted from her husband is to help her with the children’s college education.

Eventually he met a woman who was about fifteen years his junior. He somehow, impregnated her, it was unplanned. This woman not only had one son with him, she also, became pregnant by him again. My cousin, at the time, had a very good career and owned his own home. After the second child was born she decided she wanted to move to another State. Before her and the children left, they stood before a judge where a judgment was issued and the amount that my cousin was ordered to pay was $1,500 per month, per child, which he felt was excessive. However, this is what he was ordered to pay and this is what he paid.
What I did not understand is the fact that he already had three children in college and one on the way. He has a high mortgage payment to be paid on the first of every month along with a hefty property tax. It did not seem to me that any of these issues were taken into account because if they were, I feel the amount he was ordered to pay would have been substantially less. At the time of the children births, his income was much more than it is today. But something would change this forever.

My cousin was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer about a year ago. This forced his company, with whom he has spent the last twenty seven years working, force him into early retirement. His early retirement lowered his annual income a great deal. When his new financial situation was made clear in court; this had little, if any affect at all, on the judge. He lowered his monthly child support payments, but not by nearly enough. The judge’s excuse was that between his Disability Checks and Pension Checks, he felt it did not warrant a big enough decrease in his child support payments. I felt this was very wrong. He has five children with his ex-wife and two children with his ex-girlfriend. He feels a great deal a responsibility towards his five eldest, to see them though college. This is costing him a pretty penny and has also made him take out a second mortgage on his home.

I feel the same way towards my son who was in training to secure a better career to be able to support his son on a better level. There should be some type of scale used with the issuing of child support amounts. I believe there are many circumstances that should be taken into account and this could be the reason there are so many dead beat dads today. Many feel they will never catch up to the amount of the back pay, so why even try?

I am not advocating not paying child support, do not misunderstand that, however I am advocating a law being pass that will allow judges more leeway and a certain chart of responsibilities that need to be taken into account. If the father of children had a previous family before the one they have now, than what is paid out to this family should be also taken into account. Right now, the only thing used is the father of the child is his annual income at the time. This is just not enough. Many more things need to be taken into account.

I especially felt it is wrong for Child Support Services to be allowed to reach into someone’s bank account and completely clean it out. He was unable to make payments, at the time, because he was in a work training program trying to better his career choices. I do not feel he should have been penalized for this and he should have been given a chance to pay it on his own and not have it confiscated, as if he was some type of criminal trying to hide his assets.