I’m not talking about HIV, the swine flu, any airborn virus or even the common cold.  What I’m talking about are sex offenders; people who may live in your neighborhood and seem like normal people on the outside.  Yes, they seem normal, but on the inside there is a sickness that is in some ways worse than a murder or other convicted felons. 

As a father of a 1-year-old this really hits home – I can only imagine what I would do if one of these people tried anything with my daughter.

“The Monster charged with kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard and holding her captive in his backyard for 18 years had sick “sexual fantasies” about little girls for decades.

Phillip Garrido admitted that starting in 1968 he hung around schools and pleasured himself while “watching young females.”

“I have done it by the side of schools, grammar schools and high schools, in my own car,” Garrido said in court testimony obtained Tuesday by The Daily News.

Asked how old these girls were, Garrido replied, “From 7 to 10.”

Dugard was just 11 when prosecutors say Garrido and his wife, Nancy, abducted her in 1991 as she was walking to her school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

The victim was just 14 when she gave birth to the first of two girls she had by Garrido.

Garrido, 58, and his wife now face 29 felony counts in connection with Dugard’s abduction. But his dark desires were first revealed in 1977 while on trial for kidnapping and brutally raping Katherine Callaway Hall a year earlier.” (Dillon 2009)

It is also worth mentioning that Garrido served 12 years of a 50-life sentence after raping Katherine Callaway Hall in 1976.  So this monster got out of jail in 1998 and a few years later abducted someone.  Isn’t there something wrong with this story?  How often do things like this happen in society?

Doesn’t something like this put other crimes in a different light?  Rapists kill, but when the victims live it could be considered even more brutal because they have to put their lives back together.  Think about Jaycee Lee Dugard’s two kids; what is she going to tell them about their father?  But we waste a lot of energy and taxpayers’ money on dogs and someone who is dumb enough to shoot himself.

We could go on and on with a discussion like this and the situation would only grow more grimm.  We often talk about racial issues, but I think everyone will agree with me when I say this problem is colorblind.  Given the choice between a next door neighbor who is a card carrying racist or a sex offender I think I would have to choose the racist.

I will continue to check my neighborhood and I ask you to do the same because these people walk among us.  Below are some websites you can use to see what sex offenders live near you.

1. Criminal Check
2. National Sex Offender Registry
3. Map Sex Offenders - this site actually requires payment for a report.  I think something is wrong with that.

Happy Wednesday everyone! It’s that time of week ….. WordPlay Wednesday! Are you ready to be creative with your comments? Remember, use no more than five words to convey your sentiment about the topics listed below.

Okay, here we go…..

1. What do you think about the swine flu shot?
2. The Duggar family is expecting their 19th child!
3. Budget cuts kill some high school athletics.
4. Because of their regularity, are California wildfires worse than hurricanes?
5. What do you think about monitoring sex offenders?

Continuing the discussion that was started yesterday, should companies gear advertising towards a certain demographic and/or race?

Advertising towards a certain race, BMWs in this case, isn’t something new.  If I remember correctly, a brand of malt liquor was advertised with black people in mind a while ago.  I guess the thinking goes white people wouldn’t buy it anyway.  Now that I think about it, are there any black people in Coors commercials?

By the way, after doing some research I found out that the thing with BMWs was only partially about BMW – it actually had to do with Mini Coopers.  I happen to know someone very close to me that drives a MINI  What kind of world would this be if we let others limit what we do?

So how do you feel about advertising being geared towards a certain demographic?  I would say race, but that wouldn’t be totally accurate.  See, some companies seperate their wealthy customers from their customers who don’t spend as much money.  All of this is transparent, but it still happens.  The next time you call a business and are forced to go through all those telephone prompts remember that the system may be directing you towards a certain group of customer service reps set up for your financial demographic.

Hey 7DayBuzz readers. It’s that time of week ….. WordPlay Wednesday! Are you ready to be creative with your comments? Remember, use no more than five words to convey your sentiment about the topics listed below.

Okay, here we go…..

1. Jon and Kate ’8′ revolt against being filmed.
2. Is reality show about addiction going too far?
3. Ted Kennedy, dead at 77 - only Kennedy brother to die of natural causes.
4. NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress; two years for carrying gun, shooting himself
5. Is Tobacco the hardest addiction to kick despite negative impact?

I’m sure you are somewhat familiar with the “Cash For Clunkers” program, known as CARS, but here are the program guidelines:

• To participate in the CARS program, you do not have to sign an agreement to pay back the dealer the CARS credit amount if the deal is rejected.
• You are required to leave your trade-in vehicle at the dealership and sign over the title to the trade-in vehicle at the time of the deal.
• Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date
• The dealer must give you the new vehicle at the time of the deal.
• Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify.
• Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements).
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in.
• You don’t need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase.
• Program runs through Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first ($2 billion dollars was recently added to the program).
• The program requires the scrapping of your eligible trade-in vehicle and that the dealer disclose to you an estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in. The scrap value, minus $50 the dealer keeps for administrative fees, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.

The program seems like a good idea that may actually hurt those it was designed to help.  Many people just can’t afford to go out and buy a new car and not only does this program not allow them to buy a used car, it could make it harder for them to fix the car they currently own.  Automobiles traded in under this program are destroyed which means one less car on the used car market and many less parts for used auto parts stores.

The bottom line, said Norman Wright, chief executive of Stadium Auto Parts in Denver, is that the program will most hurt the people who can least afford it: lower-income Americans.

“A lot of low-income people can’t afford any other type of car, and if there’s a shortage of those engines and their vehicles need one, then those people are going to have a hard time finding a recycled engine to get their car back up and running,” Wright said.

New car dealers are benefiting from this program, but auto parts dealers, used car dealers, lower-income buyers and even organizations who accept auto donations are eagerly anticipating the end to this program.

“I understand that people are getting a good deal in the car showroom, and I realize the car manufacturers need the help,” said Capt. Eric Wilkerson, administrator of the Salvation Army in Portland, Ore.

“God bless them,” he said. “But don’t forget about the Salvation Army. We need your help, too.”

For now, dealers and charities say they’re rolling in reverse while they anticipate the end of the program.

I’m of the opinion that this is another program, under the Obama administration, that will rub some people the wrong way and help others.  It isn’t a permanent program so “non-participants” who aren’t in a good position right now have a light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope one of our readers has participated in the program to answer a question I have.  Are dealers willing to negotiate on price or do they think the money coming from the government is all the buyer deserves to get taken off their desired price?  According to some information I found on the Internet, some dealers/manufacturers are adding to the program.  Additional incentives range from $500 to doubling the amount a buyer would receive under the CARS program.  Think about this with me for a minute; if dealers can do this now, why couldn’t they lower the prices by up to $4,500 to sell cars before they (GM and Chrysler) took government money?

I think they could have but didn’t because they are greedy at their core.

Police allow man to wait for President Obama with unconcealed handgun!

Check out the link above, watch and be amazed!

The POTUS was going to New Hampshire for a town hall meeting and there was a protester with a gun out in the open!  It doesn’t matter if carrying a gun in the open is normally legal.  It doesn’t matter that the man was on private property.  What matters is the fact that this was allowed, shortly in advance of the President of the United States making an appearance.

ARE     YOU    SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all I have to say right now; that is all I can think of.

By now you may or may not be familiar with the DUI manslaughter case involving Donte Stallworth.  If you aren’t, Stallworth allegedly spent the night drinking in a bar/club, went home for a while, got up to go get something to eat, then hit and killed a pedestrian with his vehicle.  It doesn’t lessen the blow, but Stallworth’s cooperation with the police and the fact that even sober he would have hit and killed the man played a part in Stallworth’s sentence.

Stallworth was sentenced to 30 days in jail – he served 24 days.  His plea agreement included two years of “community control” (Florida’s version of house arrest), eight years of probation, drug and alcohol testing, 1,000 hours of community service and a lifetime suspension of his driver’s license.  Stallworth, 28, also reached a confidential financial settlement with the family of 59-year-old Mario Reyes, the construction worker struck and killed early on March 14 by Stallworth, driving drunk in his black 2005 Bentley.  Apparently, Stallworth thinks his sentence is too stiff.

A Miami judge is expected to hear arguments to reduce Stallworth’s sentence – he wants is time on house arrest and probation cut.  In light of the facts surrounding this case, namely the fact that he slept for a while and would have killed the guy if sober, I had softened my initial opinion.  But this is going too far! 

Stallworth still has the potential to earn millions as a professional football player which is more than many people in his situation would be able to say.  Yes, he can no longer drive around in his expensive cars and for the next two years he will be on house arrest (I can imagine something will be worked out that will allow him to do his “day job”), but he will probably still be a millionaire when all is said and done.  What could the details possibly be that would lead him to think his sentence was too harsh?  What is there that we don’t know about?  On the surface, I would say go back to your mansion, wait for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to rule on your suspension and shut up.  But there has to be more to this.  I’m really hoping our society hasn’t put professional athletes on such a high pedestal where they think they can get away with a crime like this with what many would consider a slap on the wrist.

I really hope there is more to this story.

What you’re about to see is a video of an 80-year-old Black woman approached by an officer, in a Wal-Mart parking lot, then being slammed to the ground. I got this video off of YouTube. The person who posted it wrote that the lady had been swinging a knife at different people in the parking lot, so the cops were called.

This video was extremely disturbing to me. This is an elderly person and no matter how threatened the officer felt, I feel the situation could have been handled so much better! There is so much blood underneath her…..I really won’t understand any justification for this.

Since Kim has stood in for me, and raised the level of conversation, I’m going to do my best to bring 5 topics worthy of Wordplay Wednesday. Hopefully, you know how this thing works: you have no more than 5 words to express your feelings about current events going on in the world currently. Here we go!

1. The Beer Summit.
2. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of Michael Vick’s partial reinstatement.
3. American health care.
4. Steve McNair’s wife says “Thanks for the support.”
5. Are you sick of Jon and Kate?

What would a poll say about three men sitting down to have a beer together after a heated dispute? Does drinking beer set the stage for reconciliation amongst Americans? Apparently many Americans relate sitting down to a beer as something they would want to do with someone to relax, get to know them and settle problems. Are you buying this? I’m not.

Thursday, President Obama, Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. will site down and have a beer together. By now the backstory is well known and the only thing left to do is find a way to get people to stop talking about it. Someone at the white house had the bright idea to put this thing together and I would like to know who it is. I would ask that person what in the world they are thinking about.

It is being referred to as the “Beer Summit.”

Admittedly, the POTUS, or BHO, made a mistake when he said Sgt Crowley acted stupidly, but don’t we have bigger concerns as a nation? Our economy is still hurting and I would think our leader could use this time in a more productive matter. Yes, I have heard all the talk about the racial issues concerning this event and the “teachable moment” it has created. Quiete frankly, it isn’t really going to change anything concerning racial relations in our country so why waste the time?

For those of us, regardless of color, who truly don’t have severe problems with people of other races, this is just a story that will pass. For those who have racial hatred engrained in their every bodily fiber, do we really think three cold ones is going to make a difference? I have no doubt that some people will try to twist this thing around to make BHO look like he is doing something wrong…again. Whatever.

BHO needs a special czar and I would gladly volunteer, but more on that another day.