Beth Ingalls's Open Salon Blog

Shame to Fame: The Meteoric Rise of a Murderess

Fri, 8 Jul 2011 10:07:27 -0400

What's worse than a sociopathic young mother getting away with murder? That same young woman laughing all the way to bank.

Thanks to our obsession with every aspect of the capital murder trial and its central player, Casey Anthony, the wheels have already been set in motion.

There have been a few minor setbacks.

Entertainment talent agency Paradigm signed, and then promptly unsigned, Anthony's lawyer Jose Baez all within five hours yesterday. And porn company Vivid Entertainment decided against featuring Anthony in a film after fans said they wouldn't watch it.

But let's be real.

Outrage will turn to indifference soon enough and we'll become Casey Anthony consumers, or willing co-conspirators, again soon.

The crowds of stomping, sobbing, sign-waving indignants outside the Orange County courthouse in Orlando will disperse and get on with their lives.

And just when we begin to wonder what happened to Casey Anthony, there she'll be. Sitting down for her first big interview. Soon after that, the book will come out. Then the movie. And so on.

Watching a smug Casey Anthony in court for her sentencing hearing, brushing back her long brown hair, smirking, smiling and looking out through those dark, dark eyes, I have no doubt she'll do whatever it takes to make the most of her new-found freedom. She's proven she's smart and god knows she loves the attention.

If only we could make a collective pact to turn our backs on her, forever. To truly punish her for what she's done by ignoring her. Wouldn't that be a great move?

As Prosecutor Jeff Ashton said in a recent interview - "the best thing we can do to honor Caylee's memory is to ignore Casey and not give her any further attention."

If only.

Watching the defense team celebrate during their now infamous champagne party immediately after the verdict was handed down, was clear evidence that none of them will drift into obscurity. Not only was one of the attorneys (a grown woman, mind you) jumping up and down in plain view of onlookers and cameras - but they were actually filming themselves on television as they watched the coverage of themselves on television!

The most tragic fact in this case, in addition to the reality that no one will ever be held accountable for the gruesome death of a sweet little girl, is that we'll be watching as her killer turns evolves into a celebrity before our very eyes.

Why Democracy Will Never Be a Trending Topic

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:07:40 -0400

I missed Obama's Twitter Town Hall last week - the first ever held. I actually love Twitter, but I like my discussions about substantive policy issues done in complete sentences.

While Twitter's immediacy and randomness make for a perfect communication medium in our world right now, it also shines a bright light on our inability as citizens to roll up our sleeves and work really hard on things like policy. Politics just doesn't lend itself to quick keystrokes.

In this wired world of instant gratification, we want what we want when we want it. We’ve got fast food, automatic teller machines, instant messaging, on-demand movies, GPS, express mail, jiffy lube, speed dial, an app for everything and a million other conveniences to satisfy our desires and whims.

But our ability to communicate faster and with more people at the same time will never be a substitute for problem solving and work. I'm beginning to doubt that we have the patience and perseverence we need to solve the complex issues we're entrenched in right now.

With the debt ceiling crisis looming over our heads as a nation, a flailing economy and millions out of work, the time for blame is over. It's frustrating watching our leaders sit around a table being inflexible and unimaginative. They need to work on the problems and find solutions.

Thanks to some outlandish statements by GOP candidate Michelle Bachmann recently about John Quincy Adams, I went back for a historical refresher course and became intriuged by some things I had forgotten about his father, John Adams.

After the trying times of separation and revolution of which he was such an integral part, Adams served in a diplomatic capacity in Europe away from his family, his native state of Massachusetts, and his newly born country for 11 long years. He nearly died during a bout of consumption in the Netherlands, struggled with loneliness and alienation in Britain, and worked tirelessly on difficult treaties in Paris while desperately longing for his home, family, and beloved wife. But he stayed and persevered. When he finally returned in 1788, his children were fully grown adults, barely recognizable to him as he made his way off the ship. That's commitment.

The Twitter Town Hall was a perfect example of how far we strayed from knowing what true patience and hard work are when it comes to finding solutions to the complex problems in our world. And while I will always applaud government's efforts at improving public outreach and simplifying communication with citizens, I have intense doubts about our ability as leaders and citizens to participate effectively in our democracy.

Are we willing to substitute quick fixes and instant gratification in order to make the sacrifices and well thought out decisions we need to create a better, more equitable country for all?

Twitter certainly isn't the answer. What's more - it just may have been the most effective method of extracting a viable presidential campaign fundraising database ever executed. Twitter time is over. Now get back to work!

Bachmann, Angle, Palin: Triumvirate of Tea Party Idiocracy

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:06:42 -0400

^{With supporters like these, who needs detractors?}

I normally try to be supportive of other women in politics in spite of their party or positions since I was once in politics myself. Like Sarah Palin, I'm a former small town mayor. As far as commonalities with her, the bus stops there. But it's a real juggling act trying to maintain a home, keep your children fed, clothed and supported in all their activities, all while putting yourself up for contiunous public scrutiny and attending a never-ending stream of meetings and events. There should be a certain kind of sisterhood in that.

But Representative Michelle Bachmann's recent statements have taken me back to haunting memories of both Sharron Angle's and Palin’s major gaffes and historical flubs along the campaign trail, and I just have to ask myself... how can these female Tea Party candidates get so far and be such complete idiots?

The Tea Party prides itself in defending the constitution and reveling in the proud history of our country. Tea partiers love to invoke historical precedents and wax nostalgic about historical events. You'd think that they would know their facts, or at the very least, check their facts, before opening their mouths.

Bachmann, on a now famous campaign stop in New Hampshire several months ago, stated that the Revolutionary War began there in the cities of Lexington and Concord. Since the majority of middle school students know this event took place in Massachusetts, her Facebook correction after the fact didn't count. She had already gotten an "F" - and there aren't any do-overs.

The media's been abuzz the last few days after Bachmann's assertions that our Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end the institution of slavery. Wrong! After being called out on the absurdity her statements, she didn't do anything to correct herself. She compounded the problem by saying this on Good Morning America yesterday with George Stephanopolous:

"Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved."

Say what?

Why didn't her campaign staff just google "Founding Fathers or John Quincy Adams" and prep her so she could set the record straight? Or, on second thought, why didn't she just pull a random fifth grader off the street and asked him to clarify the details for her?

And it's not just history lessons these Tea Party women manage to mangle. Remember when Sharron Angle said this:

"So that's what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don't know that. What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I'm evidence of that. I've been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly." -- Sharron Angle, speaking to a group of Hispanic high school students, Oct. 15, 2010

Huh?

And how can we ever forget this gem from Sarah Palin in 2008 when asked to name a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade that she disagreed with:

''Well, let's see. There's — of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but —'' --Sarah Palin in an interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008

These remarks just scratch the surface. There are whole pages and websites devoted to misquotes and missteps from Bachmann, Angle and Palin that clearly demonstate their incompetence. But here's the thing. With Michelle Bachmann now at the top of the pack of potential 2012 GOP candidates, will her Tea Party supporters ever bother to really scrutinize her like the rest of us are doing? Ron Carey, a former aide to Bachmann, wants people to know she is not ready to be president. He wrote this in an Op-Ed in the Des Moines register that just came off the presses today:

"The Bachmann campaign and congressional offices I inherited were wildly out of control... If she is unable, or unwilling, to handle the basic duties of a campaign or congressional office, how could she possibly manage the magnitude of the presidency?"

The Tea Party is much more interested in having an attractive mouthpiece for their extreme views than caring about the accuracy of what their candidate says, or whether that person can handle silly details like running an office, or a country.

Nike's Dope Line is Totally Uncool

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:06:41 -0400

In a world where an elected official several steps away from the highest office in the land is stupid enough to randomly tweet his erect penis, and the Kardashian girls get richer everyday just by prancing around on E! for millions of viewers, it’s abundantly clear we're a society without high standards of behavior or taste.

But Nike’s new line of t-shirts ups the ante. Not only have they demonstrated a new level of corporate irresponsibility, they've simply dumped the moral compass in the trash.

Both of the shirts are just wrong, but I guess if I had to choose which is worse I'd go with the “Dope” one. I get the play on words and all. I understand what dope means in slang...(cool, awesome).

But, prescription drugs abuse is now the most common form of drug addiction among the teens. Consider these facts:

Nearly one in five teens report abusing prescription drugs to get high (Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 2006).
One third of all new abusers of prescription drugs in 2006 were 12 to 17 years old (SAMHSA, 2008).
More than 2.1 million teens ages 12 to 17 reported abusing prescription drugs in 2006. Among 12- and 13-year olds, prescription drugs are their drug of choice (SAMHSA, 2008)
Twelfth graders have recently had the highest rates of prescription drug abuse.

My guess is that this is the exact demographic Nike is targeting with these shirts.

As a mother of three sons (the youngest, 14, finishing his freshman year in high school today as I write this), I am really pissed off about this.

Being a parent in the 21^st century is frickin' hard

enough without a major corporation like Nike, whose revenue in North America was 1.9 billion last year, openly promoting drug abuse on their highly visible clothing line.

I have to leave now and go pick up my son from school where he just finished his last exam.

As I grab the car keys I'm thinking how "dope" would it be if Nike used their worldwide platform to promote something like education or public service instead of drug abuse. Just sayin.

Shits & Giggles from an Emerging Nevada Wonkette

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:06:21 -0400

Breaking News: I've dipped my toe into the murky wading pool of Nevada state politics and I'm proud to report I survived covering my first major event - a meeting of the Republican State Central Committee.

You see, I'm working hard to get myself up to speed on the issues and the players in the hopes that a major news outlet might begin turning to me for stories and reports.

I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and Reno is the closest market. The resignation of John Ensign created an opening in the Senate that Congressman Dean Heller was appointed to fill … and now there’s a special congressional election coming up in September which is causing quite a stir. Not to mention the fact that state leaders are determined not to waste their opportunity as an early caucus state in 2012 this time around. I’m all over it.

My first foray took me to, where else, a casino – namely John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks. Sparks is a somewhat soul-less hamlet straddling I-80 just east of Reno, and casinos are where you hold any gathering for more than 20 people in Nevada.

I made my way through the dinging slot machines and early morning boozers and sprinted up to the 2^nd floor ballroom heading straight for the check-in table. I was supposed to be on the press list but my name wasn't there. Big surprise. Fortunately, I'd made up some business cards with my new title as the "Reno Political Buzz Reporter” for Examiner.com and next thing I knew I had my pass! I tried to ignore the fact that next to my name was scribbled the word "NONE." Was that demarcation meant to imply I was reporting for an unknown entity or that I wouldn't get free chicken for lunch? No matter - I soldiered on.

I felt out of place for so many reasons when I finally entered the meeting room. Here’s why:

1) I’ve never been to a major Republican gathering anywhere, ever.

2) I’ve never covered any major political party event as a reporter, ever.

3) I brought my laptop but realized I had forgotten my computer cable – only thing more useless than a loaded gun is a dead PC.

4) Even bigger rookie mistake – I had left all my writing implements in the car. Seriously.

As I entered the room I wondered … would I be immediately outed as a former green Mayor, progressive liberal, Obama supporter before I even found a chair? And could they tell just by looking at me that I was completely out of my element as a journalist? That I didn’t even have a pen?

I tried to be stealthy but there was nowhere to sit.

As if to keep me from scaring the guests, the communications director spotted me and immediately took me aside, “Don’t you want to sit in the media section?” Media section? “Yes, of course,” I said, pretending I not only knew there was a media section, but I also knew exactly where it was located.

I guess the giant mirrored pillar had totally obscured my view but suddenly (cue the trumpets) there they were…the biggest names in Nevada journalism sitting up above the crowd at the exact mid-point in the room on their own special raised dais, complete with white linen tablecloths and personal hi-speed internet hook-ups! (If the Nevada GOP shares Palin's views about the lamestream media, they sure have a funny way of showing it!)

There was Las Vegas Sun journalist Jon Ralston, who has his own political talk show "Face to Face with Jon Ralston."

And looking quite lovely and supremely confident, there was Anjeanette Damon, also from the Sun, a political analyst for KRNV in Reno and host of her own show as well. There were about seven other grizzled looking wonks at the table as well who all looked like people I should know, if I knew what I was looking for.

But, there wasn’t an empty seat to be had at the grown up media table, and it was pretty clear that none of these folks were going to scoot over and make room for an unknown quantity like me. Could they tell I was a newbie statewide wannabe working for free for an internet content mill? It sure felt like it.

The nice communications lady brought me a chair and set it right smack in front of, and what felt like 10 feet below, the media dais. And if I didn’t stick out enough like a sore thumb already, she said they would bring me my own table soon.

Great. I could pretend to use my cheap laptop that had 5 minutes of battery left, in between the times I took poor quality photos with my aging point and click camera. But first I had to go out to the lobby and steal a pen!

I'll be documenting my ongoing adventure of morphing into a full-fledged Nevada political wonkette here on Open Salon.