News Tidbits

First: I hate this faux-celebrity culture we live in nowadays. First, Runaway Bride gets obsessive missing white girl coverage... as if Lori Hacking, Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy weren't missing-white-girl overload before. Now, after Runaway Bride has pleaded guilty to federal crimes (including making up a rape story involving them dirty Hispanics you find in the South near the border), but now we're told that her fucked-up life story is worth half a mil? That's just wrong. Hell, that's probably paid off her criminal fine right there. Guess crime does pay.

Somewhat related: Deep Throat's life story, it seems to me, would be worth half a mil, just because it has real historical importance. Unlike Chickenshit White Girl, Deep Throat's actions had national importance and freaking brought down a presidency. Chickenshit White Girl just set off a multijurisdictional manhunt which, in better times, would have just been forgotten as quickly as it was started. Of course, Deep Throat's family appears to be receiving an advance of no more than $75,000. Man, something's wrong in this world if White Girl ends up making more than Deep Throat.

Second: Ex-Klansman Edgar Ray Killen is on trial for a race-based murder he is alleged to have committed back in 1964. He's now 80 years old. No substantive comment about the trial and all, but this paragraph struck me: "Killen came to court in a wheelchair and has been attended by a nurse because of his health. He broke both his legs in a wood cutting accident several months ago and has other ailments." If he committed a cold-blooded murder, he's an abhorrent individual -- but I have to say I'm pretty impressed than an 80-year-old man was out chopping wood. Though I guess I would have been even more impressed if he had managed to do it without breaking both of his legs.

Third: The Washington snipers, having already been convicted in Virginia, were indicted in Maryland. Let me clarify: one received a life sentence, the other the death penalty, in Virginia for the sniper attacks that took place in Virginia. Now I know we all want to extract our little pound of flesh here, but doesn't it seem like overkill to try these guys again in another jurisdiction? They're not guilty enough in Virginia; let's get them here too! They're rotting in jail anyway; is it really necessary to expend Maryland taxpayer funds to ensure that there's a public proclamation that they're guilty up there too? "Oooh, we get to point our fingers too." Pffft. Whatev.