According to a nationwide study...

Source: unknown

Gays and Mormons face off in SLC Kiss-In protests

Kiss-In protest by the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City

Have you heard about the Kiss-In protests in Salt Lake City? That's what I call a passionate protest...

By Kevin Lynch
Examiner.com

The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has an image problem, and it's causing internal friction among church leadership and congregations.

Insiders say the church's support of Prop. 8 has bred dissent among members and left families divided. According to the AP, some members have quit or stopped attending services, while others have appealed to leadership to stay out of the same-sex marriage fight.

Today is the National Kiss-In, a protest of the church's handling of a gay couple on July 9th who kissed on a public-like plaza that happened to be the private property of the church. The couple was detained and arrested for trespassing, but the charges were later dropped.

However, that hasn't stopped the Kiss-In movement from spreading. First there were Kiss-Ins in Salt Lake City on the plaza where the couple was arrested. Now there are Kiss-Ins all over the country. The point of the Kiss-Ins is to show the Mormon church that it does not have the right or the power to prevent a loving same-sex couple from showing affection in public.

Observers say the church's heavy-handed intervention into California politics will linger and has left the faith's image tarnished.

Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said, "What I hear from my community and from straight progressive individuals is that they now see the church as a force for evil and as an enemy of fairness and equality." Kendell grew up Mormon in Utah, and added, "To have the church's very deep and noble history telescoped down into this very nasty little image is as painful for me as for any faithful Mormon."

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah told reporters, "It's too easy for those whose agenda is to change societal standards to claim there are great difficulties inside the Church because of its decision to support traditional marriage. In reality the Church has received enormous support for its defense of marriage."

But many disagree with Farah. Lifetime Mormon Linda Stay, whose ancestors were early Mormon converts, said she was doubly transformed by Prop. 8. She and her husband, Steve, finally quit the church — along with 18 other family members and a few close friends — and became gay right activists.

With the gay rights fight far from over, some believe Prop. 8 could continue to frustrate the church's image for years to come, much like polygamy and keeping black men out of the priesthood did in the past.

Source: Examiner.com

2009 Atlantic hurricane season is underway!

Time-lapse image of Hurricane Andrew, which slammed the Bahamas and southern Florida in 1992 causing $27-$34 billion in damage. Andrew was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history until 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana causing $100 billion in damage. (Nasa photo)

Obviously, I could be totally wrong, as I'm no psychic, but despite what meteorologists are forecasting--that it will be a lackluster hurricane season because of the weather phenomenon el Niño--I think we'll see two or three powerful storms with at least one of them pounding Florida moderately hard and another teasing the Gulf Coast.

Right now, we have two tropical storms over the Atlantic, Ana and Bill, and a new system that could become the season's fourth tropical depression has formed near the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa.

At 5 p.m. EDT today, Bill was trailing Ana traveling westward at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. Bill is expected to be stronger, larger and better formed than Ana, which is the first named storm of the 2009 season and moving westward at 17 mph with 40 mph winds.

It's too early to tell, but the current projected path of Ana puts it in the Caribbean over the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, most of Cuba and Florida. Bill is expected to follow a similar path except a bit more to the north, missing most of Dominican Republic and Cuba.

The potential for what will likely turn into the season's first hurricane has been hindered by a powerful force: dry air, hurricane center meteorologist Mike Brennan said according to an ABC News report.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a division of the National Weather Service, is predicting a 50% probability of a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season, a 40% probability of a below-normal season, and a 10% probability of an above-normal season, attributing the forecast to the "calming effects" of el Niño--a weather pattern consisting of warmer than normal waters along the equatorial central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

“El Niño continues to develop and is already affecting upper-level atmospheric pressure and winds across the global tropics,” Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, states on the agency's website. “El Niño produces stronger upper-level westerly winds over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean, which help to reduce hurricane activity by blowing away the tops of growing thunderstorm clouds that would normally lead to tropical storms.”

The NOAA now says there's a 70% chance of seven to 11 named storms, of which three to six could become hurricanes, including one or two major hurricanes (categories 3, 4 or 5). In May, the agency predicted nine to 14 named storms, of which four to seven would become hurricanes with one to three reaching cat 3, 4 or 5. The average season comprises 11 named storms, six of them hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or greater and two of them becoming major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or greater.

At this time last year there were already five named storms in the Atlantic, Reuters reported.

"The calm start to this hurricane season is not a reliable indicator of the overall activity for the entire season," the NOAA points out on its website. "The 1992 Atlantic hurricane season, for example, had a below-normal number of named storms and hurricanes. The first storm did not form until late August, when Hurricane Andrew hit southern Florida as a destructive Category 5 storm."

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov 30, with most storms forming from August to October.

I wouldn't mind some action, though I'd rather no one get hurt. We'll see...

Sources: NHC, NOAA, ABC News
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

Robin Williams on Inside the Actor's Studio (Part 4)

Robin Williams talks about Mork and Mindy...



Source: YouTube

How do healthcare proposals compare?

(photo source unknown)

President Obama is traveling to Montana today for yet another so-called town hall meeting to explain what his healthcare reform plan is all about. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to post the following information listing what each of the plans under debate propose.

If you ask me, there are too many unknown variables in all of the plans because there's simply no way to address each and every possibly scenario in healthcare and insurance coverage. And given people's resistance to change, fear of the unknown, and the wild notions Republicans are spreading about healthcare reform--that it will turn the U.S. into a socialist country, among them--I can't see how any of these plans could ever get a fair chance.

Furthermore, when I think about the notoriously lazy legislators who vote on bills without reading them (being thousands of pages long probably doesn't help), and considering the complexity of the subject, I can't help but wonder how any of them could possibly fully understand any of the plans enough to cast an educated vote.

FACTBOX on healthcare reform as published by Reuters

When Congress returns Sep 8, lawmakers will continue work on an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system. There are three different plans in the works, all containing changes that would be phased in over a number of years.

In the House of Representatives, three committees have each approved changes to one House bill. The changes will be melded by House leaders into final legislation before a floor vote expected in September.

In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has approved its version and the Senate Finance Committee is working on a separate healthcare overhaul bill.

The following is a comparison of major points in the various proposals.

INSURANCE MARKET REFORMS

All bills include the following:

• Bar discrimination based on gender or pre-existing medical condition.
• Coverage is guaranteed and benefits could not be rescinded after coverage is issued.
• No annual or lifetime caps on benefit payments.

Senate Health Committee and Finance Committee

• Premiums could vary only on family size, geographic region, tobacco use, age and benefits provided.
• Coverage is guaranteed and benefits could not be rescinded after coverage is issued.
• Insurers must provide financial incentives for quality and preventive care.

House bill

• Would eliminate co-pays for preventive care.

COVERAGE

Senate Health Committee bill

• Individuals are required to obtain coverage or pay a penalty of up to $750 per year. To help people pay for it, credits would be available up to an income of $88,000 a year for a family of four.
• Employers are required to pay 60 percent of coverage for workers or pay $750 per year penalty. First 25 employees are exempt.
• Health and Human Services Department would decide what is in a basic insurance plan required to be offered to all.

Senate Finance Committee bill

• An individual mandate is likely. No employer mandate is expected to be included but employers whose workers obtain subsidized coverage through an insurance exchange would have to cover some of the cost of those subsidies.

House bill

• Individuals would be required to obtain coverage or pay a penalty based on income.
• Employers would be required to contribute 65 percent of workers' family insurance premiums or pay an 8 percent penalty. No penalty for small businesses but competing versions define small business as either under $250,000 or $500,000 annual payroll.

INSURANCE OPTIONS

Senate Health Committee bill

• Insurance "gateway," or exchange, would serve as a clearing house for private insurers and a new public insurance option run by the government to sell policies to those who do not have coverage elsewhere.
• New government-run insurance system would negotiate with providers for payments not more than the average of private insurers in the gateway system.
• Those who have insurance would be permitted to keep their current plans and health insurers could sell policies outside the gateway system.
• Health and Human Services Department would set out essential health benefits and minimum coverage for individuals.
• Temporary aid for employers to cover retirees between ages 55 and 64 until the gateway system is in place.
• Dependents would be covered until age 26.

Finance Committee

• Expected to provide for non-profit co-operatives rather than a government-run insurance plan.
• Establishes state insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals without employer-sponsored insurance.
• The proposed new government-run plan or co-op insurance plans would be offered through these exchanges.

House bills

• Would set up a public insurance option similar to the Senate Health Committee bill.
• State insurance exchanges would offer individuals and small businesses insurance from private insurers or the government-run plan.
• Insurance co-operatives would be allowed.

INSURANCE SUBSIDIES

Senate Health Committee and House bills

• Provide various forms of individual subsidies on a sliding scale up to 4 times the poverty level ($88,000 for a family of four).
• The bills provide for some form of premium credit or tax subsidy for small businesses.

Senate Finance proposal

• Expected to provide refundable tax credit for individuals up to 3 times the poverty level.
• To provide a small business tax credit.

MEDICAID

Millions more people would become eligible for state Medicaid health plans for the poor.

Senate Health bill

• Expansion to those with incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level.

Senate Finance

• Expansion to be determined. Federal government would bear added costs for a number of years, expected eventually to shift those costs to states.

House bills

• Expansion of coverage to 133 percent of poverty. Requires states to enroll those newly eligible.

MEDICARE

All bills include provisions to improve quality of healthcare in the Medicare program for the elderly. Payments to be designed to encourage quality, not quantity of services.

House bill

• Requires government to negotiate prices with drug companies.
• Eliminates the drug coverage gap over 15 years.
• Will cover the cost of voluntary discussions with healthcare providers on end-of-life care.

(Compiled by Jackie Frank and Donna Smith, editing by Eric Beech)

To read the House bill, go here.

To read the Senate bill, go here. (The document does not specify which of the two bills--Health or Finance committee--this is.)

Sources: Reuters, CNN
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

How to exit a building through glass doors

* Dumb Fuck Alert *

If only he had taken one more step toward the door...



OMFG, lol!!!

Source: YouTube

Welcome to the summer of hate

Left: People protesting proposed health care reform outside of the high school where President Obama was conducting a town meeting on Aug. 11, 2009, in Portsmouth, N.H. (Robert Spencer/Getty Images)

Following is a column published on Aug 13 by NPR and written by Laura Lorson, host of All Things Considered for Kansas Public Radio in Lawrence.

It's kinda funny, but it makes a point--one I tend to agree with as you can see from my healthcare reform Town Hall meetings updates.

It seems like there's some kind of impulse for people to just get together and DO something. Forty years ago, long-haired, incense-burning baby boomers were subjecting us to "The Summer of Love," and they got all worked up and piled into VW micro-buses and drove out to upstate New York, rolling around in the mud and taking drugs, and generally alarming their parents with the threat of — I don't know — communes.

Now, it's 40 years later, and gray-haired, incensed boomers are subjecting us to what I guess you might want to call "The Summer of Hate," to judge from the pictures of people's faces contorted with rage, calling each other names that they used to reserve for "The Man." Now, instead of the peace and harmony, make-love-not-war thing, they're getting all worked up and piling into tricked-out minivans and driving out to their congressional representatives' offices, rolling around in their Medicare-provided scooters, yelling about the cost of drugs and generally alarming their parents with the threat of — I don't know — health care.

Now, I know that I'm shooting fish in a barrel, here. I mean, I'm a Gen-Xer, and what we do is snark on everything, especially baby boomers. We grew up hearing over and over again how their generation had ideals! And goals! And relatively easy access to a wide variety of hallucinogens! My generation? We had drug-abuse resistance education, McGruff the Crime Dog, and Depeche Mode. We ridicule, therefore we are. But seriously — that's hilarious! From Woodstock to apoplectic rage, in 40 short years. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.

You know what I think is really at the heart of these protests? Why the turnout is large, and the momentum building? It's that people like to take a road trip. What they're road-tripping FOR doesn't actually make much difference. I keep seeing footage of people camping out in front of these Senators' offices, and mentally, I'm getting a picture of Woodstock, just cleaner, and with more clothes.

I keep expecting some fella to go up to a podium and announce, "Hey, everyone, the brown Maalox that is circulating around is not too good." Then they would all listen to "Sugar Magnolia," accuse each other of being fascists, and go home. Anyway, it looks alarming, and maybe not as much fun as three days of peace and music, but it's still kind of reassuring to know that you might take the people out of the '60s, but you can't take the '60s out of the people.

They still get together and declare, in no uncertain terms, what they want. I don't claim to know who's doing what, who's financing what, all I know is that people can be united in anger and opposition, or united in peace and togetherness, and either way, it's really something to see.

Source: NPR

Healthcare reform Town Hall talks go on

Now happening at a Town Hall near you--
(skip the first minute)



Source: YouTube

Les Paul--the original guitar hero--dies at 94

Les Paul: 1915-2009

Les Paul, a virtuoso guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar, multitrack recording and a string of hits, died from complications of pneumonia Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 94 years old.

Following is information about his life and accomplishments compiled from several news sources.

Paul was a remarkable musician as well as a tireless tinkerer. He played guitar with leading prewar jazz and pop musicians from Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. In the 1930s he began experimenting with guitar amplification, and by 1941 he had built what was probably the first solid-body electric guitar, although there are other claimants. With his electric guitar and the vocals of his wife, Mary Ford, he used overdubbing, multitrack recording and new electronic effects to create a string of hits in the 1950s.

Paul called his first solid-body guitar "the Log." It was made of a four-inch-thick piece of wood from a nearby railroad track, a neck he borrowed from an Epiphone guitar and two pickups to give it the electric pulse. Audiences and music executives laughed at the ungainly device, and he spent years honing its visual appeal.

Paul actively promoted such guitars for the Gibson company, and the Les Paul line of guitars became commonplace among such musicians as Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.

"When most people think of the electric guitar, they think of Les Paul," said Dan Del Fiorentino, historian for the National Association of Music Merchants, a trade group for the music-products industry. "He wasn't the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, but he certainly made it famous."

Paul said his efforts were toward one goal: to change the way people saw the guitar.

"I wanted people to hear me," he told the publication Guitar Player in 2002. "That's where the whole idea of a solid-body guitar came from. In the '30s, the archtop electric was such an apologetic instrument. On the bandstand, it was so difficult battling with a drummer, the horns, and all the instruments that had so much power"

"With a solid-body, guitarists could get louder and express themselves," he said. "Instead of being wimps, we'd become one of the most powerful people in the band. We could turn that mother up and do what we couldn't do before."

Paul played a key role in developing the eight-track tape recorder and used the device to play many parts on the same recording, a process now called multi-tracking. Such early work in overlaying sound contributed to the richness and distinctiveness of his recordings and changed the face of rock 'n roll music.

"Without him, it's hard to imagine how rock 'n' roll would be played today," the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, said when Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 for his early influence on rock.

Les Paul was born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915, the younger son of George Polfuss, who owned a car repair service in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Evelyn Polfuss. The couple separated when he was 8.

He learned to play the harmonica by listening to blues and country on the radio by the time he was 9. Not long after, he paid a few dollars for his first guitar from Sears, Roebuck.

By his late teens, Paul had dropped out of school and was on the radio in St. Louis and then performing in Chicago. During the day, he would play country music as Rhubarb Red, and at night he would jam in the jazz clubs as Les Paul. In the late 1930s, he formed the Les Paul Trio and made his way to New York City.

He finally achieved his long-sought chance to work with Bing Crosby, backing the crooner on his NBC radio shows and recording "It's Been a Long, Long Time" with him in 1945, which quickly hit No. 1 on the charts.

Paul built his own sound studio in the garage of his Hollywood home, where he recorded many tunes, including the 1946 hit song "Rumors Are Flying" with the Andrews Sisters. By then, he had linked up with singer Colleen Summers, whom he later gave the stage name Mary Ford.

By the early 1950s, the couple had mastered the sound that opened the door to their huge popularity. "How High the Moon," which was made with a dozen overdubs, stayed at the top of the charts for more than two months in 1951. "Vaya Con Dios" was another hit.

They divorced in 1964. Ford died in 1977.

In 1984, when he was nearing 70, Paul returned to the stage, appearing in clubs in New York City. In 2005, as he was turning 90, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Paul is survived by his three sons, a daughter, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

Toast Update: Jackson's doctor deeper in jam

Got toast? Yes we do!

Michael Jackson's doctor left him alone shortly after giving him the powerful anesthetic propofol and went to another room to make phone calls.

Yes siree...that's what he did on the morning of June 25, hours before the 50-year-old King of Pop stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest.

Who puts a patient under general anesthesia and leaves him alone? Dr. Conrad Murray--that's who. How this guy can be called a doctor is beyond me. If he's a doctor, I'm the Surgeon General.

The 51-year-old cardiologist told detectives he felt comfortable leaving Jackson alone because there had never been any problems with propofol before, the Los Angeles Times reported. Murray reportedly regularly administered Milk of Amnesia to Michael as a sleep aid.

But Michael wasn't asleep when on propofol--he was anesthetized.

Dr. Toast (far left), who accepted a job as Michael's personal doctor in May from $150,000 a month, is under investigation for manslaughter in the death of the King of Pop.

It is not known how long Murray left Michael unattended in la-la land, but when he came back into the room, Michael was no longer breathing. The doctor reportedly tried to revive Michael for 30 minutes before alerting someone to call 911.

Murray's lawyer, Ed Charnooff, has said the doctor never administered anything that "should have" killed the singer. Should've, could've, would've. It's propofol, my friend. This drug has a small margin of error--a bit too much and you don't wake up.

The long-awaited release of Michael's toxicology report is on hold pending the investigation.

By the way, TMZ is reporting that the room where Michael died, which was originally described as was Dr. Toast's room in the house, has turned out to be a spare room where the pop star was put under by the doctor.

It seems to me that even though the pop star could have afforded a better doctor, chances are a decent doctor wouldn't have agreed to Michael's terms--propofol for sleep and access to a cocktail of drugs to which he reportedly was addicted.

So Michael hired a dingy doctor with an dingy office between a dingy convenience store and a dingy liquor store in a dingy part of town who would cater to his needs for the right sum of money.

For background info, use the file archive on the left to find other postings on the matter, among them the previous Toast Update: Michael Jackson's doctors in a jam, posted July 29.

Sources: Daily News, LA Times, TMZ
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

If doctors know best...no wonder we're fucked

Oh, the 50s...



Source: YouTube

Mom accused of castrating baby found guilty

Katherine Nadal listens to opening statements during the first day of her trial. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle)

* Sick fuck alert *

Katherine Nadal carved out her 5-week-old baby's genitals, completely cutting off his penis and testicles in spite of what must have been gut-wrenching screams.

The trial for this barbaric crime started in Houston Monday and ended four days later with a guilty verdict.

A jury convicted the 28-year-old subhuman woman today of causing injury to a child, a first-degree felony. The same jury will decide her sentence.

Prosecutors are asking for the maximum--life in prison.

A life sentence it wouldn't be enough punishment for this heinous crime, if you ask me. All she would lose is her freedom.

Nadal already has spend two years in jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

The nitty-gritty

Holden Gothia was injured on March 13, 2007, at the family's Clear Lake-area apartment.

Nadal claimed the family dog--a 6- to 7-pound mini-dachshund, a breed notorious for its savage nature, aggressive behavior and powerful jaws capable of splitting a snow pea in half--attacked her son, but prosecutors dismissed that ridiculous claim, calling it "unbelievable."

Prosecutors argued that a sharp instrument was used, leaving behind a perfectly square wound unlike the wound a dog would cause, and that no blood was found in the dog's mouth, fur or paws.

The defense, on the other hand, said an expert would testify that the dog could have caused the injuries (in a parallel universe...), that police failed to find any instrument that could have been used, and that no DNA or blood evidence was found.

The severed penis and testicles were never found. That's because the sick fuck either ate them, destroyed them in a garbage disposal or flushed them down the toilet.

The day before the mutilation, Nadal told her husband she was going shopping, but police learned she went to a dope house to get high. The father, 38-year-old Camden Gothia, who was at work when his wife went psycho on the baby, testified that when Nadal returned from her shopping trip she was "not sober." The couple then argued over whether to have the baby circumcised, with Nadal in favor and Gothia against it because of the pain involved in the procedure.

“Now he's more than circumcised,” Assistant D.A. Denise Oncken said.

The day after the attack Nadal tested positive for cocaine, methadone and a mild tranquilizer, according to a Houston Chronicle report. She has been arrested twice on drug-related charges that later were dismissed.

A neighbor told police Nadal knocked on his door around 12:30 p.m. saying something was wrong with the baby. Edward Vega called 911 and followed Nadal back to her apartment, where he saw the baby on a queen-sized bed, bleeding from the lower portion of his body "with his privates missing," according to a police report. Nadal told the neighbor that "the dog did it."

Vega told police that he found the baby naked and uncovered, that he did not see paw prints or blood on the dog, and that there were no used or torn diapers around the baby, noting that "the blood had been there for a while on the bed," according to the report.

Vega and his wife said Nadal didn't seem upset. Nadal's attorney explained that she was probably in shock.

The boy's aunt, Patches DeShazo, took in the boy, who is still waiting for reconstructive surgeries. DeShazo is Gothia's sister.

Sadly for him, he survived the brutal attack. What kind of life awaits him? How much pain and suffering and depression and anxiety and hours of therapy and pills?

Remember this was no surgery; this baby suffered through this torture without anesthesia. And no matter how many reconstructive surgeries he undergoes, he will never, ever be restored to normal and will have a constant reminder of what happened to him.

Too bad there's no eye-for-an-eye law in this country so that she could be shown as much mercy as she showed this tiny, helpless, innocent baby when slicing off his genitals.

Source: Houston Chronicle
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

US Town Hall meetings on healthcare reform

In a nutshell...



Source: YouTube

Dumb fuck sees stunt video, sets himself on fire

Inspired by a video he saw on YouTube, Russell Gortzig set himself on fire. (WESH.com)

* Dumb Fuck Alert *

And the mother, evidently a dimwit herself, is pointing the finger at YouTube.

By the way, hats off to Florida for doing it again as the birthplace, or eventual destination, of many of the nation's most notorious dumb and sick fucks. It's either that or the scope of local news coverage throughout the state is unparalleled. In any case, the host of Disney World never fails to entertain.

A teenager from Deltona reportedly was hospitalized today after suffering multiple burns while imitating a video of a stunt posted on YouTube.

The 13-year-old dunce, Russell Gortzig, said his friend siphoned gasoline from a riding lawnmower and poured it on him, and that though the lighter was held away from his body, a combination of the spark and fumes set his shorts on fire burning off the skin on his leg. He's recovering in a hospital.

The proud mother, Linda McCrea, said the boys were trying to copy a stunt they saw on YouTube in which a man in a banana suit lights himself on fire, and warned other parents to closely monitor the online activities of their children. Just like she did?

Here's what irks me the most: she's blaming YouTube for her son's pain and wants the website to tighten its user guidelines. She seems to believe her son's IQ and her parenting skills had nothing to do with it. And what makes her think she's entitled to tell YouTube what to do because of what her kid did to himself? The nerve...where does it come from?

If the video alone were the cause of such stupidity, everyone who saw it would set him/herself on fire.

A YouTube representative reportedly said that 20 hours of video are posted on the website each minute and that although YouTube cannot screen postings in advance, users can flag potentially dangerous videos. I think it's absurd for YouTube to even bother explaining itself in a situation like this, as it might give the impression that it owes an explanation.

Frankly, it never ceases to amaze me--and perhaps that's my problem--how people in this country find it so difficult, so painful and impossible to take responsibility for their actions and instead find it so easy to point the finger at someone or something else. In accidents, rather than take a moment to look into how they might have contributed to what happened, they use the moment to find lawyers and file lawsuits.

So I can't help but wonder if it has dawned on the mother that her son acted stupidly when he chose to bathe in gasoline and ignite a lighter. I suppose blaming the website for the foolish behavior of her offspring is more convenient and less shameful.

I also wonder if she has bothered to notice that a video of a stunt on YouTube is no different to those shown on network TV, cable TV, movies, ads, comic books, and video games--source of the most violent videos and a favorite hobby of boys.

Inspiration for dangerous acts abounds nearly everywhere we look. So when a person acts on such inspiration, should the inspiration be blamed and the person spared?

Source: WESH.com/Orlando
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved