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Florida retirement community has no ethics

Ugh! The more I listen to the news here in Florida, the more I wonder why I turned it on in the first place. We certainly do have some crazy stuff going on around here, ranging from children being dumped in trash cans only to be found states away, to children being kicked out of their homes because of their age.

It’s a crazy world that we live in people! Just take a good, hard look at Florida if you ever need a reminder.

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the case of 6-year-old Kimberly Broffman.
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Boing Boing blog vs. Ralph Lauren stupidity

For years, the fashion industry has presented controversial advertisements around the world. With the development of digital imaging software like PhotoShop, the deceit becomes instantly attainable with just a click of the mouse.

Just ask Calvin Klein and now, Ralph Lauren.
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Leah Lust: From teaching high school to playing in porn

Honestly, Florida. When are you going to stop turning out (no pun intended) people like this?

That’s exactly the first thought that came to my mind after reading the latest news story about the latest teacher turned latest sex fiend…oh, I’m sorry, porn star. Oh yes, and not to mention, how many times am I going to read about a woman like this in Florida? (Seriously though. What’s up with this trend? Anyone?)
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Hypocrisy among the anti-abortion elite

The public healthcare debate is still underway, but another healthcare issue is emerging. This issue is viewed as a “right” by some, and “murder” by others. It’s one of the most controversial aspects of womens’ rights: abortion.

Abortion brings out strong emotions in many people, which which can include violent threats. In the past year alone, we have seen many abortion providers murdered by pro-life activists.

Hypocritical? I’d say so.

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Fired for marrying the wrong person

Growing up we’re all conditioned to believe that someone, someday, will come along and take your breath away.  When this happens, love will show you new things you’ve never thought about and turn you into a new person, giving you grand new experiences and adding to the list of things people try to accomplish in a short life span.  In essence, marriage and love will change your life.

Most of the time that change isn’t being fired from your job. But such is the case in Fort Myers Beach when they fired one Scott Janke.

The Fort Myers Beach official was fired for a simple wrongdoing: marrying an adult film star, Anabela Mota Janke (stage name Jazella Moore) last October. When the Mayor and town council caught wind of the couple’s wedlock, Scott Janke was subsequently fired hours later.  The council even came out and said Mr. Janke did great work and had shown tremendous character and there were never problems, but that his marriage to a porn actress would impair his ability to function at his job.

It obviously didn’t affect his performance from the wedding to the date of his firing.

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Quick facts on Scientology

Like many other people, I knew very little about Scientology. I knew something about Tom Cruise and another something about placentas. Until recently, that was just about all of the time I was willing to dedicate to learning about it. After seeing the hundreds of people who have dedicated their lives to it as I drove through Clearwater, Fla. where the headquarters resides, I decided it was time to dig a little deeper.

Scientology was founded in 1958 by L. Ron Hubbard, who was an American science-fiction writer. The church’s religious texts are from Hubbard who wrote on things like “dianetics.”

Dianetics, according to the Church of Scientology International’s Web site, is a “spiritual healing technology” that can alleviate unwanted feelings or thoughts. The ultimate goal is to obtain the state of “Clear,” which can be obtained by the thetan (spiritual being of a person) going through dianetic auditing (something akin to counseling).

According to the official Church of Scientology Web site, “Scientology is about the individual man or woman. Its goal is to bring an individual to a sufficient understanding of himself and his life and free him to make improvements where he finds them necessary and in the ways he sees fit.” They believe that each person has a different truth, saying “Only those things which one finds true for himself are true.”

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Sexual abuse in the college sphere

When we were younger, our parents would always tell us “Don’t speak to strangers.” Today, children learn about “Stranger Danger” in schools across the country. As children, we don’t realize the terrors of what can result if you get caught with a creep. Adults give special attention to ensuring that children are safe from the horrors of life. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but we do try.

Once one crosses over into being a teenager, there isn’t as much of a focus on reminding people to be careful. Assuming once we get to a certain age we “should know better than to put ourselves in harm’s way.” It seems that by the time you’re in high school, you should be able to discern right from wrong, let alone when you get to college.

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Phelps leads Americans down high road

At 24, Michael Phelps has lived the high life; both literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately for Phelps, for a while, the poor guy’s incredible Olympic achievements were outshined by the ominous photo… with the bong. The photo, published in January by the British newspaper News of the World, flushed Phelps’s “All-American good guy” image right down the drain. His reported $500,000 deal with Kellogg’s was also quickly dropped.

Sure he groveled and apologized to his fans for his “inappropriate” behavior. And sure, we forgave him. I mean, have you seen the guy swim?!

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Ah, to be 17 again: Jasmine Bedwell controversy

Think back to when you were 17.

Those were the best days of your life, right? You were making all the best decisions. You probably regret nothing. Now, imagine that you’re Jasmine Bedwell, a 17-year-old living in Tampa, Fla.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Bedwell’s life has gone something like this: She’s run away from home more than 21 times. When she was in the fifth grade, her mother had a boyfriend call the police on Bedwell claiming that she had gotten physically violent over doing chores. Jeff Rainey, president and CEO of Hillsborough Kids Inc. said that she was abused all of her life by her caretakers.

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Fed court rules ‘cyber bullying O.K.’

We’ve reached an all new low: allowing a 50-year-old to manipulate children into wanting to kill themselves. The next time you want to create a fake MySpace page and harass someone to the point where they want to kill themselves, you can rest assured that you will not be persecuted at all. You can go ahead and violate the terms and conditions all you want.

Think back to 2006, when eighth-grader, Megan Meier, committed suicide after receiving harassing MySpace messages from, who she thought was, a peer. This case brought cyber bullying to a new level. Meier’s ex-friend’s mother, Lori Drew, created a MySpace page pretending to be a 16-year-old boy who lived nearby named Josh Evans. Meier quickly became friends with “Evans,” and the two would talk online daily.

After a few weeks of talking back and forth, Meier received an e-mail from “Evans” saying, “‘I don’t know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you’re not nice to your friends.”

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