The Binary Circumstance

This morning on The Today Show, Gen. Wayne Downing, an NBC News Military Analyst said that Osama bin Laden has been crippled to the extent that he is no longer calling the shots when it comes to terrorism.

He added that the terrorist cells popping up all around the world are franchises “like McDonalds,” having a similar structure, look and goals but acting independently.

I have a feeling that the suits at McDonalds aren’t too thrilled by that comparison.

Some prosecutor must have been up for re-election.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Parents who were charged with child abuse last August have been exonerated and reunited with their children.

Charbel Hamaty was charged with sexually assaulting his newborn son, and Teresa Hamaty was arrested for taking sexually explicit pictures.

The couple describe the ordeal as a “nightmare” that started over a roll of film that Charbel Hamaty dropped off at a north Raleigh Eckerd.

The photo that raised alarms shows a naked Kristoff, now 16-months-old, getting a kiss from his father on the belly button, Teresa Hamaty said.

When the photos were shown to the police, the couple was arrested, and Kristoff was put in protective custody, while his half-sister, Victoria, was handed over to her birth father.

Teresa Hamaty was released on bond, but wasn’t allowed contact with her children for months.

Charbel Hamaty spent six months in prison before the charges were dropped because of a report submitted by an expert saying there was no criminal intent in the photos.

Six months in jail for kissing your son’s belly button?

I’m speechless.

They think they’re special. They think they’re better than gay men. Goorge W. Bush likes them.

But, it doesn’t look like God is on their side.

First, four scout leaders were electocuted while setting up a tent no scout badges for them!!!, then scores of the young scouts were sickened by heat while waiting for President Bush to arrive. Just having to wait for Bush would make me sick.

From the Edmonton Sun:

BOWLING GREEN, Virginia — Scores of boy scouts were sickened by the heat yesterday while waiting for U.S. President George W. Bush to arrive at a memorial service for four scout leaders who were killed Monday while pitching a tent beneath a power line.

The president’s visit to the Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill was postponed because of the threat of severe thunderstorms and strong winds. Instead, Bush is scheduled to visit the gathering today.

But before the president’s appearance was called off, many scouts fell ill from temperatures that rose into the upper 30s C, made worse by high humidity.

Soldiers carried boy scouts on stretchers to the base hospital, about five kilometres from the event arena, and some were airlifted from the Jamboree.

Jamboree officials called for emergency assistance from surrounding areas and ambulances transported scouts to the hospital during a storm that brought high winds and lightning.

They call this a Jamboree.

If electrocutions and heat stroke aren’t enough to make you see the error of your ways, you get to spend the afternoon with George W. Bush.

UPDATE 7/30/05: God’s wrath against the Boy Scouts didn’t end with the Jamboree in Virginia. In California He’s tossing lightning bolts at them.

You thought diamonds are a girl’s best friend?

Nah! Some sperm and child support payments are what some women prefer.

Consider the case of Mr. Deon Francois and his ex Chaamel Francois.

This couple is currently getting divorced but before the relationship hit the rocks they were trying to have kids. According to court documents, Mr. Deon Francois’ sperm was frozen at NYU. Then the break up happened - about two-and-a-half years ago. Mrs. Francois continued to pay $500 a year to keep the sperm frozen and underwent in vitro.

Mr. Francois says he didn’t know about any of this, in fact, he didn’t know that she was still trying to get pregnant. He thought that if nobody was paying to freeze the sperm, it would be thrown away and it was a non-issue.

John James, Deon Francois’ Attorney: “He did not want a child at that time and he did not give any kind of written or oral consent for NYU to use the sperm, in fact didn’t pay storage fees. He moved out, he forgot about the whole plan of having children with Chaamel.”

But Mrs. Francois attorney says not only did her husband know, he was cashing thousands in refunds from the couple’s insurance company - reimbursement for fertility bills that she had already paid.

Steven Gildin, Chaamel Francois’ Attorney: “What do you do in a situation when a man relies on a woman who says ‘I’m on birth control’ but she’s lying. Or what if the birth control just fails? Does that father then have the right to walk away from his financial responsibilies? It’s the same thing.”

I just wonder when straight guys are going to learn.

Given the current legal climate, you cannot afford to trust a woman with responsibility for birth control or your sperm.

When women got complete control of reproductive choice, everyone else lost control over their own lives.

When is our court system going to start calling this what it is? Child abuse.

Using a child as a tool of extortion is child abuse.