A Cause...

The news was on in my apartment yesterday. As you can probably guess, they were covering the Casey Anthony story. I'm a little sickened about the mood the media and the American public are in over this case. Most people I've talked to are pretty certain this woman is going to die. That she's going to be assassinated. Many people think that she'll deserve it. There is a word for when people try to take justice into their own hands: Lynching. And the way the media has been running with this story, like they run with ALL stories, has been feeding an already hot fire. It is literally inciting a lynch mob.

Like most people, I learned about government in school. And so, I know that the court system in this country does its best to ensure that innocent people have the best possible chance of escaping false judgment. I'm sure that many innocent lives have been saved for this reason. The unfortunate consequence is that some guilty people have slipped through the cracks. It doesn't mean that the system is broken. It means that it is flawed. Like all things. I believe in the system. I'm able to write this blog because of the freedoms a system like ours protects. These same freedoms may have helped a guilty women walk free. But I can say with complete honesty that I'd rather the one walk free than live in a country where I'm worried I don't have a right to a fair trial if it ever comes to that. Everyone should have a chance. You weren't on the jury; I wasn't. We didn't get to make this decision. We shouldn't get to choose if she dies now.

One last thing. I am CONSTANTLY DISAPPOINTED by the news on my television. It under-represents the grand majority of people in this country. It treats its duty to inform like a common soap-box. Like a blog.
Like a freaking Facebook status. It angers me. People who know me know I don't get angry often.

If I see a problem there must be one. Right now, I see a problem. And I want anyone, EVERYONE reading this blog to help me solve it.

I want you to turn off your television.

Book List and Other Things

So far this summer I've read:
A Moveable Feast -Earnest Hemingway
Love and the Eye -Laura Newbern
The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -John Berendt
The Absolute Sandman Vol. 1- Neil Gaiman
The Absolute Sandman Vol. 2- Neil Gaiman
Working on:
In the Skin of a Lion- Michael Ondaatje
Planning On:
Handwriting- Michael Ondaatje
The Idiot- Fydor Dostoevsky
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess

Making a total of 10 books, which would be more than I've ever read in an summer. Sounds fun. :)

Other things,
I've welcomed a kitten into my life and he's exposed my commitment issues. Sometimes I'm think, Oh glory I've got a kitten! Mostly I think, Oh dear, I've got a cat forever...unless I accidentally kill it. Dear God, PLEASE don't let me kill it! What was I thinking? Man, what was I thinking? Anyways, he's black and white. I named him Jackson Pollock. Below is a picture for reference...or interest in case you were expecting something more insightful. Also, it's in order to make this section "other things", rather than just "another thing."