I Redefined Luxury

Trying to raise a family and indulging my taste for luxury do not always coincide. When the economy took a turn for the worse after the housing market collapsed, I decided I had better make some changes.

I have always loved to shop, and it got to the point that I was buying Tiffany & Co. for my daughters and too many Coach bags for myself. I knew that this needed to stop, but that was more easily said than done. Luxury was still important to me, so I redefined what luxury was.

The bottom line is that luxury should be something that brings personal fulfillment – not something that involves brand names in an effort to impress others. Luxury is still important to me, but I found that it could embody life’s simple pleasures. Find out more about how you can rethink luxury by reading an article I wrote about redefining luxury.

Photo by Carol Kramberger

Congress Caves on SOPA/PIPA

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1499

Power to the people has not been as strong as it was on blackout day regarding SOPA and PIPA since the hippie anti-war protests of the 1960s. Because millions of Internet users contacted Congress to stop legislation on bills that would result in Internet censorship, Congress indefinitely postponed SOPA and PIPA legislation. It looks as if we are safe, for a while anyway. But the government wants control of the Internet, and I’m afraid some other scheme will rear its head sooner or later. If you want some background on the situation, check out my article about SOPA and PIPA really being about government control. Saying it was about Internet piracy was just a front.

South Carolina Debate Started Off Lively

As I watched the candidates take the stage, I knew I would be open-minded to anything they had to say – all except Rick Santorum that is. He lost me before the South Carolina debate even happened when he compared gay marriage to polygamy. So the debate for me was among three people: Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney (and in that order).

The South Carolina debate had some good one-liners, but I was disappointed that the national debt was not a topic. Ron Paul was able to mention a couple of times though that he plans to cut $1 trillion his first year in office, mostly by getting rid of entitlements. I guess the debate never went there because no one wants to discuss that the United States is bankrupt. At any rate, if you want to see some of the memorable quotes from the debate and why Newt Gingrich received a standing O, check out my commentary from Yahoo! News.

Casey Not Guilty – No Justice Today

Well, justice wasn’t served after all. The jury had reasonable doubt, despite the mounds of circumstantial evidence and motive the prosecution brought out.

Casey lied about having a job and a nanny for two years. As soon as Caylee became old enough to talk, Casey looked up "how to make chloroform" and "neck-breaking" on her computer. When Casey decided to kill Caylee, Casey gave Caylee chloroform, put three pieces of duct tape on her nose and mouth, wrapped her in the Winnie-the-Pooh blanket, put her in a trash bag, and then put her in the trunk of her car. Then, Casey went to Blockbuster with Tony, her boyfriend. When the car began to smell, Casey backed it into her garage, put Caylee into a laundry bag, borrowed a shovel from her neighbor, laid Caylee on the ground where she contemplated burying her, decided against it, and threw her into the swamp. Casey then changed her MySpace password to Timer55, knowing that was how long she could keep up the lies to her mother as to Caylee's whereabouts -- in 55 days, Caylee would have turned 3. Casey then partied and lived with her boyfriend, all the while lying to everyone on earth about where she and Caylee were. Casey, as Linda Drane Burdick said, was the only person who had a better life with Caylee gone. Casey had access to everything associated with Caylee's death: the duct tape, the blanket, the laundry bag, the clothes and the car. 

Did the jury make the correct decision? I think not. Well, maybe some justice will occur and Casey will get her tubes tied.

Casey Anthony Trial Ends

Wow. Having a blog that includes parenting tips never prepared me to learn what likely happened to little Caylee Anthony at the hands of her mother, Casey. Today, on what should have been a celebration of our nation’s independence, the Casey Anthony case wrapped up, and the jury is deciding Casey’s fate. 

Many people who did not follow the trial, as I did, believe that Casey might have accidentally killed Caylee, but those who did follow the trial know that what Casey did was premeditated murder. 

Linda Drane Burdick concluded closing arguments in what she hoped would be a last minute field goal. It was. Burdick asked the jury to decide who benefited from little Caylee’s death. Burdick showed that it wasn’t Cindy, Caylee’s grandmother, by playing a panic-stricken 911 call that Cindy made imploring police to find her granddaughter. It wasn’t George, Caylee’s grandfather, who tried to kill himself to be with Caylee. No. The only person who benefitted by Caylee’s death, Burdick demonstrated via photographs: One was of Casey partying and dancing days after her daughter being “missing,” and the other was of the tattoo Casey received days after killing Caylee – la bella vita, the beautiful life.

In case you are wondering whether this was a premeditated murder, think about this. Casey searched on her computer about how to make chloroform three months prior to the killing. After she killed Caylee, her MySpace password was Timer55, which meant that Casey only had 55 days to tell her mother lies about Caylee’s whereabouts until her mother would insist on seeing Caylee. In 55 days after the murder, Caylee would have turned 3 years old, and Cindy would have expected to see her for the birthday. Casey was caught on day 31 and never had a chance to get into her long-term lie.

If justice is served, the jury will come back with a guilty verdict of murder in the first degree.