Missing Kids, But No AMBER Alert?

I don't understand our justice system.  I went to college and studied it and I still don't get the law.  Well, I take that back.  I understand the law.  I don't understand the people who create it without giving it any thought.

The AMBER Alert was created in the 90's and it stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.  It's been working since 1998 and can be a very effective way of alerting citizens to a kidnapping in progress.

Technology allows for AMBER Alerts to broadcast on digital highway signs, television, radio, and even text message alerts.  These messages will generally contain (when applicable) photos of the children, suspect (if one can be obtained), description the vehicle they may be in, and last location seen.  If someone seems anything matching the descriptions then they are to call the police to report their findings.

But, what qualifies for an AMBER Alert?  You would think that any missing kid would, but that's not the case as seen in the video below:


Why is it that some kids aren't given the same help as others?  How many minority kids have you seen on Nancy Grace or other news shows?  We need to stop acting as if some children are more important than others.  If you want to discuss this further in detail then comment at the bottom of this page.

Is there ever a situation when an AMBER Alert should not be issued for a child?

People Still Celebrate R. Kelly?

"Hey, girl!  You like Dora the Explorer?"

I'm watching the BET Awards last night and R. Kelly comes out to perform.  Now, I don't watch a lot of awards shows, but as of late, I've been getting back into them.  I once owned Kelly's "12 Play" CD.  It's one of the greatest R&B albums of all-time, if you ask me.  However, I can no longer listen to it because of the accusations thrown towards Kelly's way.

Here are some of the accusations:

In '96, a woman sued him for having inappropriate sexual relations with her when he was 24 and she was 15.  That case was settled for what was reported as $250,000 and the victim isn't allowed to speak about the case ever again.

In '99, he met a lady who was 17 at the time.  Now, although she said they never had sex until they were 18, she spoke of how backstage at an R. Kelly concert looked like a junior prom from all of the under aged girls.

In '00, his manager retired and said that Kelly needed professional help.  His manager was the uncle of singer, Aaliyah, who was once married to Kelly as a teen before that got annulled.  Rumor has it that he married her because she missed her period and thought she was pregnant.  The marriage would protect him from her being subpoenaed to testify against him in court for a statutory rape charge.  Wives can't testify against their husbands.  However, it was reported that she wasn't pregnant, but only missed her period due to an STD that he gave her.

In '01, a 17 year old claimed Kelly took her virginity.  That case was settled out of court like many others.  Kelly's "girlfriends" tended to want to settle more than put him away.

In '02, a teen said she met Kelly at her prom and eventually wound up pregnant by him.  She claimed that one of his associates took her to get an abortion and she also settled out of court.

What's so sad is that these aren't even all of the accusations made against the popular singer.  There were other cases that I chose not to mention to prevent such a long blog post.  That's a lot of finger pointing to one man if you ask me.  Do these ladies want a payday?  Well, yes.  From the sounds of it, they all did.

But, I personally believe that where there's smoke, there's fire.  And even if all of these accusations aren't true, the marriage to Aaliyah on 8/31/94, which has been confirmed, is enough for me to realize that dude is a pedophile.  But not enough for his fans.  No matter how many people come out of the "wood works," as long as he's keeping people dancing to his music, he gets a pass.

And that's what I saw tonight.  People still celebrate R. Kelly despite the fact that he has the history that he does.  Not me.  Everyone deserves a second chance and everyone deserves to be forgiven.  But, molesting children is the lowest of the low and because of that, I can't listen to him or watch him.

Do you think R. Kelly deserves to be celebrated despite multiple reported pay offs, a marriage to teen Aaliyah, but no convictions?

How Is That Even Legal?

The Mrs. was watching television recently and came across this commercial. She paused it using the DVR and called me into the room. What I saw shocked me so much, that I decided to take a photo of it to share with you all. Click on the photo to the right and read the fine print. For those of you too lazy to do so, let me tell you what it says: "The APR for a typical loan of $5,000 is 116.73% with 84 monthly payments of $486.58."

Allow me to do the math for those of you too lazy to click on your calculator application: 84 payments of $486.58 is $40,872.72 that you will pay back for that $5,000 loan.

How is that even legal? If I get a loan from this company, I have to pay over $40k over the next seven years? Now do you see why voting matters in our country? Because we have a Congress who cares so little about their constituents that they would allow something like this to even exist?

Whoops! Maybe I just jumped the gun on that statement. I just read a little further on the fine print and it says that "Western Sky Financial, LLC, is a 100% Native American-owned business operating on a Native American Reservation." I guess that means they're untouchable to Congress then.

Looks like the Native Americans are getting their money back after having their land stolen, huh? :)