“Stop Internet Cyber Bullying”

I blogged earlier about the safety measures that MySpace and Facebook are implementing on their sites. Today there has been breaking news of a story that is very sad to say the least.

A 13-year-old girl has committed suicide due to a perpetrating hoax of online harassment by another MySpace user. It seems that the culprit used MySpace as a joke posing as a young teenage male who met up with with this 13-year old girl.

Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis (an adult neighbor of Megan and her family) allegedly helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Josh didn’t exist. Megan had a crush on Josh who was on medication and the bullying got exponentially out of hand.

Click video for updating story

Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, that the world would be better off without her. After this event the account of the non-existent Josh Evans was deleted.

The non-existent Josh felt things were getting out of hand and decided to write and send cruel messages to Megan to get her mad so that she would delete him off her “friends” list.

Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending. The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl’s weaknesses,” Hernandez said. “Whether the defendant (Lori Drew) could have foreseen the results, she’s responsible for her actions.”

The Los Angeles grand jury has just indited Lori Drew in 4 charges against her of this horrific situation. This clearly violates the TOS for MySpace by providing false information to obtain a MySpace account. This is one of the first cases of prosecution of Cyber Bullying.

What I think…….. More and more we know that bullying of any kind can lead to disastrous actions. We never know what can set a person off to devastating measures. My concern is of the adult in this situation. Why do this in the first place, and the second place if it was felt the situation was going to far, why wasn’t the account deleted before further bullying had been written? The mind of the adult here was not too sound to speak of to have the time to do this when there are so many activities in life that adults have to tend to. Why bully a teenage neighbor ? This is very sad very sad. This is not the first case but of Cyber bullying and it won’t be the last but one thing is for sure that maybe this case will allow for more of an outreach and awareness for all intended in the use of the internet and social sites.

Well ain’t this a kick in the head!

The beat goes on with the news about the attorney general for the state of Ohio Marc Dan. Will he be dis barred? Evidently there is a sexual harassment suite under investigation for Dan. He admits to having a tawdry affair with an aide of his.

Married , he apologized to his wife and supporters. But would not step down until today when he resigned. Quote, “I did not create an atmosphere in my public and personal life that is consistent with the important mission of the Office of Attorney General.” “I am heartbroken by my failure to recognize the problems being created and by my failure to stop them.”

The investigation uncovered a seedy underside to the office rife with booze, profanity, inappropriate sexual activity, misuse of state vehicles and on-the-job threats involving the Mafia. This has resulted in many resignations and numerous personnel being fired.

What a big blow for Ohio in law now the rush is on for a replacement for the up and coming elections this year.

Full story here!

What do I think……The chains and scales of Lady Justice have been burned to a crisp.

Laughing Gas! LOL!

With all the latest back and forth talk about a gas tax for us over taxed Americans. Our good friend Garfield has a thought about the whole tawdry deal.

Take it away Garfield.

A lot of folks can’t understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country.

~~~ Well, there’s a very simple answer.

~~~ Nobody bothered to check the oil.

~~~ We just didn’t know we were getting low.
~~~

The reason for that is purely

geographical.

~~~ Our OIL

is located in :

~~~ ALASKA

~~~ California

~~~ Coastal Florida

~~~ Coastal Louisiana

~~~ Wyoming

~~~ Colorado

~~~ Kansas

~~~ Oklahoma

~~~ Pennsylvania and

~~~ Texas

Our dipsticks are located in DC.

Any Questions? NO?…Didn’t think So.

Oh Obama!

Well the trickle down theory is getting ready to be an avalanche as news reports are coming all over the states about the Democratic nomination for Barack. With a few more states for each candidate to run in the primaries. The Democratic superdelegates are stating that it is time for them to back Barack and support him to unite the Democratic party.

With more endorsements coming in everyday, the superdelegates are the ones who will decide the party’s nomination for president. The latest superdelegates are from Utah, Ohio, and Arizona, and the two Virgin Islands who had previously backed Clinton. These additions enabled Barack to surpass Clinton for the first time in the campaign.

For Clinton to regain momentum she would have to do it by a wide margin. The idea of having Barack as president is beginning to gel and what the Democratic party was waiting for was either candidate to clearly establish themselves as the clear leader. They feel Barack has done that.

Now with this turning of events superficial talks of Clinton as Obama’s Vice President are beginning to grow. See what he says it’s still early….

What I think………..Although from the beginning I was torn between the two and was concerned that both were going for the same position. I have said all along that they would be great together to run this country and get us back on track. Our economic structure has taken a huge hit with unemployment rising everyday and the cost for bare essential items surmounting it has been difficult for the American people to survive. We need a boost and they can do it as President and Vice President.

Jack in the box or out of the box thinking from Microsoft

What is next ? Microsoft execs are saying that we may in the future be able to dispense our medications from an printer cartridge! OMG!

Printers are already liquid delivery systems, but instead of ink, people might someday put the ingredients of different medications into printer cartridges, said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, in a speech in Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday.

The drugstore-in-a-box, as he called it, would be part of several devices that could increasingly use information technology for health diagnosis and treatment.

What I think? Don’t we have enough on our medicinal plates to contend with? Better still what sorts of regulations are we going to be faced with on this platform? Makes my head hurt, hey does anyone have an Aleve? Oh but wait you might just be able to go to the drugstore and reuse your recyclable printer cartridge and get a fill up of Aleve. Oh my! Read the article yourself and see just how this outside the box thinking is being developed.

Who is looking out for the faces and spaces of our kids ?!!

Besides the prices of gasoline and food going up you just feel like you are being gouged everywhere. Especially when it comes to the essential items we need to survive like food, shelter, and water. I could go on for days about that one. But among those three basic essential items safety is getting another boost for the protection of kids on Facebook and MySpace. I for one am pleased being a child advocate this is something that is always a concern for me just how safe are the things we do in society and how that can effect the safety or our children. Well Facebook and MySpace have stepped up to the plate. Despite what the internet gossip is they have decided to do something about it.

Among other changes, Facebook has agreed to:

- Ensure companies offering services on its site comply with its safety and privacy guidelines.

- Keep tobacco and alcohol ads from users too young to purchase those products.

- Remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may involve incest, pedophilia, bullying or other inappropriate content.

- Send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult.

- Review users’ profiles when they ask to change their age, ensuring the update is legitimate and not intended to let adults masquerade as children.

The protections included in the MySpace and Facebook pacts could be expanded to smaller services such as Friendster and Bebo, Blumenthal said.

“We’re entering a new era in social networking safety,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. “This agreement is open-ended in envisioning advances in technology that will permit even stronger steps in the future toward protecting kids’ safety.”

Don’t stop here guys keep goin’ is all I say!

Happy Spam-iversary??!!!

Happy Spam-iversary ??!!

Well 30 years ago per this news casting video below we were slammed with the first spam from Gary Thurek in 1978. Our emails will never be the same again.

1st Spammer!

What I think….Can you believe this? Bad enough we have junk snail mail and now we are celebrating spam well I tell you all we can do is just keep deleting and deleting. Maybe if you research the web you can find Gary’s website or blog and send him a resounding thanks for the Viagra, the Lotto winnings from the U.K., or better yet pretend like you are from Ireland and you are his long lost relative trying to find him to give him his inheritance, LOL!

Microsoft backs off from Yahoo hostile takeover

After a turning battle of withdrawal Microsoft has backed off of the hostile takeover that they planned for Yahoo. Siting that it would not be in the best interest for them at this time. They had increased their bid for Yahoo to be $41.5 billion, or $37 per share. What seems to the be issue is that Yahoo executives wanted $38 per share in their last Wednesday’s meeting.

Microsoft being in the third seat of internet search engine companies wanted to chip away at the number one spot (Google). Competition is the essence of business. But Microsoft felt it wasn’t a good business move at this time to takeover Yahoo because Yahoo with their negotiations with Google in an alliance would cede too much power to Google in the lucrative search advertising market.

What I think….. One can only wait and see what is to come next over this year as to whether Microsoft will step up to the plate again and try their hand at bat. I personally hope that whatever the outcome Yahoo executives will use their heads in their decisions. If a merger is to be sanctioned by them goodness let it be with Google.

Microsoft vs Yahoo

Check out this video from February for some background information.

Loaded: Google versus Microsoft

You make a difference

Wow, I just viewed this video that was sent to me by a friend on MySpace and was so moved and flattered to pass it on to my readers. We all make a difference. We are presented by so much negativity in a day it can be quite unbareable for most people. To know that there is something special inside of you that can make a difference is a step in the right direction for feeling positive inside.

Please pass this video on to someone who you feel makes a difference in your life and tell them to pass it on. Just watch the appreciation on their faces when you present this to them either via video or checking out the website for the blue ribbons. Or better yet make your own. We need more of this as a world just one step at a time one just never knows.

Don’t forget to pass it on!

Make a Difference

Trying out a new application

I am trying out a new widget. It’s called Skribit and it is a survey type of application for me to ask my readers what they would be interested in getting my views about or would like me to blog about. Head on over to my blogtalkradio blog called INFO4URADIO and give it a try and let me know what you think. It’s in the left hand navigation area. Don’t forget to bookmark the blog so you can come back and make suggestions anytime. We would love to hear your suggestions.