What I Know About Lady Justice

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been following the Casey Anthony trial pretty darn closely.  The reasons for this are twofold.  It's a local case, happening about 10 miles from where I sit typing this post right now.  Also, I've come to love law and the intricacies of our judicial system.  And then there's the added bonus that this trial has turned out to be much juicier than anything we've seen yet this millennium.  The only thing I can really compare it to was the Menedez brothers case back in the 90's.  Even that isn't a fair comparison because that case was about two men killing their parents.  This is about one (very pretty) young woman allegedly killing her own (adorable) toddler.

You could ask anyone in the Orlando area if they know about Casey Anthony, and the answer would be a resounding yes.  Not only does everyone know about it, every has already made up their mind as to her guilt or innocence.  My not at all scientific conclusion is that probably 98% of people believe she's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The beauty of (or fallacy of) the judicial system in America is that all the defense has to do is introduce reasonable doubt into the mind of (in Florida--other states have different rules for producing a verdict) one lone juror.  If the prosecution can't prove beyond reasonable doubt for every single person in the jury box that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter Caylee, then Casey cannot be found guilty.  First degree murder means that the act was premeditated with malice aforethought.  In layman's terms, it was maliciously planned and carried out.

I consider myself in the lowly 2% of the population that are withholding judgment against Casey Anthony at this point.  Yes, Caylee is no longer with us and that is an awful tragedy.  I absolutely believe that Casey Anthony had something to do with her death.  Did she intentionally plan out her own child's murder?  I can't be sure of that.  If I were on the jury, at this point in the trial, I would be the one lone juror who had a reasonable doubt.

I would have never, however, been selected for the jury, had I been called to serve.  A part of me feels sorry for Casey Anthony, and I felt that way before the defense dropped the bomb in their opening statement that her father and brother allegedly sexually abused her.  I think she's a girl who has some serious mental and emotional issues that predate any of the events surrounding Caylee's birth, life or death.  That doesn't mean that I couldn't find her guilty if the state's evidence and testimony supported their case.  It just means that I think Casey Anthony's whole existence has been somewhat tragic.

Getting a fair trial in the midst of the frenzy of media coverage this case has gotten will be extremely difficult.  The American justice system was created and put into practice in a time when those in charge couldn't even dream of television, internet, cell phones, satellites and the like.  The system was never perfect, and even less so in the present day.  I still believe in Lady Justice, though.  I believe in the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  I believe in the death penalty for those found guilty of heinous crimes by a jury of their peers.  I believe in the prosecution's burden of proof.  Because of, and in spite of, all this, I hope that Casey Anthony gets a fair trial, for the sake of Caylee's memory.  The person who deserves justice more than anyone is that little girl who didn't get to experience the life she should have.

Noelle Lately

I've talked a little about this subject in previous posts, but I want to spend a little more time on it today.  If you don't know anything about websites, then bear with me for a minute while I break this down.  In fact, I'll just say it so you get the point.  I know when you look at my blog.  I have a web tracker that logs your IP address, along with other info like your city, state, web browser, OS, linked page, time spent on my site, etc.  As a certified internet lurker (a/k/a web stalker), this information comes in verrrry handy to me.  Basically, I know what you're up to.  I can tell who's been looking at what, when and for how long.  It's interesting because I get hits from extremely random places:  Fargo, ND; Jakarta, Indonesia; Mountain Valley, CA; Moscow City, Russia and Rio de Janiero, Brazil to name a few.  I don't know anyone in any of the aforementioned places, but I think it's great that I have a diverse readership.  I write this blog mostly for my friends and myself, but I also write it for anyone to read, and I hope that people will link back and visit again and again.

If I know you, then I know when you're looking at my page.  Granted, I have more than one friend in most places, so it's not as easy to narrow down:  If you're in Palm Bay, FL, then you'll remain somewhat anonymous, as I have many friends there.  However if you live in, say, Canton, GA (Hello there!!), then I know who you are!  Believe me, you can glean a lot of information about me from my posts, but I always keep them somewhat cryptic to protect the guilty parties.  I never name names, unless they've been changed.  In fact, you don't even know my name unless you know me personally.  If I'm interested in finding out something about someone, you can damn sure bet that I will FB stalk, Google and use any other electronic means necessary to gain information about them.  This interweb business is, after all, a two way street.

Those of you who look at my blog every single day... Know that I'm never going to post every day.  You won't miss much by missing a day or two.  My life, sadly, just isn't that exciting.  But in the interest of those who do, I've created a list of random facts to bring you up to speed on Noelle Lately.  Here we go:

• I listen to Lady Antebellum, Alkaline Trio, Matt Nathanson and Miley fuckin' Cyrus cranked up in the car with the windows rolled down, singing along at the top of my lungs.  It's good stress relief.
• I'm working out religiously, and definitely starting to see results.
• I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing, but that's just how I roll.
• I have a crush on Craig Ferguson from The Late Late Show.
• Never in my life have I cared less what people think of me, unless they're my family and friends.
• I do NOT miss the life I had in Tampa.
• I'm more confident now than I've ever been, and I have no one but myself to thank for it.
• I'm cooking less, but better, than I have in the past.
• I'm proud of the fact that I'm quirky.
• I spend enough time on Facebook that I should work for them.
• My best friend is still the same person as when I was 16.
• I've raised my standards in the dating game quite a bit.  Those who may have passed muster in the past no longer would make the cut.
• I still don't understand Conservative Republicans, and probably never will... Although I count a couple of my closest friends in the world among them.
• Semisonic said it best when they said, "I'm feeling strangely fine."

So that's it for now.  I suggest to those of you who look everyday at this thing, get a life.  I know I have.

Why the 'Net is Evil

I love the internet. You can find seemingly endless ways to amuse yourself with a wifi connection. I love having a blog and everyone being able to comment on my thoughts if they so choose. I also like being connected to the outside world without having to actually be in touch with the outside world. There are a great many things about connectivity.

What I seriously dislike is that under normal circumstances (or without a credit card, depending on your outlook), you can get yourself just enough information to hang yourself. You can blog stalk and silently lurk in all kinds of places. You can get yourself a tidbit too much info, and then when you need more to piece the whole story together, you're SOL. Think about it, would you have over 300 Facebook friends if you weren't curious to see how fat people have gotten since high school? Or who's dating who? Nope, not a chance. How many kids does she have, anyway? You wouldn't know if not for the net. But you might not know that while she has 5 kids, they're all from the same daddy, who just happens to not be interested in digital connections.

The reason I say all this is because I hate it when you see something that could be something... Or nothing... And you just don't know how to take it without asking questions that are really none of your damn business. It's hard to remember that there are boundaries. You see that little counter on the side of my page that counts hits on my blog? It also logs IP addresses along with city and state information of each visitor. So if I know only one person in say, Alpharetta, Georgia, then I can pretty much assume that the IP adress in Alpharetta is the person I know checking me out. If I know your exact IP address, even better.

This leads to creative snooping on some people's part. I just hope that for their sake, what they see doesn't upset them.