Compostable SunChip Bag and Green Living

If you had not stumbled upon SunChip's compostable bags, well, they only come with one variety now.  What articles don't mention is that it's only been pulled off the market in the U.S.  Because only Americans care more about their convenience and "noise" of a chip bag than the effects that bag has on the environment.  You wonder why other countries don't care to listen to the U.S. about environmental issues and pollution.  We can't even get behind a great innovation for CHIP BAGS.  Come on, people. Yes, it's loud, but it's not hard to pour the chips into a bowl, or you could adopt my method of opening the bag really wide and sticking your hand through.. just don't hit the bag.  Another solution is to put them in an airtight container, which will keep them fresh AND you can just compost the bag.  My favorite container: OXO pop containers.

While sometimes living green might seem expensive or inconvenient, there are actually small ways that every person can live just a little more responsibly.  Maybe you can help encourage this with your gift-giving this holiday season.  Here are my favorite discoveries and why I love them:

• Wrap-n-Mat: placemat and sandwich holder in one, cute, and totally reusable.  Easy to clean and cuts down on use of plastic baggies for the brief period that you carry your sandwich from home to work.

• Snack Taxi: again, so cute, and so handy for snacks.  I usually just rinse it clean but will occasionally wash it with some dish soap.  Way more fun than a lame old snack bag anyway.  Lined to prevent leakage, though not recommended for super leaky/wet snacks.

• Twist cleaning supplies: biodegradable sponges, cleaning cloths, etc, that are all safe to sanitize in the dishwasher (makes me love them more than rags or towels that I have to run through the washing machine).  I had been feeling so guilty about using paper towels as much as I do for daily cleaning, being a total clean freak, and found my much better solution.  In the long run, I'll save money on paper towels, too! 

• Free high efficiency light bulbs from Duke Energy: customers can call or go online to request them and you get a whole box full.  These bulbs last for years and help you reduce energy costs.  Be sure to look into proper disposal of these bulbs!  

• Reusable produce bags: Washable bags for your fruits and veggies (just stick them in your reusable grocery bags... you are using them, right?).  You can get these at a variety of places online or at some grocery stores.  Maybe there isn't the same money saving aspect to these bags, but they are not terribly expensive and really, who wants an accumulation of those plastic bags from the grocery anyway?

See?  It's not so hard to be just a little green.  When you drive by one of those landfill mountains, you can be at least a little glad that you added that much less non-biodegradable crap into that big, smelly pile.

Good Deed of the Month: Cinderella Fundraiser

Shameless plug: Each year, the Ensemble Theatre (a very cool theater in Over the Rhine in Cincinnati) sets aside one performance where all the proceeds go to the work of the Children's Law Center, where I work.  This year's performance is Cinderella, on December 4, 2010 at 2:00 pm.  Bring friends and family, or if you are out of town, consider donating some tickets for some of our clients and their families.  Either way, it's a good deed that helps support good work!  Click here for more information.

Ahh, fashion.

As we watched the American Music Awards, the husband wondered out loud whether or not a female singer would ever wear normal clothes again.  It's a good question:

 

Lady Gaga, I blame you for making everyone think that bathing suits are appropriate performance attire.  Katy Perry, that spandex pantsuit is scary.  On a tangentially related note, why does anyone think that wearing leggings or tights that are essentially pantyhose are an acceptable substitute for pants?  You still look like you are wearing pantyhose, it's rarely flattering, and there is major danger of looking like you have a FUPA!

Spotted on the Internet: WHAT??

 Denver Post: Anything seem out of place in the medical marijuana news?

Priceline.com: Excuse me, when Alicia from Wilmington said too many blacks, did she think that was ok?  Did she really mean what I think she meant?

Political Depression

I'll be honest- I come from an immigrant Taiwanese family that was politically disengaged for as long as I can remember.  We did not talk much about politics.  For a long time, politics did not interest me.  In my adult life, I am still playing catch up to many years of apathy.  As I do so, I think I am more aware of the political apathy of people in my every day life and it disturbs me.  So I'm writing, I guess, to pump myself up.

As much as watching commentary and news on the political landscape depresses me, I force myself to be in tune.  I am realizing- maybe too late- that our country is in trouble.  We're in trouble because people like Sarah Palin are able to run for Vice-President.  People who, as Republican Lisa Murkowski stated recently, lack intellectual curiosity.  (There appears to be at least one Republican who can be somewhat reasonable and honest.)  We're in trouble because when I saw Mike Huckabee running for president a few years ago, he seemed extreme to me, but now seems relatively normal. 

How easy it is for us middle class folks to just stick our heads in the sand when it comes to politics.  We go about our lives doing the best we can, being good people.  I don't think this is enough anymore, if it ever was.  Educated, reasonable people must have a voice in what is going on in politics.  Someone has to tell Mitch McConnell it is an abuse of his political position to declare his mission is to prevent Obama from having a second term.  Stop wasting our time!!!

Ok, stepping down from the soapbox, now.  But seriously, please care.  If the likes of Sarah Palin or Mitch Romney (who believes in magic underpants) end up running the country, we really are done for.

Police: Mom left kids with felon

Police: Mom left kids with felon

News alert: it isn't against the law to leave your children with someone who has been convicted of a felony.  1) Maybe she didn't know he had a prior felony and/or a gun, and 2) not every person lives a life segregated from people who have committed crimes in the past.  I'm sure the kids got scared when they couldn't find mom (though I don't know why they were up that late anyway), and that's why they called the police.  There is actually no indication that the kids were in danger.  To make it all worse, they arrested mom, which means the kids are separated from her and will now have contacts with social services... never bodes well for a child.  Did he commit a crime by possessing a firearm?  Sure, fine, charge him with that.  As for the rest?  Stop messing with people's lives, government, you are only making it worse.  And Cincinnati.com, maybe you give reporting on poor mom's and their "child abuse" a break for a while.  I'm sure it's really doing their kids a lot of favors that you have branded them as bad mothers. 

Miss World winner, Alexandria Mills, returns to Louisville

Miss World winner, Alexandria Mills, returns to Louisville

Did anyone else know that in addition to Miss America and Miss Universe, there was a Miss World? I missed that one.

Train kills 20 Cows

Good old Ohio.  "A herd of cows wandered onto a railroad line at the wrong time Tuesday, and it did not end well."

Oops.  At least "no humans were injured."

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!

Bears on the prowl in Russia

Apparently bears in Russia are so hungry that they have on occasion, "gained access" to bodies in graves.  Gross. According to the article, they are teaching each other how to get into coffins.  I am envisioning the bear conversation going on as this training occurs.  Maybe Stephen Colbert's fear of bears isn't so misplaced....

Rand Paul supporter wants apology from protester

Rand Paul supporter wants apology from protester

Hey lady. I really think you should apologize to me since I stomped on your head!

What????

We saw Bill Maher recently, and a section of his show discussed the idea that patriotism has morphed into this nearly delusional idea that admitting anything is wrong with the United States is unpatriotic.  As Bill says often, we shouldn't want our country "back", but we should want it "forward."  He raises a good point: why does Obama get criticized when he is honest about something that the US has not done well or was wrong in as being weak?  Ridiculous.

Anyway, back to this guy who stomped on a 23-year-old woman's head: man up, apologize, you dumb brute.  But that's probably expecting too much.

Death won't halt rhino breeding program

Complements of the Cincinnati Enquirer: Death won't halt rhino breeding program

Whew. I was really worried about this. Thank you Enquirer for putting that fear to rest.

SERIOUSLY?! Am I a terrible person? Hundreds of people posting sympathy messages on Facebook? People will Facebook sympathy anything.

On a side note, I did find it fascinating that rhinos have a 480 day gestation. Holy frozen sperm, that is a long time!

Alligator eats boy's pet turtle at aquarium

I'm not sure why this article amused/bemused me so much when I saw it a few weeks ago.  It might be the unfortunate coincidence that the boy happened to be at the aquarium the very day his poor turtle was devoured.  Or the quote, "Oh no alligator, let it go!"  Or the fact that the aquarium apologized to the family for what appears to be a solid lesson of, well, nature, and thinking that the kid would be consoled by a dolphin meet and greet.  Ah the traumas of childhood.

Hiccup Girl in Serious Trouble

 'Hiccup Girl' charged with murder after allegedly uring (sic) man into trap

1. CNN, you might want to check your spelling on that title.  I do not know what uring is.
2. This is very unfortunate, and a weird reverse on "To Catch a Predator"- wonder if that's where the kids got the idea.
3. Not only is this sad for a 19 year old and the victim, it's also unfortunate that her reputation apparently proceeds her as the "Hiccup Girl."  I must have missed that particular internet sensation.

*probably shouldn't make fun of CNN when I have typos too!

Strange Phenonmenon: Making Ignorance Chic

I love this opinion article in the NYT: Making Ignorance Chic, by Maureen Dowd.  It's so sad but true- and I fear that we as a country have fallen prey to "Sarah's America."  Our country was founded by thinkers, deep thinkers.  Once upon a time, it was, as Dowd points out, "it was cool to be smart."  The mind boggling trend the past decade has been to favor the "common sense" folks with "American" values over the "intellectual elites."  Here's what I wish I understood better: where did we depart from the marriage between intellectualism and common sense?  The two aren't mutually exclusive and I don't know where the idea of the intellectuals versus... the ??? came from. 

Kurt Vonnegut's Look at the Birdie, published posthumously, has a haunting short story called "The Petrified Ants" where some anthropologists are looking at an ant civilization that has been found petrified in stone.  They observe this progression of the ants from intellectuals to being taken over by violent brutes.  Sound familiar?  Good read.

In large part, this recent rash of racist "patriotism" and intellectual hatred has to be racially based.  Why else would there be this insinuation of suspicion... or blatant outcry against well-educated people (a.k.a. Barack Obama).  Let's face it: the Republicans (as in the vocal party, I won't speak for everyone obviously) hate the idea of a black man being president.  They hate the idea that our country has become so diverse.  And they have capitalized on that hatred by reigning in uneducated bigots to do the dirty work for them.  I recently heard Michelle Alexander speak on her new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.  Her premise is fascinating, and perhaps at first glance, a little strong.  But the more I think about it, the more I think this is true and that this permeates the climate in our country.  Without so many words, there is a rebellion going on- an attempt at regaining control and a perception that the majority has "lost control" of the country to the minorities. 

And what can we do about it?  Are the remaining sane people in the country too tired, too fed-up, too disdainful to stand up against this snowball of bigoted craziness?  We can't give in, we can't get disenchanted and stop being involved.  I am guilty of this- I change the channel because I can't stand the reality of this happening in the news, I ignore politics.  I'm going to stop doing that though, because we have to fight the erosion...

Letter to the Media

Dear Cincinnati Enquirer:

I believe this screen shot explains my previous letter:

Sincerely,

A Seriously Crimed-out Reader

Women to Dread

When Sarah Palin made her political debut, she rocked my world in a very bad way.  With every vacuous and ignorant remark she made, I would cringe.  I swore that if she got into office I would leave the country.  I had never been this incensed about a politician in my lifetime.  This is not how I imagined women taking leadership in politics would be.  Shrill soundbites, meaningless phrases... all purporting feminism.

Ladies, this is not feminism.  It is the opposite!  The Republican Party/Conservatives have created a monster breed of unintelligent female political candidates.  It's sheer evil genius to try to trick the less than educated conservatives into... I don't know, thinking they are somehow progressive?  I'm not even sure if that's the draw.  But since then, all intelligent women can shake their heads with dread and agony...  the Palin minions have multiplied!

In no particular order:

Linda McMahon- The telling response in a NYT article:  I asked her, for instance, whether she was in favor of reforming entitlement programs that, along with military outlays, represent the principal forces driving spending levels ever higher. “We’re going to have to look at them,” she said, “but I can tell you that that has got to be done in the legislative arena, with open debate, with people on both sides really tackling this and talking about it. We’ve got to strengthen our entitlement programs. We’ve got to make sure that our contract with seniors is maintained and upheld.” But, she added: “I’ve made a specific point of saying I’m not going to go into that on the campaign trail, because I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think the appropriate arena is the legislative arena.”  In other words, she doesn't know how to answer that question.  She's never thought about it. 

Christine O'Donnell- All the stupidity of Palin without the weirdly endearing qualities.  I could have sworn in her closing remarks that she read "we will defeat our enemies and see triumph over freedom.  The LA times had a transcript (Christine O'Donnell-Chris Coons debate: Full transcript) and filled it in for her: "We will cut spending. We will reform our government, and we will defeat our enemies and see triumph of (ph) our (ph) freedom again."  Hopefully for her it was just a weird accent thing and not a misread.  That wasn't the worst of it, obviously.  She interrupted, she deflected real questions, she couldn't think of a Supreme Court case...

KARIBJANIAN:  Well, we've talked about the Supreme Court, and obviously a United States senator has the opportunity to determine in a way the make-up of that court.  So what opinions of late that have come from our high court do you most object to?
O'DONNELL:  Oh, gosh.  Give me a specific one, I'm sorry.
KARIBJANIAN:  Actually, I can't, because I need you to tell me which ones you object to.
O'DONNELL:  I'm very sorry.  Right off the top of my head, I know that there are a lot, but I'll put it up on my Web site, I promise you.

Good Lord, woman, you don't even have the case down that your party eats for dinner.

Sharron Angle- Told a bunch of Latino students they looked Asian.  For lack of a better expression, WTF?

Where have all the smart women gone?  Or does this just prove that women really still are hitting a glass wall unless being exploited as "women" in politics?  Sigh.

Teenage Dream

Is anyone else baffled by the mainstream acceptance of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream?  Here's a sampling of the lyrics:

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

Fine, I know, most pop music is not exactly popular for brilliant lyrics.  What is more offensive about this song is the following:

1. The background music sounds exactly like California Girls, that has been a defeatingly catchy hit that even I can't deny.  The only difference is the lyrics are sung in half-time.
2. The chorus, as already referenced above, is painfully, horribly, tortuously slow.
3. The lyrics.... living the teenage dream?  What does that even mean?  Other moments of lyrical horror: I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece, I am complete.... I might get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans be your teenage dream tonight.  It's really almost creepy.

Letter to the Media

Dear Cincinnati Enquirer,

I thought that someone should point out to you that not every single crime and car accident that occurs is actually newsworthy.  In fact, you may want to think over your news story choices.  Here are some pointers:

• Drunk driving incidents and car accidents do not need to be reported daily.  We get that it happens.  Maybe sometimes when it's extra outrageous, sure, report it.  But when it's just a run of the mill, no accident occurrence, please don't tell us about it.
• No one cares how many showers Nick Lachey and his girlfriend take together: Nick Lachey and girlfriend keep it really clean.
• Perhaps you should not warn people that the Covington diocese is going door to door to see what churches people are going to in order to determine where to build churches.  Not only is that a terribly annoying thing to to, but now that you've tipped everyone off, we know how to avoid!
• It is not necessary to report a minimum of one child abuse case each week.  It also offends me that 99% of the time, the article shows a terrible booking photo of some unfortunate African-American women.  Get the gist?

Sincerely,

One of your readers

Good Deed of the Month: Just Love Coffee

My good friend Lauren Loboda has been working to adopt a boy from Honduras who was born with HIV for years.  She and her husband are raising funds to bring him home.  Part of their fundraising is through Just Love Coffee store, where supporters can purchase coffee products, which in turn will use the proceeds to help Lauren and Mark bring their boy home.

Help Lauren and Mark

Strange Phenomenon: Use of the Word "Epic"

The new hot word is apparently "epic."  Let's visit the definition according to dictionary.com.

–adjective Also, ep·i·cal.

1. noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.

2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.

3. heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.

4. of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

–noun

5. an epic poem.

6. epic poetry.

7. any composition resembling an epic.

8. something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic.

9. ( initial capital letter ) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad  and the Odyssey,  apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic.

Spectacular word, I agree.  But recently, so misused!  Examples from the MTV music awards (I know, the bastion of intelligent life form...):

1.  Preface to a two minute interview with Lady Gaga:  Coming up, an epic exclusive interview with Lady Gaga.  

2.  Describing the 2010 MTV music award stage as "epic."

I'm sure they didn't mean a long poetic composition.  That leaves us with majestic, impressively great, or of unusually great size or extent. I'm all about words, I love word.  Just don't associate great words with the less than great, please?

Strange phenonmenon: Cracker Barrel

I recently ate at Cracker Barrel for the first time.  When I arrived, I was confused about why so many people were sitting out on the "porch" in rocking chairs, and then realized they weren't just hanging out, they were waiting to get in to eat!  And it was packed inside.  It's my understanding that this is not unusual.  I'm not sure what is is about the store packed with overwhelming amounts of knick-knacks and country store paraphernalia and the underwhelming quality of "country" food that draws such a crowd.  I do know that my stomach hurt terribly after the meal. Road trip pit stop?  Maybe, but not likely for me!  Dinner date destination?  Never again!

Probation for Wheat Ridge man who shot alleged thieves

Probation for Wheat Ridge man who shot alleged thieves - The Denver Post

 I have mixed feelings about this article.  On one hand, as a person and as a former defense attorney, I am happy that this 81-year-old man got unsupervised probation.  On the other, I have to wonder how much of race and status plays into the results of this situation.  Older white male vs. young hispanic (guessing from the names) hoodlums.  I get that they were stealing his stuff.  But this was not a violent crime on their part, and he coldly shot at them as they were driving away.  The media handling of this case says it all: Months after burglary victim charged with attempted murder, two theft suspects arrested - The Denver Post.

"Two theft suspects, who for months remained free of charges even as an elderly man who said he tried to stop them from stealing his trailer faced an attempted-murder charge for shooting at them, were arrested Friday."  First of all, rest assured, they were never not going to charge the two men, it's Jeffco.  Secondly, it wasn't a burglary, it was a theft.  It's actually different.  I'm not condoning theft, obviously, but wow, Denver Post, could you be any more transparent about where your bias stands? 

Afghan Boys Are Prized, So Girls Live the Part

Being a woman is a terribly difficult task since it consists principally in dealing with men. 

  - Joseph Conrad

Afghan Boys Are Prized, So Girls Live the Part

There was a bit of a Facebook buzz about this article.  It was fascinating, sad, and disturbing at the same time.  I understood the part of me that felt unsettled and uncomfortable that young girls must masquerade as boys in order to have the same rights and benefits.  Another part of me almost loved the daring and somewhat rebellious nature of this system: boys get all the privileges?  Fine, I'll be a boy then.  Perhaps this is the romantic in me, but it seems like there is something strangely empowering about this fiction.  It gives these girls a chance to see what life can be like, and a chance to taste opportunity.  It's also fascinating how the culture just accepts this practice and if someone dresses like a boy and has a boy's name, it's just accepted, even by those who know it's not real.  The saddest part of the article is when the return to "womanhood" comes about.  I suppose that's when the reality of all the inequity really sinks in. 

Letter to the Internet: Adobe Flash Player

Dear Adobe Flash Player,

Why do you insist on being updated nearly every day?  Why do you threaten to cause instability to my Firefox browser if I do not update my flash player?  Do you have so many problems that you have to constantly be fixing yourself?  I'm tired of updating and just don't understand.  Half the time you still don't work right anyway.

-Angela

Random Tidbit: Naming of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes

Iiiiiigooooooor.  When I heard the name of this recent tropical storm, I was amused and envisioning some sort of Franken-cloud grumbling about.  Then I started wondering how these names are chosen; really, Igor????  My good friend Google provided this information from the National Weather Service:

For several hundred years, hurricanes in the West Indies were often named after the particular saint’s day on which the hurricane occurred. For example "Hurricane San Felipe" struck Puerto Rico on 13 September 1876. Another storm struck Puerto Rico on the same day in 1928, and this storm was named "Hurricane San Felipe the second." Later, latitude-longitude positions were used. However, experience has shown that using distinctive names in communications is quicker and less subject to error than the cumbersome latitude longitude identification methods.

Using women’s names became the practice during World War II, following the use of a woman’s name for a storm in the 1941 novel "Storm" by George R. Stewart. In 1951 the United States adopted a confusing plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie), and in 1953 the nation’s weather services returned to using female names. The practice of using female names exclusively ended in 1978 when names from both genders were used to designate storms in the eastern Pacific. A year later, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The name lists, which have been agreed upon at international meetings of the World Meteorological Organization, have a French, Spanish, Dutch, and English flavor because hurricanes affect other nations and are tracked by the public and weather services of many countries. 

The Tropical Prediction Center in Miami, FL keeps a constant watch on oceanic storm-breeding grounds. Once a system with counterclockwise circulation and wind speeds of 39 mph or greater is identified, the Center gives the storm a name from the list for the current year. The letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not included because of the scarcity of names beginning with those letters. Names associated with storms that have caused significant death and/or damage are usually retired from the list. 

You learn something every day.

Good Deed of the Month: Pats Kids

Check out PATS kids.  PATS currently supports 43 HIV-positive children in central China who were infected by parents who contracted HIV through paid plasma donation. We work with communities to ensure that these children have comprehensive medical care, access to life saving HIV/AIDS medications, nutritional support, and educated caretakers who know how to best meet their needs. 

PATS is currently trying to earn a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.org, which helps connect donors to community projects.  They have to meet a $4,000 donation goal in order to do so.  Feel moved?  Help them out!

Support Pediatric HIV/AIDS Treatment in China

Tila Tequlia attacked by Juggalos

Tila Tequila attacked by Juggalos

Putting Tila Tequila and Juggalos together in a sentence feels strange to the tongue.  If you are not familiar with either, here's the breakdown:

• Tila Tequila: Small Asian bi-sexual woman who strangely became a internet music sensation, then became known for A Shot at Love reality love show (perhaps set the media world down the path of slutty, drama-filled, trashy reality love tv).  
• Juggalos: self-proclaimed followers of the Insane Clown Posse, a terrible band.  Typically moody teenagers and young adults.  Apparently sometimes they do crazy violent things. But really, they are mostly a bunch of moody teenagers and young adults, and they try to be scary.

I'm not really sure that this is "news," but it does raise a few questions.  Why on earth was Tila performing at a Juggalo gathering?  Why is Tila still performing at all?  While she's undeniably attractive in that Japanese race car model sort of way, and somewhat endearing, she's not really Juggalo fodder.  As my friend pointed out, it's probably not the Juggalos fault, she's just a terrible musician.

Strange Phenomenon: Silly Bandz

It recently came to my attention that Silly Bandz were all the rage with kids.  What are they, exactly?  Colored rubber bands that come in shapes.  And what does one do with Silly Bandz?  Trade and collect them, say the customer testimonials.  Part of me is offended by the notion of paying for completely useless colored rubber bands, and the other part of me appreciate that at least the younger children can be a little more creative in playing with them (although what you might do with Justin Bieber Silly Bandz is beyond me).  Pointless trend (think pogs) or household classic?  Hmm.

Woman who lost eye sues Bootsy's

Woman who lost eye sues Bootsy's

You know, I always figured that if I someday opened a bar, I should know when to not serve someone another drink because clearly the likely result is that he is going go throw a glass at his ex-girlfriend and cause her to lose an eye. I really need to make sure I cover all my bases so I don't get sued.

Seriously, people? Again, along with the theme of the week, we are always looking for more people to blame. It seems to me here that the poor sucker that had the catastrophic luck of somehow deflecting a glass into someone's eye has already paid the price. And even there, while I feel for the woman who lost her eye, who could have seen that one coming?! Wow. Lesson learned: try not to throw glass objects, no matter how therapeutic it might seem to be at the time.

UC is back in action

University of Cincinnati students and parents waiting...

Thank goodness they have smiling star balloons.  Otherwise, waiting up and down Calhoun Avenue with anxiety ridden parents and a small pile of brand new dorm room organizers holding all your belongings would simply be unbearable.  What a fantastic method of moving in students.

Who's fault is this?

Man enters Alford plea on charge related to teen's death

Our society is so quick to find someone, anyone, to blame. This is a tragic situation, but should a young man be criminally charged because this girl voluntarily sneaks out of her home, gets drunk at a party, and then ends up sleeping outside? What about the parents that didn't know she left the house? What about the friend who left her outside? What about the person who had the party? It isn't anyone's fault, except her own, I suppose. There is no justice in ruining a person's life with a criminal charge like this. But that is how we are in this country. One child in millions is kidnapped and killed by a rapist, suddenly everyone has to register as a sex offender, from the guy who grabbed someone's butt at the bar to the guy that violently raped someone. Teenage boys who have sex with teenage girls- sex offenders. Has it made our lives any safer or just more controlled?