Much Ado About Sketches

The funniest thing I've seen in awhile is the courtroom sketch drawing of Tom Brady.

NOTE:  Of course, I couldn't even remember what his name was a minute ago.  Luckily Google was able to find it for me when I typed in "courtroom sketch of football guy".  Google knows us better than we know ourselves.

Actually the funniest thing to me is the uproar about the ugly sketch.

Yes, Tom Brady is a good looking man -- a top notch specimen -- and the sketch certainly does him no favors; however, do his fans really need to get on their high horse and complain about it?  My first thought is don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

If the accusations are true, Tom Brady cheated.  He doesn't get to have John Singer Sargent draw his face the way his fans (and probably he) would prefer it drawn.

I think the same thing about the people who abuse and neglect children.  Yes, CPS caseworkers sometimes make mistakes.  Horrible mistakes.  Life and death stuff.  But, to fry the CPS system when a child is harmed because they weren't able to intervene fast enough or (more often than not) they weren't legally able to intervene at all, pisses me off.  The parents are the ones who did the crime.

Almost every time CPS did the best they could with the information they had.  The parents are the criminals.

Recently a caseworker in Vermont (in Vermont they call their system DCF -- Department of Children and Families) was killed as she left a family court hearing.  The caseworker, Lara Sobel, was killed by the mother of the children Sobel was trying to protect by removing the kids from the mother's care.

I doubt there was a sketch artist in the courtroom from which Lara Sobel took her last steps.

Thoughts on Joe Paterno, Gerald Sandusky, and Bill Cosby

You may already know that I like quotes.  I usually start the morning with a quote from my box of 365 quotes and I love it.  Every once in awhile I even do a blog post with a famous quote or two.  I usually post the good ones on Instagram to share too, so if you want to follow me there, I'm xxoopaige

Info about my 365 quote box here:  http://blog.paigemcdaniel.org/2015/04/four-favorite-things-i-love-right-now.html

Anyway, I do love my quote box, but a couple of days ago, I threw one into the recycling.  It wasn't the quote that made me do it -- it was the "quotee" -- Joe Paterno.

Frankly, I don't even remember what the quote was -- it was fine and uplifting, but I just thought I didn't want to ever think about those boys and the Sandusky crap again.  And Joe Paterno makes me think of that crap.

Most of you probably didn't read the 162 page report and the accompanying 150-ish page appendices when they came out.  I did.

People do abuse children.  That is the sad and horrific truth.  And most of the time those who abuse children are family members.  Sometimes, like with Gerald Sandusky, it is a friend.  Child abuse of any kind is a crime that is sometimes difficult to see.  A predator -- whether family, friend, or stranger -- can get away with it.  But the Pennsylvania State University employees who looked the other way, suspected what was going on, even had a "hmmm, that's weird" feeling sicken me too.

So, sorry, Joe Paterno, no quotes from you stay in my little box.

Bill Cosby and his cover-ups of rape crimes make me mad too.

I really loved The Cosby Show.  I often laughed out loud at Cliff Huxtable -- one of my favorite lines was when Theo (his teen-aged son) was talking about being rich and Dr. Huxtable said something like "Son, WE are not rich.  Your mother and I are rich."  Truth!

This all got me thinking about how quickly it can all be over -- fame, respect, your place in history, etc.  No more dinner invites for the Cosby's, I bet.  His place on the speaker circuit is gone.  Any deals he had in the works are kaput.

Cosby made his bed (so to speak) himself.  Paterno just didn't turn in his friend.

Neither one will be quoted by me again.