Flunking Phys Ed much?

I was just clicking around on the CNN web site trying to figure out why Dick Cheney continues to show his face in public instead of relaxing at home in his swimming pool of Haliburton cash, when I noticed this story:

Authorities arrest mom for medical neglect of 555-pound teen

"The understanding was that the individual (14 years old) was of the weight where it was decided by medical authorities that he needed treatment that was not being provided for by his mother"

This is one of those stories where you have to wonder: how the heck does that happen? I checked, and Greenville County SC does not rate particularly high on the Gluttony map of the US


Although it does have a pretty high ranking for Sloth:



There is a case to be made for mandatory physical activity in school (I'm assuming this kid went to school ... that might be a mistake), not to mention mandatory sterilization for unfit parents.

maps h/t: Alfredo Octavio

Babysitting job from hell

Just another day at the trailer park:

Police say an angry four-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his babysitter. ... Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.

Four teenagers were in the house: the victim (Beavers), the uncle of the shooter (witness 1 from the police report), Brandon Fisher - the other guy who got shot, and 17 year old witness 3. How much do you want to bet that these guys were drinking and completely ignoring the kids? According to the report, the kid "stated that he took a shotgun shell out of a desk drawer in the living room, while everyone was sitting there and no one seen (him) get the shell." i.e. the "babysitters" were too busy drinking and watching tractor pulling on TV to do their "job". I put "job" in quotes because I kinda doubt this was a formal babysitting arrangement.

The other thing that stands out, besides the bad grammar in the police report, is the fact that shot gun shells are in a drawer in the living room and the gun was not locked up. Oh sure, my grandfather had a gun leaning up against a wall and a box of shells on the window sill, but that was out on a farm where various critters required shooting. This incident occurred in a trailer park (according to the blogger below).

Go here for more fun news from Ohio, including: Drunk arrested after striking wife with tube of gift paper.

h/t stop annoying me for the police report link