Yet another reason to keep your kids off myspace

Katherine Lester had been sent to her father's house (parents are divorced) because her mom's place is saturated with meda requests. Then she turns up on national TV.

In this instance, nothing illegal. (She's being charged as being a runaway, which isn't a crime.) The girl is of the age of consent. Her parents don't seem to pay attention to her (remember, they didn't bother to ask for details or check with the other families' parents when she told them she was "going to Canada for two weeks" with a friend. And, after this started, mom told the media she was "taking away her computer").

She's 17. Remember how passionate you felt about your SO at that age? She ran off to get married. She just happens to be smart enough (and her parents ignorant enough) to fool mom and dad with a plan.

The story describes the guy as a 20-year-old high school dropout. What is the education system over there? Does it compare to ours? Is that common for that culture?

He's 20 and lives at home. Seriously, how many 20-year-old people live with their parents in the U.S.? That's not a big deal.

The hook to this story is, of course, that the guy is from the Mideast. She's a little small town honor student who ran away because she's in love. Boy, that's new, isn't it? If he was from Arkansas or Ohio, this wouldn't be news.

On whatever TV show that was, she refused to answer the "Will you convert to Islam" question.

She has also said previously that since she's been back, she has communicated with him "five hours a day."

I am wondering if the U.S. will grant him a visa to visit her, which is the plan now. I am guessing she didn't need one to go over there.

 

There's no good reason to give him a visa, yet he'll probably step to the front of the line anyway, ahead of people who are far more deserving. Gimme a fucking break.

As for the girl, she should've been grounded for a year upon her return and no way should she have been given access to a computer, much less for five hours a day.

 

The usual case is: If you need a visa to come here, I need a visa to go there.

I haven't paid much attention to this story because I find it all so ridiculous, but I presume part of the reason she didn't get over there is because she didn't have a visa to do so.

 

Another reason to keep yourself off MySpace? http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002949327

Indiana Editor Blames Myspace.com Profile for Ouster

Did the top editor at a small Indiana newspaper lose his job because of a Myspace.com profile? He says, "Yes."
...
In May, Jackson took his interest in Myspace.com a step further, creating his own profile page, where he began posting poetry, chapters of a novel he had written, and what he described as "humor writing." He also mentioned a song parody, "The Rectal of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

"Some of my humor writing, I admit, is sophomoric," he admitted. The ex-editor claims Gannett officials who fired him mentioned the profile "had some sexual content." But he believes anything sexual on the page came from someone else posting an item.

 

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2006/08/05/449305.html&cvqh=itn_soccercoach

Soccer Coach Arrested for Alleged Rape
By Associated Press
Sat Aug 5, 9:45 AM

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - A youth soccer coach who allegedly posed online as a modeling agent was arrested on suspicion he raped a 14-year-old girl he met through a social networking Web site, police said.

Ivan Chavez, 22, of Richmond, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of rape and sodomy and was released from Marin County Jail after posting $100,000 bond, San Rafael police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher said Friday.

Chavez is a self-employed contractor who coaches a girls' soccer team at De Anza High School in Richmond and two club teams in Contra Costa County, police said.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District said it had employed Chavez for the past two years but would not renew his yearly contract. District officials said Chavez had cleared a federal criminal background check.

A call to a home phone number listed for Chavez was not returned Friday.

The San Rafael girl told police in May that she was sexually assaulted by Chavez, whom she met through the MySpace.com Web site after he claimed to be a modeling agent.

The girl said she met Chavez in person in San Rafael and he drove her to a home in Richmond, where she was supposed to sign a modeling contract but was reportedly attacked instead.

An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 16.

 

http://mydeathspace.com/article/2006/12/19/Josie_Phyllis_Brown_(27)_was_murdered_by_a_man_she_met_on_MySpace

 

What the fuck is wrong with people?

 

You can say that again: http://mydeathspace.com/article/2006/12/22/Heather_Ann_Tucci_(18)_killed_two_friends_while_driving_drunk_and_confessed_the_crime_on_MySpace

 

This story is being rehashed on Dr. Phil this week with the mom, two aunts, the sister and the runaway. It's a two-parter, second part airs Thursday.

 

Look, most of my kids' friends have sites and they are under the age of 14. Yep, myspace can sure as hell monitor that, can't they.

 

Instead of defending myspace, anyone with a brain should be figuring out a way to regulate it.

 

Require a credit card. So kids will need their parents permission, and psychos can be traced. Charge $1/year if you must, but you'll prevent 13 year olds from signing up on their friends' computers, and you'll be able to track the crazies.

And of course the site would never do it, because it would lose half its members, ie, kids and psychos who shouldn't be there.