Does this piece of news sound familiar? The head economist from the ATA (American Trucking Association) is reporting in the United Business Media – PR Newswire that: “The driver market is tightening – we hear nearly every day from fleets who cannot find enough drivers to meet demand." Turnover for long haul truck drivers increased in the first three months of 2011. As the driver market tightens, turnover increases as drivers tend to jump from carrier to carrier, according to the ATA. The turnover is the highest since the second quarter of 2008. "With the economy continuing to recover from the Great Recession, the implementation of new regulations and the number of retirees outpacing the number of drivers entering the industry, the ATA expects to see the turnover rate continue to rise. ”
The “hot” media event of this summer has got to be the (death penalty) trial of 25 year old “party-girl” Casey Anthony. Every media source, both entertainment and news, are covering and reporting updates of the trial in Orlando. I would be listening to the coverage on Sirius/XM if I was OTR in the truck, but since I’m waylaid at home right now, I try to watch most of the trial on local cable television. If I go out I can still see a direct feed from the courtroom on my Droid X or on my laptop. Yes, I’m hooked, just like I was during the OJ (Simpson) and Kennedy (alleged) rape trial. As a frustrated and not so expert legal expert, I eat this stuff up.
Last night, ET – Entertainment Tonight, called the trial the best reality show on television. Step aside Bachelorette and Kardashians. It has also been reported that Casey Anthony is the most hated woman in America. Let me try to bring you up to speed. Now, please, in my defense, I probably need about 5000 words to do “justice” to all that has gone on since two year old (Fox News always likes to say “little” when talking about children, like we are clueless as to their size) Caylee – the daughter of Casey – disappearance. This was back in 2008. It goes unreported for about 30 days. There is the drama of the nationwide search, the family appeals on the media for the return of the little girl and the cops are clueless about what happened and have no suspects.
Now here’s where things get interesting. After about 30 days, the grandmother in desperation and frustration calls the cops. The daughter, Caylee’s mother, Casey, suddenly claims her little daughter was taken by the babysitter. The cops go the babysitters apartment. Casey takes the cops to where she works (Universal Studios) for confirmation that she has a job. Well, it turns out there is no babysitter – the apartment is vacant – and she no job. Everything is a figment of Casey’s imagination. She ends up in jail, then is bailed out, but is put back in jail. Are you with me so far?
Police theorize Casey put duct tape around her daughters mouth and nose and chloroformed her. At Casey’s parents home there is evidence of Google searches about how to make chloroform. She then (allegedly) stuffed (little) Caylee into a laundry bag, two garbage bags and locked her (dead or alive?) in the truck of the white Pontiac Sunfire car that was given to her by her brother. About six months later, the body – actually there is nothing left of the body, only the bones remain – were found near the grandparents house in Orlando. Also found near the bones is a Gatorade bottle with a syringe inside, but they have yet to connect this evidence to the crime.
The FBI and what seems like every forensic expert in the world analyzes the evidence in this case. Even an “experimental” test of a “can” of air from the trunk of the car is taken and tested. I suggest you take a deep here or a sip of your coffee. We’ve only just begun.
Fast forward to the trial. The defense “claims” that little Caylee drowned in the grandparents pool – an accident. They claim the grandfather got angry and yelled at the daughter for her carelessness (you’re a lousy mother!) and the both of them tried to cover the whole thing up. There is more. The daughter claims her father, that’s the deceased – murdered little girl’s grandfather, abused her as a child. Casey has an older brother who the defense claims “touched” her inappropriately when she was younger. By the way, the father of Casey’s daughter, Caylee, is unknown. Casey, among her many lies, at one point, claimed the father was killed. Of course, there is no proof of this.
There is so much more – from the lack of evidence as to how and when this little child actually died, to the jailhouse taped conversations between the accused and her parents, the alleged “affair” of the grandfather, the stories from other inmates, the experts who disagree as to the evidence – it seems the entire FBI forensics lab from Washington DC is on vacation in Orlando and testifying at this trial – and the constant lengthy “sidebars” between the battling attorney during the proceedings. There are early morning fights to get tickets to view the trial. The judge is not happy and yawns, the jurors are bored, dosing off and really want this all over with so they can go home.
We’re only about two weeks into this trial. If you want to have something to do while driving or waiting to load or unload somewhere – find the channel that is covering this trial. Join the nationwide – worldwide – “fan” club. I personally think she is a guilty as heck and if this were the wild very wild west she probably would have been strung up months ago. But, will we ever know what’s the real story?
If you liked that post, then try these...
No comments:
Post a Comment