I cannot begin to tell you how much I would like to say that I was too smart to follow this story, but that would be a lie. I also watched the WHOLE DAMN THING. Right up until they caught up with the balloon and sliced it open with a shovel.
I was pretty sure something was fishy about halfway through it, but the prospect of a little boy being trapped in the balloon kept me from turning the station. Besides, where would i have gone? Every other cable news channel was also following this silver distraction.
Well at least we now know that the Colorado Sheriff is going to pursue charges against this jerk.
Not that it will get my wasted afternoon back or anything.
But maybe this hysterical Beauty and the Beast parody from last night's SNL will take my mind off of my shame.
When will they parody how Sarah Palin punks cable news 24/7 pretending she has a public voice with that SarahPac facebook note scam?
ReplyDeleteYet another reason I'm glad I don't have cable.
ReplyDeleteI had someone tell me about this, but before it "ended". I immediately thought it was a hoax, then when I found out the family had been on reality TV already, I knew it had to be.
ReplyDeleteI hope the parents get investigated, and also have to pay for all the resources they wasted, insofar as the helicopters and other search vehicles. What a coupla losers.
Hoax, I knew it!
ReplyDeleteHere is the story from the sage hollywood journalist Perez Hilton....
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-18-parents-of-balloon-boy-to-be-charged
Way off topic, but Huffington Post has an article on the denunciation of children as witches in Africa. It made me think of the Palin-witchcraft connection and the strange excesses of her church.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/african-children-denounce_n_324943.html
IMHO Child exploitation is child exploitation, whether it's done by the Heenes or the Palins.
ReplyDeleteBoth families seem to think taking or sending their young children on "wild rides" (whether true or not) is acceptable adult behavior.
Both sets of parents see nothing wrong with pushing all their other children out in front of cameras to gain notariety for themselves.
It seems to me that there isn't a lot of difference between putting a six-year-old in such a stressful situation that he literally vomits twice during the nation's breakfast, and standing a seventeen-year-old daughter in front of that same nation and announcing that she is sexually active and pregnant.
If anyone can, please help me understand the difference.
....and furthermore....
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with you, Ripley in CT. The Heenes should have to make reimbursement for every cent it cost the nation--from the county sheriff offices which ultimately had to become involved to any and all revenues lost as a result of airport delays.
The same goes for the Palins--anything they have pillaged needs to be paid back..
Okay, I am now stepping down off my soapbox.
It's not like Falcon and Bristol are the only kids exploited in their families. Poor Piper at times looked a hundred years old. Who knows the effects of exploitation on Trig. He will look happier than Piper and Willow put together.
ReplyDeleteBalloon Daddy is in deep doodoo. Balloon Daddy seems a little wacko. Saw somewhere he's a storm chaser & gets on his motorcycle & makes the rest of the family get in his van & follow him. I guess you don't have to pass a sanity test before you can have children.
ReplyDeleteThe news cables did not even notice a 4 month old baby that looking drugged. When the daughter came on cable with another baby and the anchor only said he was out cold, that was pretty obvious how they think of children.
ReplyDeleteNow everyone is mad and all that anger will go toward the Hennes, giving the Palins another pass by cable news.
Another reason we chucked our TV...
ReplyDeleteFrom the article in the link: "Documents show the Heenes have already signed a deal with one media outlet after the balloon incident, Alderden said. He didn't name the media outlet, but said it was a show that blurs "the line between entertainment and news."
ReplyDeleteBoy, I can't guess which cable "news" network THAT is... /sarcasm
I suppose their viewers will now be treated to a 24-hour/7-day stream of crocodile tears about how that poor family is persecuted by "the authorities" and everybody should rally around them and organize a protest and march in front of the Larimer County Sheriff's Dept. and....and...
Mean ol' authorities! It's all Obama's fault!!
From the moment I heard Dad Heene interviewed, I was suspicious as hell. When I heard that his first call was to the FAA, the second to a TV station, and the #$%^ing THIRD CALL was to 911, I knew it was a scam. What parent, whose child is potentially dangling from a homemade, piece-of-shit balloon, especially when he built it the aforementioned POS, doesn’t call 911 FIRST? Only a parent who knows his child is in no danger, that’s who.
ReplyDeleteGood on the cops for scamming scammers. I hope the legal system scares the living shit out of them and charges them the maximum to boot. What pathetic losers.
AKPetmom gave me an idea. Why don't we send information to Perez Hilton regarding babygate. He loves exposing celebrities in a comical way. His email address is Perez@PerezHilton.com
ReplyDeleteI knew it was a hoax as soon as I heard it - just a gut feeling. What REALLY angers me, is that they were able to scramble fighter jets for this stupid ass hoax in a timely fashion, but because of the drills taking place on 9/11, we could not scramble fighter jets in time to help anyone -too much confusion over realtime or drill. Things that make you go hhmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI agree anon 1:02 pm. The parents should ahve to pay for the big bucks it costs to scramble fighter jets for nonsense. Geez- people have to pay a fine if an alarm system goes off erroneously - they should pay for the hoax.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many important stories that the media could be covering & don't & all the stations were all over this. It did look suspicious from the start. Afraid they are all becomming ambulance chasers who don't bother to check their info. They look positively ghoulish when they get a story like this. I am probably the least scientific person you'll ever meet, but even I couldn't believe a 50 pound kid could be flying around in the piece of shit.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html about faux noise and how they can lie about any news they want to.Media can legally lie about news.out of Florida appeals court Kind of tells you who is and isn't real news.The whitehouse is right in saying fox is an intertainment station even they admit it.
ReplyDeleteWatching that most improbably shaped balloon careen wildly across the country side, wondering. . .is there a child in there? Naw. . .well, maybe?
ReplyDeleteReminded me of some other sort of illogically shaped, amateurish object, falsely plumped under a sort of parka like cover, let loose upon the nation, wasting good tax payer funds and time in the 'chase'. . .wondering all the time. . .is there a child in there?
Naw.
When the Untruth about Palin's pregnancy finally is proven, will they arrest her, fine her and find her guilty of breaking federal laws about giving false information, misleading authorities and wasting the tax payers' dollars?
You betcher Mylar they will.