The Long Island 'Pet Cemetery' Defendant Is One Sick Puppy!

I know you have heard by now about the Long Island woman who tortured 42 animals & then buried them in her yard.Branded the "pet cemetery" defendant,Sharon McDonough will probably come to mind whenever someone even mentions animal cruelty.

You know,with all of the anger & outrage that was displayed in the media towards Michael Vick,it's surprising to me that I could only find two videos on this sadistic,evil murderer.It was from The Associated Press & My Fox NY.This woman is suspected of not only killing 42 animals,but she allegedly abused her kids as well!

Her own son even said that it was "a concentration camp for the animals." Why haven't we heard more about this sick puppy in the media? I guess since Michael Vick was a celebrity it was much more scintillating to talk about his case.

Here's more from ABC News:

"A judge ordered a New York woman held on $100,000 bail Friday after prosecutors cited evidence that some of the 42 dead animals buried in her yard had been tortured, with duct tape around their mouths or signs that they had drowned.

Sharon McDonough, 43, had been free without bail after her November arrest on misdemeanor charges, but she was taken away in handcuffs after her appearance Friday in Suffolk County Court in Central Islip.

McDonough faces "the likelihood of a felony indictment," said John Cortes, assistant district attorney. Authorities initially found 20 dogs buried behind her Selden home in early November; a subsequent search Dec. 8 uncovered another 22 dead animals.

Necropsies found evidence the animals had been abused, Cortes said.

"There are indications this defendant did kill these animals," District Judge Paul Hensley said in setting bail. "I believe the impulse to flee will become irresistible."

Defense attorney James D'Angelo said his client is not guilty and was shocked by the judge's ruling, and indicated she is unlikely to be able to post bail.

"I don't feel there was a significant change in circumstances," D'Angelo said. "She's made each and every court appearance. She's presumed to be innocent. I am very disappointed with the judge's decision today." (END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

The Sudden Loss Of Chris Henry Is So Tragic!

Chris Henry is the handsome but troubled NFL player who died in a domestic dispute.The sudden death of the Bengals receiver has shocked so many.And so far the circumstances of his demise are a bit murky.

Did he get thrown from the truck he was fighting in with his fiancee? Or did Chris Henry purposely jump from the vehicle as some witnesses have stated? Whatever the case may be,the fact that Chris Henry's life was snuffed out so early is very,very tragic.

Here's more from WLWT.COM:

"Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died Thursday after a domestic dispute in Charlotte, N.C.

Police said Henry and his fiancée, Loleini Tonga, who lives in the area, had been arguing in the 800 block of Peachtree Road when Tonga tried to drive away in a pickup.

Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup and the couple continued arguing as Tonga drove, police said.

A 911 call that came in just after 11:50 a.m. Wednesday came from a woman who said she was following a yellow truck with a man in the bed.

"Got a black man on it with no shirt on, got his arm in a cast, he’s beating on the back of this truck window," the woman told dispatchers. "I don’t know if he’s trying to break in or something, just looks crazy."

The woman followed the pickup for a short distance, but did not follow when it turned onto another road.

Three minutes later, a man called 911 to say that there was a man lying in the road not moving.

"He looks dead. There's no movement," he said. "He's laying in the road. I have no idea what happened; we just pulled up here."

When the man was asked if the injured man was awake, he said "He's definitely unconscious. He's not awake."

Tree trimmer Lee Hardy told reporters Thursday that he was working in a tree in a yard near the road when he saw the pickup approaching "pretty fast."

Hardy said the pickup came to a quick stop at an intersection.

"And that's when I heard him yelling at her that he wanted to talk," Hardy said. "'We need to talk, we need to talk.'" Hardy said the woman inside was saying "No, I don't want to talk, get off the truck, get out of the truck."

As the truck pulled away, Hardy said he heard Henry say "If you take off, I'm going to jump out and kill myself."

Hardy said the truck disappeared from view and he went back to work on the tree. He said in the distance he heard the truck stop quickly, but thought nothing of it until police cars began arriving from both directions.

Police said Henry fell out of the pickup and landed in the roadway.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police announced that Henry died at 6:36 a.m. Thursday.

Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington said homicide detectives have been assigned to the case but had no further information. Harrington would not say if Tonga was present at the scene when police arrived."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

I'm Not Doing Cartwheels Over Disney's First Black Princess!

I was looking at CNN's coverage of "The Princess & The Frog" cartoon the other night.They were at the Atlanta premiere talking to black mothers & daughters that just saw the film.And some of the folks they interviewed went way overboard in their enthusiasm for this cartoon,in my opinion.I mean,one lady dressed up as a princess for the grand occasion.

They acted as if this movie validated them in some way.How is it that people are looking to Disney to present an image that African-American children can be proud of? Is this not the same company that perpetuated awful black stereotypes for decades? I just find all the hoopla to be a bit ridiculous.Their "black princess" is not based on any sort of reality.She's truly a black American princess.

If African-American parents really want their kids to see a black princess,they should look to Africa.There are plenty of examples of what real black royalty looks like on that continent.I didn't need Disney to give me an image of a black princess.

My father had books on ancient Africa that contained depictions of all types of African princesses.He schooled me on the historical significance of African people.I have always known that we were once kings & queens.Look to Ethiopia & Nubia for some of the oldest representations of royalty.Period.

Because I know my history,I'm not doing cartwheels over Disney's first black princess.

Here's more from The NY Times:

"“Finally, here is something that all little girls, especially young black girls, can embrace,” Cori Murray, an entertainment director at Essence magazine, recently told CNN.

To the dismay of Disney executives — along with the African-American bloggers and others who side with the company — the film is also attracting chatter of an uglier nature. Is “The Princess and the Frog,” set in New Orleans in the 1920s, about to vaporize stereotypes or promote them?

The film, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, two of the men behind “The Little Mermaid,” unfolds against a raucous backdrop of voodoo and jazz. Tiana, a waitress and budding chef who dreams of owning a restaurant, is persuaded to kiss a frog who is really a prince.

The spell backfires and — poof! — she is also an amphibian. Accompanied by a Cajun firefly and a folksy alligator, the couple search for a cure.

After viewing some photographs of merchandise tied to the movie, which is still unfinished, Black Voices, a Web site on AOL dedicated to African-American culture, faulted the prince’s relatively light skin color. Prince Naveen hails from the fictional land of Maldonia and is voiced by a Brazilian actor; Disney says that he is not white.

“Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince,” Angela Bronner Helm wrote March 19 on the site. “His hair and features are decidedly non-black. This has left many in the community shaking their head in befuddlement and even rage.”

Others see insensitivity in the locale.

“Disney should be ashamed,” William Blackburn, a former columnist at The Charlotte Observer, told London’s Daily Telegraph. “This princess story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community.”

ALSO under scrutiny is Ray the firefly, performed by Jim Cummings (the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Yosemite Sam). Some people think Ray sounds too much like the stereotype of an uneducated Southerner in an early trailer.

Of course, armchair critics have also been complaining about the princess. Disney originally called her Maddy (short for Madeleine). Too much like Mammy and thus racist. A rumor surfaced on the Internet that an early script called for her to be a chambermaid to a white woman, a historically correct profession. Too much like slavery.

And wait: We finally get a black princess and she spends the majority of her time on screen as a frog?

“Because of Disney’s history of stereotyping,” said Michael D. Baran, a cognitive psychologist and anthropologist who teaches at Harvard and specializes in how children learn about race, “people are really excited to see how Disney will handle her language, her culture, her physical attributes.”

Mr. Baran is reserving judgment and encourages others to do the same. But he added that the issue warrants scrutiny because of Disney’s outsize impact on children.

“People think that kids don’t catch subtle messages about race and gender in movies, but it’s quite the opposite,” he said.

Donna Farmer, a Los Angeles Web designer who is African-American and has two children, applauded Disney’s efforts to add diversity.

“I don’t know how important having a black princess is to little girls — my daughter loves Ariel and I see nothing wrong with that — but I think it’s important to moms,” she said.

“Who knows if Disney will get it right,” she added. “They haven’t always in the past, but the idea that Disney is not bending over backward to be sensitive is laughable. It wants to sell a whole lot of Tiana dolls and some Tiana paper plates and make people line up to see Tiana at Disney World.”

Few people outside the company have seen footage of the movie. Among them are consultants like Oprah Winfrey, whom Disney asked for input on the racial aspects of the film and was cast as Tiana’s mother. (Movie theater owners and members of the N.A.A.C.P. have also been shown scenes, and the reactions, according to a Disney spokeswoman, were “extremely positive.”)(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.