Warning: Longish post. You might need to refresh your coffee before reading.

Okay, I’m practicing my being honest approach, so I’m just going to get this out there: I want to duct tape Casey Anthony’s mouth and nose, then throw her in a swimming pool.

I’m not proud of thinking that, but I’ll own it.

I wasn’t going to write about this case because it has obsessed the collective consciousness of our nation, and I didn’t want to become part of the social feeding frenzy. But (there’s always a but…) I read a few items that propelled me to the head of the class for anger management therapy.

Ready? Here they are:

1. Casey was found not guilty of first-degree murder, child abuse, and manslaughter, much to the shock of prosecutors and the majority of the public.

2. Heading off for victory drinks mid-afternoon at a local restaurant across the street from the courthouse, the defense attorneys celebrated unabashedly, popping champagne and dancing, ironically after attorney Jose Baez had just stated there were no winners in the case because Caylee was dead.

3. But it is being reported that book publishers in New York are in a bidding war to land Anthony’s tell-all book. The price tag is up to $3 million, according to ABC News.Publishing agents also told ABC News that Anthony could make upwards of $750,000 with a book deal just a month after being released from jail. It’s likely that television and movie producers will also compete to score the rights to her life story.

4  Anthony wrote a letter to a friend not too long ago while in the Florida prison saying she dreamt of writing a book. She described it as a “partial memoir/comedy/relationship advice book for those not in the know.” She said that it would be a way to settle many rumors and to share insight about love, life, and God. Public records show Anthony has already purchased more than 20 pens in the jail commissary.

5. Analysts say a total figure on the cost to the state and to the taxpayers has not been totaled, but the figure could be topping out at some $4.5 million.

6. Before being declared indigent, Anthony’s private sources totaled:$275,000, including $200,000 paid by ABC News
Of that, $121,954.83 went to attorneys and a media consultant.

7. Defense lawyers had argued for a maximum of one year because the four lies were told on the same day, July 16, 2008.

8.Just one day after her not guilty verdict for murdering her young daughter Caylee Anthony reports have been highlighting Anthony’s expression of wanting to get pregnant again on her release.

(all from The Christian Post)

I’m not going to gnaw into these individually because I’m on deadline for another book (more about that happy news to come!), and I would wear my fingers to the knuckles.

In processing all of the above and the news that keeps assaulting us like rocks from 18-wheelers, I realized how much I wrestled with my faith. I didn’t want to be a Christian listening to the verdict and the everything else. I didn’t want to hear Jesus loves us all or that my sin of dishonesty is on the same level as Casey Anthony’s (well, only in the way I see her because she doesn’t think she killed her daughter). I didn’t care about mercy and forgiveness.

I wanted someone to take responsibility for the death of  that precious little girl. And when that person did, I wanted him or her to suffer. To suffer like she did. Or more. Until my hypocrisy slapped me in the face like a wet fish.

I’ve been chanting this mantra since The Edge of Grace, my second book, released: God calls us to love. Period. No comma. No question mark. Period.

Sometimes I really irk myself. Hoisted with my own petard. Once again, God reminded me that I am not the boss of Him.  I stopped looking for more to become angry about and started looking for more to pray about. And I found:

• If Casey Anthony did murder her daughter, our hearts can rest because justice either already has been done (at the cross) or will be done in the future (hell). Christian forgiveness isn’t a cheap “Ahhh, that’s no big deal, buddy!” forgiveness.  It’s a deep and grave forgiveness based on a just God who forgives at the cost of his own Son’s life.  Because God is just, all wrongs will be recompensed.  If the murderer of Caylee Anthony trusts Christ, then God’s wrath for this murder was poured out on Jesus at The Cross and justice was done.  Or if the murderer of Caylee Anthony resists God in unbelief, God’s wrath for this murder will be poured out in the eternal, conscious torment of hell.  A deep faith in this God of Justice should give us hearts that can forgive others and rest. ———-Josh Howerton

And this:

The system in which we place our trust found her not guilty.
So then.
What to do now?
What to do after all the tweets and blogs about how she should pay. What do we do when she walks into your church this Sunday?
What do we do with someone who claims one thing yet the world believes another?
Who is seeking refuge from the world in the arms of our body?
How do you respond?
How should the church respond?
How do you think a church ACTUALLY would respond?——-from The Ragamuffin Soul

So, ultimately, I decided to: “Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, ‘Oh, crap. She’s up.’”

I am not politically savvy, so I usually avoid diving into the pool of campaign and political rhetoric. “Rhetoric” being the politically-correct euphemism for back-stabbing, hair-pulling, and-perhaps-a sprinkling of potty-mouth language.

However, when the  topic is such a no-brainer for comments, I don’t have to dive in the pool, I can sit on the steps and splash. So, don your floaties if you must. Here goes:

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) is a Republican candidate for the 2012 Presidential election. But this post isn’t about her, specifically. If you want info on Michele, just Google her and you’ll be busy until election day.

(BTW: They don’t “have” 23 foster children. Over a period of almost eight years ending in 2000, they took in teenage girls, and homes are limited to three at one time, for periods of just a few weeks or longer. I am not denigrating the Bachmanns. I admire their willingness and kindness to take in these struggling girls. It’s just a bit disingenuous to use “have” as if they’ll be in the photo op along with their five biological children.)

This post is about her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann.  Dr. Bachmann, is a clinical therapist with a doctorate in clinical psychology and is president of Bachmann and Associates.  In a Point of View Radio Talk Show spot in May of 2010, Dr. Bachmann said the following when asked a question about homosexuals:

“We have to understand: barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined….

And let’s face it: what is our culture, what is our public education system doing today? They are giving full, wide-open doors to children, not only giving encouragement to think it but to encourage action steps.”

Seriously?

For starters, I know a number of gay people. None of them are from Barbary; therefore, it is impossible to label all gay people as such.

Any, anyway, barbarians? Are you ill-mannered and ethnocentric ? One might still find a number of Europeans who find Americans barbaric. Certainly, anyone who doesn’t support, cheer for and bleed LSU purple and gold, is a barbarian. Southern women think sweating (we glisten, thank you very much) and drinking out of a can border on the barbaric, and if you’re caught doing them simultaneously, well, you’re practically  inhuman.

Disciplined? Is he suggesting discipline equates with heterosexuality, so undisciplined equates with being gay? If so, he’d  be wise to buy stock in Armani because I teach, and buddy, there’s a mess of undisciplined kids ready to be unleashed on the world.

And as a public school educator, I’m encouraging my students to think about and take “action steps” toward being gay? Good grief, I can’t even get them to cover their books. Besides, defining and encouraging gay action steps aren’t on standardized tests, and aren’t measured in No Child Left Behind, so they wouldn’t get much attention anyway.

Here’s the conundrum:  if we’re going to educate the barbarians, and schools are educating children to take action steps toward being gay, well…how’s that going to work out?

You know, this really gives me an entirely new perspective on Conan the Barbarian.

(image from foleywrites)

Natalie is one of the most soul-baring, deeply honest, and truly humble women I know. She’s not afraid to rock the boat of complacency if it will move it closer to the shore where Jesus waits. Her book,  Finding My Mother, offers hope and courage to other adopted children who are beginning or in the midst of their searches.

Half of all proceeds from the sale of her book and its companion journals will go to support CASA, an organization that uses volunteers to act as advocates for children caught between their birth parents and “the system” trying to help them, and similar organizations.

Please leave a comment to have a chance to be sent this book. Click HERE for information about PDF downloads and journals. And while you’re in her web neighborhood, check out her textiles and paper goods at her Olive Manna store online.