Two trials in which the mothers are charged with killing their children are in progress- or pending in our area.

Casey Anthony is on trial for murdering her daughter, Calley. The first pool of jurors had to be dismissed because jurors discussed the case. Then, one man in the second pool defied a court order and deliberately talked about the trial with the intention of getting dismissed. The judge fined him. Now, Casey's attorney's have disclosed part of their defense strategy. They suggest Casey's father abused her, and may suggest that he killed Calley as well. After all, he owned the car Casey drove- had access to Calley, owned the shovel used to bury her. Wow! It gets uglier by the day.

Then there is Julie Schenecker, the woman in Tampa who shot and killed her two teenage children for talking back to her in January. Her husband filed for divorce and Julie wants half of the marital assests, $40K to pay her defense attorneys, medical benefits and more. Of course, she is also demanding that their home be sold and the proceeds divided equally. While she admits to killing her children, she denies responsibility because she was depressed.

Blaming parents, blaming illness- it's everybody's fault but their own.

The flooding along the Mississipi River is also disturbing. Buy rice now- lots of it- because the price of rice is going to climb! Arkansas is the world's 3rd largest exporter of rice but those fields are all flooded out this year. How callous of me! People are homeless and I think first of rice?

Tornadoes ripping through the south last month and now flooding of the Mississipi and its tributaries-ugh. The Ohio River is flooded too, but not as much as the Mississipi. This makes me afraid. June through December is hurricane season in the south. Please, don't let this be a bad one!