Can it Stop Now?!!!

Finally! Scott Peterson was found guilty of 1st degree murder in the death of his wife Laci, and 2nd degree murder of his unborn son Connor. Now that he's been convicted, can we please stop talking about this pointless "news story?"

With all due respect to Laci, Connor, and her family, I am so incredibly tired of hearing about this. It never amazes me how much The News can focus on something that has no significant implications to the over 320 million people that live in this country.

Here's my problem: Is Laci the first wife to be beaten, abused or murdered by her spouse? Will this case affect the daily lives of 99% of the people in this country? Is this the only such case currently going on in America? Will this be the last? Is the "Peterson trial" even remotely close to an important nationwide news story?

The answer is a resounding no. And if you disagree, then you are smoking the crack rock!

Do I think Scott Peterson was guilty? Absolutely. He placed himself at the scene of the crime, 80 miles from their home, and his behavior before and during the trial was really not becoming of someone who had "lost" their wife. Plus, she apparently had no enemies to speak of.

Do I think the conviction was shady? For sure. I don't see how a conviction came in less than two days after 2 jury members were kicked off and 2 new jurors were added. It would seem to me that they would need more time to evaluate the case since they were new.

But I'm most mad at the fact that I even know about this case at all. Thousands of women are domestically abused and sometimes killed each and every year. It is a sad reality that needs to be considered, but what makes this case so special?

This trial has made a loser (whether you believe he killed his wife like me, or not, we know he was cheating on her) into a public face that we all recognize. In fact, he has been receiving hundreds of love letters from women across the nation that want to date him. So on top of wasting hundreds of news hours on an insignificant trial, the news has awkwardly made him famous.

And worst of all, it isn't over yet. Now we have to watch hundreds more hours of stupid press coverage of his sentencing. "Will he get the death penalty or life in prison?" will be the question of the day once that phase begins in late November.

Why don't all criminals get this kind of press exposure? Sometimes they actually get off and they could actually date some of those sick women that wrote them love letters during their trial.

Heck, why don't I get this kind of press exposure? I once stole a pack of gum from a grocery store. And, even worse, there have been times when I didn't flush the urinal in a public bathroom after relieving myself. Surely I'm deserving of thousands of hours of press coverage for that!

Clearly we've got our priorities wrong in this country, and if we're ever gonna get them straight, I think we could easily start with demanding more legitimacy of the media.

-Maelstrom