by Diane on July 20, 2008
Welcome to my home base.
I’m now incredibly proud to announce my association with two great entities. Creators Syndicate, one of the nation’s largest purveyors of quality opinion columns, is now distributing my weekly crime and justice column, which I also post below every Monday. And, True Slant, a new internet site delivering original content from a wide spectrum of specialty writers that seeks to bring perspective to what’s happening in the world around us. The fun part for me is I get to augment my weekly column with my DAILY posts at True Slant!
The Albuquerque Journal will continue to be the paper of my childhood and my home base for as long as they’ll have me. And, I’ll maintain my association with The Huffington Post as well.
My columns here are always different. Sometimes I’ll simply tell you a story. Sometimes I’ll share my opinions, praise or criticism, other times I’ll hold a mirror up to our society and ask you to form your own opinion. I hope the columns will give you something new to think about each time you visit. It’s a complicated world out there, full of situations of good versus evil, right versus wrong. My job is point them out.
If you’re interested in running my column here’s the Creators Syndicate link or call (310)-337-7003.
Contact me here.
by Diane on June 30, 2009
Mom and the King of Pop - but not the Pop of the Kids
Those of us who’ve covered the Michael Jackson beat have long known that Michael Jackson’s children are NOT biologically related to him. I’ve been saying that on national television since the death of the King of Pop. I think the kids now deserve to know their true lineage.
A few of us reporters actually knew the identity of the sperm donor who entered into a three way agreement with Jackson and Debbie Rowe to create the two oldest Jackson children. On Entertainment Tonight and the Insider I challenged the sperm donor to come forward and help out the children since biological Mom Debby Rowe seems disinterested in them.
Today the latest bombshell in this fast moving story….Us Weekly Magazine and a team of reporters and editors had the guts to go for it. [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 29, 2009
Mel Hall the Rapist
I am sick of it. I am sick to my core with professional athletes who escape true justice when they break the law.
Some of these guys project such a powerful image no one dares report their criminal behavior. A recent case in point is former major league baseball player Mel Hall who dodged charges of sexual assault against young girls for years. Finally, a Texas jury found him guilty of the decade old rape of a 12 year old girl. At least 3 other females testified at trial that Hall also sexually assaulted them when they were underage. Hall has now been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
For every Michael Vick who goes to jail there are countless other athletes who get the kid-glove treatment in court [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 28, 2009
Paris and Prince sans Blanket
First, I must apologize for my absence from the written page for the last few days. I’ve been swamped with work following the death of Michael Jackson. As the author of a book about my investigative findings of his life I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for interviews and articles and OpEd columns.
But THIS I had to stop and share with you. Grace Rwaramba has spoken, in an article in the London Times! In the world of Michael Jackson this is equivalence of a nuclear bomb going off.
Grace Rwaramba the closest thing to a wife Michael Jackson ever had. When the children arrived it was Grace who was there to swaddle them, hold them, feed them and give them the only “Mother Figure” they’ve ever known. She was like a roommate to Michael Jackson for some 15 years - and was rewarded for her devotion, she says, by repeatedly being fired and rehired. When her lupus flared to an alarming degree she finally decided she would never go back.
Now that the biological mother of the oldest two children, Debbie Rowe, says she doesn’t want custody Grace could have a shot at gaining custody of the kids. Or maybe the sperm donor (which Rowe now acknowledges) would come forward. (He is a long time friend/business acquaintance of both Jackson and Rowe)
The bottom line to the immediate nuclear fallout here: Grace is finally confirming the bizarre, nomadic, delusional and dangerous way Michael Jackson lived his life. She also reveals that the matriarch of the family - Katherine Jackson - called her after Michael died to quiz her about “where the money was hidden.” Grace says there wasn’t any. The article is written by journalist Daphne Barack.
Grace Rwaramba, the Nanny, Spills Secrets
Grace was a witness to Jackson’s abuse of prescription drugs. She said he took a mixture of them — in her words, “he always ate too little and mixed too much”. “I had to pump his stomach many times . . . He always mixed so much of it. There was one period that it was so bad that I didn’t let the children see him.”
She claims he was furious with her for getting his mother and sister Janet to help. “We tried to do an intervention. It was me, Janet, his mother. I co-ordinated it. He was so angry with me. “He screamed at me, ‘You betrayed my trust. You called them behind my back.’ I told him, ‘Michael I didn’t betray your trust. I try to help you.’ But he didn’t want to listen. That was one of the times he let me go.”
via What nanny who worked for Michael Jackson saw - Times Online.
by Diane on June 28, 2009
Now What For the Jackson Kids?
The moment the news leaked out that an ambulance had taken Michael Jackson away from his L.A. area rental home my life exploded, returning to the whirling mess that it was during all those years I investigated the Jackson story. The computer blew up with e-mails, my Blackberry chirped non stop. CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, The Today Show, The Early Show, magazines, newspapers - everyone wanted a comment.
It was the news I knew I’d live to broadcast and write about.
Michael Jackson’s life became oddly entertwined with mine back in August of 1993 [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 22, 2009
Returning Vets Need Understanding
In America everyone is supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law. But we’ve got a growing group, a particular class of defendants entering American courtrooms who I believe need special consideration. They are soldiers returning from war.
Several studies conclude that between 30% to 40% of the approximately 1.6 million vets of Iraq and Afghanistan will “face serious mental-health injuries” like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and problems from traumatic brain injuries. Experts in the field report both those conditions are linked to anti-social and criminal behavior.
Now, to me those numbers - up to 40% of the troops afflicted - seem high. But if it’s even half that it’s too many brave souls returning home needing special help. So, what do we do with a soldier, who put their life on hold to go to a foreign land to fight for our liberty, when they come home and get into trouble with the law? [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 15, 2009
Confiscated Guns
We want police to get dangerous guns off the street, right? Well, they are - in record numbers. Now the problem is what to do with all those confiscated guns.
A routine traffic stop yields a rifle in plain sight in the back seat of a car driven by a convicted felon.
A domestic abuse call uncovers two unlicensed pistols inside a home where a woman has called 911 after being battered by her husband.
A take down of a local drug dealing operation nets police a cache of illegal weapons - from semi-automatic to half a dozen 357 Magnums.
What happens to all those weapons? [click to continue…]
