I don’t know if posting the following is helping or adding to the problem, but the video posted here: http://blog.vh1.com/2008-01-30/just-another-brit-lost-in-her-mercedes/
made me want to cry.

It’s of Britney Spears being attacked by, you guessed it, paparazzi as they try and “help” her drive home. In a strange British accent Britney repeatedly says “I am scared.” Yet the camera’s keep rolling and the photogs keep snapping shots of the girl they have all helped destroy.

You’d think by now there would be better laws against this sort of personal invasion, however for celebrities there are loop holes in these laws. This loophole comes into the picture if you are legally defined as a public figure. Celebrities, public officials and private citizens involved in newsworthy incidences are all legally defined as public figures. Public figures actually have far fewer rights to privacy than an “ordinary person.”

For more on how the paparazzi works and about your privacy rights visit http://people.howstuffworks.com/paparazzi.htm

Too many mental health professionals have been jumping on the Britney bandwagon, it appears. At the annual winter conference of the American Psychoanalytic Association, which attracts hundreds of psychotherapists from around the country, Spears’ armchair bipolar mental diagnosis was a big topic of conversation. Mark Smaller, a psychoanalyst and director of the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation, attended the meetings and had this to say about the direction it took:

“I’ve been very upset about this…this idea of making a diagnosis of someone they’ve never met is completely inappropriate, and it gives mental health professionals a bad name. Trying to make such a diagnosis based purely on someone’s behavior” — and worse, their behavior as portrayed selectively by the media — is scientifically impossible.”

Oh, well. So much for leaving it to the experts. It’s still worth noting that 5.7 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder. You can learn more about manic-depression and by visiting bipolar.com, which offers a number of resources for those who are affected by the disorder, or have family members who are.

While flipping channels this morning I caught the opening teaser for today’s episode of The Insider The top stories were:

“Heath Ledgers death! The Insider has been with Heath since the beginning of his career. Stay tuned!”

Followed by:

“And finally the answers that everyone has been waiting for, the man at the center of the Britney storm sounds off, right now!”

Okay Insider.

1) Don’t take credit for being by Heath’s side. I’m sure his family has been there a wee bit more than Pat O’Brien and Laura Spencer. Just report the facts and don’t make it about the sensitive side of The Insider.

2) After announcing an amazing actors tragic death, do you really think the answers we’ve all been waiting for involve around Britney? The answers I want to hear are to questions like “why did Heath die”, “why are we so obsessed with celebrities” and “how do you go to sleep at night after spending seven minutes of air time dissecting Britney Spears?”

Oh Insider, I’m sure once Britney overdoses, or tries commit suicide because the media is analyzing her every move you’ll proudly claim “we’ve been with Brit since the beginning of her career.”

I love TV but sometimes I need a little break from the mesmorizing screen. Check out http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_front.asp for ideas of taking a TV vacation.

In the 1700s, you could pay a penny to peek into the cells at Bedlam and watch the patients frolicking about in their crazy chambers. Maybe we’re all just gawkers at heart? The Guardian’s Peter Preston sees our fascination with the celebrity downward spiral as a desire to experience what it’s like to live it up to the point of self-destruction without having to actually self-destruct ourselves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Britney Spears is on medical “hold” at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center undergoing physical and psychological tests after being found to be under the influence of an unknown substance. She was taken from her Studio City home after locking herself in a room with her son.

And of course the “news” channels keep showing the heartbreaking footage of Britney as she is whisked away in an ambulance.   Is it really helping to broadcast her melt down occur in front of the entire world?

I’m still rooting for ya Brit…

Looks like everyone has an opinion about Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy. Freep.com reported the following:Joy Behar joked on ABC’s The View about Lynne Spears’ parenting book: “It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer writing a book on food!”Celebrity editor Bonnie Fuller launched a full-bore attack on Momma Spears on The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com), saying: “Lynne Spears, what were you thinking? Or not thinking and not doing? Did you never sit down with either of your daughters ” Britney, now just turned 26, and the divorced mother of two toddlers or Jamie Lynn, 16 and now three months pregnant ” and give them The Talk?” Mary J. Blige had a positive take. “If that’s her choice (to keep the baby), then congratulations,” the singer told MTV.com. “Hope she’s responsible, and I hope she understands what that brings. ” You have to change your lifestyle up, so (your children) can look at you as an example. It’s all about Mommy being an example, Jamie.”While I find it lame that once gossip breaks, everyone suddenly feels the need/right to voice their opinion, I also find it lame that a 16-year-old is going to sell her first baby pics to OK! Magazine. Does that say to young girls that if they get knocked up they too can be millionaires? On the other hand, Jamie Lynn knows her pregnancy is going to get an insane amount of press so why not get a paycheck out of it?I just worry the media is going to destroy another Spears.I also just don’t want to hear about these girls anymore. Let them have their babies. Let them have their photo spreads. And let us all get some real hobbies.I mean it is their prerogative.

I never could understand the frenzy over Beanie Babies, the crazed collectors snapping up all that mass-produced, made-in-China plush as if it would appreciate in value someday, like a turn-of-the-century Steiff teddy bear.You can have quality, or you can have quantity”they generally don’t go hand in hand. So how could all those millions of pricey purebred puppies frolicking in pet shop windows possibly be coming from reputable dog breeders? Answer: they aren’t.As the Humane Society of the United States has revealed after a five month undercover investigation, factory farms in America’s heartland are churning out Chihuahuas and Yorkies so that folks like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears can flaunt fluffy fashion accessories.The HSUS took undercover footage in Pets of Bel Air, the boutique where Paris and Britney bought their prop pooches, and discovered invoices showing that—contrary to the claims of Tom Demick, the chi-chi pet shop’s owner”some of the puppies on sale did, indeed, come from puppy mills. Oh, and Demick’s shop hasn’t actually had a permit to sell puppies for three years, a minor detail that Demick described as “an oversight.” L.A. Animal Services didn’t see it that way, and shut the place down shortly after the HSUS made its findings public.Many of the massive dog breeding operations that provide places like Pets of Bel Air with their puppies are run by corn and soy farmers as a lucrative second business, according to Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS. As Pacelle told the New York Times, “these puppy mills apply an agricultural mind-set to the breeding of dogs.” Sounds like a new kind of corn dog, and not a very appetizing one. When are mutts going to get their due? After all, they’ve got that one-of-a-kind je ne sais quoi.For a list of 10 things you can do to help stop puppy mills click HERE.

The cover of the most recent US Weekly features a pic of a young Britney Spears with the headline “Britney’s Twisted Childhood.” It’s just one of many Britney focused gossip rag headlines that seem to flood every print, Internet and television outlet. Seems it’s not enough to stalk, dissect, criticize, sensationalize, and destroy an adult Britney Spears so now the tabloids are going to relentlessly tear-apart her childhood.Are we so very bored and miserable that we need to focus on someone elses life to own lives? I mean every single move this woman makes is a news flash! Every damn move. Just type her name into Google News and you’ll be bombarded with reports ranging from how she lost weight to when she lost her virginity.
Actually, don’t Google her. Please, go hang out with your child or grandparents or donate your old coats to the homeless. Go for a walk. Go bake cookies. Go do anything but partake the Brittney bashing syndrome.Just today VH1’s Best Week Ever blog noted the earth shattering US Weekly report that, gasp, Brittney ran three stop signs! Yes, Brittney ran three stop signs as she was trying to drive away from paparazzi!I fear for Britney’s life.
Really, she is obviously going through a rough time and it’s been made increasingly harder by the soulless jerks who barbarically chase her with cameras, the TV “news” anchors who “report” on her appearance, parenting skills, dietary habits, sexual activity and everything in between, the bloggers who anonymously verbally pick her apart as though she were raw meat thrown to heartless wolves, and by anyone who buys, watches, read and contributes to the destruction of this human being. Yes in case you forgot, Britney Spears in a human being. 
While Cris Crockers videos are skin-crawling annoying, I do chant a similar plea to please, leave Britney alone.
And kudos to Ms Spears on her latest ( and I must admit, catchy) tune Piece of Me in which she sings:I’m Mrs. “ËœYou want a piece of me? ‘Tryin’ and pissin’ me off. Well get in line with the paparazzi.Who’s flippin’ me off Hopin’ I’ll resort to some havoc End up settlin’ in court Now are you sure you want a piece of me? (you wan’ a piece of me…)I’m Mrs. “ËœMost likely to get on the TV for slippin’ on the streets’ When getting the groceries, not for real..Are you kidding me? No wonder there’s panic in the industryI mean, please, do you want a piece of me?