The introduction of DNA evidence over 20 years ago has changed the playing field when it comes to convicting or exonerating a person of a crime. Since DNA is unique to each person it’s hard to dispute the results of the test.

Although there can be a defense to DNA evidence such as mishandling or performing the test wrong it’s hard to refute the test results. If the justice system put in place a structured, secured method of testing and handling DNA evidence it could save taxpayers millions by shortening the trial process.

DNA Evidence = Guilty

How can you dispute that fact when a prosecutor holds off on an arrest for a murder until they received the test results? This is exactly what happened in a local case involving a police office that was on duty when he strangled a young woman who was due to have his baby within weeks.

Saginaw County Prosecutor, Mike Thomas tells a local reporter as soon as they received a positive match on the DNA test results they immediately acted by arresting Buena Vista Police Officer Kevin Bluew. Bluew who is married, is accused of killing his girlfriend who was 37 weeks pregnant with his baby at a local police gun range while on duty. The beautiful life of Jenny Webb and her unborn baby boy was cut short and the evidence obviously shows Officer Bluew was involved.

Why should the family of Jenny be put through the rigors of a trial? Why should Michigan taxpayers fit the bill for this guy to have a “fair” trial? If the DNA evidence proves positive, let a judge review it, approve it and lock the guy up!

DNA Evidence = Innocent

DNA evidence is a solid way to get a conviction but it’s also a solid way to reverse or eliminate a conviction. The Innocence Project is proof of that. They state:

There have been 273 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history.

The facts presented on the website showing innocent people being exonerated with DNA evidence are staggering. If this evidence is solid, then the question is raised again…why are we still holding jury trials when there is undisputed DNA evidence?

Consider the conviction of Cornelius Dupree which was overturned in Texas and Dupree was exonerated of a rape and robbery he did not commit. Cornelius served 30 years in prison before the evidence set him free again proofing how powerful this evidence is. This man spent 30 years of his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit not to mention the hoards of wasted money housing and prosecuting an innocent man.

This leaves us with one question….

Should DNA Evidence Change Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

I paid my bill and continue to pay them. I NEVER got that call. Well now that I have had more bills for them to compare the first to, I have had the ac running 24/7 for the last 2 months, and my electric bill hasn’t even come close to that first reading. For the month of March it was 1300 kwh, April was 1500 kwh, and my most current bill is just under 200 kwh. So I called again over a week ago was transferred a bunch of times and was promised a call back to get this resolved after threatening to do what I am doing now along with contacting the BBB and the local news.

Again, I never got that call back. So, I called today spent almost an hour on the phone and was again transferred a few times and finally got to Ruth 79223 in the office of the CEO (a fancy title to hopefully shut me up and think they are going to help me) and she tried to tell me that it was very cold in Jan and that is probably why my bill was so high. I then explained to her that I didn’t even move into the house until Jan 27th. She then said she was going to contact the people who read the meter and have them advise her what to do and call me back.

She has since called me back (a first!) and advised that there is nothing they can do and it has to be due to the cold weather that Houston had for a week in Jan. I am horrified by this. I guess they think I am just some dumb consumer who is just going to pay the bill no matter what the amount well they are WRONG I read my bills and pay attention. They have ripped me off and aren’t willing to do the right thing and admit their mistake and I can’t understand this. It is infuriating. I am also going to file on the BBB website and contact the local news. Thank goodness I didn’t sign a contract with them because I will also be getting my electric service thru another provider.

I entered the site to see….a blank page! I again though to myself, what could be wrong, maybe I should have upgraded WordPress as my host suggested…

Nope! After a little investigating I realized that Boiled Over had been deleted in it’s entirety. That right…everything was gone except for my design folder and all the images I uploaded over the past 4 years.

After crying the day away and thinking how could a project I have no monetary value in and only did as a tribute to my son be gone…entirely gone, four years worth of work that has earned us a great place with Google.

A few emails to BlueHost and I still had no answers.

“Wordpress was deleted from your account on February 24th for the domain BoiledOver.com.”

Are you kidding me…The site was deleted from my account, I would never do that! The only conclusion I can come to is that we were HACKED! Someone out there in the great World Wide Web does not like us…BUT we don’t care!

After hours and hours of scraping Google for cache pages (thank goodness they had them) and a site backup from 2009 (yes, I should have a more recent one) we were back up and running.

I WILL NEVER LET THIS SITE DIE! It is a tribute to the one thing we lost that we loved so very much, Our Son Dustin! I created this site as a place for people to vent, a place that people could complain about anything that bothered them without reaping the repercussions that come with everyday life.

With all that’s going on in today’s world, we all need a place like Boiled Over…a place to vent and move on with our lives. Whether you’re pissed about work, politics or the people you are around every day…have your say on Boiled Over!

Thankfully the two children involved will be fine, they sustained only minor injuries. The article made my blood boil and really ticked me off when I found out not only were the kids hit walking to school BUT the driver left the scene, driving off as the two children lay in the road.

If you’re a regular reader of our blog you will know that any child hit by a car breaks our hearts, as this is the way we lost our son almost five years ago.

This driver, if ever found should face the maximum penalty and lose their license forever. My heart sank as I read:

“All I saw was the car headlights,” Austin said. “I closed my eyes and kept running.”

This coming from an 11 year old boy that feared for his life, no child should have to ever endure that.

So the REAL question is…who is responsible for the children’s medical bills? What will the family do if they occur problems in the future do to the kids being injured in the accident?

In a perfect world the drivers car insurance would pay those related costs BUT the driver is no where to be found. To be honest even if they did find the driver the odds that they actually had auto insurance and that the insurance company would do the right thing and PAY is very nil.

We know this from first hand experience. We consulted a few personal injury and wrongful death attorneys when our son was killed by a careless driver…will little results.

The insurance company gave us pennies and the lawyers didn’t have time for us since it stated in the police report that our son was at fault. This of course was not true and the investigation was botched due to a small town cover up.

The point is… DRIVERS head caution and drive slow when entering any area that you know children will be traveling to school! These kids are innocent and if you do have an accident for goodness sake DON’T drive away!

If you live in the Mount Morris, MI area and you’ve seen a a white sedan that might have been involved in an accident contact the Mount Morris Police or 911 immediately. This person needs to be brought to justice!

The unions are not as powerful as they used to be for the guys and gals that join them but they do make sure that you receive the benefits you need in order to sustain a life above the poverty level. The health insurance alone, that we are guaranteed as long as my husband puts in the hours outweighs the benefits of any non-union job.

People and politicians complain that union wages are too high and that the workers aren’t worth the pay. That’s simply NOT TRUE. For one, not all union workers are lazy and make spectacles of themselves like the Chrysler workers recently fired for their bad behavior. For two, most of these people work their tail off doing jobs that deserve the pay they receive. As a matter of fact, my husband, a Michigan Union Ironworker, recently had his wages and vacation pay cut. Not to mention that because of a few bad decisions on the part of financial advisers for the union during the stock market crash these guys have no pension to speak of.

When you think that union wages are too high think about this….

The Day in the Life of a Michigan Union Ironworker

For the last 14 years being the wife of an ironworker has brought its toll with the early mornings, long hours and the constant worrying. You see, Ironwork in Michigan is usually done in the metropolitan cities (Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, ect.) meaning that if you want to work as an ironworker you better be prepared to travel.

My husband Chad starts his day between 3 – 4 am depending on the location of the job he’s working. Due to the area we live in he has to travel on average of 1 ½ to 2 hours in the morning to work and at night after work. That’s over 15 hours a week on the road which is more dangerous than the actual ironwork that he does. Spending 13 – 14 hours a day away from home for a 40 hour paycheck hardly seems worth it. Not to mention what he spends on gas and car maintenance.

Once he finally arrives at the job site its 7 am “grind time” until the end of the day. We’re not talking sitting in a shop pushing a button we’re talking many feet in the air lifting, placing and securing hundreds of pounds of steel.

The union ironworkers also have to deal with a ton of new regulations that are changed almost daily on the job site. They now mostly work from lifts (which in my opinion is sometimes more dangerous than being on the steel). OSHA is making the standards harder on these guys every day and it seems they put more of the responsibility on the worker than they do the company. The ever changing regulations have these ironworkers taking a multitude of training classes just to keep caught up and legal to work. Did I mention the classes are not “paid on the job”, they are after work and in Novi (1 ½ hours away).

At the end of the day, Chad’s body has been maxed out and he’s exhausted (remember, he still has almost two hours of drive time before he reaches home.) He gets to spend a few hours with the family before going to bed to get up early again.

So when you gripe that union workers don’t deserve the high wages they are making think of it this way…

• 55 hours away from home for 40 hours worth of pay
• The increase of being seriously injured in a car accident driving almost 4 hours a day
• The cost of gas to make that drive and the miles that rack up on your car
• The cost of the equipment, tools, clothing and any thing needed for the job (the companies pay for NOTHING!)
• The danger that many union workers are placed in every day and the ridicule they get from many in the country that stereotype them with the UAW

When you take the good and the bad I believe the union worker wins overall. You have a diplomatic means to making sure your worker rights are being taken care of. Benefits that are commonly unavailable in the normal workplace are there for you. You are part of a “Brotherhood/Sisterhood” that looks out for each other…like an extended family.

Jamie Hilton, the chief of the volunteer fire department in Magnolia Springs, Alabama has taken action and rallied his community to stop the oil from infiltrating the beautiful Magnolia River. The problem is it took over three weeks of jumping through hoops to get a simple plan approved to bring in barges and oil-blocking booms to protect an area that is precious to everyone.

BP will not take care of the issue so why would a community that wants to help preserve what has not been touched yet get so much flack and frustration? Hilton was told that people are blowing this thing out of proportion and blocking the waterway is illegal. Then the buck started to pass, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said it was an issue for Mobile to address and the Coast Guard states that it’s an issue the state has to address.

Government red tape is what got us in this mess to begin with! The government either afraid or ignorant to take immediate action has left the containment and clean up to an incompetent company that has continued to pollute our coastal water ways because they can figure out how to stop the leak. This is insane and makes our blood boil as we read of BP’s new plans on a daily basis on what to do to solve this problem, none of which have worked.

Now a community trying to save their river has to jump through hoops. BP should be thankful that common citizens want to step in with ideas to help keep the oil away. Hilton was able to get his plan approved and the State of Alabama has allocated a portion of the money that BP gave them to help with the clean up efforts.

Someone has to step in and say BP you are idiots that tried to cut corners! Reports are that the company knew this could be an issue as early as March and did nothing to avoid it! As millions of barrels of oil kill our environment and seep into the Gulf waters, BP CEO Tony Hayward says he will stay on the job. Are you kidding me? This man should be in jail, not collecting a paycheck from a company that had skyrocketing profits in the last few years and did nothing to prevent such a major catastrophe that will have lingering effects for years to come.

The senior class of Bridgeport High School did an outstanding job at honoring his memory. Principal LeClair said to me tonight…” gone but never forgotten”

I have to commend and congratulate “Our Boys”, that’s what we call them. Dustin’s best friends for many years before he past away, our sons. Nick, Brandon, Johny and Marc… they all graduated tonight and with the help of a very special teacher, Mrs. Michelle Tolles they did an incredible job honoring his memory.

The senior class did a fundraiser to purchase a bench in Dustin’s memory and it was placed in the courtyard of the high school today. The best part is, they had $500 left over from the fundraiser in which they placed as a scholarship in Dustin’s name. A young man that was one of Dustin’s best friends received the scholarship to pursuer his goal of being a pediatrician. Nick received the scholarship and he also released the balloons in his honor for graduation.

You see, the school actually went above and beyond much more than we expected. At commencements tonight they placed a chair where Dustin would have sat with a ribbon on it and they called his name as they would have if he would’ve been there. When his name was called, Nick released two balloons in Dustin’s memory…incredible.

This was bitter sweet for us because as much as we loved seeing “Our Boys” receive their diploma in their cap and gown, it was heartbreaking to see that empty chair with a simple bow instead of seeing our son sitting there.

As much as I love those boys and as happy as we were, we waited to go down on the field after graduation. We wanted to take the bow as our memory but in no way did I want to spoil their happy day, considering the fact that I was not happy like they were.

Bitter Sweet…we could never thank anyone enough for the tremendous support of remembering Dustin, yet we could not be as happy as they were that they had a whole life ahead of them.

We miss you Dustin and we thank the Bridgeport High School Senior Class for giving us that little minute of glory in our son’s memory. We wouldn’t have had that without Nick, Brandon, Johny, Marc and Michelle…Thank you.

Think about it, why would you continue in misery? Bills, kids, unemployment, losing your house you’ve work so hard for, essentially losing everything that you have ever worked for in your life, just because you are living. Technically in heaven as every religion says is a “better” place, a place where you feel no pain, a place where happiness is forever…

The question is, do you believe, do you believe in a place where there is no hurt, no pain , no stress, just love and happiness? If you do and you’re down and out why would you not consider suicide or murder suicide a real answer to what is ailing you?

My heart sinks every time I hear a story of someone taking a family member’s life and then their own or a person that simply took a drug overdose in the hopes that it would make the pain go away. Then when times are tough I think why would you not want to be in that wonderful place called heaven where the promise of eternal bliss is everlasting?

I know that in some religions it’s wrong to take your own life and they tell you that you “will go to hell”. I really don’t think that people believe that as much as religious leaders would hope. I believe that people simply think that life after death is a much better place.

I’m not saying that suicide or murder suicide is right…not at all! I’m just saying that I can now understand that people in a down and out situation could rationalize it to make it right in their own minds. They simply want to make life better for themselves and their families.

Did they not think about the consequences to those of us who are receiving these benefits that equal a quarter of our normal wages? They have a paycheck to go home to, food on the table, a nice comfy house that isn’t being taken back from the bank, they simply have no clue.

Families are scraping by barely making ends meet and they are going to temporarily stop what little money they have coming because they can’t “find” the money to pay for it. Well maybe if they actually looked at reality and seen the truth things might go in the right direction for once.

Fact: Collecting the maximum unemployment benefits in the State of Michigan will give you approximately $19,800 a year….Wow that’s under federal poverty level for the average American family!

Fact: In February Michigan’s unemployment rate was at 7% and people were getting nervous…As of February 2010 the rate is now doubled, sitting at 14.1%

It was Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that stopped the measure from being passed. He much like Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky last month, wants to know where the money will come from to pay for this without adding to the nation’s $12.7 trillion debt.

Well I have a couple of suggestions…

For one, we are the people that make this country run. Without the hard working middle class the “rich guys” wouldn’t be rich…how would they like to go build their own cars or pack their own products.

For two, Obama just request from Congress this week for $2.8 million dollars to help Haiti. Excuse me Mr. Obama we have to feed our kids too, find another way to help Haiti. Request that $2.8 million be placed to help with the unemployment extensions.

This is what Sen. John Kerry , D- Mass. , the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , had to say:

“It’s a non-negotiable measurement of how the United States responds to a humanitarian emergency,”

I wonder how many of the Americans that are about to lose their only income will feel about that?

This administration is mismanaging our money at the worse possible time. They spout change and new programs to help with job growth, foreclosures and health care but in reality a lot of money is being spent and none of it is working.

For example, this morning I read this quote form an article titled: Obama’s Weatherizing Program Off to Stormy Start

“After a year of crippling delays, President Obama’s $5 billion program to install weather-tight windows and doors has retrofitted a fraction of homes and created far fewer construction jobs than expected.”

The article goes on to say that of the 37 million people in the state of California this program created 84 jobs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME….84 JOBS!

This money could have been spent for unemployment. The issue is keeping companies from moving their work to other countries not creating a new sector of employment. The country has heard many promises from President Obama and yet have I seen one fulfilled. We are much worse off than we were two years ago and many American families are in the same situation we are.

When will they start listening to us, the people they are suppose to be representing instead of doing what they do best, spend money on worthless programs and live the lavish life?

Boiled Over means everything to us, we came up with the idea while grieving and being angry over Dustin’s death. We personally needed a place to Boil Over about anything that made our blood boil. You see, the anger we hold over losing our son can be very powerful at times so when you read or deal with any other injustice it amplifies the feeling. Boiled Over to us is a way to vent that anger. Sometimes all it takes to let it to feel better is to voice your opinion and that’s what we encourage you to do here.

Every morning when I read the news, I find at least one article that should be a Boiled Over post. The problem is I’ve been working at home for a real paycheck and find it hard to fit in writing a post on this site.  With times so tough financially I tend to spend all my time working BUT I’m setting a goal to post at least once a week…maybe a Furious Friday theme.

There are so many injustices lately and they need to be discussed…

• Unemployment Rate
• Foreclosure Rate
• Health Care Crisis
• Big Business Still Taking Advantage
• Criminals Released Early to Kill Innocent People

We encourage you to participate in venting on Boiled Over, trust me it makes you feel much better. If more people voiced their frustration in words maybe…just maybe…the acts of violence around the country would slow down!