Joining in Solidarity with Another Blog/ Why we Should let Bravo know how we Feel

Something important is going-on over at StoopidHousewives.com. SH is doing a series about how Taylor Armstrong's storyline on this season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is affecting the late Russel Armstrong's children, Ex-wives, and his family. Apparently, one-of Russel Armstrong's ex-wives, (Barbara), has confided to StoopidHousewives.com, (full story here), and the information has incited SH to call-for letting Bravo and others know how the public feels about airing the late Mr. Armstrong, as part-of this season's story.
Copied from the story and posted below is one example of what the viewers didn't see, this is heart-breaking to me, and even-though I put the blame squarely on Taylor, (and her party-planner), after seeing this, I feel personally responsible to agree with SH, and I will be joining in the effort to let Bravo know how I feel about this. (full instructions on how to do that in the item: http://stoopidhousewives.com/2011/12/05/real-housewives-of-beverly-hills-shanalynettehughestaylorfordarmstrong-taylor-armstrong-and-bravo-get-russell-off-rhobh/)
I won't lie and say that I won't be watching tonight's episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, because I plan-on watching it this week. But I cannot just stand-by and digest this BS. The one thing that I will say in Bravo's defense, is that (so-far), as-far as I can tell, the viewers are NOT falling-for Taylor's act.
Is that because Bravo has edited things in Russel's favor? At this point, its hard to tell, but Russel Armstrong's family has continued to maintain that ANY airing of the late Mr. Armstrong is causing them, and his children pain. The least that I can do is join the message-campaign, and furthermore, I will NOT be watching any more 1st runs of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, this season. IF I watch it at all-it will be the re-runs.
Clipped from StoopidHousewives.com, is what finally provoked me to take action. No its not the viewer's fault that this happened, but as consumers of the series, it would be irresponsible to think that WE were not considered, and therefore very indirectly, played a part in what SH (and I agree 100%) calls "despicable" behavior.(copied):

How Shana and Bravo REALLY do birthday parties… from Barbara…

“Oh we forgot to mention to you another important note…. Kennedy’s birthday party at the Saddle Rock Ranch was also supposed to be a belated party for Russell’s 11-year-old, too.  Yet, they put the wrong year on the Costco cake and no one even sang  happy birthday to him.
FYI:  Kennedy’s cake was $2,000.00.  Also, Russell’s 14-year-old was there to confirm and told me that his brother was very upset and said “this sucks” and Aiden said “Mom I told him told I know and I told him it would be OK.”
And to add more pain and misery…he didn’t get one gift and Kennedy got a horse and so many gifts that they had to be taken out in a truck.  She (Shana) made sure the boys had nothing!”

(end copy)

RiDonkulous!

   "That wasn't cool at ALL!"-Kandi's mom

I know that I've been a bad blogger lately, and even my links need to be refreshed/updated...but I'm still here.
Since The Real Housewives of Atlanta are currently airing, I've been meaning to add at least two local "Atlanta"-blogs that keep showing-up in my searches for info. about the Atlanta Housewives.-to the blogroll.
One is the Southern-sweet, http://www.TamaraTattles.com/ and the other is StraightFromTheA.com/ , which is a little bit more urban, but between the two sites, they have The Real Housewives of Atlanta covered!
I would love to grab a screen-cap of RIDICKULOUS, from Straight From The A, but instead, I'll just give the link to this post, so you can see for yourself if you like. (no nudity the last time that I checked, but be warned anyways) http://straightfromthea.com/2011/11/28/meet-redickulous-atlanta-housewives-stripper-of-season-4-photos-video/
After taking a look at Mr. Ridikulous's face, in the link above, I was surprised that I didn't notice what a nice-looking guy he is when he appeared on RHWOA last night, but he was wearing a hood, and then all-that commotion!
Am I on "Team Nene", or "Team Phaedra"?  BOTH, ha ha. In my opinion, what Bravo chose to set-up, was obscene in my opinion, AND, in the opinion of many communities in the USA, which I'm sure Mrs.Phaedra knows is what defines "obscenity". (the legal definition of obscene is normally delegated to community-standards). but. For some reason, I want to give Phaedra a pass. I think that she made a mistake, or maybe everyone who was there was "in" on what was going-to happen?  In any event, I'm rooting for Phaedra to come-out smelling like a rose, even-though what what we think that we saw was definitely wrong.
It must be that Southern Belle charm, and myself being a Yankee from Yankee-land, I'm a sucker for it every time.
I'm glad that some of the party-goers expressed discomfort with what apparently happened! And I loved the way that all of those name-brand designers rolled-out of Nene's mouth in her moment of flight. I don't know if I detected a slight Italian, or Euro-French accent in Ms. Nene's pronunciation, but I liked that too.
I could go on and on about why I think that Bravo crossed-the-line with this, but the two main problems that I have concern, one-the performer himself, because I'm not so sure that what I think I saw him doing wasn't physically harmful. Since double-negatives confuse me, I'll say it another way, I think that it is possible that what I think we saw him do was painful, and could cause permanent-damage.
Hopefully I'm wrong about that, and Mr. Ridiculous is not abusing himself to entertain people, but Bravo could have AT LEAST added a "Don't try this at home", warning.
Am I taking it too seriously? I don't think so. I don't think that Bravo took the performance seriously enough.
And that's why I have to say that I'm one-hundred percent two-faced on this one. I hope that Phaedra recovers from whatever part she had in this, yet I'm firmly on the side-of Nene and Kandi's mother when it comes to having the right to be offended. It was outrageous, over-the-top, inappropriate...and whatever other ways that can be used to describe how WRONG it is to surprise people with something that could be considered obscene.
As a viewer, I was offended. And I would have liked to have-had the opportunity to put a prayer-cloth over my television! I did learn something about myself from this, I am personally equally sqeamish about seeing men be exploited for their naked body-parts, as I am when it comes to women. Kandi's mom had it right when she said that it "wasn't cool".

What's in Kim Richards's Medicine Cabinent? Rx's

http://design-milk.com/happy-pills/

So I jotted them down, and looked them up for anyone who is interested, Trazadone (link to med info), most-likely used as-an anti-depressant. Lexapro(link to med info) *also called Escitalopram, another drug that seems to affect one's Serotonin, also noted for use with anxiety/nervousness. And most interesting to me because I've never heard about this one before, and I don't know if use for treating alcohol-cravings is considered, "off-label", or not, but, Topamax(link to med info) *also called Topiramate a drug normally prescribed for Epileptic seizures, but also noted for use in treating Alcoholism.
Was the scene with Dr. Paul set-up as a good opportunity for Kim to reveal and share this very personal information with us on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? She certainly would have been afforded privacy in answering the question on camera if she really wanted-to right?
(And does anyone wonder just what Taylor, and the others answer would be, and why we didn't see their answers?)
Wow--that is some heavy-duty medication there, and if anyone else is saying that Kim is brave for sharing this, I'd have to agree. Either that, or maybe not being able to lie is one of the side-effects? (I've heard-of stranger side-effects, and after reading the monographs of these particular drugs, I'd say that would be a mild one).
Of-course by now, she may have decided to try something else. In any event, this new development of naming exactly what meds a Real Housewife is using is pretty interesting to me.
And just for the record, I'd guess from the glass-of Pepsi©, or Coke© that Kim's boyfriend was drinking when we were introduced to him, that they met each-other in treatment.

Its a Joke-Right? Or Why Andy got The Bitch-Edit at the Re-Union

I don't know why Andy got the bitch-edit. At the end of part 2 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season III Re-Union, Andy did admit that he too had an issue with Teresa Giudice. The thing is that Andy chastised Teresa for something that she didn't do.
In case you missed that part, Andy went pretty hard on Teresa for Joe Giudice's never-ending use of the word, "faggot" while the camera's were rolling.
Andy made a point of highlighting the fact that the word has been used in instances of bullying, and worse, (hate-crimes, and violence), but as usual, Andy's personal offense was wrapped in an enigma of irony, sandwiched in hypocrisy, frosted with BLING.
Cohen's defense was no excuse for what viewers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey Re-Union Part 1, and 2, witnessed.  I really think they could have named this finale' The Bloodbath in Redbank.
Teresa made sure that her star would shine the brightest by wearing a giant BLING-badge on her dress. Maybe it was in her contract that she alone would have the biggest BLING-for-the bang, but it turned-out to be a booby-prize in my opinion.
When we were first introduced to Caroline Manzo's son Christopher in Season 1, he came attached to the "joke" that he aspired to running a car-wash that featured strippers.
In Season 2, we even got to see the hilarity come true. It was clearly the intent of Caroline, Christopher, and Bravo, that this stripper/car-wash idea was supposed to be a cute, funny, joke.
In Season 3, when Teresa mentions the gimmick in her cook-book, all of a sudden, the "joke"-is fighting words?
And speaking-of bitches, when did Caroline Manzo become the The Queen of Mean? The Re-Union editing in general was very "choppy" in my opinion, but they certainly didn't delete the eye-rolls, grimaces, sneering, evil-eyes, (or as they say, "ma-loinx" in Italian), and just-plain rotten-dirty-looks that Caroline directed towards Teresa.
Caroline's body-language was as over-the-top as a Gorga/Giudice Christening party, and it wasn't pretty.
Neither was what she said.
Caroline has said some pretty nasty things about her step-niece Ashley, Danielle's young daughter's, and even her own daughter, but she saved the worst for Teresa's daughter Gia.
In commenting on Gia's performance of a song that Teresa's daughter wrote and sang at her sister's birthday party, Caroline shouted at Teresa that it was "A DISGRACE!"
I went-back to watch the scene again on Bravo.com, and Bravo made a point to caption Caroline whispering to her husband Albert that Gia's song was "stupid". In other commentary of Gia's sad-song, Caroline refers to it as, "tragic".
The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 3 - Singing in the Pain, pt.5 - Video - Bravo TV Official Site
After Part 1 of the re-union, I noticed that some online commenters were wondering if Teresa had been sedated. I hadn't considered that myself, but at the conclusion of Part 2,  after the entire ambush ended and the worst they got-out of our body-slammin', table-throwing Teresa was "Go Scratch!", the tranquilizer idea made sense to me.
I was particularly offended by the criticism of Gia. How could Bravo have even allowed those remarks to stay, when as I mentioned above, the whole production was so heavily-edited?
For one thing, Gia's number was cute. And it was a perfect demonstration of what most normal 10 or 11 year-olds would come up with. It wasn't real entertaining, but it was what it was, and it was short, and very sweet.
Caroline had no right to make those pronouncements on that child. Gia's little a' Capella Birthday performance might not have been the kind-of thing that makes the charts, but we all can see that that little girl is one hard-working trouper when it comes to talent.
Caroline's scorn might be something that the grown-ups like Kim G., and Danielle, in  Jersey,Franklin Lakes, New have to learn how to avoid the hard-way, but we don't allow that old skool Spirit-crushing to go on here any more when it comes to children.
That's why your widdle Cwitofer was allowed to get-away with his, "cute joke" about the strippers and the the car-wash for too long honey.
Yet it was Caroline who's eyes almost popped-out in her overly-dramatic display-of frustration with what she wanted us to think was Teresa's lack-of-insight.
It was all just too much, and yes they got their ratings but at the expense of disgusting the viewers in a way that cannot be justified no-matter how many sock-puppet comments they pay to pollute the www with.
But it wasn't just Caroline who grind-ed her ax on Teresa, Andy made sure to mock, highlight, and dwell-on in a mean-girl-way every mis-pronunciation, and misunderstanding that Teresa made.
Teresa's confusion with the English language is part of what makes her unique and interesting. Somehow this season, her quirks were presented  as ignorance and a lack of intellect. Its never a fair-fight when you take-advantage of someone who is weaker-than you. Isn't that the definition of a bully?
The fact that Teresa grew-up in a home where English was not spoken, did not go un-noticed by the audience when we paused to wonder how Teresa changed from being charming into being "un ucated".
We may not all have an Italian heritage, but everyone who is not a Native American has ancestors who immigrated here at one time or another. Teresa's husband may be a serial-offender at using the word, "faggot", and I think that Andy may have got his message across to some die-hards, but I'm not aware-of when it became politically correct to insult immigrants either.
Or-for the host of a panel to join-in on a "slam-session" against an individual.
Melissa Gorga tried to get-away with sitting-pretty, but her contributions to Teresa's interrogation did not go un-noticed. Was it really necessary for Melissa to correct Teresa when Teresa was trying to make the point that she had scaled-back on over-spending? Of course it wasn't. And if Melissa had not piped-up and informed everyone that Gia did indeed have an I-phone, then Teresa would not have had to explain that yes, Gia does have the I-phone now, but she did not receive both that, and another very expensive gift at Christmas-time.
Melissa also demonstrated her acting-ability, which wasn't much better than Caroline's in my opinion, when she used the phrase, "Its all public-record?(isn't it)." to telegraph to the audience, "We all saw the public-records of the horrendous legal and financial problems that your family has."
Real subtle Mellisa-not.
Melissa even came with her own electronic shit-list of her complaints with Teresa, in case they ran-out of material. She did admit that she's a double-talker when she owned the remark, "at least we pay our bills", and confessed that what she really meant was that Teresa and Joe are deadbeats.
Kathy made-out "OK", but she didn't bother to try and defend Teresa, or if she did that was edited-out.
Speaking-of editing, for all that was shown on the Re-Union, the audience doesn't know what was left-out, or how "real" what we saw was. But we did see Teresa saying, "This is me, this is real."
What kind-of "real" mother would allow a blow-hard like Manzo, get-away with calling their child a "disgrace", on national television no less? Yet Teresa posted a message to Twitter that the only reason that she wasn't promoting the Re-Union along-with her cast-mates, was because she was busy working-on the set of Celebrity Apprentice. She also Tweeted that she did not have a chance to see the edited version of the Re-Union part 2, before it aired, but hey she was there.
Most-of Gia Giudice's 10 and 11 year-old peer-group are old enough to know better, to know that little Gia is not a "disgrace", as Bravo allowed Caroline to proclaim. But by not having a disclaimer to point-to Bravo has left Gia, (and other child reality cast-members) to her own devices when it comes-to explaining things to their friends.

We already know that Season 4 has mostly been recorded, and rumor is that Caroline drops-out somewhere during Season 4, we really don't know how much longer Caroline Manzo will be part of the cast.
Since Bravo took the unusual route of mixing-up the timeline by doing the Re-Union to Season 3 while Season 4 was being made, the audience lost the choice to speak-out on our casting wishes for Season 4.
The only choice that Bravo has left the viewers is to "Watch what happens", or not.
I'm leaning-towards "not" at this point.

The Sickening Truth About Reality-Television and My Theory about the Dina Fued

On the Today Show, yesterday morning,(October 17), Giuliana Rancic had an announcement to make. When she revealed that she has breast cancer, reality-viewers were stunned because the Rancics have allowed the public to follow their quest to make a baby on their reality show on the Style network, Giuliana and Bill.
Just five days ago, US Weekly published an interview with Bill Rancic, that could not have possibly been true. (link to US Weekly October 15 interview) That interview was picked-up by Radar Online, and other major media-outlets, and quoted widely online. Here is a snip with some of the quotes:

"the E! Host and hubby Bill are in the midst of giving in vitro fertilization yet another try. We're not opposed to adoption, but at this point we're going down the IVF path," Bill, 40, told Us Weekly Thursday at the Nivea New Year's Eve preview in NYC. ...

But in the middle of their third IVF treatment, Giuliana, 37, and Bill are hopeful. "If [our doctor says] after this cycle, 'I don't think this is going to happen for you naturally. You're going to have to look at more options,' then we will," she told Us. "But if someone is telling you, 'I can get you pregnant,' then we're trying it."-(Bill Rancic to US Oct. 15)

Compare those words with what the same publication, US, said yesterday (link here):

"...Instead of a happy pregnancy announcement, Rancic, 37, told Ann Curry: "I have early stage breast cancer." The E! News host and Giuliana and Bill star made the frightening discovery back in August, as she was preparing for her third attempt to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization.

Rancic explained that her doctor sternly insisted that she get a mammogram before going through with the third IVF treatment. (The pregnancy hormones could "accelerate the cancer," Rancic recalled her doctor as saying.)

The star, who said she has no family history of breast cancer,..."-(Giuliana Rancic quoted by US October 17)

Am I heartless? Obviously, this couple deserves some privacy and their personal medical information is none of my, or the public's business-right? Not really. Not when you put yourself and your very personal medical problem in the spotlight of reality-television, and ask us to believe that what you are telling us is "real". Starting-with the premise that Rancic is dealing-with "infertility". At 37, her inability to become pregnant is not considered infertility, it is merely a fact-of-life, and quite normal for someone her age.

The pregnancy hormones could "accelerate the cancer," Rancic recalled her doctor as saying.-Pregnancy hormones? WHAT? 
Oh-I get it, since they added "recalled her doctor as saying", the accuracy of medical information "doesn't count"? I have never been treated for cancer myself, or fertility, and I certainly am not a doctor, but I can tell you that this information is incorrect and misleading. What she is calling, "pregnancy hormones", and implying that the hormones that her own body would produce in the event of a successful pregnancy, are really the fertility drugs, that she has already, obviously, taken too much-of.(link)

67 "Pregnancy Hormones" shots a month?!!

YES-it is sad, and it is her and her family's private sorrow, but when you share personal medical information with the public and call it, "reality"-you have an obligation to the public to GET IT RIGHT.

Rancic says that she wants to urge women to get mammograms. In her case, that may have saved her life at this point, but if she is claiming that she wants to better inform women in general, about the dangers of fertility-treatments and cancer, then in my opinion, she should be advising women who take ANY kind-of hormone, (be it fertility-related like egg-donors, infertility, birth-control, for menopausal-symptoms, menstrual-cycle symptom relief...), the thing that would prevent women from having to deal with the risk, is a simple test to find-out if it is safe for them to take hormones in the first place.
(link)Apparently, some women are genetically not able to metabolize some drugs, so those drugs become toxic in their bodies and can produce cancer. The link at http://ivfbreastcancer.com/, is an extensive resource created by a woman who is recovering from breast cancer and the treatment for breast cancer. The author also underwent IVF, and because she ultimately used a surrogate, and an egg-donor to produce her children, (causing those women to submit to an unnatural use of hormone treatments), in her quest to have a family, she unwittingly exposed herself and at least two other women to something that was more risky than it could have been. (if they had been tested before-hand, that risk would have been known and possibly mitigated, or avoided).
People who take certain statin-drugs for heart disease are now required to have such a test before beginning statin-therapy. The pharmaceutical industry will lose some customers and sales when this type-of genetic-testing is required for all prescriptions, but it will protect people from accidentally harming themselves with drugs.
I sincerely hope that Giuliana makes it through her cancer-treatment, and survives to tell the story. The true story. I honestly cannot hold Giuliana and Bill responsible themselves, for what I see as a tremendous violation of the public's right to receive accurate health information. It is just too-big, and too much of a responsibility to place on someone who's only, "crime", (yep-I put the quotes there to mean "not"), is to be a bit of a famewhore who wanted to have a baby or two. We are all responsible for our own health decisions when it comes down to it-but WHO is responsible, when not only are we not given the correct information, but we are given outright lies? There have obviously been lies told, and omissions of the truth, since at least August, when the couple heard the bad news. Was it because the news of Giulianna's diagnoses would have coincided, and disrupted the timeline of Giulianna and Bill , which was airing the IVF-treatment episodes at that time? We may never know the answer to that because no-matter what kind-of contract a person signs with reality-television, HIPPA-laws protect a person's medical privacy at any stage in the game, and even famewhore/reality characters have rights to their own private matters.
In situations like this, the viewers have no choice but to allow Giuliana to reclaim as-much of herself as she needs from the public stage of reality television.
Rancic has also announced that she intends to follow a pretty standard recommended treatment for her type of breast-cancer, which is what most people who want to save their lives would do. Chemo, and radiation, and although I personally hate cancer, and what chemo does to people, especially people who do the treatment and end-up dying from the chemotherapy treatment.......but unfortunately following the treatment that our doctors recommend, is usually the best option. Which brings me to The Real Housewives of New Jersey and the snake-oil that they have been hawking on Season 3. In interviews and elsewhere, they have propagated the myth that their drink was invented by sisters from Canada who cured their own mother of Breast Cancer.  Although I feel very sorry that Giulianna Rancic is looking-forward to really bad sickness caused by her treatment, at least she is not being mislead  to drink (read the reviews if you want to avoid this;))
BLK Water, at $55. a case instead-of taking what her doctors are offering. I was astounded to see what Jackie said about this product that she and her husband have invested-in on her Bravo-blog (link).

"Since the launch of BLK, we have received letter after letter about how it has helped many people with many different conditions, ailments, and diseases including people and children with AIDS, cancer, MS, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, autism, etc. It has often been said that it helps cure a hang over."-(Jaq.'s Blog)

I was shocked to see this in print on Bravo's website. I am not in favor of with-holding alternative medicine from anyone. But making a health-claim for ANY product, UNLESS it has been through the rigorous-testing  that is required for products that make health-claims, (essentially drugs and medicines), is dangerous and there may be some kind of loop-hole that allows them to get-away with it, but I don't think so. Maybe there are some good treatments for ailments and diseases that deserve to be made available, but there clearly has been NO MEDICAL RESEARCH AT ALL done on this product. Therefore-they simply cannot make ANY claims whatsoever. Furthermore, I don't even believe that she had received so many letters since the product was hardly available when she posted the blog.I have searched high and low for the name of one person, including the two women who appeared on The Real Housewives of New Jersey,(and I could NOT find their names anywhere) who are claiming to have "cured their mother's breast cancer" with this stuff-and there is not one single iota of research or evidence of the claims that the people who are selling it are making.
As a consumer, I was interested in the novelty idea and marketing of this product, and most importantly I wanted to be sure that consuming a little bit would be safe. I can see by the crazy, sneaky way that they are trying to promote this as some kind-of, "cure-all", that they are more interested in selling this to desperate sick people than as a fun beverage experience.
Maybe the whole Dina vs Caroline "feud", has  less to do with Teresa, than it does with Dina, not-wanting to be seen endorsing this product? Besides what Jackie has posted at Bravo.com, health claims have been made by Albie Manzo, among others involved, but Albie's comments are particularly grievous because he claims to have sent this concoction to a mother who wanted to give it to her child. Dina's work with Project Ladybug would make any association with this product an ethical dilemma at best.
Anyone who has been reading my Real Housewives blogs for awhile, knows that it particularly irks me to see certain issues portrayed, like Ramona's bizarre pregnancy-scare at age 53, and other inaccurate plot-devices disguised-as real-life events. I don't blame reality-television for Rancic's breast cancer, but I do blame reality television for what happens, (or doesn't happen), to viewers who mistakenly make their own health and life decisions, based-on what they think that they have learned by seeing other people's real-life experiences.

Project Ladybug Online Financals are Updated!

(see video at the end of this post for more)
This is the most recent report, copied from the State of NJ website. The report date is listed, "2009", but it was not posted until recently due to an extension being filed on Project Ladybug's part, and clerical issues with the State's website. *I may update this information later with comparison to the 2008 information that was posted online. And/or more details about what Project Ladybug has been up-to since they were previously mentioned. I don't know if this report covers ALL of the Ladybug branches. They have been very active in Chicago with fundraising, and in supporting the children and families at the Comer Children's Hospital, (part of The University of Chicago), who are dealing with childhood cancer.Project Ladybug in Chicago (link here) is not listed on the, "honor roll" of donors to UofC, but the hospital has not updated their list since before Ladybug really got started there. I was corresponding by email and telephone with the donation department because they did have a statement and phone number listed inviting people with questions to contact them, but after waiting months, (literally), the only info. that they would give me regarding any monetary figures was to call Project Ladybug and ask them.
I'm also posting a 3 min. YouTube video called, "How Atia's Project Ladybug Funds are Used" following the data. The video was posted this September, it describes some of the things that PL has done in Chicago at an acceptance speech for a fifty-thousand dollar (!) donation to the fund. The audio is a little tricky, but it is worth listening-to if you want to get an idea of how the funds are being used. Personally, I'm impressed by the diverse amount of worthwhile spending activities that they have done to help families and children so far.

PROJECT LADYBUG
705 EWING AVE, FRANKLIN LAKES NJ, 07417
Phone: 201-320-0132
Income			Expenses
Direct Public Contributions:	$128,476.00		Program Expenses:	$70,000.00
Indirect Public Contributions:	0.00		Management Expenses:	$10,025.00
Government Grants:	0.00		Fund Raising:	$47,917.00
Program Service Revenue:	0.00		Payments to Affiliates:	0.00
Other Support:	0.00		Total Expenses:	$127,942.00
Total Revenue:	$128,476.00
Registration Number: CH3177400			Report in File: 12/31/09

Here is the glossary of terms used copied from the State of NJ website:

Glossary of Terms

• Fund-Raising Expenses - The dollars that are spent raising money to enable the charity to continue to exist.
• Management & General Expenses - The dollars that are spent running the organization such as salaries, office expenses, etc.
• Net Assets - Sometimes called "net worth", net assets equal a charity's assets minus its liabilities.
• Payments to Affiliates - The dollars that are spent by national charities to the local or state chapters; conversely, some local chapters pay dues to national offices.
• Program Expenses - The dollars that are spent on the activities or programs for which the charity was founded.
• Total Gross Revenue - The total of direct public contributions, indirect public contributions, government grants and any other support.
• Total Expenses - The sum of the expenses categories . 

What's in a Name?

 "What's in a name? That which we call a rose

 By any other name would smell as sweet."

                         -Romeo and Juliet (II, ii,1-2 (link)

 Once again, drama with The Real Housewives of New Jersey has reached Shakespearean heights, so its time to pull-out the references.  We've been hearing a lot of sniping from the main-players, but lurking in the background, some familiar names keep popping-up like weeds.
I was hanging-out on Twitter recently, (@housewifehater), Tweeting, and reading Tweets, and I had an (other-oops!)occasion to be corrected. This time though, the kind correction was for an intentional mistake. Everybody knows that there's only ONE boutique in North Jersey named, POSCHE, (pronounced "posh") right? And we all know that POSCHE is mis-spelled pretentiously, maybe to try and give "Posh" some extra Panache? (or so I thought!)). Well I have a personal-policy about "made-up", or what I think are pretentious, spellings, I just won't be bothered.
But when Mr. Walter Newkirk, aka, "The Rutgers Boy", (on Twitter. Link here) , sent me a polite correction, I took notice. Being corrected by Walter Newkirk, is, as we sometimes say in New Jersey, is an honor and a privilege. Newkirk has ties to the legitimate origins of Reality TV, (through the documentary, "Grey Gardens", and the Mother of Reality TV herself, Pat Loud). He also had a professional relation with Kim G., for about five minutes, which is where I first learned-about Newkirk. Walter Newkirk's history, and the history of, (most-of ha ha), his clientele, was so fascinating to me that I blogged about him, (here).
So I had to wonder why the spelling of a silly name for a boutique, would matter to such a distinguished person? What was he trying to tell me? Persons like Newkirk are above public displays of grammar-naziism, so I knew that it wasn't a personal attack. It had to be a hint!
Its not like anyone would get confused about which POSH.........Oh my. Not only are there too many Joes, and too many Kims, it turns-out that there are, (at least) TWO boutiques. And not only that, they both have connections to The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  It also doesn't help that Kim Depaola, (Kim "D"), has two different Facebook pages, Here, and Here where the topics are mostly the same. And just like Teresa Giudice, (who is on Kim D's side-I think), has copy-cat sister-in-law, Melissa Giudice, it appears that Kim D has her very own "Bunny boiler" and imitator. Or maybe more than one?

The REAL POSCHE? Uh-Oh

That's right. There is another Posh. Only it's called, "Posh". The Montville Patch has a full write-up (linked), on the other Posh. The title and sub-title, give an idea of how closely-related BOTH Posh and Posche are linked with The Real Housewives of New Jersey.(copied)

Posh Boutique Owner Promotes Reality Stars

Jairo Arias works with cast members from 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey,' 'Jerseylicious' and 'Jersey Shore.'

• By Katie Marinello

Katie Marinello is a local Montville writer who keeps-up with many of the Bravolebrities in the area for her readers. Posh has a FaceBook page too. They recently changed their avatar to an invitation to a fashion-event, starring none-other than Melissa Gorga.
Google Map says that the stores are about 5.9 miles apart.

The "other" Posh in addition to heavily promoting Melissa on its FaceBook, has some familiar faces as models on its website http://www.poshboutiquenj.com/ (HeRE) including these Real Housewives of New Jersey:

There's more. Much more, including a recent, "mean Tweet" sent-out by Danielle Staub, calling for a boycott of Kim D's boutique. Danielle might have a problem if she plans on taking her business to the "other" Posh. That one's website specifically says that it caters to people in the age range of 18-40. Kim D is a professional businesswoman and she knows better than turn away customers. To add to the confusion, Kim D is currently promoting a different event, with Jaquilene Laurita's name included!
Kim D. has been taking a lot of heat lately for her latest fashion fight, I mean show, and her public support of Teresa Giudice. And lines are being drawn between glam-camps of Public Relation peeps, stylists, salons,Real  Housewives and their entourages. Will any of this rivalry appear in Season 4?
As I mentioned, there was quite a bit of "more" to this saga. Pasted below are a few more clips that I found while researching this, you can click to enlarge. I'll post them at the "end" of this post, but I have a feeling that Posh vs Posche, (and I really hoped that I spelled it right!), isn't over yet.

From Kim D's FaceBook(s) linked above      

From Danielle's Twitter-That wasn't very nice!

The Real Housewives of New Jersey have Lost the Plot and Ruined the Re-Union

(Link to A Wrinkle in Time HeRE)

The viewers are currently seeing season 3 play-out. One more episode to go, and then the re-union.
But back in "real", "real-life", the cast and crew. have been busy taping Season 4.
The most recent trouble began when Season 3, ran right into Season 4.

A back-to-back taping schedule, where the notorious annual Poshe (yes-I spell it however I want, Kim did right?) fashion show, was taping scenes for Season 4, on Tuesday night, followed-by the re-union taping for season 3, the next day, before anyone had a chance to recover and dissect the events of the night before, caused EVERYTHING to explode online and on Twitter.

Although people have mostly been commenting and observing the events of Season 3,there have-been some details about Season 4 leaked, tweeted, and talked-about online.

• One very strong rumor is that Caroline Manzo, quit, or was fired, somewhere in Season 4.
• We also heard that Teresa and Melissa took a cross-country car trip with the cousins sometime this Summer.(Season 4)
• And that a marriage-vow-renewal between Joe and Teresa took place somewhere on the East Coast (Season 4), while the rest of the cast was squirreled-away in secrecy in the Pacific-North-West (Season 4).
• Ashley's Step-mom and her Dad were charged in Texas with insurance fraud and arson, (Season 4).
• Ashley moved to LA, (Season 4).

Whatever happened at Poshe, (Season 4), was so traumatic, that it caused a shake-up, that caused Jacqueline to take to her Twitter to say that she had had enough. The current rumor is that Jaqueline refused to attend the re-union, (Season 3) taping- that will air in a couple weeks. We can be sure that the events of Season 4, were heavy on the minds of everyone during this Season 3 reunion. The standard Bravo "gag-order", that prevents the cast from revealing events before they are aired  stopped the cast from discussing what was really on their minds.

I seem to remember Jaqueline sending-out, "I quit" messages before, so the latest barrage doesn't do much for me, although I am interested in whether or not she appears on-the-couch, for the re-union. (season 3).

And isn't that the whole point of the re-union show? A chance to see the cast, in the, "here and now", to wrap-up all of those unanswered questions, and catch-up with what has happened to the cast since the taping of the current, (Season 3) taping? A "gag-order" pretty much ruins the reunion-doesn't it?

In retrospect, it has become obvious that taping Season 4, before the re-union for season 3 is taped, was a bad idea.

And now we all know what went-down at that fashion show, because Melissa Gorga finally fessed-up, and posted a statement on her web-page. Melissa was confronted while the cameras were rolling, with the fact that she once worked in what she calls a "bikini bar". She can call it whatever she likes, but the fact is that "Lookers", advertises lap-dances, (gross), and "private rooms available"-(double disgusting ick), on their FaceBook page.
Yet-a certain other person who would like to be called, a fixer-of-rumors, tried to spin the whole story as Teresa, hiring some random "male-stripper", (when it has been confirmed that it was Melissa's pimp, I mean co-worker), to make this whole story up. Nice try Lynn.
At this point, it looks-like Teresa and Joe Gorga haven't got a friend in the cast and they have all turned against them, including the family-members who were brought-on in Season 3.
Speaking-of online and people who comment online, at one point during the fracas on Twitter, Joe Gorga publicly accused an innocent Tweeter, of being on Teresa's payroll. That detail didn't escape me because it appears that "Team Gorga', has an army of "sock-puppets", (fake, or paid commenters who post propaganda online).
There is currently a push to blame Teresa for embarrassing Melissa with this information. Really? I wish that Bravo would come-clean on that for Teresa's sake.
Maybe the whole thing is fake? Maybe the drama is like wrestling, and Teresa, Joe, the children...are all characters like Hulk Hogan? Maybe they are all best-friends, or neutral in real, "real life"? That would be great if ALL of the "hate" was fake, or "scripted", but that wouldn't be fair to the viewers-would it?
Fake or real, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and the entire franchise, is in trouble. Who wants to watch a show where people hurt, or pretend-to hurt people, for the most stupid of reasons?
At this point, the only intriguing thing about the whole hot mess, is the license to snoop into the character's "real", "real lives", that we are given by Bravo's continued insistence that it is real.
I have an idea. Why not show us something real, or be honest and post that disclaimer that I keep nagging-for? And now that I'm making a wish-list, I wish that they would delete the whole bunch.
Maybe Bravo is one-step ahead of me here and they already have that planned? There has to be some reason for why they already have Season 4 almost finished. Is Bravo almost finished with these characters, like the New York City gals?
We know that Bravo has a "back-up" family just waiting to take their place, The Marinos of South Jersey. And even-though only the pilot episode of Thicker Than Water-The Marinos has been aired, they left viewers wanting more, and wanting to see what happens next.
The Marinos seemed pretty "real" to me, but that was only one episode. Yes, the therapy-scene had to be a set-up, but it was a funny/cute set-up. The sad evolution of Housewives, usually hit the cast-members in their second season. After they get a little taste of the fame and the money. (and I will excuse one Sonja Morgan here, but she did do a lot of nutty stuff for her Sophomore year)
Would I want to see the cast-members from The Marino family try to hurt each other just for drama and screen-time?-No. Would they fall-prey to plastic-surgery, and all that seems to go-along with wearing the false-eyelashes and being a Real Housewife?
I guess that time will tell? OH-and speaking-of The Marinos, I posted this the other day on Twitter, (You can follow me there @HousewifeHater if you want to see my updates and Real Housewife Trivia), I happened to notice that the very first episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey's title, as listed in Wikipedia is, "Thicker than Water"-the name of The Marino's show.-Co-incidence or not?

Happy Birthday Liar

*I can't stand Taylor Armstrong. That's my personal opinion. I'm going to release some Kraken on her here, and unfortunately, the topic of Domestic abuse and violence is mixed-up with all of this. Because of that I have to preface this post with a reminder that no matter what Taylor Armstrong is guilty-of, no matter how much Housewife-hating she inspires, none of it is ever a reason, or an excuse to physically abuse or harm someone. I also realize that words that are filled-with hate are verbal-abuse, and that verbal and emotional-abuse is generally not something that anyone deserves either. Because-of Taylor's  voluntary position in the public-eye, she has exempted herself from protection from public hate. But again, no one, no matter what they have done, deserves to be domestically abused in any way.

The face of a liar

On The Dr Phil Show yesterday, Taylor confirmed to Dr.Phil that the photos which she sold to ET, (above), were taken because she was having LASIK, "reconstructive surgery". She also claimed that Russel abused her after her birthday party. Lisa VanDerpump was quoted as saying that she was at the party and everyone seemed fine. Radar online talks about a birthday party, attended by Lisa. There is also a video of Russel and Taylor, it was posted on June 12th.by PopCandies TV  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-SebcScaA. In the video, Russel tells the interviewer that Taylor celebrates her birthday for a month, and that it is "painful".
Taylor also had a public Birthday celebration in Las Vegas, on June 18th. Apparently, her birthday is on June 10th. Confusing? Yes, but what is not confusing is that the photographs that ET confirmed as evidence that Taylor was, "battered", by Russel Armstrong, are a H.O.A.X!
As I watched Taylor on Dr. Phil yesterday, I was on Twitter and someone posted to me that I was "ignorant", and an "idiot" for Tweeting about Taylor so much. I am sending that person a link to this post so that they might understand why I was so excited. What I was watching was PROOF that Taylor did NOT get the black-eye in the "hospital" photos from Russel. She admitted it with her own lip-implanted, grossly deformed, lying mouth. Dr. Phil will be having Russel Armstrong's family as guests next week.
Taylor was photographed extensively throughout the month of June. Her surgery was on July 5th, and she was not photographed in public again until August.
Domestic violence and abuse is a very worthwhile topic to highlight in the public. But Taylor Armstrong is NOT the person to do it. A despicable person like herself is not worthy of the honor of being a spokesperson for anything. Victims of abuse are being used and abused  by Taylor Armstrong. I almost wish that I was a victim myself, so that I could speak for those victims just like Abercrombie & Finch publicly told another reality celeb/fame-whore to please NOT represent their brand.
Fear and threats of being discredited, or not-believed, is a common device of abuse used against victims of abuse as well as rape. Taylor does deserve to be called-out and exposed for the liar that she is, but every time that she is, it is another "win" for people who would, threaten, batter, and abuse. The public spectacle and charade that Taylor is pursuing strikes fear in real victims. It confirms what they are being told by the one who is abusing them.
That being said, even a liar like Taylor would be entitled-to and receive the help that is available to victims .If someone is reading this who has the fear of not being believed, know that the truth really will set you free. Especially if you use the legal system to help you.

• Taylor Armstrong has used photos of "reconstructive surgery"-(quote Taylor on Dr. Phil) and lied to the public that the injuries in the photo were caused by her husband to make herself the face of domestic violence.

• She claimed on The Dr. Phil show, that Russel Armstrong injured her by punching her in the eye after her birthday party. 

• Taylor's birthday is June 10th.

• Taylor celebrated her birthday in Las Vegas on June 18th.

• She was photographed the next day at the critic's choice awards.

• The "reconstructive surgery" photos, were taken on July 5th, when she had LASIK surgery on her eye

• Apparently, Taylor was having the LASIK procedure as elective-surgery, probably a gift-bag "freebie".

• Are cheek-implants/fillers visible on MRIs? ET showed MRIs with damage, was it Taylor?

• ET, and Taylor lied to the public by giving the impression that the "black-eye" photos, were damage that was done to her by Russel, NOT the result of "reconstructive surgery".

Kathy Griffin has a page on her website warning people about the possible danger of LASIK. Here is a    "black eye" photo of Kathy six-days after her procedure.

http://www.kathygriffin.net/lasik.php

TVTime101 was the first website to try and construct a "Taylor-Timeline" with photographs taken of Taylor.(linked here)

As another side-note and personal opinion, Bravo finally did the right-thing and deleted someone with obvious problems with mental-illness from The Real Housewives.( her name starts with "K", as-in "Koo-Koo")  I think that I've had enough of watching these people call themselves, "Real Housewives". Why do we allow them to claim the title of "Housewife", let-alone "abused-Housewife", when they really should be called what they are? No offense to the mentally ill meant here. But Bravo is not presenting this as what it really is. I get that they are asking for "Housewives" to apply, and they are getting narcissistic, sociopathic, pathological applicants, because they are fame-whores who tend to be attracted to the genre as an easy entry-way to celebrity and into the eyes and minds of the public. But as one of the viewing-public, I don't like it.

DC Housewife Husband asks public to help him Stalk DC Housewife!

http://www.tmz.com/2011/09/14/michaele-salahi-tareq-kidnapped-abducted-police-cops-virginia-mother-real-housewives-of-dc-alleged-white-house-crashers/#.TnElcGXwCW4

Before The Real Housewives of DC aired, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't bother learning-how to spell their names. Calling them the "Party Crashers" seemed like a good-enough way to describe them if I absolutely had to refer to them but then they issued a warning that people who called them that would risk litigation. Typing-out, "The people who don't want to be called the DC Party-Crashers", is just too much trouble.
This latest stunt, on the part of the husband, has given me new respect for the wife.
When I first saw the item on TMZ, I thought what everyone, (including the police), thought. That these people will do anything to appear relevent and get their names in the media.
Upon researching the story further, I learned that the wife has gone so far as contacting the police to let them know that she is fine, because she knew that the husband would refuse to believe that she had left him.
Here's where it gets twisted. She left him. And instead-of dealing with it, what does he do?
He just refuses to believe it.
For all that we know, she may have left a note, or even told him that she was leaving, because at this point he is being told by the police, "She left you dude."-and he is insisting that it couldn't possibly be true.
He prefers to believe that she has been "abducted", and "kidnapped", and is being forced to tell people that she is OK.
If anyone is holding anyone hostage here, I would say that this Husband is trying to maintain control of the Wife by force, (another way to say, "hold hostage"),even- if only in his own imagination.
If this is what I think it is, (that she has left him and that he didn't make it easy for her to do so), then it is the first thing that this woman has ever done since I first heard of her, that I admire.
If they start going back-and-forth on Radar, TMZ...then I take that back!
You know I always thought that this couple was a real-life example of the curious Folie à deux (madness of two). And maybe it was? Or maybe this was something more common,like a manipulating partner who won't take no for an answer- yet on a grandiose scale? Could all of the fame-whoring been the "folly" of the Husband? And the could the wife have been coerced/forced in some way to go-along with it?

Or maybe this is just a case of the money's gone and so am I! Which might not sound very nice, but the last time that I checked this is a free country, (thank God and our Troops!), and people are free to leave their partners for any reason at all.
The Husband has taken the liberty to step-outside-the-boundary and try to create his own, "Amber Alert", asking the public to notify him of any sightings of the Wife. He even went so-far as to post the phone number of where she is staying online to enlist the help of the public in harassing the Wife.
This is taking stalking to a whole new level, and it is my opinion that this Husband needs to be committed/locked-up, for both of their protection.

Mamma-Mia, Poppa-Pia, Giudice's have the Diarrhea

Last night on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, we witnessed yet another sickening segment with the Giudice family. This time it was Teresa who claimed that she was suffering from, "the runs".
At Christmas-time, it was Gia, who was followed right-up to the bathroom door by Bravo's cameras. And they don't leave much to the imagination. Sound-effects like barfing, gagging, toilet-flushing....
Who could forget the season-opener, where Teresa explained in detail that Joe was having gastrointestinal problems that prevented him from wanting to attend the Christening ceremony in Church?
 Is it Teresa's home-cooking, or is Joe bringing-home a little something extra, (like ecoli?), with his pizza?
I guess that's one way to become a "Skinny Italian"?
We've all seen the "bitch-edit" before, but last-night's episode confirmed that Bravo has given the "Dysentery-edit" to the Giudice Family this season. For awhile there, Bravo was obsessed with dog-crap. I remember thinking that Dog Poop had become "the 6th Housewife", on The Real Housewives of New York. Now they have repeatedly focused on the tummy-troubles in the Giudice house.
Is Bravo trying to tell us that The Real Housewives of New Jersey is nothing but crap? What is that flushing sound that I hear? Maybe its the ratings? Or maybe its the sound of Joe and Teresa's restaurant and food business circling-the-drain.

Judge Thwarts Danielle Staubs Attempt to Blackmail The Public

Get your mind out of the Gutter! These Square Tarts are Lemony and Sweet unlike you know who (recipe link here)

Remember last season on re-union of The Real Housewives of New Jersey when Teresa told Andy that Danielle is, "sue-happy"?, She was RIGHT! But Bravo Andy, and the Housewives aren't the only ones who have to worry, Danielle was involved in devious plot to entice, and then sue her FANS!
Reuters.com posted a well-researched (link) item about a dirty-trick played by Danielle Staub and the owners of her porn video "Raw".Thousands of people were named-as, "John Does" in a suit accusing them of illegally downloading Danielle Staub's sex-video, "Raw".

"...it's not too tough to figure out why the accused pirates settle. Statutory damages can be as much as $150,000. If you received a letter threatening to identify you publicly as an illegal downloader of Danielle Staub Raw in a court that might be hundreds or thousands of miles from your home, you might well be inclined to agree to pay a few thousand dollars to make the whole embarrassing, inconvenient mess go away."-(Reuters)

The story goes-on to explain that the EFF, (Electronic Frontier Foundation) (link here), played a role in this case as well.

An important difference in this case was made between illegal-downloading of non-pornographic copyrighted material, like songs, movies, etc., where the suing/embarrassing/threatening/blackmailing of un-named defendants in this case were the primary motivation of the suit. -I'd even have to consider that viewers may have been purposely enticed and entrapped in the first place to download "Raw" without paying, as a set-up for being charged with this crime.
How many curious Real Housewives viewers may have been included in the 5000 plus "John Does", who received a legal notice threatening to expose and include their names and addresses in a public Superior Court trial in San Francisco, OR pay a $1500. "fine", and remain un-named?
This scam didn't just target internet porn-addicts or experienced file-sharing pirates. I'd have to guess that the intended victims here were naive Real Housewife fans, who didn't even realize that they were doing something that could be traced in that manner, and who would be mortified to receive a legal-summons charging them with downloading internet porn in an illegal way. So brilliant yet so nasty, I'd love to see the scheming that went into that on reality-tv! (on the other hand, I think I've seen just about enough of Danielle, and even-though she was declared the winner of a job on VH1's Famous Foods, the show itself was a box-office bomb in the ratings department-so don't quit your restaurant job Danielle)
I didn't watch the sex-video myself, but I was curious to see exactly what, "square-tits" (quote Kim G.) meant. I was able to see enough of the video on TMZ to satisfy my curiosity there so that I didn't have to go-looking for the extended-version.
If you or anyone that you know received one of these blackmail attempts from Ms.Staub's associates, the good news here is that the judge has basically thrown it out of court. Case Dismissed!

WOW who won VH1 Famous Food

Danielle Staub TIED with DJ Paul and WON The Lemon Basket!!

right click and hit select all to see spoiler

What is Wrong With This Picture?

Yes, that is a large truck driving next to Teresa Giudice. Yes, that is Teresa driving to her book-signing, on a very busy interstate highway. Yes, she is talking on her blinged-out cell-phone, in what was described as a snowstorm, with deteriorating road conditions..........and yes, driving while talking, or texting on a phone, in New Jersey, is against the law.
New Jersey’s major cell phone law went into effect on March 1, 2008 (link here).

• It is a primary offense for a motorist to talk or text message with a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device while driving.

• Use of a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device includes, but is not limited to:
  

  • Talking or listening to another person.
  • Text messaging or sending an electronic message. (copied NJ cell-phone law)

  LEGAL BLOG (link here)  tells why driving while using a cell-phone is second only to drunk-driving, when  it comes to being dangerous. So, even-if using a cell is allowed in some states still, it is almost never considered safe for yourself, the occupants of your vehicle, or the other people using the road.
  Is Teresa the only Real Housewife of Bravo that I've noticed, who uses her cell while driving? Unfortunately no. In particular, *The Real Housewives of Miami have also been taped while doing this dangerous activity but I was informed that it was legal in Florida at that time. (although just as dangerous).
   *(it was reported last weekend that one of the children of the Miami cast was involved in a serious car-accident. I do not know the cause)
  New Jersey actually has a "distracted driving" law, which in my opinion would also include being taped for reality television while driving. I'm not trying to get Teresa in trouble with the NJ Department of Motor Vehicles, but I am asking that she please stop driving while using her phone, and that Bravo stops taping and airing these scenes.
  
  You can find much more information about the real danger of using a cell while driving by using the key-phrase, "Hang-up and Drive". Here are just a couple facts posted on Drive and Stay Alive dot com:
  
  
  "* The California Highway Patrol (CHP) attributed 4699 accidents, 2786 injuries, and 31 deaths resulting from those wrecks to distracted driving caused by people yakking on their phones. (This was for a nine-month period in 2001; the CHP estimates the total for the full year to be closer to 6000 crashes.)
  
  
  * The Harvard University Center for Risk Analysis estimates that there are as many as 1.5 million crashes annually in the United States leading to 560,000 injuries and 2600 deaths "due to phone use in moving vehicles." (Driveandstayalive.com link here)

The screen-capture above is from The Real Housewives of New Jersey episode 15, Season 3, titled, Black as Ink. In this episode, and on other episodes this season, Joe Giudice hasn't been looking too good. If Bravo has a "drunk-edit", like the fabled, "Bitch-edit", Joe is "it" this season.
Since the surprising suicide of Russel Armstrong on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, more attention and concern has been given to the risks of being the husband of a Real Housewife, and if any husband has given reason for concern, Joe Giudice would also be, "it".
And that, in my opinion, is what is seriously wrong with this picture. Teresa and Joe Giudice  have four young children who need BOTH of their parents. Teresa can claim ignorance of her husband's business-dealings and get-away with it. But to put herself at risk when her other-half is deteriorating before everyone's eyes, (including the children sadly), is pathetic and careless.
Hopefully, Joe Giudice will man-up, and pull himself together, but until that happens those children need at least one parent who can act like a responsible adult. We don't want to see any more Real Housewife children lose their parents, but right now what we have been seeing for the Giudice children is some really bad parenting.
This past episode, and the next one coming-up, makes me wonder if the Giudice kids have been traumatized by the violence and drama that we have witnessed this season. Just like Caroline Manzo related a story of her son Albie as a youngster asking her to please wear a seat-belt, children do worry about the safety of their parents. The Giudice kids are being given way too much to worry-about. It can and should be prevented.
Many people are writing-off Joe Giudice as a lost-cause, or minimally, in need of treatment for his behavior and drinking. In a perfect world, both parents share the responsibility of taking-care of the children and themselves. In reality, even in two-parent families sometimes, not everyone acts like the grown-up that their children need them to be.
Right now, or when this episode was taped, Teresa does/did not have the luxury to take unnecessary risks with her own safety. Its not safe to use a cell-phone while driving, and Teresa cannot take the chance that both of her children's parents are severely impaired, or worse.
Speaking-of the children of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I have to agree-with Melissa about one thing this season and that is that scenes of the Giudice and Gorga cousins getting together could have been a really cute thing for everyone to enjoy.
I know that we need our drama, but the darkness of Season three, has been darker-than anything that Danielle Staub brought to the party. In my opinion, the entire season has been as "Black as Ink"--not just this one episode.
If the husbands could have stayed-out of the family-feuding, I think that could have even been made silly and entertaining while still bringing some drama and tension. I'm pretty-much hating what Bravo has chosen to show us this season. It makes the first two seasons look-like the, "light-hearted" Real Housewives of New Jersey, that they promised us we would have if only Danielle would disappear.
I don't know what the diving laws in Atlanta are, but I can only hope that somewhere down-South, The Real Housewives of Atlanta are driving safely and taping more high-heeled Housewife kookiness, so that the viewers don't feel like they've been hit by a truck after watching.

About Ashley...



http://www.flickr.com/photos/minneapolisorg/2505320081/sizes/l/in/photostream/

  A lot of us are thinking exactly what they want us to think. "Ungrateful" "Bratty"...
So Ashley didn't have any gifts? First of all, gifts are not mandatory. (period). Presents are always a nice thing to receive, and give, but when they become anything other than that-they're just not.
Secondly, here's a quote from Jaquelin's blog where she mentions that Ashley usually spends Christmas with her other dad's family:

"Ashley finally made it to a holiday with us. She was unable to go to Texas this year to see her dad and family there because of reasons I can't remember, so we got the pleasure of her gracing us with her presence this year. I was happy to have her join us. I love that her little brothers could be with their big sister too."(-http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-jersey/season-3/blogs/jacqueline-laurita/step-away-from-the-pot?page=0,2)

So, for all we know there was something unexpected that kept Ashley from going where she usually goes for the holiday and she wasn't used to celebrating and gift-giving on Christmas with this side of her family. And maybe she just didn't have a chance to scramble-up some gifts.
"Ungrateful" is treating a healthy living young daughter like crap in my opinion! How many families have lost their children and would give anything just to have them be there at holiday time?
Third of all, and I really hate to say this, but if Ashley hadn't pulled Danielle's hair, IF Jacqueline and Danielle had stayed friends,  I'm pretty sure that out of everyone, Danielle would have set Jacqueline straight about Caroline's influence.
The fact that Chris, Ashley's step-dad, has invested financially in Albie and Christopher's business even burns me up more here because of the way that Caroline has manipulated Ashley's image. So Chris bought Ashley a car? He bought Caroline's sons, his nephews, a J-O-B!
And yes, that was Caroline with her raised-eyebrows and a few things to say when Chris bought Ashley her first car, (the second one doesn't even count in my mind. Buying someone a car-payment book isn't the same.) HOW DARE SHE!
Chris was right when he said that his first instinct was to tell "people" to "mind their own business".
At this point, Ashley really does need a little bit of help. Not the, "swift kick in the back of the pants"-help that Caroline has insinuated and Jacqueline and critics have lapped-up. No, she desperately needs some self-esteem help. She's not the smartest cookie in the jar, but at her age, who is? But her growth and esteem has been stunted further by the evil influence and manipulations of Caroline.
When I saw Teresa's blog last week where she blabbed that Caroline was the engineer of the "Hate-Train":

"I do think it's funny that she talks about not getting on the "hate train" because I remember when it came to Danielle, she not only got on the hate train, she built it, fueled it and was the Hate Train Engineer."(-Teresa's blog)

 http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-jersey/season-3/blogs/teresa-giudice/not-my-thing?page=0,6

So even Teresa can see how Caroline operates. And maybe Caroline had good reasons for keeping sleazy, slutty Danielle away from her family. But it does prove how manipulative Caroline is doesn't it?
Why she has decided that putting Ashley down is somehow in her interest, I don't know that either. And Caroline doesn't even have to do it herself! Nope-just like with Danielle, a raised-eyebrow or snarky comment dropped, and people do what they think she wants them to do.
Caroline knows better than embarrassing or putting her own children down to other people. She knows better than doing that to anyone! That's why she has perfected the art of getting other people to do it for her.
This whole "intervention" with Ashley is all for Caroline and public opinion's benefit in my opinion.
So they all swoop-in and tell her what a loser she is and of course she, "says the wrong thing". I put that in quotes because she was set-up to, "say the wrong thing".
Didn't we all just watch last year as Jacqueline warned Ashley NOT to get pregnant? Ashley won't truly be grown-up until she realizes that that's her own business. But when Jaquelin became so insulted, Ashley was only telling her that she had specifically taken her advice to prevent pregnancy.
It seems that Ashley is always on-the-verge of tears and you can hear it in her voice. I call it a "constipated"-voice. Kind-of whiny, and then it just escalates to crying. Is this the result of being on a reality show where you only earn a paycheck for the drama that you can create? A "regular" actress, would be trained, and would have a script to work-with to bring-on the tears. But Ashley's working with what she has.
So it looks like Ashley has decided to take her Bravo-paycheck and move to Beverly. I say, Good for her!
Yes, its too far away from her family, but they have not treated her right. Jaquilene wants to talk about "respect", well maybe she should look at how Caroline, and Kathy, and even the mothers of younger children like Teresa on her show treat their children.  They treat their children respectfully and Jaquieline does not treat Ashley like that.
She treats her like a bratty little teenager and she uses money to try and control her. Well I hope that once Ashley is settled in California that Jaquilene and Chris continue to financially support Ashley when she needs it, (after-all they financially support their nephews, Caroline's kids for God's sake!), and I hope that she doesn't fall into the trap of partying too much when she's on her own.

If all her mom could get into Ashley's head as-far as advice was, "don't get pregnant", then she will have to learn a few things the hard-way, or learn-by-doing. Maybe she'll get lucky like Bethenny and get a job being an aupair? She has experience with young children and I bet her mom is going to miss having a live-in baby-sitter. And I sure don't blame her for telling her mom, "no" when her mom asks her to babysit. She does have that right, just like young people, (and adults), have the right to decide if they want to give gifts or not. She may have to learn how to tell people not to give her any gifts if they expect something in return, but she shouldn't be publicly humiliated for her mistakes like she has been.

She doesn't have money for the beauty-school that she wants to go to and if her parents won't pay she can apply for financial-aid and grants and scholarships and loans just like everybody else does. Too bad that she already missed the deadline for this year for that, but I'm going to make a point to remind her next year.

I hope that while Ashley is gone that her mom figures-out what she's been doing wrong so that they can have a good mother-daughter relationship. Yes Ashley is half-baked and immature but if she can keep herself safe and grow-up a little, she really is not a bad kid from what we've seen on TV.

She really does need to drop the "bratty kid" image and demand respect by her own behavior and accomplishments, so I hope that the world treats her nice in LA if she goes there, and if not, I hope that her famliy treats her better either way. She might be too mopey to turn the world on with her smile, but she does wear a beret......she might just make it after all!

Jay Mohr is this Season's only Breakout Star on Real Housewives of New Jersey!

In continuing with my theme of this season of The New Jersey Housewives, focusing-on the Bravo-blogs, this week again I'm posting something from Jay Mohr's blog.

He has a free! Podcast. The link that he posts in the Bravo Blog goes to an I-tunes page, but I currently don't have I-tunes running on my machine.
HERE, is the I-tunes link.
I am listening to Jay's podcast right now, but I found it HERE at http://smodcast.com/mohrstories/ (clickable)
I didn't have to download anything, but I don't know if its the same podcast that he mentions?
"Explicit"-language is warned-about at the Apple I-Tunes site, and the one that I'm listening-to carries the same warning.
I'm going-to listen to the podcast(s?) while I catch-up on this week's blogs, but I think I'm over the NJ Housewives for this season. Melissa and Joe Gorga are trying very hard, I'll give that to them, but they just don't do anything for me.
The on-going saga of The Giudice's financial mess is starting to become pathetic in a sad way for everyone involved. Joe Giudice looks like he needs to abstain from alcohol, and I don't mean in a Celebrity-Detox with Dr. Drew way, just to stop drinking. He doesn't look healthy and watching someone go downhill like that is not my idea of entertainment.
I guess all that we have to look forward-to is The Ugly Americans beating the crap out of people in a foreign resort, and since I also watched the Mafia Wives reunion on VH1 last night, I think I've had enough of anger and drama for the sake of anger and drama. Sorry, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Mafia Wives beat you to the punch.

Thanks VH-1! Episode 1 "Famous Food" online NOW! YES there is table-throwing

So Danielle Staub's new reality-show on VH-1 causes a schedule conflict for you? (scroll-down and hit play, I've embedded it here)  
The Real Housewives of New Jersey are back on Bravo this Sunday night with a new episode of their own at 10pm. Thanks-to VH1, we can watch the premiere of Famous Food online now, and not miss a thing.
Danielle is still hideous. And she's kept the name "Staub". Like Teresa on RHWONJ, she changed the pronunciation. From, "Staub" rhymes-with "loud", to "Staub", rhymes-with "snob". Aside from that I'd say that she hasn't changed a thing. You can follow the show on Twitter(HerE). where there is also a link to the VH1 page for the show with lots of extras.
Heidi Montag introduces herself with, " You know me as a pop-culture phenomenon."
Danielle quickly takes Heidi aside to form an alliance, because Danielle claims that she and Heidi both have the most influence in Hollywood. (huh?) The conflict is between Vincent, "Big Pussy from The Sopranos", Pastore, and Danielle. Wow-Vincent was in the restaurant biz for 20+ years. Heidi's family was also in-the-biz, and Heidi says that she "grew-up" in it. Danielle says that she's a Foodie, because she's Italian. There are seven contestants who also include a rap-group, The Bachelor's Jake Pavelka, and a prostitution whore.
The show covers a five-week period last Spring where contestants are in a competition to win a restaurant in -partnership with The Dolce Group. It is presented-as, "A competition with one winner" but they must "all work together" to make it happen. I finally recognized Mike Malkin of The Dolce Group from one of the first US seasons of Big Brother.
Remember Mike who went-into the restaurant-owning biz after being-on Big Brother? Well that's him, and they say that they are very successful.
The cast has 28 days to get the restaurant up and running. I watched the 41 minute premiere, along-with umpteen repeats of an interactive granola ad. I have to say that I do want to see more of this. At the very-end in scenes from the future, we see a table being thrown. VH1's Famous Food, just might have a little-bit of everything for Reality television fans. To borrow the theme "Fusion" from the episode, Famous Food feels like a "fusion"-of  The Apprentice, Survivor, (although there are no eliminations that I can see), and maybe even a little-bit of Cheaters, for the sleaze-factor, and of-course WWW, because its fake-as-heck and we're not supposed to say that.

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