I’m guessing most drivers can be accused of a bit of road rage now and then. Before I moved to New York, I found screaming really, really helped. And when it would bother my passengers, I’d explain that it was really the most polite thing I could do, because the alternative was to chase the *$%#@* down and assault him. So really I was showing the utmost restraint and decorum.

And while a lot of people have their own little coping mechanisms for the frustrations of the road, very few of us get out of our cars and wander about the highway during an infuriatingly long traffic jam. But I’m also guessing that very few of us are hopped up on a myriad of illicit substances: and those are two things that set us apart from Amy Winehouse.

When Amy Winehouse gets stuck in a traffic jam, she gets out of her car and saunters about in exasperation, displaying all sorts of bizarre behaviors for the paparazzi to eagerly snap.

Where Amy Winehouse goes, chaos follows. The troubled star caused something of a spectacle on the M40 today after she found herself stuck in a traffic jam.

Not content to sit patiently in her car, the Rehab singer roamed the motorway, giving drivers more than they bargained for as she went from car to car in an effort to scrounge a lighter for her cigarette to pass the time.

At one point she pulled up her purple vest to bare her midriff as she did a spot of sun baking while leaning on the bonnet of a car.

In a troubling sign, the 24-year-old’s arms were covered in fresh scratches and cigarette burns, thought to be the result of self-harming.

[From the Daily Mail]

That’s nice of the Daily Mail to insinuate that Amy was just trying to get a bit of healthy color on her deathly white stomach, but that doesn’t appear to be what she’s doing. From the expressions on her face, I’m pretty sure she’s hallucinating, and likely trying to ward off some demon spirit she thinks she sees by blinding them with the brightest of white lights.

Here’s Amy wandering the M40 in a quest for a lighter today in Oxfordshire. She really is one of the people. Images thanks to WENN.

Former supermodel/reality star/talk show host Tyra Banks has definitely hit the big time- she even has her own extra-creepy stalker. Homeless nutjob Brady Green, who has been sending Tyra weird letters and packages and calling her for the last couple of months, actually started showing up at the studio where she tapes her talk show.

Cops finally busted the burly ex-con drifter Tuesday for allegedly stalking Banks from coast to coast, but he was released without bail - an act that has added to her anxiety.

Brady Green, 37, has hounded Banks with multiple letters and phone calls since early January, cops and prosecutors said.

He then started sending her flowers and showing up in person at her Los Angeles TV studio, they said.

The Dublin, Ga., native then took a bus to New York with the idea of visiting the studio where “The Tyra Banks Show” is taped. He arrived in the lobby at 4:23 p.m. on Tuesday, asking to speak to the former supermodel, the authorities said.

Green was carrying a large duffel bag stuffed with magazine write-ups about Banks and notes to himself about his various attempts to reach her, they said.

Cops were called to the scene, where Banks said she feared for her safety. Green was cleared from the premises.

But at 7:22 p.m., Green was back - sitting across the street in a window seat at a McDonald’s, drinking coffee and flipping through one of his magazines…

Green told police he was homeless, although he appeared clean and dressed in neat, casual clothing, they said. Cops arrested him in the restaurant and charged him with stalking, harassment and criminal trespass.

The next morning, Green appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges. No bail was requested, despite Green not having provided a New York address. Judge Anthony Ferrara released him on his own recognizance - but issued an order of protection for Banks…

Staff at the Chelsea studio are worriedly anticipating Green’s return. “There’s no security at this building,” said a producer at 225 W. 26th St., where photos of Green were still being handed out on Friday with a warning to stay away from him. “It’s very scary.”

[From NY Post]

Yikes! I sure hope they’ve stepped up security at that building given the situation. I wonder if Tyra will do an episode on stalkers on her talk show now? Celebrity stalking has become a serious problem- as recent cases like Steven Spielberg’s and Catherine Zeta Jones’ have shown. John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, reportedly stalked him for months before shooting him dead in front of his home. And with instant access to celebrities’ favorite hangouts, it’s easier than ever for unstable people like this to track their victims.

Tyra Banks is shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 6/15/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Just when you thought it was safe to diss the crazy, loudmouthed and now officially ex wife of Paul McCartney, sources are reporting that freshly-made millionaire Heather Mills has hired ballbusting attorney Gloria Allred and plans to travel to the U.S. soon. What does the U.S. have to do with anything? Can’t we be left out of it?

With at least $33 million burning a hole in her pocket, Heather Mills has hired Gloria Allred to be her advocate in the United States.

Gloria, who says she’s honored to represent Heather, tells PageSix.com, “Heather was delighted with the outcome today. It was about justice. Heather was a winner before she met Paul, and she will continue to be a winner. I admire Heather for her charity work.”

Heather told reporters today that she didn’t want the judgment to be made public because it would reveal information about the daughter she has with McCartney, Beatrice. Gloria tells us, “It’s my preference that everything be kept private because of Heather’s daughter. However, if it’s going to be made public, then everything should be made public, including the complete transcripts from the proceedings. Heather has often been treated unfairly.”

Tomorrow, a London court will decide how much information is released to the public. Allred wouldn’t comment about Mills’ future travel plans to the U.S.

[From Page Six]

First of all, why on earth does Heather Mills need to come anywhere near the U.S.? Nobody here likes her, and she is definitely not going to win over any hearts and minds with Gloria Allred as her mouthpiece. Heather didn’t want the judgment to be made public? Are you freakin’ kidding me? She was standing on the front steps of the courthouse blabbing her face off as soon as the judgment was made! And don’t even get me started on Gloria Allred. That woman takes the phrase “publicity whore” to an entirely new– and disgusting– level. I really can’t think of two more insipid, vile women on the planet than these two.

I sure am going to miss Heather’s old publicist. Remember her wacky YouTube videos, and how she tried to paint a sympathetic picture of a woman so poor, she “had to drive a PT Cruiser”? Well, now that Heather has her hooks into Paul’s money, she’s not messing around anymore. The Daily Mail estimated that Heather received 700 pounds for every hour she was married to Paul. Relatively speaking, I’d say that’s a bargain. Maybe she should call Eliot Spitzer once she arrives in the U.S. I hear he’s looking for a new whore to spend his money on these days.

How do you tell if someone has a legitimate mental illness when part of their job is to willfully, and stupidly, injure themselves through idiotic pranks? “Jackass” star Steve-O, who just a couple of weeks ago was carted off to jail for vandalism and drug possession, is now being held in a hospital on a 5150 hold after threatening to kills himself. The hold, originally for 72 hours, has now been extended to 14 days. Sources say that just prior to the vandalism charges, Steve-O’s family was trying to stage an intervention, and have been working behind the scenes with his “Jackass” co-star, Johnny Knoxville, to get him into treatment for drug abuse and bipolar disorder.

Steve-O has been hospitalized for observation, sources close to the stuntman confirmed to MTV News on Thursday (March 13).

On Sunday, the “Jackass” star was planning to execute a stunt where he would take a 25-foot fall onto concrete, a fall he hoped to break with cardboard boxes and trash cans, so long as his friends showed up to provide them. “50 Cent got shot nine times at once and survived, and he is forever a legend,” Steve-O (real name: Stephen Glover) wrote to his e-mail list. “I betcha I break more than nine bones if nobody comes with something to catch me, because, mark my words, I will fall!” In separate e-mails, he wrote repeatedly, “I’m ready to f—ing die.”

But it wasn’t an injury from this stunt that landed him in lockdown at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sunday, after being taken there by Johnny Knoxville and Dimitry Elyaschevich, according to their mutual friends. Rather, it was concern over his recent behavior that precipitated it. “He’s in the hospital now,” one of his friends told MTV News. “Not for injury, for observation.” His friends estimate that he’ll be in the hospital for 14 days.

A week before the stunt, Glover had been arrested for allegedly vandalizing his neighbor’s property, and a felony drug charge for possession of cocaine during the incident was added this week, his arraignment for which was scheduled for Thursday. As Glover was not available to enter a plea, an attorney went to court on his behalf to explain the circumstances and ask for a continuance, so the arraignment was pushed back until March 26.

It was Glover’s arrest a week ago that precipitated this situation, however. As a result of the vandalism charge and the subsequent media attention, Glover was evicted from his apartment and decided to do the stunt as a last hurrah, to take advantage of the clearing from the loft. In planning that stunt, the references to dying and suicide in his e-mails concerned his friends and family the most, especially coming on the heels of his girlfriend rejecting a marriage proposal, which he also wrote about. “These last e-mails definitely had something to do with it,” another friend said, “but he’s been headed towards this for a few months.”

“My family is convinced that I’ve got bipolar disorder,” Glover wrote in November. “I don’t know if I agree, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m somewhat f—ed in the head. … I agreed to go to a psychiatrist for a professional evaluation, to try and figure out what specific category of nutjob I fall into. I’ve decided that I want to make a rad project out of finding what the f— is wrong with me. I sure hope this psychiatrist is down with me having my evaluation filmed.”

No word on whether Cedars-Sinai is allowing Steve-O to document his lockdown, as a rep for the hospital could not confirm his admittance, citing patient confidentiality, but regardless, his friends predict he’ll be fine in a few weeks. “Once he dries out in there,” one friend said, “he’ll be back to happy old funny Steve-O.”

[From MTVNews.com]

Most people– even Britney, who started this whole 5150 trend with celebs–wouldn’t want their psychological treatment filmed, but not Steve-O! Either he really is mentally ill or he’s just perpetually 12. And stupid. It would take a crazy person to staple his genitals to his leg, set himself on fire, and have a high colonic enema while dressed in a Santa Claus suit.

Pictures of Steve-O from his myspace.

There’s all levels of crazy when it comes to actors. There’s a little kooky, then there’s the people that get a little too into character, the method actors, and finally the Britney Spears level of actually certifiable. Randy Quaid, brother of much more famous actor Dennis Quaid, is closer to the Britney Spears end of things. He’s been acting in the Broadway-bound musical “Lone Star Love” based on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Quaid’s behavior on and off the set was so massively inappropriate that he’s been banned from the Actors’ Equity Association (the union which represents American stage actors) for life, and fined $81,000. The charges against Quaid were assembled by the entire 26 actor cast, so it seems there’s little debating that he actually did do these bizarre things. The question remains… why? Here’s a rundown of Quaid’s behavior.

* Quaid hit an actor on the back of the head four times during performances. When the stage manager told him to stop, he smacked the actor again.

* Another actor was warned that if he made direct eye contact with Quaid onstage, he’d be fired.

* Quaid made “sexually inappropriate” comments onstage, repeatedly referring to an actress’ musical instruments as her “gynecological instruments.”

* The couple tried to rewrite the script, to eliminate characters.

* Randy “felt free” to change blocking, lyrics and lines during performances, and repeatedly failed to show up for note sessions and rehearsals.

[From Gothamist]

The show was forced to close before it ever hit Broadway, thus depriving the entire cast and crew of their jobs. It sounds like Randy Quaid is actually mentally unstable, and I’m not trying to be funny when I say that. He’s accused the play’s actors of being part of a “pinko-commie organization” that’s trying to destroy him. What’s worse is that Quaid’s manager, who is also his wife, is equally crazy, so it seems the two are feeding off each other. As his manager, Evi Quaid went to the hearing at the Actors’ Equity Association. As soon as she got there, the following transpired:

[When] Evi appeared at the offices of the Association last Friday, [she] sat on the desk and began kicking the 76-year-old receptionist in his shins with her “extremely tall high heeled shoes,” drawing blood and leaving a scar. According to documents filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Evi screamed it was all “a Nazi plot to get Randy Quaid.” The claim is — Evi repeatedly screamed “F**k you” and “Go f**k yourself.”

Another member says Evi screamed at her, “I’m going to get you…You are a Nazi bitch.” The member says she felt “Ms. Quaid’s objective was to kill her.” Yet another member says she answered the phone, Evi began railing and the member said, “I’d like to terminate this call,” to which Evi allegedly responded, “I’d like to terminate your existence on this planet.”

[From TMZ]

Not exactly normal, rational behavior. Before the hearing, Evi emailed many of the actors in an attempt to threaten them into dropping the charges against Randy. She told them, “You have one last chance to stop this onerous campaign or else you will be drawn into a legal quagmire,” she wrote. I’m pretty sure only crazy people use the words “onerous” and “quagmire” in the same sentence. It’s in the Physician’s Desk Reference somewhere. Randy Quaid has often played crazy and semi-crazy parts in films. He was always really good in them… I think now we know why.

Here’s Randy and Evi Quaid at the Museum of the Moving Images Tribute to Will Smith in New York December 2006. Images thanks to PR Photos.

I love a kooky old person – every time I meet someone with that kind of personality I look forward to being able to have a dozen cats and eat ice cream for breakfast, the kind of things you can’t do when you’re younger. When you’re old people say “oh, she hasn’t got much longer to live, let her have her fun” which is really quite depressing when you think about it. When you’re young they say “Get rid of the cats and get a man!” which is a bit sad too.

Anyway, when I grow old I want to be like Shirley Maclaine except with cats instead of 12 dogs:

Veteran actress Shirley Maclaine is convinced her pet dog can communicate with her. The Terms Of Endearment star owns 11 other canines but insists her relationship with rat terrier Terry is so unique, pet and owner understand one another. She says, “I talk to her and she answers me. I have serious discussions with her and I’m convinced that on some level she really listens. “She is selective about the questions she answers, though. For instance, she likes the question, ‘What shall we do next in the kitchen?’ Other questions she just thinks are a waste of time.”

Contact Music

Is there an old saying with something along the lines of ‘You aren’t crazy until they answer back’? Although she hasn’t crossed over the line to actually claiming that the terrier speaks, she just communicates.

As soon as I read this two thoughts came to mind. The first was that I suspect Shirley Maclaine lives alone, as in without any human companionship. I was right, although according to Wikipedia she shares a birthday with Barbara Streisand and they celebrate together every year.

The second was that there’s another dog lover in Hollywood that I can really see heading down that path of talking to the animals and generally seeming a bit strange - Denise Richards. Here’s a link to a video of Denise on “The Dog Whisperer”

Note by Celebitchy: Shirley Maclaine published a book in 2003 about her psychic relationship with her dog called “Out on a Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality and Love.” The first paragraph, available on Amazon.com describes how she knows she’s capable of unconditional love because of the way she relates to her dog in both the serious and playful times. Critics have panned the book as rambling and odd. I found this critique from Publisher’s Weekly particularly humorous:

The latest addition to actress MacLaine’s New Age/autobiography oeuvre (Going Within; My Lucky Stars, etc.) is an excellent example of what can happen when a book exists because of its author’s fame instead of her dedication to the craft of writing. Wandering, incoherent and self-congratulatory, MacLaine’s 10th book will not earn her new fans. The book alternates between MacLaine’s own voice and that of her dog, Terry, with whom the author communicates in “humanimal,” which, she says, is a “purer, more direct form of language” than English. Her devotion to Terry is somewhat unnerving; she calls the pet her “heart” and her “new daughter”; later she explains “I know Terry senses my thoughts” and avers that Terry is “holy.” MacLaine uses Terry’s ‘voice’ to point out what a good actress “Mistress Mother” is, to reveal their past lives together in ancient Egypt, and to articulate the opinions that “we never die” and that “nothing is evil.” In her own voice, MacLaine shares more of her belief system-an apparent combination of Nostradamus’ predictions, Hopi and Mayan prophecies, Edgar Cayce’s channelings, Egyptian mythology and the Bible. Along the way, we get brief glimpses of MacLaine’s life that might have proved interesting if they had been developed (e.g., “I missed a lot in my daughter’s life but I did it to avoid imposing on her”), as well as her disconnected musings on nature, the Iraqi war (”I see signs that we are on the cusp of a new and devastating reality”), and dog and human sex. MacLaine’s books have consistently sold well; no doubt those readers who enjoyed her previous volumes will find Terry’s musings on life fascinating as well.

[Publisher’s Weekly review found on Amazon.com]

Yeah, she’s crazy all right, but at least it’s her own brand of crazy and she’s not a cult member. I agree that you can have like a silent communication with your pets where you know what they want and how they’re feeling. Maclaine takes it a bit too far, though. Maybe that’s something she should keep to herself, but she’s never really hesitated to share her spiritual beliefs with anyone who will listen or buy her books.

Maclaine is shown on 12/11/06 at the Dreamgirls Premiere, thanks to PRPhotos. The inset photo is from the cover to her book.

I sometimes feel conflicted about the whole Britney Spears story. I don’t think it’s necessary that people report on every little crazy detail of her life, but sometimes her behavior is so bizarre, random, and fascinating that you can’t help but be interested. Case in point: on January 7th (the Monday after Britney’s crazy breakdown that landed her in Cedars-Sinai medical center) she showed up at a Beverly Hills elementary school. The “scantily clad” singer pulled into the school’s parking lot a few minutes before 3 o’clock and got out. She was smoking cigarettes and talking to herself. I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to smoke on school property, though that’s probably the least freaky thing she did. She then told a witness that she was there to pick up her kids. Keep in mind her two sons are both under the age of three and obviously don’t go to elementary school yet.

“She was just rambling and confused,” says the witness, who approached Spears to ask if she was OK. “She said, ‘I’m here to pick up my kids.’ But then she changed her story and said, ‘They aren’t my kids; I have a new attorney, and I came to pick them up for her.’”

Adds the witness, “All I could think was, Who in their right mind would let her pick up their kids?”

As children began to leave for the day, the star, 26, caused a commotion — “It became the talk of the school. Some of the kids were freaked out,” says a school source. She was directed to a more secure entrance around back. But before getting into her car and driving off (without any children), she chatted up the female witness: “She said, ‘You’re so nice. You should give me your number. I don’t have very many friends.’”

[From Us Weekly]

This is probably one of the least crazy things Britney Spears has ever done. I’m kidding. But sometimes it’s these smaller incidents that really give you a picture of how crazy Britney is. And it makes you wonder how much of a danger she may be. This incident happened on January 7th, right after Britney lost custody of her kids on January 4th. What in the world was she doing there? Was she just looking at kids? Would she have tried to take one? I’m not saying she’d get very far – it’s not exactly like Britney Spears can blend in to a crowd – but that doesn’t mean she can’t attempt crazy things. Don’t forget this is a woman who three days prior held her own kid hostage. It’s not okay when you’re a danger to your own family. But it’s just as problematic when you’re a danger to the community. No one should be held captive to Britney Spears’ whims. Showing up at an elementary school and freaking out little kids is not okay. You’ll note that the kids weren’t described as excited to see Britney Spears. They were scared. That says a lot about her behavior.

Picture note by Jaybird: Britney Spears on a little road trip to Petco in Beverly Hills. Britney sent her assistant into Petco to pick up some pet supplies while Britney drove around and around and around the block before heading home yesterday. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Hurry up and watch it before it’s removed. It’s hard to tell what the hell Cruise is talking about, apart from the fact that in his addled mind he thinks he has the answers to everything. At one point he talks about SPs, which is Scientology-speak for suppressive people, or people who try to detract from their craziness, and how they don’t confront him.

“It’s our responsibility to educate, to create the new reality…”

A commentor on RadarOnline, which had a YouTube version which was removed, is a former Scientologist and offers some definitions for all the cult-speak.

And US Weekly has a transcript.

Thanks to reader Moogle for the heads up on this video.

Update: Gawker is personally hosting the video and they refuse to remove it. If the video is not working above, and that’s probably the case, you can view it on Gawker.

A photo of Britney and Adnan from December
Britney on vacation with photographer
Britney Spears is with photographer and new boyfriend Adnan Ghalib in Palm Desert, California, where she drinking champagne for breakfast and he’s presumably getting plenty of exclusive shots of the world’s most-watched fallen celebrity. There was a story this weekend that Ghalib approached British papers with intimate photos of Britney that weren’t that revealing and wanted an astonishing $5 million for his story and the photos. The snaps were said to just show Britney on the couch with Ghalib with her hand on his knee, and he should have aimed lower or had more compromising photos. We’ve all seen Britney’s kitty on multiple occasions so it’s not like photos of her relaxing in one of the many hotels she frequents are going to bring much on the open market. There are also a ton of stories floating around about her many exploits, told by the guys who were along for the ride, so one more is not going to shock anyone.

Dr. Phil overstated his visit with Britney, violated hospital policy
Britney managed to sneak away from Cedars-Sinai hospital, where she was placed on a medical hold and released earlier than the standard 72 hour wait time, without being photographed. Dr. Phil claims to have counseled her for a full hour before she left, and will surely bring in huge ratings for having her folks on his show on Tuesday. He of course wanted to have Britney on too, but she wasn’t having any of that. TMZ has a story that contradicts Dr. Phil’s statement in which they say that Dr. Phil showed up after Britney was released, tried to talk to her for 15 minutes, and was summarily dismissed. They also say the TV psychologist didn’t walk her to her car as he claims, either. Given that it’s Britney and she won’t listen to anyone, it seems like TMZ has the right story.

Criticism of Dr. Phil for entering Britney’s room without patient permission
There’s also a story that Dr. Phil’s visit violated hospital policy in that he entered a patient’s room without it being cleared with her. TMZ consulted medical experts who say this is highly unprofessional and that Cedars-Sinai must have been starstruck by Dr. Phil, because his unannounced visit violated the patient’s rights and would typically not be allowed.

For his part Dr. Phil says that the family requested that he be involved and that he spoke to Britney’s mother, father, and her older brother before going to the hospital. Britney’s family was worried that she wasn’t going to be held longer, according to Dr. Phil.

Rumors and false stories in the case
It seems like this outrageous story is opening the floodgates for papers to make even more incredible claims about the situation in order to move copies. News of The World ran a story that would be laughable if the subject hadn’t already defied all belief. They claimed that Britney had a gun the night of the police standoff, that she offered Federline $100 million to hand over custody of the children to her, and that she took over 100 pills that night. It was also K-Fed who called the cops, not the court-appointed monitor, according to their account.

The LAPD has denied that there were any firearms involved, and I think we can safely assume that the majority of that story was fabricated.

PageSix reported that Spears’ “cousin” and assistant, Alli Sims, used a hammer to break down the bathroom door where Britney was holed up with her youngest child, Jayden James. This contradicts earlier reports that had all the staff leaving at least an hour before Britney was escorted out. Indeed, Sims denies that she broke down the door and says that she wasn’t even threre.

Was Britney’s drug test really negative and was she on something or just off the deep end?
Many of you have said that there’s no way Britney’s toxicology tests could have come back as soon as the report in Life & Style that all her drug tests were clean. Some commentors mention a rumor that Spears’ camp is leaking these false stories to the press in order to clear her name.

Courteney Love has speculated that Spears is taking too much Adderall, an ADHD prescription medication that has speed-like properties and can cause erratic behavior at high doses. Another report has her on Clenbuterol, a dangerous horse steroid that is being abused as a quick-fix diet drug.

Whatever happened to Britney, she’s dominating the news again. Surely she’s mentally ill, but she seems aware enough to realize that her episode has managed to take the focus off her young sister’s pregnancy. Many are pointing that out, while others are saying it’s just not fair to hold a mentally disturbed person to the same standards as the rest of us who just watch in disbelief.

Britney Spears has predictably lost visitation rights for her two children, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, after her very public breakdown that followed a hostage situation in which she locked herself in a bathroom for over three hours and refused to hand over her youngest child. She has temporarily lost all visitation by court order until another hearing can be held on January 14.

The issue of whether Britney should be held accountable for her actions is a contentious one, with many people claiming that Britney is insane and deserves our pity, not our condemnation.

How much of Britney’s behavior is she personally responsible for?
There’s a lot of debate in the Britney Spears case as to which behavior she’s personally responsible for and what can be chalked up to mental illness. This isn’t a new issue, and the answer isn’t black and white. She’s clearly mentally unstable, and might meet diagnostic criteria for a specific mental disorder, we’re not going to speculate too much but bipolar disorder, narcissistic personal disorder and even schizophrenia have been mentioned. Even if she is certifiably insane, how much of her behavior should she be held accountable for? I found some articles on the issue of mental illness and personal responsibility that were too technical for me to understand, but this question and answer from Yahoo! Canada Answers is interesting and food for thought:

Question from Desi Dani: If everything is due to chemical imbalances, where does personal responsibilities come into play? If man can use the excuse of being mentally ill or depressed, where does that leave personal responsibility? What about conscious choices? Is there an excuse for everything?

Why do people use the mental excuse when they have done something that is unbecoming; yet when they done something that is becoming it is a conscious choice, a personal decision?

Chosen Answer from Pete: Because personal responsibility doesn’t seem as common as it used to be. That’s not saying that mental illness shouldn’t be recognized, but people shouldn’t use it as an excuse for not being accountable for their actions.

[From Ca.Yahoo.com]

Andrea Yates drowned five of her children in the bathtub and she did it systematically, chasing them down until she caught and murdered all of them. She was declared clinically insane, and it seems you’d have to be to commit such a cruel act. Does that mean she shouldn’t spend the rest of her life in an institution because she was crazy and not responsible for her actions? Of course not. The criminal justice system sets it up so that she is not punished like a sane person who would have committed the same crime, but so that she is effectively removed from society and cannot harm others in the future.

Britney Spears took one of her children hostage and refused to hand him over by court order, even after police arrived at her home. Whether she was insane or not, she should have to face the consequences of her actions. If those consequences involve extended treatment for a mental illness instead of jail time then so be it. Either way, she’s not able to be around her children, even with supervision, and should possibly undergo treatment so that she doesn’t harm herself or others.

People are focused too much on criticism of Britney at what must be a very difficult time for her. There’s criticism of Britney because she committed a criminal act that endangered her child. If all crazy people who threatened and hurt others were pitied and coddled instead of ordered to undergo treatment and/or punished, society wouldn’t function. Did anyone really say “wow, I feel so sorry for Andrea Yates, being so crazy that the devil told her to drown her kids like that?” But some say they feel sorry for Britney for traumatizing her little boys by locking them with her in a bathroom. I feel sorry for her children, not so much for her.

Also it’s interesting to note that when Britney seemed sane and able to hold somewhat rational conversations, she never took responsibility for her actions.
1. She blamed her near-drop of Sean Preston in the street on the uneven road, not the fact that she was wearing too long pants and was carrying a highball glass at the same time.
2. She said after she was caught driving with Sean Preston on her lap that her dad did it too when she was growing up and that “we’re country like that.”
3. She didn’t even leave a note when she hit someone’s car and multiple people witnessed and taped it
4. She blamed her mother and manager for sending her to rehab
5. She has repeatedly flouted requirements and even basic demands in her custody battle

So is Britney a person who does whatever she wants and doesn’t take responsibility, or is she a person suffering from a mental illness that forces her to do these things? I think the answer is a lot of both with some major exhibitionism mixed in.

Here’s what JayBird has to say about the matter. She has a criminal justice degree and I like her very human approach to what happened. She wrote this to me in an e-mail, which is why it has a more conversational tone.

Commentary from JayBird: What I’m guessing happened with Britney last night is that one little thing got totally out of control. What probably started out as just an act of selfishness “No I don’t wanna” quickly escalated because she had someone involved with the criminal justice system (the monitor) there. She was probably behaving in a way that she has before, but she had someone there who wouldn’t react like the other people around her react. Then she probably got scared and didn’t know what to do. And when people start treating you like you’re REALLY crazy (not regular Britney crazy) you start to feel like you are, or feel like you have to act that way. Especially when you don’t have the maturity to know better. Also, people throw out things about killing themselves and things that sound like “self harm” to a professional, without necessarily meaning them in that way. But it’s hard to convince someone of that. Don’t get me wrong, I think Brit is crazy. But I don’t think there was enough evidence that she actually was asylum-worthy until last night. I’m really thinking she didn’t have any idea things would escalate the way they did, and thought people would just give in to her whims. The whole thing is so confusing, and oddly, it’s the only time I’ve ever had any sympathy for her.

The law of course varies greatly state by state, and all of my criminal justice knowledge is based on WA law. But in Washington, CPS would take her kids away for a one month period, during which time the burden would be on Britney to prove that she was a fit parent. Traditionally, the law does whatever it can to keep parents and kids together. However at this point, they’d be doing whatever they could to keep them apart.

I don’t know about you, but I think that she has an ethical personal responsibility to give up her kids, at least for now. Clearly she’s suffered a complete mental breakdown, and that can take a year or two to recover from. I almost think this might end up being a good thing for her. She wasn’t listening to anyone else before. But if the law gets involved not just in her parenting, but in her mental health, then she may be forced to get help.