Friday, July 8, 2011

Is ‘Planking’ Racist?


Planking, the fad in which people take pictures of themselves lying face down and upload them to the internet, is not racist. It's just stupid. But bloggers and Twitter users are in an uproar over what they say is planking's origins in the slave trade.

Rapper Xzibit freaked out on Twitter about planking, which has recently exploded in popularity among celebrities after buzzing like a mosquito around Twitter and Facebook:
#Planking was a way to transport slaves on ships during the slave trade, its not funny. Educate yourselves… Dont get it twisted. I care less where your dumb asses lay face down and take pictures of the shit, I'm just telling you where it came from.
Actually, "planking" is a rebranding of the years-old British meme "the lying down game". It comes from Australia, and is something radio stations ginned up as a promotional gimmick earlier this year.

Turns out, Xzibit is not the first person to claim that planking is somehow inspired by the horrific conditions in slave ships crossing the Atlantic. A popular June 28th post on the entertainment blog Courtneyluv.com seems to have kicked off the planking-comes-from-slavery panic. Courtney Luv writes:
I did a little research and it revealed that slaves were chained and attached to "plank" beds. They were forced to lay face down with their arms by their side and their wrist chained to their waist. Some were even stacked on top of each other with no room to move. Keep in mind there were not any restrooms and they were exposed to bodily fluids, etc. Not many of the slaves survived, many dying from dehydration and disease. You can't always jump on the bandwagon just because you saw someone else. Everything has a hidden meaning. Cultural sensitivity is real. Yes, it maybe fun for now but it is an insult to some. Although "planking" wasn't the official terminology used by slave masters it is still seen as an insult to some African Americans. I don't know why and don't have the answer! At the same token, it is seen as a core strengthening exercise to others. This is for you to decide.
Atrocity or really good abs exercise? I often wonder the same thing about pilates.

Just goes to show the lengths that old people of all races will go to to squash the latest thing their kids are doing to freak them out. They already tried the "planking-is-dangerous" tactic, to no avail.

Though if smearing planking as racist is what finally makes it stop, we're not going to complain.
GAWKER

Lightning Strikes Tree Where Caylee Anthony's Remains Found

by Jennifer Neff
Lightning strikes a pine tree where little Caylee Anthony's body was found just hours after the judge decides that Casey Anthony will go free next Wednesday. The eerie event and the timing have many wondering if the angels are angry over the sentencing. Or, was it all just a coincidence?

As much of the world still tries to come to terms with how a woman who lied to the police goes free on the more serious counts of murder and child abuse, a tree near the site where young Caylee Anthony was found was struck by lightning. That alone isn't terribly odd seeing as trees do get struck all the time. However, what is particularly interesting is that the tree was hit just hours after the judge decided that Casey was going to be a free woman on July 13.

Of course, since many are looking for answers why Casey is being allowed to go free when they think she's guilty as sin, a sign like a tree getting hit within this time frame makes many wonder if the angels, too, aren't angry at this miscarriage of justice.
For some, this is exactly what it means.


"God has spoken. Casey's guilty," said Nicole Perez. Another said the storm, the rain, everything indicated that someone above was not happy with the outcome of the trial.

"It could be a sign from the angels that they aren't happy with what's happened," Keyla Lugo said. She continued "It's a sad day for Orlando, for Caylee and for justice. The rain, the lightning, the storm—it's the heavens indicating they aren't happy."

If this is true, the heavens can join many here on Earth in their dismay that Casey is going free. While we will likely never know if the strike is an indication of what the heavens feel about the verdict, we do know that the majority of those that feel Casey is guilty are looking for some sign that karma will do what the justice system was unable to do. If that means hoping that the angels and God are angry, then so be it.

The tree did sustain some damage from the fateful strike; however, it did not catch fire at all. It's marked, just as many feel that Casey is a marked woman now.

Coincidence or not? What do you think? Weigh in below.
gather NEWS



Casey Anthony release pushed back to July 17

  • Casey Anthony waits in the courtroom before the start of her sentencing hearing in Orlando, Fla.,Thursday, July 7, 2011. Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Anthony to four years for lying to investigators. Anthony could be free in a matter of weeks after spending nearly three years in jail on accusations she murdered her 2-year-old daughter. While acquitted of killing and abusing her daughter, Caylee, Anthony was convicted of four counts of lying to detectives trying to find her daughter. (AP Photo/Joe Burbank, Pool)
    Casey Anthony waits in the courtroom before the start of her sentencing hearing in …

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Casey Anthony will have 10 more days behind bars to think about her future after authorities in Florida announced Thursday that she would not be released until July 17, four days after the date initially given.

Anthony looked ready for freedom at her sentencing Thursday morning. After she was acquitted Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, there was speculation she could be sentenced to time served for lying to authorities about the toddler's death and freed.

The 25-year-old let her long, dark hair down for the first time since her trial began, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge's decision. But she turned stone-faced as the sentence was handed down and she learned she would not be released right away. Then late Thursday, authorities in Orange County said they had recalculated Anthony's projected release date and it would actually be July 17.

Thursday's actions mean Anthony will go free nearly two weeks after she was acquitted of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee's death.

The extra time in jail did little to satisfy throngs of angry people convinced of her guilt who gathered outside the courthouse. But it could provide time for the public furor over her acquittal to ease somewhat and give Anthony's attorneys a chance to plan for her safety.

Two days after the verdicts, most of the jury remained silent, with their names still kept secret by the court. One juror explained that the panel agreed to acquit Anthony because prosecutors did not show what happened to the toddler.

When she is released, Anthony must decide whether to return to a community in which many onlookers long ago concluded that she's a killer, or to a home strained by her defense attorneys' accusations of sexual abuse.

Judge Belvin Perry gave her the maximum sentence of four years for four convictions of lying to authorities. He denied a defense request to combine the misdemeanor counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.

"As a result of those four specific, distinct lies, law enforcement expended great time and resources looking for Caylee Marie Anthony," the judge said.

With time served and credit for good behavior, she is now due out on July 17, her 1,007th day in jail.

Outside the courthouse, a cluster of protesters chanted "Justice for Caylee" as they waved signs that said "Arrest the Jury!!" and "Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder." One man had duct tape with a heart-shaped sticker over his mouth, similar to the way prosecutors contend duct tape was used to smother Caylee. Increased police presence included officers on horseback.

"At least she won't get to pop the champagne cork tonight," said Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker who stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read "Arrest the Jury."

  • George Anthony, left, and Cindy Anthony, parents of Casey Anthony, arrive at the Orange County Courthouse for Casey Anthony's sentencing in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, July 7, 2011. Anthony was acquitted of murder charges. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Anthony's parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not comment either.

Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. More than 30,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook as of early Friday. The page included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

The potential for Anthony to profit from the case was infuriating to many who said they feared she could become rich by selling her story to publishers or filmmakers or signing a lucrative television contract.

"I would not read the book," Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, told CNN's John King on Thursday. Ashton said he would not believe any version Anthony provided "unless it's one that accounts for all the evidence."

"If anybody could find a rational, reasonable explanation for why you put duct tape on a child that died by accident, then I'd love to hear it," Ashton said, referring to the defense claim that the child accidentally drowned.

Whatever future she chooses, Anthony's coming release promises to mark the start of a new, probably difficult chapter for her.

Mary Tate, a former public defender who heads the University of Richmond's Institute for Actual Innocence, said Anthony's defense team is probably seeking help from a variety of advisers as they seek to rebuild her fractured life.

"She's going to be bombarded with a lot of financial offers. She's going to be bombarded with random hostility. She's just entering an extraordinarily exhausting two or three years," Tate said.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored "Mothers on Trial," said Anthony will have to deal with an "absolutely primitive blood lust" that's been unleashed, even though she's been acquitted.

"How is she going to cope with the hatred?" Chester asked.

At a separate hearing Thursday, Judge Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a "cooling-off period" of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors' identities should be released.

"It's no big secret that some people disagree with their verdict, and some people would like to take something out on them," Perry said.

Anthony's release will come nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.

The defense claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.

The defense said Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defense also claimed George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

"I do not believe for a moment that George Anthony had anything to do with disposing of his granddaughter's body," Ashton told CNN.

Prosecutors claimed Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.

"I did not say she was innocent," said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

Ford said jurors were divided initially, and that she looked for ways to hold Anthony responsible for her daughter's death under the law — perhaps for "failure to provide safety and medical care and things like that."

"I was trying to go for that," Ford said. "But there's just not enough. It's just stretching and reaching and there's just not quite enough to get there."

Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee's remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has erected no-parking signs throughout the area so curious crowds cannot block the roadway. The neighborhood is being patrolled by deputies on four all-terrain vehicles and six patrol cars. Horses were being brought in for mounted officers.

Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said he could not comment on the number of officers in the area, and there is no estimate yet of the cost to taxpayers.

Authorities "don't know who will come here or what people will do," he said. "We're here to handle any problems and protect the community."

Ray DeBattista came with his family of five and said he thought the verdict was "mind boggling." The St. Cloud retiree said he watched his 2-year-old grandson recently and the child slipped away while he answered the door. He said he called 911 less than 30 seconds later.

"My heart was racing, and I ran around frantically looking for him," DeBattista said. "He was playing hide-and-seek under the pool table in a laundry basket. I just cannot understand how Casey went 31 days without reporting her daughter missing."

Thursday, July 7, 2011

#NEW #MUSIC #VIDEO(S) ft: Wes Nyle, Dizzy Wright, & Yung Incredible



Court Official: Casey Anthony's Release Date Is July 13


A judge sentenced Casey Anthony on Thursday to four years for lying to investigators. Thursday afternoon, a court official said Casey's release date is scheduled for July 13.

She has already served nearly three years in jail and has had good behavior.Casey was smiling as she spoke with her lawyers before Judge Belvin Perry began, but as soon as she was sentenced, her smile faded.Casey walked in wearing a lavender long-sleeved top and she wore her hair down.

Thursday marked the 997 day Casey has spent in jail.


While acquitted of killing and abusing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie Anthony, Casey was convicted of four counts of lying to detectives trying to find her daughter in July 2008. She lied to them about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about leaving the girl with friends and about receiving a phone call from her.


At the time of Caylee's disappearance in June 2008, Casey, a single mother, and Caylee were living with her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, in suburban Orlando. No one has come forward as Caylee's father.Prosecutors contended Casey, then 22, suffocated Caylee with duct tape because she was interfering with her desire to be with her boyfriend and party with her friends.

Defense attorneys countered that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool. They said that when Casey panicked, her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a murder. They said he put duct tape on the girl's mouth and then dumped the body in woods about a quarter-mile away.

The defense said Casey's apparent carefree life hid emotional distress caused by sexual abuse from her father. Her father firmly denied both the cover-up and abuse claims. The prosecution called those claims absurd, and said no one makes an accident look like a murder.

WFTV.com
Copyright 2011 by wftv.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Casey Anthony sentencing: Casey won't leave jail today

Casey Anthony in court with her attorney Dorothy Clay Sims on Thursday morning. (Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)
Casey Anthony in court with her attorney Dorothy Clay Sims on Thursday morning.
(Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel) (Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)


Chief Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Casey Anthony this morning for lying to police, giving her four years in jail and credit for the time she's already served since 2008.

How much credit she gets will be calculated later. But it's clear she's not getting out of jail today.
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Sentence also include $1,000 fine for each of the four counts of lying to police.

Anthony showed no reaction during the sentencing.





Earlier, she arrived in Perry's courtroom appearing relaxed and happy.

Anthony, who normally wears her long hair in a bun on top of her head, is wearing her hair down today. She huddled with her attorneys, Cheney Mason and Dorothy Clay Sims, while smiling and stroking her hair before the hearing began.

Lisbeth Fryer, one of Anthony's attorneys, argued that Anthony's four convictions for lying to police should be consolidated into one count.

That's because all the lies were told in one conversation, Fryer said.

Fryer is noting that the concept of "double jeopardy" should be applied to merge the convictions into one charge because the false statements Anthony gave law enforcement stem from a single incident on July 16, 2008.

She is also citing case law to support her argument.

Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick disagreed, saying "It is our position that there is a temporal break between the lies,

Burdick says Casey's lies were intended to lead law enforcement "on a wild goose chase."

She says she did have time to pause and reflect about these mistruths and they did not occur in one single instance.

Earlier, Burdick let Perry know about the state's interest in collecting investigative costs from Anthony related to the search for Caylee Marie in 2008.

This morning, at least two deputies were seen at the Orange County Courthouse carrying gas masks in anticipation of a strong reaction following this morning's sentencing.

Other officers are patrolling on horses.

Public outrage has been building since Anthony was acquitted Tuesday of first-degree murder and other serious charges in connection with her daughter's death in 2008.

Calls to the Orange County Sheriff's Office about its preparations have not been immediately returned.

About 50 people have gathered peacefully outside the courthouse this morning for today's milestone moment.
Orlando Sentinel

U.S. Teen Births down, early Drug Use UP

Image of pregnant woman
Image Courtesy of fui

New statistics from the annual report on America’s children and their well-being point to some good news and bad news when it comes to the health of our kids.

The report, which is a compilation of statistics from numerous organizations, found that births to adolescents declined for the second consecutive year in the U.S. A drop in the adolescent birth rate, from 21.7 per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17 (2008) to 20.1 per 1,000 (2009, preliminary data) was reported.

And the preterm births declined for the third consecutive year, with a drop in the proportion of infants born before 37 weeks, from 12.3 percent (2008) to 12.2 percent (2009, preliminary data).

“It is reassuring to see continued declines in the preterm birth rate and adolescent birth rate,” said Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Guttmacher noted although the numbers were promising, the federal government did not identify reasons for the declines.

The report also noted that adolescent injury deaths have also declined, with a drop in injury-related deaths among teens ages 15-19 from 44 per 100,000 (2008, preliminary data) to 39 per 100,000 (2009, preliminary data). That number includes teenage driving deaths. When asked if new state teenage driving laws had anything to do with these numbers, Guttmacher could not speculate. “I think it’s a number of things, “he said. “We’ve also seen fewer 12th-graders binge drinking. It could be a number of factors.”

The report, known as America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2011, looks at statistics ranging from cases of asthma in children to their test scores in math. It was compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a working group of 22 federal agencies that collect, analyze, and convey data on issues pertaining to children birth to 18 and their families. The report uses the most recently available major federal statistics on children and youth to measure family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.

But there was a flip side to the positive numbers. The report also found a rise in the proportion of eighth-graders who reported using illicit drugs in the past 30 days, from 8 percent (2009) to 10 percent (2010) And more children were likely to live in poverty, and fewer children were likely to live with at least one parent working year round, full time.

“This report documents some significant changes in several key areas,” said Edward Sondik, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics “This annual report is an important tool to monitor the well being of our nation’s children,” said Sondik. "Each area we report on is critical to our youth."

This year’s report also included a section on adoption. According to the data, adoption is preferred by parents to alternatives such as long-term foster care, group homes, emergency shelters, or orphanages. The report also noted that although most adopted children thrive, children who are adopted, particularly those adopted beyond the first months of life, experience disruptions in parenting that can have long-standing implications for their development and well-being.

CNN Health

Post by:
Filed under: Adolescent Health • CDC • Families
  

Judge rejects Willie Nelson plea deal in pot case: Magistrate says singer shouldn't get what she thinks is special treatment

  (Getty Images)
Musician Willie Nelson is seen in a booking photo Nov. 26, 2010, in Sierra Blanca, Texas. Nelson was arrested for possession of marijuana and released on $2,500 bond.


A judge has rejected a plea deal that would have resolved Willie Nelson's marijuana possession case in West Texas with a fine, saying the country singer shouldn't get what she considers special treatment.

Nelson was arrested in November after a Border Patrol agent said 6 ounces of marijuana were found on Nelson's tour bus.

Judge Becky Dean-Walker told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she rejected prosecutor Kit Bramblett's suggestion that Nelson resolve the case by pleading guilty and paying a $500 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dean-Walker claims the prosecutor "doesn't do that for anybody else."

The judge says Nelson should be charged with the misdemeanor marijuana possession, which carries up to a year in jail.

Bramblett didn't return a call Wednesday. Nelson's publicist declined comment.
TODAY News

Fort Hood: Nidal Hasan to face court martial

Major Nidal Hasan 
Maj Nidal Hasan was paralysed from the waist down during the shooting

The US Army psychiatrist accused in a deadly shooting rampage at a Texas base will face a court martial and possible death penalty, a general has ruled.

Maj Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 more in November 2009 at Fort Hood.

The decision by Fort Hood commander Lt Gen Donald Campbell follows rulings by military legal officials.
Maj Hasan will next enter a plea and a military judge will then schedule court martial proceedings, the US Army said.

Maj Hasan, who was born and raised in the US state of Virginia to Palestinian-born parents, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 of attempted premeditated murder.

He was shot by police during the rampage and is paralysed from the waist down.

Maj Hasan was said to have been affected by injuries he saw at the Walter Reed Medical Army Center, where he worked as a psychiatrist treating troops returning from combat.

He has been described as a devout Muslim and a poor-performing military officer who alarmed his superiors with his eccentric behaviour.
BBC News

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

American Black Film Festival returns to Miami Beach

The 15th American Black Film Festival opens TODAY, bringing films, workshops and networking events to Miami Beach.

ajayakumar@MiamiHerald.com

The long weekend may be over, but the celebrations continue with the American Black Film Festival that kicks off Wednesday.

Now in its 15th year, ABFF brings together top African-American talent from around the globe for three days of film screenings, workshops and networking. It also provides a platform for emerging filmmakers to showcase their work through short-film and documentary competitions.

This year’s festival kicks off with the red-carpet premiere of In the Hive directed by Robert Townsend. The closing awards ceremony will honor comedic actor Kennen Ivory Wayans.

Workshops include a masterclass in screenwriting by Brown Sugar screenwriter Michael Elliot ($100), an “idea pitch’’ class with Townsend ($100), and a three-day acting bootcamp with actor Bill Duke ($200).

The festival’s main venue will be the Ritz Carlton South Beach, but movie screenings take place at several South Beach venues: the Colony Theater, Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater and Miami Beach Cinematheque.

The festival hopes to attract more than 5,000 industry professionals and film enthusiasts, a 15 percent increase over 2010, said Jeff Friday, founder and CEO of Film Life, which runs the event.

For South Florida, the fest provides a tourim boost during the slow summer months and raises the region’s profile in the film-making community.

“We want to let Hollywood know that this is an area of the future,” said David Karsh, director of communications at the Miami Community Redevelopment Association. In the last two years, the CRA supported the festival with grants worth $100,000.

The goal: To show filmmakers that there’s more to Miami than South Beach.

The out-of-towners were given tours of historic Overtown and the Wynwood Arts District.
The initiatives struck a chord; the film version of the hit Broadway musical Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise is already filming at 14th Street, shot partly in a building leased from CRA for the shoot.

Budget constraints prevented a 2011 grant, he said.

The festival is also supported by the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, which views the event as an opportunity to serve a valued niche market, said Rolando Aedo, CVB executive vice president.

The Bureau will use the occasion to unveil a Black Visitor Guide brochure and website listing black-owned businesses and tourism information targeted at the black community.

The American Black Film Festival runs July 6-9. Most screenings are open to the public, with tickets priced at $12. All-festival passes are priced $450-$1,500; parties and other events are also priced individually. For the complete schedule and list of events, visit abff.com

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/05/2300962/american-black-film-festival-returns.html#ixzz1RKZuoSeF

Casey Anthony Created a World of Made-Up People

Casey Anthony not guilty of murder
Casey Anthony, with her attorney Jose Baez, reacts to being found not guilty of murder charges. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel)

Casey Anthony's imaginary life had more drama and made-up people than a soap opera.
The nearly dozen people whom she created with her ornate lies changed addresses, contracted cancer, got married. One even died in a car crash.

Much of her make-believe life was built around a job as an event planner she claimed she had at Universal Studios. Anthony stuck to that story until police investigating the disappearance of daughter Caylee insisted she take them to her office.

Casey Anthony confidently led police through the gates of Universal Studios, through a lot, into a building and down a corridor until she finally stopped, turned and conceded, "I don't work here."

Many of Anthony's lies were told to her mother, Cindy Anthony, who tearfully recounted how she discovered that each of these people were fictional characters.

The biggest whopper was the babysitter, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. She was, according to Casey Anthony, a beautiful woman who once dated Casey's ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Hopkins.

"Zanny the nanny" was from New York City, had moved to Florida for college and had stayed in the area. She had a mom named Gloria, and moved three times while living in the Orlando area.
 
Casey Anthony's World of Make Believe:
Casey Anthony gave her mother a detailed description of Zanny's newest address. She also told her mom when Zanny got her long hair cut short, and mentioned that Zenaida drove a Ford Focus.
Red Huber/AP Photo
Defense attorney Jose Baez discusses Casey... 
Casey Anthony Verdict: Drama Inside the Courtroom 
When Caylee was taken from her, Casey Anthony introduced a new relative of Zanny's. She claimed that Zenaida's sister, Samantha, held her down while Zenaida took Caylee away, saying Casey Anthony was a bad mother.
Zanny also had a roommate named Raquel Ferrell, she told her mother.

Jeff Hopkins, according to Casey Anthony, was once her boyfriend and he had a son named Zachary who was the same age as Caylee's. The kids often played together. During Caylee's disappearance, Casey Anthony claimed that she was visiting Hopkins in Jacksonville, Fla., and was trying to rekindle her romance with him.

Hopkins supposedly was wealthy, worked at Nickelodeon, had moved to North Carolina and then back to Florida. Cindy Anthony, Casey's mother, testified in court that she found a picture of a man and a boy on her daughter's cellphone identified as Hopkins and filed under "boyfriend."

Casey Anthony, 25, also told her mother about Hopkins' mom, a woman supposedly named Jules who had cancer. Cindy Anthony even baked a cake for a Christmas season meeting with Hopkins and his mother, but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

When Casey Anthony was being pressured by her mother to produce Caylee, Casey Anthony claimed they were staying in Jacksonville, Fla., for Jules Hopkins' surprise wedding.

There was a real Jeff Hopkins but, he told the court, he only attended middle school with Casey Anthony and had run into her in a bar once.

Eric Baker was another person in Casey Anthony's murky life story. She claimed to her mother that Baker was Caylee's father, although no one in the Anthony family ever met him.

Cindy Anthony told the court that her daughter claimed that Baker was married and had another child, meaning Caylee had a half-brother.

Cindy Anthony also told the court how she received a distraught phone call from her daughter one day, sobbing that Eric Baker had been killed in a car crash. Casey Anthony claimed to have an obit on Baker, but lost it.

Investigators never tracked down an Eric Baker who was associated with Casey Anthony and it has never been confirmed whether someone named Eric Baker is the father of Caylee. Caylee's father is still unknown.
 
While supposedly working at Universal Studios, Casey Anthony had to contend with a boss named Thomas Manly, and had become close friends with a colleague named Juliette Lewis. Lewis had a daughter named Annabelle.

None of them actually existed, but Cindy Anthony heard a fleshed out version of Juliette Lewis. Lewis, she said, was involved in volunteer work.

Casey and her mother, Cindy, went to help Lewis with a fundraiser, but after waiting for about 90 minutes, Lewis didn't show up, Cindy Anthony testified. Lewis, Casey Anthony told her mother, later moved back to New York.
ABC News

Casey Anthony verdict shocks Central Florida

Casey Anthony verdict shocks Central Florida