Like Father Not Like Son...

Charles Manson has a son named, Matthew Roberts. Matthew recently found out that his biological father is Charles Manson and says “I can’t help but feel some kind of emotional connection”:
A Gandhi-following, peace-loving, free-spirited vegetarian who was adopted at birth has discovered the worst possible thing a son could find out about his father – his dad is Charles Manson. “It’s like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father,” said Matthew Roberts, a Los Angeles disc jockey.
A curious Roberts, 41, began investigating his poisoned family tree about 12 years ago, when he contacted a social services agency, which located his mother, Terry, in Wisconsin, according to the London Sun. His reluctant natural mom fed him bits and pieces, like his first and middle name — Lawrence Alexander — withholding his infamous surname until she could summon the courage to tell him the truth.
But Roberts pressed her for more details until she finally revealed the shocking secret, that his dad was one of the most infamous serial killers the world has ever known. “I didn’t want to believe it,” Roberts said. “I was frightened and angry. I’m a peaceful person — trapped in the face of a monster.” Terry told Roberts he was born after Manson raped her in a drug-fueled orgy in 1967. She gave the baby up for adoption.
Even she admits her long-lost son bears a striking resemblance to the mastermind whose family of commune followers committed nine gruesome murders in Los Angeles in 1969. Their victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate, film director Roman Polanski’s wife. Manson, 75, is an inmate at Corcoran State Prison in California. After five years, Roberts eventually wrote to Manson, who replied with letters and postcards — eerily signed with an ugly swastika — the wartime Nazi symbol Manson has tattooed onto his menacing forehead.
Roberts said he has his own bouts with schizophrenia, but other than that, the apple fell far from the tree. “My hero is Gandhi,” Roberts said. “I’m an extremely non-violent, peaceful person and a vegetarian. I don’t even kill bugs. I’ve had long hair all my life. I could make it go away, but I can’t let the world and their fears change me.” Two years ago, Roberts said he received a swastika-stamped post card
from Manson with a prison phone number
, but Roberts never made the call. “He’s my biological father. I can’t help but have some kind of emotional connection,” Roberts said. “I don’t want to love him, but I don’t want to hate him either.”

Bossip

Karma and Her Dad Chris

Chris Bridges aka Ludacris is enjoying some quality time with his daughter Karma and the two look so happy together...

Cheap Thrill

A 39-year-old Thousand Oaks man has been arrested for reportedly paying teens to spit in his face, slap him and yell profanities at him, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said today.Charles Hersel, who was arrested on child annoyance charges and released on his own recognizance, reportedly sought out young male Westlake High School students on the MySpace social networking website, said Capt. Frank O’Hanlon.“It didn’t take long for word to spread among local teens that they could get paid to spit in a man’s face,” O’Hanlon said.Teens also reported that Hersel asked them to urinate and defecate on him. He was arrested Wednesday after an undercover sting operation at the Westlake Promenade mall, where he paid a teen $31 to spit in his face.

A Comeback

A large picture of Regina Grant's four children and newly born grandchild hangs on a wall of her Treasure Island drug treatment center office. To her, the photograph symbolizes the success of her struggle to overcome a decade of heavy drug use fueled by the revelation, almost two decades ago, that she was HIV-positive.
Grant's drug abuse began in 1990, after doctors informed her she had tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But over the past six years, Grant has been drug-free and come to grips with her HIV-positive status. Her story reflects the wider struggle of the nation's African American community with HIV/AIDS.
AIDS is now the No. 1 killer of black women between the ages of 24 and 34. In the early 1990s, ignorance about the disease was high among African Americans. For Grant, it was something only gay men got. Growing up in Oakland, Grant and her friends didn't know or talk much about HIV or the dangers of unprotected sex.
"Back then, the worst thing you could get was gonorrhea or crabs," she said during a recent interview.
Grant was infected as the result of a one-night stand with a man. She believes the man, who has since died, didn't know he had the virus at the time. It was about a year later when she was seven months pregnant and had gone into premature labor that she was diagnosed at a local hospital.
"I just didn't believe it," Grant said. "I didn't think about it. I didn't go to the doctor, except for prenatal visits. I didn't address the issue at all. I thought I was going to die. I had a true death sentence."
Grant was shocked, but went on to deliver a healthy HIV-free son. But after the child was born, she began slipping deeper into drug and alcohol use. Her crack cocaine habit grew stronger, and alcohol blurred the time between fixes.
"All me and my friends talked about was dope, and how we could get more," she said. "We didn't read any papers, we didn't watch TV. It was every day. It started off as all addicts, recreational. Then it took off to where it was every day."
According to data from the Alameda County Public Health Department, the number of AIDS cases among women rose steadily from the 1990s through 2003. In 1999, the county declared an AIDS state of emergency. The California State Office of AIDS estimates that about 40,000 Californians are HIV-positive and don't know it. In Alameda County, African Americans represent almost half of the total HIV cases reported from 2002 to 2005, with the majority coming from Oakland, according to data from the Alameda County Department of Public Health.
As her addiction grew, Grant's control of things like taking care of herself and two children faltered. Despite being HIV-positive, she became pregnant with her third child, who was also born free of the virus. Grant said she was still in denial when she got pregnant with her third child.
The child's birth didn't force her back to reality; instead, Grant's drug use only intensified. She and her children were living in a cramped apartment, and she was unable to keep up with the bills.
"The water got cut off, then the phone. (I was) burning clothes in my fireplace to keep warm," she said. "Eventually I became homeless."
Near the end of her decade of drug use, Grant was unable to care for her three children. She became homeless for three months during the worst of her addiction and began prostituting herself because she didn't have any money or a place to live.
Grant's mother and grandmother took charge of her children when it was clear she was out of control, something she appreciates. But she recalls how fears about HIV affected her relationships with family members.
"When I first found out, I can remember my grandmother made me eat off my own knife, fork, plate," Grant said. "I had to spray the toilet with Clorox after I used the ballroom. I lived in this isolated box, all alone. I had my little rag and I would keep it under the sink, and I would spray the toilet."
It was while she was homeless and almost constantly high that Grant became pregnant with her fourth child. She was so out of it mentally that she didn't really know the father.
It was during her fourth pregnancy that Grant realized how far she'd fallen. She fought to stay clean to make sure her child was born healthy and then began the long road to recovery that included a lengthy stay at a detox center. All four of Grant's children know about her past drug addiction. She told her youngest son about her HIV-positive status about a year ago.
Grant's journey back to sobriety and honesty about HIV made her an inspiration to friends and family.
Grant talks regularly to young people, stressing the importance of condom use. She said young people are still tempted to have unprotected sex, despite the devastation AIDS has had, especially on the African American community.

Source: Jason B. Johnson @ The SF Chronicle via Panache

THE UNEXPLAINED

Even the U.S. Coast Guard encourages its men to avoid "The Race Rock Lighthouse," in Fisher Island, NY (above).
Swift currents have dragged many vessels into the rocks, drowning nearly 100 crew members.
Visitors to the lighthouse report hearing ghostly voices as well as seeing mysterious wet footprints appearing out of nowhere.

Panache

Don't Overeat during the Holiday

I can't even stomach this shit!

Make Sure Your Stomach is Empty Before Viewing