Spears taken to 'get help'

AP:  Britney Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early Thursday and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers in cars, on motorcycles and in helicopters.

The 26-year-old pop star was being taken to "get help," said a Los Angeles police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. The Los Angeles Times cited unidentified authorities who said Spears was being placed on a "mental evaluation hold."  CONTINUED

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Let me tell you a story about an impoverished lady in Colorado Springs:  by age 23 she had 5 kids, a divorce, and another husband who committed suicide this past fall.

On Monday she doused all five of her kids with gasoline and lit them on fire, killing one and sending the other four to the hospital.  Two have since been flown to a burn unit in Texas, with one having burns over 85% of his body.  The lady, of course, is in prison awaiting charges.

Before that, the only people who gave a [PIGEONED] about the lady's deteriorating physical, emotional and financial well being was an occasional Health Services functionary.  There was no Dr. Phil, no armed escort, no helicopters, no photographers, and no stock market movement.

So it warms my heart to see all the taxpayer's dollars in LA being allocated towards a wealthy patron rather than a "nobody" who really needs help. 

What Britney needs is for someone to fill her I.V. with an overdose.

Comments

[C-Chan]

in all seriousness, while I hate the spectacle, I am beginning to really feel sorry for her.

A lot of celebrities have been arrested for drunk driving, went into rehab, etc. but this may be one of the few times we're seeing a mental deterioration perhaps unrelated to chemical dependency and it might spark some very honest and open discussion about how our society deals with mental illness. (I'm no expert but maybe she is bipolar.) There is still a strong stigma attached and if this whole saga results in raised awareness and understanding, perhaps there is a silver lining.

California laws about mental health patients rights are very strong by the way. The real trick will be convincing Britney that she has a problem before the 72 hours are up. If it's mental illness not chemical dependency, it's more than just denial -- her brain is not functioning properly.

[MOGS]

It is friggin' time for us to send the only message to the media that they seem to listen to. Turn off your TV, stop watching this crap, stop paying them to present this garbage to us.

I could care less about Britney, about Heath, about Anna Nicole, Amy Winehouse, any of these people.

Enough is enough. I don't enjoy watching people disentigrate either, but what the hell does it say about us that we sit and watch this crap like packs of vultures?

[OG]

While I agree that it's an atrocious waste of taxpayer money, I have to believe that somewhere in the bowels of the local government that a decision was made to provide the procession and avoid a potential Diana, Princess of Wales-esque fiasco. With the paparazzi following every bad haircut, umbrella attack and pantyless night out on the town, Britney heading to a hospital could easily turn into a fatal convoy of freelance photographers money-grubbing oxygen thieves.

And yes, there could be (read: is) some mental instability with Britney, but for every celebrity Britney, there are hundreds or thousands of regular people that need more help than she does. And it's people like her that are drawing all of the attention away from the people that could really use it. It's my belief that the fixation this country has on celebrities is the root of most of these problems. Even Drew Peterson (ex-cop, killed at least 2 wives, etc.) is getting in on the deal. Rumor has it that he waits for the paparazzi to show up before checking his mail. If America as a whole could find a better way to get through the day than to track what Paris Hilton blew on the breathalyzer last night, this would be a much better place to live. Granted, it's a good feeling to wake up every morning thinking, "It's going to be a rough day, but at least I'm not [fill in bad celebrity name here]."

And for an idea of just how bad the situation is, and what lengths the paparazzi will go to to get that shot, do a Google search for "Janet Jackson sunbathing video". Be warned that if you do view the video, it's NSFW. Another example of how these photographers don't care about anything other than their own pocketbook and will break whatever laws are necessary to get on the cover of the latest In Touch or Star. Yes, they're either hiding in the bushes or peeping through the fence, tough to tell.

The way I see it, a celebrity is just another human sharing space on this planet with the rest of us. If their website breaks, they're calling me to fix it...and if I need a scene reshot, well, I just live with the first cut.