Amongst the daily deluge of press releases, trying to get me to post a flattering story about someone else’s story, came one from a flack for the Daily Beast.  This was curious, since I really didn’t see why the Daily Beast needed my attention.  But the reason quickly became clear.  It wasn’t so much a Daily Beast issue, but a plea for recognition of a post authored by one of the least rational, most ridiculous legal pseudo-pundits around.

Who makes Nancy Grace appear almost reasonable?  That’s right!  It’s Wendy Murphy!  Woo hoo!  With screaming headlines came this effort to prove that one can go from NFL Cheerleader to blithering idiot in one lifetime:

Former sex crimes prosecutor Wendy Murphy says the grisly murders of Caylee Anthony and Sandra Cantu may have been linked to the child-porn industry—and their killers likely didn’t act alone.

The predominant word in this modern day acid-trip is “maybe”.  Maybe this happened.  Maybe this is why.  Maybe, maybe, maybe.  You think I jest?

Maybe Casey Anthony didn’t kill Caylee. Maybe she died while engaged in some nefarious business—and Casey was forced to dispose of her child’s body. Maybe Huckaby found herself in a similar situation.

Told ya.  So what is this crackpots thoughts on the subject?  That the mothers of these dead children didn’t actually kill them, but sold them to the child-porn industry because they were desperate for money.  That the mothers are the “little people” being left to take the rap by the porn industry big shots.  And what is there to back this up?

Both cases also include evidence that children have been sedated, and experts in the child porn business know that drugs like valium and chloroform are commonly used to make young victims compliant. Such drugs also affect the memory, so victims have no recall of the abuse when the drugs wear off—a nice benefit if you’re trying not to get caught.

Sedatives were taken the Anthony home in connection with a search warrant issued after Caylee’s body was found. Police can’t take drugs from someone’s home without reason to believe they’re tied to a crime.

Mind you, this is coming from a woman who bills herself as a scholar.

Wendy is a former child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor who teaches at New England Law|Boston. A Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School from 02-03, Wendy is an impact litigator who specializes in the representation of crime victims, women and children.

Now most of us can conceive of crazy stories, with the most tenuous of connections to both fact and reality, drawing fantastic conclusions based upon wild speculation.  We call these fairy tales, and we read them to our children before bed provided they aren’t too scary.  If they are too scary, they might keep the kids up at night, afraid of what’s lurking in the shadows.  That wouldn’t be very good.  But we tell our children that it isn’t real, and by doing so begin to train the synapses in their brains to connect facts to fears, and by doing so, eliminate them. 

And yet there are hot chicks like Wendy Murphy who somehow manage to find room for their strange and detached ramblings on media venues other than FOX.  The question becomes, how can this happen?  Does no one read what they write, listen to what they say, before deciding that it’s something that bears a public airing?  When we provide someone like Wendy Murphy with a platform to spout stuff like this, we give her credibility.  Should the Flat Earth Society get equal time?

My own beliefs notwithstanding, I think it is beneficial to have and know alternative perspectives and philosophies.  Whether we agree or not, we learn and possibly expand our thoughts beyond our own limitations.  But that doesn’t mean that every wacko around has something worth publishing.  Yet Wendy Murphy gets play, and to those inclined to believe that former NFL cheerleaders (and I mention this because she does every time she promotes herself) represent the height of intellectual accomplishment, she’s actually taken seriously.  Can anyone from Harvard explain to me what she was doing up there in 2002 to 2003? 

Like a child, I too have a fear of what might be lurking in the shadows.  I fear it might be Wendy Murphy.  She’s scary.