If they're found guilty of criminal charges, what should the Heene family get for the balloon stunt?

This is a story which has exhausted its 15 minutes. Lets move on to something important.

In lieu of these useless polls, I would prefer to see more hard core journalism from WBT with in depth coverage of critical topics like this administration's attempts to take over one sixth of our economy by socializing health care in America....where is coverage of how a handful of socialist in Washington are meeting behind closed doors to write this legislation? Where is coverage of the the effects of trillions in debt on our economy?..WBT is ignoring these issues because they rely on CBS and CNN for national news coverage and we're just not going to get full coverage of these issues from these "news" organizations.

This story was over last Friday.

Let the local authorities handle this. This is hardly news that should get national coverage. Another dysfunctional family seeking fame and fortune through the entertainment media. Who really cares about Jon & Kate, or the Kardashians?

Who cares anyway?

Mike, Faux News is covering your stories 24/7 - go listen to them. As to the poll; they should pay for the cost, obviously.

Mike, I agree that these polls are useless - especially since they don't even give the number of people responding to the polls. BUT - get off the conspiracy bandwagon. Not everything that happens is some kind of mysterious plot to get you.

And why is this important to us in NC?

I agree with the "forget this" attitude. We need to concentrate on more state and local issues. The uptown crowd and our state GovCo love this stuff being the major stories. Takes the focus off of what they may be doing "behind closed doors". After the "baloonies" and health care disappear from the headlines, hopefully we will not be too far into plans and legislation that could easily hurt NC n general.

I was going to pass on commenting this morning, since the initial comments tended to reflect my view that the "balloon boy" story is not national news, and also that many more important issues are not being covered as the media focuses attention this hoax and its aftermath. However, the "conspiracy theory" comment above prompts me to write. Exactly what conspiracy theory is being noted? Mike comments on the planned government takeover of our healthcare system and the impact of the massive debt being built up by the Obamacons. Are those the "conspiracy theories?"
If so, what an ignorant comment. Government run health care will run as well as the Post Office or Amtrak, add to the already staggering deficit, and provide worse health care than we receive today, at a higher price. The fact is the legislation is being drafted behind closed doors by Emmanual, Dodd, Baucus and Reid, all partisan hacks, all Obama ideologues, all with personal stakes in forcing more government control over our lives. That's a conspiracy? It's all out in the open, and we waste our time talking about the balloon boy while these issues do not get objective journalistic coverage in the vast majority of the media? Or the national debt? Conspiracy? The just concluded fiscal year added $1.42 billion to the national debt, triple the debt in the prior fiscal year. Our total national debt is now over $12 trillion, burdening our children with enormous tax loads or subjecting them to hyperinflation, or both. This is what is happening. The mainstream media is ignorant of macroeconomics, as is most of the public. These issues deserve serious coverage and serious discusson. But, we dismiss the opportunity by talk of "conspiracy theories" or media coverage of the "balloon boy."

if he wants reality, draft him into the army and send him over seas to fight and keep him there until the debt is paid.

Another inane comment by pratt!

George, Mike, Jack & OldMan; AMEN! Who cares? WBT needs to get on to more important things than people who use their kids and football. HEALTH CARE, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, for starters.

Its such a damn funny story. Punishment: Pay for the whole rescue operation and some jail time. Take kids away? No. That is liberal BS (it takes a village) If we don't agree with parental techniques, society has a MORAL obligation to take the kids away.

reading yours and most of the other comments on the site, i just wanted to be like you as far as comments are concerned. glad you agree

How can you choose "All of the above"?