When I first saw the balloon my first thought was the thing wasn't big enough to lift even a child. Looked like it was filled with those containers of "helium" you get for party balloons. If I am not mistaken those vessels contain diluted helium, with doesn't have the lifting capability of pure helium.

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I first thought it was another "Lawnchair Larry" ordeal when I first heard about it. Looks like now that these folks will have far more to worry about (defense-wise) than "Larry" ever did...

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Of course my wife & I thought it was a prank when we followed CNN coverage but as the New York Lottery motto "Hey You never know" goes we were suckered! Ugh! i_Xp/VistaUser

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This is for the OP Redix-64: You selected the subject title Publicity Stunt or Very Poor Parenting My question is this: Is teaching children to lie very poor parenting or very bad parenting? i_Xp/VistaUser

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@XpUser Good remark! If there were a editing feature for the title, I'd like to change it to "Publicity Stunt? Very Poor Parenting!"

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re: "Isn't it amazing what people will do for attention!" And who can we blame for this - other than the publicity seekers themselves, of course? How about the 24-7, "We gotta be first", "If they're covering it, we better cover it", "We don't have time to vet the sources" news media? As XpUser noted, all of the news networks broke away from the coverage of a major issue that could impact our entire country to cover a "flashy" story without ever determining if the story was true. In this day of "Reality TV" people know that they can get on the news by pulling any ridiculous stunt.

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I think this whole saga is getting out of hand. First the wacko Heenes parents abused their own kids by telling them what to say when questioned. Now their lawyer is working out an agreement to surrend them to authorities. His reason? He contended that placing handcuffs on the Heenes, in the full glare of the news media and for their children to see, would be abusive to the youngsters. Oh my I guess this world is going nuts. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/u... i_Xp/VistaUser

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Does anyone think that the parents will serve any real time in jail for this stunt or will they get off easy with 100 hours of community service picking up trash off the Colorado highway?

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On a Fox News program there was a debate on whether or not child protective services should take their kids away.

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Look at it this way. They got their 15 minutes of fame that's ok. We got duped ok. It happens. Look at this John and Kate bull. Why are they on tv? They had a bunch of kids and they both cheat on eachother. This is tv worthy? Anyway as for this couple I don't see where any child was in danger so let that go we let other morons have children that are a lot worse. My one issue with this is that there were more than $10 million in public tax payer resources that were wasted on this sham. Let them pay it back. 90 days same as cash or you a$$ sits in jail for 15 years to match your 15 minutes of fame. Are they bad parents? Ofcourse they are but so are milions of others no one wants to mention. Make them pay for the money wasted on them and forget about them. There will be something equally as stupid along shortly. Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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@LikelyStory I really like your idea of making them payback the taxpayers or sit in jail. The sad thing is, they would probably have to raise the money by a reality TV show or paid interviews and appearances. I wish the media would stop covering Jon and Kate. He's just a complete flea-bag and she really needs something other than that reverse mullet thing on her head.

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No no fund raisers or reality shows should be allowed although most churches claim to me non profit they take in billions every year tax free, let their church bail them out. I am so sick of watching people get rich from illigal or imoral crap after the fact. That guy that O.J. supposedly killed, I don't care guilty or not, his dad set out to profit from his own sons death. To me he is a worse person than the murderer and I think O.J. has one more to put a knife in. John and Kate? I missed something here. I used to work a lot of hours, one day I come home to see these "people", for the lack of a better word, on tv. What did they do that makes them famous? They like to screw? Hmmmmmm....... so do I, pay me 7 figures a year. I can be nasty and vulgar give me an xm radio show like Stern and let me get paid for crap. This all leads me back around to my problems with most commercials. Are there that many brain dead in this world that this stuff is entertaining enough or makes enough sense to make money off of? I swear almost ever commercial I see now seems to start out by saying " Hey you stupid watch this" . Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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Just heard on the news that the parents of the balloon boy hoax are expected to plead guilty. If they did, they might be the first highly publicized figures who actually won't insult us further by claiming to be not guilty.

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It's apparently let's make a deal time for probation instead of a prison sentence of up to 6 years and deportation of the wife. I'd like to hear a court say "we lied" and break it off in their a..... Skip

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Break what off in where????? LOL Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

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