Douchebag of the Week: Richard Heene

Man, oh man! This has been some week for the Balloon Boy and his camera hogging, questionnaire box having, morning show vomit inducing, attention whoring parents.

Didn't it strike anyone a bit strange that the first thing a father would do, whose boy who has supposedly floated out into space in a homemade weather balloon no less, is to call the local television news before dialing 911? Couldn't any of our intrepid media, with all the "experts" at their disposal have deduced the impossibility of the physics involved in the size of the balloon and the weight of an average six-year old, with or without the vomit? Apparently, the only experts CNN could find were the ones that really knew how to work that fancy-schmancy telestrator, increasing and decreasing the the size of a balloon graphic at the touch of a couple of index fingers.

And how about Wolf Blitzer, who could've had the scoop, an exclusive interview when a kid named Falcon implicated his mom and dad in a hoax for publicity by honestly answering why he didn't come out when they called him. "You guys said we did this for the show." But good ol' Wolfy, probably not paying attention to the answer because he was too busy composing the next question in his pea-brain, completely missed it.

Three days after the world watched a giant balloon fly through the air as a tearful family expressed fears that their 6-year-old boy could be inside, authorities announced what millions already suspected: The whole thing was staged.

Good job, Wolf.

On Sunday, Alderden called the incident a "hoax," adding that investigators believe the evidence indicates that "it was a publicity stunt" by the family in hopes of "better marketing themselves for a reality television show at some point in the future."

The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met in a Hollywood acting school and "put on a very good show for us," Alderden said. Authorities know there was "a conspiracy" between them, he added.

The sheriff's announcement included an admission that authorities misled the media on Friday when they said they still believed it was not a hoax. After Falcon's remark on CNN Thursday night, "it became very clear to us at that point that they were lying," Alderden said.

The "nonverbal responses" and "verbal cues" from the children at that moment made it clear, Alderden said.

But in order to get to the truth, "it was very important during this time that they maintained their trust with us." So investigators misled the media while they carried out their "game plan" of gathering the truth.

And they would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids.

Really, Mayumi Heene should also get honorable mention for going along with the shenanigans and having no problem involving the children, but what put it over the top was the big announcement that Richard Heene had, which amounted to a cardboard box that reporters could place questions in. I suppose he's better at scripts than improvisation.

Douchebag of the Week: Richard "Balloon Boy Hoax" Heene.