Dr. Laura 'takes a break'

The only writer for the Santa Barbara News-Press that anyone has heard of is stepping away from the keyboard after what the Santa Barbara Independent calls "a particularly rough week."

[It] began with her reportedly attacking military wives for being whiners and ended with the Pentagon launching an investigation into a load of objectionable material that her Army son allegedly posted to his MySpace page. The news about her 21-year-old, Afghanistan-based soldier son — whose MySpace page supposedly had cartoon images of rape, murder, torture, child molestation, and more — broke on Saturday, and has since been picked up in a number of media markets. The announcement about her break followed on Sunday, though it remains unclear whether the two situations are related. She has not returned a request for comments.

Dr. Laura’s troubles are largely attributable to the work of journalist Matthew LaPlante, who covers the military in Utah and reported from the Iraq War in 2005 for the Salt Lake City Tribune. LaPlante wrote a story published last Monday, May 14, that quoted Dr. Laura as saying before a Utah appearance, “He could come back without arms, legs or eyeballs, and you're bitching? You're not dodging bullets, so I don't want to hear any whining — that's my message to them." The story led to a number of angry emails to the talk show host from military families.

She defended herself on Bill O'Reilly and on her blog.