The lesser of two evils...

Last week's Texas raid of a FDLS sect compound is old news now, but the controversy surrounding the removal of hundreds of children from the communal-style ranch keeps heating up. In this weeks issue of People Magazine, viewpoints from both sides are heard and not suprisingly, there are critics who say the government is interfering with religious freedoms in this situation,and that all the children are happy and certainly not abused.
They do not comment on the fact that authorities raided the compound after a 15 yr.old girl reported she was pregnant with her SECOND child, by a 50 yr. old man she was forced to marry and have intercourse with and that the former leader of the sect is none other than convicted sex offender Warren Jeffs. They speak of their love for their children, but they do mention the "lost boys", those young men ages 13 and up who are cast out of the inner circle of the sect so that the "elders" or older men can claim the barely-pubescent girls.
I empathize with the wives and mothers in the sect who have been separated from their children because they have been oppressed and programmed from birth to be subserviant and obedient to men. They simply do not know any other way. You can't sexually abuse children, not consenting adults but little girls,and then expect to be protected by the Constitution because you say it is "your religion".
By exercising their religious rights,the pedophiles are violating the rights of innocent, trusting children and since children cannot defend or protect themselves, someone has to. I am interested in what y'all think.....

The Kids Are Alright?

A plot by several third-graders to attack and "overthrow" one of their teachers was foiled Tuesday at a school in Waycross,Georgia after a student reported one of her classmates brought a weapon to school.Police seized a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students, who apparently intended to use them against the teacher, and all kids involved were either 8 or 9 years old!WTF???
While school admininstration said all students involved in the scheme have been indefinitely suspended,they cannot be charged with a crime under state law because they are under 13!Mothers of other 3rd grade students have joined forces to demand the participants be expelled for the safety of their own kids.
Chillingly,they had the whole thing planned out-even conspiring to cover the windows so nobody could see in and witness the impending attack.The teacher reportedly was a 3rd grade"special ed" teacher,and instructed children with ADD,and other developmental problems.The plot was in retaliation to her disciplining a classmate for standing on a chair.
While some people may find this amusing,I think it is extremely disturbing.Had these kids had the opportunity to set their plan in motion they could have seriously injured or even killed the teacher.(and in accordance to Georgia law,gotten away with murder!)There is nothing "special" about these special ed kids,they demonstrated that by working in tandem to cook up an ambush!Is this what schools are coming to?What about the kids with learning disabilities who truly need special education?They clearly are not getting the attention they require if the teacher is pre-occupied with controlling kids who have severe personality disorders.
And just because they under 13 and cannot be prosecuted does not mean it is out of the states hands.Social Services should do independent investigations into each of these children because plotting to kill an adult,a teacher no less,is NOT normal!Are they growing up in homes with domestic violence,sexual abuse,substance abuse,or mental illness?We cannot sit back and wait until they older and not intervene.Incidents like Jonesboro prove that even young kids can pull off school massacres and they did not just "snap" one day-there were signs of trouble before they decided to shoot up the school.

"Hey you GUYS!!!!!!"- The Electric Company Comeback

According to PBS, Sesame Workshop has an updated version of the old-school PBS kids show "The Electric Company"(aired 1971-1977) in the works and it is expected to start airing on PBS affiliates in the fall of 2008.I am not only not surprised,I also think it is a great idea and a novel way to introduce a whole new generation to the shows us 30-somethings grew up watching as kids!

I recently borrowed one of the DVD Volumes that were released in 2006 for my daughter and she LOVED it,so much that she knows the theme song now LOL.In my day it was what you graduated to when you grew out of Sesame Street and there were alot of stars like Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno,and Bill Cosby.They had original recurring characters like "Easy Reader" ,comic shorts of "Spiderman" and a neat part of the show called "Short Circus",a group of singing and dancing kids,including a very young Irene Cara(Fame).In addition to the DVD Volumes,Apple offers classic original episodes of "The Electric Company" through I-Tunes.I can hardly wait to see the remade 2008 premiere!

Who dropped the ball?

A Baltimore County couple have been indicted for the death of their 2 year old son,who was pronounced dead shortly after his parents brought him to St.Joseph Medical Center in Towson on December 26,2007.The child was bruised and battered and shockingly,at the time of his death,2 year old Andrew Patrick Griffin weighed 13 lbs which is the average weight of a typical 3 MONTH old infant!
John & Susan Griffin have been charged with two counts each of 1st degree and 2nd degree child abuse,and NO murder charges have been brought as of yet pending an autopsy.
What I want to know is this-who dropped the ball?Why didn't someone,ANYONE,close to the situation do something about it?The kids doctor,Aunt,grandparent-whatever!A child that malnourished and battered is painfully obvious!And if it was reported to social services,what the hell happened there?I am sick and tired of opening up the newspaper or turning on the news and hearing about parents hurting and killing their own children.Your parents are supposed to love you and protect you,and shield you from harm.And I am tired of people playing the "I don't wanna get involved" routine and turning a blind eye to those situations when they know it is going on!Someone had to see this kid and know things were not well!!!
It's been said before and I will say it again,some people should NOT have children.If you build a deck you need a permit-you need a license to drive-but any damn fool who can reproduce can be a parent.There is not a Hell hot enough for the Griffins in my opinion and ultimately they are to blame but I also blame the system and anyone else who came in contact with Andrew and failed to intervene.He and the other children like him deserve better!

Multiple mayhem

Last week there was a news story about teenage quadruplets born in 1990 who paid a special visit to a newborn set of quads who were born at the same hospital as the teens and as I read the advice that the teens parents gave to the new parents,I couldn't help but think of how mainstream and commonplace multiple births are now,mostly due to medical advancements and intervention."Jon & Kate plus 8",a show about a family with a set of twins AND a set of sextuplets,is one of the highest rated programs on TLC.The McConahey septuplets just celebrated their 10th birthday and were featured on the cover of a national womens magazine.

I have mixed feelings about the issue.I certainly can understand the desire to have a child and the lengths that a woman will go to in order to do so,but it's not all warm & fuzzy....The more babies there is,the higher their chances are of being premature,which in turn leads to a host of physical and developmental disabilities.Some doctors advocate "selective reduction",in other words,aborting some of the babies early in order to give one or two of them a better chance of survival-but thats not an option for alot of expectant parents,because of religious or moral beliefs.Unfortunately,because artificial insemination procedures are SO expensive and rarely covered by insurance,multiple embryos are implanted in the hopes that at least one will "take".While it would be wiser to implant just one or two,most women can only afford it once and are determined to succeed because they might not get another opportunity.So it is a very personal and complicated issue.

It used to be that multiples were rare,and while there are still the occasional set of multiples that were conceived the "old-fashioned way",for the most part the increasing multiple births are due to modern fertility medicine.I personally do not know how I would cope if I had more than one toddler but theres families that have anywhere from 3 to 7 and somehow they manage.They used to be able to get freebies from big companies but as multiples become more common,the diapers and strollers and other goodies have dried up.At least things are easier for these tots now.Back before artificial reporduction,quads and other multiples were exploited by their parents and sideshow barkers,some even being raised in circuses and traveling oddity shows like bearded ladies!We have come a long way since then.I can only recall one or two sets of twins in my high school-now there liable to be one or two in EVERY class!