My Growing Disgust

My level of disgust is growing exponentially in the public education system of this country.

DH and I have grumbled at each other back and forth about sending our Deaf children to the deaf school versus the hearing impaired program in a neighboring district. For the time being, I have so far come out on top in this grumbling, my wanting them to have a broader range of experience with the hearing world in which they will be living and functioning within in the future.

HOWEVER.... After reading my 3-year-old son's IEP report from that program, I am reconsidering the wisdom of that decision.

First, we have chosen (as is our right as parents - for now, anyhow) against cochlear implants at this time. There are a couple of reasons for this, but suffice it to say that MY grumbling involves personal choice and who the hell am I to force a life-altering ELECTIVE procedure on another human being - regardless of who it is - when there is no concrete evidence that:

1. Implantation of a device that, while effective in many people, will necessarily give my son with profound hearing loss much benefit, if any at all;
2. Implantation of a device that, while effective in many people, will NEVER "cure" deafness and remove the social stigma from my child that he is "broken" and, therefore, needed to be fixed;
3. Waiting until he is a bit older and can contribute his own opinion to the discussion will diminish his capacity for language in any way. This is very important, drawing the distinction here: Just because he uses a different language does not make him defective or incapable of effectively using any language. I am meeting more and more Hearing people that know (or are attempting to learn) American Sign Language. Knowledge is spreading, and that can only benefit him.
   

Second, considering the distance between our home and the two schools and the availability of bus transportation to the neighboring district as opposed to the deaf school, which is further away and we would have to provide our own transportation - unless we boarded on campus, which would be unreasonable in light of his young age - and having other children departing for/returning from school at various times during the day (5 children in 4 different schools due to their ages and various special needs and which building can accommodate them - it's a fucking nightmare, the roadblocks thrown in front of us in attempting to secure their "rights" to COMPULSORY education) all in combination with my work schedule, the public school option seemed perfect.

At least, it seemed perfect until I got this wad of shitty-looking pink paper that is his most recent IEP report.

Keep in mind, my son was born Deaf - profoundly Deaf, in fact - as a result of a heredity condition known as Waardenburg Syndrome. His characteristic white forelock, brilliant blue eyes, and skin hypopigmentation (and, of course, the deafness) are long-documented traits in his father's family extending back generations. Nearly the entire family is Deaf, and they are proud of their heritage and - most importantly - their culture. Our daughter was also born with sensorineural hearing loss and did use hearing aids for a time, but (strangely, perplexing even our otolaryngologist) her hearing was determined to be normal at age 2. Of course, having had limited hearing during those critical years has affected her verbal language, but now at age 4, she is working diligently to catch up - and she is truly bilingual (we used Total Communication with her from the start, with only moderate to severe as opposed to profound hearing loss and her more substantial residual hearing ability and capability of making use of hearing aids).

Anyhow, on to what got me all in a yank about this report.

Impact of disability on progress/involvement in the general curriculum:
Present level of academic achievement [spelled incorrectly in the report, BTW, "acheivment"] and functional performance and hearing loss impacts how he is able to:

• Locate the source or direction of the speaker and sound
  
• Discriminate between speech and noise in all settings of the school
• Hear oral directions, instruction, and discussion in the classroom or other activities
• Attend when listening for periods of time
• Hear peers or side conversations
• Progress in oral and written language development
• Follow through with auditory information due to competing sounds

Um, he is profoundly deaf, and amplification devices have proven to be of little benefit due to almost nonexistent residual hearing, so it would seem rational to conclude that he cannot and will not EVER be able to "overcome" a single one of these issues. Perhaps this is the reason Deaf and Blind children were funneled into institutions such as the Michigan School for the Deaf to meet their needs, as they would not be able to be met APPROPRIATELY in the environment of a mainstream public school.... Let alone the fact that verbal language has little impact on written language - many Deaf are capable of producing perfectly coherent ENGLISH written documents without ever having heard a spoken word in their lives. And don't even get me started on the ability of Deaf individuals to learn to SPEAK ENGLISH - and do it well (think Marlee Matlin).

Let us continue:

"[...] decreased communication skills interfere with his ability to communicate his needs and the ability to communicate knowledge within all educational settings."

Interesting, considering the sentence immediately preceding that states: (Emphasis mine)

"He has been very resistive to using signs functionally to communicate his wants and needs; however gains in this area have been noted during the past month."

This is interesting in the fact that we had brought our son into a homeschooling environment for several months at the beginning of this year (due to his lack of progress in the public school, among other reasons, up to and including his teacher removing his clothes to "inspect" him for bruises without our knowledge or consent, a fact that our son was able to communicate quite readily to us at home and for which the teachers had no reasonable explanation as to why they had done so) and only about a month ago sent him back because he missed the social interaction. Hmmmm.... homeschooled for several months with little to no progress prior to that time while in the public school, back in that same public school for about a month and suddenly making gains that are noted over that month.... BUT: They scored him lower (yes, LOWER) on his current skills than on his prior skills, "Achieved/maintained" (scores of 1) and "Progressing at a rate sufficient to meet the annual goal for this objective" (scores of 2) before homeschooling, "Progressing below a rate sufficient to meet the annual goal for this objective" (scores of 3) after he returns from homeschooling, even though "gains in this area have been noted during the past month."

And on we continue, to an issue that shocked me, as it has never been addressed with either my husband or myself at any point by either the teacher or any of the other half-dozen people contributing to his IEP and in direct contact with our family for the past year:

"During therapy there have been several occasions that [he] suddenly stops what he is doing, when engaged in an activity, and blankly looks straight ahead. During this time, I have been unable to get his attention through signs, waving of my arms, and/or through any visual stimuli. After approximately 30 seconds, [he] becomes responsive, but appears confused and needs re-direction to complete the activity. Medical intervention may be warranted regarding the possibility of seizure activity."

Thanks a fucking ton for NEVER telling me that my son is exhibiting seizure-like activity so that I could, you know, TAKE HIM TO THE DOCTOR, YOU FUCKING HALF-WIT MORON! This is disturbing to me on multiple levels, even outside of the fact that they were obviously too stupid to tell us what was going on so that we may address it in an appropriate and TIMELY fashion (remember those removal of clothing and seeking injuries incidents and the fact that our county CPS agency is full of corrupt motherfuckers who have already tried shoving it up our asses without a bit of Vaseline in the past, a fact well known at that school - can you say "parents are guilty of medical neglect," regardless of the fact that they said not one word to us about what they had seen and the fact that he has exhibited none of that type of activity at home?) These people know my history, that I suffer from multiple sclerosis AND a seizure disorder AND an idiopathic syringomyelia.... So let us not tell the parent with a history of neurological problems. Although they are not necessarily hereditary conditions, taken together they could be disturbing to the parent and THE PHYSICIAN of a child with this history; my own neurological issues started at about age 6 with absence seizures - you know, those kind where you SIT AND STARE, UNRESPONSIVE?

Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick.

Moving right along....

Oh, I see that "gains in this area have been noted during the past month" again.

"The Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) measures single word expressive vocabulary in a picture-naming format. This test is normed on hearing children. [He] was unable to establish a basal (8 consecutive correct responses). Therefore, the following data is being reported as baseline data only. [He] earned a raw score of 15, which gives him a percentile rank of 1 and a standard score of 65. [He] was able to label the following items: tree, eyes, kitty, telephone, bird, scissors, swing, couch (chair), plane, book, watch, wagon, ear."

Okay, let us now compare apples to oranges, shall we? We will compare your DEAF child to a HEARING child and score him.... well.... according to a skewed scale.

What-the-fuck-ever.

"The Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test (CPVT) measures the receptive sign vocabulary where manual sign is the primary mode of communication. [He] earned a raw score of 23, which gives him a percentile rank of 2, a standard score of 69, and an age equivalency of less than 4 years."

That is a bit better, comparing oranges to oranges. BUT: Considering he is THREE YEARS OLD, how is he "behind" with having "an age equivalency of less than 4 years"? Did I miss something here?

"Analysis of a spontaneous language sample revealed that [he] is communicating through occasional signs, gestures, facial expressions and a few vocalizations. He has been very resistive to using known signs functionally to communicate his wants and needs; however gains in this area have been noted during the past month."

There it is AGAIN, gains being noted during the past month!

"Functional use of the following true signs have been recorded: you, fall, big, drive, cry, finish, water, girl, fish, better, Kleenex, color. Furthermore, [he] is beginning to combine a few words: help me, me finish."

He is beginning to combine words, as per the stated "goals" of:

1. "Appropriately, verbally and/or sign, a 1 word sentence by the end of the 1st semester" [which was in January 2009, met November 2008 with a status score of "2" and January 2009 with a status score of "1" but currently with a status score of "3" (as above)];
2. "Appropriately, verbally and/or sign, a 2 word sentence by the end of the 2nd semester" [with a current status score (as it is the end of the semester now) of "3" - OH, BUT THEY EXPLAIN WHY: Because he was being homeschooled - even though they have indicated that he is, in fact using 2-word sentences.]

Of course, these are all attributed to not only expressive but receptive language skills - as in indicating that he does not understand more complex statements posed to him as a listener. However, I can tell my son "Tell daddy to come here," "Go outside and ride your bike," "Go find your crayons and paper" (fairly complex commands for a 3-year-old who suffers from receptive language deficits, right?) and he understands perfectly. He also says things you would expect from a 3-year-old: "That is MINE," "That is yours," "I don't like hamburgers," (okay, you might not expect that one from a 3-year-old, but something to that effect) "I want a drink of milk" and countless others. He quite effectively makes his needs and wants known - if you are not a teacher attempting to divide your attention between 20-some students of whom only 4 or 5 have varying levels of hearing impairment and the remainder being hearing, or if you are a speech pathologist who is attempting to force a young child into doing something they have no interest in doing when there are dozens of far more interesting things to focus that monstrous imagination and headstrong will upon.

During the months we were homeschooling - those months in which he made demonstrable gains prior to returning to the public school system - we were continually begged and pleaded with, cajoled, and eventually browbeaten into returning him to their facility.

For what? So they could tell us in a report a month later that he was being "penalized" for an (obviously superior) education simply because we were able to provide it ourselves and make the gains they were incapable of making, by marking his status scores lower? To subject him to testing that is "normed on hearing children" and comparing him as apples to oranges, PROVING he is "deficient"? To tell us that our child is "disabled" simply because he has a physical trait that precludes his being able to attain a cookie-cutter "education" in a "normal" school setting?

How much longer before CPS comes pounding on my door at the behest of the school system because I "refuse" to give him a "normal" life by forcing the invasive implantation of a device into his skull that may or may not work in his case?

Seriously, the only good I have seen come out of this is that now I have - inadvertently - been made aware that there may be a neurological issue with my child for which I can seek medical treatment, something that might not have been done but for their incidental inclusion of that little tidbit into their farce of an educational planning and progress report.

Reality in Disguise (AKA The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing)

H/T American Thinker Blog

WTF Is Wrong With You People?

Seriously. Are you incapable of advocating for yourself? Do you have an overwhelming desire to lay your career/financial destiny in the hands of another - where you will have less control than you think you have now?

About 3 years ago, there was a union organization effort at the hospital for which I work. Being unafraid to advocate for myself and what I want out of my job, let alone no desire to pay someone else to do what I can do for free (and needing every single penny of my paycheck anyhow), and the frightful possibility of being bound by generalized "conditions" for the entire unit (which may have been good for the other however-many employees of the unit but not at all for the mere TEN of my specific department), I admit that I voted NO.

Some weeks back I got a letter in the mail from that same union (wondering how the fuck they had my address and wondering if that was a violation of my privacy, soliciting me in such a manner), reminding me that we voted that union down 3 years ago and kind of a taunting "see what you've done" attitude about how conditions have "worsened" in the intervening period.

Well, no shit, Sherlock - the whole fucking state is madly swirling around the center of the toilet bowl, Guvnir Granwhore madly cackling and flushing repeatedly. Of course, though, some people just cannot be satisfied with the fact that they still HAVE a fucking job with a statewide unemployment rate of 12%.... so let's provoke the employer and try to push that union again.

Now I have in my hands ANOTHER letter from that fucking union.... again, addressed to me at my home, and the top of my head is about to explode.

I am not a nurse, and they have their own union. I am "service" staff - lumped in with maintenance, housekeeping, cafeteria staff, (I believe) clerical, and others in our organization. My specific job concerns, duties, and working conditions have NOTHING to do with what some of those other folks' positions have to do with - being a transcriptionist who WORKS FROM HOME.

This is the letter I received, along with my own comments on the issues.

FORMING A UNION MEANS HAVING A VOICE IN HOSPITAL POLICIES

We, the members of AFSCME here in YYYYY County, want you to have what we have: dignity in our work, respect on the job, a voice in our wages, hours and working conditions. {I already have those - I have had them all along, and I needed to pay no one to "appropriate" them for me - I earned them all on my own.}

We have obtained this improved quality in our working lives and careers through AFSCME representation. Our AFSCME contracts provide us better wages, better benefits, and greater security and protection on the job than nonunion workers can expect. {Again, I already have these things, gained on my own merits.}

By forming a union, health care employees gain a voice in hospital policies and procedures. Rather than having decisions made arbitrarily without their input, they negotiate over the policies that affect their jobs, their patients, and their future. {We have regular hospital-wide "Pulse Check" meetings - where policies, procedures, etc. are laid out neatly and questions are answered - again, regularly.}

1. Scheduling systems. Around the country, hospital employees are negotiating scheduling policies and options that guarantee both flexibility and security. {Those in our department already have flexible scheduling policies, and our bosses are extremely receptive to suggestions, ideas, or concerns.}
   
2. Floating guidelines. Hospitals often use floating as a regular way to solve staffing problems, and too many healthcare employees are floated to unfamiliar areas. To protect patient care and professional standards, most healthcare union contracts include specific guidelines for when and how floating is done. {This affects me not at all, and those I know in the hospital who DO float are not located into "unfamiliar areas." Additionally, there are strict policies about an employee performing in certain positions and their qualifications to do so. So, a housekeeper will not be doing unit clerk duties - unless they are trained and qualified to do so.}
   
3. Overtime policies. (XXXXX does not have any overtime policy now.) Many hospitals are responding to the growing shortage of healthcare staff by requiring employees to work excessive amounts of mandatory overtime. Hospital employees are negotiating alternatives that will preserve the quality of patient care and recruit and retain more staff. {Someone obviously did not bother to read the policies and procedures manual, because there IS, in fact, an overtime policy - last revised 11/01/03 - which states "Although overtime is discouraged, there will be occasions when it is necessary." Discouraged. In my 8 years of working at this hospital, ONE time has our department been required to use mandatory overtime. ONE.}
   
4. Career enhancement. (XXXXX lacks career enhancement policies.) By working together as a union, hospital employees have a say in the policies that affect their job satisfaction and opportunities for advancement. {Again, someone did not bother to read the handbook, because there are not one but TWO policies on the books about evaluations of progress and advancement/transfer within the organization.}
   
5. How the hospital works. Through their unions, more and more hospital employees are working in partnership with their employers and participating in decisions about how their hospitals operate. Studies show that shared decision-making in union hospitals increases productivity by up to 16 percent, raises quality standards, lowers turnover rates, and improves efficiency. One study found that union-management cooperation increase staffing levels and hospital revenues. {Again, we have regular meetings where this kind of stuff is discussed - openly and to death, IMO. There is also an entire policy on the books about "Employee Suggestions."}
   
6. Privatization. What happens to you if XXXXX contracts out your job? Have you seen jobs contracted out or privatized? Food Service? Maintenance? Housekeeping? Did you have a chance to vote on privatization of jobs? Did management share equally in the job losses? (A company called ZZZZZ is now running the Housekeeping, Environmental Services, and Food Service. With ZZZZZ employees as your bosses, whose rules apply to you? XXXXX or ZZZZZ? How long before your job is privatized, too?) {Know what? It happens - anywhere and everywhere - and this is something someone in my field has come to expect at any time - since girls in India can transcribe documents for about 2 cents per line versus the 10, 12, 15 or more cents per line we get paid here or equivalent hourly wage. However, considering our hospital just invested in a brand-new dictation system, I don't think the demise of our jobs is imminent anytime soon.}
   

We're still AFSCME. We still care about you and want to help you with your workplace challenges and issues. If you want to form a union, or if you want more information on AFSCME and Unionism, Sign the enclosed green show-of-interest card and mail it back to us.

Having addressed my PERSONAL job concerns above, I will now address the issue I have with the "show-of-interest" card enclosed with this letter.

AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRESENTATION BY THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES/AFL-CIO

I hereby desire to be represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, and/or its appropriate affiliates as my exclusive bargaining agent in all matters affecting my wages, hours, and conditions of employment.

This card indicates a desire for the employee to turn over representation to another party ONLY - nowhere on the card does it allow you to mark "I just want information." You fill it out and sign it, you have agreed to relinquish your right to self-negotiate in any way on your own behalf should enough of your coworkers wish to do the same.

Lies and subterfuge. How much more blatant can you get? And these unions do NOT guarantee better pay and benefits in any way. My sister works at a union hospital, as "service" staff much like myself, and they lost all their paid holidays and other benefits. Sorry, but I have no desire whatsoever to have someone toying with the benefits I have and making things worse, compromising my position (what is to stop the hospital from outsourcing or privatizing MORE positions if deemed economically necessary?) - and have to PAY someone to screw me over?

NO THANK YOU.

My Thoughts

***Cross-posted at Right in a Left World***

Take it for what you will, these are my thoughts alone. I could very well be wrong (probably not, but there is a first time for everything, so we will leave the possibility open).

Joe, like most people, cannot imagine where it will all end....

I can tell you EXACTLY where it will end. As a student of history and of economics (the combination of these my passion) reaching that conclusion is only hard psychologically - who really wants to be smacked in the head with a figurative 2 x 4, right? On the other hand, morons like Rightwingfuckie (whose sole purpose in life is terrorizing people with whom he disagrees) fail to see that they are hitting themselves upside the head; but that is neither here nor there since that little prick deserves whatever brick wall he walks into face-first. So, FUCK OFF, Snarkie.

It will end in revolution, and not a bloodless one, either. There will be significant loss of life, starting with the elderly, the disabled, and any children unable to fend for themselves. The core population that remains will riot for food, and those unable to hunt and gather will starve. They will die with outstretched hand, waiting for the government to put something in it, pat them on the head, and tell them a happily-ever-after bedtime story.

Barack Obama will not make the end of his first term; he will resign due to health reasons. It has been a nightmare, really, watching the life being sucked out of the man this past year, and rather horrifying to see tics writhe across his face. Then we will be stuck with President Asstard, who could not beat his way out of a wet paper sack. We should expect continued grasping and clawing for power by Hillary Clinton, as well as Nancy Pelosi (IMO, the more dangerous of the two).

The corruption of Congress will catch up to the offenders and we will see them start to drop like flies; prayerfully, many will find themselves sitting in prison where they belong. Parties as we know them will cease to exist. The judiciary has as little respect for the Constitution as the other two branches of our government, and We The People will demand restoration of the liberties, rights, and freedoms guaranteed to us within that document - merely to be protected by the government and not endowed by it, contrary to their belief.

The Dollar will fail, Wall Street will implode, and the Federal Reserve with its unsustainable fiat monetary system will collapse. We will resort to barter, become reliant upon ourselves, and extend charity to each other where needed - not for political gain or appearances but because it is the right thing to do. This will be a worldwide phenomenon.

Washington will burn. I am not trying to spin this with a racial bias, but I believe many of these changes will be effected at the hands of Black America - not because they are "susceptible" or "prone" to violence but because they have been promised so much and will be hurt the worst. We must support them in their endeavors, as it will be the only way TRUE equality will ever be achieved.

In the end, we will be a smaller nation - in population, in demographics, in politics, and perhaps even in geography; but in the end, we will be a closer nation, one that has learned the lessons of the past, screamed "enough" to abuse of power, and taken back those God-granted liberties the government of the last century has had no right usurping.

We will prevail, the American spirit impossible to quash, and we will once again remember what it means to be PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN. We have a right to be free, but freedom comes with a price tag. When a person is given something for nothing, they have little appreciation for it; but something earned through sweat, blood, and tears is cherished and treasured.

Our freedom was paid for at terrible expense. Some 25,000 to 50,000 Americans sacrificed their lives in the Revolutionary War as a down payment on protecting that right. Many more have made that sacrifice on our behalf in the years since, to ensure its continued protection. Turning our backs on it now - by not appreciating it or by demeaning it and undermining the core values of the Constitution those individuals had sworn to uphold and protect - is telling them they gave their lives in vain. So many of us in this day and age have no real point of reference, not having paid that price out of our own pockets. Therefore, it is just like that object given for nothing, with little appreciation for it and what it represents: A legacy to pass on from generation to generation.

Lee Green Wood Lyrics

Necrosis of The Mind

*Cross-posted at Right in a Left World*

Psychology and its sister "science" of psychiatry have been reduced to deserving little more than ridicule. It is a means for a select few (weak of mind, faint of heart, utterly bankrupt of all morality) self-serving morons to feel entitled to pat themselves on the back for helping those in need, changing lives for the better, and "improving" society.... by bringing us all one step closer to the twisted Barney The Dinosaur reality that underlies the worst nightmares of anyone NOT suffering concomitant craniorectal inversion disorder and malignant stupidity: The one where everyone is ALWAYS happy and smiling, we are all best friends, and there is nary a problem in the world that cannot be solved within the confines of a 30-minute time slot.

* * * * *

For the most part, it boils down to some schmuck whose "mommy didn't pay enough attention" needing to elevate himself above another he will invariably consider "inferior," so he can feel better about himself. Having worked on the periphery of the field for years (as a medical transcriptionist), I continue to be amazed by the sheer number of psychiatric patients (usually involuntarily admitted with a mandatory 72-hour hold prior to deferment hearing) who are students in the psychology program at the local University. There, they gain the tools needed to maneuver and manipulate the system to ensure a never-ending supply of mind-altering psychotropic medications and all the "attention" they crave. It is rather sickening, actually.

Anyhow. All is well and good in Barney Land.... until some poor slob, having inadvertently missed some random dose of court-ordered, physician-prescribed psychotropic medication (and do NOT think this is impossible - you would be grossly mistaken; they will come directly to your home with a court order, likely accompanied by police, and you will be injected if you refuse to comply), comes to the realization that the only time he feels "good" is when he gets his "fix." He is high - on LEGAL prescription medications - similar in chemical composition to and producing virtually identical neurochemical effects as those elicited by ILLEGAL drugs. The difference? (The REAL difference?) The manner in which these drugs are manufactured, packaged, and distributed - and whose pockets are being lined in the process. After all, we cannot have some lowly drug dealer raking in the enormous sums of money Big Pharma is entitled to (and has lobbied Congress furiously for, for years).

This dog-and-pony show has been standard fare of pharmaceutical companies for years, now "recycled" with a new look and logo to accommodate the burgeoning psychiatric industry.

Morphine {(5α,6α)-7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol} is legal; a Class II controlled substance. It can be found in commonly prescribed medications including (but not limited to) MS-Contin, MSIR, and Kadian; then consider codeine, manufactured FROM morphine, and other synthesized opioid derivatives, and the list grows longer - while the profits reaped by the pharmaceutical industry reach mind-boggling proportions. Meanwhile, the physiologic effects of morphine are very similar to? Heroin. The addicts' drug of choice when heroin is not available? Morphine.

Heroin {(5α,6α)-7,8-didehydro- 4,5-epoxy- 17-methylmorphinan- 3,6-diol diacetate} is illegal; a Class I controlled substance. There is no medically accepted use for this drug. You got some, you got some trouble. You can have all the morphine you want (as long as you hop around to enough doctors to get prescriptions - and your luck holds out until they run a MAPS report on you). BUT.NO.HEROIN.

Then come along the "really smart guys" at the drug company. "Our chemists have been working to develop a thrombolytic agent that would significantly reduce the incidence of intracranial bleed post therapy. Unfortunately, it did not produce the desired results during clinical trials. In fact, it performed poorly in that respect, having no effect in dissolving thrombi whatsoever. However, a fascinating side effect was observed in that it induced euphoria in test subjects. We believe this compound should be pursued further, as it has significant potential as a psychotropic medication." ("Test subjects," not "people." Millions of dollars spent to produce a drug that does not do what was intended yet does something completely unexpected.... something to be exploited.... something to enable the company to recoup R&D investments AND generate profits for years to come - patent pending. Potential for abuse and potential for virtually unlimited profits, but who gives a rip??? WE'RE MAKING MONEY!)

Dextroamphetamine {(2S)-1-phenylpropan-2-amine} is legal; a Class II controlled substance. It just so happens to be the active ingredient in Adderall - a psychostimulant (see the "amphetamine" there?) prescribed to children across the country for ADHD, generating billions of dollars per year in sales and promoting the mind-rot of the next tender generation. Interestingly, the physiological effects of THIS drug are remarkably similar to: Meth. (I wonder why?)

Methamphetamines {(2S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine} are illegal. In fact, most state's child protection laws order the immediate removal of children (and facilitate TPR in a curiously expeditious manner) upon finding evidence that the home doubles as a meth lab. Busted cooking meth? Your ass is in jail: Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. Now, the rest of us cannot even buy cold medicine without the DEA sniffing out every orifice.

Psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists: Together, the anus of society. They serve a degrading and embarrassing function, cause hemorrhoids and occasional itching, oftentimes spew forth foul-smelling gases and diarrhea, and every once in a while you just know it is time to clean out the works with an enema.

* * * * *

To Steve: Oh, my. I guess having a "Masters" degree gives you license to psychoanalyze at will. How much for sessions? I assume this first "consultation" is free, as we've not yet established a fee schedule. I am immensely grateful that one as benevolent, kind, and caring as yourself would try so hard to help me, show me the error of my ways. (In case you CANNOT tell, this is sarcasm - of the dripping variety; I feel the need to explain as you obviously do not understand concepts such as HUMOR, SATIRE, and PARODY and it is likely you do not understand sarcasm, either.)

Do I detect grandiose delusions, thinking oneself capable of guiding a "lost sheep" such as myself "back to the flock?" Verily, I say unto thee... "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." People: We have a true hero in our midst, attempting to bring me to The Father Barack....

You are most certainly NOT Jesus Christ, so I will guess:
Axis I: Schizophrenic disorder, paranoid type, chronic with acute exacerbation. {Based upon the sum total of your previous comments}.
Axis II: Cluster B disorder including borderline, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorder.

Yes, I am bitter. You could even say I am downright mean. I cling to my Bible; and months before Barry finalized his purchase of the Presidency (after 3-1/2 decades of swearing I would never own one), I purchased not one but TWO shotguns - with the intention of returning for at least two more. I am appalled - no, MORTIFIED - at the disease that has rotted this nation from its very center. Sadly, I feel a twinge of pleasure at the thought that, after this group of morons in Washington, DC, gives the final shove and our economy plunges into the abyss, my children and I will eat - thanks to my knowledge of agriculture and hunting - while you starve, waiting for the government to take care of you. I never would have believed myself capable of having such a horrid thought toward another human being, but I am strongly considering the possibility you might actually deserve it.

What is coming is population control, plain and simple. It is fortunate we have this remarkable mechanism by which to clean up the gene pool after generations of people like you defecating in it, rather than wading thigh-deep in excrement with a smile and proclaiming "All's well here!" but you (and others like you) deliberately, voluntarily, and willingly brought this upon yourself (and the rest of us) yet fail to realize that you have brought yourselves (and the rest of us) to the slaughter rather than being driven there. Some itty -bitty bit of genetic code is barking at you like a mad dog, a self-preservation instinct, which invades the euphoria of your drug-induced stupor. You need someone to blame for your distress, because personal responsibility and accountability are not part of your repertoire, so you lash out at people like me.

Well, I have broad shoulders.... and an even broader mind. I can take it, I can dish it right back, and eventually I can just choose to ignore your existence. I will not be harmed in any way, shape, or form.

The Assassination of Johnny Bravo

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings were AWESOME. Hour after hour of gratuitous violence as Tom and Jerry beat the shit out of each other and the Coyote sat on one too many Acme rockets, lessons in wit and sarcasm courtesy of Bugs and Daffy, and in between it all, doses of School House Rock and "Conjunction Junction" (30 years later, I still remember that song) in an altogether well-rounded childhood enabling me to think for myself as an adult. I learned from Charlie Brown that it was okay to be a little bit different, and the Smurfs taught me to accept everyone for who they were, that each person had value and something different to offer, and that the community as a whole survives only with the contribution of each individual.

Some years later, as a young parent, I saw those days already receding into the distance. Saturdays filled with Tom and Jerry were replaced by Power Rangers and mutant turtles but still sprinkled with the antics of Cow and Chicken, Weasel and Baboon, and the love of my life, Johnny Bravo. Now, as a (slightly) older parent (chronologically, not at heart), my children are reduced to watching "educational" cartoons; the ones that teach not only tolerance but compliance and conformity. The only time Tom and Jerry appear on my screen now is when I pay extra for it with satellite TV; and my 3-, 4-, 6-, and 7-year-old children have never even heard of Johnny or Smurfette.

When I was a kid, there were TOYS in my cereal box. Nowadays, all you find inside the box is some mystery sugar that may or may not be an edible food product and may or may not cause cancer 20 years down the road.

When I was a kid, a trip to McDonald's was a special treat. Counting the number of chins on some of the kids I've seen at the schools lately, home-cooked meals are now a special treat.

When I was a kid, a penny saved was a penny earned; and even if you wanted to splurge, you could still buy penny candies. Spirograph and Scrabble were fun, and Atari 2600 was THE SHIT. It was a family event to watch The Wizard of Oz once a year on TV. Holidays were a time for family gatherings and appreciating the premise behind that particular celebration. You earned not only those things you wanted but those privileges you were afforded.

The loss to my children is incalculable.

Around and Around We Go

Where it stops, only some grasping-at-straws-while-looting-state-coffers CPS worker will know.

HOW CAN IT BE that, in this great nation of ours, the news is filled with story after story documenting the failures of countless "parents," their stories often wrapped deeply within and, therefore, pointing out the inherent failures of the Child Protective Services system...

All across this country, children are abused and/or die as a result of the actions (or INACTION) of CPS workers, people voluntarily taking on a job that must be performed in an exceptionally UNAMBIGUOUS manner (is there any way to possibly misinterpret "Child Protective Services"?). HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? Sometimes ignorance, sometimes laziness, sometimes indifference, all leading to the suffering of a child at the hands of the one who claimed to have been protecting them when it was felt their parent(s) could not.

This is not a "black" problem or a "white" problem; these are children of every color. It is not a problem isolated to "the slums" and "welfare recipients"; parents may be poor or working poor or lower-middle-class but are almost exclusively of lower income. Regardless of background, these are children that should have been OUR future but instead had their own futures stolen, in the end depriving us all.

On the other side of the coin are children needlessly ripped from the arms of their parents, lives and families destroyed - emotionally and financially - for no legitimate reason, to serve no legitimate purpose. To anyone who would insist this never happens, that those parents "deserved it," I say "Shame on you." Shame on you for not listening and learning, ignoring the truth. Shame on you for thinking that any child should suffer for someone else's mistake, regardless of who made it. Shame on you, and I hope you count your blessings every day for not having walked a mile in those shoes.

I know there are children who are neglected and abused, beat, tortured, mutilated, molested, raped, and murdered by their so-called "parents." I know there are - OFTEN - times when the system seems to work and a child in need is rescued. I know that there are, in fact, top-notch social workers in HHS/CPS agencies across the map that go above and beyond the details of their job description, for those little lives they have pledged to save, and that there are foster parents committed to the cause.

However... I also know that even the very best social workers can only be as good as the laws under which they must operate, and that far too many (federal and state) laws are inadequate, poorly constructed and misinterpreted, misapplied, subverted, ignored, and unevenly applied in practice. I know that there are times when the most inviolable and sacred rights held dear to us as American citizens, those involving due process, are thrown out like yesterday's trash.

The laws governing the CPS system and those who create them need to change. There IS a problem in this country, swept under the rug in the hopes that it will go away if no one sees it. Unfortunately for those who want it to go away, there ARE people who see it - people like me, who have LIVED it - and demand that the problems be fixed. Our Presidential candidates shout "CHANGE" from every rooftop and every mountaintop, three of whom are part of the legislative body with the power to effect that change - yet they have chosen not to do so.

In my mind, they, too, have failed the children.

What do you do when you are forced to SEE that failure,
~~~~~day after day,
~~~~~week after week,

haunting the eyes of a child destroyed in an effort to "help,"
knowing it will not be fixed,
~~~~~lives saved,
~~~~~perpetrators punished,
~~~~~families preserved,
~~~~~futures ensured?

What do you do if CPS is the agent of fear in a child's life?
What do you do if CPS is the agent of continued abuse of a child, or the abuser in its own right?

For Better or Worse

I love when someone challenges me, presents me with different sides of an argument or issue and gives me something meaningful to mentally and philosophically grind on, something I did not have before to incorporate into my own beliefs system and/or opinions--especially when that someone happens to be a person whom I admire and deeply respect as I do Shannon.

In one of my recent rants, I went off half-cocked and more than a little pissed and, unfortunately, offended her. I will not apologize for my opinions, since they're mine and mine alone and I don't expect others to embrace them, only to respect them as being mine. However... because I failed to express myself adequately - too much going on all at once in my head and my fingers couldn't get it all out, much like a mush-mouth that can't speak fast enough to keep up with racing thoughts - and the lack of clarity with which I presented my opinion left it open for interpretation as offensive, I do apologize for that. I should have expounded on my statements and explained my feelings.

Shannon left an amazingly thought-provoking comment regarding that post:

As a 34 year old adult, it's easy for me to say that nobody could force or coerce me into anything but I'm not at all certain that confidence of self is easy to find in any 16 year old pregnant girl. Especially a 16 year old unwilling or unable to tell her own parents about the situation with the mother of her boyfriend so married to the idea of aborting that she forged a consent form. That's some pretty powerful persuasion in my opinion; no the mom didn't drive her there but it doesn't sound like she encouraged the girl to explore all of her options. Being able to have sex doesn't imbue with intelligence, obviously, but being 16 means by virtue of limited life experience the people who are advising you should actually have your best interest at heart. This was obviously not the case.

While I'm not sure what having the other mother in jail will solve, at the end of the day if it's all about responsibility then it would seem right that she should do the time for doing the crime.

I won't get into the logistics of what electing McCain could well do to a woman's right to choose, as in yes you're technically correct about his ability to ''pass a law'' but it's
no secret that any ruling effecting choice (or making it an issue of states rights) would come from the Supreme Court and we all know who appoints those judges.

And as a point of fact, without involving the Supreme Court, a law was passed banning so-called ''partial birth abortion'' (a medical procedure that doesn't actually exist, by the way) which effects not just a woman's right to choose to continue a pregnancy but effects the right of families to choose life or death for mothers with pregnancies that go horribly, horribly amiss. I cannot fathom anyone reading Cecily's story http://www.uppercasewoman.com/wastedbirthcontrol/losing_my_twins_or_how_i_became_the_internet_poster_girl_for_partial_birth_abortion/index.html) and speaking so easily of women who somehow need to take responsibility or the implied judgment of somehow learning a lesson by continuing an unwanted or worse, deadly, pregnancy.

Obviously, I am pro-choice but I am also apparently one of those you feel need to take responsibility because my first pregnancy was both unplanned and a complete surprise (pill + condom) which ended with my son dying after a month of intensive care. By your math, because in this ''birth control saturated society'', I am no brighter and am, in fact, just as ''stupid'' as the 16 year old. Months later, I was again pregnant after again practicing safe sex to a ridiculous degree KNOWING that any future children would meet the same end as our Jackson. The decision to not continue the pregnancy was taken from me when I mis-carried but there is no way in hell I would have continued that pregnancy knowing the end result would be another infected child, born only to suffer before succumbing as did his brother before him. To know that in your opinion my option had I not had a mis-carriage would be a wire hanger saddens me at a visceral level.

To which I respond, respectfully:

As a 35-year-old adult, I can reflect on myself as a 16-year-old with nearly 20 years of hindsight. At 16, at 18, at 21, and even now at 35, I was and continue to be a strong-willed individual with a solid beliefs system, not rigid and inflexible but resilient enough to be open-minded without fear of being easily swayed into complacency, compliance, and conformity. I equate that to "confidence of self" and it is part of what defines me as an individual. I knew then and continue to know now that the consequences of my silence, as I stated previously, would be far more grave than owning up to the reality of the current situation - not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. Anyone who does NOT know or understand this has been failed by those whose duty it was to teach them this and other invaluable life lessons.

Persuasion or not on the part of the boy's mother, some part of this girl WANTED that abortion, whether she acknowledges it or not - she may not even realize this and is likely having conflicting feelings about the pregnancy, the abortion, and every action and reaction occurring since - or she would not have gone to the lengths she did, seeking the forged consent and then using it. "Persuasion" was probably also a factor in her parents' actions against the other mother and yet one more set of circumstances this girl fell into and allowed herself to be swept away by.

I agree with you 100%, the woman who signed that form failed this girl in every way imaginable, but that was not what had me so pissed off at the time, and I stated as much. Although the girl was not her own daughter, this woman took on a modified role beyond that of "boyfriend's mother" the day her son impregnated the girl--and she had a responsibility not only to the girl but TO HER OWN SON to (as you perfectly worded it) "[encourage them] to explore all of [their] options." I also agree, sexual capabilities and intelligence have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In fact, I've witnessed situations where they were mutually exclusive: While working in an OB/GYN office, I encountered a 19-year-old patient in the midst of her 4th pregnancy who had no clue that sex caused her "condition," and obviously neither did her boyfriend - unless he did and was withholding that information from her, which to me is an act of malice.

No, having this woman in jail will solve nothing in the end. Judging by her actions, she seems the type of person willing to do anything to accomplish her own goals, no matter what the cost, an entirely selfish motivation and desire to manipulate others including her own child and another child under her care, and she will likely never change. She violated the law. She violated the children's trust. She violated the parent-child relationship within another family. She deserves more than just a year in jail, but unfortunately that is what she got. In no way was I defending her actions, because in reality I think she's even more stupid than the girl: She was manipulating people in order to satisfy her own needs and desires (the larger part of me seriously doubts her claim that it was in her son's interest so he could go to college, the case more likely being she wasn't "ready to be a grandma," while the girl was only manipulating people at the behest of her own parents).

As for the McCain discussion, I only pointed it out because of the literal terms it was presented on the message board: "If McCain does pass the law..." Too often I see the failings of the education system in action in general ignorance of how the government actually works. What you say is true about the Supreme Court and appointments of justices and the ramifications of their decisions for all of us--their interpretation of the "law" subjective based on their experiences, education, beliefs, and particularly politics, but that is just the icing on the cake in my argument that the law and lawmakers and lawyers need to be less consumptive of people's decision-making ability and less destructive of people's lives as a result.

I consider myself to be "pro-choice" as well, but I apply a different definition to this term than most do. By MY definition, pro-choice is not strictly tied to the abortion issue but in securing every individual's right to make their own choices, no matter what the topic of discussion. Each of us must make life-changing decisions and WE are the ones who must live with the consequences. Some faceless lawyer or panel of judges should never have the right to dictate those decisions to us, forcing us down a path of consequences we as individuals - not the judge - must live with, without having made that choice for ourselves. If I want to have an abortion or not, choose to vaccinate my children or not, send my children to a public school or not, wear my seat belt or not, smoke cigarettes or not, consume salt and grease and candy and caffeine or not - those decisions are mine to make and I am willing to live with the consequences, but they should not be made for me and I should not be forced to live with the costs when I had no part in choosing. In the ultimate decision-making process, we must each choose for ourselves:

Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many be they that enter in thereby. --Matthew 7:13

No politician or judge can make that decision for me, and this is a driving power guiding me in every decision I must make; I don't need SCOTUS attempting to push me through what I believe is the wide gate, ya know?

Thank you for the link to Cecily's story. I did read through some of her posts and agree with some of her points but would also like to expand upon them with my own, colored with my own "pro-choice" standard, the most profound being this:

So it's easy to read my story and say, oh, yes, in case LIKE YOURS, abortion should be legal. But... when laws are passed that make it difficult for that teenage girl to get to exercise the right to control her own body--hey, I'm looking at you, Ms. Clinton, for not standing up harder against the parental notification laws--or for the professional woman to be able to fill a prescription, quietly, for RU486 at her local pharmacy so she can make her choice as well, or that harried mother to do the same thing--when those laws are passed, it's women like me that die. When you cut corners, you don't save babies lives. You kill women like me.

Let me say that again. When you compromise on abortion--when you sacrifice even the smallest corner of choice--you kill women like me. You create a culture of fear among doctors that puts lives like mine at risk.

There should be no abortion debate. There should be no compromise on abortion. There should be no concessions or sacrifices regarding choices and absolutely NEVER be a manipulation of the doctor-patient relationship by ANY branch of the government - from the legislature to the judicial system. A decision like this should be made strictly by a woman and her partner and her doctor. PERIOD.

While I do not generally agree with the practice of abortion (including "partial-birth abortion," which although is not medically classified as such - there is no CPT code for a procedure by that name - there is, in fact, a late-term abortion procedure to which this is referring, as Cecily stated in her post), I believe there are cases in which it is warranted - those "acceptable" cases, as she describes them. I have found myself exceptionally disgusted, seeing a young woman denied an abortion simply because she was a Medicaid recipient, refused while at their expense, yet the state was willing to provide for prenatal care and delivery and "heroic measures" made in an effort to save a severely deformed infant (who would be the recipient of intensive, aggressive, EXPENSIVE medical care FOR LIFE) as well as the mother, whose life was jeopardized by continuing the pregnancy and carrying to term, let alone trying to deliver - a cost of potentially hundreds of thousands of "taxpayer dollars" versus a couple of hundred and at immense emotional distress to the woman. For what reason? Policy. Dictated by politicians. Enforced by the courts. Consequences of which lived with by the patient. It's not a conversation I take lightly by any means, and the point I was trying to make was not at all about "somehow learning a lesson by continuing an unwanted or worse, deadly, pregnancy."

As for you and your situation, I must mention that I have been reading your blog for a while and am aware of your circumstances only insofar as you have chosen to share them with [us] me. I must at this point, as politely as I can, tell you that you have taken out of context my "responsibility versus birth control" argument and applied it to a completely different situation. Apples and oranges and all that. I stated, "She got knocked up. It happens." It DOES happen, and I think few would argue that point. However, I was not implying her stupidity factor as being related to her failure to use (or lack of efficacy of) birth control methods and her resultant pregnancy, but to her willingness to kowtow first to her boyfriend's mother in having the abortion and subsequent willingness to go along with bringing charges against her, claiming she was "coerced." Maybe she was and maybe she wasn't forced (she was definitely poorly counseled, as you pointed out). I don't know, I wasn't there; but again, a part of this girl must have wanted the abortion or she would not have done it, nor would she have gone to the lengths she did to have it done in the first place, then aggravating the situation by casting blame elsewhere. AGAIN, maybe she didn't understand her feelings and desire to terminate her pregnancy and didn't know how to deal with the emotions that followed. The point is, she is stupid in that she seems to lack ability to think for herself, doing what everyone else tells her to do.

You, Shannon, are nothing like this girl. "By [my] math," you were exercising birth control and got pregnant. It happens. No method of birth control (other than abstinence) is 100% effective. You were being responsible in your actions to try to prevent pregnancy, yet when it happened you stepped up and accepted it, courageously by what I gather, so there is no correlation between you and this girl whatsoever. With your next pregnancy, you continued to act responsibly, prior to, during, and after the fact. You were faced with a decision that I honestly cannot say how I myself would have reacted, but I understand and respect your (as a mother, I will say NEED) need, wanting to spare your baby the same fate as his brother. I applaud your ability to do this in a capacity that seems (to me) compassionate and caring and MOTHERLY. There is no way stupidity would enter into a reckoning of you and your actions - EVER - and nowhere in my reading of what you have posted have I ever gleaned any inkling that you laid the blame for your situation at anyone else's doorstep.

Finally, as to the wire hanger, I feel you have misconstrued (due to my lack of clarification) my objection to the original comment in this regard. First, I was appalled that someone would believe that women would need to "resort" to anything, particularly something as vile as a coat-hanger abortion (as a result of a decision forced upon them by bureaucrats who have no one's welfare in mind besides their own) when there ARE other options available, even in the event that abortion were illegal, if one is resourceful enough to seek them out. With that in mind, if a woman is ignorant enough to "resort" (I hate the context in which that was used, and I generally just don't like that word anyhow, it implies weakness) to just lying down and accepting mandates from the dictators, without seeking other alternatives or just standing up for her right to be a cognizant human being, then she gets what she deserves. I know it's harsh, it's cynical, it's probably even an ugly way to think, but if we don't stand up for our own rights, who will do it for us? Where we have allowed ourselves to be led as a society saddens ME on a visceral level.

Thank you, Shannon, for inspiring me to think deeper on this subject, for your comment, and above all for your willingness to challenge my opinions and thereby giving me a chance to grow in my beliefs.

Oh, Look - Another Buzzard Circling

Some of the stories in the news lately have had me craning my head toward the sky, seeking the source of the shadow swooping 'round and 'round over the carcass of the once-great late United States of America.

More often than not, the base depravity of the so-called "human beings" occupying the cozy chunk of real estate on the third rock from the sun is made even more glaringly obvious by those whose actions are invoked in hundreds of news articles circulated around the globe. Reflection on what they have done to warrant their 2-inch column (or equivalent) in the multitude of news services, coupled with acknowledgment that these. . . piles of walking, talking feces. . . biologically spring from the same genetic material as me, curdles my soul and makes me wish I were a cockroach rather than a human. They make me realize that we, as a society, are little better than termites burrowing into the unprotected foundations of our own "humanity."

It's only a matter of time before the exterminator shows up.

Man Shot Dead While Stomping Toddler to Death
This human stain deserved not a quick death via bullet to the brain but a mad and frenzied stomping into a mass of flesh incapable of being identified visually - by the very police officers and the crowd forced to witness the brutal slaying of a baby that certainly did not ask to be born to such a pile of shit. He deserved to get back exactly what he gave out. On one hand, I applaud the officer who had the courage to end this monstrosity's rampage and snub out any future attempts he might have made on subverting civilization, knowing that had he gone to trial he would have claimed "mental illness" and gotten off with a slap on the wrist. On the other hand, though, part of me wishes the crowd had done exactly that right back to him, said officer looking the other way and whistling as someone hosed his brains off the concrete the next day.

Mother and Girlfriend Torture 5-year-old Boy
This is yet another FINE example of the walking, talking piles of feces walking the planet, a true piece of shit who chose to spread her legs and breed without consideration of what kind of responsibilities parenting might entail - besides cruising to the bank to cash the welfare check. This bitch needs to be burned with cigarettes all over her body, including her genitals, and have her hands held onto a hot stove until her fingers curl into useless lumps of flesh and then be suspended from a doorway, leaving her there to ultimately suffocate much like those crucified in Biblical times.

Trip Chaperone Sued in Student's Death
This one just pisses me off on general principal. We're that fucking sue-happy in this country, that the parents of an 18-YEAR-OLD GIRL sue and WIN a nearly $700,000 judgment against another parent because their daughter - their 18-YEAR-OLD ADULT-AGE DAUGHTER (who gives a shit she was still in high school, she was NOT a minor, not a child, and therefore under the law responsible for her own actions) - whom they obviously did not teach proper life lessons to, including PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY - became drunk and fell off a balcony to her death? I'm sad that the girl died, but I'm SICKENED by the fact that her parents successfully sued someone who took their child in good faith to a function at which the "child" refused to abide by the rules, and who gets punished? Not the perpetrator. Not the parents whose parenting skills are dubious at best.

No, it doesn't work that way in America, does it? We're not responsible for our own actions, someone else is responsible for them. Only thing is, how long until the other shoe drops and we have to suck it up (or take a backhoe through the sphincter) when the tables are turned?

Stupid People and Abortion

I can't help myself from going over to the ABC News website and particularly the comments sections of controversial articles, even after the last bout of stupidity shown by some of the members (not to mention the moderator or whoever it is that manipulates.... I mean, MANAGES these posts).

Not long ago I felt guilty, of what I'm not exactly sure, but kind of like I was rubbernecking at a fatal car wreck. Now I realize that I am witnessing not an automobile collision but bona fide train wreck: The United States of America. More on that later.

So, I'm reading this article about a woman who forged a consent form for his son's 16-year-old girlfriend to get an abortion and was sentenced to a year, but what she did in and of itself is not what got me on my soapbox tonight. I could really give a shit less that she did something so ignorant (I do think it took one HUGE set of balls - if there's one lesson we should have learned from so many of our Congressional and Presidential leaders over the past few decades, it would have to be NEVER PUT IT IN WRITING!) or even that she violated the parent-child relationship of another family.

No, what bothers me is this:

• The woman did NOT accompany the girl to the clinic to have the abortion, merely (illegally) signed a statement that she was the girl's mother and knew the girl was having it done. Interestingly, though, she has been accused of "coercing" the girl into having the abortion done against her will. Mysteriously, I find no mention of her forcibly dragging the girl to the clinic and, in fact, was proven by evidence at trial not to have even been present.
  
• The girl is being presented as terribly aggrieved, coerced into doing something she did not want to do. If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go, especially considering the fact that the one "coercing" her was not even there to make sure it was done? If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go so far as to obtain an illegal consent from her boyfriend's mother? If she didn't want the abortion, why didn't she tell her parents she was pregnant and being forced to do something that is just OBVIOUSLY so against her moral fiber BEFORE having it done, when it could have made a difference, instead of waiting to tell them a month after the fact?

Then, of course, we get to my favorite part: The comments board. I think I find it so fascinating because where else in the world will you find such blatant stupidity intermixed with interesting little nuggets of wisdom. Part of me, though, still finds it shocking that this stupidity is so proudly offered up in black and white, for the entire world to see. This one in particular, though, was by far my favorite:

I do not know how the mother of the daughter played a role in this, but there are many daughters who feel they cannot speak to their own parents especially on situations like this. I believe if a girl is old enough to have sex she is old enough to make her own decisions. All teenagers make mistakes so I am 100% pro-choice, and the girl would not have had a great oppurtinity to really explore her life. Teenager mothers are more likely to drop out of high school and not complete college. The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this. If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death. I am proud of this mother for doing this, and she has given the young girl a chance to live her life.

She got knocked up. It happens. It's not like our society's not SATURATED with information about birth control (argued on the message boards because it's not 100% effective, even though they persist in "forgetting" that there is, in fact, one form of birth control that is 100% effective: Abstinence. Don't spread your legs, don't stick your member where it doesn't need to be, and you won't get pregnant - 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME. Just like the premise "ignorance of the law is no excuse," ignorance and/or failing to educate yourself (or your children) about the consequences of their actions is no excuse. Have sex = Get pregnant (or diseased, again, a story for another time). My position: This girl is just plain stupid, and she tried to cover her stupidity (proof she's a politician-in-waiting) with more stupidity and assigning the blame to someone else.

As for not wanting to talk to her parents, if *I* were being forced into doing something like this and I didn't want it, short of hog-tying and gagging me, throwing me in a lake with a cement block attached to my leg, you can bet your ass I'd be crowing from every rooftop, knowing the consequences for my silence would be far worse than those of what got me there in the first place.

How can someone be 100% Pro-Choice just because "all teenagers make mistakes"? What the FUCK does that have to do with not accepting responsibility for your actions and dealing with your guilt in a manner that does little more than punish a third party for your choices? This woman sitting in jail will NOT alleviate the girl's guilt feelings and now, by her own and her parent's actions, she has probably lost the support of her boyfriend - the father of the baby - who will have his own grief issues at the loss of his child, compounded by the betrayal by his girlfriend. Allowing teenagers to have an abortion because they "made a mistake" does not instill in them a sense of responsibility. It only opens the door to a lifelong commitment to lack of personal responsibility. "I fucked up, I want a do-over." Since when does "REAL" life allow do-overs?

"The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this." Where the hell did that come from? How is the government oppressing women like "this"? Like what? Why should the Nazifems oppress MEN like this, "this" being stripping from the man, without whom that child and hence the woman's "right" to choose would never have existed, any "right" to have a say in what happens to HIS child?

Finally, my favoritest part of all, "If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death." First of all, McCain can't "pass" any law without it having first been approved by the Congress and presented to him to pass it. Why are so many people SO FUCKING STUPID when it comes to the workings of the government? Why are so people SO FUCKING STUPID that they need to start looking for a scapegoat before there's anything concrete to hang on the goat's head before sending him off into the wilderness? Why are people SO FUCKING STUPID that they feel they can't accept responsibility for their choices and actions that they will have to "resort" to anything?

If women can't accept responsibility for their actions and decisions and use good judgement, I say LET them "resort back to using clothes hangers." Let them bleed to death. It's just one less stupid, useless person consuming valuable oxygen.

Dude Needs to Get a REAL Job

You may remember Roy Pearson, the former judge who sued for $54 million for a pair of pants. Dude's back in court suing again, this time for $1 million in damages and his job back, claiming he was wrongfully fired, ". . . protected as a whistle-blower and . . . the city used the fact that he was being 'vilified in the media' to cut him out of his job" (because of the pants case).

I wonder WHY????? *sarcasm dripping* I would have fired him, too, a former judge filing a lawsuit as absolutely asinine as that. Had he sued only for the cost of replacing the pants (or even the entire suit, as he was wont to mention in his claim) instead of exhibiting his greed, the case probably would never have reached the public eye - and he probably would have won. Now he just looks like a moron.

Time to get a REAL job, buddy, and quit trying to live off the backs of others.

I've Decided I'm Just a Bitch

I am so tired of reading stories like this in the news. Maybe I'm just a bitch, but maybe it's just time for society to wake up and smell the coffee. If people like this want to do away with themselves, fine, LET THEM - the world and especially their children are probably better off without them - but they need to stop taking their children out in the process or instead of themselves. It makes me so angry that this woman took the coward's way out, resorting to suicide, but she had NO right to murder her children, who never asked to be brought into this world but most certainly NEVER deserved to die at their own mother's hands. She chose to bring them into this world, and she then chose to renege on her responsibility as a ward to God's gifts. That's right: Children are not ours, as so many in this world wrongly declare, but God's, and He allows us to have care and custody over them, raise them in His light. I know it's an un-Christian way of thinking, but I firmly believe that people who abuse, torture, or murder children should suffer the exact same fate they dealt out to the little ones. Andrea Yates? Drown her. Then resuscitate her. Then drown her again. And again. And AGAIN. And one more time for good measure, for each child she deprived of life. Susan Smith? Same deal. Dena Schlosser? Cut her fucking arms off and leave her to bleed to death. Maybe once parents realize there is a PUNISHMENT for their actions - and keep the bleeding heart fucking liberals out of it, letting them cop out of responsibility for their actions by claiming mental illness - THIS SHIT WOULD STOP.

Rant over.

On the Internet

In this world that breaks down into little more than digits flying through etherspace, we can be anything we want to be. So. . . I am as beautiful as Halle Berry. I am as wealthy as The Donald. I am as powerful as the Pope. I am whatever I want to be, and you won't know the difference, right? And. . . I can make YOU into whatever I want YOU to be also, and no one will be any the wiser, right?

So says the cyberstalker.

Check this out and tell me: Exactly what is this world coming to? Whatever it is, it can't be good.

"I've just learned that my stalker has taken harassment to the next level. It wasn't good enough to harass me face-to-face, even after legal venues were pursued to put a stop to that. It wasn't good enough to anonymously hide behind the skirts of CPS and file malicious complaints containing fabrications and outright lies against me, because the truth prevailed in the end. No, that just wasn't good enough. Now it's time to take personal grudges and a tightly woven web of lies to the "court of the internets," to be judged by individuals who know nothing more about me than what my stalker has told them - and they believe it. I am a 'hacker' for using Google to find information about my stalker and a 'fat, lazy cunt who sits on the computer 24/7 hacking into and stealing personal records' [MySpace is personal, if it's not set to private???], even though I am working 4 jobs to pay taxes to help support my stalker's lifestyle: Collecting a welfare check every month on top of food stamps and Medicaid, enabling them to have more time to 'testify to the court of the internets' about what a piece of shit I am. I never really thought someone could be this depraved, this malicious, this vindictive and spiteful, even in the face of all that's happened, and now I realize just how deranged this person really is and am fearful for my life, because I don't know just how much farther they are willing to go to try to destroy me."

On The Warpath

Some people need to learn the hard way, after being shown the error of their ways in a polite manner 47 times and still not getting it through their thick skulls: STOP ABUSING THE LAW AND PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCIES DEVELOPED TO PROTECT SOCIETY'S MOST DEFENSELESS CITIZENS, WHOM YOU HAVE VICTIMIZED YOURSELF MORE THAN ANYONE. I'm pissed, I'm primed, and I have a raging hard-on for justice with the will as high as a mountain and a soul of unfathomable depth to persevere to the end and see that justice is served. These same morons who need this lesson are the very ones who taught me that I do have the power to prevail and that in the end, good truly does triumph evil.

Horror of Horrors

To be told by a 7-year-old child that her mother hits her on her knees and she is afraid of her mother (which the child has already reported to a CPS worker, who did nothing, stating she didn't feel it was "relevant"). When asked WHY the mother hits the child, the child's response: "My mom hits me so she can take pictures of me and make my daddy go to jail."

The same "mother" who has on 8 occasions filed malice complaints against the child's father (again, CPS workers did nothing, even though malicious filing is illegal and an activity to which the mother readily admitted in the course of conducting a custody battle) and then sent a Laf-O-Gram via instant messenger when CPS swooped in and took not only THAT child, but ALL the children in the home, including his WIFE'S children. The father and his wife have yet to get their names cleared from the Central Child Abuse Registry, where they were listed upon removal of their children - without a plea of guilty/not guilty, without a trial, and based solely on "hearsay" evidence.

People are sick, beating on their kids, but that's just EVIL to beat on them to try to build a custody case against the other parent. When she has accomplished her mission and annihilated the children's father's life, when the children are of no use to her anymore, what will she do to them then? Will we find them in tote boxes with their heads severed, beaten, tortured, and murdered by their so-called "mother"?

What's Next?

Childhood Spanking Leads to Sexual Problems in Adulthood.

What's next? Hugs and kisses lead to sexual problems? Fatty foods? Carbohydrates? Owning a puppy as a child, or maybe NOT owning a puppy as a child? Not having enough coloring crayons in your box?

I'm so sick of the stupid shit money is wasted on to study. I've got a clue for you: What leads to sexual problems in adulthood? In most cases, a parent with a sexual problem. I know a story of a "woman" with two daughters who exposed them to and left them unattended with not one but TWO registered sexual offenders on different occasions during the children's younger years, had sexual intercourse in front of the children, attempted to coach one child to make accusations of sexual abuse against THREE different males when the mother did not get her way and as a means of revenge, admitted to routinely "examining" the girls' genitalia for "abuse," and was alleged by one of the girls to have been the perpetrator herself of sexual abuse against the child.

What did the authorities do? Nothing of significance - against the mother, anyhow.

I know this is not an isolated case, and knowing this, it's no wonder children grow up dysfunctional, not just sexually but psychologically, socially, and morally.

Amazing, Quality of Safety in Our Public Schools

Almost 5 hours after school was dismissed for the day, an automated call comes through on my cell phone from the district superintendent: Due to news reports this morning of an unapprehended criminal in our area, buildings went into secure mode until sheriff's deputies announced the criminal had been apprehended.

Nice to know that - FIVE FUCKING HOURS AFTER SCHOOL WAS DISMISSED. Not like they couldn't have sent these messages out hours ago, while the buildings were actually in lock down?

And people wonder why I can't stand the public school system and wish I had the time to homeschool my kids.

Anyhow, this is the story. Kind of scary, knowing these raids were going on within a few blocks of one of the schools and two others literally just around the corner from my home and near yet another school. Fucking morons, stealing shit - makes me wish we had the death penalty here in Michigan and the ability to fry these fuckers who steal guns with the intent to put them on the streets, where the intent would ultimately be to KILL SOMEONE, MOST LIKELY A COP.

Justice for Jessie

Justice for Jessie. Do I think it was accidental as he claims? Not really. Why? Because if it were accidental, being a police officer, his first response should have been to contact emergency personnel in an attempt to save Jessie and baby Chloe. That's his JOB, not just as a police officer but as a father. He admitted he was stressed about child support, so what better way to get out of paying for another one than getting rid of it. He couldn't have KEPT HIS PECKER IN HIS PANTS in the first place, right? And sitting in prison, his support obligations can be suspended, even if his parental rights aren't terminated under statute for murdering his son's mother (not sure if Ohio has that statute but probably so).

Rest in peace, Jessie and Chloe, and I'm so sorry for your losses, young Blake.

Shocked

All my life, people have been shoving their opinions down my throat and up my ass, oftentimes the former and always the latter without my consent. I'm obviously quite the pushover since people have been running roughshod over me quite regularly for much of the last 20 of the 35 years of my miserable existence, making it that much more miserable. I ASK for opinions, and what do I get? Not a peep. This little nibbet has been bugging me since I first crossed paths with it, and I just would like some confirmation as to whether or not I'm seeing what I think I am. Maybe it was just too vague in its "depersonalized" state last time? We can try, try again and seriously, I really want to hear your thoughts on this:

how does it feel now, huh? how does it feel to have the county rip your kids right out from under you? if what "B" says about "F" touching her is true, and i know it is so don't you DARE sit there calling MY daughter a liar!, then your sons are the worst i have ever met in my life! you and "E" are THRU making my life a living hell! god-willing you will NEVER see "B" and "J" again!

Come on, people, tell me what you get out of this! Again, PERSON-X sent this to PERSON-Y, after PERSON-X called CPS for the 8th time against PERSON-Y and mere hours after CPS took custody of PERSON-Y's children, PERSON-X having willingly admitted to CPS that they were making these complaints maliciously in an effort to conduct a custody battle (over "B" and "J.")

Opinions Sought

What's your take on this?

PERSON-X messages PERSON-Y, hours after PERSON-X learned that CPS had ripped PERSON-Y's children right out of their arms (action known to PERSON-X because they had registered said complaint with CPS against PERSON-Y, along with 7 others over the course of the prior 18 months, even after admitting to CPS that they were done out of malice, in the course of a custody battle):

how does it feel now, huh? how does it feel to have the county rip your kids right out from under you? if what ##### says about ##### touching her is true, and i know it is so don't you DARE sit there calling MY daughter a liar!, then your sons are the worst i have ever met in my life! you and ##### are THRU making my life a living hell! god-willing you will NEVER see ##### and ##### again!

Or how about this one? PERSON-M messages PERSON-N at the request of PERSON-X:

Look motherfucker, I hear of it again, I will come kill you...I know where you live.

Or this one, conversation between PERSON-X and PERSON-N:

N: the children live with me.
X: oh, that'll change, don't worry.

Whatcha think?