Category Archives: violence

She’s just a whore…

by

…she probably deserved it…we can’t be arresting our star football players…/snark (be sure to click on the Prinniefied.com link–good coverage of the case there.

More here.  

It’s unbelievable that the dude in the video was saying that it should go through the courts…um, yeah, that’s kinda what they’re protesting about–that it wasn’t being forcefully dealt with because of the town’s football worship….

…and attitudes towards women in general and rape specifically…

You know, the arguments are as old as the hills:  the victim brought it on by herself by drinking/partying/wearing skimpy clothes, and on.  What other crime would they ever make that kind of accusation? Rape is the only crime where the victim has to prove they didn’t want the crime to happen.

Case in point (from the NY Times article):

He said that online photographs and posts could ultimately be “a gift” for his client’s case because the girl, before that night in August, had posted provocative comments and photographs on her Twitter page over time. He added that those online posts demonstrated that she was sexually active and showed that she was “clearly engaged in at-risk behavior.”

So….because she was sexually active and wearing skimpy clothes…God, this gets soooo old.…she couldn’t possibly have been raped, because everybody knows that sluts don’t get raped.  They *always* want it and if they don’t put out, well, then one just has to take it. /said with cynicism and dripping sarcasm.

Also telling is the statement “..some people deserve to be peed on…”  In other words, she’s not a human being— she’s an object to be peed on.

The coaching staff’s statement that she “made it up” to cover for her bad behavior is so out of line, but not surprising, given the mindset.  And the coach himself, well, what can one say to “you’ll get yours!” ??

Sadly, the mindset is not just in Steubenville or the U.S. or India, but all over the world. such as this group in Australia.

More blame the victim here.

More here on the politics of rape… note the conservative viewpoint to deny that rapes occur.  As this article illustrates, even women  attack other women about whether they were raped or not.  I seriously wonder if Katie Roiphe wasn’t raped and is in serious denial?

Link in criminal behavior and heavy metals

by

One of the members of the support group posted this link to a timely article on the link between lead and criminal behavior–not just here, but around the world.  Pretty impressive.  Unfortunately, the article’s focus is solely on lead, and not other heavy metals like mercury, which also affect brain and body function, and is everywhere in the atmosphere.

Anybody wanna bet that this will not be looked at in the case of Adam Lanza or any of the mass killers?

Let My People Go…

by

Okay, I went and looked up the story that I referenced earlier on the zoo animals, except it was an Orangutan named Fu Manchu at the Omaha, Nebraska zoo that made the great escape.  (with apologies to Orangutans everywhere. Haha.)  It’s just sooo compelling that I had to come back and share it.

I tried to find it on the National Geographic Kids website, but alas, it was not there.

Story here:

Fu lived at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.  And he used his skills, for one purpose–to escape!  “It was a game to him,” says zoo director Lee Simmons.  “He never went anywhere.  But he’d let everybody else out and we’d have orangs all over the zoo.
“

The first time he did it, head keeper Jerry Stones blamed his staff for leaving a door unlocked.  By the third time, Stones threatened to fire someone.

Luckily, before he did, Stones caught Fu in the act.  Like a burglar breaking into a house, Fu was slipping a piece of wire under the latch and unhooking it!

Stones confiscated the wire.  And he ordered his staff never to let the orangutans go outside without first checking their yard for trash such as sires.  The keeper thought he had the problem solved.

But two weeks later, Stones noticed something metallic between Fu’s lips.  He told the ape to open his mouth, stuck in his finger, and guess what he found?  It was a piece of wire—bent at both ends to fit around Fu’s gums.  “All the work we were doing, searching and tearing things apart, wasn’t doing any good,” says Stones.  “Fu had made his own key.  And he was hiding it in his mouth!”

~~~~

I have nothing to add–except that it’s pretty sad that some will think this is a cute story instead of a sad one that illustrates we have a ways to go in treating animals compassionately.

I feel the same way about the marine worlds.  And yes, I used to go to them, as well.  I now look at the pictures I have of the dolphins’ magnificent jumps with guilt and sadness. A pretty blunt article here.   I have read of dolphins purposely drowning themselves in captivity.

Let’s not forget the tragedy associated with Tillikum, one of the whales that killed his Indiana native trainer.

 

PR Watch

by

(I’m sooo far behind, I think I’m ahead…)

Trying to play catch up–here are some highlights of issues sent out by Center for Media and Democracy–

I love that he is holding Whole Foods accountable for the food they are saying is organic….but not quite telling all of the possible ingredients (heavy metals and other contaminants)…

The “Don’t ask, don’t tell” I-see-no-evil, I-hear-no-evil is pretty standard.  They aren’t counting on folks like Mario asking questions, either.  The more people ask questions, the harder it is to come up with evasive answers.

Like I’ve said before, know where your food is from–buy locally if at all possible, because the gossip is at least one other national organic food store is selling conventionally grown (using chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides) food is being marketed as organic.

~~~~~~

Addressing the gun violence issue.  Like in my previous post, you can use other weapons for violence instead of guns–it’s the acceptance of violence in our society (and others) that encourages this.  It’s so much easier to throw a rock than to try to reason with someone and to compromise and to recognize one’s own responsibility towards making peace.  A gun is a  quick way to end whatever problem there is…

And the argument that everyone carrying a gun would stop violence…oy vey…

~~~~~~~~~~

ALEC member Scott nominated to fill Demint vacancy.

IRS audit for ALEC?  The question becomes “are you a charity if you have a political action committee and go from state to state trying to heavily influence legislation?”

Michigan and ALEC’s right to work law.   This is part of the religious right’s assault on fairness, which I’m finding out in the book Holy Terror.  (I’m slowly getting through it, a better report later.)

 

…and then there’s violence without a gun…

by

The human body can be used as a weapon, as well.  How effing vicious does a rape have to be to put a woman into intensive care?  And what about that bus driver?? He had to have known what was going on.

And the way this story is written makes it sound like only in India is rape a stigma…yeah, well, I’ve got news for ya, it’s a stigma *everywhere*…right here in the U.S., we have republicans who say if a woman is raped, she can’t become pregnant...or if she is a Native American woman, a non-native man can rape her without fear of punishment.

Or how about the town I grew up in–where teenage boys tied a mentally challenged woman to a tree and raped her…one of my former friends actually blamed her, saying that she “let them”.  How the hell can you defend yourself if you’re tied to a tree? Or not in command of all your mental faculties?

So we come back to the acceptance of violence in our society.  “Boys will be boys” and all that crap…

Genetic tests on Lanza?

by

Oh.My.God.

I am just stunned.  Eugenics, anyone??

Nothing in this article about him having amalgams or mercury exposure or diet (if he is gluten intolerant, leading to schizophrenia).

No…we can’t have scientists looking at stuff like that, because that’s too simple an answer and the ways to fix it make us uncomfortable.   It means we have to give up some things that pollute our environment and we have to make more of an effort to understand the diet and immune system and how they affect our brains.

I mean, really, “science” has taught us that amalgams are safe, right??

…and “science” has brought us pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms.

So, yeah, scientists with biases and prejudices should *absolutely* assign a value to a gene and making sweeping generalizations with those biases. /snark

More here. Be sure to note the Americans funding this garbage.

Laws?

by

I’ve had to take a break from it–the combination of the effects of the migraine and the children being shot was getting to me.

I kept seeing the faces of the children I used to teach.  I always looked forward to the days that I got to teach the 1st grade–they were so eager to learn and had so much to learn that every day was an adventure to them.  I had to stop listening to the news for a day to balance.

My son and I were talking about it-and the laws that have already been in place did not stop what happened.  The guns were legally owned.  Even though guns were not allowed in school and the school was secure as it could be, the tragedy still happened.

I’m not trying to dash all hope that there are solutions.  Laws only go so far.

It’s so much easier in a culture that does not value peace to take the easy way out.

 

Bigger questions…

by

I was just stunned last night when the news reported that Nancy Lanza was taking her troubled son to shooting ranges and teaching him how to shoot a gun.  What on Earth was she thinking?! Some links here and here.

It’s just beyond comprehension how she is portrayed as being so fearful of her son, and then teaching him not only to shoot, but to have guns in the home–it makes absolutely no sense.

One of the stories says she was “responsible” and this meant she would keep the guns locked up.  But if she’s out showing off the guns to her landscaper, and anyone that comes to the home, then I have my doubts on whether the guns are kept locked up.  She was obsessed with them.

Story after story states that she was this great mother and doted on her son and was advocating for him…but it just doesn’t go with the other details coming out–keeping in mind that the Connecticut State Police stated they had “good evidence” they recovered at the home.

I’m wondering about Nancy’s mental state, as well.

Adam Lanza was reported to have Asperger’s, which is a form of autism.  He was painfully shy.  He was intelligent, but could not connect with people and with him burning himself, he was crying out for someone to help him.

All of the above symptoms can be connected to mercury/heavy metal poisoning, which some believe (me being one of them) is linked to autism.

A good general article here on the symptoms.

An article here linking heavy metals with autism, ADD, Asperger’s, etc. (I don’t recommend the products or cleanses this site is pushing).

A quote from the above:

The relationship of the heavy metals and children with autistic symptoms is being researched from every angle thought of. One team of investigators reported damage to the intestinal mucosal layer , in the form of increased permeability, in over 40% of autistic children tested. This gastrointestinal dysfunction would allow greater amount of toxins to penetrate the gut barrier into systemic circulation, and thus increase the toxin burden in children unable to properly process this onslaught of toxin agents.

This is known among those of us with “leaky gut”–the question is which comes first–the heavy metal poisoning that damages the gut, or the damaged gut (from undigested gluten) allowing more heavy metals to poison us?

Rage is one thing that is linked to heavy metal poisoning, so it is not unreasonable to think that Adam could have been toxic.  What I want to know is this:  Did his mother have amalgams? Did Adam?  Was there any known exposure to heavy metals (a redundant question on my part, because it’s not IF you’ve been exposed, it’s when and how much)?

Robert Kennedy speaks about the increase in autism with increased vaccination here.

~~~~

(A side note here: Santa just arrived here in the Library. There’s a group of little ones here for story hour–squealing with delight.  Nice.  Trying hard not to get emotional with the mixed feelings….)

~~~~

A good article here on toxins in Stratford, Connecticut.  Another here on toxins in the fish in CN rivers. And since the damage to DNA happens slowly, from generation to generation, it’s quite possible that Nancy was mildly toxic, and Adam was more so…

A side story here on a nuclear reactor in Connecticut also being shut down because the water in Long Island sound was too hot to cool it.  If you recall, this also happened here in the midwest. (Nuclear radiation damages the thyroid, among other things, which can also lead to mental issues.)

Government reported toxic releases in Connecticut.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention mercury releases, but this does.

Finally, this from HuffPost on heavy metal poisoning.

The questions to what happened in Connecticut will continue, and hopefully, this time, we will get the right answers.  It’s a complex problem, but not impossible to solve–it just takes more than lather, rinse, repeat…

 

No way…

by

…that 90% of the Democrats endorse and support Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. (Of all the times to forget my earphones–so I can’t watch this, but I have heard parts of it.)

She actually thinks Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu are upstanding people that speak well of her integrity and leadership skills?

Kissinger quotes that are alarming:

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

“Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.”

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”

In other words, power turns him on–ego, ego, ego.  Intelligence is not needed when you’re trying to bomb the hell out of another country–you only need bigger bombs than they have.  And lastly, starving people will do wonders at gaining their compliance to do things they would not normally do.  And he who has the gold makes the rules….

Tony Blair and his compliance with invading Iraq.

And, of course, we know of Netanyahu’s connections to Romney and his exaggerating the Iran threat….for twenty years…

Clinton is a war hawk who would love to push that fabled “red button” at the slightest provocation….or none at all.

One of the employees bought a converter for our TV in the main room for the residents, so I get whatever our antenna picks up.  I watched ABC This Week on Sunday morning and was stunned at Carville’s statement that 90% of Dems have already decided that Clinton will be the nominee.

First of all, how dare you make such an assumption of what the voters are thinking??  I am so sick and tired of politicians and pundits using the phrase “the American people believe/want/need…” when they can only speak for themselves.

…and from where this writer sits, I’d vote for Romney before I’d vote for another Clinton in the White House.  I’m sick of Bushes and Clintons in the White House.  We can thank Clinton for NAFTA, and Bush II for No Child Left a Mind, and for getting us into two wars on false claims of weapons of mass destruction…between all of them, they’ve done a bang up job of ruining this country.  And let’s not leave out the Godfather of it all, Ronald Reagan.  I’m ashamed to say that I voted for him the first four years, but thankfully, not the second four…

Cantor blocking reauthorization of VAWA

by

Turtle Talk has a blog up here.

I found this statement a little unsettling:

The two sources say, to Cantor’s credit, his staff has said they’re willing to try to come up with other solutions to responding to violence against women on tribal lands, as long as the solution doesn’t give tribes jurisdiction over the matter. But proponents of the Senate bill see the limited jurisdictional change as the only realistic way to address the problem.

~~~~~

To Cantor’s credit, he’s willing to come up with solutions…

…as long as the solution doesn’t give tribes jurisdiction…

In other words, “we can’t trust those Indians to know what is best for them, so Big White Brother has to keep his thumb over them and decide what is best for them…” /snark

Meanwhile, women are being brutalized by non-native men who know they can violate them without punishment.  A free-for-all.