11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Programs Strain to Feed Newly Hungry Texas Kids
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10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Blogger's Home Vandalized for Expressing Pro-Life Views
To contact us Click HERE
This is just sad. In the United States, he has the same right to free speech and to express his political views and opinions as anyone else, whether others agree with his views or not. All too often pro-choice individuals are defenders and advocates of "tolerance" and "free speech," that is until a differing view from their own is expressed. As the old saying goes, "Free speech for me, but not for thee!"
Update 6/25/10: Apparently this has made the news: Telegraph Harold: Man believes vandalism tied to his opposition to abortion
Update 6/25/10: Apparently this has made the news: Telegraph Harold: Man believes vandalism tied to his opposition to abortion
Miscegenation
To contact us Click HERE
Spoonful of chocolate ice cream
Spoonful of vanilla ice cream
2 shots vodka
1 shot half and half
1/2 shot Kahlua
Spash of bourbon
Maraschino cherry
Put the ice cream into a martini glass. Add the vodka and half and half, give it just one stir. Swizzle on the Kahlua, top with a splash of bourbon and the cherry. Serve without stirring, with a dessert spoon.
My martini glasses are oversized. You might have to scale it down if you have smaller ones. This is my answer to the Mudslide I got to sample in Grand Cayman.
Spoonful of vanilla ice cream
2 shots vodka
1 shot half and half
1/2 shot Kahlua
Spash of bourbon
Maraschino cherry
Put the ice cream into a martini glass. Add the vodka and half and half, give it just one stir. Swizzle on the Kahlua, top with a splash of bourbon and the cherry. Serve without stirring, with a dessert spoon.
My martini glasses are oversized. You might have to scale it down if you have smaller ones. This is my answer to the Mudslide I got to sample in Grand Cayman.
Response to the 'Ideology of Nutritionism'
To contact us Click HERE
I found the recent class topic on nutritionism especially telling about how humans respond to and deal with complex issues involving multiple factors. These issues may include things like health and hygiene, environmental sustainability, macroeconomic analysis, etc. Sometimes the path towards a viable solution to issues in these areas may be hindered by a habit to condense or even polarize the issues. When thinking about maintaining a healthy body, it’s hard to weigh and balance factors like diet, genetic predisposition, sleeping patterns, psychological responses to stress and pleasure, etc. And yet these are all macro-level products of even more complex interactions at the biochemical level. So it’s easy to understand how, given these complex issues, there would be a certain inclination to resort to simple answers and explanations.
One of the problems Gyorgy Scrinis highlighted in his article, “On the Ideology of Nutritionism”, that perfectly exemplifies this phenomenon was that of ‘second-order nutritional reductionism’ (p.41). Second-order nutritional reductionism is the focus on individual nutrients, and how they individually benefit the health of the human body. Of course this is complete nonsense, because all nutrients benefit the health of the human body by interacting with several other nutrients in complex biochemical reactions. Resorting to second-order nutritional reductionism would be like taking apart the human body, molecule by molecule, and then from scratch, deciding which parts are necessary for your survival.
The problems of nutritional health in today’s society aren’t new 21st century problems; in fact, the problems are caused by a larger systemic inadequacy of society that the public health community has been trying to confront for some time- a scientifically illiterate populace. I am not saying that science is the absolutely most important pillar of a society. I’m saying that science education is the necessary solution for the way our society responds to the problems it’s facing at present. The way food and weight-loss industries are taking advantage of the lure of second-order nutritional reductionism is reminiscent of the era of ‘snake oil medicine’ in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in which noxious concoctions were being sold to the public with absolutely no ingredient labeling. Examples of these patent medicines include names like ‘Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root’ or ‘Dr. Moore’s Indian Root Pills’, which mostly contained substances like alcohol, laxatives, and in one occasion, organophosphates to rig chemical tests.
Of course it’s different for today’s nutritional health issues, in which the most of the ingredients in manufactured foods are far from poisonous. But it shows an exaggerated consumer confidence in the industries to know what’s right for them, to know that single nutrient or health myth that would serve as a panacea for all of their problems. What is necessary is to get consumers to make choices based on scientifically rational terms, to be familiar with the scientific and, especially, clinical terms relevant to their health, and to get them to understand how to rationalize issues on a scale involving multiple factors.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Response to the 'Ideology of Nutritionism'
To contact us Click HERE
I found the recent class topic on nutritionism especially telling about how humans respond to and deal with complex issues involving multiple factors. These issues may include things like health and hygiene, environmental sustainability, macroeconomic analysis, etc. Sometimes the path towards a viable solution to issues in these areas may be hindered by a habit to condense or even polarize the issues. When thinking about maintaining a healthy body, it’s hard to weigh and balance factors like diet, genetic predisposition, sleeping patterns, psychological responses to stress and pleasure, etc. And yet these are all macro-level products of even more complex interactions at the biochemical level. So it’s easy to understand how, given these complex issues, there would be a certain inclination to resort to simple answers and explanations.
One of the problems Gyorgy Scrinis highlighted in his article, “On the Ideology of Nutritionism”, that perfectly exemplifies this phenomenon was that of ‘second-order nutritional reductionism’ (p.41). Second-order nutritional reductionism is the focus on individual nutrients, and how they individually benefit the health of the human body. Of course this is complete nonsense, because all nutrients benefit the health of the human body by interacting with several other nutrients in complex biochemical reactions. Resorting to second-order nutritional reductionism would be like taking apart the human body, molecule by molecule, and then from scratch, deciding which parts are necessary for your survival.
The problems of nutritional health in today’s society aren’t new 21st century problems; in fact, the problems are caused by a larger systemic inadequacy of society that the public health community has been trying to confront for some time- a scientifically illiterate populace. I am not saying that science is the absolutely most important pillar of a society. I’m saying that science education is the necessary solution for the way our society responds to the problems it’s facing at present. The way food and weight-loss industries are taking advantage of the lure of second-order nutritional reductionism is reminiscent of the era of ‘snake oil medicine’ in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in which noxious concoctions were being sold to the public with absolutely no ingredient labeling. Examples of these patent medicines include names like ‘Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root’ or ‘Dr. Moore’s Indian Root Pills’, which mostly contained substances like alcohol, laxatives, and in one occasion, organophosphates to rig chemical tests.
Of course it’s different for today’s nutritional health issues, in which the most of the ingredients in manufactured foods are far from poisonous. But it shows an exaggerated consumer confidence in the industries to know what’s right for them, to know that single nutrient or health myth that would serve as a panacea for all of their problems. What is necessary is to get consumers to make choices based on scientifically rational terms, to be familiar with the scientific and, especially, clinical terms relevant to their health, and to get them to understand how to rationalize issues on a scale involving multiple factors.
Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Programs Strain to Feed Newly Hungry Texas Kids
To contact us Click HERE
Last week, USA Today reported on the skyrocketing number of children who have become eligible for free school lunches as a result of the recession.
While these children are on summer break, advocates wonder whether Summer Meals, a federally-funded program available in Texas, will be able to take up the slack.
The program, which can be offered to hungry children by school districts, municipalities, or nonprofits, is reimbursed by USDA and may be offered in a variety of formats. Food banks in Houston, Tyler, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Odessa have all launched innovative efforts designed to address hunger when school is out.
Summer Meal's biggest booster may be Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, who traveled the state last week to drum up attention for the program (1, 2, 3, 4) while personally issuing a challenge to all Texas mayors on his blog.
"The mayors of Texas are in a position to improve the lives of children in their cities by generating awareness and working with organizations to help feed hungry children," said Staples. "I hope today spurs a change."
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro agreed.
"In the richest nation in the world, no child should go hungry," he said. "We need to make sure the kids are not victims of a bad economy."
Last week, USA Today reported on the skyrocketing number of children who have become eligible for free school lunches as a result of the recession.While these children are on summer break, advocates wonder whether Summer Meals, a federally-funded program available in Texas, will be able to take up the slack.
The program, which can be offered to hungry children by school districts, municipalities, or nonprofits, is reimbursed by USDA and may be offered in a variety of formats. Food banks in Houston, Tyler, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Odessa have all launched innovative efforts designed to address hunger when school is out.
Summer Meal's biggest booster may be Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, who traveled the state last week to drum up attention for the program (1, 2, 3, 4) while personally issuing a challenge to all Texas mayors on his blog.
"The mayors of Texas are in a position to improve the lives of children in their cities by generating awareness and working with organizations to help feed hungry children," said Staples. "I hope today spurs a change."
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro agreed.
"In the richest nation in the world, no child should go hungry," he said. "We need to make sure the kids are not victims of a bad economy."
Hiatus Interrupted
To contact us Click HERE
As you may have noticed, I've taken a recent hiatus, sans an occasional entry or comment on other's blogs. Recently I've started working again in direct care with the developmentally disabled, now for a different agency. Also, I was in the process of completing my CNA (or nurse aide) certification, which I'm happy to say, I completed 105 contact hours of training (lab/lecture and clinicals) and passed the state certification exam this morning. I hope to return to writting again, although it may be infrequent due to a hectic work schedule.
Learn About Down Syndrome
To contact us Click HERE
Down syndrome often strikes fear and dread in an expectant mother's and father's heart. The Down syndrome diagnosis brings forth images of retarded children, unable to do the simplest, most mediocre things and a sentence of having to care for their children or child with Down Syndrome for the rest of their lives. Also, many people still view Down Syndrome as "terminal illness" like cancer or heart disease, and the individuals with this condition "defective" or "broken" and unable to take care for themselves and unable to partake in life in any real way. These and other misconceptions about Down syndrome, which are based on misperceptions, sterotypes, and ignorance, further perpetuate these fears and feed into these stereotypes.
Down Syndrome it is a developmental disability. Down syndrome is a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual development. While there is no cure for Down syndrome, there are many treatments available for the problems associated with Down syndrome. Approximately 40% of the children have congenital heart defects. Some of the heart conditions require surgery while others only require careful monitoring. Children with Down syndrome have a higher incidence of infection, respiratory, vision and hearing problems as well as thyroid and other medical conditions. However, with appropriate medical care most children and adults with Down syndrome can lead healthy lives. The average life expectancy of individuals with Down syndrome is 55 years, with many living into their sixties and seventies.
Also, most people with Down syndrome have only mild to moderate mental retardation. More important than IQ scores is the fact that all individuals with Down syndrome are capable of learning. Most children with Down syndrome in the United States are “mainstreamed” into regular schools. They attend regular classes for some subjects and attend special classes for other subjects and continue to graduate from high school. A large percentage of adults with Down syndrome live semi-independently in assisted living facilities and group homes. Adults with Down syndrome often hold jobs and have romantic relationships. Some high school graduates with Down syndrome participate in post-secondary education. Many adults with Down syndrome are capable of working in the community, but some require a more structured environment.
It's important to remember that individuals with Down Syndrome are people too. They enjoy various hobbies and activities and have individual likes and dislikes like you and I. Also, people with Down syndrome experience a full range of emotions such as sadness, anger and happiness & they respond to positive expressions of friendship and they are hurt and upset by inconsiderate behavior, just like everyone else.
Disability rights organizations, care providers, and individuals and their families are seeking to educate the public and bring about awareness about Down Syndrome so that better treatments can be found, to lend to more education and understanding of the condition, and bring about awareness.
For more information on Down Syndrome and to listen to families and individuals with Down Syndrome share their insight and experiences, please visit:
Room for More: World Down Syndrome Day
CDAC
Offers scientific research, information, education, and suuport to parents and families of children with Down Syndrome as well as awareness and education for the medical professionals and the general public. Written by parents of a child with Down Syndrome.
National Down Syndrome Society
Offers advocacy, outreach, education, and support and resources for families, parents, and medical professionals. Helpline: 1-800-221-4602
SOFT
Support Organization for Families of Trisomy, a nonprofit volunteer organization offering support for parents who have had or are expecting a child with a chromosome disorder and education to families and professionals interested in the care of these children.
Recommended Down Syndrome Sites on the Internet
Compiled by Len Leshin, M.D.
Hidden Treasures: The Trisomy 21 Journey
Parents from all around the world share their stories.
Video: Dreams
Dreams features children and adults who have Down syndrome talking about their dreams and what they're proud of in their lives. This fun and inspirational video made by Scott and Julia Elliott celebrates the work of the National Down Syndrome Society and the larger Down syndrome community.
Down Syndrome it is a developmental disability. Down syndrome is a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual development. While there is no cure for Down syndrome, there are many treatments available for the problems associated with Down syndrome. Approximately 40% of the children have congenital heart defects. Some of the heart conditions require surgery while others only require careful monitoring. Children with Down syndrome have a higher incidence of infection, respiratory, vision and hearing problems as well as thyroid and other medical conditions. However, with appropriate medical care most children and adults with Down syndrome can lead healthy lives. The average life expectancy of individuals with Down syndrome is 55 years, with many living into their sixties and seventies.
Also, most people with Down syndrome have only mild to moderate mental retardation. More important than IQ scores is the fact that all individuals with Down syndrome are capable of learning. Most children with Down syndrome in the United States are “mainstreamed” into regular schools. They attend regular classes for some subjects and attend special classes for other subjects and continue to graduate from high school. A large percentage of adults with Down syndrome live semi-independently in assisted living facilities and group homes. Adults with Down syndrome often hold jobs and have romantic relationships. Some high school graduates with Down syndrome participate in post-secondary education. Many adults with Down syndrome are capable of working in the community, but some require a more structured environment.
It's important to remember that individuals with Down Syndrome are people too. They enjoy various hobbies and activities and have individual likes and dislikes like you and I. Also, people with Down syndrome experience a full range of emotions such as sadness, anger and happiness & they respond to positive expressions of friendship and they are hurt and upset by inconsiderate behavior, just like everyone else.
Disability rights organizations, care providers, and individuals and their families are seeking to educate the public and bring about awareness about Down Syndrome so that better treatments can be found, to lend to more education and understanding of the condition, and bring about awareness.
For more information on Down Syndrome and to listen to families and individuals with Down Syndrome share their insight and experiences, please visit:
Room for More: World Down Syndrome Day
CDAC
Offers scientific research, information, education, and suuport to parents and families of children with Down Syndrome as well as awareness and education for the medical professionals and the general public. Written by parents of a child with Down Syndrome.
National Down Syndrome Society
Offers advocacy, outreach, education, and support and resources for families, parents, and medical professionals. Helpline: 1-800-221-4602
SOFT
Support Organization for Families of Trisomy, a nonprofit volunteer organization offering support for parents who have had or are expecting a child with a chromosome disorder and education to families and professionals interested in the care of these children.
Recommended Down Syndrome Sites on the Internet
Compiled by Len Leshin, M.D.
Hidden Treasures: The Trisomy 21 Journey
Parents from all around the world share their stories.
Video: Dreams
Dreams features children and adults who have Down syndrome talking about their dreams and what they're proud of in their lives. This fun and inspirational video made by Scott and Julia Elliott celebrates the work of the National Down Syndrome Society and the larger Down syndrome community.
Blogger's Home Vandalized for Expressing Pro-Life Views
To contact us Click HERE
This is just sad. In the United States, he has the same right to free speech and to express his political views and opinions as anyone else, whether others agree with his views or not. All too often pro-choice individuals are defenders and advocates of "tolerance" and "free speech," that is until a differing view from their own is expressed. As the old saying goes, "Free speech for me, but not for thee!"
Update 6/25/10: Apparently this has made the news: Telegraph Harold: Man believes vandalism tied to his opposition to abortion
Update 6/25/10: Apparently this has made the news: Telegraph Harold: Man believes vandalism tied to his opposition to abortion
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Programs Strain to Feed Newly Hungry Texas Kids
To contact us Click HERE
Last week, USA Today reported on the skyrocketing number of children who have become eligible for free school lunches as a result of the recession.
While these children are on summer break, advocates wonder whether Summer Meals, a federally-funded program available in Texas, will be able to take up the slack.
The program, which can be offered to hungry children by school districts, municipalities, or nonprofits, is reimbursed by USDA and may be offered in a variety of formats. Food banks in Houston, Tyler, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Odessa have all launched innovative efforts designed to address hunger when school is out.
Summer Meal's biggest booster may be Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, who traveled the state last week to drum up attention for the program (1, 2, 3, 4) while personally issuing a challenge to all Texas mayors on his blog.
"The mayors of Texas are in a position to improve the lives of children in their cities by generating awareness and working with organizations to help feed hungry children," said Staples. "I hope today spurs a change."
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro agreed.
"In the richest nation in the world, no child should go hungry," he said. "We need to make sure the kids are not victims of a bad economy."
Last week, USA Today reported on the skyrocketing number of children who have become eligible for free school lunches as a result of the recession.While these children are on summer break, advocates wonder whether Summer Meals, a federally-funded program available in Texas, will be able to take up the slack.
The program, which can be offered to hungry children by school districts, municipalities, or nonprofits, is reimbursed by USDA and may be offered in a variety of formats. Food banks in Houston, Tyler, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Odessa have all launched innovative efforts designed to address hunger when school is out.
Summer Meal's biggest booster may be Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, who traveled the state last week to drum up attention for the program (1, 2, 3, 4) while personally issuing a challenge to all Texas mayors on his blog.
"The mayors of Texas are in a position to improve the lives of children in their cities by generating awareness and working with organizations to help feed hungry children," said Staples. "I hope today spurs a change."
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro agreed.
"In the richest nation in the world, no child should go hungry," he said. "We need to make sure the kids are not victims of a bad economy."
Nun Excommunicated For Allowing Abortion : NPR
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Nun Excommunicated For Allowing Abortion
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
http://npr.org/
H/T to my younger sister, "T"
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
http://npr.org/
Last November, a 27-year-old woman was admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. She was 11 weeks pregnant with her fifth child, and she was gravely ill. According to a hospital document, she had "right heart failure," and her doctors told her that if she continued with the pregnancy, her risk of mortality was "close to 100 percent."
The patient, who was too ill to be moved to the operating room much less another hospital, agreed to an abortion. But there was a complication: She was at a Catholic hospital.
"They were in quite a dilemma," says Lisa Sowle Cahill, who teaches Catholic theology at Boston College. "There was no good way out of it. The official church position would mandate that the correct solution would be to let both the mother and the child die. I think in the practical situation that would be a very hard choice to make."
But the hospital felt it could proceed because of an exception — called Directive 47 in the U.S. Catholic Church's ethical guidelines for health care providers — that allows, in some circumstance, procedures that could kill the fetus to save the mother. Sister Margaret McBride, who was an administrator at the hospital as well as its liaison to the diocese, gave her approval.
The woman survived. When Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted heard about the abortion, he declared that McBride was automatically excommunicated — the most serious penalty the church can levy.
"She consented in the murder of an unborn child," says the Rev. John Ehrich, the medical ethics director for the Diocese of Phoenix. "There are some situations where the mother may in fact die along with her child. But — and this is the Catholic perspective — you can't do evil to bring about good. The end does not justify the means."
Ehrich adds that under canon or church law, the nun should be expelled from her order, the Sisters of Mercy, unless the order can find an alternative penalty. Ehrich concedes that the circumstances of this case were "hard."
"But there are certain things that we don't really have a choice" about, he says. "You know, if it's been done and there's public scandal, the bishop has to take care of that, because he has to say, 'Look, this can't happen.' "
A Double Standard?
But according to the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, the bishop "clearly had other alternatives than to declare her excommunicated." Doyle says Olmsted could have looked at the situation, realized that the nun faced an agonizing choice and shown her some mercy. He adds that this case highlights a "gross inequity" in how the church chooses to handle scandal.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, shown here in 2003, declared that McBride was automatically excommunicated because she allowed a patient at a Catholic hospital to get an abortion. But some say her quick punishment stands in stark contrast to the protection many pedophile priests have received from their bishops.
"In the case of priests who are credibly accused and known to be guilty of sexually abusing children, they are in a sense let off the hook," Doyle says.
Doyle says no pedophile priests have been excommunicated. When priests have been caught, he says, their bishops have protected them, and it has taken years or decades to defrock them, if ever.
"Yet in this instance we have a sister who was trying to save the life of a woman, and what happens to her? The bishop swoops down [and] declares her excommunicated before he even looks at all the facts of the case," Doyle says.I don't know, I think every effort should be made to save both mother and unborn child with close monitering and treatment with medications in a hospital setting. However, in this case, it sounds like moderate to severe pulmonary hypertension, also known as Preeclampsia and Eclampsia. According to E-Medicine/Medscape: Eclampsia and Preeclampsia it appears terminating the pregnancy via emergency delivery is indicated in a later-term pregnancy in addition to medications to stabilize her blood pressure and reduce seizures (with every attempt to save both baby and mother), however delivery wasn't possible here, and so perhaps this was one of those rare cases where there were no other options and terminating the pregnancy via a theraputic abortion was necessary to save this woman's life. In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, the principle of double effect comes into play. However it's also important to note that this case was an exception, not the rule for abortion as theraputic abortions for endangerment to the woman's health only comprise 1% of all induced abortions. I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, so I don't know the specific guidelines for theraputic abortions necessary to save the mother's life. *Sighs* And how the Catholic church has handled the cases of sexual abuse is one of the reasons why I'm no longer a practicing Catholic.
Ehrich agrees that sexual abuse can't be tolerated. But he says neither can McBride's actions.
"She said, 'Yes, you can kill that unborn child.' That's a heinous act. And I'm not going to make a distinction between what's worse. They're both abhorrent," Ehrich says.
Ehrich says the nun can be admitted back into the Catholic community by going to confession and repenting. McBride still works at the hospital in another position. Whether she is allowed to remain in her religious order, Erich says that is up to the Sisters of Mercy.
H/T to my younger sister, "T"
One Year Anniversary of Late-term Abortion Provider George Tiller Death
To contact us Click HERE
Monday, May 31 - Memorial Day, this year - will mark the 1 year anniversary of abortion provider George Tiller's murder.
Pro-choice activists have been paying tributes and are planning memorials. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has read or will read a Tiller tribute statement on the Senate floor today.
For a donation of $75 the TX Equal Access Fund "will deliver a handmade card, flowers, and a basket of goodies" to your favorite abortion provider on May 31. Why not instead deliver flowers to the women and families of women who were injured or killed during supposed "safe and legal" late-term abortions at George Tiller's clinic. Where's their concern for these women and their families? Does their concern not extend beyond the woman's abortion?
The George Tiller Abortion Fund has been established to subsidize late-term abortions. However, I think it's important to keep in mind that often in the case of a theraputic late-term abortion for health reasons or poor prenatal diagnosis, the woman has often been has been given a worst-case scenario and feels that she has run out of options and she may have been told that an abortion is the best option by her doctor despite carrying a wanted pregnancy. Rather than abandoning these women to despair and hopelessness and feeling they have no choice but to have an abortion, instead let's give them a support system, medical resources, and options. Instead of supporting the George Tiller Abortion Fund, instead consider donating to organizations such as Be Not Afraid, Prenatal Partners for Life, or your local prenatal hospice, establish a community outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis, create a database of community resources for those with special needs children, purchase and distribute Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum" to families and doctor's offices, sew memory blankets or create a comfort basket for a family facing neonatal death or infant death, or offer to help a family by bringing meals over or assisting with errands. To this end, we can help support and comfort families through their challenges, grief, and sorrows and healing journeys.
Picture credit: Jill Stanek
Pro-choice activists have been paying tributes and are planning memorials. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has read or will read a Tiller tribute statement on the Senate floor today.
For a donation of $75 the TX Equal Access Fund "will deliver a handmade card, flowers, and a basket of goodies" to your favorite abortion provider on May 31. Why not instead deliver flowers to the women and families of women who were injured or killed during supposed "safe and legal" late-term abortions at George Tiller's clinic. Where's their concern for these women and their families? Does their concern not extend beyond the woman's abortion?
The George Tiller Abortion Fund has been established to subsidize late-term abortions. However, I think it's important to keep in mind that often in the case of a theraputic late-term abortion for health reasons or poor prenatal diagnosis, the woman has often been has been given a worst-case scenario and feels that she has run out of options and she may have been told that an abortion is the best option by her doctor despite carrying a wanted pregnancy. Rather than abandoning these women to despair and hopelessness and feeling they have no choice but to have an abortion, instead let's give them a support system, medical resources, and options. Instead of supporting the George Tiller Abortion Fund, instead consider donating to organizations such as Be Not Afraid, Prenatal Partners for Life, or your local prenatal hospice, establish a community outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis, create a database of community resources for those with special needs children, purchase and distribute Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum" to families and doctor's offices, sew memory blankets or create a comfort basket for a family facing neonatal death or infant death, or offer to help a family by bringing meals over or assisting with errands. To this end, we can help support and comfort families through their challenges, grief, and sorrows and healing journeys.
Picture credit: Jill Stanek
Off to the Race!
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Earlier today, I attended the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500. My husband and I started preparing a backpack for the race the night before. Sunscreen, check. Hats, check. Non-parishable food, check. My Epipen for in case I get stung by a bee, check. We got up at eight am (later than we wanted) and got dressed for the day and packed our cooler with a sack lunch and dinner. We met our friends at their apartment on the west side of Indy about nine am, but didn't leave until about nine-thirty am and got stuck in slow moving traffic in the smoldering heat for two hours (it was already around a humid ninety degrees by this point). Finally we decided to just park and walk and so parked at five dollars parking at a bar and walked the rest of the two and a half miles, a fourty-five minute walk to the race track with our coolers, back packs, and gallon jug of water. We arrived at the race right during the opening ceremony. We had free tickets from my father-in-law, for seats in the National Guard section, on turn four, at the beginning of the straight way. They were great seats, four rows up from the track, but in the direct sun and man was it hot! Overall it was a great experience, though and I've included pictures below. Also, I found more great pics from the Indy 500 by another user on Photobucket, which can be seen here
On This Memorial Day We Remember...
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On this day of rememberance, we keep in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers those who have died defending our freedom as well as those who are currently on the battlefield. Let us pray...
Higher power, we ask that you keep watch over our soldiers, as you know, our family members are out there, please keep them safe from harm. Please deliver them home safely. And for those who have passed, may they go to rest peacefully in your arms. In your name we pray, amen.
In Memoriam to Our Fallen Marines
Memorial Day 2007: A Tribute to Our Soldiers
Memorial Day salute: Armed Forces Medley
On this day of rememberance, we keep in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers those who have died defending our freedom as well as those who are currently on the battlefield. Let us pray...
Higher power, we ask that you keep watch over our soldiers, as you know, our family members are out there, please keep them safe from harm. Please deliver them home safely. And for those who have passed, may they go to rest peacefully in your arms. In your name we pray, amen.
In Memoriam to Our Fallen Marines
Memorial Day 2007: A Tribute to Our Soldiers
Memorial Day salute: Armed Forces Medley
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
God of Love, Goddess of Iniquity, Blood Everywhere
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This is the sort of conversation you will get into, if you have a witch shop for many years at all.
I thought of her as a sweet older lady, slightly disabled by stroke, and slightly wacky by disposition. We got along great. But I was very much upset by the story she told me yesterday. She had hinted in previous conversations that she wanted to tell me about the origin of the Witches, which I anticipated would be some sort of historically unsupportable fancification. I have over the years dispossessed myself of the 70's feminist revision of middle ages history which many pagans continue to profess, about how the Roman Catholic church burned 9 million witches for practicing herbalism. This is some sort of self-victimization fantasy, sort of like how women have rape fantasies. "I feel repressed, so I will create a mythological alternative to history which gives me every right to feel sorry for myself, explains why I am powerless, and forces me to fight from the bottom." People playing historian, or poets and playwrights in general, always have their fingers on the pulse of such unmet needs of their audiences, and are willing to concoct a supporting document. Once that document gets quoted a few times, you have a completed act of historioveritogenesis, a word I invent with the intention of never using again. Gee, if I am going to revise history, maybe I'd be better off if I create a tale that gives me a chance to blossom as an individual within a culture of justice? I digress here because as a storyteller myself, I am humbled before the power of myth and its ability to change history, whether it is true or not. To footnote myself I will say that much of my thinking in this vein has been shaped by three books: tiumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton, When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, and Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler.
So when someone uses the Bible as their source material, The Book of Enoch, and a few unnamed UFO crackpots, how do you insist on some sort of reality-based scholarship? I may be upset simply because the story she told involved one of the books of the Bible that I find most abhorrant, most contrary to the God of Love model, and most antagonistic to matrifocal Goddess idealizations. It was he Book of Joshua, a slaughter so profound that I myself wrote a story quite a few years ago in an attempt to resolve this God of Love myth with the reality we see today and in history.
Also I may be upset because usually we think of modern Witches as being primarily Pagan and Goddess-worshipping. But allow me to tell you, the Sybil Leek generation is fundamentally Christian, and because of the Golden Dawn and other Kabbalistic influences, they are more Old Testament than New Testament. Such was the case with my friend.
According to the story, the Witches originated thusly: After the big escape from Egypt, and the wandering in the desert for 40 years, Moses, Aaron and later Joshua were instructed by Yaweh to lead the Israelite tribes into the promised land, which was then occupied by the Canaanites. God warned the Israelites not to mingle, dine, worship with, or worst, interbreed with the Canaanites because they were demons.
Well, the slaughter of all the Canaanites, as per the book of Joshua, proceeded, and according to my informant, two of the tribes managed to remain free of the corrupting influence of these demons. One was the Essenes, into which tribe Jesus Christ was able to be born, a human avatar of the Godhead.
One of the tribes migrated north and became the Druids of the Celtic peoples, and it was the Druids who eventually formed the basis of the later strains of Western European Witches. Now I realize that I am missing a detail. Was this one of the tribes untainted by demon blood or are we all descended from demons, me and my friend as well?
There were a few other tangential details to the story, like the all-powerful people in the spaceships, and Jesus' spaceship being called the Star of Bethlehem. (Reminding me of a story I have yet to write!)
I countered with a refusal to believe that the people of Canaan were demons, and my horror at the brutality with which the Israelites killed them, every man, woman and child. It was a massacre, a genocide, and we see today genocide and mass murder and slavery being justified by the denial of the victims humanity. They are called cockroaches in Rwanda, mudpeople, etc. and these appellations of hatred stick in the books because the winners who write history.
(What I really can't believe is the the very strange synchronicity that the movie my housemate selected for me to see last night was! The Hotel Rwanda, a movie based on a true story which describes one of the most modern examples of a genocide taking place using the dehumanization/demonization apparatus of thinking. Unbelievable that this happened in this modern age, and that the Western world allowed it. But then again what just happened in the Sudan?)
So my story here is almost finished. After a little fevered research I found what many Old-Testament type Christians have used to justify the slaughter of the Canaanites. They were a debased polythestic people who sacrificed babies, and used sexual imagery and rites for the purpose of imbuing the landscape with fertility! Why didn't I realize that??? We had to save the babies by killing them all! This baby-killing was brought up by my friend and informant, who told me that the Canaanites built hollow idols of gold and that they stuffed them full of babies and then burned them inside the statues of their unholy gods. Now, I would just have to see some archaeological evidence of that. The baby-killing accusation often is applied to the intended victims of a genocide. And, archaeology is actually quite good at detecting clues of human sacrifice, so I will leave that for a future investigation.
I told my friend that I would have to side with the demons in this case, and if it was so, I was happey to have demon blood in my veins. She told me that I was a creature of exquisite light, something that I am well aware of. But I am not (very much) afraid of the dark, and over her objections, I had to admit to her that I would continue to work with gargoyles and such in my practice of religion and magic which more and more tends to attempt to resolve the Dark and the Light, because in my 40-something opinion and experience, the attempt to keep them separate and to keep the "purity" of the light has resulted in a lot of bloodshed and violence. I refrained from horrifying her with the details of me and Satan's sex life, however.
Didn't I mention that I had written a story about all of this? It is true. I hope you enjoy:
TRIPLE GOD
Once upon a time, there was a warlike and jealous god, whose name was Yahweh. After getting his butt kicked by some pagan gods in Egypt, he undertook the destruction of the Canaanites and many other peoples, and their gods (described in detail in the whole Book of Joshua). This turned out to be way too easy, and soon, this god of war had nobody to fight and he was very bored and lonely there in the desert all by himself. But one day, while he amused himself by burning up bushes on top of his mountain, he had a brilliant idea, that would result in him never being at a loss for war. He divided himself into three, himself, Yahweh, and Allah and Jehovah. Now, he could always have a choice of which of his two other selves to fight. Yahweh, Jehovah, and Allah got busy straight away, filling the history books with blood, and wrecking the world with war happily forever after.
-Princess Poysen Ivieee Jan 2002
I thought of her as a sweet older lady, slightly disabled by stroke, and slightly wacky by disposition. We got along great. But I was very much upset by the story she told me yesterday. She had hinted in previous conversations that she wanted to tell me about the origin of the Witches, which I anticipated would be some sort of historically unsupportable fancification. I have over the years dispossessed myself of the 70's feminist revision of middle ages history which many pagans continue to profess, about how the Roman Catholic church burned 9 million witches for practicing herbalism. This is some sort of self-victimization fantasy, sort of like how women have rape fantasies. "I feel repressed, so I will create a mythological alternative to history which gives me every right to feel sorry for myself, explains why I am powerless, and forces me to fight from the bottom." People playing historian, or poets and playwrights in general, always have their fingers on the pulse of such unmet needs of their audiences, and are willing to concoct a supporting document. Once that document gets quoted a few times, you have a completed act of historioveritogenesis, a word I invent with the intention of never using again. Gee, if I am going to revise history, maybe I'd be better off if I create a tale that gives me a chance to blossom as an individual within a culture of justice? I digress here because as a storyteller myself, I am humbled before the power of myth and its ability to change history, whether it is true or not. To footnote myself I will say that much of my thinking in this vein has been shaped by three books: tiumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton, When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, and Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler.
So when someone uses the Bible as their source material, The Book of Enoch, and a few unnamed UFO crackpots, how do you insist on some sort of reality-based scholarship? I may be upset simply because the story she told involved one of the books of the Bible that I find most abhorrant, most contrary to the God of Love model, and most antagonistic to matrifocal Goddess idealizations. It was he Book of Joshua, a slaughter so profound that I myself wrote a story quite a few years ago in an attempt to resolve this God of Love myth with the reality we see today and in history.
Also I may be upset because usually we think of modern Witches as being primarily Pagan and Goddess-worshipping. But allow me to tell you, the Sybil Leek generation is fundamentally Christian, and because of the Golden Dawn and other Kabbalistic influences, they are more Old Testament than New Testament. Such was the case with my friend.
According to the story, the Witches originated thusly: After the big escape from Egypt, and the wandering in the desert for 40 years, Moses, Aaron and later Joshua were instructed by Yaweh to lead the Israelite tribes into the promised land, which was then occupied by the Canaanites. God warned the Israelites not to mingle, dine, worship with, or worst, interbreed with the Canaanites because they were demons.
Well, the slaughter of all the Canaanites, as per the book of Joshua, proceeded, and according to my informant, two of the tribes managed to remain free of the corrupting influence of these demons. One was the Essenes, into which tribe Jesus Christ was able to be born, a human avatar of the Godhead.
One of the tribes migrated north and became the Druids of the Celtic peoples, and it was the Druids who eventually formed the basis of the later strains of Western European Witches. Now I realize that I am missing a detail. Was this one of the tribes untainted by demon blood or are we all descended from demons, me and my friend as well?
There were a few other tangential details to the story, like the all-powerful people in the spaceships, and Jesus' spaceship being called the Star of Bethlehem. (Reminding me of a story I have yet to write!)
I countered with a refusal to believe that the people of Canaan were demons, and my horror at the brutality with which the Israelites killed them, every man, woman and child. It was a massacre, a genocide, and we see today genocide and mass murder and slavery being justified by the denial of the victims humanity. They are called cockroaches in Rwanda, mudpeople, etc. and these appellations of hatred stick in the books because the winners who write history.
(What I really can't believe is the the very strange synchronicity that the movie my housemate selected for me to see last night was! The Hotel Rwanda, a movie based on a true story which describes one of the most modern examples of a genocide taking place using the dehumanization/demonization apparatus of thinking. Unbelievable that this happened in this modern age, and that the Western world allowed it. But then again what just happened in the Sudan?)
So my story here is almost finished. After a little fevered research I found what many Old-Testament type Christians have used to justify the slaughter of the Canaanites. They were a debased polythestic people who sacrificed babies, and used sexual imagery and rites for the purpose of imbuing the landscape with fertility! Why didn't I realize that??? We had to save the babies by killing them all! This baby-killing was brought up by my friend and informant, who told me that the Canaanites built hollow idols of gold and that they stuffed them full of babies and then burned them inside the statues of their unholy gods. Now, I would just have to see some archaeological evidence of that. The baby-killing accusation often is applied to the intended victims of a genocide. And, archaeology is actually quite good at detecting clues of human sacrifice, so I will leave that for a future investigation.
I told my friend that I would have to side with the demons in this case, and if it was so, I was happey to have demon blood in my veins. She told me that I was a creature of exquisite light, something that I am well aware of. But I am not (very much) afraid of the dark, and over her objections, I had to admit to her that I would continue to work with gargoyles and such in my practice of religion and magic which more and more tends to attempt to resolve the Dark and the Light, because in my 40-something opinion and experience, the attempt to keep them separate and to keep the "purity" of the light has resulted in a lot of bloodshed and violence. I refrained from horrifying her with the details of me and Satan's sex life, however.
Didn't I mention that I had written a story about all of this? It is true. I hope you enjoy:
TRIPLE GOD
Once upon a time, there was a warlike and jealous god, whose name was Yahweh. After getting his butt kicked by some pagan gods in Egypt, he undertook the destruction of the Canaanites and many other peoples, and their gods (described in detail in the whole Book of Joshua). This turned out to be way too easy, and soon, this god of war had nobody to fight and he was very bored and lonely there in the desert all by himself. But one day, while he amused himself by burning up bushes on top of his mountain, he had a brilliant idea, that would result in him never being at a loss for war. He divided himself into three, himself, Yahweh, and Allah and Jehovah. Now, he could always have a choice of which of his two other selves to fight. Yahweh, Jehovah, and Allah got busy straight away, filling the history books with blood, and wrecking the world with war happily forever after.
-Princess Poysen Ivieee Jan 2002
District Map Attempts to Cuts Us Out
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The Star-Telegram editorial, “Seeing flaws in Texas Senate remap is not the same as proving them”, recognizes that the proposed redistricting map for Senate District 10 is “just plain wrong”. Carving out a chunk of minority communities in southeast Fort Worth, Forest Hill, and Everman, and then merging them into a predominately Anglo voting district some 80 miles south of the county is a terrible usurpation of our voting power. Over 80,000 votes would be diluted, and we would essentially be disenfranchised.
And, if that is not “shameless” enough, as Senator Wendy Davis calls it, the plan would also strip out the Hispanic north side neighborhood in Fort Worth and give it to Anglo-dominated SD 12, now occupied by a Republican based in Flower Mound.
The S-T article goes on to say: “Anyone who watched the 2003 redistricting drama directed by then-U.S. House Majority Leader and now convicted felon Tom DeLay knows the people who do this sort of thing are both smart and crafty.”
That it violates the Voting Rights Act, Texas has done it before and gotten away with it. They simply say prove it if you can. According to them: “Davis will have to show that minority groups in her district are large and geographically compact, that they are politically cohesive and vote as a bloc, and that Anglos vote in a bloc in numbers high enough that they usually defeat minorities… Having only been elected in District 10 once, a narrow victory amid heavy turnout for Democrat Barack Obama's presidential bid, she has no history there to fall back on.”
The article further states that “Her case will have to analyze Fort Worth elections over an extended period of time, examining any racially polarized voting. It will hurt if minority voter turnout is low, which it is. It will be a problem for her if any differences between minority and Anglo voting patterns can be explained away by party affiliation, because that doesn't represent racial or ethnic discrimination.”
Bob Ray Sanders, in his own S-T editorial “Senate redistricting plan demands Justice Department review”, sees the effort as not-so-subtle Jim Crow gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering? No such thing. To let Congressman Michael C. Burgess tell how he inherited his narrow, dumbbell-shaped strip an our historical black community, and stretching it from the Oklahoma border to Waco: "It is the miracle of redistricting”... not to mention a convenient way to silence the black political voice.
So goes Texas. But not without scrutiny from the Justice Department, seeing that Texas is still one of those southern states that must receive preclearance from the Department. It depends on whose at the helms of Justice, and whether the state of Texas can skate through again.
It gets ridiculously redundant, like bad behavior that can find no remorse. No doubt, they will nitpick the law for subtle technicalities and loopholes, such as those above which put the burden of proof upon the shoulders of Senator Davis.
What they willfully ignore is the “totality of circumstances”.
Totality of Circumstances
No one will mention that the current senator district puts all our Fort Worth schools under one representative. The proposed plan would scatter our schools among three different state senators.
No one will mention that as soon as the U.S. Census projects us to become a minority-majority political bloc, they cut us up into slivers and drag our voting boundaries across many counties until we are completely diluted. Silver by sliver, tract by tract, they take away what we rightfully gain in population growth.
According to 2010 U.S. Census, SD 10 has a total of 52.4% minorities, making it a minority-majority district. But based on voter age population (VAP), for Civil Rights purposes, we are only 47.3% majority. Not that the trend shows where we are headed, they want to nip us in the gonads before our young reaches voting age.
Can they continue to cut us up, sliver by sliver, every time we show some growth towards becoming a minority-majority voting bloc? How can we have a future when Pharaoh kill the babies before a Moses arises and deliver them from oppression?
And, if that is not “shameless” enough, as Senator Wendy Davis calls it, the plan would also strip out the Hispanic north side neighborhood in Fort Worth and give it to Anglo-dominated SD 12, now occupied by a Republican based in Flower Mound.
The S-T article goes on to say: “Anyone who watched the 2003 redistricting drama directed by then-U.S. House Majority Leader and now convicted felon Tom DeLay knows the people who do this sort of thing are both smart and crafty.”
That it violates the Voting Rights Act, Texas has done it before and gotten away with it. They simply say prove it if you can. According to them: “Davis will have to show that minority groups in her district are large and geographically compact, that they are politically cohesive and vote as a bloc, and that Anglos vote in a bloc in numbers high enough that they usually defeat minorities… Having only been elected in District 10 once, a narrow victory amid heavy turnout for Democrat Barack Obama's presidential bid, she has no history there to fall back on.”
The article further states that “Her case will have to analyze Fort Worth elections over an extended period of time, examining any racially polarized voting. It will hurt if minority voter turnout is low, which it is. It will be a problem for her if any differences between minority and Anglo voting patterns can be explained away by party affiliation, because that doesn't represent racial or ethnic discrimination.”
Bob Ray Sanders, in his own S-T editorial “Senate redistricting plan demands Justice Department review”, sees the effort as not-so-subtle Jim Crow gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering? No such thing. To let Congressman Michael C. Burgess tell how he inherited his narrow, dumbbell-shaped strip an our historical black community, and stretching it from the Oklahoma border to Waco: "It is the miracle of redistricting”... not to mention a convenient way to silence the black political voice.
So goes Texas. But not without scrutiny from the Justice Department, seeing that Texas is still one of those southern states that must receive preclearance from the Department. It depends on whose at the helms of Justice, and whether the state of Texas can skate through again.
It gets ridiculously redundant, like bad behavior that can find no remorse. No doubt, they will nitpick the law for subtle technicalities and loopholes, such as those above which put the burden of proof upon the shoulders of Senator Davis.
What they willfully ignore is the “totality of circumstances”.
Totality of Circumstances
No one will mention that the current senator district puts all our Fort Worth schools under one representative. The proposed plan would scatter our schools among three different state senators.
No one will mention that as soon as the U.S. Census projects us to become a minority-majority political bloc, they cut us up into slivers and drag our voting boundaries across many counties until we are completely diluted. Silver by sliver, tract by tract, they take away what we rightfully gain in population growth.
According to 2010 U.S. Census, SD 10 has a total of 52.4% minorities, making it a minority-majority district. But based on voter age population (VAP), for Civil Rights purposes, we are only 47.3% majority. Not that the trend shows where we are headed, they want to nip us in the gonads before our young reaches voting age.
Can they continue to cut us up, sliver by sliver, every time we show some growth towards becoming a minority-majority voting bloc? How can we have a future when Pharaoh kill the babies before a Moses arises and deliver them from oppression?
Kids For Cash Juvenile Judge Sentence to 28 Years
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Mass Incarceration: Naïve Juveniles go into Court looking for Justice and Mercy, while Judge looks for Kickbacks for sending them to prison
Former Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. was sentence to 28 years in prison for his part in the “Kids For Cash” kickback scandal. A second juvenile judge, Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty last year and awaits sentencing. The two were accused of taking more than $2.8 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities' co-owner.
According to accusations, Ciavarella “filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes.”
“The defendant argues he didn’t sell juveniles retail. We agree with that. He was selling them wholesale,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod, maintaining that the jury found Ciavarella guilty of a racketeering conspiracy for being part of a scheme to extract cash from the construction and operation of the two for-profit centers.
As a result of the corruption case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.
Fellow former Judges Conahan and Michael T. Toole both pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year as investigators untangled a web of corruption. A number of other public officials were caught in the probe as well, including the county's court administrator, the clerk of courts and a member of the juvenile probation services office.
While The Legal had previously reported that sources had tied Conahan to mobsters, following Ciavarella's trial Zubrod said that the investigation into Conahan and Ciavarella's activities "sprang from" a probe of reputed mobster William "Billy" D'Elia.
The case of the juvenile court judge accused of trading kids for cash has garnered national and international press coverage, spawned an ongoing corruption probe that has led to more than 30 arrests and spurred the state Supreme Court to dismiss thousands of Ciavarella's court rulings.
COMMENTARY by Eddie Griffin
Some people may see this case as an aberration and isolated, one-of-a-kind, corruption case that could only happen in Pennsylvania. What people overlook is who is the real beneficiary in the scheme, the ones receiving the bribes and kickbacks, or the one paying them?
The Prison Industrial Complex feeds on incarceration. The more prison beds occupied the more profits for the corporations that build and manage facilities.
Where paying bribes and kickbacks to juvenile justice officials may not be the normal way of doing business, they are instrumental in “get tough” policies, “zero tolerance” and longer prison sentence advocacy.
The irony in the above case is that it began with an investigation into mobster activities. There is an ominous sense of danger for those involved. Once graft is accepted from mobsters, the next bribe cannot be rejected. And so, the corrupt scheme builds upon itself, until there is a steady stream of juveniles going into prison, for little or no offense, as some investigations revealed.
Child Rights advocates cannot stop the pipeline other than warn juveniles to stay out of the juvenile justice system. Any other intervention, such as revealing the truth behind the corruption, can lead to terminal consequences.
So for now, all we can say is: Keep You Hand Out of the Lion’s Mouth.
Former Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. was sentence to 28 years in prison for his part in the “Kids For Cash” kickback scandal. A second juvenile judge, Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty last year and awaits sentencing. The two were accused of taking more than $2.8 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities' co-owner.
According to accusations, Ciavarella “filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes.”
“The defendant argues he didn’t sell juveniles retail. We agree with that. He was selling them wholesale,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod, maintaining that the jury found Ciavarella guilty of a racketeering conspiracy for being part of a scheme to extract cash from the construction and operation of the two for-profit centers.
As a result of the corruption case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.
Fellow former Judges Conahan and Michael T. Toole both pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year as investigators untangled a web of corruption. A number of other public officials were caught in the probe as well, including the county's court administrator, the clerk of courts and a member of the juvenile probation services office.
While The Legal had previously reported that sources had tied Conahan to mobsters, following Ciavarella's trial Zubrod said that the investigation into Conahan and Ciavarella's activities "sprang from" a probe of reputed mobster William "Billy" D'Elia.
The case of the juvenile court judge accused of trading kids for cash has garnered national and international press coverage, spawned an ongoing corruption probe that has led to more than 30 arrests and spurred the state Supreme Court to dismiss thousands of Ciavarella's court rulings.
COMMENTARY by Eddie Griffin
Some people may see this case as an aberration and isolated, one-of-a-kind, corruption case that could only happen in Pennsylvania. What people overlook is who is the real beneficiary in the scheme, the ones receiving the bribes and kickbacks, or the one paying them?
The Prison Industrial Complex feeds on incarceration. The more prison beds occupied the more profits for the corporations that build and manage facilities.
Where paying bribes and kickbacks to juvenile justice officials may not be the normal way of doing business, they are instrumental in “get tough” policies, “zero tolerance” and longer prison sentence advocacy.
The irony in the above case is that it began with an investigation into mobster activities. There is an ominous sense of danger for those involved. Once graft is accepted from mobsters, the next bribe cannot be rejected. And so, the corrupt scheme builds upon itself, until there is a steady stream of juveniles going into prison, for little or no offense, as some investigations revealed.
Child Rights advocates cannot stop the pipeline other than warn juveniles to stay out of the juvenile justice system. Any other intervention, such as revealing the truth behind the corruption, can lead to terminal consequences.
So for now, all we can say is: Keep You Hand Out of the Lion’s Mouth.
The Trouble Signs of Mass Incarceration
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By Eddie Griffin
An October 26, 2011 Star-Telegram editorial reads: “Signs of trouble were apparent at a Hood County juvenile detention facility before the death of a 14-year-old detainee this month.”
The story of what happened to young Jordan Adams, a middle school student who died in his cell at the Granbury Regional Juvenile Justice Center, is symptomatic of the problems with for-profit private detention facilitates for underage offenders.
The editorial speculates “perhaps because too many local and state officials see the for-profit juvenile centers in Texas as a positive economic alternative to government-run institutions for troubled youths.” Notwithstanding, the article points out the repugnancy of transferring juvenile detainees from the State, by adjudication in a court of law, into the hands of private for-profit contractors, and how easily then that the State abdicates its legal obligations and responsibilities to house, feed, and care for these young offenders who were committed to their oversight. Privateers not so bound by law to the same standard of care.
That the trouble signs at the Granbury facilities should have been apparent is an understatement compared to all the previous complaints of youth-on-youth assaults, supervisory neglect and physical and sexual abuse, and which came on the heels of a 2007 investigation that revealed widespread corruption, brutal practices, and sexual exploitation of young inmates throughout Texas Youth Commission (TYC) facilities.
After extensive investigations, resignation of the entire TYC board, and prosecution of several officials, the public was then assured by members of the Texas legislature that these abuses and neglect would not happen again. At the same time, we began a long and arduous task of trying to keep our children out of these facilities, and free those who deserved to be free, setting up a reentry support system to help reintegrate former offenders back into society.
Nonetheless, our social objective runs counter to the profit motives of the Prison Industrial Complex, which relies on bed occupancy in detention facilities. Corporations like the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) promote prison-building, enter into facility management contracts with state and national government, and supply detention staff by locals. The illusion is job-creation and community enrichment.
A former CCA officer wrote: "I work as a correctional officer at the Corrections Corporation of America in Winnfield, Louisiana and I have an interview with GEO Group Inc for a correctional officer in Jena Louisiana. I was wondering what prison do you think is better to work for? Corrections Corporation is low tech understaffed and pays a dollar above minimum wage and GEO pays $11.27 hr."
Correctional officers for private corporations are underpaid and overworked. Even more, to further squeeze profits out of their contracts, they skimp on the cost and care. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Granbury facility has recorded some 250 complaints and 133 cases of juvenile suicide attempts.
In an earlier Star-Telegram report, Hood County juvenile center, originally designed as a public-private partnership that would not cost taxpayers any money, had problems from the start. A coalition that included the county and a detention management corporation built the $6.5 million facility through the sale of tax-exempt certificates of participation (bonds). In a convoluted scheme, the management group was to lease the facility back to the county, then rent the place to operate a juvenile detention center that would pay off the bonds… The private corporation floundered almost immediately when the daily census was far less than the 78 juveniles it needed to be "profitable." The county took over the operation for a while and then closed the facility because it was too costly, resulting in a downgrade of the county's bond rating by Standard & Poor's.
Such is the fate of communities who bank on prison populations and corporations that depend on filling prison bed space. Many Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) facilities are scrambling for detainees in order to make their operations solvent. The negligence found at Granbury is repeated all over again at other for-profit detention facilities.
These problems cannot be fixed so long as profits are squeezed out of facility operations. The promise of jobs and commercial traffic into little prison towns are tenuous, because there are no guarantees in prison population growth projection, and mass incarceration is not a societal aim. Therefore, prisons must decline with deceasing headcount and bed occupancy. There simply is no profit in it.
Realizing that prison-building is a bad investment in our quest toward a healthy, law-abiding society, we see this trend as a losing proposition, whereupon the State must bit the bullet assigned to it by law, to assume the cost, responsibilities, and liabilities for neglect, abuse, and death of inmates placed in its care.
An October 26, 2011 Star-Telegram editorial reads: “Signs of trouble were apparent at a Hood County juvenile detention facility before the death of a 14-year-old detainee this month.”
The story of what happened to young Jordan Adams, a middle school student who died in his cell at the Granbury Regional Juvenile Justice Center, is symptomatic of the problems with for-profit private detention facilitates for underage offenders.
The editorial speculates “perhaps because too many local and state officials see the for-profit juvenile centers in Texas as a positive economic alternative to government-run institutions for troubled youths.” Notwithstanding, the article points out the repugnancy of transferring juvenile detainees from the State, by adjudication in a court of law, into the hands of private for-profit contractors, and how easily then that the State abdicates its legal obligations and responsibilities to house, feed, and care for these young offenders who were committed to their oversight. Privateers not so bound by law to the same standard of care.
That the trouble signs at the Granbury facilities should have been apparent is an understatement compared to all the previous complaints of youth-on-youth assaults, supervisory neglect and physical and sexual abuse, and which came on the heels of a 2007 investigation that revealed widespread corruption, brutal practices, and sexual exploitation of young inmates throughout Texas Youth Commission (TYC) facilities.
After extensive investigations, resignation of the entire TYC board, and prosecution of several officials, the public was then assured by members of the Texas legislature that these abuses and neglect would not happen again. At the same time, we began a long and arduous task of trying to keep our children out of these facilities, and free those who deserved to be free, setting up a reentry support system to help reintegrate former offenders back into society.
Nonetheless, our social objective runs counter to the profit motives of the Prison Industrial Complex, which relies on bed occupancy in detention facilities. Corporations like the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) promote prison-building, enter into facility management contracts with state and national government, and supply detention staff by locals. The illusion is job-creation and community enrichment.
A former CCA officer wrote: "I work as a correctional officer at the Corrections Corporation of America in Winnfield, Louisiana and I have an interview with GEO Group Inc for a correctional officer in Jena Louisiana. I was wondering what prison do you think is better to work for? Corrections Corporation is low tech understaffed and pays a dollar above minimum wage and GEO pays $11.27 hr."
Correctional officers for private corporations are underpaid and overworked. Even more, to further squeeze profits out of their contracts, they skimp on the cost and care. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Granbury facility has recorded some 250 complaints and 133 cases of juvenile suicide attempts.
In an earlier Star-Telegram report, Hood County juvenile center, originally designed as a public-private partnership that would not cost taxpayers any money, had problems from the start. A coalition that included the county and a detention management corporation built the $6.5 million facility through the sale of tax-exempt certificates of participation (bonds). In a convoluted scheme, the management group was to lease the facility back to the county, then rent the place to operate a juvenile detention center that would pay off the bonds… The private corporation floundered almost immediately when the daily census was far less than the 78 juveniles it needed to be "profitable." The county took over the operation for a while and then closed the facility because it was too costly, resulting in a downgrade of the county's bond rating by Standard & Poor's.
Such is the fate of communities who bank on prison populations and corporations that depend on filling prison bed space. Many Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) facilities are scrambling for detainees in order to make their operations solvent. The negligence found at Granbury is repeated all over again at other for-profit detention facilities.
These problems cannot be fixed so long as profits are squeezed out of facility operations. The promise of jobs and commercial traffic into little prison towns are tenuous, because there are no guarantees in prison population growth projection, and mass incarceration is not a societal aim. Therefore, prisons must decline with deceasing headcount and bed occupancy. There simply is no profit in it.
Realizing that prison-building is a bad investment in our quest toward a healthy, law-abiding society, we see this trend as a losing proposition, whereupon the State must bit the bullet assigned to it by law, to assume the cost, responsibilities, and liabilities for neglect, abuse, and death of inmates placed in its care.
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