There is Beauty Here

Originally posted by morgandawn at Seems I Am Not The Only One....

As I'm sure you know, major pet food manufacturers tend to buy wheat gluten from China, to cut costs.

As some of you know, some of that wheat gluten has been tainted with things like melamine and rat poison.

Now there's a big recall of Purina brand foods because of bug infestations (grainary moths, black beetles) and salmonella.

Some Iams is being recalled for salmonella, and they have yet ANOTHER recall for melamine.

LISTEN UP MAJOR PET FOOD MAKERS - ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME YOU SACRIFICED SOME OF YOUR FUCKING PROFITS AND BOUGHT YOUR WHEAT GLUTEN FROM THE USA OR CANADA WHERE IT'S FAR MORE REGULATED?

I've had at least two cats die of melamine poisoning in the past because I didn't know about the recalls. I may have had two more die of melamine or some other poisoning, I now find out.

Now I know you Korporate Fucktards don't give a flying shit about how we feel about our pets - and I'm sure you have some really high-priced natural diet or something like that for YOUR cats and dogs - but here you go again sticking it to the 99%. It's bad enough we get contaminated human food, contaminated with hormones, steroids, and Goddess knows what else, that causes all kinds of allergies, early puberties, mental illnesses and whatnot - but on top of it, you're using Chinese wheat gluten, which CANNOT BE TRUSTED, and poisoning our precious dogs and cats.

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH. I'M SURE OTHERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH, TOO.

As I'm sure you all have heard (at least here in the USA) - there are children who have actually been prosecuted, and convicted, of crimes that put them in the National Sex Offender Database.

With a rare few, these kids are guilty of only one thing: Listening to their hormones instead of common sense.

I wager most of you reading this entry would agree when I state that the NSO Database was NOT established for the purpose of cataloging consensual teens as lifetime sex offenders. I will go so far as to include those who are 21 with a partner who is under 18, whose only crime is the desire to express their love for one another through physical acts.

Yet, it has happened and continues happening as overzealous DAs don't bother to consider the enormous ramifications of a lifetime label as a sex offender, when nothing more occurred than consensual sex between two people the law claims shouldn't be having sex - for WHATEVER reason.

It's as bad as classifying consensual adults as sex offenders for something as stupid as sodomy, just because someone decided that you couldn't sex your partner up the butt in the privacy of your home in their state.

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE. Law should NOT be abused in this manner, and the officials pursuing charges in such cases ARE abusing the spirit of the law - without regard to the lifetime of harm they are causing these people.

The child abuse laws passed in the last 20 years aren't doing their job. Countless stories hit the newswires every day about a kid killed by a parent, or starved by a parent, or locked in a cage...or worse. Meanwhile, the well-meaning dad who cuffs their child for swearing or telling a lie is suddenly talking to the cops because his kid has been drilled to report such things to the officials at school - and nobody can seem to differentiate between routine discipline and abuse.

While I don't believe in heavy-handed corporal punishment, sometimes a cuff to the cheek or butt is necessary to get the gravity of a situation through to a kid - and I do NOT believe the schools have ANY business "parenting" or "protecting" children who are receiving nothing more than routine punishment for behaving badly. Sometimes grounding and taking things away does NOT get it through their heads - especially if they are being encouraged by other kids (and sometimes adults) to misbehave, time and again.

My goddaughter Faith got herself in trouble. She's 12 years old as of this past September, and, thanks to all the hormones, antibiotics, and steroids pumped into milk and meat, hit puberty at the age of 10. A week ago Friday night, her father found out she has been having sex with a 15-year-old boy who, as we also found out, believed Faith to be 13 years of age.

Her father and I have been best of friends for over 15 years. Faith's mother has mental issues and has never demonstrated that she can be a consistent and competent parent; in fact, Faith's father won full custody of her because her mother lost control in a fit of rage. Faith not only has to deal with a broken family and an unstable mother, but living below the poverty line. Keith has done his best to raise her with decent ethics and morals...

...so imagine all our shock when we found out she'd been having sex since her birthday in September. She already had a pattern of running away, primarily to avoid the punishments her father had to mete out for her frequent lying and acting out. He has asked agencies, time and again, for help for Faith, only to be told he makes too much money (another pet peeve of mine - they desperately need to revamp the poverty limits).

Faith had a facebook and so did her boyfriend and it was all laid out for anyone with access to read. Keith's sister Sandi managed to gain friendship of both Faith and the boy, and copied much of what was on their Walls.

• Faith lied about her age.
  
• Faith convinced others that Keith is not her biological father (and he is, there has been a paternity test)
  
• Faith told others that Keith was physically abusing her, when, in fact, he was disciplining her, and only once did he lose his temper too much
  
• Faith has made claims of neglect that are not substantiated. Keith himself has gone without food so his daughter could eat.
  
• Faith has had counseling through school but it has not been adequate. She also shows signs of depression and other disorders that will require medication. First NOW - AFTER she got into trouble, are agencies offering help that Keith was told was unavailable due to his income in the past.
  

It's a very sad commentary on this country overall that the only time you can get help for a kid in crisis is AFTER they get into trouble.

Now, you will hear me slam one political party (and part of another) for a prevailing attitude that leads to what I opened this post with.

Most Republicans, and some Democrats (the ones referred to as "Blue Dog") are letting their religious views color what they do when it comes to the law.

The district attorney where Keith and Faith live, happens to be Republican and Catholic and his record demonstrates that he lets both personal opinion and religion get in the way of the due process of the law.

He intends to prosecute both Faith AND the boy under charges of sexual assault. If convicted, both kids would face 20 years behind bars, and bear the label of Sex Offender for the rest of their lives.

I ask you: Just HOW does this serve justice? They're kids. Technically Faith isn't old enough to have her sexual actions considered criminal. Sure she said yes, but the boy initiated the interaction.

There is no word yet whether charges will be filed against the boy's parents for openly allowing the children to have sex under their roof. It would make more sense to me, to prosecute the ADULTS, who KNEW BETTER.

Faith is barely old enough to look after herself without a babysitter. Just what in the HELL is that DA thinking?

We have advised Keith to contact the American Civil Liberties Union over this. The DA refused to drop charges against the kids even after Keith expressed his displeasure over the idea of his daughter being prosecuted.

Just imagine it. 12 years old, and 15 years old. Put behind bars with adult offenders for Goddess knows how long. Released, but registered as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE FLYING FUCK GOOD THAT IS GOING TO DO????

Yes, the kids need to have their wrists slapped in a way that ingrains it into their heads that this was an incredibly stupid thing to do - even if the boy's parents condoned it. Yes, the kids should be given therapy and medications if need be. YES - the boy's parents should face more serious charges, since they contributed to the delinquency of not only their son but Faith.

NO, two relatively innocent kids shouldn't be labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

I am telling this story for the benefit of my adoptive goddaughter, and for all those like her who are having a very hard time of it being kids in this day and age.

There once was this girl who was 17. She was madly in love with a boy her age, and they were planning to be together forever.

One day, when his parents were gone from a trip, they made love in his bed. It was glorious and everything they wanted it to be.

Soon after, the girl suspected she was pregnant. She didn't want to say anything to her mother (or anyone else for that matter) - she was scared and embarrassed to the point where she convinced herself that she wasn't pregnant.

She went on like this, even after beginning morning sickness and odd cravings, like raw carrots. She was so determined not to be pregnant that she even ignored her belly beginning to swell.

What she didn't know was that her body couldn't carry a baby to term. Her mother was given a drug during her first trimester to keep the girl from aborting, and this caused physical changes in the girl that no one knew about.

Her cervix (the opening between uterus and vagina) was weak. When the baby was 4 1/2 months along, it got too heavy, and literally fell out of the womb. This ripped the placenta off the uteran wall and she began to bleed profusely. Once the weight of the baby left her womb, her cervix closed again, trapping the placenta, and not allowing it to fall through.

Now this girl was terrified and ran down to her mother's room, holding the body of this little stillborn baby in her hands. They went back to her bathroom and she tried very hard to push the placenta out, but it wasn't budging. They were forced to cut the umbilical cord.

The girl held this tiny, perfect girl baby in her hands. The eyes weren't quite finished developing but you could see where they were. You could count all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. This little baby was perfect in every way...except she wasn't supposed to be out of the protection of the womb, and had died.

The girl's mother called the family doctor the next day. The doctor told her to put her daughter on bedrest, thinking it was an early term miscarriage, where the fetus wouldn't be much more than a mass of indistinguishable cells. Somehow, he didn't hear it when the girl's mother said it was a much larger baby.

The mother had to help a friend get a tire to her disabled car, then was going to take the girl to the emergency room. Meanwhile, she changed sanitary pad after pad as she continued to bleed. She got hungry while her mother was gone, and tried to get out of bed to get something to eat, only to collapse, unconscious, on the floor. She woke up on her own and was so weak she could barely get back into bed.

When her mother got home, the girl told her what happened. Her mom bundled her up and took her straight to the emergency room, where they found out she'd lost enough blood for her veins to collapse. After some trying, they finally got an IV strung into her and started pumping in fluids and blood. She was rushed into surgery for an emergency D&C to clear the womb and stop the bleeding. When she woke up from surgery she thrashed around, unsure of where she was or what was going on, but they threw hot sheets on her and she calmed down.

The girl spent a few days in the hospital and received 3 fresh pints of blood. The baby was subjected to autopsy but wasn't considered old enough for burial. Cause of miscarriage was a weak cervix.

If the girl had told her mother, she could've gotten medical care and now she would have a healthy daughter. Instead, her daughter died in her hands.

After that, the girl was honest with her mother, and got birth control when she decided to have sex with someone.

===

If you haven't guessed, the girl was myself. I nearly died because I was so confused and afraid. I don't want that to happen to anyone else, so I am sharing a very personal and painful story with all those who wish to read it.

P.S. I wanted to add yet another bit of harsh reality into this story. The boy I was in love with, left me after it was clear that I was no longer having a baby.

P.P.S. This baby is only a little older than the one I lost:

Well tonight I tried three times to catch one more stray. The one I wanted got loose, so did the tuxedo. The third try was successful and now I have a slightly larger smoky grey tiger in the same cage as booby kitty.

They're not killing each other so it's all good.

P.S. I fell in the living room tripping over a small box while carrying new kitty to the bathroom. Ouch. I'm in one piece but I know I'll hurt tomorrow.

ABC News
By MATTHEW MOSK and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Nov. 1, 2011

Goldline, a company that used endorsements from Glenn Beck and other conservative icons to sell hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers, has been charged with theft and fraud in a 19-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday by local officials in California.

[ Read More ]

You can see the filed complaint here.

Insulin will be $138 and syringes nearly $40...

*sigh*

Insulin has easily tripled in price since I had to buy it for my cat Rainbow back in the late 90s....

Can't do it till the first. We've already tapped out our reserves to get him properly groomed and the blood panel done.

*goes off to sell sims*

I spent my first 12 years of life in a subdivision south of Milwaukee, WI called Wind Lake.

It was predominantly white, yes - but even the families of other ethnic origins were treated decently. All the families within several blocks knew each other, and while we didn't run around having neighborhood cookouts with everyone, we got along. The kids were all friends, and if they weren't, they at least tolerated each other, for the most part. Yes, there was a small cluster of male bullies but the worst I remember them doing was tearing down the forts we built in the undeveloped lots.

Everyone knew everyone else. Kids roamed the neighborhood after school and during the summer, and their parents didn't worry about them, because the parents of the other kids always kept a watchful eye, and we all knew that if we felt scared or something we could knock on anyone's door and get help. We were all taught not to accept things from strangers, not to get into strange cars. Nobody worried about their kids getting kidnapped by some weirdo. I can still remember the singsong way my mom used to call for me across the neighborhood, and if I didn't hear her, someone would let me know she was calling me home. Each mother had their "call" for their kids, and everyone knew what they sounded like.

There were no gangs, there weren't big drug problems. Some families were more well-off than others, but that didn't cause class warfare. There was a sense of interdependency that, sadly, doesn't exist in neighborhoods of this day and age.

I remember when the term "latchkey kid" was new, and something to be sad about.

My mom and her friend from up the street ran a Girl Scout troop. I know someone else was running a Boy Scout troop. There were lots of "inclusive" things going on, and while I wasn't the most popular kid, I did have friends.

My childhood wasn't idyllic, but there were things about it that are sadly lacking in neighborhoods of the present age - things that, I believe, made things run smoother for everyone, reduced fear, and, at least, lent a sense of belonging to everyone.

Things the corporations have robbed us all of in their mad drive to "divide and conquer". As a friend of mine said in a previous post, "things the corporations and their politicians have told us that we don't deserve and we should resent our fellow neighbors if they have them"*.

You see, there is a method to their madness. Divide, and conquer. Tell you that you don't have to know your neighbors, so you can one-up them, or ignore them altogether. Fear that anyone might abduct your kid, so they can't enjoy the outdoors like I did. Force the parents to work like dogs so they aren't there for their kids, and their kids end up joining gangs and things because they lack the upbringing that would've prevented such things. Force couples apart with the strain so you end up with tons of poorer, single-parent families. Teach people that if someone is fortunate enough to be better off than they are, they somehow "stole" that, even if they did no such thing.

A Culture of Fear makes people docile and easy to control.



*Thank you silveradept.