John Howard to take over the United States

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, pointing out a damning report from 2001 about epidemic levels of child abuse in the United States, said that after six years of ignoring the problem he is going to outlaw alcohol and pornography in the United States and take over administration of the territory in order to enforce the new laws.

Sound asinine? He doesn't plan on a US takeover, but he has promised to this this for the aborigine community in Australia. There is no doubt that anyone would want to address the problem in that community and others. One wonders, however, why John Howard doesn't make it a national initiative all across Australia. That would be seen as a human or civil rights attack, whereas if it is done with someone brown, it's acceptable.

And, of course, he really couldn't enforce this in my fictional account of his efforts in the United States because we have self determination whereas the aborigine community in Australia does not.

During an election year, he easily wields old colonial powers without full study or even an attempt to work with the aborigine communities first.

"Won't somebody save the children" doesn't provide instant righteousness.

If anyone thinks this is a good idea, what should be done about the US ignoring a six year old report of epidemic abuse levels? What should be done about abuse in the white communities in Australia?

Native Nazis

Jeff Weise, described as a 16 year old "baby face", recently killed his grandfather and then went to his school where he killed several children and adults.

Like other youth who have become mass murderers, he felt isolated and experienced behavior problems and social withdrawal. In the Spring of 2004, he finally found a group who encouraged his separation in the most extreme ways - this group of Nazi's praised this Native American on a reservation for embracing racial nationalism. Jeff Weise created the user name "Todesengel," which is German for "Angel of Death", and logged on to a discussion forum for a group of National Socialists. After a few exchanges, he changed his user name to NativeNazi.

Nazi and other hate groups often complain of being misunderstood or misinterpreted. In this case, they have a point. A lot of common reaction has been "How can a Native American believe in White Supremacy?" One key element of Nazi philosophy encourages racial nationalism. An animalist level of separating races quite literally in the sense that wolves don't run with a pride of lions. The white supremacy is often more visible in their rhetoric than mission statement.

The discussion forum has since been removed, but the internet has ways of keeping history. Reading the exchange between this young man and folks who appear to be adults, we see these Nazis encouraging the anti-social behavior and ideas we've come to look for since Columbine. Besides bantering about how a famous epithet should be changed to apply to Native kids who act Black, he forum condoled him and reinforced his feeling of alienation.

" I respect your open-mindedness; not everyone is so brave to think the way you do," says one of the first responses. It is followed with others embracing him with "There is a place for you, I hope you stick with us" and "We welcome you, brother." After adopting a philosophy of race based separation and one that sees "each race superior in its own way," he enters a discussion forum which behaves quite typically of how hate groups and cults embrace susceptible children and adults. After seeing himself as harassed and misunderstood, he has those ideas endorsed, is accepted as special and is praised.

In his message to the group, he asks about age requirements. There are none. He goes on to mention his problems at school and reiterating he was young. There doesn't appear to be any hesitation to keep encouraging him to stick with the group.

Is the group responsible for his actions? They didn't pull the trigger. They behaved as they do. Encouraging an atmosphere of perceived oppression, hindered victory, a glorious task ahead and brotherhood. They endorsed his negative view of the race mixers around him adopting Black culture.

Then again, on the actual web site for the Nazi group, their FAQ asks, "Killing innocent people is wrong, isn't it?" We all know the real answer, but this group goes on to describe society as "individuals..part of the social movements that produce them.. who can be out of place." It doesn't say no and dismisses the idea of innocence or guilt.

There are a lot of questions raised by tragedies like this. One overlooked question is the perennial topic of hate groups in schools and intolerance among youth. It's easy to feel queasy over the Nazi's encouragement aimed at our youth, but it's also a reminder that these groups see themselves in a light of righteous legitimacy where they have no more of an obligation to keep young people away than the Democrats or Republicans. It's up to us, not them.

Tolerance.org is one of many sites with information for parents, teachers and teens on understanding the importance of tolerance. TalkingWithKids.org specializes in communicating with kids on tough issues in general.

Hate groups infiltrate through , video games and perhaps most importantly, through a lack of communication and supportive social structure.

Feed the Children, or Gorge the Credit Card Companies


After passing legislation to benefit companies targeted by class action lawsuits (those pesky lawsuits where a large number of public citizens are injured and need legal representation against large companies), our representatives are considering laws limiting bankrupcty.

In effect, it would give credit card companies the same protection as child support payments.

Call me naïve and presumptuous (and many might call me worse) but I'm going to assume that when I pay credit card fees and interests I am paying into the following factors:

1. Others have declared bankruptcy and the loss needs to be recuperated
2. The risk that I will declare bankrupcty must be part of the fees I pay
3. If I declare bankruptcy, my increased interest rate covers part 2 for the far future when I might do it again and covers some of my presumed "lost debt"

Now - that's how I would do it, and I haven't heard of these companies falling on hard times. Anyone who has declared bankruptcy will tell you the first pieces of mail they get - credit card offers.

Typically, you get few protections when you file for Chapter 7. Federal student loans and child support are two.

So who are these people shirking their personal responsibility? Reports over the past couple of years indicate that as many as half of them are due to accumulated medical bills.

More on their profile after bankrupcty:
His report shows that during the two years prior to filing for bankruptcy:

• 40% lost telephone service
  
• 19% went without food
  
• 54% went without needed doctor or dentist visits because of cost
  
• 43% did not fill prescriptions because of cost
  
• 15% had taken out second or third mortgages to pay for medical expenses
  
• 1/3 continued to have problems paying their bills following
  bankruptcy, including paying their mortgage/rent and utility payments
• Even after filing for bankruptcy a number (3.1%) were turned
  down for jobs, 5% were turned away on apartment rentals, and 9% were
  rejected for car loans
  http://my.webmd.com/content/article/100/105540.htm
  

Doesn't quite sound like a free ride. And some might recall the economic crash and the loss of jobs as a national problem.

The response from our legislature is to protect the credit card companies as if they were a child. So now, while continuing to spiral downward or struggle upward, folks can shore up even more profit for credit card companies.

Feeding Human Rice to Babies

Last December Ventria Bioscience, a biopharmaceutical company based in Sacramento, Calif., submitted permit applications to the USDA to grow about 200 acres of rice “engineered with human genes” in Scott, Mississippi and Cape Girardeau counties this year.
..
Ventria's proteins have the potential to address health issues such as severe dehydrations due to diarrhea which kills approximately 1.3 million children under age 5 every year worldwide, Herbst said.
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/865/public/news610782.html

Good news right? Major corporations are struggling to be the first to bring us solutions that would help save 1.3 million children a year. The numbers are from UNICEF and they offer a free and better solution available now.

Here is where Ventria gets the 1.3 million number they are using in press releases.
UNICEF:

UNICEF said that by expanding the number of women who exclusively breastfeed during their child’s first six months, at least 1.3 million infant lives could be saved this year.
...
“Simply put, if a child dies a preventable death it’s because mothers and infants are not getting the basic support they need,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_22646.html

Now - people who don't apologize while promoting breastfeeding and the cheapest and best known access to health benefits that can be applied now with proper support aren't always well recieved. Maybe the millions spent in marketing and influencing attitudes have swayed us over time. I don't have that kind of money.

The problem isn't that a company is doing something other than encouraging
breastfeeding, it's their target demographic. UNICEF recognizes this
demographic of endangered lives as people "who don't get basic
support." This company's solution, besides using genetically modified
product on infants, isn't support - but rather another option to undermine the
cheapest and best solution to the problem they claim to be addressing.

If they were targeting the much, much, much smaller demographic within their actual demographic of mostly
third world women who can't breastfeed for some reason, I would say God bless
'em. Bless those moments when it's actually used for that. If it ever is. (Does that count as my apology?)

But - imagine the dollar amount invested in their campaign, being moved from state to state since at least 1997 trying to find a place to finally farm their research. Nestle, who is in violation of WHO's international guidelines for formula marketing and openly flaunts them, is a ready distributor who is already doing their own research on the same protein.

With millions of dollars tied up in research over many years, and the target demographic of healthy women who can fix the problem now with proper support named - they will want a return. Healthy breastfeeding doesn't turn a profit to anyone but individuals, communities and states who pick up later health benefits and costs.

WHO and UNICEF promote standards based on knowledge of how easy it is for new mothers and infants to get discouraged with breastfeeding - due to emotional and physical challenges, due to surrounding support and due to culture.

This company is already preparing to launch against a healthy demographic who is simply lacking support. It is feeding on a weakness and hoping to profit from it. The marketing barrage will rely on the lack of support persisting for these 1.3 million children a year. That is the quality defining this demographic.

If these women get support - their market and stated need disappears. If they start the free option of breastfeeding and stop the death of 3,500 children a day - this market is closed to them.

Imagine if a fraction of this research money, future marketing and distribution costs aimed at healthy women who lack support was spent now on support. As WHO, UNICEF and even the Human Rice makers acknowledge - 3,500 babies a day would be saved.

Instead - when they hit the market and spend millions more specifically targeting women and children whose central problem is a lack of support - they are further undermining the support.

With a problem that can be resolved free right now - a problem involving 3,500 children’s lives a day - multimillion and some multibillion dollar companies are sitting back watching the deaths while doing research and shouting "a solution is coming" when the solution already exists, and it's not the price they will charge for a process, technology and protein variance they patent.

It will be a solution you have to pay them for.

The other solution is free - an important component for many populations. It's breastfeeding and can start saving lives now. If the problem isn't resolved by the time they have a complete product - the lack of support will grow as a direct result of them relying on and feeding on the existing lack of support. Fewer children might die (as they market what may be the second best solution to just one problem at a cost) for that specific cause, but the overall problem of not supporting those who would provide children with the food that happens to be the cheapest and best for them will grow. In the end, those lives may simply be moved over into another category.

The other Sept 11th Report - Child Sex and Exploitation

This is a story that broke the day before the twin towers fell. I supported the strike against the Taliban and Al Qaeda - I hoped that while we were reacting to our own terror, we could see and address some of the things that affect us day to day as well. It's a sad case that contradicts our day to day stereotypes and expectations.

Full Report:
http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/~restes/CSEC.htm

"Seventy-five percent of the children we met on the streets are children from working class and middle class families and the simple majority of them are white,"
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/09/10/child.exploitation/

The report continues

"One of the other myths is that this is a problem [of] poor, inner city, mostly minority youth. We cannot confirm that to be the case, but rather just the opposite."
"Despite popular notions to the contrary," Estes said, "strangers commit fewer than 4 percent of all the sexual assaults against children."
..
Study summary Among the findings of a study titled "The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada and Mexico"

325,000 children are sexually exploited in the United States annually. Of that figure, 121,911 ran away from home and 51,602 were thrown out of their homes by a parent or guardian.

25 percent of exploiters of children are other children.

Children who engage in prostitution can earn between $200 and $1,500 per day.

75 percent of children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation are from middle class backgrounds.

40 percent of the girls who engaged in prostitution were sexually abused at home, as were 30 percent of the boys.