An Awakening To Domestic Abuse

      This subject is never a pleasant one.  No one likes to acknowledge domestic abuse is a way of life…especially if it is happening within their own life.  Unfortunately, domestic abuse happens every day in a multitude of ways.  It doesn’t just happen in the lives of the poor, the rich, or the celebrity world; even though, that is often the stories that we hear about…those who are famous.  We must awaken to the facts of domestic abuse; it is often learned behaviors that are used to control another person…either with intimidation, physical violence, emotional abuse or sexual abuse.

       Domestic abuse is like cancer…it is constantly trying to destroy the people involved.  It is a pattern of behavior that affect both the abuser and the person being abused.  Many who are being abused do not recognize that what is happening in their lives is actually domestic abuse.  The reasons for their lack of understanding, or denial are many. 

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Motivation or Flaunting It Over Others?

        I became aware of an extreme example of those who have; and, those who have not.  The nation of Swaziland celebrated it’s 40th independence day as well as the King of Swazi’s 40th birthday in an ostentatious way.  The King Mswati was driven around in a convertible BMW flaunting his weath in a country that is overwhelmed with extreme poverty.  The nation has been devastated by the AIDS epidemic; it has the world’s highest AIDs rate.  This means that many households are not able to earn enough money to provide for their families; because many households are headed up by children because of the plague of AIDs.  Those homes that are affected by AIDS may not be healthy enough to work.  Many individuals only get enough food to eat because of international food aid.  This is a terribly sad event.

        This lack of basic necessities limits the average person’s ability to influence powerful changes, in a country that desperately needs to improve it’s quality of life.  In my mind, if the country has that kind of money…i have to wonder, why is the international community forced to provide food aid in the first place?  Those people should be coming first, in my mind, to the King of that country… he and his family should not be living a lifestyle that feeds off of riches…while his own subjects are forced to accept help from outside countries!  That should be considered shameful to the King of Swaziland and it’s officials.  It is, to me, a failure to fulfill his duties to provide care for the people under his rule.

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City Of Brotherly Love Under The Influence Of Fear And Anger

        An investigation has begun, in the city of Brotherly Love, because of a video tape shot by a television crew; it shows officers pulling three suspects out of a vehicle and then kicking and punching them. 

        The three suspects were involved in a shooting earlier.  Officers witnessed four suspects getting out of a vehicle earlier and shooting into a group of men.  One of the suspects got away by running from the scene.  The other three drove off and were chased by the officers and stopped.  The video shows the officers pulling them from the vehicle and beating & kicking the suspects, on Monday. 

          There has been a strong current of anxiety since Saturday when another officer was shot and killed.  The officer’s name was Stephen Liczbinski, and he was a police Sgt.   Three arrests have been made in the fatal shooting of officer Stephen Liczbinski.  That shooting set the atmosphere presumably for the incident on the video tape.  Emotions on all sides, the police department as well as the public, are inflamed.

           Officers, that were involved, are being pulled off of their regular beats during this investigation.  There are reports that as many as 15 officers could be involved in this video taped beating.  Of course, none of us know what went on before the video or after the video was filmed.  However, i think it would be very difficult to find any reason that would allow for such violent and extreme actions on the part of the officers.  If it happened the way it appears to look on tape, then it is nothing short of an abuse of power. 

          This is a horrible situation.  It damages everyone.  There will be more information released when the investigation is done…but in the meantime, it will be difficult to keep peace.

         When the trust of the police department in any city, or town is compromised; it creates nothing but anger, fear and mistrust.  This is not a good situation for the public safety or for the integrity of the police department.  

           The real shame is that this investigation is going to take some of the focus off of the officer who was shot and killed, doing his duty with honor.  Hopefully, a city that is being torn asunder will still find a way to mourn the loss of their officer, Stephen Liczbinski; and support his family.

         

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Drinking While Pregnant

I am mad!  Maybe more than a little, in fact.  I read an article on the net that concerns a review on studies of binge drinking.  The article does not have a byline.    A reader reading this article,  does not know who wrote the article; and that is a shame, because it perpetuates a damaging myth!  It would be nice to know who wrote it, because then they could be educated.

It states that people know drinking a large amount of alcohol often, during pregnancy, is known to cause health problems and learning disabilities for the child.

However, it also says that the review doesn’t clearly show that occasional, binge drinking while pregnant is problematic.  It says that more studies are needed!  Please!!!

Later in the article, it says something to the effect that, until we have more scientific “proof”, women who occasionally binge drink while pregnant should not worry over much.  That is CRAZY TALK!   See this:  http://www.nofas.org/.

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