Science leaves no room for faith and so when you have people like 82-year-old Prahlad Jani who says he does not need food or water and is considered a holy man by followers in India, science says it’s impossible. That it can’t happen. But for 15 days, doctors observed Prahlad Jani in a hospital setting. And in that fifteen days he took in no food or no water and he passed no urine or feces. He’s thin but otherwise healthy— especially given that he’s 82 years old.

There are those, and will always be those, who claim this man is a fraud. But holy books the world over say something like “As you believe, so shall it be.” But that is a matter of faith and has no room in science….so scientists are “baffled” by people like Prahlad Jani.

There’s a growing trend to prosecute children as adults when the crimes they commit are “adult” in nature. I have a real problem with this for several reasons, many of which are evident in the story of an Omaha teenager who faces the prospect of 110 years in prison for shooting at a police officer and for his role in a drug-related robbery about two months prior to shooting at the officer.

First of all, I’m totally against penalties being stiffer just because the person shot at or assaulted or killed is a law enforcement officer. It makes it appear as if law enforcement officers are better than your average humans. Or that their lives are more valuable.

Second, the officer was not even hit, but he did hit the 15-year-old in the chest with return fire.  But of course that falls under “justifiable” because the officer was being shot at. And of course it’s easier to hit someone in the torso than it is to disable them by hitting them in the leg, despite the fact that you’re more likely to kill them by hitting them in the torso.

Third, the draw of the gangs is the money to be made from drugs. And drugs are illegal because the short-sighted government didn’t learn its lesson from Prohibition. If drugs were legal, gangs wouldn’t have anything to fight over. When was the last time you heard of gangs fighting over territory to sell alcohol or cigarettes?

Fourth, we live in a society where getting the most money you can is revered, even when it means other people are suffering. (An ABC poll on their website on July 31, 2010 asks “Would it be unethical to make money on the oil spill cleanup?” At 12:55 pm EDT, 1088 people said, “No, if an effective clean up effort earns someone some money, everyone wins.” Only 525 people said, “Yes, this is an unprecedented tragedy and profiteering would be unseemly.” Poll sponsored by SodaHead.com.) Look at what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Look at the profiteering of Haliburton and Dick Cheney and George Bush making money hand over fist due to the rise in gas prices because of the war Bush/Cheney started. Look at the outrageous salaries of major CEOs and their benefit packages that give them tens of millions of dollars more every year while the rank and file are losing jobs and plants closing.

Fifth, we live in a society that glorifies violence in movies, music, television, sports, books, video games….Being raised in a violent society affects our sense of right and wrong; acceptable and unacceptable. We see people getting paid lots of money to be violent.

Sixth, we live in a society that rewards lying, cheating, stealing, deception. Just look at reality TV. Just look at how Dick Cheney and George Bush have been rewarded after lying about WMDs in Iraq. After lying about Iraq and 9/11.  Just look at sports superstars like Tiger Woods who cheat on their wives, yet still make millions in endorsements and winnings.

Seventh, we are pushing our children to grow up faster and faster. Just look at the clothes young girls (and I’m talking 5 year olds) can get from stores! Shows like “Toddlers and Tiaras” show mothers making their three year olds look like adults in sexy clothing. We’re forcing our kids to grow up faster by making them more responsible for their own welfare because often times the child’s parent(s) must (both) work two jobs just to pay the bills.

Eighth, he’s only 15 years old. His brain isn’t even done forming all the connections it needs to form to be able to make rational decisions, to think of long term consequences, to avoid rash decisions. Psychologically, he’s still being “finished” and rather than sticking him in an adult jail that focuses on punishment, it would make more common sense to put him in the juvenile system that focuses on rehabilitation.

But, of course, many DAs are elected and have political ambitions beyond prosecuting criminals. Having a “get tough on crime regardless of the perps age” looks good in campaign ads. What does it matter if a few kids who could have been saved are left to rot in jail for the rest of their lives if it gets you some votes!

And finally, there’s the desire of many Americans to go for the easiest solution, not the most just. That way they don’t have to think about it or deal with it and can go on with their lives believing that the world’s becoming a better place to live because some poor kid is now sitting in a jail cell for the rest of his life.

There’s several things in this story that are very frightening.

The story involves a 14 year old boy who saw a 3 year old child standing in a store. The toddler, the boy thought, was lost and he had just seen a group of women leaving the store. Thinking one of them might be her mother, he took her hand and took her outside the store. Moments later, the girl’s panicked mother came out, found her daughter, thanked the young man (according to Roman’s mother) and everyone went about their business. Until, that is, the police showed up a few minutes later and arrested the young man for kidnapping.

Apparently a clerk had called 911 (because the child’s mother had asked her too, according to an Mike Thomas, writing in the Orlando Sentinel) and reported a possible abduction. But here’s the scary parts.

Surveillance video from the store as well as Edwin’s mother’s version of what happened contradict what the store clerk reported seeing. So once again, we see that “eyewitness” testimony isn’t all that reliable.

Scary part #2. Using only the clerk’s statements in the 911 call, and despite the fact that the child had been reunited with her mother and that the young man was not attempting to flee the scene or was in no way acting suspicious, police still arrested him in the store.

Scary part #3. The young man was black and the arresting officer has a history of racially motivated arrests and incidents, including shooting and killing an unarmed black man.

Scary part #4. This young man, who had no criminal record at all, now has an unwarranted arrest record and, if he had been charged and convicted, could have spent up to five years in a juvenile detention center for trying to do the right thing and help a little girl find her mother. (Charges were dropped but there is still the air of “he got off because of technicalities” in the explanation given by the state for not pressing charges.)

Here’s a kid who sees another kid in trouble and does the right thing: try to help. And for that effort, instead of being rewarded, he’s arrested, publicly humiliated and charged with false imprisonment, a felony. And he’s investigated by the sex crimes unit! For nothing!

This is what living under the fear-mongering of the previous misadministration has done to this country. This is what the “all or nothing”/”black and white” thinking of the previous misadministration has done to the rational thinking processes of those who are charged with protecting us. This is what the “all men are depraved and deserve death but for the mercy of God” rhetoric being spewed from the mouths of fundamentalist televangelists 24/7/365 does to the common sense of human beings. This is what racism does to young black children.

A family in Connecticut that runs a pizzeria has come under investigation by that state’s Department of Labor for allegedly violating child labor laws by having their children help out in the pizzeria on weekends.

Excuse me, but what a colossal waste of taxpayer money! The kids don’t miss school to work at the pizzeria that’s been in their family for 55 years. The kids don’t get paid and they want to be there to learn the family business! The parents don’t let the children operate or near dangerous equipment.

This is not a case of parents exploiting their children for money. It’s not a case of child abuse where the parents force the child to work instead of go to school. These are kids who want to someday run the family business and are learning the ropes from the ground floor up!

But the state, in its infinite wisdom, decides to come in and tell the family, “No, you can’t do that or we can fine you!” I can see checking out a report of a child working at a pizzeria. You have to err on the side of the child’s welfare when you receive such a report. I get that. Fine. But now that you know what’s going on, drop it! It’s over! It can always be reopened if necessary. But right now, it’s not necessary! The government just needs to butt out!

I used to be one of those who, in my ignorance, supported the Israeli government without question. After all, Israel had originally belonged to the Jews (or so we were taught in our Catholic schools) and after all the Jews had suffered during WWII, they deserved their own homeland where no one could again force them from their homes, take over their lands, close their businesses, restrict their ability to work and relocate them to camps with vastly insufficient sanitation and housing. Little did I know way back then that that was exactly what the Israeli government was doing to the Palestinian people.

Now I do. And I find it incomprehensible that a government formed by people whose parents/grandparents and perhaps even siblings or children died in Nazi concentration camps could then turn around and do the same damn thing to the Palestinian people. It matters not that they’ve not killed as many has Hitler did. It’s the principle of the matter!

Yet when someone complains about the actions of the Israeli government, which routinely ignores UN mandates calling for a cessation of their invasions of other countries and their bombing runs over other countries, they are labeled an anti-Semite.

People like the seniors at a California high school who play games like “Beat the Jew” are anti-Semite. People like Fred Phelps who call Jews the “real Nazis” are anti-Semite. People who paint swastikas on synagogues are anti-Semites. But people who oppose the hypocrisy of the Israeli government for treating the Palestinians just like the Nazis treated the Jews are not anti-Semite. They’re simply anti-Israeli government. Helen Thomas, whose long career as a White House correspondent came to an abrupt end because she told the Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine”, isn’t an anti-Semite because she’s tired of the Palestinian people being abused by the Israeli government and voiced her opinion as such.

When a government not only denies those whom it has displaced outside aid, but kills nine people who were bringing that aid, then there’s a damn good reason to be anti-Israeli government. When the Israeli government is still taking the homes and land of the Palestinians to expand a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, then there’s a damn good reason to be anti-Isreali government.

I’m so pleased that President Obama has started to criticize the Israeli government and to reconsider aid to Israel because of their government’s actions. I’m tired of the unconditional support previous administrations have given the Israeli government and the billions of dollars in aid and weapons we provide that end up killing innocent men, women and children because they had the misfortune to live near a suspected insurgent/militant/terrorist. The hypocrisy is appalling and disgusting.

There was a heartbreaking story in the LA Times yesterday about two young boys, ages 10 and 12, found shot to death about 60′ behind their home. The police at this stage of the game are saying that the evidence suggests either a murder-suicide or a suicide pact and that which it was will probably never be known. However, they’re now looking into the possibility of criminal charges against the father if they find the gun was not properly secured.

Excuse me, but this is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of! This father will have to live with the fact that his sons are dead because of the gun that he owned. THAT is far more punishment than the state can ever throw at him for failing to properly secure the gun in the first place. Both parents will have to live with two questions they may never have answered. “Did one of my children murder the other?”  and “Why, if they both committed suicide, did I not see this coming?”

Perhaps they can console themselves with the possibility that one shot the other accidentally and then, distraught at what had happened, took his own life. But unless it can be shown that the father shot the two boys himself, he shouldn’t face the possibility of criminal charges over the death of his two sons. No prison can punish him as much as he’s going to punish himself.

There’s probably a lot of people out there who don’t even know what the Spur Posse was. The Spur Posse was a group of high school boys who kept score of how many different girls they had sex with. Each girl earned them one point. The Posse became embroiled in a bitter debate as whether or not they were engaging in typical teenage behavior or whether they were committing rape. Sadly, most of the parents of the boys defended their sons and blamed the girls for being “sluts” and “trash”. Even the other students in the school treated the boys like heroes and the girls like the enemy.

Now, a private school in Maryland has just broken up a “fantasy league” that involved not football, baseball, hockey or basketball teams but girls the boys would have sex with at parties. Unlike the Spur Posse, which went on for more than four years before being broken up, this “fantasy league” was busted before the first party ever took place.

Why is it that in this day and age there is still a double standard when it comes to boys, girls and sex? Girls who have teenage sex are considered sluts or trash. Boys who have teenage sex are only doing what comes naturally. I know there will be those people who claim that there’s a double standard when it comes to women teachers having sex with their students: that if a man had had sex with a young girl, he’d have been fried. But if a woman has sex with a young boy, she gets what is essentially a slap on the wrist. I agree that’s a double standard, but it’s borne out of the double standard where a boy’s sexual exploits, especially with an older woman, are something to be proud of and to brag about!

Many parents of the boys in the Spur Posse said the girls had self-esteem issues and that their sons did not. I would disagree. I think their sons had as many self-esteem issues as the girls. Only the boys’ most evident  self-esteem problems went the other way, bordering on egomania. However, they had another self-esteem problem that was evidenced by their lack of self-respect and the fact that very few of them wore condoms during their sexual activities. Every act of unprotected sex was like pointing a loaded gun to their head and pulling the trigger. To put their health and safety on the line for what was essentially a meaningless sexual encounter demonstrated a real lack of a sense of self-worth.

Unfortunately, the same is true today for so many people. People confuse sex and love and think the more sex they have, the more they are loved. Far too many people look to those outside themselves to find a sense of validation or worth. But in a society where the most popular religion tells you that you’re worthless and deserve death and are only alive by the mercy of God, is that really a surprise?

Have you heard about the new curriculum standards in Texas? They’ve decided to focus more on the Christianity of the founding fathers and on Republican/Christian icons like Newt Gingrich. (Yes, the Newt Gingrich that’s been divorced twice, went to his wife’s bedside (she was suffering from cancer) to discuss their divorce and began his affair with his third wife while persecuting Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Can we say “Hypocrite!”?) Why should that concern anyone who doesn’t live in Texas? Texas public schools have more students than any other state and textbook publishers tend to follow the lead set by the Texas Board of Education with respect to the curriculum taught. Just another example of the rrr (radical religious right) attempting to re-Christianize this nation and overthrow the US Constitution. (And I say “re-Christianize” because Christians have always had special privileges in this country and now that those privileges are being taken away, they’re raising a ruckus and claiming persecution.)

Another blatant attempt to “Christianize” America is happening in the California courts. Four self-described conservative Christians ran against four incumbent judges in California this past June. Their goal was to get rid of what they consider “liberal” judges and replace them with Christian judges. Fortunately for the people of California, the four Christian challengers lost. But their agenda is very clearly stated by one of the challengers, Craig Candelore:

We believe our country is under assault and needs Christian values….Unfortunately, God has called upon us to do this only with the judiciary….f we can take our judiciary, we can take our legislature and our executive branch.

And the rrr complains about “activist judges” who are doing their duty by upholding the US Constitution no matter how popular a law may be. I guess Mr. Candelore doesn’t understand why we have three branches of government that have checks and balances on them so none of the three can become two powerful. And I guess he also doesn’t understand the first amendment of the US Constitution. But then the rrr’s brand of Christianity and the US Constitution are like oil and water: they can’t exist together.

And here’s why we have to avoid allowing the rrr to re-Christianize this nation. In Florida, a teacher who got pregnant three weeks before her marriage was fired from her job at a Christian school for “fornication”. Then the school decided to tell not only the parents but the students why the woman had been fired. She is filing a lawsuit against them but my guess is she won’t get anywhere with it, especially if she was aware of the strict morality code that the school employed or signed an agreement to follow the morality guidelines. Imagine if the rrr succeeds in making public schools Christian schools…

And finally, another reason to fight the re-Christianizing of America. Court documents show that Pope Benedict XVI, while still a cardinal, refused to defrock a priest who had not only admitted to sexually abusing children but who had spent time in jail for doing so. He was following church law set in place by John Paul II which made it harder for priests to be defrocked without a lengthy trial. Can you imagine if the Catholic version of “justice” becomes part of the US judicial process?

I’ve spent many long hours researching and documenting the hypocrisies and policies and put all that research and info into a site called “Exposed! Unmasking the Agenda of the Radical Religious Right: Dismantling the Constitution of the United States of America.” The site hasn’t been updated since before the last presidential election but the information in it is still relevant. While Marilyn Musgrave may no longer be in Congress and Rick Santorum is no longer in the Senate, the fact remains that far too many politicians are in the pockets of the rrr. Their brand of Christianity is in direct conflict with the principles of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” set forth in the US Constitution and if they get a majority in power, they will dismantle the Constitution as soon as they can. The damage done by the PATRIOT Act alone has yet to be undone, let alone all the executive orders issued by Bush.

The wall of separation between church and state must be rebuilt. We must stop the rrr from taking power in this country.

All I can say is Wow! What a lucky man! I’m glad he realizes how lucky he is too.

We’re probably all familiar with the names Dylan Harris and Eric Klebold too. These two young men were responsible for the Columbine massacre, something they claimed in writings later found was planned and executed because of constant bullying. While Columbine was not the first school shooting and certainly not the last, it shone a spotlight on a growing problem in our schools: bullying.

But bullying more often results in the victim doing harm to him-/herself. Celina Okwuone was just 11 years old. She went to a Catholic grade school in Florida. She was apparently subjected to bullying at school according to her diaries, which are going to be made public. The bullying got to the point where she chose to end her life, hanging herself from her closet with a belt around her neck.

But now there’s a whole new form of danger to our kids: online bullying, often referred to as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can be done from anywhere in the world. You don’t even have to know the person you’re bullying. You just have to have access to the internet.

Perhaps the most famous case of cyberbullying to date is that of  Megan Meier, the 13-year-old girl in Missouri who killed herself after her online “friend” told her he heard she was cruel. The “friend” turned out to be a creation of the mother of one of Megan’s former friends, who I hope has found a way to live with her role in the young girl’s death and who I hope has entered therapy along with her daughter to learn healthy coping skills.

While Megan’s case was shocking and shone a spotlight on a growing problem, it was not the first and most certainly not the last case of kids being victimized by the other internet users. Child pornography has exploded online. Child molesters are entering teen chat rooms and pretending to be young teens and conning real teens into meeting them, placing the child in very real danger.

Now comes the case of “Jessi Slaughter” (her cybername, since she’s too young to have her real name used, despite the fact that her face has been plastered all over the internet.) Jessi’s is a bit of a convoluted because she herself, at 11-years-old, makes an online death threat in a video posted on You Tube against those who are bullying her. When the video went viral, Jessi herself began receiving death threats. And to make matters worse, her own father gets in on one of the rants and makes his own threats against his daughter’s tormentors.

What is wrong with this society?!?!?!

I understand as a parent we absolutely cannot control what our kids do once they’re out of our sight. Cell phones now almost all have internet capabilities. Even gaming systems can allow kids to get online. Even some MP3 players allow for internet access. Not to mention school computers which, while they’re supposed to prevent access to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, really can’t prevent it when the kids are often more computer/internet savvy than their teachers anymore.

But when your child is at home, where is the parental supervision? As a parent, my kids did not have unlimited access to the internet for all their free time when they were 11-years-old. Granted, that was before gaming systems or phones offered online access and before wi-fi was available almost everywhere, but I like to think that I’d be more aware of what my child was doing in my own home.

More importantly, what are these parents thinking when they rant and rave on webcams or make up fictitious people to taunt other children with? What kind of example are they setting for their children? How is that teaching them healthy coping skills?

The brain is a wondrous organ. But it is an incomplete organ when we are born and it continues to mature and grow until we’re into our early 20s. Before that, especially for kids who are tweens, things like impulse control and the ability to understand long term consequences are simply not something they can fathom. They don’t have the neural connections necessary for those activities to occur. It’s not that they choose to act rashly, it’s that they can’t fathom any other way because their brain hasn’t made the necessary connections yet. When that happens occurs at different points in time for each kid. Just like there are time frames for a child’s first words, there are time frames for impulse control and understanding long term consequences.

Until such time as our children are able to grasp these concepts, it is our duty as a parent and our duty as a society to do what we can to protect our children from themselves and from those who would take advantage of them. (Another aspect of this is charging kids as adults but I’ll deal with that in a later post.) We can’t stop all of them from hurting themselves or others, but at least we can stop setting such poor examples for them as Lori Drew (the woman who created the fake account in the Megan Meier story) and Gene Leonhardt (”Jessi’s” dad) have done by not only condoning but participating in violent threats, bullying and/or deception.