Actor Alan Cumming has spoken out against infant circumcision. I agree with the thought that it is mutilation. Leave them alone, and if the boy decides he wants to be circumcised as an adult, he has that option.
I wrote about this in a previous blog.
What are your first thoughts after reading this? “What a terrible mother” “She should lose those kids”
Clearly, they can’t continue living in those conditions….but instead of taking her kids away, how about helping her clean out the place and getting her some help? Clearly she is overwhelmed with five kids and too many dogs—
…and as usual, the story fails to ask….”where is the father?” Why is he not helping out–financially, physically, emotionally? Where were her family members before it got to this point? Is she making a living wage to be able to support herself and her family?
I’m not saying she doesn’t bear responsibility for what happened…but where is the support system?
I was watching CNN’s coverage of the hearing for Justin Ross Harris, the Georgia father who left his child, Cooper, in a car during a hot Georgia day, claiming he “forgot” his child.
The hearing barely began and this guy’s actions revealed a depraved person.
As police officer Stoddard described Ross’ actions–he was more worried about how this death affected him, instead of how his poor child suffered. Same reaction in the courtroom that day–he sat emotionless as the police officer described Cooper’s condition upon arrival. Nothing from this guy…until a witness began describing Justin’s reactions that day–which I’m leaning towards as staged–especially after learning that both Justin and his wife were doing internet searches on kids left in hot cars.
When I was watching Alex Hall testify, I was struck by his lack of emotion, also. I mean, this is the son of your buddy, wouldn’t that make you cry that this poor child suffered and is now dead?
I have not been for the death penalty for a long time, but this case is making me reexamine that–as they described poor Cooper with his eyes and mouth open and claw marks down his face as he evidently was suffering and unable to escape that oven–I want Justin and his wife to suffer as Cooper did. I know I’m just being emotional right now, but God, I want them to be locked in a car with no ability to escape and suffer as he did.
I cannot even wrap my brain around such depravity.
Why not give the child up for adoption if you no longer wanted to parent him? No, these narcissist sociopaths could not allow that…they wanted the life insurance money.
Just wanted to give you a head’s up on something the mercury group has posted~
Vitamin Research Products (vrp.com) is no longer stocking DMSA, one of the chelators of mercury and lead. They just suddenly stopped stocking it and have even removed the page from their website.
This is not good news. They were the main supplier of DMSA. Theories are abound that Big Pharma is behind this–buying out the competition. And if they can buy out natural cures, they can force sick people to buy their side-effect-laden crap.
There are also allegations that Obamacare is limiting natural methods of healing, such as chelation supplements, making it harder for folks to get well. I don’t know this for fact, but it is one of the reasons I have not signed up for the health care. Another reason is the link to the insurance industry instead of single-payer, which would have been more palatable, being like Medicare for All.
I can tell you that many of us on the group lost jobs as a result of mercury–therefore, we had lost the ability to pay for medical insurance and the ability to pay for supplements that insurance didn’t cover. But at least the supplements were available…and cheap. I would have not gotten well without that. So once again, the poor take a hit for the uber wealthy to make even more profits….
I suspected that Big Pharma would try to grab this part of the market again, because they had in the past and continually try to get some twerp in Congress to do their bidding with making supplements illegal.
With billions of dollars and high-priced lawyers, they have gotten away with trying to take credit for natural healing herbs and methods, such as those used in India. These were used for thousands of years…and Big Pharma comes along and tries to claim a patent. Utterly mindboggling. More here on Big Pharma’s battle to get a share of the market in India. An even better explanation of it here.
Big Pharma tries to claim that compulsory licenses aren’t available for cancer drugs – a lie; or that they are only available for national emergencies – another lie; or that India is establishing a general exception to patents for pharmaceuticals – an even bigger lie. Sovereigns retain the right under TRIPS to issue compulsory licenses or to allow public, non-commercial use of patented products or processes. As long as the correct procedures are followed and adequate remuneration is paid, the patent holder has nothing legitimate to complain about – unless, of course, it is a U.S. multinational who doesn’t want an emerging country like India to get in its way.
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…or for a group of U.S. citizens who want natural methods to heal their bodies to get their way….
And unfortunately, that’s not all that the greedy are trying to patent.
Lastly, here is a good segment on DN! with Vandana and Mira Shiva–two “uppity” women I admire for fighting the good fight~~
Vandana brings up the point of liability. It would seem that none of the chemical companies — be it Dow/Union Carbide or any Big Pharma — want to take responsibility for the harm that they cause. All the profits. None of the guilt.
She also highlights the attitudes towards the poor–they don’t matter so let’s poison them or use them as guinea pigs.
It was great to hear of them speak of their strong mother in the end~~no junk food in the house. My father, too, did not allow junk food in the house when I was growing up–a parent who cares is not going to feed their child junk. I heard the other day of parents of my children’s generation feeding their kids nothing but junk…and they don’t see anything wrong with that. Very unsettling. Regretfully, I didn’t appreciate my Dad’s wisdom until recently. I always felt deprived because other kids got to have a “treat” of junk food on Friday night. Just before the divorce, my sister would make Chef Boy-ar-dee pizzas on Friday night. I felt happy at getting that “treat”. Pfft. The “treat” that kills.
Food is medicine. Weeds are medicine. When will we learn to value that which is not valuable by profit-making and make that available to all, not just those with cash in hand??
This is just freaking A-W-E-S-O-M-E.
Glad to see a guy fighting back against the rape/violence culture.
What is amazing about this is that this stuff was happening up to the 80s (and up to the 70s in the States)…and had pretty much been happening since the European invasion. Terrible, terrible thing to do to these families. We now know that this wasn’t about the child’s welfare as much as it was about a self-righteous idea of imposing one’s religion upon others–about forcing others to conform to what your narrow view of how a society should operate.
More thoughts on the prior post and feminism in general.
Because the thing that continues to upset me is that there isn’t much mention of women who stay at home. The emphasis is on women and careers…but not embracing the women and particularly children. Women at home are particularly vulnerable…and in need of support. Note that I don’t say they need protection, as in overbearing control–but rather, support for whatever decision they make.
As I get older, I realize more than ever how much it meant to stay at home…even though at times it nearly drove me crazy…because it was so isolating. Women who stay at home need to be connected without being smothered…is that a possibility? They also need financial support in the way of Social Security in their own names and accounts. This would ensure her being taken care of in old age and a small price to pay for giving kids the best start in life.
I mean, if this country values kids, giving them that special time to grow up in a place where they’re not treated like a number, not held to a rigid schedule (yes, I know some households are kept on a schedule–mine wasn’t– other than mealtimes, bedtimes, that sort of thing.). Being un-scheduled allows one to just let the mind run free–openly explore, and clear the mind for new ideas. I look at daycare centers as making kids feel like a number. And feeling rushed in life. I can’t see a kid being able to ride a bike down the lane when at daycare five days a week. They get little time after they get home on weeknights (none in the winter for any outside activity). And by that time, the creativity and spontaneity is dulled…if not completely gone.
I’ve just seen such a dramatic change with my generation’s working mothers that it can’t be denied how important it is for someone–be it mother or father–to stay home and allow kids their childhoods. I know that is difficult with the stagnant wages and for single Moms…but there again, we should be supporting them with livable wages and a support system so that the kids could be at home.
Just airing my thoughts…
