Lessons of The Weeping Camel for Texas
The Story of the Weeping Camel is a riveting drama that follows the recovery from postpartum depression by a camel. This is poignant and eye opening, because this first time mother is experiencing the mental breakdown that many human mothers experience after giving birth. Postpartum depression is a mental health issue. The camel herders tried everything they could to mend the broken emotional state of the camel and her rejected calf. They finally had to get a professional to help, because the calf was going to die without it’s mother. This remote location in Mongolia only offered professional help in the form of Buddhist monks and ritual music therapy.
First, all the best intentions in the world are ineffective when they do NOT communicate to someone who is mentally ill. If you don’t understand what is happening, you are not helping but making it worse.
Second, there really are knowledge bases that specifically target specific mental health issues. There really are trained professionals who have better tools to treat the mentally ill. Sometimes mental illness is a symptom of a different medical or environmental problem.
Third, the stigma of mental health is a giant wall, that no one wants to address, let alone climb. This prevents most mentally ill from receiving effective treatment.
Fourth, just like some aspects of Alcoholics Anonymous, you have to admit there is a problem, there must be acceptance and diagnosis. You have to hit bottom before you can bounce back. Interpreted as, admit you are powerless over issues you are not trained to address. Diagnosis is critical. Mental health issues evolve and can rarely self correct.
Fifth, mentally ill people who are not identified and diagnosed, are not treated. Untreated mental illness can only get worse. Mentally ill acting out is hazardous to all, and creates a multitude of victims. Mental illness self propagates itself by harming other people, causing even more undiagnosed, untreated mental health issues. Child Abuse Can Lead to a Lifetime of Bad Decisions and can affect a child mentally and physically while impacting choices throughout life. Children who were abused were at a greater risk to take drugs and abuse their own children as adults.
SIXTH, there is creative mental illness and there is destructive mental illness. Sometimes there is a very thin line between them. It is important to note that any diagnosis is subjective. Even mental health professionals are at odds to the point of contradicting each other. Today, there is a grand dispute about re-categorizing mental health disorders. Why? Because insurance companies, health corporations, politics and Big Pharma have a say in how the world addresses this under-reported human condition. It is unfortunate that the American Government has such a bad track record of effectively addressing mental health. Aside from all the agencies that study it. Especially considering that it contributes to the mental health problem by sending soldiers, diplomats and contractors around the world to experience conditions that cause mental issues. There is a worldwide cultural bias against specific kinds of disorders.
WIKI:
The consumer/survivor movement (also known as user/survivor movement) is made up of individuals (and organizations representing them) who are clients of mental health services or who consider themselves survivors of psychiatric interventions. Activists campaign for improved mental health services and for more involvement and empowerment within mental health services, policies and wider society.[85][86][87] Patient advocacy organizations have expanded with increasing deinstitutionalization in developed countries, working to challenge the stereotypes, stigma and exclusion associated with psychiatric conditions. There is also a carers rights movement of people who help and support people with mental health conditions, who may be relatives, and who often work in difficult and time-consuming circumstances with little acknowledgement and without pay. An antipsychiatry movement fundamentally challenges mainstream psychiatric theory and practice, including in some cases asserting that psychiatric concepts and diagnoses of ‘mental illness’ are neither real nor useful.[88][89][90] Alternatively, a movement for global mental health has emerged, defined as ‘the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide’.[91]
Mainstream Media, religions and modern culture are all culpable. We know better, now. A mentally ill human is not occupied by demons. They are not to be dismissed as crazy, eclectic, a little off, obsessed or just unique. 
Unless someone is a mental health professional, your holy person, your grandmother, your favorite blogger, is not your best resource for addressing someone you know who has issues.
In this technologically advanced and socially advanced culture, that we call America, the State of Texas is finally admitting the consequences of ignoring mental health care. This is a remarkable event that Texas lawmakers are actually reviewing the inadequate mental health system in the state.
Texas lawmakers review mental health programs
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Both Republican and Democratic senators agree that Texas needs to do more to help the mentally ill.
Democratic Sen. Jose Rodriguez pointed out Wednesday that Texas ranks 50th in the nation in per capita funding for mental health programs. Republican Sen. Joan Huffman observed that so many mentally ill people have ended up in the Harris County jail that it has become the largest treatment facility for mental illness in the United States.
A top official, Michael Maples, reported that 10,000 people are currently on the waiting list for mental health treatment.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met Wednesday to discuss what the Legislature can do to address the problem. While mental health programs are expensive, senators agreed that treating patients earlier will save money.
The visit by Buddhist monks revealed common knowledge among people of the earth. Technologically advanced countries are plundering the earth and changing the earth’s ability to support her burden. In some ways, the Buddhist Monks were the best mental health professionals available to the Weeping Camel family. When you admit your helpfulness is no longer effective, like the nomad family learned, seek professional help.
Sometimes we love the mentally ill, Texas just lost one of it’s favorites. Leslie Cochran was an icon. WIKI: Albert Leslie Cochran (June 24, 1951 – March 8, 2012) was an American peace activist, cross-dresser, urban outdoorsman and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless. Cochran was known in Austin as Leslie.[1] Cochran was considered the man who personified “Keep Austin Weird.”[2][3][4] He was the creative consciousness of Austin Texas.
Sometimes mental illness is the light that we use to see beyond our own condition. The Arts and Sciences are depictions of creative mental illness. Destruction is the opposite depiction. What would happen if there were no mental illness at all? We would be as human as inanimate objects. We would not be human at all. Mental illness is a category that defines us as human. Mental Illness is just one side of the human mental condition. Like all living things, our minds are dynamic and influenced by everything they are exposed to. Undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues cost everyone, dearly. Misunderstanding the human mind can be fatal.
What is Mental Illness: Mental Illness Facts
Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.
Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. The good news about mental illness is that recovery is possible.
Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses are treatable. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment plan.
In addition to medication treatment, psychosocial treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, peer support groups and other community services can also be components of a treatment plan and that assist with recovery. The availability of transportation, diet, exercise, sleep, friends and meaningful paid or volunteer activities contribute to overall health and wellness, including mental illness recovery.
Understanding the scope of mental health problems and treatment in the United States is central to NIMH’s mission. Much of what we understand in this area comes from research in the field of epidemiology; the scientific study of patterns of health and illness within a population. Research on psychiatric epidemiology shows that mental disorders are common throughout the United States, affecting tens of millions of people each year, and that only a fraction of those affected receive treatment.
The resource below represents an extensive collection of our best statistics on the prevalence, treatment, and costs of mental disorders. Equally important are sections that have been included on mental health-related disability and on suicide.
This resource is a continuing work in progress, and will be updated regularly as new statistics are released. As it continues to develop, NIMH seeks users’ comments and suggestions on its content, as well as its usability. Comments may be sent to NIMHstatistics@mail.nih.gov.
Hey, if I told you I made all this up, would it make any difference to your attitude about mental health? Would you rather not think about it? Is your rug big enough to sweep these issues under?
I may admit that I am crazy, but I did NOT make all this up! We are still reporting stories about children being locked away in attics, basements, closets and starved to death because a mentally ill person cannot relate to a child!
Texas child abuse, neglect deaths soar 31 percent
Texas Child Fatality Review
Andre Gide: ~ Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
Texas Progressive Alliance May 14, 2012
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week’s blog roundup.
Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33.
BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a black lady fired a warning shot into a wall. Firing a gun in irresponsible ways is natural in Texas. But, Florida has contradictory laws that allow courts to pick and choose who gets punished for similar irresponsible behavior. You can decide for yourself how good a job of it they do.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry came to Williamson County this week, he endorsed John Bradley for DA. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the rest of the story, Birds of a feather.
It was a good week to be gay if you were Barack Obama and John Carona, and a bad week to be gay if you were Mitt Romney and Dan Patrick. And if you think that’s confusing, wait until you read what PDiddie at Brains and Eggs said about Greg Abbott’s rose petals and Joe Arpaio’s pink panties.
Lewisville Texan Journal looks at Republican candidate for HD 106, Pat Fallon’s residence, and addresses whether he committed voter fraud by voting from an address where he apparently did not live.
At TexasKaos, lightseeker asks Could the Education Cuts be the beginning of the End for Texas Republican? Check out the details.
Neil at Texas Liberal endorsed Sean Hubbard in the Democratic primary for the open U.S. Senate seat.
The Week of May 14 in Texas History:
Today in Texas History: Treaty of Velasco signed
On this date in 1836, ad interim president David G. Burnet and Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Velasco, following the Texans’ victory at San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution.
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Two treaties were signed — a public treaty providing for the end of the war, exchanging of prisoners and the safety of Santa Anna; and a secret treaty wherein Santa Anna promised to try to deliver on the conditions of the public treaty.
Both the Texas and the Mexican government, however, violated the treaties and their conflict continued. Mexico did not recognize Texas’ independence, and the Texas boundary was not established until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in February 1848, ending the Mexican War.
Texas Germans declare slavery to be evil - May 14, 1854
On this day in 1854, Texas Germans gathered to discuss the national crisis over slavery. At the the annual Staats-Saengerfest (State Singers’ Festival), held on May 14 and 15, delegates from various local political clubs of German citizens in western Texas met in San Antonio and, following the lead of the Freier Mann Verein (Freeman’s Association) organized by fellow Germans in the Northern states, adopted a mildly worded plank declaring that slavery was an evil and that abolition was the business of the states. The resolution went on to maintain that a state should be able to obtain help from the federal government to effect abolition. By “help” the convention meant that the state would ask the federal government to pay the owners for freed slaves. The declaration, along with more strongly worded antislavery newspaper articles in the German language press, led many Anglo-Texans to question the loyalty of their German neighbors on the slavery question, and eventually helped fuel mistrust when Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861.
GERMANS, Leaks notwithstanding, new Capitol dedicated in Austin – May 14, 1888
On this day in 1888 began a week-long celebration dedicating the present Capitol building of Texas. Unfortunately, the Capitol Board refused to accept the structure because its copper roof leaked and because of several other minor problems. After builder Gustav Wilke repaired the roof and made other corrections, the board accepted the building on December 6 of that year.
Does Florida Lift Its Racist Skirts Again?
The “Stand Your Ground Law” apparently only applies to whites in Florida. This law that contradicts the “Stand Your Ground Law” is, the “10-20-Life Law”. Is this a a product of “institutional racism”? Does it all depend on who the victim is and who the perpetrator is? Florida depends on some pretty questionable laws, some are contradictory, regarding the use of a firearm. The prosecutor claims because there were children in the area, the most severe law must be applied. The “stand your ground” was not considered because Marissa returned to the house to get her car keys? WOW! Did the court rule on the claim that Marissa had been threatened by her husband? If indeed she was threatened, can it be proved? Would a white woman be required to prove that threat? Are all the questions really answered? Is a 20 year sentence really called for in this specific case? Florida’s laws are glaringly vague about Domestic Violence. Sure, Florida has agencies and organizations that address Domestic Violence, but the laws are very poor. Marissa Alexander had no prior criminal record. Why does this feel wrong?
Marissa Alexander gets 20 years for firing warning shot after Stand Your Ground defense fails
Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in controversial warning shot case (CNN)– Saying he had no discretion under state law, a judge sentenced a Jacksonville, Florida, woman to 20 years in prison Friday for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her abusive husband.
- A judge issues a 20-year sentence to woman who fired warning shot inside her house
- Judge James Daniel says he had no choice in the sentence
- Marissa Alexander says she fired the warning shot to fend off her abusive husband
- A congresswoman confronts prosecutor Angela Corey after the sentencing
Marissa Alexander Sentenced: Florida Mom Who Shot At Abusive Husband Gets 20 Years In Prison
Apparently the judge had offered a plea bargain that would have resulted in a three-year prison sentence, but Alexander chose to take the case to a jury trial, where a conviction would carry a mandatory sentence under a Florida law known as “10-20-life.” Marissa Alexander unsuccessfully tried to use Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law to derail the prosecution, but a jury in March convicted her of aggravated assault after just 12 minutes of deliberation. The headlines scream racism. But, if you and I were not on the jury and did not actually hear both sides of the story, the cry of racism may be a tactic. I do agree that 20 years is absolutely nonsensical. The most I can live with would be reckless endangerment, only because there were children in the vicinity.
WIKI: The 10-20-Life law (Florida Statute 775.087) is a mandatory minimum sentencing law in the U.S. state of Florida. It primarily regards the use of a firearm during the commission of a forcible felony.[1] The law’s name comes from a set of three basic minimum sentences it provides for. An ongoing public service announcement campaign has accompanied the law since its passage under the slogan, “Use a gun, and you’re done.”[2][3][4]
WIKI: STAND YOUR GROUND LAW for Florida 2011 Florida Statutes CHAPTER 776 JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE[22]
776.012 Use of force in defense of person.—A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:
- (1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or
- (2) Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to s. 776.013.
776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—
(1) A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to 
cause death or great bodily harm to another if:
- (a) The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against that person’s will from the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle; and
- (b) The person who uses defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred.
(2) The presumption set forth in subsection (1) does not apply if:
- (a) The person against whom the defensive force is used has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the dwelling, residence, or vehicle, such as an owner, lessee, or titleholder, and there is not an injunction for protection from domestic violence or a written pretrial supervision order of no contact against that person; or
- (b) The person or persons sought to be removed is a child or grandchild, or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful guardianship of, the person against whom the defensive force is used; or
- (c) The person who uses defensive force is engaged in an unlawful activity or is using the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle to further an unlawful activity; or
- (d) The person against whom the defensive force is used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(14), who enters or attempts to enter a dwelling, residence, or vehicle in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person entering or attempting to enter was a law enforcement officer.
(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
(4) A person who unlawfully and by force enters or attempts to enter a person’s dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle is presumed to be doing so with the intent to commit an unlawful act involving force or violence.
(5) As used in this section, the term:
- (a) “Dwelling” means a building or conveyance of any kind, including any attached porch, whether the building or conveyance is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, which has a roof over it, including a tent, and is designed to be occupied by people lodging therein at night.
- (b) “Residence” means a dwelling in which a person resides either temporarily or permanently or is visiting as an invited guest.
- (c) “Vehicle” means a conveyance of any kind, whether or not motorized, which is designed to transport people or property.
776.032 Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force.—
(1) A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(14), who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer. As used in this subsection, the term “criminal prosecution” includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.
(2) A law enforcement agency may use standard procedures for investigating the use of force as described in subsection (1), but the agency may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful.
(3) The court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, compensation for loss of income, and all expenses incurred by the defendant in defense of any civil action brought by a plaintiff if the court finds that the defendant is immune from prosecution as provided in subsection (1).
776.041 Use of force by aggressor. —The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:
(1) Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or
(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:
- (a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
- (b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.
Florida has a pretty sad Domestic Violence law … but they do have an Office of Domestic Violence Program, and a Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-500-1119 -
Florida’s definition of Domestic Violence: Commonly associated with a fight between a husband and a wife, domestic violence actually includes a range of criminal offenses committed by one family member against another.
Domestic Violence occurs when a family member injures or commits any violent offense against another family member. Some examples are:
- Assault or Battery,
- False Imprisonment of Kidnapping,
- Sexual Battery (Rape),
- Stalking,
- Any offense resulting in physical injury or death.
Prevention and Referral Services Office of Domestic Violence Program that includes information for the Domestic Violence Center Certification Laws, Rules, and more, because of Capital Improvement Grants?
Past Capital Improvement Grant Awards
Laws and Requirements: 65H-1, Florida Administrative Code, Sections 39.901-39.908, Florida Statutes, Section 90.5036, Florida Statutes
Certified Domestic Violence Program List
Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Website
But actual LAW! Florida criminal Laws – the law of assault & battery. NOTE: Domestic Violence often involves a charge of Aggravated Assault (Domestic Violence), Assault (Domestic Violence), Aggravated Battery (Domestic Violence) or Battery (Domestic Violence) – here is a sample of the actual statutes:
Defenses to Domestic Violence
Defending domestic violence cases are difficult, because deeper issues usually caused the altercation in the first place. These include:
- Alcohol, Drug, or Substance Abuse,
- Child Custody Disputes,
- Injunctions Proceedings,
- Mental Health Issues
- Pending Divorce, or
- Spiteful Family Members.
None of the articles I have read focus on why the Domestic Violence issue was not a factor in Marissa’s defense. But a jury agreed with prosecutors that the law didn’t apply because she left during the argument, got a gun and returned to confront him, WJXT reported. Rico Gray had been arrested twice on domestic battery allegations, but Alexander had been charged with domestic battery four months after the shooting, Jacksonville.com reported..
Texas Progressive Alliance May 7, 2012
The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks Mrs. Sarkozy would have been the better candidate than her husband as it brings you this week’s roundup.
Three more Congressional candidate interviews from Off the Kuff: State Rep. Joaquin Castro, the heir apparent in CD20; Bexar County Tax Assessor Sylvia Romo in CD35; and former Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald in CD27.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is overwhelmed by the disgusting realization that everyone’s future will be determined by America UNDER THE INFLUENCE!
BlueBloggin sees Zombies everywhere. Zombies are disengaging Common Sense and promoting the Great Unlearning of America at the bidding of the Koch Brothers. Zombie Politics Desecrates Science Education and Economy.
Texas GOP House Speaker Joe Straus and anti-abortion groups make nice. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the skinny, The political calculus is changing in Texas.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme hopes the Valley recognizes Filemon Vela for the opportunistic a**hole he truly is.
The Libertarians selected former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as their presidential nominee at their national convention in Las Vegas this past weekend, and then pushed all their chips in on the pivotal issue of 2012: weed. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn’t think it’s a smokescreen.
Lightseeker explains, over at TexasKaos, how Texas has a shoot first law – Even the Sponsor Didn’t Know It. Give it a read.
The Week of May 7 – 12 in Texas History:
Mission San Francisco de la Espada
In its first two years of existence, the mission faced much hardship, as floodwaters and then drought destroyed their crops. After an epidemic killed half of the local population, the Hasinai became convinced that the missionaries had caused the deaths.[7] Fearing an attack, on October 25, 1693 the missionaries buried the mission bell, set the building ablaze, and retreated to Mexico.[8]
The mission was reestablished on July 3, 1716, as Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas.[9] In 1721, it was renamed Mission San Francisco de los Neches. It was moved in 1731 to San Antonio where it was named Mission San Francisco de la Espada. The surviving structure is now part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park operated by the National Park Service. A commemorative representation of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, is located in Weches at Mission Tejas State Park.
May 07, 1844On this day in 1844, the Scioto Belle, a river steamer believed to have been built on the Scioto River in Ohio, arrived at Galveston from New Orleans. The vessel was described in the Telegraph and Texas Register as a substantial, well-built ship, nearly new, well adapted for carrying freight, and with excellent accommodations for passengers. The steamer operated between Galveston and Houston and landings on the Trinity River but, probably because of the poor condition of the Trinity channel in the 1840s, was not able to go much farther up the river than Liberty Landing. In 1844, during a yellow fever epidemic, the Scioto Belle was docked at Lynchburg and converted by Dr. John Henry Bowers into a hospital.
On this day in 1861, Anna Pennybacker, clubwoman, woman suffrage advocate, author, and lecturer, was born in Petersburg, Virginia. She graduated from the first class of Sam Houston Normal School in Huntsville, Texas, continued her education in Europe, and subsequently taught grammar and high school for fourteen years. In 1884 she married native Texan Percy V. Pennybacker. Mrs. Pennybacker wrote and published A New History of Texas in 1888, and the textbook was a staple of Texas classrooms for forty years. She founded one of the first women’s clubs in Texas, the Tyler Woman’s Club, in 1894. She went on to serve as president of the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1901 to 1903, a position in which she raised $3,500 for women’s scholarships at the University of Texas and helped persuade the legislature to fund a women’s dormitory there. After holding important offices in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Mrs. Pennybacker was an associate member of the Democratic National Committee (1919-20) and through her work with the Democrats met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1924. Their fourteen-year friendship was based on mutual interests in the advancement of women, world peace, and the Democratic party. Anna Pennybacker died in Austin in 1938.
Civil War in Texas
The so-called battle of Adams Hill occurred on May 9, 1861, between federal forces under Lt. Col. Isaac Van Duzer Reeve and Texas Confederate troops under Col. Earl Van Dorn. The confrontation took place 
on the military road between San Antonio and El Paso, about fifteen miles west of downtown San Antonio. Under the terms of the surrender of the Department of Texas, Reeve proceeded from Fort Bliss to the Texas coast to join other federal troops in the evacuation of Texas. His force consisted of companies B, E, F, H, I, and K and a detachment of Company G, Eighth United States Infantry, which represented the garrisons of Fort Bliss, Fort Quitman, and Fort Davis. Reeve reported the total strength of his command at 320 men, including two hospital stewards, twelve musicians, and ten officers. Col. James V. Bomford of the Sixth United States Infantry also accompanied the column.
Upon arriving at Fort Clark, Reeve became aware of the Confederate internment of paroled federal troops in Texas and of concern by Confederate officials in San Antonio that Reeve’s force was, in fact, hostile. He nevertheless resolved to continue his march to the coast to evacuate his command in compliance with former Department of Texas commander David Twiggs‘s terms of surrender. On May 8 Reeve camped his command on the east side of the Medina River opposite Castroville. At midnight, having received further word of Van Dorn’s advance from San Antonio with the purpose of confronting the column, Reeve resolved again to push forward to San Antonio.
Upon the advice of Lt. Zenas Randall Bliss, Reeve halted his column on a high hill a few hundred yards from San Lucas Springs. There was a small collection of buildings and corrals, which Reeve supplemented with his wagons for defense purposes. At around nine that morning, two officers representing Colonel Van Dorn arrived under a white flag with the Confederates’ demand that Reeve surrender unconditionally. With no actual hostile force in sight and his position a strong one, Reeve declined.
Van Dorn, on the march, soon arrived in full force. His command, which consisted of six companies of Col. Henry E. McCulloch‘s cavalry regiment, a squadron of Col. John S. Ford‘s State Troops (under the command of Lt. Col. John Robert Baylor,) Capt. William Edgar’s battery of light artillery, and a battalion of infantry under Lt. Col. James Duff, comprised nearly 1,370 men and six pieces of artillery. Van Dorn’s representative now offered Reeve an opportunity to inspect the Confederate force. Lieutenant Bliss was sent forward and examined it, then quickly reported the strength of the force to Reeve. Inasmuch as the federals’ effective strength had been reduced to 270 by sickness, desertion, and stragglers, Reeve resolved that resistance would be futile and surrendered his command to Van Dorn. The Confederates, satisfied with this turn of events, retired, allowing Reeve to continue his march, under arms, at his own leisure. The federals arrived at San Antonio on May 10, and the next day a Confederate officer was sent to recover all arms and public property.
Period accounts of the confrontation refer to the event as having taken place at San Lucas Springs. Later accounts say Adams Hill. There were no shots fired; it appears that both sides were eager to avoid bloodshed.
Preparations for the very last battle of the Civil War At Palmito Ranch begins:
The Confederates in Texas were aware of the fate of the Confederacy’s eastern armies. On May 1, 1865, a passenger on a steamer heading up the Rio Grande towards Brownsville tossed a copy of the New Orleans Times to some Confederates at Palmito Ranch. The paper contained the news of Lee’s surrender, Lincoln’s death, and the surrender negotiations between Johnston and Sherman. Within the next ten days several hundred rebels left the army and went home. Those who remained were as resolute as their commanders to continue the fight in Texas. The federals, meanwhile, had received an erroneous report that the southerners were preparing to evacuate Brownsville and move east of Corpus Christi. In light of this intelligence Colonel Barrett ordered 250 men of the Sixty-second United States Colored Infantry and fifty men of the Second Texas United States Cavalry (dismounted) to cross to the mainland from Brazos Island at Boca Chica Pass to occupy Brownsville. Carrying five days’ rations and 100 rounds of ammunition per man, the Union troops crossed over to the coast at 9:30 P.M. on May 11, 1865. Under the command of Lt. Col. David Branson, this detachment marched all night and reached White’s Ranch at daybreak. There Branson’s men halted and tried to conceal themselves in a thicket along the Rio Grande. The camp was spotted by “civilians” (probably Confederate soldiers) on the Mexican side of the river. Realizing that any hope of surprising the Confederates was lost, Branson immediately resumed his march toward Brownsville.
UPDATE: The CNN article, Why are we still in ‘Vietghanistan?, fills in the remainder of the blanks about how and why combat changes people. Returning Viet Nam Combat Veteran, Scott Camil, gives his first hand accounts of how wars, like Viet Nam and Afghanistan, can completely change people. These are excerpts from Scott Camil’s interview about his organization, Veterans For Peace, “believes that our stories are our strength. We believe that by educating the public by relating our personal experiences, we can reveal the hard, ugly truth about war. Our collective experience has taught us that war is futile and immoral. We believe that it is abhorrent to think of human beings as “collateral damage,” and we refuse to be silent as our government continues to pursue illegal, immoral wars of aggression. We believe that if the public really saw and understood the truth of war as we do — they would end it.”.
As a veteran of combat in Vietnam, I am often asked about current wars. Recently I have been asked about soldiers posing with corpses or urinating on corpses in Afghanistan. The “patriotic” media wants us to understand what it is like to be a soldier in war, not to condone the conduct but to ask “who are we to judge?” They want to know about rules of war: “Are there rules about taking pictures with dead bodies?”
When I see these pictures, I am not shocked. I have similar pictures from Vietnam. And I’m in them. Such pictures are part of our warrior culture. Not everyone takes them, but they are not in any way unusual.
… So why is it that when nations have disputes, we must accept that they will murder and maim each other’s citizens? The conduct of soldiers in war is made up of violent behavior that is criminal behavior outside of war. War is when we allow our loved ones to murder and destroy and then wonder that they are so traumatized.
We were in a place where it was the job of the people who lived there to kill us. There was no second chance, no time out. This was for real.
If we are going to talk about rules of war, it doesn’t make sense to start with the soldiers and Marines who have been put into that situation. They will all tell you that the first rule is to stay alive. Most people, when asked to choose between obeying the rules, if they believe that harm or death will come to them and their loved ones, or breaking the rules, if they believe it will keep them and their loved ones safe, choose to break the rules. The question is hypothetical to most people, but not to a soldier in combat.
Instead, if we’re going to talk about rules of war, we have to start with the powerful people who chose to put those soldiers there. The No.1 war crime is starting a war, because all other war crimes emanate from that first crime.
… I say that I was taught that the duty of a Marine is to destroy the will of the enemy to resist the authority of the United States of America. The way a Marine performs that duty is to make the price of that resistance more than the enemy can afford.
Preparing for these wars means continuing to train our children to hurt and kill other humans. This involves a process of dehumanization that is in conflict with the training required to produce good citizens in a democratic society.
In my training at Parris Island, the citizen was taken out of me and I was rebuilt as a Marine. We had a prayer that we recited every night when we hit the rack:
“Another day in the Corps, Sir, for every day is a holiday and every meal is a feast. Pray for war. Pray for war. God bless the Marine Corps. Pray for war. God bless the Commandant. Pray for war. God bless the drill instructors of 353. Pray for war.”.
Combat changes people. Drugs become a panacea for the mental, emotional and physical anguish all combat soldiers experience. Repatriating returning combat troops needs to be more thorough, before any focus on assimilation back into a civilized culture can begin. The combat survivor returning to home, family and hopefully employment, is different now. What is missing most from those welcoming them back is understanding the baggage that must be shed or repaired or replaced before the real person can emerge. Combat is a bad drug with consequences. Chemical Drugs are always available to address the first drug, they also have consequences. The returning combat veteran must be rehabilitated from both, or the American Culture will suffer the consequences.
Why can Canadian Military recognize that exposure to battle and drugs have terrible consequences, and America’s military deny it? Is it because of the high cost of ‘after care’? It is because the military is trying to diminish it’s responsibility, or is it because they prefer to spend their resources on fancy new and deadly toys?
Mental toll on soldiers skyrockets
More than 1 in 5 returning from Afghanistan suffer psychiatric problems, documents show
… as of April 2008, 700 Canadian soldiers and Mounties who had served on the Afghan front lines – 19 per cent of all forces deployed – had qualified for medical release from the Canadian Forces or RCMP with a “pensionable psychiatric condition,” but warned of a dramatic hike in those numbers.
… the documents say that longer, multiple and more dangerous deployments “have led to an increase in the prevalence of operational stress injuries among the members of these organizations.”
“Is it an epidemic? No,” said retired Canadian colonel Don Ethell, head of the mental health advisory committee for the military and RCMP. “It’s just finally a realization that in addition to physical injuries, the maimed and the injured and so forth, it’s also a mental price that Canadians have to pay and many of them, and many of us, have paid that without knowing where to go.”
Another reason for the jump appears to be an effort by the military and government to quickly identify and treat individuals with post-traumatic stress before their conditions worsen. Untreated cases in the past have resulted in tragic and horrifying cases of drug addiction, assault, rape and even suicide.
None of the mental health staff on the tour was trained in addiction counselling – a clear problem given that some troubled soldiers mask their problem with alcohol and drugs.
A staff psychologist had to leave before all the soldiers had rotated through the decompression zone, leaving the mental health team without one of its top experts. A number of soldiers were also not pre-screened for “psychosocial” problems before departing Kandahar, meaning some early warning signs may have gone unaddressed.
“Military members should be quickly screened by a (mental health) professional before they leave the theatre to briefly access their support needs during the (decompression) and their reintegration,” the report says.
Drug Addiction, And Misery, Increase In Afghanistan
Morning Edition, April 16, 2009 · A growing number of Afghans — including children — are escaping the pain of war and poverty by using opium or heroin, for as little as a dollar a day. A United Nations survey begun this month is widely expected to show that at least 1 in 12 people in Afghanistan abuses drugs — double the number in the last survey four years ago.
‘Coming Home: Soldiers and Drugs’ – In Their Own Words
Vietnam War and Drugs: Essay Excerpt
Marijuana, Amphetamines, Opium and Heroin were a serious problem from 1968 onward during the Vietnam War. In 1968 50 percent of American service men used drugs, after Tet Offensive drugs rose dramatically. By 1970 that number had jump to 65 percent. Drugs were cheap and very available. They were a way for the soldiers to ‘escape’ from the pure anxiety and stress of combat while filling the bored time.
Vietnam-Era Drug Problems Last for Decades, Study Finds
Although young men from the Vietnam War era have reduced their use of illicit drugs as they have moved into middle age, some still have a problem, a new study shows. The men who were young during the Vietnam War are now in their40s and 50s. One visualizes them, both veterans and non-veterans,as seasoned by desk jobs or steady work, very possibly marriedand responsible for families. The war era and the turbulent1960s, with the widespread use of illicit drugs, is now longbehind them. Or is it?
It is VERY interesting that there were few follow up stories to the ABC Documentary:
Part One of the Series: ‘Coming Home: Soldiers and Drugs’ By ROBERT LEWIS and KATE MCCARTHY Nov. 26, 2007
ABC investigates ‘soldiers hooked on drugs’
Editor’s Note from Brian Ross: In the third year of a joint project with the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation, six leading graduate school journalism students were again selected to spend the summer working with the ABC News investigative unit.
This year’s project involved an examination of whether, as happened in the wake of the Vietnam War, Iraqi war veterans were turning to drugs as a result of the trauma and pain of war.
The U.S. military maintains the percentage of soldiers abusing drugs is extremely small and has not increased as a result of Iraq.
The students’ assignment was to get the unofficial side of the story from soldiers, young men of their own generation.
“Lots of soldiers coming back from Iraq have been using drugs,” said Spc. William Swenson, who was deployed to Iraq from Fort Carson. “Right when we got back, there were people using cocaine in the barracks; there were people smoking marijuana at strip clubs; one guy started shooting up,” he said.
In interviews with ABC News at the Pentagon, however, the U.S. Army strongly denied there was an increase in drug abuse among soldiers deployed to Iraq. According to Dr. Ian McFarling, acting director of the Army Center for Substance Abuse Programs, less than one half of one percent of soldiers in Iraq have tested positive for illegal drugs. But Dr. McFarling said that once soldiers return from Iraq, the positive rate for drug tests doubles to more than one percent. In addition, Dr. McFarling said five percent of soldiers back from Iraq seek help for substance abuse issues from clinical providers.
OK conspiracy nuts, if you want a detailed account of America’s hand in Global Drug activities from the 1960s, you would enjoy this article from DrugWar.com:
Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy: CIA/Syndicate
Where are we going with this history lesson? Aside from the similarities with Vietnam, Afghanistan is the “high end” CANDY STORE for the world. With all the hoopla about convincing Afghan farmers to plow under their poppy fields and plant ‘Pomegranates’.
Afghanistan diary: Pomegranates not poppies
Alternatives to opium are being shown to farmers in Kabul, while Bagram sees the arrival of more US troops
James Brett’s first glimpse of Afghanistan after crossing the Khyber Pass were poppies growing across the dusty miles of Torkham in April 2007. They stretched for hundreds of acres, the petals light and blowing in the breeze. A lone farmer stood in their midst, tending the crop. It wasn’t what Brett expected.
“The picture I envisaged was that of a load of terrorists packing up big bags of heroin to destroy the West,” he admits. The contrast between the innocence he perceived in that farmer and the loss of two friends to heroin overdoses back home in England haunted him as he continued to drive to Kabul, where he had been invited to give a speech to farmers about growing pomegranates instead of poppies.
“There is so much emptiness in the world and heroin maintains that emptiness,” he says.
The cannabis product had an estimated wholesale value of $400 million, a statement by the NATO-led ISAF force said on Wednesday.
With the availability of poppy products, methamphetamine and pharmaceuticals in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the middle east region, how can stressed or bored soldiers resist partaking of available drugs for recreation, coping and escape. PTSD is notorious for reducing it’s victims will power and distorting perception. PTSD must be considered an expected byproduct of traumatic wartime events. Vietnam was just a taste of what can happen when stressed soldiers are offered a cheap escape from their condition. Is it possible that many of the under-reported “accidents” and “unfortunate mistakes” that create high collateral damage, are caused by recreational escapism? How many soldiers are “self medicating” as you read this post?
Drug exposure could actually explain why some returning veterans slip into deep depression upon returning home … they may be experiencing withdrawal from whatever they were taking during combat. Of course, America’s military is very reluctant to admit this problem publicly. The military is already providing drugs to soldiers to alleviate pain, both mental and physical. Some of those medications have been questioned, briefly, by the media.
There is also the possibility that America’s soldiers are being exposed to these drugs when they are slipped into the food supply or their water supply. Hypothetically, whole combats units may be effected at one time. I have not heard any official report discussing this possibility. As it is, the military is famous for deliberately misdiagnosing soldiers for the convenience of keeping their statistics palatable to the media, and the ‘folks back home’.
A focus on concussions, or mild traumatic brain injury, is preventing soldiers returning from battle from being treated for other conditions, according to an article published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, USA Today reports (Zoroya, USA Today, 4/16). The article was co-authored by Carl Castro, a psychologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; Herb Goldberg, a communications specialist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; and Charles Hoge, director of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Currently, soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan undergo a survey in which they are asked if they became dazed and confused following an injury or exposure to a bomb blast in combat. The survey attributes such symptoms to mild TBI, according to the authors. However, the survey often is administered months after the injury was sustained, according to the article (Stobbe, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 4/15). The article states that the survey could cause unnecessary concern among the soldiers and might result in soldiers wrongly attributing certain symptoms to TBI, when they could have been caused by simple causes, such as sleep deprivation. The authors recommend that the current survey be discontinued because most servicemembers who sustain TBI in combat recover within days (USA Today, 4/16). Furthermore, soldiers who are misdiagnosed risk being unnecessarily exposed to drug side effects and other negative conditions, Hoge said (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 4/15).
The article also states that such symptoms often are caused by other conditions, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or substance abuse. The diagnoses for mild TBI could lead to delays in proper treatment of the other conditions, according to the authors. According to USA Today, the article — the authors of which have conducted some of the earliest influential research on conditions like PTSD for the military — suggest that the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs are “relying on flawed science to identify” as many as 360,000 cases of brain injuries sustained by the returning veterans.
Reaction
The article has prompted Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker to decide that the TBI survey should be changed, according to a spokesperson for Schoomaker. However, some government and private researchers on TBI disagreed with the article’s findings and said that their recommendation could result in some soldiers receiving improper care. John Corrigan, an Ohio State University psychiatrist and researcher who advised VA on the screening process, said it is premature to suggest that most servicemembers who sustain TBI during combat recover within days.
David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at the University of California-Los Angeles, said that veterans with mild TBI who do not receive timely treatment could develop long-term neurological problems. Rep Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, cautioned against proceeding with “efforts that might restrict the Department of Defense’s ability to identify affected individuals and provide them with the proper care and compensation they deserve” (USA Today, 4/16).
Abundance Of Drugs Fuels Demand
The U.N.’s Jean-Luc Lemahieu calls it the “Coca-Cola effect.” The widespread abundance and affordability of the drugs have made them as ubiquitous and available as soft drinks.
“What people always forget is that not only demand creates supply, but supply creates demand,” said Lemahieu, the representative in Kabul for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
But even at $1 or $2 a day, an opium or heroin fix in Afghanistan can easily become unaffordable.
More questions must be put to politicians who are supposed to “protect” American citizens, and their defenders. Politicians are quick to give ‘lip service’ to veteran’s health crisis. Those same politicians will rant and rave about ‘out of control spending’, while, at the same time, they sneak their own pet pork projects into totally unrelated bills and resolutions.
Putting Americans in harm’s way is understood when ‘duty to country and flag’ is required. These are a soldier’s creed. It is NOT, however, in the soldier’s creed to forgo proper and thorough treatment to actual conditions incurred during combat zone deployment. Modern soldiers are no longer the ‘throw away’ commodity they endured throughout history. Military deployment remains a source of medical controversy when soldiers symptoms contradict the ‘company line’. Effects from exposure to Agent Orange is still denied. Effects from ‘Desert Storm’ Syndrome is still controversial. Effects from drug, alcohol and prescription drug abuse are still being downplayed by military brass, with the exception of the actual doctors. Where is the promised “TRANSPARENCY”? When will the problem of medical honesty be required of today’s US Military? The American Taxpayer has a right to know why veterans are not being accurately diagnosed and treated for their conditions. The American Taxpayer must be protected from some of the same veterans they depend on the keep them safe.
Russian Roulette on a global scale, Zombie US Lawmakers gamble with the intellectual destruction of a whole country. If you can justify what you see with your own eyes with the fantasies these extremists are selling you, then you have become a Zombie Voter. Desecration of intellectual growth is suicide.
Removing science from the toolbox of education is the destruction of a whole culture. Tearing down the fabric of education in America is contrary to the original Founding Father’s vision. America was created out of necessity. The colonists spirit needed to grow and discover it’s limits. Education was integral to this.
America’s invasion by Europe was opportunistic, based on greed for marketable resources. This was a survival move for a crumbling Europe. Refugees from political and religious persecution along with Europeans sent to pay off their debts to a monarch, were sent to establish a foothold on the continent. The resulting country was a golden opportunity to profit and expand the power of monarchs. What resulted was the colonists a desire for independence from oppressive, controlling elitists and launch an experiment where progressive ideas were no longer suppressed. The European elite felt threatened by progressive, inclusive political thought. The Revolutionary War bought the freedom for the colonists to use their brains for their own advancement, for a change.
Unfortunately, what has evolved in America, is corporate disdain for any science questioning their methods of conduct. Corporations use science to create new and wonderful consumer products for profit. Science has also brought questions addressing the safety and long term consequences for many consumer products. Each and every product is entrenched in the corporate formula for profit. Corporations will not tolerate questions until the volume of consequences is too big to deny. How many court settlements have been made to victims with the restriction of non-disclosure. Corporations can pay huge sums of money to protect their profit margin. Corporations can also pay politicians to withdraw or reduce funding to science projects, especially those that may hold them accountable for their misdeeds. Yes, corporations, in general, are full of misdeeds. There are some exceptions, but the general rule is profit over accountability, so let’s buy a legislator to help us profit. We are experiencing the symptoms of this philosophy right now.
Strategic Budgeting for Faculty & Staff, of college science programs, have been devastated by unprecedented budget deficits within state and federal levels of government…
The recent spam advertising by the Heartland Institute about Global Warming, the extreme right wing (Koch brothers funded campaign to undermine science and deny evidence for climate change), wants us to dump the same science that will save our future asses, if we use it right. Market-based, rather than Government-based science, will not address real earth issues, it will only ensure some elite group will profit while the rest of us perish. This often politically referenced “Institute” is but a tool by Koch Brothers, Tea Party Extremists, to pander to the under educated voter. If we elect these Koch Brothers anti-science ‘Zombies’ to Congress, the United States of America is truly doomed.
The Heartland Institute Self Destructs
Zombie Congress – If Rep. Jim Cooper is right, fiscal negotiations are in danger. Big danger.
Not only will the Zombie Congress devastate the system that funds the US Government and education system, it will screw the American taxpayer by failing to address the consequences of allowing the Bush Tax Cuts expire. The Zombies will complete the ruination of America’s science education. All to satisfy the “Anti-Global Warming” contingent, funded by the Koch Brothers. Zombie voters provided by the Koch Brothers Tea Party will turn out in swarms to make sure their uneducated “values” will be elected to Congress.
Zombies Walk The Halls Of Congress - NPR describes a different kind of Zombies populating Congress …
Rapid Decline in US Earth Observation Capabilities – ScienceDaily (May 2, 2012) — A new National Research Council report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left U.S. earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago. The report cautions that the nation’s earth observing system is beginning a rapid decline in capability, as long-running missions end and key new missions are delayed, lost, or cancelled.
Earth observation capabilities in ‘precarious position’ as budgets decline, says study
Scientists sue Arizona for $18 million – PHOENIX, May 22 (UPI) — A group of scientists in Arizona say they’re suing the state for $18 million in research money cut by the Legislature to cover a budget shortfall.
Hawaii ending universal child health care – … . Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program
Texas Education Chief Steps Down – Scott launched the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math … He also had to downsize the agency twice, after critical state budget shortfalls.
May Day ‘funeral’ for education draws student and employee mourners – More than 200 hundreds of students, teachers and staff gathered to mourn and protest the “death” of education Tuesday May 1 in the LAC Quad.
The “The Funeral for the Death of Education” was presented on international workers day, May Day, following the Board of Trustees’ decision to lay off of 55 support staff and reduce hours and pay of 96 others.
Lynn Shaw, a professor of electrical technology and president of the full-time faculty union, said, “We decided to do the funeral for education because the students were suffering and faculty feel that students are natural allies so we came up with an idea to draw attention to this that would be dramatic and make a statement.”
No Matter How Right-Wing Media Spin It, Millions Would Feel “Sharp Effects” Of GOP Budget – CAP: Ryan Budget Would “Strip More Than $871 Billion From Public Investments In Education, Infrastructure, And Science And Technology.” A Center for American Progress (CAP) report compared Ryan’s projected outlays to 2010 outlays for education, infrastructure, and technology, …
Humans do not want to think about anything that would interfere with their profit motive, but Fukashima should be the eye opener. Recent news shows this lesson is being forgotten already. The risk of another massive disaster, without preparation, will happen in the USA.It’s Not Just Fukushima: Mass Disaster Evacuations Challenge Planners – … in the U.S., more than four million Americans live within 10 miles of the 63 sites of nuclear power plants with at least one operating reactor, according to data compiled by the NRC based on the 2000 census. That number swells when the radius extends outward to 50 miles to affect more than 180 million Americans, and includes major metropolitan areas such as , Philadelphia, San Diego and even West Palm Beach, Fla.
In the wake of the and subsequent evacuations, could all these people in the U.S. be evacuated–or take some form of protective action–in time in similar circumstances?
Incomplete science guarantees an uncertain future for humans on this planet. Mother Nature has erased her errors many times before, but this crop of biological occupants of her planet has taken a lot for granted … Mother Nature will pay humans back for their arrogant desecration. 
America UNDER THE INFLUENCE!
I Want To Scare The Hell Out Of You.
Fact: All life on this planet is made up of chemicals.
Fact: Some are natural, but, man made, rearranged, chemicals are unnatural, no matter how many natural ingredients are used.
Fact: Chemical influence and can change our DNA and Genes and brain function.
Man-made chemicals have already wreaked havoc on the human genome, body and brain. Most man-made chemicals are invented to improve something for immediate benefit. Seldom is a new chemical seriously tested for long term consequences. So many toxic substances have been introduced into our natural environment, that the world we live in is a toxic soup of air pollutants, contaminated drinking water and toxic waste.
But, humans continue to contribute, convenient and profitable, products that are only later found to cause harm in humans. The list of examples is too long to put in this article. Acknowledgment of the harm is very slow and many humans will have already suffered medical consequences before any preventative action is taken. Because America is a consumer nation, that buys before it thinks, manufacturers discourage consumer scrutiny before making their purchases. Companies must profit before they are held accountable. 
The United States of America has known about the consequences of many toxic chemical agents, for decades. But their impact on future generations, of babies born exposed to these chemicals, was of little concern … in the name of “National Security”.
The US Government even conducted human tests, of their own, during the Cold War. The American Citizen resulting from all this chemical exposure has become a less than perfect example of the idealistic and noble image America advertises to the world.
America walks, talks, drives, tries to think and votes UNDER THE INFLUENCE! Today’s American Government is the end result of toxic chemical exposure on humans.
Whatever marketing goals drove this deliberate deterioration of humanity, the result is a deliberately manufactured Armageddon.
It has to be deliberate. Companies, scientists and governments downplay their knowledge about the long term consequences of chemical exposures, from every substance America ingests, breathes or touches. Why would they do that? Who do you think actually benefits from a mentally diluted population? Could it be those who want unquestioning devotion from whole groups of people?
Enough conspiracy thinking … I believe it is pure greed and power. Money gained from sales throws accountability and responsibility out the window. I would certainly prefer this condition to be pure negligence, instead of deliberate. Creating impaired humans is not responsible … there is no ethics or common good associated with this behavior. Long term consequences must mean something important … to someone. Someone knows, because they want you to extend your genitals, prolong your sex life, cure your depression, reduce your pain or allergies, help your bladder and colon, smooth out your wrinkles, help you sleep and give you that extra boost when you are tired. All the normal conditions known to humans can be cured with a pill, injection or cream. All this emphasis on diverting normal human conditions may be the distractions needed to take attention away from something else. Ooops, no conspiracy here. And, that is just for the legal chemicals.
Our Children On Drugs
Not only are babies being born daily with diminished chances of survival, but, the marketing of both legal and illegal drugs (usually for sexual and recreational purposes) makes the resulting survivor a very troubled human, that may live to become an adult. Troubled adults cost a lot of money, for families and governments. They are medical and criminal liabilities to America. Politicians and clergy love them. These troubled adults are easily influenced by whoever gets to what is left of their brain first. The clergy sees a new member of their flock. The politician sees an easily convinced voter. Manufacturers see dollar signs.
We are populating America with more and more pre-addicted citizens, who have a slim chance of becoming productive civic minded contributors to society
Legal and illegal substances go together with addiction to certain foods. Food is a chemical, too. The introduction of modern chemicals into our food products make it too easy to take advantage of populations already addicted to something else. Do we have an obesity epidemic? What else have Americans become addicted to? Every unnatural chemical Americans are exposed to evolve into a medical or social problem. Who watches these events? Who gives authority for enforcement of consumer protection laws and regulations? Are Republicans endorsing regulations? Are Democrats waging a serious war against irresponsible behavior? Where do these lawmakers come from? Wow, maybe it is the American voter … most of whom are very medicated.
Population and consumption key to future, report says – Over-consumption in rich countries and rapid population growth in the poorest both need to be tackled to put society on a sustainable path, a report says.
From Zygotes to Prenatal to New Born to Infant to Toddler to Child to Adolescent to Adult to Mature and Elderly Adult, each of these natural stages of development carry the consequences of chemical influence during and after pregnancy.
The DOJ 2011 report outlines the Consequences of America on Drugs.
Virtually all illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, pose dangers to a pregnant woman. Legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are also dangerous, and even medical drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, can be harmful. Processed additives, sugars, starches and cholesterol bearing ingredients are also chemicals. More evidence is reported daily about toxins that contaminate the air, water, and the food consumed by humans and the meat they eat.
America not only uses a myriad of unnatural chemicals … they mix them on purpose or by accident. The math permutations cannot be calculated for the new chemical cocktails being created every day. These chemical mysteries end up in our water, the ground we grow our food and the animals we raise to eat.
How the FDA’s Reportable Food Registry Helps Prevent Outbreaks
The operative word is REPORTABLE!
Toxic Chemicals Shipped with Meat from Canada
Researcher to Develop Food-Grade Nanoparticles for Nutrient Delivery
NANOPARTICLES? Really?
Using Illegal Street Drugs During Pregnancy
Smoking marijuana increases the levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the blood, which reduces the oxygen supply to the baby. Smoking marijuana during pregnancy can increase the chance of miscarriage, low birth weight, premature births, developmental delays, and behavioral and learning problems.
… during the early months of pregnancy cocaine exposure may increase the risk of miscarriage. Later in pregnancy, cocaine use can cause placental abruption. Placental abruption can lead to severe bleeding, preterm birth, and fetal death. OTIS also states that the risk of birth defects appears to be greater when the mother has used cocaine frequently during pregnancy. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecology (ACOG), women who use cocaine during their pregnancy have a 25 % increased chance of premature labor. Babies born to mothers who use cocaine throughout their pregnancy may also have a smaller head and be growth restricted. Babies who are exposed to cocaine later in pregnancy may be born dependent and suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as tremors, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and feeding difficulties. Some experts believe that learning difficulties may result as the child gets older. Defects of the genitals, kidneys, and brain are also possible.
Using heroin during pregnancy increases the chance of premature birth, low birth weight, breathing difficulties, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), bleeding within the brain (intracranial hemorrhage), and infant death. Babies can also be born addicted to heroin and can suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms include irritability, convulsions, diarrhea, fever, sleep abnormalities, and joint stiffness. Mothers who inject narcotics are more susceptible to HIV, which can be passed to their unborn children.
PCP use during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, poor muscle control, brain damage, and withdrawal syndrome if used frequently. Withdrawal symptoms include lethargy, alternating with tremors. LSD can lead to birth defects if used frequently.
Taking methamphetamine during pregnancy can result in problems similar to those seen with the use of cocaine in pregnancy. The use of speed can cause the baby to get less oxygen, which can lead to low birth weight. Methamphetamine can also increase the likelihood of premature labor, miscarriage, and placental abruption. Babies can be born addicted to methamphetamine and suffer withdrawal symptoms that include tremors, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and feeding difficulties. Some experts believe that learning difficulties may result as the child gets older.
Hospitals seeing more babies born exposed to prescription drugs - it is particularly epidemic in Tennessee, which ranks among the top states in the overuse of prescription pain medications.
More W.Va. Babies Are Born Addicted, Children of Mothers Using OxyContin, Meth, Methadone Are Born in Withdrawal
Newly Born, and Withdrawing From Painkillers
… going through opiate withdrawal in a hospital – had to start taking methadone, a drug best known for treating heroin addiction, to ease the suffering. Infants like this may cry excessively and have stiff limbs, tremors, diarrhea and other problems that make their first days of life excruciating. Many have to stay in the hospital for weeks while they are weaned off the drugs, taxing neonatal units and driving the cost of their medical care into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Like the cocaine-exposed babies of the 1980s, those born dependent on prescription opiates — narcotics that contain opium or its derivatives — are entering a world in which little is known about the long-term effects on their development. Few doctors are even willing to treat pregnant opiate addicts, and there is no universally accepted standard of care for their babies, partly because of the difficulty of conducting research on pregnant women and newborns.
‘How Little We Know’
Rigorous studies on treating infant withdrawal are scarce, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has not published guidelines since 1998.
“It’s really remarkable how little we know about the effect of prescription drugs and even nonprescription drugs on the fetus,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse. “There are real roadblocks in terms of helping us advance the field.”
Even less is known about longer-term effects on babies exposed to painkillers, though in a second leg of their study, Dr. Jones and her fellow researchers plan to follow the 131 babies in the cohort until they turn 3.
Treating drug-dependent mothers and babies is often lonely work, with little communication among the doctors who take it on. The fact that most hospitals will not deliver the babies makes doctors even less likely to treat the women.
“It’s mostly ignorance,” Dr. Publicker said. “It’s a concern that it’s a risky proposition and that they’re going to wind up with an ill baby.”
More Babies Born With Drug, Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
An increasing number of infants are born with drug and alcohol addiction and withdrawal symptoms, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Treatment for babies in withdrawal might cause more addiction problems. Here are details about fetal addiction and postpartum withdrawal.
* According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 4.4 percent of pregnant women ages 15 to 44 were using illicit drugs. Pregnant girls ages 15 to 17 had the highest drug usage (16.4 percent) and 7.4 percent of pregnant women ages 18 to 25 used illicit drugs. 10.8 percent of pregnant women ages 15 to 44 reported they regularly used alcohol.
* The Pediatrics study looked at different drugs delivered to babies in utero. Of the illicit drugs used, marijuana was found to be the most common. Prescription drugs, particularly opoid pain relievers, were another common form of drug abuse.
* According to Health Day, the Pediatrics study found that in some neonatal wards, as many as 25 percent of babies were being treated for withdrawal symptoms from inter-uterine drug exposure. Hospitals used newborn first stool and urine samples to look for the presence drugs or alcohol.
* Infants born to mothers who used alcohol or barbiturates showed various health issues such as irritability, shrill crying, vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, poor sucking, tremors, seizures, restlessness, sleep issues, hypothermia and breathing problems.
* The study looked at infants born to mothers who used caffeine; these babies were shaky, had breathing and heart problems and vomited. Babies whose mothers used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants had similar withdrawal symptoms along with difficulty feeding and hypoglycemia.
* Infants whose mothers used marijuana during pregnancy did not show withdrawal symptoms, but maternal usage might affect the child’s brain and behavioral development.
* Some effects of drug use don’t show up immediately, but withdrawal symptoms might last as long as nine months. Alcohol addiction withdrawal might last 18 months.
All the medical industry can really do is start inventing new syndromes to identify the different combination of symptoms associated with chemical exposures to fetuses and children in general. How many of these babies end up in Foster Care because their addicted parent(s) cannot cope with their products. Foster Care is already over burdened with unwanted children.
Current Through May 2009: Abuse of drugs or alcohol by parents and other caregivers can have negative effects on the health, safety, and well-being of children. Approximately 47 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S Virgin Islands have laws within their child protection statutes that address the issue of substance abuse by parents. Two areas of concern are the harm caused by prenatal drug exposure and the harm caused to children of any age by exposure to illegal drug activity in their homes or environment. To see how your State addresses this issue, visit the State Statutes Search.
Doctors concerned about babies born addicted to drugs given to moms to overcome addiction – And, when it gets too stressful for an addicted mother or family to care for their addicted infant … most times the infant ends up in Foster Care.
Foster children have grim prospects – The prospects for kids who age out of foster care are grim.
Effects of Alcohol and Drugs During Pregnancy – The use of drugs and/or alcohol during pregnancy is a serious problem with dangerous consequences.. The American Counsel for Drug Education explains that drug use while pregnant is doubly dangerous. Not only will drugs harm a woman’s health and interfere with her ability to support the pregnancy, they harm the developing fetus.
Protecting Children in Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders
Chapter 3 – How Parental Substance Use Disorders Affect Children
- The impact of substance use on prenatal development
- The impact of substance use on childhood development
WIKI: … a majority of state inmates (53 percent) and almost half of federal inmates (45 percent) had used drugs in the year before their admission to prison.
WIKI: Substance abuse is prevalent with an estimated 50 million users of hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin and other synthetic drugs … Substance abuse/drug abuse is not limited to mood-altering or psycho-active drugs. Activity is also considered substance abuse when inappropriately used (as in steroids for performance enhancement in sports). Therefore, mood-altering and psychoactive substances are not the only drugs of abuse. Substance abuse often includes problems with impulse control and impulsivity.
When a human alters their mood and impulse, their common sense is impaired. Committing a crime to get more drugs is a no brainer. Committing a sex crime to satisfy an increased libido is a no brainer. Committing a crime becomes personally natural, because more civilized options are cloaked by drugs. Introducing drug impaired people into any population leads to physical, social, psychological harm and changes the political course of a nation. How many of these impaired people surround you in law enforcement, military, your neighbor, your politician, your doctor? Are you reading this article after medicating yourself?
While there is no fast solution to this deadly situation, awareness and education is helpful. It all depends on finding out who cares enough about this issue enough to do something about it. Although this is a global problem, America has lost it’s edge because irresponsible behavior and profiteering takes priority over common sense and humanity. If any effort is made to clean up the man made mess, America will expect to go through very painful withdrawals, because they have become convinced that certain chemical substances makes their life easier, more productive, more sexually active, more successful and happier. Does your elected leader work to change the system that allows irresponsible toxins to change your life for the worse? Have you asked? Maybe you should. Research and find out how your local water and soil is effected by contaminants and what is being done to keep you safe. Ask your doctor or pusher about the long term effects of the chemical they want you to use.
Texas Progressive Alliance April 30, 2012
The Texas Progressive Alliance is slow jamming this week’s roundup.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees Republicans holding on to private power at the expense of children.
More Congressional candidate interviews from Off the Kuff, who has conversations with Marc Veasey, Ramiro Garza, and Anthony Troiani.
BossKitty at TruthHugger takes a vacation from the sanitized, filtered, hollywood marketing of political candidates and looks at the world. The dramatic trial in Norway, for a mass murderer, has unified civilized Europeans who sang … To Annoy The Monster.
The myth of the disgruntled Texas Republican. WCNews at Eye On Williamson says they’re like a GOP Chupacabra, we always hear about one, but never actually see one. Deeply unhappy Republicans? Don’t be so sure.
Greg Abbott and Susan Combs have both, in the past year, made the serious mistake of exposing millions of Texans to identity fraud by failing to safeguard their social security numbers. Both seek a promotion to higher office in 2014. Is there ANY amount of incompetence and malfeasance a Texas Republican can be guilty of and NOT get elected? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn’t have confidence that the answer is ‘yes’.
BlueBloggin wants Americans to understand there is always more to sensational stories in the headlines. UpDated: What is Adrenarche and Why Are America’s Services Sexually Immature.
Libby Shaw nails it again over at TexasKaos. She explains why she is hoping 2012 is a “buyer’s revenge” election, a judgement on the kiss-ups, brain dead zombies and other assorted creatures that got elected in 2010. See it here: Gov. Oops Grovels for Norquist While Houston Business Leader Kowtows to Perry
Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about Dick Clark and Johnny Rotten.
The Week of April 30 through May 5 in Texas History
European Exploration and Development April 30, 1598
April 30 – A ceremony of thanksgiving is held near present-day El Paso by Juan de Oñate, the members of his expedition and natives of the region. The Spaniards provide game and the Indians supply fish for a feast, Franciscan missionaries celebrate mass, and Oñate claims all land drained by the Rio Grande in the name of the King Philip II of Spain.
Bosque-Larios Expedition sets out for Texas April 30, 1675
On this day in 1675, an expedition led by Fernando del Bosque and Fray Juan Larios left Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe mission in present-day Monclova, Mexico, to convert the Indians of Coahuila. On May 11 the expedition reached the Rio Grande, probably a little below the present site of Eagle Pass. Bosque took formal possession of the river, erected a wooden cross, and renamed the river the San Buenaventura del Norte. On May 15 members of the expedition celebrated what may have been the first Mass on Texas soil, in present-day Maverick County. In all, the Spaniards traveled forty leagues past the Rio Grande and made six halts in south-central Texas. They returned to Guadalupe on June 12.
On this day in 1768, Gaspar José de Solís wrote in his diary of a striking encounter with a Tejas Indian woman in what is now Houston County. Fray Solís was inspecting missions for the College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas. His diary presents a valuable contemporary account of the missions, country, and Indians of Texas. The woman, Santa Adiva, held high status in her village. There, Solís writes, the inhabitants were nearly naked, “much painted with vermillion and other colors,” and wearing beads and feathers. Solís states that the Indians were “great thieves and drunkards because whiskey and wine are furnished to them by the French.” Santa Adiva, whose name was said to mean “great lady” or “principal lady” and who was accorded queen-like status, lived in a large, multi-room house, to which other Indians brought gifts. Solís reports that she had five husbands and many servants.
On this day in 1986, the city of Houston proclaimed Albert Moses Levy Memorial Day, in honor of Jews who participated in the fight for Texas independence. Levy was born in 1800, probably in Amsterdam. His family immigrated to Virginia in 1818, and he completed medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1832. After the death of his first wife in 1835, he went to New Orleans, where he joined the New Orleans Greys and left for Texas. He was quickly appointed surgeon in chief of the volunteer army of Texas and was wounded at the siege of Bexar. In 1836, after leaving the army, Levy joined the Texas Navy. In 1837 his ship, the Independence, was captured by two Mexican brigs-of-war. After three months he escaped and walked back to Texas, where he set up medical practice in Matagorda. Levy committed suicide in May 1848.
Mission, precursor of the Alamo, founded at San Antonio May 01, 1718
On this day in 1718, San Antonio de Valero Mission was founded by Franciscan father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares at the site of present-day San Antonio. Four days later the nearby San Antonio de Béxar Presidio and the civil settlement, Villa de Béxar, were established. The mission, originally located west of San Pedro Springs, survived three moves and numerous setbacks during its early years. After a hurricane destroyed most of the existing buildings in 1724, the mission reached its latest site on the east bank of the San Antonio River. After the mission was secularized in 1793 it became the Alamo. Due to its rudimentary fortifications, the abandoned mission became an objective of military importance in the conflicts of the nineteenth century, and it changed hands at least sixteen times. Portions of the mission’s structures have survived as part of the Alamo Battlefield Shrine.
First heart transplanted in Houston May 03, 1968
On this day in 1968, surgeon Denton Cooley and his associates at Houston’s St. Luke’s Hospital performed the first heart transplant in the United States. The patient, Everett Thomas, lived for 204 days with the heart donated from a fifteen-year-old girl. Texas physicians and scientists made numerous contributions to the field of human heart transplantation as it evolved from preliminary experimentation to an accepted orthodox therapy for patients with end-stage cardiac disease. Two Houston surgeons, Cooley and Michael E. DeBakey, have been in the forefront in developing heart surgery and heart transplantation; their rivalry was the subject of a book by journalist Tommy Thompson. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a total of 26,704 heart transplantations had been reported worldwide by the mid-1990s, and 1,804 of these were performed in Texas. Worldwide, just over 3,000 heart transplants are performed each year. In 1994, 167 of these were in Texas.
Texas Radical Republican involved in Haymarket Massacre May 04, 1886
On this day in 1886, Albert Richard Parsons, a labor organizer from Texas, was implicated in the infamous Chicago Haymarket Massacre. The brother of Confederate colonel William Henry Parsons, Albert served in Parsons’s Brigade, a unit of Texas cavalry commanded by his brother, during the Civil War. After the war he became a Radical Republican and traveled throughout Central Texas registering freed slaves to vote. When Reconstruction came to an end in Texas, Parsons was hated and persecuted as a miscegenationist and a scalawag. He moved to Chicago with his wife, Lucy E. Parsons, a woman of mixed racial heritage, and became a leading agitator for social change there. On the evening of May 4, 1886, Parsons spoke at a meeting in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. He and his family were in nearby Zepf’s Hall when nearly 200 policemen marched into the square; an unknown person threw a bomb, and police began shooting wildly. Most of the seven police officers and seven members of the crowd who died apparently sustained wounds from police revolvers. Albert Parsons and seven others were tried for conspiracy to murder; he was among the four men who were eventually hanged for the crime. Six years later, Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the three defendants who remained in prison and condemned the convictions as a miscarriage of justice.
Victory over French marks origin of Cinco de Mayo celebration May 05, 1862
On this day in 1862, Mexican general Ignacio Zaragoza defeated French expeditionary forces at Puebla, Mexico. This event is celebrated annually as El Cinco de Mayo. Along with El Diez y Seis de Septiembre (September 16), on which is commemorated Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s 1810 call for the end of Spanish rule in Mexico, El Cinco de Mayo is one of the Fiestas Patrias, annual celebrations of Mexican national holidays and of the ethnic heritage of Mexican-Americans.
Texas native Zaragoza repels French army on Cinco De Mayo Zaragoza was born on March 24, 1829, at Bahía del Espíritu Santo in the state of Coahuila and Texas, near present Goliad, Texas. With Mexico’s defeat in the Texas Revolution, his father moved the family from Goliad to Matamoros. Zaragoza eventually entered the Mexican army and served in many campaigns. When the French invaded Mexico in 1862 he was entrusted with the defense of Puebla. French forces attacked the town in a battle that lasted the entire day of May 5, 1862, the now-famed Cinco de Mayo. Zaragoza’s well-armed, well-trained men forced the withdrawal of the French troops. The number of French reported killed ranged from 476 to 1,000. Mexican losses were reported to be approximately eighty-six. Although the French captured Mexico City the next summer, the costly delay at Puebla is believed to have shortened the French intervention in Mexico and changed its outcome. Zaragoza became a national hero, but died from typhoid fever the following September. Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican national holiday, is celebrated in Texas and the Southwest as well.
What has been true since armies began, remains true today. This repost from TruthHugger’s 2008 article, shows it all. What is Adrenarche and Why Are America’s Services Sexually Immature
With the recent revelations about the US Military and Secret Service, this poignant reminder shows nothing has changed. The written word, in rules, policy and law, is totally ignored in the ‘good ‘ole boy club’. And, the lesson not learned, Mother Nature is not fooled by political restrictions, cultural restrictions or dogma. America’s military population is sexually immature when it comes to choosing between cultural and political policies and their sexual urges. Political and religious leaders have NOT been role models for responsibility. Even Presidential Candidates have shown irresponsible behavior. History also demonstrates the sexual mores of our past presidents. How can anyone expect any better behavior when the ‘do as I say and not as I do’ structure exists? Read the headlines … but don’t stop at the headlines. Learn that laws that are contrary to nature, cannot be enforced. There is a big difference between being in ‘HEAT’ and being ‘In Love’. Being responsible and accountable never wins.
Adrenarche is nature’s maturation process that brings mammals into puberty. Puberty is the sexual awakening of mammals. When puberty is interfered with by a culture or chemical exposure, normal maturation process is interrupted. When a normal process is interrupted, mutations occur. The whole American population is exposed to toxins, pharmaceuticals and political/religious restrictions. The normal maturation process for Americans is mutating. US Military personnel are effected, just like the rest of America. When events and incidents of sexual misconduct dominate our headlines, there is a lot more to the story than wringing your hands, shaking your head, sniggering or grumbling. America is mutating.
Today’s reminder: U.S. military faces scrutiny over its prostitution policies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – No one talks tougher against prostitution than the U.S. military.
Even in countries where prostitution is legal, military personnel violating a seven-year-old Department of Defense policy against paying for sex face up to a year in jail and dishonorable discharge if caught.
Officers and troops are taught about the links between human trafficking and prostitution. They also face country-specific instructions at bases like the U.S. installation in South Korea, where the policy describes prostitution as “cruel and demeaning.”
But the involvement of U.S. military personnel and Secret Service agents in a raucous April outing with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, has underscored the gaps between the written policies and real-life experiences at military assignments around the world.
The US Military has a whole department devoted to keeping sexual indiscretions by military personnel under control? as recent as January 2012. Subject: ALARACT 007/2012-SEXUAL HARASSMENT/ASSAULT RESPONSE AND PREVENTION (SHARP) PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE ?it is no secret that the US Military is far behind the social and cultural maturity of European Military organizations.
A lot of research went in to the original article. There are a lot of links to scientific studies and medical texts. This is not funny. This is a serious wake up call for humans who think they are more powerful than … you figure it out. There is a big difference between being in ‘HEAT’ and being ‘In Love’. Being responsible and accountable never wins.
Hat Tip: Sing To Annoy The Monster
This is a moving statement for a bruised and injured population. I am proud to see such unity of spirit come together. This demonstration is more powerful than any statement by politicians, lawyers or clerics. This is a statement from the hearts of Norway and the world. The twisted reasoning from this self absorbed monster shrivels before the honesty of this peaceful demonstration.
Norwegians sing to annoy mass killer
Norwegians raised their voices in unison on Thursday to get under the skin of admitted mass killer Anders Behring Breivik.
An estimated 40,000 people turned out in central Oslo’s Youngstorget square to sing “Children of the Rainbow,” a Norwegian version of “My Rainbow Race,” written by American folk singer Pete Seeger.
During his trial for the killings of 77 people last summer, Breivik cited the song as an example of Marxist influence on Norwegian culture.
The Norwegian version of the song describes a “World where – every sister and every brother – shall live together – like small children of the rainbow,” according to a report in the Norway Post.
Breivik, whose trial in Oslo City Court began last week, boasts of being an ultranationalist who killed his victims to fight multiculturalism in Norway.
Thursday’s event, which included a march to the courthouse to drop roses outside, was “a beautiful, touching scene,” said Geir Engebretsen, the court chief justice in charge of Breivik’s terror trial, according to a report on Views and News from Norway.
“It’s a very moving manifestation of Norwegian culture,” Engebretsen said, according to the report, which cited Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
In November 2011: Anders Behring Brevik, Norway mass murderer, declared insane
Brevik not insane and is responsible for his crimes
Norway killer admits massacre, claims self-defense
Anders Behring Breivik claims he slept well, ate breakfast and even prepared a lunch bag for himself (a baguette with ham and cheese) before he embarked on his terrorist attacks that killed 77 persons last summer. Breivik was back on the witness stand Wednesday, bashing a psychiatrists’ report that he’s insane and spending hours defending his mental health.
Nine months after a terrorist’s bomb severely damaged Norway’s government headquarters and left eight people dead, the street running by the country’s Parliament building just a few blocks away remains open to traffic. Neither city nor state politicians have ordered the street blocked off, and they’re still debating other security measures as well.
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