SAVE OUR SOULS

How Can You Give Thanks In Everything?

2011-11-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

"Let us be thankful for the fools," wrote Mark Twain. "But for them the rest of us could not succeed."

Is there more to thankfulness than this rather cynical view expressed by one of America's most beloved humorists?

Yes, say a cadre of kids with some rather remarkable ways to apply the apostle's mandate to give thanks in everything.

"When I broke my jaw, I am glad I didn't die," says Jordan, age 9. "When my friend broke his leg, I am glad he didn't break three bones instead of two. When I burst open my head, I am glad I didn't break my head."

Jordan, I hope you and your friends don't break the cash reserves of your health insurance company.

Another Jordan, 8, has found a way to be grateful for asthma: "I don't have it all the time." Jordan is also thankful for her sister. "She is annoying, but I love her."

Don't wait for something spectacular to express gratitude, says Dorothy, 8: "I give thanks that I'm here today. I can give thanks that I'm able to be there to help my mom in her time of need." Dorothy, I think your mom is grateful for your helpful spirit.

"You can also thank God before you eat," says Justin. "Give us this day our daily bread" is a prayer Jesus taught his disciples.

Some kids may think it's hard to give thanks for certain meals. However, Stephen, 7, says, "If you have some spinach or some food you don't like, just think of all the people who would like to have that food."

Believe it or not, a third Jordan, 8, has found reasons to give thanks: "You can give thanks for everything by looking at the best of everything, by praying and by singing his praises."

Stick with the three P's of providence, prayer and praise, and you'll never allow bitterness to take root in your heart. An attitude of gratitude sees even adverse circumstances as part of God's greater plan for character development.

If you've trusted the Lord Jesus as your savior, be grateful that the God who created this universe has accepted you into his glorious kingdom. Hold up the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of ingratitude, doubt and anger that can ruin the peace to which God has called you.

Leah, 10, explains how providence and praise work together: "You should be thankful in the good times that God has given you something good to praise him about. You should be thankful in the bad times because he has given you a chance to trust him."

Praise is a form of thanksgiving, but just how do you praise? "We can sing everywhere we go and just praise the Lord for what he has done," says Rachel, 8.

I have a friend in Ventura, Calif., who taught me how to praise. As a senior citizen past retirement age, Fran Rigoli is no longer a youngster, but he sings like one. Walking on the beach, eating breakfast or driving to the grocery store, it doesn't matter. Rigoli sings his way through life. And why shouldn't he?

Point to ponder: Give thanks in all things because God loves you unconditionally.

Scripture to remember: "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive" (John 7:38-39).

Question to consider: Can you think of an adverse situation for which you can give thanks?

Listen to a talking book, download the "Kids Color Me Bible" for free, watch Kid TV Interviews and travel around the world by viewing the "Mission Explorers Streaming Video" at www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org. Bible quotations are from the New King James Version. To find out more about Carey Kinsolving and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

Distributed By Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Copyright 2011 Carey Kinsolving - Distributed by Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Rep. David Wu to resign amid sexual scandal

2011-07-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) announced Tuesday he will resign from Congress following accusations he had unwanted sexual contact with a teenage girl.
"I cannot care for my family the way I wish while serving in Congress and fighting these very serious allegations," Wu said in a statement.
Wu claims the incident with the daughter of a longtime friend and donor--who is now 18 years old--was consensual, and said he will continue to serve until the resolution of the debt ceiling battle.
Wu for months faced intense pressure back home to resign following reports of his erratic behavior. Prior to today's announcement, he tried to deflect such pressure by stressing that he was undergoing mental health treatment. On Friday, Wu's problems deepened when The Oregonian reported on the allegations over the unwanted sexual encounter.
House Democrats on Sunday called for an ethics investigation into the incident, increasing the public pressure on the seven term congressman to leave office. Wu at first indicated he would simply retire in 2012, and would not resign.
Wu disclosed in July 2010 that he had stopped drinking. He was legally separated from his wife the following month. This past February, the congressman admitted to receiving mental health treatment following reports of his bizarre behavior.
Due to Wu's perceived vulnerability, a competitive 2012 race had already been taking shape in his 1st District. State labor commissioner Brad Avakian began campaigning for the seat in April and has been joined by state Rep. Brad Witt for the Democratic nomination. The seat overall leans Democratic

PORTUGAL MOURNS NOBEL AUTHOR SARAMAGO

2010-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

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LISBON, Portugal (UPI) -- Portugal announced two days of mourning this week for controversial novelist Jose Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize, who died June 18 at the age of 87.

Saramago's body was brought to Lisbon from his home in the Canary Islands Saturday by an air force plane and was escorted by his widow and the Portuguese cultural minister, Euronetnews.com reported.

Saramago received the Nobel in 1998 for a body of work that included the incendiary novel "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ," and "Blindness," which was turned into a 2008 film by the same name.

The Washington Post said Sunday that Saramago was noted for his surrealistic stories and a dense writing style that had single sentences taking up an entire page.

His 1991 book "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" irked the Catholic Church with its depiction of Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalen and its portrayal of God as a manipulator.

At the same time, his 1984 work "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis" had critics comparing his depiction of Lisbon in the 1930s with James Joyce's Dublin and Franz Kafka's Prague, according to the Post.

Saramago was cremated Saturday and his ashes will be spread at his home in the Canary Island and the Portuguese farm village of Azinhaga where he was born in 1922.

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 06/20/2010

Sectarian killings plague Pakistan city

2010-06-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

KARACHI, Pakistan (UPI) -- Sectarian violence in Pakistan has claimed the lives of at least seven people in separate incidents during a 24-hour period, Pakistani police say.

Among the victims were an elderly man and a religious activist, both shot dead in different parts of Karachi, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported Tuesday.

Religious leaders and scholars condemned the latest killings and said the government has failed to put an end to ongoing sectarian violence that began this month.

Monday night, youths hurled stones at vehicles passing through one Karachi neighborhood, prompting police to use teargas to disperse them.

A police spokesman told Dawn each incident was being investigated separately.

"In several cases, we have found evidence that suggest these were, indeed, sectarian killings," the spokesman said.

The sects involved weren't reported.

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 06/15/2010

THE WORLD IN YOUR HANDS

2010-01-14T16:18:00.001-08:00

I recieved an email today that showed me just how near we are to loosing this planet. As the ice tops melt away, and the land dries up in the deserts it is hard to say that we are not heading to total destruction. There is so much we can do and so little we are doing.

I want to ask all my readers at this time to stop. look and listen to this message because we can´t afford to not do something for this planet on which we live. We owe it to our children and to their children.

For further information please write me at brendaysaguirre@gmail.com and I will send you a very iomportant email that will show you exactly what I am talking about.

Have a happy day!
Yours sincerely,
Brenda

HAVE YOU SEEN LINDSAY BAUM

2010-01-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

CANS Alert Issued for 10 Year Old Washington Girl
Posted: Monday June 29, 2009 12:07 PM CT

Code Amber News Service (CANS) issued this Missing Endangered person Alert after the girl went missing on Friday evening (06-26) while walking home from a friends house in McCleary Washington. McCleary is a small town of about 1,500 residents and is about 15 miles west of Olympia. There is no evidence of foul play in this case but the FBI is joining the investigation and search today (Monday 06-29). The FBI will also be bringing in additional law enforcement personnel to help in the investigation and search. No Amber Alert has been issued in this case.

Lindsey J. Baum a 10 year old white female, 4' 9" tall, 80 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a gray or blue hooded pullover sweatshirt, with blue jeans and black shoes.

There is no suspect information at this time.

There is no suspect vehicle information at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office at 360-249-3711 or dial 911.

Share this Amber Alert

HE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

2009-12-25T00:56:00.001-08:00

At this time of the year, with pain in my heart and tears in my eyes at the loss of my best friend and soul companion, I reach out across the miles to greet all my blog readers. I promise to return in the new year with a vigor and the passion I once had. Now I wish to thank you for your support.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL WELL.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2009-12-25T00:55:00.001-08:00

ABEL MARTIN LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ

2009-10-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

NOV 14, 1955 - OCT 18, 2009

I LOVE YOU, CIELO. YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. YOU WILL LIVE IN MY HEART ALWAYS. SQ? TA!!

SAVING A LIFE THESE DAYS... WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

2009-10-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Swine Flu - Advice

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM, DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital ,Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, m ake sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can.

*Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know who might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.

2009-10-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

Rules from God
1. Wake Up!! Decide to have a good day.
"Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalms 118:24

2. Dress Up!! The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7

3. Shut Up!! Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs 13:3

4. Stand Up!!... For what you believe in. Stand for something or you will fall for anything.. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10

5. Look Up!!... To the Lord.
"I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13

6. Reach Up!!... For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6
7. Lift Up!!... Your Prayers. "Do not worry about anything; Instead PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING." Philippians 4:6

FORTALECEN MEXICO, EU Y CANADA COLABORACION CONTRA VIRUS A (H1N1)

2009-10-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Los gobiernos de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá acordaron fortalecer la colaboración para responder a la propagación del virus de influenza A(H1N1).

Según un comunicado, las administraciones de los respectivos países coincidieron en mejorar la coordinación intersectorial, como un paso definitivo para construir una solución continental al problema de la epidemia.

También resaltaron que el diálogo y la transparencia son el camino para responder a los retos de salud generados por el virus, minimizando al mismo tiempo el impacto negativo de la enfermedad en la seguridad y prosperidad de los tres países.

La Secretaría de Gobernación indicó que los objetivos de la reunión se centraron en un recuento de los esfuerzos realizados por los tres países hasta la fecha.

Compartieron así las lecciones aprendidas durante el segundo trimestre del año y discutieron las estrategias para la inminente segunda ola del virus A(H1N1) y otras enfermedades.

THAT´S GOD!!!

2009-10-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been just sitting there and all of a sudden you feel like doing something nice for someone you care for? THAT'S GOD talking to you through the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been down and out and nobody seems to be around for you to talk to? THAT'S GOD wanting you to talk to Him.

Have you ever received something wonderful that you didn't even ask for, like money in the mail, a debt that had mysteriously been cleared, or a coupon to a department store where you had just seen something you needed, but couldn't afford? THAT'S GOD knowing the desires of your heart.

Have you ever been in a situation and you had no clue how it was going to get better, how the hurting would stop, how the pain would ease, but now you look back on it.. . ..

THAT'S GOD passing us through tribulation to see a brighter day.

Do you think that this e-mail was accidentally sent to you?

Roman Polanski detenido en Suiza por una demanda de hace 30 años

2009-09-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

ZURICH (AFP) - El cineasta franco-polaco Roman Polanski fue detenido la noche del sábado en Suiza, donde iba a participar en el festival de Zurich, por una demanda judicial presentada en su contra en Estados Unidos hace más de 30 años por haber tenido relaciones sexuales con una menor.
Roman Polanski, de 76 años de edad, está en "detención provisional en espera de extradición", pero puede apelar esa decisión, indicó el domingo un portavoz del ministerio suizo de Justicia.
El departamento de Justicia estadounidense confirmó que emitió un pedido de detención contra el cineasta franco-estadounidense.
"Las autoridades helvéticas lo detuvieron a raíz de un mandato (de captura) que nosotros realizamos", indicó a la AFP la portavoz Laura Sweeney.
Fiscales de Los Angeles pidieron la detención de Roman Polanski en Suiza cuando supieron que el cineasta planeaba acudir a un festival en ese país, informó el diario Los Angeles Times.
Una portavoz de la oficina del fiscal de Los Angeles informó al periódico que la iniciativa para detener al director fue desencadenada la semana pasada.
Polanski fue detenido en 1977 en Los Angeles a raíz de una demanda judicial presentada por los padres de una adolescente de 13 años. En la época, se declaró culpable de "relaciones sexuales ilegales".
Pasó entonces un mes y medio en prisión. A fines de enero de 1978, al día siguiente de una reunión entre sus abogados y un juez, en la que éste dio a entender que volvería a ordenar su encarcelamiento, Roman Polanski tomó un avión hacia Europa, donde vive desde entonces.
La víctima en el caso de abuso sexual de que se acusa a Roman Polanski, hoy casada y con tres hijos, ha pedido reiteradamente a las autoridades que retiren las causas en contra del hombre que abusó de ella.
Samantha Geimer, de 45 años, era una niña inocente e ingenua en marzo de 1977, cuando Polanski le preguntó a su madre si podría fotografiarla para un revista de modas en la residencia de Jack Nicholson en las colinas de Hollywood.
Después de emborracharla con champaña y drogas, y de sacarle fotografías sin ropa en su bañera, Polanski la violó, mientras ella le pedía que la llevase de vuelta a su casa, según la propia víctima.
En enero de este año, 32 años después de los hechos, Geimer presentó una declaración legal formal en la que pidió que se retiraran los principales cargos contra Polanski, pero los fiscales insistieron en que el acusado debería volver a Estados Unidos antes de que ello sucediera.
Para Geimer esto fue una "broma cruel" contra ella. "Por más verdaderos que sean los hechos, la publicación de esos detalles me lastima a mí y a mi amado esposo, a mis tres hijos y a mi madre", dijo ella, quien añadió que ya era hora de dejar el caso atrás.
"No podemos juzgar el contexto judicial de la detención de Roman Polanski, pero estamos conmocionados por lo que ocurrió", declararon los directores del Festival de cine de Zurich, Nadja Schildknecht y Karl Spoerri, citados en un comunicado.
Dada su detención, los organizadores del festival aplazaron sine die la entrega del premio al conjunto de su carrera que Polanski hubiera debido recibir el domingo.
En cambio, en signo de solidaridad con quien consideran "uno de los cineastas más extraordinarios de nuestra época", decidieron mantener la gala de homenaje prevista en su honor el domingo por la noche.
En París, el ministro francés de Cultura, Fréderic Mitterrand, se declaró "estupefacto" por la detención "espantosa" de Polanski, y recordó que el cineasta es ciudadano francés.
El cineasta de origen polaco, que pasó su infancia en el ghetto de Cracovia, adquirió la nacionalidad francesa en 1976. En 1969, su esposa, la actriz Sharon Tate, fue salvajemente asesinada, estando embarazada, por el asesino en serie Charles Manson.
Polanski es autor de una obra cinematográfica prolija como director, guionista, actor y productor. Una obra llena de contrastes que ha suscitado a la vez admiración y reservas. En 2002, recibió la Palma de Oro del Festival de Cannes por "El pianista".

EASY VS HARD

2009-09-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

I received an email and it was okay but what stuck out were the few sentences at the bottom of the email. so, today I am posting them instead of the full text. After all, to me, this is the most important part of the letter I recieved. have a great day, and God Bless the eyes that sees this blog, the ears that hear it and the heart that is warmed by it!!!
Love, Ms B

Why is it so hard to tell the truth
but yet so easy to tell a lie?
Why are we so sleepy in church
but right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up?
Why is it so easy to delete a Godly e-mail,
but yet we forward all of the nasty ones?
Of all the free gifts we may receive, salvation is the best one.
Prayer is the very best one. There are no costs, but wonderful rewards. God Bless!

Muslim man in Egypt killed his wife because she was reading the Bible and then buried her with their infant baby and an 8-year-old daughter.

2009-09-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

The girls were buried alive!
He then reported to the police that an uncle killed the kids. Fifte en days later, another family member died. When they went to bury him, they found the two little girls under the
sand -- ALIVE!

The country was outraged over the incident, and the man is to be executed at the end of July.

The older girl was asked how she had survived and she said, "A man wearing shiny white clothes, with bleeding wounds in his hands, came every day to feed us. He woke up my mom so she could nurse my sister."
She was interviewed on Egyptian national TV by a veiled Muslim woman news anchor. She said on public TV, "This was none other than Jesus, because nobody else does things like this!"

Muslims believe Isa (Jesus) would do this, but the wounds mean He really was crucified, and it's clear also that He is alive! But, it's also clear that the child could not make up a story like this, and there is no way these children could have survived without a true miracle.

Muslim leaders are going to have a hard time to figure out what to do with this, and the popularity of the Passion movie doesn't help! With Egypt at the centre of the media and education in the Middle East , you can be sure this story will spread. Christ is still controlling and turning the world.
Please let this story be shared.

The Lord said, "I will bless the person who puts his trust in Me. (Jeremiah 17)

THE YALE MURDER STORY... WHEN WE SEND OUR CHILDREN OFF TO UNIVERSITY WHAT DO WE PRAY FOR??? THAT THEY COME HOME TO US WITH KNOWLEDGE..

2009-09-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

NOW WE HAVE TO PRAY THEY COME HOME TO US ALIVE!!!!!

By MICHAEL HILL and PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writers – Sat Sep 19, 11:41 pm ET
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Defending a Yale University lab technician charged with murder against what appears to be a mountain of forensic evidence might mean trying to convince jurors that the crime scene was contaminated because police didn't immediately shut down the lab where the victim was found, legal experts said.

Raymond Clark III is charged with murder for the death of Yale graduate student Annie Le. Le vanished from a research building in Yale's medical school complex on Sept. 8; her body was found hidden in a wall recess five days later, on what was to be her wedding day.
Police charged Clark after reviewing some 300 pieces of evidence, including DNA samples taken from him a day before he was arrested. Clark's bond was set at $3 million, and he did not enter a plea.
Officials found DNA from Le and Clark in the ceiling and in the recess where Le's body was found, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Hartford Courant newspaper on condition of anonymity.

The evidence is so overwhelming that police believe they don't necessarily have to uncover Clark's motive for the killing to convince jurors of his guilt, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

That likely leaves Clark's attorneys with going after how that evidence was gathered — rather than what it showed — and have prosecutors defend their decision not to seal the lab building until Le's body was found.

"You attempt to attack the investigative process as well as the conclusions," said William Dow III, a prominent New Haven-based defense lawyer, who does not represent anyone in this case.

WHEN DO WE START SEEING PEOPLE AS THEY REALLY ARE?? BIPOLAR?? AGGRESSIVE??? MURDERER??? FRIEND??? LOVER??? WHO CAN TELL???

2009-09-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

With Raymond Clark III now in police custody for the murder of Yale graduate student Annie Le, a recently unearthed 2003 police report and interviews with neighbors are painting a portrait of a man with a violent temper.

In a Sept. 29, 2003 police report obtained by the New Haven Independent, Branford, Conn., Det. Ronald Washington recalls responding to a dispute between Clark, then a senior at Branford High School, and his girlfriend at the time, a fellow student.

"The two are in a relationship which [the girlfriend] wishes to terminate and [the male] does not wish to end it." Washington wrote in the report, which has since been sealed.

"[The male] did attempt to confront [the student] on this date and also wrote on her locker."

At the police station, the girl told of a separate incident in which Clark forced himself upon her sexually. "She stated that she had been having a sexual relationship with [the male] and that at one time [the male] did force her to have sex with him," Washington wrote. "The relationship did continue after that incident, however she is unsure of what he may do as a result of the break up."

'Total Utter Shock'
On her Facebook page Wednesday, the woman – who did not press charges in 2003 – wrote (punctuation hers), "I cant believe this is true," and admitted to being in "total utter shock."

"I feel like im 16 all over again," she continued. "Its jsut [sic] bringing back everything … Its been a rough few days."

In an interview with New York's Daily News, neighbor Anne Marie Goodwin, 40, who lived near Clark in New Haven, said Clark was "very controlling" of his fiancée, Jennifer Hromadka. According to Goodwin, "He would never let her talk to anyone. I would hear a lot of yelling upstairs."

Goodwin also said that Clark "kept a pit bull caged in his apartment."

Tales of Infidelity
In May 2008, Hromadka – who is supposed to wed Clark in December 2011, according to their as-yet unfinished wedding Web site – reportedly sprang to her fiancée's defense on MySpace amid rumors he was cheating on her with a girl in his Yale lab.

"My boyfriend, Ray, if you don't know him, has no interest in any of the girls at YARC [Yale Animal Resource Center] as anything more than friends," she wrote. "He is a bit naïve, doesn't always use the best judgment, definitely is not the best judge of character but he is a good guy. He has a big heart and tries to see the best in people ALL THE TIME! Even when everyone else is telling him that the person is a psycho or that the person can't be trusted."

Recently, Hromadka took to her now-defunct MySpace page to write a cryptic entry. "Who are you to judge the life I live?" she wrote Sept. 11, two days before Le's body was recovered. "I know I'm not perfect and I don't live to be, but before you start pointing fingers make sure your hands are clean."

STILL MISSING. PLEASE KEEP LOOKING

2009-08-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

CANS Alert Issued for 5 Year Old Florida Girl
Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:22 PM CT
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:08 PM CT

Code Amber News Service (CANS) issued this Missing Endangered person Alert after the girl disappeared from her bedroom some time after 3 AM Tuesday morning (2-10) in Satsuma. Satsuma is approximately 75 miles east of Gainsville. After two weeks of searching, and going through over 1,600 leads and tips, there is still no sign of Haleigh. The reward for information leading to her recovery has been increased to over $25,000 according to Putnam County Sheriff's officials.

Haleigh Cummings a white female, 3 feet tall, weighs 39 pounds and has blond hair and brown eyes.

There are no suspects in this case at this time. However, due to the circumstances of the child's disappearance an abduction is strongly suspected.

There is no suspect vehicle at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff's office at (386) 329-0808 or dial 911.

CANS Alert Issued for 10 Year Old Washington Girl

2009-07-31T22:58:00.000-07:00

Code Amber News Service (CANS) issued this Missing Endangered person Alert after the girl went missing on Friday evening (06-26) while walking home from a friends house in McCleary Washington. McCleary is a small town of about 1,500 residents and is about 15 miles west of Olympia. There is no evidence of foul play in this case but the FBI is joining the investigation and search today (Monday 06-29). The FBI will also be bringing in additional law enforcement personnel to help in the investigation and search. No Amber Alert has been issued in this case.

Lindsey J. Baum a 10 year old white female, 4' 9" tall, 80 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a gray or blue hooded pullover sweatshirt, with blue jeans and black shoes.

There is no suspect information at this time.

There is no suspect vehicle information at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office at 360-249-3711 or dial 911.

AMBER Alert Issued for 4 Nevada Children

2009-07-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

IVAN

JAKELYNE

MEGAN

TYSON

Posted: Saturday July 11, 2009 7:07 AM CT

The State of Nevada issued the Amber Alert Saturday morning (07-11) after the children were reportedly abducted on Friday (07-10) in Washoe county. They were last seen with the suspect in the Sun Valley area. Sun Valley is approximately 10 miles north of Reno.

Tyson Mata-Martinez (above left) a 4 year old white male, 2' 6", weighing 40 pounds.

Megan Mata-Martinez (above middle left) a 7 year old white female, 2'10" weighing 55 pounds.

Jakelyne Mata-Martinez (above middle right) an 8 year old white female, 3' weighing 60 pounds.

Ivan Mata-Martinez (above right) a 9 year old white male, 4' weighing 80 pounds.

The suspect is Claire Tourand, a white female, 34 Years old, 5' 8" and 220 pounbds with brown hair and hazel eyes.

The suspect vehicle is a 1998 white Mercury Sable with Nevada tag number 369-SDH.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

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WHAT´S WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY?

2009-06-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Many crazy things are happening in the world today. I was looking at the television and saw that a two year old is dead and her teenage cousin and her boyfriend are arrested and charged with her death.

They were trying to say that they had left her in the vehicle while they went in a store to buy something and when they came out she had disappeared. However, after recovering and checking the body the police have arrested these two young people.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHY DO PEOPLE DO EVIL THINGS IN THE WORLD TO THE YOUNG AND DEFENSELESS? WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOCIETY TODAY? HOW DID WE BECOME SO TAKEN UP THAT WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE DANGER WE PLACE OUR CHILD IN? HOPEFULLY THIS WILL SERVE AS A LESSON WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE NEEDED.

A BIBLE QUOTE THAT I LOVE AND SHARE WITH YOU TODAY

2009-06-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
-- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

TRUE STORY AND iF YOU DONT PASS THiS ON YOU DONT HAVE A SOUL!!!

2009-06-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Chris

I am three,

My eyes are swollen

I cannot see,

I must be stupid

I must be bad,

What else could have made

My daddy so mad?

I wish I were better

I wish I weren't ugly,

Then maybe my mommy

Would still want to hug me.

I cant do a wrong

I cant speak at all

Or else i'm locked up

All day long.

When im awake im all alone

The house is dark

My folks aren't home

When my mommy does come home

I'll try and be nice,

So maybe ill just get

One whipping tonight.

I just heard a car

My daddy is back

From Charlies bar

I hear him curse

My name is called

I press myself

Against the wall

I try to hide

From his evil eyes

Im so afraid now

I'm starting to cry

He finds me weeping

Calls me ugly words,

He says its my fault

He suffers at work

He slaps and hits me

And yells at me more,

I finally get free

And run to the door

Hes already locked it

And I start to bawl,

He takes me and throws me

Against the hard wall

I fall to the floor

With my bones nearly broken,

And my daddy continues

With more bad words spoken,

'Im sorry!', I scream

But its now much to late

His face has been twisted

Into a unimaginable shape

The hurt and the pain

Again and again

O please God, have mercy!

O please let it end!

And he finally stops

And heads for the door

While I lay there motionless

Sprawled on the floor

My name is Chris

I am three,

Tonight my daddy

Murdered me!!

This is poem that should never have been and you can help keep it from happening again. If you are like me it probably sickened you to the soul.You have read this. Now you must pass this blogspot address on to your friends and family so they can read it and keep it going. You can copy it to your email and keep it going, too. You would have to be One heartless person To not be affected By this Poem. But because U R affected, Do something about it! All I ask you to do Is pass this on IF YOU ARE AGAINST CHILD ABUSE!
Thanks.
Brenda

Can this really be right???

2009-06-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

I read my post for yesterday and I still can´t get over it. It must be really nice to be able to say, okay so I did wrong but now I can do good. Helllllloooooo. We trust these religious figures and rthey are as sinful IF NOT MORE SO than we are. If there is a God then something is definitely wrong with the way things are going today. someone better stand up and tell me I am not going crazy to think that we have created demons in our religious beliefs. Someone once said we did not need to go to church to have God in our lives. I am beginning to think that it would be better to NOT GO THERE, ALSO. The world seem to be filled with hypocrites and fools. Sorry, but it seems we are not listening to what is happening in the world. we hear only what we want to and see only what we want to and we SPEAK MORE THAN WE SHOULD!!!

If this blog has offended anyone, I am truly sorry but there is so much sorrow and pain these days that it is time to think that maybe we have been led astray and not the right way!

PARAGUAY´S PRESIDENT, ONCE BISHOP, ALSO FATHER OF A CHILD WHILE HE WAS BISHOP

2009-06-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

El presidente de Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, afirmó que su reciente reconocimiento de un hijo concebido siendo obispo no ha mellado su imagen, y es visto como una actitud positiva en un país donde las madres solas son mayoría, según declaraciones publicadas este domingo en Argentina.

“Paraguay tiene un índice de reconocimiento de 30%: en un 70% la paternidad no se reconoce. En ese sentido, que el presidente reconozca a su hijo pudiendo y teniendo en sus manos toda la cuestión jurídica y el poder e incluso los medios para no hacerlo, muchos lo han considerado un acto de valentía y coraje”, dijo Lugo.

Entre “la gente sencilla, aquella que nos votó, la imagen se mantiene intacta”, afirmó el mandatario al diario Clarín de Buenos Aires. “Puede que haya tenido su repercusión a nivel mediático, pero yo creo que aquí,Fernando Lugo, su honestidad, su transparencia en la administración de la cosa pública sigue intacta en la ciudadanía, esas más de 800 mil personas que lo votaron el 20 de abril del año pasado”, dijo.

El presidente comentó que considera su paternidad como “un aprendizaje, un nuevo tipo de relacionamiento con esta persona” y confesó que debió revisar tanto sus rutinas para dedicarle tiempo al niño como la decisión de donar su sueldo a los indígenas debido a la obligación legal de costear el sustento del hijo.

WHERE IS EMANUEL GUZMAN???

2009-06-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

AMBER Alert Issued for 2 Year Old Colorado Boy
Posted: Saturday May 23, 2009 6:18 AM CT

The State of Colorado issued the Amber Alert early Saturday morning (05-23) after the boy's parents failed to show up for a court appearance in Colorado Springs on Thursday. Custody of the boy was transferred to the state of Colorado due to allegations of child abuse. The boy requires medical attention due to sever burns he suffered in April to his hands. Police believe the suspects may be headed to Mexico with the boy.

Emanuel Guzman a 2 year old Hispanic male, 2', 30 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair.

There are two suspects. Carmen Aguilera is a 30 year old Hispanic female, 5' 6", 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Benito Guzman is a 29 year old Hispanic male, 5' 8", 180 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and has a mustache.

There are two possible suspect vehicles, a tan 2004 Ford pickup with Colorado tag number 491-SKZ or a brown 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee with Colorado tag number 781-SLH.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444-7000 or dial 911.

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INGRID REYES IS FOUND - MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

2009-06-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

AMBER Alert Canceled for 4 Year Old Georgia Girl
Posted: Wednesday June 10, 2009 10:33 AM CT
Updated: Thursday June 11, 2009 11:13 AM CT

The State of Georgia canceled the Amber Alert early Thursday morning (6-11) after the girl was found safe in Prince George County, Maryland. The suspect was taken into custody at that time. Georgia authorities have charged the suspect with one count of kidnapping and he may face additional charges.

The previous Amber Alert for Ingrid was as follows:

The State of Georgia issued the Amber Alert Wednesday morning (6-10) after the girl was abducted in Lawrenceville on Tuesday (6-9). The suspect may be headed to Houston Texas and has threatened to kill the child. Lawrenceville is approximately 35 miles north east of Atlanta.

Ingrid Reyes a 4 year old Hispanic female, 3', 30 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She has straight, shoulder length hair and was last seen wearing pajama bottoms and a pink Barbie T-shirt.

The suspect is Alejandro Humberto Guzman, an Hispanic male, 29 years old, 5' 10", 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. His hair is short on top and long on the sides. He usually wears a blue baseball cap with a "T" on it.

The suspect vehicle is a gray 1993 Honda Accord with Texas tag number NCK 136

Anyone with information is asked to call the Gwinnett County Police Department at 770-513-5000 or dial 911.

THE CHOICE IS OURS

2009-06-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK.

And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE

He did something for you, now do something for him.

Spread his word, and you'll be rewarded. How?

Matthew 10:32...'Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven.'

Quotations About God

2009-06-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

This world is God's workshop for making men in. -- Henry Ward Beecher

The whole of creation, with all of its laws, is a revelation of God. -- Dean William Ralph Inge

Walk boldly and wisely....There is a hand above that will help you on. -- Philip James Bailey

Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, secretly all nature seeks God and works toward him. -- Meister Eckhart

One on God's side is a majority. -- Wendell Phillips

The stars rule men but God rules the stars. --Christoph Cellarius

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

God helps the brave. -- Johann Christoph Freidrich von Schiller

True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God. - Thomas Merton

Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers. - Hans Christian Andersen

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. -- Proverbs 3:5-6

There is no emptiness of soul ever for those whose life is devoted to God. -- William Lawson

A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness. -- Jonathan Edwards

Never think that God's delays are God's denials.
Hold on! hold fast! hold out! Patience is genius. -- Georges L.L. de Buffon

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired. -- Martin Luther

God's greatness flow around our incompleteness;
Round our restlessness, his rest.-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

God is a good worker but loves to be helped. -- Basque Proverb

Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

God enters by a private door into every individual. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's only forgetting yourself that you draw near to God. -- Henry David Thoreau

In whatever direction you turn, you will see God coming to meet you; nothing is void of him, he himself fills all his work. -- Seneca The Younger

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. -- John 4:12

ANOTHER SOUL CLEANSER

2009-06-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Thanks Erleen,for sending me this Bible Reading

2009-06-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Revelations 3:8

When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go, only 1 of 2 things will happen, either He ' ll catch you when you fall, or He ' ll teach you how to fly! ' The power of one sentence! God is going to shift things around for you today and let things work in your favor. If you believe, send it. If you don ' t believe, delete it. God closes doors no man can open & God opens doors no man can close.

A SOUL CLEANSER

2009-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let mea sow love.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there sadness, joy.
Oh divine master, grant that I may forgive and forget
Those who have forsaken me.

5 YEAR OLD ABDUCTED

2009-06-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

AMBER Alert Issued for 5 Year Old Michigan Girl
Posted: Monday May 25, 2009 10:33 AM CT

The State of Michigan issued the Amber Alert early Monday morning (05-25) after the girl was apparently abducted while playing in front of her apartment complex in Monroe Sunday evening (05-24). The girl was last seen at about 8:15 PM playing with ther scooter. The scooter was later found in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Due to the nature of her disappearance the child is considered to be in extreme danger.

Neviaeh Amyah Buchanan a 5 year old white female, 3'8", 45 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a red, white and blue striped shirt, knee length blue jeans.

There is no suspect information available at this time.

There is no suspect vehicle information available at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Monroe County Sheriff at 734-243-7070 or dial 911.

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SAVING A SOUL

2009-06-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

When we think about saving a soul we think about extending a helpinmg hand to someone because they can´t help themselves. But is this always the case? I don´t think so. I have seen quite a few people who could have helped themselves just sit back and EXPECT others to do all the work. That is not right. I hope more people can learn that they too must play a role in their salvation.
God bless,
B

BIBLE VERSES FOR THE DAY

2009-03-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Christ Was Made For Us
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree...

Galatians 3:13 KJV

__________________

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

__________________

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:7,8 KJV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

LET THEM GO!!!

2009-03-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is beautiful. Read it to the end...the message is awesome!!!

By T. D. Jakes

There are people who can walk away from you.

And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.

Let them go.

And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead.

You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye.. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.

Let them go!!

If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to......

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains ......

LET IT GO!!!

If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth.....

LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you.

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge.....

LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction... ..

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents

LET IT GO!!!

If you! u have a bad attitude.... ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better......

LET IT GO!!!

If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him........

LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship. ....

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves.. ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you're feeling depressed and stressed ...........

LET IT GO!!!

If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying 'take your hands off of it,' then you need to......

LET IT GO!!!

'The Battle is the Lord's!'

During the next 60 seconds, Stop whatever you are doing, and take this opportunity.

(Literally it is only ONE minute!)

All you have to do is the following:

You simply say 'The Lords Prayer' for the person that sent you this message:

The Lords Prayer

Our Father, who are in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever.

Amen.

Next, send this message to everyone you know. In a while, more people will have prayed for you and you would have obtained a lot of people praying for others!

Next, stop and think and appreciate God's power in your life, for doing what you know is pleasing to Him.

If you are not ashamed to do this, follow the instructions!

Jesus said, If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before My Father'

If you are not ashamed, send this message... only if you believe.

'Yes, I love my God. He is my fountain of Life and My Savior.

He Keeps me going day and night. Without Him, I am no one. But with Him, I can do everything, Christ is my strength.' This is a simple test.

If you love God and you are not ashamed of all the great things that He has done for you, send this to everyone you know, and the person that sent it to you!

God loves you and watches over you everyday

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE

2009-02-14T15:25:00.001-08:00

It has been hard keeping up with my job, studying at the university and having a spa so please forgive me for breaking my promise to write more often. I have just finished 2nd cuatri mester finals so I am exhausted but happy. Have a great day! PEACE, LOVE, HAPPINESS AND LOTS OF SMILES AND KISSES.

HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS: I AM IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL MAN. THIS VALENTINE'S MONTH WILL BE ONE TO BE REMEMBERED.

BRENDA AURORA

TALIBAN BLOWS UP CLOSED GIRLS SCHOOL

2009-01-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

MINGORA, Pakistan (UPI) -- Taliban militants have blown up two closed girls schools in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, sources say.

The schools in the Swat capital of Mingora had been closed since militants threatened them last week, Pakistan's GEO TV reported Monday. Unnamed sources told the broadcaster militants used explosives to destroy primary and secondary girls schools in the city's Bannar area.

All the district's girls schools have been closed since the threats, putting the future of more than 80,000 students and 8,000 women teachers in jeopardy, GEO TV said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

HAPPY NEW YEAR, CAROLYN AND CIARRA

2009-01-02T01:09:00.000-08:00

Dearest Carolyn,
This was the first year I was unable to be with you all for Christmas and New Years Day is here and I am filled with so much love and wishes for you. Daughter, you have been and will always be the joy of my life. You have been loved from the moment I found out I was carrying you in my womb. The love your father and I had for each other and the love we had when you arrived was special.

Over the years I became a single parent and that did not stop me from seeing you through high school, Sixth Form and University. Today you are thousands of miles away in Georgia, USA but you remain in my heart as the ray of sunshine that has brightened and guided me over the years.

I wish you all the best, Bibs. If Tia Brenda and Chichi were alive I know they would be so proud of all that you have achieved. I know that I am proud of you and have always been proud of you. Your successes are my successes. Keep on attaining that star that shines in your eyes and heart.

As we move into 2009, I look forward to seeing you and being with you. Keep on smiling and joking and being the best friend a mother could ask for. Baby girl, you are my greatest achievement. You are the best poem I have ever written, the best song I have ever sung and the best speech I have ever given. Reach for the unreachable and remember that you can be all you want to be.

Just say I CAN and you will be surprised at how much you will be able to do.

I love you and always will.
Mama

Ciarra, my little princess,
From the first moment I held you in my arms I knew you were grandma's girl. You are my joy and my peace. You are my blooming lily, my walking happiness. God Bless you my little angel. You are loved and you are cared for. Keep on making us proud of you. Keep on smiling and keep on learning.

Your journey of life has just begun. You have much to achieve and you will!

I love you and I miss you.

Grandma's special little star, know this: I will always be there for you. Reach out and take my hand.

All my love and kisses,
Grandma Brenda

AFTER THE STORM- PLEASE HELP BELIZE

2008-10-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

For the time being the rains have stopped and now we have a cold front over Belize. However, all is not over. Now is the time of recovery. The people in the areas that had the flooding ae still suffering. Many are still not in their homes and many have lost most of their personal properties.

NOW IS THE TIME WHEN WE HAVE TO GIVE A HELPING HAND.

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE RELIEF ORGANIZERS WHO ARE GOING TO TAKE FOOD, MEDICINES AND CLOTHING ( AMONG OTHER THINGS) TO THOSE WHO NOW NEED OUR HELP.

In an effort to assist our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much in the past weeks, the YO PUEDO GROUP OF COROZAL and CCC ACE and CJC ACE have initiated a drive to collect non-persishable goods and clothing. THIS IS THE TIME WHEN WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER. LET US GIVE FROM THE HEART.

TO MY READERS ABROAD, YOU TOO CAN HELP. YOUR MONETARY DONATIONS CAN BE SENT TO THE RED CROSS OF BELIZE OR GET IN CONTACT WITH ME AT 501-607-8315 (3pm to 31am Belize time) OR AT 00521-983-131-5669 FROM 7AM TO 11AM (Mexico time).

Thank you and God Bless.

PLEASE BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR JULIAN

2008-10-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

Amber Alert Issued for 7 Year Old Illinois Boy
Posted: Friday October 24, 2008 8:03 PM CT

The Illinois State Police Issued the Amber Alert on Friday evening after the boy was abducted in Chicago and his Grandmother and another relative were found shot to death. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.

Julian King is a black male, 7 years old, 4 feet 11 inches, 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a brown polo shirt with stripes and khaki pants.

The suspect is unknown at this time.

The suspect vehicle is a white 1994 Chevrolet Suburban with Illinois tag number X584859.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

BABY APPEARS TO HVE BEEN ABUSED OVER A PERIOD OF TIME

2008-09-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

A Toronto police officer said Tuesday he has heard "disturbing" third-hand information about the life of a seven-year-old girl who was found dead on Sunday, and now he's pleading for people with first-hand knowledge to come forward with details.

Outrage Grows Over T.O. Girl's Death
A Toronto police officer said Tuesday, August 5, he has heard "disturbing" third-hand information about the life of a seven-year-old girl who was found dead on Sunday, and now he's pleading for people with first-hand knowledge to come forward with details. Katelynn Sampson, 7, looked as though she might have been abused for some time, police said.

Det.-Sgt. Steve Ryan said he doesn't want to disclose the details until they are confirmed, but he said there are suggestions that young Katelynn Sampson was abused for some time.

"I can only tell you from what I observed as a non-medical person, that some of those injuries did not appear to be fresh injuries," he told reporters in Toronto.

Ryan said when emergency workers found Katelynn's body in an apartment in the west-end neighbourhood of Parkdale, there was evidence the Grade 3 student had been sleeping on the floor and had been subject to poor living conditions that he did not want to discuss.

"I saw probably the worst thing I've seen in 20 years of policing," he said.

He said he'd like to hear from anyone with any information at all about the girl — teachers, neighbours, even convenience store owners.

"I don't care who they are. If they have information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it could be important to us," Ryan said.

Katelynn's legal guardian, 29-year-old Donna Irving, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the girl's slaying. Ryan confirmed that Irving has been charged and convicted of violent crimes in the past.

According to Ryan, Irving was granted sole custody of Katelynn in January, although she has had contact with the girl since May 2007.

Court documents obtained by CBC News show Irving took final custody of Katelynn in June. The documents said that both Katelynn's mother, Bernise Sampson, and her father were drug addicts.

According to the documents, Irving said Katelynn had been living with her since May 2003.

Outside her west-end home Tuesday, Sampson said she was unaware of Irving's violent past.

"I do not know about Donna's past and I don't want to hear about no custody and what I did and what I didn't do. Everybody makes a mistake in life, there's nobody perfect. But I thought I had a friend," Sampson said.

She said Monday that she put her daughter in Irving's care while she sorted out some undisclosed personal problems. She and Irving had been friends for 10 years.

Irving has two children of her own; both are being cared for by their father.

Officials began an autopsy on Katelynn's body at 10:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, a procedure that was continuing Tuesday afternoon. Ryan said the autopsy was taking longer than expected because of the "complicated" nature of Katelynn's injuries. He would not elaborate.

He said it was too soon to say when Katelynn died, although it's clear when emergency workers found her, she had been dead for some time.

Irving called 911 early Sunday, claiming that Katelynn had stopped breathing after choking on food. Ryan said Monday that it is clear Katelynn did not choke and that she had signs of assault across her entire body.

Ryan said police obtained a warrant to search Irving's home Tuesday night but would not confirm what officers would be looking for.

Child services agencies are investigating whether they played any role in placing Katelynn in Irving's care, Ryan said.

Custody can be granted in some cases where the person has a criminal record, depending on the offence, according to an official with the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.

"If we intervened in every family where there was a criminal offence, we would have no children living with parents who had had any criminal offences at all," said Virginia Rowden.

Katelynn's mother said the system had a role to play in preventing her daughter's death.

"I think the system shoulda did a better job and they didn't do it," Sampson said.

2008-08-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

Police: Man stole 32 deodorant products
COLLEGE HILL, Ohio (UPI) -- Police said a hygiene-minded thief in College Hill, Ohio, was arrested after taking 32 deodorant products from a Walgreens store.

Martin Steve Johnson, 38, allegedly entered the drug store Monday and attempted to transfer 18 sticks of Degree deodorant, 10 sticks of Axe deodorant and five bottles of Axe body spray from his shopping basket to his blue book bag, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday.

A police report said officers caught up with Johnson behind a Chili's restaurant at about 5:30 p.m. and arrested him. He was charged with theft and scheduled for a court appearance Tuesday.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

MEDITATION AND YOU

2008-08-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS MEDIATION AND HOW DO YOU BEGIN IT?

If you really want to get to know the truth, that means meditate or understand meditation, you must first leave the mind to one side, leave religion, and leave your Saints and Gods in peace
Neither the Koran nor the Bible, nor the Torah or any "sacred writing" can help.
Deeds do not serve any purpose. Nor will going to the Himalayas. Only one thing can help you: start looking at things without the mind. When you look at a flower, do not let the mind say anything. Only look at it. It will be difficult because of your old habit of interpreting. You are always interpreting, and interpretations always differ. Interpretations depend on the mind.
How you see things depends on you, not things. Unless you reach a point where these thoughts leave the mind and you stop trying to interpret things and becomes direct, your mind cannot be the mediator. You distort things, and mix them up with interpretations. They are not pure.
So the only way to reach the truth is to learn how your vision can be immediate. You must learn how to abandon the aid of the mind ... This mind management is the problem, because the mind can only create dreams, and you can create wonderful dreams that can make you very emotional. And through that emotion the dream begins to resemble reality.
If you emotions too much, you're intoxicated, you're no longer in your senses, then what you see is a projection of yourself. And there are so many worlds and minds, because every mind lives in their own world. You can laugh at the stupidity of others, but until we start laughing at our own, we are not able to become a natural being, a man of truth. So what should you do?
Try small things: do not intervene on the mind about them. When you look at a flower, just look. Do not say: 'What beautiful! How horrible! ". Do not say anything! Do not use words. Do not verbalize. Just look. The mind will feel uncomfortable, uneasy. The mind would like to say something. Simply tell the mind: 'Be silence! Let me see. I need only to look."
Initially it will be difficult, but it starts with things in which you're not very involved. It will be difficult to watch your wife without words. You are heavily involved, too emotionally attached. Whether in anger or love, either way you are too involved.
Watch things that are neutral: a rock, a flower, a tree, the sunrise, a bird flying, a cloud floating in the sky.
Watch only the things you're not very involved with, which can remain disconnected from you, which can remain indifferent. Start with neutral things, and only when you have managed those move into emotionally charged situations.
People begin with loaded situations, and fail, because it is almost impossible. For your wife, you love or hate her. There is no middle ground. If you love you're crazy and if you hate you're crazy; will both emotions you have the words. It is almost impossible not to let both emotions come. It is very difficult due to the constant practice of speaking.
Sleeping or awake when you are emotionally involved is very difficult to leave the mind to one side. The mind intervene. So, first observe situations that are not loaded. When you feel that you can look at certain things without the mind interfering, then try it with emotionally charged situations.
Little by little, one becomes efficient. It's like swimming. At first you are afraid, you think that you will not survive. And you have been working for so long with the mind that you can not believe you can exist without it even for a single moment. But try! You will be starting the path to meditation in everyday life. Osho

CODE AMBER ALERT FOR ALL TO USE

2008-08-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

HOW TO SURVIVE KIDNAPPING

2008-08-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Kidnappings

Kidnapping is a terrifying experience, but you possess more personal resources than you may be aware of to cope with the situation. Remember, you are only of value to them alive, and they want to keep you that way.

The common hostage responses of fear, denial, and withdrawal are all experienced in varying degrees. You may be blindfolded, drugged, handled roughly, or even stuffed in the trunk of a car. If drugs are administered, do not resist. Their purpose will be to sedate you and make you more manageable; these same drugs may actually help you to get control of your emotions, which should be your immediate goal. If conscious, follow your captors’ instructions.

Captivity

A hostage-taking situation is at its worst at the onset. The terrorists are nervous and unsure, easily irritated, often irrational. It is a psychologically traumatic moment for the hostage. Violence may be used even if the hostage remains passive, but resistance could result in death.

If taken hostage, your best defense is passive cooperation. You may be terrified, but try to regain your composure as soon as possible and to organize your thoughts. Being able to behave rationally increases your chances for survival. The more time that passes, the better your chances of being released alive.

Behavior Suggestions

Each captivity is different, but some behavior suggestions apply to most:
Try to establish some kind of rapport with your captors. Family is a universal subject. Avoid political dialogues, but listen attentively to their point of view. If you know their language, listen and observe; and if addressed, use it.
Plan on a lengthy stay, and determine to keep track of the passage of time. Captors may attempt to confuse your sense of time by taking your watch, keeping you in a windowless cell, or serving meals at odd hours. However, you can approximate time by noting, for example, changes in temperatures between night and day; the frequency and intensity of outside noises—traffic, whistles, birds; and by observing the alertness of guards.
Maintain your dignity and self-respect at all times.
Manage your time by setting up schedules for simple tasks, exercises, daydreaming, housekeeping.
Build relations with fellow captives and with the terrorists. If hostages are held apart, devise ways to communicate with one another. Where hostages are moved back and forth, to bathrooms for example, messages can be written and left. However, do not jeopardize your safety or the safety or treatment of others if attempting to communicate with fellow captives seems too risky.
Maintain your physical and mental health; it is critical to exercise body and mind. Eat food provided without complaint; keep up your strength. Request medical treatment or special medicines if required.
Establish exercise and relaxation programs. Exercise produces a healthy tiredness and gives you a sense of accomplishment. If space is confined, do isometrics. Relaxation reduces stress. Techniques include meditation, prayer, daydreaming. · Keep your mind active; read anything available. Write, even if you are not allowed to retain your writings. If materials are not available, mentally compose poetry or fiction, try to recall Scripture, design a house, even “play tennis” (as one hostage did).
Take note of the characteristics of your captors and surroundings: their habits, speech, contacts; exterior noises (typical of city or country); and other distinctive sounds. This information could prove very valuable later.

If selected for early release, consider it an opportunity to help remaining hostages. Details you have observed on the terrorists and the general situation can assist authorities with a rescue.

You can expect to be accused of working for the government’s intelligence service, to be interrogated extensively, and to lose weight. You may be put in isolation; your captives may try to disorient you. It is important that you mentally maintain control.

Avoidance of Capture or Escape

Efforts to avoid capture or to attempt escape have in most cases been futile. The decision, however, is a personal one, although it could affect fellow hostages by placing them in jeopardy. Several other considerations should be weighed.

To have any chance of success, you should be in excellent physical condition and mentally prepared to react before the terrorists have consolidated their position. This, also, is the riskiest psychological time. You would need to have a plan in mind, and possibly have been trained in special driving tactics or other survival skills.

If you are held in a country in which you would stand out because of race or other physical characteristics, if you know nothing of the language or your location, or if you are held in a country where anti-American or anti-Western attitudes prevail, you should consider the consequences of your escape before attempting it. If you conclude that an escape attempt is worthwhile, take terrorists by surprise and you may make it. If their organization has a poor track record of hostage safety, it may be worth the risk.

Rescue

The termination of any terrorist incident is extremely tense. If an assault force attempts a rescue, it is imperative that you remain calm and out of the way. Make no sudden moves or take any action by which you could be mistaken for a terrorist and risk being injured or killed.

Even in a voluntary release or surrender by the terrorists, tensions are charged and tempers volatile. Very precise instructions will be given to the hostages, either by the captors or the police. Follow instructions precisely. You may be asked to exit with hands in the air, and you may be searched by the rescue team. You may experience rough treatment until you are identified and the situation has stabilized.

Finally, it’s worth keeping in mind three facts about terrorism:
The overwhelming majority of victims have been abducted from their vehicles on the way to or from work.
A large number of people taken hostage ignored the most basic security precautions.
Terrorist tactics are not static. As precautions prove effective, they change their methods. There is a brief “window of vulnerability” while we learn to counter their new styles.

Additional Precautions

Do not settle into a routine. Vary times and routes to and from work or social engagements.

Remember, there is safety in numbers. Avoid going out alone. When traveling long distances by automobile, go in a convoy. Avoid back country roads and dangerous areas of the city.

A privately owned car generally offers the best security. Avoid luxury or ostentatious cars. Keep your automobile in good repair and the gas tank at least half full. Driving in the center lane of a multiple lane highway makes it difficult for the car to be forced off the road.

[Source: The United States State Department]

Woman accused of kidnapping child found near cemetery was near breakdown

2008-08-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

A woman who was arrested after police said she dropped a 4-year-old off at a cemetery in the middle of the night was showing signs of a mental breakdown in the days leading up to the incident, a family member says.

Gidi Guerrier, 23, of Tallahassee, was arrested July 28 on charges of child abuse and kidnapping. According to court documents, Guerrier dropped the child off in St. Marks between 3 and 4:30 a.m. The child wandered around alone for some time before being found by a citizen. The child was not hurt and is now in the custody of the father.

Guerrier, the mother of two young daughters, routinely cared for the 4-year-old, said Tawanna Sykes of Atlanta. Sykes' son is the father of Guerrier's daughters. They all lived at the same Tallahassee apartment with another woman, the mother of the 4 year old.

Sykes said Guerrier had no history of mental illness or drug use but recently started acting strangely. She had lost her job and was under a lot of stress. She said she was normally a caring and responsible mom.

"It's like she has just been experiencing a mental breakdown," Sykes said. "I would talk to her on the phone ... and her whole frame of mind was changing. It was like she was trying to save the world from evil. She thought everyone around her was evil or she thought someone was out to get her."

Sykes, a Tallahassee native who owns a construction business, said she and other family members tried to get Guerrier help starting July 24. But she said police officers and deputies who showed up didn't get her the help she needed.

"If they had just taken her somewhere to be evaluated by a professional, they would have known that there was a problem and that she needed help," she said.

Officials with the Tallahassee Police Department and the Sheriff's Office responded by saying Guerrier didn't show signs of being a danger to herself or others at the time.

Under Florida law, people can be placed in involuntary psychiatric care if they are incapable of surviving on their own without treatment or there is a likelihood they will hurt themselves or someone else.

Police were called to Guerrier's apartment July 25 in reference to a family dispute. An officer who responded had no indication that Guerrier needed to be taken into custody, said David McCranie, spokesman for TPD.

"She did not make any statements or take any actions that led the officer to believe that she was in need of mental-health services," he said.

Deputies were called to the apartment twice July 24 in reference to family disputes. No action was taken, and neither of the calls had to do with mental-health issues, said Sgt. Tony Drzewiecki, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies were called a third time on July 25 to assist TPD. The call was about a woman who was saying that everyone was evil. Tallahassee police were already on scene when the deputy arrived.

"We never evaluated this person because there was no reason for us to evaluate this person," he said.

No reports were taken of the incidents, McCranie and Drzewiecki said. Leon County declined to release any 911 tapes from the Guerrier residence because of an ongoing TPD investigation.

Guerrier has pleaded not guilty and has been appointed a public defender, according to court records. She is being held without bail in the county jail.

WOMAN ESCAPES KIDNAPPING

2008-08-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

COLORADO SPRINGS - A woman makes a dangerous escape after she's pulled into an SUV. The investigation involves two different convenience stores on the south side of Colorado Springs. The victim pulled in to a 7-11 parking lot at 1801 South Nevada when the suspect drove up next to her, pulled her out of the drivers seat and threw her into his SUV.

The victim's quick thinking in this case could have saved her from something worse. The victim, a 28-year-old woman, says she exchanged numbers with 25-year-old Luther Brumfield at the 7-11 at Lake and Rand around midnight Tuesday morning. "Apparently she thought she knew him and that's why they exchanged numbers," says Lt. Steve Tobias with the Colorado Springs Police Department.

About an hour later, the victim says she was driving down South Nevada and Brumfield started tailgating her in his maroon Suburban. She pulled into the 7-11 parking lot on South Nevada. Brumfield drove in next to her, grabbed her and threw her into his vehicle. He locked the doors and drove off. "If you are going to pull over, make sure it's in a well-lighted area and there are people around," Tobias says. The victim rolled down her window and held down the control so Brumfield couldn't roll it back up.

She jumped out of the moving car and ran for help. "It's not a good idea to jump out of a moving vehicle," says Tobias, "but if you think the outcome is going to be worse than that, that's a decision the victim has to make." Officers tracked the cell phone number the victim got from the suspect, back to Brumfield and his maroon suburban. He's in the El Paso County Jail charged with second-degree kidnapping. Police are still investigating Brumfield's motive in this kidnapping. The victim is okay.

Detectives Investigate Rape, Kidnapping Of 13-Year-Old Girl

2008-08-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. -- A 13-year-old girl who was walking alongside Old Highway 52 in Davidson County on July 25 was kidnapped and raped by a man who stopped to pick her up, detectives said.

The girl told detectives that the man drove her into Forsyth County where he raped her before releasing her near the Wal-Mart on Peters Creek Parkway.

Detectives said they began conducting surveillance on Old Highway 52 when they noticed a vehicle matching the vehicle the girl said her abductor was driving.

The vehicle was stopped and detectives charged one of the occupants, Martin Chimal Gonzales, 29, with first-degree kidnapping.

Detectives said that more charges involving rape could be filed in Forsyth County.

Gonzales was being held on a $1 million bond.

Man held without bail on parental kidnapping charge

2008-08-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

BOSTON (AP) - The man accused of snatching his 7-year-old daughter in Boston and taking her to Maryland has been arraigned in Boston, on charges including felony parental kidnapping.

Clark Rockefeller has been ordered held without bail.

He didn't speak at the hearing, though he was heard muttering "that's not me" when a prosecutor mentioned an alias that was attributed to him.

His attorney says Rockefeller did not kidnap the girl. He told reporters, "Kidnapping doesn't apply, it was his own kid."

He also denies that Rockefeller has any links to a slaying in California. The Boston Globe said his fingerprints may be linked to an investigation of a homicide.

The lawyer says Clark Rockefeller is his client's real name. Prosecutors say he has at least a-half dozen aliases and that he's told authorities he doesn't remember his history.

Members of the Rockefeller family of Standard Oil fame say there's no indication he's related to them.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

MAN THREATHENS BARACK OSAMA

2008-08-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

MIAMI (AP) - A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

STILL NO SIGN OF THE DAUGHTER

2008-08-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

Missing Girl's Mom Formally Charged
Prosecutors have filed formal charges against the 22-year-old mother of a missing central Florida girl, but not in her disappearance. Casey Anthony was formally charged Tuesday, August 5, with child neglect and filing a false statement. Police have held her on $500,000 bail on those charges since last month. A delay between an arrest and formal charges is typical in Florida as prosecutors build their case.

'Disturbing' Details Shroud T.O. Girl's Death

2008-08-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

A Toronto police officer said Tuesday he has heard "disturbing" third-hand information about the life of a seven-year-old girl who was found dead on Sunday, and now he's pleading for people with first-hand knowledge to come forward with details.

Det.-Sgt. Steve Ryan said he doesn't want to disclose the details until they are confirmed, but he said there are suggestions that young Katelynn Sampson was abused for some time.

"I can only tell you from what I observed as a non-medical person, that some of those injuries did not appear to be fresh injuries," he told reporters in Toronto.

Ryan said when emergency workers found Katelynn's body in an apartment in the west-end neighbourhood of Parkdale, there was evidence the Grade 3 student had been sleeping on the floor and had been subject to poor living conditions that he did not want to discuss.

"I saw probably the worst thing I've seen in 20 years of policing," he said.

He said he'd like to hear from anyone with any information at all about the girl — teachers, neighbours, even convenience store owners.

YOU CAN ALL HELP THROUGH SENDING THIS INFO AS AN EMAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW

2008-08-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Reader,
The following email message is of great importance. KINDLY READ, COPY AND PASTE TO YOUR EMAIL AND FORWARD TO AS MANY PERSONS AS YOU CAN SO WE CAN HELP THIS MOTHER TO CARE FOR HER CHILDREN.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL,
Brenda

EMAIL INFO:

Dear Reader

I am a single mother of four kids: ages five, three and a half, 17 months, and a two week old baby girl. God has blessed me with three beautiful, healthy children. Until recently, things were going great for us even though we struggled financially at times (my part-time job was not enough to support us).

Then, the tragedy struck on January 13th. My oldest, Matt, got hit by a car while playing outside. ( The driver was never found - it was a hit and run). After agonizingly long weeks of hospitalization, we did not think he would live but thank god he is alive right now ... but barely. He is still in the hospital in a comatose condition. Doctors say he will be a vegetable for the rest of his life, if he ever comes out of the coma - his brain is too damaged for him to live a normal life. My insurance coverage ran out and I can't afford the hospital bills. Right now, I owe the hospital over $500,000 dollars soo far.

Shortly after the accident happened, my 87-year-old grandmother, with whom I was really close to(she raised me as a child), suffered a stroke and could not live on her own anymore. I took her in.

All of this happened while I was pregnant with Carissa. Therefore, this severe stress that I've been through caused Carissa to be born a premie with Down's syndrome as well as chronic colitis. She is also missing fingernails on her right hand. She is in the hospital as well because she needs to be monitored 24/7. Right now I am at the lowest point of my life. I don't have a job. I'm taking care of three sick family members that are so dear to me, and it is a full time job. I can't afford to pay for my tiny apartment. My car got taken away because I couldn't make the payments, not to mention the debt with the hospital!

I know you are not obligated to do anything. You are free to delete this email without giving it a second thought, but please listen to the cry from a mother's heart! We worked out a deal with AOL where for every 12 forwards I will get 15 cents. Please don't harden your heart. If you can spare the time, then send this email to everyone on your list. This is crucial for our survival!! God bless you all!

Sincerely,

Debbie Shwartz

TODAY'S WORDS FROM JOEL AND VICTORIA

2008-08-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today's Scripture

“ It is an honor for a man to cease from strife ” (Proverbs 20:3)

Today's words from Joel and Victoria
Strife is a very destructive force. It can creep into relationships by starting small, maybe through a comment or a wrong look from someone, and can then escalate into something much bigger. But when you choose to cease from strife and overlook an offense, you are acting honorably, and you are honoring God. How do you avoid strife? The Bible tells us that love covers over many offenses. It means that you give people the benefit of the doubt. You consider what they may be going through over how they reacted to you. Maybe someone was short with you at the office, but they may have a loved one in the hospital, or they may have some other concern. Instead of getting upset, walk in love—be patient, be kind to them. Choose to avoid strife. Look for ways to walk in unity with the people in your life. The Bible says that He has commanded the blessing when we walk and live in unity. Choose unity today and watch the hand of the Lord move mightily on your behalf!

A Prayer for Today

Father God, today I choose Your ways. I invite Your plan to unfold in my life. Help me to avoid strife so I can walk in peace and unity and honor you all the days of my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

AN AWESOME PRAYER

2008-08-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning. I'm blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you. I ask now for Your forgiveness..

Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.

Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over. Let me continue to see sin through Your eyes and acknowledge it as evil. And when I sin, let me repent, and confess with my mouth of my wrongdoing, and receive forgiveness.

And when this world closes in on me, let me remember Jesus' example -- to slip away and find a quiet place to pray. It's the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits. I know that when I can't pray, You listen to my heart. Continue to use me to do Your will.

Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong that I may help the weak. Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others. I pray for those who are lost and can't find their way. I pray for those who are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don't know You intimately. I pray for those who will delete this without sharing it with others. I pray for those who don't believe. But I thank you that I believe.

I believe that You change people and You change things for good reasons. I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every one of my family members and friends and their families. I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.

I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem, circumstance, or situation greater than You. Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight. I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees them and every mouth that confesses them willingly..

This is my prayer.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

BIKERS FOR ABUSED KIDS

2008-07-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

EL PASO, Texas -- An unusual child advocate organization is helping abused children in a way that might surprise you.

They may not look like your typical child advocates, but just try telling them that.

"I got my long hair, I don't shave, I don't bathe every now and then. We don't make excuses for it, but we are serious about the children," said one biker who asked to be called "Kong."

Kong and another biker called "Hooch" are members of the national non-profit organization, Bikers Against Child Abuse, or BACA.

Their mission statement says that they exist as a body of bikers to empower children to not feel afraid of the world they live in after dealing with the trauma of abuse.

It's something Kong and Hooch say they know something about.

"Being a victim myself, it made me feel I had no one to turn to," said Hooch.

"I remember the days I felt the coat hanger across my back. We want to be able to promote the fact that you don't have to be quiet as a child," said Kong.

And that's where BACA comes in. The organization works in conjunction with local and state officials already in place to protect children.

When one of those agencies determines an abused child is still frightened by his or her environment, BACA is contacted and an initial ride is organized to meet the child.

The entire BACA chapter rides to meet the child to welcome him or her to the BACA family and to offer support, protection and love.

They say they stand ready to represent, be it by attending often painful court appearances or helping with the recovery process.

But while they look like tough guys, BACA draws the line at physical violence.

"We're not vigilantes. We're not out to hunt down the bad people and beat 'em up and bring 'em to justice," said Hooch.

Unfortunately, Kong and Hooch aren't representing any children here in El Paso right now. They need five members to start a BACA chapter, and so far, they only have each other.

"You got a bike, you're over 18, then come on! If you're heart's big enough," said Kong.

A big heart does seem to be a requirement. "It would be great if there was no such thing as abused children," said Hooch. But until that becomes a reality, he says, "we'll go all over. We'll go wherever we're needed.

And to those who continue to harm the innocent, Kong and Hooch say, beware.

"Be afraid of it if you're a perpetrator, and if they don't see us, they'll hear our bikes. They will hear our roar," Kong said.

And both Kong and Hooch hope it will be the roar of many.

If you are interested in forming a BACA chapter, call Kong at (915) 356-6394 or e-mail him at bacakong@yahoo.com.

ABUSED CHILDREN GET COURT RIGHTS

2008-07-23T02:47:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO) --

Neglected and abused children in California now have the right to take part in court hearings that will determine their future. That's the effect of a new law signed yesterday by Governor Schwarzenegger, in response to concerns about judges making life-changing decisions for kids they haven't even met.

Children involved in such cases will now be able to attend court hearings, and even address the judge if they want.

MMVIII KNX Radio, All Rights Reserved.

NECESITA RESIGNARSE PRA SALVAR LA IGLESIA

2008-07-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

CANTERBURY (Reuters) - Sudan's Anglican church leader called for the resignation of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson on Tuesday to save Anglicanism from schism.

"He should resign for the sake of the church," Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul told reporters at a once-in-a-decade summit of Anglican leaders.

"God is not making a mistake creating Adam and Eve. He would have created two Adams if he wanted," he said.

A quarter of the world's Anglican bishops have boycotted the Lambeth Conference in an angry war of words between conservatives and liberals over the ordination of Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the 450-year-old church's history.

"We are for the Anglican world and we want the Anglican world to remain united," the Sudanese archbishop said.

"Over 300 bishops have stayed away from this conference because of Gene Robinson," he added. "The norms of the Anglican communion have been violated."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, decided not to invite Robinson to the Lmabeth Conference -- but he still came to the cathedral city on Monday to meet supporters on the fringes of the summit.

In a joint statement, Sudanese bishops accused North American church leaders of ridiculing Anglicanism and destroying its credibility by ordaining gay American clergy and blessing same-sex unions in Canada.

"We appeal to this Lambeth Conference to rescue the Anglican Communion from being divided," they said.

Williams launched the conference on Monday by dismissing talk of schism and urging dissident conservatives to remain within the fold.

"We are sorry you are not here," he said of the conservatives who staged their own conference last month and decided to set up their own council of bishops to provide an alternative to churches preaching what they called a "false gospel" of sexual immorality.

But Williams did not see the end in sight for the 450-year-old church that boasts almost 80 million followers.

"Are we heading for schism? Well let's see. If this is the end of the Anglican Communion, I don't think anyone has told most of the people here," he said.

But there are clearly huge obstacles to be overcome.

A group of bishops appointed by Williams to try and find a solution to the crisis concluded in a presentation to the conference "We are at an impasse."

"There has been active fear-mongering, deliberate distortion and demonizing. Politicization has overtaken Christian discernment."

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

QUE BRUTO ESTE HOMBRE - SE CREE DIOS?

2008-07-21T02:13:00.000-07:00

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

ELDORADO, Texas - Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, already convicted in Utah of rape as an accomplice and awaiting trial in Arizona on other charges related to underage marriages, is now accused of assaulting a girl in Texas in January 2005.

A grand jury in this tiny western Texas ranching community indicted Jeffs and four of his followers Tuesday on charges of felony sexual assault of a child. Another was indicted for failing to report child abuse.

The charges came nearly two months after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that child welfare officials overstepped when they took all the children from the polygamist sect's ranch in a separate child custody case. The state had accused the sect of forcing underage girls into marriage and motherhood.

While authorities sorted out the custody dispute in civil court, law enforcement continued a criminal investigation by sifting through hundreds of boxes of documents, photos and family Bibles seized from the Yearning For Zion Ranch during an April raid.

State Attorney General Greg Abbott said five members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are charged with one count of sexually assaulting girls under age 17, a felony. One of them, not the 52-year-old Jeffs, faces an additional charge of bigamy.

Abbott said a sixth member of the FLDS is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse.

"Our investigation in this matter is not concluded," said the attorney general, whose office is acting as the special prosecutor in the case.

The grand jury will continue consideration of other possible criminal charges on Aug. 21, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because proceedings of the panel are secret by law.

The identities of the Jeffs' followers who were indicted were not released Tuesday because the indictments remain sealed until authorities can arrest the men. Jeffs is in custody in Arizona.

"There will be an aggressive effort to apprehend them," Abbott said when asked whether he was concerned the men might have fled Texas.

FLDS members have historically lived around the Arizona-Utah line and bought the YFZ ranch in Eldorado about five years ago.

"We're actually quite shocked. As soon as we know who they're looking for, we'll try to face it," Willie Jessop, a church member and spokesman, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. "We believe in our innocence."

He said he didn't know who was indicted and that no one from law enforcement had tried to enter the ranch Tuesday evening.

More than 400 children from the ranch had been placed in foster care in April. The Texas Supreme Court said officials had evidence that only a few teenage girls were abused or at risk, and many of the children taken from their parents were infants and toddlers.

The criminal charges came during the grand jury's second meeting on the case; it met in June without taking any action.

Abbott spent Tuesday in the small community building where the panel was meeting near the courthouse. Women and girls in prairie dresses, including a 16-year-old daughter of Jeffs, were escorted in and out, while lawyers and FLDS members crowded a bench in front of the courthouse.

Grand jury proceedings are supposed to be secret, but documents released as part of the child custody case have revealed some of the evidence collected by law enforcement during the weeklong raid that began April 3.

Investigators said they found photos of Jeffs in intimate embraces and kissing several apparently underage girls.

A journal entry purportedly from Jeffs attached to a report by a child advocate indicates he married his daughter to a 34-year-old man the day after she turned 15. The girl turns 17 on Saturday and has denied being married, though the child advocate report indicates intimate notes between the girl and man also were found in the raid.

Besides discussions of the girl's marriage, the journal entry also indicates Jeffs blessed marriages of two other underage sect members to himself and another member.

FLDS leaders have consistently denied there was any abuse at the ranch and vowed not to sanction underage marriages.

Under Texas law, a girl younger than 17 cannot generally consent to sex with an adult. Bigamy is also illegal in Texas, and although FLDS plural marriages were not licensed by the state, the law contains a provision outlawing the act of "purporting to marry" more than one person.

The FLDS, which believes polygamy brings glory in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which officially renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

TODO POR TENER UN BEBE

2008-07-20T02:05:00.001-07:00

PITTSBURGH - A woman accused of slicing open a pregnant woman's belly and taking her baby was obsessed with getting an infant and even had hallucinations of hearing babies cry after a February 1990 miscarriage, according to court records.

A few months later, Andrea Curry-Demus allegedly stabbed one woman in an apparent plot to steal her newborn; the next day, she allegedly kidnapped another baby from a hospital.

Curry-Demus, 38, of Wilkinsburg, was charged Sunday with homicide, kidnapping and related offenses in the death of Kia Johnson, 18.

Johnson's decomposing body, with her wrists and ankles bound by duct tape and layers of tape and plastic covering much of her head, was found Friday in Curry-Demus' apartment. A day earlier Curry-Demus had taken the baby to a hospital, claiming first that she was the mother and later that she paid for the child.

Court records show a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Friday. Curry-Demus' attorney, Angela Carsia, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that her client plans to plead not guilty.

Authorities say the two women met at the Allegheny County jail on July 15 while visiting different inmates.

Court records for Curry-Demus' 1990 criminal cases paint a picture of a woman apparently unable to deal with the loss of her own child in her seventh month of pregnancy. She was 21 at the time, and told authorities she also had miscarried at age 12.

"While she admitted committing the offenses, she had great difficulty in verbalizing her feelings or motivations other than to mention the loss of her own child due to a miscarriage several months prior to the present offenses," according to a presentence report prepared for the two criminal cases.

According to court records, Curry-Demus visited Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh in the spring of 1990 and she befriended a woman who had recently given birth there.

They exchanged numbers and Curry-Demus called the woman a few days later, telling her she wanted to visit the baby and bring some clothes. She spent the day with the woman, her husband and the new baby and even asked to stay overnight.

The woman wasn't comfortable with that and a jitney was called for Curry-Demus in the early morning of May 5. While the woman was looking out the window for the jitney, Curry-Demus grabbed her from behind and stabbed her in the back. Curry-Demus fled when the woman called for her husband.

Hours later, Curry-Demus visited another hospital and met a young mother whose 3-week-old baby was being treated for meningitis. The next day — May 6 — several nurses saw Curry-Demus at the hospital and later noticed the baby was missing.

Police located Curry-Demus by tracing calls made from the hospital to Curry-Demus' mother. The baby was recovered unharmed.

Curry-Demus pleaded guilty in January 1991 to kidnapping, concealment of the whereabouts of child and related offenses and was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in state prison for taking the baby from the hospital. She also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the stabbing case and received 10 years' probation. She was released in 1998.

While awaiting resolution of the 1990 cases, Curry-Demus was twice briefly committed to a state mental hospital. An examination found her to be "in the midst of a major depressive episode." She also reported auditory hallucinations — that she kept "hearing babies cry."

She was found competent to stand trial, but also diagnosed with major depression and a mixed personality disorder. She graduated high school, but tests showed she had a "borderline intelligence level."

Johnson's funeral will be Friday in McKeesport, her family announced. In obituary information provided by a funeral home, the family said Johnson volunteered with the Salvation Army, helping with the homeless and day care.

The family has named her son after her: Terrell Kian Johnson.

LA MAMA SABIA

2008-07-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

ORLANDO, Fla. - The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to look like a homicide, prosecutors said Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies said they still hope to find the girl alive.

Casey Anthony, 22, is charged only with child neglect and lying to investigators. Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland set her bond at $500,000 Tuesday, saying the law did not allow him to hold her without bail.

He set the unusually high amount after hearing about evidence of human decomposition allegedly found in Anthony's yard and car. Her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, has been missing since mid-June.

"Not a bit of useful information has been provided by Ms. Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter," Strickland said. "And I would add that the truth and Ms. Anthony are strangers."

Anthony is charged with child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. Authorities say she did not report the girl missing until last week, and only then at her own mother's insistence.

Sheriff's deputies said Anthony's car smelled of decomposition, and a cadaver-trained German shepherd noted a smell of human remains in the car and her yard. They said they found a stain, dirt and what seemed to be Caylee's hair in Anthony's trunk. A search of the yard turned up no body.

"The risk of her flight if she is released on some low bond increases exponentially, especially now that she's heard this additional evidence and that she is their person of interest," said assistant state attorney Linda Drane-Burdick.

Deputies emphasized they were still looking for the girl — alive — and urged anyone with information to step forward.

Defense attorney Jose Baez requested bond around $10,000. He said Anthony's family can't pay a high bond and she has the right to freedom while facing lesser charges.

"This is not a capital case, and if it were they certainly would file it, if they had evidence to," Baez said. "There is circumstantial evidence of a possible homicide, I will give them that. But circumstantial evidence has not made them confident enough to charge her with any specific homicide or kidnapping, or any capital offense."

Anthony's parents became concerned after her car was towed from a check-cashing business where it had been parked for days. She and the child lived with her parents, and she told them she worked as an event planner at an area theme park.

Investigators say Anthony was unemployed, and a purported babysitter seems to never have existed. The mother and child hadn't been home in the month before investigators were notified that Caylee was missing. Investigators believe the girl's father is dead.

Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, acknowledged in court that her daughter had lied before, but said she was a caring mom. The registered nurse believes the girl is alive, and Casey Anthony lied to police because she was somehow threatened. Cindy Anthony said she would even sell her house to free her daughter.

"I know Casey as a person," she said. "I know what she is for a mother and I know there's only one or two reasons why Casey would be withholding something about Caylee. I believe that it's something that someone is holding over her and threatening her in some way."

Casey Anthony's face filled with tears at the hearing, watching her parents at the witness stand and again after Strickland set bail.

"Casey, we love you!" yelled Cindy Anthony as the courtroom cleared.

Her daughter nodded and sobbed before being led away in chains.

SI LA MATO!

2008-07-18T01:57:00.000-07:00

Woman pleads innocent to killing pregnant woman

KENNEWICK, Wash. - A woman pleaded innocent Thursday to stabbing a pregnant woman to death and cutting the baby out of her womb.

The charge of aggravated first-degree murder against Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong, 23, carries either the death penalty or life in prison without parole, if she is convicted. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty.
Araceli Camacho Gomez, 27, was found dead in a city park on June 27, stabbed multiple times. Her baby had been cut from her body.
Police have said Sisouvanh Synhavong tried to pass off the baby as her own in calls to emergency dispatchers. Authorities have said there was no evidence the women knew each other.
The baby boy is in serious condition at a hospital in Spokane. Camacho Gomez's husband, Juan Campos-Gomez, who was in court Thursday, said he plans to take his wife's body back to Mexico to be buried when it is released.
Sisouvanh Synhavong was granted credentials as a nursing assistant by the state Department of Health in 2005. She applied for renewal of her credentials in March.
The next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 6.

PRINCE HARRY FOLLOWING IN HIS MOTHER'S FOOTSTEPS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

2008-07-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

What a difference a couple of years and the levelling effects of the Army can have.

It certainly seems to be true in the case of Prince Harry, with whom I have just spent 48 hours in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho.

Clarence House wanted the British media to see Harry's latest efforts in support of Sentebale, the charity which he co-founded to help disadvantaged children in Lesotho and, particularly, the many thousands who have been orphaned by the country's Aids epidemic.

Deserves credit

The statistics of that epidemic are startling. An estimated one-third of Lesotho's 1.8 million population are HIV-positive.

Forty per cent of Lesotho's children have lost one or both parents to Aids. And, most sobering of all, average life expectancy in Lesotho - which 20 years ago was 52 years - has now fallen to 34.
Plainly Lesotho faces an immense challenge.

Yet its own leaders seem reluctant to recognise the scale of the issue or to commit themselves fully to address it.

Their inertia is due to several factors, not least to a cultural reluctance which is evident across southern Africa to accept that a disease which is predominantly spread by sexual activity is causing such an immense problem.

All of which makes the work being done by Sentebale and the leadership role being played by Harry all the more important.

One of the difficulties of being a BBC correspondent who covers the activities of Britain's Royal Family is that to offer any praise of any member of that particular family will inevitably lead some people to suggest either that it proves the BBC as a whole is just a craven part of the establishment, or that this particular reporter has swallowed too much Palace red carpet.

I do not believe that is the case. I certainly hope not. But, at the same time, I do believe Harry deserves credit for what he and his charity are achieving in Lesotho.

'Mother's humanity'

It would be easy to deride the whole venture as a convenient, half-hearted plaything which gives Harry a good excuse to spend time in the soothing surroundings of southern Africa where, coincidentally, his girlfriend Chelsea Davy happens to hail from.

But on the evidence of what I saw of Harry in Lesotho, there is certainly nothing half-hearted about his commitment to Sentebale.

He plainly cares very much about the plight of children who are the innocent victims of the Aids epidemic.

As Sentebale's director of operations in Lesotho, Harper Brown (an Ulsterman whose background is in the Army and the NHS), told me: "Harry knows his stuff and he is deeply committed to this."

Several years ago Harry said he wanted to carry forward his late mother's interest in the Aids problem in Africa.

Since then he has created a charity which is working at grassroots level to help vulnerable young people. He is fulfilling the ambition he set himself, and in doing so he is demonstrating that he has become a considerable asset to the Royal Family.

He is emerging as a prince who is at ease with himself, and who is comfortable with people.

He has none of the stuffiness of some of the older members of his family and he carries a lighter sense of destiny than his brother.

The result is that he is a natural crowd pleaser who brings his mother's unaffected simplicity and humanity to what he does.

It is a powerful combination. It works and, in the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, it is making a difference.

KIDNAPPING AND ASSAULTING A 19 YR OLD

2008-07-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

KC man charged in kidnapping, sex assault
A Kansas City man was charged Monday with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in midtown last September.

Testing of genetic material recovered from the 19-year-old woman’s body linked Trevino J. Cox to the crime, according to court documents.

Cox, 25, was charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with kidnapping and two counts of forcible sodomy.

The victim told police that she was walking in the area of 37th and Main streets when two men offered her crack cocaine, which she declined. One of them then grabbed her arm and they forced her to walk about a block and down an exterior staircase that was hidden from view.

One of the men then sodomized her orally and anally. He then tried to hand her some cocaine, but she ran away, she reported.

Tony Rizzo, trizzo@kcstar.com

SHE LIED AND ABUSED 11 DISABLED CHILDREN

2008-07-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Woman gets nearly 11 years for NY adoption fraud
By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who lied to adopt 11 disabled children whom authorities say she abused while she raked in more than $1 million in subsidies was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 11 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said Judith Leekin engaged in "a heartless, dangerous money-driven scheme" when she used fake names and lies about the children to defraud social service agencies in New York City and New York state.

Leekin, 63, has been accused of treating the children like prisoners, subjecting them to beatings and handcuffs while they stayed in a locked room without food, depriving them of medical and dental care and not sending them to school. Authorities said the children were so physically and emotionally abused they can never recover.

Leekin looked down and repeatedly dabbed her eyes and nose with tissue as Berman ordered her to serve 10 years and 10 months, nearly three years above the maximum penalty she had agreed to in a plea deal with prosecutors.

The judge also ordered Leekin to forfeit $1.68 million to benefit the children.

"This fraud turns the philosophy of adoption and the need to provide long-term care to children — so important to our social services system ... it turns that system on its head," he said.

Before Leekin was sentenced, she sobbed and apologized for committing wire and mail fraud and promised to surrender all her assets. She pleaded guilty in May.

"I love my children," she said, "and I miss them."

The children, now ages 16 to 28, suffer from a variety of severe mental and physical disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome. Leekin began adopting them in 1988, when she lived in New York City. A decade later, she moved to Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Florida authorities have charged her with aggravated child abuse and aggravated abuse of disabled adults, and she could face as much as 120 years in prison if she is convicted of those and other charges.

Prosecutors say the high school dropout from Trinidad lived lavishly while forcing the adopted children to sleep on the floor of a storage room next to a garage and banning them from entering the house except to use the bathroom or kitchen.

Attorney Howard M. Talenfeld, speaking on behalf of 10 of the children, told the judge that none of the children could testify before him because they were too damaged by the abuse.

Nine of the children are now in foster or group homes. Another lives on his own in Florida. One child is missing and presumed dead.

Talenfeld said one child was afraid to face Leekin again while five others who were capable of speaking were not brought before the court because social-services professionals advised that they would be further emotionally and psychologically damaged by the experience.

Leekin's lawyer Diamond R. Litty noted that her client was cooperating and surrendering all assets. She said many of the allegations are uncorroborated and at least six of the children have said they "miss their mother and still love her."

Talenfeld said he was most troubled by the 2000 disappearance of a child who suffered from Down syndrome, autism and sickle cell anemia.

He said some of his siblings were told the child, who would be 19 today, was taken to a hospital, while others were told he was buried in the back yard.

The judge recommended that adoption programs use mandatory fingerprinting of prospective parents and a wider investigation of backgrounds before children are placed, and suggested surprise visits to adoptive parents and active monitoring by government agencies.

Berman also noted that Leekin had been abused as a child.

"Neglect leads to neglect," he said. "Adoption is a privilege, not a right."

A PRAY FOR THOSE WHO NEED OUR PRAYERS

2008-07-14T03:53:00.000-07:00

Help me, I pray
To get through this day.
I don't even ask
To have things my way,
Your will is okay.

Things done in your way
Are best suited to stay
In the Master Plan,
Help me to help
In any way that I can

Don't let me be
Part of the problems I see,
But let me rather be
A light unto Thee.

Amen.

UN URGES MORE RIGHTS FOR SAUDI WOMEN

2008-07-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 A UN anti-discrimination committee said women in Saudi Arabia should be allowed more basic freedoms, saying the practice of needing a man's permission to marry, work, travel or be educated should end. In a report published Monday, the committee also said there should be more laws offering protection to women. The Saudi government, however, denied it discriminated against women in submissions before the report.

Last month a Saudi delegation told the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that human rights in the kingdom were based on Sharia law. The UN body questioned the Saudi state's understanding of the idea of equality, saying similar rights for men and women is not the same as equal rights, BBC News online reported Monday.

The report highlights the situation of women who have been victims of crime. In a recent case, a woman who was gang raped was initially sentenced to jail and lashes because the court found she was wrong to have been with a man who was not her relative at the time of the attack. The report said social attitudes and the patriarchal system deter women from reporting crimes.

It said men and women do not have equal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance and says female illiteracy is still high. The report concedes there have been visible improvements in the number of women in the Saudi workforce, but there are too few women in politics.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

INDIA LAW: EMPLOYERS MUST PROTECT WOMEN

2008-07-12T01:01:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE, India (UPI) -- A Hewlett-Packard executive has been charged in India with failing to protect a female colleague who was killed on her way home from the office, a report said.

Som Mittal was the managing director of Hewlett-Packard's activity in Bangalore when Pratibha Srikanth Murthy, 24, was raped and killed by the man who was driving her home late at night in December 2005.

Murthy's death raised concerns and controversy across India about how to adequately protect the country's 40 percent female workforce, The Times of London reported.

Mittal has reportedly been charged with violating laws that require late-working women to be adequately protected by employers.

Mittal is the first company leader to be prosecuted for such a crime, after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal to dismiss the charges, the report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

THE ROAD BACK

2008-07-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Reflections of the past Rosa has left behind

Life now seems better for Rosa's sons as they have gotten their mother back!

Putting a family back together in Mexico
By Scott Cotter

Rosa wanted to die…it was the only way she could forget. When the drugs and alcohol failed to block out the bad memories, she’d throw herself into traffic. Now, with help, she’s getting her life back.

Sometimes, to help a child, you must first help the parent…

Rosa was 11 when she took her first drink.

Mimicking behavior that had surrounded her entire childhood, she grabbed an unattended bottle of her father’s whiskey from the table and quickly gulped it down. It came with some rather immediate side effects…stumbling, falling down and vomiting.

Despite such a dire experience, three years later, at a time when most girls would be thinking about boys, clothes and music, alcohol became the starting point for a 14-year odyssey complete with drugs, huffing solvents, prostitution to earn food money, and three children born into the tempest of poverty, addiction and chaos.

“I wanted to die,” she recalls now with a clearer mind. “I would [jump] in front of cars so they would kill me.”

What she was doing, she laments, was trying to blot out the bitterly painful memories of a childhood spent in an abusive household where the only defining characteristics were violence, drunkenness and overwhelming poverty.

During the darkest times, she lived on the street where getting beaten, robbed or injured was just another night out. When she did see her children – who lived with her poor and aging mother – she provided them with little sustenance or support. And many times she would wake up in strange places, but with little idea of how she got there or what happened to her. Mostly, the memories in her head refused to fall silent.

“I just wanted to forget everything, but I didn’t,” she recalls sadly. “When I was drunk, I would remember more. Those things can’t be erased…not even when I’m dead.”
Another chance at life

Jump ahead 15 years. Rosa is fresh from rehab. Although the years she spent trying to hide from her memories left her scarred inside and out, the 29-year-old is trying hard to reclaim the things she once tried to leave behind.

She has a new perspective and a new commitment to being a good mother, daughter, sister and citizen. Her children, Adrían, José and Lupita, once plucked from the street by Children International, are now healthy, in school and receiving all the support and love they need (Lupita, her youngest, still lives with Rosa’s mother in another town).

Rosa is grateful for Children International’s help in turning her life around, helping her find a rehab facility where she was able to get clean, and giving her children the health and dental care, clothing and shoes, educational assistance and nutritional aid they so desperately needed. It’s another chance, she says, precipitated by our compassionate staff in Guadalajara, Mexico, who understood that the only true way to help Rosa’s children was to help her.

“Children are strongly influenced by their immediate environment,” explains Neeta Goel, program director for Children International, “especially their families, which are their first learning environment. An insecure or threatening environment affects the child’s perceptions and emotions significantly.”

In many cases, improvements to a child’s environment are equally as important as providing the traditional benefits of sponsorship. That’s why Children International will often help with home repairs, community water wells, latrines and other projects. Or by addressing specific family needs such as helping with income-generating projects, nutrition education for mothers, vocational and literacy training for parents as well as emergency aid after disasters.

“What we hope to achieve,” continues Neeta, “is a more secure and happy environment for the child. This would not happen if they have a troubled family background or were growing up without their parents.”

Looking back, moving forward

With Rosa back in the picture and working at the local market earning a few pesos a day, the family’s prospects are looking much better. Her children are doing well and, some days, Rosa even finds her smile.

Still, when it’s quiet, and when the children aren’t around, the old pain and regret surface and cast a shadow that’s hard to ignore. She may be better, but the life she led for all those years took a toll. Rosa looks much older than she is; the trials and tribulations of her experiences are evident in every scar and wrinkle.

But she admits that, with the support of so many caring people and the sponsorship of her children, life is easier and getting better all the time. Her children have opportunities she never did. And now, finally, she can focus on righting some of the wrongs that came before.

Special thanks to Alejandro Bonilla in Guadalajara for reporting assistance and photography for this story.

Life After Sponsorship

2008-07-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

Mayra is studying to be a teacher so she can help others like she was helped.

Mayra helping other children

Life After Sponsorship
By Erin Fitzgerald

Recent sponsorship graduate Mayra Acan Set of Guatemala recounts the help she received from Children International. The soon-to-be teacher still cherishes the memory of her very first gift : a pair of shoes.

As young people around the world reflect on their recent graduations from high school and college, sponsored youth also have much to be proud of – their graduation from our sponsorship program.

Meet 20-year-old Mayra Acan Set, a 2007 graduate from Guatemala. Her struggles began at an early age. As the oldest girl, she cared for her younger siblings while her parents worked. When times were tough, she helped her mother wash clothes to earn extra income.
Today, Mayra is studying to be a teacher. In her free time, she volunteers with our agency in rural Guatemala. Here’s what she has to say about poverty, sponsorship and her goals for the future...

How did your life change when you became sponsored?

I have memories of receiving dolls, receiving clothes, receiving medical checkups, having my photo taken and things like that. It was something totally new to me.

How has Children International helped improve your life?

Children International brought me out of a tunnel. I felt like a baby bird. I was a shy girl, and I thought that if I spoke in public, people would laugh at me. The thing is that for a lot of people, we indigenous women aren’t anything more than inditas (a diminutive term for indigenous ladies) who don’t know anything. So since I had the program, people cared about me, and they supported me. I started to change, and that change was obvious in school and at home. I don’t know if they knew it in the program, but little by little, they were shaping me into a leader.

Is there a memory that stands out?

I treasured my first pair of shoes so much that when they finally broke, I cried. I don’t know if you can understand that feeling, but here you buy clothes and shoes in the market. They’re secondhand shoes that sometimes are kind of worn out, and that time, the shoes were new – they came in a box, and they had a wonderful new smell. I also saved the box for a long time. I used it as a piggy bank.

Tell us about your experience with Children International’s youth program.

Thanks to the youth group, I was able to make friends that my parents trusted were healthy friendships. We participated in field trips together, chats about youth, drug addiction and sexual education. I gained a lot of knowledge and confidence in myself during those activities.

Why did you decide to stay and volunteer with the agency?

I don’t know if it was because I was so fond of the program or to give back some of the things that they gave me. I think it’s a little bit of both. I like it when they ask me to make a list or help a child write their letter because it reminds me of myself and how hard it was for me. I really feel useful, and that makes me happy.

What are your plans for the future?

In the near future, I would like to work in a rural school, to bring free education to all of the boys and girls and their parents. But in order to earn enough and help my parents and my siblings, I know I’ll have to work very hard.

Reporting assistance and photos by Javier Cárcamo.

CARING FOR THOSE WHO NEED US

2008-07-09T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Boy of Eternal Smiles
By Damon Guinn

Have you ever wondered what it’s like for a sponsored child to travel to a community center to pick up a gift? In Vida Nueva, Honduras, as many as 800 children and parents visit the center each day a gift distribution is held. Here’s your chance to join one of those children – “The Boy of Eternal Smiles” – on a trip through his community.

José Orellana Matute’s family lost everything they owned during Hurricane Mitch in 1998, but thanks to sponsorship and sheer determination, they are making a better life for themselves in the Vida Nueva, or “New Life,” community of Honduras. They’ve lived in the community for over nine years now, ever since it was set up as a relocation site for families who lost their homes during the storm.

“When we first came here,” José’s mother, Juana, says, “it was really difficult. The water in the wells made us sick to our stomachs. Then, after a while we started getting good water, and it was okay for us.”

What was once a polluted, precarious neighborhood overrun by thugs with guns started to change when Children International moved into the area. In fact, we were the first and only organization allowed to operate in the community.

Today, Vida Nueva is an up-and-coming neighborhood with 3,332 sponsored children who can safely play outside their homes and travel to the community center to get medical checkups and treatment, dental care, educational assistance, computer training and regular sponsorship gifts.

Risks in Vida Nueva still exist, but our dedicated staff members make sure your support reaches sponsored children like José each and every day.

Photo by Jesús Almendárez. Video by Miguel Cabrera Argueta. Both work at our sponsorship agency in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

SLAVERY IN MODERN DAYS

2008-07-08T03:34:00.000-07:00

'Enslaved' women taken from Brussels hotel
BRUSSELS (UPI) -- Police in Brussels said they removed 17 women from a prestigious hotel on suspicion they were enslaved by an Arab royal family.

The women were taken when police officers and authorities from Belgium's Labor Audit Authority searched the luxury Conrad Hotel Tuesday, the Telegraph reported Thursday.

The hotel is well-known and many national officials chose to stay there during European Union summits, the newspaper said.

Officials said the raid came after a maid escaped from the hotel, where she was one of 20 servants caring for the widow of a royal figure from the United Arab Emirates.

The widow and her four daughters have been staying on the hotel's fourth floor for the past year, the Telegraph said.

Police said the women were from countries including the Philippines, Morocco, India, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

"We are convinced that these 17 girls are victims of people trafficking," an official said.

The servants said they were paid as little as $160 a month, were not allowed to leave the hotel for eight months and had to serve day and night.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HE DIDN'T MEAN TO..

2008-07-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Boyfriend sentenced to two years for involuntary manslaughter of boy
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/27/2008 12:42:26 AM MDT

A southeastern Utah man who admitted killing his girlfriend's son when he accidentally fell on him has been sentenced to two years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell imposed the punishment Tuesday on 36-year-old Edgar Lynn Chee. Under a deal with prosecutors, Chee pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter within Indian country.
According to court records, the Oljeto man was watching 2 1/2 -year-old Xavier John on Aug. 14 while his girlfriend was running errands. As Shannon John was returning home, she saw Chee driving toward her with her son's lifeless body in the car, the records say.
The toddler was pronounced dead on arrival at Monument Valley Health Center in San Juan County. A Navajo tribal criminal investigator said there were retinal hemorrhages and bruising around the child's eyes and on his trunk, as well as a small ligature mark on his throat. An autopsy report said the cause of death was undetermined.
Chee originally was charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was reduced in his plea deal.
Defense attorney Robin Ljungberg contended in a presentence brief that Chee is a "gentle and caring" man with no history of violence against children. He said Chee and his family helped take care of Xavier, who allegedly had developmental problems and suffered from seizures.

Chee's guilty plea involved reckless conduct,
________________________________________

Ljungberg acknowledged in the brief, and included his failure to immediately check on the boy's condition, "an omission for which he will never forgive himself."
- Pamela Manson

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

WHEN ITS OVER, ITS DONE!

2008-07-06T03:31:00.000-07:00

Jilted fiance ordered to trial in killing
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/27/2008 12:42:27 AM MDT

A Murray man has been ordered to stand trial for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend's brother during an April altercation sparked by a broken marriage engagement.
Nazir Rahimi, 26, is charged with first-degree felony murder for the April 20 slaying of 19-year-old Farhad A. Mullahkhel outside the defendant's home.
Mullahkhel and three of his brothers went to Rahimi's to retrieve a cell phone belonging to their sister, who had recently broken off her relationship with Rahimi, according to preliminary hearing testimony.
Two witnesses testified that Rahimi stabbed the victim in the chest.
When police arrived, about 20 people were fighting outside the home. Rahimi is to appear in court for a scheduling hearing July 14. - Stephen Hunt

WHY, DEAR LORD, WHY?

2008-07-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

Woman charged with kidnap attempt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/27/2008 12:42:18 AM MDT

A 51-year-old transient woman was charged in 3rd District Court on Thursday in an alleged kidnapping attempt on two girls at the Salt Lake City Main Library last week.
Terryette Woods faces two charges of child kidnapping; both are first-degree felonies.
Woods pulled an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old girl by the wrists at the library on the afternoon of June 18 and said, "You're coming with me," charging documents state. The older girl told the suspect she didn't want to go and was about to scream for help. But Woods let go of the girls and ran away when she saw a security guard, police said.
Woods was spotted on the morning of June 20 at the TRAX station on 400 South, police said - the same spot where a library security guard saw her after the alleged kidnapping attempt.
Woods was booked into the Salt Lake County jail last week.
- Jason Bergreen

AYYYY, GRANDMA!

2008-07-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

Grandmother sentenced for kidnapping
Associated Press
2:39 AM CDT, June 27, 2008
GENEVA, Ill. - A Kane County judge has handed down a three-year prison sentence to a grandmother who forged a court document to kidnap her grandson from Aurora.

In the ruling Thursday, 42-year-old Jeanie Ann Andrews, who lists addresses in Florida and Indiana, also was barred from contact with her grandson as part of her guilty plea to one count of kidnapping.

The day before she was arrested, requested custody of her daughter's 8-year-old son.

The judge rejected her request, but prosecutors said Andrews used the judge's signature to create a document that indicated the judge had granted her custody.
Police arrested her as she was allegedly driving the boy out of town.

WHAT NEXT?

2008-07-03T03:27:00.000-07:00

And it gets UGLIER...
My Life in the Firehouse - http://lifeinafirehouse.blogspot.com/
(EDIT: Before anyone else comments for me to "Please not assume that I am the only one who has EVER gone through this", I am doing no such thing. There have been people who have been through much worse. I haven't given you the whole story here. I haven't even given you the worst of the story here. I've only given you what I choose to reveal. Please stop making this about YOUR hurt feelings. I've deleted your comments.)

Before anyone else decides to give me the 'ole suck it up and ignore Dear Old Mom advice... Please don't think that anyone out there can identify with what I've been through. I've NEVER been the "WOE IS ME" type of girl. I've NEVER used my background as an excuse to act badly. BUT HERE IT IS:

I was beaten by my biological mother and grandmother, taken away by the state, spent two years in foster care and passed from foster home to foster home. I was labelled a Problem Child. I was only three and a half years old when I was adopted by this family. Apparently I was sent to a psychologist where I vaguely remember crying my eyes out at EVERY session. I HATED going. I don't remember anything about those sessions. I remember wetting the bed at night which I have subsequently learned is common for abused children. My loving adopted mother used to make me wear very short dresses and diapers and then publicly humiliate me in front of other children in the hopes I would stop wetting the bed. When I was 15 she cried and said she knew I was talking to someone, who was it? When I broke down and told her it was my guidance counsellor, she showed up at school the next day and humiliated me in front of the woman. That day as she drove me home from school she back-handed me so hard in the front seat of the car I saw stars. When I was 17 and she became pregnant with my brother, she used to tell me if she had a miscarriage she would blame me for it. The woman had miscarried five times already (before I ever came into the picture) so I was terrified. She forbid me to touch him when he was born, saying that I was a child abuser - accusing me of abusing children I had babysat. I can't even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg of all the things that she did to me both physically and emotionally in the 15 years I spent with her before I packed so many green garbage bags and moved out of her house. I don't even have the energy to tell you them all. Let's just say I was mentally and physically abused by yet another "mother".

I sucked it up and made it through my life. I'm not saying I did the best things. I coped. I'm not a drug addict. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm not exactly the most emotionally available person you'll ever meet. I'm surprised I have the ability to show emotion at all. But no, you can't possibly IDENTIFY. I know you're coming from a loving place and I appreciate that. I know you're trying to help and give me support. I love you for that. But please. Stop. You can't possible know what it's like to be here. To be me. And I'm so profoundly grateful that you don't. I think I've done a pretty damn good job of ignoring the hell out of it and pretending it didn't bother me so much. I wish I'd been stronger. I wish I'd been able to handle her so that I could keep him in my life. Now I have to see if I can stop myself from killing her long enough to talk to him.

ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

2008-07-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

Curtin's call a good one
Man attempting 100 triathlons in 100 days
By Tully Corcoran
The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, June 15, 2008

It's sick, it's perverse, it's masochistic.
It's John Curtin's way of helping abused children. Curtin, a 41-year-old chiropractic physician from St. Louis, intends to compete in 100 triathlons in 100 days, in the process setting a Guinness World Record and raising money to support sexually abused children.
The Topeka Tinman Triathlon on Saturday was Curtin's 15th triathlon in 15 days.
"Your sick athletes are the ones that do the best," he said.
Curtin isn't just sick. He's crazy. Really.
"I have a psychologist that's been helping me out, a sports psychologist, and she says I'm crazy," he said. "It's certifiable. I'm crazy, yes. She happens to be my wife."
Today, Curtin is competing in Lawrence, the 16th stop on a punishing tour across the eight states surrounding Missouri, plus Oregon, Arizona and Michigan. Fans can track his progress via his Web site, p3triathlon.com.
Though the Guinness record is a desirable achievement, Curtin says his endeavor is really about the kids.
"I decided to set the record for most consecutive triathlons in one year, and I decided to do it in 100 days," he said. "At the same time, to raise money and awareness for sexually abused children. They're kind of silent victims in our nation that don't get recognized. Money isn't given to them, enough to help them and their families during crisis."
Curtin weighed 207 pounds at the outset and in 15 days has dropped to 188. He said his body feels fine, in large part because he takes extra care to maintain a specific heart rate that maximizes his endurance. With the help of endurance coach Joe Friel, he has been building up to this summer for a year.
He isn't so much concerned with what he does during the triathlons — he finished 14th Saturday in his age division, completing the Tinman's short course in 1:02:50.67 — as what he does between them.
"Mostly I worry about getting enough sleep and drinking a lot of water," he said. "I also get adjusted by a chiropractor on a regular basis. That helps keep me going."
Triathlons have been a longtime passion for Curtin, who competed in his first one at age 13 and was doing half Ironman triathlons a year later.
Curtin thinks anybody could do it.
"I think everybody's cut out for it," he said, "as long as you have the motivation, the desire and the training behind you."

MOTHER AND BOYFRIEND ABUSE CHILD

2008-07-01T03:23:00.000-07:00

The mother surrendered to the LAPD on torture charges after a public appeal was issued to find her. Her live-in girlfriend was arrested a day later.
By Ari B. Bloomekatz and Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 15, 2008

The mother of a 5-year-old-boy and her live-in girlfriend have been arrested in connection with what authorities describe as "unbearable physical and psychological abuse" of the child, police said Saturday.

The mother, Starkeisha Brown, 24, turned herself in to the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Division station late Friday night after officers made a public plea for help in finding the women and released their pictures. Brown was being held without bail on charges of torture.

The other woman, Krystal Matthews, 21, was arrested Saturday by detectives when she showed up for her appointment at the county Department of Children and Family Services. She was being held on $100,000 bail on charges of willful harm or injury to a child.

Police said both women have a history of violence.

The boy, who was in guarded condition at a local hospital, was rescued Monday by a stranger who found him abandoned and called authorities.

On that same day, the two women had an appointment with the Department of Children and Family Services and had brought the healthy child of a mutual friend and tried to pass him off as Brown's son.

Police said the women routinely beat the boy, forced him to put his hands on a hot stove, burned his body and genitals with cigarettes and often would not let him eat or drink.

At a news conference Friday, LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said that because of the burns from the stove, the boy no longer can open his hands.

Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit said in a statement Saturday that the abuse was "akin to a level of torture we hope our military personnel would never encounter."

Residents in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where the boy lived said Saturday that they were shocked to hear of the child's treatment and disgusted by the abuse allegations against the mother and girlfriend.

"I never knew a parent could do something like this. It was just a shock," said Mary Williams, 68, who lives in an apartment complex adjacent to where neighbors said Brown and Matthews live in the 11000 block of Figueroa Street.

Williams' 9-year-old grandson saw the boy often, and occasionally the two played together.

"How could you just do this and run off and leave him?" she said. "I hurt for that baby."

Another neighbor said, "If I [had known] anything, they would've been caught a long time ago."

The predominantly African American and Latino neighborhood is northwest of the intersection of the 110 and 105 freeways. The street scape is dominated by modest apartment complexes and single-story homes, auto body and machine shops, liquor stores and small motels. Across the street from the women's home is Holy Rock Baptist Church and an Ultra Oil gas station.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate in the neighborhood, in the 90061 ZIP Code, is nearly triple the national average, and about 10% of the population are homeowners.

GIVEN A CHANCE, THESE FOSTER CHILDREN BEAT ALL ODDS

2008-06-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

Sisters were abused in Taiwan, then shuttled among caretakers in the U.S. before finding a foster mother who helped change their lives.
By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 14, 2008
Maggie and Rachel Lin have faced unimaginable adversity: As youngsters, the girls lost their father, who was murdered by a street gang in their native Taiwan; they suffered abuse at the hands of family members, made a harrowing journey to the U.S. and spent most of their childhood in a succession of foster homes, some where they suffered new cruelties.

Against those odds, Maggie headed off last year to Dartmouth College, and after graduating Friday from Pacific Hills School, Rachel will attend Vassar. Both have received nearly full scholarships from the schools.

Their success has been hard won. It is rare for a foster child to attend a private prep school like Pacific Hills in West Hollywood. In California, about 54% of foster children graduate from high school and only about 10% enroll in college. Fewer still are admitted to elite universities.

Yet somehow the stars aligned for Maggie, 19, and Rachel, 18, two strong-minded and resilient girls who found a foster mother who believed in them and a school that allowed them to blossom.

Growing up, neither one could have imagined this outcome.

When the girls moved in almost five years ago, Rachel was blunt: Thanks for giving me a place to stay, but I'm a renter and will always be just a tenant here, recalls the girls' foster mother, Kate Moulene.

"I didn't even bother to try to establish a relationship; I didn't even try," Rachel said.

"She was like a feral cat," Moulene said. "She trusted no one."

Moulene put locks on the windows of her Hollywood Hills home to keep the sisters from sneaking out at night. Rachel was in the habit of visiting her boyfriend in Walnut, where she had been living.

Maggie was scared but hopeful.

"Even though I deal with all of these trust issues, part of my way of coping with things is to believe that it's going to be different," she said. "I go into another home thinking, this is going to be all right."

Moulene, a former journalist and founder of a marketing firm, was a single mother of sons Cameron, 14, and Pierre, 12, and adopted daughter Anna Mei, 7, who was born in China and orphaned. The family had watched the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" when the boys experienced an epiphany: Wouldn't it be fun to have more kids?

Moulene went to a website featuring foster children and within minutes saw a picture of Maggie and Rachel.

The two were used to getting calls, sometimes in the middle of the night, from social workers telling them to pack up to move. They were in the process of meeting another family when they were told of Moulene's interest.

After they met, Cameron confided to his mom that the only thing he wanted that Christmas was for Maggie and Rachel to move in.

The sisters paid a final visit to Moulene's home and the children huddled.

"They all talked about it and came down and said they decided to do it," Moulene said.

"She bought us online for free," jokes Rachel.

A self-described pessimist who doesn't easily make friends, Rachel is all in-your-face honesty and biting wit, which she uses like a wary fighter to keep an opponent off guard. She accuses Maggie of hiding behind a mask of pleasantry.

"Sometimes you need to put on different personas," counters Maggie. "It was required when we were moving around to different foster homes to keep sane."

SATELLITE TELLS IT ALL

2008-06-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

US scientists say satellite images confirm reports that the Ethiopian military have burnt towns and villages in Ethiopia's Somali region.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science says the images back up a Human Rights Watch's report

The US-based group says the troops are systematically ill-treating civilians in their counter-insurgency campaign.

Ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting for more autonomy for two decades in the region, also known as the Ogaden.

HRW also accused the United States and the European Union of ignoring widespread abuses there.

The Ethiopia government has described the report as "unfounded and baseless".

'Confused'

HRW cites evidence of extrajudicial detentions and killings, beatings and rapes in military custody, forced displacement of the rural population and the collective punishment of communities suspected of helping or sympathising with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels.

Human Rights Watch is engaged in misinforming the public based on the information of the ONLF

Government adviser Bereket Simon

"We found that over the last year the Ethiopian army has been killing, raping, torturing and systematically displacing civilians in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia," HRW's Georgette Gagnon told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

She said there was no doubt about the identity of those carrying out the abuses.

"All the victims and eyewitnesses that we interviewed clearly identified the Ethiopian army and soldiers as those who had raped them, for example, who had summarily killed people by strangling, and who had forcibly displaced them and burned their villages."

According to the AAAS, eight "before" and "after" satellite images identified by HRW as possible locations of abuses bore signs of attacks described.

These were primarily in villages and small towns in the Wardheer, Dhagabur, and Qorrahey Zones, the AAAS said.

Propaganda

One recurrent scenario was of the army's response to ONLF activity in a neighbourhood; they would call the inhabitants together and demand that they hand over the culprits, HRW says.

Failure to do so resulted in village elders and others being arrested, beaten, sometimes killed.

Young people, both boys and girls, were arbitrarily arrested and accused of being ONLF sympathisers; they were routinely beaten in custody and women often raped, HRW says.

The apparently arbitrary nature of many of the arrests was explained to HRW by a former judge in the region who said the army could not tell the difference between rebels and civilians, he said they were confused as to who was who.

The report concludes that the army is engaged in a deliberate policy of terrorising the local population; that the abuses are far too systematic and widespread to be considered simply the acts of rogue commanders.

But Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopia's prime minister, said that HRW had based its findings on ONLF propaganda.

"Human Rights Watch is engaged in misinforming the public based on the information of the ONLF, whose forces have been destroyed by the actions of the Ethiopian government," he told AFP news agency.

COUPLE ARRESTED FOR CIRCUMCISING THIER DAUGHTERS

2008-06-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Danish police have arrested a couple of Sudanese origin suspected of taking their two young daughters to Sudan to be circumcised.

Female circumcision usually involves the partial removal of the woman's genitals.

It is outlawed in Denmark but remains a widespread practice in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia.

Police said the girls, now aged nine and 11, were circumcised in 2003 during a trip to the east African nation.

The 49-year-old husband and his 40-year-old wife were arrested after Danish social services alerted police to the fact that medical examinations showed the two girls had been circumcised.

The couple, who deny all wrong-doing, were also accused of having planned to take their third daughter, aged five, to Sudan to be circumcised.

A Danish judge remanded them in custody for eight days, pending further investigation.

If found guilty, they could face up to six years in prison.

Female circumcision can cause death through haemorrhaging and later complications during childbirth. It also carries risks of infection, urinary tract problems and mental trauma.

Some 100 to 140 million girls and women around the world have undergone genital mutilation, including 6.5 million in Western countries, according to a study by the French National Institute for Demographic Research published last year.

IRAN EXECUTES JUVENILE OFFENDER

2008-06-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

Reports from Iran say a boy aged 17 has been hanged, in violation of UN charters signed by Tehran and official pledges not to execute minors.
Mohammad Hassanzadeh is the second juvenile offender to be hanged in Iran this year. There were seven in 2007.
He was convicted of killing a 10-year-old boy two years ago.
Rights groups say Iran used to get round commitments not to execute minors by keeping them on death row until they turn 18, but now do not appear to wait.
Human rights activists say two other juvenile offenders due to be executed on Wednesday were given a one month reprieve.
Eight men were taken for execution at Evin prison near Tehran, however, bringing the total number of executions so far this year to 128 according to Amnesty International.
Failed reconciliation
Hassanzadeh was hanged in Sanandaj prison on Tuesday, Kargozaran newspaper reported on Thursday.
The paper said Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi had advised the local court to "settle the issue through reconciliation".
"None of our efforts to reach an agreement with the victim's family was successful and therefore the sentence was carried out," an unnamed judicial official was quoted as saying.
Under Islamic law, a victim's relatives can spare a murderer from execution by accepting blood money.
Convicted juveniles Mohammad Fadaie and Behnoud Shojaie were given another month to find an agreement with their victim's family.
Outlawed
A statement from the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called executions of juveniles barbaric and tragic - saying Iran now accounts for two thirds of the under age executions in the world.
Iran is a signatory to international agreements such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which outlaw juvenile executions.
One human rights group says it knows of at least 106 offenders on death row in Iran who were juveniles when they committed their crimes.
One of those, Saeed Jazee, is due to be hanged later this month, reports say.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Iran.

A LITTLE BIT OF JOY

2008-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

There is too much dismal news everyday. Let's do something a little different.
copy and paste the link to enjoy a little bit if joy!

A Little Bit of Joy
http://click1.todaysnewstuff.com/upqfjdq_zvfnttnff.html

Bond Set for Kidnapping Suspect

2008-06-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

MIDLAND - A Midland toddler is back at home, and the bond is set at 25 thousand dollars for the woman accused of kidnapping the child for three days.

Police say 33-year-old Melody Dawn Weise, the step grandmother of 22 month old Madaysn Franklin, took the child to the store thursday and never returned.

Odessa Police spotted Weise's black 1998 ford mustang saturday evening.

Weise faces the kidnapping charges in Midland but is still in the Ector County Detention Center awaiting extradition.

BIKERS AGAINST CHILD ABUSE

2008-06-08T01:10:00.000-07:00

B.A.C.A.: Advocate groups offer support for children

By Matt Smith

msmith@trcle.com

Bikers, mothers and law enforcement officials may seem an unconventional alliance. But representatives from all three are working, separately and together, to raise awareness of and give voice to crime victims.

Four advocacy groups — among many similar groups that operate in the area — situated either in Johnson County or the North Texas region stressed how essential it is to focus on the victims of crimes, inform them of their rights and help them through the legal and healing processes. Police and prosecutors care and try to help victims as much as they can, representatives from all four organizations said.

But they also have new cases to move on to after the initial criminal investigations and trials, which often leaves little time for victim follow-ups. This is where victim’s advocate groups fit in.

Much has been done to increase the focus on and call attention to the rights and plights of crime victims over the last 25 years, group representatives said. But much remains to be done. Representatives from the four area groups and service providers are working hard to ensure it is done.

Bikers Against Child Abuse

Many Bikers Against Child Abuse, or B.A.C.A., members look like the type a person would expect to find brawling in a roadhouse dive on a Saturday night. But they’re men and women with compassion in their hearts whose actions speak volumes. A child who falls victim to a crime of abuse may find that B.A.C.A. members become the best friend he or she has ever had.

A licensed child therapist founded B.A.C.A. in Utah in 1995. From there it spread to several states, including Texas. B.A.C.A. also has chapters in Australia.

“When talking to kids in counseling sessions, he would make headway,” said Jester, state vice president. “But he realized that when the kids were on the street the perpetrator could still hassle them. And he hit on the idea of taking kids for rides with a motorcycle group he rode with.”

Jester and other B.A.C.A. members go by their road names, bestowed when they become full-fledged members of the organization.

“My wife and I call each other by our road names at home,” joked Fort Worth Chapter member Doc-P. “Some of the members, I don’t even know their real names.”

B.A.C.A. members are true bikers, Jester said. They lean toward Harley-Davidsons although some members ride other brands. B.A.C.A. is not a club or gang, Jester stressed. It’s an organization focused entirely on empowering and protecting abused children.

Nor is B.A.C.A. a vigilante group, according to the organization’s Web site.

“We do not search out and hunt down bad guys, nor do we pursue those who are under suspicion of hurting children,” an organizational pamphlet reads.

Still, perceptions and prejudices against biker groups prevails and can be tough to overcome, Jester said.

“The image is a blessing and a curse,” Jester said. “That bad motorcycle image is what works for us. If you’ve got a guy in a suit, or in a polo shirt and khakis telling a kid he’s going to be safe versus a guy dressed up in leather, a dew rag and dark glasses who looks like he could take on half the world, who do you think the kid’s going to trust more?

“The curse is that police and others in areas where we’re not well known think at first that we’re probably just a bunch of bikers out to raise hell every weekend.”

Children, on the other hand, tend to take to B.A.C.A. members quickly.

“When I’m driving my pickup, no one pays attention,” Jester said. “But on my bike, they love me. They’re looking and giving me the thumbs up. Some kids are shy at first, but they warm up and want to play pretty quick.”

Doc-P agreed.

“Sometimes they’re timid at first or hiding behind their parents,” Doc-P said. “But we’ve been trained to get them to open up. And they love the sound and color of the bikes. Soon enough, we’ll be coming to visit them, and they’ll be standing outside waiting when we’re three blocks away.”

Authorities can be standoffish at first, Jester said, but not always.

“They’re heroes to these kids, said Dan Leal, Children’s Advocacy Center of Denton County executive director. “The stereotypes are there and some counties don’t use them, and I really don’t know why.”

Anyone with a motorcycle and a desire to work is a potential B.A.C.A. candidate, but it takes much more than that. Candidates undergo extensive training and background checks. They must also ride with the club and a mentor for a year before receiving their B.A.C.A. patch. Those precautions keep people who shouldn’t be there out of the organization and discourages weekend bikers looking for a thrill who might grow bored and wander off two months later.

“These kids have had promises broken and their trust busted so much that we only want the most trustworthy members who are going to be there for them,” Jester said. “But, we have everything from ditch diggers to doctors and lawyers. So, if you ride a bike, can pass our background check and keep up with us.”

Tank, a Cleburne member agreed.

“We want to know who you are and what you’re in it for,” Tank said. “Besides, there’s just too much work involved for someone who’s only looking to ride for fun.”

Even after being patched, a B.A.C.A. member is never alone with a child, said Trappy, Fort Worth Chapter president. At least two members accompany the children at all times.

“Our goal is to empower the kids so they can be themselves again and not be afraid of the world,” Tank said.

B.A.C.A. only accepts referrals where a police report has been filed and an appropriate agency, such as Child Protective Services, a district attorney or a child advocacy center, has interviewed the child. They then meet and, if all involved agree, adopt the child. (B.A.C.A. members asked that no children be named, photographed or interviewed.)

Adopted children receive vests and their own road names. B.A.C.A. members will guard a child’s home around the clock if that child feels threatened by his or her perpetrator, Jester said.

“We’ll camp out 24/7 as an obstacle to perpetrator,” Jester said. “We don’t go out to look for him, and if he shows up, we don’t go out to meet him. But we will block his way between the house and the kid. By that time the police are usually there anyway because we call anytime a perpetrator does show up.”

B.A.C.A. members don’t involve themselves in the specifics of the case so they can remain in the courtroom when a child has to testify, Jester said.

“We do have an impact in the courtroom,” Jester said. “They can look at their perpetrator where before they were afraid. And testimony, especially in sexual abuse cases, is one of the biggest impacts of putting a perp away.”

Crime victims face challenges long after the crime and trial. For that reason, B.A.C.A. members stay in touch with their adopted children and let them know they continue to be there for them, Trappy said. The group hosts several events throughout the year for their kids, Doc-P said.

B.A.C.A. has helped several children in Johnson County and hosted an adoption ceremony for at least one child. They want to get word out and increase their presence in the county, Trappy said.

Tammy King, Children’s Advocacy Center of Johnson County executive director, praised the organization.

“They’ve been really good about bringing their motorcycles and visiting with the parents and kids,” King said. “The kids sit on the motorcycles, get their pictures taken, get the B.A.C.A. tattoos. So, it’s great fun; they love it.”

On the Web:

http://www.bacausa.com/

AVISO IMPORTANTE!!

2008-06-07T00:56:00.000-07:00

Kidnapping is a terrifying experience, but you possess more personal resources than you may be aware of to cope with the situation. Remember, you are only of value to them alive, and they want to keep you that way.

The common hostage responses of fear, denial, and withdrawal are all experienced in varying degrees. You may be blindfolded, drugged, handled roughly, or even stuffed in the trunk of a car. If drugs are administered, do not resist. Their purpose will be to sedate you and make you more manageable; these same drugs may actually help you to get control of your emotions, which should be your immediate goal. If conscious, follow your captors’ instructions.

Captivity

A hostage-taking situation is at its worst at the onset. The terrorists are nervous and unsure, easily irritated, often irrational. It is a psychologically traumatic moment for the hostage. Violence may be used even if the hostage remains passive, but resistance could result in death.

If taken hostage, your best defense is passive cooperation. You may be terrified, but try to regain your composure as soon as possible and to organize your thoughts. Being able to behave rationally increases your chances for survival. The more time that passes, the better your chances of being released alive.

Behavior Suggestions

Each captivity is different, but some behavior suggestions apply to most:
Try to establish some kind of rapport with your captors. Family is a universal subject. Avoid political dialogues, but listen attentively to their point of view. If you know their language, listen and observe; and if addressed, use it.
Plan on a lengthy stay, and determine to keep track of the passage of time. Captors may attempt to confuse your sense of time by taking your watch, keeping you in a windowless cell, or serving meals at odd hours. However, you can approximate time by noting, for example, changes in temperatures between night and day; the frequency and intensity of outside noises—traffic, whistles, birds; and by observing the alertness of guards.
Maintain your dignity and self-respect at all times.
Manage your time by setting up schedules for simple tasks, exercises, daydreaming, housekeeping.
Build relations with fellow captives and with the terrorists. If hostages are held apart, devise ways to communicate with one another. Where hostages are moved back and forth, to bathrooms for example, messages can be written and left. However, do not jeopardize your safety or the safety or treatment of others if attempting to communicate with fellow captives seems too risky.
Maintain your physical and mental health; it is critical to exercise body and mind. Eat food provided without complaint; keep up your strength. Request medical treatment or special medicines if required.
Establish exercise and relaxation programs. Exercise produces a healthy tiredness and gives you a sense of accomplishment. If space is confined, do isometrics. Relaxation reduces stress. Techniques include meditation, prayer, daydreaming. · Keep your mind active; read anything available. Write, even if you are not allowed to retain your writings. If materials are not available, mentally compose poetry or fiction, try to recall Scripture, design a house, even “play tennis” (as one hostage did).
Take note of the characteristics of your captors and surroundings: their habits, speech, contacts; exterior noises (typical of city or country); and other distinctive sounds. This information could prove very valuable later.

If selected for early release, consider it an opportunity to help remaining hostages. Details you have observed on the terrorists and the general situation can assist authorities with a rescue.

You can expect to be accused of working for the government’s intelligence service, to be interrogated extensively, and to lose weight. You may be put in isolation; your captives may try to disorient you. It is important that you mentally maintain control.

Avoidance of Capture or Escape

Efforts to avoid capture or to attempt escape have in most cases been futile. The decision, however, is a personal one, although it could affect fellow hostages by placing them in jeopardy. Several other considerations should be weighed.

To have any chance of success, you should be in excellent physical condition and mentally prepared to react before the terrorists have consolidated their position. This, also, is the riskiest psychological time. You would need to have a plan in mind, and possibly have been trained in special driving tactics or other survival skills.

If you are held in a country in which you would stand out because of race or other physical characteristics, if you know nothing of the language or your location, or if you are held in a country where anti-American or anti-Western attitudes prevail, you should consider the consequences of your escape before attempting it. If you conclude that an escape attempt is worthwhile, take terrorists by surprise and you may make it. If their organization has a poor track record of hostage safety, it may be worth the risk.

Rescue

The termination of any terrorist incident is extremely tense. If an assault force attempts a rescue, it is imperative that you remain calm and out of the way. Make no sudden moves or take any action by which you could be mistaken for a terrorist and risk being injured or killed.

Even in a voluntary release or surrender by the terrorists, tensions are charged and tempers volatile. Very precise instructions will be given to the hostages, either by the captors or the police. Follow instructions precisely. You may be asked to exit with hands in the air, and you may be searched by the rescue team. You may experience rough treatment until you are identified and the situation has stabilized.

Finally, it’s worth keeping in mind three facts about terrorism:
The overwhelming majority of victims have been abducted from their vehicles on the way to or from work.
A large number of people taken hostage ignored the most basic security precautions.
Terrorist tactics are not static. As precautions prove effective, they change their methods. There is a brief “window of vulnerability” while we learn to counter their new styles.

Additional Precautions

Do not settle into a routine. Vary times and routes to and from work or social engagements.

Remember, there is safety in numbers. Avoid going out alone. When traveling long distances by automobile, go in a convoy. Avoid back country roads and dangerous areas of the city.

A privately owned car generally offers the best security. Avoid luxury or ostentatious cars. Keep your automobile in good repair and the gas tank at least half full. Driving in the center lane of a multiple lane highway makes it difficult for the car to be forced off the road.

[Source: The United States State Department]

CHILD PORN CRACKDOWN

2008-06-06T03:36:00.000-07:00

Australian police arrest 70 in global child porn crackdown
1 day ago
SYDNEY (AFP) — Seventy men in Australia have been arrested in a global crackdown on Internet child pornography and more will be detained, police said Thursday.

The Interpol-led probe involving 170 countries was launched after a hacker posted 99 child porn images on a European website, which attracted 12 million hits in just 76 hours.

More than 2,800 computer Internet protocol (IP) addresses were traced back to Australia and federal police identified all of them in a six-month operation, Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said.

"You will see more arrests, the investigations are continuing," Keelty told reporters.

Keelty said the first arrests were made in cases where children might be in danger and four children had been taken from their homes.

Several teachers, a federal police officer and a sports administrator were reportedly among those arrested.

"It's really one of the largest single operations we've done on child pornography with our international partners and our state police partners here in Australia," Keelty said.

"You're talking about 12 million hits from around the world but in a small time period of three days.

"In Australia the operation has netted over a million images of children, and these are not children in passive positions, these are children who are being abused."

The children range in age from babies to 18 years old, he said.

"They come from various countries, the real tragedy of this is that we don't know the origins of a lot of these children.

"We don't know whether these children are still being the victims of child abuse."

The flood of hits on the website came after word got around online paedophile networks that the images were available and the website's address was circulated, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Almost 150,000 different computer users from 170 countries accessed the otherwise obscure website in just 76 hours, the paper said.

The assistant director of police high tech operations, Andrew Colvin, told reporters all those arrested were men but they were impossible to stereotype.

"We've seen everything from teenagers, 19-year-olds, through to 80-year-olds," he said.

"We've seen school teachers, police officers... people in positions of trust, positions of responsibility, farmers, bankers, pharmacists, every walk of life."

Keelty said the child porn network was a vicious cycle.

"To get in you've actually got to be supplying something yourself and that means more children will be abused," he said.

"The viewing of these images continues the abuse, it's an horrific crime."

The maximum penalty for possessing child pornography is 10 years in jail.

WHAT'S NEXT? IMAGINE RAPING SOMEONE'S GREAT-GRANDMOTHER

2008-06-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Man accused of kidnapping, rape on trial
Alleged victim, now 84, present for 1st-day testimonies

By Schuyler Kropf (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The rape trial of a man accused of brutalizing an 82-year-old woman inside her James Island home began Monday with a detective reading the suspect's post-arrest statements to the jury.

Brandon Vernard Johnson, now 24, was arrested at the scene on June 9, 2006, after a neighbor reported seeing him on top of the victim inside her Harbor View Road residence.

Charleston County sheriff's Detective Matthew Lariccia testified that after the arrest, Johnson asked to speak to authorities. His comments included the admissions "I need help" and "I wish there was something I could do to undo what I did," Lariccia read.

Though he admittedly was drunk that day, Johnson also reported that he thought he'd had sex, the statement said.

Johnson of Summerville is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. He is accused of keeping the great-grandmother captive while repeatedly raping her for nearly nine hours. He allegedly locked her inside the home after escorting her back from a grocery store.

The woman, now 84 and reportedly suffering from dementia, was in the courtroom Monday for the start of the trial.

In her opening statement, 9th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Elizabeth Gordon said the concerns of the woman's neighbors, who heard noises from her apartment that night, led to Johnson being caught.

"Thank goodness for nosy neighbors," Gordon told the jury.

Gordon added that the rape shattered the woman's life and erased all the freedoms she'd enjoyed while living on Harbor View Road for 30 years.

"Her home and her independence were taken away that day," Gordon said, adding that "after that night, she has never been able to return to that house."

Defense lawyer Beattie Butler told the jury that things are not always what they seem in a criminal case and noted that Johnson couldn't fully remember everything that happened.

The attack is alleged to have begun about 8 p.m. on a Friday and lasted until early in the morning on a Saturday when deputies were called, authorities said.

Johnson was free on bail on drug trafficking and gun charges in Summerville at the time of the incident.

The trial is expected to last several days.

BACK TO THE SITUATION WITH THE TEXAS CULT CHILDREN

2008-06-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

We must beware of those offering false or weird ideas for they hide behind closed doors and control the minds of the weak. Brenda A. Ysaguirre

Sounding off: Did CPS go too far?
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, May 24, 2008
Darryl E. Brown, Richardson
CPS is seriously understaffed. If they were a private firm, they would be put out of business. CPS does about as well as a one-armed paper hanger.
Darryl E. Brown, Richardson
Laws pertaining to under-age marriage and polygamy in this case should never have been enforced. The children had been housed, fed, clothed, educated and were wanting for nothing. Yes, CPS overreached into the realm of religious freedom.
Phil Mendershausen, Dallas
There is something deeply disturbing about the sight of the government moving into a religious compound and essentially breaking up a community. I certainly don't support polygamy, but couldn't the government remove the men from the compound, and leave the women and children together under supervision until a complete investigation takes place?
Martin Greenberg, University Park
After years of accusations of "not doing enough," CPS has stepped up to the plate and done what is necessary to proactively protect a mass of abused children. What to do with them? I wish I had the answer. That will take study.
Kurt Wolfenbarger, Dallas
Children must be protected at all costs. The heartache of these separated previously abused mothers in the polygamist case is nothing compared to what these young girls (and boys) have had to psychologically and physically endure because of the sexual appetites of older men. Yes, CPS is understaffed and verworked, but what would we do without these dedicated caseworkers, who attempt to alleviate such suffering for children everywhere.
Mrs. Marty Walker, Dallas
Child Protective Services cannot win. They are over-stretched, under-funded and need to respond to the public's outrage at a societal problem. To make matters worse, we won't fund solutions to problems that we think shouldn't exist (e.g., homelessness, drug addiction, child abuse.)
Stephanie Mueller, Dallas
It would be preferable to remove all of the men from the compound, allow the women and children to stay in familiar surroundings with caseworkers on premises, and then sort through each family individually.
Beverly Lowry, Dallas
Any community's first priority should be the welfare of our children. Many immigrants came to America to avoid religious persecution; however if one's religion promotes illegal activities, then the law must step in.
Debbie Gallagher, Cedar Hill
Voices: The above residents are regular contributors to this forum.Keith A. Brown
Pleasant Grove musician, aircraft machinist and volunteer
CPS overreached. The men who have committed crimes should have been the focus of a government action, not the women and children. As a member of a minority religious sect, I would keep the children with their mothers, simply providing education on Texas laws regarding polygamy. CPS has a daunting task. Overall, I give them a passing grade.
Sharon Garner-Davis
Duncanville Realtor and business owner
I would work to liberate the thinking of the moms. I would then offer them the opportunity to regain custody of their children by agreeing to refrain from the practices of polygamy, incest and facilitation of statutory rape. I think that CPS is doing the best they can under the worst of circumstances.
Jeanette Khan
Richardson freelance journalist
I definitely think CPS has overreached in this case. They are ripping children, who have lived very secluded and sheltered lives, into a world that may be confusing and overwhelming to them. Also, separating the children from their mothers' can have a devastating lifelong effect. The state should provide for safe housing for both the mothers and their children.
Ellen Raff
Lake Highlands writer
I believe CPS has doneits job according to the letter of the law, and I believe the paternal society of the religious sect is exploitative of the young women and detrimental to the male children as well. The problem is that life outside the compound is, in some ways, tougher. Coming of age in foster care is not a wonderful alternative; neither is the reality of being a teenager in today's pop culture.
Laurie Dodic Steinberg
Highland Park full-time mother and volunteer
As a lawful society, we didn't have much of a choice other than to remove the children due to the sexual misconduct they were being subjected to without knowing any different. I wish there was a way to just to remove the grown men from the compound and leave the children with their mothers. I think for an understaffed, overworked agency, CPS does the best it can.

PAPAS MATAN A LO HERMANOS

2008-06-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

Baby girl fights for life as police arrest her parents for stabbing her brother, 5, and sister, 4, to death in their bedroom

This is the baby girl who was fighting for her life last night after her two siblings were stabbed to death in their bedroom at home. Their parents, who are both from Sri Lanka, were arrested on suspicion of stabbing all three children

SECT MOTHERS MAY FACE HARD CHOICES

2008-05-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

A mother is the ultimate person who should be everloving and protective of her young. When she fails at this, society has the right to step in and assist the child. (Brenda A. Ysaguirre)

ELDORADO, Texas (UPI) -- Branding a West Texas polygamist sect an abusive environment, officials may tell the sect's mothers they must choose between their children and their religion.

Some lawyers said this edict could mean women would never be able to return to the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, The Dallas Morning News said Thursday.

Other experts said adults who have tolerated underage "marriages" of girls to older men might have forfeited rights to raise their children.

In advance of court hearings scheduled to begin Monday, Child Protective Services has drafted 10 goals and 14 tasks that parents will have to work toward in order to regain custody of their children.

CPS is proposing to give parents until next April to "provide a home free of persons who have or will abuse" children and "demonstrate the ability to protect the child(ren) from sexual abuse."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

KIDNAPPING AND DRUG MONEY

2008-05-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Victim Safe and Three Suspects Arrested in Kidnapping Incident
Salem-News.com

Police believe the kidnapping may have been related to drug money.

(CLACKAMAS, Ore.) - Deputies in Clackamas County say three male subjects armed with a handgun kidnapped a man from his home this morning at 7:30 AM, while the woman he lived with hid and managed to get a text message out.

Jim Strovink with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, says the couple was in their 5th wheel trailer dwelling this morning at 7:30 on SE Foster Road in Damascus, when the suspects entered the residence and kidnapped the male victim; while the remaining female occupant was hiding in the rear of this 5th wheel residence and text messaging her mother about the ongoing armed encounter.

Strovink said, "The mother of this text messaging female victim immediately notified the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office dispatch center relaying this prompt and vital information. Responding Clackamas County Sheriff's Office patrol personnel arrived on the scene just minutes after the three armed suspects departed this residence with their kidnapped victim, who is not identified at this time."

Clackamas County Sheriff's deputies broadcasted the suspect information and anticipated route of travel to local law enforcement, Strovink said.

"A short time later, all three of the suspects and the victim were located during a traffic stop peacefully performed by the Gresham Police Department. On this occasion, no injuries were reported by the victim, or the three suspects apprehended at the scene by the Gresham Police."

Investigators indicate that at least one of the armed suspects was known to the victims, and that it is also mentioned this kidnapping incident may be drug and money related.

The traffic stop also resulted in the recovery of a stolen automobile; the very one the suspects were operating at the time of the stop. This vehicle had been previously stolen in Portland and reported as stolen to the Portland Police Bureau, Strovink added.

The three suspects were transported from the arrest location of 1136 NE 181st Street in Portland, and lodged in the Clackamas County Jail. Strovink says the suspects are with investigators who are presently conducting interviews.

EL ABUSO DE 60,000 NINOS NO ES COSA PEQUENA

2008-05-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

60,000 Australian children abused, neglected or at risk: minister
5 hours ago
SYDNEY (AFP) — Almost 60,000 Australian children are abused or neglected or at risk of being so -- a dramatic jump of 45 percent over the past few years, the government said Sunday.
Families Minister Jenny Macklin said the government was launching a discussion paper on a national child protection framework "because the figures on child abuse and neglect in Australia are so bad."
"There's now just under 60,000 children either being abused or neglected, and the numbers just keep growing," she told the Nine Network.
"They've grown by about 45 percent over the last few years, so it is a national issue."
The discussion paper found that the number of occasions when a child was found to be or found likely to be harmed, abused or neglected increased from 40,416 in 2002/03 to 58,563 by 2006/07.
Macklin said there were no clear reasons why the rates had increased so sharply but said it was associated with alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness and poverty.
"That's really one of the reasons why we need to embark on a national framework -- to understand better why the numbers are growing so rapidly and what it is that, as a nation, we can do," she said.
The minister said the rising numbers of children at risk had placed child protection authorities under enormous pressure and the government was concerned about the quality of care given to the 28,000 children living in foster homes.
"We've got a serious shortage of foster carers and concerns that not always are the children being properly or well cared for in foster care," she said.
The minister also said that with different child protection agencies in each state and territory, the standard of care was varied across the country.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR YOUTHS?

2008-05-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

The charges may or may not stick but tonight, less than a week after one person was killed and eleven others wounded by a hand grenade, two men are behind bars awaiting trial for murder. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports from Magistrates’ Court.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This afternoon sixteen year old Akeem Smith and his twenty year old brother Kareem were charged with Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Attempted Murder in connection with Sunday night’s grenade attack in Belize City.

The accused were barefooted as they appeared before Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb. Because the offences are indictable matters, no plea was taken. Akeem’s case was transferred to the Family Court for initial processing and both brothers are remanded to Hattieville Prison.

The minor is believed to be the lone perpetrator who rode up to the corner of Mayflower and Vernon Streets and then threw a hand grenade into a crowd of people. Sixteen year old Darren Trapp was the most critically injured and died hours after the incident. Eleven others were rushed to hospital with various head and body injuries.

Akeem and Kareem maintained their innocence to the crime in court this afternoon. Outside, their emotional mother accused investigators of refusing to conduct an identification parade before charging her sons.

Voice of Karen Smith, Mother of Accused
“Dehn chance my two son dehn becaz dehn innocent and di one deh who do it, dehn battam di go cinco seis fu think dehn wah call dehn.”

Janelle Chanona
“How did they link your sons to the crime then?”

Karen Smith
“Just cause dehn mi gat ting, my lee son weh sixteen and one ah dehn from deh soh—but no from dah side—mi have ting and he mi shot up my son pan di bridge and my son gawn back and gawn shot dehn and den CYDP talk it over and everything and den dat dah weh happen now, dehn di seh how dehn di call up fu dehn name. But from di ting happen, dah wah clear person. All of a sudden, my pickney dehn, dehn black and dehn turn clear.”

Janelle Chanona
“How did you link the attack with these two particular individuals?”

Inspector Sinquest Martinez, Lead Investigator
“It’s a matter of linking, they have been put in the crime scene. Witnesses come forward and assist us in the investigation.”

Janelle Chanona
“As far as motive, what would have led to such a drastic action?”

Inspector Sinquest Martinez
“Retaliation amongst themselves.”

Janelle Chanona
“For which attack? We’ve heard reference to a Lake I incident.”

Inspector Sinquest Martinez
“Well I’m not going in-depth because the investigation continues as we speak.”

Janelle Chanona
“Knowing that a lot of people are concerned that this will become the status of urban warfare, urban terror is the police looking into finding out if more grenades are out on the street?”

Inspector Sinquest Martinez
“Exactly. And we need to put an end to this immediately because we do not want it to continue. It is very, very dangerous. Kids, innocent people and passer-bys could get hurt with these gruesome attacks.”

And according to police, their response to the escalation in violence will be intensive searches, border patrols and aggressive efforts in soliciting community support.

Inspector Sinquest Martinez
“All I am asking the public to bear patience with us and start working along with us.”

Janelle Chanona
“And you are confident in the evidence you have?”

Inspector Sinquest Martinez
“We will see down the road ma’am.”

Both Kareem and Akeem Smith are scheduled to reappear in court on May thirtieth. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.

But in addition to being charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder, tonight Kareem Smith is in plenty of hot water in connection with other arrests. In October, he appeared before Magistrate Sharon Frazer, charged with two counts of Robbery. As one of the conditions of his bail, Frazer ordered that if Kareem was arrested again, his bond would be immediately revoked. However, in court this afternoon, Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb discovered that since that order Kareem has been arrested not once, not twice but five times for offences ranging from Threatening Words and Common Assault to Possession of An Unlicensed Firearm and Robbery. In light of that revelation, Kareem has been ordered to reappear before Magistrate Frazer on Wednesday. The Chief Magistrate referred to the oversight by prosecutors as “outrageous”.

THE EVIL ACTS OF MEN

2008-05-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

When society is free from the evil acts of Man, then this world will be safe for each and everyone and then I will set down my guard.
Brenda A. Ysaguirre

Children were dismembered and burnt, say Jersey police

Dozens of fragments of human bone found in the cellar of a former Jersey children’s home are believed to be the remains of children who were murdered, dismembered and then cremated in a fireplace, the detective leading the investigation into child abuse said yesterday.

The remains, which included children’s teeth, were found during an excavation of the underground rooms where former residents claim they were physically and sexually abused. Some fragments show signs of having been cut up and burnt.

The announcement comes after it was disclosed that the fragment of skull that led to the search is more likely to be a piece of wood or coconut shell than bone.

The Haut de la Garenne home, which closed in 1983, is at the centre of the investigation into abuse spanning a period of more than 30 years.

Deputy chief officer Lenny Harper said a total of 30 bone fragments and seven teeth had been found in one of the cellars. The bones will now undergo scientific examination to determine their age and the age of the child or children they may have come from. DNA testing may also make it possible to identify possible victims.

More than 160 people have come forward to claim they were abused at the home. Police searching the cellars, which had been sealed up, have found a blood-stained concrete bath and iron shackles that supported some of the accounts of victims.

A network of four underground chambers have now been investigated after a police sniffer dog indicated the presence of human remains. On a wooden post in one of the rooms that is thought to have been used to imprison children was scrawled the message “I’ve been bad for years and years”.

Police revealed yesterday that the number of people suspected of involvement in child abuse has increased from 40 to 70, although so far only one man has been arrested in connection with Haut de la Garenne.

Gordon Claude Wateridge, 76, originally from Croydon, South London, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979, when he was warder at the home.

A second man has also been arrested as part of the wider abuse inquiry. Claude Donnelly, 68, of St Brelade, is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl between 1971 and 1974 on the island.

All the other suspects will be questioned and most of them will be arrested, say police.

Mr Harper said: “Some of the bones do indicate a homicide or an unexplained death. Our anthropologist has indicated certain features on one or two of the bones that we are looking at. There is no doubt that there are the remains of children in that cellar.”

Speaking at a briefing outside Haut de la Garenne, he gave further details of the latest conclusions from scientific tests on bone fragments and teeth that were found.

Mr Harper said: “Of the six teeth we have sent to the UK, five of these would not be able to come out naturally before death. Only one shows signs of decay. The rest have so much root attached they could not have come out naturally.”

He added: “Experts say that they have come out of more than one mouth.”

Mr Harper said: “What is causing us some concern is that one or two of the bones show signs of being part of an unexplained death.”

Some of the bones had been cut, he said. “A lot of bones appear to have some degree of burning to them,” he added. “A number were found in and around where we believe was a fireplace in the cellar area.”

Tests to age the suspected victims have so far been inconclusive, with estimates ranging from before the Second World War to as recent as the Seventies and Eighties.

Mr Harper said: “Whatever else, we have a dead child or dead children in that cellar. We do not know how they got there or how they died.”

MAN ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING 5-YR OLD SON

2008-05-22T02:08:00.000-07:00

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The man at the center of an Amber Alert in New Haven faced a judge Tuesday.

Domingo Acosta is accused of kidnapping his 5-year-old son.

Acosta faces a list of charges including, abduction, assault and threatening.

Police said that earlier this month Acosta assaulted his ex-girlfriend and took his 5-year-old son, Isaiah Williams, from his mother. He eventually turned the boy over to his aunt, but not before sparking the Amber Alert.

He later turned himself in to police.

HATS OFF TO THE BRAVE YOUNG MAN AGE 12, WHO RAN...

2008-05-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Police investigate alleged attempted kidnapping
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Boston police are investigating a reported attempted kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy as he walked to school this morning in Dorchester.
About 8:15 a.m., an unknown man approached the boy from a vacant lot on Gallivan Boulevard, about four blocks from St. Brendan School, where the boy is enrolled. The man said “Hey,” and grabbed the boy’s right arm and started pulling him into the vacant lot, police said.
The boy broke free and ran through numerous yards and streets. The suspect pursued him for a while, following the boy onto Marsh Street before fleeing in an unknown direction.
Once arriving at school, the boy told the principal what had happened; and police were called.
“He’s going to be ok,” said Elaine Driscoll, a Boston police spokeswoman. “He had some scratches on his arm. … This young man did the right thing by heading to school and alerting an adult immediately.”
Driscoll said there have been no recent reports of attempted kidnappings in the area, but she said police have stepped up patrols and are canvassing the area for suspects.
Police described the suspect as a white male in his mid-40s or 50s, weighing 200 pounds and five feet 10 inches tall. He was wearing a black waist-length leather jacket with red sleeves, blue jeans with faded, white spots near the thighs of both legs, a black baseball cap with black sunglasses, and gray New Balance sneakers. He also had scruffy salt-and-pepper facial hair.
Anyone with information can call Boston police detectives at 617-343-4335, or leave anonymous information at 800-494-TIPS or text the word TIP to CRIME.