Greyson,
I think each of us have our own prespective and that prespective is dependent upon our own experiences.

I don't see it being all Americans, it's like any other issue. There are people who will change their mind on gun control and there will be those who ideas of the open carrying act will be stronger than ever.

I believe in a very strong gun control policy, but I do not believe in outlawing guns.

The individual that committed this horrific act used guns because it was the easiest and most available. However he planned this attack, he didn't just get up and decide to do this. I believe he would have used any form of weapon he could have to accomplish his goal. If the guns had not been available he could have easily made pipe bombs or any other easily made explosives. He was on a suicide mission and I believe he would have done this no matter what.

Not that this matters to anyone, but I was 7 miles north of the Oklahoma City bombing. I felt the overwhelming power of the explosion and I lost friends. There weren't any guns used that day, it was ammonium nitrate fertilizer .
168 people died, 19 children under the age of 6. My point is, the wacko that attacked the school layed out a plan. I firmly believe that his plan would have been carried out no matter what. He was on a mission to kill and nothing was going to stop him.

We need to work on strengthening our mental health system. It's quite obvious to me that this person appeard to be mentally ill. It's sad the number of people that do not get treatment due to know one caring, the lack of services available or far worse the denial of family members because they are embarassed that someone they love has a mental illness and they try to keep it a secret and refuse to seek help. I can't believe his mother did not see there was something wrong with her own kid.

Snipped for ease of addressing my point...

I recommend this article...
http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

To help understand a bit of parent perspective when it comes to seeking help for a mentally ill child.

To me it is wrong to speculate/shame/question the mother's actions. What happens inside families is hardly ever so simple as "did not see" or "denial".

I was in college at the time of the Thurston High school shooting (Springfield Oregon 1998) and taking a class from with a family services professor. The professor and community services leader in the area was asked the week before the shooting by the father for help. On a plane ride once he found out who the man was sitting next to him the father asked for help. He was searching everywhere and not finding help for his son. He was willing to bare it to a stranger on a plane for a helping hand.

I respect this and totally agree that we should not assume. I took my assumption from what a relative had said and that was the mother was not happy with the plan they had for her son. My partner is an educator and the word plan is not typically used in the education process unless there is something that would keep this child from learning in a traditional classroom setting.

There seems to be something that was not right, but you are correct that I should not have assumed his mother should have known anything.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2312186.html

I have always wanted to gather 1000's of our community members and protest in front of their church.

These Fred Phelps robots are without any sense of compassion. IMO they are not "Christians" and they are an example of sensless violence. The damage they do may not be physical but they have harmed many psychologically and emotionally.

Pure and simple self rightious idiots. God help their children who they are raising to be just as closed hearted and closed minded as they are.

re: Mental Health Issues
 

In light of tragedy that struck in my own metro area and subsequent tragedy which transpired in Connecticut, I came across an exceptionally well written essay authored by a mother, Liza Long, a mother of four children: of whom one suffers a complicated set of debilitating mental illnesses.

The following essay (see link below) was picked up and published by The Blue Review an non-profit publication affiliated with Boise State University.

I feel compelled to share this particular article for two reasons: One, because mental health issues (illness) can range from treatable cases to cases where it is terribly hard to come up with the best possible solution to help individuals, and family members who are their care givers or overseers in daily life or even lay persons or mental health professionals who deal with or try to help people, who suffer debilitating types of mental illness. Two, because in my own family, I have a brother who suffers severely from mental illness and to this day, not even my own mother who has devoted her entire career and life as a highly skilled Psychiatric Nurse, not even my mother is able to clearly see all that is wrong with my brother and not even, by today's standards, medical doctors specializing in care and treatment processes for people like my brother, have one clue how to go about narrowing in on a diagnosis that might help bring some sort of relief to my brother's life or even my mother's life.

I am not sure how many people or families are affected by mental illness; but I know my own family is not alone in the daily struggle to oversee my brother's care and we hope that we live to tell about a day that our family could find the right set or combination of treatments to bring relief to not only one of my brothers, but relief for my mother; and for all of us who are affected by the perilous struggle in caring for someone who's afflicted with some form or another of mental illness.


<<< LINK to The Blue Review article >>>

Anonymous hits Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

Hackers publish private information about church members following news that it would picket the Newtown school



http://www.salon.com/2012/12/16/anon..._picket_plans/

Editorial
 

How the NRA Defeats National Tragedies

First it scares people into thinking the government is coming for their guns. Then it quietly asks the public to pray for the victims of the next rampage.

By David Weigel|Posted Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, at 4:07 PM ET


You might think that “spokesman for the National Rifle Association” is the toughest job in PR. You might be wrong. At least once a year, and several times in bad years, reporters reach out to the NRA’s Andrew Arulanandam and ask him whether the gun lobby has anything to say about the latest massacre. Arulanandam says basically the same thing, every time.



http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...bers_into.html

[IMG]no.[/IMG]


Obviously riding on the coattails of Homeland, but I agree with the general sentiment.

Why did you post that picture? I don't understand.

And from Kobi:

"lil warning with this would have been nice. tho the shock value is enormous"



Our drone attacks kill children in Pakistan and other countries, year round.


http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/25/wo...kes/index.html

Do we know why?

Drone Attacks
 

This is some accurate information.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...s-pakistan-map

I am leaving this thread. Pictures like that are horrendous. I don't need to be reminded of what is ongoing. I don't need to be traumatized like that. Sorry but this was just absolutely unnecessary. :(

I apologize for reposting the horrible picture in my reply. It was not done intentionally.

MODERATION!
 

IslandScout -

I have removed the photo of the dead child and am going to insist that you do not post photos like that on this site again.

That photo is not only hugely triggering but there is no way to post a sufficient warning so that people have the opportunity NOT to view something like that.

Discussing the violence of the world is ok. Posting actual photos of dead bodies anywhere on the site is not.

Thanks,
Medusa/Admin

IS-

It is also against our TOS to post content from private messages or rep notes. Removed.

Thanks

NRA Newtown response: National program to place armed security in schools
 

The National Rifle Association on Friday, a full week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gave its first response to the massacre that killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, argued at a press conference in Washington, D.C., that gun control legislation would not prevent similar shootings and offered the organization's own proposal: a nationwide program that would place armed security in every school desiring protection.

"I call on Congress today to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation," LaPierre said. The proposed program, called the National School Shield, would help train and install security at schools nationwide under the leadership of former Arkansas Republican Rep. Asa Hutchinson.

"Innocent lives might have been spared," LaPierre said, if armed security was present at Sandy Hook. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/n...-politics.html

Insight: Mass shootings tend to lift gun sales, data shows
 

NEW YORK/SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The coming weeks may well be a banner one for gun sales in America - and the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school will likely be a reason.

The appetite for guns tends to increase following a mass shooting, according to a Reuters analysis of U.S. government data on background checks run on prospective gun buyers in the past 13 years - generally regarded as a reliable indicator of whether gun sales are increasing.

Gun dealers say after such shootings some customers fear for their personal security, while others are concerned the events will spur new restrictions on gun ownership.

Figures for the first few weeks of this month are not yet available, but anecdotal evidence from nearly a dozen gun shops nationwide suggests a similar response after the deadly shooting of 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, on Nov, 14.

At the Village Gun Store in Whitefield, New Hampshire, the phone was ringing almost continuously Thursday with gun buyers calling to see if the store had any AR-15 type semiautomatic rifles, the weapon used in the massacre.

Six people were browsing the rifles that line the bare plywood walls of the store, the largest within 50 miles, and the long rows of handguns in a glass case near the cash register.

"I have a ton of rifles and guns on my wish list," said Thomas Roads, 25, a gun collector who owns seven rifles and three handguns already. He was buying accessories for a vintage black powder (muzzle-loader) handgun for a gift, but he also said the rhetoric out of Washington is "speeding up" his decisions on gun purchases.

Demand in San Antonio, Texas appears to be just as strong.

"Yesterday was the biggest day I have had in the gun industry, and I have been in the gun industry for twenty years," Jerry McCall, owner of Texas Guns and the Texas Thunder Gun Range in San Antonio, said on Wednesday.

U.S. gun sales have grown rapidly in recent years on the back of easing state and federal restrictions, and as savvy marketing by gun manufacturers has appealed to a broader base of customers. That is reflected in the increased volume of background checks logged in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), with November 2012 seeing a record number of queries, experts said.

Background checks are necessary for individuals buying firearms from federally licensed retailers. Actual gun sales figures are not easily trackable.

Reuters examined the number of background checks in the month of and the month after 15 mass shootings since 1999. A mass shooting was defined as an incident where at least five people were killed and where the event received sustained media attention over a period of days.

The analysis found that background checks in the month of and the month after mass shootings were on average 19 percent higher than checks in other months. The pattern holds even after 2006, when gun sales broadly started to rise.

Just this year, for example, background checks rose 17 percent in July and August, around the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, July 20 that killed 12 people and wounded 58.

To be sure, the NICS database is incomplete as it does not include many sales at gun shows, which do not always require background checks. Also, not every background check results in a sale, though the entire firearms industry uses the data as a sales proxy.

Reuters shared its findings with prominent criminologists, who said the results were consistent with their experience of how gun buying can be triggered by such events.

"People become concerned that the society is becoming more violent after the highly publicized mass shootings - as one response, they arm themselves," said Richard Rosenfeld, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and former president of the American Society of Criminology.

For Kyle Hunt, 32, a surgeon and father of two young children with a stay-at-home wife, the Sandy Hook shooting put a new urgency on protection.

"My wife and I have definitely thought in the wake of the Connecticut shooting of getting her a weapon," said Hunt, who was buying gun cleaning supplies for his hunting rifle and pistol at Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World in Brandon, Mississippi. "You should be able to have a gun to protect yourself."

That gun sales soar at a time when more people are talking about restricting ownership illustrates the deep ideological divide in America. The country enshrines the right to bear arms in its Constitution but also suffers from some of the worst gun violence in the developed world.

Events that create "anxiety-producing circumstances for gun ownership" will lead to a short-term increase in sales, said Frank Zimring, a criminologist and professor at the University of California - Berkeley Law School.

FEARS OF SECURITY

In gun shops across the country, owners said demand has been strong since the Sandy Hook shooting, particularly amid calls for tougher rules on gun ownership from President Barack Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians.

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday convened the first meeting of a new White House task force charged by Obama with drawing up a plan to tackle gun violence in the United States.

McCall, from the San Antonio store, said political rhetoric is behind the rush to buy.

"They want to go after the inanimate objects. That's why our sales are going through the roof, because people know that these anti-gunners have to do some sort of feel-good legislation, and they use instances like what happened in Connecticut to push their agenda, their Bloomberg agenda," McCall said.

Before the Newtown massacre, firearm industry experts said gun ownership has become more socially acceptable, particularly among groups not traditionally seen as gun buyers. Women in particular have become a rapidly growing market for gun sellers.

The annual production of rifles and shotguns for the U.S. market rose nearly 40 percent between 2002 and 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates the size of the industry at roughly $4 billion a year.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said in October that revenue from guns rose 76 percent in the first half of its fiscal year, while revenue from ammunition rose 30 percent.

Investors have taken note: shares of gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson Holding Corp had doubled in 2012 before the Newtown massacre, while shares of Sturm Ruger & Co Inc were up almost 48 percent.

Smith & Wesson reported in early December that its sales in the six-month period ended October 31 were up 48 percent from the same period last year.

"These data points, among others, suggest to us that firearms have now taken their place in the basket of mainstream, durable goods that consumers want to buy on Black Friday," Chief Executive James Debney said on a conference call earlier this month, referring to the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping season.

SELL-OFF

Since Friday's shooting, gun makers' share prices have plunged and major U.S. pension funds said they were reviewing their investments in the sector.

Cerberus Capital Management LP, the private equity heavyweight, said it plans to sell Freedom Group, the top U.S. manufacture of firearms, including the AR-15-style Bushmaster, the rifle that Newtown shooter Adam Lanza used.

Recent history has shown, though, that while gun makers come under pressure in the days after a shooting, over time their growth has been uninterrupted.

For example, shares of Smith & Wesson fell in the trading sessions immediately following five major shooting incidents since January 2011, but they quickly recovered each time and are up 133 percent since then.

Smith & Wesson did not return requests for comment.

While, some large, national retailers pulled rifles like the one used at Sandy Hook Elementary off shelves in nearby stores in Connecticut, most other gun stores nationwide said they were operating as normal - with some setting records.

That was the case all week at the Hyatt Coin and Gun Shop on the west side of Charlotte, North Carolina, which has been in business since 1959 and seeing record one-day sales all week.

"They're buying it faster than we're getting it in," said owner Larry Hyatt. "After this horrible tragedy, the whole country, it scared ‘em to death ... People who were thinking about buying guns in the future want to do so now."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/insight-mas...--finance.html

Wisconsin court rules in favor of same-sex domestic registry
 

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - An appeals court ruled on Friday that Wisconsin's same sex domestic partnership registry does not violate an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage.

The registry gives same-sex couples limited rights and benefits.

"Domestic partnerships carry with them substantially fewer rights and obligations than those enjoyed by and imposed on married couples," the three-judge Wisconsin panel wrote in its ruling.

The registry gives the right to hospital visits, family medical leave to care for a stricken partner, health benefits under a partner's insurance, and the right to inherit assets when a partner dies.

While the state's Department of Health Services continues to administer the registry, Governor Scott Walker and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, both Republicans, have refused to defend it in court, claiming it is unconstitutional.

The registry, created in 2009 under Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, has more than 2,000 couples on it, according to Fair Wisconsin, a gay-rights organization based in Madison.

"We fought off this ugly attack against the rights and protections currently available to same-sex couples and their families in Wisconsin - a sweet holiday present to loving couples and families," said Christopher Clark, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a national group that advocates for gays and lesbians.

In 2006, Wisconsin voters approved a referendum to add an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting gay marriage. Wisconsin Family Action, an anti-gay rights group, argued in a 2010 lawsuit that the registry violated the amendment because it resembles a marriage under state law.

"The people of Wisconsin have strongly affirmed the lifelong, faithful union of a man and a woman as the fundamental building block of civilization," said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, in a statement.

The case was brought to the Court of Appeals after a Dane County judge ruled against the Wisconsin Family Action lawsuit in June 2011.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced earlier this month it will hear gay marriage cases for the first time as gay rights continues to be a politically charged topic through the United States.

Same-sex marriage is prohibited in 31 states while nine states and Washington D.C. have legalized it, including three by referendum in the November election.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-c...234848176.html

Trap was set’ for firefighters shot and killed responding to Webster, N.Y. fire
 

A gunman set a trap and shot and killed two firefighters responding to an early morning blaze in Webster, N.Y., police officials said. Two other firefighters were in serious condition.

"It does appear that it was a trap that was set for first responders, but the cause or reasons we don't have at this time," said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering as he described the scene where shots were fired at West Webster firefighters when they arrived at 5:35 a.m. to battle the blaze along Lake Road. Webster is about 10 miles east of Rochester.

The apparent gunman was found dead at the scene, but it’s unclear if he was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot or if it was from a weapon from police officers who were chasing him.

The victims were Mike Chiapperini, also a lieutenant and public information officer with the local police department, and Tomasz Kaczowka, Pickering said.

Chiapperini was described by Pickering as a lifelong firefighter who started with the department's explorer program and had about 20 years of experience. Kaczowka was a younger firefighter and was also a 911 dispatcher, he said.

West Webster firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were seriously injured and are at Strong Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said. Scardino has injuries to his chest and lungs. Hofsetter was injured in the pelvis, the spokeswoman said at a media briefing.

Pickering said that one of the firefighters who survived made his way across a bridge to get to safety. The other three did not make it across, Pickering said. Police arrived and rescued the other three firefighters, but two were fatally shot, Pickering said.

The morning scene was described as chaotic as police and firefighters dealt with an immense blaze as well as gunshots, local news station WHAM-TV reports.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...163105823.html

2012 a year of unparalleled justice for child sex abuse victims
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Experts say 2012 was a year of unparalleled justice for child sex abuse victims, but whether the string of high-profile convictions will translate into a turning point for juvenile safety remains to be seen.

The year's headlines heralded the criminal convictions of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, Monsignor William Lynn of the Catholic Church's Philadelphia Archdiocese and ultra-Orthodox Jewish therapist Nechemya Weberman, a prominent figure in New York's Satmar Hasidic sect.

Sandusky, 68, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars for raping and molesting 10 boys, some in the campus football showers. Lynn, 61, was ordered to prison for up to six years for covering up for pedophile priests. Weberman, 54, faces up to 25 years' imprisonment when he is sentenced on January 9 for sexually abusing a girl during counseling sessions.

Each conviction hinged on the testimony of victims brave enough to shatter years of silence surrounding the abuse. Each verdict was reached by a jury determined to decide fairly in the shadow of a revered institution that, at best, ignored the crimes, sometimes for years.

Decades of secretiveness have shrouded child sex abuse within institutions that turned a blind eye, said David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

One development encouraging victims to come forward today is more women in law enforcement and criminal justice who may seem more approachable, experts say. Another is a growing acceptance of homosexuality, which could help ease the victims' humiliation, and the idea that survivors with calamitous lives may nevertheless be telling the truth, experts say.

"We're learning that victims inevitably seem troubled and flawed. It's very rare that someone can be sexually violated as a child and live a charmed, perfect life," Clohessy said.

Heightened publicity has also drawn out victims who now know they are not alone, said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

"The climate is so much better for survivors than it was a decade ago when they felt isolated and like a freak," Finkelhor said.

"Almost everyone knows this happens to other people now. It's not nearly as stigmatizing," he said.

The momentum in prosecuting child sex abuse cases depends upon many factors, including whether state legislatures broaden the time frame for victims seeking justice, a move under discussion in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

By the time a child victim is able to confront an assailant, a state's statute of limitations may prevent prosecution. If victims are still eligible to file civil lawsuits, however, the surrounding publicity may draw out other victims and could lead to subsequent criminal prosecutions, advocates say.

"When a predator is exposed in any way, in any form, it encourages victims, witnesses, whistle-blowers to step forward and perhaps file criminal charges," Clohessy said.

"Obviously, kids are safest when predators are jailed," he said. "Sometimes civil suits lead to criminal prosecution. Even when they don't, they warn people about a potentially dangerous child molester."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/americas-vi...174321747.html

Dutch minister slams Pope for gay hate Christmas message



http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/d...-message241212

Charges Dismissed Against Lt. Dan Choi



http://www.queerty.com/dan-choi-20121223/

There was a kitchen fire at the Peabody (site of the Reunion) that led to the evacuation of the hotel. No one was injured, and the restaurants are supposed to open tomorrow pending the health department's inspection.

New laws address gays, children, immigration
 

Measures on gay rights and child safety are among the top state laws taking effect at the start of 2013, along with attempts to prevent identity theft and perennial efforts to restrict abortion and illegal immigration.

In many states, new laws take effect on Jan. 1, while in others they do so 90 days after a governor's signature.

Voter-approved laws allowing same-sex couples to marry take effect in Maryland in January and in Maine on Saturday. California also approved a law exempting clergy members opposed to gay marriage from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies.

In California, a first-of-its-kind law bans a form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight but is on hold during a court challenge. The law would ban what is known as reparative or conversion therapy for minors; such therapies are widely discredited by medical professionals.

A number of laws seek to protect children from bullying and abuse. Pennsylvania school employees in contact with children, who already must report suspected abuse, must now be trained to recognize the warning signs, their legal obligations and what are considered appropriate relationships with children.

That law was being debated and voted on in June as a jury was finding former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty of 45 counts for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

California coaches and administrators in K-12 schools, as well as higher education employees who have regular contact with children, will be required to report suspected child sexual abuse. Oregon will require schools to adopt a policy on teen dating violence, a law that follows state legislation earlier this year requiring school employees to report acts of bullying, harassment and online bullying.

In Florida, the Safe Harbor Act includes provisions that require police to turn over to the Department of Children and Families any children who are alleged to be sexually exploited or dependent for assessment and possible shelter.

States continue to wrestle with illegal immigration. Pennsylvania will include a requirement that contractors on public works projects make sure through the federal E-Verify system that their employees are legal U.S. residents, while a Montana ballot measure taking effect denies illegal immigrants of state services.

Supporters say the Montana law will prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining services and prevent them from taking jobs at a time of high unemployment. Opponents argued there is no proof illegal immigrants are using state services in Montana.

Also in Montana, voters overwhelmingly passed a measure requiring parental notification for minors' abortions, while in Georgia a new law will prohibit doctors from performing an abortion 20 weeks after an egg is fertilized unless a pregnancy is determined to be medically futile, meaning it would result in the birth of a child unlikely to survive because of a serious defect. Georgia became the seventh state in the country to approve the so-called fetal pain act.

"Today, we are reaffirming Georgia's commitment to preserving the sanctity of all human life," Gov. Nathan Deal said in a statement released shortly after he signed the bill in May.

The measure passed over the objection of many female lawmakers, including Sen. Valencia Seay, who said the bill's passage and signing was "unconscionable, but not surprising" and typical of the male-dominated General Assembly.

New Hampshire enacts a ban on a type of late-term abortion procedure sometimes called "partial birth abortion" after lawmakers overrode the veto of Gov. John Lynch, who said the measure was unnecessary because federal law already prohibits such procedures. Supporters of the ban say they don't trust the government to prosecute the law.

In Maryland, parents will be able to freeze their child's credit at any time if the child becomes a victim of identity theft. "This just freezes the information to ensure that it's not used for ill purposes," said Delegate Craig Zucker, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the Maryland House of Delegates.

In Delaware, state officials must request an annual credit report for every child in foster care.

http://news.yahoo.com/laws-address-g...nlwYWdl;_ylv=3

White House Petition To Recognize Westboro Baptist Church As Hate Group Becomes Most Popular Ever



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...r=Gay%20Voices

Dutch Catholics leaving church over opposition to same-sex marriage



http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/d...marriage281212

Yes! Another Shooting.
 

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...e-station?lite

If only the police officers all had guns....

Oh wait......

Op-ed: Scalia Too Biased to Judge Marriage Cases

Before the Supreme Court hears arguments on Proposition 8 and Edie Windsor's DOMA case, the bench must address one justice's scornfully biased record.



http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2...marriage-cases

Maine same-sex couples marry in first hours of law



http://www.chron.com/news/us/article...#photo-3958299

Sounds like undiagnosed mental illness.
 

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news...-homeless?lite

The 60 year old Clark heir dying of hypothermia and his great aunt living in a hospital for 20 years while her palatial estates sat vacant is quite interesting. She left nigh a penny to her family, thus a familial squabble ensues.

Money does not necessarily purchase happiness does it? Especially mad money.

Your title said 'sounds like undiagnosed mental illness'. I read the story and mental illness never entered my mind. I'm really curious why you think that.

The old woman could have had very good reasons for not dealing with her family. So what if she had vacant mansions. So what if she lived in a hospital for 20 years. Those things do not make her mentally ill. Eccentric, odd, different, filthy rich....lots of adjectives, but mentally ill is not one we can assign to her based on the story.

Lots of people in this country have relatives who are living on the streets. Are the relatives of all homeless folks mentally ill?

The term 'mental illness' gets thrown around a lot. It does a huge dis-service to those who actually have some type of mental illness (including many of the Planet family).

The votes were interesting:

SENATE ROLL CALL ON FISCAL CLIFF DEAL

The 89-8 roll call Tuesday by which the Senate passed the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, which broke the "fiscal cliff" stalemate.

A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

Voting yes were 47 Democrats, 40 Republicans and 2 independents.

Voting no were 3 Democrats and 5 Republicans.

3 Senators did not vote.


HOUSE ROLL CALL ON FISCAL CLIFF DEAL

The 257-167 roll call Tuesday by which the House passed the agreement that avoided the so-called fiscal cliff of middle-class tax increases and spending cuts and sent the measure to President Barack Obama.

A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

Voting yes were 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans.

Voting no were 16 Democrats and 151 Republicans.

X denotes those not voting.

There are 3 vacancies in the 435-member House.



Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/fiscal-cli...#ixzz2GrZfCyvr

Governor sues NCAA over Penn State sex scandal
 

(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett filed a lawsuit on Wednesday demanding that sanctions imposed on Penn State University over the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal be thrown out, saying they threatened to devastate the state's economy.

Corbett called the sanctions imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, which include an unprecedented $60 million fine, "overreaching and unlawful."

"I cannot and will not stand by and let it happen without a fight," the Republican governor, who was accused of dragging his feet on the Penn State scandal when he was state attorney general, told a news conference.

A lawsuit Corbett filed with U.S. District Court in Harrisburg called for all Sandusky-related sanctions imposed on Penn State to be thrown out.

Corbett's suit charged the NCAA and "competing colleges and universities represented on its governing boards" had "cynically and hypocritically exploited" the case "to impose crippling and unprecedented sanctions on an already weakened competitor."

The suit said stigma from the case would diminish recruitment of students and student athletes and the value of a Penn State education for decades.

According to Corbett's office, Penn State football was the second most profitable collegiate athletic program in the United States in 2010-11, when it brought in $50 million, generating more than $5 million in tax revenue.

Penn State University released a statement saying it was not party to Corbett's lawsuit and reiterated its commitment to comply with the NCAA sanctions. The university recently made the first payment of $12 million of the fine to a national fund to support victims of child abuse.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/governor-su...8396--nfl.html

---------------------

This has got to be one of the strangest attempts to recoup lost tax revenue known to humankind.

Child support claim rankles sperm donor to lesbian couple
 

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - A Kansas man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple so they could have a child said on Wednesday he is shocked the state is now trying to make him pay child support.

William Marotta, 46, donated sperm to Jennifer Schreiner and Angela Bauer under a written agreement that he would not be considered the father of the child nor liable for child support. A daughter, now 3, was born to Schreiner.

But in October, the state of Kansas filed a petition seeking to have Marotta declared the father of the child and financially responsible for her after the couple encountered money difficulties.

Marotta will ask the court in a hearing January 8 to dismiss the claim, which centers on a state law that the sperm must be donated through a licensed physician in order for the father to be free of any later financial obligations. Marotta gave a container of semen to the couple, who found him on Craigslist, instead of donating through a doctor or clinic.

The case is seen as having repercussions for other sperm donors. Sperm banks routinely provide sperm to people who want to conceive a child on the understanding that the donors are not responsible for the children.

Kansas is seeking child support from Marotta, including about $6,000 in medical expenses related to the child's birth, according to its petition.

The case has attracted national attention. Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said Wednesday "it is unfortunate and unfair" that Kansas is seeking money from a sperm donor.

"It certainly might have a negative effect on other men's willingness to help couples who need a donor, which would be harmful to everyone," Minter said.

"I also think it undermines everyone's respect for the law when you see it operate so arbitrarily."

Kansas officials are required under the law to determine the father of a child when someone seeks state benefits, said Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for the Department for Children and Families. The couple was compelled to provide that information, which led to investigation of the sperm donation.

Marotta should be declared the father and subject to financial claims because he donated the sperm directly to the women and not through a physician, as required by Kansas law, the state's petition states.

Lawyers for Marotta argue that he had no parental rights because of his agreement with the couple and cannot be held financially responsible.

They cite a 2007 case in which the Kansas Supreme Court ruled against a sperm donor seeking parental rights because he did not have any such agreement with the mother, lawyers for Marotta said.

"So now, we are flipping the argument around," Marotta attorney Ben Swinnen said Wednesday.

If the father had no legal parental rights in the 2007 case, Marotta should be declared to have no parental obligations in the current case, Swinnen said.

Marotta, a race car mechanic, responded to an ad on Craigslist from someone offering to pay $50 for sperm donations, but he made the donation for free. Marotta said he and his wife have no children of their own but have fostered a daughter. Marotta said he was simply trying to help a couple wanting a child.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/child-suppo...014725388.html

We can all learn from this couple.
 

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/ind...es_for_60.html

Long. Live. Love.

warning, it’s far worse than I can describe and may contain triggers
 

Anonymous Takes On Rape Culture: Leaks Video Of Steubenville Jocks Mocking Rape Victim (VIDEO NSFW)



http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01...im-video-nsfw/