[KathyM]

The more I hear about the life of this boy who shot people and himself in an Omaha mall, the more angry I get with the mental health industry - and parents in general.

They say when he was in his early teens he threatened to kill his stepmother, so he was thrown into an institution for psychiatric help and drug rehab. When he was released at 18, he was kicked out of his home and went to live with a friend's family.

We wonder about what's happening to kids nowadays. I suspect the problem is we don't love and care for them. We only love the perfect ones who will perform for us. If they don't fit into the mold of perfection, we throw them away and expect strangers to "fix" them for us with either drugs or prison bars.

My husband and son locked horns quite often during that age, but we never gave up on him and we didn't "drug" him with anti-depressants to make him more obedient or balanced. We TALKED with him and showed him WHY certain rules need to be followed in life. We allowed him to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes while he was still safely under our roof.

From the time he learned to speak, my son and I had an agreement - he could say whatever he wanted to me in our home, as long as it was truthful. That way, I was able to keep a check on what was really going on inside his head. If he would have come to me saying he wanted to kill me or my husband, I wouldn't think to throw him in jail or commit him to an institution. I would have cleared my schedule and make him explain to me in detail why he thought that would be a good way to solve his problems.

We didn't shelter him from life either. He learned early on how to cope with abuse and rejection from the outside world.

I feel sorry for the people this boy in Omaha killed, but I can't help but feel really sorry for him and others who are thrown away by their parents due to lack of control. No one took the time to love this boy. Maybe if his parents focused more on nurturing their child instead of merely controlling him while growing up, he wouldn't have become such an angry and explosive adult. Maybe if they had loved him, he could have learned to love himself and others instead of viewing himself as a "piece of crap" with no compassion for others.

So much for "pro-life," huh? I hope all these young teenagers who are having babies now realize how much work, sacrifice and sleepless nights they will have to endure for the REST of their lives. Children are not dolls or pets - they are human beings. I bring this up only because I'm very pro-choice. I considered this option when I became pregnant with my son because I was going through a divorce at the time and knew I'd be raising a biracial child on my own. I never regretted my decision to keep my child because I thought long and hard before making my decision. As a result, he's the light of my life. I'm not 100% sure he would have turned out so well if I had been forced to have him - or forced to give him up for adoption. It's possible there could have been feelings of resentment from both of us.

Good Lord, how I miss my son. He'll be home on leave in 12 days, and I can't wait to give him a HUGE hug.

[lou_lou]

I posted this in the Parkinson's forum, this is really happening, and
the silence is very creepy!!

here is the link - as I have posted it in full there...
but if you want you can cut and paste it here?

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d=1#post174333

here is proof on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Vj0EX_STU

ONline videos under scrutiny CBS reports -
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3575660.shtml
Online Vaccine Videos Under The Microscope

Dec 4, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(WebMD) If you turn to YouTube to get information about immunizations, you may want to keep the findings of a new study in mind.

In February, University of Toronto researchers screened 153 vaccine videos posted on YouTube.

The videos included clips for and against immunization, and some of the videos showed anxious parents or crying babies.

About half of the videos didn't explicitly support immunization: 48% were positive about immunization, 32% were negative, and 20% were ambiguous about vaccines.

Negative videos tended to get higher ratings from YouTube users. But those videos "often contradicted the reference standard," write Jennifer Keelan, PhD, and colleagues.

Keelan's team urges doctors to "be aware of Internet video-sharing sites and be prepared to respond to patients who obtain their health information from these sources."

Doctors and other experts might also consider posting their own videos to communicate health information, Keelan's team suggests.

Their report appears in tomorrow's edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association.


By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.

and now we have the Doctors speaking for the PRESS???

[KathyM]

Geez Louise

I thought our national slogan was "Say NO to Drugs!" I guess now it's "Say YES to drugs, or we'll shoot you and place your parents in jail."

So do they expect the pharmaceutical companies to raise these children while their parents are in jail for not immunizing them?

[Alffe]

Oh KathyM...will your son be home for Christmas? Today is Pearl Harbour Day and there is a tiny article buried in our newspaper about people who remember hearing it...where they were, what they thought..how they reacted. It is such a different world we are living in today.

Tena's post is just one example of that.

[Curious]

it's sad. the school's don't want to help either.

lil'monkey has a myspace. it's blocked. no one can view it except people i approve. i have the password...she doesn't. her friends know that i check the messages and the bullitins.

one of the girls on her friends list changed hers up about a month ago. i was shocked. sickened. this is a 9th grade girl. crotch shots..boys posting about oral sex with her. this girls myspace is not blocked. listed her age as 99. this means anyone can view it. pedifiles....

i contacted the school. this girl had pictures of her wearing her school t-shirt and a thong. mentions the school allover the place and all the activities and teams that she is on.

the school would do nothing. not contact her parents.

so i did. left messages that they never returned. even at the mothers work. i thought maybe the girl had erased them. nope, imo they just didn't care.

so i contacted the local police. her myspace is now gone. this is child endangerment by the parents. they knew what was on her myspace.

pretty sick people.

alffe, i visited the pearl harbour memorial in hawaii. one of the most moving experiences of my life.

[lou_lou]

here's his photo my father age 20 -


he was drafted at age 18 -then spent 3 years in southern Italy -
he was in the army airforce - he had kept photos of the planes he flew in etc, and I found a photo of Musolini sp? after death - in my father's footlocker,too -
they were quite shocking for a young girl to see!
one of his photos of the planes -


These are P-51Bs or Cs of the 31st Fighter Group. The ship with the 'MX' code was assigned to the 307th Fighter Squadron, while the other with the code 'HL' was from the 308th FS. The stripes on the tail were red...
I had a man comment on the photo -
These fellows who flew photo reconnaissance missions in WWII were a brave lot... flying alone and unarmed into enemy territory, with only a fast ship to carry them out of harms way if it found them. Many did not return... too many. A special breed they were...

[KathyM]

Yes, Alffe - but only for a week. Doesn't seem long enough.

Tena - nice pics

My father served during WWII on a destroyer in the Navy in the South Pacific. It was the main reason my son chose the Navy. It felt right for him to follow in his grandfather's footsteps - made him feel like his grandfather's spirit was with him. We weren't expecting him to get deployed to the Middle East! Oh well, knowing dad as I did, he'd have no problem tagging along with my son out to the desert.

Curious - how sad for that girl. Wish girls like that would realize they'll never find a boy/man who will respect them if they don't respect themselves - if there's no respect, there's no love. Besides, there's a way to show off your "assets" without revealing too much. And what the HECK were her parents thinking? It's good you know your dauther's friends and what she's doing online.

[Addy]

Noteworthy (in my opinion):

I was watching CNN yesterday - not sure which news program but if any, I like to watch Larry King and sometimes Anderson Cooper, to name a few.

Anyway, someone who was being intereviewed - a man, said: (not verbatim)
"The only acts of terrorism that have occurred in our country since 9/11 were committed by our own children"

That says a lot, in my opinion.

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

Sadly, its also my opinion that dysfunctional children and families are not a new problem.

As we have evolved, so has the degree and intensity of the problem.

I don't have the answers... all I know is I can do my bit, no matter how small, to try and make a difference.

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

A few days ago, I went to the local chicken place because it was "twoonie tuesday" - meaning cheap KFC.... and as I have done once before, I bought 2 specials with plans of giving the extra to a "street person".
Vancouver's street people are a huge problem and those that have moved into my area would prefer money for their drugs as this habit takes over everything, even their need to eat.

The street person I chose to give to thanked me... but in the next breath, he met my eyes and begged me to give him money...
and I knew... then,
that although he needed the food... and I did see him go away to eat it...
he also needed money for the drug that had him in it's grip.

I had no money and told him so ... then kept walking.

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

We all live within our own despair....

I don't know what I can do to help that street person.
I wish I did.

I look at him or her and know that once, they were loved.... if even for a brief time, someone held them and loved them....

then life happened to them....

and I think...

what went wrong that they don't love themselves...

[Doody]

((Tena)) Thank you for bringing up the topic of the young man in Omaha. I feel terrible for the families of the people that were killed. But my heart also just breaks for that young man and what he went through. I can't imagine.

I took into my home a young man once who ran away from foster care. Went into foster care because of an abusive step father. And his mother left him and his 3 sisters when they were very young. He's never seen her again.

But he ended up well, married to a nice woman and 2 years ago had a baby who unfortunately has Angelman's Syndrome. But he is stepping up to the plate and loves that little boy with all his heart.

I've found it so disturbing that the media has also played up the fact thatthe young man in Omaha was on antidepressants...giving ADs another bad hit. I suspect he was probably not aware of the effects that ADs CAN have if not taken properly...or weaned off of properly.

I pray that young man, and the people whose lives he took, finds peace.

[DMACK]

KathyM

We live in the world in sad times.


I work in a Male homeless hostel as a Support Worker, the majority of the residents are under 20 years old.

There are among those many from dis-jointed families with no male role models. Low in aspirations and goals in life. Lack basic lifeskills, but above all total disrepect for society. In England we currently have a Youth problem...They know under 18 the law tends not to punish them... therefore they believe they are above the law. Respect for elders is a thing of the past, and respect for the law has gone out of the window.

There are others in the same age group who come from families who apparently have tried, and tried.. yet these young men choose to rebel break the law, break house rules, and just like deprived young men, end up homeless.

I get very angry in my job, mainly at the powers that be.. because this is an education failing..

Current popular culture promotes bad behaviour and disrespect... it promotes violence, and anti....-dis-establishment.[views].. and conforming to the common rules in Society..
R.A.P. has a part to play in gang culture where your 'Homies' are more important than parents/gaurdians.
My bigest hate is when people know who did wrong but will not say 'Grassing' 'Squealing'.......

Now days protecting the guilty is more important tha telling the truth.. fear of retibution is the key factor... but the saying 'Hounour among of thieves' or 'Omerta' [code of silence] can only be taught from childhood. And sadly if the parents of young children do not share the views, that these codes are wrong... they will never be taught.

I am currently [at work] working on a film project where i work with four residents who want to make a difference. They talk on film of their life history, and life on the streets and in the hostel.. The idea is to take it to senior schools to show life is not greener on the otherside. That Mum and Dad may not be wrong after all or that Mum and Dad ARE CORRUPTING YOU [and how to get help immediately, to get out of a situation]

A sixteen year old Heroin Adict, once told me,

'At the age of ten i knew how to prepare Injections of heroin, and how to Administer them into both my Mum'S and Step Dads veins' . Disturbing is not the true value of the word or its meaning or message.

You may be glad to know that 16 year old is now 20,...has his own flat... has been free of heroin for 19 months.. and has a part time gardening job[ which is a huge acievement due to not only his addiction but criminal background].

I am a firm believer that the ADULTS OF THIS WORLD should reclaim AUTHORITY. [ That does not mean beating the crap out of someone, that means Education and Education and RULES, whether moral or social but boundaries that we all should not cross]

Until this begins sadly young people will continue to make many wrong choices in life and sadly if not corrected will pass them on to their offspring....

David

WE... AS ADULTS.... HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO CHANGE THE WORLD WE LIVE IN