Stabbing of Children in China

Today I was left in awe after reading of the stabbings of 4-year-old children in China. The kicker: this isn't the first incident, in fact it is the third in the past few months, with children all under the age of 11.
The people responsible had all been laid off or unemployed in addition to having severe mental illnesses.
However, in China treatment for mental illnesses are not widely used, if at all, and in a study published it was "estimated that 98 percent of the 173 million Chinese adults believed to suffer mental problems never received professional help". That is truly a staggering number and it is clear that this issue needs to be addressed for it seems the country is in total free fall to allow someone to get as bad as this.
One thing I hope is that China's solution isn't some ridiculous communist based plan in which people are mistreated or brought in the way of additional harm because they don't know how to handle these people otherwise.
We are still trying to figure out the many angles of every disease in this country, so for a country that does not look to others for help or an idea of how to do things in addition to not knowing much of anything concerning mental illness, this could be disastrous all around. However, something must be done and I'm willing to give them a chance to discover an effective solution.

Another Death on Amity Island

The mood on the beach this morning was relaxed, with no mention of Wendy Watson's death or the suspicious circumstances surrounding it.
Children were laughing, playing catch in the water, and sun bathers smiled as their skin began to bronze, leaving behind any trace of the winter blues.
Looking out amidst the splashing and playful screams came a not so playful gut-wrenching cry for help as what appeared to be a geyser of blood shot in the air and 10-year-old Alex Kintner's raft flipped over with Kintner no where in sight.
Panic erupted as parents rushed in to retrieve their children and leaving Marion Kintner empty handed as she called over and over again for her young son.
Soon after, the damaged raft washed ashore with evident bite marks, leaving investigators to put a possible shark attack on the list for an explanation to both the Kintner boy and Wendy Watson's death.
Watson's body is still being examined but due to the location of that incident and the condition her body was found it appears that it may be a likely explanation.
"Anything is possible, " said Chief Martin Brody, "and any time there are two deaths within close proximity of each other we do not rule out that they could be related incidents."
Despite the possible threat of a shark roaming the waters the Amity officials are urging both press and community members alike to not panic and remind people that nothing is official as of now.
Mayor Bob Farley is holding an emergency meeting tonight along with Chief Brody and the Board of Selectmen at 6 p.m. this evening in the Town Hall. The mayor and chief will announce their plan surrounding the closing of beaches as well as a reward of $3,000 put out by Marion Kintner for whoever catches the "perpetrators" involved in her son's death.

Alleged Shark Attack on Amity Island- Girl Found Dead

Police are investigating the tragic death of Wendy Watson, a 17-year-old who went swimming last night and was allegedly attacked by a shark.

She was attending a beach party when she was seen leaving with another teen,whose identity is not yet being released, and they decided to go for a swim. In a deserted part of South Beach, Wendy Watson went in the water while the other teen had passed out due to drinking earlier.

Both teenagers had been drinking heavily throughout the evening according to police records.

The other teen awoke to find Wendy Watson no where in sight and after searching the area called the police at 4 a.m. Upon a more thorough search of South Beach by the authorities Watson's disfigured body was found as if it had been washed ashore according to records released.

The Deputy was seen carrying signs and was overheard telling Mayor there had been a shark attack and that the beaches would have to be closed.

Police Chief Martin Brody neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a claim and skirted the issue upon questioning.

" I didn't hear him say that" said Brody." We are very busy with this crisis and we don't have time to deal with rumors."

Currently Wendy Watson's body remains in the coroner's office and the cause of her death remains under investigation.

Meanwhile, no charges have been brought up and the beaches will remain open. Authorities are assuring residents that there is no cause for worry and they are completely safe, both on land in the water here at Amity Island.

Cutting School Budgets

Today's paper had an article about cutting school budgets in NJ (I was born there so it caught my eye) and how students went out into the streets and protested, crowds reaching 200 or more. I think it is really cool that they are doing this and are completely justified in their outrage surrounding this issue.
If budgets are cut then bus routes go away, art classes, music classes and sports teams- all a huge part of high school life, all things that should never be cut and yet they are , and not just in NJ, all over the country.
This can relate back to politicians lining their pockets. Is it fair that they can sit there and do that while this countries youth have to make sacrifices due to their poor budgeting and irresponsible behavior that leads to unnecessary spending? No, it's the farthest thing from fair if you ask me.
Go get 'em kids!

The "No Party" Strikes Again

The Republicans blocked a financial bill going to the floor for debate according to an article in the New York Times today. Surprised? Nope.
Let's think about his shall we? Almost all of these Congressmen and government officials have their pockets lined with Wall Street's "finest" so it's only logical for them to block any type of bill that would tighten the reins on the financial mucky-mucks of the world.
In the past decade the information that has come out about scandal throughout Wall Street is dumbfounding and outright disgusting. Despite the fact that our huge economy crisis can be linked back to each of these greedy individuals sipping $300 bottles of champagne on their yachts, they got bailouts on our dime, whatever dimes we could find that is.
Meanwhile there's this whole other side to the conspiracy with even greedier politicians ensuring their protection for a comfy sum and in other words doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing -protecting and serving the American people-after all it's their job description.
What is even more frustrating from a citizen's perspective is that it seems like they cannot be stopped as they continue to get away with whatever they want, whenever they want and there are no consequences. Michael Moore needs to do another movie on this, we need to band together and get a solid public outcry going, otherwise I'm not so sure we will be heard. If anyone knows of something that can be done, by all means let me know.

AIDs Effort in South Africa

The discussion on AIDS whether it be about treatment opportunities, how the disease works, what causes it, the debates surrounding it or the social stigmas such as only Gay individuals can contract AIDS and for this reason they brought it on themselves (really people?) has always been of interest.

I also have a very personal connection to these discussions as I have watched my uncle suffer for over 15 years and his life today I see as truly a miracle and perhaps has outlived all predictions because of the great amount of love in his life from both his husband (my uncle David) and family, but I suppose that is another topic all together.

It's so horrible to watch someone suffer and to lose their ability to do all the things they loved because their body is shutting down. It's truly debilitating on so many levels.

So when I saw this article about South Africa really stepping up and making strides to make sure every nurse and doctor is not only educated on the subject but can prescribe medications and various treatments, I smiled. It is such a brilliant move, a move that can save hundreds of thousands of people and maybe even give those people some of their lives back.

Why are people so afraid to talk about it? Is it because a lot of the disease remains largely unknown? I'm not really sure, and I am sure there are many reasons for all the anxiety and closed doors, as there are for anything that is not in the human comfort zone, the realm of absolute safety.

I think South Africa is saying no more, it's time to talk, it's time to cure and hopefully other countries will follow suit so people don't have to struggle like my uncle has.

Travel Conditions for Those Getting Out of Europe

In the paper today there was an article on the travel conditions for folks trying to get out of Europe and I thought it had a great angle of people coming together and getting back to what is important-that person to person connection.
People came together to help each other out, after all they were with each other for days, some offering seats on a bus they had while others giving food, water and shelter for very cheap or nothing at all.
It's funny, all you keep hearing from the airlines is this incessant bitching of how much money there were losing while all the people stuck where they were vacationing didn't complain but rather found some solutions. Interesting to look at that contrast I think, don't you corporate America?