Sorry, folks. I'm running low on patience....
Mother, Advocates to Birmingham, Ala., Police: Stop Using Pepper Spray on Our Children.
.A mother whose daughters were hit with pepper spray by a police officer at their school in Birmingham, Ala., joined the SPLC and a coalition of advocacy groups today to present the city council and Mayor William Bell with a petition signed by more than 25,000 people urging them to stop allowing police officers to discipline students with chemical weapons.
The SPLC sued the police department in December 2010 after finding that almost 200 Birmingham students had been sprayed with chemical weapons during a five-year period – mostly for petty offenses that schools typically address with a trip to the principal’s office. The lawsuit, which is ongoing, detailed how pepper spray is used against children who are completely restrained and pose no threat to themselves or others in school.
LaTonya Stearnes, the mother of three Birmingham school children, recounted an incident at Huffman High School that occurred after a boy pushed one of her daughters. When the girl defended herself, a police officer grabbed her from behind and sprayed her in her face. When another daughter ran to help her sister, she was caught in the mist of chemicals.
“I will never forget my daughter’s red and swollen face,” Stearnes said. “I sent my girls to school thinking they would be safe and protected. I never thought they would be –pepper-sprayed. These are teenage girls, not criminals.”
The SPLC is unaware of any other school district in the nation where police officers use chemical weapons against students on such a frequent basis.
“Chemical weapons are intended to be a last resort for public protection, not a method for disciplining high school students engaging in typical adolescent misbehavior,” said Ebony Howard, lead attorney on the case for the SPLC. “Using pepper spray on schoolchildren only encourages drop-out and derails young lives. We sincerely hope the mayor and city council will join our fight to protect the city’s children.”
SPLC attorney Ebony Howard and parent LaTonya Stearnes display the petition urging the Birmingham City Council to stop allowing police officers to discipline students with chemical weapons.
The coalition, which includes Change.org., the Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Birmingham chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, want city officials to institute an improved selection process for officers stationed in schools and specialized training that will help them address school incidents safely and effectively.
Individuals exposed to pepper spray are at risk for serious health effects ranging from temporary loss of vision or blurred vision to blistering of the eyes and skin. They can also experience life-threatening effects such as inflammation and swelling of the throat that restrict the size of the airway and limit the amount of oxygen entering the lungs. This is especially concerning in a school district that is 96 percent African-American and is located in a community where children have a five times higher death rate due to asthma-related complications.
ok, see we in America have become far too polite and patient. How about this: Police; if you spray my child with pepper spray for no appropriate reason, I will break both of your legs. Now, that would be considered an assault, right? But, why is spraying a minor with pepper spray not?
I've been hit with pepper spray. Believe it or not, I was actually doing nothing wrong. I was stopped at a red light and someone who was not appreciative of my driving pulled up next to me and sprayed me through my window. I panicked, threw my glass bottle of coca cola (yes, it was that long ago) at the assaulting spray as I heard myself and my passengers screaming in pain and fear. I was 16 - and the oldest in the car. My foot came off the clutch but thankfully the car stalled as I hadn't shifted down yet. I was blinded for a full 15 minutes and couldn't see to drive for another half hour after that. My passengers, one of whom was my friend's younger brother only 12 years old, all experienced lesser degrees of it all, where I got hit right in the face.
When I got home and told my parents what had happened I got a big "yeah, right". In hindsight, I wish I knew now what I knew then. The man who sprayed me was caught via his license plate and given a misdemeanor fine.
So, think spraying someone in the face with pepper spray is funny? Try it. Bah... I'm ranting. sorry.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
some thoughts
Good Morning.
I read this article on Milkboys today, and I'd like to share it with you, and my thoughts, and ask yours in return.
Transgender Sterilization Finally Dying
There is no good reason why our passports & IDs should hold any information about our genitals. Gender is a fluid concept and for many it doesn’t have anything to do with having a penis or a vagina, not to mention the fact that some people have both or neither. Alas we live in a world where only two genders are recognised and bureaucracy insists on aligning your gender to your genitals.
This may work for some people but it obviously is problematic for others. In many European countries and U.S. states transgender people, for example, have to undergo sterilization surgery if they want to legally change their gender. Forcing someone to undergo surgery, which always comes with risks, just because they want their ID to reflects their actual gender is just barbaric.
Transgender Rights Protest in Sweden
Sweden was trying to end this practise, that doesn’t really go well with their reputation of being the paragon for gender equality & queer rights, for some time now. But while the oppositional parties (Left, Green & Social Democrats) and the major ruling parties (Moderates, Liberals & Centre Party) agreed on ending transgender sterilization, a very small, hardly relevant party (being at only 3% in the polls) of the ruling coalition, was holding back the indented change.
Luckily, after a nation-wide outcry over their position the leaders of said party, the Christian Democrats, came to their senses. Last week they published a statement in Sweden’s biggest newspaper saying:
We believe that even if there is an argument against allowing people who undergo gender reassignment surgery to become parents in their original sex, these reasons are not enough to justify the continued demand for sterilization. Therefore it is our view that the demand for sterilization on change of sex should be dropped.
Many transsexuals face hatred and fear which goes against the principle that all people are of equal value – the guiding principle for our traditional Christian beliefs, and therefore for the Christian Democrats.
This article raised some questions for me, and will come with a few admissions. First and foremost, I must admit to being uncomfortable about transexuals. And, in all respect, I would imagine they are the more uncomfortable at times. But, please understand that my lack of comfort is my problem, not theirs. It is because I have a tendency to like things in nice neat understandable packages, and these are folks who are not so easily packaged and labeled for me. Nonetheless, again, this is due to my own issues.
When we ask a person for identifiable information, we take a fair amount on faith. It would take a genetic scan worthy of Star Trek to determine if my ancestry is other than the French/German I believe it to be. And, in the end, few really care. Well, since their has been such a deal of intermingling, it likely is moot. And though this isn't the best example, perhaps, it is one relevant. When we ask someone if they are male or female, again we take a fair bit on faith. I have yet to see someone strip search another in order to determine if the prefix of Sir or Madam should be used. So, what makes one male, and what makes one female?
In terms of Chromosomes, it's incredibly near thing. The reports are that we are all female for a time being in the gestation cycle. So, biologically, it can be assumed that one is male if a penis swings, and female if it doesn't. But, that's not so fool proof, is it? Certain differences in birth can allow one to have both, or none. So, really gender, as opposed to sex?, can only really be determined by the way one sees oneself. And, in a fair culture, that does tend to be fluid - as the article states.
One of the things I truly love about the Naturist or FKK culture is that they are far less concerned with label on the locker room door than many. I recall at work, being busy and tired, a bit distracted, I walked into the wrong bathroom to wash my hands. At the time, I recall thinking "wow, it sure is clean in here. When did the boss repaint?" only to have the proverbial light begin to blink. Good news, no one was in there and no one saw me leave with a very red face. And, odd that it is, the toilets are divided and doored, so in any event I would have seen nothing in the "worse case". So, why should it matter? Why do we get so caught up in this? Even little children soon come to realize that girl parts and boy parts are different. Who cares? Oddly for me, I'd be more apt to stare in an all male environment - but that's off topic...
So, back to point; people are who they are. Outside of some very few examples, we are who we say we are. And even when forced to provide documentation, it is typically only stating that we are who we said we were previously as well. Even a birth certificate only says who someone else said we were. It isn't an identity, it's a tag.
So, as I come wandering back to a point, discomfort with less than tidy packages does not allow me - or anyone else - to dictate to another how that person should identify them self. Do we say to a person of African heritage that because I am more comfortable with those of "European" ancestry markings, that he is not worthy? Is it acceptable to tell a person of Indian characteristics that it is not ok to be them? Of course not. And yet we have no problem stigmatizing some for other "characteristics", or I guess what I'd prefer to say is "identifiers" if one were to decide labels are mandatory.
No, we are so wrapped up in being nice and comfortable with sorting people into our little ordered world, so focused on stereotyping and labeling, that we simply don't care about the person. Who they are in their hearts is not relevant to us, only how we can fit them into our comfortable labels. And that, my friends, shows just how small we can be.
I read this article on Milkboys today, and I'd like to share it with you, and my thoughts, and ask yours in return.
Transgender Sterilization Finally Dying
There is no good reason why our passports & IDs should hold any information about our genitals. Gender is a fluid concept and for many it doesn’t have anything to do with having a penis or a vagina, not to mention the fact that some people have both or neither. Alas we live in a world where only two genders are recognised and bureaucracy insists on aligning your gender to your genitals.
This may work for some people but it obviously is problematic for others. In many European countries and U.S. states transgender people, for example, have to undergo sterilization surgery if they want to legally change their gender. Forcing someone to undergo surgery, which always comes with risks, just because they want their ID to reflects their actual gender is just barbaric.
Transgender Rights Protest in Sweden
Sweden was trying to end this practise, that doesn’t really go well with their reputation of being the paragon for gender equality & queer rights, for some time now. But while the oppositional parties (Left, Green & Social Democrats) and the major ruling parties (Moderates, Liberals & Centre Party) agreed on ending transgender sterilization, a very small, hardly relevant party (being at only 3% in the polls) of the ruling coalition, was holding back the indented change.
Luckily, after a nation-wide outcry over their position the leaders of said party, the Christian Democrats, came to their senses. Last week they published a statement in Sweden’s biggest newspaper saying:
We believe that even if there is an argument against allowing people who undergo gender reassignment surgery to become parents in their original sex, these reasons are not enough to justify the continued demand for sterilization. Therefore it is our view that the demand for sterilization on change of sex should be dropped.
Many transsexuals face hatred and fear which goes against the principle that all people are of equal value – the guiding principle for our traditional Christian beliefs, and therefore for the Christian Democrats.
This article raised some questions for me, and will come with a few admissions. First and foremost, I must admit to being uncomfortable about transexuals. And, in all respect, I would imagine they are the more uncomfortable at times. But, please understand that my lack of comfort is my problem, not theirs. It is because I have a tendency to like things in nice neat understandable packages, and these are folks who are not so easily packaged and labeled for me. Nonetheless, again, this is due to my own issues.
When we ask a person for identifiable information, we take a fair amount on faith. It would take a genetic scan worthy of Star Trek to determine if my ancestry is other than the French/German I believe it to be. And, in the end, few really care. Well, since their has been such a deal of intermingling, it likely is moot. And though this isn't the best example, perhaps, it is one relevant. When we ask someone if they are male or female, again we take a fair bit on faith. I have yet to see someone strip search another in order to determine if the prefix of Sir or Madam should be used. So, what makes one male, and what makes one female?
In terms of Chromosomes, it's incredibly near thing. The reports are that we are all female for a time being in the gestation cycle. So, biologically, it can be assumed that one is male if a penis swings, and female if it doesn't. But, that's not so fool proof, is it? Certain differences in birth can allow one to have both, or none. So, really gender, as opposed to sex?, can only really be determined by the way one sees oneself. And, in a fair culture, that does tend to be fluid - as the article states.
One of the things I truly love about the Naturist or FKK culture is that they are far less concerned with label on the locker room door than many. I recall at work, being busy and tired, a bit distracted, I walked into the wrong bathroom to wash my hands. At the time, I recall thinking "wow, it sure is clean in here. When did the boss repaint?" only to have the proverbial light begin to blink. Good news, no one was in there and no one saw me leave with a very red face. And, odd that it is, the toilets are divided and doored, so in any event I would have seen nothing in the "worse case". So, why should it matter? Why do we get so caught up in this? Even little children soon come to realize that girl parts and boy parts are different. Who cares? Oddly for me, I'd be more apt to stare in an all male environment - but that's off topic...
So, back to point; people are who they are. Outside of some very few examples, we are who we say we are. And even when forced to provide documentation, it is typically only stating that we are who we said we were previously as well. Even a birth certificate only says who someone else said we were. It isn't an identity, it's a tag.
So, as I come wandering back to a point, discomfort with less than tidy packages does not allow me - or anyone else - to dictate to another how that person should identify them self. Do we say to a person of African heritage that because I am more comfortable with those of "European" ancestry markings, that he is not worthy? Is it acceptable to tell a person of Indian characteristics that it is not ok to be them? Of course not. And yet we have no problem stigmatizing some for other "characteristics", or I guess what I'd prefer to say is "identifiers" if one were to decide labels are mandatory.
No, we are so wrapped up in being nice and comfortable with sorting people into our little ordered world, so focused on stereotyping and labeling, that we simply don't care about the person. Who they are in their hearts is not relevant to us, only how we can fit them into our comfortable labels. And that, my friends, shows just how small we can be.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
I found this incredible..
Incredible. Intriguing. Mysterious. Sensuous. Athletic. These are words I found running descriptive to this performance. I was truly enjoying the show, and would love to have been there. The mystic music, coupled with the rythmic dance, seemed to make the performance a rapture. I was enthralled by the obvious talent, the sinuous movement, and the strenght required. Great performance, please watch. It was titled: Circonvolution improbable.
A three minute vacation...
Hi Friends;
I couldn't post this here. But, please click on this link and relax... LINK ... I think it will be a nice few minutes for you. It was for me.
I couldn't post this here. But, please click on this link and relax... LINK ... I think it will be a nice few minutes for you. It was for me.
"Don't say Gay"
Hello Friends;
There is now a bill before the Tennesee congress which would instruct the public schools to not say anything about "gay" issues, at all, before high school. Really? Well, who needs reality.
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/dont-say-gay-bill-approved-by-tennessee-house-panel.html
There is now a bill before the Tennesee congress which would instruct the public schools to not say anything about "gay" issues, at all, before high school. Really? Well, who needs reality.
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/dont-say-gay-bill-approved-by-tennessee-house-panel.html
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