Ethnic Slurs Everywhere
July 18, 2008
I admit I haven’t been very active blogging lately. I guess I haven’t been in the “mood.” I don’t know. Anyway, I have been following the latest Jesse Jackson controversy and I think enough has really been said about that. However, today I read an article from the Associated Press that talks of an immigrant from Mexico that came to the United States to find a better life. This man, Luis Ramirez, was beaten to death by a mob (some including high school students) and will return to Mexico in a coffin leaving behind fiancee and two children.
According to the article, “despite witness reports that the attackers yelled ethnic slurs, authorities say the beating wasn’t racially motivated.”
When will people stop learning to hate based purely on skin color or ethnicity?
Did the Supreme Court Screw Up Again?
June 26, 2008
I’m sure that many of you read about the supreme court decision to ban the death penalty for those monsters that rape children. The death penalty is one of those issues that causes much debate in the United States. Personally, I’m not sure what I think about sentencing people to death, but I must say that I can’t imagine how raping a child would not qualify for this penalty, if it is a legal option in our country. What do you think?
Child Prostitution Rings
June 26, 2008
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I frequently write about issues relating to our youth. I consider myself a child advocate. The decks are stacked against so many of our young people these days. This is another issue that is appalling. According to an AP article, 345 people were arrested for forcing children into child prostitution. What a disturbing story, but thank God someone is looking out for children.
A Culture of Harassment in the State of Ohio?
June 5, 2008
From the Dispatch:
At least four Franklin County deputies have made working at the Jackson Pike jail intolerable for their subordinates, an internal-affairs investigation has found.
The four men work together on second shift. They are variously accused of hurling insults and office furnishings, sexually harassing female deputies and coercing new recruits into demeaning behavior, offenses that are grounds for suspension or dismissal, the investigators said.
Is this sounding familiar to anyone else? It seems like day after day you open the paper and some governmental entity in Ohio is getting caught harassing its employees.
The second-highest-ranking, Sgt. Matthew Worthington, 35, was suspended with pay last month after he was found to be intimidating subordinates who were cooperating with the investigation against him, which includes charges of sexual harassment.
The other two, Cpl. Charles Davis, 34, and Deputy Mickey Casper, 29, were among those who coerced new recruits into playing leapfrog and acting out the songs I’m a Little Teapot and Ring around the Rosie in the Franklin County jail in front of at least 15 people, including supervisors, civilians and an inmate. Gunn and Worthington also participated, the investigation says.
That is quite a punishment, isn’t it? Suspended with pay = a free vacation.
The Fraternal Order of Police will represent the accused deputies, Jim Gilbert, president of FOP Capital City Lodge No. 9, said.
Very disappointing with regards to the Fraternal Order of Police. Why must we always protect our own?
It’s time for the citizens of the state of Ohio to get sufficiently angry with these groups of people and demand that they clean house. Sexual harassment is a very serious offense, no matter what some men might tell you.
From the Disturbing File: Delaware, Ohio Man Found Guilty of Child-Rape
June 4, 2008
Let me begin by saying I am not one of the “get them out of here” crowd when it comes to immigration: legal or illegal. But stories like this make me sick.
DELAWARE, Ohio — A Delaware County man accused of raping a young girl in 2006 is mentally incompetent to stand trial and must continue mental-health treatment for up to 10 years, a judge ruled yesterday.A new evaluation of Gustave Kamba’s condition, along with testimony from his victim and other evidence, convinced Common Pleas Judge Everett H. Krueger that the 38-year-old is mentally ill.
Kamba, a refugee and artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was charged in August 2006 with four felony counts of rape. Prosecutors said he impregnated his victim, who was believed to be younger than 13 years old at the time.
Krueger deemed Kamba ready for trial in November, but ordered him to undergo an additional psychological examination to determine his state of mind at the time of the alleged crimes.
Krueger determined yesterday that Kamba forced the girl to have sex with him. He found the state’s evidence “clear and convincing” and ordered that Kamba undergo treatment at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus for up to 10 years.
The court will maintain jurisdiction over Kamba during that time.
Kamba’s victim testified yesterday that he threatened her not to tell anyone about the abuse.
No one knew until August 2006, when the girl went to the hospital because she had missed her menstrual period and was experiencing stomach pains and vomiting. That day, she divulged the abuse to a social worker, nurse and doctor.
The girl’s baby was never born, but DNA evidence taken from the fetus matched Kamba’s DNA, Assistant Prosecutor Kyle Rohrer said.
“It was extremely difficult to do what she did,” Rohrer said of the girl’s testimony.
If Kamba’s mental health changes in the future, prosecutors could pursue the case again in court, Rohrer said.
Kamba’s attorney, Ross Long, declined comment on the case.
Once this guy is released he should be sent back to the Congo for good. We can’t allow anyone to prey on our children.
Can Having a C-Section Make You Dangerous To Insure?
June 1, 2008
The Columbus Dispatch has an article in today’s paper about a woman that was denied insurance by Golden Rule Insurance Company because she had given birth through a C-Section.
She was turned down because she had given birth by Caesarean section. Having the operation once increases the odds that it will be performed again, and if she became pregnant and needed another Caesarean, Golden Rule did not want to pay for it. A letter from the company explained that if she had been sterilized after the Caesarean, or if she were older than 40 and had given birth two or more years before applying, she might have qualified for coverage.
Robertson had been shopping for a better rate on individual health insurance. After being rejected by Golden Rule, she kept her existing coverage.
This is simply unbelievable. What would these insurance companies prefer, killing the baby or mother? In my mind, this is more reason for the government to get involved in health care.
Ohio State University Making An Effort To Help Abandoned Pets
May 31, 2008
It really makes me angry to think of people that are cruel enough to abandon animals to the streets to fend for themselves, or to be killed by cars or other animals. For disclosure purposes I must tell you that my wife and I are huge animal lovers and have recently rescued a kitten that was abandoned that we found on a busy street in the middle of the night and was very underfed.
Even though I spent 6 years at Ohio University, I never knew that college kids leaving for the summer was a major source of animal abondonment and abuse. I’m not sure if I simply hadn’t given it much thought or because I didn’t know anyone that had done this horrible act.
I congratulate the Ohio State University for being proactive to deal with this problem. According to the Dispatch, the university created a new program to provide temporary shelter for these animals until permanent homes can be found.
College students looking to leave their pets behind as they leave Columbus for summer break will have an alternative this year.
A group of Ohio State University students has teamed with the Capital Area Humane Society to provide homes for unwanted pets.
Too often, students leave pets behind in empty houses or apartments, or they release them into the streets, said Jodi Buckman, executive director of the humane society. She said the shelter receives more calls about abandoned animals in campus-area neighborhoods at the start of summer break each year.
Yesterday was the last day of classes for the spring quarter.
“We really want to help students do the right thing for their pets,” said Ohio State sophomore Pamela Bollinger, one of the team leaders for the Safe Summer program. “We want them to realize that there are options.”
Veterinary students in the OSU Shelter Medicine Club are promoting the program through a mass e-mail to all students, as well as on fliers and a Web site.
The humane society will house and care for animals at its shelter until a family can be found to adopt them.
“We are essentially the destination shelter,” Buckman said.
The humane society’s shelter has no limit on the number of animals it can take at one time, Buckman said.
When students contact program members, they will discuss options for their pets, Bollinger said.
She said her group is willing to help students with any type of pet: “We are not going to be judgmental.”
The students will work with the College of Veterinary Medicine to transport the pets to the animal shelter, Bollinger said.
Any students interested in working with the Safe Summer program to find a home for their pets can e-mail the group at safesummer@ osu.edu.
Congratulations to Ohio State for this wonderful act of kindness.
Help For Myanmar
May 19, 2008
A Time Magazine correspondent describes the situation in Myanmar as desperate. According to this reporter, the monks are helping the victims of the devastating cyclone, but more help is urgently needed. Local residents of Burma are working to try to ease some of the misery of its people. But according to a local relief agency:
The junta doesn’t want foreigners distributing aid in the delta, but neither does it feel comfortable with Burmese distributing it. “The government is scared that relief workers will get involved in politics,” says a co-founder of one Burmese relief group.
Since many of the survivors live near water, Burmese people are unable to reach these people because they do not have the necessary equipment.
Burma desperately needs more boats and helicopters from abroad. Not even the nation’s richest private donors - who include junta cronies like tycoon Tay Za, who was put on a U.S. sanctions list last year - have the means or expertise to meet even a fraction of the needs in far-flung delta areas.
Please consider making a donation to the American Red Cross.
Response to Natural Disasters
May 19, 2008
I’ve been watching the coverage of the horrible disasters that took place recently in Myanmar (Burma) and China. It is heartbreaking to say the least to see all of those people suffering. Many of those that were lucky enough to survive the initial destruction have now lost new battles to starvation, disease, and lack of shelter.
All of this happens as the governments sit by and do very little. I have been quick to judge the governments of these two countries, but now I am seeing a lot of connections to the response of the U.S. after hurricane Katrina.
Pictures of the devastation flooded the world-wide media and it is very probable that people throughout the world thought the same of us…why aren’t they helping their people?
In all of these situations the response seems to have been too little too late. I pray that the citizens of Myanmar and China do not have to wait years to complete rebuilding as our own fellow citizens of Alabama and Louisiana continue to wait.
Child Sex Abuse Awareness Working in Lancaster, Ohio
May 17, 2008
It is often said that one can rarely read a newspaper or watch the news today without being constantly bombared with all that is wrong in the world. I admit that I have been guilty of saying that. This post is to congratulate the Child Advocacy Center of Fairfield County located in Lancaster, Ohio. I read the article in the Columbus Dispatch that details the success of a new program provided by the Child Advocacy Center to students in Fairfield County.
According to the article, two days after a presentation at Cedar Heights Elementary School in Lancaster, a 9 year-old indicated that she had been sexually abused. After investigation, a sex offender (pedophile) neighbor confessed to having molested this poor child.
I know that it angers many of us that pedophiles are released into our communities after far too short jail sentences where they are able to prey on the most innocent among us, our children.
This story highlights the importance of open dialogue with children on issues such as abuse of any form to help protect them from these monsters.
The Child Advocacy Center of Fairfield County spreads their message:
The parts of your body covered by a bathing suit are private, and if someone tries to touch those parts, you should say no, then go and tell a trusted adult.
Now that is a message that all parents should be teaching their children and that should be prevelant in our school systems.
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