Destroying Gender Stereotypes Among Child Abuse Offenders

As a male who has worked with youth most of my adult life, I am well aware of the fact that as a man, I am monitored much more strongly when I work with students than my female counter parts are. I have to take extra caution to make sure I am never put in a questionable situation. Much of this is based on the paranoia society feels over the threat of sexual abuse among children--and some of it is warranted but most of it is not. The media does not help this paranoia with the amount of crime shows like CSI and Law and Order which often depict extreme abuse cases which more than likely are caused by men.

However, this paranoia directed at men who work with youth is unfair. The statistical research in the area of child abuse tells a more accurate story. The fact is, if the only thing you are worried about is sexual abuse, then it is true that as a group men are more likely to commit those kinds of crimes. However, in every other form of child abuse--physical, emotional, & neglect--it is more likely as a group that women will be found guilty. 

Here is an excerpt from the F.A.C.T. website on child abuse: 

In reality, violence against children is perpetrated by both men and women. We can see from the US that the actual incidence of violence, with the exception of sexual abuse, is higher from women and mothers than from men and fathers. In addition, moderate or severe injury is more often the result of abuse from women than from men. The death of children from violence is largely a crime of women. 

So, in reality, the unfair stereotype against men working with children needs to be challenged. Once again, if the only thing we care about is whether or not our children are being sexually abused--then by all means continue to be bias toward men working with students. However, I believe all forms of abuse are serious and a threat to the health of our children. For that reason, we need to change our stereotypes and hold men AND WOMEN to the same safety standards. We need to be just as careful and cautious about the women who are working with our students as we are the men.

Once again as someone who has worked in schools, churches, camps, & daycares for most of my adult life--I have found that as a whole, women are more likely to yell, shout, scream, and demonstrate anger with their students than men. I do not say this as a way to point fingers or to flip the blame--I say it only to make my point. It is unfair to stereotype men who work with youth and to monitor them any more closely than you would a woman.

In any case, my final conclusion is this: I believe we need to make every effort to protect the physical and emotional safety of our children and so we need do need to hold those of us who work with children accountable and to put procedures in place that protect children--BUT that accountability needs to be EQUALLY applied to men and women and those procedures need to be enforced equally among men and women. A person who works with children should be singled out solely on the basis of his or her gender. 

Obamacare, Hobby Lobby, and the truth about the abortion issue.

Recently the evangelical, conservative extremists have attempted another bombardment of attacks against Obamacare--arguing that it is trying to use government funds to financially support abortion. The issue has become even bigger as Hobby Lobby has launched a national campaign against the bill and refuses to participate in it.This, of course, is an exaggerated and way blown out of proportion understanding of the new healthcare bill.

First of all, no where in the actual health care bill is government funding in anyway designated for the express purpose of abortion--except in the cases of rape and incest (which is not anything new).  

What has to be understood is that the new plan is a balance of government based healthcare plans and privatized healthcare. On the government side, money CANNOT be used to fund abortions (this is protected under the Hyde Amendment). However, there are private insurance companies (NOT part of the government) which may offer what are called "exchanges" in coverage in order to attract customers. One of these "exchanges" is the possibility for abortion coverage. 

BUT...the new health care bill also requires that every state must have AT LEAST ONE privatized plan that does not include abortion coverage and many states have already banned abortion coverage from any offered plans.

What does this mean? It means that the new healthcare bill is not going to use your tax dollars to pay for abortion. It means that every American is guaranteed the OPTION of having a plan which does not cover abortion. It means Hobby Lobby is making itself out to be a good, Godly martyr for no reason at all. 

OBAMA VS. ROMNEY: The Facts

As we move closer to the election date, we as Americans have a choice. We can make our decisions based on the exaggerations of the media OR we can actually look at what each candidate's ideas are and make an educated decision on our own. Again, here are the unbiased facts of what each candidate proposes in summary:

The Issue:	Obama’s Plan/Position:	Romney’s Plan/Position:
Healthcare	Calls for patient protections like allowing coverage for pre-existing conditions, not letting insurers cancel policies when patients get sick, and requiring individuals to buyhealth insurance or pay a fine.	Though he created similar legislation in Massachusetts, promises to repeal Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul. Would encourage individuals to purchase their own health insurance rather than rely on their employers.
Immigration	Wants to make the process to becoming a legal citizen more practical, he wants to toughen penalties for employers who hire illegal workers, and he supports the idea of building a fence along the Mexican border.	Wants to make English the official language of the US, he wants to ban financial assistance for foreign students, and he wants to create legislation to stop foreign citizens from bringing over their families.
Economics	He wants to give tax cuts to American industries to discourage outsourcing jobs, in the short term he wants to continue tax cuts for middle and working class Americans to boost economic spending, and in the long term he wants to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans to help reduce the deficit.	Wants to bring back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, he wants to cut taxes on corporations, plans to cut government spending by 5%, wants to give tax cuts for Americans who buy private health insurance.
Foreign Policy	IRAQ: He plans to continue pulling US forces out of Iraq and placing military strategy specifically on Al-Qaeda and not innocent Muslims, IRAN: Plans to tighten economic sanctions against Iran, wants to seek international cooperation against Iran, and finally he is willing to use military force if necessary In general, Obama is cautious about the use of warfare—but he believes the president should have the right to use military force without congressional approval ONLY IF he has approval from the United Nations.	IRAQ: He wants to return US troops back into Iraq. IRAN: He has no specific plan for Iraq except to say that he would use military force. In general, Romney tends to support the open and direct use of military force. He believes the president should be free to use it without anyone’s approval if he feels it is in the best interest of the country.
Ethics	Obama is a Christian protestant. He is a member of the United Church of Christ. On abortion, he is prochoice in most cases, however, he is AGAINST partial birth abortion. On gay rights, he supports gay marriage and the removal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He is an evolutionist	Romney is Mormon. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. On abortion, he has bounced back and forth throughout his political career, but since running for president has stated he is prolife. On gay rights, he does not support gay marriage, but he does support civil unions and he supports Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He is an evolutionist

OBAMA--ANALYZING THE FIRST FOUR YEARS

As is always the case during election years, Obama's job as president has come under serious attack dramatically recently. I have heard every attack from him being unequipped to be president to accusations about over abundant spending and of course placing the blame on him for our current economic situation.

The fact is, that such attacks are mostly founded on lies and exaggerations and blaming the president for our current status does not bring us any closer to a solution. A new president is not going to magically make our problems all go away--every new regime has its good and bad.

So...here is a look at the positives of Obama's first four years in office. He are the facts:

JOBS: *Added 4.4 million jobs in the past 28months. *After nearly falling apart, the auto industry has gained 160,000 new jobs, *American manufacturing jobs have seen the largest increase since the 90's, *$70 million dollars in loans have been given to small businesses to help improve the private sector, *160million Americans received major tax cuts and tax relief to help with the rising cost of living and unemployment rates.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: *Launched a campaign against irresponsible government spending including slashing $80billion dollars worth of unnecessary government contracts (under Bush this spending was left to sky rocket out of control), *Pushed the government to sell unnecessary government real estate and to shut down duplicate data centers--this has saved the American people $3 billion dollars, *Restricted government agencies to use common sense spending and to buy in bulk which has saved the American people an additional $200 million dollars.

FIGHTING FOR EVERYDAY AMERICANS: *Obama pushed for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect Americans against the most corrupt actions of the credit industry, *He signed into law the American Opportunity Tax Credit which gave families with college students an even larger tax break to offset the expenses of increased tuition rates, *Obama pushed for and was able to get over $160 million dollars in tax cuts for the working and middle class populations, *Obama encouraged congress to pour $4.5 billion dollars into saving many of the most at risk school systems from losing education jobs. 

HEALTHCARE REFORM: *Under the new healthcare plan, children can no longer be refused coverage, *College students are now able to stay on their parents' health insurance plan until the age of 26--again reducing the expenses for college students, *Helped push for the Patient's Bill of Rights which now protects everyday Americans against much of the corruption of the major insurance companies, *Removed coverage limits for those with diseased like cancer, AIDS, and other terminal diseases, *Obama pushed for insurance companies to restructure their spending putting more dollars toward actual health coverage and less on advertising and corporate spending, *He helped small business receive tax credits to lower the overhead cost of helping employees get coverage, *Launched a Preexisting Conditions Healthcare Plan which helps Americans who could not receive coverage for preexisting conditions get it at an affordable rate, *He helped restructure medicare so that the budget and funds for it will be there through the year 2029.

IMMIGRATION: *Increased manpower and resources to our borders to help make those borders more secure, *Restructured the way immigration enforcement is done to make it smoother and more effective, *Pushed to reform the process to become an American citizen in order to help lead us in a direction of a less complicated process for those who are genuinely willing to become Americans. 

FOREIGN POLICY: *Ended the war in Iraq where the warfare was no longer needed, *Refocused military strategy on fighting specifically Al-Qaeda and not innocent Muslims, *He directed the operation to find and destroy Osama Bin Laden and implemented it successfully, *Restored broken foreign relations with Russia, Colombia, Korea, and NATO countries, *Has worked to push for peace between Palestine and the Jewish people in Israel to help both maintain their own states, *Has helped push for an independent Southern Sudan  who have been in conflict for nearly a decade now (most of these victims are Christians).

Every president has short comings and every administration has problems, but if we're not careful we can let those problems blind us to the good that a president has done. America still has long way to go to recover from this last decade, but we are better off because of Obama's decisions and I believe that should be taken into great consideration as we prepare for elections in November. 

The Problems with Capitalism

Introduction:
We have been socialized as a people to accept the rules of capitalism and have been led to believe it is the only economic system that can actually function successfully. This, however, is simply not true. Capitalism has several major flaws that I wish to point out:

1) Capitalism supports inequality.
In a capitalist system, the overall goal is to yield the greatest amount of profit. To do this, a corporation seeks out the cheapest most efficient way to produce goods and services. This done with litte regard for the environment or the well being of humanity. Because of this, a divide is created globally between those who hold power and investment in corporations and those who exist outside this world...the laborers involved with manufacturing and production. So...those who control the means of prodcution gain more wealth, while the rest lose wealth as corporations seek out cheaper resources and labor.

Examples of this can be seen in many modern countries. In the United States, the socioeconomic gap is actually getting worse...and is losing the middle class. In China, although financially the country is increasing in status and wealth...it, too, is facing its largest socioeconomic gap in its entire history.

In laymens terms...for one nation to succeed at capitalism...another must lose.

2.) Overaccumulation of Capital
Yielding capital (or profit) is the ultimate goal of the capitalist system. However, that profit must be reinvested in order to keep the cycle of capitalist prosperity going. To reinvest capital, corporations seek out new markets and new areas in which to invest. The problem lies in the fact that capitalism has grown out of control and as the world becomes more globalized there are less places in which to expand the market. So...what is happening is that profits are being yielded faster than they can be reinvested. It's like a farmer trying to harvest a 1,000 crops, but only replanting a few hundred. This creates instability in the market and can lead to corporations making even riskier investments.

3.) Political power of corporations
Many multinational corporations have grown so large and control so much wealth, that they actually have as much purchasing power and global influence as a nation-state. However, they are not regulated the way states are. Corporations use this power and influence to control congressional decision makers and to push for their own vested interest. So instead of the government being used a means to protect and support the people, it is being used as a tool to build up corporate power.

4.) Environmental Degradation
Manufacturing and production require raw materials (natural resources). However, these raw materials are interconnected with an abundance of wildlife and ecosystems. When they are consumed at such high levels at a such fast rates as modern production, the environment does not have adequate time to replenish the loss. As a result, ecosystems breakdown, including ecosystems which are of vital importance to the human species.

In addition, many corporations use chemicals in the production process, whether it be chemicals used in farm/animal products or chemicals used in manufacturing products like plastics. These chemicals are not thoroughly regulated and can have harmful affects on both the environment and the local peoples around them.

5.) Lack of open, free markets
Capitalism prides itself on the idea of a free market. The idea that by having multiple companies and manufacturers involved with production, the "market forces" will guide prices and production on their own. However, modern capitalism consists of the domination of industry by only a select few major corporations. These corporations use their wealth and power to block smaller competition from ever getting a fair chance in the "free" market. Meaning that competition is eliminated and the domination of the many by the few comes into play.

The Solution:
The power to address the problems of capitalism lies within society itself and starts with you, the individual.

First, when you purchase products at the store...you become the consumer. You are the last link on the commodity chain. If you refuse to buy a product, that is going to affect the profits of a corporation. If a whole group stands up and does the same thing...the corporation will have no choice but to change its policies.

So...do your research. Go online and research environmentally friendly companies and look for companies that have good humanitarian records. Boycott products/companies that bring about inequality and environmental instability.

For example, most chocolate production is accomplished through the use of child slaves (not child labor--child slavery--as in they don't have a choice). Boycotting chocolate would send a HUGE message to those companies and let them know if you want us to buy your product you will have to end the child slavery used to produce chocolate.

Consumer pressure is the BEST way to bring about REAL change...so do the research...get involced...stand up for your fellow human beings and the future of your environment.