Greenday Is Baaacccckkkk!!!

I got my copy of Revolution Radio at Bull Moose and I'm thrilled to hear some new stuff from Greenday ... the band that never ages. They're all just as cute as they were 20 years ago and I still love their sound and their message.

In Case Anyone Noticed ...

I've taken quite a while off from blogging with a lot going on. Sold my house, quit my job, moved away, found a job, quit that one, found another, looking to quit that one, found a house I hate .... waiting for the lease to run out, looking around, thinking, waiting.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Back now. Blogging again ... in case anyone noticed I was gone.

2004 March for Women's Lives Anniversary

Pussy Riot Pays Tribute to Eric Garner

Russian punk rock protest group Pussy Riot has recorded their first song in English and it's a tribute to Eric Garner - the man who told NYPD officers he couldn't breathe 11 times while they had him in a chokehold during an arrest for selling cigarettes. Paramedics then arrived and did nothing to help him as he lay unresponsive on the sidewalk. He died an hour later at the hospital.

"Saving Christmas"

Spending Christmas Day reading reviews of Kirk Cameron's "Saving Christmas" movie is really the best present anyone could ever ask for. Cameron is a religious conservative who thinks homosexuality is detrimental to society and evolution is fiction, so what fun it is to see his movie tank.

I admit to not seeing the movie, but based on the reviews I've read and the clips I have seen it seems to be a creepy-weird scary-vibe religious movie with a subliminal pervy undertone that forces a shudder down the spines of both christians and non-christians. Oh, and one of the main character's names is actually Christian (how fucking cute is that?)

IMDb rated "Saving Christmas" a 1.3 out of 10 (not sure if this is the lowest rating ever) and Rotten Tomatoes rated it 1.9 out of 10. It was the #1 most hated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, but in all fairness, that was after Cameron saw how low his ratings were and encouraged his evangelical friends to go to Rotten Tomatoes and vote it up (which they did to the tune of 94% likeability). This cheating strategy pissed off so many people that his opponents (who Cameron referred to as 'haters and atheists') stormed Rotten Tomatoes and down voted the movie to 36% (which I think seems to be a higher rating than it even deserves).

Anyway, the Lifetime television network is full of frilly, happy, quirky Christmas movies for the holidays that are actually stress-free and entertaining and family-oriented, so, why did Cameron think he could horn in on this happy movie market, anyway? Hmph.

Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays to all you Merry Christmas opponents.) 

Happy Thanksgiving

There's a lot to be said for keeping with tradition, but this year my family and I are making homemade pizza for Thanksgiving dinner. Just pizza, nothing else. Maybe ice cream, too.

Why? Because we want to. People can't help but pause, give us "that look" and then invite us to their house for a traditional dinner ... they do it out of pity or out of some built-in godly, spiritual obligation, whatever. It's commendable that anyone would reach out to us because they think we need help or need some lookin' after. That is what Thanksgiving should be about, after all.

I usually don't wish anyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

I usually just bitch about the slaughter of turkeys or the whole pilgrims fucking over the American Indians.

But, this year I'm just sayin' "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone.

That's all.

Ebola Nurses Love Bike Riding

Let's start with the latest fear monger topic in America: Ebola.

Jesus Christ. This is a bad one. It's a disease caused by a virus that produces hemorrhagic fevers that cause liver damage, kidney dysfunction, and bleeding that is severe enough to cause death 50% of the time. Ok...this is scary stuff. It originated in Africa (of course) and if you want to become an Ebola Virus expert, the CDC website does a nice job of explaining everything about it, because I'm not going to do that here.

An Angel of Mercy aka a Nurse named Kaci was working with Doctors Without Borders, treating Ebola patients in West Africa. When she returned to the United States, she was held against her will at the airport in NJ. She says she was forced into substandard living conditions in a tent for 3 days before being transported to her home in Maine. Her complaint is that she tested negative for Ebola and had no signs or symptoms of the disease, but was automatically quarantined anyway.

Once home in Maine, she continued to be under quarantine (for 21 total days) and had to stay indoors and stay at least 3 feet away from family and friends. But, she got antsy and she wanted - no, not wanted - NEEDED to go for a bike ride with her boyfriend. Yup, she said she just had to have a bike ride in Maine to get some fresh air and sunshine. So, she did.

Big shit fest. Now there are lawsuits, anger on both sides, Doctors Without Borders is complaining ...  the Governor doesn't seem to care ... some Maine residents are not happy ... the ACLU is defending Kaci's rights.

Whatever. Is 21 days really that big of a deal?

Eric Garner

A man (Eric Garner) selling single cigarettes (loosies) in NY was stopped by the police because apparently selling cigarettes singly harms the city (or the state, I don't really know or care) by causing a loss in tax revenue from the state sale of cigarettes (that are ridiculously over priced anyway). So, this serious offense warranted a stop by the police who said Garner - who happens to black, which doesn't matter, but totally does - had been caught doing this before.

So, when the man got upset and resisted being arrested by the 20 something year old cop (who thinks he's changing the world by arresting a guy selling cigarettes on the street) he was put in what appears to be a choke-hold until the man said "I Can't Breathe" approximately 11 times, then fell (or was knocked) to the ground and his hands were cuffed behind his back.

There are multiple internet videos online of this incident, but the most astounding one is about 7 minutes long and shows what happens after Eric Garner is on the ground and cuffed. He is not moving. He is not speaking. His breathing appears to be shallow or absent. He appears to be dying.

He is surrounded by multiple police officers (who I have to assume are trained as First Responders) who just watch him and do nothing to help him. An ambulance is called and no officers do anything with the exception of a few putting their fingers on the side of Garner's neck in an apparent attempt to find a pulse and determine if he was still alive or not.

There was no rescue breathing, no defibrillator called for, no attempt at raising his head or uncuffing his hands (having hands cuffed behind your back interferes with breathing). No attempts at anything ... just standing around, waiting for the ambulance. WTF.

Finally, the ambulance arrives. You can see one paramedic (or EMT) standing and doing nothing. Then, a female paramedic (or EMT) is apparently in charge of treating Garner. It appears that she does not count his respirations, does not take his pulse, does not check his oxygen saturation level, does not administer oxygen, does not attempt to put him on a cardiac monitor, does not take his blood pressure, does not demand that his hands be uncuffed from behind his back, does not offer any rescue breaths.

She puts her fingers on the side of neck, (because she apparently can't tell if he's dead or not) then talks to the unconscious man in a way that tells us she thinks he is playing possum or refusing to talk to her ... "Come on now, we're here to help you." A police officer also urged the dying man to answer the paramedic's questions. WTF.

A bystander asked why no one was starting CPR and a police officer responded to him by saying "because he's breathing." This level of stupidity in a police officer is astounding as anyone trained in CPR knows that agonal breathing requires rescue breaths. WTF.

Eric Garner died at the hospital an hour later. He was a married man with six children, 3 grandchildren, and a whole lotta friends and family who loved him.

Sources: Wikipedia

Maya

Maya Angelou died today. 

A sad day and a great loss, but her passing in no way diminishes the spirit or the wisdom or the strength she shared through her words and her life. She fought for Civil Rights alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. She survived and healed from growing up in the Jim Crow South and once said that writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was therapeutic for her as it was the first time she could let go of the tragedies of her childhood and not be ashamed or afraid to speak of the unthinkable violations she endured because of the color of her skin. It was cathartic, it was healing. It was freeing. 

Her essence didn’t allow negative energy to enter her life. She once said that negative people carry negative energy that gets in your clothes and your furniture and your carpet and your hair. It fills the air that you breathe and she’d have no part of it. The “N” word was not allowed in her home. It’s a word that she said was “vulgar and dangerous to the Black community” and there was no place in her life for it.

Caged Bird was the first book I ever read by Angelou. I still have it and keep it, with its somewhat tattered paperback cover, on my bookshelf. Her words are simultaneously poetic and coarse. There was no way for Maya to pretty up the life she wrote about – her life – the one she endured and was brave enough to share. It’s a poignant, stark, necessary reminder of how sadistic and inhumane people can be and the strength it took for Black America to rise above the injustices, the abuse, the raw hatred that White America heaped (heaps) upon it. 

This book has earned itself a perpetual place on banned book lists as critics claim it is too vulgar, too graphic, too dirty for young adults, for teenagers (or maybe for all white people) to read, but what they really mean is that it’s too disturbing, too sickening, too horrific to read because it is too truthful and too real. It is an undeniable lesson in American history. A lesson that people who keep their heads buried in the sand don’t want any part of. They prefer facts glossed over or forgotten or, at least, minimized. These are the same people who conveniently refer to the systematic imprisonment, dehumanization, abuse, rape and torture of humans for multiple generations as "The American Slave Trade", making slavery a mere business transaction for savvy white men who had enough money to buy and keep humans. Maya wouldn't allow that. She was real. She was honest. She was a survivor. 

Goodbye Maya Angelou. You've taught me a lot.

Stinky Noisy Snowmobiles

A New Hampshire couple is in the news today. This duo has spent 20 years riding noisy, smelly, obtrusive snowmobiles through beautiful landscapes, apparently earning them the bragging rights of claiming to see many moose over the years. The wife carries a handgun and a video camera as proof of the couple's bona fide outdoorsy-ness.

They recently encountered a young moose, as the news stories go, directly on the snowmobile trail. Instead of stopping and giving the wild animal the right of way, they continued to drive their loud, stinky snowmobiles down the trail directly behind the frightened animal as it ran down the trail away from them. When the animal finally stopped and approached them, the husband ran from it and the wife fired her gun into the air. (She said she didn't shoot the moose because she knew the gun would only injure and anger the animal rather than kill it).

The local news channel has a misleading headline that reads, Moose Charges NH couple Snowmobiling in Jackman, suggesting the couple are victims of the moose rather than the other way around. Now the Maine Warden Service is investigating the couple to see if they should be charged with harassing the animal. The couple posted video of them following the moose online for the world to see. Since the investigation started, the husband said that he and his wife, " ... inadvertently rode closer to the moose than they anticipated, but were not chasing it ..." 

Can't adults find something better to do with their time than ride big, noisy machines through the woods ... machines that frighten wild animals who are searching for food and trying to survive? Animals that are forced to burn their energy reserves running from noisy, intrusive humans, rather than finding food and escaping predators? Not to mention how disturbing snowmobiles are to people who choose to quietly, respectfully hike through the woods.

It is a bit amusing to see people who fuck with nature get indignant when nature fucks them back.

2004 March for Women's Lives Anniversary

Fred Phelps Is Dead

Fred Phelps, the infamous founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, is dead. 

Enough said.

Mental Health Patients In Prison

I woke this morning bitching about having to shovel snow today.

That was before I saw the headline about an ex-veteran who was reportedly 'baked to death' in a jail cell in New York. It seems Rikers Island, a prison that quarters over 12,000 inmates, has malfunctioning ventilation and heating systems, so this inmate died of probable heat stroke (probable, of course, because the autopsy was inconclusive).

The man who died was a 56-year-old veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corp. He was homeless and suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

While trying to keep warm, he was arrested for trespassing and had an unattainably high bail set -- one he obviously couldn't pay -- so he went to Rikers Island because, according to our justice system, this homeless, mentally ill, former Marine was a criminal who should be thrown in prison.

Didn't this man deserve medical treatment at a hospital?

Didn't this man deserve to be taken care of?

Didn't this man deserve to be treated fairly and humanely?

Didn't this man who served his country -- the most powerful country in the world -- deserve better?

Rikers Island is one of the top ten worst prisons in America, according to Mother Jones. The man who was allowed to die was in a special unit of the massive prison where inmates with mental health problems are 'housed.' No one checked on him and, when he was found dead, his defense attorney was not notified for three days and his family was never notified by the prison, they found out through the media. 

As a society, how can we stay silent about billion dollar healthcare industries and broken prison systems that fail any of us who suffer from mental illness? How can budgets continue to be cut when it comes to mental illness, and how can people who should be patients in hospitals continue to be thrown in prison because there is no where else to send them when they've broken the law?

Statistics show that untreated mentally ill people eventually end up facing police officers for crimes their mental illness, homelessness, drug or alcohol addiction or extreme poverty drive them to. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections:

Prison and jail inmates with physical health, mental health, and substance use problems experience more reintegration difficulties upon release, and typically have poorer outcomes with respect to employment, re-offending, and re-incarceration.

While I will not suggest that every prison system employee is a callous asshole who has no concern for the inmates they are sworn to care for, I will suggest that prison administrators need to collectively manage the problem and refuse to accept inmates who should be in hospitals and treatment centers, rather than prison.

A 2010 report cited in USA Today found that certain states have higher rates of putting mentally ill people in jail than others. Why is that? Would an investigation of these prisons find that privatized prisons -- ones that view inmates as commodities -- have higher than average statistics of incarcerating men and women who need medical treatment rather than punishment? Just asking a question here. I don't know the answer to it.

New York's Acting Department of Corrections Commissioner Mark Cranston assured the public that an investigation is underway. Wow, that puts my mind at ease. In his statement, Cranston labeled Jerome Murdough's death 'unfortunate.' Unfortunate?! Try Appalling. Outrageous. Sickening. Needless. Doesn't a system that accepts the responsibility of holding human beings against their will have a legal duty to make sure those people are not allowed to suffer cruel and unusual punishment or untimely deaths? Maybe 'Criminal' is a better word to describe Jerome's death, Mr. Cranston?

The Justice Department admits that mentally ill prisoners are easy targets for other inmates, are more often preyed upon, and have more trouble with guards for failing to follow rules. Yes, that makes sense, because mentally ill people do not think or act like people who don't suffer from mental illness. That's why they need medical attention. That's why they shouldn't be thrown in prison. That's why people like Jerome Murdough are found dead in their cells.

For more insight into our problematic criminal justice system, visit ACLU: Prisoners' Rights.

H.P. Lovecraft

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."                                                          H.P. Lovecraft


On this very day, 77 years ago, H.P. Lovecraft died in a hospital in Providence, Rhode Island at age 46. His horror stories, more popular now than when he was alive, created dark, rancid, hopeless worlds where humans were stalked and overtaken by evil other-worldly spirits. Lovecraft's fictional entities tortured their victims psychologically rather than physically, making them more cryptic, more terrifying, more thought provoking.

His stories create a sinister, stifling atmosphere where beings lurk in the dark and dwell in the deepest chambers of our brain while they wait for us to let our guard down. He drives imaginations wild and takes readers on a terrifying journey that starts with a sliver of normalcy and ends at the brink of insanity. Lovecraft's stories make people die of fear, yet never let them know what exactly killed them.

Here is an excerpt from one of Lovecraft's scariest short stories called "The Book" courtesy of Dagonbytes.com, a site that offers free online stories that will scare the shit of you. Read it if you dare.

The Book by H.P. Lovecraft (excerpt)

My memories are very confused. There is even much doubt as to where they begin; for at times I feel appalling vistas of years stretching behind me, while at other times it seems as if the present moment were an isolated point in a grey, formless infinity. I am not even certain how I am communicating this message. While I know I am speaking, I have a vague impression that some strange and perhaps terrible mediation will be needed to bear what I say to the points where I wish to be heard. My identity, too, is bewilderingly cloudy. I seem to have suffered a great shock- perhaps from some utterly monstrous outgrowth of my cycles of unique, incredible experience. 
 
These cycles of experience, of course, all stem from that worm-riddled book. I remember when I found it- in a dimly lighted place near the black, oily river where the mists always swirl. That place was very old, and the ceiling-high shelves full of rotting volumes reached back endlessly through windowless inner rooms and alcoves. There were, besides, great formless heaps of books on the floor and in crude bins; and it was in one of these heaps that I found the thing. I never learned its title, for the early pages were missing; but it fell open toward the end and gave me a glimpse of something which sent my senses reeling. 
 
There was a formula- a sort of list of things to say and do- which I recognized as something black and forbidden; something which I had read of before in furtive paragraphs of mixed abhorrence and fascination penned by those strange ancient delvers into the universe's guarded secrets whose decaying texts I loved to absorb. It was a key- a guide- to certain gateways and transitions of which mystics have dreamed and whispered since the race was young, and which lead to freedoms and discoveries beyond the three dimensions and realms of life and matter that we know. Not for centuries had any man recalled its vital substance or known where to find it, but this book was very old indeed. No printing-press, but the hand of some half-crazed monk, had traced these ominous Latin phrases in uncials of awesome antiquity.
 
I remember how the old man leered and tittered, and made a curious sign with his hand when I bore it away. He had refused to take pay for it, and only long afterwards did I guess why. As I hurried home through those narrow, winding, mist-cloaked waterfront streets I had a frightful impression of being stealthily followed by softly padding feet. The centuried, tottering houses on both sides seemed alive with a fresh and morbid malignity- as if some hitherto closed channel of evil understanding had abruptly been opened. I felt that those walls and over-hanging gables of mildewed brick and fungoid plaster and timber- with eyelike, diamond-paned windows that leered- could hardly desist from advancing and crushing me . . . yet I had read only the least fragment of that blasphemous rune before closing the book and bringing it away. 

More ...

Lena Dunham and "Girls"

Despite criticism of it being misogynistic, casting only white people, starring four women who secured their roles through nepotism and airing uncomfortable, gritty scenes that simulate rape, discuss mental illness, show people degraded and flaunt unhealthy relationships, I’m a fan of Lena Dunham’s Girls on HBO.

Dunham’s insatiable need (and extreme courage) to display her imperfect-in-the-eyes-of-society nakedness raises the hackles of critics hell bent on perpetuating the notion that only size zero women have the right to freely display their bodies, and the true message of their critiques is loud and clear: If we (meaning the judgmental dicks of society) consider you beautiful, we want to get off on your nakedness, but if you don’t fulfill our fantasy of what beauty is supposed to look like (a make-up plastered skeleton), we call it offensive and take swipes.

Lena Dunham’s spirited lack of self-consciousness makes her a role model for women, young and old. She’s unafraid of what others think of her and proudly defends her artistic style and her personal choices to be who she chooses to be. She’s shows us her ugly side (on the inside) in Girls and shows – dare I say it – normal human flaws. Ones that all of us possess. 

Yes. We. Are. All. Flawed. Inside. And. Out.

Let’s Focus On Ourselves, Own Our Flaws.

  

Let us question why sit-coms, over and over again, cast midde-aged, overweight, balding, frumpy men as the proud, mismatched husbands of young, thin, vivacious, sexy women. Why aren’t critics hucking it up over this instead of fretting over a young woman who is comfortable in her own skin?

Girls' main character loves a man who, at times, borderline rapes her yet at other times, shows us how much he, in his own fucked-up way, loves her with all his heart. I think Lena Dunham deserves credit for screenwriting that borders on therapeutic journaling by letting the characters unabashedly share their hopes, dreams and shortcomings without concerning themselves with what anyone will think of them.

Perhaps we would all benefit from a healthy dose of introspection and self-exposure.

Here are a few YouTube clips of Lena Dunham's Girls:

Maine GOP Rep. Lawrence Lockman: Men Should Be Allowed To Rape Women

“If a woman has (the right to abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”

Who would make such vile statements?

Maine Republican lawmaker Lawrence Lockman, that's who.

Here's his Maine House GOP page. 

HuffPost reported that the lawmaker apologized for the comment.

Does he really think an apology will make this go away or make us think this is not how he really feels about women and rape? He is currently serving his first term in office. Let's hope Maine voters are perceptive enough to make it his last. 

If you can bear to read more about Lockman, here's Mike Tipping's blog.

Toilets

One of the many wonderful toilets of Budapest, Hungary. Photo Credit: Troy K.

Taking a shit is a satisfying experience.

Too crass? Let me try again ...

Passing excrement from the bowels through the anus is elating.

Hmm ... I'll give it another try.

Discharging waste products from the body through the anal opening is a spiritual experience.

Getting closer ... one last try:

Finding a vacant toilet when you really have to move your bowels is an instant dopamine releaser, and an empty bowel elicits feelings that border on euphoria. (This is the one)

An old Jamaican nurse once asked me, 'Who is King, the bowel or the brain?' then passionately answered: 'Mun, the bowel is King, because the brain cannot think if the bowel is blocked.'

So many people have an aversion to talking about bowel movements, even though it's something all of us do. Even the word toilet, which I think is a great word, is avoided as we "go to the restroom -- take a trip to the ladies room -- take a bathroom break -- go number two or, my personal favorite, powder one's nose." Those of us who are lucky enough to have toilets use them faithfully, but don't pay them the respect they deserve.  Maybe if all of us wore a tiny gold-plated toilet on a chain around our necks, we would be less afraid to talk about our bowels. Maybe that would save people's lives and make them unafraid to seek medical attention for bowel-related problems. Maybe that would force society to offer more public toilets, rather than allow businesses to post signs that say 'Restrooms for Patrons Only.' How dare business owners who turn away a person seeking the use of a toilet? The further degradation of a normal, healthy, bodily function.

The World Health Organization estimates that 2.6 billion people don't have access to or the luxury of using and flushing a toilet each day. This includes over 600,000 homeless people in America. Unsanitary conditions lead to a plethora of preventable diseases and early deaths for millions of people who desperately need the toilets that we're so embarrassed to talk about.

The National Institutes of Health estimate that 60 to 70 million Americans suffer from diseases of the digestive tract that range from hemorrhoids to diverticulitis to irritable bowel syndrome to colon cancer. Our inability to discuss our bowels and the lack of public toilets in our society add to the problems of millions of people who suffer bowel-related conditions -- ones they are embarrassed to discuss because of society's need to not talk about something as vile and, at the same time, life sustaining as healthy bowel movements.

Add to this discussion the fact that technology has not advanced the flushing toilet in hundreds of years, and human waste is a prevalent and ongoing burden to our health and environment. Advances in sanitation seems like a no-brainer and should be top priority for genius scientists, since all of us are the glorious creators of human waste (a.k.a. bowel movements) yet we rarely hear everyday discussions of how to rid the world of our own stool.

In all fairness, there are droves of researchers who discuss and work on sanitation issues daily, and I don't wish to discredit their passion or their work. A simple YouTube search offers video after video of people dedicated to improving toilets and waste management. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced the winner of their "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" that urged researchers at some of the top universities to develop "next-generation” toilets that will deliver safe and sustainable sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don’t have it."

Hats off to the honorable winner - California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Remembering John Lennon

Reminiscing about a geeky, smart-alecky, somewhat immature John Lennon can’t help but warp us to his ‘Beatles are more popular than Jesus’ comment or his admitted jealously of Paul McCartney or his nutsy, wtf affair with May Pang and, of course, let’s not forget his cringe-worthy, mid-performance mock of a developmentally delayed person; yet, the mention of John Lennon, for me anyway, brings memories of a man who tried to heal the world and touch humanity and bring us all together with lyrics and actions that were lessons in peace and love and harmony, and a man whose life was cut bitterly and tragically short by a religious fanatic who thought he was an honest-to-gawd, come-to-life version of the fictional protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye. 

The murderer, whose wife knew he was going to murder John Lennon yet did nothing to stop him, was Mark David Chapman, and he still sits in a prison cell and applies for parole every two years as law allows with his requests for freedom being denied (so far) and Yoko Ono voicing her opposition each time. 

Photo: Annie Leibovitz

 

Right after firing five bullets into Lennon’s back, Chapman sat down on the curbstone, pulled out a copy of The Catcher in the Rye and started reading. The killer -- not running or hiding -- instead sat in plain view, listening to the panicked screams of onlookers, watching people administer aid to Lennon, watching Yoko watching her husband die before her eyes -- his apathy making the whole scene even more savage, more cruel, more raw.

John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, the same night that photographer Annie Liebovitz did a photo shoot with John and Yoko and created a beautiful photo that showed us a timid Yoko who didn't take her clothes off and a carefree John who bared all.

Howard Cosell was the first to publicly announce Lennon’s death, right in the middle of a New England Patriots football game broadcast. John Lennon was only 40. He left behind a wife and two children who loved him, fans who adored him, and a whole world who wanted to hear more of him.

Source: Wikipedia

YouTube Video Credit: Aviv Ben Israel

Don't Be Afraid To Help Someone

Beyond words. This woman pulled over on the side of the road and saved her nephew's life by doing CPR. This is a scary thing to do - even for experienced medical personnel - but, she tried and single-handedly got the baby breathing again. She's a real hero.

This woman was trained in CPR several years before this incident but for anyone not trained in CPR, most doctors agree that you should try to do something to help someone who is unconscious and not breathing. Fear stops people from acting, and waiting for paramedics to arrive usually proves fatal for victims.

So, people should at least try to do compressions on adult victims and try to give rescue breaths to children and infants (if people are unconscious and not breathing). You can't harm an unconscious and non-breathing person because they are already dead, and they lose all chance of being revived if you don't at least try.

I've included a few links to help laypeople with no training. You won't make things worse, everything you do may help save a life. Always yell out for someone to call 911, then get to work doing whatever you can:

If you're afraid to do compressions on a baby, just give rescue breaths.
http://www.parents.com/baby/care/american-baby-how-tos/give-baby-cpr/

If you're afraid to give breaths to an adult, just do compressions.
http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/pocket.html

(Al Diaz/The Miami Herald/AP Photo)

Shirley Temple Black

Shirley Temple died yesterday and, while I have great respect for the accomplishments of the adult Shirley Temple Black, I do and always have found the Shirley Temple movies that frequented the much-limited and purportedly family-oriented television channels that I watched during my childhood to be distressing and uncomfortable to view. Watching a little girl wearing a super-tiny dress, while singing and dancing in front of the groups of middle-aged, ogling men who were consistently her co-stars always left me with an unsettled "something's not right" feeling in my gut ... even as a child.

And as an adult looking back at clips of Shirley Temple movies, I realize that my childhood instincts were correct. It was odd and totally unacceptable, to say the least, that the male-dominated movie industry saw fit to cast a little girl who conveyed the persona of an adult woman as the star of over 40 movies. The cutesy little girl always seemed to be without a home and without any women to care for her, leaving her to be adopted, housed, fed, led by the hand or, in one way or another, accommodated by adult male characters who always seemed just a bit too enamored and intrigued and delighted to be in the company of a little girl. Men who held her hand a little too much and watched her sing and dance just a little too closely.

Plot summaries of a few randomly chosen Shirley Temple movies show a little girl who was tended to by men, men and more men in every movie. I find this eerie and disturbing, which by no means is meant to insult the honor of the late Shirley Temple Black, but does make me question the motives of parents who sat back and saw nothing perverse in what Hollywood did to their daughter. Memories of Jon Benet Ramsey come to mind as she was another beautiful little girl who was taught to assume an adult persona and entertain ogling adult audiences.

Here are the movie descriptions that I wrote using info. from Wikipedia. (Thank you Wikipedia).

Curly Top – Here, the curly-haired, mischievous, adorable little Shirley Temple has no parents and lives in an orphanage. The trustees come to visit and one of the wealthy, male trustees is so enamored with the little girl that he decides to adopt her (along with her sister) and brings them home to live with him. The wealthy trustee eventually marries Shirley Temple’s sister, Mary.  

Bright Eyes – Shirley Temple’s father is dead. Her and her mother live in a mansion where Temple’s mother works as a maid for room and board. When Shirley Temple’s mother dies, the wealthy family wants to send Shirley Temple away, but the crotchety old wheelchair-bound grandfather is so fond of the little girl that he nicknames her ‘Bright Eyes’ and insists that she stay at the house to keep him company.

Dimples – Shirley Temple plays a little girl named Dimples who sings in the streets to make money with her thieving grandfather, with whom she lives. They perform at a wealthy woman’s party, and the wealthy woman’s nephew takes Dimples to live with him and perform in a Broadway show that he is producing.

Little Miss Marker – Shirley Temple plays a little girl named Marky who lives with her father. Marky’s father gives her to a group of gangsters as collateral for a gambling debt he owes them. Shirley Temple then lives with a group of men who are gangsters, bookies and thieves for the rest of the movie.  

Wee Willie Winkie – Here, Shirley Temple and her mother are brought to a British military base. Little Shirley spends all her time befriending and entertaining the male officers and soldiers. She also visits an imprisoned officer to cheer him up.    

I am still bothered when I see movie clips of Shirley Temple's movies as I view her as a child victim.