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Is the Pentagon Overstepping Its Bounds?

While perusing one of my favorite websites from which to collect controversial and often suppressed news stories, I cam across a highly disturbing article about the Pentagon’s “recruitment database.”

With a budget of over $70 million on their JAMRS database alone (Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies), the pentagon is beefing up its selective service capabilities and keeping records on far too many (at least for my satisfaction) U.S. children in a system that has a “questionable” purpose. To top it off, it is impossible for parents to remove the names of heir children from the list, as all information, if requested to be removed, is kept on he system, but in a “suppressed” state.

I have taken excerpts from the article, creating a summarized version. To view the entire article as I found it, along with some important contact information for parents, visit: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0117-12.htm.


I ask that the readers of The Threshold keep in mind that I’m not a “right wing” or “left wing radical” who supports the abolishment of government: I’m not Libertarian, and most importantly, I’m not an anarchist. I hold that government is an important tool for humanity and that it should be used properly and responsibly. Unfortunately, I often see that those individuals that hold power in governments (both ours and foreign) sometimes lose focus of the purpose of their office, and more often, don’t wield their power with responsibility. The following is, I believe, such a case of "overstepping" one's boundaries. Perhaps our "beloved" Defense Department is even violating the privacy of the American People, those same people whom they live and die to protect.



Summary:

The Pentagon has spent more than $70.5 million on market research, national advertising, website development, and management of the Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies (JAMRS) database — a storehouse of questionable legality that includes the names and personal details of more than 30 million U.S. children and young people between the ages of 16 and 23.
The database is separate from information collected from schools that receive federal education money. Parents must contact the Pentagon directly to ask that their children’s information not be released to recruiters, but the data is not removed from the JAMRS database, according to Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Instead, the information is moved to a suppression file, where it is continuously updated with new data from private and government sources and still made available to recruiters, In addition to names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and phone numbers, the database may include cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity, and subjects of interest.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, said he had grave concerns about the legality of the database. “I think this is absolutely wrong,” he told the Vermont Guardian. “You have the law, and then you have an administration that says we don’t like the law so let’s find another way of doing it. When my kids were in school I would have been really angry if this had happened,” said Leahy, whose youngest son enlisted in the Marines. “I would have been absolutely ripped if they would have gone into his high school or other records to contact him this way; I know nothing that allows it.”

Discomfort over the database extends to other members of Congress. Seven senators, including New York’s Hillary Rodham Clinton and Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold, both Democrats, sent a letter to Rumsfeld on June 24 asking him to “immediately cease creation of this database.”
In his July 11, 2006 response, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu said the database was an important component in the nation’s volunteer military — one that enables the United States to avoid a draft.

“The department collects basic information on youth in response to a congressional mandate in 1982 that noted ‘it is essential that the Secretary of Defense obtain and compile directory information pertaining to students enrolled in secondary schools throughout the United States’ to support recruiting for the all-volunteer force and avoid conscription,” he wrote to the senators.

Chu also said the Pentagon had no intention of using the information for purposes other than targeted recruitment.

But according to the privacy group, BeNow, the direct marketing company chosen by the Pentagon to compile the data, is owned by the credit reporting company Equifax and does not have a privacy policy, “nor has it troubled itself to enlist in a privacy seal program regarding the handling of information collected for this purpose.”

The Leave My Child Alone coalition is urging the Pentagon to add an 800 number and online opt-out links to its websites. The group concedes, however, that given reports of massive security breaches at data firms, the fact that the information remains on file “hardly grants parents peace of mind.”

One California lawmaker is sponsoring state legislation that would require high schools to include opt-out information on the emergency forms that parents must fill out annually for school records. In one California school district that implemented such a policy, the number of families choosing to opt out went from 16 percent to 63 percent, Crush said.
Meanwhile, asked what parents could do about the Pentagon database, the ACLU’s Steinhardt said, “This is as much a political issue as anything else; it’s an issue to be decided in the Congress.

View the article in full here: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0117-12.htm

In the “aftermath" of the November 7, 2006 elections (for those out of the loop, the Democrats gained the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, where they had been the minority. The change of power will take place in January, and will be a great shift of power away from the Republicans), it will be interesting to see where this leads, what with the Democrats now in control of the entire Congress and Rumsfeld out of the Department of Defense. Let’s see if the Democrats have strong leadership and will stand up to the plate and finally accomplish something after all their complaining of a “stacked” Republican-controlled government.


-- Xi Hyperon

Try I Must...

Well, after a long hiatus, I’m back…at least for a while. Having just gotten over the flu, still making up work from the school I missed while in D.C., and still applying for scholarships and to colleges, my time is limited. I will strive for your sake, dear readers, to post something, whether it be a full article, or just a reference to an interesting article, every weekend.

So, on Monday morning, as you face another daunting week of work, relax, kick back, and exercise your thought with The Threshold … or at any other point in time!

A couple posts will be following this one directly, as I have a ton of information to share with the world…


--Xi Hyperon

Let's Keep This Green Earth Green

I apologize to those many readers of The Threshold (I wish…) who have been eagerly anticipating my latest blog post! I have been swamped with my classes, scholarship stuff, college stuff, and making preparations for my upcoming trip to Washington D.C..

In order that I come up with something to post, I’ll put up a speech that I prepared for my Public Speaking class last year, on the importance of reducing waste and becoming a “greener” society. (Please look past my somewhat “rococo” language towards the end of the speech; I added it for effect for the class. )

Enjoy!

--Xi Hyperon


Swimming through the icy cold waters of the northern Arctic Ocean, he swam with waning strength for mile after mile, in vain search of land. The task became ever more tiring, as, even after swimming sixty miles, no place of rest was in sight.

Despite the fur coat that he wore for warmth, and the fact that he was accustomed to swimming long distances, his strength lessened. With no land in sight, with his strength leaving him, his tired lungs complaining of the task, and with the cold water freezing to his coat on his exposed back, exhaustion and hypothermia began to set in.

As wave after wave lapped over his head, his strength and determination slowly drained. As his giant arms slowed their stroke, and his head fell beneath the waves, the strength in the once virile body slowly left the majestic creature. Yet another life was soon to be lost at sea. This was no ordinary life, however; it was that of a polar bear.

Polar bears live on ice all year round and use it as a platform from which to hunt food and rear their young. They hunt near the edge, where the ice is thinnest, catching seals when they make holes in the ice to breath. As the ice pack on which they live and off of which they hunt retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting.

However, due to something known as global warming, last summer the ice cap receded about 200 miles farther north than the average of just two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes.

In September of 2005, when the ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of Alaska, over 50 bears were seen swimming in the open sea by scientists in the region; as far as 60 miles off shore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later and found four dead bears floating in the water.

To quote their report: “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned.” Sir Ranulph Fiennes, an explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed the deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975. “Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said.

Stranded polar bears are drowning in large numbers as they try to swim hundreds of miles to find increasingly scarce ice floes, local hunters find their corpses floating on seas once coated in a thick skin of ice. It is a phenomenon that frightens the native people that live around the Arctic. Many fear their children will never know the polar bear.

"The ice is moving further and further north," said Charlie Johnson, 64, an Alaskan native. "In the Bering Sea the ice leaves earlier and earlier. On the north slope, the ice is retreating as far as 300 or 400 miles offshore." Last year, hunters found half a dozen bears that had drowned about 200 miles north of Barrow, on Alaska's northern coast. "It seems they had tried to swim for shore, but never made it ... A polar bear might be able to swim 100 miles but not 400."

Unfortunately, polar bears are not the only animals affected by the gradual warming of the globe, known popularly as global warming. In a study conducted by the United Nations, it was discovered that animals as far north as the polar bear, to as far south as the penguin, as large as elephants and as small as butterflies are affected by this deadly global change.

Migratory birds face difficulty navigating over changing lands, Caribbean Sea Turtle nests are being flooded by rising water levels, whales and fish are affected by shifts in distribution and abundance of krill and plankton, which has "declined in places to a hundredth or thousandth of former numbers because of warmer sea-surface temperatures. As humans, our problems seem above those of Earth’s animals, but nothing is farther from the truth.

Global warming is fast becoming the number one environmental problem of our time. Apart from its far-reaching impacts on humanity, global warming may prove disastrous to the wildlife of Greater Yellowstone National Park, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other vulnerable wild lands that are already suffering the effects of a changing climate.

The world's leading scientists are now agreed that global warming is real and is happening right now. According to their forecasts, extreme changes in climate could produce a future in which erratic and chaotic weather, melting ice caps and rising sea levels usher in an era of drought, crop failure, famine, flood and mass extinctions.

Environmental changes are already having dire consequences for human civilizations, as rates of many illnesses and diseases are rising. Allergies and asthma from air pollution, birth defects from hazardous pollutants in our food, air, and water, cancer, dermatitis, emphysema, fertility problems, heart disease, immune deficiency diseases, job-related illnesses, kidney diseases, lead poisoning, mercury poisoning, nervous system disorders, reproductive disorders, sunburn and skin cancer, tooth decay, uranium poisoning, vision problems, waterborne diseases, zinc deficiency/zinc poisoning, thyroid problems, and Osteoporosis, not to mention some of the lesser-known but equally dangerous diseases like Xeroderma Pigmentosa (an intolerance to sunlight), Yusho Poisoning resulting from chemicals contaminating food, Pneumoconiosis (otherwise known as “black lung,” resulting from harmful pollutants such as asbestos that can be inhaled), and Queensland Fever (contamination from animal excrement), and even death.

What, other than the stark facts can make the world realize the grave dangers that face the world as a whole? Many human activities are harmful to our planet. The creation and filling of landfills, the pollution of lakes and streams, the killing off of oxygen producing trees, and the filling in of wetlands all contribute to our problems. All life on Earth functions like links on a chain, such as those on a necklace. If even one of those links were to break, the necklace would be broken and need to be repaired. With all the problems heretofore named, many many links in the necklace of life are being broken, and very little is being done to remedy that.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, is the time to act. Now is the time to push for stronger regulations on vehicle emissions that add to global warming. If you don’t have to drive the car, don’t! Walk! Bicycle! Now is the time to recycle, reducing the amount of trash heading to our landfills. Now is the time to avoid consuming pesticide-laced food that contributes to illnesses.

Join the rest of America!

According to polls taken by the Gallup reporting service, over 70% of Americans have bought more earth-friendly material, voluntarily recycled, and reduced household energy use. If all of us Americans were to participate fully in this movement, imagine the progress that could be made.

If all countries on our green Earth were to participate, the global quality of life would rise, diseases would lessen, and future generations would receive the best gift of all from us: potential.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us join together with the rest of America to lead the world, in its and our time of need, to ensure that our beloved green planet stays our beloved green planet.

Remembering September 11th, 2001

What once was...

On this day of remembering, let us put aside our differences, political views, and honor those brave souls that died that one September 11.

Many people in America and around the world don’t support President Bush, but whatever your view, put it aside for now and read again the message our President delivered after all four planes had crashed:

“Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.

A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.
Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts.
Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.

The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.

The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

Honor this day as any other time of patriotic duty, remembrance, and live your life as though every day is a blessing. Thousads of Americans’ lives wer ecut short this day five years ago. Live your life for them; live it for all those who perished, and live it to make the world a better place.

God bless America!


--Xi Hyperon

Please take the time to remember.

If you are willing, the site below is a memorial to those who died in the attacks, and their names are listed in alphabetical order.

Take the time, because you are blessed with opportunity and continued life. Remember those who were taken on September 11, 2001.

http://www.sept11thmemorial.com/last_name.asp?Letter=A


As always, feel free to leave your comments and links to any sites that you think the world should see.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Here is a quote from http://myhearthurtswillitalways.blogspot.com/:

I thought that this post was as worth posting here; it is only fitting.

Sunday morning....

I am relaxed stretched out on the couch, the sun shining in through the living room window kissing my skin with it's warmth. The crisp fall air starting to make it's way over. A freshly brewed cup of pumpkin spice coffee, the New York Times spread out before me untouched by anyone.

Reflecting on life as I glance at the front page. The caption reads "Not Forgotten". The picture is of various victims killed on September 11th. There isn't an article. Nothing needs to be explained. Around the World, everyone knows of the horror. These men and women lost there lives that day. They lost there lives that day and there loved one's are left to suffer and revisit memories. There lives cut short. There stories halted.

Why?

Around there World people are suffering. Around the World there is tragedy and sadness. What have we learned? What have we done to make this a better place for our children and our children's children and so forth? We see people being killed and massacred in the news we read the stories in our papers of choice.

Have our lives really been effected? Do we really mourn? Are we kinder? Are we more sympathetic? Do we reach out to other's? Are we more loving? Truthfully how are we effected. Our we only saddened for the moment we remember or we glance at the news or read these articles?

I wonder.

9/11 should become a day of PEACE. A day shared around the world where everyone is forced to lay down there weapon of choice and practice the ART OF LOVING. This is how the lives of those lost should be remembered. We should NOT commit war on this day. We should feed the HUNGRY. We should MEET our neighbors. We should PRACTICE tolerance and not hate. This should be done AROUND THE WORLD. Children should be CARED for. All CRIME should HALT. Extreme punishments should be carried out if on this DAY atrocities are carried out. It should be a DAY OF LOVE. A day of KINDNESS. We shouldn't go to work. We shouldn't go to school. Today should be a day of PAUSE and REFLECTION and KINDNESS. Sure a billion dollar memorial might appeal to some people. However what better Memorial that a DAY where the WORLD IS AT PEACE?

If you can, Imagine it. Now help me to find a way to achieve it!

http://myhearthurtswillitalways.blogspot.com/

Why the Five-Paragraph Essay Should Be Removed from Our Higher Education Schools

In my high school, there is a process through which all students must go twice every year in every class: writing a 25-sentance, five-paragrah essay (in order that the school may receive accreditation from Northstar). For me, that constituted writing one fourteen times a year, and by my sophomore year, I had gotten thouroughly tired of it.

In most of my classes, my teacher would give the students a specific topic on which to write, but a few left it open-ended: we could write about whatever we liked. I saw an opportunity there to make a point, and from that grew the seeds for the following essay.

In addition to making a point on my disgust for the five-paragraph essay writing process, I wnted to introduce some irony: writing the essay in a 25 sentance five-paragraph format. All teachers required that there be EXACTLY 25 sentances and 5 paragraphs, no more, no fewer. ( Can you imagine how painfully restrictive that must have been, not just for me, but for all other stuents who had to go through the same ordeal? Quite a few times I had to create more "fluff" sentaces to fulfill the requirement, as I usually made my point in just a few sentances, however longwinded.)

After reading my essay, some of you might make the comment that, having written my essay in the format which I attacked, I disproved my own point. I would counter that, however, with the opinion that I had been educated well enough in my home-schooling years to be able to survive the stifling effects of the school system and the five-paragraph essay and instead, created a humerous irony out of the whole situation.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed creating it!

And, as always, I would love to hear your reponses.


--Xi Hyperon

WHY THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM OUR HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOOLS

Before I entered my high school, I had never heard of the five-paragraph essay system. Whenever I would write an essay, I would simply compose my thoughts in a logical, sensible format. Because I was not restricted to five paragraphs, my essays would frequently be quite long. Now that I have been writing in this new format for two years, however, it has become evident to me why I had never before had to write in this format: it is simply inferior. Although this more structured format provides a basic frame for the student writer’s composition, it also presents some potentially very serious problems.

Many schools across the country have instituted the ever more popular “five-paragraph essay” writing system. It’s found in most high schools and even some middle schools, and most educators believe that it benefits the students by establishing a set structural format for the students’ essays. They believe it to be a structural format that guides young writers while they compose their essay. It provides a specified format that lends itself to a specific elementary train of thought. Although this format may be beneficial to the younger or brain-fogged student, once they reach a more advanced level of thought and capability, specifically in the later high school years, this essay format becomes quite restrictive.

Having to reduce ones thoughts to “fit inside the box” of the five-paragraph essay is seen as unimportant to some schools, and simply as a side-effect of correct, recognizable essay format. This is probably the most damaging concept to the school age writer, whose developing mind and intellect need to be fostered and gently guided, not forced to comply with some nationalized mainstream essay format. In a five-paragraph essay, appearance and organization of the content is more important than the content itself. Five paragraphs, with the first and last playing specialized roles, each with five sentences, are all that is to consist of an “A grade” paper. Often, the lack of thought, intelligence, and even grammatical correctness is overlooked and often condoned in search of the perfectly indented and 25-sentenced – five-paragraph essay.

In following this format, much repetition is encouraged, with the same ideas appearing in many of the paragraphs. Teachers are encouraged to grade format rather than content. Interestingly enough, many of the schools using this format as their standard claim that they are simply guiding the young writer into a format that best suits their abilities and is simply establishing a format that is preferred in today’s society. However, most magazines, newspapers, book reports, and even college essays are not squished and cramped into following this format. No real support has been given to the five-paragraph essay as being the preferred format of colleges, or even in the workplace.

It is apparent that nowhere other than in youth education is this format encouraged. Thus, the entire concept of the five-paragraph essay is detrimental to today’s students. Although it provides some guidance for the beginning writer, carrying its use into high school levels is simply hampering the great minds of tomorrow. In these essays, the form generates the content; the emphasis on the format and organization far outweighs the small importance of the content of the essay. If we are to let the youth of today; our leaders of tomorrow, exercise their intellect to their full potential and to not let their thoughts be contained by some less intelligent school board officials, we must rid our higher education schools of the insistent use of this despicable and detrimental practice: the use of the five paragraph essay.

$100,000,000.00 from Nigeria and other fun things (like fulcrumatic cancer)

Everyone reading this post must have, at some point, received some form of spam email about some poor fellow in Nigeria who needs to transfer $10,000,000 to your bank account for the time being in order to help his ailing mother…

These scams are known in the techie world as 419 scams.

Well, if you haven’t heard of them, they’re very prolific and, simultaneously, the subject of quite a few jokes around the water cooler. Unfortunately, they are also quite effective to the more gullible type, as apparently the authors of some of these letters make a living off of the money they receive from the fruits of their labor.

I’ve included a link HERE to a wonderful site that has made it its mission to scam the scammers. Yes, that’s right. 419 Eaters play along in the scam as far as they can, and sometimes, the results are very funny. In fact, this scam-of-the-scammer went so far that the results are quite astounding! Just visit the site and read through the emails that were exchanged...

Although not associated (as far as I know) to the group above, THIS SITE has a documented case of “playing along” as well (Have you met Wendy Wilcox and her dog? ). Anyone ever heard of Fulcrumatic cancer?

Enjoy the stories! I sure did. And remember: If you get a too-good-to-be-true email saying that you have something really good coming your way, it probably is to good to be true.

So have fun reading of these online escapades. And make sure to comment back your stories of these and other stupid (yet effective) scams!


--Xi Hyperon

At Last! Virginia's Judicial System Shows Some Sense

This posting is an update on the situation regarding the Virginia teen who is battling Hodgkin’s disease (an in some ways, his state’s judicial system as well). The article excerpt below I found to be a great relief.

Another Virginia judge has set aside the previous judicial order(s) that prompted my previous posting, although a new court hearing is set for August 16th. Hopefully, common sense will permeate that hearing, and this young man may concentrate on fighting his disease, and depend on and take comfort in his human rights rather than defend them.


-- Xi Hyperon

--->> Article excerpt below <<---

Tuesday, July 25, 2006; Posted: 5:09 p.m. EDT (21:09 GMT)

ACCOMAC, Virginia (AP) -- A judge ruled Tuesday that a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital as previously ordered and scheduled a trial to settle the dispute.

A social worker had asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment, and the judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday. Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Taylor set aside that order.
"I feel free today. I was let off the leash," Abraham said after Taylor agreed to a stay and set a trial date of Aug. 16.
Taylor also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials. Carl Bundick, an attorney for the department, told the judge the department would not object, provided a new trial takes place quickly.

"What the department is interested in is this young man being cured of cancer," Bundick said.

Excerpt from http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/25/sick.teen.ap/index.html

We should have a right to choose our own form of healthcare

"What it boils down to is does the American family have the right to decide on the health of their child or is the government allowed to come in and determine that themselves and threaten one way or the other to split our family up?"

-- Jay Cherrix

A young Virginian of 16 years, Starchild Abraham Cherrix, became "nauseated and weak" after undergoing chemotherapy for his Hodgekin's disease. As a result, he decided to find an alternative to the sometimes lifesaving and sometimes deadly treatment. His choice: eating organic foods, adopting a sugar-free diet, and taking herbal supplements, a treatment being overseen by a clinic in Mexico.

Instead of applauding this young man for his boldness and determination to adopt a newer, healthy diet rather than undergo the painful and ineffective usual treatment, a Virginia judge named his parents "neglectful," ordered that his parents "share custody with the state," and ruled that the 16 year old check into his old clinic by Tuesday.

WHAT?!

One would think that a young man of 16 would be capable of making decisions about his own life, and about his own future. Even if this young man is "incompetent," surely his parents (who wholeheartedly support him) have enough brain power to recognize what is best for THEIR OWN SON.

Furthermore, beyond the concept of what I believe to be one's right to choose one's own form of health care, and beyond a parents' right to make MAJOR decisions about their own children without the government stepping in, I believe it appalling that a judge would order someone to undergo painful and, arguably, unnecessary and ineffective treatment!

I believe that it violates the “dignity of a human being” to have unwanted medical practices forced upon oneself.

The usual treatment from this young man’s cancer made him “nauseated and weak.” Is not subjecting him, against his parents’ and his own wishes, to a medical treatment that has proven harmful and ineffective, tantamount to torture?

This judge should be ashamed of himself for his ruling and RECALL this recent decision!
Let this be a warning to all citizens of America and their children: choose in what state you live carefully, as it may mean the difference between life or death, and your decision to choose between them.

--Xi Hyperon

Please post your stories and comments on this matter. This case will set a dangerous precident, opening new windows of "big-brother" oversight into some of the most personal decisions of our lives. Let me know your thoughts.

--->> Articles referenceing this subject below <<---

CNN .COM
“NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) -- A judge ruled Friday that a 16-year-old boy fighting to use alternative treatment for his cancer must report to a hospital by Tuesday and accept treatment that doctors deem necessary, the family's attorney said.

The judge also found that Starchild Abraham Cherrix's parents were neglectful for allowing him to pursue alternative treatment of a sugar-free, organic diet and herbal supplements supervised by a clinic in Mexico, lawyer John Stepanovich said.

After three months of chemotherapy last year made him nauseated and weak, Abraham rejected doctors' recommendations to go through a second round when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes, was active again.

A social worker then asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment. In May, the judge issued a temporary order finding Abraham's parents neglectful and awarding partial custody to the county, with Abraham continuing to live at home with his four siblings.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/21/sick.teen.ap/

DAILY PRESS .COM
By DENA POTTER
Associated Press Writer
July 11, 2006

RICHMOND, Va. -- A teen cancer patient fighting for the right to use alternative treatment on his illness told a judge Tuesday what it was like to go through chemotherapy and why he didn't want to relive that.

The judge heard 11 hours of testimony over two days, concluding with nine hours on Tuesday. He is expected to issue a written decision by July 18.

"I told him my story... so he could understand where I was coming from and live through me," 16-year-old Starchild Abraham Cherrix said after the closed hearing ended around 10 p.m.

Abraham, as he's usually called, and his family were in juvenile court in Accomack County to determine whether he can make his own medical decisions and whether he can keep living with his parents and four siblings on Chincoteague, an island off Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Abraham has Hodgin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes. Three months of chemotherapy last year made him extremely weak. So when he learned in February that his cancer was active again, he turned _ against doctor's advice--to a sugar-free organic diet, herbs and visits to a clinic in Mexico.

A social worker asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.

In May the judge issued a temporary order finding Jay and Rose Cherrix neglectful for supporting their son's choice to pursue alternatives. Judge Jesse E. Demps also ordered the parents to share custody of Abraham with the Accomack County Department of Social Services; they face losing custody completely.

"What it boils down to is does the American family have the right to decide on the health of their child or is the government allowed to come in and determine that themselves and threaten one way or the other to split our family up?" Jay Cherrix said Tuesday night.

Barry Taylor, the family's attorney, said the case had major ramifications not only in Virginia, but across the nation, when it comes to parents' rights to determine what is best for their children.

"I don't think any family in the commonwealth would be comfortable with the fact that a social worker with no medical training could make a medical decision for their child," Taylor said. "It's an assault on the American family."

Social Services officials have declined to comment, citing privacy laws.

Abraham testified for about an hour Tuesday, as did his parents and "a litany of witnesses," Taylor said. Doctors testified for each side.

"We're confident that we will carry the day, if not at this level, then at the next level," Taylor said.

Abraham and his parents think a doctor reported them to Social Services for not continuing with chemotherapy, landing them in court. The judge initially forbid to the family to leave Virginia, then let Abraham return to the Mexican clinic last month after the teen had X-rays to assess his disease.

The X-rays showed the chest tumor had grown mildly, Abraham said.

Abraham said he wouldn't stress over the case as the judge makes his decision. Instead, he'll go back to his regular life of biking with his sister, reading and hiking.

"In the end, everything works out for the best," he said.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-sou--
sickteen0711jul11,0,1865109.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia
Associated Press Writer Sonja Barisic contributed to this

Oddities of the English Language

Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown, met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?

I know that I sure haven't! I was inspired to compose the following essay on the premise of having fun with words.

Enjoy, and, as always, feel free to post similar works/experiences of your own!

--Xi Hyperon


Having learned English as my native language, I’ve grown accustomed to its unusual characteristics. All the homonyms, idioms, clichés, and the like can be very confusing, despite their common use. It’s difficult for me to conceive how anyone can truly master this language, let alone communicate at all! Have you ever tried explaining to a foreigner the difference between two similar phrases? It’s difficult enough for me to understand the concept, let alone try to explain it to someone else.

Take, for example, the words “plain” and “plane.”These two words sound the same and seem innocent enough, but they have very different meanings and they can wreak havoc with your sanity. So just what is a plane figure? Is it something in the shape of a plane? Or is it something flat? Or is it a carpenter’s tool? Can you use a plane to plane a plane to make it more of a plain plane?

Sheesh!

Let’s examine the word plain. A plain figure is something ordinary and mundane, right? If you’re standing in the middle of a prairie somewhere, are you now a plain figure, because you’re standing on a plain? If you ask the farmer on the prairie, would he respond that he “just cant plain figure it out?”

So what is a figure anyway? Is it a shape? When you tell someone to go cut a figure, are you telling them to go make an impressive performance, as in the common figure of speech, or are you telling them to act literally and cut something, as with a pair of scissors? If you cut a figure in the shape of a plane, is it automatically flat, or is it in the shape of an airplane? How do you keep these things straight?!

What does the phrase “Go figure” mean? When someone tells you to “go figure,” are they telling you to go look like a number, or work out an equation? Are they telling you to deal with numbers, or think about a problem having nothing to do with numbers? Is it used as a command or simply as an idiom?

English is indeed a crazy language. Only such a language would permit one to send cargo by ship and a shipment by car or truck. Where else can one find noses that run and feet that smell? If I as a writer write, then why don’t my fingers, being such, fing? What a feat (or feet?) it would be for someone to know all the tricks of the trade, and be versed in all the English oddities. Imagine what a figure one could cut if one could determine what a combobulated or a gruntled person was. If one could figure out a clever phrase and cut a figure, even if they were a plain figure, they no longer would be figured as having a plain (or is it plane?) sense of humor.

Go figure.