June 25, 2012

Some disturbing stuff I have been following-the bus monitor and the threats to the little tormentors

I’m certainly glad this video went viral and hope that it draw attention to a real problem

I’m sure most of you have heard by now about the video, “Making the bus monitor cry.” A truly disturbing video made by a group of 13-year old seventh graders from the suburbs of Rochester, New York showing off how they cruelly tormented a 68 year old grandmother who was working as a bus monitor – someone who tries to keep an eye on the children while they ride to and from school. Below you can find a link to this video if you have not seen it already. Be prepared for a shock. It is like watching true evil incarnated into a group of little children.

here is the original video



this is a short one a half minute clip that was not included in the 10 minute video that went viral



Well this video which one of the little tormenters did make and did post on the Internet ended up going viral all around the world. By now millions – probably tens of millions of people all over the world have seen it. This seems to have a triggered an absolute avalanche of sympathy for the poor lady who was so cruelly victimized that can be only matched by an even greater outpouring of outrage against these four little boys.

I must admit that when I first saw the video and heard that these children and their families were receiving volumes of hate messages and even death threats - I thought to myself, “good – those little bastards bloody well deserve it.” But then I started to read some of those threats and hate messages on the Internet and I couldn’t help but think that little seventh graders really are not equipped to be the recipient of an international bloodlust and hate campaign at least equal in intensity to anything ever directed against Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. This just isn’t right.

Frankly, I was tormented and bullied terribly when I was in the seventh grade. But from what I can gather most of those bullies grew out of it as they got older and most of them have turned out to be decent and responsible people. I don’t think that one can look at even this horrific behavior when its coming from a child that age and simply pronounce them as an unredeemable sociopaths. Cannot people remember how cruel children in that age group can be? I sure the hell can. Here is a link to a 10 second youtube with an attempt at an apology from one of those children. Take a look at the responses he gets. This is at least and perhaps more chilling than watching those children torment poor Karen Klein.

That being said, I certainly hope these children are punished severely and that they learn a lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=mzbDdLM4a6Y

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June 24, 2012

Some disturbing stuff I have been following-the bus monitor and the threats to the little tormentors

I’m sure most of you have heard by now about the video, “Making the bus monitor cry.” A truly disturbing video made by a group of 13-year old seventh graders from the suburbs of Rochester, New York showing off how they cruelly tormented a 68 year old grandmother who was working as a bus monitor – someone who tries to keep an eye on the children while they ride to and from school. Belowyou can find a link to this video if you have not seen it already. Be prepared for a shock. It is like watching true evil incarnated into a group of little children.

here is the original video

this is a short one a half minute clip that was not included in the 10 minute video that went viral


Well this video which one of the little tormenters did make and did post on the Internet ended up going viral all around the world. By now millions – probably tens of millions of people all over the world have seen it. This seems to have a triggered an absolute avalanche of sympathy for the poor lady who was so cruelly victimized that can be only matched by an even greater outpouring of outrage against these four little boys.

I must admit that when I first saw the video and heard that these children and their families were receiving volumes of hate messages and even death threats - I thought to myself, “good – those little bastards bloody well deserve it.” But then I started to read some of those threats and hate messages on the Internet and I couldn’t help but think that little seventh graders really are not equipped to be the recipient of an international bloodlust and hate campaign at least equal in intensity to anything ever directed against Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. This just isn’t right.

Frankly, I was tormented and bullied terribly when I was in the seventh grade. But from what I can gather most of those bullies grew out of it as they got older and most of them have turned out to be decent and responsible people. I don’t think that one can look at even this horrific behavior when its coming from a child that age and simply pronounce them as an unredeemable sociopaths. Cannot people remember how cruel children in that age group can be? I sure the hell can.

Here is a link to a 10 second youtube with an attempt at an apology from one of those children. Take a look at the responses he gets. This is at least and perhaps more chilling than watching those children torment poor Karen Klein.

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=mzbDdLM4a6Y
www.youtube.com.

June 18, 2012

When Chomsky wept

This is a very interesting article by Fred Branfman - someone who has known and worked with Noam Chomsky over more than a 40 year period.

I first met Noam Chomsky in Laos, where I showed him the devastating effects of U.S. air raids

By Fred Branfman

Forty-two years ago I had an unusual experience. I became friendly with a guy named Noam Chomsky. I came to know him as a human being before becoming fully aware of his fame and the impact of his work. I have often thought of this experience since — both because of the insights it gave me into him and, more important, the deep trouble in which our nation and world find themselves today. His foremost contribution for me has been his constant focus on how U.S. leaders treat so many of the world’s population as “unpeople,” either exploiting them economically or engaging in war-making, which has murdered, maimed or made homeless over 20 million people since the end of World War II (over 5 million in Iraq and 16 million in Indochina according to official U.S. government statistics).

Our friendship was forged over concern for some of these “unpeople” when he visited Laos in February 1970. I had been living in a Lao village outside the capital city of Vientiane for three years at that point and spoke Laotian. But five months earlier I had been shocked to my core when I interviewed the first Lao refugees brought down to Vientiane from the Plain of Jars in northern Laos, which had been controlled by the communist Pathet Lao since 1964. I had discovered to my horror that U.S. executive branch leaders had been clandestinely bombing these peaceful villagers for five-and-a-half years, driving tens of thousands underground and into caves, where they had been forced to live like animals.

.....

I was particularly moved one night as I was sitting opposite him at dinner, struck as usual by the enormous distance between what Noam knows about U.S. leaders’ slaughter of innocents around the world and what the public realizes. I suddenly thought of Winston Smith from Orwell’s “1984,” who sees little hope of changing society and focuses only on trying to remain sane and commit to paper the truth in the hope that future generations will remember it. I told Noam that to me, at that moment, he represented Winston Smith to me.

I will always remember his reaction.

He just looked at me.

And smiled sadly.

Noam can be tough on those who he feels support U.S. war-making, but he is even harder on himself. On one occasion I mentioned that I had asked a lifelong political activist with whom we were both friendly whether, looking back on his life, he had any regrets. Our friend had responded that he wished he had spent more time with his family, and pursuing a variety of his non-political interests. “Do you have any regrets?” I asked Noam. His answer shocked me. Muttering more to himself than to me he said, “I didn’t do nearly enough.”

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/17/when_chomsky_wept/singleton/

June 14, 2012

I just found the ultimate code to live by -- on Facebook

June 9, 2012

Obama's attacks on Romney's Bain Capital past may be paying off, new poll suggests

Nearly half of likely voters in 12 battleground states believe private equity doesn't translate into jobs


By Jonathan Lemire / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/obama-attacks-romney-bain-capital-paying-poll-suggests-article-1.1092641#ixzz1xJmtteLT


President Obama’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital have drawn heat from fellow Democrats — but may be resonating with voters

Nearly half of likely voters in 12 battleground states buy into the Obama team’s claims that private equity does not translate into new jobs, according to a new poll.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed believe that the work done by firms like Bain hurts workers, as opposed to 38% who say it helps the economy, according to data released by Purple Strategies, a non-partisan research group.

The voters who seem the most skeptical that Romney’s time at Bain could help him restart the sluggish economy hail from some of November’s biggest prizes, including Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/obama-attacks-romney-bain-capital-paying-poll-suggests-article-1.1092641#ixzz1xJmOqeK6

June 9, 2012

Obama's attacks on Romney's Bain Capital past may be paying off, new poll suggests

Nearly half of likely voters in 12 battleground states believe private equity doesn't translate into jobs


By Jonathan Lemire / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/obama-attacks-romney-bain-capital-paying-poll-suggests-article-1.1092641#ixzz1xJmtteLT


President Obama’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital have drawn heat from fellow Democrats — but may be resonating with voters

Nearly half of likely voters in 12 battleground states buy into the Obama team’s claims that private equity does not translate into new jobs, according to a new poll.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed believe that the work done by firms like Bain hurts workers, as opposed to 38% who say it helps the economy, according to data released by Purple Strategies, a non-partisan research group.

The voters who seem the most skeptical that Romney’s time at Bain could help him restart the sluggish economy hail from some of November’s biggest prizes, including Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/obama-attacks-romney-bain-capital-paying-poll-suggests-article-1.1092641#ixzz1xJmOqeK6

June 3, 2012

Limbaugh Family Values

May 29, 2012

Obama launches latest Romney attack with video on Trump 'birther' comments

May 28, 2012

Steel (An official Obama/Biden Bain Capital ad)

May 14, 2012

Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?

This is awesome and disturbing detailed article about one of the great mysteries of human behavior.

By JENNIFER KAHN
Published: May 11, 2012


For the past 10 years, Waschbusch has been studying “callous-unemotional” children — those who exhibit a distinctive lack of affect, remorse or empathy — and who are considered at risk of becoming psychopaths as adults. To evaluate Michael, Waschbusch used a combination of psychological exams and teacher- and family-rating scales, including the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, the Child Psychopathy Scale and a modified version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device — all tools designed to measure the cold, predatory conduct most closely associated with adult psychopathy. (The terms “sociopath” and “psychopath” are essentially identical.) A research assistant interviewed Michael’s parents and teachers about his behavior at home and in school. When all the exams and reports were tabulated, Michael was almost two standard deviations outside the normal range for callous-unemotional behavior, which placed him on the severe end of the spectrum.

In some children, C.U. traits manifest in obvious ways. Paul Frick, a psychologist at the University of New Orleans who has studied risk factors for psychopathy in children for two decades, described one boy who used a knife to cut off the tail of the family cat bit by bit, over a period of weeks. The boy was proud of the serial amputations, which his parents initially failed to notice. “When we talked about it, he was very straightforward,” Frick recalls. “He said: ‘I want to be a scientist, and I was experimenting. I wanted to see how the cat would react.’ ”

In another famous case, a 9-year-old boy named Jeffrey Bailey pushed a toddler into the deep end of a motel swimming pool in Florida. As the boy struggled and sank to the bottom, Bailey pulled up a chair to watch. Questioned by the police afterward, Bailey explained that he was curious to see someone drown. When he was taken into custody, he seemed untroubled by the prospect of jail but was pleased to be the center of attention.

In many children, though, the signs are subtler. Callous-unemotional children tend to be highly manipulative, Frick notes. They also lie frequently — not just to avoid punishment, as all children will, but for any reason, or none. “Most kids, if you catch them stealing a cookie from the jar before dinner, they’ll look guilty,” Frick says. “They want the cookie, but they also feel bad. Even kids with severe A.D.H.D.: they may have poor impulse control, but they still feel bad when they realize that their mom is mad at them.” Callous-unemotional children are unrepentant. “They don’t care if someone is mad at them,” Frick says. “They don’t care if they hurt someone’s feelings.” Like adult psychopaths, they can seem to lack humanity. “If they can get what they want without being cruel, that’s often easier,” Frick observes. “But at the end of the day, they’ll do whatever works best.”





http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/can-you-call-a-9-year-old-a-psychopath.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1