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News & ArtsWednesday, December 16, 2009
Hetero Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 11:37 AM
A toddler in Brazil has fifty needles stuck in his body—some embedded in his lungs and other internal organs—and his parents don't have a clue how they got there. Doctors have ruled out ingestion as the needles are all over his body and appear to be have been stuck in "one by one." The boy's father suspects black magic.
2
Indeed. Why is it that with few exceptions, these nightmares of child abuse are hand in hand with "people of faith"?
7
I saw this episode of "House." The answer was "somebody tried to kill an infant without leaving a wound mark."
8
As horrible as this is, shouldn't "Every child deserves..." be specific to domestic cases? We are talking about the irony of a US law, no?
9
@8, it's less about specific US cases and more about the preaching that children are better off with a specific kind of parent (hetero, married couples). The point is that children are best in a house which loves them, not just good ol' Mom and Dad.
11
This is really important.
Almost as important as the skyrocketing rate of AIDS among Seattle homosexuals...
"Despite education and outreach efforts, the number of gay men contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases has been increasing for much of this decade.
"Incidents of sexually transmitted diseases like Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) have risen to levels not previously seen since the early- to mid-1980s, according to a report presented to the health board last week.
"In 2005-06, for example, there were more than 1,200 cases of gonorrhea in this group, according to the report - the most cases since 1981-1982. In 2007-2008 there were almost 400 cases of syphilis in the MSM group - and incidents of this disease in the past several years have been the highest the health department has seen in almost 30 years."
Dan seems to be failing his hometown base.
Perhaps a little less attention to youth pastors in Australia and Brazilian voodoo a little more attention to the Gays in Seattle would be in order?
Almost as important as the skyrocketing rate of AIDS among Seattle homosexuals...
"Despite education and outreach efforts, the number of gay men contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases has been increasing for much of this decade.
"Incidents of sexually transmitted diseases like Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) have risen to levels not previously seen since the early- to mid-1980s, according to a report presented to the health board last week.
"In 2005-06, for example, there were more than 1,200 cases of gonorrhea in this group, according to the report - the most cases since 1981-1982. In 2007-2008 there were almost 400 cases of syphilis in the MSM group - and incidents of this disease in the past several years have been the highest the health department has seen in almost 30 years."
Dan seems to be failing his hometown base.
Perhaps a little less attention to youth pastors in Australia and Brazilian voodoo a little more attention to the Gays in Seattle would be in order?
12
When we were toddlers my sister and I were playing on the swing set in the back yard one day. I looked down and saw something shiny. It was a safety razor. I was amazed at how it cut through my flesh so easily without causing any pain so I showed her on her hands as well. We were very bloody by the time my mother came out to see what we were up to. Kids do the damnedest things.
14
Brazilian VooDoo?
Physician, Heal Thyself-
"HIV diagnoses among Seattle homosexual men has been increasing about 8 percent a year since 2001 - while the number of HIV cases due to high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use has been consistent or DROPPING during that period, according to the Public Health report.
"The report said the increase in sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men has happened even though the county has outreach programs in place.
"We've got a problem with risk behavior continuing to occur despite all of the efforts that we've put into it."
Seems pretty bizzare that Seattle's Posterboy Homo goes all over the country telling people how to have safe responsible sex-
Maybe they should recruit
homeless IV drug users and
street walking whores
to go about lecturing the credulous frat boys of America-
they seem to be the demographic that has it's act together...
Physician, Heal Thyself-
"HIV diagnoses among Seattle homosexual men has been increasing about 8 percent a year since 2001 - while the number of HIV cases due to high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use has been consistent or DROPPING during that period, according to the Public Health report.
"The report said the increase in sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men has happened even though the county has outreach programs in place.
"We've got a problem with risk behavior continuing to occur despite all of the efforts that we've put into it."
Seems pretty bizzare that Seattle's Posterboy Homo goes all over the country telling people how to have safe responsible sex-
Maybe they should recruit
homeless IV drug users and
street walking whores
to go about lecturing the credulous frat boys of America-
they seem to be the demographic that has it's act together...
18
@17 It's the one with the Chinese woman who goes back to China to find her real parents, and then collapses in the middle of the restaurant where she goes to meet up with them. Turns out they tried to kill her because she was a girl.
19
You think this is sad? Well, of course it is; it's horrible and infuriating and disgusting and a whole host of other adjectives that seem wholly inadequate to describe this.
But what might be sadder is this is the sort of thing the U.S. Supreme Court has signed off on. Check out the terrible decision - the decision that is still U.S. law - in DeShaney v. Winnebago County. Here's the short version:
Joshua Deshaney's father, Randy (henceforth known as Child Abusing Monster), was given custody in a divorce proceeding. A police report of child abuse and a hospital visit prompted the county Department of Social Services to intervene, but they made an agreement to keep Joshua in CAM's custody. State social workers visited the home repeatedly and reported suspicion of child abuse, but the state took no action.
In March of 1984, CAM "beat 4-year-old Joshua so severely that he fell into a life-threatening coma. . . . Joshua did not die, but he suffered brain damage so severe that he is expected to spend the rest of his life confined to an institution for the profoundly retarded." Yes, you read that right, Joshua was *four*.
And what did the late Chief Justice Rehnquist have to say about all this? Not only was the state not liable for failing to intervene (even though the state had gotten involved after that first hospital visit), but (I nearly screamed at my casebook when I read this) THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE DOESN'T GIVE A CHILD A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PROTECTION AGAINST ABUSE. The same conservatives who want to keep gay parents from adopting don't think the state is required to intervene, even when state social service organizations are ALREADY INVOLVED due to child abuse.
The liberals on the court - Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, and Thurgood Marshall - naturally dissented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeShaney_v.…
Have at it.
More...
But what might be sadder is this is the sort of thing the U.S. Supreme Court has signed off on. Check out the terrible decision - the decision that is still U.S. law - in DeShaney v. Winnebago County. Here's the short version:
Joshua Deshaney's father, Randy (henceforth known as Child Abusing Monster), was given custody in a divorce proceeding. A police report of child abuse and a hospital visit prompted the county Department of Social Services to intervene, but they made an agreement to keep Joshua in CAM's custody. State social workers visited the home repeatedly and reported suspicion of child abuse, but the state took no action.
In March of 1984, CAM "beat 4-year-old Joshua so severely that he fell into a life-threatening coma. . . . Joshua did not die, but he suffered brain damage so severe that he is expected to spend the rest of his life confined to an institution for the profoundly retarded." Yes, you read that right, Joshua was *four*.
And what did the late Chief Justice Rehnquist have to say about all this? Not only was the state not liable for failing to intervene (even though the state had gotten involved after that first hospital visit), but (I nearly screamed at my casebook when I read this) THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE DOESN'T GIVE A CHILD A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PROTECTION AGAINST ABUSE. The same conservatives who want to keep gay parents from adopting don't think the state is required to intervene, even when state social service organizations are ALREADY INVOLVED due to child abuse.
The liberals on the court - Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, and Thurgood Marshall - naturally dissented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeShaney_v.…
Have at it.
20
It wasn't just a House episode - see this BBC story about 26 needles that weren't found until a woman was 31:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6983435.stm
According to the article, the reason was believed to be an attempt at female infanticide.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6983435.stm
According to the article, the reason was believed to be an attempt at female infanticide.
21
First thing I'd ask is, does the toddler have any older siblings?
Being the youngest of 13 myself, I always suspect the elder siblings in something like that.
Being the youngest of 13 myself, I always suspect the elder siblings in something like that.
23
Holy shit! I'd be happy to drive nails into the parents with a hammer as punishment. Lots of nails. Train spike size nails...
24
If you read the articles, the stepfather's confessed to inserting the needles at the advice of his lover, who went into trances and became convinced that this was a ritual to allow them to be together. Black magic indeed.
25
it is sad wat happens to the innocent children. the people involved should all rot in jail and hell
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