April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

health care

Genocide

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From The Hamilton Spectator

But no militant casualties were seen yesterday by an Associated Press reporter at Shifa Hospital, the Gaza Strip’s largest. Instead, the hospital was overwhelmed with civilians. Bodies were two to a morgue drawer, and the wounded were being treated in hallways because beds were full.

Gaza health officials reported more than 550 Palestinians dead and about 2,500 wounded since Israel began the campaign 10 days ago, including 200 civilians.

Diplomats and European leaders raced around the region in search of a ceasefire, but with Palestinian rocket fire continuing, Israel said it won’t stop its crippling assault until “peace and tranquility” are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of fire.

You are not going to get peace with millions of armed men. The chariot of peace cannot advance over a road littered with cannon. ~David Lloyd George

Two Year Old Killed Over Child Support

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Ja Shawn Powell
Ja Shawn Powell
My heart goes out to this mother who has lost her child to such cold calculated violence. Danny Platt slashed two year old Ja Shawn Platt’s throat because he was upset at being ordered to pay child support.

“There was an issue, believe it or not, with him (Danny Platt) recently being ordered to pay child support, and he had made some comments that he would he kill either the wife or the child before he paid child support,” said Riley at a press conference Saturday. “He was recently ordered to pay child support. Our understanding is he, for the first time in two years, picked up his son, who he had visitation rights for.”

Though Danny Platt had visitation rights the night of the murder was the first time he had ever come to pick him up according to mother Daniella Powell. She allowed him to take Ja Shawn, however, as he had visitation rights.

“Then he called me back at 11 p.m.,” she said. “And he was like,‘Your son was kidnapped, bye.’ He didn’t even say anything after.”

“I called him back and said, ‘How do you let a two-year-old get kidnapped? What was you doing that he got kidnapped?’” she said. “He said, ‘Why you blaming this on me? Why you blaming this on me? I ain’t got time for this, bye.’”

Powell called Platt back a third time and asked if he called police. “He said, “Yeah, I called the police. As a matter of fact, they’re here right now and I’m about to flag them down.” But Daniella said when she talked to police, they told her the father had not called them.

Because Powell had called police, officers flagged the father down, she said.

News video and more on this tragic story

Brain Food

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A study carried out at Universite Laval in Quebec has found that heavy thinking requires calories. Though the difference in caloric need was negligible between rest periods and study periods, the study periods resulted in much higher fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels. Glucose is brain food.

Jean-Philippe Chaput, the study’s main author, said: “These fluctuations may be caused by the stress of intellectual work, or also reflect a biological adaptation during glucose combustion.”

The body could be reacting to these fluctuations by spurring food intake in order to restore its glucose balance, the only fuel used by the brain.

Mr Chaput added: “Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work, combined with the fact we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialised countries.

“This is a factor that should not be ignored, considering that more and more people hold jobs of an intellectual nature.”

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go feed my brain!

Couple Assaulted at Son’s School

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Today’s Star carries a horrific story about an assault perpetrated upon two women because they are lesbians. The assault happened at an elementary school as school was letting out and many children, including the couples son, witnessed this hateful and unprovoked attack.

This is the result when fear and ignorance are allowed to run unfettered. No person should worry that their ‘lifestyle’ is going to put them in harms way. I personally do not like fundamentalists, nor do I like the way they whisper their hatreds into their children ears in an effort to raise another generation of people ruled by fear and ignorance, however, I would never assault them.

Mark Scott, 43, of Oshawa has been charged with this crime.

Insp. Brian Osborne, of Durham Regional Police, said last night that the department will investigate the possibility that the assaults could be classified as hate crimes. The decision to pursue those charges is usually made with the Crown attorney’s office, Osborne said.

The Crown must classify this as a hate crime. These women were attacked solely because of their sexual orientation. To not do so would be to give permission for these types of attacks in the future.

My warmest wishes to this family as they heal from this senseless and tragic event.

8 Year Old Shoots Self with Uzi

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An eight year old boy attending a gun show with his father shot himself in the head with an Uzi after losing control the weapon.

The gun show held in Westfield bills itself thusly, “No age limit or licenses required to shoot machine guns, handguns, rifles or shotguns!!!”

Well then what could go wrong?

At this point no charges have been laid.

Source

Blood test for Down’s Syndrome in the Works.

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Image via Wikipedia

A test is in the works which will identify Down syndrome earlier in pregnancy. This is great news for parents. For those that would make the choice to abort the earlier timeline means an easier procedure.

And for parents who choose to carry to term it means no risk of miscarriage. Some women choose not to get tested at all since they would carry the pregnancy anyway. For these women the test represents a way to be fully informed and have to become educated and set up support systems before the birth.

While it used to be assumed that children with Down’s syndrome had no ability to learn or to integrate into society, through the efforts and advocacy of parents and support workers this attitude has changed and now many children with Down’s are managing well.

Of course there are many degrees of severity and not all are so lucky.

Though some have raised the spectre of eugenics with this test it simply replaces invasive technologies already available.

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