bullying, babies, and what's happening in Canada

http://nerdyapplebottom.com/2010/11/02/my-son-is-gay/

If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to ‘make’ him gay then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off.

Just as it was heartbreaking to those parents that have lost their children recently due to bullying. IT IS NOT OK TO BULLY. Even if you wrap it up in a bow and call it ‘concern.’ Those women were trying to bully me. And my son. MY son.


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/fighting-bullying-with-babies/?hp

“Empathy can’t be taught, but it can be caught,” Gordon often says – and not just by children. “Programmatically my biggest surprise was that not only did empathy increase in children, but it increased in their teachers,” she added. “And that, to me, was glorious, because teachers hold such sway over children.”

“For a program that costs only hundreds of dollars per child, the cost-benefit of preventing later problems that cost thousands of dollars per child, is obvious,” said Santos.

CCC in Haiti?

Is this not the perfect time to implement an agency such as US. President Roosevelt's The Civilian Conservation Corps 1933-42 (nice overview: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/ccc/introduction) to materialize a eco-infrastructure in Haiti? Instead of throwing money good after bad—as if history never repeats—ie. sub-sub-sub-sub contractors of Iraq (Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein) why not employ the unemployed, utilize expert knowledge, and mobilizing locals (especially those that feel disenfranchised*) a new era of stewardship would insure a balanced peaceful future for the plighted Haitians.

*"The tents created an instant appearance of haves and have-nots, a shift from the sense of commonly shared suffering of the recent week. " Government Turns to Long-Term Needs, WSJ.com (from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423204575017384160415238.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop)

Technical Volunteer Registry
http://dex.cidi.org/
http://www.ewb-usa.org/haiti.php