Thursday, April 26, 2007
Hate crime bill - Unequal valuation, protection, assistance, and access to justice under the law
CWA: 'Hate Crimes' -- Unequal Protection Under the Law
WASHINGTON, April 26 /Christian Newswire/ --
WASHINGTON, April 26 /Christian Newswire/ --
"Hate crimes" bill H.R. 1592, which is on the fast track to passage in Congress, will officially give homosexuals and cross dressers special elevated status in society based upon their chosen sexual behaviors and/or wardrobe. Under H.R. 1592, the victims at Virginia Tech would officially be considered less valuable to society than homosexuals and cross dressers who are the targets of insults, intimidation, simple assault or other "violent acts."
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees "equal protection under the law" for all citizens -- regardless of their sexual preference. "Hate crimes" legislation flies in the face of the 14th Amendment. Such legislation would require the government to invest more resources in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against homosexuals than it would the victims at Virginia Tech. It is an irrefutable fact that H.R. 1592 would treat certain citizens unequally from others.
Labels: abuse, Cho, hate crime, homosexuality, law
Saturday, April 21, 2007
And another can of worms
In a era of information overload, it is the media's judgment of just how important an issue is that makes the critical difference to how seriously average Americans will take it and what action they will be willing to support - especially if the action involves inconvenience, discomfort, or pain in the pocketbook. - Daniel Yankelovich
Television this week has used the Virginia Tech tragedy to launch a round-the-clock drive for ratings, while unseen Americans suffer and die each day from inadequate health care.
Someone should light candles in their memory, too.
[...]
We live in the only industrialized nation in the world that allows insurance companies to treat mental health as less "real" than so-called physical disorders and therefore restrict or deny coverage for mental health treatment.
Insurers are able to take advantage of our society's Puritanical belief that mental illness is a 'failure of will,' or that it's 'all in your imagination.' That's a false duality.
Labels: Cho, mental health
VaTech tragedy: A wake up call for America’s mental health
Each year, less than half of the 26 percent of all American adults with mental health problems receive the treatment they require to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
The effects of this national failure can be felt throughout schools, the workplace, family life and the criminal justice system, said Allen. Without a comprehensive mental health system focused on mental wellness and prevention, America faces increased numbers of people with untreated mental illnesses, at an even greater cost to society as a whole, she said.
The effects of this national failure can be felt throughout schools, the workplace, family life and the criminal justice system, said Allen. Without a comprehensive mental health system focused on mental wellness and prevention, America faces increased numbers of people with untreated mental illnesses, at an even greater cost to society as a whole, she said.
Labels: Cho, mental health
Fleetwood - Bullying
Too often, American schools foster a culture of cliques and teasing isolation that torments millions of bullied children who have no place to turn. This culture of bullying peer conformity has led to a record number of suicides, murders, and psychological scars that never heal.
Since 1960, suicides among American teenagers have more than doubled. Today, more than 2,000 teens kill themselves each year. 250,000 attempt suicide.
In a recent survey by Bolt Media of more than 4,000 teenagers, 47% answered, "Yes" to the question "Could one of your classmates be a killer?" This large number indicates that teens themselves are aware of their peers' inability to cope. But educators are not recognizing the cancer that is crippling and killing so many of our youth. The American Medical Association found that 1 in 10 boys have been kicked in the groin by age 16. Twenty-five percent of these kicks resulted in an injury and, most tellingly, a quarter of the injured boys exhibited signs of depression a year after the injury. National statistics show that 30-35% of students are either bullies or victims of a bully.
Since 1960, suicides among American teenagers have more than doubled. Today, more than 2,000 teens kill themselves each year. 250,000 attempt suicide.
In a recent survey by Bolt Media of more than 4,000 teenagers, 47% answered, "Yes" to the question "Could one of your classmates be a killer?" This large number indicates that teens themselves are aware of their peers' inability to cope. But educators are not recognizing the cancer that is crippling and killing so many of our youth. The American Medical Association found that 1 in 10 boys have been kicked in the groin by age 16. Twenty-five percent of these kicks resulted in an injury and, most tellingly, a quarter of the injured boys exhibited signs of depression a year after the injury. National statistics show that 30-35% of students are either bullies or victims of a bully.
The can of worms is open
Comment:
School administrators are scared of parents suing them and the school. I know of an instance where a student struck a teacher and the administrator called the police. She was disciplined for allowing it get as far as a police report. She was told that such matters are settled in-house without any publicity. Her boss sent her home and found her another job where she could no longer harm the school system's reputation over a student behaving violently towards a teacher. This caused problems later when a DD student was raped and the police were not called but the video of the rape got out onto the net. I suppose a dead body might be cause to call in the police but then again, it might embarrass the system so lets just bury the matter 6 feet under.
By: nyboomer on April 21, 2007 at 04:15pm
School administrators are scared of parents suing them and the school. I know of an instance where a student struck a teacher and the administrator called the police. She was disciplined for allowing it get as far as a police report. She was told that such matters are settled in-house without any publicity. Her boss sent her home and found her another job where she could no longer harm the school system's reputation over a student behaving violently towards a teacher. This caused problems later when a DD student was raped and the police were not called but the video of the rape got out onto the net. I suppose a dead body might be cause to call in the police but then again, it might embarrass the system so lets just bury the matter 6 feet under.
By: nyboomer on April 21, 2007 at 04:15pm
What happened at Cho's high and middle school?
The Whole Class Started Laughing and Saying, "Go Back to China" - Blake Fleetwood
I am finding it so eery and suspicious that we don't have volumes of articles and information from Cho's high school and middle school experience. Why didn't anyone do anything before? How negligent were they? Because of the dearth of information so far, it just seems to me like the picture was ugly all along.
At Westfield High, there were many signs that Cho was deeply disturbed, dangerously alienated and horribly tormented. Teachers and school officials should have noticed and taken action for his undiagnosed autism and alienation. A guidance counselor should have talked to Cho and his parents. Educators could/should have consulted with his teachers - who all saw the problems - and gotten help for this tormented child.
I am finding it so eery and suspicious that we don't have volumes of articles and information from Cho's high school and middle school experience. Why didn't anyone do anything before? How negligent were they? Because of the dearth of information so far, it just seems to me like the picture was ugly all along.
Labels: Cho
Kevin Jennings - When Will We Learn? The call for anti-bullying laws and policies
A further insight into Cho's background comes from high school classmates in suburban Washington who say he was bullied and laughed at over his Korean accent and shyness. When called on in class, they say, he would hang his head in silence. -MSNBC report
Leave it to a cabbie to single out an important facet of the Virginia Tech tragedy and other school shootings that has been largely overlooked.
During my cab on the way to my partner's 46th birthday party last night, Friday, April 20th, the driver turned to me and asked, "Why do you think that boy killed all those people?"
A bit surprised to be engaged on the topic, I replied, "Well, for starters, I think the fact that he could just walk into a store in Virginia and walk out with a gun has something to do with it."
"NO!" the cabbie thundered back, making me jump a bit. "It is because of all the others. The ones filled with hate. The ones who mocked him and filled him with hate. They are the murderers."
The cabbie had zeroed in on something about the school shootings tragedy that has been rarely mentioned in the wall-to-wall coverage that has dominated the airwaves this week: the fact that nearly every one of these tragedies has been perpetrated by boys who have been bullied and harassed.
Leave it to a cabbie to single out an important facet of the Virginia Tech tragedy and other school shootings that has been largely overlooked.
During my cab on the way to my partner's 46th birthday party last night, Friday, April 20th, the driver turned to me and asked, "Why do you think that boy killed all those people?"
A bit surprised to be engaged on the topic, I replied, "Well, for starters, I think the fact that he could just walk into a store in Virginia and walk out with a gun has something to do with it."
"NO!" the cabbie thundered back, making me jump a bit. "It is because of all the others. The ones filled with hate. The ones who mocked him and filled him with hate. They are the murderers."
The cabbie had zeroed in on something about the school shootings tragedy that has been rarely mentioned in the wall-to-wall coverage that has dominated the airwaves this week: the fact that nearly every one of these tragedies has been perpetrated by boys who have been bullied and harassed.
Mental Illness Strains School Counselors
From Red Orbit
Across America, college counseling centers are strained by rising numbers of mentally ill students and surging demand for mental health services - a challenging trend as campus officials try to identify potential threats like the unstable Virginia Tech gunman.
And even when serious emotional problems are detected, university officials often feel constrained in how they respond due to an array of laws and policies protecting students' rights and privacy.
"The number of people coming to colleges who've had psychiatric treatment has increased tremendously," said Dr. Gerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chair of the American Psychiatric Association committee on college mental health.
"Now they're able to come to college - that would not have been the case earlier," Kay said. "You've got a very large number of people who may have some vulnerabilities. It has stressed the availability of resources."
Reasons for the surge include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which gives mentally ill students the right to be at college, and increasingly sophisticated medications which enable them to function better than in the past.
[...]
"We have to provide services to students with mental illness - it's not grounds to exclude them from our property," Flynn said. "We cannot discriminate against the mentally ill, nor do we want to."
[...]
Across America, college counseling centers are strained by rising numbers of mentally ill students and surging demand for mental health services - a challenging trend as campus officials try to identify potential threats like the unstable Virginia Tech gunman.
And even when serious emotional problems are detected, university officials often feel constrained in how they respond due to an array of laws and policies protecting students' rights and privacy.
"The number of people coming to colleges who've had psychiatric treatment has increased tremendously," said Dr. Gerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chair of the American Psychiatric Association committee on college mental health.
"Now they're able to come to college - that would not have been the case earlier," Kay said. "You've got a very large number of people who may have some vulnerabilities. It has stressed the availability of resources."
Reasons for the surge include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which gives mentally ill students the right to be at college, and increasingly sophisticated medications which enable them to function better than in the past.
[...]
"We have to provide services to students with mental illness - it's not grounds to exclude them from our property," Flynn said. "We cannot discriminate against the mentally ill, nor do we want to."
[...]
Labels: Cho, mental health
Lowry: Stop tiptoeing around the problem of mental illness
The authorities at Virginia Tech did their own version of this urban shuffle in their handling of Cho Seung-Hui. It's obviously much easier to realize that someone is dangerously deranged after he has killed 32 people than when dealing with uncertain knowledge in an environment where any wrong (or even correct) move means a lawsuit. But Virginia Tech often tiptoed around Cho's mental disturbance.
When his ''poetry'' was read aloud in a class, it was so terrifying that at the next meeting of the class only seven of 70 students showed up. Cho was removed from that class, and another professor began to tutor him one-on-one, but only after establishing a secret code word with her assistant to signal when she should call security.
When his ''poetry'' was read aloud in a class, it was so terrifying that at the next meeting of the class only seven of 70 students showed up. Cho was removed from that class, and another professor began to tutor him one-on-one, but only after establishing a secret code word with her assistant to signal when she should call security.
Labels: Cho, mental health
Several Professors Had Worried About Cho - Took Action
From ABC:
Just five weeks into the fall 2005 semester, professor Nikki Giovanni asked to have Cho removed from her introductory creative writing course after female students complained that he was snapping photos of their legs under the desk with a cell phone camera. Giovanni told The Associated Press that she approached then-department head Lucinda Roy, who pulled Cho from the class.
Roy also alerted student affairs, the dean's office and Virginia Tech police — all of whom told Roy there was little that could be done unless Cho was making clear threats.
In addition to faculty members who alerted administrators about Cho's menacing behavior, Virginia Tech police notified university officials in December 2005 when a judge issued a temporary detention order that allowed them to send Cho to an off-campus mental facility — an order authorized after three run-ins between police and Cho in less than three weeks.
"We notified the university administrator on call of our actions with Mr. Cho regarding the temporary detention order," Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flimchum said yesterday. "We had taken it as far as the police department could take it. We notified the university administrator on call and after that, I don't know what happened to the case."
This was contradicted by Chris Flynn, the head of the on-campus counseling facility, who said to his knowledge, the department was never notified of the detention.
Labels: Cho
Friday, April 20, 2007
Was Cho severely abused as a child?
From Time:
Consider only what we know so far:
Some time during the first semester of the 2005-06 academic year, English professor Lucinda Roy told campus police that she was worried about Cho's bizarre writings. We don't know exactly what Cho wrote that concerned Roy — the university is, shamefully, withholding that information [shamefully indeed - and if they are withholding it, it smells like a nice cover-up of something to me]
— but we do know, thanks to a former classmate who works at AOL, that Cho wrote two plays strongly suggesting that he might have been raped when he was a boy and that he had intense revenge fantasies. ("Must kill Dick. Must kill Dick. Dick must die," the protagonist in one play says.)
