As parents of an autistic child, I truly cannot understand this one. This news article is just infuriating.

A 13 year old autistic boy that is over 6 feet tall and 225 lbs has disrupted church services to the point that the church has gotten a restraining order to keep him from church. According to the article, the boy gets quite violent and disruptive. The church feels he is a danger to other parishioners. The parents feel it is a violation of his rights to keep a disabled person from church.

Autistic children are hypersensitive to sounds, smells visual triggers and much more. If you have an autistic child that has a melt-down in a public place, it is for a reason. You as the parent may not recognize the reason. Others in the room may not be able to pin point the reason - but there is ALWAYS a reason, even if no one but the autistic person is aware of it. The smell of the incense, the little old ladies perfume, the odor of candles - any of these smells may be so overwhelming that the child cannot handle the stimulation. So, he has a melt-down - he bolts from the pews - he hops in the car and starts it (by the way, how DID he get the keys?). All in a hurry to get home, where things are safe and sound and normal smelling. An autistic person in melt down is in a complete panic stricken mode. They are terrified and only want to get to a quiet, calm, safe place.

If my autistic child was so overwhelmed that he behaved in the ways described in this article, there is NO way I would torture my child by forcing him to go to church. Plus, to mention the dangers involved with autistic children in full blown meltdowns. Ask anyone who has ever worked with autistic children or adults about the dangers. The danger to an autistic child when he is in meltdown is HUGE. He may run into oncoming traffic without looking or fall down a flight of stairs in his panic to escape. These parents are being completely irresponsible and totally uncaring of their child’s well being. All in the name of being a good Christian person by forcing their child to not commit the sin of failure to go to Mass.

I’m not saying that autistic people should be barred from anything or anywhere. I’m just saying use some common sense. Don’t put your child in a dangerous situation. Work with the church to provide for his spiritual, emotional and physical needs. Have the priest come to your home to give him communion. Arrange to go to services that have fewer people. Get the church to have a fund raiser and put a sound-proof cubicle in the back of the church. Do SOMETHING other than put this child and other people in a dangerous situation. Treating this child like this and forcing him into such an overwhelming situation is JUST WRONG!!!!!!

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This living in the Bible Belt just seems so hypocritical lately. I was just reading an article about all the legitimately documented Hate Groups there are here in OK… Extremist groups documented as active in Oklahoma in 2007 included;

* Six Ku Klux Klan groups, five of which are associated with the largest national group, the Brotherhood of Klans, and one associated with the much smaller Bayou Knights; the Klan groups operated out of Atoka, Cement, Coalgate, Hinton, Moyers and Shawnee (the Bayou chapter);

* Four neo-Nazi groups: the once-influential but now struggling Aryan Nations, based in Bixby; the National Socialist Movement, the nation’s largest neo-Nazi organization, with chapters in Oklahoma City and Tulsa; and the American National Socialist Workers Party, based in Tulsa.

* The League of the South, a neo-Confederate, neo-secessionist group based in Bixby;

* An Eastern Oklahoma multi-media outlet that provides, among other offerings, Christian Identity literature;

* The European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a white nationalist group based in Tulsa.

We live in a place that is supposed to be filled with people who live in faith and charity and by standards that tell us to “Love thy neighbor”.

What has happened to our Constitution?

What about life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?

What about all men are created equal?

HMMMMM…. makes you think don’t it?

Doesn’t take a lot of thinking to realize it’s JUST WRONG!

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Police, Fireman, Paramedics, Soldiers…. they are the backbone of services in our country. They have tough jobs…. to aid and protect all of us. Without them, our society would quickly collapse. Recently it seems that policemen are so overwhelmed by the crime and the bad guys, that the “aid” portion of their job description has been forgotten. Of course, they all aren’t corrupt. There are a lot of superb policemen out there.

Police departments need to expect higher standards from the cops on the job. Police officers deal with horrific situations on a daily basis, but it is also their job to help citizens in a time of emergency. There have been too many cases of brutality in the news lately.

This woman should have been assisted in finding her father. Before she was arrested, her fathers’ health and safety should have been ensured. What if he had been as she feared, sitting in his car in that parking lot having the heart attack? He could have died. A traffic ticket could have waited until the emergency situation was resolved.

Here is a copy of the Policeman’s Oath from the Town of Lexington, NC. It states: “I further swear (or affirm) that I will enforce the ordinances of the Town of Lexington and the State of South Carolina, protect the life and property of its citizens,…” Protecting a life should be an officers’ FIRST priority.

Being a hero is a tough job. That’s what all these guys are… heroes…. if you can’t stand up and be the hero, its time to move to a different profession. To cause harm to others in the name of your profession… well, it’s JUST WRONG!

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I’ve spent a lot of time lately working on the nuts and bolts of keeping up this blog, finding a new theme, adjusting it to meet my needs, and just general maintenance. In doing so, I’ve been re-reading a lot of my older posts. It has become apparent to me, that I’ve developed a general theme to my ranting. I’ve covered all kinds of subjects, from junk in our food, to politics, to war…. and it keeps coming down to one thing that seems to raise my hackles…

Apathy: n.

• Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.

• Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness.

It seems like most Americans just don’t really care about something unless it directly affects their everyday lives.

I just stopped as I read what I just wrote. Am I guilty of that? I had to answer yes. Was I happy with that? No Way!… I hate to think of myself as uncaring about what happens in the rest of the world. I probably am not as guilty of it as others. I do after all sit down and read the news and encourage communication on issues by writing this blog. There are days where a homeless person, or the little old lady asking for some spare change comes up to me, and I tell them no. (I may be low on funds… but who really needs that 50 cents worse?) There are days when I sidestep those people because I am busy on my own mission.

So why do we do this? Do we just not care? I don’t think so. Are our lives so full and busy that we just don’t have the time? This could be it. I have a full schedule with working, homeschooling, kid’s doctor appointments, cooking from scratch for food allergies. Is the rest of the world in the same boat? Have we filled our days with so much running that we we don’t have time to take action about things not directly affecting our day-to-day lives? Have we scheduled our lives so full that there isn’t time in the schedule to help out for a day at the homeless shelter or to give the little old lady down the block a lift to the grocery store?

Has giving cash donations become a way to ease our conscience? We don’t have the time to help others, so just put a couple of dollars in the kettle and call it good and let someone else do the work? Or…. do we all think it is the governments job to help our neighbors? Dad is out of work… they get food stamps, now, right? My grandmother would have put together a food basket and taken it over…. or invited the kids over after school to fill them up with some food or shown up at the bus stop with goodies for all the kids to have while waiting on the bus. Why don’t we do these things any more?

For that matter, have we even taken the time to know who the little old lady down the block is? What is her name? Does she have family helping her? The homeless guy on the corner by the grocery store…. He is there every time you go to the store… Is he a vet in trouble? Is he an addict? Is he a missing person with alzheimer’s?

I’m thinking that I need to back up my thinking with action. I don’t have the money to donate cash to a cause. I don’t know when I could find time in my schedule to put in long hours as a volunteer. Some days, I don’t even have time to sleep…. But there must be something I can do… I need to get off my ass and so do the rest of you…. we need to get back to taking care of ourselves as a society… If we don’t… well, that’s JUST WRONG!

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My old theme has been put to rest today. It is a sad day, I was quite attached to Quentin. Unfortunately, after the last Wordpress update, I just could not get it to work right any longer. I’ve looked around and tried to find a new theme that would work, and I think maybe I’ve found it. Give me a shout and let me know what you think of it. Go ahead, tell the truth… If I ask for your opinion and then run and hide… well, that would be JUST WRONG!…. Tee hee.

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I’ve only been overweight once in my life, about 80 pounds over weight. I know this doesn’t compare to those who live with the trials of living with extreme obesity, but I hope it gives me some insight or at least a little empathy. My weight increase was health related, and as I regained my activity level, the weight just dropped back off gradually.

If the weight gain had continued much longer, or the health implications had been worse, I may have considered something a little more extreme than diet and exercise.

Personally, I would prefer non-surgical means to lose weight, but if I was faced with the fact that those were just not going to work, I think I would carefully consider surgical options. Of course, any type of surgery has its dangers and risks. Lap-band surgery seems to be the least risky of the surgeries I have read about.

If you are at the end of your rope, it could very well be something worth serious consideration. Talk with your doctor, check out your options online. Do some reading and some research. There are a number of good doctors and resources to help you find the best option for you.

Journey Lite specializes in Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding which is also known as LAGB or the LAP BAND System procedure. The LAPBAND Adjustable Gastric Band is designed to help you lose excess body weight, improve weight-related health conditions and enhance quality of life. It reduces the stomach capacity and restricts the amount of food that can be consumed at one time. Check out Journeylite.com for a los angeles lap band doctor.

So if you want to improve your life, get up, get on the phone and check it out. Where there is a will there is a way. You might not ever be a super model… but hey, that’s ok… I’m not either. But I feel good about who I am…. If you don’t feel good about who you are just do something about it… if you don’t… well, it’s your loss. And if other people want to judge you for your decisions, whatever they might be…. well…. that’s JUST WRONG.

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I have a little experience with this topic. Last year, one of our kids started gaining weight at an alarming level. So, as the diligent parent that I am… (ok, well, a little OCD - but for the right reasons) I took the kiddo to the Doctor. It was not a pleasant visit. We were facing precursor signs of diabetes, obesity, and constipation with mega-colon. One of the culprits? An elementary school full of low-income kids and the school lunch and breakfast program. Kids are allowed to eat as much as they want, because many of them don’t get an evening meal at home. All those good preservative filled yummy chicken nuggets and macaroni with fake cheese powder…. Beg for 2nds or 3rds and you will get them, because the teacher assumes (possibly with good reason) that your parents don’t have the money to feed you well at home. Extra cartons of milk and juice too… And don’t forget the fruit… they can have as much of that as they want for afternoon snack, it’s healthy, right?

We had the fight with the school… and lost… The kids now get sack lunch. (Still fighting actually. I send a one cup serving of homemade granola cereal, 8 oz. of Non-dairy milk, an orange and a homemade apple or blueberry chicken sausage wholegrain muffin, then get told that my kid is still hungry, and they had to give her extra food because what I sent wasn’t enough food to fill her up for breakfast.)… hmmmm…. I would be stuffed! The school nutrition program has  Trix, Cinnamon toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs or Lucky Charms Cereal with a Pop-Tart, juice and milk on the menu.

ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, DEXTROSE, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN,

PALM, COTTONSEED AND/OR HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL† WITH TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID FOR FRESHNESS), SUGAR, CRACKER MEAL, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF WHEAT STARCH, SALT, DRIED STRAWBERRIES, DRIED APPLES, DRIED PEARS, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CITRIC ACID, MILLED CORN, MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH, GELATIN, CARAMEL COLOR, MONO- AND

DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, DATEM, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL†, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, XANTHAN GUM, SOY LECITHIN, COLOR ADDED, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, RED #40, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, YELLOW #6, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), FOLIC ACID, TURMERIC COLOR, BLUE #1.

†LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING

YUCH!

My faith in all that tastes good to eat was delegated along with most of our pantry to the garbage disposal. I started cooking everything from scratch, measuring portion sizes. One doc said to go by the USDA food pyramid, which indicated only 1600 calories per day for an inactive child. Next came the dietician, who felt no child should have less than 3400 calories per day in order to get the proper nutrients in them. And then we had the doc who said to switch to sugar free flavored water instead of the juice. Oh, it’s healthy and will eliminate the calories from juice since my kid wouldn’t drink plain water . (He forgot to mention the part about it elevating Ascorbic Acid levels and that high levels can destroy certain cells in the brain or affect brain development - not good in an already autistic child!)

After a time, I figured it out… Let me tell you it took some doing… I now cook EVERYTHING from scratch… Homemade bread, cereal, meals, snacks and candy. We cut the portion sizes down, and no 2nd helpings. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains. And my kid is 20 lbs lighter, has more energy, better coordination, and runs and plays instead of watching TV. The best thing? She started talking and won’t shut up. She came out of the fog. We have another kid with food allergies,as well. We now eat wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, peanut-free, preservative-free, artificial color and flavor-free… with hopefully no more -free’s to get added to the list. But you know what?  Now that all that corn syrup and junk is out of our diet… the food really tastes GOOD!

So, I wasn’t shocked to see the following story on MSNBC. If I can’t get educated people to see the need for watching a childs’ food intake and diet… and I can’t get valid information from professionals…. well, who should expect the run-of the mill parent to get it. According to MSNBC…

Among parents with an obese, or extremely overweight, child ages 6 to 11, 43 percent said their child was “about the right weight,” 37 percent responded “slightly overweight,” and 13 percent said “very overweight.” Others said “slightly underweight.”

I’ll bet none of these parents realize that 4 chicken nuggets with sauce, a Jr. order of fries with ketchup, a Jr. Sprite to drink, and a Jr. Frosty for desert whops a huge 840 calories. We all know that an hour later the kiddo is going to want a snack too.

It’s a scary thought isn’t it… I came close to finding out the REALLY hard way… that you can’t rely on the schools, or the government or businesses, to do the things that are right for our children. They are only out to comply with big government policies, or make a buck. Who cares if the kids die at 30 from being 500 pounds? The economy is thriving from the sale of junk foods to kids.

Our kids are the FUTURE of our country. If you don’t take care of your kid every minute of every day, and be an informed parent…well no one else is going to do it. The crap that is going in our kids food and in their stomachs with the blessings of the government and to pad the wallets of big corporations is JUST WRONG!

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Everyone has heard about the big blackout in Oklahoma by now.  You expect brown-outs in big cities… even the occasional blackout.  Blackouts for a couple of days aren’t uncommon with an ice storm… and the flickering of lights and loss of power during tornado season isn’t an unfamiliar experience either…. But try being stuck at home with children who have no access to lights to read by and no computers, video games… etc….  FOR 8 DAYS!!!

8 Days of no light in the house before 7 am… 8 Days of eating dinner and cooking from scratch by candlelight (We were lucky, we have a gas stove)… 8 Days of only enough light in the house to read by for about 3 hours a day, when the sun is shining in the right windows… 8 Days of hearing… “I’m bored, what are more things you did in the olden days?  What?  You did that?  That’s pretty lame and stupid!”…. 8 Days of no school and 8 Days of no heat…

When I was a kid, we didn’t have a houseful of electronic gadgets, and we got by just fine during blizzards on the ND/MN border.  Sometimes we were socked in by snow for a week or more with no school.  My kids are pretty great kids… but I never realized how much they rely on electronic gadgets to keep them occupied.  So, needless to say… we are fixing that… After the electricity returned, we had a day of free-for-all TV and electronic game-playing and then the limits got imposed.  Yeah, my kids aren’t too happy with me now… But you know?  They need to learn that they have it in themselves to find things to do to get through tough times like that… Their reliance on electronics to entertain them was pretty obvious.  My kids aren’t as bad as a lot of kids I know either.  One of them reads 20+ novels a week.  The other two read in the neighborhood of 10 books a week.

So what do you think?  Is it just a fact of living in our futuristic society full of gadgets?  Will our kids be lost in the shuffle if they aren’t proficient in the constant use of these gadgets?  Or are they deprived of the simple pleasures that come from sitting down at the table and playing a game of dominoes?

P.S. No, I didn’t kill any of my kids during this time… and no… I’m not being excessively cruel and completely denying them access to their electronic gizmos… that would be Just Wrong…

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ChatterJam.com…. A new form of word-of-mouth advertising. It’s pretty simple. You sign up. They send you information and products free-of-charge to honestly review and comment on. A new high tech version of the sample lady in the grocery store. If you’re into freebies, or interested in the latest products to hit the market… well, check them out!

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