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Neglect, Not Looting, Threatens Iraq's Ancient Sites
From the report: Fears of the continued plunder of ancient antiquities in war-torn Iraq may be laid to rest, according to a new survey of eight of the most important archaeological sites in the south of the country.
An international team of scholars who visited the historic sites in June found no obvious evidence of recent looting, according to a report recently published by the British Museum in London.
The findings came as a surprise to antiquities experts and scholars who had expected continued destruction of Iraqi heritage sites after the U.S. invaded in 2003.
"We didn't see any new looting at the eight sites, which was really very, very encouraging," said team member Elizabeth Stone, a Mesopotamia specialist from Stony Brook University in New York.
While the study team cautions that the situation may be very different elsewhere in Iraq, the findings suggest a dramatically improved situation at the eight locations since 2003, when widespread illegal digging was recorded in the region.
The survey, however, uncovered other significant damage to ancient Mesopotamian monuments caused by neglect and military activity.
Paul Collins, curator of later Mesopotamian collections at the British Museum, stresses that the study gives only a limited snapshot of the current situation in Iraq.
"It's just eight sites out of tens of thousands of archaeological sites, most of them unexplored," he said.
Similar surveys need to be undertaken across Iraq to "really get a picture of what did happen and what the situation is now," he added.
--follow link for full article-- From the report: Fears of the continued plunder of ancient antiquities in war-torn Iraq may be laid to rest, according to a new survey... more -
200,000 kids are spanked at school every year.
More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday.
"Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of a joint report from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."
The highest percentage of students receiving corporal punishment was in Mississippi, with 7.5 percent of students. The highest number was in Texas, with 48,197 students.
"When you talk to local school officials, they point to the fact that it's quick and it's effective and that's true," Farmer said. "It doesn't take much time to administer corporal punishment, and you don't have to hire someone to run a detention or an after-school program."
But she said, "We need forms of discipline that makes children understand why what they did was wrong."
In addition, corporal punishment can be linked to poverty and lack of resources. For instance, the report said, "Teachers may have overcrowded classrooms and lack resources such as counselors to assist with particularly disruptive students or classroom dynamics."
The punishment is disproportionately applied to black students, according to the organizations. During the 2006-07 school year, for instance, black students made up 17.1 percent of the nationwide student population but 35.6 percent of those paddled at schools.
Black girls were paddled at twice the rate of their white counterparts in the 13 states using corporal punishment most frequently. And although boys are punished more often than girls, the report found that African-American students in general are 1.4 times more likely to receive corporal punishment.
In addition, special education students with mental or physical disabilities were more likely to receive corporal punishment, according to the ACLU and Human Rights Watch.
Evangelical leader James Dobson's influential Focus on the Family group is among those stopping short of calling for a full ban on paddling in schools.
"Corporal punishment is not effective at the junior and senior high school levels, and I do not recommend its application," Dobson said on the organization's Web site.
"It can be useful for elementary students, especially with amateur clowns (as opposed to hard-core troublemakers). For this reason, I am opposed to abolishing spanking in elementary schools because we have systematically eliminated the tools with which teachers have traditionally backed up their word. We're now down to a precious few. Let's not go any further in that direction."
Andrea Cancellare said her then-13-year-old son was paddled -- or "swatted" -- three years ago for flicking rubber bands in class, despite the fact she had written a letter directing school officials in Alpine, Texas, not to use corporal punishment against him. School officials told her they could not find the letter when she complained.
When she approached the principal and superintendent, Cancellare said, they told her that "most parents like this because it takes care of the punishment. It gets the kids back in class. It doesn't disrupt instruction. It's like the quick and dirty way of dealing with discipline problems."
"It works on some, and it doesn't work on others," Cervantes said. "If you're one of the individuals that it does work on, yes, it will become a deterrent."
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Cancellare disagrees. "I don't think it's the school's place to make decisions like that," she said. "I'm not necessarily in favor of that kind of punishment in the house either, but I feel like if somebody makes that decision, it should be the parent." More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday... more -
Patient dies after being left in chair 22 hours
A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility's funding.
The state sent a team Tuesday to help Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro draft new procedures to ensure patients receive proper care.
An investigator's report released Monday found that 50-year-old Steven Sabock died in April after he choked on medication and was left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh. Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards a few feet away.
Federal officials have threatened to cut off funding because of Sabock's death and a report that a physician punched a patient after the teen bit the doctor.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Tom Lawrence said the state team also may investigate what, if any, disciplinary action should be taken after Sabock's death.
Lawrence said the Sabock incident is isolated but that officials are concerned.
"It's not the kind of thing that we in our wildest dreams would expect to happen in our hospitals -- in our wildest nightmares, I guess," Lawrence said.
Sabock's father, Nicholas, declined comment when reached by telephone Tuesday evening. A man who answered the phone listed for Susan Sabock, Steven's wife, hung up without commenting.
The investigation released Monday said Sabock died in April after Cherry Hospital nurses left him unattended in a chair and did not feed him or help him to the bathroom.
The report said Sabock sat, unattended, in the room for four work shifts. The report also found that Sabock, formerly of Roanoke Rapids, ate nothing the day he died and had little food in the three days preceding his death.
The state has until August 23 to file a report with the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services detailing what changes officials are making, Lawrence said.
If the center rejects the report, federal funds will be cut off beginning September 1, Lawrence said.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton said in a statement that nurses may be reassigned to provide more patient supervision. Officials are also considering better ways to manage staff resources, he said.
A patient in New York died in June after she waited in a hospital's mental ward waiting area for nearly 24 hours. Security video showed her writhing on the floor. It was nearly an hour before someone else flagged down a staff member who got help for the unresponsive woman. A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him u... more -
Police find pacifier taped to baby's lips
Michigan State Police at the Brighton post took a 4-week-old infant from its parents Wednesday after they found the baby lying on the back seat of a vehicle with a pacifier taped into its mouth during a traffic stop.
Trooper Rene Gonzalez had stopped the parents' car on I-96 near Fowlerville Road, and saw the baby lying on the rear seat with electrical tape across both cheeks of its face to hold a pacifier in its mouth. The child, whose gender is not being released because of Child Protective Services rules, was not belted into a child safety seat.
Police say they plan to ask the Livingston County Prosecutor's Office for child abuse or neglect charges against the baby's 19-year-old father and 18-year-old mother, both of whom live in Fowlerville. The baby was turned over to its grandparents and the parents were released pending charges. Michigan State Police at the Brighton post took a 4-week-old infant from its parents Wednesday after they found the baby lying on the ... more -
Mother Charged in Cult Killing of Son
A woman charged with killing her child was ordered held without bail today during a court proceeding at the Central Booking and Intake Center.
Standing in court with her hands shackled behind her back, Ria Ramkissoon, 21, wore a purple jumpsuit, rocked nervously side to side, and shook her head slightly when Judge Theodore B. Oshrine read the charges against her.
She and four other members of a small group, 1 Mind Ministries, that police have called a religious cult, are accused of abusing and neglecting Ramkissoon's 21-month-old boy, Javon Thompson. In arguing for the judge to give Ramkissoon bail, her attorney, Steven D. Silverman, said in court today that the woman was being controlled by adults during the period when her son died.
"This is not a clear-cut case of one mother's cause and the effect of the death," Silverman said. "You have intervening circumstances. My client was not in control. ... I'm convinced in talking to her that she's been grossly over-charged" by Baltimore police detectives. A woman charged with killing her child was ordered held without bail today during a court proceeding at the Central Booking and Intake... more -
The girl in the window - St. Petersburg Times
Here is a riveting but utterly heartbreaking story titled The Girl In The Window. It's a story about a feral child.
Be warned, you will get very angry. Here is a riveting but utterly heartbreaking story titled The Girl In The Window. It's a story about a feral child. ... more -
Illegal versus inhumane: Unauthorized immigrant shackled while in labor; Can'...
An undocumented pregnant woman faces the horror and neglect of the U.S. justice system ... giving birth only to have her child stripped from her.
JUANA VILLEGAS is a Mexican immigrant who broke federal law. As The New York Times recently reported, she was deported in 1996, but she returned illegally to the United States. What is more troubling, however, is what happened to her in custody of law enforcement this month. Overzealous use of the law trampled decency.
On July 3, Villegas, nine months pregnant, was pulled over in a Nashville suburb and arrested after admitting that she did not have a license. At the county jail, Villegas's illegal status was discovered by a federal official. That official was there as part of the federal 287(g) program, which trains local police to enforce federal immigration laws.
Two days later, Villegas went into labor. At the hospital her foot was cuffed to the bed, and the cuffs were reportedly removed only for two hours before she gave birth and for six hours after. An officer stood guard in her hospital room.
After she left the hospital, Villegas was held in jail. She could not breastfeed her baby and was not allowed to use a breast pump. She says she developed a breast infection and her baby became jaundiced.
Needless to say, the 287(g) program wasn't intended to snare pregnant women. Rather, it is supposed to help officers "pursue investigations relating to violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling, and money laundering," according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Yet the perceived need for even local officials to crack down on illegal immigrants has become an obstacle to treating people humanely.
Villegas has been released to the custody of her family and faces deportation. Her case shows how much the country needs comprehensive immigration reform that deploys legal resources where they are most needed. An undocumented pregnant woman faces the horror and neglect of the U.S. justice system ... giving birth only to have her child strippe... more -
Disabled teenage girl dies after being starved to death
For days before Danieal Kelly died in a fetid, airless room - made stifling hot by a midsummer heat wave - the bedridden teenager begged for something to drink until she could muster only one word: water. Unable to help herself because of her cerebral palsy, she wasted away from malnutrition and maggot-infested bedsores that ate her flesh.
She died alone on a putrid mattress in her mother's home, the floor covered in feces. She was 14 but weighed just 42 pounds.
The nightmare of forced starvation and infection that killed Danieal while she was under the protection of the city's human services agency is documented in a 258-page grand jury report released this week that charges nine people - her parents, four social workers and three family friends - in her ghastly death.
The report describes a mother, Andrea Kelly (pictured above), who was embarrassed by her disabled daughter and didn't want to touch her, take her out in public, change her diapers or make sure she had enough fluids. It portrays Daniel Kelly, the father who once had custody of Danieal, as having no interest in raising them.
When an ambulance responded to a 911 call for Danieal on Aug. 4, 2006, the girl had been dead for several hours. Authorities said she was so emaciated she looked like the victim of a concentration camp.
She had been lying on the filthy mattress for so long that her body outline was imprinted on it. For days before Danieal Kelly died in a fetid, airless room - made stifling hot by a midsummer heat wave - the bedridden teenager begg... more -
Disabled Teen dies from neglect.
"Four social workers were among nine people charged Thursday in the death of a disabled 14-year-old girl who authorities say wasted away from neglect before dying at 42 pounds.
Danieal Kelly's mother was charged with murder; counts against other defendants range from involuntary manslaughter to perjury. District Attorney Lynne Abraham said any of the nine could have foreseen the horrific fate of Danieal, whose emaciated body was found in her mother's squalid house covered with bone-deep, maggot-infested bedsores in August 2006.
Abraham had scathing words for the city's Department of Human Services, calling its handling of the case "callous, indifferent, unconscionable" — and all too familiar.
"Danieal did not fall through the cracks," she said. "It was a failure of institutional inclination. Saving Danieal was just too much trouble."
Two of the social workers are city employees; two others worked for a company hired by DHS. Department Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose scheduled an afternoon news conference to discuss the case.
A 258-page grand jury report recommending the charges said not only that Andrea Kelly refused to get her daughter food, water and medical treatment, but that she repeatedly prevented one of her other children from calling an ambulance "for his obviously dying sister."
A listing for Andrea Kelly's attorney, Vincent Giusini, rang unanswered Thursday. It was not immediately clear if Daniel Kelly, 37, of Darby, had an attorney; two phone numbers listed in his name were disconnected.
Two employees of MultiEthnic Behavioral Health, a now-defunct company that DHS hired to provide social services to Danieal, falsified documents to cover up the fact they rarely, if ever, checked on her, the grand jury said.
Julius Murray and Mickal Kamuvaka were charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with public records."
Unbelievable. As I've said before, I work in the developmentally disabled field, in fact, at a local group home. This type of abuse and neglect is what I work so hard to fight against, and these stories sicken me.
The sad truth is, jobs like the one I have often don't pay enough, demand long hours, drain you emotionally, physically and mentally. But this, this is a matter of human rights.
Who is to blame for this? "Four social workers were among nine people charged Thursday in the death of a disabled 14-year-old girl who authorities say wast... more -
Two-year-old dies after father forgets him in hot car
A two-year-old French boy has died of excessive heat because his father forgot him in the family car, reports France Info radio.
Pedestrians in the south-eastern town of Pont de Cheruy noticed the unconscious boy in the car late on Tuesday afternoon and called rescue workers. However, attempts to revive the child failed, and he died later in hospital.
According to reports, his father had forgotten all about the child's presence when he parked and locked the car, which was exposed to intense sunshine.
Authorities said that the child had been locked in the car for nearly three hours.
Temperatures in the town reached 25 degrees Celsius in the streets, but police estimated that it was as hot as 45 degrees in the car.
An autopsy is to be performed on the boy to determine the cause of death, which appears to have been dehydration.
How is this even possible, for a parent to forget the existence of their child for three hours!? A two-year-old French boy has died of excessive heat because his father forgot him in the family car, reports France Info radio. ... more -
How safe are care facilities and daycares?
Access inspection information for more than 3,000 daycares, long-term care facilities, group homes and other facilities. There are many horror stories out there with thousands of serious incidences involving those most vulnerable in society; the aged, children and the handicapped. Access inspection information for more than 3,000 daycares, long-term care facilities, group homes and other facilities. There are man... more
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Woman dies in hospital waiting room, no one around her tries to help
Collapses, waits 45 minutes for response
KINGS COUNTY (WABC) -- A 49-year-old woman who was brought to the psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital died after collapsing in the waiting area. She was found unresponsive on the floor 45 minutes later, despite being surrounded by other people who did nothing to help her.
The whole incident was caught on a hospital surveillance camera.
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation reported the incident surrounding the woman's death to a number of health oversight agencies and law enforcement authorities.
While the case is under further review, HHC President Alan Aviles directed the suspension or termination of six hospital employees, including staff involved with the direct care of the patient, as well as managers of security and clinical services.
The woman was brought to the Psychiatric Emergency Department at the hospital by EMS on the morning of June 18 suffering from agitation and psychosis. Officials say she refused medical review and was involuntarily admitted. She was in the Psychiatric ED waiting room, waiting for a bed in the inpatient unit to become available.
Early in the morning on June 19, she was found unresponsive on the floor. The video shows her falling out of the chair and onto the floor, thrashing about and kicking her legs. There were at least three other patients in the waiting area at the time, and several employees of the hospital are seen looking at her on the floor and walking away.
A preliminary review conducted by Kings County Hospital and HHC staff has determined the patient remained on the floor for 45 minutes before she received medical attention.
"We are all shocked and distressed by this situation," Aviles said. "What our investigation so far determined violates the basic principles of the compassionate healthcare practiced every day here at Kings County and across our public hospital system. We express our deep regrets to the patient's family and will ensure a thorough investigation to answer any questions that remain."
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation released the following statement:
"It is clear that some of our employees failed to act based on our compassionate standards of care. Immediately after the incident was discovered on June 20, and following a preliminary investigation by HHC staff, HHC President Alan D. Aviles directed the suspension and termination of those involved. The case and video surveillance tapes were immediately turned over to a number of health oversight agencies, medical misconduct boards and law enforcement.
****please read my comment towards the bottom. The same thing happened in LA last month!***** Collapses, waits 45 minutes for response ... more -
'Cannibal relatives ate boy alive'
"A seven-year-old boy was kept chained in a closet as relatives hacked off pieces of his flesh to eat, a court has heard. In a case with echoes of the Fritzl family horror in Austria, Ondrej Mauerova was partially skinned in the closet in a cellar at his home in Kurim near Brno, in the Czech Republic, according to reports.
The abuse – involving members of a religious cult – was uncovered by chance last May when a neighbour's television baby monitor picked up graphic pictures of what was happening next door.
Ondrej and his nine-year-old brother Jakub were locked and chained in the cellar for months by their mother Klara, 31 – a member of a group called the Grail Movement.
He was caged, beaten and gagged to stop him screaming, according to reports.
Mauerova had the monitor installed so that she could watch the abuse from her kitchen but the images were picked up by a neighbour who used an identical system to monitor a newborn baby, the regional court in Brno has heard.
Police were called and the two boys as well as what appeared to be a 13-year-old girl were freed. But the girl later turned out to have been one of the alleged abusers, 34-year-old Barbora Skrlova. She subsequently fled to Norway before being brought back to the Czech Republic earlier this year.
Mauerova has admitted abusing her children but she said she had been manipulated by Skrlova and her own sister Katerina. The accused are Klara Mauerova, her sister Katerina, 34; Barbora Skrlova, 33; her brother Jan Skrla and a friend Jan Turek."
By John Bingham "A seven-year-old boy was kept chained in a closet as relatives hacked off pieces of his flesh to eat, a court has heard. In a c... more -
Woman 'left toddler imprisoned in a kitchen while she went out to party all w...
A boy of two was left on his own for the weekend, imprisoned in a flooded kitchen, after a woman went out 'to party', a court heard yesterday.
Police, called in by concerned neighbours, arrived to find a horrifying scene.
The little boy, wearing a babygro and pants, had been penned into the kitchen with a baby gate. He was standing barefoot in several inches of water, a jury at Lincoln Crown Court was told.
Kelly Tollerton, a 22-year-old mother of two from Lincoln, abandoned the child over a weekend in November 2006 'so 'in her own words, she could go and party', prosecutor Felicity Gerry told the jury. A boy of two was left on his own for the weekend, imprisoned in a flooded kitchen, after a woman went out 'to party', a cour... more -
A girl with bipolar disorder gets out of control on a train
The effects of this disease are uncontollable. Many people who have it, and have to take thier meds do not like the side effects of it. Just wanted to ask current.com about your feelings towards the subject at hand?
http://www.healthprofessor.com/landers/bipolar.php?keyw...
Bipolar disorder affects men and women equally and usually appears between the ages of 15 and 25. The exact cause is unknown, but it occurs more often in relatives of people with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder results from disturbances in the areas of the brain that regulate mood. During manic periods, a person with bipolar disorder may be overly impulsive and energetic, with an exaggerated sense of self. The depressed phase brings overwhelming feelings of anxiety, low self-worth, and suicidal thoughts.
There are two primary types of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder I have had at least one fully manic episode with periods of major depression. In the past, bipolar disorder I was called manic depression.
People with bipolar disorder II seldom experience full-fledged mania. Instead they experience periods of hypomania (elevated levels of energy and impulsiveness that are not as extreme as the symptoms of mania). These hypomanic periods alternate with episodes of major depression.
A mild form of bipolar disorder called cyclothymia involves periods of hypomania and mild depression, with less-severe mood swings. People with bipolar disorder II or cyclothymia may be misdiagnosed as having depression alone.
If you, or anyone else in your family is suffering with this disease here are some suggested sites as so related to bipolar disorder:
http://www.bridgetoabrightertomorrow.com/
www.bipolarplanet.com
www.psychostats.net
www.RightHealth.com/bipolardisorder
or just goggle "BIPOLAR" The effects of this disease are uncontollable. Many people who have it, and have to take thier meds do not like the side effects of it... more -
7-year-old girl 'starved' to death in Birmingham?
Although still unconfirmed by police, reports claim that a seven year old girl has died of starvation.
A report claims that a neighbour described allegedly seeing children at a house grabbing bread that had been thrown out for birds.
Two people have appeared in court, charged with neglect at Birmingham's Magistrates Court.
More on the shocking case:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1316726,00...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2002141/Girl,-7,...'-in-Birmingham.html Although still unconfirmed by police, reports claim that a seven year old girl has died of starvation. ... more
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