And just a few other articles....

[conuly]

First things first, just about the only cheerful link you're going to get!

One article on modern childhood.

A graph showing the difference between the demographics of the US and of Congress.

And this post about what has to be one of the most outrageous rape cases I've ever heard of.

And finally, this article about a woman who withheld cancer treatment from her autistic child. Yes, Time, it *is* murder if you keep lifesaving medicine away from your kid - particularly one who cannot talk and who is too young to trust him to have much of a say in his course of treatment anyway. (Comments where I got this article indicate that she didn't even quit openly, she simply stopped giving him the medicine and lied about it.)

Comments

[sayga.livejournal.com]

Right, even if he was just some average 9yo kid with cancer, he probably wasn't old enough to voice an opinion (wasn't the kid referred to in that article who also declined cancer treatments 15 years old though?), and any decision on his medication shouldn't be made by one person alone. It's one thing to discuss it with the doctor, spiritual leader and/or family and decide it isn't worth the suffering if it's incurable (which is wasn't) but something else completely to pretend to be giving the meds and not. I saw this on the news the other day and was so surprised that the whole report was slanted against the guilty verdict, saying it couldn't be helped because he was autistic and she was depressed. Well, the mom who drowned her 5 kids in the bathtub in the 90s was suffering from severe depression too, but she still decided to kill her children, and acted on it, and succeeded.

[conuly]

Andrea Yates was suffering from postpartum psychosis. My mother has long maintained (and I agree) that her asshole husband should've been arrested for spousal abuse. WHO insisted she have more kids? WHO insisted they move to a tiny trailer? WHO insisted they homeschool? WHO dragged her home every time she tried to check herself into a hospital to get help?

The same guy who set up the conditions that caused her to kill her kids, that's who.