Teen Commits Suicide On Webcam

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/11/21/406039.html

Florida teen commits suicide in front of webcam

Friday, November 21, 2008

By The Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say a South Florida teen committed suicide in front of a live online webcam audience after blogging about his plan to kill himself.
Broward County medical examiner's office investigator Wendy Crane says 19-year-old Abraham Biggs died Wednesday from a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine (ben-ZOH'-die-AZ'-uh-peen), a depressant used to treat insomnia.
People were watching through a body building Web site and Crane says some were encouraging, others tried to talk him out of it, and a few were debating whether the dose he took was lethal. Crane says someone notified the moderator, who traced the teen's location and called police. Biggs was dead by the time they got there.
Crane says he was just seen lying on the bed at that point.


Needless to say, this is just unbelievably tragic and deeply disturbing.

There is no mention of the gender of those who were encouraging this young man to end his life or of those who were debating whether or not he'd be successful in his attempt, but, considering it was a body building site, I think we can safely assume that there were at least a few men involved.

I don't point this out in an attempt to villify the behavior of men....Lord knows there's no shortage of that being done in today's society. I do it to make a point about misandry. What we see from this horrific incident is that misandry is so deeply ingrained in our society as to be practiced at almost all levels and by almost all people. 'Hating men' is embraced by society at large.

Do any of us imagine for even a moment that had this had been a young woman that the reaction would have been the same? Of course it wouldn't have been, because society places value on the lives and issues of women, while the problems of men are ridiculed, mocked and scorned.

Feminism has not only brainwashed women to believe the most atrocious lies about men, but has also managed to indoctrinate men, starting from the time they are very young, convincing them to believe that the life of a man, their life, is something of very little value.

Imagine What Must It Be Like, To Be A Man

Just a quick bit of history.....I wrote this back when I first started my blog as something of an introduction and an explanation as to the purpose of my blog, but I was never quite happy with it. I was doing blog housecleaning today and decided to go ahead and post it.....even though I'm still not quite happy with it.



Imagine what must it be like to be a man in today's society.

I want everyone to take the time to ponder that.

What must it be like to be a little boy? An innocent, sweet child....so full of love and joy. Of course, that love and joy must fade into insecurity and self hatred when you go to school and are treated differently because you're a boy, when you're expected to behave differently, better, toward the little girls while they're allowed to treat you any way they choose and you must simply endure it because they are girls and you are a boy.

Imagine what it must be like to be a little boy who's father, his hero, is made to leave the home when Mommy files for divorce. You know that your father is who you're most like, the person you emulate and hope to grow up to be like.....the person Mommy has renamed *sshole, screams at on the phone and says horrible things about to her family and friends.

Imagine what it must be like to be that sweet, innocent boy and to be subjected to a constant stream of negative images and portrayals of men, knowing all the while that a man is precisely what you'll grow up to be.

Imagine what it must be like to be a teenage boy. You go to high school and college and all you see and hear are rape statistics and how boys and men are dangerous predators. The father you sorely need has been alienated from you for many years. He tried and tried but Mom made things as difficult as possible and now your relationship is awkward at best.

Imagine what it must be like to be a young man. All you want is to find that special girl to fall in love with, to marry and to start a family with, but even though you are a nice guy and have always tried to be a good person, every girl you meet assumes the worst of you. You want to fall in love, but you become more and more jaded as every relationship you have is with someone who is shallow, selfish, materialistic and narcissistic.

Imagine what it must be like to be a young man. You enlisted in the military. You did your duty to your country and served with honor. You watched those with whom you served, men you'd come to view as brothers, return home in coffins and sometimes you can't sleep at night because the things you bury away during the day come back to haunt you in your sleep. For your efforts, you have health problems that nobody cares about and hear that whatever happened to you and your brothers was your own fault....because you're men and, afterall, it's violent men who are the ones who start the wars.

Imagine what it must be like to be a man. You've given up on marriage, now that you're older, even if you found someone you wanted to spend your life with, you don't dare. You realize that the family court system is stacked against you and should your marriage not work out, you'll risk losing everything. You've given up on your dream of family and children because you don't want your son to ever go through what you went through. You're not a coward, but you've decided to fore go the joys of fatherhood because you think it will be easier never knowing such love than to know it and have it ripped away from you. For your efforts of self-preservation you are called a loser, a perpetual child; there must be something wrong with you, it just isn't normal.......

Or, perhaps, you did find that special someone and you decided it was worth the risk. You got married, you had children. You worked hard to provide the very best for your children. You wanted to spend as much time as possible with your family, but work requirements kept you away from home more than you liked. You told yourself it was o.k., a sacrifice you were willing to make in order to provide for your family. You wanted to give them all the things they told you they wanted and needed.....and then one day, your wife tells you she isn't happy, you work too much, you're always gone, you're not taking care of her emotional needs. All too quickly divorce papers are filed and since, according to the judge, you were not very involved in raising the children, you are relegated to the status of non-custodial parent. You now come home to an empty apartment, no more do you hear cries of 'Daddy' when you walk through the door or get to tuck somebody in at night. You see your kids when your ex-wife allows, when it's convenient for her and as long as you remain in her good graces.

Imagine what it must be like to be a man. You walk down the street, children avoid you and women watch you warily. Although the words are not vocalized, you can see the accusation written clearly in their eyes and on their faces.....rapist, pedophile, abuser. You know that all it takes is an allegation, a few words, and your life can be ruined, simply because you are a man.

Imagine must it be like to be a man......

Veteran's Day

"FREEDOM ISN'T FREE"

The following is a true story of a teacher and the valuable lesson she taught her students.

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom.

The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desks?" And she said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."

They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."

"No," she said.

"Maybe it's our behavior."

And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."

And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period. By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom.

The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. And she says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily." She said, "Now I'm going to tell you."

Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans , wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. And by the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks.

Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it."

Please remember our soldiers on Veteran's Day; those who have fought before, and those who are still fighting. Please remember their sacrifice. When you look around and see all things we enjoy and often take for granted, remember that soldiers sacrificed, often with their lives, so that that you and I could enjoy these freedoms.




JUST A COMMON SOLDIER
(A Soldier Died Today)
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honour while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

Wear a Blue Ribbon

I have decided that I am going to wear a blue ribbon for at least a week....possibly longer, depending upon the response I get. Why? Because it is a disgracefully little known fact that a blue ribbon is the symbol for the fight against prostate cancer much in the same way that a pink ribbon symbolizes the fight against breast cancer.

There are actually quite a few similarities between breast cancer and prostate cancer. Like breast cancer, prostate cancer is a deadly disease and while more women will die of breast cancer this year, more new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in men then breast cancer in women. Ultimately, there is very little difference in the number of lives that will be detrimentally affected by these two diseases. There are, however, significant discrepancies in the attention and funding given to each.

From 'Business Week',

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2007/tc20070612_953676.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_science

This year 218,890 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. By comparison, 178,480 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. Not a huge difference, but a new report finds that for every prostate cancer drug on the market, there are seven used to treat breast cancer, and federal spending on breast cancer research outpaces prostate cancer spending by a ratio of nearly two to one.

The National Prostate Cancer Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, released the report, titled "The Prostate Cancer Gap: A Crisis in Men's Health." It examines what the group calls "glaring disparities"
in awareness, funding, media coverage, and research between prostate and breast cancer, even though prostate cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in men after lung cancer. "Year after year, the prostate cancer community has received less attention and less funding than many other diseases," says Dr. Richard Adkins, chief executive office and vice-chairman of the prostate cancer coalition.'

I see pink ribbons all the time....there's even one on the bag of biscuit dough I have in my freezer and I've no doubt there's at least a handful of other, various household products I have in my home sporting them. Every time I walk in the grocery or drug store, I see a display of products sponsoring breast cancer research.

"Hooray", I say, that we're taking such significant measures to find a cure for this deadly disease....but what of this other deadly disease, this other cancer? What of prostate cancer.....the greatest difference between it and breast cancer being that it affects and ends the lives of men instead of the lives of women? Where are the blue ribbons? Where are the campaigns, the sponsors and the media attention?

This is why I will be wearing a blue ribbon all this week. I tend to be quite conscientious of my attire, so I have no doubt that the appearance of a rather out of place blue ribbon on my jacket will arouse some curiosity, giving me the perfect opportunity to educate.

Additionally, I challenge everyone else to do the same. Pin a blue ribbon to your lapel for a week...arm yourself with a few facts and figures, not only on prostate cancer, but also on the discrepancies in funding, media attention and public concern.

Wear a blue ribbon, not only as a method of activism to spread the word, or as a show of solidarity for those who are suffering or have died from this disease, but also simply to proclaim that the lives of men do matter.

Here is a the website for 'Us Too, International Prostate Cancer Education and Support Network', (hat tip to Tyrael at Antimisandry.com) where you can find information, along with some great ideas for activism, donations and fund raising.

http://www.ustoo.org/Default.asp

I appreciate that not everyone has the money to donate and not everyone has the time to organize a fund raiser, but it takes very little time or money to simply fix a blue ribbon to your shirt every morning.

Here are a few facts on prostate cancer to keep in mind,

*Every year over 232,090 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and
about 30,350 die. If detected early, prostate cancer is often treatable
*1 in 6 men is at a lifetime risk of prostate cancer
*A man with one close relative with the disease has double the risk. With two close relatives, his risk is five-fold. With three, the chance is 97%.
*Two men every five minutes are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
*African American males have a prostate cancer incidence rate up to 60% higher than while males and double the mortality (death) rate of white males.
*Every 100 minutes an African American male dies from prostate cancer.
*Men with a body mass index over 32.5 have about a one-third greater risk of dying from prostate cancer than men who are not obese.
*Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American males today
*Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States
*Prostate cancer is mainly found in men age 55 or over with an average age of 70 at the time of diagnosis
*Majority of deaths from prostate cancer are related to advanced disease with metastases