Daily Archives: November 28, 2011

Colombian Army Find FARC Captive Alive

November 28, 2011   Samantha Kauffman   1 Comment

Photo Credit: http://blogs.reuters.com/global/files/2009/02/colombia.jpg

After the report of four captives being shot by the Colombian Rebel Group, also known as FARC, Saturday, army troops found a National Police Officer alive being held by the guerrilla group, according to Fox News Latino.

The non-commissioned officer, Luis Alberto Erazo Maya, heard the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia begin shooting the other captives and decided to “take off running.”

“He ran and hid in the jungle. He was pursued, according to what was reported, by three terrorists from the FARC organization who even threw grenades at him, “according to the country’s defense minister, Juan Carlos Pinzon, according to Fox News Latino.

It is believe that FARC is holding a little over a dozen captives, according to Fox News Latino.

The rebel group has told authorities in the past that captives would be shot if the group came under attack by from security forces.

The captives escaped brought light to a dark day with the deaths of the other four captives, according to Fox News Latino.

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Second U.S. Student Detained in Cairo Returns Home

November 28, 2011   Samantha Kauffman   No comments

Photo Credit: http://static.guim.co.uk

Luke Gates, 21, was one of the three students that were detained in Cairo after being accused of throwing Molotov Cocktails during protests, has returned home, according to CBS News.

Gates arrived in the U.S. late Saturday and is expected to return home to Indiana soon.

Mark Land, spokesman of Indiana University where Gates attends school, said Gate’s parents decline to talk with the media, according to CBS News.

The protests in Cairo have grown to 100,000 people in anticipation of the landmark parliamentary elections that are due to start on Monday.

“He said he was doing very well and he was very excited to be on his way home,” said Land, according to CBS News.

This story contains information from CBS News.

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School Vaccine Opt Out Rises

November 28, 2011   Meagan Cahuasqui   No comments

When time comes for kids to start school, there are certain requirements that need to be met.  One of those requirements is for the newly enrolled student to be properly vaccinated.  Of course, there is an opt out option for those with certain religious views, medical conditions, and even philosophical reasons in some states.

These days more and more parents are opting to exempt their kids from vaccines prior to enrollment in a school.  The statistics show more than 1 in 20 kindergarteners attending public school are going in only partially vaccinated.  That’s not to say the 90 percent rate of those going in vaccinated isn’t high enough, but some officials worry about schools pushing the 5 percent threshold of students without vaccinations.

Parents’ reasons for skipping school shots are scattered across the board.  Some don’t believe all the shots are necessary.  Many others feel the vaccines carry higher risk than the contraction of the diseases themselves.  Still others just find it a hassle to get all the paperwork done for getting vaccines and just opt out for the sake of ease.

One of the most concerning aspects is the amount of shots kids need before they turn 6.  The number of vaccines needed is rising every year and this makes many parents uneasy.  Mothers and fathers across the country don’t feel safe giving their kids that many shots in such a short period of time because they do not know the extensive effects yet of what could happen.

Health officials do not believe the fall in vaccination will cause an epidemic or outbreak of some sort, but they do caution it is not impossible.  It is unlikely diseases like polio will run rampant in the United States again, but with China’s recent outbreak after two decades without the illness, doctors are not shutting the notion down.

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Three Children Die at Hands of Parents

November 28, 2011   Meagan Cahuasqui   No comments

Over the past few years there have been three cases of children dying while in the care of their parents.  All cases have taken place in different states—North Carolina, California, and Washington.  Sean Paddock suffered suffocation from being wrapped too tightly in his blankets, Lydia Schatz was spanked to death, and the most recent, Hana Williams, died of hypothermia after being left out naked in the cold.  All parents have been charged with some degree of murder.

The common factors in all these cases is that the children were all adopted, home-schooled, and disciplined with a plastic tube like the ones found in hardware stores.  All parents also used the book To Train Up a Child by evangelist Michael Pearl and wife Debi, first published in 1994.  The book’s basic philosophy is spare the rod and spoil the child.

Michael Pearl says the book has sold over 670,000 copies and been translated into several languages.  The book is quite popular with a few Christians who home-school their children.   Apparently the spanking method has become a prevalent use in child rearing these days.

What boils the blood of several parents who disapprove of this publication is the fact that it compares raising a child to training a dog.  Parents are outraged by this way of thinking, as they feel children are living, breathing, and thinking human beings and can’t be trained like an animal.

The Pearls use Bible scripture to support their stance in their book.  What they do not condone however is hitting a child out of anger.  Pearl calls the methods of child rearing in his book traditional methods that have been around for countless years but have gone out of practice.  Although spanking is a good thing, it should not be abused.  “If you can’t control your emotions it’s not for you,” Michael Pearl says of his method.

There are many who believe the Pearls’ book is barbaric, but the truth is what the parents of Lydia, Hana, and Sean did are not methods described in their book.  Regardless of what caused these parents to treat their children this way, they have been charged with murder.  Child abuse is child abuse and must be addressed.

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