It looks like Rachel Lucas has revisited the issue of 88.  In context, it appears that this may indeed be a case of 88 used for hate purposes, given the overall context of the patterns on the clothes in question.

As she correctly notes, sensitivity has gotten out of hand.  However, in this one case, the reaction may not have been inappropriate.

This article from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (found via ifeminists) got me to thinking about a situation involving a friend of which I was made aware a couple months ago.

To protect the identity of all parties, I will simply call her “M”.  I came to know M through her sister.  Her sister and I had met while we were both in college and we have kept in touch.  She lives a short distance away and I regularly visit.  My friend’s family moved in across the street from her about 5 years ago, so I also ended up meeting all of them.  M’s sister and I are both the same age (32) and she is 10 years behind us (M is now 22), and so I’ve watched her go through graduating high school, going to college, and trying to find a job afterwards (it’s been hard for her, since she graduated just when the bottom fell out of the job market).

In July I was informed by M’s sister that she has been abused by her current boyfriend for the past four years and that the abuse is getting worse.  We had suspected that this was the case, but this was the first confirmation of it.  M was living with him at the time (she still is, but more on that later), so her sister offered to let her move back into her house.  M took her up on the offer and her family helped her move her things out of the apartment.  Unfortunately, she went back to her boyfriend the next day and has been slowly moving back (a little at a time).

I have noticed over the past couple of years that M always seems down or depressed and she also seems to suffer from an image problem (i.e. doesn’t like to have pictures taken, puts herself down frequently, etc).  I suspect that she is staying with her current boyfriend only because she fears that she won’t find anyone else (I think she also fears being alone).  This fear is unfounded, as she is an attractive young woman, but I can understand that she may not see that.

On the rare occasions that he deigns to make an appearance at a family event, he has uniformly treated her with contempt and disrespect.  I was angered by this, but held my tongue, since it wasn’t my business and since it didn’t rise to the level of abuse (but then again, abusers often manipulate their victims through emotional distancing techniques).  Other things that I’ve learned only serve to confirm my negative opinion, such as his obsession with video games (to the exclusion of her at many times).  I found it instructive that his “gifts” to her are often items that he wants.  It also appears that he is not pulling his own weight financially, asking her to buy things for him (like a computer to play his games).

On my last visit, I noticed that she had scars on her hands.  I had been told that this was the case, but this was the first time I saw them.  She told her family that she did it to herself when she was angry.  She also tried to take the blame on herself for the fights with her boyfriend (saying that she attacked him) and for her broken cell phone (she claimed that she got angry and threw it against the wall).

Frankly, all of this is really scaring me.  These all sound like classic abuse symptoms, given that the abuser often blames the victim, who internalizes this blame and starts to believe it (not to mention the cases where the victim actually provokes the outburst in the hopes of getting it out of the way and entering the “make-up/apology” stage).  But the main thing that worries me is that abusers only get worse over time.  I fear that one day he will go too far.

I’ve been doing some research into this topic, and I found that there’s not very much that friends and family can do as long as the victim wants to stay with the abuser.  We can make enquiries, try to provide a supportive atmosphere, and try to persuade her to leave, but the decision ultimately rests with her (although, at this point, I have not discussed this with her—I’ve been a bystander during this whole process, which has been frustrating, but then I’m not part of her family and they’re doing everything they can).  What’s more, the decision to leave must be approached carefully, to avoid an explosive outburst.  The experts advise that we must resist the urge to “rescue” her, which would make the situation worse (if she feels pressured to leave, she may do so, but will then return, and the abuse could get worse).

In the meantime, I guess we’ll all just keep hoping that she remembers that there are people who care about her and who will support her if she leaves him.  I also hope that she won’t be seriously injured (or worse) before she leaves.

Rachel Lucas has a great rant up about Target and the number ‘88’ (I could almost see the vein throbbing on her forehead as I read it).  Like everything ‘PC’, this is utter nonsense.  So what if a bunch of nutbags are using that number as their private little catchphrase.  If we had to stop using any word, number, or phrase that some objectionable types are using, we’d be left with nothing to say.

As a member of the class of 88 I find this all highly annoying.

What’s been going on lately with all the child abductions and murders?  Has the problem gotten worse lately or are we just hearing more about it? 

As I was typing this I thought I’d go get some links to the stories that have been coming out lately.  I stumbled across this item from KGTV in San Diego via Yahoo! news.  Their take on this is that there aren’t more child abductions occurring now than in the past, but that the news media is really paying a lot of attention to this topic right now.  That’s probably correct, but the media can really drive people’s perceptions of events.

I think what really brought this to mind was the abduction of a baby from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Abilene, TX last week.  The woman who abducted the child was caught in Quanah, TX, which is on the way to Amarillo on Highway 287.  On the return trip from my vacation in California, I was stopped by a DPS trooper on 287 because there was an alert out for a blue Chevy Avalanche.  The trooper looked at me and my mother and immediately knew that we weren’t the people he was seeking.  Of course I had to go through the CHL drill with him when he wanted to see my driver’s license.  He was actually quite polite about it and thanked us for being patient when we left.  My mother told me that there had been an attempted abduction in Amarillo the evening before, and that the suspect in that case was driving a blue Avalanche.  Once I knew that, I was willing to put up with the inconvenience of the stop, because the officer was looking for someone who had tried to do something truly evil.

It also makes me wonder what would have happened had there been a CHL holder in that Wal-Mart parking lot.  Perhaps the kidnapping could have been stopped right then and there.  Of course, as they teach you in the CHL course, you unholster a lot of responsibility when that gun comes out.  The question here would be does the crime rise to the level of “aggravated kidnapping”, which is important, since according to Texas Penal Code Section 9.32 (a)(3)(B), one may only use deadly force to prevent the other’s imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.  The woman was charged with kidnapping, rather than aggravated kidnapping, but I think in this case a person who intevenes would be given the benefit of the doubt (provided no innocent bystanders are injured) (but then again, I’m not a lawyer, so that opinion is worth every penny you paid for it ).  I know that I’d have to take the chance if it were one of my nieces (provided I could do so without harming them).  Still, one has to be prepared to go to jail while the case is resolved.

Interesting…..

Jonah Goldberg has a few things to say about Cynthia McKinney. 

He also has a few things to say about the so-called warnings about the attacks on September 11th:

Not to be too blunt, but getting a warning that Muslim or Arab terrorist groups are interested in hijacking American planes is roughly equivalent to being “warned” that bears are “interested” in crapping in the woods. This is the normal state of things. Quick: Here’s another warning for you, it’s very possible that this summer will be what meteorologists like to call “hot.” Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Just got a TiVo Series 2 DVR.  Why didn’t I do this before?  Now I don’t have to worry about when something comes on.  I just let the TiVo do the work.  And I don’t have to hang around waiting for something, which was leading me to watch a bunch of time-wasting crap.

If you haven’t filled up the hard drive with recordings, it has a neat feature where it scours the TV listings and records things that it thinks you might be interested in.  As you watch shows and use the “Thumbs-Up” and “Thumbs-Down” buttons it starts to learn what you like.  It now knows that I like Law & Order and it’s putting a lot of those in the recommendation sections. 

So far it has proven to be a fairly well-polished bit of technology.  It does one thing and it does it well.

Now maybe I can put TV in its place and get around to that pile of unread books that I’ve been meaning to tackle.

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(Ft. Worth, TX, USA)

Six families have filed suit against American and United airlines as well as the companies that were responsible for security at Logan, Dulles, and Newark airports.  The lawyer for the families says that Boeing may be added to the suit.

Maybe there is some liability to go around for the security firms and the airlines (since the firms are hired by the airlines), but I can’t see how Boeing fits into this.  To me it would be like suing Ford because someone maliciously ran over someone else with one of their SUVs.

Here’s the story on CBS News.

I’ve had this site for a while, but I’m just now getting around to setting things up the way I want them.  I intend for this site to be a gathering place for articles and sites that interest me along with occasional commentary.