Be warned. This post is a vent. There's been a lot in the media lately that I've been trying to mull over in my mind before I could even think about writing a post about it all... for starters... grocery stores charging $0.05 per a plastic bag at the check out... because you know... that's going to help people already struggling to make ends meet... and please don't give me the bullshit line of purchasing a canvas bag or bringing the plastic bag back to the store for reuse - you know as well as I do that at least 45% of those bags rip before you get them to the front door and that nearly the remaining 55% are reused in each household (because honestly, have you seen the cost of "disposable" garbage liners lately?)... and you something... when it comes to spending $6-20 on a canvas bag (times however many it would take to bring the groceries home for an average family - so let's lowball it at say 5 bags - so $30-100 total) or putting food on the table and gas in the tank... what do you think people in a poor economic situation are going to choose?
This morning I'm posting before I can think because I can't get my head around the complete injustices happening awfully close to home...
First there was the story about the 10 year old girl who was raped and has had a child in St. Anthony, Idaho... the story that barely had any headlines on the local news (suffice it to say the man (monster) involved has been arrested)... no idea if the girl is approaching 11 or if the incident happened when she was 9 (that's how little media coverage this is getting... that it was allowed to go unnoticed just pisses me off... because if the media wanted to really draw attention to it and it had indeed happened when she was 9 we'd hear all about that and the community would be in an uproar - so why aren't they at 10? Instead we got a passing headline)... sick. sick. sick. I hope they put him away for life along with any and all adults that allowed the poor child to continue with a pregnancy at that age, because you know - being raped at 9/10 isn't going to screw her up enough - delivering at 10 is just so emotionally appropriate for a CHILD her age...
Soapbox #2... UTAH AND ARIZONA NOT ADDRESSING THE POLYGAMIST ISSUE IN THEIR OWN BACK DOOR AND IN FACT HOLDING A MEETING AND PUBLICLY AGREEING TO IGNORE THE SITUATION.
Of course the only headline hitting the news in this region is that they have nothing to fear because the government (i.e., my and your hard earned cold cash tax dollars at work) are going to turn a blind eye to the ILLEGAL and unethical treatment of the children in those communities. Wow... not only that... BUT THEY'RE ACTUALLY CONSIDERING RELEASING THE CHILDREN FROM TEXAS TO THE RELATIVES WITHIN THE COMPOUNDS AND CITIES IN UTAH instead of putting them into foster care. HELLO??? EARTH TO CHILD SERVICES - do you really think that is the best option for these children? To remove them from one predatory community and subject them to another community wherein the government has already declared that it will not intervene with their, again, ILLEGAL (because marriage to underage children is illegal) actions!!! I realize that it's difficult to argue with religious zealots. I know. And the amount of "brainwashing"/indoctrination (because truly to some extent that's what happens in EVERY religion including the religion from which FDLS found it roots) that these women and children have been through is unfathomable... but still - FOR GOD'S SAKE! As a Christian nation when do we step in and call shenanigans on the entire situation!
I cannot for a minute wrap my hand around the fact that a government/law of the land/closely related in principals religion that I have trusted for 30 years would let sooooo many children down on such a tremendous level.
Retiring soapbox for the time being...
These are only TWO recent incidents... it doesn't even account for the millions of children that fall through the cracks. I wish there were no cracks. Better yet, I wish there were actually consequences. Better yet, I wish as a Nation we'd look inwards and deal with the problems at hand (child abuse, drug abuse, domestic abuse, etc.) before we start offering aid to nations who have a natural disaster.
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