THE ENORMOUS NUMBER OF PEOPLE EFFECTED BY MURDER OF A LOVED ONE

Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, 22 years old, is at present the main suspect of the murder of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramirez, aged 21, found dead in a Lima hotel today, five days after she disappeared .Read details.

An interview with his lawyer (while the alleged killer is in parts unknown) offers only what might expect from the attorney of the accused.  Some of the pictures might be of help.Click here.


My thoughts really aren't with whether this young man is innocent or guilty, though from data I've read, it certainly seems he might be guilty.  The fact that he ran to Chile makes one even more suspicious.  However, my thoughts are with the number of victims when anyone is murdered.  Loving extended family and friends, co-workers, employers, neighbors, people who may even have depended in someway on the murder victim are on my list to be given sympathy. In the unlikelihood that there may be two murderers, rather than one, it would be somewhat surprising when both women, Natalie Holloway and now a young woman in Peru happen to have had such immediate close contact with van der Sloot.  Google sports a notice from 2 days ago that the Chilean police have picked up the alleged murderer in that country as of 6/2.

Instead of answers, I read many notes by people, those without real fact.  Like l, we're conjecturing and filling in the blank canvas,  It doesn't bother me that people are guessing and finding Joran guilty or not.  However, it does trouble me when the media people are doing the same thing, misleading us, and getting paid for it all the while,  It would not prevent further murders by probably sociopaths, but it would help people understand overall consequences to these acts.  The human agony at the death of beautiful young women with nothing but potential future for happy lives for themselves and those around them..

WHISPERING IN THE WIND

Lots of suggestions are flying around but the false voices are drowning them out.  Sen Bob Graham of Florida decries the lack of responsibility not being fulfilled for the safety of the American people and the outrage of the American people is fully justified.    Meanwhile Michele Bachman Palin's clone for spewing and fostering hatred for this administration and pushing for a Revolution, is keeping the Teapartiers full of lies and calls to take our government back....the back to what is not clear?  Is it back to salve days?  Is it back to Bush/Cheney?  Or is it back to the First American Revolution, which is what it is beginning to sound like.  Today I heard a woman, caught on national TV, shouting Obama is a liar.  When did it become so fashionable to believe that a radio talk host or a Congresswoman knows everything that is truth in the government?

Admittedly, we stil have ignorant people believing that Obama is not an American citizen.  This makes it more believable to them that he has never run anything...certainly not as much as Sarah Palin, half-term governor!  Do people ever use the Internet to cross check facts?  Apparently not.

But the entire world is not full of hate.  Fran Drescher and her ex-husband of nearly 11 years are 'in love', and are about to have a TV show on their relationship.  Married for over 20 years, they divorced when he finally came out of the closet as gay.  They had known each other since they were 15 before they really knew enough to realize marriage would not be suitable for these two good friends.  To read about it more, click here.

SOME PRO-LIFERS WANT TO TAKE THE FUN OUT OF LIFE FOR OTHERS

As a psychotherapist who treated many marriages, I have watched (with sadness) the many who have been under the impression that sex for other than procreation is a sin; that using contraceptives is a sin; and  that masturbation is a sin.  Everything is in perspective in the greater,  real world.

Research that sex (that is orgasms) produce endorphins (the natural body opiate) which keeps many people feeling good and helps avoid clinical depression.  Couples who do not want to have children for the good of the planet or for more personal reasons choose contraception (the healthy choice) over celibacy .  Lastly, there are many who do not have partners and do not wish promiscuity.  Masturbation is the preferred choice of handling those physical needs.with a choice of do-it-yourself kits on sale today.

Amanda Marcotte wrote an interesting article on Puritan Anti-Choicers trying to band birth control. The simple argument that 'if you don't feel it right for you, don't use it' doesn't work for them.  They would have their rigid doctrine foisted on the unwilling.  The bible was written before modern day contraceptives.  Are we to be governed by some peoples' guesses as to what the yet-to-be-proved-there-is-one God has to say on the subject.  We know what happened to the anti-sex Shakers.  They became extinct.  Click here for Marcette's article on attempts to ban birth control.

HAS ISRAEL GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME?

Israel has historically had to fight for its survival just as Jews have been persecuted for many hundreds of years.  It is not easy when political groups and Armies make clear that they want you and your country wiped out.  However, just as we have to learn to deal with bullies, we have to make sure that we don't become bullies in the process, ourselves.

Apparently Israel has gone too far, according to the UN which calls for an impartial probe on the recent Israeli raid in which protesters to the naval blockade of the Gaza strip (to Palastine) were killed and captured.  Those attacked were in international waters but the Israelis are trying to keep military supplies from reaching the Palestinians. The ships were taking humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but the Israels claim they do not want arms and other non-acceptable items smuggled into Palestine, not trusting that .they were not being deceived.

Nine lives were lost in the raid,  The Israeli government has deported to Jordan more than 100 activists seized from the Gaza aid flotilla, and has promised to release the rest of the detainees within 48 hours.  .In general, the world is not seeing Israel as having the rightt to 'frisk' people in full view of the friends and families with whom they are traveling.


We can continue to say NMP (not my problem) or we can try to work it out diplomatically.  If that is achieved it will be a diplomatic miracle.  If that happens, someone should get a raise!.

A WEEKEND IN VERMONT

For some years Memorial Day weekend has been Vermont's Open Studios for Art and Crafts.  Fewer artisans exhibited, it seemed to me, than in the past and I thought there were fewer attendees.  I'm assuming the economy has something to do with it overall.  Traditionally, friends who live in Vermont have taken me wherever they chose to go and, the rest of the time we fed our long-term friendship.

As a 'flatlander' (one who does not live in mountainous VT), I thoroughly enjoyed being a Subaru-front-seat passenger over the state on back roads. Road names are either after some obscure figure or are descriptive, like Upper Middle Hill Road, Middle Hill Road., and Lower Middle Hill Road.  Another I liked was Deeper Rut Road.  There was Pleasant Valley, Hidden Valley and River Road...pretty straight forward there, sort of 'wysiwyg'.  What looked like fog was brush fire smoke from Quebec, blown by the wind all the way to Cape Cod and beyond.

A few years ago, few streets actually had names other than Town Road 11, or such.  That seemed quite adequate to me but will 911 came the need to change all those to peoples' names.  I thought that took away a bit of the rural charm with the change.

A bit of trivia was given to me.  I wondered why Berlin is pronounce (in VT as well as the one in NH) with the accent on the first syllable not on the second as the Berlin in Germany is pronounced.  I was told that it was because there were a few WW II German prisoners who were housed there and cheered when they saw the sign of the town name.  Citizen's thereafter moved the accent.

Vermonters have long been known for the economy and venturesome thinking of their words, eg. Home Hill Inn and  Blow-Me-Down Grange.  Calvin Coolidge, known as a man of few words was said to have been accosted by a woman at a party who said she had made a bet that she could make him same more than two words.  His response, "You lose."

A WEEKEND AWAY

A weekend away used to be simple procedure, just pack and go, but alas, now simplicity is only another memory.  First, the cell phone, toothbrush, camera, and iTouch need charging.  Fill gas tank.  The plants (expanding exponentially yearly) must be watered; that usually takes a bit more than an hour..  What toys do I need to bring besides something to read (I don't sleep as long as my hosts)?   Pack clothes for every season or weather possibility, this being New England where the weather differs every few yards  Next, the GPS updated and enough vitamin pills to sustain a small army crawling on its stomach for three days, as well as something to make sure peristalsis is revved and kept working. 

Make sure hair and body are shampooed and showered.  One should always arrive at friends' destinations smelling like 2010, not 1810.  That requires bottles, jars and stuff to keep it that way for three days plus all the unmentionables.  

House gifts have always been a puzzle for me.  What to people who have everything they need?  I am culturally forced by my dead mother's voice in my head never to go anywhere empty-handed?. Consumables are my choice...that way if my hosts don't want them, I will never see them again when next I visit.  By the time I am off, I can only think that in only three days, I will have to do all this in reverse.  Only love for old and dear friends moves me out of my usual cocoon at home.

...NO ANIMALS WERE USED IN THIS RESEARCH

ScienceDaily (May 27, 2010) —" A team of researchers at the University of Miami (UM) has developed a computer model for finding and projecting in time sunken oil masses on the bottom of bays, after an oil spill. The unique model can be used in oil spill planning, response, and recovery applications."  To read about it, click here.

The future of robots: another article that defines how robots are to underwater what the MRI is to the body in today's medicine.  See and read more about it here.

Undersea hurricane forces may threaten undersea pipelines in the Mexican Gulf.  Just as though our environment isn't threatened enough, there are always new threats, it seems. This article write:  "These pipelines could crack or rupture unless they are buried or their supporting foundations are built to withstand these hurricane-induced currents. "Major oil leaks from damaged pipelines could have irreversible impacts on the ocean environment," the researchers warn in their study, to be published on 10 June in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)."

We are beginning to realize the oceans have a world of information we have yet to tame or understand.