Sex Offender Tells Neighbors Not to Worry About Him

zondag 22 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Kiri Blakeley 4 hours ago

A dozen years ago, 48-year-old Carl Peterson was sentenced to four years in jail for raping his 14-year-old niece. Recently, he stood up before the community he now lives in with his wife and 14-year-old daughter to tell them he's no threat to them. "'I'm the level 3 sex offender all of you have been talking about," he told the gathering of about 100 people at the Belmont, Massachusetts high school auditorium. "It seems as though the big reason why we are here tonight is me."

Carl explained to the community that he has been seeing a therapist for eight years, and is certain he will never recommit that crime. According to the Belmont Patch, he told them:

The problem is all you know, all you get to know about my problem is what you read ... which says I'm the most dangerous and the most likely to reoffend of all sex offenders. It also says my offense was the rape against a child. What's important is that I'm not the victim. I'm a sex offender and I committed a crime and I did spend four years in prison for.

Some in the audience yelled at him, while others shushed those and said it was important to hear what he had to say. Peterson went on to say that his crimes were not against "pre-school children" or "many children" but a girl he knew. And he promised: "At this point, I know that it will never happen again." He then offered to speak to anyone who wanted to approach him.

We can despise this man's crime, but I think it's admirable for him to stand up and announce himself in front of his community. Many didn't even know him, and yet he just made himself a target in the hopes of allaying people's fears. But he also planted a seed a trust, which may bloom. Isn't it better to know the people in our community we may have doubts and fears about, rather than let our imaginations get the better of us?

What this man did a dozen years ago was inexcusable. What he did now was brave.

Forgiveness is something we must practice, if people are showing themselves worthy of it. So far, he is.

Could you forgive this man living in your community? What do you think about what he did?

Image via Belmont Police

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Teacher Tells 10-Year-Old God Is Not an Acceptable 'Idol' (VIDEO)

vrijdag 13 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Mary Fischer 5 hours ago

Ugh. Can someone please explain to me what the heck this world is coming to? Because after hearing that a 10-year-old girl was not allowed to choose God as her idol to write about for a school assignment, I really don't know whether to scream or cry.

Mom Erica Shead explains how her daughter, Erin, came home from school on Wednesday upset. When she drew a diagram in class with the words, "I look up to God," in the middle of it -- her teacher told her that God was not an acceptable idol, and that she'd have to start the assignment all over again.

The poor kid wound up choosing Michael Jackson (basically going from one extreme to the other) as an alternative.

Erin told her mother she wanted to write about God because "God created the earth" and added that she's "doing the best she can."

And as you can imagine, Erica is absolutely irate over the teacher's decision, as she should be.

Take a look at this video clip to hear more about what happened.

That poor child. This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. Who the hell is that teacher to tell a child who she can and cannot look up to? By telling her to choose someone else, and by not even allowing her to keep the original assignment at school (you know, because it's SO offensive), she's basically teaching her that her faith doesn't matter and isn't worth believing in. And that's just sad, wrong, disgusting, ridiculous, and well ... really shitty, if you ask me.

What would've been the harm in letting her write about God? It's not like she was preaching to the class or anything. She was simply following the instructions she was given to complete her school work -- and she basically got punished for it. Yes, it is a punishment to take a child's beautiful, creative idea and classify it as wrong, when it clearly isn't.

Oh, and another thing, I'd be appalled about this incident no matter where in the country it happened. But in Millington, Tennessee -- right outside of Memphis?!? If kids can't express their love for God in the Bible belt, it certainly doesn't offer much hope to the rest of the U.S.

I don't blame Erica one bit for going straight to the principal. I would've done the same thing in her shoes, because the way her daughter was treated is unacceptable. Schools should be a place where children are encouraged to stand up for what they believe instead of hiding from it.

That teacher should be ashamed of herself. All I can say is thank GOD my kid isn't in her class.

Do you think Erin should have been allowed to write about her true idol?

Image via WREG

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Fischer

is the writer behind The Mommyologist, and the mom of a future famous comedian. Her current loves include Pinot Grigio on ice and Harry Styles -- in that order.

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Wife Tells Marine Husband She’s Pregnant in Most Adorable Way (VIDEO)

dinsdag 3 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 2 hours ago

What could possibly be more exciting than being reunited with your Marine husband after his at-sea period? Oh, I know! Getting to tell him you're pregnant in a super adorable, super creative way -- and getting his epic reaction on tape!

You have to check out this incredibly touching video of a military wife surprising her husband with the news that they're expecting a baby. Oh, and the onesie apparently says "Daddy's Hero" on it. You'll know what I'm talking about after you watch.

Check it out:

Is this great or what? Love that this woman did this -- and positively love her husband's awesome reaction. Congrats, you guys!

How adorable is this?!

Image via kelseyjulian/YouTube

Click "Like" if you love someone in the military!
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Mom Takes On Stupid Pregnancy 'Rules' and Tells It Like It Really Is

woensdag 14 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Jacqueline Burt 2 hours ago

What's safe during pregnancy? What's not? It's a debate that will continue to rage on, I suspect, for as long as babies are born, but the answers change -- often. Or maybe I should say opinions? And those opinions do tend to stir up some serious controversy, as is the case with those contained in the new book Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong -- and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster. As you might have guessed from the name, Oster's take on what's okay/not okay during pregnancy is slightly different from what's currently considered conventional wisdom: Caffeine and alcohol -- in moderation, of course -- aren't necessarily mortal sins for mothers-to-be. Now, Oster isn't a doctor, but she is an economist. And when -- while pregnant with her first child -- she applied her expertise with numbers to relevant studies, what she found was, in her words, "surprising."

In search of real answers, I combed through hundreds of studies -- the ones that the recommendations were based on -- to get to the good data. This is where another part of my training as an economist came in: I knew enough to read the numbers correctly ... the key problem lies in separating correlation from causation. The claim that you should stop having coffee while pregnant, for instance, is based on causal reasoning: If you change nothing else, you'll be less likely to have a miscarriage if you drink less coffee. But what we see in the data is only a correlation -- the women who drink coffee are more likely to miscarry. There are also many other differences between women who drink coffee and those who don't, differences that could themselves be responsible for the differences in miscarriage rates.

This makes a lot of sense to me. My first pregnancy was something of a surprise, so I was already eight weeks along when I saw those double lines on the test stick. And let me tell ya: Insta-panic!! Those first ignorant eight weeks were filled with all sorts of activity not generally considered to be appropriate during pregnancy. Naturally I quit smoking, drinking, and guzzling Starbucks right away, but I still worried ... thankfully, my daughter was born perfectly healthy (and too smart for her own good).

Still, not surprisingly, lots of people are absolutely going insane over Oster's ideas, accusing the mom and author of being "irresponsible" and even a "danger to pregnant women and their families." Is that fair? When my grandmother was pregnant with my father, her ob/gyn encouraged her to smoke cigarettes to keep her weight down -- he even prescribed Dexedrine! My mom, on the other hand, was told by her ob/gyn to eat "as much as she wanted," weight gain be damned! Maybe it's safe to say none of us has all the answers? For me, it all goes back to the common sense thing: A glass of wine is probably fine, a bottle is probably less fine. But that's just me.

Do you think drinking coffee and/or alcohol during pregnancy in moderation is okay?

Image via star5112/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacqueline Burt

has written for numerous magazines, newspapers, and websites. She is easily bored and often tired, so she requires constant entertainment to keep her awake. Dance, Monkey! Dance! 

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Doctor Tells Woman Her 'Ghetto Booty' Is Causing Her Back Pain (VIDEO)

donderdag 18 juli 2013

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by Maressa Brown 12 hours ago

Now, for your OMG/WTH/You Have to Be Kidding Me moment of the day ... A woman in Tennessee has filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health, because she says a doctor named Dr. Timothy Sweo, who she was seeing for back pain, diagnosed her with "ghetto booty." Fifty-five-year-old Terry Ragland told local FOX affiliate, “I think I blacked out after he said ‘ghetto booty.’ I think my mind was just stuck on the phrase because I couldn’t believe he said that." Unbelievable is right!

Even Dr. Sweo himself admits that he used those words to explain the cause of Ragland's back pain, because as he states in a letter he sent his patient, "I was trying to take technical conversation regarding your lower back and make it less technical." UGH!

I hate to generalize, but it makes my blood boil for so many reasons. Why is it like pulling teeth for so many patients to achieve the kind of rapport with a doctor that they feel they're being understood and treated appropriately? Why is bedside manner so hard to come by? And how in the world would a doctor think it was okay to simply dismiss a patient's pain with a slang-borderline-slur term like "ghetto booty"?! It's maddening -- and the mark of a physician who clearly doesn't treat his patients the way they deserve to be treated.

Ragland herself noted that she feels Dr. Sweo gave her that answer -- instead of the technical explanation he was apparently trying to "dumb down" -- because he underestimated her intellect. So, so wrong. We all deserve doctors who listen to us, who allow us to ask questions and give them thoughtful answers, who don't take us for fools or morons!

Furthermore, it's outrageous that the guy boiled it all down to nothing more than "lumbar lordosis, which is a medical term for the curve of the lower spine that makes the buttocks protrude more." Wow. And all he could allegedly think to offer her was painkillers and to say "there is no cure." Really? She was born that way, so she's doomed to experience pain and should just throw in the towel and pop some pills? No discussion of any injury or repetitive activity that could be contributing to her discomfort? No suggestion of physical therapy, which is considered the top treatment for this lumbar lordosis? Just, this is your body, deal with it? Sick -- and seriously problematic.

Thank goodness Ragland spoke up about her experience. Any patient treated in a half-assed way by a physician should follow her lead -- and then find a doctor who not only treats them like a fellow human being but is willing to put in the extra time to help them truly heal.

What do you make of this? Have you ever felt like your doctor was "dumbing it down" for you?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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