Feel ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED stories

[anitram]

The nanny story is just awful. Those kids were absolutely beautiful.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Truly tragic indeed. Agreed with MrsS, I just can't even begin to imagine what the poor mother is going through right now.

I imagine the woman who did this will get one hell of a severe sentence. I hope so.

[Pearl]

It really makes you wonder who to trust your babies with. Supposedly the nanny was one of the family and they even vacationed with her in the Dominican Republic. How more heartbreaking to know your own kids were killed by someone you trusted.

[cobl04]

Girl, 15, killed with acid for talking to boy | Pakistan

[bono_212]

I was scared to come in this thread for fear of seeing the nanny story again. I've been trying to block it from my memory.

[Pearl]

And while September 11 is a recent memory that many still live with, the attacks are a distant reference to schoolchildren today. As the event and its subsequent war have become "recent history," The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf took to examine how high schoolers are learning about 9/11 and the years following.
His general findings: the threat of terrorism can be eliminated, the Patriot Act was not controversial and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Friedersdorf's analysis is decidedly unscientific, looking only at one history textbook: a 2003 edition of The American Vision by Professors Joyce Appleby, Alan Brinkley, Albert Broussard, James McPhereson, and Donald Ritchie. Still, the book is one of the most used American history textbooks in schools for 11th graders.
He criticizes the book's flat portrayal of 9/11, perhaps misleading students to believe that the day's attacks killed more people than the invasion of Normandy.

High Schools Teaching The War On Terror: The Atlantic Looks At A History Textbook

[Moonlit_Angel]

Is it sad that I'm not all that surprised by that news?

In Louisiana, for example, one commonly used textbook teaches students "the accumulated wisdom of the past from a biblical worldview."

*Smacks forehead*

The bit about kids not knowing a lot about Lincoln was pretty crazy, too. The cherry-picking of what people deem "worthy" or "factual" information to teach our schoolchildren that's been going on in recent times is truly disturbing.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Horrible. Just horrible.

Grandma eyed in murder-suicide that left 3 kids dead - U.S. News

[Pearl]

This may not be about murder or the like, but it still disgusts me and I'm sure anyone who thinks Thanksgiving is a day to spend time with family - not shop!

Ideally, Casey St. Clair would be spending Thanksgiving relaxing and eating dinner with her boyfriend and his family. Instead, the part-time Target employee and substitute teacher will worknextThursday night during the early kickoff of the big-box retailer's Black Friday sale. Stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving this year, reflecting a wider shift in the retail industry toward getting a head start on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday walkout
As it stands now, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Sears and KMart will be the first large retail chains to open their doors for bargain hunters at 8 p.m. Many other chains are open Thanksgiving Day, but their Black Friday sales don't start until midnight or Friday morning.
St. Clair, who lives in Corona, California, is scheduled to work Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. She'll return Thanksgiving Day before 9 p.m. and work until 5:15 on Friday morning. She has to sleep at some point, so traveling 45 minutes each way for Thanksgiving dinner is out.
"It shouldn't have to be a rushed affair, slipping in to eat some turkey and taking a piece of pie for the road," said St. Clair, who plans to have dinner at home with her boyfriend before going to work.

Retail employees fight "Black Friday creep" - CNN.com


Really, this is horrible. And it has nothing to do with corporate greed, its the fault of rampant materialism in this country. Is it really more important to get that flat screen TV half-off than enjoy some family time? And let's not forget the wacky shoppers who trample each other and workers to death in order to get those items.


Despite what this article says, I truly believe that in a few years time, stores will be open on Christmas Day. This is really a shame because I remember when I worked in retail, Thanksgiving was the calm before the storm and Christmas was the calm after the storm. Will retail workers ever get a break?

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally Posted by Pearl

Despite what this article says, I truly believe that in a few years time, stores will be open on Christmas Day.

I think there already have been some places open on that day, unfortunately. But yeah, I do fear it'll become even more common as time goes on.

Originally Posted by Pearl

Will retail workers ever get a break?

I don't know. I agree with you that opening stores as early as they have been and having it spill into the holidays themselves is absolutely ridiculous. My mom worked in retail and she remembered customers on certain holidays coming in and saying, "I think it's just awful they make you work on days like this." My mom always wanted to say, "Well, you know, if people like you didn't come in here today I wouldn't HAVE to be here!"

And it's not just the insane hours that are a problem, it's also how obnoxious and rude some of the customers can be. People freaking out at the idea of having to have a receipt to return something, or people getting mad because you're out of something (yeah, gee, imagine that, we sell out of hot, popular products quickly! Shocker!), getting mad at you for following store policy as required, as though you were the one who created it just to make customers' lives difficult, in some stores they seem to not understand how coupons work or misread coupons (or sometimes claim something is on sale when it's really not) or whatever, the insane fights and other violent activity that breaks out among people at stores over a product...

The more we build up the "importance" of the holiday rush and make it a big deal, the more this craziness will continue, and it's not healthy or safe or rational for anyone. It really needs to stop-I sometimes wonder if all retail workers shouldn't band together one year and sign an agreement to refuse to work on the holidays or something. There's got to be something that can be done about this.

Anywho, luckily, I do have Thanksgiving off, but I am working the day after. Though our store isn't opening as ungodly early as some places are (7, I think, is when we'll open). Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.

[Liesje]

This isn't really unique to retail. My little sister is working double shifts on Thanksgiving by choice, getting time and a half for both! For every person that wants a holiday off there are probably five people that would pick up the shift.

I've done some Black Friday shopping in the past, both getting up early or just going later in the day. I've seen long lines but so far have never had anyone be rude to me.

[Pearl]

Originally Posted by Pearl

There are rumors going around that Islamic fundamentalists want to destroy the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. Some believe the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt will do this now since they have power.

That cannot happen. If it ever does, the world's heart will be broken. I know mine will be.

And the calls mount:

Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Egyptian jihadist who claims he has links to the Taliban, has called for the “destruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt."
Al-Gohary, an Islamist leader and jihadist sentenced twice under President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, urged Muslims to "destroy the idols" in Egypt -- specifically the Giza Pyramids and the Great Sphinx -- during a television interview on Saturday on Egypt's Dream TV, according to Al Arabiya News.
“God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,” he said, according to Al Arabiya News. “When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”

Adding, “All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,” according to the Egypt Independent. The jihadist refers to when the Taliban blew up a pair of Buddha statues and smashed other art forms in Afghanistan in 2001, according to The Jerusalem Post. These were symbols of the country's long Buddhist history.
The vice president of Tunisia’s Ennahda Party, Sheikh Abdel Fattah Moro, called in to the station to challenge al-Gohary's interpretation of Islam. Moro said the famous military commander Amr ibn al-Aas did not destroy statues when he conquered Egypt. “So who are you to do it?” he asked. “The Prophet destroyed the idols because people worshiped them, but the Sphinx and the Pyramids are not worshiped.”

Murgan Salem al-Gohary, Egyptian Jihadist, Wants Pyramids And Sphinx Destroyed

[cobl04]

My heart rips out as I read this Maria Santos Gorrostieta 'executed' after surviving two assassination attempts | Mail Online

[Pearl]

Erotic Zoos Prompt Germany To Reinstate Bestiality Laws

This is seriously insane. What the fuck is wrong with people who basically rape animals? I swear, sometimes I fear for the human race.

I know bestiality is nothing new and has been around for centuries. But to hear about "zoophilia advocates" makes me sick and depressed.

[cobl04]

Well, we are letting more and more homos get married, so it's no surprise really.

[Pearl]

And the story from the woman in Washington falls all too neatly into the pattern of ripping apart families -- rape and other forms of sexualized violence have long been used as a tool of war to destroy not only individual bodies but entire communities. What is happening in Syria is no exception.



In an attempt to not lose a single story that could be used as possible evidence for future war crimes trials, we are documenting reports of sexualized violence on a live, crowd-sourced map on Syria. We know, however, that evidence of crimes is being destroyed every day: More than 20% of the women in our reports are found dead or are killed after rape.
Broken down by type of crime and perpetrator, each case is marked as a red dot on the map and contains up to dozens or even hundreds of victims. Each dot is a life or lives potentially ripped apart by a horrific act of violence, an act that is particularly powerful as a weapon in Syria, where honor is so highly prized.


Rape is tearing Syrians apart. The concept of purity is destroying their lives on top of it.
The International Rescue Committee, referring to Syria, reported in August that "girl-child survivors of rape are frequently married to their older cousins or other male members of the community, to 'save their honor.' " Participants in adolescent girl groups told the IRC that if a girl is raped, "Sometimes she might be killed by her family. She might kill herself. ... She knows that she will be dishonored for the rest of her life."
Honor killings, forced marriages and divorce are just a few of the ways shame is destroying lives in Syria. There is also suicide when the shame becomes too much to bear, such as the story on our map telling of a girl in Latakia who reportedly killed herself by jumping off a balcony after rape.

Rape is shredding Syria's social fabric - CNN.com






I don't know what angers me more - the fact that rape is war tool in Syria, or the fact that being raped is something to be ashamed of, like it was the woman's fault. This piece even mentions how men are forced to choose to either have their wives, daughters, sisters murdered in front of them at checkpoints, or to leave them behind so they can be raped. Some men choose the latter, allowing their women become subjected to shame and dishonor in their society. How disgusting. It truly doesn't make any sense, this whole honor bullshit. And that is what it is - bullshit. I can go on forever how this baffles and angers me.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Both are pretty worthy of outrage. Absolutely disgusting and horrifying. And the most frustrating part is that nobody seems to be willing to step up to actually DO something about this and make it stop. It rarely ever makes the headlines in terms of foreign news and so it continues to go on.

[AchtungBono]

Newspaper takes heat over haunting subway photo - CNN.com

I read this in the paper this morning and saw the picture - it was one of those "omg" moments.....what a horrible way to die - seeing death approach you at high speed and you're helpless to do anything about it. I am deeply sorry and sad for the victim's family and I hope that at least he died instantly and didn't suffer.

As for the photographer.....what was he thinking?? (besides dollar signs of course). How could he have stood by and done nothing? I'm sure that if there were enough people there they could have at least tried to wrench the victim from harm's way.

This is a truly tragic story and I hope the pusher is punished to the fullest extent of the law.

[Pearl]

We're already talking about this in the New York's Finest thread.

[MrsSpringsteen]

I feel disgusted that the DJ prank on the hospital where Kate was has apparently led to the suicide of the nurse involved. Not so funny now.