Another Teen Dies As School Administrators Stand Idly By

It is always shocking to hear that another young person has taken his or her life as a result of bullying. It is so senseless. Especially, when the bullying was common knowledge and the parents and school administrators were aware of it.

Phoebe Prince, a beautiful, 15 year old girl took her own life as a result of her anguish over the chronic bullying she received at her South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. I am glad to see that a District Attorney is holding the school administrators accountable. Personally, I think they should be criminally charged along with the 12 bullies they, in effect, helped to end this lovely girl's life. Shame on them! Shame!

Cussing At School Leads to Bullying

McKay Hatch, a very brave and intelligent sixteen year old takes on the bullies by trying to get the Senate to pass a no cussing bill for American schools. It was passed by Congress, but set aside by the Senate.

I agree with McKay that the U.S. Senate's action, or inaction as it were, is a Victory for millions of bullies. By not passing the bill, the Senate has condoned bullying. This mirrors what happens each and every day at our schools when administrators do little or nothing to stop bullying.

According to a 2 year study out of Louisiana, bullying decreased when cussing was disallowed at a Louisiana school.

You can visit McKay Hatch's website and read about or join his national campaign @ NoCussing.com

Alarming Increase In Teen Deaths As A Result Of Huffing

I just heard the shocking news that there have been 77 teen deaths in the first 3 months of this year! That is very alarming considering that just over 500 teens died after huffing over the last 5 years according to the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition.

I just taught at SMART START class to a sixth grade class last Friday dealing with the dangers of inhaling or huffing poisonous substances. I cannot emphasize enough the dangers of huffing. One in three first time abusers drops dead. I tell kids, your first huff, may well be your last breath. I am deeply saddened by this ABC report.

Bullying On The Decline Says Who?

I could not believe my ears when HLN reported last Monday that bullying is on the decline. What?According to HLN, reports of physical bullying among children fell from 22% in 2003 to 15% in 2008. Now, I am no expert, but I take serious issue with this study.

First of all, most bullying incidents never get reported. The majority of bully victims suffer in silence. Secondly, physical bullying is just one facet of bullying. The girls are the worst kind of bullies and I'd wager there are a lot more girl bullies than boy bullies. Girls today are just plain mean. They bully in ways that go undetected by the adults around them, especially their parents who will deny their darling little angel would ever say a disparaging word to another child. Give me a break!

So, I say to this HLN report, HOGWASH! For the very day of the report, I received a phone call from a mom in tears over her daughter's distress and anxiety due to 2 girls who had been repeatedly bullying her at school. Two days prior to this report, a friend informed me that her son was bullied at Track and Field practice which is run by a Christian Youth Organization!!! Shameful!

HLN, why don't you put your focus on the fact that 1 in 4 children are bullied every single day in this country???? Let's put that out there and put a stop to it now.

NASCAR Bullies Go Way Too Far

I was stunned as I watched a NASCAR driver purposely cause the car in front of him to flip off the track on Sunday. It was reported that he showed no remorse and indicated that it was pay back. Really????? Have we stooped so low as adults that we need to exact revenge on our tormentors?File a complaint, call the police, get legal retribution, but don't risk your life and the lives of innocent fans.

This blatant act was attempted murder. Hello! Both of these drivers should be thrown behind bars for attempting to murder each other on the track and on national television no less. I am completely disgusted by this attitude and both men should be ashamed of themselves! What's more, it appears that NASCAR encourages such reckless behavior. Why? For the almighty dollar. Sickening!!! Shame!!! Shame!!!! Shame!!!!

Gym Bullies: American Society Increasingly Self-absorbed And Inconsiderate

Okay, now the bullies have made me really mad. I am still hot over this one since it happened just this afternoon. So, today I finally get to the gym. There were very few people today. The "resolutionaries" are dropping off fast. I'm on the elyptical machine, no one else around me, 31 minutes into my workout when I start to struggle with my body which wants to call it quits. I successfully talked it into continuing to 45 minutes.

Excited that this was going to be the best workout I've have had in 3 months, I peddled away straining to read the subtitles of the soap opera (not my choice, but it was already on) being broadcast on the TV in my area. All the other TVs were showing sports and news. I hate sports programs and I had seen all of the day's news repeated 5 times over as I had watched the latest on our treacherous California storms all morning. All of a sudden, the TV screen went blank. Someone had asked the staff to change my program!

Shocked and pissed all at the the same time, I looked to my left with a huff of disgust, and there he was, the jerk who changed my channel! I looked to the right at the staff behind the counter; the criminal staff member who changed my channel was completely oblivious to my glare.

Then, as the creep's sports program came on, he jumped up and down, clapped, and yelled, "Yes!" I looked to my right. There was an available elyptical machine right there with a TV screen directly over it showing the same exact program the jerk changed my program to! I couldn't believe it! 3 out of the 5 TVs were now showing the same sports program!

Disgusted, I grabbed my things and went to complain to the deviant staff member who changed the channel without any regard for the fact that I was obviously staring at the screen being that I had no headphones and had to strain to keep up with the dialogue flying across the screen.

Needless to say, my workout and my good mood were ruined. This is not the first nor the second time this has happened to me at the same Fitness 19 gym. I notice that men are usually the biggest offenders! Is this a gender thing? I have never, and would never, walk into a gym and before arriving to my machine, ask the front desk to change the channel of a program that someone else is clearly watching. What do you think? Has this happened to you? What would you do? Am I in the wrong here?

Now that I am writing this, I don't know why I didn't complain to the creep who was so inconsiderate to change my channel. I was very angry and preferred to avoid confronting him, so I went to complain to the staff and will complain to the manager tomorrow when I see her. Clearly, Fitness 19 needs to enforce it's TV policy, but it is also clear that our society is increasingly self-absorbed and blatantly inconsiderate of others.

New Study Says Tattoos Linked To Trouble

Hard to believe a study was needed to figure this one out. Researchers now conclude that people who have tattoos are 8 times more likely to commit a crime. Doesn't everyone know that to get a tattoo in the first place, one must be a bit on the wild side? No Duh!