Not to mention that at no other time in the history of Interpol has an arrest warrant been issued internationally for someone not actually being charged with a crime.

Julian is *absolutely* smart to stay the hell away from anything having to do with this "issue".. because it's a total setup by the fascists in the US govt who are really pissed about the egg on their faces.

Many years ago I had a conversation with a lady in her mid 20's who had been the "victim" of incest by her father. This young woman was 9 years old when the "abuse" began, and it persisted up until she was 12 or 13.

At the time of our conversation, she'd only recently come to terms with the whole situation, after having spent probably 10 years receiving various forms of counselling and psychotherapy.

What she told me about her experiences was unexpected, until I really thought about it. She said that nothing was forced on her, and that the whole thing was a very loving and positive sexual experience, until she happened to let slip to one of her friends that it was going on.

The friend said something, the police were callled, her father arrested, and she was inundated by a veritable army of child advocates, social service people, counselors, school officials, police, etc..all *insisting* that something absolutely horrific had happened to her and that she needed all kinds of services to "recover from the trauma."

So imagine this, if you can.. You're a 12-13 year old girl.. you're enjoying (her words) an admittedly non-standard sexual relationship with your father.. everything is as fine as the life of a 12-13 year old can be.. and all of a sudden, one of your "friends" causes your father to be arrested, your family broken up, you dragged through "the system", confronted by dozens upon dozens of people all insisting that something horrible and evil has happened to you, and that you're all f**ked up, you just don't know it...

Your previously happy life has been turned on its head, your father, whom you love and respect, has been imprisoned and turned into some kind of of evil monster at the insistance of a bunch of "child welfare" advocates, your family life and the stability of your environment has been totally shot to hell during a time in your life where you're facing all sorts of uncertainty about your own identity, place in the world, etc, and you are painted to be the victim of this horrible evil man by everybody you come into contact with.

To sum it up, the young lady in question said that she was horribly traumatized by her incest experience and it took her 10 years to recover, because of the actions of *society* in relation to it, not because of the actual sexual conduct itself. To quote her..

"They made me feel like some kind of a freak, because they insisted that this thing I had experienced was so horrible and awful and evil, but I had enjoyed it."

Admittedly, I cannot assert that this is anywhere near a "standard" sort of view.. but it did make me pause and ask the question "Where is the real "abuse" happening here?" While I do not condone incest or the like, I certainly have to wonder about the wisdom of painting with as broad a brush as society does when it comes to sexuality.

Don't worry, they'll never do this in the USA..

Or if they do, they'll only do it once. The minute private citizens can bring criminal charges against other parties, the entire MAFIAA, Congress, the majority of major banking houses, etc get hit with RICO..

.. They just seem to hit low-value targets. I mean, yeah, potentially Anonymous could be very, very strong... but Commander X facing 15 years in prison for a 30 minute virtual sit-in on some county level govt website?

If you're going to risk prison, especially in this police state nation, then I'd say go after something worth the risk. When I see Goldman Sachs actual trading links to the NYSE disrupted.. hell, I don't care if it's just for 15 seconds.. then I'll give them some acknowledgement as being "powerful". But websites? Meh..

I clean parking lots and pick up trash for a living. Occasionally also drive a dump truck. Before taxes I make $19k a year. After taxes and fuel to get to work and back, knock that down to $12k or less, depending on gas prices..

I currently operate on the "Get better on my own or die" health plan. As in, I have none. I recieve no government handouts, no state assistance. Insurance? Ha! Emergency Room? Ha! One visit to the ER, and I'm dealing with harassing phone calls from the collections leg-breakers for the next year trying to insist that their recieving a check from me is more important than putting food on my plate.

This is even after filling out the reams of "assistance program" paperwork at the hospital. No thank you.

Doctor's visit to get a prescription? Sure, if I don't want to eat that week.

From where I sit, the "non-working poor" seem to have better access to services than I do, and I'm actually out *trying* to make a living and contribute something meaningful to society. Maybe they have a better working knowledge of these systems than I do, I dunno. But for me, "medical care" is what is available when something happens to me so bad that I lose consciousness and an ambulance scrapes me off a road somewhere when I'm in no fit state to object.

There is no band-aid or magic bullet to fix education, and all of the political ranting about teachers unions or the like doesn't get anywhere. The problem is the educational system is fundamentally broken at its core, and it's going to need some serious work to fix.

First of all, change the funding. Most school districts I know of are funded through property tax levies, resulting in some horrific disparities in resources between schools in affluent areas and schools in poor areas. Most teachers I know are hideously underpaid as well. As a society, we give a lot of lip service to the importance of education, then cut funding as soon as the political fatcats spend themselves into a budget problem.

Second point. Change the culture. This is the hard one. Todays schools are largely prisons for the young. They are designed to keep young people corralled in a specific location for the majority of the day, and to condition them towards conformity. The presentation of academic information is largely an afterthought.

To actually engage students, you have to show them why what they do is important. Not just some bland and unverified statement about "you'll need this down the road to succeed in life".. but to make their participation in the learning process important right then and there. They need to be engaged in the teaching process, as well as the learning process. Incentive programs that allow for peer recognition work, and they work well.. so do efforts that allow students efforts at learning to result in practical application. Have them make things, real things, to help the community, the school, each other.. and you'll see interest spike. Pointless busywork is the nemesis of any student. They need something to believe in, something that says they have meaning. Give them that, you have their involvement.

Then engage the teachers. Similar methods work. Give them the freedom and the power to get involved within a certain framework of curriculum needs. Most people go into teaching because they love kids, and they want to be involved in shaping young minds. What burns them out is that their creativity and passion is stifled by endless seas of bureaucratic regulation, stupid politicial infighting at the schools, and a total lack of support from administration or the community.

Thirdly.. go back to classical education. I'd actually suggest a return to the latin and greek classics. Yes, that sounds crazy.. but in the process of learning latin and greek, obsolete as that is these days, one gets exposed to the world of philosophy. This itself tends to teach "how to think".. how to engage the mind in the process of learning and discovery, and not just "what to think" which is where emphasis is currently placed.

I've consistantly found, when working with young people, that if you give them something to believe in, and something that gets them into the world of interesting ideas.. that challenges them to come up with their own solutions, their own expressions, and rewards them for their innovation, they take to that whole "uncool" thinking thing like nobody's business and they truly surprise you.

It's only when you stick them in an environment where creativity and "going outside the box" gets smacked down, where conformity is the law, that stupidity and ignorance become heralded as glorious rebellion.