Mandated Reporting in NJ: Dr. Pelcovitz, what are you thinking?



Pelcovitz's Travel Sponsored by The 17 Day Diet



by Vicki Polin

 The saga continues with the dynamic duo of David Mandel (director of Ohel Family Services) and David Pelcovitz (licensed psychologist and Yeshiva University professor). Both have been speaking at workshops in haredi communities around the United States and NOT providing parents with the most important information needed to protect their children from being abused. Once again these two self proclaimed experts omitted providing parents in Lakewood, NJ the necessary information regarding mandated reporting.

The ongoing issues of Pelcovitz and Mandel not talking about mandated reporting during workshops ispartially due to the fact they continuously cave into political pressures from various rabbonim -- who mandate that individuals get permission from rabbis prior to reporting suspicions of child abuse and or neglect to law enforcement officials or making hotline reports without the permission of local rabbis first. Several experts in the field of mind control have described the ciphering information to its membership by any community leader, such as the rabbonim of Lakewood, as being a form of cult like behavior.

On May 3rd, Dr. Pelcovitz and David Mandel spoke at a symposium held at Ateres Riva that was sponsored by the Lakewood Community Services Corporation, and organized by Rabbi Moshe Velvel Weisberg who is a member of the Vaad of Lakewood (Jewish religious court).

A few days after the event an audio recording of psychologist David Pelcovitz was released on youtube.com. On that recording Dr. Pelcovitz admits to a concerned parent that he was asked NOT to discuss calling the police in suspected cases of child abuse during the workshop.

What is interesting is that in the state of New Jersey, EVERYONE is a mandated reporter, including individuals giving workshops on child abuse and neglect. In New Jersey, mandated reporting does NOT mean going to your local orthodox rabbi first to get permission. The truth is that pressures from the rabbonim in Lakewood could also be construed as a form of witness tampering, and should be reported to local, state and federal law enforcement officials.

In the Asbury Press article published back in 2009, “Culture clash: Secular law and the Torah: Orthodox community deals with sexual abuse”, Rabbi Weisberg stated: “The town's rabbinical leaders strongly deny their residents are discouraged from reporting suspicions to law enforcement as a way to avoid outside stigma. If anything, they say, there is an increased hypersensitivity toward ridding the community of offenders swiftly and openly. But because of an inherent distrust in the secular legal system, a fear of a destroyed reputation or an uncertainty of the evidence, another option is needed. Their system offers those people who are reluctant to go to authorities another channel through which to bring allegations that otherwise would never be heard.” . . . "The moral weight of a Bais Din can have a tremendous effect as an incentive for perpetrators to stop their activity for fear of community sanctions,"

During the 2006 Agudath Israel of America conference, Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon -- who is not only a highly respected teacher at Lakewood's Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva, he’s also the head spiritual advisor (mashgiach ruchanai) -- and is one of the rabbonim who allegedly apply pressure not to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect to authorities, addressed the handling of sensitive matters such as sex crimes in the context of criticizing anonymous bloggers.

"Yes, I would say we do sweep under the carpet sometimes," Salomon said at a 2006 convention for Agudath Israel of America, a national organization of Jewish leaders. "You know what we sweep under the carpet? Not what we don't do; what we do. Do these people know how many times perpetrators have been dealt with? Do these people know to what extent one had to have the courage to stand up against public opinion in order to make sure to protect our children? The only thing is, that was swept under the carpet, because we protect human dignity . . . And sometimes if the thing is not proven 100 percent, yes, we are guided by the Torah . . . . we don't jump to conclusions but we are consequent." In 2009 Rabbi Salomon reiterated “that perpetrators and predators must be punished, albeit not in the limelight."

According to psychologist, Michael J. Salamon, author of the book “ABUSE in the Jewish community”, "If you are a mandated reporter and you delay making a report you are contributing to the abuse of others."

A great example of the abuses and neglect of the community leaders in Lakewood include the story of Shua Finkelstein, who was a survivor of sexual abuse who and lost his battle with a drug addiction. Soon after his death a letter was discovered on his computer, which was made public. A few weeks later on April 14, 2009 his families home was gutted by fire. Luckily no one was home. The police report cited arson was the likely cause.

It wasn’t until Shua was 19 years old that he had enough courage to disclose to his mother that starting at the age of 6 he started being molested by and older male. After Shua’s death his mother Rivkah Finkelstein was asked why she didn't report the crime to the police. Rivkah responded by saying the idea of reporting didn't occur to her. Like many others living in communities like Lakewood, she was given the impression that by reporting the abuse she might increase the incidents of anti-Semitism or even start another pogrom. The message to community members was that it was best if issues like this were handled by the rabbonim. Eventually, Shua Finkelstein’s alleged offender was put into therapy. Yet no one knows if the therapist was someone trained in working with sexual predators.

Going to a bet din (Jewish religious court) to handle sex crimes is ludicrous. The truth is that not one rabbi has forensic training let alone taught victim sensitive interviewing techniques -- which take us back to the fact that by David Pelcovitz and David Mandel not teaching parents in Lakewood to make hotline reports, they are enabling sex offenders to continue on with their molesting careers.

Please help educate the parents in Lakewood along with other ultra-orthodox communities in New Jersey that if you suspect a child is being abused or neglected YOU ARE MANDATED to call 1-877-652-2873. If the child is in immediate danger, call 911 as well as 1-877 NJ ABUSE. A concerned caller does not need proof to report an allegation of child abuse and can make the report anonymously.

READ MORE:

http://www.examiner.com/article/mandated-reporting-nj-dr-pelcovitz-what-are-you-thinking

UOJ READER TIP LEADS FBI TO ARREST EVAN ZAUDER - ORTHODOX DAY SCHOOL TEACHER

Evan Zauder arrested for child pornography by FBI

Evan Zauder is a Dual Masters student and a Jim Joseph Fellow in Education and Jewish Studies at NYU. After high school graduation from CHAT in Toronto, Canada, he went on for two years of study at the renowned Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem's Old City. He continued his education at Yeshiva University, achieving a BA  in Political Science and a minor in Hebrew Language. Upon his arrival in New York, he began working for Bnei Akiva of New York as a Regional Director, and quickly moved his way up the ranks at Bnei Akiva to director of the In-School Programming division. He is the Director of Youth Programming at The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and he spends his summers working for Bnei Akiva of North America, most recently directing a post-tenth grade summer program in Israel. Evan is also founding and current Director of the Yeshivat HaKotel Alumni Association of America.

 READ: www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/manhattan-u.s.-attorney-and-fbi-assistant-director-in-charge-announce-arrest-of-new-jersey-teacher-for-possessing-child-pornography

Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Announce Arrest of New Jersey Teacher for Possessing Child Pornography

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 03, 2012 -- Southern District of New York (212) 637-2600

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the arrest of EVAN ZAUDER for possessing child pornography. ZAUDER, 26, a sixth-grade teacher at a private school in New Jersey, was arrested by FBI agents late in the evening on Monday, May 1, 2012, at his Manhattan residence. He was presented yesterday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein in Manhattan federal court.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “As a teacher, Evan Zauder was supposed to help children not, as alleged, contribute to their exploitation. Protecting children from harm is an important priority shared by our office and the FBI, and we will continue to work tirelessly to pursue and prosecute individuals who prey on the innocent.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice Fedarcyk stated: “The FBI remains committed to protecting children from exploitation. The market for child pornography creates demand for production of images, and every photo and video is a record of abuse.”

According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday:

ZAUDER possessed child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet and saved onto his computer. During a search of ZAUDER’s residence conducted on Monday, May 1, 2012, a computer containing hundreds of images and videos of minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct was seized.

ZAUDER is charged with one count of possessing child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI. He added that the investigation is continuing.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrea Surratt and Paul Monteleoni are in charge of the prosecution.

The charge contained in the complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The FBI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through their switchboard at (212) 384-1000. It is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800- 843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

The Internet is NOT the Problem!

 On Sunday, May 20th, 2012, thousands are expected to gather in Citi Field to rally against the perceived evils of the internet. Join us for a massive counter rally to bring awareness to a far bigger problem in the Frum (ultra-orthodox Jewish) community: keeping our children safe.

We are fed up with rabbinical leaders' dismissive attitude towards sexual and physical violence against children, inadequate educational systems and the shattering of families due to the religious choices of parents or children.

This is NOT an anti-religious protest. We are ultra-Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, secular, male, female, young and old. This is not an ideological issue. This is not an issue only for “insiders.” When it comes to the safety of our children, we must be united and unabashed in our actions.

Nothing comes before the safety of our children!

For More Info: http://www.facebook.com/events/320642868009045/

New York City Lays Out Social Media Rules for Teachers!

City Lays Out Digital Rules For Teachers

New York City on Monday issued its first guidelines for the use of social media in schools, stopping short of an outright ban but warning teachers to keep a bright line between personal and professional accounts.

New York unveiled guidelines for use of social media in schools, and the Department of Education is considering asking parents to sign consent forms before children participate in socia-media activities.
The Department of Education also is considering asking parents to sign consent forms before children participate in social-media activities and before their children's work or pictures appear online, and informing parents about how social media is being used in schools.

"In an increasingly digital world, we seek to provide our students with the opportunities that multi-media learning can provide—which is why we should allow and encourage the appropriate and accepted use of these powerful resources," schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in an e-mail to principals.

The city in May will start providing training sessions for teachers and spotlight examples of the best uses of social media in classrooms. In laying down the guidelines, the department is trying to balance free-speech rights and the educational benefits of online learning with the dangers it sees in teachers and students getting too comfortable in less-traditional settings.

"In this digital era, the lines between professional and personal endeavors are sometimes blurred," the guidelines say. Teachers should reject friend requests or other contact with students on their personal accounts, the guidelines say.

As the popularity of Facebook and Twitter has increased, so have the complaints about inappropriate student-teacher contact. The number of complaints received by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools that referenced Facebook leaped to 59 in 2010 from two in 2008, though they were not all substantiated.

After a series of arrests of education department employees on sexual-assault charges, Mr. Walcott spoke about how the department was reviewing its social-media policy and favored a total ban, but the department said the timing was unrelated. The guidelines have been in the works for about six months, department officials said.

Still, teachers have been disciplined for inappropriate comments, such as one who wrote that a student looked "sexy."

There aren't consequences for not abiding by the guidelines, as long as other department policies about appropriate conduct are followed, schools spokesman Matthew Mittenthal said.

"These are strong recommendations," he said.

Teachers will be told in no uncertain terms that their interactions with students online will be monitored. Employees "have no expectation of privacy" when using social media, the guidelines say. Principals or other supervisors are expected to keep a list of all school-related social media accounts, monitor them regularly and report any "questionable" behavior.

They're also asked to use common sense.

"If a particular type of behavior is inappropriate in the classroom or a professional workplace, then that behavior is also inappropriate on the professional social media site," the guidelines say.

The guidelines also tell teachers to steer clear of looking at students' personal Facebook pages.

Some teachers have said they have flagged emotional or other problems with their students through what they've read on Facebook. Department officials said they understood that teachers care about the entire student and want to make sure they're doing well, but students need their own space and parents have made clear they aren't looking for co-parents.

Courtenaye Jackson-Chase, who will soon take over as the department's head lawyer, said city officials understand that teachers care about the entire student and want to make sure they're doing well, but students need their own space and parents have said "pretty loud and clear they're not looking for teachers to be co-parents."

Some teachers interviewed said the guidelines were fair.

"That all sounds reasonable to me," said Chris Casal, a computer teacher at Public School 10 in Brooklyn, who maintains an individual, professional Twitter account along with one for his school. "I'm not going to do something that's going to jeopardize the way people view me as an educator."

Mr. Casal said that because he works in an elementary school, he generally keeps in touch with parents more often than students. He said he feels Twitter has helped him stay at the top of his game by collecting and sharing links to relevant school news, resources and computer tips.

New York City, the largest school system in the country, is following a growing wave of districts that have implemented online guidelines, often in the wake of scandal.

Mr. Walcott said he wanted to make sure teachers didn't take the risk of saying something that could be misinterpreted.

Darrell M. West, a Brookings Institution vice president, said the new guidelines make it appear that the department is thinking only about the downsides of social media and protecting itself. "It sounds like best practices on how to avoid getting sued, as opposed to thinking about how to use social media to broaden the learning experience," he said. "We all know there has been bad behavior enabled by social media, but we shouldn't make policy based on extreme cases."

Department officials pointed to the upcoming training sessions as examples of how they were going beyond simply protecting themselves.

Richard Condon, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools, said what teachers were doing was more important than how they were doing it.

"I am not concerned with policy, I'm concerned with content," he said. "...If a teacher is dealing with a student through social media and it's within the bounds of the teacher-student relationship, and it's related to school and all that, I have no comment on that."

VIDEO & MORE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577376541510305510.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories#project%3DWSJPDF%26s%3Ddocid%253D120501040021-d09d61391884434caaad2041f5b2700c%257Cfile%253Dsocial_media_guidelines%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Staffers who abuse special-education students don't appear to have the skills they need...

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – When harsh words flew in a classroom for autistic children here, the school employees who spoke them likely thought no one in authority would ever hear.

"Go ahead and scream because guess what? You're going to get nothing until your mouth is shut.

"Oh Akian, you are a bastard."

But after the boy's father, Stuart Chaifetz, released excerpts of the tape in an online video last week, millions of people learned what was said at the Horace Mann Elementary School.

Now, educators and others are trying to figure out just what the incident means.

"What happened in the classroom is not excusable and should not have happened," Cherry Hill school officials said in a statement Friday. But while vowing to learn from the experience, the officials assert, "We believe this regrettable incident is an anomaly."

Others aren't so sure. They say special-education programs in many communities may lack the support and expertise needed to benefit children with disabilities.

Staffers who abuse special-education students "don't appear to have the skills they need … and clearly don't have the supervision they need," said Brenda Considine, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform.

"It's ironic that this stuff is garnering so much attention because we just passed one of the toughest anti-bullying laws in the country aimed at stopping kids from bullying one another," said Considine. "Here's clear-cut evidence that (school employees) are engaged in bullying."

The Cherry Hill incident wasn't the first such case in New Jersey.

In Deptford, a 15-year-old special education student made a covert video last year that appeared to show bullying by his teacher. The Gloucester County Special Services District is seeking to dismiss the teacher, who was suspended without pay in November.

And Stuart Chaifetz says he's heard from thousands of concerned parents and bullying victims, "some with special needs," since he posted a YouTube video with excerpts of the recording. The video has drawn more than 3.7 million viewers in the past week.

Chaifetz says people responding to the video include parents "who have suffered and who are in the exact same situation as I am and who are asking for advice on how to put a wire or a digital recorder on their child."

Assemblyman Dave Rible, a Republican from Monmouth who has called for improvements to special education in New Jersey, said he understands the outcry. "No one wants to see their children degraded or hurt."

Rible last week urged legislative action on a measure he's sponsored to create a task force of special-education experts.

"The whole crux of my bill is to examine special education, how we're spending money there and how we can improve it," said Rible. "If we're providing a service, we've got to provide the best possible service."

He and Considine expressed concern that special-education students could suffer as districts seek to cut costs by bringing such services into their schools, rather than paying steep tuitions to private organizations.

"I'm not against public schools," said Rible. "But we've got to make sure those teachers are provided the tools that they need."

Among other measures, Considine said, administrators should regularly pop into special-education classrooms to monitor staffers' performance. And she said detailed records should be kept for each student, so that potential problems can be addressed as early as possible.

"There has to be a school-wide culture of support," said Considine, acknowledging that would require an investment of time and money. "Educating kids with disabilities is more challenging."

That challenge can require special-ed teachers and aides to have an extra reserve of tolerance.

"If you take autistic children, for example, they can get upset over something and it may have nothing to do with the actions of the teacher," observed Jay Kuder, chair of the Language, Literacy and Special Education Department at Rowan University. "It could be something sensory like a smell in the room or even how bright the lights are."

Chaifetz said he hid the recording device in his son's pocket after the school reported uncharacteristic outbursts by the child.

Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said the overwhelming majority of teachers, and especially those in special education, respect their students.

"Becoming a special education teacher is not for everyone," said Wollmer. "It is challenging work, and the vast majority of special education teachers are sensitive to the needs of their students and know how to keep them safe in the classroom."

At the same time, he noted, "We live in a brave new world and the reality is people have access to technology on a massive scale. Teachers are susceptible to audio- and video-recording, and you should know that what you say can be captured and replayed."

Cherry Hill officials say all staffers heard speaking inappropriately on the video are no longer with the district, and that others in the classroom that day are on leave while an investigation continues. The district has not identified any of the employees, but an attorney for Akian's teacher, Kelly Altenburg, says she was not present when the offensive language was recorded.

READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-04-29/autism-education-abuse-reform/54616582/1

Obesity-Linked Diabetes in Children Resists Treatment

Obesity and the form of diabetes linked to it are taking an even worse toll on America’s youths than medical experts had realized. As obesity rates in children have climbed, so has the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, and a new study adds another worry: the disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is harder to treat.

“It’s frightening how severe this metabolic disease is in children,” said Dr. David M. Nathan, an author of the study and director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s really got a hold on them, and it’s hard to turn around.”

Before the 1990s, this form of diabetes was hardly ever seen in children. It is still uncommon, but experts say any increase in such a serious disease is troubling. There were about 3,600 new cases a year from 2002 to 2005, the latest years for which data is available.

The research is the first large study of Type 2 diabetes in children, “because this didn’t used to exist,” said Dr. Robin Goland, a member of the research team and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She added, “These are people who are struggling with something that shouldn’t happen in kids who are this young.”

Why the disease is so hard to control in children and teenagers is not known. The researchers said that rapid growth and the intense hormonal changes at puberty might play a part.

The study followed 699 children ages 10 to 17 at medical centers around the country for about four years. It found that the usual oral medicine for Type 2 diabetes stopped working in about half of the patients within a few years, and they had to add daily shots of insulin to control their blood sugar. Researchers said they were shocked by how poorly the oral drugs performed because they work much better in adults.

The results of the study and an editorial were published online on Sunday by The New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings could signal trouble ahead because poorly controlled diabetes significantly increases the risk of heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, amputations and kidney failure. The longer a person has the disease, the greater the risk. So in theory, people who develop diabetes as children may suffer its complications much earlier in life than previous generations who became diabetic as adults.

“I fear that these children are going to become sick earlier in their lives than we’ve ever seen before,” Dr. Nathan said.

But aggressive treatment can lower the risks.

“You really have to be on top of these kids and individualize therapy for each person,” said Dr. Barbara Linder, a senior adviser for childhood diabetes research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which sponsored the new study.

Sara Chernov, 21, a college senior from Great Neck, N.Y., learned that she had Type 2 diabetes when she was 16. Her grandfather had had both legs amputated as a result of the disease, and one of the first questions she asked was when she would lose her legs and her eyesight.

A doctor scolded her for being fat and told her she had to lose weight and could never eat sugar again. She left the office in tears and did not go back; soon after, she joined the study at Columbia. Like many of the children in the program, she did not even know how to swallow a pill.

Ms. Chernov believes that the disease “is not a death sentence,” she said, if she is careful about controlling her blood sugar. But it has been a struggle. Her family tends to be overweight, she sometimes craves sweets and she has orthopedic problems that have required surgery and have made it hard for her to exercise. She is also being treated for high blood pressure.....

 READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/health/research/obesity-and-type-2-diabetes-cases-take-toll-on-children.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

85 "Unique" Jews! April is National Autism Month!

Severe Abuse in Childhood may Treble Risk of Schizophrenia!

The risk of developing schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child went through.

Children who experience severe forms of abuse are around three times as likely to develop schizophrenia and related psychoses in later life compared with children who do not experience such abuse, according to a study that has brought together psychiatric data from almost 80,000 people.

The results add to a growing body of evidence that childhood maltreatment or abuse can raise the risk of developing mental illnesses in adulthood, including depression, personality disorders and anxiety.

Prof Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, who led the study, showed that the risk of developing psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child had gone through, with the most severely affected children having a 50-fold increased risk compared with children who had suffered no abuse. He also showed that the type of trauma experienced in childhood affected the subsequent psychiatric symptoms later in life.

Schizophrenia occurs in around 1-3% of the population and is defined by psychiatrists as one of the most severe types of mental illness. It is characterised by hearing voices, bizarre beliefs and loss of motivation.

Bentall's team analysed 36 published studies that contained data on childhood maltreatment (including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, death of a parent, school bullying and neglect) and psychiatric symptoms in almost 80,000 people, collected over the course of 30 years. People who experienced these types of trauma in childhood were between 2.7 and 3 times as likely to develop schizophrenia as adults, the team found. The research is published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.

In cases where someone had suffered sustained abuse or several types, their risk of developing schizophrenia in later life was increased further. "People who had severe and multiple traumas in their lives, in some of their studies they'd go up to an odds ratio of 50 times greater risk of psychosis [in later life]," said Bentall. "There is nothing in genetics which looks as strong as this in terms of effects and it's consistent across the different studies, so it's a highly robust effect."

The latest results add to recent evidence that childhood abuse can lead to serious problems in later life.

 In 2011, scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London found that people with a history of abuse or maltreatment during childhood were more than twice as likely to have recurrent episodes of depression in adulthood and also 43% more likely to experience a poor outcome when it came to psychological or drug-based treatment. They examined data from 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 23,000 people in total and 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 people

The mechanisms behind the link between childhood maltreatment and schizophrenia are not yet understood. Earlier this year, psychiatrists at Harvard University found that being sexually or emotionally abused as a child correlated with reduced volumes of three important areas of the hippocampus, which is involved in the control of memory and regulation of emotions. Volumes were reduced by up to 6.5%.

"It's entirely possible that these changes in the brain that we see in patients are the results of their life experiences," said Bentall. "But we don't know if that's the case."

Louise Arseneault, a senior lecturer at the IoP, said it was encouraging to know that so many different studies were coming up with similar conclusions on the relationship between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms. "We already know that trauma and harmful experiences in childhood bring their share of difficulties, whether it is mental health or physical health problems. But it is striking that these adversities extend to mental health as disabling as psychosis, which has been thought to be highly influenced by genetic factors."

Andrea Danese, a researcher in child and adolescent psychiatry at the IoP, said: "These tragic findings may help us uncover new solutions. If we can understand how childhood adversities influence risk for psychosis, we will have new hopes for developing interventions to prevent and treat mental illness."

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/18/severe-abuse-childhood-risk-schizophrenia?newsfeed=true

Senate Considering Outlawing Anonymous Online Speech That’s Supposedly “Intended to Harass” the Person Being Criticized

by Eugene Volokh • April 24, 2012 - Professor of Law - UCLA School of Law

This is happening in § 1003 of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011, which is apparently being debated tomorrow. Here’s the deal: 47 U.S.C. § 223(a) currently criminalizes

(C) mak[ing] a telephone call or utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or communication ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications; [or] …

(E) mak[ing] repeated telephone calls or repeatedly initiat[ing] communication with a telecommunications device, during which conversation or communication ensues, solely to harass any person at the called number or who receives the communication.

This law already has some problems, I think, given the vagueness of terms such as “annoy” and “harass,” and it’s been held unconstitutional as applied in a case in which a man was prosecuted for leaving racist voice-mail for then-U.S. Attorney and now-Attorney General Eric Holder; it might therefore be unconstitutionally overbroad. But it has generally been upheld in most cases, and such a result may be defensible precisely because the statute deals with calls or messages to the person who is being harassed. Restricting such unwanted one-to-one speech (with a properly crafted and narrowed statute) should be permissible, because it leaves people free to communicate with willing listeners. See generally Rowan v. United States Post Office Dep’t (1970).

But now the Senate is considering replacing “harass any person at the called number or who receives the communication” with “harass any specific person.” This appears to be a deliberate attempt to remove the language that could be read as limiting the current statute to one-to-one communications. (The proposal would also remove “annoy” from item (C), but it would keep “harass.”)

So say that someone started to post anonymous (or pseudonymous) blog posts — or Twitter messages or online newspaper articles — criticizing Attorney General Holder, a local official, a police officer, a businessperson, a religious leader, or anyone else. The posts aren’t threatening or false, just harshly critical. And say a prosecutor decided that the speaker was partly motivated by a desire to “badger, disturb or pester” the target of his messages. The speaker could then be prosecuted, on the theory that he was
utiliz[ing] a telecommunications device … without disclosing his identity and with intent to … harass any specific person [added text italicized].

And this is so even though the speaker is talking to the public at large, not just to the target: As I said, the proposal would expressly delete the statutory language that could now be used to try to limit the statute to one-one unwanted messages.

The intent to harass would not have to be the sole intention. Subsection (E) specifically limits itself to situations where the speaker has the sole intention to harass, and while that’s problematic enough on its own terms (since it’s so hard to tell what’s a speaker’s “sole” intention), it makes clear that subsection (C), which lacks such limiting language, applies even to cases where the intent to harass is one of the speaker’s intention.

Say a speaker thinks Congressman Joe Schmoe (or Officer Joe Schmoe or Reverend Joe Schmoe) has done bad things and therefore (1) intends to communicate to the public why he thinks Joe Schmoe should be reviled, and (2) wants Joe Schmoe to feel reviled and embattled. Harsh and, especially, repeated anonymous criticism of Schmoe would then reasonably be seen as having an “intent to harass” as well as an intent to communicate to the public. Note also that the word “harass” is not defined in the statute, but the definition I gave above, which is to “badger, disturb or pester,” is taken from a case interpreting another criminal prohibition on things done with “intent to harass,” and reflects that court of appeals’ judgment of the dictionary meaning of the word. I have no reason to think that “harass” would be interpreted any more narrowly (or more clearly) than “badger, disturb or pester.”

And of course there’s every reason to think that the revised statute could be used not just to go after criticism of private individuals — though I think it would be unconstitutional even then — but also government officials. As you can see in these posts, these sorts of broad “harassment” statutes have recently been used to silence, prosecute, or try to unmask critics of prominent religious leaders, city commissioners, police officers, and candidates for elective office. Why is the Senate considering broadening federal speech restrictions to make such prosecutions easier?

Note also that the bill would also remove the limiting language from the provision (§ 223(E)) that covers even nonanonymous speech that’s said “solely to harass.” Under the bill, a signed blog post, online newspaper article, or Twitter message could lead to a prosecution if the prosecutor thinks the purpose of the message is “solely to harass” the person being criticized in the article. I would argue that statements to the public always have the intention to inform, persuade, entertain, or something else, even if they also have the intention to harass. But the bill is deliberately expanding the subsection to cover not just speech said to a person, but also speech said to the public about the person. And given the human tendency to assume the worst motivations in those whose views one disagrees with, it’s quite plausible that prosecutors, judges, and jurors might find someone guilty of publicly speaking “solely to harass” the person whom he is harshly criticizing, even when the speaker also has the purpose of informing or persuading the public.

 READ BLOG: http://volokh.com/2012/04/24/senate-considering-outlawing-anonymous-online-speech-thats-supposedly-intended-to-harass-the-person-being-criticized/

TELL CONGRESS STAY OUT OF MY INBOX!

CLICK: https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8609

COMMENTS SECTION ON UOJ REOPENED!

I Recently Watched a Series on the Brain on PBS, Hosted by Charlie Rose

   CLICK: http://www.medicinenet.com/dementia_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

 The various doctors and scientists added their thoughts on illness, dementia, Alzheimer's in the aged, mental retardation, depression and various other illnesses that healthy folks never think about --- of course until illness strikes them or people close to them.

What I always believed, that scientists are always either finding out how right they are, or on the flip side, how misunderstood the initial data was. Recently, I read in the WSJ, how for years medical researchers misunderstood the data they thought were for particular forms of cancer, people were treated with these misdiagnosed treatments, and many people died because of these serious, honest misreadings. I'm not talking about the charlatans who sell bogus treatments to cancer patients, or people with MS, I'm talking about professionals who erred.

CLICK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203721704577159280778957336.html

One thing is certain....either the brain is functioning on all cylinders (excuse the street language), or the malfunctioning part of the brain, causes the person to be ill without knowing it, and/or the illness can be discreet, disguising itself as healthy behavior until the body breaks down perhaps - or more importantly, the person lives a long life never knowing how ill they really are, even fooling the people closest to them.

A simple lack of appropriate levels of any brain chemicals, will distort a person's view of what they see, think or feel. Their ability to process information will be distorted; think Charles Manson at one extreme, and think the typical sociopath/psychopath who you probably interact with on a daily basis in one form or another, either knowingly or not.

So when I recently read the protocols issued by the Bais Yaakov of Baltimore how a teacher must interact with their students - I was struck with the depraved society that I knew we live in - but now right in front of me -- in black and white -

 " A JEWISH RELIGIOUS ORTHODOX TEACHER MUST NEVER MAKE ANY INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL GESTURES OR SEXUAL TOUCH TO THEIR STUDENTS - OR SHOW THEM PORNOGRAPHY....."

 I went numb! A rebbe, morah, or teacher in our yeshivas have to be instructed not to show pornography........ to their students?!!!

CLICK: http://www.baisyaakov.net/scpbs - bais_yaakov_school_conduct_policy[1].pdf

Scapegoating is always used by corrupt people in positions of power as a form of circling the wagons around their devotees as a way of "protecting" their cowboys from the bad-guy Indians. Yesterday it was the bad White Police in Florida; Sharpton & Co. blaming the White Boys across America for the death of a black teenager in Florida. Nothing new here at all....after 45 years of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and hundreds of billions of dollars poured into anti-poverty programs --- the poverty level among the blacks are the same 45% as it was 45 years ago. Of course it's the whiteys...If the entire Senate, House, Supreme Court and government staffers were comprised of black Americans it would still be the slave that Thomas Jefferson had that is at fault for the plight of the Blacks today.

So too is it the Bloggers' fault that today's silent (and not so silent) vast minority of Jewish teenagers are finding Judaism devoid of meaning. Let's ban all New Technology -- the problem gets fixed immediately. More gatherings by imbeciles for imbeciles are needed to spell out the ills of the Social Media, Blogs and Smartphones. Yesterday it was the PC in the house, before that it was the TV in the closet, before that it was the radio, and before that, the telephone....I'm waiting for a ban of kids going to the doctor's office in case they pick up a People's magazine.

Yes, these ghastly ill demented sociopaths among us are the folks calling these gatherings, they can get away with the charade of looking normal, speaking eloquently, and have large followings. But so did every charismatic, demented dictator and televangelist, now and then....

If there are no role models today that we can point our children to -- to emulate, not some nonsense Baal Shem Tov stories that are not only fairy tales, but mock our intelligence; our kids will indeed get lost to the new technology.... and of course we the Bloggers would be at fault. Not the rebbes, not the rosh yeshivas, not the bankrupt Jewish leadership, not our failed educational system, not the horrible parenting, not the misguided value system of our communities,  but "the guy in his underwear in the basement of his house who has nothing else to do......"

Torah Live - The Beauty of the Internet!

 

                                              FOR MORE INFORMATION:

                              http://torahlive.co.il/index.php?movieID=10047571

Its Our Kids!!! - 4 Suicide Notes!

Rabbi Ronald Greenwald Talks Tachlis! A Must For Every Jewish Parent! Watch In Its Entirety!

"God Loves Him and Everything Will be OK!"

"Evil Men Being Held Accountable For Their Criminal Behavior" - Philadelphia District Attorney.

Catholic Church says child abuse cases rose in 2011

In a related story, the Gedolim of Agudath Israel declared in their new flick that child rape never happens by the Jews!

Perlow, Kaminetzky and Zwiebel get a new look!

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The number of credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by Roman Catholic priests or deacons in the United States rose 15 percent last year, and the church spent $144 million to deal with the ongoing scandal, according to a church-sponsored audit released on Tuesday.

A total of 489 people reported credible allegations of abuse by priests or deacons in 2011, the bulk of them involving adults victimized when they were children decades ago by now-deceased clerics, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a report on its ninth annual audit of the issue.

Twenty-one of the victims were younger than 19 and victimized more recently. Attorneys for victims say there are likely tens of thousands more victims who have never come forward since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

"We renew our promise to strive to the fullest to end the societal scourge of child sexual abuse," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the conference, said in an introductory letter to the report.

Critics of the church's handling of the sex abuse crisis scoffed at the audit saying it minimized the extent of the abuse and the culpability of the church hierarchy.

The yearly audit for the bishops identified credible allegations against 406 priests or deacons. In 2010, there were 428 credible allegations against 345 offenders. More than one-third of the alleged perpetrators had never been charged before.

The figures for victims and offenders were twice as high earlier in the decade, then dropped off beginning in 2008.

Twelve accused clerics remained active in ministry pending the outcome of investigations. Eleven percent of new allegations were deemed false.

Altogether, U.S. dioceses and religious institutes spent $144 million on abuse settlement-related costs, which included $50 million for settlements, $37 million in attorneys' fees, $6 million on therapy for victims and $10 million on support for offenders. About a quarter of the settlement amount was covered by church insurance policies.

The church spent another $33 million on child protection efforts last year. Nearly all church employees have undergone training on the issue, the bishops' audit said, and a majority of children in parishes have been instructed how identify when they are being "groomed" for abuse and what to do........


READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/us-usa-catholic-abuse-idUSBRE8391HF20120410

Coaches Face New Scrutiny on Sex Abuse

Since the Penn State scandal came to light in November, lawmakers in more than a dozen states, including New York, California and Pennsylvania, have introduced bills adding coaches, athletic directors or university officials to the list of “mandated reporters” of suspected child abuse or neglect. In the past month, such bills have been signed in Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, with several other states expected to follow suit.

While the bills vary, some would impose significant punishments, including fines, felony charges and potential prison time for coaches or officials who violate the new laws that require the authorities to be notified.

Taken as a whole, the bills are meant to guard against what critics of Penn State said was a lax response by officials there — including the late coach Joe Paterno — that may have allowed Mr. Sandusky to continue his contact with children for years after suspicions of abuse arose.

“What we saw in Penn State was a conspiracy of silence, and that’s what my bill is directly aimed at,” said State Representative Kevin Boyle, a Democrat who introduced a bill in Pennsylvania in mid-November. “I want to stop institutions that keep sex abuse under wraps.....”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/us/new-scrutiny-on-coaches-in-reporting-sexual-abuse.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

To Replace Bin Laden on Most Wanted List, a Teacher in a Pornography Case!

Eric J. Toth, a teacher from the Washington area, was added to the F.B.I. list on Tuesday.

 Mr. Toth, the fugitive added to the list on Tuesday, was arrested in 2008 after child pornography images were found on a camera in his possession. He disappeared shortly thereafter.

Mr. Toth, 30, attended Cornell for a year before transferring to Purdue University, where he graduated with an education degree. He “has often been described as a computer ‘expert’ and has demonstrated above-average knowledge regarding computers, the Internet, and security awareness,” according to information released by the F.B.I. on Tuesday.

The F.B.I. said that Mr. Toth “possesses an education background conducive to gaining employment in fields having a connection to children” and that he might advertise himself as a tutor. Since 2008, he is believed to have traveled to Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Arizona.

The authorities believe they have a good chance of catching Mr. Toth because he has distinctive features. “He has a mole under one of his eyes. He is tall and lanky,” Mr. Perkins said. “He is the type of person that I hope, with a little exposure from being on the Top 10 list, will lead to individuals calling in, saying, ‘That guy works in a day care center,’ or is a teaching assistant or works down the street.”

Osama bin Laden, his predecessor on the list, was pictured with other fugitives in October 2001.

The choice is more complicated than simply finding a violent criminal who has committed a high-profile crime. In recent years, bureau officials have also tried to select other dangerous fugitives who may have been hiding in plain sight but could be recognized by the public because they have distinctive physical features.

On Tuesday, the F.B.I. finally filled bin Laden’s place on the list, adding Eric J. Toth, a schoolteacher from the Washington area accused of possessing child pornography. It was the first time since 2009 that the F.B.I. had added a fugitive to the list.

“We have had a couple of vacancies on the list that we’ve been trying to fill,” said Kevin L. Perkins, the F.B.I.’s acting executive director for criminal and cyber operations, referring to the spots left by bin Laden and the Boston crime boss James (Whitey) Bulger, who was arrested last June.

In fact, just last month, officials were preparing to ask the bureau’s director for approval to choose a fugitive accused of killing three police officers in Puerto Rico. But then that person was caught.

Using most-wanted posters to enlist the public’s help in catching criminals dates to the early part of J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure as the head of the F.B.I. in the early 1930s, when the face of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger was on a “public enemies list.”

In 1950, the bureau began using the list of 10 Most Wanted Fugitives. The first, Thomas Holden, was accused of killing his wife and two brothers-in-law. A little more than a year later, he was caught and ultimately sent to prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.

Since then, the F.B.I. has caught 464 of 494 fugitives on the list. Some have been captured quickly: Billie Austin Bryant, wanted for the murder of two F.B.I. agents, was apprehended in 1969 just two hours after being added. A suspect in an armed robbery, Victor Manuel Gerena, has evaded authorities since 1983.

As American society has changed, so too has the list. For decades, the F.B.I. list was displayed in post offices. But as the number of postal patrons has dropped, the bureau has put the list on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and on billboards.

“It’s a big country, and you can easily hide if you are a fugitive,” said Thomas W. Repetto, the author of several books on crime and policing. “But when you get on the list, you are pretty close to getting caught. Sometimes it takes time, but if you are a fleeing criminal it is not a good place to be.”

The types of “most-wanted” criminals have also changed. Instead of highlighting just the most violent and high-profile criminals, “every once in a while we break the mold,” Mr. Perkins said, referring to the choice of physically distinctive fugitives.

That said, six of the fugitives on the current list are accused of murder.....

READ ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/us/osama-bin-laden-replaced-on-fbis-most-wanted-list.html?src=twrhp

יעקב שוואקי ויונתן רזאל - והיא שעמדה

Chazak!

Oy Goyta Please - Please Come Back!

Passover Tells Us: Teach Your Children Well

By Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

Passover Tells Us: Teach Your Children Well

As one nation after another in Africa and the Middle East engages in a fight for freedom, Passover, which begins this week, still has much to teach us about the nature of that fight.

The Jewish festival of freedom is the oldest continuously observed religious ritual in the world. Across the centuries, Passover has never lost its power to inspire the imagination of successive generations of Jews with its annually re-enacted drama of slavery and liberation.

It is vivid, replete with direct experiences like eating matza, the unleavened bread of affliction, and tasting maror, the bitter herbs of oppression. It is a ritual performed not in the synagogue but at home, in the midst of the family, reminding us that, in Alexis de Tocqueville's words, "As long as family feeling is kept alive, the opponent of oppression is never alone." Perhaps its single most striking innovation is that from beginning to end, it is designed to engage and enthral the mind of a child.

The rabbis who developed the ritual were guided by the Bible itself and the highly counterintuitive narrative it tells in the 12th and 13th chapters of Exodus. Here is the scene: Moses has assembled the people to tell them they are about to go free. Exiled, enslaved, threatened by a Pharaoh who has commanded that every male Israelite child shall be killed, the people have witnessed a series of wonders performed on their behalf. Moses is now about to tell them that soon they will leave and begin their long walk to freedom.

I sometimes ask people what they would speak about if they were in Moses' shoes? Some say they would talk about freedom, others that they would speak about the destination that lay ahead: the "land flowing with milk and honey." Yet others, made of sterner stuff, propose talking about the arduous journey that lay ahead, the march across the wilderness with all its hazards.

Any of these would have been a great speech by a great leader. Moses did none of these things. That is what made him a unique leader. If you examine the text in Exodus carefully, you will see that three times he reverted to the same theme: children, education and the distant future. "And when your children ask you, What does this ceremony mean to you?" (Exodus 12:26). "On that day tell your son, I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt" (13:8). "In days to come, when your son asks you, What does this mean?" (13:14).

Moses spoke not about freedom but about education. He fixed his vision not on the immediate but on the distant future, and not on adults but children. In so doing he was making a fundamental point. It may be hard to escape from tyranny but it is harder still to build and sustain a free society.

In the long run there is only one way of doing so. To defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilisation you need education. That is why Moses, according to Rousseau, the world's greatest architect of a free society, spoke about the duty of parents in every generation to educate their children about why freedom matters and how it was achieved.

Freedom is not won by merely overthrowing a tyrannical ruler or an oppressive regime. That is usually only the prelude to a new tyranny, a new oppression. The faces change, but not the script. True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.

Freedom begins with what we teach our children.

That is why Jews became a people whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers and whose citadels are schools. Nowhere is this more evident than on Passover, when the entire ritual of handing on our story to the next generation is set in motion by the questions asked by a child. In every generation we need to cultivate afresh the habits of the heart that Tocqueville called "the apprenticeship of liberty."

The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is won not on the battlefield but in the classroom and the home. Teach your children the history of freedom if you want them never to lose it.

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Child Inc.

The mission of Child, Inc., founded 29 years ago by Rita Swan, a college English professor, is focusing on religion based medical neglect of children, which is more common than we might think, here in America. Ms. Swan has testified before many state legislatures, successfully advocating that religious exemptions for medical care and vaccinations for children be rescinded. Their most recent newsletter focuses on the child sex abuse problem in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community. The Officers and Directors of Child, Inc. are prominent physicians, lawyers, academics, and other thinkers and activists throughout America. The link to the newsletter is below.

MUST READ-CLICK: http://childrenshealthcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2011-03finallayoutrev2.pdf

Please Speak to Your Kids About Safety and Personal Space Today!

Estimates of the number of frum people convicted of child abuse currently in the criminal justice system in New York State, range from 40 to 90 perpetrators. Depending on whose statistics you read, the average child molester abuses 50-200 children in his lifetime.

 By: Rabbi Yakov Horowitz

We are all busy before Yom Tov, so let's get right to the point.

If you haven't done so already, please see to it that you speak to your children about child safety before Pesach, and give them a refresher talk if you already have.

It is literally a matter of life and death that you do so.

Year after year, we get a significant spike in abuse-related calls right before, during, and after the Pesach and Succos Yomim Tovim. Why? Because our kids are in a less structured environment at home, in Shul and at play, and are exposed to a wide range of children, teenagers, and adults who they don't have contact with all year round. If you need convincing -- just tally the number of people your kids interact during with during a regular school week, and then do the same for the week of Pesach.

Thankfully, there is now an unprecedented awareness of the importance of child safety in our community and we have come to the painful understanding that our community is not immune to the ravages of abuse and molestation.

But, to be perfectly frank, the average person in the street (that's probably you) has no idea of how bad things really are. Estimates of the number of frum people convicted of child abuse currently in the criminal justice system in New York State, range from 40 to 90 perpetrators. Depending on whose statistics you read, the average child molester abuses 50-200 children in his lifetime. Mind you, that is in the general population, where adults have a fraction of the access to children, than our community members have.

Taking the two lowball numbers above and doing the simple math reveals that there are 2,000 frum victims of child abuse in NY State alone - and that is only counting victims of predators who were caught, prosecuted, and convicted of the crime. So the real number is, shall we say, much much higher than that.

Untreated abuse victims are far more likely to go on and eventually abuse others, so there will continue to be an exponential rise in the number of children molested, until all our children are educated to help protect themselves, and until all predators are reported to the authorities and locked up.

I plead with you to take this matter seriously and do everything in your power to keep your kids safe. There are two steps you need to take to accomplish this:

1) Have safety talks with your children - using effective, research-based techniques that will educate and empower your children without frightening them.

2) See to it that they are properly supervised over Yom Tov.

There are four basic messages that children need to internalize in order for any abuse prevention program to be truly effective:

Your body belongs to you
No one has the right to make you feel uncomfortable
No secrets from parents
Good touching/bad touching

Please educate yourself before speaking to your children so that your discussions generate light and not heat. Additionally, it is important for you to know - and to share with your children - that although "stranger danger" is a genuine concern, the vast majority of molesters are family members or people well-known to the children.

As Teaneck Police Chief Michael Bruno brilliantly said during a talk he gave on child safety, "We need to train our children to consider the "it" (the inappropriate action being done to them) not the "whom" (regardless of the relationship or stature of the individual who may be doing it).

There are free resources available on our website http://www.kosherjewishparenting.com/

at the Los Angeles-based Aleinu Safety Kid Program website: http://www.aleinu.net/AleinuChildSafetyInstitute/safetykid.aspx

Here are links to two videos released to educate you, and help you have these discussions with your children:

Video: Speaking to your Kids about Personal Safety: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1596520739

Video: InYiddish - Speaking to your Kids about Personal Safety: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFFHI0NZmns

 CLICK:http://www.rabbihorowitz.com/PYes/ArticleDetails.cfm?Book_ID=1512&ThisGroup_ID=238&Type=Article&SID=2

Thanks for reading these lines, and kindly take a minute to forward this to others - for the only way our children and grandchildren will be safe, is when each and every one of us is well educated about child safety.

Best wishes for a Chag Kosher V'samayach and much Nachas from your family.

Yakov Horowitz

Summer Camps Must Be Scrutinized!

 PHILADELPHIA — A victim of alleged sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest told a court on Tuesday that church officials took more than 10 years to resolve his complaint that he had been molested at a summer camp.

Walter J. Daly, 64, told jurors at the landmark trial of a senior church official and another priest that he wrote to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in October 1992 complaining that he had been abused by the Rev. John Cannon, a priest who ran the camp in Lancaster County, Pa., where Mr. Daly went as an elementary and high school student.

In response, Mr. Daly was invited to a meeting in November 1992 with three church officials, including Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the archdiocese and the first senior church official in the United States to be tried on charges that he endangered children by placing priests in positions where they were able to molest them.

The officials listened to Mr. Daly’s description of having been abused an estimated 25 times over successive summers at the camp but did not appear to resolve his complaints and did not seem very sympathetic, he told the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

“Was defendant Lynn asking a lot of questions?” asked an assistant district attorney, Jacqueline Coelho.

“It was a very formal business meeting,” Mr. Daly replied.

Mr. Daly said he spent parts of his summers at the camp between 1956 and 1965, first as a camper and then as a counselor.

When he was in seventh or eighth grade, he said, Father Cannon would come to his bed in the middle of the night. “I would be awakened in the night by the fact that someone would be touching me inappropriately,” Mr. Daly said in a sometimes shaky voice.

Asked by Ms. Coelho whether the priest would do “more than just touching,” Mr. Daly replied, “He would take my hand and put it on his penis to force me to fondle him.”

Mr. Daly said he signed a statement for church officials confirming what had happened to him but did not hear anything more, so in 2002 he made another complaint, this time to the bishop of Harrisburg.

“In 10 years, you would expect to hear something,” Mr. Daly said. “In my mind, it was never resolved.”

In 2003, he was finally approached by an archdiocese investigator who appeared to be taking his complaints seriously. Asked by Ms. Coelho whether there was a difference between his meeting with the investigator and that when he made his first complaint in 1992, Mr. Daly said, “I felt that there was a willingness to listen to me.”

Father Cannon retired in 2004.

Under questioning by Thomas Bergstrom, a lawyer for Monsignor Lynn, Mr. Daly said that he recalled first being abused as a fifth grader, and that he had the same experience every year for 10 years at the camp but did not tell his parents or anyone else in authority.

In testimony earlier Tuesday, Mr. Bergstrom sought to establish that the church’s response to abuse allegations was directed not by Monsignor Lynn, now 61, but by the late Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua or other officials more senior than the defendant.

After investigating allegations of abuse by another priest, the Rev. Stanley Gana, Monsignor Lynn recommended that any decision to allow him to resume work as a priest would depend in part on the cardinal’s acceptance of a report on Father Gana’s treatment at a rehabilitation center in Ontario, Mr. Bergstrom said. Confidential memos outlining allegations against Father Gana were read to jurors.

Church officials, including Bishop Edward Cullen and the cardinal, decided that the archdiocese would not prevent Father Gana taking a post in another diocese, but that policy was not the responsibility of Monsignor Lynn, Mr. Bergstrom said.

“Monsignor Lynn did not recommend that the archdiocese shift Father Gana to some other diocese,” Mr. Bergstrom said. “The recommendation came from Bishop Cullen and was approved by Cardinal Bevilacqua.”

The trial, now in its second week, is also hearing the case of the Rev. James J. Brennan, 49, who is accused of trying to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

READ: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/us/philadelphia-archdiocese-put-off-abuse-complaints-jurors-told.html?ref=us

How can herpes simplex spread to an infant?

HSV can  be spread to the baby if he or she is kissed by someone with an active cold sore.

In rare instances, HSV may be spread by touch, if someone touches an active cold sore and then immediately touches the baby.

How can herpes harm a baby?

HSV can cause neonatal herpes, a rare but life-threatening disease. Neonatal herpes can cause eye or throat infections, damage to the central nervous system, mental retardation, or death. Medication may help prevent or reduce lasting damage if it is given early.......

 READ: http://health.act.gov.au/health-services/canberra-hospital/our-services/medical-services/sexual-health/sti-factsheets/genital-herpes-in-pregnancy

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 and Alzheimer's

Summary: A British scientist, Dr. Ruth Itzhaki, has shown that the combination of latent Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV1) in the brain and the type 4 form of the APOE gene could account for 60 percent of all cases of late onset Alzheimer’s disease. Almost all elderly brains are infected with HSV1, which often causes no symptoms. Dr. Itzhaki’s lab found the virus in areas of the brain most damaged by Alzheimer’s, and has data relating HSV1 to plaques and tangles.....

For almost twenty years, Dr. Ruth Itzhaki, Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Manchester in England, has been exploring possible links between viruses and Alzheimer’s. Viruses are tiny infectious particles that attach themselves to and penetrate cells, then use the capabilities of those cells to reproduce. They can cause diseases like colds, flu and AIDS, or they can just sit there, remaining dormant or latent for long periods of time. A latent virus can become active when triggered by stress, other infections or environmental factors.

For a virus to contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s, Dr. Itzhaki reasoned, it would have to be very common in humans. And because Alzheimer’s appears to develop over a long period of time, it would make sense to look for a virus that has long periods of latency, but could periodically be reactivated and cause damage.

One family of viruses fits her criteria: herpes. There are over 100 types of herpes, of which eight infect humans, causing diseases ranging from chickenpox and shingles to cold sores and mononucleosis. Most people have some type of herpes, even though they may have no symptoms.

When Dr. Itzhaki and her colleagues examined the brains of older people, they found signs of latent Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV1) in the areas most affected by Alzheimer’s. Traces of the virus were present in both Alzheimer’s and non-Alzheimer’s brains. Because HSV1 is not prevalent in the brains of younger people, the researchers hypothesize that the virus infects the brain in older age (or in infants - where they have extremely weak immune systems), as the immune system declines.

HSV1 is especially common in humans. The virus, which can be transmitted via skin contact and saliva, infects approximately 58% of people between the ages of 14 to 49, and in older people, almost everyone. Often, there are no symptoms.

 READ: http://www.tangledneuron.info/the_tangled_neuron/2007/04/herpes_simplex_.html

READ HERPES FOR BRAINLESS JEWISH IDIOTS: http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/search?fulltext=herpes+simplex+1&quicksearch_submit.x=10&quicksearch_submit.y=7

HERPES FOR BIG DUMMIES:   http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/herpes-dummies-0?page=0