Join the Prince

Prince Charles has stated that he thinks McDonalds should be banned.

If he had said fined I'd have agreed but banned? I am amazed that people with eat that crap but to go as far as banning it? Adults have a choice. I think we should charge them for their medical bills if all they eat is shitty food but adult should be able to choose what they do providing it doesn't harm anyone else.

You have to love Charley he never seems to get it right. Still even a stopped clock and all that.

Define this

I was going to stay away from this one as I get incensed very easily. I tried ok.

Define child abuse.

Is it causing harm to a child? Mental, Physical or emotional? If a person withholds food from a child is it child abuse? If a person force feeds salt to a child as punishment is it child abuse? Is slapping a child to keep it quiet child abuse?

I have never been sure about corporal punishment. I waver from one side of the argument to the other. I agree sometimes a quick slap on the leg gets a childs attention but also think that there are other ways. Sometimes you have to hurt to prevent harm. If a child is playing with matches then a swift slap to the back of the leg and a very definite no will save them from harm later.

Whatever. there are arguments one way or the other here.

I define child abuse as causing harm to a child. This can be mental, physical or emotional. I don't include telling a child no sometimes in this. In fact the absence of discipline could be considered child abuse.

Having nicked this issue from Fat Mammy Cat I at least had the decency to use a different source. From the BBC News ....

"
Fourteen stone child 'risks care'

Connor McCreaddie - ITV1/PA Wire
Connor prefers to eat processed foods

Connor's mother
An eight-year-old boy who weighs over 14 stone (89kg) may be taken into care by a local authority.

Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, has lost a stone and a half in two months, but still prefers processed food to fruit and vegetables.

His mother, Nicola McKeown, has been called to a child protection conference with the local authority on Tuesday.

Family support may be offered, but the last resort would be for North Tyneside officials to place Connor into care.


I can't starve him
Nicola McKeown, Connor's mother

Connor's pre-Christmas weight of 15 stones and eight pounds (98.8kg) is four times the weight of a healthy child of his age.

He has lost weight after beginning an intensive exercise regime and introducing some healthy food into his diet.

The eight-year-old does have a bike and a trampoline which he uses, but he has to stop after around 10 minutes because he becomes out of breath and can vomit.

He has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health and is a target for bullies.

Confident

Ms McKeown, 35, told the BBC: "Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it.

"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.

"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.

"I can't starve him.

"But I'm confident I can get his weight down with a bit of help."


His life expectancy is severely prejudiced.
Dr Colin Waine, National Obesity Forum

Ms McKeown denied she is neglecting her son, and said he would be "skinny" if she had been.

She said she had seen doctors, but no-one had actually stepped in to offer her help.

She said that taking Connor into care would be "disastrous".

His story will be featured in ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald, which followed Connor and his mother for a month.

Child's interests 'paramount'

Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said that removing a child from their family could be justified.

"The long-term impacts of this child's gross obesity are frightening.

"He has great risk of diabetes and coronary illness.

"His life expectancy is severely prejudiced. So action is required if his health is to be safeguarded."

A spokeswoman for North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust, said: "We share the concerns over the child's health and well-being.

"We have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.

"The child's interests are paramount."

"

Check out FMC's take on it at http://fatmammycat.blogspot.com/2007/02/killing-with-kindness.html


I see what his mother is doing as child abuse. She isn't intentionally hurting him but she is causing him harm all the same. He's a kid, he can't be expected to make the right choice with diet. That is the parents job. Blaming the government for not helping is not a reasonable argument either. If you have a child they are your responsibility. Everyone will make the odd mistake but continued benevolent neglect is not acceptable.

Makes P1P sad and angry at the same time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6396457.stm

I hate to see a bald judge weep

What the crap? Who the hell gave this joker a job?

A judge should never be emotionally involved in his cases. His job is to interpret the law not blub like a mental patient. I shudder to think how he decides stuff. Does he award not guilty verdicts if the defendant looks cute like a puppy?

If you have read the crap I have churned out in the past you know how I feel about personal beliefs affecting decisions. Judges, police, military etc have no room for their personal beliefs. They are there to enforce the law as decided by society (more or less). I don't like stuff that interferes with this be it religion (or lack of it, I wouldn't accept an athiest copper coming down harder on a relgious person), predjudice or the tendancy to blubber like a schoolgirl.

Sack him. Give him a job doing something simple where he cannot affect others.


On an aside why are they all so hot to get the corpse? Does it have anything to do with inheritance?

Tiny tool

Been off work doing up my flat. Bought a few bits and pieces.

Amoungst my hard found purchases was the frame for my new bed. This thing is beautiful. It's also pretty big. Not by American standards but it's still pretty big.

Anyway, it was delivered in four boxes. I was fine with this, I knew there would be some assembly required. In fact it has to possible to disassemble it or it will be a bitch when I move.

Even in bits it was heavy and tricky to sort out. I read the instructions and examined the bits and my heart fell a little. Rather than those unwieldy bolts they decided to go with bolts that need an alan key to turn them.

(For those of you who don't know what an alan key is, it's a bent tube of metal hexagonal(?) in cross section)

Luckily for me they had provided one. It's not the best option. A tool that small to assemble a bed that I can roll over a few times and still be in. I want something that I can use a powertool to assemble. It's still a chore but at least I can hold the drill like a gun.

Of course, once I had put it together I had to stand and admire my skill. Then my friend came over and she had to admire the manly skill of construction.

I am putting up some shelves soon. I have hired a mariarchi band for the reception. I am currently trying to cut my speech down to and hour and a half but it's difficult to cut all that good stuff. I am considering investing in a tool belt or holster as I like to call it.

and a hard hat.

Damn it

The Jibbon is back. I think there may have been a bit of a boo boo.

I missed his cheery little face. It will break my heart whenthe time comes to let light through the little fella and try to ram him round the U bend with the toilet brush.

No. It's ok. I can get a different pet to fill that gap at the side of my blog!

Time for tea!

Where's my fucking monkey

I looked today and it was no longer there. I don't really care that much but it would be nice to know why it was gone!

Probably some update that I haven't bothered with.

If it doesn't come back I have to go and find something else to fill the gap and I am a busy man. Ok, ok , I am a lazy man then, same difference.

Just find my bloody monkey before I get bored of the whole issue.

Church is mental redux

A chap, mikep, commented of the first church is mental blog to say...


"Not that I'm judging or anything, but it seems a bit ironic to me that you "love Christmas" but find the rest of the religion thing weird.

Afterall, couldn't some observers think it a bit odd that people sacrifice a live evergreen, stand up its corpse in the living room, and festoon it with shiny plastic doodads?"

I replied

"Judge away mikep it's what the web is for (and porn). Although I love xmas not christmas. I make sure that I cut the religion right out of that bad boy.

I also go for the plastic tree, it's kitch all the way. I can't argue with the oddness of decorating a plastic tree though or hanging a lot of shiny crap off it.

I also changed easter into 'chocolate egg couple of days off work time'. There is no need to sully these fantastic events with religion. In fact religion can make them suck, who the hell needs to get up early with a hangover and sit in a draughty church?"



I thought this was a pretty interesting topic. As an athiest my life is littered with religion. I was christened although I was too young to know what the hell was going on. I went to Sunday school where they did their best to turn me into a button down little christian. We had the vicar at our school pretty often for lent and other assorted crap (ever make one of those reed crosses?). We said the lords prayer everyday.

In an aside, the other day at the church the lords prayer was intoned and they have dropped the thees and thines! It's all 'yours in the kingdom' now. I was a little horrified at least it used to sound properly religious now it sounds like a bit of a statement.

So yeah, I do celebrate xmas or christmas. I call it by both names but I don't particularly associate it with Christ. I have attended midnight mass as it gives me a bit of a christmassy feel, we also needed somewhere out of the wind to enjoy some ribs we bought (before the vegetarian days).

I am thankful for everything I have. Doesn't mean I believe in god. England may be a fairly secular country but we came from a highly structured religious past. Our monarch tossed the catholics out (so he could get a divorce although it would be nice to say he did it for us). He set up the church of England which the majority of Brits treat with a kind of benevolent neglect but our lives are still littered with the detritus of centuries of religious control.

I figure that it can be treated like the pagan leftovers of mayday etc. This doesn't mean we shouldn't use them as an excuse to have a little fun.

Pasta pasta pasta pasta

I bought a pasta maker.

People who know me are aware that I am a little unhinged about food. I love to cook. It works on me like valium. I am also enamoured of gadgets. So something that combines cooking and gadgets can have me in raptures for days.

The new thing for me is making pasta and drying the excess for later use. Anyone know if you can freeze filled raviolli?

Fresh pasta is different, even from the stuff the supermarkets sell as fresh pasta. Not hugely. You wont taste it and start waxing on about how you will never touch ready made pasta again but I noticed it. Yes it takes time but so do most things that are worthwhile.

Ok, I am aware that I am being a bit mental about this but it's brilliant.

What the hell do you know anyway!