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Godbledygook: The Second-Tallest Tale Ever Told*
Once upon a time, there was a Godbledygook. The Godbledygook was all-knowing and all-powerful. The Godbledygook was also a mature hermaphrodite.
Being mature, Godbledygook began to focus its intelligence on the design of a family. Having engaged in an appropriately extensive session of family planning, Godbledygook copulated itself and thus conceived a singularity.
The singularity gestated within Godbledygook for a long, long time -- approximately 6,000 years. Then the singularity was ready to be born. Godbledygook labored for six days and six nights and then there was a “bang!” That bang was so monumental that it would one day be judged to have been “big.”
During the bang, the singularity grew bigger and bigger and it eventually filled an almost incomprehensible volume of space. That volume contains galaxies and stars and planets and moons and comets and other miscellaneous flotsam. Godbledygook looked upon the volume and saw that it was good enough. Godbledygook named it Cosmos.
In accordance with Godbledygook’s plan, one of the planets in the Cosmos was not too hot and not too cold. Godbledygook saw that the planet was good enough and named it Earth.
For one thousand millions years -- give or take a few millennia -- Earth’s waters passed again and again through volcanic vents in the depths of the oceans. During these passages, the waters became enriched with many kinds of complicated molecules, all in accordance with Godbledygook’s intelligently designed plan. And then, right on cue, some of those complicated molecules began making copies of themselves. Godbledygook saw that these copies were good enough and named them Life.
Life flourished in the warm waters of Earth, making more and more copies of itself. Some kinds of copies were better at copying themselves than were other kinds of copies. These better copiers proliferated, while the less efficient kinds of copies became extinct. Then a copy named Charles Darwin noticed this process. He described this process as evolution by natural selection.
You are a product of this process. And you owe your life to Godbledygook. Be thankful. Send a Thank You note to Godbledygook, in care of Santa Claus, North Pole, Arctic Ocean.
Amen.
__
*The first-tallest tale ever told may be found at http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag … 005469.cfm
Mr. Edwards:
You wrote, “Yes, the dollar has declined in value relative to other currencies. I'll also admit that we are poised for inflation to come along and knock it down again by the same percentage. China isn't to blame, though.”
I agree that China is not to blame. The currency markets have been grossly distorted by covert central bank efforts to manipulate the value of the U.S. dollar. The International Monetary Fund revised accounting rules several years ago in order to allow central banks to hide their gold leasing activities. Central banks have been covertly leasing gold in order to keep the value of the U.S. dollar high relative to gold and other currencies. This covert manipulation may become a matter of public record in a couple of months when the case of Blanchard v. J.P.Morgan and Barrick Gold Corp. goes to trial in a federal court in Louisiana (see savegold.com).
Barrick tried to get that case dismissed by claiming “sovereign immunity.” The judge did not accept Barrick’s assertion of immunity. At trial, the names of the central banks that Barrick has been fronting for may be revealed. Then, public pressure on those banks may end their covert gold leasing activities, sending the price of gold to the moon and simultaneously sinking the U.S. dollar. Or, an out-of-court settlement may be reached, which would probably require that Blanchard not publicly reveal the names of the central banks. I believe that this sort of cover-up is the most likely outcome. However, it might be prudent at this point to include some gold stocks in your retirement portfolio.
Mr. Edwards:
The U.S. Dollar has lost aout 30 percent of its value in the last few years. It could fall another 80 percent from here. And that fall might happen sooner than you have previously thought. See today's news at http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/05 … ..._latest
John W. Snow, the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, is lying to us. He is issuing paper money that bears the words “Federal Reserve Note.”
Several years ago, the Federal Reserve Banks closed their public windows. It is now impossible to redeem Federal Reserve bank notes for coins minted pursuant to an act of the U.S. Congress. When the Federal Reserve banks closed their public windows, all Federal Reserve notes instantly became paper money. The government is nevertheless CONTINUING to issue paper money titled “Federal Reserve Note.” Their “notes” are nothing of the sort. They are lying to us and they know it!
Mr. Snow is trying to give us a snow job.
Once upon a time, when “honest money” was in circulation, it was possible to redeem a “One Dollar” Federal Reserve Note for one dollar (a coin that contains 371.25 grains of fine silver). Then the government took silver dollars out of circulation and replaced them with “token money” (copper coins that have a silver-colored finish on them). The current dollar coin is now made of brass (the silver-colored pretense has been removed).
The government has gradually conditioned us to accept token money and that has allowed the government to put us further and further into debt – more than 70 trillion “dollars” into debt. But don’t worry about it because the government can, with a few keystrokes on a computer keyboard, create 70 trillion dollars and pay-off that debt. That is called “hyperinflation” and it effectively obliterates your life savings. But don’t worry about it, you will not mind retiring at age 75 into a life of homelessness and hunger. Or, if you do not want your life savings to be obliterated and if you do mind retiring into homelessness and hunger, call John W. Snow and tell him to stop lying to us. Ask him to tell the truth. Ask him to take the word “note” off the paper money that he is issuing. But he won’t. The lie has become so big that he cannot tell the truth. The global financial system would implode if he told the truth so he is going to continue lying to us.
Bah, bah, bah. Be obedient sheep as John leads you to the slaughterhouse. Or get a rifle...
A Crime Against Her Nature and Our Humanity
Marvin Munyon has asserted that buttocks were designed to be violently hit and that the designer, God, approves of such violence. Mr. Munyon has made these assertions during demonstrations of “the right way” to hit children. (See “Quoting Bible, Madison activist shows parents how to spank a child,” Associated Press, Sept. 24, 2000.)
I have been taught to be tolerant of people’s religious beliefs; however, there are some things that should not be tolerated. Mr. Munyon should not advocate violence against children and such violence should never be tolerated. Furthermore, any person who violently strikes the sexually sensitive areas of a child’s body is committing a crime against nature.
A female’s buttocks and thighs contain nerves that are connected to her clitoris. Those nerves were “designed” to be gently stimulated during sexual intercourse. The copulatory impulses that those nerves carry to her clitoris can provide some of the stimulation that causes an orgasm. During an orgasm, rhythmic contractions of her vagina can pump semen into her uterus. This increases the probability of conception and, eventually, childbirth.
A girl’s buttocks and thighs are part of her reproductive system. Violently striking (spanking) those organs can cause aberrant neural circuits to form in her still-developing brain. Those aberrant circuits will cause her to associate violent physical assault with sexual stimulation. When she reaches adulthood, she will be inclined to seek out violent, abusive sex partners. The girls who are born of such unions will face a high probability of suffering the same sexual torture and brain damage that was inflicted on their mothers. This new generation of girls will be sexually tortured and brain damaged and, consequently, they too will seek out violent, abusive sex partners. So this vicious cycle of violence will be perpetuated from generation to generation.
Violently striking a girl’s buttocks and thighs is a crime against her nature. When that crime is carried forward from one generation to the next, it becomes a crime against the future of our entire species. It becomes a crime against humanity.
Mr. Munyon, please do not advocate violence against children. Please help to bring such violence to an end.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
February 28, 2005
Dear Chairman Stairs and Members of the Education Committee:
Pennsylvania law currently authorizes the teachers and officials of public schools to physically punish students. The State Board of Education has proposed that the use of “corporal punishment” be prohibited. When you consider the State Board’s recommendation, please also consider recently published research which shows that some children are genetically predisposed to become aggressive and violent if they are abused during childhood. These children have a diminished capacity to produce an enzyme called “monoamine oxidase A.” Striking a child who has this condition can greatly increase the likelihood that he will become an aggressive and violent adult.
Please do not allow the teachers and officials of public schools to turn children into violent adults who, in turn, use corporal punishment to turn their own children into violent adults. Please stop the vicious cycle of violence. Please abolish corporal punishment.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
__
Gene May Show Why Abused Boys Turn Violent
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
Yahoo! News, August 1, 2002
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A single gene may explain why some boys abused in childhood -- but not all -- grow up to become violent or aggressive, researchers said on Thursday.
The gene variation seems to be activated only by mistreatment in childhood, but is found in a third of the men and young boys studied, the researchers said.
Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers said 85 percent of the boys who had a weakened version of the gene and who were abused turned to criminal or antisocial behavior.
"These findings may partly explain why not all victims of maltreatment grow up to victimize others," Terri Moffitt of King's College London and the University of Wisconsin, who helped lead the study, said in a statement...
Clark:
It should be noted that Jessica Serafin has brought an action in Federal Court. She is alleging that her rights under the United States Constitution were violated. Everyone in the United States can legitimately be concerned about the attack on Ms. Serafin regardless of which state they currently reside in, whether that be Texas, New York, Tennessee, California, etc.
Mr. Tice:
During the past 30 years, 28 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the use of corporal punishment in public schools. A proposal to ban corporal punishment in Pennsylvania will be considered this week by the Education Committee of the state's House of Representatives. This is a very contentious issue and there will be some very impassioned debates. Religious conservatives believe that children should be beaten to save their souls. Modernists believe that it is wrong to sabotage a child's brain development by subjecting the child to corporal punishment.
If you and 150 other people were living and working together to prepare for the day when you would board a rocket and begin your journey to Mars, you would probably discuss numerous political issues and get some of the most important issues settled before going to Mars. Would you advocate taking spanking paddles to Mars? Who would be authorized to use such paddles, and under what circumstances? The answers to these questions can become very complex sets of school regulations.
Would you approve of a shop teacher using steel tongs to beat students on the testicles? Should a male school principal be allowed to beat a 17-year-old girl on her bare buttocks? To make an example of her by beating her that way in a school cafeteria full of other students, male and female? If she hemorrhages from her vagina for 23 days and then dies, should the principal be immune from criminal prosecution and civil litigation? Would you approve of beating mentally disabled students? Legislators, judges, and school board members have had to deal with these very difficult issues.
You can regard these issues as "ho-hum tedium" now but if your child was being beaten bloody with steel tongs then you would feel quite passionate about corporal punishment.
To Page C. Faulk, General Counsel of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Dear Ms. Faulk:
Today I filed a Consumer Product Incident Report about the beating of Shelly Gaspersohn. I have appended a copy of that report.
Miss Gaspersohn was beaten with a wooden spanking paddle in December, 1981. I filed a report about this incident because it is relatively well documented. Miss Gaspersohn gave testimony about this beating during a United States Senate subcommittee hearing. A transcript of her testimony is posted on the Internet at http://www.nospank.net/shelly.htm]http: … shelly.htm
The beating of Miss Gaspersohn illustrates the fact that a spanking paddle can cause serious injury to a child’s buttocks and severe psychological trauma. Miss Gaspersohn testified that subsequent to being beaten she repeatedly had nightmares that Glenn Varney, the man who had beaten her, was chasing her for the purpose of catching her and killing her.
Children should not be subjected to such torture. Please help me to stop it. Please allow my petition to be docketed at the earliest possible time.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
cc: Chairman Stratton, Vice Chairman Moore, Todd Stevenson, et al.
Dear Vice Chairman Moore:
I have requested that the Consumer Product Safety Commission adopt a rule which requires that spanking paddles have a permanent label that reads, “WARNING: Spanking causes brain damage.” My petition is currently being reviewed by your General Counsel, Ms. Page C. Faulk.
I decided to submit my petition after reading Dr. Teresa Whitehurst's correspondence with CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton about "The Rod," an implement designed for the purpose of beating children. Dr. Whitehurst had asked the CPSC to ban The Rod. In his response to Dr. Whitehurst, Chairman Stratton wrote, "We will continue to monitor the data that we receive regarding this product. If that data indicate a change in the current status, we will immediately take appropriate action under our enabling statutes."
There may not be enough data about The Rod to justify a CPSC order to ban it but there is plenty of information about the use of spanking paddles. Parents, teachers and other people who have custody of children do use spanking paddles to beat children and the injuries that are caused during such beatings have been documented. Photographs of the buttocks and thighs of children who have been beaten with spanking paddles are posted at numerous sites on the Internet. For examples, see Mr. Colin Farrell's web site at corpun.com.
Some of the damage that spanking paddles cause to the posterior parts of a child's body can be photographed with ordinary cameras but the most serious damage is more difficult to visualize. This most serious damage can be seen with functional magnetic resonance imaging scanners (f-MRI). These scanners are able to detect the functional and structural damage that occurs in a child's brain when the child is physically assaulted. Facts about this kind of neurological damage have been published by Scientific American magazine. See "Scars That Won't Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse," by Martin H. Teicher, Scientific American, March 2002, pages 68-75.
In previous centuries we could suppose that the injuries caused by a spanking paddle would heal. This was a reasonable supposition at the time because the contusions, lacerations, broken bones and other injuries to a child's posterior parts usually would heal. However, f-MRI scanners have now enabled us to see that beating a child can cause functional and structural neurological damage that is usually permanent. We must therefore reexamine the practice of disciplining children by beating them.
In 22 of the United States, teachers and principals at public schools can lawfully punish students by beating them. When the students of those schools are beaten, they are usually beaten with spanking paddles. I am opposed to this "corporal punishment" and I believe that it should be completely stopped. I also believe that if parents and educators were aware of the serious neurological damage that is caused by beating children then they would not perpetrate such violence.
I have requested that you require that spanking paddles have a permanent label that reads, "WARNING: Spanking causes brain damage." That label would put parents, educators, and other people on notice that beating a child with a spanking paddle is a destructive act. If people knew that beating a child with a spanking paddle could cause brain damage then they would voluntarily choose to refrain from beating children with spanking paddles. That would make America a better place for everyone because brain damage is a benefit to no one.
Please approve my petition at the earliest possible time.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
cc: Chairman Stratton, Page C. Faulk, Todd Stevenson, Teresa Whitehurst, Colin Farrell, Martin H. Teicher, et al.
To Hal Stratton, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Dear Chairman Stratton:
On February 10, 2005, I submitted a petition to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Mr. Todd Stevenson, the Director of the CPSC Office of the Secretary, sent that petition to Ms. Page C. Faulk, the Commission’s General Counsel. Mr. Stevenson subsequently informed me that Ms. Faulk will determine whether my petition “meets the requirements of a ‘petition’ and whether it will be docketed as a petition. The General Counsel has at least thirty days to make that determination.”
I have written to Ms. Faulk about my petition. I wrote, “I feel a sense of urgency about my petition and I hope that you will very quickly review my petition and allow it to be docketed as a petition.” I know that my petition has not yet been “docketed.” I therefore believe that it is technically premature for me to ask you to consider the merits of my petition. However, I feel the same sense of urgency today that I felt when I wrote to Ms. Faulk.
Earlier today I read CPSC press release number 02-215, dated July 26, 2002, and titled “Hal Stratton Confirmed As Chairman of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.” According to that press release, you have two daughters who are now probably about 10 and 5 years old. And, according to that press release, you have said, “With two young daughters, I think of consumer product safety every single day.”
When you think about your own daughters and their safety, please also consider what happened to a schoolgirl in New Mexico. In an article titled “Dangerous Discipline,” Robert Fathman wrote about “a nine-year-old girl in New Mexico who giggled with her friends when she saw her teacher kissing a boyfriend.” For the offense of giggling, the girl “was held upside down by the principal of her school while her teacher paddled her. The little girl, who weighed less than 60 pounds, was hit so hard that the wooden paddle broke, but not before it caused a two-inch bloody gash that left a permanent scar on her thigh.”
Can you imagine your own daughter being beaten in this way? Can you imagine seeing blood running down her leg? Can you imagine taking her to a hospital emergency room and watching as a physician put stitches into her skin to close the wound?
I am opposed to corporal punishment. I believe that children should not be beaten with hands, fists, paddles, rods, straps, whips or any other implement. However, I am also a realist. In 22 of the 50 United States it is lawful for teachers and principals at public schools to strike students and to do so with various implements. So I am not asking you to prohibit the sale of spanking paddles. I am only asking you to put the users of these devices on notice that these devices can cause brain damage.
In previous centuries we could suppose that learning took place when a person’s metaphysical mind or supernatural soul underwent various forms of training and discipline (e.g., beating). However, now that we have functional magnetic resonance imaging scanners (f-MRI) we can see what happens inside a child’s head. And we can see how a child’s brain is damaged when the child is physically assaulted. In the light of this new knowledge, parents and educators should put down their paddles.
Please approve my petition at the earliest possible time. Please adopt a rule which requires that each spanking paddle shall have a permanent label that reads, “WARNING: Spanking causes brain damage.” I believe that this warning would make people think twice about the practice of beating children. And I believe that if they thought twice about it then they would choose not to do it.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
cc: Vice Chairman Thomas Moore, Page C. Faulk, Todd Stevenson, et al.
To Ms. Page C. Faulk, General Counsel, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Dear Ms. Faulk:
Mr. Todd Stevenson, Director, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has informed me that my petition to the CPSC is at this time a "Possible Petition." He has further informed me that my petition was assigned “tracking number 20050030 and sent to the Commission's General Counsel for a determination as to whether it meets the requirements of a ‘petition’ and whether it will be docketed as a petition. The General Counsel has at least thirty days to make that determination.”
I feel a sense of urgency about my petition and I hope that you will very quickly review my petition and allow it to be docketed as a petition. You should place a high priority on the review of my petition because spanking paddles are used to beat children hundreds of times each day all across this country and the people who are wielding those devices are unaware of the serious and permanent harm that they are causing. The torn muscles, broken bones, lacerations, internal bleeding and bruising that is caused by hitting children with spanking paddles is only part of the bodily injury that is caused when such devices are used as intended. Now that we have magnetic resonance imaging scanners (MRI) we can see that childrens' brains are being severely damaged.
The damage to a child’s posterior organs usually heals, although lacerations can leave permanent scars. In contrast, the brain damage that is caused by hitting a child with a spanking paddle can be permanent and can lead to lifelong disabilities, including diminished intelligence (I.Q.), anxiety, depression and other psychiatric disorders. In addition, it should greatly concern all of the members of this society that girls are being beaten on their sex organs and that such beating can derail a girl’s psychosexual development.
A female has nerves in her buttocks and thighs that are connected to her clitoris. Those nerves can be stimulated during copulation. The impulses carried by those nerves can provide some of the stimulation that triggers an orgasm. During an orgasm, rhythmic contractions of her vagina can pump semen into her uterus, thereby increasing the probability of conception and eventually childbirth.
A female’s buttocks and thighs can be functionally involved in sexual intercourse and are therefore sex organs. When a girl is beaten on her buttocks or thighs she learns to associate violent physical assault with sexual stimulation. That learning will exist as patterns of neural connections in her brain. Those “aberrant” neural connections can later be manifested as psychosexual pathologies.
A parent or guardian or school teacher or school principal who uses a spanking paddle to beat a girl on her buttocks or thighs is probably not trying to teach that girl to associate violent physical assault with sexual stimulation. Unfortunately, that is the lesson that will be beaten into the neural circuitry of her still-developing brain. The people who wield spanking paddles should be put on notice that they are causing such brain damage. The implementation of my petition would provide that notice.
I have proposed that spanking paddles bear a permanent label that reads, “WARNING: Spanking causes brain damage.” When weighed against the damage that is caused by beating children with spanking paddles, my proposal is obviously reasonable.
The protection of children should be a very high priority for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Commission should approve my petition at the earliest possible time. And I request that you review my petition and allow it to be docketed as soon as you can.
Respectfully submitted, Scott G. Beach
cc: Todd Stevenson, et al.
Scars That Won't Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse
Maltreatment can have enduring effects on a child's developing brain, diminishing growth and reducing activity in key areas
By Martin H. Teicher
In 1994 Boston police were shocked to discover a malnourished four-year-old locked away in a filthy Roxbury apartment, where he lived in dreadfully squalid conditions. Worse, the boy’s tiny hands were found to have been horrendously burned. It emerged that his drug-abusing mother had held the child’s hands under a steaming-hot faucet to punish him for eating her boyfriend’s food, despite her instructions not to do so. The ailing youngster had been given no medical care at all. The disturbing story quickly made national headlines. Later placed in foster care, the boy received skin grafts to help his scarred hands regain their function. But even though the victim’s physical wounds were treated, recent research findings indicate that any injuries inflicted to his developing mind may never truly heal.
Though an extreme example, the notorious case is unfortunately not all that uncommon. Every year child welfare agencies in the U.S. receive more than three million allegations of childhood abuse and neglect and collect sufficient evidence to substantiate more than a million instances... (continued at Scientific American Digital)
The following petition was submitted on February 10, 2005. It has been assigned Control Number 0030.
Petition to the
Consumer Product Safety Commission
of the United States of America
Petition for Rulemaking
I, Scott G. Beach, request that the Consumer Product Safety Commission adopt a rule which provides that each spanking paddle shall have a permanent label that reads, “WARNING: Spanking causes brain damage.”
Facts which support the issuance of this rule may be found in “The Neurobiology of Child Abuse,” by Martin H. Teicher, in Scientific American, March 2002, pages 68-75.
Respectfully submitted by Scott. G. Beach
Clark:
You asked, "Scott, do you have any suggestions on how unruly children can be disciplined in a constructive manner?"
The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children can be found at http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org]http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org They have posted a web page that contains the two following paragraphs about "positive discipline."
"There are many resources available on the world wide web aimed at supporting parents who decide not to use corporal punishment in bringing up their children. For some organisations and individuals listed below, non-violent parenting is promoted in its own right, while for others it is part of a more developed overall philosophical approach to parenting, such as attachment parenting, natural parenting, Aware Parenting, or a religion-based approach. These websites offer some valuable resources and support in working with children's behaviour without resorting to physical punishment. Most of the parent resources listed below are free of charge unless stated otherwise.
"There are also a number of useful resources on positive discipline techniques for teachers in dealing with classroom management and other aspects of working with pupils in schools. Again, these range from those advocating non-physical ways of punishing children to those advocating a totally non-punitive approach. The majority of educational resources are provided on a commercial basis, though some resources are freely available."
Clark:
You wrote, "Scott, I don't understand... you want a NEW law to punish an act that seems to be prosecuted under an existing law?"
Two school employees pinned down Ms. Jessica Serfain (a legal adult) while a third school employee beat Ms. Serafin with a four-foot-long board. She was beaten on the hand, hip, buttocks, and leg. She was subsequently taken to a hospital for emergency medical treatment.
The three school employees who collaborated to administer corporal punishment to Ms. Serafin have not been arrested or indicted or charged with any crime. The beating of Ms. Serafin was done under color of Texas law, which permits corporal punishment.
Texas law does not currently protect students from being beaten on the sexually sensitive areas of their bodies. I believe that the law should provide such protection.
Dear Representative Allen:
On November 10, 2004, CBSNews.com published an article about a male employer who spanked two, 19-year-old female employees. These spankings were supposedly administered as a form of corporal punishment. However, I believe that these spankings were really administered for the sexual gratification of the man doing the spanking. These spankings are examples of sexual assaults disguised as corporal punishment.
The people of Texas should not allow sexual assault to be disguised as corporal punishment. To prevent this sort of assault, the people of Texas should prohibit corporal punishment from being administered to the sexually sensitive areas of a female's body. These areas include her breasts, vulva, buttocks, and thighs.
Please introduce a bill that will prohibit administering corporal punishment to the sexually sensitive areas of any child's body.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
____
"Tsk! Tsk! Boss Spanks Workers
RED BANK, Tenn. - The owner of a shaved ice business was arrested after two employees claimed he spanked them for making mistakes at work.
Paul Eugene Levengood, 57, was charged with two counts of sexual battery after the 19-year-old women complained..."
To Alma A. Allen, Representative, Texas House of Representatives
Dear Representative Allen:
Please introduce into the Texas Legislature a bill that prohibits sexual assaults in the name of "discipline." That bill might read as follows:
"A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CRIMES AGAINST NATURE
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Corporal punishment shall not be administered to a child's breasts, vulva, buttocks, or thighs."
Thank you for considering my request.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
To Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services
Dear Secretary Leavitt:
In more than twenty of the fifty States, girls and women are being sexually assaulted in accordance with local and state laws. From kindergarten through high school, girls and women (some of them legal adults) are being beaten on their buttocks and thighs with wooden boards. This practice is called "corporal punishment" and it is sometimes referred to as "paddling." This practice should be seen for what we now know it to be: vicious sexual assault.
We know more about human physiology than we used to know. We now know that some of the nerves in a female's buttocks and thighs are connected to her clitoris. We now know that these nerves can carry copulatory impulses to her clitoris and that such impulses provide some of the stimulation that triggers an orgasm. We now know that during an orgasm rhythmic contractions of her vagina pump semen into her uterus, which increases the probability of conception and eventually the birth of children. We now know that beating a female's buttocks or thighs can cause her to associate violent physical assault with sexual stimulation. And we now know that these associations can become wired into a girl's still-developing brain and that these associations can manifest themselves as psychosexual pathologies.
A female's buttocks and thighs are sexual organs. Anyone who batters those organs is committing a crime against nature and should be condemned for doing so. The practice of paddling schoolgirls is uncivilized and outright barbaric. This practice should be stopped NOW!
You are the co-chair of the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. I hereby request that you ask the Committee to draft federal statutes and regulations that will bring an end to the vicious and unconscionable practice of beating schoolgirls on their buttocks and thighs.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
Dear Ms. Reed:
I read the biography that you posted on the Bexar County District Attorney's web site. Your biography states that you are "a member of the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women." As a member of that Council, and as the Bexar County District Attorney, you should be especially concerned about violent assaults that are committed against women in Bexar County.
I am writing to you to bring to your attention the fact that a woman named Jessica Serafin was viciously beaten UNDER COLOR OF LAW in Bexar County on June 18, 2004. Reports about the assault on Ms. Serafin have been written by Sonja Garza and published in the San Antonio Express-News. See http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ … ....6.html. Additional information about the attack on Ms. Serafin is contained in documents that have been filed with the Bexar County District Court. See Cause Number 005CI00373 (JESSICA SERAFIN vs BRETT WILKINSON ET AL).
I have appended copies of my recent e-mail messages to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and to San Antonio Chief of Police Albert Ortiz. In those messages I asked them to remove from the premises of the School of Excellence in Education the 48-inch-long spanking paddle that was used to beat Jessica Serafin. I have also attached a copy of my message to the School Board, requesting that they consider adopting a rule that limits the size of spanking paddles to a "reasonable" size.
Ms. Serafin is no longer a student at the School of Excellence in Education so she is no longer subject to being beaten bloody with that 48-inch-long paddle. However, other students, whether they are children or legal ADULTS, are in danger of being beaten bloody with that vicious device. I am therefore requesting (1) that you initiate a criminal investigation into the battery of Jessica Serafin and (2) that you go to the School of Excellence in Education and place that vicious device into a sterile plastic bag and label the bag as containing an item of evidence in a criminal investigation and (3) that you then REMOVE that evidence from the school.
Please do not allow that weapon to be used to beat anyone else.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
To Mr. Gregory Richardson and the Other Members of the School Board of the School of Excellence in Education:
Ms. Sonja Garza of the San Antonio Express-News has reported that on June 18, 2004, Brett Wilkinson, an employee of the School of Excellence in Education, used a four-foot-long spanking paddle to beat a woman named Jessica Serafin. I believe that beating anyone with a 48-inch-long paddle constitutes a violation of the constitutional prohibition against "cruel" punishment. That paddle is a weapon of viciousness and it should be destroyed.
The Tyler Independent School District has adopted a Student Code of Conduct (http://www.tylerisd.org/Forms/Student%2 … onduct.pdf). The code provides that, "Corporal punishment shall be administered using an instrument (paddle) made of wood or plastic of reasonable width, length, and thickness. (The paddle will not be more than 1/4” x 3” x 18”.)"
I am opposed to corporal punishment but I will agree that a "reasonable" size for a spanking paddle is 1/4" thick, 3" wide, and 18" long. Please consider adopting a rule that limits the size of spanking paddles to this "reasonable" size.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
Mr. Edwards:
You asked whether "examples of children beaten by authority figures...are relevant to the issue of corporal punishment as a discipline method?" Yes, such examples are relevant. Imagine that you are a member of a state's legislature. If you were asked to approve a law that allows "authority figures" to beat children then you would want to know how often such beatings escalate into severe bodily injury and possibly death.
You asked, "Do you mean to imply that because the states of Texas and Illinois allow corporal punishment that this somehow constitutes a legal defense for these actions?" No, I do not intend to imply that.
You wrote, "Incidents like this happen where corporal punishment is not public policy just like they happen where it is." Yes, but such incidents are more likely to occur where corporal punishment is permitted by law.
In a previous message I asserted that if corporal punishment is allowed it will be carried to extremes that result in the maiming and killing of children. Unfortunately, I have found additional evidence to support that assertion.
The following paragraphs are excerpted from Mr. Doyle Weaver's letter of 5-28-03 to the Texas Senate Jurisprudence Committee.
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Another child in Texas has died from corporal punishment. It was used by her grandmother while the mother was serving in the Armed Forces in Iraq. It happened on May 13, 2003.
The little girl was four years old and her name was Destiny. The grandmother thought the little girl was slack in her homework so she decided to do what Texas law allowed her to do - give the child an old fashioned whipping.
That is exactly what she did, using a belt and an extension cord. Texas law leaves the choice of weapons to whip with entirely up to the person doing the whipping. Little Destiny died that same day at Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, Texas. Her life on earth is over.
We cannot begin to imagine the great fear and indescribable pain that Little Destiny experienced as the horrors of death engulfed her precious little body. She didn't take up much room in this big state but, nevertheless, that space is now empty.
Destiny will never again be tucked into bed by her mother and hear those wonderful words, "I love you sweet baby."
The following letters represent my efforts to stop child abuse.
Dear Attorney General Abbott:
I am forwarding to you a copy of my recent e-mail message to Mr. Albert Ortiz, who is the Chief of Police of the City of San Antonio, Texas. I have requested that Chief Ortiz go to the School of Excellence in Education and confiscate the 48-inch-long paddle that was used to beat Ms. Jessica Serafin on June 18, 2004. I believe that paddle constitutes a weapon and that it should not be on the premises of any school.
If Chief Ortiz fails to remove that weapon from the School of Excellence in Education by 5 p.m. today then I hereby request that tomorrow YOU initiate a criminal investigation about the beating of Ms. Serafin.
Ms. Serafin was beaten during the summer so it is unlikely that she was wearing gloves on her hands. When Principal Brett Wilkinson smashed Ms. Serafin's hand with the aforementioned weapon, some of Ms. Serafin's flesh probably became embedded in the surface of that weapon. That weapon could therefore be regarded as evidence in a criminal investigation and you could go to the School of Excellence in Education and take that weapon into your possession and then REMOVE it from the premises of that school. Remove it before it is used to beat anyone else!
The Constitution of the State of Texas prohibits "cruel or unusual punishment." Smashing Ms. Serafin's hand with a four-foot-long board went far beyond "cruel." It was outright vicious. Furthermore, beating Ms. Serafin with a four-foot-long board was "unusual." No where else in the civilized world is such a device used to beat students in the name of educating them.
What was done to Ms. Serafin under the color of Texas law is a stain on the reputation on the people of Texas. You can begin the process of removing that stain by removing that four-foot-long board from the School of Excellence in Education.
If both you and Chief Ortiz fail to prevent that device of viciousness from being used to beat children then I will take this matter to the Governor of the State of Texas, and then to the United States Department of Education and the United States Attorney General, and finally to the President of the United States. And I will also make sure that Mrs. Laura Bush becomes aware of the vicious and maniacal beating of Ms. Serafin.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
cc: Chief Ortiz, et al.
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Dear Chief of Police Ortiz:
Ms. Sonja Garza of the San Antonio Express-News recently reported that a woman named Jessica Serafin was severely beaten at the School of Excellence in Education, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Serafin was beaten by the school's Principal, Mr. Brett Wilkinson, who reportedly used a 48-inch-long spanking paddle to hit Jessica on the leg, hip, hand, and buttocks. After this beating, Jessica was taken to a hospital for emergency medical treatment. At the time of the beating,Ms. Serafin was a legal ADULT and she had NOT consented to being beaten AND she attempted to defend herself from being beaten.
I searched the Internet on the topic of spanking paddles and found that the longest commercially available spanking paddle is 24 inches long. I believe that the 48-inch-long paddle that Mr. Wilkinson used to beat Ms. Serafin was DESIGNED to cause serious bodily injury and that it should therefore be regarded as a weapon. I have never seen Mr. Wilkinson's paddle but I suspect that it is so heavy that it must be held with both hands and that it must be swung with the force of both arms, not just flicked with the wrists.
The Constitution for the United States of America prohibits "cruel" punishment. I believe that it is a violation of the Constitution for anyone to use a 48-inch-long paddle to strike another person. I further believe that using such a paddle to strike any person constitutes an act of pure viciousness. If such a paddle were used to strike detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the United States would be condemned by people throughout the civilized world.
You should go to the School of Excellence in Education and confiscate that 48-inch-long paddle. If you don't, that weapon will be used to brutalize other students in violation of the United States Constitution.
Sincerely, Scott G. Beach
Cobra:
You asked, "What specifically does 'corporal punishment' mean in this context?"
On June 14, 2004, the Attorney General of the State of Texas issued an Opinion in which he defined corporal punishment as "physical force used to punish a child." In Texas schools, that usually means beating a student with an open hand or with a paddle. Such beatings are usually applied to a student's buttocks. In some schools in Florida, students may be beaten on their buttocks and/or thighs.
The Texas Attorney General's Opinion is posted on the web at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/ga/ … ga0202.pdf