BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Mother's Day, for me, is filled with a conflicting thoughts & feelings. Party because I struggled over 12 years with almost intractable infertility issues. My own mother had a personality disorder whose negative aspects were focused on me. I never told her I was an infertility patient. I couldn't, it would have brought with it a lot more verbal abuse than I was already taking for simply being alive. Once I finally did have children I realized I would never feel "normal" - I would always be infertile because I could not do easily what most other women do. One thing she said to me a great deal was " you owe me ." Over and over I was reminded that I 'owed her' for working to provide a home for myself & my sibling, raising me and most of all: for having me in the first place. Especially since I was a " freak, a loser, ugly " and " no man would ever want " me. So it was to her tremendous shock when she had this convers...

Got this in email from a friend and felt it was worth sharing: This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, saying, "It's all right honey, Mommy's here." Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted. This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes. This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time." This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college. This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them. For all the mothers of the victims of r...

by Barbara It’s not a lot of fun to be big or overweight and female in our society. Especially when it isn’t your fault. I suffer from an endocrine problem called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I have had this scourge since I was 9 years old but it’s only in the past 11 years I have developed a problem with my weight. And I hate it and it’s not fun. In fact, I can’t stand looking in the mirror – clothes on or off. Doctors need to coax the gown off to examine me. Nowhere but the shower does anyone see much more of me. My friends tell me I am too hard on myself. My friend John made a great observation to me the other day, and I had to admit he was right. We met online in a health related chat about 14 years ago and have since met in person and become good friends. He told me, “You are one of the most compassionate and deepest people I have ever met. But when it comes to your own appearance – you are so shallow!” He went on to tell me that weight or not, I am still very at...

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I don't like prostitution for what it does to the sex workers , the mind-set of the johns and the damage to their families. Personally I consider prostitution to be PAID RAPE. Period. But to use children! Just disgusting -- I will never be able to wrap my brain around it. However, I have said before - law enforcement has to start GOING AFTER THE JOHNS MORE AGGRESSIVELY if they expect this to make any difference . FBI says 345 arrested, 21 children rescued in prostitution busts in 16 cities Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution. The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities as part of its "Operation Cross Country" that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide. Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call "thrown-aways" _ kids whose families have shunned them. Officials say th...

Having a child with ADD, when you're not - can be a challenge. Trying to work with the NYC School System can be frustrating and rage-inducing. My child has been profoundly lucky to have teachers who really care and last year, one who is passionate about teaching and reaching the minds of all his students... No matter how far outside the box he had to reach. My child is dynamic, frustrating, creative, imaginative, crazy-making and infinitely charming, loveable and full of compassion. Last year, they designed their own Halloween costume, sketched it, helped me get the fabrics for it and gave it to their very resourceful and innovative Aunt - who painstakingly brought it to life. My Nana, of blessed memory, (who was a clothing designer and made 90% of my clothing for me until she passed in 1981) - would be very VERY proud. For them & my other friends and childrens' friends with ADD, I post this article: by Ben Goldfarb A few years ago, my wife was waiting patiently for me...

Incredibly powerful, must-read piece from COVER GIRLS: If mainstream headlines continue to favor stories of women in danger based on the subjects' attractiveness and social status, then the strength of Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzalez) and the international legal ramifications of her case are sure to be ignored. But where commercial journalism fails, the need for publicity can be met by activists, bloggers, and groups such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. [In October, 2008], Lenahan will testify before the continental commission in a case which she has been battling the U.S. criminal justice system on for nearly a decade, and with no success. It all started when Colorado local police refused to enforce a restraining order against her husband, who had kidnapped her three daughters. Any faith in the authorities of America protecting her and her family dwindled even further when the Supreme Court held that the state of Colorado was not responsible for responding to ...

Gordon Brown said that lessons must be learned from the case of a man who repeatedly raped his two daughters over more than two decades, fathering nine children by them. The Prime Minister said that a full case review was now under way after the 56-year-old businessman on Tuesday received 25 life sentences for rape at Sheffield Crown Court. "The whole country will be outraged by those unspeakable events that have been reported as happening in Sheffield and in other parts of the country and will be utterly appalled by the news of the systemic abuse of two sisters by their father over such a long period," he told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions. "People will want to know how such abuse could go on for so long without the authorities and the wider public services discovering it and taking action. "If there is a change to be made in the system and the system has failed we will change the system." SOURCE

You gotta watch this: Or CLICK HERE to view. sickening...

...and I think its a good thing! by Hillary Clinton Marian Wright Edelman, my friend and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, says it best: "If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much." In my 35 years as an advocate for children and families, I have never met a child without potential. But I've met plenty of children growing up in extraordinary hardship and lacking the basic tools they need to succeed. Even in the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world, 13 million children still live in poverty and 5 million live in extreme poverty. Too many children are expected to overcome these hurdles, become productive citizens, and compete in a modern global economy without the benefit of sound schooling, decent housing, proper nutrition, and adequate health care. This is not just an economic problem. It's a moral outrage. I've been working to better the lives of children for 35 years, and the future of America's children wi...

Disney’s Dreamland for Online Predators In the last 4 years I have learned more about online predators, for both children and adults, than I ever really wanted to know. Lately my kids have been bugging me for cellphones. I have been firmly saying "no." They don't really need them yet. "But, Mom... so & so has one." I just look at them and continue to say "I know you really want one but you don't need one. Not this year, no." This is always followed by the attendant whining and gnashing of teeth. Don't worry - I am immune to such machinations. I am not enamored of cell phones myself. Mine has been very handy and when my children are at school or away from the home its on. If someone I know or family is in crisis or ill, its on. Otherwise - it's off. As is the ringer on my home phone. If the kids are with me and its not urgent, I am incommunicado. If I am doing advocacy work & working with a victim, at a conference or lear...

SEND YOUR USED TOYS TO CHILDREN IN IRAQ PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! The holidays are on us. Our christian friends and others are going to get loaded with toys. But what to do with the old ones? Clean, useable ones can go to daycare centers. preschools, church or temple childcare or here: Send your used stuffed animals and toys to children in Iraq Send your donations to: Michael Fellenz or Natalie Sudman USACE-GRS APO-AE 09331 To read more about this effort: CLICK HERE

SURPRISE... NOT! PALESTINIANS ABUSE THEIR OWN KIDS! I am not even going to comment. This is a "gimme" as well as a moral & ethical outrage. Yet we still think we can negotiate with this culture? Get real! '93% of Palestinian kids suffer domestic violence' Ahead of International Children's Day, New Family - an organization that promotes family rights - reported unnerving statistics on Sunday in its annual 2007 report on domestic violence in Palestinian families. According to statistics gathered from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), 93.3 percent of Palestinian children have experienced domestic violence, amounting to 1,950,739 children - 953,950 of whom are girls. Further surveys reported that only 52.2% of Palestinian families feel they can provide a safe environment for their children. According to attorney Irit Rosenblum, founder and chairperson of New Family, the issue affects more than jus...

SCHIP SHOCKER Even I, who thought I'd learned to expect nothing but the most disgustingly foolish and inane actions from President Chimpy was STUNNED to see him veto the SCHIP program funding increase. If there was ever a huge clue that we are dealing with a mentally disordered person who has zero empathy and no clue what goes on outside his own empty head - that was it. Our debt over an illegal war grows and we can't take care of our children or our veterans? Something's seriously wrong with that! I won't get in to debating and rehashing - I can only hope and pray his veto is overcome and the children get the healthcare they need AND DESERVE! I s human decency unconstitutional? by Mary Shaw Over the past week, I have written a great deal in newspaper articles, blogs, and news websites about George W. Bush's veto of the highly popular, bipartisan State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which would provide health care for uninsured low-income American...

DISSECTING THE TERRORIST MENTALITY Old habits die hard. I used to be a working actor and part of my job, when doing a role, was to step inside the psyche of someone else. I still like to figure people out or at least their actions. TV like the CSI s and Law & Order s are 'appointment television' for me. I rarely miss them. So when I saw this article about Saraa Barhoum, the star of "Tomorrow's Pioneers" (the Hamas 'kiddie' show) I decided to dissect for myself the mentality of adults who poison the minds of other adults and children this way. And poison them from the womb all the way to the pieces of their bodies strewn all over Israel's landscape along with innocent Israelis. I have said it before and I will say it again, they have the classic abuser mentality. The closed system of logic, the indoctrination, the no rules but the abuser's, the reality is that the abuser wants you to have, etc. So read on while I do a little deconstructi...