Nightmare

Sleep can't mend this ravelled sleeve,
This fear-drenched and sweat-sodden weave.
That mini-death, that nightmare bath
Is not balm, but childhood's fog-wet path.

The inner child wakes, as I drift away,
But has no time to pick up toys and play,
For Father follows from time's ghostly mist—

And Father never comes without his fist.
—Daz

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Dear Bloggers: A Request

Here's something I'd like to see from my fellow bloggers. If abuse of any kind—violent, sexual, racial, child-abuse, marital abuse, bullying and so on—forms a major theme of any post you make, consider that it's highly possible that at least some readers will be interested in the topic because they're looking for help. I think, therefore, that it's a good idea to add a link and maybe a phone number to a relevant organisation, where such help may be found, to the end of the post. Obviously I can't tell anyone to do this, but I would ask you to consider it.
—Daz

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Amanda Marcotte: The Christian Right’s Love Of Corporal Punishment

Long-time readers may remember that I have something of a personal history with this subject. (Trigger-warning for description of child-abuse at that link.) I therefore offer a link to Amanda Marcotte's thoughts on this, without comment from myself.
—Daz

Children and young adults looking for help in the UK can visit Child Line or phone them on 0800 1111.

If you're worried that a child might be being abused, please contact the NSPCC. You can remain anonymous, if you so wish.

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Hutton On Harris

So Bob Hutton, keen to be seen to be keeping up with the times, has posted on Rolf Harris's conviction for sexual abuse of children. In this, he reminds me of the BBC's stunningly biased "Thought For The Day" strand; pick a topical story, make a few perfunctory non-religious remarks, and then tack God, Buddha, Jesus, or Mohammed onto it.

Anyways, first off, I'd like to point out what Bob doesn't say.

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Bob Hutton Ponders Child-Abuse

Bob's worried that plans to make the law stricter in regards to emotional and psychological abuse of children might land evangelists in hot water. He doesn't (surprise surprise) give much detail about what Bill he's talking of, but I assume it's the so-called "Cinderella Law." (Which I can't seem to find much in the way of official documentation on, rather than news stories or blog-posts based on the news stories. If anyone can find anything better, I'd be grateful if they'd drop a link into a comment.)

It seems, from what little I can gather, to be mainly focussed on bringing Britain's laws on child-neglect up to the same sort of standard and reach as laws regarding physical abuses, although other laws will also add further weight and scope to the existing law against Female Genital Mutilation.

The Boy Bobby is worried, though, that as a self-confessed harasser of children in the street, such changes in the law might be stretched to get him hauled off to the local nick for a friendly chat.

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Butchery (re-post)

Re-posting this from last October. Because: reasons.

They have no autonomy
And you have all the power
So you prune off their anatomy;
Like you'd dead-head fading flowers.

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Female Genital Mutilation: A Petition

From Change.org:

You wouldn't think school girls in the UK have to worry about female genital mutilation (FGM), but we do. Although it is illegal in the UK, it is still happening – 24,000 girls in the UK are currently at risk of FGM. People just don't talk about it, doctors don't check for it and teachers don't teach it.

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Butchery

They have no autonomy
And you have all the power
So you prune off their anatomy;
Like you'd dead-head fading flowers.

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On Dawkins And Child-Abuse

And so, Gentle Reader, Richard Dawkins has published a not-pology in relation to his latest utterances on child-abuse. I say "not-pology" because mostly, to me, it reads more like a doubling-down coupled with an aggrieved whine about expecting to be read by "reasonable" people. That is to say, people who agree with his views. It was his expectation of who would read it which was wrong, not what he said. Because, obviously, to reasonable people, it would have been "obvious" that he was playing down his own "mild" encounter with a paedophile in order to spare the feelings of the worse-abused. Thus either missing or ignoring entirely, the fact that his dismisal of dirty old men shoving their hands down young children's underwear as in any way "mild," was the point of many of the objections to his blunder.

But, no matter how kindly, or not, one might wish to read his 'pology, there's a huge and glaring omission. This is not a one-off. There is context. And that context is his continued assertion that teaching kids about Hell is worse than "mild paedophilia." Both "mild" and "worse" being defined by reference to his personal scale of relative badness-of-effect.

But before we get into that, I'd like… no, "like" isn't the word. I'm going to introduce you to Hell, as perceived by me.

(Trigger warning: fairly graphic description of child-abuse follows.)

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Morals For Dummies

If you need to look up what's bad about rape and abuse;
If the mutilation of children's genitalia requires your use
Of a book of instructions from God on high
Before you'll condemn it, then my, oh my—

You're a contemptible little shite.
Please stop wasting my oxygen.

(No, I wasn't aiming for subtlty.)
—Daz

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