Do Terrorists Think We Will Join Them?

(CNN) -- Calling President Bush "the murderer and spiller of Muslim blood," al Qaeda's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a videotape Friday accusing the U.S. president of being a "deceitful charlatan" who has lied to the American people.

I’m sure many people, including Americans, can think of a few things to call President Bush, but “deceitful charlatan” coming from a Muslim Cleric? I think that’s just a little bit silly.

Why is al Qaeda now speaking to the American public? Are they trying to say that Bush lied to them about the fact that al Qaeda is killing innocent people and slaughtering their own civilization? In Iraq, soldiers aren’t being targeted anymore, civilians are! Terrorists are holding their own children at gunpoint to try and get the American’s to back down, and they say our president lied?

Or are they speaking to their own people and trying to say that Terrorism is the better choice over Democracy by trying to make us look more evil than they are? I’m not sure what is going on, but so far all they’ve been doing is calling our government names and asking Allah to throw lightning bolts at us, and apparently when Allah doesn’t, they do it themselves.

But by vehemently pointing out things about our current government that Democrats and Republicans say about each other to the American people every day, my question is are they trying to do more than make our government look bad?

Are they actually trying to turn us against each other? Do they really think we will join them?

On the tape, al-Zawahiri calls the leader of the Roman Catholic Church an "impostor" whose religion "is made of myths, like the Trinity, crucifixion, sacrifice and the original sin."

Okay, so is theirs! I really don’t understand, right here they’re either condemning their own religion or encouraging atheism (??). Islam and Catholicism are the same religion with different prophets, and each one has its share of supposed “myths.” Trinity, crucifixion and the original sin? Try the Holy City, polygamy, and suicide! I really don’t understand where these Terrorists are going with this whole “my religion has a bigger penis than yours,” but it’s gotten old.

I really don’t understand why the Muslims think they are being oppressed? Is it really because we took Israel from Palestine? Even if we did give it back to them (which we never will because it never belonged to them), would it stop the violence? Would it make the Mujahadeen go back to their homes and cease to exist? Would rioting and suicide bombings stop and would Muslims simply go about their business and leave the West alone?

Sadly I don’t think so. I was wrong, this war isn’t about Israel, or oil, or imperialism, this war could probably be the most justified war in the history of civilization. This war truly is about freedom, and not just some other poor ransacked country’s freedom…this is about our freedom. Our Freedom. Mohamed said kill all infidels, convert all non-believers.

If we pulled all our advertising from Muslim countries, withdrew our support for Israel, let the Arabs have their blood, and never interfered with another Jihad ever again, the Middle East would still come after us. They would still crash airplanes into our towers and decapitate our journalists and burn our flag because they want every school in America to be a Madrasah, every church to be a Mosque, and every store to close 5 times a day and every woman and female child to be veiled, banned from public education, and stoned to death for showing their ankles. This war is about control and oppression, but who is really being oppressed?

Let’s stand behind our soldiers and hope we make it out of this one, because I’m starting to think that this war is a heck of a lot more dire than our media is telling us it is.

Allah be merciful and God help us all.

Where Is The Love?

"The young and depressed often don`t get the talk therapy they deserve and may be getting medication they don`t need for a range of reasons, specialists say."
-Depressed Youth Shortchanged

"Talk Therapy?" They don't need talk therapy, they need love, stupid!

It seems as if today teenage depression has become like sticks and stones, the two terms go hand in hand. And yet despite the phenomenon of young people hurting and taking their lives being given epidemic status, the worlds leading researchers and experts have come up with only one viable solution.

Pills.

Lots of different types of pills for lots of different "patients." Different creative therapies to relieve the symptoms of distress. Parents and friends give into the lull of supposed "experts" and send their children off to strangers who "know better than they would as to what to do." Depression has afterall been dubbed a chemical imbalance in the brain, and controlling the flow of those chemicals would no doubt alieviate the pain of the person in suffering. God forbid the chemicals actually be triggered by negative thoughts and feelings, which are triggered by real life experiences.

"Well all the reserch points to physiological imbalances in the brains hormonal system that bring about negative feelings as a result of the chemical imbalances, and controlling the flow of chemicals has yeilded results in controling the patient's depression," say leading experts.

ohmygodyouranidiot!!!

Supposedly the onslaught of puberty and adolesence brings about an unavoidable bout of depression that every teenager must experience as a right of passage. "Every teenager feels this way," say mentors and teachers...whoa, depressing in and of itself! And while young people cry for love and support, authority figures stand back and take it as common-place. They all go through it and they all live without anyone stepping in. They grow out of it.

Unfortunately, no. Not all simply out-grow it and certainly not all even survive it. In 2020, suicide will be the 2nd leading cause of death in this country next to heart-disease. It is already the leading cause of death world-wide among people 15-24. While it's true that teenagers do experience certain hormonal changes that make them more suseptable to moody spells and irrational decisions, it's also true that teenager's make up only about 1.7% of the figures for people suffering with depression. (NIHM)

Studies show that over 60 million Americans suffer from depression, and only about 1 million of those are people under 18. This figure is skewed though because most young people who suffer with depression slip under the wire and are never diagnosed. 60 million American adults suffer with depression, and the figures only rise each year despite numerous new drugs available on the market. Studies also show a 70% increase since 1996 of people over 18 who report that they have no close friends.

My dad always tells me that a person is lucky if they die having one true friend. Unfortunately, I'm finding that to be true. The most common reason for people developing depression is because of peer relationship issues. Being alone or ostracized more often than not leads to suicidal thoughts and depression.

It doesn't take fancy therapies or dangerous medications to solve depressed moods, all it takes is love. Love from friends who put their arm around you and support from mentors who guide you in the right direction. Unfortunately, in today's age, a good friend doesn't dump their issues on their friends and mentors are driven away legally seeing as many mentorships are abused. Most adults simply have their hands tied and most friends aren't really friends at all. The result is the harsh reality that the depressed person is all alone with a gun to their head. The responsibility is placed on the family to handle their depressed members, however it is often the family that is the cause. Most adults simply don't want to deal with the commitment a suicidal teenager demands, and most people hold the attitude that they made it through adolesence, everyone else will too. Often times amid lectures and scolding and endless reasoning, all it usually takes is a hug to bring a lost young person out of their dark place. No one hugs anymore.

America's youth is crying for help and no one is helping for fear of being stigmatized. Love is a weird concept to Americans for some reason, and love of a teenager is often concidered perverted before it is concidered sacred. The result is an entire generation left cold and unloved, and dead.

Rest In Peace Stephen Loafing.

Crikey Mate! The Crocodile Hunter is Gone!

Steve Irwin, internationally renowned as Discover Channel’s The Crocodile Hunter, died Tuesday from being stung in the heart by a poisonous stingray. He was filming a series for Discovery’s Animal Planet titled “The Most Dangerous” when he accidentally came over the top of a stingray buried in the sand and was attacked as a result of the ray’s defense instincts. The stinger plunged up through his zyphoid process, where the diaphragm meets the breast bone, and pierced his heart. In a last futile effort, Steve was caught on tape wrenching the stinger out of his chest, but was paralyzed and possibly died almost instantly, leaving behind a wife, two young children who will grow up without a father, and the animals he cared for at Australia’s Zoo in Queensland.

“Being around nature is what I love,” said Steve in a TV interview a year ago, “it’s what these hands were born and bred to do.”

His energetic and passionate love of nature and wildlife gained him international celebrity status. He embodied what Aussies call the “True Blue,” and even though people in other countries couldn’t name the Prime Minister of Australia, they could name Steve Irwin. He did it all, he wrestled croc’s, handled poisonous snakes, dived in the most dangerous waters of the Great Barrier Reef, rehabilitated many animals (including a baby kangaroo), and educated a generation about the importance of environmental awareness.

My most memorable episode of The Crocodile Hunter series was where his dog, Suie, jumped out of their dingy (boat) to fight a wild boar and Steve had to jump out after them and separate them. So here’s this skinny guy in khaki shorts standing on a slippery slope of a croc infested river with a pit bull in one hand and a wild boar in the other! Crikey what a tough bloke!

Steve was many people’s hero, including my own. I remember watching his shows as a kid living in the San Gabriel Mountains. He had an amazing way with animals, much like my own interest in nature. I would go around picking up wild snakes and tracking actual wild coyotes through the forest and bringing home all varieties of injured animals (much to my poor mother’s dismay). I caught a wild burrowing rat once and was bitten to the bone, I remember my mother having to sit in the lobby with me all afternoon for a rabies shot, and the next day I was hand-feeding raccoons (which is disturbing nature in and of itself, I was 8). My dad will tell the story of how I chased a grizzly bear (usually it’s the bear chasing the person), and as recently as this month I rescued a seagull with a broken wing from the pool that I work at…I guess some things never change. Today, I am a biology major studying to be a video documentarian for National Geographic and make a career out of working with animals. I pursue this ambition that I decided I wanted to pursue at 11 years old because of the inspiration of Steve Irwin, and I’ll never forget that my enthusiasm started with him. I would not be pursuing it today if it weren’t for people like Steve who showed the world that our planet and the other things we share it with are not just “backburner issues.” I feel like I’ve lost my hero, and the world mourns with me.

Australia is talking about declaring his birthday a National Holiday. People from Guam to Albania have said they will celebrate that holiday, and my little brother and sister and I are no exception!

The fans will miss you Steve-O and the Croc’s will never forget you!