War On Kids

By unidentified [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

The War on Kids documentary film shows how the American education system is broken and needs to be fixed if we want children to develop critical-thinking-intelligent minds.


College really opened my eyes up to history, liturature, psycology, all ignored by my private Christian school.  The school did, however, instill crititcal thinking in me, although it was supposed to be for other religions, practices and lifestyles, I applied it to the Christian faith and found holes in logic.  I think I went through the stages of grief and finally moved onto my agnostic life until I found witchcraft and Wicca.  


In the documentary they show the shift from Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" to medicating our children with powerful drugs equivlient to cocain and meth and making schools a "Zero Tolerance Zone" for violence and how police arrest children for bringing nail clippers to school.

Phtographer Unknown

The documentary starts with an extreme cartoon featuring "evil children" who will not listen to their parents and prepare molotav coctails.  Are parents afraid of their children?  Yes, the war on drugs spurred a movment into making children into criminals before they became them, a kind of self-fulfilling profecy.


At first the "Zero Tolerance" only covered guns, then it would cover any kind of weapon, incuding wallet chains, then just strictly violence, like the kindergartener "firing" a chicken nugget at a teacher.  Each step pushes down on children, controlling them and when the policy doesn't work, parents drug them.


I'm not personally afraid of children, I love letting them play outside, explore and avoiding homework at all cost.  Homework is another way schools reach beyond the eight hour school day and make children work overtime.  There is no time to socialize, be creative, be interested and we expect newly graduated high schoolers to be creative, innovative and independent when they were subjected to a system of control like a prision. 


The fear in this country created a snowball effect going beyond protecting children, but openly making them criminals and refusing their rights.  It is not legal for a child to be questioned without parental concent, hardly any child is read their miranda rights and their being emotionally manipulated by the school personel they trust.


Cameras, metal detectors, police officers canvas shools now and why?  To keep guns and violence out of school, but we brought the guns and violence in.  A modern educational facility today looks more like a prision, so is it a wonder children act like criminals?

Fear feeds this mindset and the false promise of safety.  Students do not feel safer, studends feel watched and become paranoid.  

America really doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to educating out chidlren.  Teachers want quiet in an over croweded classroom where children are board, ask questions, fidget and the teacher diagnosis them with ADHD.  I would be labled ADHD now, but was I just an average child full of energy?  

Keeping children indorrs, under rules and strict schedule damages our children, so let your kids be kids, not drones of the state.

BPA is Everywhere

A few weeks ago I asked Hansen's Sodas if they use phthalates or BPA to coat the inside of their cans.  They did respond, but they didn't exactly answer my question.


"Thanks for visiting the Hansen’s website.

We understand your concern, but can confidently assure you that beverage cans are safe. It is important to remember that all components of packages that come into contact with food or beverages undergo stringent testing and must comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations before use. Our entire beverage cans meet or exceed federal and state health and safety standards. In fact, all components used in beverage cans, including coatings, have been and continue to be recognized as safe by the FDA.

Our company has worked with the Can Manufactures Institute to respond to claims that the chemical Bisphenol A, used in a formulation of certain can coatings, is unsafe. Bisphenol A is alleged to be a possible estrogen mimic by a small group of activists and allegedly pose threats at low-dose exposures to vulnerable populations. However, CMI, working with the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. developed very convincing data, which demonstrate the safety of foods and beverages in cans lined with coatings made with Bisphenol A. The data show the American consumer has no exposure whatsoever to Bisphenol A through canned beverages. These findings have been provided to and reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Beverage cans are safe, and provide the highest quality packaging for beverages on the market today.



Sincerely,
Hansen's Beverage Company"

The letter basically says yes we coat our cans in a plastic that has not been proven to be unsafe for you by the Can Manufactures Institute, company supported, the FDA and the USDA, whose powers do not reach far enough to ban or challenge any claims until someone has died from said substance/ claim without a shadow of a doubt.

You can buy these products at Whole Foods, a company priding itself on providing organic and natural products.  Bisphenol A, is an artifical hormone, estrogen to be precise, and the body cannot tell the difference between this hormone and the ones produces in our bodies.  This artificial hormone can send false signals to our cells, making them not work properly and cause damage to the body.

The FDA has taken some steps to see if Bisphenol A (BPA) is hazardous.  So, Hansen's in wrong to state there is not enough concern.  However, this concern has been going on for over ten years, and scientists have already found links between BPA and cancer, diabetes, genital defects and behavioral problems like ADHD.  People are not dying directly from this contact, but it sets people up to have issues in the future and this may be why little action is taking place.

Even the guide talking about BPA says that low doses are not harmful.  But BPA is used in everything; water bottles, sports equipment, medical and dental devices, dental fillings and sealants, CDs and DVDs, household electronics, and eyeglass lenses.  My question is when low doses invade over long periods of time and those doses are no longer low, is it toxic?  When do the doses become toxic?  It's already been banned in baby bottles and some toys, if it's harmful for a baby, should pregnant mothers beware?

I'm concerned, not only because we don't know how much BPA is toxic, but it's also everywhere.  Studies may show low levels are safe for adults, however, when it accumulates inside our bodies, is it safe then?