Political Aspects of Dangerous Dogs

People are scared. A lot of people would rather walk about armed, or at least 'protected'. In local newspapers, and on national news websites, people deplore the lack of visible policing, the 'Bobby on the Beat'.

Many carry illegal weapons.

I believe that there is a large, and growing subculture of people who take great comfort in the fact that their protector, or family protector, is a big fighting-breed dog. A rottweiler is pretty much the deadliest weapon it is still legal to take down the street.

The politicians, especially those who value the working class vote, are afraid of enacting legislation (such as compulsory muzzling) out of fear of alienating that subculture and its vote. This week, another child has been bitten:

"Boy, 12, bitten in dog attack
Nov 21 2006
Audrey Forbes And Ron Livingstone, Evening Gazette"

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/news/tm_headline=boy--12--bitten-in-dog-attack&method=full&objectid=18131131&siteid=109975-name_page.html

( link is dynamic, so I'm not sure how long it will be valid, try googling: 'UK latest dog attack' ...the results change frequently... )

...But unfortunately our govt has set up a top down culture of target setting - and crime prevention cannot be measured.
Additionally, as i have noted here before, it seems as though it is in working class areas where the greatest density of these dogs are. Many people 'blame the owners' and that is a fair enough attitude I think, but a portion of the blame belongs to the politicians/Law/social divide as well. Where do politicians live? On estates?
I'd put fair money on it that champagne socialists like Diane Abbot (who talks some sense but sends her children to a private school, probably by car) live in areas where there is not a high density of fighting dogs. There is no pressing concern, for those who are in a position to not care.

Besides, they are also the ones blowing up 'the enemy' in their villages, shipping weapons to aggressive states, and causing the deaths and mutilations of children, so what are a few 'rotties' and 'staffies' to them?
Maybe it actually helps them, insofar as it fuels public fear, in a general sense. Fearful populations are more likely to accept new legislation/actions that they *do* want to enact, such as ID cards and centralised medical databases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_socialist

Another Unleashed Rottweiler

This morning on the way to school we had to stop walking in the middle of the Crow Lane Green Space and wait for 15 minutes or so.

We had spotted an unleashed rottweiler up ahead. Given that our family has been attacked no less than four times in the past 18 months by fighting dogs, we are quite afraid of them now. Consequently, it is extemely dangerous for us to go near them.

In the words of a policeman i recently spoke to about it:
'They do have a nasty streak. If you are afraid, they do not like it.'





It is our fear that causes them to attack. A friend of mine interprets this in terms of astrology - how i have some 'thing' that I need to work out, but I tend to think of it in terms of pheromones. Dogs smell fear, and breeds with an vicious streak turn nasty at that smell. Their social conditioning is overridden by an attack instinct. Owners of fighting dogs are largely blind to this because they are not afraid of them (with some exceptions, believe it or not) and because a dog is basically a member of their family. I can understand this. Until the first dog attack on *my* family I was a dog lover, although not a dog owner for many years.

Todays incident on the Crow Lane Green Space, Henbury was not particularly dangerous. We saw the dog a long way off, stopped and backtracked a way. I took a photo with my phone, but closed the phone before hitting save. The lady, noticing we had stopped and backed off, leashed her dog. Its was the case, however, that the dog was not under her control, when we first saw it.

Frustrated, I took another picture, this time of her with the dog on the leash. The photo that remains on my phone is so low quality anyway - taken from such a distance - that its probably useless, but taking it served its purpose anyway. At least that particular owner now knows how uncomfortable these dogs can make parents and children feel.

From my point of view, its getting silly. On monday we saw a large dog with a boxer-like head being walked by a small girl of perhaps 8 years of age and avoided it no problem. However, last week I was forced to physically fight off two Staffordshire Bull Terrriers in the same area, an incident that the aforementioned police officer became involved in.
I'm not going to go into the details of that incident right now, but i will note two more things.



We are going to have to start walking charity owned dogs from a kennel, in order to counter our increasing fears.

I am in a state of heightened adrenaline and awareness twice a day; walking to and from Blaise School.

I'd rather be abroad in the dead of night! :(

Maths Lesson Demonstration

I attended a demonstration of the way the reception class are taught maths yesterday, and I shall attend another - year 1 - demonstration today.

The first demo was very interesting; based around 2D and 3D shapes, patterns, teamwork and recognition.


A Sphere has no edges...


One activity had children spotting, and creating patterns of 2D shapes on the interactive whiteboard. Another had pairs of children sitting back to back, with one holding a pattern printed on a card, and giving descriptive instructions, while the other attempted to recreate the pattern on the floor with 2D plastic shapes.

The children in this class seem to love learning!

Its as cool as that, I am happy to write. The teacher seems to have a degree of freedom in choosing the direction subsequent learning will take, which is also a relief to know. Over adherance to a rigid plan may make progress easier to measure, but i sincerely doubt that it is good for individual children in the long run.

Another very welcome sight is that we now have a parents board, so I can see what has been taught in class, and how i can best support that with home and walks based learning. Homework, that is! Often, directly after school, my children do not wish to discuss what happened during the day, as they are focused on getting to the park or our house! :)


A Cube has Points, Edges, and Square Faces.

Beware Evangelicals in Our Area!

An evangelical Christian group wants to set up and build a church on the old pool site on Crow Lane.
Personally I am against this, and will be raising my doubts with the council.

Evangelical Christianity (think: George Bush) is all about spreading the word, ie: pulling in more punters rather than just weddings and funerals. This Pentacostal church is a brainwashing program. These people try to get disadvantaged people and warp their minds, so that they are easier to indoctrinate.

Frequently new members are drawn in through various themed groups (kids playgroups, mothers groups, rehab groups) and then they're fears and self doubts are focused upon in a way that gets them to think that they need to be saved by deeply accepting Jesus (the Church doctrine) into they're lives.

New recruits are convinced that they are 'sinners' and that they are intrinsically bad, and that in order to be saved from horrible things, and become acceptable to God, they must accept the church and all its teachings. Often, buying the churchs media, books and paraphernalia is stressed, as is the giving of donations to the church. One section of society is usually condemned, with a view to changing followers beliefs accordingly. Currently, most Christianity I have encountered demonises Gays, and some of it demonises Science and rational thought. Most Churches and doctrines teach that women are secondary to men in almost every way, often that women are actually 'evil', then go onto to support state led wars and killings.

If I am correct the Church on Crow Lane will be situated accross from the school. Will there be ministers being posessed by the Holy spirit and speaking in tongues in front of children? Epileptic style Holy Spirit possessions?

Can anyone say what the increase in risk of paedophilia will be? Christianity of all types makes people feel bad about themselves, partly by being sex-negative. It helps to cement the doctrine in the flocks (sheep) minds.

The libido (especially of priests) is supressed, and buried deep within the psyche.Far too many times priests who are caring for the vulnerable within they're flock then molest them.
There is it seems to me an all too common chain of consequence:
Christianity -> Social Conservatism -> Sexual Repression -> Eventual Paedophilia.

Construction details have yet to be finalised for the Church.
I am going to lodge an objection in the morning. If you have any objections, I urge you to make them public straight away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecostalism

http://www.bloggernacle.org/?p=446

http://www.cmawashington.org/index.cgi?CONTEXT=art&art=3275&BISKIT=8889714

Hi5 DVD Review

If you like to let your kids watch DVDs (and lets face it who doesn't? It gives a you a break from their constant needs...) then I have a few recommendations. I will write some of them up as reviews here on my Blog.



First of all, if you haven't heard of them, check out Hi5. These talented Australians are a seriously hi energy dance/song/story edutainment group who combine the best qualities of pop stars and traditional kids tv presenters with none of the drawbacks. I can't recommend Hi5 enough...they offer my kids an enriching experience which I personally find hard to offer a lot of the time. Every last sketch has an education element to it...but it is always interesting, always lively. Child development pros work on each episode, and the presenters individual personalities shine through in their own sections.



I'd go as far as to say that Hi5 offer your kids something that British and American presenters and kids media don't really offer as well; they seem to sum up what is good about Australian culture and are just really *different* to cbeebies or milkshake. With so much American culture permeating childrens media, this is
a refreshing break, and I think that in this it offers a rewarding type of cool that you just don't get elsewhere.




Skills and areas covered: Body co-ordination, logical thinking, mathematics, puzzles, mazes, shape, colour and pattern...social skills, but above all dance and movement, music and fun!
They're a pop band that are all about helping your kids development, rather than grabbing all the limelight and money!



So cheers to Nathan, Kellie, Tim, Kathleen, and (my favourite) Charli!
You rocked our world! 1, 2, 3, 4 ... hi5!

Cthulhu Rising

On the final day before half term, my eldest child didn't want to go to school. I considered being lenient and having a family day off, but in the end made them go, as I knew there would be a cooking session today.

Here is what i was presented with at home time:



If you can't tell, its mostly candy, with a thick layer of regular sugar stuck to it.

My youngest had (despite our expressed wishes against religious worship/participation) been educated in making 'Diwali' cake; a Hindu cake with a high sugar content. I'm not sure if this is the same recipe below, but my partner knew a Brahmin, and says that Hindus do have a sweet tooth.
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/oct/20diwali1.htm

Where does this leave the push to have healthy food in British schools?
At Blaise school?
I'm not going to focus on the religious aspect of this here, but do you think that a religious observance could justify bad nutrition in school? Is the Divali cake more legitimate than the Cthulhu cake?
I'm withdrawing my permission for my children to 'learn' to 'cook' at school.

When we were home, my children tried a nibble of both, then spat them in the bin. I hope it was a conditioned reflex, and not parent appeasment.

Wreckage

There are some wrecked motor vehicles in the fields near Blaise school, which have been there for a few weeks now.



This one is a different wreck:


-




At some point, I will photograph various bushes and trees that are around the area, but the wreckage stands out as being extra blogworthy.
I hope the owners all had adequete vehicle insurance.