- Bob Jones University is not a place for relaxation,
tolerance or anything not several shades past the far-right theology espoused
by the conserva-Nazi ass hats at Fox News. But the degree to which the school
persecuted former student Chris Peterman are disturbing even by BJU standards. Peterman
expected to graduate on May 4 with a degree in political science, but found
himself expelled nine days prior to commencement. According to school
officials, he was suspended for multiple violations of the school's code of
conduct. Those violations centered around social media and an unnerving
enjoyment of a glee club-themed TV drama. Peterman sees it differently. He
believes he was the victim of intimidation and coercion by BJU staff and
administrators. That can’t be right, can it? Speaking out against Chuck Phelps,
a former BJU Board of Trustees member accused of covering up a sex-abuse
scandal at the church where he served as pastor, wouldn’t lead a school to act
in decidedly un-Christian-like fashion and expel him….right? Yes, the uptight
squares at BJU force students to sign a covenant every year dictating
permissible on- and off-campus behaviors that forbids fun in any form,
including drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, non-hymnal music and demonstrations
for causes opposed by BJU. Phelps’ actions in allegedly covering up sexual
abuse by an older male parishioner against his step-daughter would seem to go
against those beliefs, which is why Peterman launched a Facebook campaign to
demand his resignation. His efforts led to a meeting with BJU's Dean of Men,
Jon Daulton. Following the meetings, Peterman attempted to fall in line by
creating the "Do Right BJU" Facebook page to “provide a support and
outreach network for victims of sexual abuse in the BJU community." Daulton
ordered the page shut down but Peterman claimed First Amendment protection and
the school backed off…..or so he thought. After returning from Christmas break,
he was strong-armed into counseling with Daulton. The counseling must have failed
because during the school's Spring Break Bible conference (yes, these losers
actually have a conference for spring break instead of actual fun) he Tweeted
about the length of a service before it began: "This thing is 2hrs long!?
What could they possibly talk about for that long!" His final “crime”
occurred when another student narced him out for having coffee at an off-campus
Starbucks and watching “Glee.” He admitted to the horrific misdeed and so began
a death spiral of discipline that led to him being ushered off campus and
informed that he would be arrested if he attempted to return. Peterman has
appealed his case to school’s provost and hopes to return to finish his degree,
but one has to wonder why he would want a diploma from such an intolerant
place……….
- Houston's Memorial Hermann hospital is giving the concept of free and
open communication about medical issues a new twist. Just a few weeks after
making history with the world's first live-tweeted open heart surgery, the
hospital provided live social media coverage from the hospital's in-house team
of a brain operation performed by one of the world's foremost neurosurgeons.
The proceedings kicked off at 8:30 a.m. EST via the hospital's Twitter page,
@houstonhospital, which relayed the operation's preparation, play-by-play and
wrap up for four hours using the hashtag #MHbrain. Those who didn’t want to
wake up early but who do enjoy watching one human being carve up another human
being’s head needed to tune in by 10 a.m. to see the first incision in a
procedure known as a brain tumor resection, which is designed to remove a tumor
to prevent seizures. Dr. Dong Kim, a neurosurgeon who helped lead the team that
treated former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head
in 2011, performed the procedure. Kim and his team cut a two-inch by two-inch
window in the skull of the patient and her brain was exposed for just under two
hours, giving Kim access to find and remove the tumor, located between two and
three centimeters beneath the brain's surface. "What will come out of this
is a detailed, real-time sequence of what happens in a brain surgery through
all the stages from preparation, to shaving the hair, to making the incision,
to draping," Kim said prior to the procedure. He views the social media
connection as a way to give future patients a preview of what to expect.
"People are very anxious and want to know what goes on in a brain surgery
like this,” he explained. The social media team workied in an adjacent viewing
area with a tumor specialist present to help answer questions from the digital
audience via Twitter. Along with tweeting to the masses, the social media team
also posted video clips from inside the operating room to YouTube, photos to
Pinterest and written recaps of each hour of the broadcast to Storify.
According to Natalie Camarata, Memorial Hermann's digital marketing manager,
the idea came about following the tweeted-out open-heart surgery. "We had
a lot of success with the open-heart surgery and saw there was a lot of
interest in seeing what goes into something that's an everyday thing for some
people," Camarata said. That sounds fascinating, but unnecessary for those
who don’t want to see the inside of an operating room or a human body……….
- Some professional athletes would fight their own coaches,
teammates, trainers and if necessary, family members, to return to action
following an injury. Trying to tell a proud, defiant athlete he or she cannot
compete because an injured body part is not fully healed is a reason to go for
most, but clearly not for New York
Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin. The man who sparked Linsanity just three months
ago (it seems longer, for sure) suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out
the last month of the season, but the team kept hope alive that he might make
it back during the playoffs. There were rumors that he might try to play in
Game 4 of the Knicks’ first-round series against Miami on Sunday, but Lin was
not active for the game. He said Wednesday that the knee never felt more than
85 percent strong and that he was unwilling to play under those conditions. "When
I worked out, I was probably going 80-85 percent and I just figured in a week I
might be 100 percent," Lin said after Knicks shootaround on Wednesday. “I
think to get from 85 percent to 100 percent takes more time than I would have
thought.” Even Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson isn't sure of Lin’s status for
the remainder of the series. Woodson said on Tuesday that Lin would be out for
the series, then double-clutched and said he doubts Lin could play if the
series reached a seventh game. " He wants to play, but again, if he's not
ready there's not a whole lot can be done," Woodson said. "He's just
not physically ready to play.” In all fairness to Lin, his presence won't make
a damn bit of difference. The Knicks trail the series 3-1, the Heat are clearly
the better team and two of the final three games – if necessary – will be in
Miami. While the Knicks are extremely thin at point guard going into Game 5
thanks to season-ending injuries to both Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis during
the series, Lin’s return would not prevent the Heat from closing the Knicks out
in Game 5 or 6. The long-term prognosis for Lin is still good, which is
positive news for the restricted free agent. There is the possibility that he
has played his last game in a Knicks uniform………..
- Life is about to change in a drastic way for the members of Florida power
trio Against Me! Always socially and politically conscious, the band has plenty
of questions facing it courtesy of lead singer Tom Gabel, who revealed in a
Rolling Stone interview that he is transgender and plans to undergo sexual
reassignment surgery. Gabel, who founded Against Me! in 1997, has led his band
to a considerable amount of success in the past 15 years and they have become
one of the most successful of a new wave of punk rock bands. There is no
reason to suspect that Gabel’s sex change will affect the band’s creative
vision, but there is also no question that his world (and world view) are about
to shift seismically and that will clearly affect the band. Gabel, who is
married, plans to begin the process of becoming a woman soon by taking hormones
and receiving electrolysis treatments and taking the name Laura Jane
Grace. He follows in the footsteps of artists like Throbbing Gristle's
Genesis P-Orridge, who underwent a series of surgeries in the mid-'00s to
become gender-neutral. Fans of the band have had varying reactions in absorbing
the news, with many pointing to a lyric in the band's song "The
Ocean" in which Gabel sings about his gender issues: “And if I could
have chosen, I would have been born a woman/My mother once told me she would
have named me/Laura
I'd grow up to be strong and beautiful like her/One
day, I'd find an honest man to make my husband.” Gabel knows he has
difficult days ahead and some of them will lie in figuring out what his new
identity means for his marriage to his wife Heather, who has been supportive of
the decision. "I'm going to have embarrassing moments," Gabel
acknowledged. “And that won't be fun. But that's part of what talking to you is
about -– is hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly
kind." Odds are that most will be kind or at least polite and a few will
crack jokes and make light of a serious matter, the same way the world
generally handles news like this……….
- Shocking news by way of Russia, where two prominent
opposition leaders
were sentenced Wednesday to 15 days in jail and several dozen opposition
activists who tried to stage a "people's stroll" through Moscow were
detained. The events are the latest stunning turn in a nation where the newly “elected”
leader rigs elections, tramples basic rights and freedoms and pretends his
country is anything other than a Communist dictatorship. The thwarted demonstration
is directly linked to the sentencing of Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny, as opposition
activists attempted for several days to hold unauthorized protests against
Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated for a third term as Russian president on
Monday. So-called justice was swift for Udaltsov and Navalny, who were detained
Sunday when participants in an authorized protest march attempted to break from
their planned route and bum rush the Kremlin. Both men were released after a
few hours, then detained again Tuesday in another unauthorized demonstration.
The vicious circle of detention and release continued when Navalny was released
early Wednesday, then detained again a few hours later at another opposition
gathering. Both men clearly were looking to make a point with their repeated
dissidence and were sentenced for failing to obey police orders. Around the
time they were sentenced, state news agency RIA Novosti cited an nidentified
law enforcement official as saying dozens of people were detained on Wednesday
afternoon on Manezh Square adjacent to the Kremlin. Opposition protestors
sporting trademark white ribbons left a rally by the Communist Party marking
the Victory Day holiday and attempted to launch the so-called "people's
stroll." Protests have been the norm in Moscow since December's
fraud-marred parliamentary elections and seem unlikely to abate any time soon,
oppression by The Man or not………
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