Sound implausible? Dr Bernhard Moeller answered a call from the Federal Government , and moved from Germany to become the small Victorian town of Horsham to become the community’s only permanent specialist physician.

Moeller formed strong bonds in Horsham and applied for permanent residency. But the Department of Immigration and Citizenship this week rejected the application because his 13-year-old son, Lukas, has Down syndrome and does not fit the bureaucracy’s health criteria – he had been assessed as a burden on Australian taxpayers and could not be granted permanent residency.

Never mind the fact that many people with Down Syndrome lead independent lives and even have regular jobs. Or that Dr Moeller has a large enough salary as a doctor to take care of his son’s health needs. No, beautiful Lukas (pictured above) has been labeled a ‘burden’.

Ironically, Dr Moeller and his family searched for the best place to raise a family and his wife, Isabella, said Australia was the preferred choice because of the support it offered disabled children.

The Horsham locals are outraged at the prospect of losing their only internal medicine specialist and residents rallied outside Dr Moeller’s practice yesterday, demanding the decision be overturned. As well as his private practice, Dr Moeller fills a key role at the Wimmera Base Hospital, which serves 50,000 people in the region.

“We are desperate for doctors in the country and the Government says we must get skilled labour from overseas,” said Business Horsham’s Andrea Cross.

“The decision to reject residency is crazy. He has a disabled child but we’ve got great support for him here.”

Crazy indeed. Let’s hope sanity prevails and the case is appealed to the Migration Review Tribunal.

Source.

Earlier today, fellow Stollerderby team member Jen confessed that she was a “plate-and-cups parent”. When given the choice for signing up for a Halloween party at her son’s daycare, she opted to provide the spoons and cups. Last weekend, I was met with the very same dilemma, the dreaded Halloween Party Potluck Sign-Up.

But me, I’m at the other end of the spectrum. Instead of opting for the time effective and easy, I try to find a way to make the task the most time consuming, complex and difficult as I can make it. And I always, without a doubt, regret it.

When signing up for the before mentioned party, what did I opt to make? Four dozen bat shaped polenta hors d’ouevres, some dyed a midnight hue of black, with homemade olive tapenade eyes. Yeah, I went there. Martha would have been proud. In the past, I’ve also made a series of one-of-a-kind handmade plush monsters as party favours for my daughter’s second birthday, made a historically accurate Marie Antoinette dress for her first Halloween, and hand pureed all her baby food. Yup, I’m one of those. Sadly, I’m so exhausted by the time I finish one of these projects, I have no chance to sit back and enjoy the moment. Next time, I’m going to join Jen and try to change my stripes to be a “paper and cups” parent.

Who am I kidding? I’ll just get myself into some crazy project pickle yet again. Who needs sleep or sanity? Any other project crazed parents out there, those who take on way too much than you can chew?
 

Yup, an Oregon mum is threatening to burn a book her son checked out of his high school library.

The Book of Bunny Suicides is actually the first in a series of three graphic novels by British author/illustrator Andy Riley, a guy who's been dubbed the British Gary Larson. Subtitled "little fluffy rabbits who just don't want to live anymore," the book is black comedy at its best. Each page shows a hand-drawn bunny in a position that could very well end in his death  – although that's never actually seen, and often the means to an end aren't immediately apparent. Take page 1 – a line drawing of a bunny with a rope around its neck, and the other end tied to the minute hand on a giant clock tower.

So, no blood and guts. No sex. No drugs. No swearing. And it makes you have to think . . . bad for kids, definitely bad.

Taffey Anderson's now holding hostage the book her son borrowed from the Central Linn High School in Halsey, Oregon. She wants the issue reviewed by the school district, but she won't even hand the copy over for the principal to view. Instead, she says she's going to burn it. The school principal says that's too bad – the school will have to buy another copy and fine the family for the cost. If Anderson doesn't pay, her son will lose the privilege of taking books out of the library. His mother has already warned she'll burn the school's second copy.

Let's review the list of things she's teaching her son: Borrow things and don't give them back. Destroy that which isn't yours. Threaten and blackmail when you don't get your way.

And a book of cranky bunnies is going to warp this kid?

So how does a 15-year-old teen girl taking nudie pics of herself and sending them to her classmates qualify? I'd be calling in counsellors for the teenager. Instead, school officials called in the police. Now the teen has been charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and possession of criminal tools. That's right, she used herself. And then she possessed the evidence of it! Not only that, the high schoolers who received the pictures may face charges too! Because, well, they possess child porn too!

In Ohio, adults convicted of possession of child porn have to register as sex offenders – I'm all for that. But the judge in this case will have flexibility according to a spokesperson with the district attorney's office. OK, so she may have to register as a sex offender for, um, having pictures of herself naked? Please call the authorities. My daughter climbed out of the bathtub this evening and ran past the mirror. She stopped and made raspberries at it. Naked. She looked at herself naked. What are we going to do?

The worst part of all this is that this girl is a foster child. Which would point to a childhood that's already been disrupted in some way. Teen girls sharing their naked bodies with other kids usually suffer from low self esteem, and there are possiblities of everything from depression to an eating disorder. This, people, is what we call a child in crisis. Not a sex offender!

Child pornograpy is serious and seriously scary for me as a parent. But the fact that a child is naked and a picture is taken does not make it child porn – anymore than a picture of a woman breastfeeding is adult porn. Maybe money would be better spent keeping kids out of trouble than chasing down every picture of a naked kid.

Source: Az Central

Cossey pleaded guilty to child endangerment for buying her son a rifle and gun powder in a misguided attempt to build up his self-esteem. The boy was arrested last year after his plot to take out his former school in a Columbine-like attack was foiled by a friend. Well now it turns out the boy's mom helped buy some weapons and gunpowder for grenades.

Authorities say they aren't sure whether the mom knew of her son's plans to wage an attack. But I have to wonder — why else would she buy him so much ammunition? Child endangement seems like too light a sentence for too crazy a person.

(AP photo) 

A 54-year-old grandmother in the Florida
Keys was arrested and jailed after she was spotted driving her
Lexus around a parking lot with her three-year-old granddaughter on top of it.

According to deputies, Brenda Bouschet (pictured) said “she was just giving the child some air and letting her have fun.” She also said she had one hand out the window, holding the child’s leg, and that she was driving at “snail-speed.” Bouschet seemed genuinely surprised to learn of laws requiring children to be in car seats, and, uh, not on the roof of a moving vehicle.

Although Bouschet has been released from jail, she faces
child abuse charges. Her claims that she would never “let anything” hurt her granddaughter seem genuine, but her behaviour was frighteningly reckless.
What do you think? Should be Grandma be let off the hook?

Photo: CBS4