Virgnia Foxx Mis-represents Matthew Sheppard Hate Crime Bill

REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC) on the house floor stated: “There was a bill, the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. The bill was named for him. The hate crimes bill was named for him. But it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

20/20 reported about the Matthew Sheppard case which was so ladened with such false information that it was laughable having no credibility. But apparently Ms. Foxx saw the 20/20 story about Matthew Sheppard which sadly mis-represented the facts about his death, or just has no clue about the facts of the case.

It’s media’s attempt once again to re-purpose it’s function in any factual basis, and in the face of that mis-inform people like Foxx believing that this drivel is somehow valid.I’m not sure what 20/20′s motivation was to skew the facts about Sheppard’s death, but what this shows is that people, even in held in an elected position can be subject to being stuped in believing wrong information.

I don’t know what upsets me more, the fact that 20/20 told that malicious untrue story, or that Congresswoman Foxx could believe it. I think it’s a tie: the show and she are both unworthy of any support whatsoever.

Matthew Shepard’s mom Judy Shepard, is a woman of enormous dignity and courage, crusading for legislation and for changes of attitude that would make crimes like this impossible. To lose a son under those circumstances, and then to have to listen to this ignorant woman diminish what happened, was just a disgrace.

In the words of Keith Olberman: “She is at best callous, insensitive, criminally misinformed. At worst she is a bald-faced liar. And if there is a spark of a human being in there somewhere, she should either immediately retract and apologize for her stupid and hurtful words or she should resign her seat in the House.”

I agree!

Get Gitmo-Closing Guantanamo!

Torture by law of the U.S. is illegal, and the means by which people are tortured at Guantanamo with water-boarding, humiliation, beatings, sexual exploitation and starvation does nothing to bring an accurate confession.

All too often prisoners provide false information to lessen or stop the abuse. Prisoners aren’t allowed an attorney, a trial or even the basic of rights under the laws of the United States. They’re in Cuba and those laws don’t exist.

The Geneva Convention rules don’t apply because the government doesn’t use the word ‘prisoner’ which then allows detainees to be treated without any rights whatsoever. By the U.S. military not using the word ‘prisoner’, the term ‘enemy combatants’ is used instead to skirt the Geneva Convention rules so as those rules do not apply.

Those who order torture and those who follow those orders through, are just as guilty of crimes against humanity. But who’s going to enforce those laws? Surely not our own government who created the torture tactics to begin with.

Many suggest that the Nazi’s were just following orders when they tortured and murdered millions of Jews in the Holocaust. The Nuremberg trials established the “just following orders” defense did not excuse the atrocities that an officer acted upon.

The U.S. is obligated to abide by our treaties, laws, and agreements. The Geneva Convention specifically forbids torture. We agreed to abide by the Geneva Conventions, yet seemingly those rules don’t apply to the U.S. government at Guantanamo.

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush tried to evade the law by making up their own definition of what constitutes torture. They should pay the consequences. But sadly the powers that be can not be held accountable by the Geneva Convention because the definitions of those laws are re-worded and are not set forth to determine that those laws are being broken.

The military suggests that many detainees many times don’t cooperate and they are not successfully ‘screened’. They also suggest that what they do at Guantanamo is saving lives, because it’s “good for the American people”. This U.S. naval base has been re-purposed into a dumping ground for people who’s civil rights they’d rather not consider because it’s “necessary” for the good of our country.

If one were to condemn Guantanamo it certainly wouldn’t be an indictment of just the administration, but of the entire congress. Congresses silence can only be attributed to the consent, acquiesce or disinterest. But it’s at least safe to say they just don’t care.

The U.S. government is torturing people, giving them no trials, no lawyers. It’s so intrinsically wrong and goes against what this country is suppose to represent, it’s laughable. Maybe because we’re all not having a really good laugh is because the little ‘gitmo’ tricks have started popping up close to home.

The recent revelations of FBI abuse of the patriot act, all the bogus subpoenas manufactured evidence against American citizens. Maybe it’s just ruined the fun of ‘gitmo’ for the military and it’s government because it’s much more in the public eye and scrutinized now much more rigorously by our new administration.

Maybe we should start with the little things first though, like human rights. The executive branch has a particular expertise, in fact they’ve been brilliant at it. Calling the prisoners “enemy combatants” instead of prisoners so they don’t have to abide by the Geneva Convention so that the military can torture them, brilliant. Basing the camp in Cuba so the constitution really won’t get in their way, brilliant.

And under the pentagon’s new draft guidelines, they’ll have tribunals in Guantanamo that will have suspects to be jailed for life, or even executed on evidence that would never be admissible in any civilian or military court, brilliant.

Imagine what this country could become being able to execute someone on triple hearsay on a totally coerced confession. Absolutely Brilliant!

We condemn terrorists for, among other things, torturing hostages, while we torture our prisoners. We condemn China for holding “political prisoners” without due process, while we hold “terrorists” without absolute proof. We can not willfully claim the moral high ground while at the same time climbing down to roll in the muddy gutter of political expedience.

Get Your FREE Unclaimed Money Here

I didn’t think I’d find anything for myself or family when I did a search, but low and behold I found that there was unclaimed money for myself of $30 when I worked for Burger King when I was a kid. How bout that!!

Governments keep a record of unclaimed money it is holding that belongs to individuals. Hard to believe, but the U.S. government wants to return this money to their rightful owners. Unclaimed money could include deposits, derivatives, salaries, stocks, bonds, wills, estate monies, and any other money or property that is not claimed by the legal owner.

State law requires local governments to turn over unclaimed money to the state after a specified period of time. The state has no time limit for filing claims. It holds unclaimed money in trust for the rightful owners forever. Visit the state’s The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrator’s web site for additional information.

Marriage, With All The Trappings

Bridezilla sporting a dress that paints them as a fairy princess in white, shrouded in a veil that sinched their bonds of love with the ‘last words’ of “I do”, both being led into a force fed fairy tale that we’ve believed to more than it actually is–Marriage!

Marriage is an idealistic institution concocted by the government set up years ago to gain ownership over women as property. But over the many years it has changed to be a rather skewed form of wedlock that many don’t take too seriously, given the fact that divorce rates are skyrocketing higher than any other time in history.

From almost infancy we’re forced to believe that marriage is the panacea of all our ills in life, and that the person whom we choose to spend the rest of our lives with will actually not cheat or divorce us at the first sign of problems within the marriage. Security, commitment, and the happily ever after is an idealistic viewpoint, and most can’t or don’t live up to the reality of what marriage is, and, with the over 65% divorce rate in the U.S., those sentiments are sadly not based in anything other than fantasy.

The ‘ideals’ of marriage is kind of like watching a movie, momentarily suspending disbelief for the purpose of believing that the farce we’ve been led to believe, can live up to the dream. Faced with facts that are solely setting this institution up for failure with the numerous reasons why marriages fail, men and women just don’t want to believe the realities that they are confronted with.

Instead of enhancing a relationship, many time people feel marriage replaces true attraction and the ideals of what marriage is supposed to be, with a institution and a feeling of being trapped.

On a more innate and fundamental aspect of human courtship, marriage goes against the very fabric of our being. In most every species on this planet, the mating rituals do not link together only one male and one female for life. It is the natural course of instincts that allows us to perpetuate our species by selecting several mates throughout our lifetime keeping our species thriving. But marriage has stripped away this innate characteristic.

The institution of marriage replaces an independently constructed relationships with a single social contract that attempts to compact years of development into indeed, heartfelt vows and a single binding sentence of: “I do.” It is like buying your diploma from a mail order company rather than actually going to college. The problem is, most leap into marriage with their hearts and not their heads. There are courses on cooking that employ a larger time frame learning the makings of a soup base than there is to leap into a legal binding, financially draining, and emotionally binded arrangement that marriage is.

It is the perception of the supposed guarantees that marriage offers which is ingrained into our minds since childhood, and seemingly having this ‘fairy-tale’ life given to them simply by getting married.

The realities are that men cheat, as do women, because they are not getting what they otherwise would be getting outside of the marriage. What this is, is freedom, and an intrinsic desire to perpetuate our species and move on. For men, it’s quite easy to do this as their brains are wired to do so, however women would rather have a sense of security instead of spreading their seed.

A contract, or a vow of marriage doesn’t precede this deeply rooted chemical human characteristic to procreate. What marriage can do most times is trying to re-wire the brain which can not be done, no matter the intent. It’s selfish and serves no purpose other than to hold a false bond onto someone else’s life with a contractual basis signed on the dotted line.

The legal rights that marriage offers alone certainly would persuade couples to get married. Indeed married couples have many more benefits of a legal nature than non-married couples. For this reason alone, marriage is a construct that can ensure certain rights, particularly tax benefits, health care options, and survival benefits.

The proponents of marriage hold that it is a sacred tradition that should be held in the highest esteem allowing it only to be undertaken by a man and a woman. How selfish a notion to keep away the supposed ‘unworthy’ ones who want to marry simply because of a religiously held prejudices against certain groups of people, namely same sex couples.

No matter the veil of ‘holiness’ that religious folk find themselves wrapped in, this shouldn’t preclude anyone from wanting to get married if they so choose. It’s amazing and shocking to see a ‘religious’ sect of people holding a sign which states “God Hates Fags”. What they may fail to realize when they are pointing one finger of judgement toward another, the other three fingers are pointing back at them.
 

Many people want to ban gay marriage because of this strong held ‘belief’ that gay men and gay women shouldn’t be allowed to marry because it would taint the sanctity of what marriage represents. What some fail to realize is that what has tainted marriage is divorce.

Those proponents say ban gay marriage, but if they want to keep marriage ‘sacred’, ban divorce! Then there would be an equally challenging and more serious prospect into wanting to leap into marriage because of the consequence of not being able to get out of this instituion.

Companionship and relationships are what keeps our species alive and thriving, and the need to share intimacy and love is the foundation of our existence. This is the commonality that we all share throughout our life. Nothing else binds us together stronger than this. But to try to enshroud this innate experience by encasing it in an unrealistic manner, we strip away the natural course of our being. It’s like encasing a butterfly in a box, pinning it to enjoy it’s beauty, all the while destroying it’s life.

Life is an ebb and flow which is continually founded in change, and with it brings happiness and disappointments. But greater than that is lessons of life that we all must stumble upon which shape us into the people we become.

The marriage laws that disallow anyone to marry by religious groups, media campaigns, modernization of family traditions, and the social economic impact has skewed the realities of that institution.

The bonds of love and committment are not found with a piece of paper, but in the hearts of those who choose to embrace that sentiment.

Truly the ideals of what marriage represents is wrapped in a tidy package of meet, greet, date, fall in love, get married, and live happily every after. It’s a fantasy many subscribe to from childhood stories in books and movies, and perpetuated by their parents, religion, government, media and everything else that promotes marriage.

The best we can hope for is to share as many special bonds of friendship and love that we can, taking the most from each person and allowing that to fill our lives, taking the best of what each person has given us and hold it into our memories and hearts lasting a lifetime.

For if this were the case then you would have found the most important part of what we are all searching for with someone, and that, is what binds us all together and gives us true meaning.

Perez Hilton-The Queen of Mean

Aw SNAP! Seems Perez Hilton showed his claws after asking the 21-year-old Miss California Carrie Prejean, the Miss America contestant the question about same-sex marriage and didn’t get the answer he wanted.

He asked what her ‘opinion’ was on the matter, asking if she thought the US should follow in the footsteps after the four states that now have legalized same-sex marriage.

Carrie said, ”Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.’

She continued: ‘And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.

‘No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be – between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.’

Having Perez’s rainbow feathers ruffled not hearing what he wanted to hear, he called her a ” dumb bitch”. He went on to describe her as having ‘half a brain’ and said he would have stormed onto the stage and ripped off her tiara if she had won.

It seems Perez will swoop down on any prey if he doesn’t like what he sees or hears and will rant and post ridiculous and childish scribbles on their picture just to show how infantile he is. It’s typical ‘Perez-snobbery-shtick’.

Although maybe Carrie Prejean should have won, because I’m sure there would been a welcomed cat fight between these two girls fighting for that tiara.

Although I don’t think the self proclaimed Queen that Perez is would’ve looked as good as Carrie in that tiara, although I’m sure if he ripped that tiara out of her hands, he would have worn that tiara much more proud being self crowned and as the ‘Queen of Mean’, after his distasteful and disrespectful remarks.

A title well deserved!

Smoking–It’s To Die For

“Smoke, smoke smoke that cigarette-puff, puff, puff’ until you smoke yourself to death” is the little 1947 catchy song we may all know too well. We all know smoking cigarettes are addicting, and with each cig it roughly take 20 minutes off a persons life. Let’s sing it, all together now!

But do you think anyone really cares that they’re killing themselves? If they did, surely they would put down the cancer stick and be free from the cost, the stigma associated with smoking, and the obvious health risks….right?

Smoking cigarettes are just as addictive as heroin, and the cigarette companies know it–that’s how they stay in business and why they’re making billions each year at the expense of peoples lives. Did anyone see the movie “Thank You For Smoking“?

Listen, most people are like cattle. They follow crowds, they follow trends, and they certainly follow what is legalized by a government that realizes the health consequences if someone smokes, despite that they’re killing almost half a million people each year.

Cigarettes contain over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. Nicotine is the reason why many people find it difficult to quit smoking. The US Surgeon General said nicotine addiction is similar to addiction to other drugs like heroin and cocaine.

Over the long term, smoking leads people to develop health problems like heart disease, stroke, emphysema (breakdown of lung tissue), and many types of cancer — including lung, throat, stomach, and bladder cancer. People who smoke also have an increased risk of infections like bronchitis and pneumonia.

Smokers not only develop more wrinkles than non-smokers, and yellow teeth, they also lose bone density, which increases their risk of osteoporosis, a condition that causes older people to become bent over and their bones to break more easily.

438,000 Americans die each year from smoking related illnesses, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and victims of “secondhand” exposure to tobacco’s carcinogens.

Smoking cost the United States over $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health care expenditures, or an average of $4,260 per adult smoker.

Secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, including approximately 3,400 from lung cancer and 22,700-69,600 from heart disease.

Research indicates that private research conducted by cigarette company Philip Morris in the 1980s showed that secondhand smoke was highly toxic, yet the company suppressed the finding during the next two decades.

There are seven medications approved by the FDA to aid in quitting smoking. Nicotine patches, nicotine gum and nicotine lozenges are available over-the-counter, and a nicotine nasal spray and inhaler are currently available by prescription. Buproprion SR (Zyban) and varenicline tartrate (Chantix) are non-nicotine pills.

Those who try quitting, it can be helpful to realize that the first few days are the hardest. So don’t give up. Some people find they have a few relapses before they manage to quit for good.

Staying smoke free will give you a whole lot more of everything — more energy, better performance, better looks, more money in your pocket, and, in the long run, more life to live!

Sexting 101

In an effort to better understand the intersection between sex and cyberspace about kids attitudes and behavior, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl commissioned a survey of teens and young adults to explore electronic activity.

This is the first public study of its kind to quantify the proportion of teens and young adults that are sending or posting sexually suggestive text and images.The survey of those ages 13-26 was conducted by TRU, a global leader in research on teens and 20-somethings.

The survey was fielded online to a total of 1,280 respondents— 653 teens (ages 13-19) and 627 young adults (ages 20-26)—between September 25, 2008 and October 3, 2008.

Although most teens and young adults who send sexually suggestive content are sending it to boyfriends and girlfriends, others say they are sending such material to those they want to hook up with or to someone they only know online.

FIVE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE PRESSING “SEND”

1. Don’t assume anything you send or post is going to remain private.
Your messages and images will get passed around, even if you think they won’t: 40% of teens and young adults say they have had a sexually suggestive message (originally meant to be private) shown to them and 20% say they have shared such a message with someone other than the person for whom is was originally meant.

2. There is no changing your mind in cyberspace—anything you send or post will never truly go away.
Something that seems fun and flirty and is done on a whim will never really die. Potential employers, college recruiters, teachers, coaches, parents, friends, enemies, strangers and others may all be able to find your past posts, even after you delete them. And it is nearly impossible to control what other people are posting about you. Think about it: Even if you have second thoughts and delete a racy photo, there is no telling who has already copied that photo and posted it elsewhere.

3. Don’t give in to the pressure to do something that makes you uncomfortable, even in cyberspace.
More than 40% of teens and young adults (42% total, 47% of teens, 38% of young adults) say “pressure from guys” is a reason girls and women send and post sexually suggestive messages and images. More than 20% of teens and young adults (22% total, 24% teens, 20% young adults) say “pressure from friends” is a reason guys send and post sexually suggestive messages and images.

4. Consider the recipient’s reaction.
Just because a message is meant to be fun doesn’t mean the person who gets it will see it that way. Four in ten teen girls who have sent sexually suggestive content did so “as a joke” but many teen boys (29%) agree that girls who send such content are “expected to date or hook up in real life.” It’s easier to be more provocative or outgoing online, but whatever you write, post or send does contribute to the real life impression you’re making.

5. Nothing is truly anonymous.
Nearly one in five young people who send sexually suggestive messages and images, do so to people they only know online (18% total, 15% teens, 19% young adults). It is important to remember that even if someone only knows you by screen name, online profile, phone number or email address, that they can probably find you if they try hard enough.

5 TIPS TO HELP PARENTS TALK TO THEIR KIDS ABOUT SEX AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Talk to your kids about what they are doing in cyberspace.
Just as you need to talk openly and honestly with your kids about real life sex and relationships, you also want to discuss online and cell phone activity. Make sure your kids fully understand that messages or pictures they send over the Internet or their cell phones are not truly private or anonymous. Also make sure they know that others might forward their pictures or messages to people they do not know or want to see them, and that school administrators and employers often look at online profiles to make judgments about potential students/employees.

2. Know who your kids are communicating with.
Of course it’s a given that you want to know who your children are spending time with when they leave the house. Also do your best to learn who your kids are spending time with online and on the phone. Supervising and monitoring your kids’ whereabouts in real life and in cyberspace doesn’t make you a nag; it’s just part of your job as a parent. Many young people consider someone a “friend” even if they’ve only met online. What about your kids?

3. Consider limitations on electronic communication.
The days of having to talk on the phone in the kitchen in front of the whole family are long gone, but you can still limit the time your kids spend online and on the phone. Consider, for example, telling your teen to leave the phone on the kitchen counter when they’re at home and to take the laptop out of their bedroom before they go to bed, so they won’t be tempted to log on or talk to friends at 2a.m.

4. Be aware of what your teens are posting publicly.
Check out your teen’s MySpace, Facebook and other public online profiles from time to time. This isn’t snooping-this is information your kids are making public. If everyone else can look at it, why can’t you? Talk with them specifically about their own notions of what is public and what is private. Your views may differ but you won’t know until you ask, listen, and discuss.

5. Set expectations.
Make sure you are clear with your teen about what you consider appropriate “electronic” behavior. Just as certain clothing is probably off-limits or certain language unacceptable in your house, make sure you let your kids know what is and is not allowed online either. And give reminders of those expectations from time to time. It doesn’t mean you don’t trust your kids, it just reinforces that you care about them enough to be paying attention.

No one can enforce these rules upon kids 24/7. But giving them the information and the know-how to better equip themselves to keep them safe, and to keep their personal information out of the prying eyes and hands of those who don’t have their best interests at heart, are the best tools that we can give them which can, in the end, be used to protect kids lives.

Animal Shelter Run Entirely by KIDS!

The Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary known as D.A.W.G.S., in Texas’ panhandle is proof positive that hard workers who are committed to helping our county’s shelter animals come in all shapes and sizes.

This very special rescue group is run almost entirely by children. One historic spring in 2003 school teacher Dianne Trull was talking to her students about pet over population and one child earnestly inquired, “Why do the dogs have to die?”

Able to grasp the power in that moment and unwilling to tell her students that they were powerless to help these desperate animals, Diane instead took it upon herself to empower these young leaders. As Diane puts it, together her students, her family and she set out to “change how the world works. And change the world they have done indeed–in spite of tremendous obstacles– for themselves and the over 5,000 dogs and cats they have placed in loving homes!

In an effort to protect the shelter from the forces of nature, D.A.W.G.S. is now enrolled in a USDA conservation program that will match the funds they raise to build a natural windbreak out of trees. This is yet another challenge for the amazing team at D.A.W.G.S, a challenge we have no doubt they will meet. Especially if we all put the word out and show them that they have the support of all of us.

The Boobie Trap

Blip blam boom, your done! All in one fell swoop, she’s got bigger boobies. As a part of the convenient drive-through mentality that has befallen most all American’s nowadays, it’s no wonder “millions have been served” with cosmetic surgery.

But beyond the easy road it takes to get a boob job, why are more women than ever sticking these oversized obvisously fake looking cantelope shapped ballons in their chest?

For those who need reconstructive surgery, this proceedure may be necessary. But elected surgery to put silicone in one’s body is just beyond reason.

Every culture has some sort of elicit form of attraction that is ‘suppose’ to make the women more attractive or appealing. In the US it’s boob jobs and plastic surgery.

In Africa, neck rings worn by women of the Padaung are a reminder of the long-necked dragon mother from whose egg the Paudaung emerged which represents fertility.

In other areas of the continent, women implant lip plates that have become the main distinguishing feature of the Mursi tribe. A girls lip is cut by her mother or someone else she agrees too at about the ages of 13-16 usually around 6 moths before marriage.

Maybe it’s that women have a penance for sticking objects inside their bodies to attract men, and they’ve been doing it for decades. But isn’t it men who are suppose to be sticking something else in women’s bodies other than silicone implants?

The female gender has been brainwashed by the media since birth by shoving these false images of what the media thinks someone is suppose to look like, which is extremely unrealistic, and gives a very skewed view of what beauty represents. Beauty comes in all forms, shapes and sizes, but he motivating factor behind the beauty industry, is you guessed it, it’s the multi-billion dollar making scam that women buy into.

Eye cream, leg cream, hair cream, hair dye, make-up, diet pills, boob jobs, tummy tucks, butt implants, laser peels,chemical peels, hair extentions, fake nails, nose jobs, false eye lashes, botox, and face lifts- are all implicated as the fallacy that is driven by the ‘beauty-made-by-media’ campaign.

There’s such a huge stigma on being young, or thin, or hot, wrinkle free, or whatever is superficially geared which creates a false sense of what beauty really is, and the beauty industry knows this and relies, and preys on it. Everywhere we turn there’s something being shown that mis-represents what beauty is, by TV, magazines, movies, etc. which only re-inforces the beauty trap.

No wonder why so many people have such self image issues-they’ve been bombarded with the ‘beauty rules’ by the media, and by society since birth.

It would be unfortunate, but quite probably in the not too distant future if someone wants a boob job or any other cosmetic proceedure done, all they’ll have to do is drive up to the ‘fast-fake-beauty’ window and place their order and say, “I’ll have a dermapeel, a boob job, a lip injection with a side order of botox, oh, and please, super-size” me!!

Lured at 13: Held Captive By Internet Predator

Alicia was a shy girl from a close-knit family, but on New Year’s Day in 2002, she did something completely out of character. She agreed to meet a friend she had been chatting with online for eight months.

On Oprah today, Alicia said, “I can remember standing behind a tree and thinking, ‘This is really stupid.’ My senses came back to me for a second.” At that moment, Alicia says she heard her name being called out and got into the car with 38-year-old Scott Tyree. “Once I got near him, something changed and I realized that this person’s a monster,” Alicia says.

Tyree drove Alicia to his home in Virginia. Over the next four days, Alicia says she was raped, bound in chains, shocked with volts of electricity and hung by her arms as her 13-year-old body was beaten.

“He tortured me,” Alicia says. “He treated me like an animal—a dog. I basically did whatever I had to to survive. It’s like I’m a whole entirely different person. That man did kill that little girl. He did. That girl’s completely dead.”

Tyree bragged to his friends about the girl held captive in his basement. He even videotaped her bound and chained and shared those images over the Internet.

One of the friends Tyree had been sharing his webcam videos with online saw Alicia’s face in the newspaper and decided to turn Tyree in. “I suppose he got nervous that this was now going to be on his hands if [Tyree] murdered me,” Alicia says.

After four days of sheer hell, Alicia was rescued by the FBI. She was found chained to the ground by lock and collar. “When I said he treated me like a dog, he did,” Alicia says.

Alicia says she now realizes she was groomed by a child predator. “He groomed me, and in doing so, he brainwashed me. That sounds crazy, but he did. He took apart the 13-year-old girl that I was and created this creature that he wanted me to be.”

“After eight months of talking like that, it takes you apart,” Alicia says. “It does. And he’s always there, all the time.”

Tyree pled guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and travel with intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor. He was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison.

Alicia is now fighting to keep predators like Tyree behind bars. A junior in college, she spends much of her time speaking at schools about her ordeal, and hopes to join the FBI so she can fight for other children.

Learn about Alicia’s Law and help get it funded for 2010.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act urgently needs funding and reauthorization by the July 2009 deadline. The act was passed on July 25, 2006—20 years after Adam’s abduction—and it established a National Sex Offender Registry law.

However, recent news reports reveal that most states will not be in compliance with the law by the upcoming deadline. If senators and state representatives don’t comply with and fully fund the act, it will run out. 

You can use this sample letter to write to their senators and state representatives and demand that the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act gets funding. Take a moment and copy this letter and email it to your state senator.

Click this link for Internet Safety Tips For Families