--THE LEAVES ARE ABOUT TO SHOW US HOW LOVELY IT IS TO LET THE DEAD THINGS GO

…I’m a news junkie.  It stems from my college days when I majored in Political Science and I was very interested in International Affairs.  So I typically have CNN on during the day and I read the paper and check news online, but lately it all seems so terrible

For instance, what’s with all of these parents wanting to kill their kids?  It’s hard to fathom.

Here are to back to back headlines from the other day…

BEULAH, Mich. –  A judge Wednesday sentenced the mother of an autistic Michigan teenager to 10-22 years in prison in what she described as a failed murder-suicide attempt brought on by despair after years of violent attacks by the child and failure to find affordable and effective treatment.

HARDWICK, Vt. - A mother and her boyfriend in northern Vermont are accused of killing the woman's disabled son by putting alcohol in the boy's IV.

You have to have a license to fish or drive a car, a boating license, etc., etc., yet you don’t have to have a license to be a parent.  I don’t know if that would make a difference, but it couldn’t hurt.

…Then there was this article:

Iran's latest crackdown on freedom includes lashes and prison for seven young adults who posted a video of themselves dancing to the American pop hit "Happy" and a death sentence for a blogger accused of insulting Prophet Muhammad.

The seven me and women were arrested in May, but then released after self-professed "moderate" President Hassan Rouhani tweeted that the regime should lighten up. But the group was forced nonetheless to apologize on television and endure a trial in which they were convicted and each sentenced to 91 lashes. One was given a full year in prison while the others got six months, although their attorney told Iranwire.com the sentences were suspended.

“A suspended sentence becomes null and void after a certain period of time,” attorney Farshid Rofugaran said. For the Happy Group, that period will be three years. “When it’s a suspended sentence, the verdict is not carried out, but if during this period a similar offense is committed, then the accused is subject to legal punishment and the suspended sentence will then be carried out as well.”

The video was part of a global campaign launched by pop star Pharrell Williams and was viewed by more than 100,000 people on YouTube. The six who appeared on the video and a man who shot the footage apologized and said they had been tricked into doing it. After the confession, they were released on bail.

“We can accept the verdict or appeal,” said Rofugaran, adding that his clients are not banned from leaving the country.

Meanwhile, the ultimate penalty was handed down to Soheil Arabi, a blogger found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in his postings on Facebook. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that Arabi will be able to appeal the decision.

Revolutionary Guard agents arrested Arabi, 30, and his wife last November. Arabi's wife was released a few hours later, but Arabi was kept in solitary confinement for two months inside the notorious Evin Prison before being found guilty of “sabb al-nabi” (insulting the Prophet), on Aug. 30.

“Soheil had eight Facebook pages under different names, and he was charged with insulting the Imams and the Prophet because of the contents of those pages. He has accepted his charges, but throughout the trial, he stated that he wrote the material without thinking and in poor psychological condition,” a source told the Campaign

…And that’s not to mention ISIS and Al Queda (who just set off a bomb in Yemen yesterday that killed 70 people).

I don’t know.  Maybe I’ll change the channel to cartoons.

…But then there are these:

“The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you finish the work.”  Pat Clifford

  “Hope is neither passive waiting nor is it the unrealistic forming of circumstances that cannot occur. It is like the crouched tiger, which will jump only when the moment for jumping has come. “  Erich Fromm

 “The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life.”  Dan Zadra

 “The eye can only see what the heart is willing to obey.” Ryan Meeks, or maybe Jesus

 “Everyone of us is beautifully fucked up.” Karen Stefano