The AIDS SCARE

This is an age of science and technology.  Scientists all over the world are trying to fight diseases.  They have certainly succeeded to a large extent.  Human life is certainly longer today than what is used to a few decades ago.  Much however, still remains to be done.  A number of terrible diseases continue to stare the scientists in the face and the men of science stand just bewildered and confused.  A rather recent discovery in this list of incurable diseases in AIDS (Acquired Immuno- Deficiency  Syndrome) which has created a terrible scare in the world.  It has already taken a toll of several thousand lives in America and Europe.  It has been reported that  the disease has, in mild forms, entered India also.  It might soon appear in a big way spelling doom and disaster.  The Government of India has launched a big offensive against  the terrible disease.  Although there is no reason  for immediate alarm yet the public is being educated about the symptoms, causes, remedies, precautions etc. concerned with this fell disease.
It is mainly an STD (sexually transmitted disease). comment below if you want to know about this and other sexually transmitted disease. I'll post another article with pictures for this topic.

THE HONOR KILLING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS

Honor killing and honor crime involve violence against women and girls, including such acts as beating, battering, or killing, by a family member or  relative. The attacks are provoked by the belief or perception that an individual’s or family’s honor has been threatened  because of the actual or perceived sexual misconduct of the female. Honor killings are most common in traditional societies in the Middle East, Southwest Asia,  India, China, and Latin America. Honor killing of a woman or girl by her father, brother, or other male relative may occur because of a suspicion that she engaged in sexual activities before or outside marriage and thus has dishonored the family. Even when rape of a woman or girl has occurred this may be seen as violation of the honor of the family for which the female must be killed. Wives’ adultery and daughters’ premarital “sexual activity,” including rape, are seen as extreme violations of the codes of behavior and thus may result in the death of the female through this so-called “honor” killing. Honor  killing/crime is based on the shame that a loss of control of the woman or girl brings to the family and to the male heads of the family. According to  criminologist Linda Williams, men consider honor killings culturally necessary, because any suspicion of sexual activity or suspicion that a girl or a woman was touched by another in a sexual manner is enough to raise questions about the family’s honor. Consequently, strict control of women and girls within the home and outside the home is justifi ed. Women are restricted in their activities in the community, religion, and politics. These institutions, in turn, support the control of females. Williams believes that the existence of honor killing is designed for maintaining male dominance. Submissiveness may be seen as a sign of sexual purity and a woman’s or girl’s attempts to assert her rights can
be seen as a violation of the family’s honor that needs to be redressed. Rules of honor and threats against females who “violate” such rules reinforce the control of women and have a powerful impact on their lives. Honor killings/crimes serve to keep women and girls from “stepping out of line.” The manner in which such behaviors silence women and kill their spirit has led some to label honor killings/crimes more broadly as “femicide.”


Sources: Linda M. Williams, “Honor Killings,” in  Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence, eds. Claire M. Renzetti and Jeffrey I. Edelson (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007); Dan Bilefsky, “How to Avoid Honor Killing in Turkey? Honor S uicide,” New York Times, 16 July 2006, p. 3; Nadera  Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 

Crimes Against Humanity

On May 26, 2006, James Paul Lewis, Jr., the former director of Orange County, California–based Financial Advisory Consultants (FAC), was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised more than $300 million and caused more than 1,600 victims to lose more than $156 million of their hardearned money. What exactly did James Lewis do to earn a 30-year prison sentence? He offered investors opportunities to invest in two mutual funds. Through false and fraudulent brochures and other promotional material issued by FAC, he told investors that they would earn annual rates of return of up to 18 percent in an Income Fund, which claimed to generate revenue from the leasing of medical equipment, commercial lending, and fi nancing insurance premiums, and 40 percent annual returns in a Growth Fund, which claimed to generate revenue through the purchase and sale of distressed businesses. Instead of investing the investors’ money as promised, Lewis used the funds to purchase homes in Villa Park, Laguna Niguel, Palm Desert, San Diego, and Greenwich, Connecticut. He also used investors’ money to purchase luxury automobiles for himself, his wife, and his girlfriend. Among other schemes, he used investor money to trade currency futures, managing to lose at least $22 million. To conceal the scheme at FAC, Lewis ran a Ponzi scheme: he took the money of new investors (and new purchases of those who had already bought into the funds) to pay the rates of return promised to investors. In other words, he used the principal to pay the interest! That is, until the money ran out. At one point nearly 3,300 investors had a total balance of $813,932,080 in the funds, but FAC and Lewis’s bank accounts held only slightly more than $2 million. At Lewis’s sentencing hearing, United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney ordered him to pay $156 million in restitution. Because many of this victims were elderly, Judge Carney described the scheme as a “crime against humanity.” Several victims told the court about their losses, which included life savings and college funds. Many victims described being forced back to work after losing their retirement savings in the scheme. How would Gottfredson and Hirschi explain Lewis’s ongoing criminal activities? Can someone so calculating lack self-control?


Sources: Department of Justice press release, “Operator of Orange County– Based Ponzi Scheme that Caused More than $150 Million in Losses Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison,” May 30, 2006,