I won’t vote for Obama because he would not vote for a bill that he claimed he sponsored. He would not vote for a bill protecting sex-abuse victims by allowing them to get a court order to block their court records from being seen by the public. I’m not talking about the criminals here, but the VICTIMS. Victims who have already been hurt and deceived by adults and the like who may have even claimed that they cared about them.

So, why didn’t he support this bill?

Apparently, it wasn’t in line with the First Amendment. I’ve read the First Amendment and I’ve read the bill. Personally, I think that he didn’t support it because he doesn’t have the guts to. He doesn’t have the guts to actually take a stand on an issue until it’s too late.

What does that mean?

We could be in line for a second Jimmy Carter, who was a great man, but a horrible President. I know most of the people reading this will not know much about Carter, but trust me when I say that, even I, Janet the liberal, would not have wanted him as President.

I will probably vote for McCain come November, if Obama gets the nomination. In my opinion you should vote based on what you believe in. Because of this, I don’t want to vote for a man who might continue the war but I cannot, in good conscience, vote for Obama.

Eating disorders come in a variety of shapes and forms, and are caused by a variety of things. For the most part, they come from a unique combination of behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, and social factors. There are also interpersonal factors.

They often begin with preoccupations with food and weight, but they are about more than that. Some are about control and competence, and the lack of control they have over their lives. For some, it is just a way to deal with emotions.

Eating disorders include extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. The three eating disorders prevalent among teens and young adults are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder, which is also called compulsive overeating.

Anorexia is characterized by starvation and excessive weight loss. Symptoms include refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for height, body type, age, and activity level; intense fear of gaining weight or being fat; feeling fat or overweight despite dramatic weight loss; loss of menstrual periods; and extreme concerns with body weight and shape. Bulimia is characterized by secretive cycles of binge eating followed by purging. Purging can come in the form of vomiting; abuse of laxatives, diet pills, or diuretics; excessive exercising, or fasting. Some symptoms include repeated episodes of binging and purging, feeling out of control during a binge and eating beyond the point of comfortable fullness, purging after a binge, frequent dieting, and extreme concern with body and shape. Binge eating disorder is the third most common eating disorder amongst teens and young adults. It is characterized by periods of uncontrolled or continuous eating. Sometimes the person does fast or goes on repetitive diets and feels shame or self-hatred following a binge. Problems with anxiety, depression, and loneliness, which contributes to unhealthy episodes of binge eating. Body weight can vary from normal weight to severe obesity.

Other than the above listed symptoms, how can you tell if you have distorted eating patterns? Well, how do you answer the following:

• Do you spend time wishing parts of your body were different?
• Do you skip meals?
• Do you count calories or fat grams?
• Do you exercise so much that you are fatigued or have frequent injuries?

If your answer is yes to any of those questions, then you may have an eating disorder.

Being constantly concerned about your weight and shape along with fat grams and calories can start a vicious cycle of body dissatisfaction and obsession. Things can quickly spin out of control.

So how does one get treated for an eating disorder? The most effective and long lasting treatment for an eating disorder is therapy with careful attention paid to medical and nutritional needs. Some medications have been shown to be helpful. Treatment must be tailored to the individual.

Treatment is usually provided by a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, nutritionist, and/or primary care physician. Treatment must address the symptoms and forces that contribute or maintain the eating disorder. Many people do fine in outpatient care, but others requires more intensive, inpatient care. Inpatient care is usually followed by outpatient follow-up and aftercare.

Media influences are not helping with eating disorders. Media messages about body shape and size pressure us if we let them. So what can we do to promote healthier body image?

• Talk back to the TV about things that bring you down.
• Write compliments to advertisers who are sending positive messages.
• Make a list of companies that send negative body image messages, and avoid using/buying their products.
• Talk to your friends about media messages.

Want to find out more? Check out National Eating Disorders Association, which is where the majority of this information came from. You can also call their information and referral helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

All alone.

I cannot trust myself.

For fear that

I will cut

My skin,

I can’t allow myself

To be alone.

With razor in hand

And blades with

Silvery glow

That pray to taste

My rich red blood

As I slice away

My skin.

Back in 2001, when I first joined the ezBoard scene, there were tons of these sites operating quite openly. These girls were talking about their friends Ana and Mia, short for Anorexia and Bulimia, respectively.

I hated it for these people because they were basically wishing for death, though they didn’t see it that way. For them, it was just a lifestyle. I knew what it was like to want to hurt yourself, but I couldn’t imagine wanting to give other people tips on how to kill themselves.

I thought I’d investigate further and I was disgusted by what I saw. There were pictures, also known as “thinspiration”, of models and actresses whose bones were practically jutting out of their skin. It infuriated and sickened me to the point of tears. I would tell these girls how they weren’t fat and needed to seek help.

Arguing for reforms in websites didn’t do any good back then. No one at the hosting companies would listened. It shocked me.

Fast forward seven years and the sites are harder to find. One is still openly functioning with plenty of new posts. Girls were still talking about starvation and their first purging experience; some saying how happy it made them, while others were telling these new folks that purging ruined their digestive tracts.

It was sad to see that these girls had put their bodies through so much to look a certain way, only to harm themselves in the process. It’s good that they have learned what can happen, but it is horrible that they damaged their bodies. If their messages of problems can reach just one person, then maybe that will help.

It is encouraging to see that media outlets are coming out against the sites. It is also encouraging that these sites are being studied by doctors and therapists. The best thing is that they are, one-by-one, being shut down.

One day, hopefully, these girls will realize that though they have Freedom of Speech, they do not have the Freedom to Hurt Other People. The Bill of Rights does not grant people the right to slowly kill someone by suggesting ways to starve themselves. It does give them the right to talk about their problems, as long as they are not doing anything that promotes sickness.

Unfortunately, some services are still allowing these sites to exist, i.e. Facebook, MySpace, and LiveJournal, two of the most popular websites for young people today. Facebook says that they have plenty of controversial topics, and basically classifies this as just another one. MySpace decided to put banner advertisements in pro-anorexia members’ profiles for an eating disorder support group. A representative for LiveJournal was quoted as saying, “Suspending pro-anorexia communities will not make anyone suffering from the disorder become healthy again. Allowing them to exist, however, has several benefits. It reassures those who join them that they are not alone in the way they feel about their bodies. It increases the chance that the friends and loved ones of the individuals in the community will discover their disorders and assist them in seeking professional help.”

Of course, LiveJournal may be correct in their assumption since there are still people out there who feel that these girls are idiots. Some even say that these sites will just make one less idiot for them to deal with. Their attitudes may be hard for us to understand, but that does not make them idiots. It just means that they have fallen prey to the illness that they are trying so desperately to pretend is anything but a sickness.

Wanting to have these disorders is part of having them. That is something that most people don’t understand. Dying to be thin is something that these girls and guys have to put their bodies through in order to quench an urge that comes from deep within.

Perhaps, if these girls and guys would take the time to read stories such as the ones of Shanda Schaffer or Karen Carpenter, then they would realize how serious their disease really is. Shanda died a few years short of her thirtieth birthday, while Karen, an accomplished musician, was just shy of her 33rd birthday when she passed away. Would Karen have had a site? Chances are she would have visited one.

It’s hard to visit these sites, but at the same time, they have this disgusting pull that makes you want to come back. The pull may be there because you want to save someone from the disorder, or you may have problems of your own. Either way, these sites are designed to be like heroin. They fill a need, and that need will make you keep coming back for more. That’s part of the problem with the sites.

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