CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

May 16_Rant And Rave Word Count 526

Today I am ranting about child abuse investigation in L.A. County, a horribly tragic abuse situation in Southern California which has lasted now for at least seven years, and the tragic impact of the exploded oil rig on the ecosystems and marine life of the Gulf of Mexico.


To counterbalance with the positive, I'll rave about an author newly discovered (by me).





I opened www.latimes.com this morning and discovered that Los Angeles County has a terrible backlog of cases, uninvestigated, not fully investigated, possibly even closed because of lack of manpower. L.A. County Child Protective Services employees are sent out into the field without county-provided cell phones or laptop computers, so they have no access to County databases. They go into crime-ridden areas often not knowing what kind of situations they might encounter, armed only with a printout of the alleged address and directions downloaded from the Internet.





         My adult daughter postulated that now abusive parents from other districts (not just California) will flock to L.A. County for “safety” from potential retribution. I wonder how many children in peril are being overlooked; and also how many families might be broken apart when falsely investigated because the caseworkers lack so much accurate information?





http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-child-abuse-20100516,0,213758.story





A tragic situation of child sexual abuse in California: a 17-year-old girl told her friend that she has been molested since age ten by her guardian, a British citizen and illegal immigrant in the States. This  man and her stepsister became her guardians when her grandmother, who had raised her, died when the child was ten. She was “homeschooled” by this abuser.





http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-david-goddard-molest,0,2859793.story?track...





In addition to the loss of life when the oil rig exploded, the continuing, seemingly unstoppable, spread of the  oil slick has endangered, and killed, marine life, and threatens the livelihoods of fishermen and others who make their living from the Gulf. The situation is worsened by the time of year: migrating and nesting birds are prevented from procreating and hatching their young.





http://www.care2.com/greenliving/12-animals-threatened-by-the-oil-spill.html





Now on to a positive: last evening I “discovered” an author previously unknown to me-more accurately, known but never read. Author Harry Harrison, an aficionado of “alternate history,” is a rockin' writer whose plot twists and plot pacing will keep readers enthralled. I know I read well over 100 pages in a very short time, and only stopped because I was reading late into the night. I'll be returning to the novel quickly today!





         His characterizations are fascinating, the suspense is constantly escalating-yet in a realistic fashion, so there's no question of not being able to suspend disbelief. He knows his background, he understands individuals. The novel I am currently reading is A Rebel in Time, and Mr. Harrison gently but firmly balances white supremacy issues (in the villain) against a protagonist who is a highly-educated black Army Sergeant working in G2 Intelligence, optioned by a clandestine security agency which “watches the watchers and guards the guardians.” As soon as I finish A Rebel in Time today, I'll be starting on Mr. Harrison's alternate-Civil War trilogy:


Stars and Stripes Forever


Stars and Stripes in Peril


Stars and Stripes Triumphant.





http://www.harryharrison.com/


http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/harry-harrison/