Southwest PA Self-defense Network Blog

This particular quote hit me hard after I heard it. Why me? I looked up at the ceiling as if I could see right through it into the heavens and yelled, “ Why me! Why me!” time and time again. Demanding an answer from God. “How could you let this happen to me?”   You were supposed to watch over me! You were supposed to protect me! Were you asleep? Did you just look away as I lay there as someone raped me? It was at that time when I decided to take a break with the Man who I have always had a relationship with…God. I just didn’t know if I could trust Him anymore. I couldn’t comprehend how or why He would allow me to be raped.” -           From a training video on faith communities and sexual assault.

I found this while doing some research into kidnapping. What is unbelievable is the one statistic " In 2010, law enforcement agencies submitted nearly 14.2 million images and videos to CVIP. In 2011, they submitted more than 22 million images and videos. " TESTIMONY OF MICHELLE COLLINS Vice President, Exploited Children Division and Assistant to the President of NCMEC NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN Before the U.S. SENTENCING COMMISSION February 15, 2012 “Federal Child Pornography Offenses” Madame Chairwoman and Commissioners, thank you for inviting the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) to testify about the issue of federal child pornography offenses. NCMEC was pleased to provide testimony to the Commission in 2009 on the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. I am honored to appear before you today to bring attention to the victims of child pornography. As you know, NCMEC is a not-for-profit cor...

This is a fascinating story but what can we learn from it? Simple awareness. Is this guy catching the trap any different then noticing something out of place around your house, work or family? http://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-booby-traps-found-popular-utah-trail-211044845.html Dangerous booby traps found on popular Utah trail SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The 20-pound spiked boulder was rigged to swing at head-level with just a trip of a thin wire — a military-like booby trap set on a popular Utah canyon trail. Any unsuspecting hiker exploring the makeshift dead-wood shelter could have fallen prey. Two men arrested over the weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless endangerment told authorities the traps were intended for wildlife, but investigators don't believe the story. "This is a shelter put together by people, visited by people — anything that would be impacted by their device would have to be humans," Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. "It took some...

Edgar Allen Poe in the Tell-Tale Heart talks about the weight of guilt on the human soul. Why does crime and guilt weigh on a person when they do the deed in the first place?  Every now and then this kind of story crops up and makes you wonder..hmmm.. http://news.yahoo.com/man-stops-policeman-confesses-oklahoma-murder-25-years-003824501.html Man stops policeman, confesses to Oklahoma murder 25 years ago OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A homeless man walked up to a policeman in Montana last week and confessed to involvement in the murder of an Oklahoma county commissioner 25 years ago, authorities said on Monday. "He just said he wanted to get something off of his chest," said Stan Florence , director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation . "I think it was just one of those things he carried with him for 25 years and wanted to talk to somebody about it." The man, Clifford W. Eagle , 53, told police he and another man were involved in the death of Leo Boyd Reasoner...

This missing child story will be one to watch. If the parents are not responsible ( and there is no indication that they are) then the child wandered away late at night ( unlikey) or someone had staked out the family. Searchers scour Tucson for missing 6-year-old girl By TERRY TANG | Associated Press  –  37 mins ago This undated photo provided by … TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The parents of a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl asked their parish priest for prayers Sunday as volunteers passed out fliers across Tucson and scores of law enforcement officers tried to figure out whether she had been abducted. Officers kept the whole neighborhood block where Isabel Mercedes Celis lives cordoned off for a second day and fanned out over a wide area looking for clues to the possible kidnapping. The girl's parents last saw their daughter in her bedroom at their Tucson home at 11 p.m. Friday and discovered her missing at about 8 a.m. Saturday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Maria Hawke said. T...

When I first began to get interested in martial arts, combat, fighting and war I began to read up on and admire trained warriors like Navy SEALS, Green Berets, Delta Force, Marine Recon, the Samurai, the Ninja and hired hit men or "mechanics".  I admired thier training and thier ability to kill efficiently. They were professional at what they did and no one could do it like they could. Really? Then I heard about mass killings or more accurately spree killings where an individual goes in and kills a number of people usually by shooting. Then I heard about school shootings like Columbine where 2 teenagers killed 13 people. I thought about some of the biographies I'd read about the warriors I admired so much and some of them never fired a shot at another human being.  These teenagers, who were untrained, had killed more people then some Navy SEALS or Delta Force warriors had. Wait a minute... Didn't you have to be highly trained to kill someone? Didn't you have to ha...

http://news.yahoo.com/norway-killer-done-again-084449509.html " Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik insisted Tuesday he would massacre 77 people all over again, calling his July rampage the most "spectacular" attack by a nationalist militant since World War II." So clearly this guy is unrepentant. Prison is supposed to be a punishment and a reformation. What if he doesn't "repent"? "Norway doesn't have the death penalty. If found mentally sane — the key issue to be decided in the trial — Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society" Theoretically, this guy could be kept in jail for the rest of his life as long as he is considered a menace to society but I don't know Norwegian law. But what's interesting is what the 21 year prison sentence says about human life and crime in Norway. Norway has said that the ...