The last two days I have snuck home from my day job, just to watch. And I NEVER watch talk shows. I was intrigued by an advertisement.

This is a terrific, real life example of why it is often difficult to get a man charged with domestic violence.

The minute the husband walked on the stage, I knew he was an incredibly violent man. He didn't even have to open his mouth. Then when he did, I found out how incredibly violent he was, in sooooooo many forms. But there was no, or very little, legal proof that he was violent.

If I had known this years ago, I would have known that my ex was violent. But I had to learn the signs by experience. A very difficult way to learn.

How do we teach the emotional signs to our girls?

Anno, I did not see the show, but what a great question. I have a 19 year-old daughter and I would love for her to be educated about this topic. I know Dianne and Lynn's books are both great, but I wonder if there are books written by the younger generation about this... Anyone know?

Anno, abusive men can be very charming one moment, its a part of the trap, and then explosive the next moment.

Darn, I wish I could have watched it.
That's an interesting point Mustang, about charming and explosive.
Did you learn enything knew from the program, Anno? Please share.

Anno,
I don't watch Dr. Phil, but since I work from home, I guess I could. Just never thought about it. Besides, Dotsie is a slave driver and who has the time? What?

By the way, I LOVE your new pic. That is so cute!

Funny thing is, I can't stand him, but the last two shows were worth me even sitting and watching a talk show.

It was on last Thursday and Friday. Too late to watch.

Ain't that picture great? When I found it, I just knew I HAD to make it my new avatar.

Oh, schools don't want to give up recess, phyed, sports and music! They want more of all of that. Most school personnel want kids to love school, and teach what kids really NEED to know.

Unfortunately, normative testing has taken over our world. How many of you knew that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) means that ALL children will perform in the
"80%tile"? That means, mathematically, that 100% of our students are suppose to perform in the top 80% of the world.

I am all for high expectations, but also a dose of realism would be swell. A bell curve is a bell curve because that is how norms are developed. 50% of the world performs higher and 50% of the world performs lower than the average person.

Sorry, this whole thing gets my ire up!

Anyway, back to the show.

The husband was very, very controlling. Followed his wife everywhere, tracked her phone calls, read her emails, put a tracking device in her car, etc. It just got worse.

Anyway, at the end of part one, he agreed to go to a treatment center, and at the beginning of part two, a month later, he hadn't changed much, and had "run away" from the treatment center on Phil's camera! All, so he could stalk his wife once again.

Did I learn anything new? No, but, what I liked was that it was so obvious that he talked and walked and looked normal, but was oh, so way off center and very violent. I think, if someone had never been through any sort of abuse, would have recognized him as a very frightening man.

That is downright scary. Good grief. So what happened at the end of the show? Was he arrested for anything? Put back in the treatment center? Castrated? Okay, that last one I threw in just as a suggestion.....what?