What's Better And What's Worse In The News

* What's Better With Phobias?
  The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota is teaching parents of phobic teenagers to give up their protective roles by becoming their childrens' "exposure coaches" by using gradual desensitizaton techniques.The therapists show the parents how to help their children. This allows the parents to do the "coaching" that most could never pay a therapist to do. This democratization of therapy can be tremendously beneficial for many Americans considering that it has been estimated that as many as 25 per cent of Americans have at least one phobia.
  Also, Mayo is offering an anxiety app - AnxietyCoach 4.99 for iphones.
* What's Better For Fido?
  If you're like me, and your dogs want you to share whatever you're eating, Yaff Bars may appeal to you. They contain no killer chocolate for Fido's sake.
* What's Worse For England?
  BBC newsman Nick Robinson was apparently made to aplogize for the describing the two men who butchered the British soldier, Lee Rigby, because he had referred to them as " of Muslim appearance."
The two men had used a butcher knife and meat cleaver to behead and disembowel the soldier and had been shouting "Allahu akbar!" Of course, they weren't of Muslim appearance. There are also disgusting videos on YouTube of British police running like frightened rabbits from Muslims in England. Haven't the British learned from Chamberlain that appeasement does not work and that cowardice only encourages violence? The lamb calls to the wolf. Is this the same national lack of character that allowed only 20 German divisions to quickly conquer 100 French divisions and the British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of World War ll?
* Knowledgeable Fact: Khrushchev's oldest son was shot down as a pilot on a secret mission. The plane was never found so that was tantamount to being a traitor for the ruling Communist Party. Famillies of traitors were exiled to work camps or mines. Therefore, Khrushchev's daughter-in-law was arrested and exiled to an isolated camp or mine in Russia. After Stalin's death, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were released including the daughter-in-law who was declared "rehabilitated." From the book, "The Unknown Stalin."
Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW  Gainesville, Florida 352-359-0850
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Gainesville Sun, talk show hosts Cain, Limbaugh, Morrison, Dean, Savage, and reading widely.