http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_k...
It seems that everything that man's imagination can invent has been done by someone else, or perhaps will be done because of something someone has written.
I have always struggled with two or more natures, and so does everyone else as is illustrated in the familiar Yin/Yang idea. There must be hundreds of ways to describe our own internal war with ourselves.
I must shamefully confess that I have spent time on some pretty rough sites in exploring my own drives toward BDSM. Finally after exploring that for some time, those drives in me are simply a need for security (no matter how twisted) a need for punishment (it is the only touching I ever had as a child) and a need to be held tenderly (the need to be helplessly bound). Recently, I finally deduced that the only way any of that would be acceptable to me would be in fantasy within a committed monogamous relationship.
Something as twisted as what these judges above have done is right off the pages of one of the most demented and evil sites. It makes me wonder how many other horrific and heinous tales I have read were actually based in truth.
I really want to go somewhere really quiet for a while and grieve for those poor souls that have had to endure suffering such as this.
By comparison, my own short three day experience of being in a youth detention center and being raped seem extremely mild by comparison. I am too ashamed to even ask for forgiveness right now.
Comments
Truth is stranger than fiction.
They say, and it seems to be proven quite regularly. This is disgraceful and shows how power can corrupt. It also shows the regulatory mechanisms were ineffectual. Shouldn't someone have enquired why a particular judge had a custodial sentencing rate four times higher than average?
As for needing forgiveness, Gwen; whatever for? The punishment for visiting seedy sites, is simply that it reduces the time available to do something more uplifting, like reading my stories ;)Seriously, don't beat yourself up again, we all do unwise things from time to time.
hugs,
Angharad
Angharad
>> Shouldn't someone have enquired?
I daresay he bragged about it.
Many judges in the USA are elected to their office, and many campaign on "law and order" platforms during which they tout their high conviction rates as badges of excellence, catering to the sort of audience that line up to see hangings and pack a box lunch.
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Hey GB, quit beating up on yourself.
Hey GB, quit beating up on yourself. You haven't done anything wrong. These judges however, I see they have plea bargained for seven year sentences. That's disgusting, and really shouldn't be allowed. The 'system' needs to be overhauled if that's all they get. In my humble opinion, a breach of trust such as they committed should be repaid with the harshest sentence available. Up to and including the death penalty. Sorry, but how many kids (and parents) have had their entire life ruined by these two. And how do we know "only two" judges were involved? The companies involved should have all their records seized by federal prosecutors, all trails should be followed to see if any other persons were paid off, and everybody should be charged with anything that can be thrown at them. This isn't a simple case of fraud... it's extreme child abuse, and should be treated as such.
Sorry for the rant, I'll get off my soap box now. It's just that child abuse pushes my hot button...
I'm old, I'm grouchy, and if you don't like me this way, fluff yourself! *grin*
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue
I do not think they will get off that easy
I was just talking to Gwen about it.
The article says:
"The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud Thursday in federal court. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years behind bars."
The way I see it, that is just federal charges for the fraud angle, and has nothing to do with any charges of false imprisonment, or violation of the kids constitutional rights, and I'm sure a good prosecutor can find myriad other charges to throw at them
If that is the case, we need to hope that they do not get to serve all sentences concurrently, AND that most of their ill gotten gains can be found and taken away in addition to other assets which can be used to pay for their actions.
I'm afraid at least 2 counties are going to be up to their ears in lawsuits.
And every case these jackleg judges have worked on since the system of private prisons went into effect needs to be at least, reviewed, or just tossed out with the records of the cleared.
It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
I am quite Pissed!
Before I was in shock, but as I think about it, geeze these bastards should have their gonies nailed to a stump and honey poured over them on a hot summer day near bee hives, given no water, allowed to sunburn, given just enough benadril to keep them alive, beaten with chains by their victims, chewed out by the angry moms and then take to prison for their paltry 7 years. Grrrrr
Dual Standard Of Justice
We're used to talking about a "dual standard" of justice these days meaning a more lenient treatment of "haves" for their crimes (embezzlement, fraud, cocaine) and a harsher standard of treatment of "have-nots" for their crimes (theft, robbery, crack).
There once was another version of dual-standard justice.
Back in the bad old days, Medieval times, and even up into the 17th Century, I believe, there were two standards of punishment for the criminally-convicted. Commoners got tossed in prison, transported elsewhere to be imprisoned or work as slave labor, or hung. Not so, the "Haves." Noblemen, administrators, and the like got tortured and killed in the most flamboyantly gory and public fashion. I strongly recommend you don't look up "hung, drawn, and quartered" or "broken on the wheel", not if you want to eat anytime in the next 72 hours. Those were some of the "cruel and unusual punishments" that our U.S. Constitution was amended to prohibit.
It's at times like this, though, reading about those judges who profited by "selling" kids to private prisons, that one wonders if maybe having a harsher set of punishments for people in position of public trust and power didn't have a certain kind of genius to it. Anyone who uses their public power to set themselves above the law and ruin other people's lives for personal profit would seem to deserve far harsher treatment than we would allow for any other member of society.