You remember him?
"Tim Mahoney, Democrat for Congress, District 16.
Mark Foley's old neighborhood.
Then I made the mistake of checking my Outlook Express.
If email could be weighed, I'd have tons....all spewing the latest about the Foley scandal, spreading through DC like a bad case of bird flu.
Email numero uno.
Apparently, Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) knew about Mark Foley's emails.
How he found out, I could give a crap less. The problem is...Reynolds knew...and it didn't stop there.
The Reynolds campaign received a $100,000 donation from Foley.
Payment to keep his mouth shut...tight. (Eschaton, 10/2/2006)
Open next email.
Crooks and Liars reports a Republican staff member warned Congressional pages five freaking years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to former page, Matthew Loraditch. The pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."
Third email.
Atrios really took the cake by blogging on Eschaton, "Indeed, the Adam Walsh law does sound like bad law.."
Delete. I can't take it anymore.
Where have you people been? Where were the voices when 18 Congressional a--holes passed the AWA under suspension of the rules?
The Adam Walsh Act IS bad law.
And rather than rant and rave about how most Americans don't pay attention while their elected officials super glue a lifetime Scarlett Letter on those convicted of sex-related behaviors, many once considered inappropriate choices but now criminalized by the same far right evangelical Nazis who never introduced a Child Named Law they didn't like, I'll repost "Good Night and Good Luck".
Read it and weep.
"Frog's Thoughts" have also been made available to further educate the reader.
Let me explain something as crystal clear as I can.
We have people-ordinary people-who have never laid a hand physically on anyone.
Public urination. Online chat with undercover law enforcement. Possession of a single questionable picture. Single meaning ONE.
Others have had consensual sex. Old-fashioned, hot, passionate relations with someone of their choosing. As in mutual.
Romeo and Juliet relationships. Boyfriend is a high school senior, age 18, girlfriend is a 15 year old sophomore-now forever otherwise known as jailbait.
Consensual sex where-whoops-the teenage chickie lied about her age while drinking in the college bar that honored her fake ID. Tell that to the 21-year-old frat boy cuffed by the local cop and charged with God knows what...but enough-enough- to destroy his life at the brink of becoming the man he was meant to be.
These people-dear readers-are registered sex offenders. Or, as I like to call them, political prisoners of the good ole USA.
Our brothers-sisters-mothers-fathers-neighbors-grandparents.
Our teenage children.
Ordinary folks.
And these lives have been destroyed by our politicians in exchange for the easy vote.
Well, good Lord, just government protecting the children.
Wake up. Parents protect children.
I think the hand of God just might be in play here, slapping down holier than thou hypocrite Mark Foley, who formerly represented several Florida counties with Sheriff departments that have become quite adept at the old Internet sting operation.
Pardon me for a moment while I enjoy the Co-Chair of Missing and Exploited Childrens Caucus fall from grace.
I'd like to know if those same law enforcement officers had any online brushes with Foley and chose to ignore the indiscretion. After all, Foley kept those federal LE dollars cha-chingin'.
A good investigative reporter could walk away with a Pulitzer...just follow the money.
Read on. And for Christ's sakes...educate yourself.
But first. Make a promise....never, ever again, let this government turn neighbor against neighbor through the use of psychological terrorism.....the nightmare fear that someone is out there lurking in the shadows, ready to harm our children.
Fear is how they control us.
Think smart.
Before someone sews a yellow star on you.
..."Late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Hastert insisted that he learned of the most flagrant instant-message exchange from 2003 only last Friday, when it was reported by ABC News.
The original e-mail messages were warning enough that a predator -- and, incredibly, the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children -- could be prowling the halls of Congress. The matter wasn't pursued aggressively.
It was barely pursued at all.
Moreover, all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat...
We nominate Rep. Henry Hyde, also of Illinois, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee whose approaching retirement ensures that he has no dog in this fight...Mr. Hyde would preside over the remaining three months of the 109th Congress in a manner best suited for a full and exhaustive investigation until a new speaker for the 110th Congress is elected in January, who can assume responsibility for the investigation."
--The Washington Times, 10/3/2006
Edward R. Murrow is back in the nick of time, just when we need him the most.
"Good Night and Good Luck" is a feature film account of Murrow's 1953 and 1954 "See It Now" broadcasts assailing Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the nation's anti-Communist hysteria.
From the moment in a 1950 speech when McCarthy waved his infamous (and never-identified) "list of 205 Communists working in the State Department," the senator exploited the country's Cold War paranoia, relentlessly pursuing those he deemed Communist sympathizers. (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/8/05).
We are once again at this point, blacklisting the American known as the sexual offender. The collective "we" have allowed politicians to exploit our most vulnerable fear, the safety of our children, for personal political advantage. We are all responsible for allowing hysteria driven legislation, at the city, state, and federal level, to remain unchecked due to the manipulation of our emotional bonds to our children by politicians.
Journalists have not asked the hard-nosed questions and have not informed or educated the public about the relative ease of how one becomes an offender. This perpetuates the myth that all offenders are child molesters. The majority of offenders registered have been "convicted" of poor behavior choice offenses which involve no victim-teenage consensual sex, public urination, online "chat" with undercover police officers. Most charged persons lack adequate funding for a legal defense to fight such charges and deplete their personal funds at the median figure of $15,000. The resulting plea bargain is followed by automatic sexual offender registration as decreed by Florida Statute 943.0436 . Our politicians have even legislated judicial discretion, the power of a judge to impose a fair and just sentence. Registration is for life or 20 years, whatever comes first and permeates every aspect of the registrant's life. I challenge journalists to stop editorializing about offenders and investigate the truth.
Politicians run unchecked with this issue, due to guaranteed press coverage and easy votes. Off the record, many politicians will admit their discomfort with these laws....but to do so publicly will result in political suicide. State Representative David Simmons of Longwood, Florida reflects this attitude quite blatantly with his comment regarding yet further proposed residency restriction proposals at the state level, "Who's (going) to complain?" (Florida Today, 10/9/05). Although a group of Americans and their families are being blacklisted, banished, and segregated, our politicians will not come forward to their constitutuents with the truth.
Voters have not demanded the truth from their elected representatives and have allowed politicians to legislate the safety of our children. Parents, that is your responsibility, not the federal government. Should your family endorse the registry, demand your politicians restructure the registry to reflect a tier level system of risk instead of "lumping" all offenders into one pot. Give them "permission" to revamp a law originally passed with only good intentions.
Should an offender live in your neighborhood, I challenge residents to educate yourself regarding the offense of your neighbor by obtaining a police report. The offender registry does not reflect the true nature of the conviction and is often, simply incorrect. Once educated with the real facts, only then are you and your family truly "notified" as the law originally intended.
As Edward R. Murrow indicated in his famous October 15, 1958 "Wires and Lights" speech regarding the duty of broadcast journalism to inform and educate the public, "There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference....We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty." It is our duty to question authority because without scrutiny, authority remains unchecked and corrupt.--The Orlando Sentinel, 10/2005
3 comments:
FINALLY! A fellow Independent Thinker! Spot on!
You hit it right on the head, Ma Justice! This could be the year for the Independent Thinker-Voter-Party!
Thanks for your post!
"Independant Voter Thinker Party" ???
Sounds like a great new party. Who might they be?
Post a Comment