Pedophiles

Cell Phones Linked to Child Molestation

When I have kids, they're not getting a cell phone. They're getting a gigantic Korean War style two-way radio. Text messages annoy me to the nth degree as it is; you truly have no idea how happy it makes me to have a good, solid excuse to limit children I'm babysitting from sending text messages.

On the subject of pedophiles, I always find myself outraged when I learn of an older man preying on a female minor. But when I learn of the opposite happening--say, a 25 year old woman soliciting sex from a 14 year old boy--I don't really have the same, gut reaction.

I don't believe in innate evil, which probably plays a big part in this discrepancy. When a man takes advantage of a young girl, there is a significant amount of physical trauma involved. Penetrating a girl that young--especially since we live in a society where the girl knows damn well that something bad is happening--would be exceedingly painful to the girl, and would probably cause bleeding. There is a huge risk for pregnancy, which in turn leads to all those moral issues about abortion, and all the risks associated with teen pregnancy. When a man does this to a girl, it complicates her life, causes her pain, and then the girl has this dark secret burdening her -- she'd be afraid to tell anyone, because part of her would believe she was at fault. When someone finally finds out, there's a huge hullabaloo, reporters, angry parents, and blog posts. Blog posts are always the worst. Serious.

But I just can't feel the same outrage when it happens to a boy. When I was 14, I spent most of my time hoping my PE teacher would drag me into a dark closet and have her way with me. I can't imagine other boys that age are wired much differently. I know that wanting it doesn't make it right. But somehow, because of the child's gender, I feel like it is less of a crime. (Unless the child is sodomized. Then we're right back to outrage.)

It's a strange hypocrisy I harbor.

Being Unpopular, Sadly, Is Not An Impeachable Offence

George McGovern at the Washington Post is calling for us to impeach George Bush. Lots of people in the blogging world and on forums are pointing out that Bush can't really be impeached because he hasn't technically committed a crime.

Why let that stop us, America? If you can't expose a criminal because he hasn't committed a crime, just do what they did in the old days: hang him. Heft up your torches! Distribute the pitchforks! We're headed to the White House, and we mean to have us an old-style lynchin'!

Remember, America: George Bush Eats Fried Puppy-Dogs, Alive.

Ron Paul from the perspective of a former supporter

If you cruise the internet a lot, there’s little doubt that you’ve heard about Ron Paul.

I saw his name on a big ad on someone’s blog that said, “WHO IS RON PAUL?” which, of course, drove me to click on the ad, as I thought Ron Paul had retired. I didn’t know much about Ron Paul other than the fact that he was a former US congressman and a doctor, two positions I hold in great esteem.

I read Ron Paul’s website---it was the same as any other website. Then I listened to him a few times on youtube. Everything he said made sense to me. Nevermind that I didn’t agree with him about abortion, and nevermind that I didn’t agree with him on a few economic issues. I said to myself, “here is an honest politician telling it how it is.” I was swept up in Ron Paul mania for some six odd months, sporting a gigantic VOTE FOR RON PAUL banner in my signature over at AbsoluteWrite.com, telling all of my friends about him—the works. I hadn’t been this worked up over a politician since Cthulhu.

And then a writer that I deeply respect, William Haskins, started pointing me towards some of the things Ron Paul had written in the 90’s. White supremacy, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-gay rantings and psychotic theories about an evil US government filled pages upon pages of scanned PDF files of something called The Ron Paul Political Report.

At first, I believed that it was false. That someone had made the whole thing up to incriminate the beloved Doctor and hurt his election chances. Then I remembered that I don’t do the whole conspiracy theory thing, so I said, “Maybe Ron Paul wasn’t the author.” I tried to rationalize what I was reading.

After two days of solid thinking, I realized that it didn’t matter if Ron Paul had written those articles or not. He had his name on them, they were written in the first person, and they made homey references to his family, especially around holidays. Ron Paul is completely responsible for the content of those newsletters.

He lied to me, and he is lying to every single member of the “Ron Paul Revolution.” Ron Paul, I am pissed at you, and I will be until you accept responsibility for what you wrote, issue a public retraction and apology, and, oh, what else? Stop taking campaign funds from freak'n Nazis?

Needless to say, Ron Paul has forever lost my vote and earned my deep disgust.

For those of you who support Ron Paul in spite of his previous writings---it is very possible that he’s a changed man, after all---please take a closer look at Ron Paul’s message.

He wants to dismantle large portions of the government. That is one of his major platforms! He talked about getting rid of the IRS and a bunch of other federal departments on the Colbert Report. I’m no fan of the IRS, but I know damn good and well that it would take an act of congress to do something like that, and Ron Paul does not have a mandate from congress.

Ron Paul, like all the other candidates, is promoting the 2008 keyword: change. Everyone wants to give us change when they step into the Oval Office. I’m OK with change. But it has to be good change, it has to be realistic change, and it has to be change that represents what the majority want. Most Ron Paul supporters support him because of what they don’t want. They don’t want to be taxed, they don’t want liars in office, and they don’t want a weak economy. There are other people supporting Ron Paul for the same reasons, I’m pretty sure most of you won’t like them. That link goes to a white supremacist group’s news page. You’ve been warned.

If you support Ron Paul and you’re reading this, ask yourself what it is out of his campaign that you do want. And maybe, just maybe, ask yourself why Neo Nazis are embracing Ron Paul’s message.

Americans Aren't Represented, says Lou Dobbs

I'm back! And I have oodles of free time, oh joy.

Lou Dobbs appeared on yesterday's edition of The Daily Show and stated that American citizens are not represented.

That's a huge statement, especially considering we live in a Republic. The sad part is that what Dobbs said is true. So what's wrong with the country? Why aren't we getting representation?

Some people would have us believe that there is a conspiracy amongst the elite to keep the average Joe down and to keep the elite, wealthy portion of society in power. I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I was involved with the Masons for a while and believe you me, if those guys were ruling the world, we'd know about it. No, there isn't a conspiracy to keep the poor man down. The truth is a heck of a lot simpler.

Americans only vote once every four years. That's the problem, that's the entire problem, and by the time I'm done ranting, you'll know how to fix it.

Come election year, so many Americans feel like they're forced to choose between the lesser of two evils (and the independent guy who is just there to siphon votes) that they become apathetic. Why bother voting when none of the candidates represent your view on the world? Makes sense to me. Except most people don't realize is that this problem is self-perpetuating.

If you're apathetic about politics because no one represents you, so you don't go out and vote (except maybe when they're picking one of the leaders of the free world, because that's kind of important), and guess what? Everything is going to stay the same. In the end, it all boils down to what's happening in local politics.

Presidential candidates aren't demons, nor are they vampires. They weren't born in pods, conjured from summoning circles, nor were they produced in a factory. Every single, solitary presidential hopeful has a history in local politics. They're former mayors and current senators and congressmen. They've spent decades in the political system.

And it's very likely that most Americans don't even hear these people's names until they declare their candidacy. Now we're at the root of the problem.

See, if the average joe doesn't get out there and vote for his mayor and his governor and his senator, that only leaves two groups of people who are going to vote on the local level. The wealthy elite and special interest groups. The wealthy know that the system works towards their favor, so they keep tabs on the political world, occasionally get involved in a scandal, and throw votes for the guys who're going to make them more money. Then the special interest groups do the same thing.

When a person is elected primarily by the wealthiest 2% of a city and special interest groups, that means you've got an elected official who represents a minority. That's bad, just so we're clear. But, you know, he's just filling some local office, right? What impact could he possibly have? (Note the sarcasm.)

Then, after a decade or so, you've got a gigantic pool of professional politicians who were voted all the way up into congress by a minority. So why is it a huge surprise that the average American isn't represented by his government? And why is it a surprise that none of the presidential hopefuls reflect nothing but the ideals of two political parties? The average american doesn't vote until the president is about to be picked. Once every four years, he lumbers away from the internet, his television shows, his constant 24 hour entertainment, his average blue-collar job, and his moderate viewpoints to cast a vote for someone that he, in all likelyhood, wouldn't cross the street to meet.

And then he goes back into hibernation until voting day comes, and he's VERY upset that the candidate that won didn't actually ride into the oval office on a rainbow of change. That the person who was president for four years didn't give a damn about the average American because the average American only voted for him in one election.

If you want to be represented, you've got to pay attention to local politics. Make it a hobby. Know who's running for mayor, know their stances, know the local issues. Write to a newspaper, write to a congressman, and then VOTE for a congressman.

And before you know it, the average Joe will have the representation he so craves.