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Obscenely NOT Enough

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on June 16, 2009 at 10:01 PM in Abuse, Crime, Current Affairs, Women and Children

Recently, I had a post, “Is This Really Enough?” about a case here in SC in which a teacher had sex with a young student. He got all of five years for it, even when he ADMITTED that he had done it. He confessed, and he STILL only got five years. I couldn’t believe it.

And then I saw this:

Oh. MY. GODDESS. This is repugnant beyond words. Simply repugnant. I scarcely know what to say.

Actually, I do – but I think this should stand as is in all of its disgraceful “glory.”

What do YOU think about this? I’d love to hear it. Have at it, friends.

  • politicalidentitycrisis

    Well, we live in liberalliberalland now and we don’t want to hold anyone accountable or in any way make them feel bad about themselves. This is a time for Hopey changey unicorns and we only make Conservatives pay. Surely this man/rapist is not conservative or he would have been put to death.

    • tek

      political identity: This is not about liberals. This stuff has been going on for a very long time. Conservatives are really going overboard. Unfortunately, y’all weren’t condemning similar incidents when Bush was in. The Catholic church is most definitely Conservative and they are some of the worst offenders regarding child debauchery.

      • politicalidentitycrisis

        I beg to differ. I have complained about crap like this for many, many years. I also am a former liberal and I am telling you that a reformed liberal is like a reformed smoker. We will yell the loudest against that which we opened our eyes to and I listen to my liberal pals and how they explain away all of these things, especially baffling are the so called feminists who think it’s okay to attack Sarah Palin. The conservatives all through my life have at least been open minded and can make a common sense opposing argument for their beliefs. Libs? Just sprinkle a little fairy dust and every one will sing kumbayah.

        Where I live, many a damn judge is friggin’ liberal and both bitch and belly ache about overloaded court systems, but want to just slap people’s hands and let them out to come back in and clog up the system.

  • tek

    It seems we don’t place very much value on children and women in this society. It’s quite difficult to get convictions on child molestation because so many judges are men and they don’t think men should go to jail for such offenses. To wit: the Catholic pediphilia priests. The church covered for these men up to the bitter end and that’s a RELIGIOUS organization.

  • JayD

    Well, I learned a long time ago that the world is an insane place generally speaking. It lacks logic and and reason and is highly complex because that is the way insane humans set it all up. With this in mind, I am not at all surprised about how things are going regarding DH Earls or any other nutzoid thing that comes out of our legal system. I do believe we, as a nation, will have to go to the extreme of insanity before we realize that this simply cannot continue the way it is going. Unfortunately, I do believe that things like this will get worse before it turns around. Or, it has to happen to a child of the President, or Senator. Then something sane might happen.

    • mary

      JayD

      Yes. the world is an insane place when it comes to justice for girls and women. It starts out as latent cancer with Letterman’s vile comments, then it metastasizes in our society and this video is the result…

      Insanity? check out the Globe & Mail “Man’s Sleep-Defence a Waking nightmare for Woman attacked”.
      A woman was viciously raped in Ontario and they brought in an unscrupulous defence-type shrink, Colin Shapiro, who testified that the rapist has a disease called “SEXSOMNIA”. The jerk-Judge let this pervert go out free with this stupid defence. Then the victim brought it before a woman judge who questioned the ‘expertise’ of the defence shrink and recommended jerk rapist appear before a Board Interview committee to make sure he’s no threat to society! Meantime, girl is suffering from tauma and doesn’t think she’ll get her life back. But she was persistent and courageous enough to pursue this and get the judge to force jerk to appear before Board with argument of controlling his behaviour of “sleepsomnia”….amazing!
      Thanks for this eyeopening vid….

  • helenk

    The law and justice are two separate things.
    Today we can not depend on the law to do the right thing. What I am afraid of is the rise of vigilante justice because of cases like this.

    Without laws that are obeyed and justice for all the country going in a very bad direction.
    If our children are not safe, we have failed. If judges can not understand this then they should be removed from the bench.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • Docelder

    Oklahoma is just a little fishbowl. I grew up there, began practice there, helped a bit in lobbying and in reviewing draft legislation. I treated state legislators, and had firsthand knowledge of distribution of PAC monies garnered through non profit Indian bingo. “What’s in it for me”, is the one thing I remember from that life experience. Legislators there wouldn’t do anything unless they got something back for it in return. Most of the cynical snark that shapes who I am today was seeded in me as a young man there, in it’s political corruption and in the time I spent subpoenaed as a hostile state witness for a political witch hunt. I have been gone from there for twenty years, still nothing coming from there would surprise me in the least.

  • Heather

    My friend used to be a DA in that department in a different city, and I would occasionally hear things that made it sound like that would happen a lot, like 10 year suspended sentences left and right or something. Because of the right to confront your accuser, apparently. I think the judicial system almost considers it child abuse to have children testify in court. I have a lot of sympathy for alleged terrorists rights but I think people like that should just be summarily executed.

    • Rob G in Chicago

      More than 30 years ago in Crook County, Illinois (Chicago), a good friend of mine had her 8 year old son dragged off an elevator in our appartment building by a pedophile Chicago Public School teacher (who also lived in the building, and had several arrests for similar offenses, but no convictions). The kid screamed, and was rescued from the creep’s apartment by his neighbors. The arresting officer vowed to see this through the court system because he had personally arrested the guy for child molestation three times, and saw him walk each time. When the case came before a judge in the Circuit Court of Crook County, the kid testified in great detail, and was unshaken by the defense attorney. We had told the prosecutor that this guy needed help, and we would be satisfied with a ruling that mandated such medical/psychological treatment. The judge had other ideas. He made a short little speech about having to tread carefully when dealing with the future of a professional and employee of the school board, as a conviction would ruin this creep’s career. He also said that in the absence of additional eyewitnesses, he was constrained to take the word of a professional teacher over the word of a 8 year old. After aquitting the creep, the judge called me and the 8 year old’s mother back into his chambers and started screamin at the mother, asking her how she could press this case, and threatened her with child endangerment charges for dragging her kid through this case, ending with a statement that I remember to this day: “Lady, dragging your kid through this court case and having him testify in court is what turns kids queer.” That judge has long since retired, but before he left the bench, the creepy pediphile teacher brought the wrong guy home one night and was found dead, hanging in his apartment and trussed like a Christmas turkey. I wrote a letter to the judge, enclosing a newspaper clipping of the story about the creep’s murder, and I told the judge that this guy’s blood was on his hands because he had the opportunity to get this guy the help he needed, and he passed.

  • Peggy Sue

    I recently heard that Earl’s daughter has come forwarded and said he raped her as a child. So, a repeat offender will be out of the streets in a short time. I think these crimes against children are obscene but this isn’t a conservative vs liberal argument. And it isn’t new. Sexual predators have always been around. They were certainly around when I was a kid. The one I have in mind was a neighbor, a snazzy dresser. Demented, but he dressed well.

    But now, these creatures make big, splashy headlines. Men and women alike. And who knows, maybe more are caught with the lights turned on. Like Cockroaches.

    Should he be serving more time, Amy? In my opinion, without a doubt. But then, we have to start giving more than lip service to the welfare of children and insist the laws and court sentences serve the victim’s interests.

    When it comes to crimes against kids, there’s a New York prosecutor’s line I’ve always remembered:

    “There’s a difference between sick and sickening.”

    These crimes all fall in the latter category.

  • Linda Anselmi

    You’re right Amy. It is obscenely not enough. My heart absolutely bleeds for this little 4 year old. Where are our priorities as a society that our laws and court system allow this injustice to happen. Who’s child will be his next victim?

    Thank you Amy for this story. We need to stop looking away and pretending people like Earl don’t exist or injustices like this won’t impact us. They do. Everyday. We just don’t always know it right away.

  • oowawa

    Well Rev. Amy, I just finished watching Changeling, which resonates very well with this disgusting incident. I’m at a loss. My fantasy sense of justice would imagine that the child rapist’s fellow inmates in prison would make his year behind bars pure hell; that relatives of the victims would somehow “get him” when he got out; that somehow the tigress Megyn Kelly could actually impose fitting justice upon him. But I know it’s fantasy, and I can only grit my teeth. What a world.

  • http://bullmoosegal.blogspot.com Bullmoosegal

    Why on earth the family would not stand up to the DA and judge, I don’t know. The judge didn’t have to accept the plea, and the perp. admits it. I would be hunting him down.

    • jbjd

      Because in the eyes of that family, the DA and the Judge are the professionals.

      • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

        oowawa, yes, “The Changeling” movie sets the stage for all of this – children as throwaways, interchangeable, not as worthy as…

        As for children testifying in FRONT of their abusers, no, they often do it behind closed doors. I would think that would especially be the case for a 4 yr old…It was cruel, to put it mildly, to put that child through that, if not criminal itself – it furthered the abuse she had already suffered.

        Again, the man CONFESSED. He admitted it!! And his repeat rapes and sodomizing got him one stinking year.

        That judge should be thrown off the bench (and there seems to be a move afoot among legal pros to do just that), and the DA should be fied. IMHO, that is.

  • lorac

    There is a statute of limitations for child rape, and I remember a movement was started trying to make it longer, because little kids can’t handle that trauma and often repress it, often to remember it as an adult (happened a lot with the Catholic problem). I don’t remember what happened with tht movement to change the legislation so that the statute of limitation was longer, or removed. Does anyone know?

    I wonder how many female judges there are in cases dealing with rape of women and children (and little boys). (I know we have a lot of female attorneys now, but if they’re on the defense them, their job is just to defend the sexual abuser.) I can’t help but think we either need more mothers in charge, or else a lot of education for these male judges. I’m glad we have rape advocates who can accompany the victim to court, but just the fact we need them says a lot about the system. The system should already be aware of the kinds of things the advocate would be telling them.

    • jbjd

      The job of the defense attorney is not to defend the sexual abuser; it is to defend the person charged by the state, of the crime of sexual abuse.

  • HARP

    Simple solution. Make Lorena Bobbit the judge in all such cases.

    • helenk

      That idea works for me.
      I second the motion.////

      WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

      PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

    • Animal Control

      That would certainly cut to the chase.

      • http://noquarter foxyladi14

        or something……

  • Babs

    HARP: You need to run for office, I like your politics!

  • Nicholas

    Well This Shameful, inhuman incident really made me think of my boy and girl. What really are we delivering our children in name of “Liberalization”.
    My elder boy(8 years old) asked me about the whole sitution when I was preparing my cisco certifications. All of sudden i got stuck. what could I reply?? No words

  • arky

    Disgusting! What the h*ll is wrong with people? Back “in the day” you never heard about this going on, except maybe the “funny uncle.” It’s everywhere.
    I was listening to the local news (Arkansas) and there was a man convicted for child molestation FOR THE THIRD TIME!
    WTF?? Oh, and he had 10 children, and was apparently preying on their friends.

    Why was he even out of jail after 2 convictions, much less allowed to be around children?? Craziness!

  • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com sarainitaly

    The deal and the sentance leaves me to draw only one conclusion – the DA and the judge don’t think there is anything terribly wrong with what the rapist did.

    • Docelder

      Or it might just be that the defense attorney and the judge play golf together. This is what I was saying in a way about Oklahoma. It is such a little fishbowl. So many deals political and otherwise are made in country clubs in that state, in all night poker games and on the golf courses. In the end, it’s “what’s in it for me”? So, we vilify Blago, while he really is doing nothing that isn’t being done across this country. We have fundamental problems and cases like this are just symptoms of them and not the problems themselves. The problem is much deeper. It’s not just caring about kids or not… it is caring about anything or not that is the problem.

  • candymarl

    I forget who said it but someone said “A society is judged by how it treats it’s very young and very old”.

    I think our society is failing on both counts.

    • http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      According to WikiAnswers: Very recently by Cardinal Roger Mahony (1998):

      “Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members ; the last, the least, the littlest.”

      And perhaps most dubiously attributed to Ghandi:

      “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ”

      The original author of this quotation seems to have been lost.

      Regardless, it is TRUE, and what this says abt US is disturbing in the extreme…

      • candymarl

        Thanks RRRA. It is disturbing indeed.

      • Linda Anselmi

        the last, the least, the littlest…

        Well worth remembering. Thanks Amy!!

    • http://noquarter foxyladi14

      yep….failing women too..

  • HC123

    These poor children.

    They clearly suffer from extremely poor parenting if this man was allowed by their own mother to babysit (according to the panel discussion she did, if its true – wow).

    Then the legal system fails to reach a reasonable verdict, using the often horrible plea bargain method. Its just terrible.

    I am a libertarian but this reads like an advertisement for parental licensing (and not allowing plea bargaining by courts).

    You need a license to fish ffs, but every idiot breeds.

  • cw

    Perhaps this rapist is related to David Letterman? We live in a truly sick age. The other cousin could be Bill Mayer (sp) and half the members of Congress. I believe the Supreme Court would also condone rape.

  • Diana L. C.

    My few experiences with the court system confirms what helenk said earlier–the law and justice are two separate things.

    Surely someone could step in and ask for a retrial somehow? I can’t believe the sentence can’t be changed.

  • jackie

    We most certainly have a problem. We are not solving it. It is necessary to treat these violators and figure out what the hell is driving this abhorant behavior.

    The abuse of children needs to stop. We need to understand it.

    But having just gone through the court process–there is great fault in how the evidence is collected. In our case it was false evidence–the judge may have been placed in a position that had the perp not confessed he may have had to release the man because of prosecutorial or police misconduct.

    I am appalled that any child is hurt but there may be some underlying situation in the legal case that bound the hands of the judge. At least he got time and perhaps this will give the state an opportunity to figure out what makes this guy tick so we can prevent the next jerk from offending.

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