Posted on 07/29/2007 3:20:00 AM PDT by goldstategop
District Attorney Berry told reporter Susan Goldsmith of the Oregonian that his department "aggressively" pursues sex crimes. "These cases are devastating to children," he said. "They are life-altering cases."
No, sir. The only one devastating children's lives is you. If you "win," and these "criminals" are convicted, 20, 30 years from now applying for a job, volunteering for a community program, heading north for a weekend in Vancouver and watching the Customs guard swipe the driver's license through the computer there'll be a blip, something will come up on the screen, and for the umpteenth time two middle-age men will realize they bear a mark that can never be expunged. Because decades ago they patted their pals on the rear in a middle-school corridor.
A world that requires handcuffs and judges and district attorneys for what took place that Friday in February is not just a failed education system but an entire society that's losing any sense of proportion. Without which, civilized life becomes impossible. So we legalize more and more aspects of life and demand that district attorneys prosecute ever more aggressively what were once routine areas of social interaction.
A society that looses the state to criminalize schoolroom horseplay is guilty not only of punishing children as grown-ups but of the infantilization of the entire citizenry.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
“In a way, this reminds me of the Victorian era, except rather than the church enforcing idiotic standards of modesty”
Good grief. The tighter standards of modesty eminated from Queen Victoria, not from the church.
Too right. They can’t seem to tell the STORY. They keep forgetting that less is more and that right is right. Part of the problem is the listen to consultants and not to the people.
And as Queen of England, Victoria was the Supreme Governor of the church of England. That position has influence over more than just the Church of England, such as the Anglican churches of Canada and beyond. The entire era, known as the Victorian era, demonstrates that her influence was worldwide, no doubt influencing church leaders of both Catholic and American protestant faiths. The primary leader of society in those years was local churches, and therefore any common moral tenants of the day were no doubt begun through those local churches. It certainly wasn't CNN or the local government public schools that promoted "Victorian" morality.
As a lawyer I am constantly shocked how much younger lawyers are becoming disconected from real life. Young lawyers, especially prosecutors, are learning about life by leaving a path of destroyed lives.
Lots of incorrect assumptions there. No time now, though.
Which assumption was incorrect? That it wasn't CNN that spread Victorianism?
Ask yourself what entity existed that could spread a culture of modesty worldwide in the 19th century? It wasn't TV. The newspapers weren't known for their modesty. What other institution could spread such a thing worldwide, in an era much less capable of international communication than today, except via the various churches that sent missionaries worldwide?
If the churches didn't fill a key role in the worldwide spread of Victorianism, then what entity did?
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