Blog Comments

:D
>porn has negative correlation to sex crimes

I know about this but it always seems...hilariously wrong. But I think you also said it is okay to have adults cosplay and pretend things. I'm going to have to see if I can get away with some requests....

Manus, I agree entirely. It's well recognized that trying to force someone to "overcome" their sexual attraction to the same sex is psychologically damaging, as is all sexual repression and coerced guilt tripping. There's really no reason that the same should not apply to pedophilia. In fact, I would argue that pedophilia by itself is no more "wrong" than homosexuality. The mere desire, for which there is no choice or conscious control, is neither good nor bad. Only certain actions based on that desire that harm others can be bad, and there are innocent outlets such as looking at certain porn or having a legal girlfriend dress/act underage are victimless.

And I would actually dispute your implication that pedophiles "pose a danger to kids" simply by virtue of their sexual attraction. During my research for my seminar project, I discovered studies that show that pedophiles really fall under two groups: those who like thinking and looking at images, and those who actually molest kids -- and there isn't much overlap. Furthermore, other research has shown that access and use of pornography actually has a negative correlation with sex crimes. Far from encouraging pedophiles to act on their urges, the (faux) child porn they do download can act as victimless outlet. In that sense, criminalizing simple possession and applying such harsh penalties can even be counter productive.

:D
and neither can be 'fixed' - though raistlin will harp about how this has nothing to do with his thread <3

The one thing that bothers me with this whole deal is that paedos get sent to therapy to 'overcome' their desires (whether they'd ever go through on them or not), while people who suggest the same thing for someone of another sexual orientation are inconsiderate bigots. One doesn't pose a danger to kids, I know, but it's the same thing.

Just because they both may deserve to be locked up for a while in general doesn't mean that anyone else deserves to be locked up for this, as well as being considered a sex offender for life. What more details do you really need before concluding this is outrageous?

I feel like I need more details on this before I decide whether or not I'm irritated. For awhile, ever time my sister and her boyfriend broke up, he would be posting on Facebooks "who wants nude pic and video of jamie lol lets do coke im such a gang member" and I finally told him if he didn't knock it off I was going to have him charged with child porn.

I would love to see my sister and her boyfriend charged with something and go to jail for awhile. Little assholes.

I think the pictures were definitely solicited in this case. I don't think unsolicited receipt of the pictures could be charged by itself, but if he then chose to keep them, he could still be charged with possession.

:D
okay wait.

a minor sent a possibly unsolicited nude pic to an adult and now he has to face charges? Even if that wasn't how it happened, if what I just wrote DID happen, the person would face charges yes? Yes. Of course.

that's great stuff.

I have never heard that before, so I'm not sure if that's actually the case (and if so, an easy solution is to define "production" in the statute). I do know that the feds will charge each image as a separate offense, so that downloading one torrent of 100 images will result in 100 counts. This has lead to the absurd result of some downloaders receiving much higher sentences for looking at pictures than if they had actually molested a kid.

I agree completely. I do see one potential problem, though. As I understand it, the way the law is now, simply downloading an illegal image is considered production. It's pretty obvious that this isn't what the law was designed for but, as usual, that's not enough to stop prosecutors. How can you be sure the law against 'production' of child pornography won't be turned upside down and used against innocent people?

Also, what incredible irony it is that these girls are being charged as adults. :p

Yearg: that sounds tough, and sadly is consistent with other experiences I've heard of. Religion is all about guilt and shame; it just doesn't work without those.

When I was a fundie I would always return to Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Of course, I interpreted it as, if you truly delight yourself in Him, then your desires will be the same as his and you will have them. So basically, if prayer didn't work, it was because I was wanting the wrong things and my heart wasn't right with God enough. If I were truly humbling myself before Him, then I would want things that he wanted and he would provide.

When I didn't get what I wanted from prayer, even when I felt I was wishing for Godly things that weren't self-serving at all...I would feel like I had missed out on something. As in I thought I was asking for the right thing and doing it with a humble heart, but I was obviously wrong and God was showing me how shortsighted I was. It would make me feel bad about myself for not recognizing my own weakness. It was an endless cycle of trying to do better, want thing for myself, and feeling guilty when I wanted things that I thought he would want. I was beating myself up a lot over it when I would find myself failing to ask the right things.

But rather than apply logic to it, it just felt bad about myself and I tried harder to be more humble and more under God's thumb.

... religion is so f***ed up.

Theology is bulltrout rationalizations.

:D
my understanding of theology is that God listens to prayers but he's not a genie. So I'm curious what is being 'measured' when you say God doesn't answer prayers.

Relevant to my rant at the end: a defendant's lawyer falling asleep during the trial is not ineffective assistance as long as he remains conscious for a "substantial portion" of the trial.

:D
Oh I get it. Never mind.

Huh? That only means that the government is not obligated to provide an attorney for low-income prisoners. The government can never actually refuse to allow a prisoner to obtain their own lawyer.

:D
I like hearing that you're a good lawyer. I didn't know right to council was not available to HC defendants - could you at least (or if not you, another lawyer) "coach" the client?

:D

What do you think about the statement 'if you're not jealous you don't care' ? I tend to think jealousy is like how people have been illustrating ITT - if you are concerned it's not because you are jealous.

fierytempest: I agree with you. In that same vein, I should qualify that jealousy as a feeling is neither good nor bad, as it is often uncontrollable. Emotions are not rational or irrational, they just are. But we can control how we respond to those emotions. And mature people in mature relationships should recognize that minor jealous feelings are often unwarranted.

Shaibana: I knew people like that in high school. It was pathetic to me even then.

Sephex: thankfully, I have never been in a relationship with someone like that. I have a pretty high standard to meet before I even start caring about someone that much, so I probably (and hopefully) never will.