Just found out a sex offender lives on my block (Kell: law, assault)

[soulful]

It is true that many abusers were abused themselves. I seriously doubt anyone wants to be a sex offender. Whether the cause is biological or environmental (or more likely a combination) I am sure it is a hellish existence.

Obviously, if someone is a danger to others they should not be free to offend/walk the streets.

However, I think being thoughtful in terms of the root cause and perhaps even practicing forgiveness (dare I say that) is sometimes a good thing. Note, forgiveness does not extend to endangering others in any way so I do believe prison is appropriate in many cases.

[JoeyPants]

The accused was on parole. If he gets convicted he's in for another 30 years. Being that he's 59 years old means he will only be raping convicts from now on.

[rockinrolla]

[

[WhaThe]

"We went on a central registry of sex offenders. Our names went on that registry," Lisa said.


ABC News: Parents Sue Wal-Mart When Their Kids Are Taken Away Over Bath Time Photos


Crazy. They need more detail on those things.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by lenniel

He's a 45 yr old man who tried to (or successfully) lure an 11 yr old girl into his car. Rumor is that at our recent block party, he made some inappropriate comments to some young girls who then told their parents.

Anyone else have this issue?

I am not a sex offender. Nor am I in any way defending what they do. However, I think these kind of web sites that give you their addresses are scary. It's way too Big Brother for me.

Some day these databases will be expanded to include all kinds of "offenders" until they include almost everyone. Those in power always test market with socially undesireable people first.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

These sex offender laws are stupid. Ostracizing child abusers keeps them from functioning as normal adults, which makes them MORE likely to reoffend. Also, the laws have gotten so ridiculously broad that 19 year old who has sex with his 17 year old girlfriend is a sex offender, and there are a few cases of non-sex related crimes causing someone to become a legal sex offender, and the laws are set up so that one's status is impossible to fight, and nobody seems to care that innocent people's lives are ruined by this. I think that sex offender laws give people a false sense of security as well, as in you can tell your child to stay away from Mr. Registered who lives down the street and you think your kid will be safe, when in reality pedophiles can come from ANYWHERE and children need to be taught to be careful with anybody.

Finally, Megan's Laws statistically are failures, as child rapes by strangers have not decreased.

Thank you for saying this. The only thing I'd add is that the broadening of the scope of these laws is what was truly intended all along. It's part of a long standing attempt to get people to give up all their rights, little by little, using fear as the main tactic to get people to go along.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by JoeyPants

Unions are responsible for the 8 hour work day, overtime pay, child labor laws, and multiple other workers rights and labor laws. My understanding is that conservatives hate government regulation of business, so yeah, they do have a history of being liberal, at least economically. Unions have always been labeled communists/ communist sympathizers.

The flip side of that is that they will drive an organization to bankruptcy before being willing to make the necessary concessions to restore the organization to financial health, and sometimes not even then. Witness the Detroit Auto Unions and the public sector unions in CA (of which I am a member. CA has the worst credit rating of all 50 states, a few notches above 'junk' status).

In short, unions are just as greedy as the 'suits' they rail against. I've seen it first hand.

[Avengerfire]

"Poland okays forcible castration for pedophiles"

Poland okays forcible castration for pedophiles - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_castration - broken link)

[gradstudent77]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/te...pedo.html?_r=1

It's an old article, but is a somewhat interesting look into the minds of some pedophiles. Before this makes you too angry, just please keep in mind that the total number of individuals who are being discussed in the article is likely really small. It is still outrageous, though.

[SAI126]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Actually IMO unionists need to be more Red, not less, and in practical terms push the compromised middle to the left.

Which is quite moronic in my opinion. I have no problems with unionism per se, just the stupidity and short sightedness to which it has evolved. The more the industrial economy contracts the stupider and shriller the union movement gets. To be fair, I recommend reading And the Wolf Finally Came by John P Hoerr, about the fall of the steel industry and a book that skewers management and labor alike. "Getting more red" is not going to regrow the economy or help your fellow union brothers and sisters and I know you're smart enough to know that.