Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
by utopiate » Sat Nov 16, 2013 2:02 am
by dqueue » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:14 pm
D.C. Police Officer Arrested for Production of Child Pornography
Officer Marc Washington arrested hours after police learned that Washington had allegedly produced pornographic images of a juvenile while on duty
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2013 - Washington -- an officer with MPD since 2006 -- was arrested Monday, shortly after the victim's mother called police, authorities said.
According to charging documents, Washington first made contact with the family when the girl's mother called police to report her missing. Washington went to the family's home to take a missing persons report.
The girl returned home Sunday afternoon, but later that night, according to authorities, Washington went back to the apartment and asked to speak to the girl privately. He entered her bedroom and ordered her to remove her clothing, telling her he needed to take photographs of any injuries she'd sustained while missing, say charging documents.
The girl said she wasn't hurt, but he told her it was part of the procedure and she complied, the documents say.
After he left, the victim told her mother, who called police.
Washington was pulled over while still on duty. Authorities recovered a dozen images of the girl from his camera, including nine that had been deleted but were recoverable, authorities said.
Authorities also found other photos -- including nude images -- of unidentified people on Washington's camera.
They said at least two of the subjects appear to be minors.
"We invest a great amount of time and effort to ensure that we are hiring the right people and we continue to proactively monitor integrity across the department," said Police Chief Cathy Lanier. "But to learn of an allegation of this kind against a person who is sworn to protect our children, it is both shocking and disturbing. We are fortunate that someone came forward to alert us of this behavior to ensure that we prevent future victims."
Police are working to learn whether there may be additional victims, they said.
The body of a D.C. police officer accused of child porn was recovered from the water at Hains Point in Southwest D.C. Tuesday night, police confirm.
Officer Marc Washington was pulled from the water just before 9 p.m. Tuesday after U.S. Park Police received a call about a person in the water.
Sources say court documents belonging to Washington were found inside a rental car near the scene. Clothing was also found nearby.
Washington, 32, was arrested last week on child porn charges after he visited the home of a teenage girl who had previously been reported missing, ordered her to remove her clothing and took photos of her, all while he was on duty.
The girl told her mother what happened shortly after Washington left her family's home. The mother called authorities, and Washington was arrested within hours.
He was released from prison this week, placed on house arrest and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device.
Sources told News4's Jackie Bensen that Washington was wearing the GPS device on his ankle when he was pulled from the water Tuesday night.
During a hearing last week, it was revealed Washington, who has been with MPD since 2006, had hundreds of photographs on his digital camera dating back to 2011, many of which depicted women who were victims of domestic violence.
Last week, Lanier said Washington's case was unrelated to the investigation of Officer Linwood Barnhill, another MPD officer who may have "pimped" teenage girls. Barnhill was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of pandering of a monor.
D.C. Officer Accused of "Pimping" Teens Arrested
A third officer is under investigation for possibly tipping Washington off about his forthcoming arrest. All of the officers are members of the MPD's Seventh District.
Police say the investigation into Washington's death is ongoing.
by beeline » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:56 pm
by seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:55 pm
Vatican To Be Grilled By UN On Allegations It Enabled Rape Of Children
JOHN HEILPRIN, NICOLE WINFIELD – JANUARY 15, 2014, 7:49 AM EST3160
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is gearing up for a bruising showdown over the global priest sex abuse scandal, forced for the first time to defend itself at length and in public against allegations it enabled the rape of thousands of children by protecting pedophile priests and its own reputation at the expense of victims.
The Holy See on Thursday will be grilled by a U.N. committee in Geneva on its implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Among other things, the treaty calls for signatories to take all appropriate measures to protect children from harm and to put children's interests above all else.
The Holy See ratified the convention in 1990 and submitted a first implementation report in 1994. But it didn't provide progress reports for nearly a decade, and only submitted one in 2012 after coming under criticism following the 2010 explosion of child sex abuse cases in Europe and beyond.
Victims groups and human rights organizations rallied together to press the U.N. committee to challenge the Holy See on its abuse record, providing written testimony from victims and evidence outlining the global scale of the problem. Their reports cite case studies in Mexico and Britain, grand jury investigations in the U.S., and government fact-finding inquiries from Canada to Ireland to Australia that detail how the Vatican's policies, its culture of secrecy and fear of scandal contributed to the problem.
Their submissions reference Vatican documents that show its officials knew about a notorious Mexican molester decades before taking action. They cite correspondence from a Vatican cardinal praising a French bishop's decision to protect his abusive priest, and another Vatican directive to Irish bishops to strike any mandatory reporting of abusers to police from their policies. The submissions even quote the former Vatican No. 2 as saying bishops shouldn't be expected to turn their priests in.
"For too many years, survivors were the only ones speaking out about this and bearing the brunt of a lot of criticism," said Pam Spees, a human rights attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which provided a key report to the committee. "And so this is a very important moment for many, many people who are here in Geneva and around the world who will be watching as the Holy See is called for the first time ever to actually answer questions."
Indeed, to date the Holy See has never had to defend its record to any large extent or in court since it has successfully argued that it is immune from lawsuits as a sovereign state and that, regardless, bishops were responsible for pedophile priests in their care, not the pope or his policies. While the Holy See has had to answer some questions about abuse at the separate U.N. Human Rights Council, this is the first U.N. hearing dedicated to the issue and the Vatican was compelled to submit to it as a signatory of the convention. Officials have privately said they are hoping at best to do damage control at Thursday's session.
The U.N. committee, which is composed of independent experts, not other U.N. member states, will issue its final observations and recommendations Feb. 5. The recommendations are not binding and the committee has no ability to sanction the Vatican for any shortcomings. Rather, the process is aimed at encouraging — and occasionally shaming — treaty signatories into abiding by their international commitments.
The Vatican will be represented by its most authoritative official on the issue, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, for a decade the Holy See's chief sex crimes prosecutor. He is credited with having overhauled the Vatican's procedures to better prosecute pedophiles in-house. But the Vatican to date has refused to instruct its bishops to report suspected cases of abuse to police, saying they need only do so when required by local laws.
"When abusers are in jail, they don't harm kids," said Miguel Hurtado, a member of the main U.S.-based victims' advocacy group SNAP, who said he was abused by a priest in the Catholic youth group he attended as a youngster in Catalonia, Spain. "And they failed to do that."
Hurtado and Spees spoke to U.N. correspondents in Geneva before Thursday's session, during which the Vatican will be asked about its overall policies, what it has done to protect children and specific cases including the mistreatment of seminarians in the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order, which is currently being run by the Vatican itself.
The committee had also asked the Holy See to provide detailed information on all cases of abuse that were brought to its attention — a number the Vatican has acknowledged tops 4,000.
But in its written response to the committee submitted last month, the Vatican declined to provide such information and ducked many of the committee's questions. It argued that it was not responsible for the actions of every Catholic, much less every priest or parish in the world. It says it is really only responsible for implementing the U.N. treaty where it exercises territorial control: the 44 hectares (110 acres) of the Vatican City State in downtown Rome, where 31 children currently live.
"This representation by the Holy See is particularly disingenuous in light of the all-too-numerous accounts of efforts by bishops, archbishops, cardinals and other church officials around the world to cover up these crimes and subvert the course of justice in other states, further compounding the harm to victims," the Center for Constitutional Rights and SNAP said in response. They accused the Vatican of failing to acknowledge the "authority, control and oversight it exercises" over church institutions and personnel worldwide.
While arguing that its jurisdiction is limited to the Vatican City State, the Holy See at the same time sought to highlight the ways in which it has promoted programs to protect children and keep pedophiles out of the priesthood. Bishops' conferences are now required to have guidelines to fight abuse. Last month, Pope Francis established a commission to study best practices and the Vatican last summer updated its local laws to criminalize abuse of children.
___
Heilprin reported from Geneva
UN slams Vatican for 'efforts to cover up' pedophile priests in sex abuse scandal
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
The Vatican's U.N. Ambassador Monsignor Silvano Tomasi (L) speaks with Charles Scicluna, its former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse, before the start of questioning on Thursday.
By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor
The Vatican faced blistering criticism from a United Nations committee Thursday over allegations it protected pedophile priests at the expense of victims in what constituted a worldwide sex abuse scandal.
It was the first time representatives of the Holy See were questioned in public on cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy around the world.
The U.N. committee's main human rights investigator, Sara Oviedo, led the most intense grilling the Holy See has received on the issue, according to a report by The Associated Press.
Given the "zero tolerance" policy of the Vatican, she asked, why were there "efforts to cover up and obscure these types of cases?"
Another committee member, psychologist Maria Rita Parsi, added: "If these events continue to be hidden and covered up, to what extent will children be affected?"
Advertise | AdChoices
The U.N. committee in Geneva, Switzerland, was pressing the Holy See about its failure to provide reports for almost two decades on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which it ratified in 1990. It also asked for more information about the special committee announced by Pope Francis in December that aims to improve measures to protect children against sex abuse.
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
A man holds placards during a demonstration against the Holy See outside the headquarters of the committee hearing.
The Vatican insists it is not responsible for the actions of priests, who it says are not its employees but citizens of their own countries.
"Priests are not functionaries of the Vatican," Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, said Thursday. "Priests are citizens of their own states, and they fall under the jurisdiction of their own country."
But victims' groups and human rights organizations provided the U.N. committee with documents from the Vatican showing it discouraged bishops from reporting abuse, the AP report said. The committee also cited investigations from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Britain, Ireland and Australia.
Former Vatican sex crimes prosecutor Monsignor Charles Scicluna acknowledged the Holy See had been slow to face the crisis but was now committed to doing so.
"The Holy See gets it," Scicluna said. "Let's not say too late or not. But there are certain things that need to be done differently.
"I think the international community looks up to the Holy See for such guidance. But it's not only words, it has to be commitment on the ground."
by coffin_dodger » Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:48 am
Woody Allen accused of sex abuse by adopted daughter
2 February 2014 BBC News
The adopted daughter of Woody Allen has renewed claims the filmmaker "sexually abused" her as a child in 1992.
In an open letter, Dylan Farrow accuses Allen of molesting her in a "dim, closet-like attic" at the age of seven.
Ms Farrow, now 28, also criticises Hollywood's continued celebration of "a predator [who] brought chaos into our home".
Allen was investigated over the abuse allegations at the time of the incident, but was not charged.
cont - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26005565
by conniption » Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:22 am
Forward Progressives
The Horrifying Song Ted Nugent Released in 1981 that Nobody Seems to be Talking About (VIDEO)
February 20, 2014
By Allen Clifton
How is this not a bigger story? Sure, everyone is all over Ted Nugent for being a draft dodger who urinated and defecated on himself prior to his military review to avoid fighting for his country in Vietnam. But rarely do I see many people discuss this man’s disgusting past with underaged girls.
In 1978, at the age of 30, he became the legal guardian of a 17-year-old Hawaiian girl because legally he wasn’t able to marry her. In other words, he became her legal guardian at 30 years of age so he could use her as his own personal 17-year-old sex toy.
Then in 1981, when he was 33, he released a song titled “Jailbait.”
Here, I’ll just go ahead and let you take a look at the lyrics:I've got no inhibitions
So keep your keys out of your ignition
I steal a car like I got the curse
I can't resist the old lady's purse
Jailbait you look so good to me
Jailbait won't you set me free
Jailbait you look fine fine fine
I know I've got to have you in a matter of time
Well I don't care if you're just thirteen
You look too good to be true
I just know that you're probably clean
There's one lil' thing I got do to you
Jailbait you look so good to me
Jailbait wonґt you set me free
Jailbait you look fine fine fine
I know I've got to have you in a matter of time
So tell your mama that I'm back in town
She likes us boys when it's time to get down
She's got this craving for the underage
I just might be your mama's brand new rage
Jailbait you look so good to me
Jailbait wonґt you set me free
Jailbait you look fine fine fine
I know I got to have you in a matter of time
Honey you you you look so nice
She's young she's tender
Won't you please surrender
She's so fine she's mine
All the time, all mine mine
It's all right baby
It's quite all right I asked your mama
Wait a minute officer
Don't put those handcuffs on me
Put them on her and I'll share her with you
And if you don’t believe this is his song, here he is singing it:
TED NUGENT - Jailbait
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJwOlRhGbeU
Absolutely disgusting.
“I don’t care if you’re thirteen” followed by “I just know you’re probably clean. There’s one lil’ thing I’ve got to do to you.”
Yes, that’s a 33-year-old man releasing a song saying that he doesn’t care if a girl is just thirteen - he still wants to have sex with her because she looks “too good to be true.”
Oh, then to make it even more repulsive, how the song ends: “It’s all right baby. It’s quite all right I asked your mama. Wait a minute officer. Don’t put those handcuffs on me. Put them on her and I’ll share her with you.”
Once again, this was a 33-year-old man singing a song about asking a mother for permission to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, admitting that it’s illegal (hence the officer being mentioned) but offering to “share” a handcuffed child with that officer.
And this is the conservative “hero” who many Republican politicians tout as a patriot? This is the man who Republicans brought to the State of the Union address? This is the man Sarah Palin praised? This is the man Wendy Davis’ opponent for Governor of Texas Greg Abbott took with him on the campaign trail?
This is the man who has the audacity to call President Obama a “subhuman mongrel?”
Then we can’t forget that just 3 years prior to this song being released, at 30 years of age, he became the legal guardian of an underage girl because he wasn’t legally allowed to marry her. So it seems his desire for underage girls was fairly strong. And I’m barely scratching the surface. Google “Courtney Love talks about Ted Nugent” if you really want to lose your lunch.
Ted Nugent is absolutely vile and repulsive. It’s shocking to me that any serious political figure would have anything to do with him. But I guess since he bashes Obama, trashes Hillary Clinton and is a rabid gun nut – it’s okay that he sings about being a pedophile, right?
Well, that’s the message I’m getting from conservatives. If they’ll allow someone like Nugent to represent them, endorse them, campaign with them and speak for them – what does that then say about them?
Because if your hatred for Obama and love for guns is more important to you than condemning a pedophile who sang songs about his desire for sex with a 13-year-old girl…
You’re an absolute embarrassment.
So, let me introduce to you fine ladies and gentlemen Wendy Davis’ opponent for Governor of Texas Greg Abbott’s campaign buddy – Ted Nugent!
A former 30-year-old legal guardian of a 17-year-old girl he was having sex with and singer of the song Jailbait, which is about the desire to have sex with a 13-year-old child.
Related Posts on Forward Progressives:
Wendy Davis’ Opponent Greg Abbott Hitting the Campaign Trail With Draft-Dodger Ted…
Ted Nugent Uses Slur Used By Nazis When Attacking President Obama
Sarah Palin Praises Ted Nugent, Endorses Wendy Davis’ Opponent For Governor of Texas
Ted Nugent Goes Off on Racist Rant, Says Liberals are “Slave Drivers” to the…
by mulebone » Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:19 am
This is the man Sarah Palin praised?
I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs
I know you're no scare-eyed honey.
There'll be a feast if you just come upstairs
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
I can see that you're fifteen years old
No I don't want your I.D.
I can see you're so far from home
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don'tcha scratch like that
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Bet your mama don't know you scream like that
I bet your mother don't know you can spit like that.
You look so weird and you're so far from home
But you don't really miss your mother
Don't look so scared I'm no mad-brained bear
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
Oh, yeah
Woo!
I bet your mama don't know that you scatch like that
I bet she don't know you can bite like that.
You say you got a friend, that she's wilder than you
Why don't you bring her upstairs
If she's so wild then she can join in too
It's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
The manager for Eminem's rap group D12 was today (March 17) charged with rape and drug charges for allegedly assaulting two teenage girls and giving them cocaine.
As reported earlier, 35-year-old Jeremy Geffen was arrested Friday (March 14) for allegedly sexually assaulting two 16 year old girls in Hollywood clubs and his home between 2006 and 2007.
Accusations of Geffen giving the girls cocaine became public Monday as The Associated Press reported that he was charged with 14 felony counts including rape by use of drugs, rape of an unconscious person, and furnishing cocaine to a minor.
Watching rap music videos that are overly sexy and violent can lead to alcohol abuse and promiscuity among young black girls, according to a study into sexual stereotypes in rap music footage.
The research was based on a survey of 522 African-American girls aged 14 to 18 who were asked how often they watched rap videos, questioned about their sex lives and asked to provide a urine sample for a marijuana screening.
U.S. researchers found young black girls who spent more time watching rap music videos were more likely to binge drink, have sex with multiple partners, test positive for marijuana and have a negative body image.
"In rap music videos, the glamorized depictions of alcohol use are often portrayed in conjunction with sexual imagery and portrayals of drug use are often depicted as normal," wrote the researchers in a report appearing in the Journal of Women's Health.
Little girls of the world, you're all so sprung
15, 16 and all so young
I thought about you just last night
Grabbed my pen then I started to write
A rap that'll cap like a true blue rap
Not a washed-up almost mc sap
Little girls so fresh and I know you are
Wanna take a little ride in my new car
I see you more than baby, it's more like hell
You screw a little girl and end up in jail
Even though she seems she's 19
You're looking at her body an it's breaking the jeans
Well you know she's not, so don't play dumb
Little girls walking round trying to give me some
But I tell 'em like this, I'm the player $hort
Playing freaks like you is just a sport
I'm coming way too real and I can never be funny
Niggas like me just want your money
Give it up, cause I'm no lost cause
Little girl recognize too $hort's the boss
When they turn 16, we all find out
What little girls like that are all about
So you girls out there, that fit my rhyme
You'd better think twice before you jump on mine
Little girl's so thick, you might think she's grown
But if you knew when she was born, you might leave her alone
She's trouble homeboy, with a big fat "t"
Little girls like that make old men pee
Then a brother like me might break my neck
Looking back saying "ooooh!" bout to get in a wreck
Cause she's always flirting, might give me a look
Like I put her in the oven and she started to cook
But when I put her on the spot, she could not hang
With my so rough, so tough playboy game
I only said two words, something like "get busy"
Her head started hurting and she got real dizzy
Growing up to fast, all you little girls
Letting brothers like me cold crush your world
Should've listen to your momma when she told you so
But you wnet and got g'd now you want some more
They ain't paying me money, talking bout love
And the other girl's who I'm thinking of
Can you understand, I'm just a man
I want to come in this world and cold take the man
So just step on back, while I walk on by
I might look you down, and I might say "hi"
And if you come up choosing, I just might laugh
Say "little girl check me out in about two and a half...years"
I took a little girl to a drive in show
Jumped in the back and heard "no no no"
She was only 16 but the girl was ripe
36-24 and a 35
I was wasting time spitting lines
Thinking bout going home cold getting mine
Baby said "stop it" I said "drop it"
I tried everything but I could not cop it
by mulebone » Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:53 am
by seemslikeadream » Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:27 am
David Cameron under fire after No10 kept top aide's child porn arrest secret for nearly three weeks
Mar 05, 2014 09:08 By James Lyons 0 Comments
PATRICK Rock, 62, was arrested on February 13 – the day after he resigned. But the scandal did not become public until a newspaper reported it yesterday.
Steve BackPatrick Rock
DAVID Cameron faced awkward questions last night after it emerged that No10 kept a top aide’s child porn arrest secret for nearly three weeks.
Patrick Rock, 62, was arrested on February 13 – the day after he resigned. But the scandal did not become public until a newspaper reported it yesterday.
Rock, an old friend of Cameron described as a No10 “policy fixer”, was heavily involved in the Prime Minister’s crusade against internet porn, including moves to put filters on home computers.
He quit on February 12 – the day No10 say they first heard claims of “a potential offence relating to child abuse imagery”. Cameron’s spokesman said the claim was immediately reported to police and Rock was arrested at home hours later.
Police were invited into No10 and given access to “all IT systems and offices they considered relevant”.
The spokesman said it would have been wrong, because of the police probe, for No10 to make the scandal public.
Cameron echoed that line yesterday, saying: “I don’t think it would be right to pre-emptively brief out a criminal investigation.”
He said No10 had given “full and straightforward answers” as soon as questions were asked, and had handled the issue in “an absolutely correct way”.
Cameron said he was immediately informed of the allegations on February 12, and was “profoundly shocked”.
But Labour MP John Mann said: “Yet again we are seeing a lack of transparency from No 10.”
Mann said it was “highly inappropriate” that an adviser of Rock’s importance had quit without MPs and the public being told.
He added: “The whole thing is very odd. The sequence of events is mystifying.”
Labour colleague Tom Watson said it seemed unusual that Rock was “clearly alerted to a potential problem” before he was arrested.
He also asked why No10 called in the secretive National Crime Agency rather than the Met. The NCA refused to comment.
No10 said a sexual harassment claim filed against Rock, and dealt with by Cameron’s Chief of Staff Ed Llewellyn, was nothing to do with the police investigation.
by elfismiles » Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:06 pm
![\<]](./images/smilies/confused0044.gif "confused")
March 11, 2014
FBI: Military Contractor Caught Masturbating To Child Porn Inside Car At Colorado Army Base
A Department of Defense contractor was arrested yesterday morning after a military policeman spotted him masturbating to child pornography inside a car parked at a Colorado Army base.
According to a criminal complaint, Francis Calar, 53, was pleasuring himself inside a Ford sedan at 10:30 AM when a military cop approached the vehicle. Calar, seen at right, initially did not notice the officer since he was “intently focused on an image on the screen of his laptop computer.”
As described in a criminal complaint sworn by FBI Agent Andrew Stearns, Calar--a married father of two boys--was staring at a sexually explicit photo of a young girl. When he spotted the officer, Calar “quickly close his laptop and threw it on the passenger seat.” After the cop directed Calar to exit his car, he reportedly said, “Yes I know you seen what I was doing and what I was looking at.”
In subsequent interviews with law enforcement officials, Calar “advised that he has an active interest in child pornography,” and said that he often parks in the same Fort Carson lot so that he can access an unsecured Internet connection and “visit chat rooms and search for child pornography during breaks from work.” Calar’s Facebook page describes him as a “technical trainer” at Fort Carson.
Calar, Agent Stearns reported, was “adamant that his sexual interest in children is purely ‘fantasy.’” He told investigators that he is “active with children” and currently coaches girls volleyball and boys baseball. Additonally, Calar said that he has previously taught Sunday school at his church and recently resigned as the girls volleyball coach at Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs.
Charged with possession of child pornography, Calar is scheduled this afternoon for an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver. If convicted of the felony count, he faces a minimum of five years in prison (and as much as 10 years in custody).
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/mil ... ert-576321
by seemslikeadream » Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:46 pm
The US and Britain’s Paedophile Colony
by Felicity Arbuthnot / March 13th, 2014
Less than a month before the 11th anniversary of the illegal US-led invasion of Iraq, the near destruction of much of the country, heritage, culture, secularism, education, health services and all State institutions, the country is poised to revert “two thousand years” say campaigners.
On February 25th, Iraq’s Cabinet approved a draft law lowering the age of legal marriage for females to nine years old.
Iraq was, prior to the invasion, a fiercely secular country, with a broadly equal male, female workforce and with women benefiting from a National Personal Status Law, introduced in 1959, which remained “one of the most liberal in the Arab world, with respect to women’s rights.”
The legal age for marriage was set at eighteen, forced marriages were banned and polygamy restricted. Cohesion between communities was enhanced and fostered by “eliminating the differential treatment of Sunnis and Shiites under the law (and erasing differentiation) between the various religious communities …” Women’s rights in divorce, child custody and inheritance were an integral part of the Law, with Article 14 stating that all Iraqis are equal under the law.
Equality was swept away from the first day of the invasion when George W. Bush and his Administration started to talk of Sunni, Shiite, Kurds, Christians and other religions and ethnicities and also effectively selecting the overseers of the “New Iraq” not by ability but by religion and ethnicity, effectively pitching Iraqi against Iraqi in what, for all the complexities, had been a very cohesive society. “Divide and rule” pervaded all.
So far, however, the Personal Status Law still stands, if largely ignored by the US backed Parliament and a largely – with honourable and courageous exceptions – woefully wanting judiciary. The draft law, if ratified, as it is aimed to be after the April elections, would sweep its admirable provisions aside and turn Iraq in to a paedophiles’ paradise.
This outrageous plan was first mooted as early as December 2003, just eight months after the invasion, by Abdel Aziz al Hakim, who heads the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. He cancelled the Personal Status Law when President of the Interim Governing Council. Due to opposition by women and others within the Council and from many civil and women’s organizations, the decision was revoked by Paul Bremer, arguably the only thing he got right during his woeful, ill informed tenure. Then, as now, the change “would have transferred civil actions concerning family and personal law, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance, to the jurisdiction of clerics”, not civil Courts.
Incredibly, “The proposal has been based on the Shiite Ja’fari school, called after an eighth century Shiite Imam. A Supreme Shiite Judicial Council in the holy city of Najaf will supervise nationwide religious tribunals that will settle family matters …”
Woman’s groups and activists are vociferous in their outrage and condemnation and in spite of 21 of the 29 present at the Cabinet decision voting in favour of the change, some clerics in Najav are distancing themselves from the proposal, which would also include women not being allowed to leave their home without the permission of their husband – and ironically a father’s permission being mandatory for a woman over eighteen to marry. Muslims will not be allowed to marry non-Muslims.
Hanaa Edwar, who heads the Al-Amal Association which fights for the socio-economic improvement of Iraqis, points out that among the poor – which, since the invasion, has spiraled, children as young as ten are already marrying and further, that most of the religious “illiterate people hear it’s based on Ja’fari (law) and think it must be good.”
Yanar Mohammed, President of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq, is convinced that “Iraqi people will not agree to the legalization of pedophilia … the objections come from all sides, and the number of women who raise their voices is high … It is an abuse of children’s rights and their bodily integrity.”
Edwar and Mohammed are lobbying in and out of the parliament, but “pressure from outside Iraq is essential.”
As Iraq has ratified Convention on Elimination Against Women (CEDAW) the UN has already asked for the withdrawal of the draft law. CEDAW “provides that the betrothal and marriage of a child shall have no legal effect.”
At the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna from June 14th – 25th, 1993, States were “urged to repeal existing laws and regulations and to remove customs and practices which discriminate against and cause harm to the girl child. Article 16(2) and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child preclude States parties from permitting or giving validity to a marriage between persons who have not attained their majority. In the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘a child’ means every human being below the age of 18 years …”
Human Rights Watch in a less than robust statement on the marriage of nine year olds, who, in the West would still in Primary school, a year too young to enter Secondary education, nevertheless state: “This draft personal status law (change) flies in the faces of the Iraqi government’s legal commitments to protect women’s and girls’ rights … Passage of this law by parliament may lead to further discriminatory laws.”
Silent is Ann Clwyd, MP., formerly Tony Blair’s Human Rights Envoy to Iraq and currently Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group and of the All Party Parliamentary Iraq Group, as is Middle East “Peace Envoy” Tony “I’d do it again” Blair, as are the US and British Ambassadors in Iraq and the self appointed “Vicar of Baghdad” Canon Andrew White.
The US and UK could put an end to this disgrace instantly by simply withdrawing trade, arms sales, and diplomatic presence. But Iraq is still a destroyed country, courtesy of the same US and UK and there are also all those multi-million rebuilding, security, and military training contracts. As with the majority of those in their Iraq puppet Parliament, morality and integrity are long dead and buried.
by mulebone » Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:46 pm
A Belgian Catholic priest and would-be Nobel Peace Prize holder has admitted that he sexually abused an eight-year-old boy 40 years ago.
The case only came forward when his cousin, the sister of his victim, came forward in reaction to a campaign to nominate Francois Houtart for the accolade.
She told the Belgian church authority that looks into child abuse, the Adriaenssens commission, that the abuse on her brother happened in 1970 while he stayed at their house.
Houtart, 85, was a prominent third world activist and chairman of a development agency that he founded in 1976, Center Tricontinental, until he resigned from the board in November in light of the allegations.
He is currently in Ecuador and was not responding to phone calls or emails.
Houtart told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir that he twice touched 'the intimate parts' of his cousin, an incident he called 'inconsiderate and irresponsible.'
She details the abuse of her brother, which she describes as 'rape,' by an unnamed priest.
But the victim's sister says the priest, who was a friend of her father, entered her brother's room twice 'to rape him.'
'Before the third time, my brother went to tell his parents, who kept him in their room,' she is quoted as saying in the report.
The priest said he spoke to the victim’s parents to see if they wanted him to quit as a priest but they told him to speak to a professor in Brussels.
They advised him to stay in the priesthood and concentrate on his academic work in religious sociology.
Q: What about your Utopology?
A: The struggle for Utopia is a struggle for hope, and that means that it is not a struggle for something impossible to attain. (Unlike unrestrained toddler genital fondling which is inexplicably frowned on in this crazy mixed up world of ours) Capitalist logic is killing all Utopias. That is why Mrs. Thatcher said –"There is no alternative," and Francis Fukuyama speaks about the end of history. That means that any utopia is impossible! What can you hope for in a world of inequalities and oppression? (What really burns my bonnet is the sheer volume of repressed young genitalia forced to hide in all that restricting underwear. It's sad.)
Struggle against the type of globalisation that we have today is fundamental for the definition of Utopia and the struggle for Utopia is also fundamental for the opposition to the present day globalisation. It is the search for another type of globalisation. (The one where fondling toddler's genitals is not frowned upon.)
Q: What sources inspire you most in this Utopian thinking?
A: The struggle for Utopia is a struggle for hope, and that means it is not a struggle for something impossible to get, but with the idea that “something which does not exist today could exist tomorrow”. (Like see-thru Huggies) So that is the way that I define Utopia. A French Protestant Philosopher Paul Ricoeur, talks about necessary Utopia because of the fact that globalisation of capitalist logic is killing all Utopias. There are alternatives possible. (Like toddler genital fondling. I've never been happier or more fulfilled doing anything else) Otherwise it is pointless to talk about Utopias .In the World Social Forum we have discovered that alternatives exist in all sectors of the collective human life. That is extremely important. We can talk about three levels of alternatives, the long-range (this would involve repeated bouts of genital fondling followed by oral pleasures), middle-range (this involves the occasional bout of genital fondling in the Sacristy) and short-range (this is a drive by fondle done in the dead of night while the toddler slumbers blissfully unaware). There are alternatives and there are people working for alternatives. That means that the Utopia is possible and it is not just a dream.
We must also find enough motivating force to struggle in order to realise Utopia (For me, photos of children's genitals have never had the OOMPH of a real live genital fondle). There may be various types of sources of such force. One would be the humanist perspective that we find in many people committed to struggling for justice. This is a very fundamental basis for Utopia. Marxist militants, people who believe that it is possible to transform society, find motivation for commitment from this humanist conviction. (This especially powerful humanism dovetails nicely with children's genitals) If we take the believing community, for example, in Christianity, it is clear that the Bible reflects a process of liberation, and that the prophets speak about a possible future. In the Gospel we see the struggle against injustice and the hope in the Kingdom of God. (Of course, there's all manner of outre sexuality on display. Which is a good for a genital fondler such as myself) All of this is very coherent. It means that we have to believe in Utopia. The next step is to be committed to the search and the struggles for such a Utopia.
Q: What is the relationship between reconciliation and liberation from a socio-political and a theological point of view?
A: From a political point of view, in order to have real reconciliation and reconstruction, which is a social process, there have to be conditions. Otherwise it does not work. One of the main conditions is the recognition of the wrong done, as I have said. (As long as the recognition doesn't lead to any real consequences. Otherwise I'd be in jail fondling my smelly cell-mate's genitals, which, I must say, would be no fucking fun at all.) If this does not happen, after one or two generations the matter will come up again. (Or 40 years. Whichever comes first) We see this, for example, in Turkey with the genocide of the Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century, more than one hundred years ago. Turks always refused to admit that there was genocide and now with the third or the fourth generation the matter is coming back again. We see this also in Latin America. After the military dictatorships came the laws of amnesty. Well, this did not solve anything because it was like saying that nothing had happened. In fact, things have happened and as long as this is not recognised and condemned, the matter will never die but will remain in the memory of the people. (We also saw this in my little cousin's bedroom but I won't go into that.) So, from the purely political point of view, in order to solve such situations, it is necessary to go through a social process of recognition of the wrongdoing and legal condemnation. After that, reconciliation can take place. But you cannot pardon something, which has not been recognised. You can pardon it if it has been recognised as a wrongdoing by the people who are responsible. Then you can say okay, in order to build society we have to bring about a process of reconciliation. That means the possibility of living together again. (I would really like to live together with a few toddlers) Let us consider the example of co-operation between the Germans, the French and the Belgians after the Second World War. New Germany recognised the wrongdoing and paid for it. Now the relationship between Germany , France and Belgium in spite of all that has had happened is excellent, and it has been possible to build on a reconciliation process. That is from a political point of view. (I understand that Adolph had a bit of thing for tots....Or maybe that was farts...not really sure....)
From the ethical point of view and even the theological point of view, this is all the more true. Because there is also, you see, an ethical aspect; reconciliation is a value recognised in the Gospel and is found in other religions as well. Such an ethical value has a special meaning for Christians in the work of constructing the reign of God. So it has a very fundamental dimension. But, again, this dimension is possible on the condition that the party who has been guilty has an ethical attitude. (It also helps if the offended party is a family member who will willingly sweep the offense under the rug) For example, the military in Argentina , South Korea , the Philippines and Haiti all refused to recognise any wrongdoing. How can you reconcile? (I never liked confession. Too embarrassing. I prefer a quick handjob myself.) In this sense reconciliation from an ethical point of view is meeting the same goal as from the political perspective. Finally, reconciliation means also a certain type of compensation; it may be material or it may be moral, but compensation is also necessary.
The victims can eventually renounce material compensation if they want to, but they have to decide, not the ones who were responsible in the past or the state. Of course, from the Christian perspective, pardon is very fundamental and very important and it is only possible when the wrongdoing has been recognised.
Consider, for example, the one class of readers who have most deeply understood and appreciated my work on sexual trauma and mystical states: women and men who have themselves been sexually abused as children or young adults and later found themselves entering, often spontaneously, into extremely positive and healing altered states of consciousness. Such readers do not "accept" or "understand" what I am trying to communicate. They know. Their readings are based on excessive life events, on the most troublingly delightful movements of their own minds and bodies. And they are perfectly aware that very few people will ever understand them, that others cannot possibly "get it."
How could they? They have not been through the same life-altering experiences and had their consciousness and energies permanently shifted into other dimensions of knowing and being. One might as well try to explain an orgasm to a 5 year old.by RocketMan » Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:29 pm
Social media users are scolding a creepy ad that jokes about incest and pedophilia to sell socks.
AdWeek called attention to the spot from Burlington France. The short video, which was released in October, has sparked outrage among viewers on YouTube.
The ad's title, "Can You Sock Me?" telegraphs the premise of a young boy asking the question to his mother, who eagerly obliges in this double-entendre drivel. (Watch it, above.)
And that's not even the latest shlock from the European sock company, which appears to have a legitimate Facebook page packed with negative comments. The company's new ad (below) features a young man killing his hospitalized grandpa so he can take his socks.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 172 guests