It is time for me to admit that I need help. I see the world differently than "normal people" do; therefore, I must be the one who is sick or evil. Here are some of my problems.
I watched a news item about a very sexy woman who was being prosecuted for having sex with her 14 year old male student. I was shocked and awed, but not for the "right" reasons.
This sort of thing seems to happen more often now than when I was 14. I remember leering at a few teachers and indulging in similar fantasies. That's all they were, fantasies. I doubt that if one of them had "abused" her position of authority and "forced" me into sexual slavery with her, it would have ruined my life.
I probably would not have come home that night and answered my mother's casual question: "How was school today?" with a confession. I might have told my pals about it, but of course they wouldn't have believed it because we all lied about things like that all the time.
Item 2: The Supreme Court heard argument in two cases involving "domestic violence" raising the legal issue of whether the defendant could be convicted by the hearsay statement of the victim who failed to testify in the trial. Would the tape of the 911 call violate the Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross examine witnesses?
Spokespeople for battered spouses point out that victims are often too intimidated to testify or are misled into forgiving their offending spouses who always promise never to do it again and too often continue the practice. So, the normal person would certainly answer that correction of rampant injustices to thousands of victimized women trapped in abusive relationships, a major social problem, should trump the legal technicalities that allow guilty men to go free.
Maybe you can guess which side I come down on: yup, I admit that the adherence to the Bill Of Rights is the slim thread I cling to and is a sign of my depravity and social insensitivity.
Certainly not the Liberal, but the "Libertarian," view, though I blush at the term, which has come to mean something more like laissez-faire, which is not exactly what I had in mind, and not the so-called "strict constructionist" view Conservatives like to trot out when it suits them.
On another related subject I am also in the mentally deranged minority. I am not particularly offended by the Bush super secret taping of phone calls to and from Afghanistan. It's not that I like the specter of the government listening in on my calls to Kabul, but I am not impressed by the Liberals' outrage about it. Their position seems tepid at best. They're not opposed to the practice, IF ONLY the taping is ratified by a super super secret judge, who, by the way, always lets it happen anyway.
Kind of like the Liberal opposition to the Iraq War: A fine mess you've gotten us into, but I don't have the foggiest notion whether or how to get out.
These are the sorts of twisted thoughts I've been having. Please stop me before I think again!
I watched a news item about a very sexy woman who was being prosecuted for having sex with her 14 year old male student. I was shocked and awed, but not for the "right" reasons.
This sort of thing seems to happen more often now than when I was 14. I remember leering at a few teachers and indulging in similar fantasies. That's all they were, fantasies. I doubt that if one of them had "abused" her position of authority and "forced" me into sexual slavery with her, it would have ruined my life.
I probably would not have come home that night and answered my mother's casual question: "How was school today?" with a confession. I might have told my pals about it, but of course they wouldn't have believed it because we all lied about things like that all the time.
Item 2: The Supreme Court heard argument in two cases involving "domestic violence" raising the legal issue of whether the defendant could be convicted by the hearsay statement of the victim who failed to testify in the trial. Would the tape of the 911 call violate the Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross examine witnesses?
Spokespeople for battered spouses point out that victims are often too intimidated to testify or are misled into forgiving their offending spouses who always promise never to do it again and too often continue the practice. So, the normal person would certainly answer that correction of rampant injustices to thousands of victimized women trapped in abusive relationships, a major social problem, should trump the legal technicalities that allow guilty men to go free.
Maybe you can guess which side I come down on: yup, I admit that the adherence to the Bill Of Rights is the slim thread I cling to and is a sign of my depravity and social insensitivity.
Certainly not the Liberal, but the "Libertarian," view, though I blush at the term, which has come to mean something more like laissez-faire, which is not exactly what I had in mind, and not the so-called "strict constructionist" view Conservatives like to trot out when it suits them.
On another related subject I am also in the mentally deranged minority. I am not particularly offended by the Bush super secret taping of phone calls to and from Afghanistan. It's not that I like the specter of the government listening in on my calls to Kabul, but I am not impressed by the Liberals' outrage about it. Their position seems tepid at best. They're not opposed to the practice, IF ONLY the taping is ratified by a super super secret judge, who, by the way, always lets it happen anyway.
Kind of like the Liberal opposition to the Iraq War: A fine mess you've gotten us into, but I don't have the foggiest notion whether or how to get out.
These are the sorts of twisted thoughts I've been having. Please stop me before I think again!
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