Well, it wasn’t flagged by the spell checker, so how would anyone notice there was an error? The story is here.
Archive for the ‘Indiana’ Category
I wonder if the author of this billboard was a South Bend pubic school graduate.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010Massage parlor fishing expedition in Indianapolis
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010Cops in Indianapolis raided thirteen massage parlors looking for evidence of prostitution. They made prostitution arrests at less than half the businesses. In a typical ploy to get around those pesky Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches, the cops simply tagged along with license, fire, and health code inspectors that have easy access to businesses without requiring a warrant.
From fox59.com:
One business owner is fighting back, reopening his shop after consulting with an attorney. He said his therapists all have state licenses and don’t need certification from the city. He claims the raid damaged his business.
“We have customers that were very embarrassed and probably won’t come back. This is probably one of the few legitimate asian massage places in this town and we went through quite a lot of effort to make it that way,” said Kenneth Carter, owner of the Asian Health Center Therapy Massage.
Massage parlors are commonly perceived to be a front for prostitution and the public is unlikely to have much sympathy for any businesses that is painted as part of the illegal sex trade. As a result, law enforcement faces no public outcry when they use sleazy schemes to harass them.
Blanket harassment of massage parlors by cops is no different than targeting people simply because they are black. Law enforcement investigations should be based on solid evidence that a crime has taken place before they invade someone’s private property. The Constitutional rules don’t change because the business is a massage parlor, strip club, or store that sells sex toys. Police and prosecutors have the power to inflict huge legal expenses on businesses regardless of whether the charges stand up in court. Raiding a business without legitimate cause is abuse of that power.
Prosecutor’s panties in a wad over movie kiosks
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Vanderburgh County, Indiana prosecutor Stan Levco is concerned about (yes, you guessed it) kids. Any kid with a credit card and a willingness to lie about his age can rent R-rated movies at Redbox DVD kiosks.
He sent letters out in his southern Indiana county to business owners that have Redboxes on their property.
“[I] told them that I thought they had a potential violation there and they should remove them,” said Levco.
The article doesn’t say anything about complaints that might have led to the crackdown. It seems more like a one-man crusade.
“I’ve gotten a number of responses from attorneys around the county and the country they want to persuade me that I shouldn’t be going after them,” said Levco.
Apparently Levco has eradicated all other crime of consequence in his jurisdiction leaving him with plenty of free time to focus on saving kids under 18 from the moral destruction that comes with seeing an R-rated movie, not that there is mention in the article of any kid actually having rented such a movie at one of the kiosks…
Remember the days when parents used to be in charge of what their kids could and couldn’t see? So, if some parent gives their kid a credit card and allows them to rent an R-rated movie at a Redbox, is that a crime?
More “Sexting” idiocy
Thursday, January 28th, 2010According to a story in NBCChicago.com:
A 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy from Valparaiso have been charged with possession of child pornography and child exploitation after it was discovered they were using their cell phones to exchange nude pictures of themselves with each other.
You guessed it. Another case of beating children over the head with laws originally intended to protect them.
Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polark told the Northwest Indiana Times that young people don’t understand the ramifications of texting nude pictures…
Yeah, Deputy Prosecutor Polark, the ramifications are that crusaders like you, looking to make a name for youself, will hunt them down and do everything in your power to make them miserable. The only one exploiting children in this story is you.
A recent study from the Pew Research Center reported that 30 percent of 17 year old’s who reported having cell phones have received sexually explicit texts or cell phone messages.
Well, I guess having 30% of teenagers as fair game for child porn charges will be like shooting fish in a barrel for Prosecutor Polark. After all, why go after genuine hard to find sex offenders (you know, the kind that actually rape and molest kids) when you can target a large, readily available, and mostly vulnerable chunk of the population?
From nwi.com:
“Something needs to be done, but we think dealing with them through the juvenile court system is appropriate, so as not to saddle them with (consequences) from the adult system,” Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel said.
Actually, no. Something doesn’t need to be done. Perhaps, just perhaps, there are some things that happen between individuals that are private. Perhaps there are some things where the state just doesn’t have to feel compelled to rescue someone from themselves.
This is a case of trying to protect kids from persecution, shame, and embarrassment at the hands of a society that is not of their making. And if that’s not enough, that protection is facilitated by punishing the kids they’re supposedly protecting. It defies all logic.
Wouldn’t the better approach be to change society so that a child isn’t indoctrinated with a intense fear and anxiety about sex and nudity? How long before we start seeing sexual assault charges against children caught playing doctor?
If there’s an injury to these kids, it’s not as a result of something they did. The injury is a result of being caught by those trying to save them.
