pedowned

Wow, what a farked-up world we live in.

What the fark? Wat if he had kids in the farking bathroom? What if he was just freaking bored and had 30 minutes to kill in the park so he just sat on a bench near the bathrooms.

Ohh no the creepy man is going to rape my precious snowflakes?!?!?1

"Visual Sexual Aggression"?!!! So they're going to make it a felony to look at someone "the wrong way"?! Jesus Christ. I weep for what our country has become.

A bill that passed the House last month aims to strengthen the crime of visual sexual aggression against children, according to state Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York.

For those of you who missed all the Schoolhouse Rock episodes explaining this, it's NOT A LAW YET.

DarthBrooks: For those of you who missed all the Schoolhouse Rock episodes explaining this, it's NOT A LAW YET.

It appears to me that Smitty is the only one who got it wrong.

Still a farked-up world where something like this even gets considered, never mind passing a vote.

Um...

Paging Mr. Smith.

queezyweezel: "Visual Sexual Aggression"?!!! So they're going to make it a felony to look at someone "the wrong way"?! Jesus Christ. I weep for what our country has become.

Thoughtcrime doubleplusungood.

The offense is too loosly defined, and open to too many different interpretations, to warrant a C felony, which carries heavy prison time, and likely permanent sex offender registration.

Especially when the testimony is "that man looked at me".

Gwendolyn: Wat if he had kids in the farking bathroom?

That would be incestuous visual sexual aggression.

/jeepers creepers

TommyymmoT: The offense is too loosly defined, and open to too many different interpretations, to warrant a C felony, which carries heavy prison time, and likely permanent sex offender registration.

Especially when the testimony is "that man looked at me".

I think I'd tell every kid with a skateboard to report every adult who gives them a look while they're out there having a good time on a warm spring saturday afternoon.

That should get some laws changed right quick....

Weaver95: That should get some laws changed right quick....

Doubtful.

why is it that these people can't realize that the vast majority of abuse is from a family member or someone close to the family.

Oh, thats right, people have the brains of the sheep in "Animal Farm"

is it me, or does this smack as one step away from "Thought Control" ???

Ahh.. It's that time again. Time for election year writing of waste-of-time bills that have zero chance of getting passed, but that doesn't matter because now election ads can (and will) say "My opponent voted against protecting children from sexual predators".

Government at work.

SlappyKincaid: is it me, or does this smack as one step away from "Thought Control" ???

facecrime - Orwell's definition : "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself -- anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called."

Unright: Ahh.. It's that time again. Time for election year writing of waste-of-time bills that have zero chance of getting passed, but that doesn't matter because now election ads can (and will) say "My opponent voted against protecting children from sexual predators".

Government at work.
===================

Exactly that. Why was it necessary to have her portrait (not a news photo) displayed at the very top of the story?

I'm sure in the next few months, she'll go for stricter drunk driving penalties, or increased security in schools, or anything else that her opposition doesn't want to be seen as being against.

Weaver95: I think I'd tell every kid with a skateboard to report every adult who gives them a look while they're out there having a good time on a warm spring saturday afternoon.

That should get some laws changed right quick....

You'd have more fun if you took a bus full of kids on a tour through the State House.

Weaver95:

facecrime - Orwell's definition : "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself -- anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called."


That sounds about right...

IrateShadow: You'd have more fun if you took a bus full of kids on a tour through the State House.

I'm pretty sure the folks in the State House wouldn't be too keen if you were to drive a bus through there.

King Something: IrateShadow: You'd have more fun if you took a bus full of kids on a tour through the State House.

I'm pretty sure the folks in the State House wouldn't be too keen if you were to drive a bus through there.

But there are some things that just need to be done.

I mean, how can you arouse someone by staring?

The Nanny State strikes again.

If by some chance this gets passed and signed, it'll never survive a constitutional challenge.

If this becomes law I hope some cop arrests everyone at a Little League game just to show the loons that passed it how asinine it is.

Well the Constitution does say 'you are guilty until proven innocent by an officer and not a Judge'.

/Oh, I mean George W. Bush's Constitutional.
//Morning crap.

What a stupid bill... it better not become law.

As a Maine resident, I have to ask what the bloody hell those asshats think they're doing.

Since when did people here care about these things enough to warrant the creation of a bill to make it a felony?

/Obviously the work of outsiders.

Wanted for questioning:

All we need is enough shot gun shells and whiskey shipped to the white house in a big box marked "To Dick" with a nice card saying how awesome he is, and how it's great he talked Dubya into line item vetoing this thing into a bill that makes it explicitly NOT a crime to look at people.

Unright: Ahh.. It's that time again. Time for election year writing of waste-of-time bills that have zero chance of getting passed, but that doesn't matter because now election ads can (and will) say "My opponent voted against protecting children from sexual predators".

Government at work.

This, etc.

This'll make me think twice about my weekly visit to the benches in front of Abercrombie and Fitch at the local mall. So what if I pack a lunch and bring my cooler.

© You gotta get there early to get the good benches

Asura-HiME: I mean, how can you arouse someone by staring?

*stares*

Is this turning you on?

A little late to head off the flamewar, but here's the text of the bill. Flashing a child is now a class C felony no matter the setting it takes place in. No idea what TFA was on about.

/Still worrisome, just not as much.

I'm staring at you right now. In Maine.

SlappyKincaid: is it me, or does this smack as one step away from "Thought Control" ???

a lot less than one step. the hysteria over "protecting children" has got to stop.

baka-san

Its not that people are stupid. Its that if parents admitted that most molestations are done by people they trusted then the parents would have to admit that they farked up. Parents would much rather put everybody else in jail for BS like this than take responsibility for their (nigh unto total lack of)parenting skills.
That's why I think that children should be taken away from parents at birth and raised in institutions. Its not like the kids are going to get any dumber or more vicious than the current crop already are.

Let Canada have Maine. We don't need them anymore.

/Give them California too.
//Can't forget about Florida...

Bucky Katt: the hysteria over "protecting children" has got to stop.

But we've got to protect the children . . . you know . . . For The Children™!


/For The Children™ is a registered trademark of the United States Democrat Party

You've got to be farking kidding me. Soon it will be a crime to look at a child too long? What the hell has happened to this country that I love?

InternetLOL: A little late to head off the flamewar, but here's the text of the bill. Flashing a child is now a class C felony no matter the setting it takes place in. No idea what TFA was on about.

/Still worrisome, just not as much.

Can someone please define sexual gratification. Getting turned on without release doesn't sound like gratification to me. If we're going to get nit-picky here, I wanna clear definition of what "sexual" and "gratification" are. Driving a Ferrari gets me worked up as much as a cute girl, doesn't mean I'm going to try and bang the tail pipe.... of the car that is.

If this passes, I wonder how many will be set up?

"welp.. I'm off to the park!"


"Hello, police.. some perve is watching kids at the park!"

InternetLOL: A little late to head off the flamewar, but here's the text of the bill. Flashing a child is now a class C felony no matter the setting it takes place in. No idea what TFA was on about.

That doesn't make much sense. Flashing has been a crime for some time (indecent exposure). What's all this bullshiat about "visual sexual aggression"?

Epsilon: Soon it will be a crime to look at a child too long?

No. It will be illegal to look at the "uncovered breasts, buttocks, genitals, anus or pubic area" of someone who is under the age of 14 for the purpose of "arousing or gratifying sexual desire" if you're over 18.

This is one of the most moronic farking laws since prohibition. Good use of your tax money Maine!

Fjornir: Epsilon: Soon it will be a crime to look at a child too long?

No. It will be illegal to look at the "uncovered breasts, buttocks, genitals, anus or pubic area" of someone who is under the age of 14 for the purpose of "arousing or gratifying sexual desire" if you're over 18.

It isn't already?

Lordmontu Let Canada have Maine. We don't need them anymore.

How 'bout we just give it back to Britain....

Unright: That doesn't make much sense. Flashing has been a crime for some time (indecent exposure). What's all this bullshiat about "visual sexual aggression"?

Don't ask me, I'm still trying to figure out statutory rape.