Thought Crimes & Tila Tequila
Dec. 7th, 2007 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraSo KGO talk radio host Bernie Ward has been indicted on federal child porn charges.
This upsets me: Bernie has been my wingman on many a long late-night drive. Invariably I would be exhausted when I got behind the wheel of my car, freeway exits flashing before me like Stations of the Cross. On more than one occasion, I'm sure, all that prevented me from becoming yet one more statistic on the highway death roll was the grating sound of Bernie's voice.
I agreed with very few of Bernie's rants. But he kept me awake. And I liked the idea that a liberal talk show host could be every bit as obnoxious as Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh.
Talk radio is one of my secret vices. In the days when I did a lot of long distance driving, I used to listen to quite a bit of it and I almost always preferred the conservatives to the liberals. Not because I agreed with them – I didn't – but because they were funnier. Often unintentionally funny, of course – the sheer idiocy of their lunatic assumptions, the jerkitude of their vast listening audiences. Are human beings really that stupid? Apparently. Plus, you know, I'm a big fan of Elia Kazan's A Face In the Crowd.
Bernie appears to be using a variant of the Pete Townsend defense: he came into possession of the images in the process of researching a book. This seems credible to me – although I imagine it will become more credible to other people if evidence of that manuscript is found. Intent, however, may not be a mitigating factor under the American statute.
What's more distressing to me is that Bernie apparently was the target of some sort of Internet sting operation, FBI guys posing as NAMBLA members to lure pederasts in. Or are they posing? See, if I were a pederast, I'd think, whoa! this is the job for me! Internet stings always disturb me, less so in this instance where evidently an image of some sort was distributed than in those cases where the FBI agent actually poses as a fourteen year old boy/girl. In that latter instance, what's really being prosecuted is a thought crime since the FBI agent is demonstrably not a minor, yet the perp will be prosecuted as though he/she were.
Very slippery slope there.
I'm the mother of two boys. I did once sense an… unwholesome… interest in Max when he was around ten or eleven from a counselor in an after school program. I yanked Max from the program post haste, but it would never have dawned on me to voice my suspicions to any kind of authority. I don't think the guy was actually a threat. I just didn't like the idea of my son being his eye candy.
When I was a kid, scarcely a day would go by when I didn't see some businessman exposing himself or jacking off in Central Park on my way to school -- and no, I'm not exaggerating: why do you ask?
Things have definitely changed.
For the better? I don't know. It was definitely creepy seeing all those perves, but I don't know that it's any less creepy living in this hysterical, hypocritical era where 13-year girls are encouraged to wear full Brittney-inspired slut regalia and yet it's shocking! shocking! shocking to even think of them as sex objects.
Such a crazy world. And the craziest thing is that even if Bernie Ward is completely exonerated, his life is effectively over: the accusation, in this instance, is almost as bad as the conviction.
In other exciting news, Robin has revealed the Top Three in the Middle School Babe pantheon. They are:
1. Jessica Alba
2. Tila Tequila
3. Hannah Montana
Who the fuck is Tila Tequila? And can you only be a babe if your name rhymes?
This upsets me: Bernie has been my wingman on many a long late-night drive. Invariably I would be exhausted when I got behind the wheel of my car, freeway exits flashing before me like Stations of the Cross. On more than one occasion, I'm sure, all that prevented me from becoming yet one more statistic on the highway death roll was the grating sound of Bernie's voice.
I agreed with very few of Bernie's rants. But he kept me awake. And I liked the idea that a liberal talk show host could be every bit as obnoxious as Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh.
Talk radio is one of my secret vices. In the days when I did a lot of long distance driving, I used to listen to quite a bit of it and I almost always preferred the conservatives to the liberals. Not because I agreed with them – I didn't – but because they were funnier. Often unintentionally funny, of course – the sheer idiocy of their lunatic assumptions, the jerkitude of their vast listening audiences. Are human beings really that stupid? Apparently. Plus, you know, I'm a big fan of Elia Kazan's A Face In the Crowd.
Bernie appears to be using a variant of the Pete Townsend defense: he came into possession of the images in the process of researching a book. This seems credible to me – although I imagine it will become more credible to other people if evidence of that manuscript is found. Intent, however, may not be a mitigating factor under the American statute.
What's more distressing to me is that Bernie apparently was the target of some sort of Internet sting operation, FBI guys posing as NAMBLA members to lure pederasts in. Or are they posing? See, if I were a pederast, I'd think, whoa! this is the job for me! Internet stings always disturb me, less so in this instance where evidently an image of some sort was distributed than in those cases where the FBI agent actually poses as a fourteen year old boy/girl. In that latter instance, what's really being prosecuted is a thought crime since the FBI agent is demonstrably not a minor, yet the perp will be prosecuted as though he/she were.
Very slippery slope there.
I'm the mother of two boys. I did once sense an… unwholesome… interest in Max when he was around ten or eleven from a counselor in an after school program. I yanked Max from the program post haste, but it would never have dawned on me to voice my suspicions to any kind of authority. I don't think the guy was actually a threat. I just didn't like the idea of my son being his eye candy.
When I was a kid, scarcely a day would go by when I didn't see some businessman exposing himself or jacking off in Central Park on my way to school -- and no, I'm not exaggerating: why do you ask?
Things have definitely changed.
For the better? I don't know. It was definitely creepy seeing all those perves, but I don't know that it's any less creepy living in this hysterical, hypocritical era where 13-year girls are encouraged to wear full Brittney-inspired slut regalia and yet it's shocking! shocking! shocking to even think of them as sex objects.
Such a crazy world. And the craziest thing is that even if Bernie Ward is completely exonerated, his life is effectively over: the accusation, in this instance, is almost as bad as the conviction.
In other exciting news, Robin has revealed the Top Three in the Middle School Babe pantheon. They are:
1. Jessica Alba
2. Tila Tequila
3. Hannah Montana
Who the fuck is Tila Tequila? And can you only be a babe if your name rhymes?
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 08:40 pm (UTC)also, as he was once chief legislative asst. to a congressperson, i find it odd that he didn't start researching child porn by looking at the law- and noticing that there is no overt research exception.
his attorney says he was ignorant of the law-a real head scratcher, that is; what sort of research was he doing?
it always helps the govt. when the accused and his attorneys essentially admit the elements of the crime publicly.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 08:50 pm (UTC)Depends on who he was transmitting the child porn to, I would suppose. (Maybe not legally, of course.) It's a hard defense in any event, but if he was "exchanging" pictures with the individual perpetrating the sting, then he's going to lose the case.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 09:10 pm (UTC)Howie Blitzer is fifteen years old, and recently lost his mother to a car crash on the L.I.E. His father, Martin, has already taken up with a new girlfriend, and spends so much time thinking about work that he barely notices Howie.
Howie, by way of a petty crime, finds himself in the debt of Big John (Brian Cox), a local pedophile. Howie's need for a father figure is palpable, and the two become friends...
It's interesting. The dynamic between them is more complex than a simple "predator-victim" thing. The character of Big John is allowed to be human.
Be warned - it's not for everybody. Nothing graphic happens, but emotionally it's pretty raw. I was very uncomfortable the first time I saw it. But I had to see it again.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:12 am (UTC)I don't know who this guy is, but I found the law's exception for accidental downloads interesting. They allow three images. I have, on one occasion, clicked a link and got *23* pictures of women urinating on my screen. So, the law seems arbitrary and strange, given how crazy some sites are.
I think this Tequila woman is an internet celebrity. There are so many of those little flashes in the pan, that I cannot keep track. For example, I just watched Seth Green impersonate the whiny guy who wanted us to all leave Britney Spears alone. When the celebs do impressions of the non-celebs, the world is Officially Topsy Turvy.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 04:49 pm (UTC)I've done the same thing -- it's generally weird astrology sites that open those links.
The damning thing in the Bernie Ward case is that apparently he uploaded an image to the FBI sting. But the illegal activity all took place within a very narrow time interval, a matter of days. Which would support his research contention.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 08:53 am (UTC)that is so good!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-27 06:34 am (UTC)It's a bit weird, and I'm not sure if I agree with it, but Bernie had hundreds of images apparently. He was also apparently working on a book, which he says the Feds took. could be true: he did some groundbreaking reports on sex abuse in the Catholic Church over the years. There were also some allegations that when he was a priest in the 70s, he got inappropriate with a teenage girl.
I remember reading those transcripts shortly after coming to Australia. It was really sick shit.
But Bernie could be very funny too.
He has a prison blog, if you don't know.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-27 12:36 pm (UTC)Not sure I could bear to read Bernie's prison blog.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-27 12:52 pm (UTC)