Boycotting hotels with porn channels will help stop DV and sexual abuse?

The article below highlights what one MN county is attempting to do as an effort to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault.  Which would normally be something that I would applaud.  In this situation though I think this an extreme waste of time, effort and possibly even money; spent debating this proposed bill.

First off let me say that I’m not dense and in a sense I get what they are getting at...in that forcing employees to not stay at hotels that offer porn channels would maybe in the long run force the hotel to stop offering these channels; and maybe this would have some positive impact.

When I initially read this article my thoughts flew off in so many directions.  I have re-read this piece a few times to make sure that I was really reading what I first thought I was.  My first thought upon reading the headline was:  wow, they must have a problem with county employee’s and porn.

My next thought was more along the lines of:  what if they have a lazy employee that would rather just stay where ever is convenient for them without asking if the hotel offered pay per view porn, even if they would not be reimbursed for the room costs, would that person then be looked at differently and silently accused of something...stereotyped even?

But wait, they have added in all the provisions to make sure they can still stay at hotels where porn is available and get the reimbursement.... so who really are they trying to protect?  Or, better yet, who really are they trying to fool with this bill?

So staying in a hotel that offers porn channels is ok as long as it costs less to stay there or it is the hotel where a conference is being held?  So as long as it is cheaper and more convenient to stay there then combating domestic violence and sexual abuse are ignored?  What kind of message is this actually sending?

 

Minnesota county considers anti-porn bill for employee hotel stays ~ By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY

Comments 100

Does the hotel you just booked offer porn on its pay-per-view system? A Minnesota county is considering banning its employees from staying in hotels that offer porn. File photo, taken May 25, 2005, shows a spacious room - and flat-screen TV - at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

A Minnesota county tomorrow will consider passing a bill that would ban county employees from selecting hotels with porn on their pay-per-view TV systems.

Concerned about sexual and domestic violence, Winona County commissioners will consider a so-called "clean hotel" policy, the Winona Daily News reports. It's not clear how county employees would figure out whether or not the hotel they're thinking about booking offers porn.

The county's move comes about five months after Minnesota state lawmakers considered passing a bill that would restrict Minnesota state employees from staying in hotels that offered violent porn movies for state-sponsored trips. In mid-March, a state House committee voted down the bill.

According to the local paper, Winona County employees would not be reimbursed for their hotel bill if the hotel offers pornography. Some 480 hotels meet the criteria, the story says.

The bill would allow for some exemptions: County workers could stay in a hotel that offers porn if it's the official hotel for a conference, or if staying at the porn-free hotel would cost 15% more than another hotel, the paper says.

Winona County's proposed bill also calls for the county government to ask the Association of Minnesota Counties to adopt the same rule.

Anti-porn bill proponents say the bill can help reduce sexual and domestic violence, the story says. "In and of itself, this policy is not a cure-all," a county paper reads, "but it is an important effort to help prevent a social disease and its related costs to the public."

The state of Minnesota spent $221 million in 2006 on costs linked to sexual violence, the paper says.

Readers: What do you think about the anti-porn bill proposal? If you agree with the anti-porn effort, do you ever check to see whether the Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn, Best Western or any other hotel you're thinking of booking offers porn?

Posted Sep 6 2010 4:08PM

Minnesota county considers anti-porn bill for employee hotel stays - USATODAY.com

Children Have A Right to A Relationship with Their Father

While attempting to write up something coherent on this news article I found a post on RandiJames.com that I’d like to share with you.  I am still currently too mad...and worried for these little girls to say anything useful here!  But Randi James put it very well:

Original Post here:  http://www.randijames.com/2010/03/children-have-right-to-relationship.html

UPDATED!! AGAIN
Does watching child porn match you a bad father? Maybe, maybe not. But who'd like to bet their own children on it? Any volunteers?
No, seriously.
A father was convicted of child pornography offenses a couple of years ago.
His wife left him.
Subsequently, the father has been trying to get access to his children.
The court previously found that he had behaved inappropriately in bed with one of the children.
But JUDGE ROBERT BENJAMIN ordered that the two children, who are girls aged 8 and 10, spend weekends with their father.
Eldest daughter is afraid.
To facilitate the father's rights, JUDGE ROBERT BENJAMIN orders that:
1. the girls sleep in the same bedroom (to "support" each other), and
2. the father place a lock on the bedroom door for the girls
3. the father have an adult friend stay overnight when the girls are present
Additionally, some UNNAMED Family Court counselor has stated that the girls don't pose a risk to the father, at their current ages, when they are awake, clothed, and together.
How considerate.
Think I'm kidding? See article here.

A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 3 (Best interests of the child): The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect children. This particularly applies to budget, policy and law makers.
Article 4 (Protection of rights): Governments have a responsibility to take all available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. When countries ratify the Convention, they agree to review their laws relating to children. This involves assessing their social services, legal, health and educational systems, as well as levels of funding for these services. Governments are then obliged to take all necessary steps to ensure that the minimum standards set by the Convention in these areas are being met. They must help families protect children’s rights and create an environment where they can grow and reach their potential. In some instances, this may involve changing existing laws or creating new ones. Such legislative changes are not imposed, but come about through the same process by which any law is created or reformed within a country. Article 41 of the Convention points out the when a country already has higher legal standards than those seen in the Convention, the higher standards always prevail.
Article 5 (Parental guidance): Governments should respect the rights and responsibilities of families to direct and guide their children so that, as they grow, they learn to use their rights properly. Helping children to understand their rights does not mean pushing them to make choices with consequences that they are too young to handle. Article 5 encourages parents to deal with rights issues "in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child". The Convention does not take responsibility for children away from their parents and give more authority to governments. It does place on governments the responsibility to protect and assist families in fulfilling their essential role as nurturers of children.
Article 6 (Survival and development): Children have the right to live. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.
Article 9 (Separation from parents): Children have the right to live with their parent(s), unless it is bad for them. Children whose parents do not live together have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this might hurt the child.
Article 12 (Respect for the views of the child): When adults are making decisions that affect children, children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account. This does not mean that children can now tell their parents what to do. This Convention encourages adults to listen to the opinions of children and involve them in decision-making -- not give children authority over adults. Article 12 does not interfere with parents' right and responsibility to express their views on matters affecting their children. Moreover, the Convention recognizes that the level of a child’s participation in decisions must be appropriate to the child's level of maturity. Children's ability to form and express their opinions develops with age and most adults will naturally give the views of teenagers greater weight than those of a preschooler, whether in family, legal or administrative decisions.
Article 19 (Protection from all forms of violence): Children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally. Governments should ensure that children are properly cared for and protect them from violence, abuse and neglect by their parents, or anyone else who looks after them. In terms of discipline, the Convention does not specify what forms of punishment parents should use. However any form of discipline involving violence is unacceptable. There are ways to discipline children that are effective in helping children learn about family and social expectations for their behaviour – ones that are non-violent, are appropriate to the child's level of development and take the best interests of the child into consideration. In most countries, laws already define what sorts of punishments are considered excessive or abusive. It is up to each government to review these laws in light of the Convention.
Article 34 (Sexual exploitation): Governments should protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse. This provision in the Convention is augmented by the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Article 36 (Other forms of exploitation): Children should be protected from any activity that takes advantage of them or could harm their welfare and development.
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We encourage you to browse our website. Become informed on new issues, inspired by what you learn and then take whatever steps you can to make a difference in building a better world for children. Please contact us if you have any further questions. Email Tanya Turkovich: tturkovich@unicef.org

This case is one of many, internationally, involving fathers' rights to their children. We can't all be lying.

In the words of Judge Robert Lemkau (California):
And you have an ex parte request calendared for tomorrow which I am advancing today. One of you is lying, and I am very concerned...
...I am inclined to deny you ex parte request. I feel that, if you're lying, there's going to be adverse consequences...
...I'm denying your request, ma'am. I think— there's insufficient evidence in my mind...
...Well, ma'am, there's a real dispute about whether that's even true or not...
...I'm going to deny it, ma'am. My suspicion is that you're lying, but I'm going to keep the custody orders in full force and effect...
...I reviewed it and that's why I'm -- my supposition, ma'am, is that you're lying, but if I'm incorrect, you can always bring another ex parte motion but don't misrepresent the situation. If you're lying about this, there's going to be adverse consequences. My supposition is that you are lying...

Randi James: Children Have A Right to A Relationship with Their Father. I'd Like to Thank Judge Robert Benjamin on Behalf of the U.N.

Children rescued, hundreds charged in child prostitution crackdown - BostonHerald.com

 

By Joe Markman / Tribune Washington Bureau

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - Added 8h ago

WASHINGTON — Federal officials announced Monday that 52 children had been saved and nearly 700 people had been arrested and charged over the past three days in a nationwide crackdown on child prostitution.

Officials of the FBI, along with representatives of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and police agencies throughout the country, said the arrests were the results of investigations in 36 cities.

The sweep, dubbed Operation Cross Country, is part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative, started in 2003 to addr...More: 

Children rescued, hundreds charged in child prostitution crackdown - BostonHerald.com

750,000 pedophiles prowling Internet: UN

 

Some 750,000 paedophiles prowling Internet: UN

Published: Wednesday September 16, 2009

 

Some 750,000 sexual predators are constantly prowling the Internet in a bid to gain contact with children, a United Nations report warned on Wednesday.

"The number of sites devoted to child pornography worldwide is growing. The number of predators connected to the Internet at any one time is estimated to be 750,000," said Najat Maala, Special Rapporteur on the child prostitution and child pornography issue.

Unicef also estimates there are more than four million websites featuring minors, including those of children aged under two years.

More than 200 new images are also circulated daily, according to Maala, who pointed out the production and distribution of child pornographic images rakes in between 3 and 20 billion dollars (2.04 and 13.62 billion euros) a year.

"Images of sexually exploited children are not only growing in number but are also increasingly shocking," added Maala, who estimates that between 10,000 and 100,000 minors are victims of the child pornography network.

She noted that the age of sexual consent should not be used as an excuse for child pornographic peddlers -- as it is used in places where this age limit is lower than the definition of who constitutes a minor.

This is because a "child under 18 cannot be considered to be able to consent to sexual exploitation, including child pornography," she added.

The Raw Story | Some 750,000 paedophiles prowling Internet: UN

Loophole in the system allows sex offender step-dad to continue living in house with two young kids

This one really got to me.  I have edited and re-edited my comments to this, because I am so mad I can not even form a complete sentence. 

First, off who wrote this damn law, and how would they feel if their little ‘loophole’ had trapped their own young kids?? 

Secondly, what in the hell is this mother thinking?  As a mother there ain’t no fucking way my kids and I would still be in that house!  Ok, so since I don’t know her; maybe she didn’t know before she married the slime ball.  But, now that she knows; WHY in the hell is she still there?  There ain’t no dick on this planet that is worth the risk to the kids!!

Third, and most importantly...my thoughts and prayers are with those two little kids that are caught in this mess!  I sincerely hope that nothing happens to them!

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=11145262

Man's Children Share Home With Convicted Sex Offender

Posted: Sep 16, 2009 7:36 PM EDT Wednesday, September 16, 2009 7:36 PM EST

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mike Miguel said his two young children are living with a sex offender, and there's nothing he can do to stop it. A legal loophole has the father frustrated. 

Miguel's nightmare started with an internet search. He typed in the new address where his two children would be living with his ex-wife and their new step-dad.

"Here comes his name and picture on the TBI website for a sex offender," said Miguel. "Everyday is a new fear."

The man living with his 7-year-old and 9-year-old was a sex offender, convicted of uploading pornographic pictures of children.

"Now my kids are there everyday, taking baths and showers, just running around the house in their underwear, whatever they are doing. How is he looking at my children?" said Miguel.

Miguel pushed for an emergency court hearing to get custody of his children because he thought state law was on his side. State lawmakers did pass legislation that if a sex offender commits a crime against a child younger than 13, they would not be allowed to live in a home with a minor.

In Miguel's case because the offender was uploading child pornography, it's hard for investigators to prove the identity of the young victims, and find out exactly how old they are.

"It starts to drive you a little crazy," said Miguel.

Miguel has to make due with waiting until May. That's when once again he'll go before a judge to try and get custody of his two children.

"Everyday I walk by my kids pictures and I look at them, and think I just don't know. You wonder what's going on, what's happening, Is there anything happening, is there not, but you can't do anything about it," said Miguel.

Miguel was pushing to change state law when it comes to the legal loophole. He's been in touch with State Representative Susan Lynn. Lynn's looking into creating a bill that could resolve the issue when they go back into session in January.

Rep. Lynn is also looking into another issue impacting juveniles and sex offenders. Minors only have one year to report a sexual assault to investigators. Lynn wanted to extend that period of time.

Child molesting dad/granddad gets slap on the wrist

Shit like this pisses me off!!  They quote:

Crown Prosecutor Gary Corr said, "It was one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever seen.

But the asshole only got 19 fucking years??  And, will be eligible for parole in 12-13 years??  Gee, let me think....what about what he did in the way of fucking up those two (well and according to the article this wasn't the first time, another girl back in the 90's) little girls lives!  They aren't going to be all better in another 12-13 years....also, if he did this before, way back when....he didn't stop, he just didn't get caught again until recently!!  He should be locked up for life!  Or killed....I personally prefer dead!  Castration doesn’t stop these monsters, nor does short jail terms.  This sends the message that child molesters and child porn distributors will just get a slap on the wrist and be free to go about their business.

Original:  http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26065654-421,00.html

A FIREFIGHTER, who led a double life selling images of his naked daughter and granddaughter online to pedophiles around the world, has been jailed for 19 years.

The 40-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the children, videoed and photographed acts of sexual abuse he inflicted on his six-year-old daughter and four-month-old granddaughter on at least 10 occasions in 2007.

The father-of-five, who worked as a casual firefighter with the NSW Fire Brigade, tried to establish an international child-porn-selling ring using the Google chat room program Hello, to sell the photos and videos of the two girls in packages for $10,000.

His arrest came after his operation was discovered in a collaborative investigation by FBI officers in the US and the Australian Federal Police.

Court files revealed the man, who in 2000 worked as a bus driver transporting spectators to Sydney Olympic events, had filmed his daughter dancing naked in the bathroom.

Related Coverage

• Man charged over sex attack on boyNEWS.com.au, 11 Sep 2009
• Rapist grandfather free on bailHerald Sun, 31 Jul 2009
• Reader's Comments: Child porn battle swamps AFPNEWS.com.au,
• Man charged with child porn offences | NSW/ACTNEWS.com.au, 14 Mar 2009
• Men arrested with child pornPerth Now, 9 Feb 2009

He had also photographed himself raping and sexually assaulting her on numerous occasions, at times using a webcam.

He referred to his daughter as a "sexual pearl" in chat rooms and had showed child-porn images to the girl to make her feel comfortable posing.

He also took photos of himself sexually assaulting his four-month-old granddaughter he was meant to be babysitting for his then 20-year-old son in July, 2007.

The horrifying acts were committed in his southern NSW home where he lived with his wife and three young children, aged seven, six and three months at the time of the assaults.

His 28-year-old wife of six years had no idea of the double life her husband was living.

Court documents revealed the man had contacted at least 15 child-porn buyers and had negotiated a sale with one before he was arrested in September, 2007.

Police investigation showed the man had sexually assaulted another 11-year-old girl on an ongoing basis prior to 1997.

On September 4, he was sentenced to 19 years jail in the Sydney District Court. He will not be eligible for parole until March, 2022.

His wife has now relocated to a secret location in the hope that her husband will never find her when released from prison.

With the sickening details of the man's actions played out in the court room, Crown Prosecutor Gary Corr said, "It was one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever seen.

"The problem was not so much that we had to show the photos in the court room, but stopping the jury members from jumping the rails and beating him to death when we did."

The man pleaded guilty to all charges which included indecently assaulting and having sexual intercourse with children aged under 10 and 14, and possessing and making child porn available on the internet.

The man did not speak during the trial except to plead guilty. His wife told police the couple had always had a "fairly inactive sex life" and that there had been "a normal father-daughter relationship" between father and daughter, court documents said.

During interviews with police she was astonished to discover the truth of the man's double life. He is now on 24-hour suicide watch in prison.

FBI officers in the US tipped off AFP investigators that the father had been distributing naked images of his granddaughter to a Florida man.

AFP officers found the man masquerading online as a 12-year-old under the user name of "firemansam2007".

A raid at the house recovered the man's laptop and a 320 gigabyte external hard drive, which contained more than 132,000 child-porn images.

Dad used daughter, 6, to sell porn pictures | National News | News.com.au

Kiddie porn or kitty porn?

What an idiot!!  My cat has jumped on my computer before but NEVER has even one porn image appear much less 1,000!

Keith Griffin, of Jensen Beach, Florida has been charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography. The only thing is that he claims he isn’t the one who downloaded the kiddie porn. He states that he would occasionally download music, but when he’d leave the room, the cat would start pouncing at the keyboard. By the time Griffin would return to the computer ‘strange’ thing would appear on the computer screen.

Police found over 1,000 child porn images on his computer. Though Griffin claims that it was ‘kitty’ porn, he’s arrested and is being held on $250,000 bond.

More About: Child Pornography · Child Porn · Keith Griffin

Original:  Is that kiddie porn or kitty porn? Man blames cat for downloading child porn