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Ultima Weapon 2009-05-21

This is a sad situation. This sad situation is featured on the front page of www.oncefallen.com. Ron Book, powerful Florida lobbyist, who lobbied to put these people under the bridge, is also the head of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. He's allowing these people to starve, denying them any kind of assistance. Ron Book is a crooked politician! Its time to abolish residency laws!

Luduvico 2009-05-07

The "Peadegeddon" episode of Brass Eye was comedy gold. Nonce Sense. Ha ha ha ha ha. The 18 y.o. who had sex with his 15 y.o. girlfriend and is now a registered sex offender, that's fucked up. This tent city bullshit is a bizarre freak show and does not deal with the sexual abuse of children at all. It is a warped political response to tabloid media hype which feeds of the suffering of victims. Guilty along with the sexual predators are the politicians and corporate media filth that support this shit and live off their crimes.

JanT 2009-05-04

sshenfield: I agree. In Britain the situation is aggravated by media that at one time saw sex offenders around every corner, running sensational stories about them & how on release they could easily re-offend (plus 'name & shame' campaigns). This leads to greater atomization of society, with adults - mostly male - scared to even approach others' children for fear that they would be labeled molesters - as you point out. There was a comedy show on British TV called Brass Eye by Chris Morris that dared to parody the tabloid media's sensationalizing of the issue in one episode - the episode was withheld, but eventually shown, and Chris Morris was subsequently labelled 'The Most Evil Man in Britain' by one of the tabloids.

sshenfield 2009-05-03

(continued) not their own or to help them across the road, on and off buses, etc. School and preschool teachers are placed in this position. The result is that the abused child who feels unable to tell his or her parents or is not believed by them does not feel that there are other adults around who care for her or him and can be approached for help. This illustrates the powerful alliance that objectively exists between the prudes and the abusers, where indeed they are not the same person.

Dodo Bird 2009-05-03

While it's always sad to see human suffering, would the journalists not have had a much more powerful impact doing a similar piece on the plights of the homeless? Far less moral drama, and far more impetus to act. Fun Fact: USA, followed by Canada, rank 1st and 2nd for most homeless minors per capita. In other words, percentage-wise, we have more street kids than anyone in the world. Don't we love our society and human rights...

sshenfield 2009-05-03

Not only Florida. There is also "Jessica's law" in California, which is a statewide measure. This could become a national norm. But the arrangement is as futile and counterproductive as all the other techno-fixes this society loves to think up as a way of avoiding self-criticism and real change. By depriving these people of a stable family life you increase the risk of recidivism. And by forcing them to rely on odd jobs you give any potential recidivist a perfect alibi for wandering around in search of victims. The GPS won't tell you whether he goes to a given locale every week to mow someone's lawn or to molest a child. The excessively broad definition of sexual molestation to include trivial acts like peeing in the bushes (which can only upset people brought up to fear their own natural functions) also increases the risk of real sexual abuse. It makes people, especially men but even women, justifiably frightened to give natural expression to affection for children who are