13 year old boys do not view Sexting as child porn, and when you were a teen neither did you

February 27, 2009 · Posted in Funny and Odd, Rant, Social Issues, Society, Things to think about · Comment 

Sexting is a crime, but it should not beFor the high crime of sharing a semi-nude photo of a friend’s girlfriend, six teenagers from Falmouth, Massachusetts, are waiting to hear if they’ll face child pornography charges that could follow them for the rest of their lives. Before they decide to demonstrate their hard-line bona fides, local officials may want to do a little snooping at home. A recent survey found that one in five teens are doing just what those unlucky teens were caught at — and the sons and daughters of ambitious prosecutors aren’t excluded.

Thirteen-year-old Ben Hunt has become the face of the latest “sexting” scandal, since his father, Brian, has taken the lead in apologizing for the incident while calling for a sensible response. Ben and five of his friends were caught sharing a photo among their cell phones of one of the boy’s girlfriends raising her shirt and flashing a breast.

After they were nabbed by officials at the Lawrence School, Principal Paul Fay went to the modern default response, calling police instead of parents. Local officials are now sitting on the matter pending a hearing at the Falmouth District Court where the teens will discover whether their minor lack of discretion will result in felony criminal charges that could land the kids on the sex-offender registry.

You don’t want to overreact if your kids are engaging in this. These types of (sexual) urges are not perverse.

The only local official who seems to have a sense of proportion is Dr. Shannon Scarry, the medical director for behavioral health services at Cape Cod Healthcare, who told the Cape Cod Times, “You don’t want to overreact if your kids are engaging in this. These types of (sexual) urges are not perverse. They are all the same age. It’s different than if it was an 18-year-old with pictures of a 12-year-old. That’s a felony that is going to follow them. It was impulsive, not well thought out, immature behavior, and they should be punished, but this is really an opportunity for a moral lesson.”

Proper punishment, it would seem, would involve the offended girl breaking up with her jerk of a boyfriend, with a round of groundings and cell phone confiscation all around for the rest of the teens, courtesy of their parents.

Instead, the police and courts are involved.

If it seems to you that horror stories like this surface every couple of weeks, you’re right — they do. There’s good reason for that. “Sexting” — sharing nude and semi-nude images via ever-prevalent technical means — is a popular form of flirting among the young set. A recent survey (PDF) published by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com found that 20% of all teens “have sent/posted nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves.”

Don’t expect them to grow out of it. The numbers go up as they get older, with 33% of those 20 to 26 sharing risque snapshots with their friends.

Ben Hunt and his buddies deserve whatever punishments their parents decide to dish out in an effort to knock a little judgment into their heads.

And local officials? They deserve a reality check. Sexting is going on closer to home than they think.

This article is from a February 17, 2009 story by – you may access the original article here

February 17, 1:40 PM
by J.D. Tuccille, Civil Liberties Examiner

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Republicans for Common Sense Gun Control

October 28, 2008 · Posted in Political Issues, Politics, RNC, Social Change, Social Issues, Society, Things to think about · 4 Comments 

OK, due to the recent posts by my colleagues on this topic I felt the need to reply.  The title of this post is my name for a group that I have wanted to start for a long time.

We all know that the National Rifle Association (NRA) holds a special and powerful place within the Republican party.

As a Republican, my views on this issue stop short of the proposal posted on this site to ban all weapons that fire a projectile.

But, I largely agree with the sentiment expressed that the founders did not comprehend the notion of automatic weapons, certain types of ammunition, etc.

Possession of small arms by individuals in no way protects our rights.  The ballot box is the only effective means of protecting our rights.  Against a modern military no useful purpose outside legitimate sporting and self defense requirements is served by individual possession of firearms.  Small arms do not prevent tyranny.

In fact, any reasonable cost / benefit analysis of the issue will prove the point that for every crime stopped by an individual with a handgun, many more are committed with them by those more willing to use them – criminals.

Now, an outright ban on guns is not going to happen in this country in my life time (which I hope is at least 30 more years!).  Also, I am not sure that I am supportive of eliminating legitimate sporting uses.  I am not a hunter, but I do enjoy shooting skeet and trap from time to time.

I do think the mass shootings and crime statistics however compel us as a nation to deal with this issue.

I think that when they think about it (”they” being the average person and “when” being after the immediate economic crisis is over and we as a nation can think about issues such as this again) most people would agree on the following as a starting point:

1) Automatic and semi-automatic weapons (along with ammunition specifically designed for killing human beings) should be banned completely.  This includes assault-type rifles and handguns;

2) Shotguns, hunting rifles (bolt and lever action) and revolver type handguns should continue to be permitted but only with strict training requirements, serious penalties for committing a crime with such weapon and the provision that anyone who has ever been convicted of a violent crime will immediately be deemed to have committed a parole violation if caught in possession of such a weapon and required to serve out the full term of their sentence.

With respect to revolving handguns, these would further be restricted to certain individuals who can demonstrate a need for such a weapon (certain private security guards, perhaps individuals living in remote rural locations, etc).

From a political standpoint, I think the issue of gun control is one which will increasingly alienate the swing voter in this country who decides elections.

I think that while the NRA may be of some importance to securing the nomination of the party, the extreme positions supported by it will also serve to marginalize the Republican party in national elections.

This will be a tough issue for the Republican party to address internally, although, they are going to have the time to do it starting a week from today.

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