Sunday, August 4, 2013

Another Week in the Books: Consensual Sex in Cleveland, Big Money at Penn State, and More Terrorist Threats

Most of the sex that went on in that house, probably all of it, was consensual.
Ariel Castro


Well you have to say something don't you? Especially when you are trying to justify kidnapping three young girls, chaining them up in a house for a decade or so and repeatedly raping them. NBC quoted Lewis Katz, a professor of criminal justice at Case Western Reserve University, as saying of Ariel Castro, "He really doesn't understand the gravity and horror of the offenses he committed."

Oh, you think? 

Before hearing the judge sentence him on Thursday, Mr. Castro claimed, among other things, he was not a monster, but sick and addicted to masturbating and pornography. He also said, "I am not a violent person. I simply kept them there without being able to leave."

As the guy in the telephone company ad says, "Well, when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense."

While it is doubtful Castro will have access to pornography in the joint, he will have plenty of time to masturbate. He was hit with life with out the possibility of parole plus 1,000 years. Of course there is always the chance his stay will be far shorter than anyone anticipates.

Alana Van Gundy, who teaches criminal behavior at Miami of Ohio University says Castro will have to be isolated from the rest of the prison population because sex offenders don't fare too well in Ohio lockups. In fact their vital organs are the preferred depositories of home made shivs and other foreign and deadly objects. She believes the odds are he'll be stuck in isolation 23 hours a day and allowed outside in an enclosed space by himself for the 24th. If he is lucky he might get a TV to watch.

Meanwhile NBC is reporting that Penn State University has run up $47.7 million in costs related to the grotesque sex scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky, who was retired, but had access to university facilities, was arrested in November of 2011 and charged with molesting young boys, including some on Penn State property.

The cover up of his behavior by university officials cost the Athletic Director, the Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, the President of the University, and finally legendary Head Football Coach, Joe Paterno their careers.

According to the NBC report, the $47 plus million is to cover, "legal fees, consulting work, and other associated costs." The report also says the money being spent would not come from tuition, state appropriations, or donations. In fact there was no speculation on where, or how the university would get the funds to pay the tab. However once you eliminate those three sources one has to think of either surcharges added onto football and other athletic tickets, or wads of cash buried out back in old mayonnaise jars.

Sandusky, who was convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years, still maintains it was all a merry mix up and he is completely innocent.

Finally, on the heels of three military style raids that aided large scale breakouts from prisons spread across the middle east, the United States and Interpol have issued travel warnings to Americans and westerners who are touring abroad.

The American warning was so dire it prompted the temporary closing of 20 embassies and consulates.This month is the 15th anniversary of the embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Ominously, U.S. intelligence reports that suspected terrorist chatter is very reminiscent of what was heard prior to September 11, 2001.

Unfortunately there are scant few details of the threats available to the public, perhaps because neither Ed Snowden or Brad Manning currently have access to computers. However CBS is reporting that at least one plot is so far advanced that specific team members have been chosen to carry it out.

So there we have it. Another week is in the books and the water that flowed under the bridge was deeply polluted and turbulent.

Hopefully we'll do better starting tomorrow, although in truth that prospect seems like a delicate strand of gossamer fancy floating on the wind.

As always stay low and keep moving. Sometimes it really isn't just paranoia.


credo quia absurdum est

8-4-13

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