http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html

It has happened to wealthy, poor, middle class, mothers, fathers, pediatricians, pizza chefs, rocket scientists, and professors. We as humans need to believe that the universe is reasonable and horrifying tragedies don’t just randomly happen to decent people, and that if we follow the rules we’ll be okay. It’s too terrifying to think that those poor parents who forgot their children could be just like us - we have to make them monsters, in order for the world to make sense to us. I agree with your suggestions on safety; they have been widely recommended. However please think twice before judging. Nobody believes they themselves could ever be capable of forgetting a child, including probably all of the parents who did. But honey, human memory is a falliable machine. And the truth is, if you’re capable of getting distracted and missing a turn, or forgetting your cell phone, you are capable of forgetting important things too, even your child.

Thank you for your comment.

I’m glad to hear that you are such a good tax-paying-law-abiding-citizen, and no longer a sex offender.

However, the same doesn’t hold true for the rest of sex offenders out there. I will share with you some statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau:
On a given day in 1994 there were approximately 234,000 sex offenders convicted of rape or sexual assault under the care, custody, or control of corrections agencies…

Approximately 4,300 child molesters were released from prisons in 15 States in 1994. An estimated 3.3% of these 4,300 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within 3 years of release from prison.

Sixty-seven percent of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were juveniles (under the age of 18); 34% of all victims were under age 12.

One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were under age 6.

These numbers are staggering! And you mean to tell me, that you are praying for a law to be passed that will encourage these individuals to keep doing the same? You rather risk the well being of thousands of children just to stop your small inconvenience, which basically, you brought upon yourself? Many times even though we have made amends, the consequences of the bad choices we have made will follow us for a long time, as you probably already know.

No, people shouldn’t be trying to vandalize anyone’s home, or try to take matters into their own hands, that’s what the authorities are there for, but you’re no longer a sex offender, so you have nothing to worry about. You are a grown-up man who can take care himself. It seems to me that you are doing pretty well at it, too. Your security cameras seem to be taking care of your problem very well for you.

No, I am not judging anyone. I’m merely calling things what they are. That’s called telling the truth. You said you’re a born again Christian, let me leave you with this: Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. Psalm 82:4 (NLT)

On a given day in 1994 there were approximately 234,000 sex offenders convicted of rape or sexual assault under the care, custody, or control of corrections agencies…

Approximately 4,300 child molesters were released from prisons in 15 States in 1994. An estimated 3.3% of these 4,300 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within 3 years of release from prison.

Sixty-seven percent of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were juveniles (under the age of 18); 34% of all victims were under age 12.

One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were under age 6.

These numbers are staggering! Now you mean to tell me, that we are going to pass a law, a-hate-crime-law, that is going to offer a special protection to these individuals so that they can feel encouraged to continue committing these hideous crimes against children?

By the way, I tried to find nationwide statistics on the so called “hate-crimes” committed to individuals because of their sexual orientation…very hard to find…I guess they’re not that many… and after searching really hard, I found that a staggering grand total of 59 anti-gay attacks were reported in San Francisco in 2000. I also found the following information:
“The hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we now know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay…” Rep. Foxx was referring to statements made to ABC’s 20/20 by the local authorities, who investigated the crime and stated that Shepard’s death was actually the result of his drug use–not his homosexuality.”

Hate is a very strong word JanC. I haven’t hated anyone in my entire life, and I don’t hate you, or anyone else for that matter. I, as a parent, have been entrusted with the care and protection of the children I’ve been given—it is my duty and my responsibility. I am a mom and I take my job very seriously. I will protect my children and all innocent, defenseless children abroad from anything that poses a threat to them with every ounce of my being. And let’s leave religion out of this—religion has nothing to do with this. Let’s look at the animal kingdom. Animals don’t have religion–they still know very well that no one is to harm their offspring in anyway…try taking a lion cub away from her mother…

Actions speak lauder than words; you said no one is after anyone’s children. Why is the homosexual community pushing so hard to get in the classrooms? To have a 5 year old kindergartener, who doesn’t even know where babies come from yet, and doesn’t even care to know yet, to learn about sexual orientation celebrating Harvey Milk day…?…just outrages! Parents don’t send their children to school to learn about or to celebrate anyone’s sexual preference or orientation. They send them to learn the three R’s.

No one is born a homosexual. There is no “gay gene” that has scientifically proven. Being homosexual is a choice. I know of people who have come out of the lifestyle and are very happy they did so. I would recommend a book by Dr. Neil Whitehead, My Genes Made Me Do It! A Scientific Look at Sexual Orientation. Dr. Whitehead has published more than 130 scientific papers. He holds his Ph.D. in biochemistry and worked as a scientist with the New Zealand government for 24 years. He has now been a consultant for seven years.

I really appreciated your comment JanC. Take care.

I pray HR1913 passes.
Because of the stupid “Megan’s Law” my wife’s address is posted on the internet, and our home is often vandalized by miscreants who think they’re justified in exacting more punishment upon me.

Since I have security cameras set up on my property, each vandal has been caught, slapped on the wrist, and released. If this law goes through, it will add some teeth to existing law and the inevitable escalation of crimes against my family will be stymied.

It’s all well and good to hate sex offenders, but remember that as you judge me, so will God judge you, and your righteousness are dirty rags to Him.

The Christian perspective. Who cares if some of them think the Bible says this or that. It’s all up for interpretation, and that’s what keeps them going, plus causing misery, pogroms, wars, massacres, all in the name of their reading of carefully selected passages. So I ask, as the Good Book tells women that they should go to the Temple and sacrifice 2 doves after menstruation, why isn’t dove-keeping as popular as it should be? Does any sane person believe that God would really engineer the creation of people to be gay and then tell them they mustn’t be like that, must be celibate, must not want to have children in a family setting? What a bastard He would be. The odds are stacked up, being gay is not something you choose to be, it’s inbuilt, there’s enough evidence on that. So do we tell people they must not be gay? No, you seem to agree on that. So we tell them they must not want to raise a family? Hey, if gays want to do that, doesn’t that tell you they share the same human desire to do so that you have? If they are as equal as you say, that is so fundamental a right that you cannot rationally, sanely or morally oppose it. If your lawmakers are saying this is what the US Constitution means, that’s because they are doing their job of ensuring its application is reviewed and scrutinised in the name of justice continually. Surely you’re not saying that if gay couples have families this will mean their kids will be gay? Oh dear, then why are there any gay kids at all, to become gay adults. Surely that argument must mean that straight couples bring up straight kids …..????

Or, do you argue that kids ‘become gay’ because of faults by their parents in their upbringing: “What did we do wrong”? So, would gay parents who brought up their kids who “became” straight be wondering where it had all gone wrong? The daftness of your argument is exposed through logic. If children are all naturally straight, then it’s straight parents who make them gay?

“My mother made me a homosexual. Get her some wool and she’ll make you one too.”

Expanding hate crime law to cover gays is no special privilege, it’s because they like other minority groups are the ones exposed to such hatred by supposedly normal majority people - and by other groups also. If blacks weren’t the objects of discrimination there would be no need for them to be protected from hate crimes, Jews also. Likewise gays. Let society change so this does not happen, and, hey presto, no need for hate crime laws.

No brainer. Campaign to root out prejudice and unlawful attacks on people because of what they are. Even paedophiles have the right not to be attacked. That doesn’t say they mustn’t be prosecuted for crimes they commit, they surely must. But it says even they have the right to the protection of the Rule of Law. If you understand that you understand fully what it means to be in living in a democracy based on that Rule of Law. It’s not a soft option. it’s the hardest row to hoe, to stop prejudice ruling in place of justice. Your piece does not serve that aim, its tone encourages hatred. Gays have a right to live their lives free from that and protected by the law until people like you just stop what is persecution and you live and let live. That’s what you want for yourself, so extend that to others.

I knew a gay guy once, became a UK MP, everyone knew he was and elected him as a talented and committed public servant. he had a partner. They weren’t interested in bringing up a family, but they loved ours. Alan knew he would not have kids, and because he came from a solid Manchester family, that weighed on him. I recall that sometimes he’d slope off for a sleep in the afternoon when he should have been campaigning. So he would wander upstairs with both our boys, who were of an age to need their afternoon sleep too, and settle down for 40 winks. Was he out to corrupt them? Hardly. That is what men in his family and in his community did of an afternoon after lunch when they were off work and the wife needed a break. Did my boys turn gay? No, but if one of them had then I don’t think you could have blamed him.

Enough gays have been imprisoned, murdered, persecuted, tortured, abused, made to lead unhappy lives because of prejudice. In Iran today, two boys hung from a crane as a lorry moved off from underneath them, 14 and 16 at the time they were arrested. Many more dead. The Shoah is the end result of such prejudice - yes, gays joined the Jews in the camps and the gas chambers.

Every time people spout such things, they betray the dead, they spit on the suffering of those people. The day is passing when churches, acting in the name of God but in reality spewing human evil, could rule the minds of people. Thank God for that. And people are saying they will no longer be made to hide who they or to not want what they believe is right and natural just because you have irrational fears based on your own problem of not being able to accept them as fully equal to you under the law.