It gets worse and worse.

"Polanski agreed to $500,000 payment in civil suit
By GREG RISLING (AP) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hxHBQYsgvQTSZICEjaU3aDe82oZwD9B399TO0

LOS ANGELES — Film director Roman Polanski agreed to pay his sexual assault victim $500,000 to settle a lawsuit 15 years after he fled the United States, according to court documents provided to media outlets Friday.
Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer, reached the deal in October 1993. The terms of the settlement were confidential, but the amount was disclosed in court documents because of a two-year struggle to get Polanski to pay.
Court records do not indicate if Polanski, now 76, ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.
Polanski's attorney, David Finkle, said he couldn't remember details of the case and declined comment.
"It's ancient," Finkle said."

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Really? Are we really supposed to buy that the lawyer can't remember the basic details about a child rape case brought against his famous fugitive client? Were there so many scandalous lawsuits that the details all got fuzzy? I can understand that it was over a decade ago but really, one should be able to remember details about certain notorious crimes, and I am fairly certain most lawyers would be able to remember the salient facts in a case like that...

So the defense is going to continue to harp on the It Was SOOOO Long Ago, It Is Ancient History angle. Good luck with that. I don't see it working too well, Mr. Finkle, because raping little girls who have been plied with alcohol and quaaludes isn't something that sweetens with age, like a fine wine. It is more likely something that rots the longer it is left undealt with - - or turns to vinegar when left out too long - - and there is no way to pretty up the words "Roman Polanski Raped A Child", whether it was last week or last year or 3 decades ago.

And please make sure he actually paid that poor girl, 'k?

Free Polanski? Really?

"Some of the industry’s most prominent women said they believe Polanski, who faces a sentence as low as probation and as high as 16 months in prison for pleading guilty to having sex with a minor, should be freed. “My personal thoughts are let the guy go,” said Peg Yorkin, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “It’s bad a person was raped. But that was so many years ago. The guy has been through so much in his life. It’s crazy to arrest him now. Let it go. The government could spend its money on other things.”–The Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009 "

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My, my, my. The founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation seems to have lost her freakin' marbles. "Let the guy go"? "A person was raped"? "So many years ago"? "He has been through so much"? "The government could spend its money on other things"? The only thing she didn't invoke was the 'he makes pretty movies' line.

'Let the guy go" -- Roman pleaded guilty. It isn't a question of his guilt or his innocence - - he admitted to raping a 13 year old child that he drugged and sodomized- - this is now only a question about whether it is okay to expect him to actually deign to get sentenced. He needs to face the same consequences any other child rapist would face - - 'letting him go' is usually not an option.

"A person was raped" - - Hello, how much farther can one move to dehumanize this situation and make it sound like something else? It wasn't a 'person', it was a child - - a 13 year child - - who said no and asked to go home - - a child - - but now if we call her some faceless ageless 'person' we can skip over the fact that she wasn't even in high school yet. Peg, she was a child. And children shouldn't be raped. Ever.

"So many years ago" - - Are you kidding me? Does that mean we should just stop pressing charges after a certain time if people have the resources to skip the country and don't come back on their own? If you go fugitive, you go free? That would be a handy slogan for keeping crime down in the USA....

"He has been through so much" - - Yes, like half the current population in prison probably has their own share of hardship in their lives but we still expect them to do their sentence; those poor souls didn't have the chance to jet out of the country and spend 30 years making films on the beach...

"The government could spend its money on other things" - - Oh, I dunno, Peg, like what? Catching other child rapists?

This whole thing makes my blood boil. I don't expect much from the vapid airheads that are actors in Hollywood but I *do* expect the founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation to somehow say things that promote the Feminist viewpoint, which is usually a viewpoint that has heavy words for men who treat women as objects (and usually is first in line to speak out against things like raping little girls). That a Sister would be so quick to backpeddle away from something as cut and dried as raping a child makes me want to cry.

Don't Try To Use Frequent Air Miles Now!

Did you see that Americans, caught while vacationing in Lebanon, will be charged Commercial Rates for the privilege of being air-lifted out of that country to Cyprus and routed back to the mainland? No free lunch here, Jack - - you are in trouble there, you pay Full Freight to get your ass back to Stateside! It doesn't matter if you are there on vacation or in school or on a personal journey - - if you want to get away from the bombs and missiles, you'd better be prepared to pay or sign a Promissary Note for repayment because Uncle Sam is a bit ummmm "extended" right now and can't jerk your butt back to Kansas or Arizona unless you pay the cost. Now, while *I* find this wrong, what I really mean to bring to light is how EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE CASH AT THE READY, demand far exceeds supply, so your ass may sit there dodging missiles for a few days while the Admin figure out how to coax Commercial flights to veer off course to pick up the THOUSANDS OF CITIZENS currently stuck in the land of the bombs.... Yes, you can pay to get out of there but it seems you may have quite a wait until available seating is arranged.... In the meantime, I guess, you just hunker down. For people who don't have the ready cash, Uncle Sam is willing to fly you home if you promise to pay the Commercial Rate - - Seems our coffers are a bit extended after paying today's (and yesterday's and tomorrow's) Iraq costs while giving tax breaks to those whose kids' will never be in reach of missiles from any source.... So don't try to cash in your air miles now as Uncle Sam wants greenbacks.

What the HELL are the Supremes smoking NOW?

This was buried in the International Section of my local paper today, in a little blurb under the ruling that the US Supreme Court decided employees could sue for monetary damages even if none are incurred due to retaliation for sexual harrassment suits (snore, I know, just giving the background here). In a one sentence blurb under this long-ass boring article about the above case, it appears the USSC has decided to make current laws *RETROACTIVE* - - this is BIG reversal for them and for US law, and *not* a good move. Apparently, an illegal immigrant who has lived here for 20 years (for non-math people, that is since 1986) will be deported under the laws made in 1996 that restrict immigrants, even though his presence in the USA superceded that ruling by a decade. They ruled 8-1 to uphold his deportation, so I guess it is back to Mexico he jaunts... My sleepy paper doesn't name the case so I have some searching to do to get the TOTAL facts here, but on the surface it makes me bristle because it has always been a cornerstone of American jurisprudence to NOT apply laws retro-actively, so this blurb made me take notice.... It also makes me wonder which Justice was the lone stand-out (that takes courage in my book). If I track the story down, I'll update - - but in the meantime, this makes me very worried. I am such a Libbie's Lib :)

The Gator Who Came to Dinner

I really don't think I could live in the lovely state of Florida. Yes, it is warm and sunny most of the year, but I have this (healthy to me) aversion of reptiles that stand taller than I do and weigh over twice as much. Call me crazy, but gaping maws with rows of sharp teeth are enough to make me want to stay a few miles away.... Ask my ex-boyfriend, I was a complete waste of space during our Everglades excursion oh so many moons ago (it didn't help when a gator went UNDER our canoe and my oh-so-helpful Ex thought it would be amusing to smack the inside of the craft with his Loudly Resonating Oar; I almost tested if *I* could swim faster than the gator...). So imagine my surprise when I saw the picture of the gator scratching on the door of a Florida couple who were happily barbecueing out back.... What? Your paper neglected to share this *cute* picture? I will be happy to show you the Gator Who Came For Dinner, its up there. Forgive me for staying away from Florida - - gators ringing the bell for Teriyaki Chicken? NO THANK YOU!

The story is found here: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/v-rd2005/story/5795583p-5177866c.html

I Want To See Your Green Card

I hear from people that we should be allowed to ask "them" for their green cards. After pondering just who are the them in question, I ask, "And how would we know the cards were valid?" I mean, let's face it, many government places out there can't tell fake from valid IDs so what makes Joe SixPack think he can ferret out validity any better than Uncle Sam? And then I ponder, just WHO would we be asking this green-card showing from, anyway? People with accents? Different colored skin? Different clothing? Different houses of worship? Anyone who doesn't look like Barbie or Ken? Because, really, how in the heck would one tell *an illegal* from a legal, anyway? (Sidenote - - "Illegal" is so depersonalizing - - these are PEOPLE, not criminals, and if you, the reader, have ever had a speeding ticket or california'd-stopped your way through a stop sign, then you have BROKEN LAWS just like they have so shut the heck up with your self-righteous barking about THEM breaking laws, you lawbreaker).... And furthermore, what *kills* me, is how many clamoring the loudest profess to be "good Christians".... I got news for you, Jesus didn't "turn in" the prostitutes and lawbreakers in HIS time, he sat down to eat with them. Asking to see papers proving "worthiness" or "legal status" to be in this country is pretty un-Christ-like to me. I have a suggestion for would-be status checkers: Next time, buy the differently dressed/accented/religious house of worship person breakfast instead of asking about their status. And turn RUSH off - - he is brain cancer. Honestly, his bad ideas eat away your brain cells worse than the most malignant cancer out there. SO, where is YOUR passport, anyway? I think I want to check it....

This is it.

I started a blog. I guess it is time for a little self-indulgent platforming on my own :)