Child Cruelty Doesn't Translate For the ACLU

A court in Georgia has overturned the conviction and sentence of a women who brutally beat her child because she didn't have a translator for her native language in court. As always with the ACLU there is more to the story so I did some background research on this. According the site TexasTranslator here were the circumstances surrounding the case.

Annie Ling is Malay, has lived in the US since 2000 and her husband is American. Her American defense attorney Justin Grubbs, is himself married to a Malay woman and has a much clearer awareness of Annie Ling's language situation than lobbyists for increased government subsidies. Mr Grubbs explained the charges of cruelty to a child to the defendant with the help of family members conversant in both languages. He also explained the one-year sentence plea bargain offer just as clearly. The defendant rejected the advice of counsel and the case went to trial. The jury saw photographs of the beaten child and sentenced her to ten years in prison followed by five years' probation instead of the one-year sentence she could have had through the professional competence of her attorney. What got the verdict were the photographs of the badly beaten baby Catherine shown to the jurors. There is no language barrier to understanding photographs of a beaten child.

Ms Ling was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail along with another 5 years on probation.

I could never be a lawyer. It is just impossible for me to check my common sense at the door in pursuit of some other sort of high ideal. How do people in the legal profession sleep at night?

One question for the ACLU. Who is speaking for the child?

Sick: Indian Baby-Tossing Ritual

WTF???

These horrific pictures show terrified toddlers being thrown from a roof before plummeting 15 metres onto a bedsheet below.

The youngsters, who appear to be aged around two, can be heard screaming as they are dangled in the air before being dropped.

This particular ritual took place in the village of Harangal, Parbhani, in western India's Maharashtra.

Hundreds of people turned out for the annual event, which is thought to have been followed by Hindus and Muslims for nearly 700 years in the belief the fall ensures good health and prosperity for their families.

After the child lands and bounces on the bed sheet, held taught by a group of around 14 men, he or she is then quickly passed through the crowd to their mothers.

If they want health for these children, try not dropping them off buildings.

No Punishment Is Fitting

Okay, here is the headline that got my attention.

GA woman admits taping sex with 8 year old.

My first thought was it was another teacher gone wild, but the real story is far more insidious. She was taping her boyfriend attempting to or actually having sex with an 8-year old girl.

Federal prosecutors say 53-year-old Laura Culver who lives in Gray, Ga., is facing up to 20 years in prison after her guilty plea Thursday.

Court documents dating back to 2001 show that Culver allegedly worked with 52-year-old Edgardo Sensi to videotape him having sex with an 8-year-old girl.

This, of course led me to go look into the boyfriend, at which time I found this.

The indictment alleges that, from approximately 2001 to 2004, while living in Connecticut, SENSI conspired with another individual (“Jane Doe”) to coerce a minor victim girl (“M.V.#1”), who was eight-years-old at the time the conspiracy began, to engage in sexually explicit conduct. The Indictment alleges that SENSI encouraged M.V.#1 to be filmed while SENSI and Doe engaged her in sexually explicit conduct, engaged in a lengthy grooming process that involved trickery and desensitizing M.V.#1 to accept the sexual abuse that MV#1 was subjected to, and enticed M.V.#1 to engage in sado-masochistic sex acts.

Jane Doe is the aforementioned Laura Culver and "M.V.#1 is the child.

But what really caught my eye was this.

This matter is being investigated by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) in New Haven, with the assistance of ICE in Atlanta and Fort Pierce (FL), the Martin County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, the Jones County (GA) Sheriff’s Office, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Now why is ICE involved? There doesn't seem to be any immigration issues involved but there is this.

In January 2004, the indictment alleges that Sensi traveled to a rural town outside Managua, Nicaragua, where he befriended a 23-year-old woman, working as a maid, who was the mother of the 4-year-old girl.

In all there are 76 tapes that were seized when Sensi was arrested. Parachuting him into the Swat region of Pakistan right now with a Bible and a Star of David necklace seems to be about the best punishment.

Hundreds of Kids Beaten in Chicago Schools, Obama Education Secretary Did Nothing

More delicious, yummy change we can believe in. Barack Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan was notified of this gross abuse of children and did little if anything to stop it.

Thank goodness we now live in Obama's Age of Accountability, so I'm sure Duncan will now be held accountable.

Right?

Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. 2 Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.

Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school.

"I've seen him hit five of them in the classroom," Martin said.

Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt.

"He's threatened almost all the kids in his classroom," Martin said.

He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn't talk to him until last week - 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.

"He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk," Martin said.

An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases - 568 of them - Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.

"I'm thinking that I don't really feel safe," Martin said.

The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student's neck.

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

Just imagine if this weren't a bastion a liberalism and machine politics. Why, there'd be international cries for investigations. Human Rights Watch would be holding vigil. Congressional and Senate hearings would be convened. The New York Times would give this the Abu Ghraib treatment, putting it above the front-page fold dozens of times. World condemnation would be so severe, there'd probably be UN monitors sent in.

But ... it's Chicago.

Where apparently nobody cares about the children. Especially Obama's hand-picked pal to bring this style of education to the entire nation.

CBS 2 informed former Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan of our investigative findings shortly before he was promoted to U.S. Secretary of Education.

"If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It's very, very simple," Duncan said.

Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.

"Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.

But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education.

And another student was given "100 licks with a belt." The abuse was substantiated, but the records show the teacher was not terminated.

Alderman Pat O'Connor is on the City Council Education Committee. He wants all these cases re-examined including the way Treveon Martin's was handled.

"I'll tell you what it is - it's deplorable," O'Connor said. "I really believe that the Board has dropped the ball in this instance."

He says this information was never brought to the committee's attention until now.

What'll happen now is the whistleblowers will wing up paying the price.

Arne Duncan? He gets a promotion and glowing coverage in the New York Times.

On the Bright Side, Getting a Prom Date Should be a Snap

This is really sick.

An 11-year-old boy has married his 10-year-old cousin in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Mohammed al-Rashidi and his unidentified cousin will seal the marriage they contracted under the sharia laws of Islam and move in together after a ceremony to take place in the summer, Al-Shams newspaper said.

"I am ready for this marriage. It will help me study better," Mohammed, who goes to primary school in the northern province of Hail, was quoted as saying by Al-Shams.

"I invite all my classmates to do like me," the boy said, adding that he wanted to "crown a love story through marriage".

The schoolboy's father, Muraizak al-Rashidi, told the newspaper he was busy sending out invitations for a summer celebration to seal the marriage.

H/T Hot Air.