Monday 25 June 2012

Americans/Canadians

Often I look to our southern neighbors with a kind of morbid fascination,especially when they've elected Republicans.Up here it seems to be somewhat of a pass time laughing at or ridiculing Americans.And while it's true that you have to come north of the border to get a decent doughnut,there are some very important things the Americans get right.Even the Republican ones,or to be more correct,perhaps,the right leaning ones.And it doesn't even pain me to say so from my somewhat left of center political viewpoint.

One such thing is the way Americans deal with dangerous criminals like child molesters,specifically,in this case Jerry Sandusky a former football coach at Penn State University.I am not certain what sentence Sandusky faces,but it will likely be much greater than the two miserable years handed to former hockey coach Graham James north of the border.In fact,most of the articles I've read suggest that Sandusky is unlikely to ever see the outside of a prison again.And for that alone I salute our American friends.

As a liberal,I often argue that we need to be putting fewer people in prison,not more.But to be more specific,we need to be incarcerating more of certain kinds of offenders for longer periods of time.People like Sandusky or James.People who lurk in the shadows of respectability with the sole intent of destroying young lives and tarnishing the institutions they represent.Americans get this.Canadians do not.Republican get it,most certainly.I suspect most Democrats do as well.But this is not about partisan politics on either side of the border.It is plainly about common sense and informed self interest.Children must be protected.That is the bottom line and the only thing I care about.

So,in a few more years,after the sentence is appealed, Graham James will be off to serve his sentence here in Canada.But,with parole eligibility and time served,I wonder how many more days it will be until he is happily living in some neighborhood unknown to all the families that also live there.And this is not his first time at the rodeo.It's been nearly twenty years since I first heard of this beast.By comparison,Sandusky will still be rotting in a Pennsylvania prison in a few years.No further generations of young players will be subjected to his perverted appetites,because he is likely to be there for life..And I don't know many people,even among my liberal friends who are calling this draconian.Most people seem to favor the word "enlightened."

Child molesters ruin children, often beyond repair.Its long past time Canadian leaders grew a set and started providing forever protection from these monstrous individuals.If you  molest children I have no difficulty at all in saying you should be locked away in the dungeon of a prison in the far north,out of sight and out of mind until you rattle out your last pathetic breath.I'm not interested in your rehabilitation or your redemption.You can look to God for your mercy because you'll get none from me.I'm not even interested in your comfort beyond insuring you the necessities of life,like food and water and basic medical care.Do you hear me loud and clear?Molesting a child is a forever decision and it should have forever consequences.I don't want to worry about such persons in my neighborhood.I want to be safe in knowing that they are forever sequestered in their own neighborhood,that being a federal prison until they die,and Hell thereafter,providing that they still have not repented.

What kind of makes me chuckle though is that there is likely a Canadian,conservative politician who will read this and come to the conclusion that I'm far to radical.Well,if that's not a case of the Red Tory calling the Liberal a cracker!But again,it's really all about common sense,not partisan politics.

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