Professor, 30, student, 50. Is consensual sex OK?
We can appreciate the restraint of the Georgia Supreme Court in deferring to the General Assembly on the matter of a teacher-coach having sex with a 16-year-old she’d previously taught. It’s now up to the Legislature to make it perfectly clear in the law that it is sexual assault.
The case comes from Richmond County. The Supreme Court decided 5-2 that the Harlem High School teacher-coach was wrongly convicted of sexual assault because the girl, at 16, was old enough to give consent. The majority concluded that consent was a legitimate defense — and the teacher should have been able to argue it at trial.
The majority opinion, written by retiring Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, gave real deference to the Legislature, deference that should be a bedrock for the judiciary. In this instance, the majority noted that in three instances the Legislature defines illegal sexual contact in a school, hospital or involving a person under care by a counselor.
The teacher was charged under the provision related to “a supervisor of another person” in school. It is, likewise, illegal sexual assault for a psychotherapist to have sex with a patient, a cop or jailer to have sex with anybody in their custody or an employee of a long-term care facility to have sex with any resident or patient. The court pointed out that only the section applying to law enforcement officials and psychotherapists includes the language: “Consent of the victim shall not be a defense to a prosecution.”
Since the girl was 16, old enough to give consent, and not a student of the teacher at the time of the sexual relationship, the majority overturned the conviction, saying: “We will not usurp the General Assembly’s legislative role” by extending the “consent…not a defense” language to the high school student-teacher case.
Justice George Carley, a reliable strict constructionist, and Justice Hugh Thompson disagreed that the language of “consent…not a defense” did not apply. “Although the majority accurately quotes many rules of statutory construction, it fails to apply them correctly, and the result is disturbing,” wrote Carley. “A statute enacted in pertinent part to protect students from exploitation by teachers, is now almost useless…”
This is an instance where I’d like to preserve the judicial restraint of the majority with respect to the legislative branch for all future decisions. And I’d urge the General Assembly to come back in January and make certain that its intent is clear: When a teacher-student in the same school are involved, the student should be regarded as a person in custody.
The majority says that automatically assuming that a student cannot give consent means that, as summarized by the court’s public information officer Jane Hansen, “a 30-year-old law school professor would be guilty of sexual assault for having an encounter with a 50-year-old law school student.”
He/she could. Yes. Thirty-year-old law professors should be aware of that.
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93 comments Add your comment
Dr. Siggie
June 16th, 2009
9:12 am
Obsessing over other people’s sex lives: the Republican national passtime. How gratifying!
Just Because
June 16th, 2009
9:20 am
Dr Siggie – you are a TOOL!
DX
June 16th, 2009
9:27 am
Dr., That’s all they have, poor Republicans, they are not inclined to try it for themselves.
sd
June 16th, 2009
9:28 am
There doesn’t seem to be a victim in the Richmond County case. I say let her go. Drop the charges and let the law stand where it does. 16 is old enough to give consent.
Redneck Convert
June 16th, 2009
9:28 am
Well, you might of knowed they would butt in to peoples private life. That 50 year old law student ought to be locked up for taking advantage of a 30 year old kid. I don’t care what kind of job he had. You got all kind of women out there just lusting to take advantage of younger people.
Anyhow, us rednecks take a dim view of people doing You Know What. Down here in the South, we can handle ax murders and stealing and just about everything else. But when You Know What is involved, we don’t have no patience. If you do You Know What in GA, somebody’s going to jail. It just ain’t right. I reckon we can halfway accept this Horsley guy and his mule, but if it’s between two people, that just crosses the line.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good day everybody.
clyde
June 16th, 2009
9:37 am
I just wonder what would have happened if the shes had been changed to hes.Jail time for someone,no doubt.
One Voice
June 16th, 2009
9:41 am
I think Wooten is fantasizing about finally going to college to get an education and then encountering a young professor there who will hit on him. It’s okay to fantasize about having an education (although you should have actually done something about it many years ago), but let the sex stuff go, Wooten. Let it go. It’s much too creepy.
Barbie
June 16th, 2009
9:43 am
Why would any 30 year old want to have sex with someone as ancient as 50? Wrinkles. Saggy. Ewwwwwwww!
Greg
June 16th, 2009
9:45 am
Sex between a student and teacher is always a bad idea even if it is not illegal. Its a bad idea between employer/employee, etc, etc. Yeah guy, the women these days are hot-to-trot but stay cool ’cause they don’t play fair!
A. E. Wise
June 16th, 2009
9:52 am
There is a big difference (I hop;e there still is) between “improper” and “criminal”. Sex between a 30 year old and a 50 year old might be a legitimate reason for enforcing a rule, but in no way can it be a legitimate violation of law on its own. There might be other criminal implications like where it takes place or infidelity.
Churchill's MOM
June 16th, 2009
9:56 am
All men think about is SEX but here’s our next President
Sarah Palin can be the Republican nominee in 2012. I am not saying she will be, but she can be.
Those who underestimate her do so at their own risk. She projects a tough but warm personality. Her most famous line — “You know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick!” — reflects that. She is a conservative in an increasingly conservative party.
And though the McCain-Palin ticket went down to defeat in 2008, she has not faded away. In fact, she showed last week how easy it is for her to dominate the news cycle.
She attacked David Letterman last Wednesday for making what she called a “crude, sexist, perverted” joke about her daughter, and by Friday she was being interviewed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and spending far more time talking about energy policy, the deficit, Israel and North Korea than about David Letterman.
True, her approval rating as governor of Alaska has dropped to 54 percent, her lowest ever, but it is not that far below Barack Obama’s national approval rating of 62 percent.
There is little doubt that Obama is the most popular politician in America (and probably the world). Yet when voters were asked last week in a Diageo/Hotline poll if they would reelect Obama today or would like to see “someone else” be elected president, Obama got 46 percent, and “someone else” got 30 percent. That’s a nice margin for Obama, but it’s not astronomical.
And someone has to run against him in 2012, if only for the sake of tradition. (We haven’t had a presidential candidate run unopposed since George Washington did it in 1789 and 1792.)
That someone could be Sarah Palin, if she does seven things right now:
1. DUMP ALASKA. She doesn’t need to run for reelection for governor in 2010 for name recognition or to get media attention. And being a governor these days is like having a target on your back. (Republican Tim Pawlenty, who has his own plans for 2012, announced earlier this month that he will not seek election to a third term as governor of Minnesota.) But there is a bigger reason for Palin to give up the governorship: Maybe you can see Russia from Alaska, but you can’t see Iowa and New Hampshire from Alaska. Alaska is too far away from where she needs to be. She can live, skimobile and hunt moose in Alaska, but she needs to spend a lot of travel time in the Lower 48 without having to run back to Juneau every week.
2. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE SMARTER THAN YOU ARE. That shouldn’t be hard, her opponents will say. OK, let them laugh. They laughed at George W. Bush when he ran for president in 2000 and at Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ran for governor of California in 2003. Both benefited from low expectations and smart staffs.
I am not one of those people who believe that staffs win or lose elections — candidates win or lose elections — but the Democratic presidential race in 2008 certainly demonstrated the difference that staffs can make. Hillary Clinton assembled a staff of loyal people who were largely inexperienced in presidential campaigning. Barack Obama assembled a staff of loyal people who were very experienced in presidential campaigning. It made a difference.
3. PICK A HANDFUL OF ISSUES AND STICK TO THEM. The increase in the size of government? The increase in the deficit? The increase in the role of Washington in people’s lives? All good issues for Republican primary voters. And all three are things Palin talks about already. And she shouldn’t worry if she gets attacked for being naive or simplistic. Ronald Reagan got pretty far with: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
4. STUDY UP. Before CBS’s Katie Couric and ABC’s Charlie Gibson flew to Alaska to interview Palin, they studied hard, backed up by excellent research staffs that prepared a lot of material for them. Palin has to do the same before major interviews. While she is not bad at answering direct questions, she falls down on followup questions. She has to do what successful candidates do: Rehearse. The rule is that you have to study at least as hard as the people trying to trip you up.
5. DON’T BELIEVE YOU CAN’T DO IT. Palin’s critics point out that she is no Ronald Reagan, and that in tough times, voters are going to turn to potential candidates like Mitt Romney, who stress competence. But Palin has a chance because of what the Republican Party has become: a smaller, more conservative party that has already driven away many moderates and “soft” Republicans. The Republican Party today is like a star that has gone nova and collapsed to its densest core. While some potential nominees will try to sell a big-tent message, demanding that the party moderate its positions to win more voters, primaries are usually dominated by hard-core activists. This is where Palin has the potential to do well.
6. DON’T GO CHANGING. In her debate with Joe Biden, she did far better than most expected by being warm and passionate and by using everyday language like “I betcha” and “heckuva opportunity” and “darn right.” She even winked. It didn’t make her look dumb; it made her look human. She should not be afraid to stick with what has gotten her this far. She showed last week she is not afraid to be a mom standing up for her kid. But she also should not be afraid to take some risks and go back on “Saturday Night Live.” She should not be afraid to make fun of herself, even if plenty of others already are.
7. DON’T WORRY ABOUT FAILURE. Heck, there’s always 2016.
Churchill's MOM
June 16th, 2009
9:58 am
Since this happened in Augusta, let’s talk about the French Market rather than Duke’s. I never really liked their food anyway.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:00 am
General Motors announced Tuesday that it had reached a tentative
agreement to sell its Swedish unit, Saab Automobile, to a consortium
led by Koenigsegg Automotive.
Koenigsegg, an unlisted company of just 45 employees based in
Angelholm, Sweden, turns out just a few “supercars” — high-performance
sports cars costing more than $1 million each — per year.
The companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding,
contingent on $600 million of financing from the European Investment
Bank that is to be guaranteed by the Swedish government. They did not
release further financial details, but Saab has said it would need
about $1 billion to upgrade its operations.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:02 am
Porsche may sell a stake for as much as 2.5 billion euros, or about
$3.45 billion, to Qatar as the German automaker seeks to cut debt and
stay independent of Volkswagen, Bloomberg News reports, citing two
unidentified people familiar with the situation.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:04 am
Six Flags will not sell assets or reduce its workforce as a result of
its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the theme park operator’s chief told
CNBC.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:08 am
Japan’s public pension fund, the world’s largest with about $1.2
trillion in reserves, said it may sell Japanese government bonds this
year to cover payments.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:09 am
A lawyer for the American International Group told jurors on Monday
that its former chief executive, Maurice R. Greenberg, plundered an
A.I.G. retirement program of billions of dollars because he was angry
at being forced out of the company.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:11 am
Lincoln National, the insurance company, said it would take nearly $1
billion in federal bailout funds, issue new stock and debt, and sell
its British insurance business in an effort to shore up its
deteriorating capital base.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
10:12 am
Lehman Brothers, the investment bank liquidating in bankruptcy, paid
its restructuring adviser, Alvarez & Marsal, $77.3 million in fees,
according a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission
U Da Moron
June 16th, 2009
10:19 am
BBGOPDTLW: Let’s get back on track here, buddy – this is about sex, not politics. ADD, buddy?
Ironman Carmichael
June 16th, 2009
10:21 am
Is Jim Wooten just writing filler for effect, pandering to the assumed prudery of his fan base, or is he really the sexually frustrated, keyhole-peeking old maid this particular column gives every impression of him being? Mind your own business! They’re both over 21. Would it make him feel better if the student and the professor were both conservative Republicans?
clyde
June 16th, 2009
10:25 am
Barbie,
I’m betting your opinion will change when you hit 50.
Ray Pugh
June 16th, 2009
10:32 am
The more I realize it, most of the unsavory traits social conservatives exhibit stems from the fact that they didn’t get any in high school…
David
June 16th, 2009
10:37 am
If yo uare old enough to have sex, you are old enough to have sex – when, where, how, and how much. The fact that you met them in a particular place is of no ones concern. If you are old enough to have sex, then you are old enough to say “no” when, where, how and how often you want. Old enough to have sex means you are old enough to make decisions for yourself. The courts and the legislature need to butt out of private lives and stop trying to back door revenge against former lovers if things don’t work out.
J.D.
June 16th, 2009
10:42 am
Amen, Clyde.
gayblackcripple
June 16th, 2009
10:48 am
I just hope Churchill’s MOM is psychic.
Huckabee/Palin in 2012, 2016!!!
Palin/Anyone in 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO rightwing zealots!!!!!!!
sd
June 16th, 2009
10:50 am
Right on David.
Ramblin Wrecker
June 16th, 2009
10:54 am
It’s real simple. Once a person has reached the age of consent, it isn’t a crime to have sex. It’s still morally questionable, but not illegal. Even though people like Jim Wooten wished everything immoral was also illegal. (Even though he wants judges to read the constitution as it is written, but feels rights are unnecessary). Go figure.
The way to prevent teachers from having sex with students who are of consenting age is to make a law that says you lose your job for such an act. You don’t go to jail and become labeled as a sex offender, but you lose your priviledge to be a teacher of non-adults.
Let’s be realistic, none of these sex laws should apply to any school where the teacher and student are both adults. So Wooten’s smug assessment that a college professor could be prosecuted for having sex with a consenting adult student, is stupid.
Mutts-R-Stupid-especially-journalism-majors
June 16th, 2009
11:06 am
Is this fiasco what Judge Slutomeyer implied when she said a woman of color could reach a better legal decision than a white male? It seems that Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears’ court has clearly demonstrated that women of color do not make better, and certainly not right decisions. The problem of female teachers having sex with their female students is far more widespread than is generally known, and may exceed that of male teachers hitting on female students. There was the State Championship Walton High School girls volleyball coach who began having sex with a 13 year old girl in middle school, and continued while the girl was a student at Walton. The teacher is currently serving a prison sentence for this crime. FYI: The teacher was a graduate of the private Berry college, a religion affiliated school in Rome (methodist, presby, one of those off shots of catholicism). Yes, these molesters like to hide behind authority, both civil as teachers, and religious as church members and officers, making it very difficult for anyone to accuse or investigate them for their perversions and child molestations. Do you recall the 16 year old private school girl who did a count down to a head on collision with another car in an attempt to extort sex from another girl? She killed the mother of several children and her only penalty was court ordered psyic counseling, since mommy and daddy were rich and well connected. The story was not only dropped by the AJC, but the archives cleaned of the original story, as near as I can tell in doing research for this rant. My point is this: Was this girl a victim of a female teacher molesting her, and convincing her that the lesbo nature was her’s?
Reggie
June 16th, 2009
11:08 am
A trucker walks into a bar and orders a drink.
He sees a small man in a suit sitting next to him so he decides to mess with him while he waits, he grabs the small mans shot glass and downs the drink.
The man looks up at him and says.
“Come on man! Why did you have to do that!?”
The trucker laughs and says.
“Don’t worry little buddy, I’ll get you new drink.”
“Its not that.” Pined the little man.
“I was late for work, and when I get there they fire me.
When I get to the parking lot I find my car has been stolen, so I walk home.
When I get there I find my wife in bed with 2 other men!
And then when I’m sitting here deciding if I should end it all, you walk up and drink my poison!”
retiredds
June 16th, 2009
11:14 am
No surprises here. The Republican platform at its best: Sex, guns, religion (ours not yours), war (whether justified or not), supply-side economics, rule of law (when you agree with my interpretation), activist judges (when the judge rules differently than me), secession from the USA, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Rod
June 16th, 2009
11:14 am
Have you seen “today’s” 16 year olds? They’re far more sexually aware and educated than even 20 years ago. A 16 year old knows EXACTLY what he/she is doing.
Peadawg
June 16th, 2009
11:14 am
Ha Ha, nice one Reggie!!
retiredds
June 16th, 2009
11:17 am
Reggie, like your joke at 11:08. Humor is what we need more of. Too many taking (almost) everything too seriously these days.
Speaking of humor: Do you know the difference between humor and odor? Humor is a shift of wit.
deegee
June 16th, 2009
11:23 am
I think that a 16 year-old knows exactly what he/she is doing but doesn’t completely understand the consequences. An adult teacher knows the consequences. The teacher should behave like the adult and show some self control. Sex between teenagers, ala Gennarlo Wilson shouldn’t have criminal consequences. Sex between adults shouldn’t have criminal consequences. Sex between adults, over the age of 21, and teenagers should have criminal consequences for the adult if the teenager is in the custody of the adult.
Dave
June 16th, 2009
11:24 am
Didn’t the AJC have some big deal about a year ago for Wooten leaving? They were having some sort of a “try-out”, to see if they could find anyone else so out of touch with reality to take over this column. Guess they couldn’t find anyone else.
Doug
June 16th, 2009
11:25 am
So deegee – sex between a 25 yo teacher and a 19 yo student is illegal to you, but sex between two 13 yo students is alright?
That’s sick.
Mike Vick
June 16th, 2009
11:32 am
Is it okay?
I didn’t hear any of my dogz… uh, you know…. complain about it.
OhPishPosh
June 16th, 2009
11:32 am
We need to call it what it is. Any adult who engages in sex with a 16 year old is hard-up.
On the other hand, any 16 year old who looks for sex with an authoritative figure is missing something at home. That something is probably a father figure.
deegee
June 16th, 2009
11:33 am
Doug, you are taking this point to the logical extreme and making this a moral rather than a legal issue. If charges are brought against a 25 year old teacher by a 19 year old student then the 25 year old teacher may be found guilty after the case is argued in court. If two 13 year old children engage in sex, who is criminally liable?
Chris Broe
June 16th, 2009
11:47 am
Wooten is RIGHT! Nothing makes me angrier than reading about teacher/student sex. When I was in high school, I couldn’t get a teacher to sign a hall pass.
And now, it’s time for: “If Lincoln were a Schnauzer”……. “Four score and 49 years ago, our furbearers brought forth a new dalmation, conceived in littery and….”
I don’t know what has happened to Wooten. I guess he wants us all to realize that he doesn’t really harbor lunatic fringe fascist/rascist ideas, (it was just business all along). After all, we are what we sell out 2B. Mostly, Wooten doesn’t think it’s nice: us laughing at his 40-acres-and-a-mule mindset. Wooten don’t like hearin’ democrats laughing. He gets the crazy notion that they’re laughing at him, but, if we all apologize, (like he know’s we’re going to), maybe he can convince himself that we really didn’t mean it…..
2Bcontinued
itamazesme
June 16th, 2009
12:07 pm
Doug – it may sound sick to you BUT it happens. I get what deegee is saying. Two teens are totally different. Just this past weekend i witnessed to kids NO MORE than 14 yrs old, passionately kissing and grinding each other. As adults/parents we need to take the blinders off and realize that teens are exploring their sexuality these days. So although it sounds sick – it is more common than you will ever imagine.
Mutts-R-Stupid-especially-journalism-majors
June 16th, 2009
12:08 pm
Did ya catch the lawyer-in-chief telling the docs how to practice medicine yesterday on the boon tube? What the lying thieving lawyer did not say was that the reason health care costs are so high is because the lying thieving lawyers force all doc’s to practice defensive medicine. The doc’s have been doing this now for so long that it is automatic. Try this next time you visit the doc: on the family history form, just put down a couple of obscure disease as running in your family. By running, ah mean one member of the family has the disease, and rumor in the family is that great aunt Gertha also died from the disease, based solely on speculation by uneducated family members. The next thing you know, old defensive specialist doc quack will be ordering cat scans, mri scans, stress tests, you name it. Why? Well not because you family history showed any higher probability that YOU have the disease in question, and you certainly do not have any symptoms, but because of the low chance that you may one day have this disease, and some lying thieving lawyer scum bag can come back to the family history and say the doc is liable for not following up on your flimsy excuse for a hundred thousand dollars worth of tests for a disease for which you have no symptoms. Do ya want proof? Ok, here it is: General Electric makes these fancy CAT and MRI machine, and they want to sell more. The hospitals know that they do not need more, but hey if we have National Health Insurance covering EVERYONE there will be a lot more demand for tests for which people have no symtoms. SO our little pals at GE are now offering hospitals 100 million dollars worth of these machines on spec, at zero interest. The hospital only pays if they git reimbursement in excess of a certain amount. Hold on to your wallet, the clowns at Medicare who sponsor the “Scooter Store” ads on the boob tube are about to sponsor MRI and CAT scans for all, never mind that Medicare is bankrupt, and has been for several years now. Those clowns let fraud continue for decades as long as it does not exceed a certain dollar volume or the news media make the fraud an issue. Take these Community Mental Health Centers: 20 odd years ago, a wide spread fraud involving these centers occurred in Alabama, where people would fill out the application for a provider id number, and send it in to the State and the Feds in order to open a Community Mental Health Center. Since there was no initial survey of the physical site, and no review of patient records, these “providers” did not even have to open a physical site, like an office. They just had a mailing address. So once the provider had the valid id, they could just purchase a list of Medicare and Medicaid people, and submit electronic claims for them. The people were never seen, and certainly not treated. So after losing tens of millions of dollars to this fraud, Medicare finally required an initial survey of new community mental health providers, prior to issuing a provider id. This stopped the fraud in Alabama. But not in the other 49 states, where the fraud continued until a few years ago when this became public knowledge via the newspapers. Now initial surveys are required, but only after the idiots at Medicare had paid out tens of billions of our tax dollars to these thieves. As long as the scooter store is advertising on the boob tube to give their fancy electric scooters to FAT people at the expense of medicare, I will not support universal health care.
itamazesme
June 16th, 2009
12:09 pm
oops that sould be two kids.
Gator Nation
June 16th, 2009
12:13 pm
I thought conservatives were in favor of personal responsibility. The teacher should have known better, that’s for sure. But to relieve a 16 year old of their responsibility to govern their own thoughts and actions is also a mistake. We can’t expect adults to behave properly if we allow them to be irresponsible children and teens to begin with.
Redneck Convert
June 16th, 2009
12:21 pm
Well, I’m with Gator Nation. Throw the teacher and the 16 year old both in jail for fixing to sock us taxpayers with welfare and Peachcare and about every other kind of care to spend our taxes on. And make them get married to boot. Just do a strip search to make sure we ain’t carrying out a Gay Marriage.
williebkind
June 16th, 2009
12:32 pm
This is a loser question! Some form of SEX is what the liberals are about mostly–everything else comes afterwards.
The conservatives believe in sex too! You can not disregard a law stating consenting ages is that is the law. I think you should change the law which may or may not be good to raise the consenting age.
The teacher should be fired and the student kicked out of the school. Otherwise leave things alone.
Normal
June 16th, 2009
12:33 pm
If it’s not consentual, isn’t that rape?
Hmm
June 16th, 2009
12:44 pm
This makes no sense. If a person is old enough to consent then they are old enough to consent period. What difference does it make if a 16 year old sleeps with a 28 year old wal-mart employee or a 28 year old teacher, especially if the 16 year old was no longer a student of the 28 year old. At the most this teacher was guilty of making a bad judgement call.
PokeUINURI
June 16th, 2009
12:45 pm
It just goes to show you just how many of our laws are totally stupid and are oftentimes only a kneejerk reaction by self righteous zealots who feel the need to legislate others’ morality because it is not in line with theirs.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 16th, 2009
12:54 pm
Well I like having sex with my dog. No one says a thang bout dat! Yeee Hawwwwwd
PokeUINURI
June 16th, 2009
12:54 pm
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work, we should get together. I loves me some goats and donkeys.
Gator Nation
June 16th, 2009
12:55 pm
My football team is terrible. But still, I love staring at my poster of Timmy Tebow every night. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Timmmmmmmmmm.
Daily Liberal Demwit Hypocrisy Alerts
June 16th, 2009
12:56 pm
1) ABC turns programming over to Obama White House for health care coverage and “reporting.” You think anyone will be allowed to ask a tough question – like HOW MUCH this so called plan will REALLY cost? Imagine if the Bush White House did this with Fox News. The howls from the liberal media and Faux News hater liberals themselves would be heard as far away as Zimbabwe.
2) Obama fires an inspector general after he gets a little to close on investigating corruption and cronyism to an Obama supporter, who also happens to be an ex-pro B-ball player. Didn’t we listen to the liberal media and liberals themselves protest about Bush cronyism and firing people?
3) A plan to create a new Pentagon “cybercommand” is raising significant privacy, legal, and diplomatic concerns. Where are all those liberals who whined about “illegal” wiretapping under Bush – that IS still going on, mind you.
4) Back to cronyism and campaign donors, Obama last Thursday tapped four big Democratic Party donors for ambassadorships in Europe and Latin America while naming six career diplomats to posts in Africa, the Mideast and the Pacific. Not a peep from the liberal media that howled under the Bush administration doing similar.
5) The Anal Press (AP) is stating Republicans are honing an attack line against Obama in an attempt to play on Americans’ fears of government overreach and economic uncertainties, suggesting he is nationalizing American industry. Facts are what they are. Besides, it’s not like Al Gore ever PLAYED ON OUR FEARS, eh?
Finally, you want to see what waterboarding is all about after your stay in Gitmo? Check this out:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1192872/Guantanamo-4-hit-shops-day-freedom.html
Californication
June 16th, 2009
1:13 pm
Funny I don’t see any reference to Republican or Democrat in this article…. DX and the DR must be ASSuming….
skozoze
June 16th, 2009
1:19 pm
The comments make me wonder if any of you has a 16 year old daughter? My daughter will be 16 in the fall, and although, yes, she will be “of the age of consent,” I can tell you that she (and every other 16 year old I know) is not mature enough to make that kind of a decision. Kids are easily influenced and persuaded by authority figures. Without modification of the law, a male (or female) teacher can simply wait until the child is 16 and then prey on them all they want. It would be relatively easy to get them to consent – they would be delighted to have that kind of attention from an adult. Personally, the age of consent ought to be older than 16. Since it isn’t, I do believe that, just as many companies ban relationships between coworkers, schools should make sex with a student of that school an immediate termination offense, consent or no consent. The law should protect children by being modified to be clear that sex between students and teachers is not allowed. And yes, 16 year olds are children – they are certainly well on their way to adulthood, but they definitely need some protection from themselves – they get protection to keep them safer when they drive (Joshua’s Law, etc). Parents can help, but can’t do it all if someone in a position of authority is telling the girl or boy how good looking they are, how nice they are, how much they love them. Someone who wants to prey on a young person will tell them whatever it takes. We can do better than allowing this to be OK in our society. I’m not really conservative or liberal – I’m just a mom.
deegee
June 16th, 2009
1:21 pm
If a liver transplant is denied to a person that tests positive for alcohol, then aren’t we already rationing health care based on personal choices? If insurance companies stop giving away motorized scooters and handicapped stickers to obese people with medical issues, wouldn’t it stand to reason that there would be less obesity? I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have them. I am questioning who should pay for them.
Redneck Convert
June 16th, 2009
1:34 pm
Well, no wonder we have so many fat people in wheelchairs and scooters. And it’s not just because Medicare is paying for them. Just go to a mall and look at how many handicap spaces there are right near the door. They need to put the spaces far away from the store so the people would get out and walk and loose weight. They ain’t never going to loose weight if we just about carry them into a store. And then you get into a store and they got these electric grocery carts for the handicap people. And every one of the people you see in them weighs about 400 lbs.
It’s just my opinion but it’s very true. Have a good p.m. everybody.
Outrage
June 16th, 2009
1:49 pm
Sarah Palin does such a poor job of instilling values in daughter Palin that she ends up becoming an unwed teenage mother, and this is somehow David Letterman’s fault?
I’m not sure if Palin can see Russia from her house, but I’m pretty sure anyone in the lower 48 can see the hypocrisy from Alaska.
Otto
June 16th, 2009
1:52 pm
Mutts are stupid, Please review the paragraphs chapter in your English class. Thanks
conservative democrat
June 16th, 2009
2:09 pm
Big Bucks & Poke,
I think you’re in violation of Georgia’s sodomy law. Better be careful what you do with that dawg, goat, or donkey behind close doors in these parts.
Mutts-R-Stupid-especially-journalism-majors
June 16th, 2009
2:21 pm
Otto, we did not git to the paragraphs chapter in English class, too many teacher work days over at Wheeler High School, plus the hanky panky in the band room.
Pickin 'n' Choosin
June 16th, 2009
2:27 pm
“Gov. Palin announced that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it.”
— unfunny Jay Leno last year, doing a joke similar to the one that got Letterman in trouble …. Palin must have let that go because of all the time Leno spent kissing McCain’s behind.
fer
June 16th, 2009
2:44 pm
Mutts-R — You present an awful lot as fact when it’s NOT! Get things straight before you start typing.
Cloreese
June 16th, 2009
2:47 pm
I think I was in that band room at Wheeler High – are you my baby daddy?
PokeUINURI
June 16th, 2009
3:02 pm
Don’t be confused, it is quite obvious that anyone with half a brain on this board should be able to tell from my writing style that the 12:54p post is not by any means characteristic of me. I’m sure it’s still the bitter fool that was “Eli Whitney” on the blog yesterday exacting revenge because he was exposed as a FRAUD. Wassup Eli?? My “BROTHA”!
@skozoze
I, just so happen to have a 16 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER! Let me tell you, from personal experience that this is something that I have definitely considered. One of the things that I have made absolutely paramount in raising my daughter (especially in the recent past few years) is “giving her the game”. What this entails is basically making clear to her from a man’s perspective the techniques, traps, etc. that men, whether authority figures or not use to exploit her female mind for the purpose of gaining sex. And trust me… this applies well beyond the teenage years, as any man can get deep inside a woman’s mind if he understands and is able to relate to her sensibilities. The bottom line is..the consent laws are what they are, so I have to operate based upon that law. I am not at all worried about ANY man preying upon my daughter from that perspective (outside of force), because I make it a point to communicate with her on these issues as often as the opportunity presents itself, which in today’s world is on an almost daily basis.
While I do agree that physical relationships at the high school level are inappropriate, at the college level you’re talking about a different animal. Especially if you consider the case of a well established middle aged adult and an adult professor. I would just like to think at that point in their lives they are mature enough to handle it. So the law in that sense has an incompatibility with the situation, and that’s what makes them “stupid”; when they are broad and sweeping and no logic applied.
Dan Theman
June 16th, 2009
3:13 pm
Churchill’s Mom, Sarah is a joke, just ask David!
Dave
June 16th, 2009
3:21 pm
One Voice – I think you have the IQ of a rock, try real hard to say something that is relevant to the column, if you can.
Sharecropper
June 16th, 2009
3:29 pm
Sex should always be consensual. I thought we all knew that. Otherwise, we’ll wind up with another Dick Cheney.
speaking of
June 16th, 2009
4:36 pm
screwing the kids.
Sen. Dan Weber, who chairs the Senate’s education committee, is calling for the new law in response to a state audit released last week showing that answers had been altered on the fifth-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests to improve scores at four elementary schools last summer. At one of the schools — Atherton Elementary in DeKalb County — the principal resigned and the assistant principal was reassigned late last week after officials determined tampering had occurred.
Old Physics Teacher
June 16th, 2009
5:20 pm
Robert Heinlein once said something about people never wanted laws made to stop THEM from dong something they knew was wrong, but that they wanted laws made to stop OTHER PEOPLE from doing things they didn’t like them doing. I think it applies here. No harm to the body politic; no foul to the body politic. Now if the parents of the 16 year-old want to whip the teacher’s you-know-what, that’s OK too. Not the state’s problem, though!
connorlarkin
June 16th, 2009
5:43 pm
What about the 13-year-olds and younger who got knocked up and suddenly moved to Atlanta later to surface as grandmother/elder at Bedrock Baptist Church or Ogle Argle Bargle Assembly of God?
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
5:55 pm
How ’bout an affair by the “married” Senatuh Repuglitaarrrhd John the Ensign Engine and the wife of his married staffer. Notin’ beats notin’ like the Publitard “famluh values” and the wink wink pubtard tradishun of Ectopic Schtupping. And with Saxbut (ah kint’ stop them from gittin no sixty no ways) Chambliss standing behind him grinnin’ like the pubtard from the pubtard white trash ignorant state he is.
Another notch in the gun for Pubtard Ectopic Sctuppin’. Famlah Values mah butt.
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
5:57 pm
How bout ole Bristol the Pistol who got knocked up cause she didn’t put no wrapper on the heat seakin’ missle and then hypocritically becomes the poster slut for abstinence for a clothing company who makes clothes so mama’s little girls can become more slutty?
Larry Craig
June 16th, 2009
6:24 pm
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign. He is expected to announce the affair at a press conference at 6:30 pm tonight. The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign’s re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. Ensign’s wife, Darlene, said that the couple’s “marriage has become stronger” and added: “I love my husband.”
SOIssues
June 16th, 2009
6:47 pm
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com
The Government needs to stay the hell out of people’s lives. And tell the puritans to go home. They continually pass laws that violate the constitution (ex post facto for one), and get a way with it. The Constitution apparently is not worth the paper and ink it’s written with.
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
7:27 pm
Maybe the marriage became stronger ’cause ole Darlene climbed in bed with ‘em and made a threesome. Ah do remembuh that Senatuh Ensign strolled to the floor in 2004 to give a phony speech on the “Defense of Marriage Act” but what he really meant was the Defense of Marriage with Ectopic Schtupping Act.”
Ensign is the Senatuh’s only Pentacostalist and a “Promise Keeper.”
So the “rising star” in the pubtard circus done fell. Couldn’t happen to a more policy goofey guy. Ensign ran the Repubtard Senate elections during the last elections–straight into the ground.
Story is that the husband of Ensign’s bangee as the Repubtard family values hypocrits call ‘em tried to extrot “hush money” outta ole John who was his employer and ole John leaned on Bush DOJ not to indict him ’cause it would be too much embarassment.
Another fundamentalist Christian, another bangee and another day.
Meanwhile in the House of Clowns the Supplemental vote drones on including the moronic cash for clunkers bill with joke fuel saving criteria.
Apparently after two years of running and ducking dimwit Harrut Miers gave a deposition to HJC yesterday and Slimeball Karl the Rovester will appear before HJC under vague conditions.
Rove was questioned by special prosecutor Nora Dennehy on May 15 on the hijacking of DOJ to replace US Attorneys with Rove puppets. Not much information has come from that tea party.
Chris Broe
June 16th, 2009
7:32 pm
How quickly Americans throw it’s Gods under the bus. Letterman is in deep trouble. Imus?
Chris Broe
June 16th, 2009
7:40 pm
One joke is all it takes and you’re toast in America. Attila the Hun was more welcome in Italy after he sacked Rome than Letterman is welcome in New York right now. One stinking joke. Man. Ask Imus.
Imus. Letterman. Jimmy the Greek. One comment. A few words is all it takes. Wow.
We forgive the Iranians for “Death to America” chants for generations, and then Letterman sez, “Knocked up” and he’s worse than hitler? One joke?
One joke? One?
Chris Broe
June 16th, 2009
7:54 pm
You’d think Letterman blogged the wrong word on Bookman’s blog the way he’s been skunked right now. Man oh man.
Uncle
June 16th, 2009
7:54 pm
Buck toothed Letterman finally screamed “UNCLE!” to Palin and apologized. Now that’s what I call balls – and I’m not talking about Letterman. She stuck it to The Rabbit until he caved. That’s the way you have to deal with this incessant, never ending hatred by liberals towards Conservatives. WTF was the ball-less doing STILL talking about Palin anyway? I thought EVERY Conservative was irrelevant after Nov. freaking FOUR last year. Pathetic.
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
7:59 pm
Nope. Letterman is not in deep trouble. I’d love to take anyone’s bet that Letterman won’t stay right where he is.
Unless you consider $38 million a year salary and perks “deep trouble.” Letterman has named when he quits, and it will be 2012 when ole dimwit Palin gets slammed by the RNC and told she’s just too stupid to run for anything, and he has named 2012 at which time Viacom has already tapped Jon Stewart who excells at making fools out of pubtards to take his place. I’ll be happy to define deep trouble for ya.
Ensign, he of the ectopic schtup after his phony crap about Defense of Marriage Values is dead in the water as to his future political aspirations above the Senate.
Palin is DOA for any further political office anywhere on the planet. Their are a lot of dumb people in Congress, but no one ranks in her league for stupidity. She ain’t gettin’ elected wolf catcher or moose catcher. She’s done.
Uncle
June 16th, 2009
8:14 pm
“and he has named 2012 at which time Viacom has already tapped Jon Stewart who excells at making fools out of pubtards to take his place.”
Let us know when you libsnakes come up with a counter to Fox News and AM talk radio. Oh wait, I know, that’s just “entertainment.” Yeah, so that explains why so many ignoranus libtards voted for Obama and couldn’t even answer who Nancy Pelosi was.
My question still stands for any mindless libtard if one of you pink skirts wants to answer: why still the hatred for people who aren’t even in power? What, you SCARED?
Uncle
June 16th, 2009
8:16 pm
And another thing: at least Palin doesn’t answer to and speak in a teleprompter.
Uncle
June 16th, 2009
8:17 pm
Watching Obama speak into a teleprompter from side to side in some psuedo attempt to make it appear he’s speaking from memory is worse than watching a WNBA game – a lot of shifting left and right and no gain.
Uncle
June 16th, 2009
8:24 pm
All this Obama cronyism and corruption and firing of an inspector general who was honing in on cronyism himself, and guess what’s on the front page of CNN? Ensign’s affair! Nah, no media bias whatsoever.
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
8:46 pm
When Palin speaks it is always Saturday Night Live Redux whether she uses a tin can. It’s what she says with her dimwit poorly educated brain that informs her comedy act and insures she can’t get elected to jack. And Obama has gone off teleprompter plenty taking hundreds of interviews during his campaign and after his election win speaking off the cuff. Palin, in contrast makes sure she’s either talking to some Faux News moron, or refusing to focus on any issues relevant to her delusional political aspirations.
We are begging you pubtards to run her so we can mop the floor up with her moron butt.
You don’t hear Palin discussing the Raegan, Bush, Greenspan, Graham induced financial crisis–or the pubtard TARP bailout from the pubtard Goldman Sachs brigade led by the inane Goldman Sachs Paulson, or the Bush sweetheart deal with TARP for Chrysler’s daddy Cerebrus run by pubtards.
You don’t hear Palin holding forth or taking interviews on health care. You don’t hear Palin commenting on a custom tailored CDS that Geithner is pushing because she hasn’t a clue what one is.
I can take any 16 year-old fast food worker in a mall Chick Fil-A and tutor them to easily out debate the twit Palin, and to handle interviews with exponentially more sophistication and facts.
Palin can’t even educate her own daughter as to the health care involved in using a rubber.
Pubs=Psycho Talk
June 16th, 2009
8:58 pm
Can Sarah Palin see the First Amendment from Alaska since she has no understanding of it whatsoever. The First Amendment has nothing to do with what Letterman says on TV.
Boy that 40 person pubtard Teabag party at the Ed Sullivan theater sure took Letterman down for the count. That’s pubtard power for ya.
Pubtards=Irrelevant anywhere anytime unless you want comedy.
I rule Andy
June 17th, 2009
6:14 am
I’m a liberal, my wife’s a conservative. It’s none of ya’lls business, but the sex is great and often (you wouldn’t believe me if I told you…)
My point being… it’s not the normal conservative that obsesses over the sex lives of others, it’s the frumpy old men who own the party and will not allow the younger generation to take the mantle. Change is in the wind, but how long it will take is anybody’s guess.
I rule Andy
June 17th, 2009
6:18 am
“My question still stands for any mindless libtard if one of you pink skirts wants to answer: why still the hatred for people who aren’t even in power? What, you SCARED?”
No, it’s the lowhanging fruit dumba$$… Speaking of hatred why the ongoing animosity towards Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, two men who CAN’T ever retrun to power.
Look up hippocracy in the dictionary wingbutternut idiot…
Mid-South Philosopher
June 17th, 2009
6:41 am
I am way late responding to this due to the fact that I am working hard to support this Obama economy. I am a short, fat, old white man…you know…one of the ones who gets to pay the bills!!!
In this case the GA Supreme Court got it right. It is the responsibility of the General Assembly to draft appropriate legislation to address this type of behavior. However, when I consider the rate of success of those “losers under the Gold Dome” in dealing with sexually related issues and how “repressed” those ole boys and girls are, I hold out little hope that they will get it right.
Redneck Convert
June 17th, 2009
8:13 am
Well, I reckon that Horsley guy knowed what he was doing when he picked a mule. A mule’s owner won’t call you up later and threaten to tell the whole world if you don’t pay alot of money. I reckon this Sen. Ensign looked at his bank account and then looked at his hope to be President and decided to fess up. You can’t be President with no money in the bank. Have a good a.m. everybody.
Robert Parrish
August 25th, 2009
9:56 pm
It bothers me that we have all the public outcry in this country regarding teacher student sex, I must be old now and come from a long lost utopia,but growing up in West Virginia in the 1970s, teacher student sex happened often..I think of a few experiances that I had and I can honestly say they were some of my best memories. 30 years later I think of them often. and wish I could go back and do it all again .
the other day I was talking to one of my high school friends who is currently a teacher and I knew that he, way back in the day had a couple of sexual relationships with his teachers, he told me “we went to school in a great period ” during the sexual revolution, we just didnt think it was any big deal.I can think of several girls who also had affairs with married teachers ,some of them have turned out to be teachers and raised great children. a few of them have not done so well.
My advice to any young High School or college student who is lucky enough to have sex with a teacher such as a Debra LaFave or who ever for that matter, keep your mouth shut, and protect her ,she may have just provided you with a lifetime of fond memories,