I'll agree that 25 years is a mite long for having consensual sex with a 17 year old that's sneaking into bars and passing herself off as an adult. However, I don't think you thought your statement about kiddie porn sating some perv over thoroughly. In order to obtain that porn, some poor child has been injured which means nothing good can come out of it.

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I understand but when a poster says children, (not teens), should be able to decide if they want to have sex with an adult or not, I can't help but act emotionally. How can a child of 2, 5, or even 10 years old make that kind of decision????

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I agree. I'm not talking about your reaction so much as the idea of reporting people based on opinions even when very unpopular.

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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Please understand that I wouldn't report anyone for their opinion if the subject was something other than child sex and child porn. We once had a poster that advocated these things, was investigated, and is, for the moment anyway, in jail for past child sex crimes. I refuse to take the chance that the current poster isn't an innocent as he claims to be (our other poster also claimed innocence). If the investigation finds him innocent, great, but we won't know that without the investigation.

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I typically agree that what a person says(aside from confession to a crime) shouldn't get them legal flack, but when you consider the nature of this issue(the psychosis of pedophiles that causes child molesters apparent incapability to control their urges for long periods of time) someone who voices their opposition to child sexual laws has earned themselves a look from the appropriate law enforcement agencies. I see this no differently than if I were to lead people to believe I might kill myself and a poster contacted my local government in an attempt to get me counseling.

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During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent act of stupidity.
-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Wanderer and his Shadow

All good socialists have villas in Southern France. That's not the point.
-Eurosocialist

Not surprising. Now, can we setup more sting ops to nab these low lives?

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So 24 yrs then?

Actually I did think it through - The first wording made it sound even more positive, so I toned it down. Given a hypothetical choice between one child being exploited (not necessarily even abused) for a camera vs multiple children being abused, the former is the obvious choice, and thus at least relatively good. Or more realistically, substitute 'several' and 'many more' for 'one' and 'multiple', but the reasoning still holds.

But back to the OP topic. The thought occurred to me last nite (IIRC ironically enough while I was bathing with my infant son) that the reasoning behind child porn bans is to protect children from pervs. But if only 85% of such viewers have actually done anything to children, that means we have a law with a whopping 15% improper conviction rate! That to me cries out for some sort of reform.

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Today's forecast: Government corruption.

Tomorrow's forecast: 100% chance of more 'politics as usual'

Maybe it's finally time to vote Libertarian