Though they walk like we do
They live and they breathe
Just to turn the old screw....
--John Prine
Recent articles from the Associated Press:
LAKE ARIEL, Pa. (AP) — Police say a northeastern Pennsylvania man accused of killing his newborn daughter twice dropped a cinder block on the girl because he said he and his girlfriend couldn't afford a second child.
MEDFORD, Oregon (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter in a brutal wrestling match.
Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Mejia found 30-year-old Benjamin James George guilty of murder by abuse and first-degree assault in the death of Kacy Sue Lunsford. The Mail Tribune reports that the judge sentenced the former Marine on Thursday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murder charge.
The little girl was nearly 3 when she died on June 15, 2010, at a Portland hospital, five days after the assault.
Prosecutor David Hoppe said previous episodes of abuse ended in one night of "ultimate wrestling moves" by the 230-pound man that left the 30-pound child with collapsed lungs, a lacerated liver, internal bleeding and massive head wounds.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A father accused of abandoning his 4-year-old son along a rural West Texas highway in the middle of the night was charged Thursday with attempted capital murder, prosecutors said.
32nd Judicial District Attorney Ann Reed said she upgraded the charge against Carlos Rico after talking with the Sweetwater police chief.
The first-degree felony charge replaces the child-endangerment charge he faced after another man found his son along Interstate 20 near Sweetwater about 3 a.m. Tuesday. The 22-year-old father is accused of choking the boy and dumping him on the road about three hours before he was found.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A father accused of abandoning his 4-year-old son along a rural West Texas highway in the middle of the night was charged Thursday with attempted capital murder, prosecutors said.
32nd Judicial District Attorney Ann Reed said she upgraded the charge against Carlos Rico after talking with the Sweetwater police chief.
The first-degree felony charge replaces the child-endangerment charge he faced after another man found his son along Interstate 20 near Sweetwater about 3 a.m. Tuesday. The 22-year-old father is accused of choking the boy and dumping him on the road about three hours before he was found.
These haven't received the attention the Caylee Anthony trial has, and, well, people are innocent until proven guilty. Interesting how the public, and CNN, zero in on a particular case, and the cable channels saturate the airwaves with their coverage. I find the cinder-block guy and the wrestling guy more intriguing. And the other guy, what irresponsible parenting, being out with your 4-year-old at 3 a.m.
I guess the Marine figured he could take the 2-year-old, and a girl at that. I bet a 2-year-old boy would have evened things out. But they likely will have defenders: "They're just kids themselves. Kids having kids."
I've observed a fair number of children, and I'm reasonably certain most know it's wrong to drop a cinder block on a baby. A kid I knew got fired from soccer camp for putting a duck in a cooler, but somehow it's not the same.
Maybe if cinder-block guy had used an anvil instead, the whole affair could have been funny. A YouTube video, perhaps, that could have recalled Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Could have gone viral, man, FWIW : ) Then CNN could have picked it up. No imagination. Maybe they would have done better with the other kid, but now they likely won't get the chance. I wonder if he and his girlfriend discussed the procedure beforehand.
Cinder-block guy: "Honey, how should we kill the baby?"
Girlfriend: "I don't know, maybe poison."
"No, that costs money, which we can't afford, let alone afford a baby."
"Garbage disposal?"
"And use up that fuckin' electricity?"
"Bleach in a garbage can?"
"Come on, cunt, that costs money, too."
"Well, how about one of those cinder blocks our TV is sitting on?"
"You're a genius. Sorry for calling you a cunt."
Then they could have fucked without a rubber again.
I once saw a guy dump bleach on a rat trapped in a garbage can, and I considered that unusual. So I got a sledgehammer and bonked the bleached-half-white rat a few times. A mercy killing. Die a slow death in a caustic chemical or let me dispatch with you now. Maybe I should have wrestled the rat.
But perhaps these guys aren't really disturbed; instead, they were sparing the children slow deaths, the ones that take 80 years or so and weaken you drip by drip until the dam breaks. Nah.
Babies and toddlers, however, are demanding. Diaper changes, feedings, crying, sleep interrupted, tantrums, self-centeredness. Oh, that's my mother. And babies, to be fair.I guess the Marine figured he could take the 2-year-old, and a girl at that. I bet a 2-year-old boy would have evened things out. But they likely will have defenders: "They're just kids themselves. Kids having kids."
I've observed a fair number of children, and I'm reasonably certain most know it's wrong to drop a cinder block on a baby. A kid I knew got fired from soccer camp for putting a duck in a cooler, but somehow it's not the same.
Maybe if cinder-block guy had used an anvil instead, the whole affair could have been funny. A YouTube video, perhaps, that could have recalled Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Could have gone viral, man, FWIW : ) Then CNN could have picked it up. No imagination. Maybe they would have done better with the other kid, but now they likely won't get the chance. I wonder if he and his girlfriend discussed the procedure beforehand.
Cinder-block guy: "Honey, how should we kill the baby?"
Girlfriend: "I don't know, maybe poison."
"No, that costs money, which we can't afford, let alone afford a baby."
"Garbage disposal?"
"And use up that fuckin' electricity?"
"Bleach in a garbage can?"
"Come on, cunt, that costs money, too."
"Well, how about one of those cinder blocks our TV is sitting on?"
"You're a genius. Sorry for calling you a cunt."
Then they could have fucked without a rubber again.
I once saw a guy dump bleach on a rat trapped in a garbage can, and I considered that unusual. So I got a sledgehammer and bonked the bleached-half-white rat a few times. A mercy killing. Die a slow death in a caustic chemical or let me dispatch with you now. Maybe I should have wrestled the rat.
But perhaps these guys aren't really disturbed; instead, they were sparing the children slow deaths, the ones that take 80 years or so and weaken you drip by drip until the dam breaks. Nah.
Then once in a while they look up at you with a toothless smile (the kids), and you at least imagine you start to see something in them. The purest smile. Unadulterated, untainted. And bittersweet, for you'll never again smile that way. Then they crawl and sit up and talk (and talk and talk). And you start to see some of yourself. And they imitate you and say "fuck" from their car seats when someone cuts you off. And they run down the hall to greet you at the door and cling to your legs like you're the life raft in a turbulent sea. And if you're open to it, a love develops like none you've ever known. And when they're at their most uncompromising, you try to bear in mind that they, unlike the dog, won't always run down the hall and nearly knock you over in their zeal.
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