And speaking of James O'Keefe, the creepy douchebag who made the ACORN film

[Hello_Kitty]

Since he and his girlfriend on film claiming that they want to start a brothel and import underage girls for prostitution, I believe the authorities should take their claim seriously and investigate them. Get a search warrant and seize their computers and equipment and go through their possessions with a fine tooth comb and get a record of all their phone calls and credit card transactions. Let them explain and defend themselves as ACORN is having to do.

[paulsby]

1. cmon

are you serious?

[AuntPatsy]

3. I happen to agree with her

[paulsby]

4. you happen

to not understand how criminal law works. if you could make such a silly argument.

think back to legally blonde and concentrate on the words : MENS REA

[Hello_Kitty]

6. That's why you do an investigation. To establish that. eom

[paulsby]

17. not in the real world

maybe in the deflect from ACORN culpability world.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. Yes.

Child rape isn't a joke to me.

[Winterblues]

8. Do you believe any crime was committed with their little skit?

Either by the ACORN person or by them? If someone committed a crime do you think it should be investigated? Do you think recording someone without their knowledge might be a crime and if they did indeed do that, is it possible that they did the same thing to others and that evidence could be on their computers? Just asking

[Hello_Kitty]

11. I don't know but I definitely think they should be investigated.

Just sayin'.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hello_Kitty]

19. Two people admitted on film to engaging in prostitution, which is illegal in most states

They then sought assistance in setting up a brothel with underage girls. How do we know they're not already engaged in child sex trafficking? We don't. That's why they should be investigated.

[paulsby]

18. very possibly so

crimes were committed, but not the one mentioned by the OP

[Hello_Kitty]

21. How do you know that?

You don't. All we know is that two people admitted on film to engaging in prostitution, an illegal activity, and to wanting to set up a brothel with underage prostitutes.

[paulsby]

22. because i know the law

which clearly you don't, if you can ask that question. i've testified in court hundreds of times, i've taught recruits, and i've APPLIED the law, and all i have to say is if you don't believe me, find a local attorney and ask them if these kids who were POSING as a pimp/prostitute could possibly be charged with "conspiracy" to pimp, etc.

it's ridiculous and just shows a profound misunderstanding of the law.

and it's not ALL we know. we know a fair bit about the background of both players.

if this was 60 minutes doing a sting, you (and others) would not be saying "we don't know" when the investigative reporter was doing a sting.

it's just completely ridiculous.

[Hello_Kitty]

25. But when legitimate news organizations do stings

They typically involve law enforcement in them, or at the very least they alert the police to what they are doing. A regular person can't just set up a Brian Williams "Catch a Predator" sting and not get in serious trouble.

And yes, I'm engaging in a bit of hyperbole and wishful thinking in my OP. I realize there's no basis to charge them with child sex trafficking but as you well know cops and prosecutors can dream up all kinds of reasons to investigate people. I just wish someone would throw a little scare in them to convey the message that child rape is not a joking matter. I'm serious about that.

[paulsby]

26. ok. as long as you admit your engaging in a "bit" of hyperbole

i'm not going to keep pressing this point.

fwiw, it's not illegal to joke about child rape.

it's not illegal to write a fictional account of same.

it's not illegal to pose as a pimp or prostitute.

it's illegal to rape children, though.

[Hello_Kitty]

27. "Joke" about your intention to rape children in front of me and I'm calling the cops on your ass.

By "you" I don't mean you, of course.

And something tells me we're going to see O'Keefe on that list of Republican Child Sex Predators someday.

[paulsby]

28. and i, as the responding cop would tell you

that it's perfectly legal to joke about child rape.

heck, NAMBLA frigging ADVOCATES it.

[Hello_Kitty]

31. I'm not talking about those kind of jokes.

I'm talking about expressing an intention to rape a child. When I was stationed in Japan in the Navy, there was a scumbag who traveled to Thailand regularly to have sex with 10 year old girls. He bragged about it. The really sick thing was there was nothing illegal about it prior to about 1994 when the military banned it. In 2003, a Federal law was passed banning "child sex tourism" for all U.S. citizens. If someone tells me they are going to Thailand or the Dominican Republic with the specific intention of raping children I'm reporting them to the police. Let them explain how they're "just joking" to Officer Friendly. The ACORN workers should have called the cops.

[paulsby]

32. which is great but it's still not illegal to do what

the ACORN people did. i can cite the sex tourism law. it doesn't apply here.

what they did was legal.

[AuntPatsy]

2. If you ask me they seem to find the whole thing funny and if I were you they would be who

I would seriously have issues with..if they honestly cared about a very real problem world wide why not do more instead of walking around in halloween costumes which is how I saw them..they made me sick...and I do hope they are investigated very very thouroughly...

[mzmolly]

7. You have a point.

K and R

[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lagomorph]

10. While you at it....

...imagine them being world famous journalists and raking in millions of dollars from grateful rightwingers.

Imagine their film work being "must see" viewing all around the world.

[Hello_Kitty]

13. So what? I'll be glad to make RW martyrs out them. eom

[Lagomorph]

15. In case you haven't noticed, the martyrs keep turning into Zombies...

They may be dead, but they can still do a lot of damage.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. It's a crime to waste a police officers time with false alarms.

I'm reporting you right now.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. If someone asks me to help them rape children I'm reporting them.

Let the cops figure out if they're genuine threats or not.

It's not that hard to understand, HiFructose. I don't see why you're having a problem grasping it.

Oh wait, yeah I do.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. If you know it's not true, and you report them, you'd be wasting everybody's time.

"Let the cops figure out if they're genuine threats or not."

But we already know it's a not a genuine threat. There's not even probable cause.

Are you devoid of reason?

Wait, don't answer that.

[Hello_Kitty]

23. Well gosh! The cops should go round up the employees at the offices that did report them.

For wasting their time.

Somehow I believe those ACORN employees would not be in any trouble and would still have jobs today had they called the cops instead of playing along with the couple in the hopes that Ashton Kutcher was going to pop through the door any minute (if we're to believe the woman who is claiming that).

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Exactly.

So it makes no sense for you to be attacking ACORN rather than the misbehaving employees.

You're trying to have your cake and eat it too.

[Ian David]

29. If ACORN had taped it and turned the tape over FIRST, O'Queef would be arrested. n/t

[dem629]

30. He was asked about it and said, "Bring it on."