Another editorial out of California, this one from the LA Times, detailing how pointless and counterproductive sex offender laws are. Here’s how the article gets started…
Jessica’s Law — California’s version of it, anyway — was a mess from the beginning. Voters here adopted it (as Proposition 83) in 2006 because they mistakenly believed they were cracking down on horrific crimes against children. They were urged on by nightly harangues from national TV commentators who campaigned on-air for swift action following the rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Florida, a crime that touched an especially sensitive nerve here because the circumstances nearly mirrored the nightmarish killing of Polly Klaas in California a decade earlier. But emotional outpourings of fear, revulsion and collective guilt too often translate poorly into policy and law, and that was surely the case with Proposition 83.
In fact, the story shows an actual protest mounted by registered citizens in Carson, CA in front of the city hall. If only registrants across the nation and their families would be so bold. Real change would happen much faster than it already is.
Here’s one more great passage from the article, which is worth a full read:
Californians have every right to protect their children from child molesters, so it would be understandable if they were perplexed by the actions of the court and corrections officials — until they realize that the residency restriction did nothing of the sort. In fact, it likely undermined public safety for everyone, children included, by pushing paroled sex offenders from their homes and compelling them to live homeless or as transients, leaving the public in the dark as to their whereabouts and making parolees harder for agents to find.
“If only registrants across the nation and their families would be so bold. Real change would happen much faster than it already is.”SO's can do even more to effect change, than simply react to unjust and ineffective laws. They can boycott the products and services any country that has a public registry, starting with the USA. To the extent, we can we can buy foreign made products. The US economy depends on us buying their products. The taxes from this pay the salaries of the people who persecute you. Shift to non-US products.The following are examples, not endorsements:COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS- Do not buy Microsoft, Apple, HP, Dell or other American computer products.- Buy Asus (Taiwan), Toshiba, Sony (Japan), Samsung (Korea).- Use free Linux based, many applications, like word processing, video editing, like Knoppix operating system. – Mobile or smart phone or ipad buy Samsung (Korea), or SonyErikson (Japan-Sweden).- TV screens: Samsung or LG (Korea), or Sony (Japan).FOOD- Coffee: Instead of Starbucks, Peets, or Maxwell House coffee, buy Lavazza (Italian) or Illy (Italian) or Tchibo (German).- Buy imported wine, cheese, jam. – Buy Nestle, or Maggie (Swiss)Go to Asian specialty stores to find products from Asia.Find Latin American products at Latino specialty stores:Buy Tecate, Modelo, Dos Equis and other good Mexican beersBuy cortijo Mexican country cheese. AUTOMOTIVE:- Cars: Instead of Ford or GM or Chrysler, consider Volkswagen (Germany), Fiat (Italy), Peugeot (French), others.- Tires – Hankook (Korea), Yokohama (Japan), Pirelli (Italy), others. CLOTHING:Shoes: you can find many non-American shoe brands. Adidas, Birkenstocks (Germany), Docs, Churches, Clark's (UK), Bata, many more.TRAVEL:- Air travel – Lufthansa (German), KLM (Dutch), Air Berlin (German), Air France (France), Air China, Eva (China), Korean (Korea), Asiana (Japan) many others. – Do not book with US travel agencies, like Trivago. If you are not sure about the origin of a product, check the website or wiki.Some of the other countries may be just as much witch hunt countries but we can still make them compete with each other for our dollars. It does not matter if you use American products if you already have them or if someone else owns them, as long as you do not give them new money.Do not buy US products from foreign retailers or wholesalers.