shoeofallcosmos HillaryLife goes on. (I guess I need to pick up the new Sonic).
@GamePlaya3159 Sonic Generations is AMAZING so far! I wish I could be playing it right now still, but bigger things are happening.
Aransas County does have an election coming up next week, but Adams’s term is not up this time around. Of course, the public attention to this could well lead to his stepping down, though he tells a local news affiliate that the incident “happened years ago,” that he “apologized,” and that “it’s not as bad as it looks on tape.”posted by ericb at 12:01 PM on November 2, 2011
Results: The majority of respondents indicated that they had been slapped or spanked, or both, by an adult during childhood "sometimes" (33.4%) or "rarely" (40.9%); 5.5% reported that this occurred "often." The remainder (20.2%) reported "never" experiencing these behaviours. Among the respondents without a history of physical or sexual abuse during childhood, those who reported being slapped or spanked "often" or "sometimes" had significantly higher lifetime rates of anxiety disorders (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.96), alcohol abuse or dependence (adjusted OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.27-3.21) and one or more externalizing problems (adjusted OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.36-3.16), compared with those who reported "never" being slapped or spanked. There was also an association between a history of slapping or spanking and major depression, but it was not statistically significant (adjusted OR 1.64, 95% CI 0.96-2.80).posted by mullingitover at 12:05 PM on November 2, 2011 [35 favorites]
Interpretation: There appears to be a linear association between the frequency of slapping and spanking during childhood and a lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorder, alcohol abuse or dependence and externalizing problems.
Local officials said they're stepping up the police presence in Rockport, a city of 9,000 residents, after people flooded police phone lines to complain about the judge and have called in death threats to the courthouse.posted by ericb at 1:29 PM on November 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Let's just say that I had more than 40 emails in my personal account, compared to my average of none and we haven't talked to people in London before," he said.*
"My father's harassment was getting really bad, so I decided to finally publish the video that I had been sitting on for seven years," Adams told KRIS-TV.posted by ericb at 1:32 PM on November 2, 2011 [5 favorites]
"It had happened before, and had been escalating," Adams said. "I set up a camera, and I caught it."
"Every case is different, but some things that could constitute abuse would be using something other than your hand, leaving marks or bruises, or hitting in the face," said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services.1999 Texas Penal Code, Sec. 9.61.
Sec. 9.61. PARENT--CHILD. (a) The use of force, but not deadly force, against a child younger than 18 years is justified:posted by mazola at 1:32 PM on November 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
(1) if the actor is the child's parent or stepparent or is acting in loco parentis to the child; and
(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is necessary to discipline the child or to safeguard or promote his welfare.
(b) For purposes of this section, "in loco parentis" includes grandparent and guardian, any person acting by, through, or under the direction of a court with jurisdiction over the child, and anyone who has express or implied consent of the parent or parents.
"It is my wish that people stop threatening my father and start offering professional help. That is what he really needs."posted by ericb at 1:42 PM on November 2, 2011 [9 favorites]
We had light physical force used (belt snapped on hands), but our parents always doled it out like calm, disciplined jailors, and not like a swearing sailor in a steroid rage.This is the most chilling thing in this thread. You were abused. Sure, not as badly as the kid in the video, but you were a victim of child abuse. Stop excusing your parents' bad behavior--it doesn't matter that they didn't swear, that they didn't rage. They abused you.
I have an 11yr old daughter that I have never hit and never will. You can break the cycle.Yes, you can. Both of my parents were beaten as children, and swore that they were going to be the ones to break the cycle. They did, waaaay back in the 60s and 70s when I was being raised.
How is the story of someone who got pretty run-of-the-mill treatment and emerged OK more chilling than some of the other terrible stories here?Because of the shocking cognitive dissonance. Because you and others dismiss child abuse as "run-of-the-mill treatment." Hillary turned out OK, too, you know, plays piano and has her own place now.
Despite smiling at customers all day, people close to me would say I can be stingingly insensitive and mean when it comes to other people's shortcomings, due to my own conquering of a physical disability that left me having to train myself to walk normally. I was abnormally mature as a young teenager, learning from other kids' mistakes and making virtually none of my own. My sense of humor is really dumb and goofy and more than once I've been told that I come off stupider than I actually am. My parents whipped me as punishment for things like playing video games and installing KaZaA. I never saw or touched drugs until I was 19 and felt like I deserved to do them. Lastly, I adore animals. Birds, cats, dogs, reptiles, chickens, cows, bugs, you name it, I love 'em. But human babies...While psychoanalyzing a stranger over the internet isn't exactly a very accurate endeavor, it's fascinating to me how much these comments demonstrate the pattern so many posters here have mentioned about not wanting to have kids for fear of being unable to break the cycle of abuse.
...
The thing that shocked me into thinking about all this was recreating the two of us as a married couple in The Sims, and I gave my character a hatred of children, because the option was there and I was curious. Then I decided to have them reproduce to see how the game's genes worked. My character ignored the infant's cries and just walked away, leaving the kid hungry. It's just a game, but at the same time it really scared me. What if I have a kid and I still hate motherhood? That's a threat to the baby's safety. Of course, I will never have a kid as long as I still hate motherhood, but these thoughts just keep running through my mind because they're unsolved. I'm frightened about this part of my future and I'm in a phase where I can't stop thinking about it.
...
Another bad flaw of mine stems from when my father told me every single day when I was little that I was better than everyone else, that I was smart, beautiful, etc. Surprise surprise when it gradually dawned on me that it was bullshit and there are millions of people ahead of me on the bell curve in every subject. The attitude my dad taught me is sick and unhealthy and I hate that it seeped into my personality. There's another problem for the shrink to hear about. And it could very well be connected to my intolerance of people who make mistakes, i.e. children and teenagers, and thinking I am "above" them on the inside. Which makes me think about all those stories about people loving up their lives with bad decisions... I think we're on to something.
In a prepared statement, County Judge Burt Mills Jr. said the matter is “under review” by Rockport police, and he asked the public to refrain from calling county offices about it.
“Judge Adams remains on the bench” and has agreed to let a visiting judge hear any cases involving children for at least the next week, said Bianchi, the county attorney, who prosecutes misdemeanor cases. “When the police conduct their investigation, and if they bring anything, we'll review it, and consider the statutes of limitations.”
Mary Walker, a spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services, said the agency was aware of the video, was investigating and “will take appropriate steps.”
The executive director of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, which oversees judges in Texas, would not confirm that the agency was receiving complaints about Adams.
“We can't confirm we've received any complaints or are investigating any judge,” Executive Director Seana Willing said.
Child abuse experts said it's not clear whether the video will result in a criminal charge, though the case shows the impact of social media. The daughter “outed” the violence via YouTube, and the vast online community is pillorying the judge.
“Ten years ago, we wouldn't have ever considered somebody disclosing through social media,” said Robert Bell, children's justice coordinator for Maricopa County, Ariz. and a spokesman for Childhelp Inc. “But obviously, this has spread, and it's brought it to the attention of the media, it's brought it to the attention of law enforcement.”
David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said corporal punishment by parents is legal in all 50 states, and Texas is a state where it is still prevalent.
But a video such as this exposes what may go on behind closed doors in many homes, he said, and the reaction to it speaks for itself.
“I am encouraged by the fact that people are talking about this,” Finkelhor said. “I do think it certainly provides some fuel for people like myself who want to point out that the permission that we give parents to use corporal punishment on their children does make it much more difficult to sanction people who go over the line.”
Michael Pearl has only three methods to deal with continued rebellion in children, since his teachings are straight from the Bible, and therefore infallible:Of course, we don't know if Adams is specifically following the Pearl's teachings, but it's not like Michael and Debi invented their philosophy whole-cloth. Their justifications for abuse have clearly been common for years and years (adding a "biblical basis", of course, makes it more palatable and sets them up as cultural warriors fighting against secularization) It's very possible that Adams learned such justifications from his own parents. But the point is that, in many many circumstances, "acceptable" corporal punishment devolves very easily into "unacceptable" punishment (and Hillary Adams herself implies that the "disciplining" devolved into the situation which she recorded). It is likely that many families have the kind of temperment where parents can administer occasional corporal punishment, and children can accept that punishment as correction. But it's also true that many many families simply aren't equipped for this kind of mutual restraint.
1. Blame yourself. You must not be getting my teaching right.
2. Hit harder. Pain is of the essence.
3. Blame the kid. What else is left? Other people’s kids give in and act godly...
Options b. and c. are hard to do without getting angry. They are hard to do without leaving bruises, especially since Pearl discipline is cumulative: faced with entrenched rebellion, you are supposed to hit repeatedly and in the same areas. My ex-husband got angry with the kids for thwarting the Pearl method, but he remained coldly self-controlled. He also left bruises. A lot of bruises.
[Hillary's mother] Hallie defended her participation in the incident, saying that her husband's physical and emotional abuse had “brainwashed’’ her.This asshole thinks he's beyond reproach. He dared his daughter to release the video. Well, fucker, she did!
She left her husband, she told TODAY, when Hillary was six months old, but he convinced her to return. She told him to stop texting and contacting her this past June, she claimed, and added that he has threatened to have her younger daughter removed from her custody.
“I lived in an environment of dysfunction, and it steadily got worse,’’ Hallie said. “I was completely brainwashed and controlled. I did every single thing that he did. When I leave the room, he’s telling me what to say, what to do.’’
.... “I think the story that’s going to come out in due time in his mind is that he has projected his problem on to me,’’ Hallie told TODAY. “For the entire four years since I’ve left the marriage, I’ve been abused and harassed with texts (and) emails.’’
Hillary held on to the video for seven years until a series of small disputes with her father led her to post it on the site Reddit. It quickly went viral.
“I waited seven years because back then I was still a minor and living under his roof and releasing it then, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me and my mother and my little sister,’’ Hillary said. “So waiting until today, seven years later, was about me being able to pull away and distance myself from the consequences.
“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It wasn’t any huge happening. I told him I had the video, and he didn’t seem to think anything of it and basically dared me to post it.’’
.... Hillary, who lives on her own, has reconciled with her mother.
“We’re very close now, and when I showed her the video, she started crying and hasn’t stopped apologizing,’’ Hillary said. “I forgive her because she knows everything that happened.’’
Texas Judicial Panel Probes Beating Videoposted by ericb at 11:29 AM on November 3, 2011 [2 favorites]After being flooded with calls, faxes and emails calling for action, a Texas judicial panel is investigating an internet video that shows a judge beating his teenage daughter with a belt.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct says in a statement released Thursday that it has "commenced an investigation into the incident."
The statement does not name Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, but it does reference "a YouTube video purporting to depict a Texas judge engaging in the act of striking his teenage daughter with a belt."
The 13-member panel comprises judges, lawyers and regular citizens. After a formal proceeding and hearing, it has the authority to censure a judge or recommend to the Texas Supreme Court that the judge be suspended or removed.
The first time you ever remember feeling this way is two years before your dad dies. Summer. There's supposed to be a backyard BBQ. Your grandparents are over. Your mom and dad take a walk and don't come back. He has a seizure, but no one tells you that. You just hear nebulous conversations on the phone. Go upstairs, tuck yourself in bed, watch the sun sink down.What I didn't write was this: how often my mother not only shamed me, but smacked me or screamed at me, too. My father was abusive to her, but I never saw it. What I remember is her rage on me--she was always the one doling out spankings, and always angry, and they didn't lessen as I got older but got so much worse. I'd be thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, up too late on the computer. I never had a bedtime, never had "rules"--it was "do as you want until I get pissed at you." I didn't have many local friends. I spent most of my time online, in online roleplaying clubs--my creative compatriots, my friends. Until she'd start screaming at me. "Go to bed." "Go the fuck to bed." "You're obsessed. You're sick. You're an addict." And then she'd come down, get in my face, start smacking me or shaking her finger in my eyes.
After that it happens a lot. He gets depressed. She gets mad at him for being depressed. In bed all day, smoking cigarettes, nothing but skin and bone and vultures drawn on napkins. ("When you're dead," he says, "the vultures come.") She screams and screams and screams. You remember the day he tore the utility bill, the chaos after. A few days later, in the tub, you ask him if they're going to get divorced. He says he doesn't believe in divorce--you think this is strange. Believe? You think of all the books on Buddhism on the bookshelves. What's it matter? He tries to read to you from The Secret Garden but can hardly get the words out (emphysema . . . years later, she tells you that you knew about this, they all did. But you don't remember anyone explaining that your Daddy was dying. And it surprised you when he did).
After that, the feeling comes more and more often. Soggy. Empty. You pull your stuffed dog to your chest at night, wondering how to put the pieces back together. Listening to your mom downstairs slam dishes and sob. All of your dreams are about your father running off to some other family, about being lied to. Your mother drags you to therapy once, and only once. Her therapist. "You have to be good for your mother," she tells you. Good? You think of all the nights you've hugged her, hoping it will Fix This. You get good grades, don't even tell anyone about how the girls in summer camp tease you, call you a freak. Good? You thought you were good.
All those nights, sobbing against your stuffed animals, your pillows. Retreating into books. When you have to get glasses your mother tells you it's your fault for staying up to read by the hallway light. Something is burning inside of you, yellow on black.
Puberty means giving up on being good. It means breaking things. You feel powerful when you slam drawers and kick holes in the wall. Your mother tells you you're crazy, you're crazy, just like your crazy father. You remember following her around the house begging her to give you rules. You remember the night she refused to speak to you and sent you to your grandfather's house and in the morning he made you oatmeal and told you he thought your mother was too hard on you. The only person in your family who ever seemed to understand.
Why are you always leaving her? That's what she always asks. When you stay overnight at your friend's, when you meet a boy and stay out late. She hates everyone you ever loved, at least at first. She cries over the dishes, always the dishes. Frank why did you leave me, et cetera et cetera.
But you work hard. At not being crazy. At not being angry anymore. Every year you get further and further away from all that until your daily life is happy: laughter, love, reasonable conversation? You didn't know family could be like this, could be peace. But it is. God, it feels good to be home, to be safe, to be level, even, sane.
But sometimes it still happens. Your mother calls you up angry about . . . something. The rain. Tonight it was the rain. How you don't take the rain seriously enough and the place where you live is terrible and you really should be looking for a new home. No, you say, this is hurting my feelings. I'm upset by this conversation. Please . . . you act like I'm always such a bitch to you. Well, then I'll be a bitch you you and she unleashes a string of obscenities that stuns you into silence. She rants herself into exhaustion. Then hangs up.
Don't get me wrong. It isn't always like this [or else why would you stay?]. You love your mother [she's just crazy, is all]. But when, at twenty-seven, you pull yourself into bed and pull your stuffed dog to your chest, and don't even cry--soggy around the edges, your brain pounding, the light in the house yellow on the black outside the windows--you think that this feeling [strange, hollow, small] is all too familiar, is almost like coming home.
Federal prosecutors said Friday they would not charge a Texas judge seen lashing his teenage daughter with a belt on a video posted online, closing the door on the possibility of criminal charges in the case.posted by odinsdream at 4:59 PM on November 5, 2011
Angela Dodge, a U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman, said prosecutors determined there was no federal crime depicted on the 2004 video of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams. The decision came a day after the local district attorney decided the statute of limitations blocked any state charges.
The District Attorney overseeing Aransas County-San Patricio County has decided he will not pursue criminal charges against Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams.So no federal charges as odinstream linked above. No local charges. Great.
Judge Adams has admitted to beating his daughter in a video she secretly recorded in 2004 and uploaded to the internet last week.
In a release from the Rockport Police Department, DA Patrick Flanigan is quoted as saying, " I have received and reviewed the submitted evidence regarding William Adams and the video incident that was reported to RPD on November 1, 2011. I have also referenced the applicable statutes from the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. It is clear that no criminal misdemeanor information nor any criminal felony indictment may be presented for any criminal charge that may be depicted on the subject video. Limitations prevents prosecution of any applicable criminal charge shown on said video."
Lieutenant Larry Sinclair says the Rockport Police Department will be in contact with federal authorities to see if any charges may be filed in a federal court.
In the latest case, Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., were home-schooling their six children when they adopted a girl and a boy, ages 11 and 7, from Ethiopia in 2008. The two were seen by their new parents as rebellious, according to friends.posted by odinsdream at 11:20 AM on November 7, 2011 [3 favorites]
Late one night in May this year, the adopted girl, Hana, was found face down, naked and emaciated in the backyard; her death was caused by hypothermia and malnutrition, officials determined. According to the sheriff’s report, the parents had deprived her of food for days at a time and had made her sleep in a cold barn or a closet and shower outside with a hose. And they often whipped her, leaving marks on her legs. The mother had praised the Pearls’ book and given a copy to a friend, the sheriff’s report said. Hana had been beaten the day of her death, the report said, with the 15-inch plastic tube recommended by Mr. Pearl.
“It’s a good spanking instrument,” Mr. Pearl said in the interview. “It’s too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone.”
The same kind of plumbing tube was reported to have been used to beat Lydia Schatz, 7, who was adopted at age 4 from Liberia and died in Paradise, Calif., in 2010. Her parents, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, had the Pearl book but ignored its admonition against extended lashing or harm; they whipped Lydia for hours, with pauses for prayer. She died from severe tissue damage, and her older sister had to be hospitalized, officials said.
TERRY GROSS, host: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. You might not recognize Darrell Hammond if you ran into him on the street because he's more familiar in character - as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John McCain, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Donald Trump and Sean Connery. Those are just some of the characters Darrell Hammond was famous for on "Saturday Night Live," where he was a cast member for 14 seasons, which set a record for longevity.
He's written a new memoir that really threw me. It's called "God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F-ed," and in the first page, he describes being sent to a psychiatric and rehab facility after getting drunk and trying to cut his arm off with a kitchen knife.
As the book goes on, he describes being the victim of his mother's emotional and physical abuse, and suffering mental health problems. As you can imagine, some of this conversation may be upsetting for some listeners to hear. In a couple of minutes, we'll hear what happened backstage just before this sketch, when Hammond did his now-famous impression of Al Gore in his first debate with George Bush. He's talking about the Bush tax-cut plan.
Texas' top court suspends judge in beating video
McALLEN, Texas (AP) -- The Texas Supreme Court suspended a judge Tuesday whose beating of his then-teenage daughter in 2004 was viewed millions of times on the Internet.
Aransas County court-at-law Judge William Adams was suspended immediately with pay pending the outcome of the inquiry started earlier this month by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, according to an order signed Tuesday by the clerk of the state's highest court.
The order makes clear that while Adams agreed to the commission's recommended temporary suspension and waived the hearing and notice requirements, he does not admit "guilt, fault or wrongdoing" regarding the allegations. His attorney did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
...
William Adams has not sat on the bench since the video went viral. It has been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube.
...
William Adams appeared in court Monday for a day-long hearing regarding the custody of his 10-year-old daughter. His wife had sought a change in their joint custody agreement, and another judge imposed a temporary restraining order effectively keeping William Adams from being alone with his younger daughter until he reached a decision. An order was expected in that dispute Wednesday.
As Aransas County's top judge, William Adams has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking determine whether parents were fit to raise their children. A visiting judge has been handling his caseload.
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