I’d only had this one story on my brain until this one lept (yes I know lept isn’t a word but I’m making it one for this) off the CBS Evening News.
We’ll start with this one. This is the one I was originally only going to write about. Woman who turned oven on while son inside gets probation. Here’s a story about child abuse of the worst kind. This has been in our headlines for quite some time. Now this woman only gets probation for it. For 3 measly years. The step dad got a measly 6 months in a workhouse for the “malicious punishment of a child.” I’m outraged by this. Are you kidding me?? The womans sentence was the result of a “plea agreement intended to keep the boy off of the witness stand.” I have one small question. Why would the boy have to be put on the stand? He surely didn’t turn the oven on himself.
Now for this story from the CBS Evening News and I’m sure you’ve all heard about it by now. Flight Attendant’s Grand Exit Draws Charges, Fans. Okay, now this guy shouldn’t have done what he did. A woman passenger was having trouble with some luggage and he went to help her. She ended up saying F*** Y** to him and accidentally slamming the upper luggage compartment door on his head. He did have a big gash on his head. He goes to the intercom, curses her out with a loud F*** Y** too lady, grabbed 2 bears out of the fridge, opens the emergency slide, shoot or whatever they call in and basically said “take this job and shove it.”
“Slater, whose father was an airline pilot, wore a slight smile Tuesday as he was led into a Queens courtroom to be arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing, counts that carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. The judge set his bail at $2,500, which remained unpaid late Tuesday afternoon.”
Okay, so here we have a woman who turns on her oven with her little boy inside and she gets 3 years probation. Then we have this man who really hurt nobody. He didn’t interrupt a flight or anything. He shouldn’t probably have done what he did but we all have breaking points, could possible go to jail for 7 years.
Can anyone explain to me WHY this is??
Us Girls..Our Views 
Yeah, I have never understood about child abuse. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that I spank. I’m talking about the crime of abuse. Where a child has been permanently or seriously injured (physically and emotionally) to a degree most of us could not even imagine happening in real life. So often this is not treated like a heinous crime, but more like a little “oops.” I’m with you, Joy – what possible rationale could there be? Do our lawmakers have difficulty understanding the line between “frustrated” and “vicious”? Or, let’s say that anyone who would do something “that” bad has to be mentally ill. Well, that doesn’t mean those people should be free to go around and possibly hurt children again.
I used to volunteer a lot for a social services agency that dealt with family mental health issues, including abused kids. They would see a parent hurt her children and advocate their hearts out, begging the judge not to let her have custody. The judge would reunite the family and some toddler would end up dead or beaten to a pulp. Why? Are we blind to children’s suffering?
And then you have governments threatening to take kids away from loving, non-abusive parents because their kids are too fat, or they believe a holistic approach to disease is better for the child than chemo. How dare the state act like they have the children’s best interests at heart, when they basically turn a blind eye to so much abuse and neglect?
Spanking and abuse are two completely different things. When my kids needed a smack across the backside, they got it but now they’ll throw you in jail or take your kids away from you if you spank them but if you burn them with an iron, punch them and then turn on the oven when he’s scared and hiding, to make him come out!!!!!!!!, you only get probation! Alrightythen.
I have to say, on a light note, that the airline attendant guy is already achieving cult-hero status. There are plenty of people who identify with him and who are cheering him on.
More seriously, I agree with SKL… it sickens me what people are capable of doing to their children, and they get off scott-free. Or they’re reunited with the kids because the “biological parents are the best thing for the kid” – hello! No, they’re not, if they BEAT THEM. And the adoptive parents are loving and kind!!
Oh, it makes me sputter with anger. And since I’m sputtering, I’ll stop now. But I’ll likely have more to say later.
I do not know what to say. It is beyond imagination that judges send children back to their abusive, biological parents, and shutting their eyes for what will happen to the children. Why can’t they see and feel it is not in the child’s interest to do that.
What the flight attendant did, I am not sure I can agree with what he did. But sending him to jail?????? Maybe loosing his job and a fine, but jail…that goes way too far.
I saw the flight attendant story just last night on the news and had to laugh.I said to my husband,Ive worked closley to with the public for 20 years and I dont blame him one bit for what he did(though I know he really shouldnt have,but I know I had times I really had to control myself from belting a client)!Anyhow.Seriously,THE LAWS ARE SO TWISTED!I just said this yesterday on FB.We are going through a legal battle right now ourselves.Im so hopping mad at what laws are in place,there is no real justice.Child abuse is a horrific serious CRIME and the parent should be put in jail!Its ridiculous that flight attendant may end up in jail.Stupid laws!!
Oh my word! No, I haven’t heard about either story but I am appalled. It makes me want to throw up. I don’t understand it, I can’t even comprehend this. It breaks my heart knowing that child is with those monsters.
The flight attendant, obviously he should not have done what he did but sending him to jail for any amount of time is ridiculous! This is a major system FAIL. I’d gladly pay to have those monsters sit and rot in jail, rather than that flight attendant. In no way, does that make any sense to me. I don’t even know what else to say, I am just shocked!
The only thing that comes to mind with the flight attendant is that, right or wrong, what he did happened on an aircraft.
Our government (and this isn’t a right/left thing – they’re all overboard) is so reactionary and freakish about the airline industry right now – in fact, they’re pretty wigged out about aviation in general – that anything is considered a prosecutable offense. Consider:
– where else would you be forced to submit to a full-body search, including x-ray of your body?
– where else would you allow your personal items to be pawed through by a stranger with no explanation… and then you further allow that stranger to extract your personal belongings and THROW THEM AWAY? … while you receive no compensation, and certainly no assumption/assurance that you will be reimbursed for the value of the items that they’ve just stripped you of.
– It is acceptable, even encouraged, that parents drug their children before participating in a flight, so the children are not a “disturbance”.
And to extend to General Aviation –
– when the President is in a city, all general aviation traffic (excluding commercial flights) is shut down… for the duration of the President’s stay. Not just when AF1 is landing or taking off… for the DURATION of his stay. So if Mr. Obama decides to visit Chicago for a weekend, anyone wanting to fly (again, general aviation – aka private pilots) who happens to live between South Bend, IN and Rockford, IL, and Beloit, WI, down to about Peoria, IL is out of luck. For the entire weekend, until AF1 is out of airspace. Should you violate this order, you will receive your own private fighter jet escort, and possibly be shot out of the sky.
– There are certain places in this country (Washington, D.C., DisneyWorld) that have been designated as “No Fly Zones” since 9/11. If you are caught flying in that area – which is monitored heavily – you will receive the same fighter jet escort.
So, I’m sorry to say, it doesn’t surprise me one little bit that prosecutors are freaking out over a beer-swilling escape-slider who should probably be fired and left to Hollywood, which will have him signed up for a Reality Show by the end of the day.
And sadder to say that I’m not surprised in the least that abused children are returned to their abusing parents… especially when I hear ads on the radio, essentially “selling” children who are up for adoption. (that was a long-ago rant of mine, that still exists. https://joyerickson.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/this-message-brought-to-you-by-the-ad-council-and/)
It’s a sick, sick world we live in.
Regarding the sliding, I can kinda see why they are taking this seriously, because once he used that slide thing, they probably had to spend a lot of time and money to get that safety device back in working order and tested, and not only the airline but everyone on the plane had to deal with that. You also don’t want passengers thinking they can just fool around with the safety devices for a lark. Prison may seem harsh but what else are they going to do – a fine only matters if the person has that much money. I could see a short jail term or at least a significant probation. But not 7 years. I think it is very unlikely he will get 7 years anyway.
No, he’d never get 7 years. But it was just the point of these two news stories on the same day and one was so horrendous and the other, seemed silly in comparison. I don’t think what he did was funny “per say” but for those parents to walk practically away scott free like that and this “on a lark thing” happened and the whole country was in an uproar. Some laughing, some not but that little boy is stuck with those people and nobody is going to talk about it after yesterday and he has to live with them. Poor kid.
With any luck, someone will “see to” those parents, and the kids won’t have to worry about them any more…
I’d sure like to have them spend a few minutes with the guys I know in an enclosed area.
It’s pretty crazy when you break it all down and look at it. There has been so much attention drawn to the second story I can’t imagine he will get 7 years for this. I think people would go nuts. I also read that the fligh attendant recently lost his father and is taking care of his mother with cancer. Very stressful, add an inconciderate person at his job and snap. It really is sad I think I lot people have wanted to grab the load speaker and “go off”. It just doesn’t seem fair with stories like the first one. Is it the difference between judges?
They should take their kid away and sterrilize BOTH of them!!!
I was wondering when you’d say something.
This is just another example of how royaly screwed up our justice system is. That’s all I can say about this.