The greatest "enemy" in our fight -- APATHY

Who is the greatest "enemy" in the fight against these crazy sex offender laws? Pandering Politicians pimping the nlatest ill-conceived laws? Celebrity advocates like John Walsh? Camera-hogging media news analysts? Self-made vigilantes and vigilante groups like Perverted Justice? No.

The greatest "enemy" in our fight is APATHY.

The old adage "we are our own worst enemies" rings very true in this fight. I have been involved in this fight for about seven years, and www.oncefallen.com has been up for years, and in this time, I have received many emails from people seemingly desperate for help, get their answers, thank me, and disappear. I feel a lot alike I'm in that movie "300." I am one of just a handful of people, many of whom have been in this fight for years. We fight for a "nation" of 700,000 people plus their families, every one of them threatened by a larger army backed by tough laws and blind support. Our resources are few, our warriors are fewer. Much like in the movie, this small band of warriors are fighting for the sake of their homes, while the rest sit back and watch us fight to the death.

I can understand the concerns of those affected by these laws. I fear for my safety. I worry how this will impact my fiancee's life. I worry how each high profile case in the media will ultimately impact my personal life. However, it is exactly for these reasons I have decided to fight.

Unlike the soldiers in "300," I am not wanting to die fighting. I'm not trying to be a martyr to the cause. My desire is to live. However, I cannot live my life under this fear for the rest of my life, because living this life the way I'm forced to live is not truly "living" at all. I fight for myself, yet, by fighting for others, I achieve not only great things for them, I achieve great things for myself as well. We all want to live. If we all want to live, we should all want to fight.

If you think you won't be targeted because you obey every law and submit to every whim of the people, you're sadly mistaken. For two years following my release, I kept to myself. I battled umemployment and homelessness until I found a minimum wage job and a sleeping room in the "hood." It was not what I wanted but it was life and I made the most of it. I started making small contributions where I could to society, donating money and supplies to those less fortunate. Two years later, the state reclassified me arbitrarily, and determined I now lived too close to a GED school (a place pre-approved by the sheriff's office). I lost my job and my girlfriend, and eventually my tiny sleeping room. After I moved to another place meeting the residency law requirements, the city I lived in decided they were going to pass an ordinance increasing residency restrictions. I had enough.

It can happen just as easily to every one of you.

Over the past few years, federal, state, and local officials have targeted registrants on a regular basis. Below are just a few of the ways sex offenders have been targeted over the years (some may or may not apply to you today, but it is only a matter of time):

1. Public Registries
2. Community notification
3. Residency restrictions
4. Anti-loitering laws/ complete bans from certain places like parks, amusement parks, playgrounds, school functions, certain eating establishments, churches
5. Civil commitment laws
6. Mandatory minimum sentences and registration time increases
7. Barred from getting certain jobs/ cannot work too close to restricted areas
8. Barred from living around other sex offenders (anti-clustering laws)
9. Barred from living in a household with minors present
10. Barred from many internet sites like MySpace or Facebook for any reason, or from the internet altogether
11. Fees for registering
12. Cannot wear costumes/ masks/ give out Halloween candy
13. Cannot obtain emergency shelter during hurricanes/ blizzards/ other inclement weather
14. Scarlet letter license plates
15. Scarlet letter ID cards
16. Random "compliance checks" by the police working with US Marshals, then threaten you under duress to agree to warrantless searches
17. Barred from Section 8 Housing
18. Proposed: barred from obtaining small business loans
19. Proposed: Denied Unemployment Benefits
20. Proposed: Denied Federal Housing Authority Loans (FHA)
21. Chemical castration, polygraphs, "peter readers" (plethysmographs) and other witch-doctor science
22. Periodic changes to any of the aforementioned laws
23. Assumption of guilt in all your actions
24. Constant threat of vigilantism; vigilante attacks are rarely severely punished
25. Promotion of fear and loathing makes you more likely to face discrimination based upon status alone

Many of these laws have been passed without a single thought to the consequences.

This is not about promoting websites, selling books, or collecting donations. This is about taking a stand and fighting back. This small group, this "300" has done great things-- awareness has been raised, laws have been defeated, and hope has been brought to thousands impacted by these laws. To paraphrase the movie, If we could achieve so many things with "300" Spartans, imagine what an army of "10,000" Spartans can do!

Don't sit still thinking someone else is going to fight for you. Chances are, the person you are waiting for is likely doing the same.

ADDENDUM: Let me just reiterate one thing. Fear is indeed a strong reason not to fight, but I see apathy as being as great, if not greater, than fear. There is an old adage about 20% of the people doing 80% of the work. We have LESS than 20% in this movement. Based on what I have seen, very small numbers are willing to do tasks like sign an online petition, post on a message board, or participate in online groups and forums. I'm not surprised to see the same screen names when I post a comment in Boston, Portland, or Houston. I'd like to see them flooded with new faces speaking out.

On my front page are a few suggestions on how to get active: http://www.oncefallen.com/

Mid-year report 2010

I find it hard to believe the year is almost half over! The primaries are finished, with two candidates relying on sex offenders for votes getting the boot.

I may not have accomplished much in 2010 so far, but I have done a few things:

1. Made an appearance on CNN and the Allen Hunt show,
2. Started ReFORM Alabama, a site specifically on Alabama sex offender issues,
3. Fought the three laws specifically targeting Alabama registrants,
4. Began major revisions to Once Fallen, with the revised version due out later this year and this time in PRINT format, and
5. Was interviewed by a film crew for a documentary out later this year.

It sounds like a lot, but it really was not much. More can always be done. We are finally at a point where we are taken seriously by mass media, and I encourage you to spread the word. Word of mouth is still the best way to spread the word. Support websites like Once Fallen, Texas Voices, the various state affiliate sites, and SOSEN, both in terms of time and money. The more helpers, the more that gets accomplished. Simple as that!

If It Saves One Child: The Trading of Freedom for Security

This article was added to the front page of www.sosen.org. Think about how far these laws are going as we are trading freedom for a false sense of security.

If it Saves One Child: The Trading of Freedom for SecurityBy Derek W. Logue

When Patty Wetterling first lobbied for a sex offender registry in 1990, she was met with resistance because people knew these laws violated the civil rights of those who served their sentences. Twenty years later, the pendulum has swung completely; the public feels we cannot pass enough laws against people convicted of sex crimes . And despite a decline in sex crime cases since 1993 (before the passage of modern sex offender laws) , our culture fears the sex offender more than any other criminal in our culture.
Over the past two decades, a definitive pattern has repeated itself in our culture and media which has led to our current state of “Predator Panic.” Mass media offers round-the-clock coverage of a tragic rape-murder, almost always of a white female child . Through the victim’s family or through legislators, a new bill is introduced or an existing law is expanded. Most, if not all, sex offender laws pass without dissenting votes or even debating the laws in question ; facts and studies about the true nature of sexual abuse are ignored in favor of harsher post-conviction sex offender laws. These laws are justified by such myths as “sex offenders are highly likely to re-offend” and “all sex offenders are ‘predators’ or ‘pedophiles’” coupled with the generalization all sex crimes are similar to the high-profile sensationalized cases used to justify the passage of these laws .
Law professor and author Eric S. Janus warns us sex offender laws are a “harbinger of a preventive state” and re-introduce the concept of a “degraded status” that was largely abolished during the civil rights era . One recent case in Ohio illustrates Janus’s point perfectly. In the decision to retroactively apply registration duties under the Adam Walsh Act, Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals stated:

“By their voluntary acts, sex offenders have surrendered certain protections that arguably are afforded to other citizens. Their conviction of felony offenses puts them into a class that has already been deemed to have no expectation of finality in the consequences of the judgments against them .”

   One of the primary features of this trend has been the exclusiveness of sanctions specifically targeting those on the sex offender registries. The shift towards this degraded status began with the creating of the first registry under the Jacob Wetterling Act in 1994, followed by community notification, residency restrictions, GPS monitoring, and other laws . In 2003, the US Supreme Court upheld the public registry, stating the laws were “regulatory” and not “punitive,” meaning Constitutional safeguards do not apply to the public registry . Since that decision, the US Supreme Court has only made one single ruling against any sex offender laws; the Kennedy v. Louisiana decision ruled 5-4 against the use of the death penalty in child sex crime cases where the victim did not die .
   Having “no expectation of finality in the consequences of the judgments” against sex offenders has resulted in the erosion of civil rights that could potentially expand to other crimes and eventually a “risk-alone society.” In 2004, the same arguments to justify sex offender registries were used to attempt to pass a Maryland bill that would have made a public AIDS registry. It was argued AIDS patients were “bad people,” many of them “brought it upon themselves,” they are “high-risk people,” and it is a “public safety” issue. While that law was struck down (for now), other registries began popping up in different locations, from violent offenses to DUI registries. A few places even have “dangerous/ vicious dog” registries with Fido’s picture, street address, and a map showing where they live. The United Kingdom already allows people deemed “dangerous” but have never been charged with a sex crime to be listed on their sex offender registries. The United States has not passed a similar law yet, though the state of Ohio passed a “civil registry,” which forces people not convicted in criminal courts to register and abide by all other sex offender laws through a civil court (and a lesser burden of proof) .
   A recent poll revealed 51% of American citizens would gladly give up personal freedoms for laws that make them feel more secure . Slowly we allowed personal rights and freedoms to erode in exchange for a false sense of security. Columnist Naomi Wolf described 10 steps of fascism in writing about the Bush administration;  current sex offender legislation follows her pattern as easily as the war on terror:

1.   Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy: It is obvious sex offenders are the most vilified members of our culture. In a recent billboard campaign asking “what’s forgivable” in our society, the general consensus was sex offenders are unforgivable .
2.   Create a gulag: Janus has pointed out the sex offender is America’s degraded class complete with a separate set of legal rules registrants must follow . Laws regularly dictate where a person and live, work, or even worship. Few legislators are willing to speak out against these laws because it is political suicide , and mass media largely fails to acknowledge the negative consequences of these laws.
3.   Develop a thug caste: “The feds” were given increased jurisdiction under the Adam Walsh Act, which led to massive round-ups of registrants suspected of failure to meet strict reporting requirements . We’ve justified our laws and actions by claiming registrants are an imminent present threat, despite evidence that proves much of what we know about sex offenders is untrue .
4.   Set up an internal surveillance system: Megan’s Law has been in place for over a decade, and was “intended to increase awareness of dangerous sex offenders in the area .” “Big Registry” is big business, as companies are offering iPhone tracking applications , GPS devices and readers , and even microchip implants .
5.   Harass Citizen’s Groups: Those who speak out against these laws become targets of individual vigilantes, with the legal system rarely offering sanctions against those who assault registrants. In 2009, a Seattle woman received a mere 90 days for assault with a deadly weapon of a registrant ; outraged citizens had organized and raised money for her $15,000 bail for a woman with a lengthy criminal record . Organizations that sometimes work with police (such as the controversial group “Perverted Justice”) have targeted individuals and groups that speak out against sex offender registries with no repercussions for wholesale harassment of civil rights activists .
6.   Engage in arbitrary detention and release: Civil commitment laws have rebounded in recent years. In 1997, the US Supreme Court ruled a person can be civilly confined under a relatively low standard of “personality disorder .” It has become nothing more than a means of detainment; since 1993, no one has ever graduated from Minnesota’s civil commitment centers .
7.   Target Key Individuals: Our fine legislators believe it to be “political suicide” to oppose tough sex crime measures. During a campaign to pass the Adam Walsh Act, America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh shamed would-be opponents to his bill by asking them if they were child molesters or had child porn on their computers . No one opposed the bill.
8.   Control the press: Mass media rarely offers opposing viewpoints to the sex offender laws. Even in our skeptical society, few question celebrity advocates like John Walsh no matter how often scandal and controversy plague him. John Walsh testified before Congress that our country is “littered with mutilated, decapitated, raped, strangled children” while claiming hundreds of thousands of kidnapped children every year . Yet the studies conducted in part by Walsh’s own lobbying contradicts him by proving “stereotypical kidnappings” are extremely rare; only 45 were killed or went permanently missing across the country per year . Mass media needs little goading because child abduction stories equal ratings; the media even called the summer months of 2002 the “summer of abduction” because of the amount of media attention based on the issue . For the most part, fueling the fear rather than objective reporting is the key.
9.   Dissent equals treason: If you oppose tough-on-crime measures, you are a “hug-a-thug” liberal, or worse, a closet pedophile. Politicians running for office in Omaha Nebraska were the targets of a flier campaign from the local police union claiming they allowed sex offenders to roam the streets; the campaign was retaliation for opposing viewpoints on police pensions . Another site targeted a Wylie, Texas Councilman and the Mayor for “supporting” a registrant .
10.   Suspend the rule of law: For years, sex offender laws have been circumvented the Constitution because they were considered “regulatory” rather than “punitive .” The Adam Walsh Act was passed under “Suspension of the Rules” without even enough members of the Senate to hold a quorum. Most of the provisions of the bill were added just minutes before the suspension of the rules vote . Not only did the vast majority of the US Senate failed to vote on the Adam Walsh Act, most of them had not even read the bill! Former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez applied the rule retroactively using “Interim Rule,” which bypassed APA procedure due to “pressing emergency .”

This issue is not a matter of sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes. In an ideal society, they would be punished and receive treatment for their crimes, but also given a chance to be productive members of society after serving their sentences. Thanks to a perfect storm of moral panic, a society willing to surrender Constitutional safeguards for security, a Big Brother bureaucracy, and a “Big Registry” industry willing to further erode our civil rights, we are no closer to sex crime prevention but closer to an Orwellian “risk-alone” society.
In vetoing a bill that would exclude teens from registering for consensual sex with other teens within four years of each other, Texas Governor Rick Perry stated it was to “protect young victims .” Texas has over 4000 sex offenders listed on the public registry who were convicted as juveniles, many for consensual sex with other teens . How much are we willing to sacrifice to “save one child?”

Letter opposing AL SB 48: Social Networking ban

My letter opposing Alabama Senate Bill 48, which bans registrants from social networking sites, and is broadly interpreted and can include other non-social sites.

Dear Senators Benefield, Smitherman, and Denton,

I am writing to you today in opposition to your proposed Senate Bill 48, the proposed law to ban sex offenders from "social websites."

I am a former sex offender residing in Sheffield, Alabama, and a nationally-known civil rights advocate for the rights of individuals who have completed their sentences. I was granted a partial pardon, restoring my voting rights, from this state in May 2007, a powerful testament to my status as a reformed individual. My primary web address is www.oncefallen .com, but I use certain sites like Twitter and Google Blogspot to showcase my authorship and writings. In addition, I am involved in a national movement to reform well-intentioned but ill-conceived laws, which also utilize forums and sites that could be considered "social networking sites" under your proposed bill.

I am very concerned your bill gives a harsher penalty for simply participating in a social networking site than someone who has actual physical contact with a child. I would also like to point out that many social networking sites ban the access or use of their services by minors, FaceBook allows 13-year-olds, and MySpace 14-year-olds to access such sites, which also allow adults on said sites. Even without age restrictions, there is no way to monitor every internet activity. [See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1156136/Children-exposed-pornography-prostitution-drugs-Twitter.html]

In addition, your bill is not very clear as to what is licit and illicit use. For example, I use Twitter [http://twitter.com/oncefallenbook] as a way to advertise my book and website, as well as keeping my followers up to date on the latest must-read articles, research papers, and site updates. By virtue of the fact that the aforementioned article states Twitter has no explicit age restrictions, this would mean I'd be in violation of this law and be incarcerated for 20 years, with no good time or parole, simply because I have a Twitter account.


In passing this bill, you will be criminalizing legitimate uses for the internet or sites that could be deemed social networking sites. For example, I have posted online responses to articles at the Montgomery Advertiser website. As with many sites, the Montgomery Advertiser has a profile page as a registered member of the site, and you have to be a registered member in order to post comments. And children could theoretically access my Montgomery Advertiser profile. Thus, by exercising my First Amendment right to comment on a public message board, I'd be a Class B felon in this state, and I'd serve more time than if I had touched a child. In addition, places that offer both IM services and email, such as “Yahoo!,” would fall under these laws, as the profiles connected to the service could possibly be accessed by children.


This bill is difficult to enforce, but could be subject to abuses. It only takes a couple of minutes to create a new account. I could even create an account in the name of a Senator if the name is unused by a certain service; as I’ve discovered as a victim of online harassment, my identity can be used by someone else in the commission of a crime. There are also anonymous browsers, web services, and netbooks/ PDAS/ notebook computers to mask illegal activity. What would be next? Will registrants unable to use or possess cell phones or portable computers? On one hand, criminals could easily circumvent the law; on the other hand, reformed registrants using web services for legitimate enterprises could be locked away for years or decades!


Courts have ruled against many restrictions that criminalize normally legal activities [see Johnson et al. v. City of Cincinnati, 2002 FED App. 0332P (6th Cir.), cert. denied, US Supreme Court case no. 02-1452]. In addition, courts have ruled that the mere suspicion that one might engage in illicit activity is not enough to justify punishment [see US v. Cintolo, 818 F. 2d. 980, 1003 (1987), Tot v. US, 319 US 463 (1943), and Robinson v. California, 270 US 660 (1962)].


Studies have shown the fear of "online predators" is grossly exaggerated, and laws directed at "online predators" fail because of our misconceptions regarding online “predators” [Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Michele L. Ybarra. "Online 'Predators' and their victims." American Psychologist, Vol. 63 No. 2 February-March 2008). Sadly, we’ve based our perceptions of the nature of online solicitation by watching re-runs of “To Catch a Predator;” many of those cases on that show were thrown out in court. Studies have shown most teens solicited online for sex were from their peer group. Also interesting to note is in the study of online solicitation, not one online solicitation resulted in physical contact [http://www.csicop.org/si/show/predator_panic_a_closer_look/].

The vast majority of sex crime arrests are of people not on the sex offender registry, i.e. first time offenders. We’d spend millions of dollars on an expensive law that will do nothing to prevent crime, yet we won’t spend a dime on treatment and prevention programs. We spend millions on long periods of incarceration, denial of parole, and good time, but not a dime to treat the offender to become a productive citizen upon his or her release. We’ll spend millions to incarcerate a teen for “sexting,” but not one dime to educate our youth on sexual responsibility and accountability .

Thus, I implore you to look long and hard at this law and realize it is nothing more than another piece of well-intentioned but poorly designed laws. It is time Alabama learns to do what is RIGHT rather than what is popular. The thought of spending millions to incarcerate people, who simply use the internet to make a living, protest or petition our government, or even keep up with family and loved ones, is simply appalling. In regards to certain sites like Face Book and MySpace, they do not allow registrants to use their services in the first place; however, the potential for abuse of these laws and overextending of the punishments to legitimate purposes of this law is unconstitution al, and likely to be successfully challenged in a court of law.

I am most troubled there is no disclaimer on your state website regarding the abuse of registry information (thus allowing vigilantes to target registrants and family members without recourse), while simultaneously pushing a bill barring registrants from legitimate enterprises. At what point do we, as a society, put a stop to draconian punishments of those who have finished their sentences and stop sliding down the slippery slope of Predator Panic? I hope you do the right thing and repeal support for this terrible law.

Message from a REAL THRIVER

Of all the comments I read from the CNN article on civil commitment on Jan. 12, 2010, none touched me more this comment from someone using the screen name "nowathriver." I'm not against punishment or sex offenders, but I also believe in healing and therapy for both offender and victim to put an end to the cycle of abuse and address the root causes of sexual offending.

I couldn't even hold a candle to this comment.

nowathriver

No, it's not worse than murder. I recovered from three years of being raped beginning at the age of seven. I am married, happy, educated, and a productive member of society. Your comments suggests that I would be better off dead. I find that insulting. Many people feel that those of us who were ...more

"No, it's not worse than murder. I recovered from three years of being raped beginning at the age of seven. I am married, happy, educated, and a productive member of society. Your comments suggests that I would be better off dead. I find that insulting. Many people feel that those of us who were once victims can never recover and that is simply not true. While there are some who struggle all of their lives there are many of us who actually are strengthened by what happened to us. I was asked once if I could go back in time would I changed what happened to me. I replied no. It is part of who I am now and I use my experience to help others. Please do not tell a survivor that their living is worse than death. That is just an awful thing to say.

What is needed is more access to affordable therapy for survivors. I'm thankful that articles like this get people talking about the topic so that it is not hidden behind secrecy and shame. Survivors need to know that it is never their fault and that the adult had all the power. Therapy works and survivors need more access to it."

Addressing Hate Mail

Recently I was briefly mentioned in an article for CNN. I'm used to hate comments in message boards, but yesterday and today I had more than my fair share of hate mail. So I thought I'd share the hate because to me it illustrates the lack of character and insight many people have in regards to this issue.


Response: If that is all you have to add, save it for the sharks in the message boards. Its not worthy of a reply. Of course, this is the cowardly crap I expect from AZU/ Pee-J cultists. I have more important things to do than waste my time on obscenity-filled diatribes.



Response: Please DO NOT try to use God to justify hate mail. I may be rusty on my Biblical knowledge, but I know that:

A: The context of the "whoever harms a child should have a millstone tied to his neck and cast into the sea" is in Matthew 18. The passage calls ALL believers Children of God, we're to approach God as lowly as a child, and also warns us about abusing the grace God gives us in the parable at the end of the chapter.

B: The "Mark of Cain" in Genesis chapter 4 is a MARK OF PROTECTION FROM WOULD BE VIGILANTES. Cain, though punished, was still given a chance to marry and have a family and start a tribe.

C: While God does punish, God also teaches rehabilitation. If God simply killed, then David, Solomon, St. Paul, St. Peter, Noah, Moses and virtually every Biblical hero would have been dead long before their time. The Bible teaches a little thing called MERCY, and Christians seem to gloss over that.

Also, if you're going to throw out a stat, you better be ready to QUOTE YOUR SOURCE. Teresa, where's your proof of the 99% stat?

Finally, don't assume you know anything about me. You obviously didn't even read my "about me page."



Its a good idea to never, EVER, send hate mail from your place of employment. L's boss was not pleased with wasting company time to harass someone over the internet.

Also, again with the assumptions. People have been so trained to equate sex offender with raped and murdered child, they cannot see beyond it. I put what I did up on front street, and you're free to believe it or not, but facts are facts: http://www.oncefallen.com/aboutme.html

Finally, people need to read up on the facts. Please, when debating me bring references, because in a debate I'm armed to the teeth with facts. See http://www.oncefallen.com/SOMyths.html

This addresses many of the typical responses I received from haters. If you disagree with me fine, but if you try to feed me a load of shiitake, I'll call you on it, and if you debate, use FACTS not FICTION!

Old Helium.com article on why AWA is onconstitutional

I can't believe a two year old article i wrote is still up, and it is worth sharing. It was written way back in the beginning of 2008.

http://www.helium.com/items/837058-is-the-adam-walsh-act-about-sex-offender-notification-unconstitutional

Why the Adam Walsh Act is Unconstitutional

Congress knew the Adam Walsh Act was unconstitutional from the very beginning. The AWA began as the Child Protection and Safety Act of 2005, but stalled out in both the House and the Senate. Then John Walsh began his crusade to resurrect this stymied bill. During the lobbying campaign for the AWA, John Walsh had told critics that he suggested electronic implants in the anuses of sex offenders and "if they go outside the radius, explode it, and that would send a big message." His wife, Reve, suggested asking those stymieing the AWA if they molested kids or had child porn on their computers. (Lisa de Morales, "Summer Press Tour, Day 16: An Explosive Interview," Washington Post, Wed., July 26, 2006, C7). He gained the backing of disgraced Florida Congressman Mark Foley to help push this bill through a "special" legislative session. These special sessions are reserved for "emergency" provisions such as disaster relief, or any legislation expected to have no opposition. Thus, there was no hearing and no opportunity for opponents to challenge this law. Even Senator Kennedy was pressured to drop hate crime legislation he attached to the bill (ibid.). After the bill was passed, Attorney General was given the power of "interim rule" by Congress (violating Separation of Powers); interim rule allowed Gonzalez to bypass proper procedure. One of the provisions he passed was the retroactive application of the law (violating ex post facto).

The AWA, like all other sex offender legislation, has been argued the same way by those passing these laws, namely, that these laws are meant to be "regulatory/ civil" rather than "punitive/ criminal." This argument effectively bypasses all constitutional safeguards! However, when it has been successfully argued such laws are indeed punitive, there have been victories against sex offender legislation.

Ohio is one of the first states to pass the AWA. Much like their US counterparts, the state legislators held a closed-door "special" session. Under the new law "SB 10," many offenders would be reclassified, many raised to a Tier III. Also, those who were no longer required to register would have to continue registering for at least five more years. In Hamilton County alone, an extra 800 people would join the 350 already on Tier III (Sharon Coolidge, "Sex Offenders face tough rules" Cincinnati Enquirer, Dec. 29, 2007). As of this writing, over a thousand RSOs have filed litigation against the AWA. The Ohio Public Defenders' Office is handling many of these cases, as it is now considered a criminal matter. Among the arguments used in the possible class-action lawsuit is ex post facto, separation of powers, and double jeopardy.

To make it worse, the AWA attaches a penalty to states refusing to implement the AWA; a 10% cut in the Byrne grant (though Bush and Congress has just cut the grant significantly and is being debated). But many states such as Arizona have found the cost of implementing the law exceeds the amount that would be lost if they DON'T Implement the AWA (Sarah Tofte, "Protect children from sexual violence" Pasadena Star-News, Jan. 21, 2008). If the law was not controversial, then why must the federal government force the states to adopt it under penalty? Something is fishy here.

In short, the origins of the AWA are shady. The effect of the law is onerous and obnoxious to our constitution. Nothing seems or feels right about the provisions of this act. In the next few days, I will have a breakdown of the AWA at my website, www.oncefallen.com, for anyone interested in further research into the practical effects of the AWA.

"Recession Bells of Christmas" Spoof Lyrics

Here's the lyrics for my spoof song "Recession Bells of Christmas, which was featured on Mary ad Kevin's "American's Reality Check" show on 12/24/2009. You can click on the link to access the show's home page and archives!

www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc

Recession Bells of Christmas [Sung to tune of “Carol of the Bells”]
Written by Derek W. Logue
12/22/2009

Money’s all spent, How could we let
Our government, Put us in debt?
Health care is broke, that ain’t no joke
Young and the old, out in the cold
Interest rates up, getting fed up
STILL in Iraq, why aren’t we back?
And those Chinese, jobs overseas
Cheap lead-filled toys, to girls and boys
O How they pound, raising their sound
Capitol Hill, lies to us still!

They bailed out banks, GM says thanks
What’s that about? Where’s MY bailout?!?
Do you have some change that you can spare?
Do you have some change that you can spare?

Black Friday Blues, Credit card dues
Bleeding us dry, I wanna cry!
All my stocks sank, Can’t fill my tank
Damn SUV, please help me!
401-K, all went away
Got my Pink Slip, Welfare’s a trip
Can’t make ends meet, Now I people greet
At a Wal-Mart, Hey it’s a start!
Recession’s away, that’s what they say
But I can’t tell, stuck in this hell
O How they pound, raising their sound
Capitol Hill, lies to us still!

Last dime was spent, Buying this tent
White-Collar dude, Will work for food
Do you have some change that you can spare?
Do you have some change that you can spare?

Debts of Today, Our grandkids pay
Put off today, that’s the American way!

"Anarchy in Miami" Spoof Lyrics

Here is the song I wrote for Mary and Kevin's "Americans Reality Check Radio" show for their 2009 Christmas Eve special on 12/24/2009. Click on the link to access the show's Talk Shoe page and archive. I'm sure Ron Book and Gov. Charlie Crist will LOVE this song! (I sang the song on the show, by the way)

www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc

Anarchy in Miami [Sung to tune of “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols]
Spoofed lyrics by Derek “The Fallen One” Logue

I am anti-Crist
Ron Book is such a crook
Can’t trust politicians and they just don’t get it
They wanna destroy human lives

And all I ever see, anarchy!
In Miami

Homeless camp at the JTC
National shame for the world to see
Ron Book and Crist hogging media time
Blaming each other for this crime

And all I ever see, anarchy!
In Miami

Using deception just to get what they want
Exploiting the law, knowing it’s flawed
Residency laws just don’t work
But they don’t care because they’re jerks

All I ever see, anarchy!
In Miami

Is this the USSR
Is this state ruled by a czar
Nothing worse than FLA
The dumbest state in the USA
This is a muffed up country
Another council hypocrisy

I don’t wanna see anarchy!
And its time to end anarchy!
Abolish residency laws!
And its time to end anarchy!
Residency laws destroy!

"The Troll Bash" Song Lyrics

Here is the song I wrote for Mary and Kevin's "Americans Reality Check Radio" show for Halloween 2009. Click on the link to access the show's Talk Shoe page and archive (Note: I did not sing the song, simply wrote it!)

www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc

The Troll Bash [Sung to “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett]

Spoofed lyrics by Derek “The Fallen One” Logue

I was working online late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight

When the comment boards became filled with lies

By honestly I’m not surprised

[They did the bash] That site was troll bashed

[The TROLL bash] Everything they said was trash

[Their site was trashed] It made my computer crash

[They love to bash] They did the troll bash

From the West Coast News to the Daily East

The trolls came out for their nightly feast

While hiding within their slummy abodes

They sign in and start up in attack mode

[They did the bash] That site was troll bashed

[The TROLL bash] Everything they said was trash

[Their site was trashed] It made my computer crash

[They love to bash] They did the troll bash

The P-Jerks were having fun

The comments were really dumb

The pests included Stitches

Jacey and her son

They found all my posts like a pack of hounds

And the extent of their lies had no bounds

But as soon as our voice of truth had arrived

The trolls decided it was time to take five

[They did the bash] That site was troll bashed

[The TROLL bash] Everything they said was trash

[Their site was trashed] It made my computer crash

[They love to bash] They did the troll bash

Rob Taylor was spewing non-sensical things

Static and TSand tied to puppet strings

They opened their mouths and shook their fists

Every word they say they distort and twist

[They did the bash] That site was troll bashed

[The TROLL bash] Everything they said was trash

[Their site was trashed] It made my computer crash

[They love to bash] They did the troll bash

The trolls have all their heads stuck in the sand

Spreading their lies across the land

So spread the truth whatever you do

And when they complain tell them Mary and Kevin sent you

[Then you can bash] Then you can troll bash

[The TROLL bash] The truth beats all their trash

[The troll bash] They’ll be gone in a flash

[The troll bash] Then you can troll bash