I continue to wait for the day when things do not shock me anymore. It is hard as a Christian in the 21st Century to be modest. By the time I graduated high school, I was fairly well shameless, and by the time I became a Christian at 23, things had only gotten worse. With sexual innuendos on our television every evening, we sometimes become inundated to perversion. On top of this is the issue that our law system continues to side with the perverse.
A case in point. Reuters is reporting:
An Oregon judge has acquitted a 61-year-old man who admitted taking photographs up the skirt of a 13-year-old girl as she shopped at a Target store in suburban Portland, lawyers in the case said Friday.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Yes, you read that correctly. He was acquitted, found not guilty. And yes, what makes it worse, he confessed he had taken pictures under the minor’s skirt. How could he be found not guilty? Well, according to the judge, he had broken no Oregon state laws.
Reuters explains:
Washington County Circuit Court Judge Eric Butterfield ruled on Thursday that Patrick Buono did not break the law when he surreptitiously took the pictures of the girl in January 2013, said his defense attorney Mark Lawrence.
“He did not deny it and he feels real bad about it too, by the way,” Lawrence said.
Well, as long as Mr. Buono felt bad and did not lie about it, let’s set him free to do the same to some other little girl. Why not? He did no physical harm, right? Who cares how the little girl might have been traumatized? And don’t worry about the fact that he could sell the images he had taken on the internet without the 13-year-old’s permission. She could not give such permission. She’s a minor!
Reuters reported further:
The practice of “upskirting” has caused problems for prosecutors in other court cases where there are no laws on the books preventing people from taking unauthorized pictures of the skirts of clothed women in public places.
Prosecutors accused Buono of attempting to engage in criminal conduct and charged him with the invasion of privacy and attempted encouraging child sex abuse.
I do not understand how this does not qualify as child porn. I am sure that there are technical reasons in the law that disqualifies such acts. We have to see that this is the same thing we face in many other areas. Our laws are now set up to protect the criminals and not the citizen.
Anyone can see that Buono was not taking pictures because he liked photography. He was trolling for pictures of little girls. This pervert was looking for pictures to lust over. It should sicken us that this would be allowed to go on in America.
If we cannot protect our children, we have failed as a society. Oregon has failed. This ruling empowers Buono to go and take as many pictures as he wants. But the downside for Buono is that he might just snap a shot of the wrong little girl. One day, he will find that God will not be mocked.
