Palm Beach New Times: Nan Rich...the wrong crusade?

To think this started with a dead goat.

This came across mt desk this morning from the Huffington Post:

As longtime readers of Eat The Press know, the state of Florida has
struggled in recent years to pass a law that will make bestiality illegal. The
saga began in January of 2008, when the raping and killing of a goat -- a
beloved family pet -- shocked the sensibilities of Florida residents. This led
to a second shock when everyone realized that the rape of the goat wasn't
actually a prosecutable offense in Florida.

"There needs to be a law,"
declared state Sen. Nan Rich (D), who probably didn't realize at the time that
enacting such a law would prove to be nigh-impossible or that she'd become known
as America's top anti-bestiality lawmaker. Rich led two attempts to pass such a
law, but those efforts came to naught. There's good news, though: Rich and her
colleagues are taking another run at it..

Twice before, the Florida
Senate has taken the matter to this point, and unfortunately, twice before,
Rich's bill has foundered in the House. Last May, it seemed like this law was
all set for enactment, but the wheels came off for a number of reasons, the
first being that "the outrageous nature of the subject it sought to address
actually worked against it":

Full story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/florida-lawmakers-bestiality-ban-third-try_n_840694.html

Comes to find out that Rich (D-FL) is a state senator who replaced Debbie Wasserrman Schultz whem the latter became a member of the US Congress. She seems to be a moderate who refused to "refused to tell citizens where he/she stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2010 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders." (http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=53731)

Maybe they didn't ask her how she felt about humping a goat.

Rich has been at this for some time. In 2009, the Palm Beach New Times (on of those artsy-fartsy Weeklies) asked a person who has researched all this was their any validity to claims that right Rich made about this...like dog-humping could lead to kid-humping. The answer was surprising:

State Senator Nan Rich has made waves with her crusade to make it illegal in Florida to have sex with animals. Not just around her Sunrise district, either. The controversy has earned Rich a future berth on Comedy Central's Daily Show.

Anxious, perhaps, about being accused of exploiting a saucy subject for headlines, Rich has sought to link her bill with the ever-popular cause of preventing child sex crimes. Earlier this month, she was quoted in the Sun-Sentinel:

"There's a tremendous correlation between sexually deviant behavior and crimes
against children and crimes against animals."

In remarks quoted by the AP, Rich elaborated.

"Lock people up that commit these kinds of heinous crimes, otherwise you're
leaving a person out on the streets that, if they commit sexually deviant acts
in one area, it's been proven that they do in the other," Rich said.

I asked one of the world's leading researchers on bestiality, Dr. Hani Miletski, about Rich's claim of a "tremendous correlation" between sex with animals and sex with children. "I think it's real bullshit," says Miletski.

"There's no connection that we know of. And if you said this to 'Zoos' -- as
they call themselves -- they would be so offended. Because they take precautions
to make sure they don't have sex with an animal that is not mature."

The condition of having a sexual and emotional connection with an animal is called "zoophilia." Miletski conducted a study in which she interviewed 82 men and 11 women, all zoophiles. Aside from an intense attraction to animals, says Miletski, "I couldn't find anything that said 'All zoos are this way or that way.'" She said they come from all walks of life and don't even seem to share a childhood experience that could possibly explain how they became zoophiles.

But it's not even purely sexual. And for the human at least, it's not rape. "They really love the animals," says Miletski, "to the point where they want to marry them and treat them as spouses." A German researcher in the field, Dr. Andrea Beetz, found that many of her research subjects belong to animal protection groups. Rich says she's leading the charge on this bill based on her desire to protect animals.

In making her case publicly, Rich has cited an episode in the panhandle town of Mossy Head in which a man was suspected of choking a goat to death while having sex with it.

Florida is one of only 16 states to have not yet outlawed bestiality, but Miletski says its only the tail-end of modern legislative trend. Since she began researching the subject in the late Nineties, she says that at least a dozen states have put these laws on their books.

I asked Miletski whether there was a correlation between sex with animals and any kind of deviant behavior. "No," she said."The two just don't go together." A person with anti-social personality, she allowed, "may have sex with everything -- including animals," but that's not the same as zoophilia.

Rich's bill looks to have clear sailing through the legislature -- what legislator would possibly defend a group as marginalized as zoophiles? To Miletski, it's a shame. "People have this reaction to (bestiality) -- 'It's crazy. It's sex. It's out there.' And people can't get their mind around it, so in order sooth their anxiety they pass a law against it."

Ultimately, she doesn't think there's anything to be gained by making sex with animals a crime. "I don't think it should be illegal," said Miletski. "I think they should let people do what they want to do as long as they don't hurt anybody."
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/03/nan_rich_bestiality_zoophilia.php

With all of the problems Florida has right now....and they are many....let's just say this probably should be on the back burner...at most.

But then....it IS Flori-DUH.

Forget Murderers. Public Enemies #1: DOG-HUMPERS!!!!

If you go to http://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=50455000&city2=50644000 and compare the crime rates of, say, Los Angeles to Phoenix, AZ, you will find that both cities are comparable in terms of crimes committed. As a matter of fact, one could say that Los Angeles is safer, based that site crime indices.

Those numbers are based on FBI figures. In terms of property crimes, LA is lower than Phoenix, rating a 4 and 7 respectively (national average is 4). In terms of violent crimes (murder, rape, etc), both LA and Phoenix rate a 7 (national average 4). In other words, Phoenix is not a safe place to be.

So you would think that the city's sheriff, tabbed the toughest cop in America, would think that murderers, rapists and thieves would be his prime concern. No, no, no! It's........DOG-HUMPERS! That's right...DOG-HUMPERS...right here in River City!!

Read and hurl.....


------

America’s self-described toughest sheriff has issued a warning to the CEO of
Craigslist saying the popular Internet website is providing a “mechanism to
facilitate criminal activity.”

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s warning to Jim
Buckmaster follows the arrest last month in Arizona by Maricopa County Sheriff's
Office detectives of two men — one a middle school teacher and the other a
handyman — on charges of conspiracy to commit bestiality.

Sheriff Arpaio
said an undercover investigation by his office began after detectives became
aware that persons in the Phoenix area were using Craigslist to engage in
illegal acts with animals. Detectives set up meetings through computer
communications where the suspects believed they were meeting animal owners at a
hotel.

“I would hope that Mr. Buckmaster takes my advice seriously and
looks into our concerns,” Sheriff Arpaio said. “I think it is sad that people
would utilize technology to take advantage of animals like this.”

Although bestiality may not be illegal in other states, the sheriff was
instrumental in making the offense a crime in Arizona in 2006.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster is taking heat for postings on his
website. (Associated Press)Craigslist did not respond to questions sent by
e-mail to the company and to its public relations spokeswoman.

The men
arrested in February — handyman Keith Kiefer, 47, of Mesa, and middle school
music teacher Patrick Trejo, 25, of Phoenix — were accused of using
Craigslist.org to connect with dog owners offering their dogs for sexual
gratification with humans.

Sheriff Arpaio said his deputies later
learned that a number of people used the website to communicate with others who
had an interest in bestiality. He said detectives discovered that a secret
language was being used to hide the suspects’ plans.

According to court
documents, a detective posing as a dog owner responded to a posting Mr. Kiefer
listed on Craigslist. They exchanged e-mails in which Mr. Kiefer allegedly asked
for a photo of the male dog’s sexual organ. He received it and responded by
saying he “liked it very much,” the court records show.

In his letter to
Craigslist, Sheriff Arpaio said the investigation of “several others” was
ongoing and that the website had provided “the forum for these individuals to
post, in a very blatant manner, their intentions.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/16/sheriff-says-craigslist-facilitates-bestiality/

--------------



Now, in my small circle of friends, the opinions about stuff like this ranges from "Man..that's sick!" to "Man....my Pomeranian was the BOMB last night!!" Therefore I cannot judge. Nor, since I do not have any pictures iof Mssrs. Keifer and Trejo, I do not know the level of desperation with these men (though one would probably argue that looking like a 2-legged emu might be a reason..)



Here's the thing. I know that those who thing something like doing-the-dog is highly disgusting claim that the pooch in question has no say in the matter. Oh. really? Then maybe we should also book all the people who force dogs (and cats, and other furries) to do non-sexual acts that the animals have no consent over (have you seen Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks? Or even the stupider ones that wind up on, what a friend would call Screw-Tube?)



Again, I am not advocating anything, except keeping me safe. If Candy Sue wants to do the horizontal bop with her German Shepard, be my guess. I'm just worrying about the guy trying to climb into my house to steal my 50-inch Plasma TV.

MY suggestion to Mr. Arapaio would be to start actually arresting some real bad guys (and stop blaming it all on Mexican drug lords and the ACLU. We should legalize everything and make it here anyway, and as for those tree-hugging lawyers, the fact that prisons these days are obscenly overcrowded shows that the ACLU ain't quite that effective).

But maybe I can understand where Big Joe comes from. First, he was worrying that his wife migh leave him for some black stud. Then for some other woman. NOW he has to worry about Rover. Maybe it's all just insecurity.

We feel ya, Joe. We feel ya.