Tag: Sex Offender

Choosing New Beginnings – Toastmasters

On By Tony CassonIn Toastmasters1 Comment

“Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold.”  Proverbs 22:1 NLT

 “We live by making choices.”   David Fink

      Toastmasters has been mentioned in these pages a couple of times. Have I also mentioned how much I hate public speaking? Yes? Well – I hate public speaking. So it was for exactly that reason that I asked for another opportunity to do it. I know it is beneficial, and I know that I need it, so I gave my second speech recently. I probably should have given more by now, but I really hate public speaking. Have I mentioned that?

      Well…I am still alive. I didn’t even need to use the barf bag that I brought for emergencies.

      The subject matter of the speech was such that I thought it was something worth sharing, so I decided to insert the speech here (I had it written out anyway, so what the heck). I hope everyone who reads it is able to get something useful from it. The speech was titled “New Meanings”, and it went like this:

      Good evening fellow Toastmasters, distinguished guests, and staff.

      David Fink said, “We live by making choices”, and when we all chose to name our Toastmaster’s club “New Beginnings”, I believe we chose well. Just saying “New Beginnings” evokes images of a new day being introduced with the sun peeking over the horizon. I believe each new day to be a gift from God and is, by nature, full of hope and opportunity.

      One of the most important things we need to do to take advantage of the “New Beginning” we have each chosen for our lives, is to be open to change and to be willing to look at old things in new ways. We must – each one of us – endeavor to discern new meaning among those things that are most familiar to us. Doing this will enable each of us to make the most out of each new day.

      Opportunities abound in which we can find ways to attach new meanings to our “New Beginning”. Everything that is familiar to us can be molded, shaped, and reinvented into something fresh, meaningful, and positive:  the way we dress; the way we walk; the way we talk; the way we see ourselves; and the way we in which we look at other people.

      Even the way we think about familiar words can bring about new meaning to them. For instance, let’s take the word “pride’. Most of us think of pride as taking satisfaction in our accomplishments. Too much pride can lead to arrogance or conceit, and most are also aware that the Bible warns us against that very thing. As we begin to grow, we become more confident and more sure of ourselves. We naturally take pride in who we are becoming and the direction our life is taking. Unfortunately, this self-assurance we develop can turn to cockiness , and that arrogance I mentioned, turning what should be a positive into a negative.

      In prison especially, pride can get in the way of what we are attempting to accomplish. It can stop us before we ever get started. Pride can impede our “New Beginning” before we take the first step.  However, by attaching a whole new meaning to the word, we can open up an entirely new pattern of behavior that is EXACTLY what is needed to make dramatic progress in our pursuit of change.

      Some 35 years ago,  I worked for a Los Angeles-based drugstore chain called “Thrifty”. With about 10 other people, I traveled the west coast taking inventory and in each store’s break room there was a sign that gave the “Thrifty” definition of pride. It was:   

                        Personal

                        Responsibility

                        In

                        Daily

                        Effort

      PRIDE. It means that I take RESPONSIBILITY for everything that I do each day. It means that each task that I undertake – no matter how seemingly insignificant that task may appear – will come with a personal commitment on my part to perform that task to the best of my ability. It is an understanding that no task is too menial, too unimportant, or beneath me. It means that I will take responsibility for ME.

      Personal Responsibility In Daily Effort.

      Such a seemingly simple concept, but far too often many of us think that we are better than the jobs we are given or even better than the other people doing the same job. The truth is, we are all the same, especially in prison, and there is no such thing as an unimportant task. Unfortunately, we sometimes let the sameness prevent us from performing to a level that makes us stand out. No matter how negatively we may view a job or task, and no matter how negative the environment around us may seem to be at times, we cannot become the people we all wish to become unless and until we take ourselves seriously and hold ourselves personally accountable for every job we perform, every action we take, and every word that comes out of our mouths.

      If we are wiping tables in the dining hall, or mopping the floor; cleaning the common area in a housing unit, or scrubbing the shower; if we are painting a railing, or picking up trash, our focus should be on the task at hand and we should endeavor to do whatever it may be that we are doing to the absolute best of our ability. I worked in the butcher shop for 15 months and earned the nickname “Tony The Butcher”, which is really quite funny since they rarely let us touch knives. However, “Tony The Butcher DOES sound better than “Tony The Guy Who Takes Chicken Out Of Boxes And Puts It On Pans”. Regardless, I took that job seriously and performed it to the best of my ability even if the conditions or the circumstances were not ideal….even outright negative at times. When we take personal responsibility for everything we do each day, we are making a statement to everyone around us that “There is a right way and a wrong way to do every job no matter how seemingly unimportant it may be, and I CHOOSE to do it the right way because I take Personal Responsibility In Daily Effort! I take responsibility for ME, my actions, and the words that I speak.”

      Once we have learned to do that, we can then attach new meaning to another word we are all very familiar with: PRISON. We can change it from a negative PLACE, to a positive ATTITUDE when we apply the following new meaning:

                          Personal

                          Responsibility

                          In

                          Spite

                            Of

                            Negativity.

 

      I thank you.

AFTERWORD:

      OK, so that’s how it was intended to go. The whole speech, were I to simply read it, would have taken less than three minutes but I went from memory (and mine’s not that good, but we strive to do our speeches with no notes), and I wound up wandering along, borderline hyperventilating, for about 6 minutes. There is a tendency to digress and embellish as we speak, but apparently it was all good because the 30 – 35 people in attendance were extremely supportive and gave me lots of positive feedback. I guess it sounded worse from where I was standing than from where they were sitting. Once my heart rate returned to normal, I put away my barf bag backup and basked in the afterglow. Trust me – for some of us, getting up there is no easy thing.

      I can only say that Toastmasters is a very beneficial program. We are not quite at 30 paid members yet, but we are getting close. Unfortunately, there are over 1700 men here in need of something positive. The money is a drawback for many, but we still seem to attract more each month. It will be nice when it gets to the point that we need to start a second club on the compound. What needs to happen is that the same attitude needs to be injected into every aspect of prison life and I will address these types of issues in my upcoming series “America’s Culture Of Incarceration”.

      In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed my little glimpse into a Toastmaster’s meeting, and I thank YOU for your time.

“A Child Protection Act That Doesn’t”

On By Tony CassonIn Letter to "Our Leaders", Volume 35 Comments

“I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray.”           – 1 John 2:26 NLT

“Mr. Kremlin himself was distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea – and that was wrong.”   – Benjamin Disraeli

      On June 29, 2012, Texas Congressman Lamar Smith introduced H.R. 6063, a bill which, on its surface, is as noble and well-intentioned as a piece of legislation can possibly be.  Titled “The Child Protection Act of 2012,” it would be difficult for anyone to find fault with its lofty purported goal – to protect children.

      While I cannot find fault with the goal, the bill itself is a misguided, misinformed,  and useless piece of pompous political puffery and does little if anything at all to protect any child from anything. In fact, it diverts still more funds and attention away from any sincere effort to provide protection for those identified in its inappropriately named title.  H.R. 6063 is shameless political grandstanding at its lowest which actually exploits the very children it claims to protect for purely political gain.

      Too harsh? Probably not harsh enough since Mr. Smith and his staff demonstrate surprising insensitivity  and a true lack of understanding of the very problem for which H.R. 6063 claims to offer a solution – how to protect the children of America. This lack of understanding borders on incompetence at its best and blatant exploitation at its worst. In either scenario, a case could be made against Mr. Smith’s fitness to  serve the public.

      Let’s review some of the statements he made while introducing this bill. First, he states that the bill “increases penalties for the possession of child pornography.” According to nationally published data, 76% of the nation’s federal judges feel the guidelines and enhancements for possession of child pornography are too high already, resulting in many thousands of individuals spending much more time in federal prison for looking at pictures than many of the individuals who perform the acts depicted in the pictures themselves.

      Second, Rep. Smith claims that H.R. 6063 “helps prevent more victims by raising the penalties for those who hurt our children.”  Again, he is attacking the problem on the back end, after the damage has been done. The root cause of harm to children in this country is never addressed.

      Third, he further states, “Internet child pornography may be the fastest growing crime in America, increasing on average of 150% each year.” The reality is, if the personnel and prison space were available, prosecutions could increase by ten times 150% per year because the number of computers that contain some form or d fragment of child pornography on them is estimated at 75% or higher by some sources. The answer to the child pornography issue lies in preventing it from being produced.

      Fourth, Mr. Smith states, “Every day these online criminals prey on our children with virtual anonymity.” Our movements, actions and interests are all known by our Internet Service  Providers (ISPs). There is no real anonymity. If there is an increase in the availability of child pornography online, then the ISPs as well as the Justice Department should be held liable for civil and criminal damages since it is within their ability to detect, filter and eliminate it at the source or, at the very least, severely limit its  dissemination.

      The bald truth is that H.R. 6063 offers little more than an attention-getting banner to be waved by Mr. Smith as he campaigns for reelection. It offers precious little in the way of honest attempts to address the very real horrors of sexual abuse that hundreds of thousands of American children face every day. For Mr. Smith to attempt to capitalize on their pain and loss of innocence for political gain is shameful in the extreme.

      For the most part, all Mr. Smith does address is child pornography and this he discusses with a  statement that demonstrates how off-target he and his staff (like so many lawmakers) are. It is difficult to get the real problem addressed because they are too fixed on riding the vote-garnering wave of the easy problem.  The real problem, the root of this evil mess, is the child sexual abuse that enables child pornography to exist in the first place.

       Mr. Smith flaunted his ignorance regarding the root cause of the problem when he said, “Trafficking of child pornography images was almost completely eradicated in America by the mid-1980s. Purchasing or trading these images was risky and almost impossible to do anonymously. But the advent of the Internet reversed this accomplishment”. Mr. Smith spoke as though child pornography was the problem. Child pornography was a separate problem created as a result of the root problem of the sexual abuse of children. At no time does Mr.-Smith give any indication that he understands this.

      The approach of Mr. Smith and many other legislators is tantamount to implying that the drug addict is the problem rather than the result of the real problem – the production and distribution of drugs. The more accurate statement is, if there wel:e no drugs, we would have no drug addicts. Similarly, if child sexual abuse did not exist~, there would be no child pornography, since every single instance of child pornography is a visual record of child sexual abuse.

      This nation’s lawmakers have proven to be woefully inadequate and ineffective in the war on drugs. Do we really want to repeat the litany of mistakes made in that ill-conceived effort? Why not focus on the real problem and work toward a meaningful solution rather than being subjected to a tiresome parade of cheap political smokescreens such as that advanced by Rep. Smith. As for his specious claim that the goal of protecting our children was almost attained in the 1980s, nothing could be further from the  truth.

      Just ask anyone of the hundreds of thousands of individuals who were sexually abused as children during that time. Just because there may not have been an availability of the images recording these children’s pain does not mean there was no pain to record. Because there was a scarcity of video does not mean there was a lack of inexcusable, horrific acts to film.

      A tree falling in the forest when there is no one around to hear it fall still makes a sound and children still cried out as a result of the violation of their innocence and dignity, even if people like Mr. Smith truly believe that the problem was almost solved simply because there appeared to be an absence of photographic evidence.

      The sad and. simple truth is that children have always been at risk. But they have never been at greater risk than they are when in the “safety” of their own homes. It is a very well documented and unfortunate fact of life that fathers, stepfathers, brothers, uncles and family friends – even mothers – account for the overwhelming majority of all sexual abuse of children and some professionals estimate that as many as one in three females has suffered sexual abuse as a child.

      Consider the following information from the book “Perverted Justice” by Charles Patrick Ewing (Oxford University Press, 2011):

According to a report written in 2000 by Howard N. Snyder from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics entitled “Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident and Offender Characteristics,” “Children were very unlikely to be sexually victimized by people they did not know.” In fact, the report gave the following statistics for different age groups of girls who were sexually abused:

– Girls ages 0-5;          51.1% family; 45.9% acquaintances; 3% strangers

– Ages 6-11;                43.8% family;  51.4% acquaintances;  4.8% strangers

– Ages 12-17;              24.3% family; 65.7% acquaintances; 10% strangers

      Since the primary objective is to effectively protect the children, we must first define the things we must endeavor to protect them from:

1) Children have a right to be protected from child sexual abuse and the furt erance of that abuse through the production of photographic images which record it.

2) Children have a right to be protected from the intentional and unintentional viewing of that recorded abuse by individuals unknown to the victims. These individuals help to perpetuate the emotional victimization of the children when they are aware that their abuse is being viewed by strangers.

      So I ask you, Mr. Smith: How does “The Child Protection Act of 2012” protect the children of this country from sexual abuse?   The clear answer is that it does not.

      There are far too many empty promises on the law books already, Mr. Smith. Another one, regardless of how nobly it is titled, is not needed. There is no room, nor is there any time to waste, on any more “professional poisoning of the public mind,” to borrow a phrase from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.

      In a previous article, I said we must “lock the door on child pornography,” and this we must do, but we must also throw open the door of truth and examine the ugliness that lies beyond 1t and has created millions of broken-hearted and broken-spirited people in this country. It is time to do something that will create positive change in fragile lives and not just enhance political careers.

      I tear nothing down without offering a possible solution or, at least, constructive positive suggestions with which to replace that which I criticize. With that said, I now submit the following steps for addressing the aforementioned concerns and ensuring the rights of America’s children to grow up as safely as possible:

      The language of any constructive bill should clearly and emphatically require all Internet Service Providers to utilize all available technology to stem the flow of child pornography and prevent the images of horror that their filters have captured from further damaging the lives of those victimized in them. A more detailed essay on this point is contained in “A Necessary Intrusion: Perhaps the Wrong People Are Behind Bars,” an earlier posting on this blog.

      To address the root problem, that of the sexual abuse itself, I will first point out that every state has a child protective services agency that is underutilized, understaffed, underfunded and overworked. To combat child sexual abuse in America, I propose the following five items:

1) Priority funding for child protective services should be provided to allow reorganization, rededication of purpose, staff increases and restructuring to include higher standards of performance and increased levels of training specifically to recognize and deal with sexual abuse. Increased staffing levels, lower caseloads and greater  accountability will prove invaluable in any sincere effort to protect children and enhance their safety. These agencies should be a priority in every state and federal guidelines for performance goals and funding to help meet those goals should be provided.

2) Priority funding for top-level psychological assistance for discovered victims, including faith-based counseling if it is desired.

3) Make educational awareness a priority at all levels up to and including high school. Make trained counselors available and set up local and national hotlines for those too timid to come forward, ensuring that they are manned with trained, compassionate and sincere personnel – perhaps even survivors of sexual abuse.  Make certain all available education and information reaches low income, ethnic and foreign language areas in the community.

4) Interact with national child sexual abuse organizations such as “Stop the Silence” to help devise ways to reach out to victims of all ages using rallies in auditoriums and gymnasiums featuring survivors of sexual abuse as speakers to encourage victims to come forward and get help to stop the abuse.

5) Priority funding for a national ad campaign in multiple languages with radio, television, print and  billboard coverage to eliminate the silence on this subject and get victims to seek counseling assistance. These efforts should include print ads and television public service announcements detailing the existing penalties concerning illegal images; the very sentences Rep. Smith proposes to increase. A broad spectrum of the public should be made aware that the viewing, downloading, possession and trading of child pornography will result in a sentence of from five to twenty years in a federal prison and the creation and production of those images will net the offender a sentence ranging from twenty years to life.

      This list, Mr. Smith, is in no way as complete as it can be but it should serve as a solid base from which to put together a plan that will begin to affect change.

      I challenge you, and your fellow lawmakers, to get to work doing the right thing for America’s children. You just might get reelected in the process for doing something worthwhile.

      At the very least, you will be able to say you really did act to protect the children of America.

Judgement Day

On By Tony CassonIn Letter to "Our Leaders"1 Comment

    “Judges, like people, may be divided into roughly four classes: Judges with no heart – they are to be avoided at all costs; Judges with heads but no hearts – they are almost as bad; Judges with hearts but no heads – risky, but better than the first two; And finally, those rare Judges who possess both head and heart – thanks to blind luck, that’s our           Judge.”  Robert Traver

                                         “….he must never judge unfairly.”  Proverbs  10:10b  NLT

      Black-robed men and women occupy raised platforms of power, gazing down upon those charged with violating one or more of society’s laws. They have the last word in the proceedings prior to slamming the gavel down, signifying finality in the issue before the court. The sound as the gavel strikes should signal final judgment and an end to the matter, but while these proceedings may end here for those charged with enforcing and adjudicating the law, it is only the beginning for those being sentenced to what are often unconscionable lengths of time in prison.

      The chain of events that brought the concerned parties together in the courtroom did not begin there by any means. Long before there is final judgment in the case of a law being broken, there is the process whereby those elected to make society’s laws determine what is, and what is not, acceptable behavior in a civilized world. State and federal legislators must use THEIR judgment to determine what laws are required, and then must decide what sort of punishment is correct – and just – in each instance.

      It is here, in the beginning, where the heads AND hearts of men and women must be used in unison. It is here, in the beginning, that fairness must be the prevailing doctrine: fairness to any victims that may have been involved; fairness to the families of victims and offenders alike; fairness even to the one who broke the law; and fairness to the society to which they all belong.

      This requires that the judgment of those writing the laws of this country and setting the penalties for violating them be constructive, thoughtful, purposeful, and balanced. At no point should politics, partisanship, or emotion hold any sway when determining for what reason, and for how long, an individual will be deprived of his or her freedom, family, and friends for a violation of America’s rules and regulations. Anything less than total mindfulness of the needs of all concerned demonstrates contempt for the process and should not be tolerated.

      America sets itself apart from the rest of the world in many positive ways, but how America’s laws are written and the philosophy of corrections in this country are decidedly NOT among them. It is here that America demonstrates the arrogant, know-it-all attitude for which other civilized, genteel societies of the world have expressed loathing on more than one occasion.

      While we can claim only 5% of the world’s inhabitants, America houses 25% of the entire world’s jail and prison population. This is NOT an insignificant fact, and one that is more closely connected to the dynamics of economics than the lawful and orderly protection of society. Despite all of the human beings who are kept in cages as one would cage animals, America can lay no claim to better records of safety for its citizens than those of other free societies who imprison individuals far less frequently and for far less periods of time.

      As evidenced by the above numbers, it would appear that much of the rest of the civilized world has a vastly different philosophy regarding prison time as a deterrent to crime than does the United States. One of the areas in which there is great disparity between the U. S. and other countries of similar – or perhaps greater –  levels of sophistication, civility and culture is in the sentencing of individuals convicted of possession of child pornography.

      This is a problem of great sensitivity and intense emotion that has grown to catastrophic proportions in this country. There are no excuses for it; there is no justification. But an even greater tragedy for this nation as a whole is growing out of the way we are dealing with it, particularly on a federal level.

      In articles published in June and July of this year, two men of similar ages and occupation were sentenced after having pleaded guilty to child pornography charges. Neither was responsible for the abuse recorded in the pictures and videos recovered. They both used computers to obtain and store the images and videos. One man is a United States citizen, the other is Canadian.

Briefly, the stories:

      Michael Robert Hall, 31, from Winnipeg accessed a Yahoo.com group called ‘Perv’s Dream’ where users shared images with one another. Computers seized from Hall’s home contained over 3,300 images of children modeling and posing in addition to 19 illegal pornographic images of children between the ages of 4 and 12 engaged in degrading sexual acts with adult males.

      Daniel J. Borque, 33, of Erath, La was found to have used an internet peer-to-peer site to receive child pornography. Found on computers in his home were 15 videos and 630 images.

      Mr. Borque received 12 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release.

      Mr. Hall was sentenced to the ‘legislated mandatory minimum’ of 14 DAYS in jail followed by 18 months probation. The prosecutor had asked for 90 days in jail.

      I do not profess to have intimate knowledge of Canada’s laws or judicial processes, but the facts are stated as they were printed, so I will interpret ‘legislated mandatory minimum’ to mean just that.

      The U.S. federal mandatory minimum for receipt of child pornography (and one can not logically possess it without receiving it) is 5 years in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release up to life. This is in addition to any additional charges for the possession itself, and distribution (for sharing on a peer-to-peer site even if there was no exchange of money) – both of which are commonly added charges.

      Canada is generally viewed as being a safe, cultured, civil, genteel country whose inhabitants are almost universally viewed as being polite and well-mannered. One would have to think that, given the nature of Canadian society, their philosophy regarding incarceration has evolved as a result of that constructive, thoughtful,  purposeful and balanced fairness that I referred to earlier. These things seem to be sorely missing from the approach employed by THIS nation’s lawmakers.

      It is very unlikely that America’s indisputably disproportionate sentencing policies reflect a higher regard for human life and human dignity than that possessed by other nations such as Canada. It is also extremely unlikely that the United States can claim a greater regard for the safety of its children than they do either. No, it is more likely that the reasons for the disparities that exist are more likely to be simple political and financial greed. Of course, this would be rejected as nonsense by those who are responsible, but I see no lines to the microphones by this nations lawmakers offering explanations as to why the United States of America finds it necessary to keep more of its citizens behind bars than anyone else in the world.

      Something is quite wrong.

      The next article to appear here, “The Child Protection Act That Doesn’t” should serve to explain part of it, as should my upcoming series on “America’s Culture Of Incarceration”.

      I thank you for your time, and may God bless you and your families.

“To the Children in the Photos: An Offender’s Apology” by Steve Marshall

On By Tony CassonIn Inmates - In Their Own Words1 Comment

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”   Alexander Pope

I see your faces still. The rest of the images, I have successfully blocked from memory. But I still see your faces; your eyes – blank, confused, uncomprehending, betrayed, bereft – your mouths unsmiling. I will carry the unyielding memory of those faces to my grave.

For the entirety of my adult existence, I have loved, nurtured and protected the children in my life. Even now, when I see photos of starving children with distended bellies or little ones born with horrendous defects to their bodies, I get a knot in my stomach and feel pushed to the edge of tears.

So I cast my thoughts and memories back to that strange and barren time in my life and shake my head in wonder that I could have looked upon your suffering and felt nothing, as if a switch had been placed upon my empathy and turned to the ‘off’ position.

Somehow, without realizing it, I became disconnected from my moral center, like a boat that slipped its moorings and drifted, silent and rudderless, out onto a vast, open and uncharted sea with no one at the helm. I can only describe it as an altered state. The person who allowed himself to download those photos and share them with others was not the same one writing these words today. That person did not regard you as a human and suffering, but rather viewed you as a simple assemblage of pixels on a computer screen. That person failed to accord you the basic decency and respect to which every human being is entitled. That person dredged up the pain of your violated childhood, continuing and perpetuating the abuse and exploitation that you experienced at the calloused hands of adults, often the very ones who were charged with loving and protecting you. I search my heart and wonder how I could ever have been that soulless and uncaring.

How, then, do I ask for forgiveness? I often enter the cathedral of my mind and offer up a prayer to whatever great power turns the universe, asking that I may be allowed to forgive myself for what I have done. But I still find myself incapable of self-pardon, so how can I expect any quarter from you?

I committed my offense against you via the internet, so it is only fitting that I use that same venue to reach out to you now in the earnest hope that even one of you will stumble across these words and come to know of the deep, indelible sorrow that I feel over having been a participant, belated or not, in your violation.

In just under four years, I will have discharged my legal obligation for what I have done to you. But an enormous karmic debt remains and it is my full intention to devote the remainder of my years working to pay that debt down.

I am certain that, for many if not all of you, your journey to adulthood was forever soiled by the criminal and unmitigated theft of your innocence. It is my sincere hope that you will have somehow found peace; that you do not repeat the sins committed against you and continue the tragic cycle of abuse into yet another generation. I hope that there are days and nights when those nightmares do not revisit you.

You are, each of you, very real to me now. You are in my thoughts, my hopes and dreams. Should you choose to forgive me, your blessing will be received with deep gratitude and humility. Please know that there is someone on this earth who knows the value of your spirit, the depth of your suffering and the enduring scars that you bear.

I am, and will always remain, deeply and profoundly sorry.

AFTERWORD     by Tony Casson

Mr. Marshall may not speak for all who have stepped over the line of moral decency and adult responsibility, but he does speak for many, myself included. And he speaks eloquently, powerfully, and with great sincerity. I trust his sincerity…I looked up into his eyes after I finished reading what he had written and saw that he was as close to tears as I was.

What you have just read will create varying degrees of comment and consideration. I would ask that any of you who have your own blogs, websites, or know of others would post a link to this article and share it with as many people as possible.

Some will find men like Mr. Marshall and myself to be beyond forgiveness, but I will point them to a recent series here in which a survivor of childhood sexual abuse expressed her ability – indeed, her need – to forgive. Many of us are sorry in ways that the cynical will never understand.

I will remind them that God insists that we forgive each other, and I will point out a very salient fact about those who share prison with men like us and who are very vocal in their condemnation of us and our acts: Not one of them has ever said he was sorry of anything other than getting caught.

Steve, I cannot thank you enough for your sincerity, humility, and courage.

Mr. Marshall is one of several very special, intelligent, and amazing individuals I have met here.

How tragic that we had to meet here, but better here than not at all.

“A Toast to Toastmasters – Speaking Out for Speaking Up”

On By Tony CassonIn Toastmasters, Volume 31 Comment

“Those who stammer will speak out plainly.”  Isaiah  32:4b  NLT

“Then there was a maiden speech, so inaudible, that it was doubted whether, after all, the young orator really did lose his virginity.”  Benjamin Disraeli

      Back on November 13, 2011 an article was posted in ‘The Chronicles’ that was written by Richard Roy regarding a very positive decision made by the administrative staff here at Oakdale FCI. That decision was to allow inmates to start a prison chapter of ‘Toastmasters’. All who were involved in making that decision should be applauded for supporting a program that has proved to have a positive effect on the lives and the character of those individuals who participate in the program and embrace its mission.

      For those not familiar with ‘Toastmasters International’, it is a worldwide organization of locally chartered ‘clubs’ formed for the purpose of providing an environment in which its members may develop oral communication and leadership skills. In a friendly, supportive atmosphere, members deliver prepared speeches to fellow members of various duration and with different objectives in mind. The speaker is then evaluated in a constructive, positive manner. Members gain confidence developing speaking skills while developing our ability to become better listeners as well.

      Many famous individuals have been Toastmasters through the years including several astronauts – James Lovell, John Young, and Walter Schirra; Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’; Former U.S. Senator John Tunney; Debbie Fields Rose, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies; and Peter Coors, chairman of Coors Brewing Company. For those who are interested, there is a wealth of information about the organization to be found on their website at Toastmasters.org.

      Even though we have met twice a month since Richard’s article, we actually just had our official chartering ceremony on August 1, in the chapel. Members, friends of members and many members of staff, including all three of our Associate Wardens, were present. The Honorable Robert D. Downing, a retired judge who was the driving force behind Toastmasters becoming welcome in the state and federal prison system here in Louisiana, was our guest speaker.

      Richard Roy and Steve Marshall (also a contributor to ‘The Chronicles’) played major roles in the program that was put on to demonstrate what takes place at a typical meeting. Both were excellent, as were the members who had roles as speakers and evaluators, as well as those with minor roles. Our mentors from the ‘street’ were proudly present to help us celebrate becoming officially chartered as the ‘New Beginnings’ Toastmasters club (our official name). Three of them come in regularly, on their own time, to assist, support, and encourage us. Two members of staff that Richard mentioned in the first article, Ms. Papillion and Ms. Smith, were also present at the ceremony. They have been with us week after week where they have seen what the rest of us have seen: Men helping each other become better, helping each other grow, and helping each other reach beyond themselves and overcome their inhibitions and fears.

      Not that it has helped me. I still have major anxiety when I have to get up before the group, even if it is for a small portion of the proceedings. I would have definitely made a better Chief of Staff than President of the United States. But I am working on it, and I couldn’t ask for a more supportive group.

      What amazes me are some of the stories told as men get up and give their first speech to the group, which is called an ‘Icebreaker’. The purpose of this first speech is to get to know the person a little better and to help the individual ease into speaking before the group by talking about a familiar topic – themselves.

      None of us here really has an excuse for the behavior that got us here, but some of these men certainly have REASONS that are far more compelling than any that I could offer. I led a sheltered, privileged existence compared to many of those around me. To think that I squandered more opportunities than many of them have ever had causes me a little embarrassment, but is inspiring as well. I ask God to use my embarrassment to help me be determined to move forward from here and never look back.

      I am proud to be a member of this fine organization, and this very special group of men. Through their courage and determination, I will overcome my fear and I will become a confident public speaker and an individual who is determined to do what I can to help others avoid what we are all going through.

      All of it except Toastmasters, of course.

      I thank all of the people who have supported us and have pledged continued and increased support in the future for this worthwhile program.

“A NECESSARY INTRUSION (Part 4) – PERHAPS THE WRONG PEOPLE ARE BEHIND BARS”

On By Tony CassonIn A Necessary Intrusion5 Comments

By Tony Casson

“What sorrow awaits the world because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.” Matthew 18:27 NLT

“He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.” Seneca

Many of you are familiar with a series of fast-car movies, the first of which was “Fast And Furious”. Those words also signify a disturbing willingness on the part of certain government officials to be as complicit in criminal activity as those they are trying to bring to justice.

“Fast And Furious” was also the code name given to a ‘gun-walking’ operation conducted by some members of the Department Of Justice in Arizona. Thousands of weapons were allowed to be sold illegally with the intention of tracking them to those who purchased them. It seems that “Fast And Furious” was the appropriate code name, for the weapons disappeared ‘fast’ and now the citizens of this country should be ‘furious’.

It was a misguided effort that has resulted in terminations, reassignments, and even a contempt of Congress citation for the Attorney General of the United States.

One of the weapons that was allowed to be sold turned up at the location where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was murdered.

Putting weapons into the hands of dangerous criminals who are known to have a proven willingness to use them should be treated as a criminal offense, NOT as a misguided attempt at ferreting out criminals in a search for ‘justice’. The responsibility of law enforcement is to enforce and uphold the law, not break it. It is the responsibility of law enforcement to apprehend those who have committed a crime, NOT to create opportunities for crimes to be committed.

Succumbing to temptation does not relieve an individual of the consequences of their actions, but it could be argued that if it were not for the temptation the action itself might not have occurred in the first place. A person who commits a crime of convenience – or opportunity – is guilty, as is the one who planned it before hand, but if the opportunity can be denied; if the temptation can be removed; if the criminal act can be PREVENTED in the first place, should that not be the overwhelmingly preferred method of dealing with crime?

Preventative medicine is practiced and promoted as being more prudent, responsible, and economical than waiting for illness and disease to occur. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. And a doctor does not make people sick in order to create business for himself… that would be unethical, irresponsible, and illegal. The same should hold true for criminal activity. Crime PREVENTION should be the first order of business for those who make, enforce, and adjudicate our laws.

A bank does not leave its money sitting on the counter in the hope that no one will take it. It locks it securely in a vault.

A teacher does not leave the answer key to a test sitting on an unattended desk, hoping no one will cheat. They are locked away.

Nor does a jewelry store display all of its wares on open shelves and counters trusting all who enter their place of business to remain honest. They are kept under lock and key and removed as required.

We are all aware that banks are held up, test answers are stolen and sold, and jewelry stores are robbed. These crimes occur, but reasonable, responsible steps are taken to prevent them from happening in the first place. If any of these items were left out accidentally and they were stolen, the person leaving them out would be guilty of negligence, but not necessarily guilty of a crime.

But what if the item that is ‘left out’ is an item that is illegal to transport, distribute, or possess in the first place? If that item could be locked up to prevent anyone from picking it up, but is intentionally left out to see who comes along and picks it up, is the one who leaves it out guilty of negligence, a crime, or both? Is it RIGHT to intentionally tempt someone with something illegal just to see if they will succumb to the temptation? If the item itself is against the law to possess and possession of that item is PREVENTABLE, should it not be prevented?

Child pornography is just such an item. With available technology, the overwhelming majority of it can be prevented from ever reaching the computers in our homes in the first place. The technology also exists to first send a warning to the user that a transmission containing possible images of child pornography has been detected trying to reach their computer, giving them the opportunity to refuse the material.

Neither of these things is being done and as a result, the spread of child pornography and the exploitation of innocent children is being perpetuated in another ‘fast and furious’ attempt at luring individuals to crime through the use of acts that are, themselves, criminal. As a result of this irresponsibility, I submit that any corporation – such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) – or government agency, or individuals belonging to any corporation or government agency that allows illegal material to reach its destination without attempting to prevent it or warn of its transmission is complicit in the commission of an illegal act and is guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. 2252 (A), distribution of child pornography. These same individuals and entities, because they have continued their illegal acts for years and have distributed to millions of individuals are also guilty of violation of 18 U.S.C 2252 (A) (g), which is operating a child exploitation enterprise.

In addition, civil suits have been filed by attorneys for many of the victims of sexual abuse who have been identified. Restitution in the millions of dollars has been awarded and those found guilty of possessing their images have been deemed liable for damages as a proximate cause of the emotional distress and trauma these victims have suffered. It only follows that a more direct contributor to the trauma of these children would be the very entities who can PREVENT most of these images from being viewed in the first place. That said, ISP’s and the U.S. Government should be held liable for civil damages as well.

Possession of illegal drugs is a crime. PROVIDING those drugs is a more serious crime. I see no difference here. Internet Service Providers and the U.S. Department of Justice are providing child pornography to MILLIONS of people resulting in the ongoing exploitation of innocent children. Anyone involved in these misguided attempts to create criminals rather than prevent crime is involved in behavior that is irresponsible, immoral, and illegal. Those who have the power to stop this horror and don’t should share bed space in the prisons to which they send the criminals they have created.

Let us examine the following scenario:

An armored truck is traveling on the interstate when its rear doors pop open accidentally. Several bags of money fall out onto the highway, spilling their contents. Hundreds of motorists stop and begin stuffing handfuls of money into their pockets, caught up in the moment. A police officer happens upon the scene and begins to arrest people as they try to leave. Of course he manages to detain some, but he only stops a fraction of those who took advantage of the opportunity. The damage has been done. They are guilty of a crime, but the crime obviously was one of opportunity. Had the doors not popped open, their crimes would have gone uncommitted. Since they popped open accidentally, no crime was committed by anyone inside the truck, although there certainly was negligence. But what if they had been opened intentionally?

The ‘doors’ to child pornography have been intentionally left open in order to catch as many of those as possible who succumb to temptation. This is wrong. But can the ‘door’ really be closed? What do we need to do to close and lock them? I am not a very technologically savvy individual, but a couple of news stories I have read make it very obvious that there IS a way, the way is known, and it is purposely NOT being used to prevent the exploitation of innocent children and the ruination of tens of thousands of lives.

First, let’s look at something that happened in south Florida earlier this year. The Southern District Director for Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE) was arrested for possession of child pornography. What I found fascinating was HOW he was caught. AOL was his provider and they run software that apparently all ISP’s do that scans all images transmitted through it servers looking for child pornography. The software reads the ‘digital fingerprint’ of the data and can tell which images contain child pornography. What a great idea! This means they stop it before it ever gets in our homes, right? Wrong. They simply allow it to proceed and then notify the FBI. In other words, they opened the door of the armored car intentionally.

The first point in my argument is that if these images passed through servers that belonged to AOL and were identified, then they were allowed to pass through the control of AOL. If AOL’s servers detected child pornography, which is illegal – we are not talking about a freedom of speech issue here – and yet they did nothing to stop it, then from that point onward, AOL DISTRIBUTED child pornography. They had identified it for what it was, they had it in their control, they could have prevented it from going any further and they did nothing. This would also make them responsible for any of the trauma endured by the victims in those images through their negligence in not preventing the commission of a crime that they were aware of.

Another story I read more recently was regarding services Google provides to its users in China. It seems that searching for certain words or phrases in China can lead to the government cutting the user’s connection. As a service to their users, Google now has warning ‘flags’ that drop down and inform their user of the possibility of the loss of connection when they type certain words into the search field. It should be a very simple thing to provide the same type of warning ‘flag’ when certain phrases used to search for images of child pornography are typed in. Something to the effect of:

          WARNING: The use of certain search terms could result in
the intentional or accidental downloading or viewing of child
pornography, which is a serious crime. Penalties for these
crimes could result in imprisonment for terms of TEN YEARS
or more.

In the case of the transmission in progress, if the material isn’t going to be blocked completely, at the very least a warning ‘flag’ should pop up prior to the completion of the transmission. Something to the effect of:

         WARNING: Your Internet Service Provider’s software has detected
images that may contain child pornography being sent to your computer.
The possession of child pornography is a serious crime punishable by up
to 10 years in prison or MORE.
                                            DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?
                                                          YES                  NO 
If you click ‘YES’, your name will be forwarded to the FBI.

Obviously, such a warning should give pause to all but the most determined individuals. Perhaps the very ones in need of the most help or posing the most threat to society.

These things can be done. The images can be stopped completely, or at least a warning can be given. A last chance to come to your senses and return to decency. Proceeding can destroy peoples’ lives. We require a warning on cigarettes for goodness sake. How many lives can warnings such as these save?

In speaking with men around me, I asked if such a ‘flag’ would have provided some sort of wake up call. All answered without hesitation that a warning would have woken them up. Our individual morality and character can be debated all day long, but if these things are not implemented to help those who seek, or stumble, into immorality and a road that leads to ruin, we should consider those who OUGHT to be the primary focus here. Above all else, the protection of innocent children should be the objective.

Using every tool that is available, the victims of child sexual abuse whose images circulate on the Internet should be protected from further victimization and exploitation. The technology exists to stop, or at least severely limit, the spread of these pictures that myself – and many, many like me – wish had never crossed our computer screens. Protection of the innocent should be our first consideration. This is what everyone always claims, and yet the technology to do these things I suggest has existed for years. Those in charge have decided it is best to allow this filth to spread in the pursuit of justice. This time, they are wrong. They are exploiting the children of this country. How would you feel if the children they were NOT protecting were YOURS?

We can never control the thoughts that may run through people’s minds, nor should we try. But if we can control what they see, when what we are controlling is illegal, immoral, and destructive to all involved, then we have no choice BUT to do it. To do anything less, no matter what the justification may be, is not only wrong, it is simply illegal no matter what anyone may think.

Tell Internet Service Providers and the United States Government that it is time for a NECESSARY INTRUSION into our lives to prevent the spread of this epidemic that is killing our families and placing our children at risk. Tell them that it is time to LOCK THE DOOR ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.

There are, of course, UNnecessary intrusions into our lives. The sex offender registry, in the manner it is now being used, is such an unnecessary intrusion that, again, puts YOUR children at great risk. I will try to explain what I mean in a future article.

I thank you for your time.

“A NECESSARY INTRUSION (Part 3) – UNWINDING THE SPIN ON SIN”

On By Tony CassonIn A Necessary Intrusion1 Comment

By Tony Casson

“By smooth and glowing words they deceive innocent people.”
Romans 16:18b NLT

“A word is not a crystal – transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

If you ever thought that you made your own choices and exercised control over your own life, consider the following:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country…. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes are formed on ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of.”

These disturbing words were published in a book written by a man who has been called “The Father Of Spin”. Edward Bernays wrote the above words in a book entitled “Propaganda”, which was published in 1928. Bernays’s methods, his philosophy and his theories helped him to become a leader in the art and business of public relations – or ‘spin’, as it is commonly referred to today. Other titles authored by Bernays speak loudly as to their content and INtent, and are still widely read today. They include: “The Business Of Propaganda”, “Crystallizing Public Opinion”, “The Engineering Of Consent”, and “Manipulating Public Opinion”.

Those titles are as disturbing as are some of his “achievements” in his field. Among them are the following few examples:

  • In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson formed the “Counsel On Public Relations”. Bernays was a prominent member of this group whose responsibility it was to influence public opinion toward supporting American participation in World War I.
  • In 1929, Bernays was hired by the American Tobacco Company to find a way to increase cigarette smoking among women. Women smoked, but were hesitant to do so publicly, so Bernays hired attractive models to march in a New York City parade. He had arranged for the press to be there to photograph them as they lit their ‘torches of freedom’, as they were called. (They were, of course, Lucky Strikes, an American Tobacco Company brand.) Encouraged, women around the country participated in ‘smoke outs’ to break the taboo.
  • Bernays also manipulated the CIA, the American Government, and public opinion to win support to overthrow the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arblenz. Bernays had been hired by the United Fruit Company which had found itself unable to maintain its low cost of doing business there when Arblenz’s government took over. During the first half of the 1900’s, United Fruit Company wielded tremendous influence with the United States government and Bernays capitalized on it, painting Arblenz as a communist and securing his forcible removal from office by revolutionary forces led by the CIA. As an interesting side note, one of the CIA’s top operatives selected to orchestrate Arblenz’s removal was E. Howard Hunt, who went on to gain notoriety in Nixon’s Watergate debacle.

In 1933, a foreign news correspondent with the Hearst Corporation told Bernays that his book “Crystallizing Public Opinion” was a favorite tool of Joseph Goebbels. The correspondent told Bernays that Goebbels used the book as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews.

While many American politicians and businessmen paid top dollar for Bernays’s skill at manipulation, many others criticized his methods, motives and character. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter referred to Bernays and others of his ilk as ‘professional poisoners of the public mind’. “Editor And Publisher” portrayed him as ‘the young Machiavelli of our time’.

Bernays’s uncle was Sigmund Freud and Bernays revolutionized public relations by combining the traditional functions of a press agent with the methods used by psychologists and sociologists to create what one writer labeled as ‘The Science Of Ballyhoo’, or what we now know as ‘spin’. Edward Bernays died in 1995 at age 103, but the ‘Science Of Ballyhoo’ lives on and the ‘professional poisoners of the public mind’ still ply their trade. Utilized extensively by politicians and large corporations, their value today is greater than ever before as everyone searches for an idea to sell or a cause to spin that will deliver the desired results of election to office, or financial profits, or both. And let there be no mistake about it: Nothing gets done, no law is passed, no action is taken until it has been packaged and processed for public consumption resulting in one of two things: it must advance someone’s career or increase their electability, or it must be profitable to them or someone they know.

Wars on poverty, crime and drugs were all wars that were declared first by these people we can’t see, with the voices we can’t hear. Long before anyone recognizable in face or name stood before the American people to cry out for the need to man the battle stations and confront those plagues on society, consultations were held with those who knew Bernays’s craft and could advise those who hired them on what to say, how to say it, and when in order to galvanize public opinion in support of their cause.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on these societal problems that have been ‘spun’ into attacks on us and our families that we are then convinced must be beaten back at all costs. We have been made to believe that spending the futures of our children, of their children, and THEIR children is the only way to counteract the different evils that we have been manipulated into believing affect each and every one of us. Through obfuscation and misdirection, we have been convinced that spending to create prisons and then filling them to overflowing is the way to security, safety and well-being for this nation. But as those who build the prisons and supply their needs rake in billions and billions of dollars and destroy millions and millions of lives, the real issues of education, real economic growth, retirement security, and others that DO affect the lives of ALL Americans remain on the back burner because the public’s eye has been drawn elsewhere.

In the wars on crime and drugs, the most egregious criminal act is the wholesale incarceration of hundreds of thousands of men and women for unconscionably long periods of time which accomplishes nothing other than putting money in the pockets of those promoting the wars and writing the laws in the first place.

Our prison system is overflowing with no end in sight as a result of all of this. Billions of dollars worth of business requires prison populations to remain constant or – better yet – to increase. But is the American public as exposed to danger as the well-orchestrated histrionics of our politicians and the media would have us believe? Or is it conceivable that laws are intentionally created and designed for the sole purpose of maximizing incarceration levels to benefit private and corporate profits? I submit that the latter is closer to the truth.

Consider the following facts taken from the 2011 edition of “The World Almanac”: In 2009, Florida’s population was 18,537,969. The state of New York’s population in the same year was 19, 541, 453, or slightly over one million MORE than Florida. At the same time, Florida’s prison system held 103,423 inmates while New York had 59,778 incarcerated individuals. With slightly more than one million FEWER residents, Florida incarcerated enough people to fill New York’s prisons almost TWICE. The racial make-up of the 2 states is fairly equal, so that is not an issue. What, then, could cause such a radical difference in the number of people in prison? It is impossible to examine that situation without taking the following facts into consideration:

  • Florida is home to GEO, the second largest private prison company in the world. Headquartered in Boca Raton, GEO contributes significant amounts to the political coffers in Florida and highly paid lobbyists work diligently to increase the already significant business presence of GEO in the state. Correction Corporation of America (CCA), which is the LARGEST private prison company in the world also has a significant presence in the state and contributes significant amounts to political campaigns as well.
  • Conversely, in New York state, private prisons are AGAINST THE LAW.

There are people… many people… working daily across this country to find the next occupant of a 7X11 cell and they are now focused on everyone who owns a computer because some estimates indicate that 75% or more of ALL computers have some form of child pornography on them.

So another war has been declared, this one ostensibly to protect the young and defenseless. On the surface, this is the most noble of causes. But it is a war that simply does not need to be fought at the level it is being fought.

As I have said repeatedly, in one form or another, I simply cannot put a ‘spin’ on child pornography that makes it anything other than the horribly permanent record of child sexual abuse that it is. Nor will I ever try. At the same time, a trusting public is being enraged and incensed against a segment of the population that is growing at a frightening rate and, while the public has the right level of moral outrage directed at the images themselves, they are being mislead as to the dangers presented by those foolish enough, curious enough, or misguided enough to think that it is an innocent thing to view images of innocence stolen. It is far from innocent behavior, but it can, and should, be dealt with differently.

Instead, those trained in the Machiavellian ways of Edward Bernays are now FURTHER exploiting the very children who have been so tragically exploited. As difficult as that may be to believe, there is an enormous amount of empirical data to substantially refute the claim of danger that is presented by those who view child pornography. This in NO WAY indemnifies those who view it or possess it, but it does need to be taken into consideration when addressing the problem as a whole.

Moreover, the problem itself need not exist to the extent that it does. With technology that has been around for YEARS, much of the child pornography that circulates on the internet does not even have to reach the computers in America’s homes.

Next time, I will explain why an intrusion by the U.S. government is necessary. In fact, I will show why the American public should DEMAND this intrusion and I will tell you why failure to intrude to the level of current technological capabilities should result in criminal and civil action being taken against those who fail to do so.

Next time, “A NECESSARY INTRUSION – PERHAPS THE WRONG PEOPLE ARE BEHIND BARS.”

More to follow tomorrow…

A NECESSARY INTRUSION (Part 2) – SUMMIT FEVER CLOSER TO SEA LEVEL

On By Tony CassonIn A Necessary IntrusionLeave a comment

By Tony Casson

“They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.” Philippians 1:17b NLT

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upwards on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” Joseph Conrad

History has taught us that just because our government embraces a particular course of action doesn’t mean it will always prove to be the most prudent one to take. Many mistakes have been made in this country’s relatively short lifetime that could have been avoided with better information, more thought, less emotion and a greater concern for humanity. Personal ambition and desire for financial gain have also factored into these decisions. Lives have been destroyed; lives have been lost; homes and possessions of many innocent people have been forfeited and immeasurable pain and suffering have been inflicted. And all because someone was quick to paint a target on a particular group or cause and was able to point the emotion of this nation at that target. It was then easy to let loose our considerable resources with the single-minded objective of destroying it. This objective was usually met, although often with unpleasant, embarrassing or disastrous consequences later on.

Examples can be found going back to the earliest footsteps of our forefathers upon the soil in which are now anchored the flagpoles that proudly fly the greatest symbol of freedom and fairness the world has ever known. However, it was soil that was taken from a native people whose home it had been long before the first “civilized” steps were walked on it.

From the original oppression of Native Americans to slavery, from segregation to the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II and the national embarrassment of McCarthyism in the 1950’s, targets have been selected and groups singled out to be relegated to a class of people who are to be feared and reviled.

Far too many of those in power use the fear, ignorance and complacency of those they “serve” to carve paths to their own personal summits, climbing over or walking around the bodies of those they destroy on that path to the top. Our short history is too full of examples of the new lows to which people will descend in their efforts to reach new highs in personal recognition, power and financial gain.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the “war on crime” that was begun in the 1970s and still rages to this day. Millions of lives have been ruined and countless families have been sentenced to something less than the “American Dream” because we have allowed those who profit from other people’s pain to create the “American Nightmare.”

A prison industrial behemoth has been created in this country. It has put untold billions of dollars into the pockets of individuals and corporations wily enough to take advantage of the very windfalls they themselves helped to create. The American public blessed this beast as necessary to calm their fears; fears that are sustained by media that surrounds us and inundates our daily lives with shocking stories of murder, mayhem and man’s inhumanity to man. Highly paid and practiced individuals put a “spin on sin” that sends Americans running into their homes and locking their doors in the sure knowledge that rape, robbery or death await them on the other side.

The simple truth is that the average American lives a life untouched by crime from unknown sources. The closest most people ever get to criminal or unlawful activity is through their own actions or those of a family member. Speeding, running a stop sign, drinking and driving, and abusing prescription medications are just a few examples. Much of the crime reported in this country is domestic in nature. This does not mean that a person beating their spouse is not criminal. This does not mean that a person sexually abusing a member of their family is not a criminal. This does not mean that a person shaking a child who won’t stop crying is not breaking the law.

All it means is that we are more likely to face dangers or be exposed to criminal behavior by a person known to us than by a stranger.

Unfortunately, because we are so influenced by the internet, television, radio and newspapers, the criminal behavior that we are deluged with around the clock has us convinced that the monster is lurking just outside the doors.

Our prisons are full or people incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Many of their offenses occur in the poverty-stricken areas of our cities. The average American never gets near those areas so there is little to fear. If you do visit those areas to feed your own bad habits, then locking your door at home will not keep you out of harm’s way. Billions are being spent on a war that no one wants to win, although many jobs and many fortunes are dependent upon keeping Americans convinced otherwise. Legislators on the state and national level have wasted billions upon billions of dollars fighting the combined wars on crime and drugs. Prosecutors and juries have aggressively backed them up by sending those taken prisoner in those wars to institutions throughout this country. In 1980, the population of the U.S. was roughly 226.5 million people. In 2010, census figures placed the number at roughly 308.5 million for an increase of 82 million citizens, or roughly 36%. In the same timeframe, the prison population has grown from approximately 350,000 to over 2.1 million. That’s an astonishing increase of 600%.

These figures should sound a warning to sensible Americans everywhere. There is an explanation for this massive growth, but it is not the one that those who put the “spin on sin” would have us believe. The explanation is no more complicated than “summit fever closer to sea level,” as thousands of individuals seek financial profit, career advancement or both, locking up the prisoners of those wars that no one wants to win.

It is true that criminal behavior needs to be dealt with and there are many honest, hard-working diligent individuals who do their part to capture and punish those who step outside the boundaries of decency that society establishes. That said, it is also true that far too many profit or advance their careers from the incarceration of the very individuals they capture and prosecute.

The wars have been expanded now to include a crime that any decent moral person would find detestable and indefensible. I include myself among those who find it thus, even as I serve my sentence for being guilty of it. I speak, of course, about the possession of child pornography.

This crime affects us all, not just those who have been caught and labeled as “monsters.” Just like a California wildfire fanned by the Santa Ana winds jumps across a road or ravine, it jumps across all levels of our society. Just as any virus experienced by mankind, it spreads with the same lack of concern for who it infects. In fact, its spread has reached “epidemic” proportions as one federal prosecutor puts it.

Those whose job it is to put a “spin on sin” will tell you that this “epidemic” is being fought aggressively by the United States government. In actuality, in their efforts to catch the guilty, the United States government is actually perpetuating the spread of both the vile, disgusting images themselves as well as the destruction their possession wreaks not just upon the guilty, but upon the innocent as well – including the very victims of child sexual abuse who are the subject matter in those images.

I will explain how this could possibly be when I begin “Unwinding the Spin on Sin.”

More to follow tomorrow…

A NECESSARY INTRUSION – Part 1

On By Tony CassonIn A Necessary Intrusion3 Comments

By Tony Casson

“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.”     Matthew 5:6 NLT

“Few consider how much we are indebted to government, because few can represent how wretched mankind would be without it.”     Joseph Addison

Jus-tice (jus’ tis) n. 1. Moral rightness; equity 2. Fairness.

“Buried in the Sky” is a book written by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan. The cover of the book says it is “The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day.” It most assuredly lives up to its billing and is well worth anyone’s time spent reading it.

For those not familiar with K2, it is the tallest peak in the Karakorum range of mountains. It rises from the earth 28,251 feet on the border of Pakistan and China. K2 is second only to Mt. Everest, which lies 882 miles to the southeast. Although the summit of K2 is “over seven” hundred feet lower than Everest, K2 has proven over time to be a much deadlier mountain and has claimed a significantly higher percentage of the lives of those who have attempted to reach its summit than those who have attempted Everest.

The book centers on the Sherpa climbers who guide individuals and teams from all over the world as they pursue their single-minded objective of standing where so few have stood before. While the book describes the events that surrounded the loss of 11 lives in early August of 2008, it is full of vivid background on the history of the two mountains, the regions in which they lie and especially the people who inhabit those areas and risk – and give – their lives as porters and guides on those expeditions to the top of the world.

I am certainly not a mountaineer but I purchased the book to learn a little more about an activity that my beloved son has expressed an interest in. If his interest grows to the point that he attempts to climb the likes of Everest and K2, all I can say is, “I will kill you if you die up there.”

In my quest for knowledge as a father who loves his child and wants to learn about the things that interest him, I was stunned and exhilarated and sobered by the lives – and deaths – of the people who risk it all for that moment when the summit is reached and their eyes behold the view that so few can claim to have seen.

In the process, I encountered a story which made me think that perhaps some of the pursuers of those lofty goals are so fixated on their own personal pursuit that their obligation to other human beings is forgotten. This particular story is told about an incident that took place on the “other” mountain – Everest – in 2006.

A 34-year-old man had summited Mt. Everest and experienced his moment looking down at the rest of the world. As mountaineers say when they reach the summit, “You’re only halfway.” Now you have to go back down and while it surely must be easier, it is safe to say it is not easy.

When this man was still about 800 feet above the closest camp, he collapsed with exhaustion. Still attached to the fixed line, he was in need of assistance or he would surely die.

Mt. Everest is extremely popular among climbers. In a recent television news report, two hundred were lined up to make their way to the summit, so it is a fairly well-traveled route as mountains go. According to the story in the book, as many as forty individuals walked past this man on the day he lay there in need of assistance. None were willing to stop and help him back down to camp because it would have put an end to the pursuit of their own moment standing on the highest point on this planet. The window to reach the summit is open only for short periods of time and the cost is an enormous one: from $30,000 to $120,000 per individual. Some have saved – others have corporate sponsors whose reward is a picture of the climber wearing, or displaying, their product on the top of the world. Surely some of them thought, “Someone else will take care of him. It is not my responsibility.” There was a lot at stake to risk it on any display of humanity.

By the time the first party had summited and returned to where the man had collapsed, he was dead. Surely he was aware that people had died before him, even on the way down. More have died since. He was doing something dangerous and he died doing it. But he died because all those who passed  him ignored his needs as a result of their own “summit fever.” Their own need to reach the pinnacle of mountain climbing success was greater than saving another human being. After all, he did it to himself, didn’t he?

They all later claimed not to have seen him at all or to have thought he was just resting. Possibly true in a few cases. Probably not in all. But it was “just” a life lost. It was also easy to not consider the man’s family. They were not there and the pain and emptiness, the loss, will not be seen by those who clamored to reach the top.

Those ambitious men and women unknowingly made a statement from high above the rest of the earth. That statement said simply, “My goal, on my terms, at any cost.”

And so it is, back down here where the majority of us live and die. People closer to sea level also set lofty goals and are ambitious and, for many of them, the statement is the same. “My goal, on my terms, at any cost.” If the cost is the destruction of human lives, even when the cause is “honorable,” if the destruction is preventable and is not prevented, then the victims may as well be high up on the side of a mountain because the ones ignoring them are in the throes of their own brand of “summit fever.”

The primary responsibility of any government should be the protection of its citizens. First and foremost should be protection from foreign powers and influences trying to do harm. Secondly, there is a responsibility to keep us safe from groups or individuals within this country who endanger the safety and welfare of the general population. Thirdly is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from themselves, where possible, when doing so clearly benefits the greater good.

There are those who speak out against some of these laws and regulations. But sometimes these intrusions are necessary for the greater benefit of all and ultimately save lives, families and – of course – money. These intrusions include seatbelt laws, helmet laws for both motorcycles and bicycles, speed limits, drinking ages, and on and on. Intrusions that are irritating to some, perhaps, but are generally seen as necessary intrusions that benefit the greater good.

So finally, after taking you on a journey up the two highest mountains on earth and back down again, I am ready to tell you about a different kind of “summit fever” right down here where most of us live – and die – and why it is time for “A NECESSARY INTRUSION.”

More to follow tomorrow…

A CALL FOR COURAGE

On By Tony CassonIn A Sex Offender Like Me, Volume 32 Comments

By Tony Casson

“Seek to do what is right” Zephaniah 2:3b NLT

“Courage is that virtue which champions the cause of right.” Cicero

Those who choose to serve the public are often confronted with unpleasantness and difficult decisions. Oftentimes those decisions, in order that they be correct ones which benefit society as a whole rather than one small segment of it, must fly in the face of public sentiment.

The issue of child pornography is a highly volatile, emotionally charged one, but where it is the right of parents to be emotional where children are concerned, it is the DUTY of those who serve the public to look beyond the raw emotion and examine the full impact of the decisions they must make regarding how to deal with the issue on all of its complex levels.

The United States Sentencing Commission (U.S.S.C.) is considering changes to the sentencing guidelines relating to many issues. Possession of child pornography is one of them. As distasteful as this whole business is, it has become a plague upon this nation that cannot be ignored. The U.S.S.C. is accepting public comment on this topic. I encourage all who read this to offer their own opinion in the matter, regardless of what that opinion may be. My own letter to them follows so that my opinions, and the basis for them, may be known.

You can visit cautionclick.com for more information and to obtain contact addresses. The deadline is July 23rd.

Here, then, is my letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

I would think that the volume of letters containing arguments both for and against the reduction of sentences for possession of child pornography is formidable. With the following words, I shall try to do my part to help turn the tide in favor of compassion, common sense, and commitment to working towards a sensible approach to dealing with the epidemic that has gripped our nation and threatens to squeeze the very life out of it.

My name is Tony Casson and I am a 58 year old man who has served 28 months in federal prison in Oakdale Louisiana for possession of child pornography. With ‘only’ 23 months remaining, I am considered to be one of the ‘lucky’ ones. Most of the men who occupy space here with me for similar charges have longer -some MUCH longer- sentences to serve.

None are more aware than those who serve on this commission that there is no empirical data or substantive reason to support the length of sentences imposed upon those convicted of the crime of possession of child pornography. The public outcry against men like me is justifiable on a purely emotional level. All of the anger that is directed at those who would sexually abuse and exploit a child and then exacerbate that abuse by making a digital record to forever preserve the pain, humiliation, and horrific loss of innocence is brought to bear on those who would willingly participate in the abuse by viewing and possessing those digital records.

On the surface, this would seem fair. I certainly cannot put any ‘spin’ on child pornography that will make it anything less than the horrible permanent record of innocence stolen and child sexual abuse that it is.

At the same time, it is evident to many that the wholesale incarceration of anyone and everyone who has downloaded images of this abuse is as wrong and misguided as the abuse itself.

The merciless mass jailing of ever-increasing numbers of those who possess child pornography without first affording them ANY opportunity at redemption is inconsistent with what justice should stand for in this great nation of ours. In fact, many on the commission and in the courtrooms of this country realize this. It is now time to send a strong public message to Congress that their insistence on condemning tens of thousands of otherwise hard-working, contributing members of society to destroyed lives, broken families and bleak futures will ultimately create a problem with more disastrous consequences than the problem of possession of child pornography itself.

Many victims of child sexual abuse captured in digital images that circulate on the Internet have been identified by the authorities. They all have names. They are all living, breathing human beings. They have all been severely mistreated and they are ALL deserving of all of the physical, mental, and spiritual help that they require as they struggle to put things back into a perspective that might give them peace and dignity and restore their self-esteem and their ability to trust and live normal, happy lives. They are entitled to see those who perpetuated the abuse and produced the record of it be dealt with severely.

Those whose lives are destroyed by curiosity or an addiction to pornography that leads them down this well-travelled road of looking at images that shouldn’t exist in the first place – those individuals all have names as well. And so do their children, their spouses, their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

Their names are Stanley, who received 25 years for receipt, possession, and distribution of child pornography. The FBI showed up at Stanley’s house looking for a computer that Stanley had bought for his 12 year old grandson. In a misguided attempt to protect his grandson, Stanley laid claim to the computer and all that it contained, thinking that he might get a year or two in prison. His prosecutor said that they were going to ‘make an example’ of Stanley. They ‘stacked’ his charges and sentenced him to 25 years. Stanley is now 61 tears old and has been incarcerated for 7 years. During those 7 years, Stanley has had a quadruple bypass and a stroke. Stanley’s wife has cancer and emphysema and will most likely not survive until the end of Stanley’s sentence. But that’s ok, because it is highly unlikely that Stanley himself will live to the end of it. While Stanley had a few scrapes with the law during his younger, friskier days, he lived a quiet existence for 30 years before this epidemic of indecency invaded his home, destroyed him, took all he had worked a lifetime for and condemned those who love him to live without him.

Their names are also Jason, who is 20 years old and a recent arrival, sentenced to serve 7 years. Jason has been addicted to pornography since he was 13 years old. Back then, they were his peers he was looking at. At 20, it is a crime punishable by 7 years in prison, labeling as a sex offender, and a future destroyed.

Their names are Ken, 29, sentenced to 17 1/2 years because he went to trial and lost and that angers ‘them’. He is a father, a son, a brother, and a business owner.

Their names are Rob, sentenced to 9 years. Rob is 47, a homeowner, a father, an uncle, a brother, and was a long-time employee of an airline.

Their names are Aaron, 32, sentenced to 6 years. He is a very smart man who did a very stupid thing. His daughter is growing up without him but but she loves him and is waiting for Daddy to come home.

Their names are Derek, 29, sentenced to 9 years. His mom passed away recently. They were very close. He is a former member of the Air Force and is a talented artist.

Their names are Rob, 56, a retired naval officer with years of service to his country, doing jobs he can’t even discuss. He was sentenced to 5 years for fragments of images found on unallocated space on his hard drive by NCIS. He is a father, a husband and has given this country more than most of us can imagine.

Their names are also Pete, 62, 15 years; Ben, 28, 9 years; Steve, 68, 7 1/2 years; Michael, Randy, Dave, Jesse, Phillip, Alan, Floyd, and the list goes on and on and on.

What were we thinking? Obviously, we were not thinking at all. We were, for the most part, wrapped up in a cloud of confusion where decency was not allowed to enter and common sense was left outside. We all acted as if we were devoid of the intelligence, the heart, and the morality that God gave us. We were all caught up in something immature, irresponsible, and reprehensible. Our punishments, however, far exceed anything that begins to make sense or contribute to solving this terribly invasive problem that has reached into more households in this country than we can possibly imagine.

Congress must stop making laws that act as an emotional salve and are designed to gain favor and votes. Congress must start looking for answers and those answers do NOT lie within the confines of a razor-wire enclosure. The answers are not in a sex offender registry that hides those who need watching in the midst of those who need God.

Somewhere, the courage to stand up and say, “STOP!” must be found by someone who is truly looking out for the PUBLIC good. This frightening trend of locking away this country’s future must be reversed. At risk of losing votes, Congress must stand up for what is right, not for what is easy. Congress must look for solutions to build a healthier country, not for stepping stones to a brighter political future.

In his book, “Profiles In Courage”, John F. Kennedy wrote, “It may take courage to battle one’s President, one’s party, or the overwhelming sentiment of one’s nation; but these do not compare, it seems to me, to the courage required of the senator defying the angry power of the very constituents who control his future.”

May God Himself guide all of you and give you the courage to address this horrible thing that eats at us and to recognize that incarcerating people, while it may make good business, does not make good sense.

Let us seek, resolution, not retribution. Let us fix something that is broken and not just discard it. Let us save families, not destroy them.

I thank you for your time.

If you publish this letter, as you have so many in the past, there is no need to redact my name. I have made things right with God and He and I know that I am not what some would have society think.

We are not all monsters. Most of us are men who made mistakes.

Sincerely,
Anthony E, Casson
91153-004 A-1
Box 5000
FC!
Oakdale, La 71463