Thursday, December 29, 2011

Want Another Reason California Is So Screwed Up?

Well, probably not. But I have to offer you the latest installment of the never-ending series on why the once Golden State is ready to go off the cliff.
Thanks to my pal An Unmarried Man, I was treated to this story that is, well bizarre seems to be too tame.
So, this dude Robert Edward De Shields, a frequent guest of the county and state prison system, committed an act that is beyond unthinkable.
Yes, Mr. De Shields committed the act of bestiality. He had sex with a dog. Not any kind of dog, mind you. But a puny chihuahua.
But hey, I guess when you are tweaking on crystal meth, a chihuahua looks like any other kind of hottie, right?
Yep, Mr. De Shields was high on meth and raped a chihuahua.
Needless to say, it was not his dog. Thank God. But horrified homeowners came home to find the tweaker, Mr. De Shields, holding the terrified dog. And after being examined by a vet, it was determined that the dog had severe injuries to his rectum and internal organs.
Now insert a big, fat eeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwww!
But wait! There is more!
Rightfully, Mr. De Shields was convicted of a crime.
But not just any crime.
Mr. De Shields was convicted of sexual assault of an animal. And he must register as a sex offender. And because of that, Mr. De Shields will have to serve time in state prison.
Ten years is the sentence.
Now because of the budget crisis that has made county jails extensions of state prisons, supposed low-level criminals are being sent to the jails to make room for, well the likes of Mr. De Shields.
But here is the thing.
Is it not a more severe sentence than if he had committed a similar act against a human?
And is this not elevating the rape of a dog, gross as it is, over the rape of a human?
Bingo on both counts!
The question is why in the hell was Mr. De Shields allowed to roam among the citizenry? Should he have not been in jail and or a mental institution?
Of course he should have been in one or the other. The dude has been in and out of prison since 1992. What is more amazing is that Mr. De Shields is wheelchair bound and yet raped a puppy.
Leave it to the London Daily Mail to delve a little deeper into this tale. As the report pointed out, the basis for seeking such a sentence is Jessica's Law. And it is the first time it has been applied to the rape of an animal.
But since the dude was high on meth, did he really know what the hell he was doing?
No. Being convicted of animal abuse under the basis of Jessica's Law is going way too far.
Yes, Mr. De Shields should be somewhere away from civilized society. But this is not the way to do it.
This puts the puppy at an equal level as human. It is the extension of the animal "rights" movement writ large.
As I have written many times, I am an animal lover. I do not like to see animal abuse. I do believe in animal welfare. That animals, even those bred for food, should be treated well. But animals are not human. They have some human characteristics, but they do not have the cognitive use of reason we do. Thus they do not and can not have "rights".
It is why there are laws against having sex with animals. Because we, the human, even under the influence of meth, have the ability to reason that it is not right nor natural to do such a thing.
But treating it at the same level in a court of law, well this is wrong.
While many real criminals will serve minimal time because of state prison overcrowding, a sledge hammer was taken in this case because there seemed to be no other way to get this degenerate, De Shields, off the streets.
Two lessons should be learned here.
One, druggies like Mr. De Shields are not going to be helped. They need to be institutionalized. Yes, I want my tax dollars to go to building more to get people off the streets and the proper help that they need.
And second, animal abuse can not and should not be equalized in any way with human abuse. It debases the humans and elevates animals.
Now I wonder if California will learn any of these lessons? Or will we just continue out descent unabated?

HT: An Unmarried Man, aka David Quintero

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