Meanwhile, in Georgia

[james_davis_nicoll]

Ed Kramer pleads guilty.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

He could--and should--have done that thirteen years ago and saved everyone, including himself, a great deal of aggravation, time, and money.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

So there's that finally over and done. For whatever it's worth to anyone involved.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

It is infuriating that he only received five years on house arrest for admitting to raping three children. I hate this.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes. It seems from what I read that one reason for house arrest rather than prison is that the prison can't afford to cope with his medical issues. My best friend was a prison doc for many years, and it is immensely costly to treat chronic respiratory and circulatory ailments in a prison setting, so prisoners often get early release or house arrest just as a way of kicking the financial can down the road. This is pretty much the definition of Not Right.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Per Wikipedia:

Protests to "Free Ed" have gained the support of science fiction writers Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, Robert J Sawyer and J. Neil Schulman.

Congratulations to Bob and Anne for earning a promotion from my Shitty Writers list to Assholes Who Need to Book a Flight to Hell. (Got no clue who J. Neil Schulman is other than an asshole.)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Schulman is a Libertarian who found god later in life and also was the victim of identity theft on this very LJ. Link when I am not on a tablet.

[(Anonymous)]

Here you go http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/2444036.html?thread=45441028#t45441028

[avram]

I wonder how McCaffrey’s stated beliefs about anal sex (“It’s a proven fact that a single anal sex experience causes one to be homosexual”) influence her thinking on this matter.

[jeffr23.livejournal.com]

Why are we (well, you and the top of this thread) using the present tense in reference to Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Because she has such little relevance that we didn't notice she was dead?

(That's my explanation, at least.)

[seawasp]

You're aware Anne McCaffrey is no longer with us and hasn't been for a couple years?

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Just makes it easier for her to go to hell where all pedophile apologists belong.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

Anne believed in most people, and took a lot of people at their word. She supported Ed because he told her he didnt do that. If she had lived long enough to see Kramers guilty plea she would have been devastated, because he was guilty and he lied to everyone, herself included. Plus that raping children. She never condoned child abuse or rape.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Accepting Kramer's story necessarily means rejecting the claims of his victims. I don't care how naive she was, that's disgusting.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I know people who were falsely accused of crimes, so I try not to rush to judgement, but I also believe that any crime against children should be investigated and pursued. Plus a speedy trial, in Kramer's case, both he and the prosecution used delaying tactics to drag things out. You start to wonder why they didnt bring him to trial immediately.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Didn't Gwinnett County's court system go through some manner of unrelated meltdown about then?

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

there were some things going on there that contributed to the delays. And its Georgia, so the climate as they say influenced a lot of things.

[christopher dodson (from livejournal.com)]

It's not terribly fair to blame Ellison, McCaffrey, etc. When Kramer was first charged, the most vocal member of the anti-Ed crusade was the overbearing Nancy A. Collins who, amongst other classy behavior, released an inflammatory statement that all but accused HWA president S.P. Somtow of engaging in pedophilia, a charge she was later forced to retract. Collins struck me and many others as caring more about furthering her career than saving the children. More info here:

http://jjchandler.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/the-dragoncon-boycott-and-why-don-murphy-and-nancy-a-collins-can-shove-it-up-their-asses/

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

I would think actual criminal charges being filed against Kramer would make the situation fundamentally different from the other situation you cite. In fact, the quotes linked to in the Wikipedia article don't even address that situation and are focused entirely upon the injustice of the prosecution.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Her and the late Joe Christ, right?

There was a massive wave of anonymous posts on rasf* attacking Kramer in terms as convincing as UW's baby commie paper talking about Enver Hoxa.

[(Anonymous)]

And I managed to miss all of that wave.

All bow down to the preference files of Xemacs!

Pity I'm too stupid to use xemacs now.

William Hyde

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

No, you are too smart to use xemacs.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

Gold star for Hoxa reference!

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Anyone who went to UW at the right time was painfully familiar with Enver Hoxa, beloved figure to the local communists (Well, one minor branch of them).

[carloshasanax.livejournal.com]

His tomb -- a low-slung pyramid once coated with fine Carrara marble -- is now an informal skate park.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Well, that's an anticlimax.

[yendi]

I wonder what all the folks who were amending any mention of his pedophilia with "allegedly" are going to do now.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

"Kramer’s attorney McNeill Stokes told reporters Monday afternoon that his client, wheelchair bound and breathing from an oxygen tank following a jailhouse spinal injury, simply couldn’t endure a lengthy trial.

“He’s almost paralyzed,” Stokes said. “That was very much a factor. He maintains his innocence although he (pleaded) guilty because he … doesn’t think he can go through a trial.”

Kramer, his attorney said, entered an Alford plea — that is, he pleaded guilty without actually admitting to any wrongdoing."



Probably continue to amend it.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Presumably, they'll stop saying allegedly.

[carloshasanax.livejournal.com]

Someone I didn't expect messaged me this story on FB.