Something interesting out of Iowa

20 Responses

1. 1

   Eileen 12.11.2007 at 2:26 pm | Permalink

   What a terrible story.

   Why was it important enough though, that I needed to hear about it? I wish there was an editorial policy that forced news outlets to discuss the reasons they decide to bring some stories forward and let others languish.

   Aren’t there a lot of missing black women in America? Someone told me that once, but I haven’t read much about it in the newspapers.

2. 2

   preying mantis 12.11.2007 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

   I think that’s my daily dose of “Buh?” right there, from the site deciding that was important enough to run to the woman trying to cover her debt with her child to the actual logistics of how she expected such a trade to work.

3. 3

   Bitter Scribe 12.11.2007 at 2:54 pm | Permalink

   …the actual logistics of how she expected such a trade to work.

   I’d be more interested in whether she expected the guy she was about to marry not to notice that all of a sudden, her younger son wasn’t around.

4. 4

   Mnemosyne 12.11.2007 at 3:15 pm | Permalink

   Ah, those homespun Midwestern family values ….

5. 5

   Marnanel 12.11.2007 at 4:43 pm | Permalink

   I kind of got the idea from the article that she was drunk enough for it to make sense.

6. 6

   Marnanel 12.11.2007 at 4:44 pm | Permalink

   (er, obviously I’m not condoning such behaviour, just saying that asking for rationality from drunk people may be expecting a little much.)

7. 7

   tannenburg 12.11.2007 at 5:00 pm | Permalink

   Hey! Don’t go dissing on those of us in the Cheese Belt, Mnem. Not all of us are intolerant hypocrites.

   Elitist Coastals…sheesh.

8. 8

   Rosehiptea 12.11.2007 at 5:09 pm | Permalink

   I’m just honestly shocked that you can only get ten years for “purchase or sale of an individual.”

9. 9

   Mnemosyne 12.11.2007 at 6:35 pm | Permalink

   Hey! Don’t go dissing on those of us in the Cheese Belt, Mnem. Not all of us are intolerant hypocrites.

   Dude, I’m a Flatlander, born and bred, even if I did escape the 70 below winters for sunny California as soon as I turned 18.

   I can mock you Cheeseheads all day long if I want. ;-p

   (Sorry, folks — interstate rivalries just have a way of flaring up online.)

10. 10

    preying mantis 12.11.2007 at 8:02 pm | Permalink

    “I’m just honestly shocked that you can only get ten years for “purchase or sale of an individual.””

    It’s probably pre- or immediately post-Civil War legislation. I imagine they haven’t really seen a need to change it now that you can’t legally own a person anywhere in the US and it’s basically a bonus charge to tack on to kidnapping, false imprisonment, child endangerment, etc., charges.

11. 11

    Seth Gordon 12.11.2007 at 10:11 pm | Permalink

    One small boyBoy for saleHe’s going cheap…Only seven guineas…

12. 12

    Seth Gordon 12.11.2007 at 10:15 pm | Permalink

    …well, the lines were separate in the preview.

13. 13

    Laurie 12.12.2007 at 12:15 am | Permalink

    “Oliver!” ref for the win! :D

    (Yes…yes I am a musical theatre geek. And was IN that play in high school. That was one of my favorite songs, because I like the creepy minor key stuff. And sadly, I can still sing it *mumble-cough!* years later, even though it wasn’t my song. *sigh*)

    While I’ve heard people jokingly ask if you’d like to buy their kid, the thought of anyone doing it seriously (even while drunk) just makes me nauseated. At least *someone* decided that it was serious enough to press charges. Why someone else decided it was news is beyond me. Slow news day in Iowa? Or is this more “lookit what the iggerant Midwesterners are up to, ha-ha!”? *sigh*

    Mnemosyne: I’d rather have the -70 degree windchill than shaking ground. ;) Where did you grow up?

14. 14

    Rosehiptea 12.12.2007 at 3:32 am | Permalink

    I imagine they haven’t really seen a need to change it now that you can’t legally own a person anywhere in the US and it’s basically a bonus charge to tack on to kidnapping, false imprisonment, child endangerment, etc., charges.

    I guess that’s part of what I was wondering, why they aren’t charging her with any of that, but maybe in this particular case they can’t. (I’d think child endangerment would stick though.)

15. 15

    preying mantis 12.12.2007 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    It sounds like she took a plea, so other charges may well have been taken off the table in favor the charge that there was really no wiggle-room about.

16. 16

    Mnemosyne 12.12.2007 at 3:42 pm | Permalink

    Mnemosyne: I’d rather have the -70 degree windchill than shaking ground. ;) Where did you grow up?

    On the North Shore (way north, like Gurnee-ish).

    The quakes only come once in a while in California, but freezing cold comes every damn year in Illinois, so here I am.

    In Chicago: 31 degrees F
    In Los Angeles: 57 degrees F — we’re having a very cold winter. ;-)

    If you really want culture shock, I met a guy a couple weeks ago who had moved to Los Angeles from Montreal just the week before. We were having a heat wave that week, so it was mid-November and in the low 90s.

17. 17

    denelian 12.12.2007 at 7:55 pm | Permalink

    Mnem –
    lets be confusing, i grew up in CA, and i grew up with winters almost as cold as these damned Ohio winters.
    Redding, ftw! its just MUCH drier. with less earthquakiness.

    and of course, no of this DAMNED humitity in the summer. sure, its 110 f in Redding in July, but at least its not HUMID..

    as for the boy… i think,if someone seriouly tried to SELL me their kid, i would feel COMPELED to buy the kid, if only so i knew some sicko didn’t end up with the kid.
    or is that thinking about it too much?

    (part of my problem is my aunt is a Heroin addict, and she used to prostitute out my cousin for more Heroin. so, i’m being very tongue-in-cheek about it, when i am shaking in rage. sorry…)

18. 18

    Nicole 12.13.2007 at 11:36 pm | Permalink

    Why do I have the feeling if this were a man, trying to pawn his kid for a suit, you’d be up in arms?

19. 19

    Christina 12.14.2007 at 1:56 pm | Permalink *

    If it were a man, it would be just as sad, and just as ridiculous. Its disgusting, but at some point there’s not a whole lot else to say about it.

20. 20

    *bangs head on desk* « random babble… 2.2.2008 at 5:16 am | Permalink

    [...] h/t feministe [...]

Comments are closed.