Rod Dreher

Why Liberal Nuns Are Dying Off

Judge Of The Year

By Rod Dreher • August 8, 2012, 11:06 AM

A preschool teacher in Colorado has been arrested in possession of 4,100 child porn images. Additionally, prosecutors found a journal in which he kept meticulous records of his daily interactions with the female students in his class, including physical contact. More:

What prosecutors described as “grooming behavior,” defense attorney Paul McCormick said was a record of benign, caring interactions between a preschool teacher and his students. McCormick did not attempt to deny Moe was interested in child pornography but instead suggested that Moe build a “wall” between his online activities and his professional interactions with children.

Prosecutors revealed the existence of the journal at a Tuesday detention hearing in Denver federal court. They are making the case to Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty that Moe is a danger to the community and should not be released pending trial.

The judge seemed skeptical that the journal was a smoking gun. Instead, Judge Hegarty suggested, it might simply be a child care worker’s log of day-to-day activities chronicled in order to provide a defense against allegations of inappropriate conduct.

The judge also noted that while the journal included entries about Moe’s frustration to attract the romantic attention of adult women, it did not contain overt sexual references to children.

Good grief.

And by the way, what kind of 45-year-old man wants to work as a preschool teacher? I don’t get it.

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Sex and Sexuality. Tagged Colorado, judge, preschool, sex abuse, teacher.

107 Responses to Judge Of The Year

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Andrea says:

August 8, 2012 at 3:19 pm

Automatic suspicion makes it pretty hard for any man to go into teaching even if he wanted to and deprives a lot of kids of a male role model. Parents ought to keep a close eye on their kids and know their teachers and what’s going on in the classroom but I think it IS bigoted and alarmist to ascribe those kinds of motives to any man who goes into the field. Some men just like working with kids; some have a knack for it greater than women. I’ve seen some pretty good male elementary teachers.

This particular guy sounds disturbed but I don’t know that he has necessarily actually done anything to any of the kids he teaches. His lawyer might be right. He won’t be teaching any more or be allowed around children any longer, regardless.
Franklin Evans says:

August 8, 2012 at 3:56 pm

Maybe I need to step away from this thread for a while, but I can’t help one more impassioned comment.

A judge who jumps to conclusions at a premliminary hearing is a judge begging to be brough up on charges and impeached. I would bet good money that the vast majority of judges out there would agree with me.

The criminal justice system is designed to explore the evidence and arrive at an accurate verdict of guilty or not guilty. It is not designed to make victims and their families feel better. That is the harsh reality people insist on denying.
Maxine says:

August 8, 2012 at 4:06 pm

“If that makes me a bigot, well, I’m a bigot.”

Well, I guess that’s that.

Your post on the narrative fallacy comes to mind.

Rod, are you familiar with St. Stylianos?
Public_Defender says:

August 8, 2012 at 4:20 pm

Actually, there is a law against it, but it’s the opposite of what Dreher wants. In most (many? all?) states, it’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex or marital status. If a preschool refused to hire a single man because he’s a single man, that school could end up paying the teacher they hired, the man they didn’t, as well as his attorney.

Mr. Dreher,
What do you think a preschool should do if the best qualified person for the job is a man? Lie and say they didn’t hire him for some other reason? Hire him? Refuse to hire him and be open about the reason (almost guaranteeing a successful lawsuit)?
Public_Defender says:

August 8, 2012 at 4:21 pm

I should add that one of my favorite teachers was a male third grade teacher. I have no idea if he was married. He was an awesome teacher, and my education would not have been nearly as good with any replacement. I’m glad the school district hired him.
hattio says:

August 8, 2012 at 4:21 pm

Rod,
Apparently nothing will get you to even re-consider your position (talk about epistemic closure), but I just thought I’d mention that I agree wholeheartedly with Lord Karth’s post. Not only hasn’t that ever happened before, most of the time his posts send my blood pressure up remarkably. Maybe, just maybe, you should re-consider this one.
Joe the Plutocrat says:

August 8, 2012 at 4:49 pm

Rod, would you allow Lolo Jones to take you child to a Chik-fil-A?
Gus says:

August 8, 2012 at 5:02 pm

“Preschool teachers, priests, and coaches just about exhaust the list.” So are priests and coaches immediately under suspicion? Oh, never mind.
Church Lady says:

August 8, 2012 at 5:27 pm

This sort of hysteria is a red herring. The incidence of child molestation at day cares is extremely, extremely small. It’s not where the threat lies. Most child molestation occurs in the home, by family members and trusted friends. But people don’t want to question the morals of their own family members and friends, so instead they focus their attention on “wierdos” and other strangers. As if that’s where the real problem is to be found.

Certainly its true that one does find child molesters in daycare situations. One where one does, one should of course act accordingly. But pretending that keeping one’s kids out of daycare, or out of daycares the employ men, is going to protect them, is not just delusional, but dangerously so. They are probably much safer in daycare than in one’s home or in the care of relatives. Home is where most molestations occur, by people we think are trustworthy but are not. The people we think are untrustworthy, usually are.

Molestations by strangers grab headlines, the way kidnap murders of children by strangers do. It plays not only on our worst fears, but our need to project those fears on strangers, rather than on those around us. The truth is, however, that the most common molestation dangers are in the home, not at daycare or soccer practice. It’s always been that way. We just don’t like to think about it.
Kirt Higdon says:

August 8, 2012 at 5:41 pm

Any adult male who wants to have any interaction with children not his own should be aware that he is painting a big target on himself and that any accusation of misconduct against him will ruin his life whether or not he is convicted of any crime. Child protection workshops given by the Catholic Church instruct those who receive an accusation of abuse from a child against another adult must believe it and tell the child they believe it. Most men are aware of this situation and are avoiding any involvement with teaching, nurturing or mentoring minors. Thus the few who remain will indeed include a higher than normal percentage of abusers and confirm the pedophile stereotype. This results in a complete takeover of child-rearing by the feminist harpies and that is the object of the exercise. As for a man’s own children, best to at least keep them at arm’s length in public. You never know if some busybody will call some police or CPS hotline upon witnessing an “inappropriate” hug or kiss.
Rod Dreher says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:01 pm

I don’t know why some of you believe that I object to men being coaches, Scout leaders, or even elementary school teachers (one of my favorite elementary school teachers was a man). I’m talking about men — esp unmarried men — being preschool teachers. I find it strange. I don’t think there should be a law against it. But I find it strange, and wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving my children in the care of someone who chose that for a vocation.
James Reffell says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:16 pm

This preschool thing is baffling. If elementary school is totally fine, but preschool is not, is there a magic line at 5? Or is it at 4? Adult men teaching 1st grade is OK, but teaching the same passel of kids 1 or 2 years earlier is weird and suspect? Is a preschool that’s housed with the elementary school OK? I truly don’t get it.

(My kids have been lucky enough to have male teachers in preschool and elementary school, which I consider a blessing. I wish there were more.)
Ben says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:20 pm

Some data: about 16,000 men are preschool / kindergarten teachers in the US, according to http://www.menteach.org/node/34. That’s a pretty large number to be writing off based on one news story and not knowing any of them.
Church Lady says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:21 pm

“But I find it strange, and wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving my children in the care of someone who chose that for a vocation.”

I’m sure all male childcare workers would be very pleased if you didn’t send your children to their daycares. That kind of suspicious parent is exactly what no one wants around. They probably would think you strange and morally deficient as well, which is more than enough reason to keep such parents away.

Just don’t imagine that’s actually going to protect your children from molestation. The real dangers of child abuse come from within the circle of your own family and friends. But if it makes you feel better, fine. It makes daycare workers feel better not to have parents like that around also. Win-win.
jaybird says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:22 pm

Siarlys: Jaybird has his nose so deep in his own navel that he could hardly be taken seriously.

LOL. Says possibly the most-in-love-with-his(her? No idea)-own-voice person to post here, and that’s saying a lot. Give us another wall-o-words, Demosthenes. :eyeroll:
W.E.B. Dupree says:

August 8, 2012 at 6:35 pm

@ Peter, the movie you mentioned is “Indictment”, about the infamous McMartin pre-school case in Manhattan Beach, CA.

When I was in law school, the real prosecutor (played by Mercedes Ruehl in the movie) came to one of my classes to discuss the whole saga. She remains utterly convinced that the charges were true, and told us some peculiar stories that weren’t in the movie, but nonetheless, the authorities so botched the investigation that I don’t think you can fairly judge the truth of the claims. The way the Manhattan Beach police handled it is now considered a model of what not to do, apparently.
VikingLS says:

August 8, 2012 at 7:21 pm

“Any adult male who wants to have any interaction with children not his own should be aware that he is painting a big target on himself and that any accusation of misconduct against him will ruin his life whether or not he is convicted of any crime.”

And Rod Dreher to his eternal judgement is helping to perpetuate this state of affairs.
VikingLS says:

August 8, 2012 at 7:27 pm

Sorry but I have to continue, Rod you just accused any man who wants to work in pre-K childcare of being a child molester and when you got called on it, you think you’re the victim? Seriously? Man you need to talk to your priest ASAP! What an ego!
David J. White says:

August 8, 2012 at 7:42 pm

When I was in library school, one of the things we talked about in reviewing the history of librarianship was how the library profession came to be dominated by women in the late 19th century, largely because women were willing to work for less. There was also a time, generations ago, when most secretaries were men. It is no accident that what we have come to regard as traditionally “female” professions — teacher, nurse, secretary, librarian, etc. — have been among the lowest-paid professions over the course of the past century. Sure it has been due in large part to sexism, and to women not having many other options. But among the professions, those that remain mainly female still seem to be among the lowest paid, and least respected. Perhaps one way to ensure that teachers are better paid and better respected is to encourage more men to go into the profession.
David J. White says:

August 8, 2012 at 7:46 pm

PS — It occurs to me, apropos of other recent threads, that if you say you don’t trust a man to teach your small children, a large percentage of the population nods sagely and says that that is understandable. But say that you don’t want a homosexual teaching your children …
Public_Defender says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:01 pm

Erin,

The Catholic Church has forfeited the right to brag about how it protects children from sex abuse for at least several decades. When an organization has done so much to hurt so many children while protecting molestors and (even today) those who assisted the molesters (e.g. Cardinal Law), that organization needs to show humility for a very, very long time.

If you want to avoid people either cringing or laughing at your point, you should make it without referencing the Catholic Church’s stance on protecting kids fom sexual abuse.
Maxine says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:27 pm

In March of 2004, an intruder carrying two meat cleavers entered the Red Caboose Day Care Center in Madison. He attacked a teacher. Police arrived in time to shoot him dead as he advanced on the director of the center, meat cleaver raised to kill her, saying “She’ll be dead and I’ll be dead” (he intended to commit “suicide by cop,” and succeeded.)

From the UW Badger Herald:

“The 55-year-old worker who was wounded by Velasquez has been identified as Gary Dosemagen. To protect the children inside the daycare, Dosemagen received multiple wounds to the head, shoulder and arm by being attacked with the meat cleaver, according to the statement from the police department.”

Later that year, the director and Mr. Dosemagen received the Medal of Valor from the Madison Police Department, along with the three officers who responded to the incident. They were the first civilians to be awarded this honor by the department.

This middle-aged male day care worker got between the children he was responsible for and a homicidal, meat-cleaver-wielding intruder. Rod, you posted something recently about how men want to be protectors. But all you can think of when you see a male day care worker is “pedophile.”
Rod Dreher says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:29 pm

VikingLS: Sorry but I have to continue, Rod you just accused any man who wants to work in pre-K childcare of being a child molester and when you got called on it, you think you’re the victim? Seriously? Man you need to talk to your priest ASAP! What an ego!

You know, you really, really need to read what I wrote before jumping to conclusions. You are deranged if you say that I accused all male preschool workers of being child molesters. Can’t you read? I said I find it a strange vocation for men, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my children in the care of a male preschool teacher. I am making a statement about my own views, not about objective reality. And where did I say I was a victim?

I deleted your other post. You are behaving like a troll, which is uncharacteristic of you. Settle down.
ms says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:37 pm

I went to a head start preschool where there were a couple of male teachers. They were so wonderful learning and affection, for many of us who had no Daddy at home. I never heard about any abuse allegations of them. I wish it were possible (for all the reasons working against it, from it not being a respected male profession, to the pedophile concerns) for more men to fill roles in early childhood settings.
Rod Dreher says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:44 pm

Maxine: But all you can think of when you see a male day care worker is “pedophile.”

Again, people, read what I wrote, not what you think I wrote.
Charles Cosimano says:

August 8, 2012 at 8:58 pm

In defense of Erin (ok, it’s turning in a very weird day for me) the Catholic Church, at least in the US, does not seem to be having many recent incidents of child abuse (certainly no more than any other given body) and what cases there are are decades old. So it probably has got a handle on the problem. If her point is that it learned its lesson and acted to correct it, then that point is well taken, irrespective of the institutional behavior it shows with regard to the older events and the behavior of the Catholic Church in other countries. Those are different issues entirely.
Roger II says:

August 8, 2012 at 9:31 pm

Rod, if you aren’t concerned that middle-aged male preschool teachers might be pedophiles or inclined toward child abuse, what exactly about them makes you uncomfortable? I’m asking because I would really like to better understand your views.
Dave Dutcher says:

August 8, 2012 at 9:46 pm

The thing is, Rod is also right. It’s true men are more likely to abuse, and you can’t ask parents to play the percentages with their kids. The cost of abuse is forever, and it’s not something you want to gamble with.

it just kind of sucks the cost of this is pretty much men not being able to care for young kids that aren’t related to them. It’s not just preschool-all the safeguards for any interaction makes men who care for young kids rare. It kind of adds to the barrenness of single male life at times.
Rod Dreher says:

August 8, 2012 at 9:57 pm

Rod, if you aren’t concerned that middle-aged male preschool teachers might be pedophiles or inclined toward child abuse, what exactly about them makes you uncomfortable?

I am concerned that a man, especially a middle-aged unmarried man, who works as a preschool teacher might be inclined toward child abuse. That is not the same thing as saying that all male preschool teachers are pedophiles. I know lots of men who love children, but I don’t know many men who have the patience and inclination to spend their careers caring for and nurturing little children not their own all day, every day. It takes an unusual man to go into that kind of work. It feels emotionally foreign to me. Quite foreign. I would rather take the risk of unfairly judging the 45 year old male preschool teacher.

For the record, I am far more concerned about child sexual molestation than I ever was before the scandal. I probably make unfair judgments of others all the time with regard to babysitting my kids. I wouldn’t hire most teenage boys to babysit, not because I think all teenage boys are potential molesters, but having been a teenage boy once, it seems strange to me that a teenage boy would seek out that kind of work. Call me paranoid if you want to; doesn’t bother me.
Tyro says:

August 8, 2012 at 10:22 pm

Rod, I really do understand your concern– a concern which applies to coaches and priests, as well. But you know those people you have a bit of a chuckle or a concerned talk with over “what kind of strange man/weirdo do you have to be to want to teach pre-school?” ? What do you think they say about you when your back is turned? Not that they think you’re a pedophile, but people who say stuff like that about men who are pre-school and grammar school teachers are part of a culture that is all about bullying people into conforming to a set of norms and mocking them if they don’t.
Edward Hamilton says:

August 8, 2012 at 10:27 pm

The first memory I have, or at least can clearly date, is from my first day at preschool; we dipped candles, and were allowed to take them home. Our teacher owned his own little hobby farm, and over the course of the semester we took multiple trips out to the farm to see animals and crafts. Today I still have a desire to have my own hobby farm, and if I ever do, I suppose it will trace back, at least in part, to preschool with Mr Steve. He was a fine teacher, and I think he was doubly valuable to broken families (like that of my close friends back then) with no father figure.

I have no idea how statistically valid Rod’s concerns are, so I won’t venture to offer an opinion on how wise or foolish they are. I think it’s useful to me to have access to quantitative data before debating the merit of broader generalizations.

I do know that I’m happy I had the teacher I did, and I think it would have been unfortunate if I had missed out on that experience.

I also think that it’s a little inconsistent that Rod seems more bothered by the idea of male preschool teachers generally than by the idea of male homosexual couples adopting children. I would think the levels of concern are pretty similar in both cases. Perhaps both low – but also both not quite nonexistent, and certainly both motivated more by “gut feeling” than by research.
John E_o says:

August 8, 2012 at 10:46 pm

…but having been a teenage boy once, it seems strange to me that a teenage boy would seek out that kind of work.

It seems strange to you than a teenage boy would not want to make ten bucks an hour for watching TV and someone else’s place?

I thought it was great when I was doing that back in the early 80′s.
Erin Manning says:

August 8, 2012 at 10:50 pm

Charles, I’m speechless. Thanks!
John E_o says:

August 8, 2012 at 10:52 pm

…but having been a teenage boy once, it seems strange to me that a teenage boy would seek out that kind of work.

It seems strange to you than a teenage boy would want to make ten bucks an hour for watching TV and someone else’s place?

I thought it was great when I was doing that back in the early 80′s.
Another Matt says:

August 8, 2012 at 11:07 pm

One summer I was offered a job at a preschool through a female friend who was working there and who could vouch for me. After a lot of searching I came to the conclusion that as much as I love interacting with children, people might see me as a weirdo, so I eventually declined. I think now that this was the wrong decision, but I still understand my thinking back then.
Patricia says:

August 8, 2012 at 11:56 pm

Rod, with all due respect, I like your work but you are way to emotionally involved in this issue to be able to write about it effectively. There is a legal presumption that a defendant — who hasn’t been convicted of a crime — is entitled to bail unless he is a flight risk or a danger to the community (which, in this context, means things like intimidating witnesses). The teacher has either been fired or resigned from the school, which severely restricts his potential to offend. And the article doesn’t report that the judge made a decision on bail, only that he questioned the Government’s interpretation of the journal.
Siarlys Jenkins says:

August 8, 2012 at 11:57 pm

What I think this all boils down to is that Rod Dreher, personally, finds a middle aged man in preschool work strange. It amounts to nothing more than a feeling in Rod Dreher’s personal emotional make-up.

Unfortunately for him, and all of us, when a journalist of his caliber puts an expression of that emotion into an article, it comes across like advocacy of a societal standard.

Based on his own clarification, it is nothing of the sort, and needs neither applause nor refutation.
Patricia says:

August 9, 2012 at 12:07 am

It seems the huge did grant bail but imposed conditions including home confinement, no Internet use, and no contact with children. Http://www.9news.com/news/article/281997/339/Judge-orders-pretrial-release-for-preschool-teacher. This sounds reasonable to me, considering the man hasn’t been convicted of a crime.
Patricia says:

August 9, 2012 at 12:09 am

“Judge, ” not “huge.” I hate auto-correct.
Rod Dreher says:

August 9, 2012 at 12:18 am

From the story: Instead, Judge Hegarty suggested, it might simply be a child care worker’s log of day-to-day activities chronicled in order to provide a defense against allegations of inappropriate conduct.

OK, so let’s say police arrested a man and charged him with planning to assassinate the King. They found in his computer 4,000 images — cartoons, collages, Photoshopped photographs, etc. — depicting the King murdered in various gruesome ways. And they also find a private journal of the alleged assassin, in which he details his daily travels to where the King is making public appearances.

What if the judge said, “That man could have been making a detailed record of his interactions with the King, such as they were, to provide a defense against allegations of plotting to assassinate the King”?

What would you say to that?
Peter H says:

August 9, 2012 at 12:19 am

…but having been a teenage boy once, it seems strange to me that a teenage boy would seek out that kind of work.

I didn’t so much seek this kind of work as a teen, but I fell into it. Helping out with Sunday School and the church nursery, it became clear that I was good with young children. A handful of church families started using me as a babysitter. It was not a bad way to make some spending money.

I was miserable as a middle school teacher. It may have been the school, and the particulars of the job, but I hit my stride when I dropped a few grades and started teaching 4th grade. In my current job, there are times when I am in a room full of three and four year olds.

It doesn’t seem “emotionally foreign” to me that a man might actually choose to work with young children — to see this as a vocation, a place where he can do good work.
Patricia says:

August 9, 2012 at 12:49 am

You are right — the journal looks incriminating. But you are overlooking or misunderstanding the procedural context, which was a bail hearing. The decision on bail has nothing to do with whether the defendant will eventually be convicted. The magistrate judge who ruled on the bail application will have no role in the trial — federal criminal cases are tried by Article III judges (appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate).

That said, I don’t really buy your analogy to a man accused of assassinating the king. This was a preschool teacher who had a huge child pornography collection (and, like you, I’m appalled by that). Yet he has not been charged with, or even accused of, molesting the children in his care (apart from a possible incident in 2001, which the school didn’t fire him for). It is not inconceivable that a person in his situation might want to document how he was able to wall off his sexual interest in children from his professional life. A journal of the king’s movements, on the other hand, does not seem plausible. (And, ultimately, yes, it was likely he was grooming some of the children. But that isn’t the issue in a bail hearing.)
Rosebud1 says:

August 9, 2012 at 1:36 am

I think David J. White has a point when he touches on the economic angle. That is what draws suspicion for me. I have been a Preschool teacher, and an elementary school teacher. In status and pay, these positions are drastically different. I made a decent wage as an early elementary school (Kindergarten) teacher in a public school. As a Preschool teacher I made just over minimum wage with no benefits. Preschool teachers, just like daycare workers, have a huge turnover rate because the pay is so grim.

I know that in this economy folks are certainly doing jobs where they are poorly paid. But usually women are more willing to accept the lowest wages. So I ask myself, what is a middle aged man doing working in this extremely low status, extremely low pay position that is so dominated by females? It just doesn’t jibe with me for some reason.

Also, the point about toileting is a valid one as well. In my mind, male elementary school teachers are much less peculiar.
Andrea says:

August 9, 2012 at 1:52 am

About 15 years ago I did a story on a guy who ran a private daycare business he called (A Daddy’s Daycare). He was married with two young children and had gone into business because he was very good with kids and it gave him an opportunity to be with his own children. He had converted his basement into an indoor playground so the kids could work on their large motor skill development and had other equipment like a fine Head Start or preschool. He’d taken classes and networked with other daycare providers. Very big on discipline and results oriented activities, which I thought was a more masculine approach. He’d let the kids roughhouse a little more and if they started crying he’d pat them on the back and then persuade them to go and play some more. People were fighting to get their preschoolers into that guy’s daycare, especially the single mothers with little boys. No problems that I ever heard of there. Some guys are just good with kids.
Dave Dutcher says:

August 9, 2012 at 2:43 am

I know that in this economy folks are certainly doing jobs where they are poorly paid. But usually women are more willing to accept the lowest wages. So I ask myself, what is a middle aged man doing working in this extremely low status, extremely low pay position that is so dominated by females? It just doesn’t jibe with me for some reason.

Many men do this. It’s because of no education. Retail is exactly the same, low status, low pay, dominated by women. When you have no secondary degree, and you aren’t suited for or can’t find factory work, you do work women do. There’s often nothing else out there.
L617 says:

August 9, 2012 at 6:13 am

I am certainly more liberal than Rod, but I am somewhat in line his question as to why a grown man would be working so closely with little kids. Pedophiles (who are mostly male) try to put themselves in places of greatest opportunity (coaches, teachers, priests, scout leaders, etc.). While I can’t say that everyone who fits this guy’s demographic profile is a danger, I would hear a warning bell ringing in my brain if I brought my kid to this school.

That said, does anyone here doubt that if this guy was looking at images of underage boys the tone of this entire thread would be different? It would have been used by Rod (and echoed by Erin Manning) as further evidence of the evil nature of gays and why we need to stop them from marrying.

[Note from Rod: You're wrong; you're projecting. The case against gay marriage has nothing to do with pedophilia. -- RD.]
Public_Defender says:

August 9, 2012 at 6:40 am

Mr. Dreher,

It sounds like the guy in your hypo is guilty and therefore deserves to be convicted at trial. But before that, the only question is what is necessary to 1) protect the public; and 2) ensure the defendant’s appearance at trial. How would the real guy in the article be a danger to kids while on house arrest with an ankle bracelet (which he would likely have to pay for)?

Also, remember that the judge didn’t read the article and think about the case. The judge was learning about the case piece-by-piece from the lawyers in the courtroom. When you read the judges questions, you are reading the judge’s initial and necessirly uninformed thoughts.

As you think through an issue, do you often ask questions or make assumptions that later seem absurd based on more facts and more thoughts? You have the luxury of pondering a question silently. The judge must think aloud based in incomplete facts. She also has to apply a standard that has little to do with the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Give her a break.
Public_Defender says:

August 9, 2012 at 7:04 am

It’s unlikely that the judge had the chance to read the journal before the hearing. The judge counts on the lawyers to excerpt the relevant parts. It’s also the judge’s job to consider alternative explanations for what he hears. And he does the prosectuors a favor when he tells them that he sees a defense-favorable interpretation. That gives the prosecutors the opportunity to debunk that interpretation.

I frequently hear judges ask questions that would be bizarre if they had read the entire record before the hearing. That doesn’t mean the judges did a bad job preparing. The judges count on the prosecutor and me to point them to the relevant facts.

I expect judges to ask uninformed questions and to express partially thought-through ideas, especially at bail hearings. That’s the way uninformed judges become informed judges.
Franklin Evans says:

August 9, 2012 at 10:45 am

Personal and anecdotal: Two daughters and a son, and after they were weaned I was the one to change their diapers (and all that entailed) if I was home, which was as often as my 9-to-5 permitted. My wife needed the break. She hardly had to ask once. I did have to ask to bathe them. Bathing can be fun (and a bonding experience) if you ignore the one or two changes of clothing that result.

Those who believe that prurient interest in the genitalia of young children is something that rationally belongs in a discussion of society-at-large are, from my point of view, either socially inept or promoting a lie for some agenda. There are some smart and rational people on this thread. Do any of you have a middle ground I should look at?
Beyng says:

August 9, 2012 at 11:07 am

Great gods, people! Those of you who are parents of young children, answer me this:

If you live in a town, like most towns, with multiple daycare options, all other things being equal, would you be more inclined to leave your child(ren) with a middle-aged woman or an unmarried, middle-aged man?

Be honest. Would you really be 100% comfortable choosing the single man?