dballance
dballance's JournalWhy Adrian Peterson Should be Allowed to Play (work)
Sure, in some of my earlier posts I climbed on the band wagon of "Punish Peterson" and the general "burn the witch at the stake" kind of philosophy.
After a couple of glasses of Chardonnay and reading some of the very good posts in disagreement with my earlier position I have to say I have changed my mind. That's something we do here on DU all the time. We actually read arguments against our position and are willing to be moved by them.
I think the best thing for Peterson's children would be to allow him to work so he can continue to support them. Yes, we do need to call out the abuse he visited upon one of his kids and make it a topic for discussion and an example of how not to be a parent.
It will not help that particular kid and Peterson's other children if we put Peterson in a jail cell. What WILL help Peterson's kids is to allow Peterson to work and provide support for his children. What will help Peterson's kids is the justice system requiring Peterson have therapy and learning how to be a parent without using physical violence as discipline.
Thanks Pisces for making the good argument that helped me change my mind.
On Edit:
When I wrote my OP I didn't know that he was going to get paid over $10 million even if he doesn't play. I did the wrong thing and assumed that if he didn't start in a game he didn't get a paycheck. I was wrong.
At this point I'd have to say his children and their mothers need to do everything within their legal limits to secure some of his pay/pension to support the kids and their future.
So "what do I think about my OP?" I think I was wrong and I'm not embarrassed to say so.
Adrian Peterson and Parenting
Okay, I grew up in the South and one of the most horrible phrases we ever heard as a kid was "Go pick out your switch." It always followed us doing something we'd been clearly instructed not to do.
Yep, I got spanked with a switch and with a belt.
If I threw a tantrum and refused to obey my parents my dad would have probably taken his belt to my behind. His "whooping" of me and my siblings was more symbolic than physically punitive. Yep, we'd get a few licks across our behinds.
Never, NEVER anything that was even remotely severe enough to leave a mark. Much less leave wounds a doctor would see days later and feel compelled to report to Child Protective Services.
With respect to the Adrian Peterson stories I find this particular text from him to his baby-momma particularly disturbing.
"But I felt so bad, n I’m all tearing that butt up when needed! I start putting them in timeout. N save the whooping for needed memories!”
The thought "tearing that butt up when needed" really disturbs me. When, exactly, does a 4-year-old's butt need "tearing up?" For that matter, when does a child of any age need their butt torn up? And if you "felt so bad" then why didn't you stop?
Exactly what kind of "needed memories" is Peterson hoping to instill in his children? Fear that they will be physically abused? That seems so.
Sure, the child in question misbehaved. He apparently pushed another kid off a video game. Wow, not shocking that a 4-year-old would do such a thing. Yes, the child needed to be corrected about his bad behavior.
However, I think a simple swat on the behind and actually talking to the child and saying things like "No" and "No, don't do that" would have been more than sufficient.
"Whooping" a kid with a tree branch is completely over the line.
McDonnell's Room Mate Priest Plead Guilty to Sex Charges Involving Other Men.
If McDonnell was trying to go for looking pious by moving in with a priest he didn't pick a good one to shack up with.
From the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The Rev. Wayne L. Ball, a Norfolk priest who pleaded guilty late last year to a misdemeanor sex offense, has been reassigned to St. John’s Catholic Church in Highland Springs, according to The Catholic Virginian, a biweekly diocesan newspaper. The move is effective June 2.
Ball, 42, has served as pastor of Norfolk’s Holy Trinity Catholic Church since 2000. The current pastor at St. John’s, the Rev. David V. McGuire, will replace Ball at Holy Trinity.
In December, Ball pleaded guilty in Norfolk General District Court to the misdemeanor charge of frequenting a bawdy place. Norfolk police arrested Ball and a 41-year-old Richmond man on the night before Thanksgiving in a parked car in a Norfolk park. The judge continued Ball’s case until July 8 and will dismiss the charge if the priest has no further criminal problems and completes 80 hours of community service by June 3. The man in the car with Ball received a similar deal.
McDonnell would be the same person who said Gays make inferior parents. Apparently, they don't make inferior Priests in McDonnell's opinion supported by his action of moving in with him.
ON EDIT:
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2003_01_06/2003_05_11_RichmondTimes_PriestWho.htm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/24/1324211/-Meet-the-Gay-Priest-that-Homophobic-Hypocrite-Bob-McDonnell-is-Now-Living-With
http://www.poynter.org/archived/abuse-tracker/11111/priest-who-pleaded-guilty-to-misdemeanor-assigned-to-highland-springs/
McDonnell Could be facing what is, effectively, a Life Sentence.
What I've seen so far in reporting is that federal sentencing guidelines would put his minimum sentence at around 20 years. If the prosecutors convince the judge to pile more on to make an example of him it won't be good for McDonnell. He's 60. Even if he gets around 20 years that doesn't bode well for him leaving prison in something other than a pine box. If the judge piles on just 10 to the 20 that puts him at 90.
He really screwed the pooch on this one.
Profile Information
Name: DaveGender: Male
Hometown: Gallatin, TN
Home country: USA
Current location: Portland, OR
Member since: Mon Nov 6, 2006, 03:59 PM
Number of posts: 5,756
