11 year old blamed for her own gang rape.

An 11 year old was raped by OVER EIGHTEEN men and boys in an abandoned trailer in Cleaveland, Texas -- population 9,000. Lurid cell phone pictures were taken by several of the assailants and passed around, which is how a classmate of the girl's saw what happened and reported it.
The NY Times says:
"Five suspects are students at Cleveland High School, including two members of the basketball team. Another is the 21-year-old son of a school board member. A few of the others have criminal records, from selling drugs to robbery and, in one case, manslaughter. The suspects range in age from middle schoolers to a 27-year-old."

One would imagine that a town would respond to such an event with outrage. Well, they have. They are outraged that the girl may have been dressed seductively. One said that she wore make-up. Another that she dressed old for her age. Another that she hung around with teen aged boys.

They are worried, according to the NYTimes because "It’s just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”

THE BOYS HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT???

She was 11. They knew her. They threatened to beat her if she did not comply. There were 18 of them gang raping her.

You bet they have to live with it. And I hope they have to live with it behind bars.

This is 2011, and we are blaming an 11 year old for her own gang rape. The town has also critisized the girl's mother. Although the girl was taken by car to two locations where she was raped repeatedly, one townsperson asks "Where was the mother?"

It doesn't matter if the girl dressed in a short skirt, or if the mother was inattentive or if the boys are in trouble now. None of that changes what it was -- rape. Penetration without consent under threat of violence. And, the boys were proud of what they had done. They showed pictures around.

What has happened to our world that we can not see an act of violent degradation for what it is? Or are female children just chattel to be used and discarded as some proof of manhood?

May God have pity on our souls.

a cuppa cuppa cuppa cuppa cup

I love coffee. I recall even singing along to my parents' dated 78rpm record of the Ink Spots singing about the joys of java. It was so much fun. As I grew older I started drinking this delightful beverage. Imagine my shock when traveling in the South and ordering a glass of "Iced Coffee". I was looked at as though I was an octopus at a show store. No one even thought to drink it down south back then. Anyway, as I was humming this tune this afternoon, it seemed right to me to share it with you in its original and later versions:




and then -- years later -- The Manhattan Transfer: