I still think kiddie beauty pageants are sick, but John Mark Karr is sicker
But the Ramsey family is apparently off the hook:
A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her own parents.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.
The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24....
The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death. "It's been a very long 10 years, and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," Wood said.
Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.
Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr. But JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991.
A source close to the investigation said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. Also, a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Karr had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials....
Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges, authorities said. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
It's also interesting to note that the media is already following Official Media Standard Practice in referring to murder suspects. The suspect is not John Karr, but John Mark Karr. I guess "all killers have middle names" is embedded in the AP style guide.
And I still think that kiddie beauty pageants are sick. But if you want to dress your child up like a "little lady" (with makeup and all), go here or here or here.
Someone created a poll on this topic:
4 year old children are dressed up and displayed to look like an adult, with make-up and suggestive poses.
THIS QUESTION IS NOT ABOUT YOU. ITS ABOUT WHAT YOU FEEL IS TRUE WITH THE AVERAGE MALE.
The question: Do you believe that children dressed up and posing like this in these pageants gives the AVERAGE MALE 'impure' thoughts about these very young girls?
IMHO, I believe the answer is No.
[UPDATE HERE.]
Comments
And people wonder why we have such problems with eating disorders and low self-esteem in girls. YEESH.
Also - re:that poll question, I don't think that children should *EVER* cause adults (male or female) to have "impure thoughts," even if the children are buck naked in the most seductive pose possible.
I'm not a fan of lobotomies, but in the case of child molesters I am willing to make an exception.
I don't really have a problem with adult beauty pageants, other than the muscle pageants. Beauty and our reactions to it is an undeniable part of our human makeup, and in one sense is no different from Jeopardy or the Nobel Chemistry prize nomination. One could justifiably say, "What kind of stupid superficial society needs to parade around a bunch of chemists and pit them against one another so as to elevate one as 'most scientific'?"