https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CDJ59CC
Better late than never, right? After focusing on HR 515 for so long, on to business.
Since 2008, Once Fallen has hosted the annual Shiitake Awards, a parody "award show" that spotlights the craziest sex offender-related stories of the year. While the awards is intended to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it highlights the worst and most serious laws, politicians, and stories of individuals using and abusing registered citizens and the struggles they face, from registration to fearmongering to failed vigilante actions. Every year, dozens of stories are collected from across the globe and added to the Shiitake-Worthy blog, and with help of a "selection committee," the finalists for the Shiitake Awards are decided. But it is up to YOU, the voter, to decide who among the three finalists should "win" one of the seven categories.
This year, the Shiitake Awards is adding a new category -- "Keystone Cop" of the year.
Read carefully, be offended, laugh at the stupidity, and most importantly, make your selection. Help me decide who to send a Shiitake Award letter this year.
Blogger-Templates
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2015 SHIITAKE AWARDS REVIEW
Below are the finalists for each category:
1. Which of the following new laws deserves the Dumbest Law of 2015 award?
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Ohio HB-353: This bill would require registrants to give personal information on ALL adults living in the household of the registrant, presumably to warn them they are living with a registrant. Because nothing could possibly go wrong with giving the personal info of private citizens to government agents, right?
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Oklahoma SB-578: Would turn over control of Oklahoma’s segregationist sex offender “nursing homes” to the state Dept. of Corrections. Because we all know how well "separate but equal" works.
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Virginia HB-1366: Requires a registrant seeking the right to step foot on any school to attend any of his or her own child’s functions to petition the Commonwealth Attorney & the school administrator for that right by way of a public hearing, and the petitioner has to have the notice published in a newspaper; any member of the public can come in and testify. Because, what parent doesn't want to embarrass their kids by letting putting all this in the newspaper, right?
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2. Which quote do you feel deserves the award for "Dumbest Quote of 2015"?
MI State Senator Rick Jones: In reintroducing a bill that will limit the living and working rights of registered citizens, Jones said the following --“A federal judge recently ruled that parts of Michigan’s sex offender registration law were too vague. As a result, sex offenders of all kinds can once again hang around our schoolyards. Whether the convicted sex offender is a flasher or a pedophile, they have no business hanging out at the local school playground and leering at children. It is important to clarify the law so that we are protecting our children and still meeting the federal guidelines.”
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NH State Rep Dick Marston: Derailed a bill that would provide a relief from harsh registry fees for indigent registrant, claiming it would be unfair to taxpayers -- “There is a provision in the law that would currently allow the fee to be waived if the offender was unable to afford it. The (House Criminal Justice) committee determined that repealing the fee would have resulted in virtually eliminating the registry, which would be a disservice to the citizens of NH.”
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Utah Republican Senator Paul Ray: If you are accused of a Sex Trafficking offense, he wants to kill you -- “I got so fed up with what I've seen. It's time to take the ultimate jump and say if you traffic a kid for sex, we're going to kill you…I'm going turn the tables on them, and say 'prove to me why you can execute for treason and I can't execute for a crime that in my world is ten times worse than treason.'”
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3. Which private citizen/ wannabe vigilante deserves the coveted "Everyday Zeroes" Award for 2015?
Alexander Horowitz: Administrator from The Doe Fund, a nonprofit organization which independently owns and operates the Peter Jay Sharp Center for Opportunity, which helps the disadvantaged get back on their feet, threatened to shut down his entire program rather than accept level 2 & 3 registrants into his program. “These people need help, we’re not debating that,” says Horwitz of the sex offenders. “But they’re not going to get it in our facility.”
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Doug Ennen of Hemet CA: Displayed two bright green posters in a Hemet neighborhood in an effort to warn neighbors of a man who is registered as a sex offender on the Megan’s Law database. Doug made the posters, one of which says “Child Molester Danger,” and taped them to his two cars. He then parked one of those vehicles in front of a registered sex offender’s home.
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Russell Speigle of Cottage Grove, WI: Tried to burn down the house of a registrant, ended up catching himself on fire instead. Flame on!
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4. Which of these crazy 2015 sex offender-related stories deserves the unique award of 'Holy Shiitakes"?
Dream Foundation revokes dream trip for Vet who is also Registered Citizen: A dream trip to the Grand Canyon has been revoked for a local terminally ill veteran after the dream-granting organization discovered that he was a convicted sex offender. *** , 62, of Dayton, received a free vacation from the Dream Foundation, a national wish-granting organization for adults with life-threatening illnesses. *** and his brother, ***, have terminal cancer. Their three siblings were to accompany them on the trip.
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U-Mass Professor Mia Bloom compares "Sexual Predators" to members of ISIS: Mia Bloom of the University of Massachusetts says groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda go after young women in the West by using other young women as online recruiters. The tactics they use are similar to that of an online sexual predator: establishing a rapport and building trust. "It's another woman. She's cool. She's just a few years older. And so this is how they will initially approach," Bloom says. It's an attempt to dupe unsuspecting young women in places like the United Kingdom, France and United States into joining. But it begs another question: Are the young women who end up being recruited victims or terrorist masterminds?
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Couple steals Xmas toys right under the noses of the Mass. SO Registry Board: According to police, a couple walked into the Sex Offender Registry Board and stole $1,000 worth of toys…a man and a woman walked into the officer on Congress Street, claiming to be there to pick up toys. They were not asked for their ID’s or asked to sign in. They were buzzed in and shown where all of the toys were. The two then gathered up the would-be gifts collected from a toy drive, and walked out the front door. What a bunch of idiots!
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5. Which of our wonder media personalities deserves the 2015 'Worst News Mutt" Award?
Peter Schorsch, FloridaPolitics.com: Aside from spending his days kissing up to Lauren Book, wrote an article bashing the Anti-Registry Movement’s Rally in Tally event this past April. “Critics of Lauren Book, you have the right to remain silent.”
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John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, KFI Radio (CA): Radio shock jocks who trolled California RSOL head Janice Bellucci on the air. Now, during the interview, John Kobylt mentions that not only should "regular people" chase Registered Citizens out of their communities and annoy and threaten them until they leave, apparently John claims he has actually engaged in this behavior.
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Elaine Ambrose, HuffPost: Writes a bad piece called, “Monsters Are Real: Protect Your Grandkids From Sex Offenders” and calls her detractors “assholes” and claims her sources are valid after failing to present the sources. “His conviction has robbed our neighborhood of complacency and turned us into vigilantes. The carefree sounds of laughter from my childhood summers are silenced by a heavy click from the turning of the lock.”
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6. Which of our elected officials is most deserving of the 2015 "Dumbest/ Worst Politico" Award?
US Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ): International Megan’s Law is back again, this time under the guise of stopping sex trafficking. Smith has pimped this bill since 2008 and finally passed it on 2/1/16
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Dennis "The Menace" Wiley, judge in Berrien Co., MI: This is the judge that sentenced 19 year old Zach Anderson to 25 years for having sex with a teen he met online who lied about her age.
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FloriDUH state senator Dorothy Hukill: Plans on introducing a bill to prevent registered citizens from possessing drones out of her perverted thoughts about SOs using them to spy on kids
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Which of the boys in blue most deserves the 2015 "Keystone Cop of the Year"?
Scott Parker of the U.S. Marshals Services, E Dist of NC: “We want sex offenders to know we are working 24/7 to make sure they are held accountable. In addition, we want to be the voice for the victims,” said Scott Parker, during one of the USMC's many harassing "compliance checks."
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Nassau Co. FL Sheriff Bill Leeper: Much like Sheriff Gorden from last year's awards show, this Sheriff posted big red signs at the houses of a dozen registrants just in time for Halloween. Monkey see, monkey do?
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Graham Co. NC Sheriff Danny Milsaps: This Sheriff sent out notices to all registered citizens in his county that if they want to attend a church service in his county, they must do so at the county jail. Will Communion wine be served?
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Finally, which state deserves the worst state of the year?
Florida
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Florida
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Florida
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(Look, we know everyone votes Florida every year. They have a dynasty. But, in the interest of fairness, I have added a write-in candidate this year. If you can think of a state worse than the land of 'Duh, let me know).
