January 10

Events

• Current events

• 1998 - Pedophilia should be an accepted orientation? Wow! - In a letter to a Dutch newspaper, published on this date, The Rev. Leen van Drimmelen expressed his wish "that pedophilia becomes an issue that we can talk about in our society." He stated, "A person may no longer be discriminated against for sexual orientation. But that does not apply to people with a sexual orientation other than a heterosexual or homosexual one." According to Rev. van Drimmelen, "Pedophilia is still a taboo." The Reformed minister, who was a teacher at the Free University of Amsterdam, claimed that "it is inaccurate to call children in a pedophile relationship 'victims.'" He added, "One forgets that it has been shown that children in a pedophile relationship experience hardly any or no damage at all." Rev. van Drimmelen of Amsterdam, Holland was openly supported by several church leaders, including Rev. Richard Vissinga, moderator of the Synod of Holland's second largest Protestant denomination and Rev. J.E. Huttenga, of Zeist.

• 2000 - Fuck cloning! Anamatronics is where it's at! - Artem, a British special effects company, announced this day that it had succeeded in creating a lifelike anamatronic infant that had already been used in a TV commercial. The London Sunday Telegraph said that four puppeteers are required to operate the electronic child. It quoted John Spring of Artem as saying, "We ended up with a realistic baby that did exactly what it was told, never required changing and hasn't demanded repeat fees." Excited pedos wondered just how realistic this child was and just how far it would go in doing what it was told. If they can do infants, can an older child be that far behind?

• 2002 - Keep that pedo hysteria out of my court, please - A man identified as "DGO" had several convictions for fondling boys and for breaching his probation, which prohibits him from having unsupervised contact with children under 16. In June 2000 on a Toronto street, two boys aged 9 and 11 initiated a conversation with DGO, who told them he liked to put penises in his mouth. A victim of fetal alcohol syndrome and of sexual abuse, DGO had struggled his whole life with delusions and schizophrenia. Citing deterrence and the need to protect the public, the Crown argued for two years' jail followed by three years' probation. Justice David Fairgrieve considered the two months DGO had spent in jail before trial, and sentenced him to 30 days' community service. "[He] is no more to blame for his pedophilia than he is for his schizophrenia or his limited intellect. He obviously did not choose his sexual orientation [emphasis added]. While the term 'pedophile' can naturally produce reactions that border on the hysterical," concluded the judge, "a court must be more reasonable." The Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed this judgment on this date rejecting the Crown's appeal for jail time. The judges open-minded words were upheld.

• 2002 - Too bad the name PBS is taken - MTV and Showtime networks confirmed a report on this date that they were developing a cable channel aimed at the gay audience. New York Times said that the channel will receive revenue from two sources -- subscriptions and advertising. Requiring a subscription in order to see the channel was designed, in part, to head off any public outcry over easy access to gay programs by children and people who might be offended. "No one who doesn't want this will ever see this channel," MTV exec Gene Falk told the New York Times. of course, all the kids who would want to see the programs were not given a voice in this. MTV's research chief, told the newspaper that she expects the channel to make a "groundbreaking impact" and that it will represent "the next step in what a television network is supposed to be." Now if only they would develop a pedo channel. That would be groundbreaking.

• 2002 - Newspapers publish the darndest hate speech - On this date an article entitled "Zero Tolerance" written by Melissa Merrill was published by the Sacramento News and Review. In that article Merrill wrote, "The people who commit these kinds of sex crimes should not be walking around free. I strongly believe we should execute child molesters and rapists. Not only do they have no place in our neighborhoods, they have no place in our society as a whole. Maybe if they were routinely executed the people that perpetrate these crimes would think twice. Need I mention how widespread and capitalized upon child pornography is in this country? It is absolutely sickening." One might reply that narrow-minded intolerance and the desire to commit such acts of violence as indiscriminate executions is more sickening than most crimes that get labeled as pedo offences, but what would be the point? The lunatic fringe has no ears.

Births

January 10, 1905 - Hajo Ortil was a German teacher, photographer and boylover.