Strollerderby : times online

UPDATE - Josef Fritzl Sentenced To Life In Psychiatric Institution

Brett Singer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:35:00 GMT

UPDATE: Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life in a psychiatric institution. While onthe surface this seems like justice has been served, The Scotsman says that the ruling means he could be free in 15 years if a doctor says he's been cured of whatever they decide is wrong with him. Basically, Fritzl is eligible for parole in 15 years. It's not a big chance, but it could happen. Which would be bad. The Scotsman's Stephen McGinty does say that, "It is likely...that [Fritzl] will die in prison," since he is 73 years old.

Earlier posts follow.

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Josef Fritzl's daughter Elisabeth testified against him on Tuesday, according to CNN. Thankfully, it was by videotape. Elisabeth and the children she had as a result of her father's abuse are living in an undisclosed location with new identities.

How do you go on after something like that? I'm amazed and oddly impressed that Elisabeth has the strength to go on living, much less testify against her father. Of course, I imagine she would like nothing more than to see him go to prison for the rest of his life.

The case has become a major media event in Austria, with crowds gathering in and out of the courtroom. Press has been barred from certain parts of the trial, including Elisabeth's testimony.

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CNN is reporting that Josef Fritzl will plead guilty to rape and incest on Monday. He will not plead guilty to charges of "murder, enslavement and assault." Fritzl's lawyer says that his client "expects to spend the rest of his life in prison." Um, yeah, that sounds right. That said, the charges he's pleading guilty to carry relatively short prison terms -- five to fifteen years for rape, one year for incest. The biggest is the murder charge, which, as discussed below, some experts think will be tough to prove. I guess it's a good thing that Fritzl will definitely be found guilty of something, although if he goes to jail for only a couple of years, that would be tragic.

Original post follows.

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Josef Fritzl, the man who kept his daughter locked in the basement for more than 20 years and impregnated her multiple times, is finally going on trial.

Disturbingly, he may spend only 15 years in jail. Or less.

According to London's Times Online, the "Austrian incest monster" is about to stand trial for "murder, incest, unlawful imprisonment and enslavement." Fritzl thinks that he could receive less than 10 years in prison.

He may be right. Some lawyers feel that the murder charge, which is based on the fact that he allowed one of the children he had with his own daughter to die, won't stick. That leaves rape as the biggest charge, which under Austrian law carries a 15 year sentence. Parole, good behavior -- he could be out in five years.

I know that everyone is entitled to a defense, but the one that Fritzl and his lawyer are offering is almost as disturbing as what he did. Fritzl is "claiming that his daughter was having sex when she was barely out of her teens. She smoked. She took drugs. She drank. He wanted to save her." His lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, says of his client: "He is not a monster. He loved his daughter in his own way." The father also says that he took good care of his "captives", citing the fact that the bird he bought them lived as evidence of good air quality in their underground prison. (This is at least consistent with the insane statements he made last year.)

As a quick reminder, Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth in the basement, along with some of the children they had together. Three of them were allowed to live upstairs -- the "upstairs children". The cellar was equipped with soundproof walls. Elisabeth was forced to write a letter saying that she had run away and joined a cult. This was a well thought out crime. Fritzl says that he is "not normal," but that's as close as he's come to an apology.

Making matters worse, prosecutors may cut a deal that will allow Fritzl to choose the prison where he serves his short sentence. One that lets him sing in a choir and take cooking lessons. When he gets out, he wants to go back home and live with his wife.

According to the Times, many feel that this situation could have been avoided if social workers had done their jobs. That may be the case, but the idea that this monster could get off with a light jail sentence in a country club prison is horrible. Not as horrible as what he did. But it's pretty close.

Source: timesonline.co.uk

Image: BBC

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Taking Style Tips From Your Daughter

SunnyChanel — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:31:00 GMT

I don’t know about your kid, but mine has a penchant to dictate to me what I should be wearing at all times. And generally it’s something completely inappropriate, such as a party dress for a trip to the supermarket or heels and a tank top when it’s raining. In her eyes I “dress like a boy”. See, boys wear pants. Girls i.e. “princesses” wear skirts and dresses. Her fashion constraints are pretty damn concise and she tries to sell them to me with oodles of conviction. Apparently I am in good company. As reported in The Times Online piece "Should Mums Take Style Tips from Their Daughters?", Kate Winslet takes her eight-year-old daughter’s opinion of her clothing seriously. She recently stated that her “mum” wears too much black, a city dwelling sin that I am also guilty of.

The Times fashion editor, Lisa Armstrong, explored the daughter/mother clothing dilemma saying “When it comes to their mother's appearance, all daughters have views, ranging in ferocity from mildly scathing to fathomless reservoirs of scorn.” To avoid the scorn and the scathing, contributor Carol Midgley allowed her five-year-old daughter to dress her in, among other things, a salmon pink evening gown that made her looks like a “thick-waisted prawn”. Which just begs the conclusion that Armstrong came to that ,“I don't mean we should heed the stuff from five-year-olds about how they'd want us to dress like Barbie…” Yes, that is why I try never to let my own little fashionista near my closet.

If your daughter had her druthers, what would she dress you in?

Mine, a hot pink party dress with oodles of tulle (see her fantasy mommy dress above). Classy? Or maybe just Barbie.

50 Craziest Baby Names, and a Few More Thrown in For Good Measure

Alisyn — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:34:00 GMT

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the current trend of giving babies outrageous names totally awesome? I never get tired of the subject of baby names anyway, but with the floodgates opening on food names (Apple, Honey), made-up names (Jermagesty), technology-inspired names (Rocket, Audio, Pilot), and place names (London, Paris, Brooklyn) there are almost too many choose from. What is it about having a baby, the oldest tradition in the world, that makes people go nuts trying to find a way to set themselves apart from everyone else? I just love that we've gone from having about 100 acceptable boy names to choose from, to naming our young men Kal-El. It's nuts!

The British Times Online recently compiled their own "50 Craziest Baby Names" list, and while they left out a few notables (Zowie Bowie, Peaches Honeyblossom, Little Pixie and Denim come to mind), they hit the nail right on the head with others (Princess Tiaamii leaves me utterly speechless). With kids walking around with names like Poet and Ocean, though, it seems kind of silly to have kids named Willow and Liberty on the "Crazy" list. Those sound down right vanilla these days.

Times Online's List Of Ten Great Parenting Blogs

Patti — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

UK news outlet The Times Online's Alpha Mummy blog has posted their list of the ten great blogs that every working mum should read--good to know that the US doesn't have the market cornered on the assumption that to be a parent means to be a mother, and the qualifier "working" is somewhat puzzling, as their list is not at all specific to working parents.

The list features a few of the usual suspects: Dooce, Parent Hacks, Kiddley. Also included are a couple of blogs that aren't necessarily parenting blogs per se, but that a parent could definitely benefit from reading: Lifehacker and The Happiness Project. Alpha Mummy rounds out the list with fellow Times Online blogger India Knight's Isn't She Talking Yet, the Wall Street Journal's Juggle, and new-to-me reads MamaPop and Motherhood Uncensored (sometimes I don't know where I am when everyone else is blogging great stuff).

Oh, and the top of the list? Just a little site called Babble.

And now comes the best part of any top-something list: What's Wrong With It. Who's missing from Alpha Mummy's top ten? Is this list really what it claims to be, the top ten blogs for working parents (at least one of the blogs, MamaPop, is written by self-described stay at home parents)? Where all my daddybloggers at?