# Unbelivable... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 29, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062 "2002-09-29T03:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/1 "2002-09-29T03:05:49Z")
[Mom arrested for watching TV as daughter kills son](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020928/ts_nm/crime_child_dc_1) I just can’t imagine how anyone can THAT oblivious… The mother HAD to have known! Bleagh, I’m sure a slew of you can come up with better expletives than I could. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bibliophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophile)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/2 "2002-09-29T03:21:18Z")
Of course she knew!!! Just when I reach the point where I’m sure I’ve heard about the worst acts of cruelty human beings can perform on one another, I am surprised yet again. People will never cease of amaze me. But my question is what happens to the daughter? If they’re not charging her, which I’m not entirely sure is wrong, does the kid stand a chance? If you kill your brother before you even hit puberty, are you doomed to a life of crime or guilt-ridden depression and a long life of emotional problems? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/3 "2002-09-29T03:26:44Z")
Good lord-can you imagine the mental mess that is that young girl now? ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/4 "2002-09-29T03:43:47Z")
Wait a minute, how do we know that the mother could even **hear** what was going on? Nothing in the news **brief** about that. I can’t consider it a news story, seeing as its less then 5 paragraphs long and hardly contains all of the pertinent info and facts. Hell, mom could have been watching TV down in the basement, while sis was going to town up on the snd floor. ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/5 "2002-09-29T04:07:50Z")
That was argued on another board, but I would think that unless the TV was blasting or everything was silent, she had to have heard the sounds of someone being beat up. ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/6 "2002-09-29T04:53:02Z")
I just love this fecking town. I can’t wait to get out. Here’s a more detailed story from the local newspaper. Basically, the stepfather ordered the girl to stand guard and hit him if he didn’t squat with his arms our correctly (his punishment for drinking out of the toilet). The girl told the stepfather that the boy’d been knocked out, to which the stepfather said “just leave him.” The sister tried to help him later. The boy was being punished for drinking out of the toilet because he was not allowed to have water after 4pm because he was wetting his bed. I don’t even have words. [Child Dies, Stepfather Charged](http://www.lcsun-news.com/Stories/0,1413,115%257E7442%257E881627,00.html?search=filter) [Mother Arrested in Abuse Death](http://www.lcsun-news.com/Stories/0,1413,115%257E7442%257E889389,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/7 "2002-09-29T06:14:01Z")
i continue to be amazed at what irresponsible people do to their children. ---
**Author:** ![45\_70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/5f9b8f/32.png) [@45\_70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/45_70)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/8 "2002-09-29T13:20:25Z")
There are three humans here who are consuming oxygen and producing pollutants who shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/9 "2002-09-29T13:59:36Z")
Sadly, I’m certain this sort of thing happens all the time, whether in trailer parks or $500,000 subdivisions. It only makes the news when there’s some “unpleasantness”. Maybe we need to re-open that debate on whether anyone has a “right” to procreate. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/10 "2002-09-29T15:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > There are three humans here who are consuming oxygen and producing pollutants who shouldn’t be. Why three? A ten-year-old girl can in no way be held responsible for this; it’s not her fault she’s got nightmarishly bad children. Good couples who want to adopt have to go through a frustrating process, but any asshole with a functional reproductive system gets to be a parent. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/11 "2002-09-29T16:40:23Z")
A while back, I made an offhand remark in high school and got in pretty big trouble. That remark was “Man, people should have to write a test before they’re allowed to have children.” That remark is not looking so bad now. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/12 "2002-09-29T18:10:43Z")
[Texas Man Charged for Using Stungun on Stepson](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=757&/) The story reads like an article from _The Onion._ You don’t whether to laugh of weep. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/13 "2002-09-29T18:12:04Z")
Umm, that’s “or” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/14 "2002-09-30T11:25:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mayberrydan \* > \*\*A while back, I made an offhand remark in high school and got in pretty big trouble. That remark was “Man, people should have to write a test before they’re allowed to have children.” > > That remark is not looking so bad now. \*\* I forwarded this argument once in GD, to see the response from the masses. [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109823&perpage=50&highlight=children%20licence&pagenumber=1) the thread if you fancy a little reading… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/15 "2002-09-30T15:37:44Z")
God DAMNIT!! Alright, I admit that you shouldn’t hound your children all the time, and it’s perfectly alright for a mother to be watching television while her kids play in their rooms, but the article says the child was “…beaten late on Sept. 21 and into the next morning.” What the fuck was she watching? A Goddamn “Gee, you’re a lousy parent” marathon? How can you ignore one child beating the other for what had to be SEVERAL HOURS!!! One smack and my mom was in the room from across town to bitch at my sister and I. Jesus Fucking Christ! When are they going to start issuing licenses. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/16 "2002-09-30T15:45:15Z")
And **I’m** considered unfit to have children. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/17 "2002-09-30T15:47:58Z")
Just for the record…My fairly stable and loving husband and I are STILL unable to get pregnant. Talk about shaking a gal’s faith. J ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/18 "2002-09-30T16:04:58Z")
This is what happens when you let just anyone reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/19 "2002-09-30T20:35:18Z")
Is it me, or does it seem like some people feel they have to raise the bar and create a higher standard for child abuse? I’d love to see these vermin made examples and have them punished on live television. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062/20 "2002-10-01T03:48:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Aro_ > > I forwarded this argument once in GD, to see the response from the masses. Here’s the thread if you fancy a little reading… Thank you, that was very interesting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbelivable/130062.md?page=2)