The DA has backed off of the initial severity of the charges for the two boys going to trial for slapping bottoms.

Prosecutor: Jail unlikely for teens in “spanking” case

Yamhill County prosecutors say jail or sex offender status is unlikely for two McMinnville middle-schoolers who spanked girls in the school hallway.

Psst:  Quick, act tough…

But District Attorney Brad Berry said his office considers the matter involving two 13-year-olds, Ryan Cornelison and Cory Mashburn, to be more than just horseplay.

Berry said his office has been swamped with calls and e-mails by people who say the initial ten counts of sex abuse and harassment was an overreaction.

Yea, duh!

The boys families said they were furious at what appeared to be backpedaling by Berry.

Tracie Mashburn asked why the family would be threatened with severe consequences if the state wasn’t going to follow though.

Ryan’s father, Joe Cornelison, said Berry is simply doing damage control.

Initially the boys had been charged with felony sex abuse and spent several days in detention. They also were temporarily suspended from school.

Family members said offers of help with legal expenses, which are causing strains on both families, are coming in from around the country and beyond. 

Common sense is slowly creeping into town.  Watch out.

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The idea here is that you do not buy any fruit that is imported because of the carbon footprint in transporting it.

No tangerines for you?

The politics of global warming got very concrete, and oddly difficult, In a meeting with local environmentalists in the coastal town of McClellanville today, where Elizabeth Edwards raised in passing the importance of relying on locally-grown fruit.

“We’ve been moving back to ‘buy local,’” Mrs. Edwards said, outlining a trade policy that “acknowledges the carbon footprint” of transporting fruit.

“I live in North Carolina. I’ll probably never eat a tangerine again,” she said, speaking of a time when the fruit is reaches the price that it “needs” to be.

Edwards had talked about “sacrifice,” at the meeting, but Elizabeth’s suggestion illustrated just how difficult it is to sell the specifics of sacrifice.

Asked about her comment immediately after the event, John Edwards avoided the question twice, then said he isn’t sure.

“Would I add to the price of food?” he asked. “I’d have to think about that.”

UPDATE: Just to be clear, he’s not talking about a food tax. The basic point is that any plan that imposes new costs on carbon emissions is going to make anything that’s transported long distances with fossil fuels cost more. It is, in a way, a moment of clarity in this debate.

I cannot for the life of me understand why people claim that the rich are out of touch.