Not buying it.

Profanity alert: Please note, if you are offended by profanity, please pass this entry by. Thanks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060801985.html

I don't get having sympathy for Roman Polanski. I just don't. People seem to have this feeling that bye-gones should be bye-gones. Let him come back to the US. He's a genius. Yada-yada. Not to put too fine a point on it, but . . . bullshit.

Polanski was convicted of "unlawful intercourse with a minor". Which makes it sound like maybe he seduced a 17-year old. Not quite. Let's keep in mind, what he was convicted of was a plea bargain. One that wouldn't have a shot in hell of being made today. The facts of the case are that he used champagne laced with Quaalude to drug a 13-year old girl who he had lured to the home of one of his friends, and who repeatedly said "no" to his advances, and had sex with her. Keeping in mind that a 13-year old shouldn't have to say "no". A thirteen-year old shouldn't be asked by a man in his forties in the first place. If this happened on one of the Christ Matthew's Internet traps they show on Dateline, we'd want to nail his ass to the wall for just having shown up at her house with booze and drugs. We'd all think he was a dirty little perv just for showing intent. Let alone actually having had sex with a child.

But somehow, he's suffered enough because he's been "exiled" for 30 years. Exiled. In France. Somehow 64 million French people don't seem to think of living in France as a punishment. He hasn't exactly been imprisoned in the Chateau d'If. He's got the run of the country. And the fact that he's never done anything like it again seems to be taken as a mitigating factor. Oh, really? Could the fact that the entire world is now watching him perhaps be the reason he hasn't raped another child? If most pedophiles were under that much scrutiny, they wouldn't offend again either.

The bottom line is - I don't feel sorry for sex offenders who have escaped justice. I've seen no evidence of penance. I've seen no signs of remorse. The arrogant little asshole actually seems to think he's the victim. So, unfortunately, even his own conscience won't be a sufficient prison. If all we can do is keep him from coming to the United States to accept awards, then we should do it. The sting to his wounded pride may be the only real punishment he ever suffers.