Girl Sold for Beer, Meat, AND Money
The headline reads: Girl sold for beer, meat. But let’s be fair to the guy: he also got $16,000:
A man in California has been arrested for arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter for 16,000 dollars, 100 crates of beer and several cases of meat, police said Tuesday.
Authorities in the rural farming community of Greenfield, 225 kilometres southeast of San Francisco, said the 36-year-old Hispanic man sold the child to an 18-year-old man who was to marry the girl.
You knew it happened in California, right. Where else?
Between this and the family naming their kid after Hitler, I’m starting to wonder whether every parent in this country has his child’s best interests at heart.
This should also be filed under “Stupid Criminals” since it only came to light when the bride’s father complained to the police after the bridegroom failed to pay.
DRJ (345e40) — 1/14/2009 @ 7:19 pmI think that it’s ethnocentric, Eurocentric, xenophobic, and even downright racist to use the laws of the oppressive American patriarchy to suppress this man’s culture and ancestral traditions.
nk (9097f8) — 1/14/2009 @ 7:26 pmDos Equis?
Official Internet Data Office (333abc) — 1/14/2009 @ 7:33 pmDRJ is correct. The numbskull went to the cops when the bridegroom failed to pay and wanted the police to make him pay, or arrest him for theft! Do you think, duh, that any alcohol was involved? WTF? Welcome to Amerikkka 2009. We’re so screwed it ain’t even funny.
J. Raymond Wright (e8d0ca) — 1/14/2009 @ 7:37 pmIf this was about an “Anglo”, would the description of the location of Greenfield be in miles, instead of kilometers?
AD (1d0fdb) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:06 pmBetween this and the family naming their kid after Hitler, I’m starting to wonder…where all these incredibly stupid parents are coming from. There should be some sort of test before having them…
Dana (137151) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:06 pmComment by Dana — 1/14/2009 @ 8:06 pm
They took SexEd at the local public high-school.
AD (1d0fdb) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:11 pmThat by the way was my argument for not removing Ms. Schaivo’s feeding tube. I am all for people having living wills and determining their own fate. I believe people should have the right to kill themselves in the event of terminal illness.
But in a society that will not let you sell your car without a spouse’s signature first, allowing spouses to testify to the court what your intentions are (or were) without a writing is a very slipperly slope…as anyone who has been through a divorce can tell you.
And unfortunately, while most people do what is best for their kids, there are many who do not. The things that go on in family court every day are beyond heartbreaking. The public only hears about the most eggregious cases. I only wish courts were better at terminating parental rights sooner rather than later for these kids at risk, but anyone who tells you it is easy to do on a regular basis does not know jack.
Joe (17aeff) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:21 pmThere’s more than a few places where this is an essential part of marriage. The man was undoubtedly just doing it the way they do it back home.
kishnevi (48b514) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:23 pmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_price
And in fact, this sort of transaction was standard through most of human history, and even in Europe didn’t come to an end until fairly recent time.
kishnevi – And in fact, this sort of transaction was standard through most of human history, and even in Europe didn’t come to an end until fairly recent time.
Do you mean slavery, or the practice of bleeding sick people?
As for arranged marriages for profit, Europe is slowly reversing course in favor of the practice.
Apogee (f4320c) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:29 pmI think the concept you’re searching for is Dowry.
AD (1d0fdb) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:32 pmI’m with OIDO.
What kind of beer was it?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:47 pmThe problem with the term dowry is that it can describe a payment made in either direction. Bridgeprice avoids the ambiguity.
Soronel Haetir (cabedb) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:50 pmSoronel Haetir – Out of curiousity, in what cultures does a dowry payment flow from the bride’s family to the groom’s family as you suggest occurs?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 1/14/2009 @ 8:59 pmA much worse story came out of Idaho recently. A guy was taking his kids to see their mother on Christmas day, got stuck in a snow drift, and made his kids get out of the car and walk 10 miles to their mom. His daughter died of hypothermia, his son barely survived.
Here’s a link
I can’t imagine anyone doing these things to children.
Steverino (b12c49) — 1/14/2009 @ 9:18 pmIn India, the dowry goes from the bride’s family to the groom. Bride burnings, when the groom’s family demands more money were once very common; but are becoming less so as sex-select abortions have seriously reduced the number of available women (although not to Chinese levels).
In Greece, the dowry went from the bride’s family to the groom’s. Brothers often married late in life, having worked to help pay their sister’s dowries.
In Africa, both types of dowries are recorded. Turnbull’s account of Pygmies hinted that the bride price (sometimes fresh kill) was only paid if the groom intend to stay after being married for a few weeks. Although it might have been a gift to the in-laws, it has been awhile since reading.
Polynesia, mostly, paid to the bride’s family by the groom’s.
In some places, it is not so much an exchange dowry as it is the cost of the wedding feast, borne by one family or the other. Something about Bahrain or Kuwait, the Emir was offering a large joint wedding as many young couples could not afford the feast in bad economic times.
Certain tribes in China, the husband (and his family, I presume) can use the dowry – usually jewelry, and they keep the interest in case of divorce; but the original jewelry is the property of the wife, must be returned upon divorce. It is her’s to give to her daughters.
Adriane (6cae82) — 1/14/2009 @ 10:38 pmHey, seems perfectly reasonabe to me! The father was being compensated for three years loss of his daughter for the $1,000 per child tax credit, for four years loss of her as an income tax exemption, and four lears loss of her doing the dishes. These things all have a monetary value, and $16,000 seems like it would be about right.
Considering the $20,000 enlistment bonuses that the Army is offering, the $16,000 might even be regarded as a bargain. Of course, the beer might make up part of the difference.
The economical Dana (3e4784) — 1/15/2009 @ 5:25 amIn addition to the above examples, part of the Hunic justification for war against Rome was the refusal to pay such a dowry to Attila for one of the emperor’s sisters. The demanded dowry was to be half the western empire.
My understanding of this practice is that it is either to provide the bride something to fall back on if the marriage doesn’t work, or to ensure that it does work in the first place.
Soronel Haetir (cabedb) — 1/15/2009 @ 5:36 am“in the best interest of the children”
Might be one of the most subjective platitudes in the history of the world.
While SELLING your child might be a conflict of interest it is clearly not objectively true it is not in their best interests.
Any man who would sell their daughter at that age in this country should not have the daughter to begin with so the fact he sold her to an 18 year old who had that much money might have been a good thing. Maybe the 18 year old is the next Carlos Slim with a heart of gold.
Again, you guys are talking Suburban Orange County platitudes.
How to raise a child “in its best interests” is so wildy subjective and dependent on many issues …. that having the Gov.t involved in making the decision is scary.
Da'Shiznit (dc4a50) — 1/15/2009 @ 5:37 amIs it in the best interest of a child to provide them with every material desire they have and not require any form of sacrifice?
Most “Libertards” and “Big Gov.t” types would call these types of parents “good.”
Da'Shiznit (dc4a50) — 1/15/2009 @ 5:42 amWhat it does is hand ultimate control to the government which appoints itself as the arbiter of that “best interest” which often bears little resemblance to reality.
Pablo (99243e) — 1/15/2009 @ 6:07 amSoronel Haetir – Out of curiousity, in what cultures does a dowry payment flow from the bride’s family to the groom’s family as you suggest occurs?
Comment by daleyrocks
This was a near universal custom going back far into antiquity. In an agricultural culture, capital was hard to acquire and the bride’s dowry was her share of the family capital. If any of you saw The Quiet Man, you noted how important the dowry was to the woman’s self respect.
In ancient India, plastic surgery was invented due to the practice of cutting off noses as punishment. A caste of surgeons arose who passed the knowledge of how to reconstruct a nose from father to son. Daughters were not taught the practice as they would take that knowledge to their new husband when they married. Wives, however, participated in the practice.
The same thing occurred with the Chamberlen family, who invented the obstetrical foreceps. They kept the secret for hundreds of years. The wife became family but the daughter was a step lower as she would leave to marry. The last Chamberlen died in the 18th century and the secret was exposed.
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/15/2009 @ 6:09 am“The case came to light after the parent complained to police that his daughter’s prospective husband had failed to pay him under the terms of their deal, which was brokered by a third party.”
There are segments of our society where good parenting is the norm. The news media doesn’t care about us. One more reason for the decline of the MSM. If the father was a legal immigrant we would have had an opportunity to explain what the laws of this country are. There are millions of reasons to justifiably oppose illegal immigration and this is just one of the examples. Let’s stop illegal immigration now, let’s do it for the children.
tyree (fab058) — 1/15/2009 @ 6:14 amFew things surprise me anymore. I live on the South Side of Chicago and the Hispanic population has exploded in my area over the last 10 years. Hispanic girls are not encouraged to get an education and often go to “live with relatives” when they become teenagers, never to return.
Fly On The Wall (a67de7) — 1/15/2009 @ 7:33 amYou mean I could have sold my little sister, years ago?
Damn! One more opportunity missed.
Icy Texan (b7d162) — 1/15/2009 @ 10:27 pm