Above:  A victim of child abuse (not the same one mentioned in the blog).

A Barstow couple was sentenced to life in prison for torturing the man’s 3-year-old son to death.

It isn’t clear why the couple did what they did, but when police found the boy he was dead with extensive external and internal injuries.  And get this … it was the child’s birthday.  This was back in 2006.

Well, they got their punishment.  From the Desert Dispatch, “on Thursday Judge Steve Mapes at the Barstow courthouse sentenced Thomas Othy Darthart, 27 and Moy Yamill Ellis, 32 to life in prison without possibility of parole for the murder of Thomas Timothy Fredric Darthart. The couple also received 25 years to life for assault on a child resulting in death, seven years to life for torture and ten years for child abuse resulting in death.”

While this is truly a tragic event, I’d like to take this opportunity to dispel a rather common myth that is propagated in patriotic circles all over the United States.

First, of course, a disclaimer; I agree that soldiers, sailors, and airmen should be thanked for their service. Ben Moreno, a Desert Dog, is former military.

What I’m seeking, however, is a somewhat more reasonable approach to those in the military.

They are, after all, humans like all of us, and shouldn’t be deified to the level that they often are, especially in the ’socially conservative’ circles.

In the words of George Carlin, “Stop that!”