God forbid we get France miffed at us! Next time they get invaded, they may not call for a rescue!

The French are indeed miffed, and not just because being miffed at one thing or another is a national trait. They're annoyed now since the U.S. decided to have the Swiss arrest a child rapist, one Roman Polanski, and for trying to have him extradited back to the States to face some discordant music.

Some Americans, even outside Hollywood, have also taken up Polanski's cause giving rise to a debate as to what should be done with Roman, to either release him and send him on his merry way or hang him by his privates.

The Case for Roman:

This faction is impassioned. Look, they say, the guy's old now, 76, his so-called "crime" happened 31 years ago, and his victim, Samantha Geimer, nee' Gailey, has forgiven him and favors cutting him loose.

And, besides, he's famous and suffered enough from the Nazis, with the Manson murder of his third wife, Sharon Tate, and he's already been punished by being shut out of American movie making!

As a typical defender of this reprobate writes, "Polanski didn't violate his victim by having sex with her without her consent, he violated American notions of childhood purity:" [http://bit.ly/IXwcM].

All that amounts to nil. Polanski was 44 at the time of the crime, Samantha was 13, he pled guilty to having "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor," aka, rape, his fame is irrelevant, and he fled the country to avoid a stiff sentence.

The only substantive basis for freeing him from his Zurich confinement is, allegedly, misconduct on the part of the original presiding Judge Laurence Rittenband who allowed Polanski to cut a plea deal and then, allegedly, reneged on that agreement after, allegedly conferencing with the prosecutor.

All those "allegedlies" are primarily the result of a 2008 documentary, Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired, which won an award at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival in 2008. That fact alone clearly shows there's some basis for casting aspersions on the now-deceased Rittenbrand.

After serving all of 42 days of an ordered 90 day "evaluation" period in Chino State Prison, Polanski somehow got wind of Rittenband's intent to sentence him to a more reasonable prison stay and took off for England and he's been effectively on the run ever since.

The Case aginst Roman:

The anti-Polanski position is much simpler with nothing alleged.

. Roman Polanski is guilty, by his own admission, of violating a 13 year old child.

. Roman Polanski was not found guilty of luring Samantha to Jack Nicholson's sumptuous pad, plying her with booze and qualudes, and forcefully raping and sodomizing her. (However, read the graphic grand jury testimony here: http://bit.ly/10Btah.).

. Roman Polanski escaped justice for his abominable crime for which he is still unrepentant and believes there was "no harm done."

Many believe Polanski is no danger to society and therefore should be released. Actually, his release would signal to all civilized societies that fame and elapsed time can lift the burden of guilt and confer innocence on even vile criminals.

I vote for hanging him by his privates and screw his French and Polish sympathizers.