After reading the article, it seems like a reasonable and quite sensible ruling.

The ruling has nothing to do with the fact that the method is used in his home country.

The ruling is based on the fact that is was an isolated incident. It wasn't some over all pattern, nor was there any actual harm done.

He disciplined his child. Whether it was by open hand or a knuckle it shouldn't automatically be raised to the level of child abuse. What would be next? Felony charges because some parent used their belt or worse made the child go get a switch from some tree to spank him/her with? Perhaps jail time because the parent flicked your ear for doing something wrong?

This is almost getting out of hand. Seriously, no one can discipline their children anymore. My friends at school and I once got into a debate about how they thought that spanking was child abuse and should be a felony.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing-- I thought they were kidding at first.

It wasn't the ruling that made it an interesting article, although it was an interesting and catchy headline. The thing that made it interesting was the fact that he used a cultural punishment as a defense.

Spank you child, they investigate, you say it was simple discipline and you only spanked them, they say "Don't do it again."

He 'Konked' his kid. They investigated, he said "I am of african descent and we use our knuckles as a traditional method of punishment." and that was his justification. Of course they'd be worried!

Had he not pulled 'the race card' there wouldn't have been a story.

The demise of switches and spankings is why the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

I remember being seven and telling my mom's best friend that she needed to spank her son [age six] because he was being bad. Mom's bff reacted in horror, saying, "I would never EVER spank my child and I cannot believe your parents spank you."

He's been thrown out of rehab numerous times, has been arrested, was caught blowing a guy for pills, was kicked out of the airforce after one short-lived attempt at sobriety and now sports a ear-to-ear scar from when he tried to kill himself by slitting his throat with a kitchen knife when he found out the girl he was sleeping with was pregnant.

Moral of the story: Spank your kids.