Area Soldier Killed In Fort Hood Rampage
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Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
Sox Shuffle Continues
By now you may have read Claire Hoffman’s horribly disturbing, sickening-
to-the-stomach piece on Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild empire. When a tipster sent us the link to the article this weekend, we hastily passed it over without even opening the link, thinking it was some fluff piece on foam parties and topless girls gyrating to 120 bpms. Once we sat down and gave the article our full attention, we were sickened beyond belief and plagued with a number of thoughts on the state of our society. We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though …
To get you up to speed, a summary: Hoffman, a Hollywood/adult industry reporter for the L.A. Times, accompanied Francis to an unnamed club on the outskirts of Chicago for a GGW party. At this party she hangs out in the VIP room and on the bus (described as being furnished with a double bed, a flat screen T.V., lubricants, condoms, sex toys in plastic bags, baby oil, a DVD called "How to be a Player" and a clipboard full of waivers for girls to sign) with a few of the selected few who get to be filmed. Among these girls is young Kaitlyn Bultema, who has alerted the GGW crew that she is turning 18 that night and wants to “get wild for the cameras the minute she is legal.” When asked why she wants to be “discovered” by GGW, she replies, “I want everyone to see me because I’m hot,” and admits that she hopes the exposure would catapult her into the fame of an actress or a model. Also among the barely legals is 18-year-old Jannel Szyszka, who ends up getting hand picked by Francis, fed liquor in the VIP lounge and led back to the bus. She is filmed stripping and masturbating, but after that things get fuzzy. She claims Francis forced himself on her and took her virginity, while Francis claims he didn’t have sex with anyone that night. And a third claim, this time by Francis’ lawyer, says that the two had consensual sex.
Furthermore, Hoffman had to punch Francis after he pinned her on top of a car outside of the club, allegedly re-enacting his encounter with Panama City Police a few years ago, with Melrose Park police standing by watching most of the encounter without stepping in.
If you can muddle through the incredibly verbose article, chances are you will feel as nauseas as our staff and some other bloggers 
did. It seems that the bigger issue at hand is not “Is Joe Francis a sleazy, violent, yet well-endowed rapist?” (The answer is yes.) It is more, “Why are there so many young women perfectly willing, make that CLAMORING, to take their clothes off and go crazy in front of a camera?” Do they honestly think that being filmed while taking a shower with three other girls will bring them instant fame and fortune? Or is our society so bombarded with softcore porn a la Myspace that we have effectively blurred the lines of decency?
In the article, Hoffman interviews Vicki Mayer, a sociologist and Tulane University assistant professor, who studies this sort of thing, and she concludes that “the owners of these companies who are contracting cheap labor and free talent for a media product" are the real winners in these situations. Well said, but it still remains a mystery as to how Francis has been able to tap into a seemingly unlimited supply of inebriated college-age girls who will do absolutely anything on camera in exchange for a trucker hat.
Also, Chicagoist did some quick sleuthing and found that the site of this incident was Energy Thursday, one of those Spring Break in your hometown/foam parties/girls in their underwear-type clubs, as evidenced by the Web site.
Images via Energy Thursday Web site.
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That guy deserves, nay, needs a major ass-kicking...
Thanks for the link. It is, without a doubt, one of the most disturbing articles, highlighting one of the most disturbing trends in our society, that I have ever read.
Give me articles about people dying. Somehow, they're easier on the stomach than the ones about people living. How did we get this scary?
"Once we sat down and gave the article our full attention, we were sickened beyond belief and plagued with a number of thoughts on the state of our society."
This is why I why Liberals frustrate( being kind) me. This is what it took to finally get you "sickened beyond belief/plagued with a number of thoughts on the state of our society"? Consider turning off that NPR drivel now and then a listening to Radio Air America. Why don't liberals wage a little cultural war of their own? I guess yall are too busy being “fair” “civil” and “balanced” While sitting on the fence as the right wing ding a lings trample all over our country. I mean why isn't this Freak Francis hounded, jeered and protested 24/7 like the right wing protests women at abortion clinics? And where is N.O.W on this? Probably at Nancy Pelosi's vineyard with Barbra Boxer drinking Cocktails while Cynthia McKinney, the only women politician who stands for any thing gets defeated. But of course I guess, I'm getting ahead of myself though.
an unfortunate by product of freedom is that people get to make their own bad decisions. i don't have much sympathy for joe francis, his "victim," or the reporter that was all too happy to delve into this bullshit to get herself some notice. in my mind, they're all equally creepy, and people who look at stuff like this to feel moral indignation are no better than those who look at it to get off.
just my two cents.
hey dumbf--- er, i mean 'spoooky' what does 'liberalism' have to do with any of this? huh? like no regressives have ever raped anyone or had odd sexual daliances [think henry hyde's 'youthful indiscretions,' newt gingrich's divorcing his wife while she was in a hospital bed dying of cancer, et al].
Nonetheless, where is our state's attorney? be it devine or birkett? as stupid as the girls may be, they are more than a decade younger than francis and he should be prosecuted. really, where is the damned arrest warrant???
holy shit, i agree with spook for once. scumbags like this should be stoned on the street, not backed by his frat boy entourage and team of lawyers. what's going on now is no better than what was happening in the '60s and '70s. exploitation, defective leaders and huge megalomania corporations... so where's all the outrage? the indignation? where are the physical, real manifestations of what everyone's blogging about? where's the change?
Geekgrrl, as always, well put, and thank you for bringing insight to spook's comment. Originally I read it as a complete misinterpretation of my words and an excuse to wage a political party battle, but if he is proposing outrage, like full on setting fire to some shit outrage, then I am THERE. And spook, just so you understand the sentence of mine that you quoted, it's not as if I am suddenly outraged by the fact that GGW exists or Francis is sleaze, but this particular article was graphic and uncomfortable. Once I finally sat down to read it, it was much like a train wreck, and I couldn't turn away. To take this further, though, what do *you* propose we do to remedy society this plague? Let's do it.
Hey some asshole:
If you're the same asshole that has been posting hear for a while then come on, you know better. In this county the majority of people's decisions are not made based upon rational intellectualism, but steady, constant and relentless market materialism and religious programming/brainwashing. We know that people from oppressed classes are even more vulnerable to programming and misinformation. This includes women. The woman in question is probably more advanced than most, because she actually spoke up and she should be rewarded for this as an example as I’m sure there are hundreds that are suffering in silence. Are there greater victims in society, of course, but the fact remains that we have a culture that preys/violently objectifies women and many women are conditioned since birth to think its “acceptable”.
But again women are not the only ones programmed to be victims.
I’m reminded of two quotes
It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his-low- salary depends on his not understanding it-Upton Sinclair
I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves-Harrite Tubman
and word Geekgrrl, hope you( and you're friends) take out a membership in NOW or some other liberal organization and call them out in their bull shit. But of course the first step is just to tell the truth, which you are doing, but of course watch you're back cause you see what they did to brotha Socrates for telling the truth
I'm reluctant to post nothing more than a reference to something someone else wrote, but Ariel Levy's recent book "Female Chauvinist Pigs" is exactly about this and also changed my life. I assure you dear reader that I have no personal interest in promoting this book, and in fact myself borrowed it from the library. Indeed, I've never met Ms. Levy, though I'd like to.
top photo - guy in the red shirt. that's randy from real world san diego, right?
SA> If you want to blame someone, fine. But leave the LA Times writer out of it. I'll bet she was assigned the story by an editor.
Hey Weiss
This is part of the problem, why be reluctant to post you're thoughts based upon a very compelling book,( I mean if Rachell can toss in a hip pop culture reference in a "life our death" conversation that surely you can bring up a relevant book, right? and "Female Chauvinist Pigs" is a relevant book. Its not like you're referencing the Elders of the Protocols of Zion
although I do have some minor concerns about it completely making any sex that isn't 100% vanilla bad, but its a minor critique, but bravo for bring it up
And Rachell since you have time to weight in on serious subjects often neglected on this forum with pop culture comments, why not fix you're site( Chicagoist) so people's comments wont get rejected only to appear numerous times?
Weiss, it's funny you bring that book up because I, in an unrelated event, recently added it to my Amazon.com wishlist. Has anyone else read it?
Also, spook, just so you know, the problems with Chicagoist are tech-related and not on our end. They exist across the entire Gothamist network, and they are beyond Rachelle's control. I understand your frustration with comments, though, as I think I replied to yours about 20 times last night.
Cynthia McKinney, the only women politician who stands for any thing gets defeated
Yeah, me and the rest of the crackers are going to "put our yarmulkes on and celebrate."
Sure Joel,
abd while you celebrate the lose of the Mckinney the lone voice in the wilderness of the D.C Political Establishment, continue just to focused on only you're own community. Screw the fact that it was only McKinney who pointed out months before the 2000 elections, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sec. of State Katherine Harris removed 90,000 citizens, mostly Blacks, from the voter rolls, saving they were felons when 97% of them were'nt
Tose people don’t ware yarmulkes, so screw em. Screw the fact that she was the only pol.to publicly cry foul/call for hearings when daddy Bush left the White House and became chief advisor/lobbyist for Barric Gold of Canada that keeps its mines in Africa out of the hands of the people by funding both sides of wars between governments and rebels in countries that it “owns” mines in. Screw the fact that she was the only one to demanded congressional hearings
when Barrick mines purchased Tanzanian properties, turning them into gold mines, and accidentally bulldozing mine shafts burying about 50 miners alive with no survivors. The primary source for this story is an internationally famous lawyer named Tundu Lissu, later charged by the Tanzanian police with sedition and arrested for calling for an investigation. McKinney has been trying to save his life with an international campaign aimed at Barrick. Screw him too because he doesn't wear a yarmulke.
Screw the fact that after 9-11, McKinney was one of the few democrats to vote against the war. She also voted against the near record Bush pentagon Budget for the war. And on the Congressional Defense committee, she called on the Pentagon to explain how it "lost" 2.3 trillion in untraceable transactions. She also hammered Halliburton's sweat heart deals producing unworkable weapons systems built by the Carlye group.She also reminded the rest of the committee about the numerous similarities between the War on Terror in America and COINTELPR during the 60’s and 70’s. Of course she became Public Enemy # 1 with republicans, the industrial military complex, corporate America and AIPAC, (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee who I guess you will be celebrating with. Screw the pregnant teen moms that she fought for too. And the international aids summit calling on Governments in Africa to do better while connecting the crisis to communities of color in the U.S.
Yes Mckinney, like each of us is a cracked vessel, but she was the most courages voices in Washington. She raised issues that no one else will. Oh and be sure to drink one in honor of the increased anti-Semitism and hatred that you help create between two communities that should be working together, Mazal Tov
Sure Joel,
and while you celebrate the lose of Mckinney the lone voice in the wilderness of the D.C Political Establishment, continue just to focused on only you're own community. Screw the fact that it was only McKinney who pointed out months before the 2000 elections, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sec. of State Katherine Harris removed 90,000 citizens, mostly Blacks, from the voter rolls, saving they were felons when 97% of them were'nt
Tose people don’t ware yarmulkes, so screw em. Screw the fact that she was the only pol.to publicly cry foul/call for hearings when daddy Bush left the White House and became chief advisor/lobbyist for Barric Gold of Canada that keeps its mines in Africa out of the hands of the people by funding both sides of wars between governments and rebels in countries that it “owns” mines in. Screw the fact that she was the only one to demanded congressional hearings
when Barrick mines purchased Tanzanian properties, turning them into gold mines, and accidentally bulldozing mine shafts burying about 50 miners alive with no survivors. The primary source for this story is an internationally famous lawyer named Tundu Lissu, later charged by the Tanzanian police with sedition and arrested for calling for an investigation. McKinney has been trying to save his life with an international campaign aimed at Barrick. Screw him too because he doesn't wear a yarmulke.
Screw the fact that after 9-11, McKinney was one of the few democrats to vote against the war. She also voted against the near record Bush pentagon Budget for the war. And on the Congressional Defense committee, she called on the Pentagon to explain how it "lost" 2.3 trillion in untraceable transactions. She also hammered Halliburton's sweat heart deals producing unworkable weapons systems built by the Carlye group.She also reminded the rest of the committee about the numerous similarities between the War on Terror in America and COINTELPR during the 60’s and 70’s. Of course she became Public Enemy # 1 with republicans, the industrial military complex, corporate America and AIPAC, (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee who I guess you will be celebrating with. Screw the pregnant teen moms that she fought for too. And the international aids summit calling on Governments in Africa to do better while connecting the crisis to communities of color in the U.S.
Yes Mckinney, like each of us is a cracked vessel, but she was the most courages voices in Washington. She raised issues that no one else will. Oh and be sure to drink one in honor of the increased anti-Semitism and hatred that you help create between two communities that should be working together, Mazal Tov
The best take I read on this article was over at pandagon.net.
Here: http://pandagon.net/2006/08/06/scumbag/#more-3491
This guy is a manipulative twit, and not all these girls are throwing themselves at the camera. He talks/forces a lot of them into getting naked. I've seen some of the videos and there are certainly parts that make it very apparent that this guy is a rapist. He gets a real perverse joy from forcing girls to strip for him.
Maybe someone needs to outlaw being young, foolish, impressionable, and gullible.
And if people didn't write articles about it, how would anyone even know to be outraged?
Oh and be sure to drink one in honor of the increased anti-Semitism and hatred that you help create between two communities that should be working together, Mazal Tov
Seems like McKinney's entourage is way, way ahead of me...should I drink to them as well?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S8rHANZtE4
I'm not saying McKinney hasn't done good work, but it's not worth the baggage she brings. I can imagine how enraged and indignant you'd have been if members of say, Lieberman's entourage had told reporters the other night to go put their dashikis on and celebrate. You'd be angry because it's wrong, and this is no different.
Digg has a whole buncha comments on this story.
Indeed he does deserve a major ass-kicking, and last year, he got one:
http://www.radaronline.com/magazine/features/2005/11/the-hustler-the-heiress-and-the-softporn-king.php
But it looks like that experience taught him nothing.
Joel:
I saw the link you sent....yes words like are very very unfortunate for us all
Jerry, thanks for the link. While I don't agree with the initial analysis of the article, some of those comments bring up some amazing points. I'm also surprised that this is the only place I've seen a Dov Charney reference. I was hesitant to reopen that can of worms in my own post, and I doubt I could have put the comparison of these two figures as concisely as one commenter did:
"Dov Charney is merely a creepy sleezebag, while Francis is a psychopathic scumbag. In the gradations of slime, Francis is a far worse character than Charney."
Although I believe that sleazeholes like Francis have somehow paved a way for American Apparel ads, with deer-in-headlights girls backed up in a corner wearing a wet T-shirt and nothing more, to become images that we not only allow without question but fully accept as the norm in our society.
Education is expensive and time consuming and gives people ideas.
Teaching young girls that they could be a doctor some day does not help sell beer or cars, or in this case, dvds.
Sounds like a dare.
Was it really necessary for Claire Hoffman to include the full names of those two girls in her story? I find that perplexing and inexcusable. What was the point? The LA Times would still have attracted the same number of readers by that lurid story if Hoffman had just identified the girls by only their first names (or an alias). Shame on the LA Times.
Was it really necessary for Claire Hoffman to include the full names of those two girls in her story? I find that perplexing and inexcusable. What was the point? The LA Times would most likely have drawn the same number of readers with that lurid story if Hoffman had just identified the girls by only their first names (or an alias). Shame on the LA Times.
Was it really necessary for Claire Hoffman to include the full names of those two girls in her story? I find that perplexing and inexcusable. What was the point? The LA Times would most likely have drawn the same number of readers with that lurid story if Hoffman had just identified the girls by only their first names (or an alias). Shame on the LA Times.
Sorry for the multiple comments.
Apparently Chicagoist's server leaves much to be desired.
We're working on it.
It seems that the bigger issue at hand is not “Is Joe Francis a sleazy, violent, yet well-endowed rapist?” (The answer is yes.) It is more, “Why are there so many young women perfectly willing, make that CLAMORING, to take their clothes off and go crazy in front of a camera?”
Er, can I ask a question? WHY is that the "bigger issue at hand"? There are lots of possible motivations for this exhibitionist behavior, most of which boil down to alcohol and peer pressure, but to me by far the bigger question, is "Why is Joe Francis a rapist?" No, actually, I don't really care, the bigger question is, "Is there a way he can be stopped/punished for his crimes. Is there a way to bring this thug to justice?" If these young women have self esteem problems or whatever, that's lamentable, but it's far from the most important issue here. To call it that shifts the moral culpability to their shoulders instead of the shoulders on which it clearly belongs, Francis's, and seems uncomfortably close to blaming the victim. Taking your shirt off and making out with your friends for a video camera might be a somewhat dumb/obnoxious thing to do, but is it as abberrant or as repulsive or as worthy of being subject to our collective questioning as rape is? Francis's motives are never subject to question, only these "girls" motives. WHO CARES why a young woman wants to take her shirt off? Why do serial rapists go unpunished?
"WHO CARES why a young woman wants to take her shirt off?"
I care deeply Rory, but then again I'm not you're typical American. Very sad, how you like most cannot connect the big fat dots infront of you. Maybe a few more myspace gang rapes of teens might do it for you.
and yes you are blaming the victim but isn't that what we do so well in America, blame the poorest, the weakest the most vunerable. Yea sure those evil teen girls got what they had coming right? They wanted it, its just how they are
Rory, Joe Francis' alleged behavior is completely inexcusable, and I hope that if the claims against him are true, he is horribly punished. But to only blame him for the widespread mentality that men can get little girls to do whatever they want and or the growing mentality among young women that the girls in these videos are sexy and desirable is narrow minded, in my opinion. Joe Francis is one man. He helped perpetuate the problem, but if he goes down, these issues will remain. And that is the bigger issue at hand.
I'm not saying today's hyper-pornified culture is not a destructive thing for both women and men but contrary to the way this issue is always framed, it's NOT the root cause of the problem, the root cause of the problem is that predatory, abusive behavior goes unquestioned and unpunished.
Wittingly or not, you're perpetuating the eternal double standard: women should guard their virtue, not do anything foolish or irresponsible or "slutty", but men are not expected to control their sexual impulses. The fact of the matter is, the girls' motivations for "going wild" are not hard to fathom: again, alcohol, peer pressure, misguided notions of instant celebrity. What are Francis's motivations? Why would a man behave the way he does? I've seen plenty of people condemn him, but I've seen no one question why he does what he does. And as a result, I think people come away with the idea that this is normal male behavior, that being a man is about trying to get as much sex, and as much money as you can, by any means necessary, and that avoiding the unsavory results of that ambition are solely a woman's responsibility.
You talk about the culture Francis helped create, a culture I find as distasteful as you do, but you're looking solely at this culture's effect on young women, not at the men who are active participants in it. Francis teaches men that it's okay to objectify women, that it feels good. You need to look at the "demand" side of sexual objectification, not just the supply side. You imply that Francis going down would have no effect on the larger issues at hand. I disagree, it would show people the serious consequences for high profile abusive behavior. No criminal prosecution ends all crime, it's society's way of saying: This is wrong and it will not be tolerated.
I've followed this story for some time and I've seen some variation on the phrase "But why do these women DO this to themselves?" everywhere I've looked, but I've not seen anywhere the phrase "Cook County States Attorney's Office." What lesson are we to draw from this? That the rich and powerful are above the law? Thanks for illustrating that lesson again, Joe.
That, my correspondents, is the larger issue.
Rory, you're absolutely 100% right that Joe Francis and men just like him are not getting punished for their horrible deeds, and they should. And I also agree with you that he teaches men that it "feels good" to objectify women. For me, though, as a woman, I have been warned about this type of male behavior my entire life, and it is not surprising that there is yet another slimeball perpetuating it. It is, however, disturbing to me that there is an entire generation of girls who are anxious to become hypersexual beings, which is not a sentiment that was common when I was coming up. (And I'm not that old.) The fact that I highlight that shocking trend does not mean that there is any blame being placed on these girls for being abused or objectified, though. I want those girls to get due process. But I also worry for all of the young women who believe that they have to be slutty to be cool, which seems to be the dominating opinion, more so than ever.
Interesting, interesting indeed. I feel very much so that we are living in very dangerous/troubling times unlike no other. Like we are collectively turning the next generation into some thing very harmful, whether it be daughters, sisters and cousins "Gone Wild" permanently emotionally scarred/damaged to sons, brothers, cousins destroyed by violence in the streets, Foreign wars, or the industrial prison complex, while a few get richer and richer. As if we have been in traing for Johanthan Swift's "Modest Proposal"
But refreshing progressive debate, makes me feel
guardedly hopefully
I have to agree with Rory, and with the fervor of Spook's first comment. Sarah, your heart is in the right place on this issue, but you've fallen into the same trap as the mainstream media (which uses every mention of GGW as an excuse to bemoan the state of young women today, and incidentially, to run lots of bikini footage.) We are getting distracted. You can't fight a culture war by tut-tutting. You wouldn't want to fight a culture war via censorship. Talking about the supposed "larger issue" doesn't lead to any positive action.
You can, however, fight criminals in the courts. We need to set the dogs on Francis. We need a phalanx of brilliant, highly paid bitch lawyers who will listen to a comment like "my client is just well-endowed," lick their lips, and swallow the opposition's head whole. Crunch. If we can't put him in jail, we need a class-action lawsuit that will bankrupt his company. We need legislation that protects people from signing contracts while inebriated. We need to get in his face. I would love to hear suggestions about organizations that would be able/willing to help this happen.
For the record, I grew up with lots of warnings about male behavior, too. But I was still shocked by the article- just because Francis' behavior was so blatant. He made no attempt to tone it down for the reporter. That lawyer's letter was egregious and arrogant. The idea of being punished has clearly never crossed their minds- and if it did, believe me, it would make a difference. Francis and his lawyers are not hardened criminals, they are shallow, over-privileged cowards. Bankruptcy and jail time would make them shit their pants.
I think the single best way to combat the disease of GGW is to make an example of Francis. Young women would get the message. Wanna-be exploiters would get the message. Who's with me? I am willing to work with anyone on this board. Release the hounds!
Heh. I know I just advocated staying away from the culture war, but I would love to see "Porn Stars against GGW." Sort of a union thing. The surprisingly smart Jenna Jameson could tail Francis with a crew of her own, handing out pamphlets detailing the amount of cash GGW makes off the free use of a woman's image, and offering Francis' targets' industry scale to ditch him and come with her. Yes, I know the pro porn industry is also full of exploitation, but it appeals to me, because it just makes Francis look incredibly uncool. The porn stars could also wear "Joe Francis is a serial rapist" t-shirts.
We need a phalanx of brilliant, highly paid bitch lawyers who will listen to a comment like "my client is just well-endowed," lick their lips, and swallow the opposition's head whole.
Paging Dr. Freud!
Personally, I am unable to make arrests or influence court decisions or perform any sort of legal action to make sure an alleged rapist gets his day in court. Does this mean I want him to go on raping and objectifying women? No. But as a person interested in constructive methods of communication, I believe helping bringing the issue to the forefront, regardless of if you agree with the way it was done or not, is a wonderful way to get started. But if you want to go find Joe and rip his dick off, be my guest.
"Personally, I am unable to make arrests or influence court decisions or perform any sort of legal action to make sure an alleged rapist gets his day in court."
Well thank you for stooping down/looking down to in lighting us Sarha, to explain because we were confused as to you’re powers
"But as a person interested in constructive methods of communication, I believe helping bringing the issue to the forefront,"
Wow that's mighty liberal of you. Sounds like you’re auditioning for NPR. I'm just curious about the "non constructive methods of communications"? I guess that includes getting in people's faces? Stirring the pot, unhousing folks because the only way we are going to grow and get out of this big mess, is if liberals stop playing safe and make people uncomfortable by speaking up boldly, unapologetically and just plain taking the risk and telling the truth, all that good stuff brother Socrates talked about, I think he called it “Parrhesia” as in plain truthful speak. I know look where it got him, but look where we are with out it. I hope one day soon we learn to fight before its too late
I down Reina
Opps "I'm down"
Spook, I'm assuming that Sarha is me, and I'm hoping that you aren't one of the people who publicly complains about our copy editing skills...
You seem like you want to personally go after me even though I've agreed with you over and over on this issue, so I'm not sure where your beef lies. Maybe you can sense I know that you're a closet liberal.
Ohhhh.... "I'm hoping that you aren't one of the people who publicly complains about our copy editing skill"
No, Sarah Smile, it aint me. Who am I to judge? and as if I had time to worry about editing shills of others. My concern is the thought behind.But sounds like you are the one going personal -Owie!- But me all I can do is tell the truth and I wish I was a closet liberal because
I'd have more dinner party invitations. But I do wish you could sense what I read, yo.
Peace yo
Let's get married.
Will Reina and I be invited to the Spook/Sarah nupitals, having been present for the conversation that led to the engagement?
As far as I can tell, and he makes it rather difficult, Spook is a left wing radical chastising moderate liberals for not smashing things, what with his defense of Cynthia McKinney and all. If you want to start literally smashing things, I'm right behind you, but you first.
While I still disagree with what you choose to emphasize, Sarah, I agree that reasonable communication between people of goodwill, while it might not actually solve things, never hurts.
Rory:
Yes I make it difficult. Look around, we are in the land of the walking dead, I'm just trying to wake some folks up. You can call me Left wing, right wing( cause I think I'm Right)or chicken wing fried hard with hot sauce. But all I'm really doing is learning to die, which is the true art of living intensely.
See, I practice dying daily, letting thing inside me go/die, some prejudice, conformity, complacency, faulty presuppositions. It’s a struggle to become more mature, more compassionate, more courageous to turn away from the easy pull of this culture of denial and direct blame of the "least of those" instead of the powerful who have created this mess.
See we bitch about what's wrong, but how are we going to fix it with out bold courage? Look where you're "reasonableness" has gotten us? Not individually, because I'm sure we "Chicagoist" are all doing o.k, but what about the rest of the country? On you're side you got Al Gore, John Kerry, Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Barack O'Bama, etc, etc, etc all very reasonable people. We have a lot of reasonable people but few with bold courage. What happened to our courage? There was a tradition of it. Once you could even turn on the T.V and see it. Malcolm X, Martin King, Robert Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis Fannie Lou Hamer, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, Ruth and Miles Horton,( all at one time considered unreasonable and responding like King with his letter from that Birmingham Jail. What we have now are a lot of "reasonable" people thinking that it's sign of courage to listen to NPR, while children die in the richest nation in the world and the prison industrial complex becomes the highest growth industry, etc, etc, etc.Yes I'm smashing things, mostly conformity and complacency, except when I'm getting my drink on and what's up with that Air and Water Show, some thing is wrong!
Peace Yall
Dude, I don't know whether you're left wing, right wing or "I can't write worth a damn" wing, but here's to you, whatever the hell you may happen to be.
-Rory
...since when does turning 18 constitute "legal" where drinking alcohol is concerned? My opinion, lock Mr. Francis up for every girl who has consumed alcohol in his presence...sentences to run back to back and NOT concurrent! We'd see how "wild" he is surrounded by his own kind...in PRISON!