In the process of waiting for a super-techie from Micro$oft call me to fix the botched job that InternetExplorer did on my main computer, I discovered several potentially alarming indicators of the way that Micro$oftie appears to be heading.
A staffer from CNet noted back on July 30, 2006 that M$ was going to begin charging consumers who wish to experience the wonders of the 2007 Beta Version of MS Office a buck fifty to try using it off-line. The excuse was that the servers had five thousand more downloads already since anticipated. Thus, Bill G. & co. need our finances to help their finances.
See: http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+charge+for+Office+beta/2100-1012_3-6099987.html
Additionally, the company has come up with a way to enforce the DRMA-- Digital Restriction Media Access [or Digital Rights Media Act for those in favor thereof-- meaning chiefly Big Companies, the misinformed public which by and large think of filesharers as criminals, and a few musicians who don't realize that they will not be benefitting via increased revenue or generated fines]. With the release of Windows VISTA os comes some restrictions. Users will only be able to install VISTA on the same machine twice before having to go out and re-buy VISTA in a box. Any users who need to re-format their computers more than once are simply SOL. See the following sources:
http://operalover.tntluoma.com/news/desperately_seeking_revenue_microsoft_not_me/
[details on a broken download and a strongly-worded M$ suggestion to employ an out-sourced downloader both lead me to suspect that Micro$oft plans on charging for use of said downloader in order to avoid interruptions. But wait, there's more...]
http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/193300234 [VISTA can be reassigned to another device once and only once before the user would have to purchase another VISTA license...thus any user to has to reformat their machine more than once has to shell out more dough.]
Goto http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/security/default.mspx
for a bunch of articles related to the work M$ is doing to promote security on the internet-- including Sender ID e-mail [shades of Big Brother] and the M$ traveling security show. Also, Microsoft's refusal to release code to developers so that the developers can iron out glitches between their programs and VISTA in spite of touting VISTA compatibility with non-M$ apps.
Unfortunately, I could not find any references in any of the M$ sites I looked through supporting blocking of copyright-protected downloads nor Validation Check Failures. The existence of numerous white papers on the Micro$oft sites was pointless since I did not have the required validation code for Office 2003 in order to download them and read them. There are however numerous references in various blogs and a few newsarticles to the idea that VISTA will block one's computer from playing any media which lacks the proper DRM protection mark; and to the idea that when a copy of VISTA fails the validation check, that copy will then have limited functionality for one hour at a time. A few of them are cited below:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35057
http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2006/10/a_vista_of_lice.html
http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2006/8/25/0391/26494
http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/008540.html
http://weblogs.asp.net/pwilson/archive/2006/09/27/Vista-will-NOT-support-Developers.aspx
http://blog.lobby4linux.com/index.php?/archives/
71-MS-Assaults-Customers-with-First-Wave-of-Attacks.html
http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/167101037
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=119757
http://www.drmblog.com/
The upshot is that we are rapidly seeing the dissolution of the days when the average kid was able to download songs from the radio and share homemade tapes [CDs] of varied content with friends. Starting with the advent of Sony's rootkits, proceeding through the illegalization of two or more people being able to even discuss how one might defeat DRM [DRMA] "protections"
and the extention of copyright protections to the forbidding of backwards engineering, onward to the build-in dictates of how one can use their computer by the VISTA os. M$ is annoying in its' inherent belief that users are not capable of navigating around their computers. To add insult to injury, now it seems that we users must be protected from ourselves.
Considering my recent really bad experience with IE7 mucking up the main computer, I am not going to upgrade to VISTA's big brother like protection. I'm switching to Linux.
radical sapphoq
PS In case ya haven't heard, the VISTA kernel has already been broken!!!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
MADONNA AND MALAWI 10/22/06
radical sapphoq says: I do not care for the singer known as Madonna. Ever since the picture ["staged shot"] of the German Shepard Dog appearing lustily from between her legs was published in a book containing photographs of Madonna-- the book with the special silver cover released just before the 1992 Christmas shopping season-- I refuse to listen to her music or support her in any way. Even a "staged shot" of implied beastiality is far too offensive for my sensibilities. Some time after that, Madonna attempted to clean up her public image a bit through motherhood and marriage in some order.
Recently, Madonna pledged to contribute a lot of money to orphanages in Malawi. Specifically, she plans an orphanage where Kabbalah will be taught to the orphans. It is noted that Kabbalah, a form of mysticism, is not native to any Malawi spiritual beliefs. The orphanage system as it stands now is overrun with children and babies who have lost parents to AIDS or malaria. In turn, some carefully pre-selected twelve little ones were lined up for her [uh, well okay, she got to play with some kids and then pick one out] as possible desirable candidates for adoption. This was done in spite of Malawi's [currently controversial] policy of requiring that foreigners reside in Malawi for eighteen months before being allowed to adopt-- and Britain's adoption law requiring that adoptive parents be no more than 45 years older than their adopted children. Madonna also just happened to pick out a little boy who is not HIV positive. Little David Banda, 13 months old, had been placed in the orphanage because his father did not have the financial resources to care for him. Because David's mother is dead, he is considered to be an orphan under the laws of his country.
His father, a man who cannot read or write, signed the adoption papers believing that David would be returned to him as a teenager. There are conflicting reports about Mr. Banda's view of the adoption. It is reported that Madonna will arrange for David to visit in three or four years. Madonna has already taken her new charge to London. I believe it is doubtful that she will agree to return him to Malawi permanently at any time in the foreseeable future.
Personally, I detest the sort of grandstanding that Madonna engages in. The large sums of money that she has already spent on David certainly could have been used to buy his father and his father's whole village out of poverty. If she really cared that much about Malawi orphans, she could have agreed to raise money for the building of orphanages without stipulating that they must teach Kabbalah to the children in their charge. If she cared that much about "the children of the world" that she claims she feels responsibility for, she might have considered not contaminating the Malawi culture with her presence. By her celebrity status, she has successfully defeated Malawi values concerning foreign adoptions. By virtue of her money, Madonna is guaranteed that Malawi children will be exposed to a foreign mysticism which again runs contrary to Malawi native cultural teachings.
~radical sapphoq
Recently, Madonna pledged to contribute a lot of money to orphanages in Malawi. Specifically, she plans an orphanage where Kabbalah will be taught to the orphans. It is noted that Kabbalah, a form of mysticism, is not native to any Malawi spiritual beliefs. The orphanage system as it stands now is overrun with children and babies who have lost parents to AIDS or malaria. In turn, some carefully pre-selected twelve little ones were lined up for her [uh, well okay, she got to play with some kids and then pick one out] as possible desirable candidates for adoption. This was done in spite of Malawi's [currently controversial] policy of requiring that foreigners reside in Malawi for eighteen months before being allowed to adopt-- and Britain's adoption law requiring that adoptive parents be no more than 45 years older than their adopted children. Madonna also just happened to pick out a little boy who is not HIV positive. Little David Banda, 13 months old, had been placed in the orphanage because his father did not have the financial resources to care for him. Because David's mother is dead, he is considered to be an orphan under the laws of his country.
His father, a man who cannot read or write, signed the adoption papers believing that David would be returned to him as a teenager. There are conflicting reports about Mr. Banda's view of the adoption. It is reported that Madonna will arrange for David to visit in three or four years. Madonna has already taken her new charge to London. I believe it is doubtful that she will agree to return him to Malawi permanently at any time in the foreseeable future.
Personally, I detest the sort of grandstanding that Madonna engages in. The large sums of money that she has already spent on David certainly could have been used to buy his father and his father's whole village out of poverty. If she really cared that much about Malawi orphans, she could have agreed to raise money for the building of orphanages without stipulating that they must teach Kabbalah to the children in their charge. If she cared that much about "the children of the world" that she claims she feels responsibility for, she might have considered not contaminating the Malawi culture with her presence. By her celebrity status, she has successfully defeated Malawi values concerning foreign adoptions. By virtue of her money, Madonna is guaranteed that Malawi children will be exposed to a foreign mysticism which again runs contrary to Malawi native cultural teachings.
~radical sapphoq
Sunday, October 15, 2006
NORTH KOREA AND NUKES 10/15/06
Saturday afternoon, I watched the U.N. Security Council vote 15-0 to impose a weapons' sanction on North Korea [the DPRK] on C-SPAN on teevee. The sanction is in response to the conduction of nuclear testing by North Korea on Monday, October 9, 2006.
I watched as the North Korean Ambassador Pak Gil Yon announced that the DPRK rejects the sanction and views it as an act of agression by the United States.
I watched as he strode out of the room defiantly, leaving an empty chair.
radical sapphoq says: We certainly have not heard the last of this one. More to follow as the story develops.
~radical sapphoq
I watched as the North Korean Ambassador Pak Gil Yon announced that the DPRK rejects the sanction and views it as an act of agression by the United States.
I watched as he strode out of the room defiantly, leaving an empty chair.
radical sapphoq says: We certainly have not heard the last of this one. More to follow as the story develops.
~radical sapphoq
Saturday, October 14, 2006
FOLEY'S FOLLY PART FOUR 10/14/06
Did Mark Foley show up drunk at the pages' dormitory located one block from Capitol Hill?
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1004gns-foley-incident04-ON.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217899,00.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/nation/epaper/2006/10/14/a25a_foley_1014.html
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/ccContent/512978.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101300591.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
U.S. Capitol Police did not "lose" a report concerning the allegations/rumors that Mark Foley showed up drunk at the pages' dorm. "Can't find the report" implies that there was a report and that it was lost. Fact is, there WAS no report to be lost.
Did Mark Foley show up drunk at the pages' dormitory located one block from Capitol Hill?
The current evidence does not substantiate this allegation/rumor. There was no report filed and there are no eye-witnesses that have been identified to date.
If he did, the evidence does not show it.
radical sapphoq says: Didn't happen.
Did Mark Foley send Instant Messages to pages [who were all at or above the age of legal consent in the District of Columbia btw] of a sexual nature?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=4
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=5
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=6
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=7
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=8
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=9
Also:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6122045.html
radical sapphoq says: Yup.
Was any investigation into this matter delayed or is that complaint part of name-calling [chiefly by liberals]?
http://citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=163 and their homepage
http://citizensforethics.org/ . Interesting is that George Soros is their biggest donor:
http://citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=3574.
More name-calling by Dan Savage and others:
http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=14750&Itemid=9 and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/please-go-back-in_b_31500.html and
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/10/hotline_after_d_98.html
For some well-thought out opinions, please goto:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6122045.html and
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1719370/posts and
http://www.unogateway.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/10/10/452c8aaea0416
The Citizens for Ethics article claims that the FBI was forwarded copies of the "e-mails" on July 21, 2006 by their Executive Director. Nothing further was heard until September 29, 2006.
radical sapphoq says: Unsubstantiated so far. Two months is not a long time to begin or to publicize an investigation-- if the article in question is accurate.
Given the nature of the articles, columns, and blogs published by Dan Savage, Charles-Karel-Bouley, and the "What's a dem to do?" section in the hotline blog,
radical sapphoq says: yes, name-calling is going on chiefly by liberals. The republicans [who tend to vote against glbt civil rights measures] were accused of a cover-up and knocked for then conducting a thorough investigation of that which they stand accused of delaying.
Is Mark Foley gay or a pedophile? Is he an alcoholic or sex addict?
radical sapphoq says: We don't really know. There is not enough evidence available to decide.
Sending e-mails or instant messages to minors is not illegal. There is no evidence that Mark Foley had sex with any male page under the age of consent [which in the District of Columbia is sixteen] nor that he solicited said sex. He may be a gay man or a bisexual man with a taste for twinkies ["blond on the outside, fluffy on the inside"] which may or may not be the result of the sexual abuse that he may or may not have endured at the hands of a member of the clergy in his youth. We don't really know.
Radical sapphoq does not want him in "our" community but recognizes that we cannot take away his right to call himself gay, a survivor of sexual abuse, or a member of any other tribe. Much as some of us in the glbt community would rather label Mark Foley a pedophile, there is no legal grounds for it. We also do not know if he is a "sex addict."
Mark Foley is blaming his actions on drunkeness. Again, we really do not know if he is an alcoholic or not.
Mark Foley, rightly or wrongly, is in a rehab. The Ethics Committee and the FBI are conducting investigations. As things stand now, there will be no criminal trial. Name-calling does not help address the issues at hand. Let's let the investigators do their jobs.
~radical sapphoq
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1004gns-foley-incident04-ON.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217899,00.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/nation/epaper/2006/10/14/a25a_foley_1014.html
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/ccContent/512978.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101300591.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
U.S. Capitol Police did not "lose" a report concerning the allegations/rumors that Mark Foley showed up drunk at the pages' dorm. "Can't find the report" implies that there was a report and that it was lost. Fact is, there WAS no report to be lost.
Did Mark Foley show up drunk at the pages' dormitory located one block from Capitol Hill?
The current evidence does not substantiate this allegation/rumor. There was no report filed and there are no eye-witnesses that have been identified to date.
If he did, the evidence does not show it.
radical sapphoq says: Didn't happen.
Did Mark Foley send Instant Messages to pages [who were all at or above the age of legal consent in the District of Columbia btw] of a sexual nature?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=4
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=5
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=6
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=7
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=8
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=9
Also:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6122045.html
radical sapphoq says: Yup.
Was any investigation into this matter delayed or is that complaint part of name-calling [chiefly by liberals]?
http://citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=163 and their homepage
http://citizensforethics.org/ . Interesting is that George Soros is their biggest donor:
http://citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=3574.
More name-calling by Dan Savage and others:
http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=14750&Itemid=9 and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/please-go-back-in_b_31500.html and
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/10/hotline_after_d_98.html
For some well-thought out opinions, please goto:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6122045.html and
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1719370/posts and
http://www.unogateway.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/10/10/452c8aaea0416
The Citizens for Ethics article claims that the FBI was forwarded copies of the "e-mails" on July 21, 2006 by their Executive Director. Nothing further was heard until September 29, 2006.
radical sapphoq says: Unsubstantiated so far. Two months is not a long time to begin or to publicize an investigation-- if the article in question is accurate.
Given the nature of the articles, columns, and blogs published by Dan Savage, Charles-Karel-Bouley, and the "What's a dem to do?" section in the hotline blog,
radical sapphoq says: yes, name-calling is going on chiefly by liberals. The republicans [who tend to vote against glbt civil rights measures] were accused of a cover-up and knocked for then conducting a thorough investigation of that which they stand accused of delaying.
Is Mark Foley gay or a pedophile? Is he an alcoholic or sex addict?
radical sapphoq says: We don't really know. There is not enough evidence available to decide.
Sending e-mails or instant messages to minors is not illegal. There is no evidence that Mark Foley had sex with any male page under the age of consent [which in the District of Columbia is sixteen] nor that he solicited said sex. He may be a gay man or a bisexual man with a taste for twinkies ["blond on the outside, fluffy on the inside"] which may or may not be the result of the sexual abuse that he may or may not have endured at the hands of a member of the clergy in his youth. We don't really know.
Radical sapphoq does not want him in "our" community but recognizes that we cannot take away his right to call himself gay, a survivor of sexual abuse, or a member of any other tribe. Much as some of us in the glbt community would rather label Mark Foley a pedophile, there is no legal grounds for it. We also do not know if he is a "sex addict."
Mark Foley is blaming his actions on drunkeness. Again, we really do not know if he is an alcoholic or not.
Mark Foley, rightly or wrongly, is in a rehab. The Ethics Committee and the FBI are conducting investigations. As things stand now, there will be no criminal trial. Name-calling does not help address the issues at hand. Let's let the investigators do their jobs.
~radical sapphoq
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
FOLEY'S FOLLY PART THREE 10/10/06
http://www.newsok.com/article/2954042
-Page Jordan Edmund interviewed with the FBI today for approximately 90 minutes.
-He did not give a statement to the news media afterward.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20061007-084158-5003r.htm/ October 7, 2006 article from the Washington Post indicating that
-Page Jordan Edmund will co-operate with the FBI, according to his lawyer.
-His lawyer is Stephen Jones.
-Stephen Jones represented Timothy McVeigh in the bombing. Stephen Jones is a republican.
-Jordan Edmund is currently a 21 year old aide to Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla.
-Staffer Scott Palmer from House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office spoke with Senator Mark Foley about inappropriate SOCIAL contact with male pages approximately two years prior to other staffers in Hastert's office spoke with Foley regarding e-mails to [a page] from Louisiana.
Direct quote from the Oct. 7, 2006 at 10:20AM article at the Washington Post site:
Foley allegedly sent an instant message telling page Jordan Edmund, now a 21-year-old aide to Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., to "strip down and get relaxed," CNN reported.
http://www.abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4640778 10/10/06: Channel 6/ABC Philadelphia website reports that
-Former chief of staff Kirk Fordham from Mark Foley's office states that he spoke with the House Speaker's staff in 2003 or possibly in 2002 regarding Mark Foley's conduct toward pages.
-Kirk Fordham has a lawyer also. His name is Timothy Heaphy.
-Rep. Jim Kolbe, Arizona states that an ex-page he had sponsored contacted his office and registered a complaint about an e-mail that he [ex-page] received from Mark Foley.
-Rep. Jim Kolbe told Mark Foley about the complaint and also told the [at the time] House Clerk Jeff Trandahl.
-Jeff Trandahl is no longer the House Clerk.
-He has a lawyer. His name is Cono Namorato.
-Cono Namorato states that Jeff Trandahl will co-operate with FBI and House Ethics Committee.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/detail.asp?ID=92315&GRP=D, a site which re-posted the Washington Post article published on 10/8/06 in full written by Elizabeth Williamson.
-Jordan Edmund was popular with female pages and is not himself a homosexual.
-Jordan Edmund has been interested in politics as a teen.
-Jordan Edmund is taking a year off from U-Cal/Berkeley and is currently the deputy campaign manager of Istook's run for governor of Oklahoma.
-An anonymous page claims that Jordan Edmund boasted about being friends with Mark Foley.
-Some blogs are speculating that the messages from Jordan Edmund was a prank designed to get Mark Foley to send back messages of a sexual nature.
-Jordan Edmund has a MySpace blog where he goes by EDMO!
-It is alleged that Mark Foley mentioned visiting a former page in San Diego in some instant messages.
-Stephen Jones who is Jordan Edmund's lawyer denies that it was a prank. Stephen Jones referred to Jordan Edmund as Mark Foley's victim.
From the Drudge Report website: http://www.drudgereport.com/page.htm direct quote:
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 5 2006 22:01:25 ET XXXXX CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'**Update** According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, said he goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. The primary source, an ally of Edmund, adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund. Both are fearful that their political careers will be affected if they are publicly brought into the investigation. The prank scenario only applies to the Edmund IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others. Developing...
Also goto this site: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2Y2YWI3ZTI3ZjQzMWRkYzVkMmYwNjIyYTA5NWRhMjA
Matthew Sheffield's blog http://newsbusters.org/node/8115 also pasted the information from the Drudge Report, but he got to it sooner than I did. He re-posted the Drudge Report on 10/5/06 at 2:57pm [time zone unknown to me]
PJ Gladnick and Mark Sheffield themselves were hypothesizing that Democrats were behind the Mark Foley incidents.
-Two Jordan Edmund associates who are so far unnamed stated that the whole thing was a prank.
-Former FBI Chief Louis Freeh will investigate the Mark Foley scandal.
And finally, a small blog on blogspot which supposedly was contacted by one or more alleged pages who were the supposed recipients of Mark Foley's supposed titillating sexual verbal and/or physical advances:
http://stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/
The author of the blog did not fill out the "About Me" section of the blogspot profile. The profile shows when he/she/they started the blog and how many hits the profile has received as well as the name of the blog. The author states that [he or she] started the blog to stop on-line sexual predators.
Misspellings were left intact. Some spacing changed here because in copy and paste operations to Blogspot, some of the spaces were eliminated. Also for readability.
Direct quotes are all lifted verbatim from the blog to give you a flavor of what you will find there:
Shocking Emails:
I have been away for a while, so please accept my apologies for the lack of blog posts. BUT....while I was away, the blog has been noticed and some shocking emails have been received!!!! I can hardly believe it! I'm posting each one below. It's proof that the Congressional Corruption of the past is alive and well today. It's up to us to expose it and stop this predatory harassment! Please promote the blog and email any further information to stopsexpredators@gmail.com . Together we will make a difference!
FIRST EMAIL
From: congress intern Signed-By: yahoo.com Mailed-By: yahoo.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 12, 2006 12:34 PM
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
I saw your article’s about Congressional sex scandals with interns. Let me share what happened to me.I was near the end of my internship for Congressman Foley’s office he asked me for my email. I was not sure why he wanted but I gave it to him anyway. A few days later I got an email from him in the middle of the night asking me for pictures. I sent him a few pictures of me and other interns at work. A few days later he emailed me asking for more pictures of me but not from work. He was looking for personal pictures of me. I ignored the email he started emailing me telling me that he was going to be visiting my area. H e said he wanted to get together with me. he wanted me to come up to his hotel romm. I think that he was looking to have sex with me. After\n that email I block him from my email address Congressintern01
SECOND EMAILFrom: hill boy Signed-By: yahoo.com Mailed-By: yahoo.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 17, 2006 7:55 PM
Subject: Outraged by skinterns?
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
After reading your post on skinterns I wanted to fill you in on what really goes on in the halls of Congress.I used to be a House LA on the Hill working.When I was working up there, folks use to refer to the Terrible Three – Barney Frank, Mark Foley, and Jim Kolbe.Everyone knows about Barney Frank’s exploits…living with a man who ran a gay prostitute ring out of Frank’s house…and how he how used to hit on men much younger than him.And Jim Kolbe…everyone who works on the Hill has heard rumors about Kolbe. One of my friends even told me that Kolbe hit on him on several occasions.Despite all the stories, Frank and Kolbe are well respected because when they got caught, they admitted that they were gay.That and neither Frank nor Kolbe have anything on Foley.People were always talking about seeing Foley lurking in locker rooms around DC looking for sex, how he especially likes teenage boys, and frequents gay bars around D.C. and in his district.
THIRD EMAILFrom: repub intern Mailed-By: hotmail.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 18, 2006 2:07 PM
Subject: CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION!!!
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
My dad who gives a lot of money to republicans got me an internship capitol hill. I thought that I was hot shit, having such a good internship after my freshman year of college.After a few weeks, I was finally learning my way around DC and I was enjoying my job.One night, I decided to go out with my new fake ID to my first gay bar.I went to this bar named Coblot.There was old guy who would not leave me alone. He kept following me around.I tried to get him to leave me alone by going to the bathroom.Instead he followed me in and tried to grope me.A few days later my boss had me run something over to another congressmans office. It turned out that the guy who groped me was Representative Mark Foley.
Stop Sex Predators
Thursday, October 05, 2006
I CAN'T RESIST
There are a few points I want to address. I keep seeing things in the press and on the blogs (which I never read until all of this started going on).First, I can't believe that Speaker Dennis Hastert is blaming this blog on people like George Soros and Bill Clinton. That's just an attempt at escaping responsibility. What does it matter who actually posted those first emails? Which leads me to my next point.....How the heck can the FBI investigate this? Media reports say that they had the emails that I posted over a year ago. How are they investigating the House leadership for not handling it when they got the emails and they didn't look into it either?Although I totally blasted the media earlier for being lame for a whole year on this matter, I think they may be our best hope for the entire truth coming out in this matter. So, I hope they will ask questions about not only when Republican Leadership knew about it, what they did, how they were connected, what favors took place, etc; BUT, I hope they will also ask questions about who in the FBI let this go without investigating.The TRUE HERO here is the page who reported the emails in the first place. Can you imagine how he has felt over the past year? For an ENTIRE year, NOTHING was done to show this kid that he was justified in reporting this sexual predator to the authorities. I've seen a lot of press and read a lot of blogs in the past week, but NOBODY has given this kid credit for the incredible courage that he showed not only a year ago, but for the entire past year while he MUST have questioned if he did the right thing. Well, he did. Kudos to him.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 1:25 PM
GOOD POINTS FROM READERS
Just having gone through the hundreds of emails I have recently received, I found a couple of points that I feel warrant being posted. They come from two separate emails, so I will copy the body of both below, but also withholding their names/email addresses. I generally agree with the points that they make and thank them for sending them along.
FIRST EMAIL:First, I'd like to CONGRATULATE you on your efforts to stop sexual predators! Anyone who has been a victim of incest can identify with how it feels to be sexually hounded by someone and the requistie lifelong effects that has. You are providing a much-needed outlet for these young people who have been preyed upon; often times they are confused by the action(s) and feel they are the only ones who have experienced it.Second, I just have a few suggestions in light of the Congressman Foley scandal. Since many interested people will be checking out your blog for information, I suggest you make clear what defines a sexual predator. Combined with the political spin about the Foley scandal, and people's general confusion about this issue, the facts are getting marred. For example, often times the fact that these pages were minors -- under the age of 18 yrs. -- is seeming to escape peoples' thoughts. And, more importantly, people are forgetting that sexual predatory behavior of a minor is a CRIME! It is not "flirting," just sending "naughty emails," or happening because one is homosexual.The point I'm making is, like incest or sexual assault, sexual predators come in all forms -- and from all classes. I see nearly every night on my local news, stories about sexual predators, and more often they not, they are not the ones in business suits; rather, they are portrayed as some working class thug. So I'm proposing that those who post on your blog, provide their ages during the time they were preyed upon, and where it occurred (meaning the context, like "at work"), and how it made them feel.I feel your blog is going to be a very useful tool in getting sex predators. Good Luck with your efforts!
SECOND EMAIL:I just came across your blog and wanted to say a few things.First, your statement to the press is perfect!Second, I'm sorry to hear that threatening comments had been posted, and that you've been receiving threatening emails. I have a hard time understanding why anyone should find fault with you, but then I have a hard time understanding much of what passes for logic among some people.You do say to email you if there is something one feels needs to be posted. I have no information on this, but there is a point (two actually) that I think needs to be made. Since you have the ear of many people and a wonderful way with words, may I ask you to consider making one or both?There is now discussion on eliminating the page program, and I don't understand why I've yet to hear anyone make the connection: If young people 16 years old up to college age aren't safe on Capitol Hill, it's probably not the pages who need to be removed. What does it say about our elected officials that we can't trust them around these kids? What does it say about us that we still trust them to run the country? What does it say about all of us, that we're considering doing away with a tradition as old as the country is, that provides a such a wonderful opportunity, with so little outcry? After all, it isn't that there's illness spreading, or natural dangers (prone to dangerous weather or earthquakes), or the high crime rate has been a problem for the kids. The threat is our own elected representatives!The second point is emotionally charged, and if you're already getting threatening emails, you probably should stay away from this one. I would like to know though why Foley's homosexuality is such an issue. What if he had gone after female pages instead of male pages? Would that be all right? Maybe that is going on and no one is saying anything about it? As a fully heterosexual woman, it makes no difference to me if an unwanted sexual advance is made by a man or another woman. The minute I make it clear that it's unwanted, I expect it to stop. NO full adult should be preying on our kids, certainly no one in positions of power and authority. It doesn't matter what the gender of either one is! I'm concerned that Foley's sexual orientation is overshadowing the real issue here - he had no business treating ANY page as he did.There is one way in which his sexual orientation is relevant. I find it amazing how many Republicans are gay, given the party platform on homosexuality. Can we say hypocrisy? But that's another matter entirely.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:29 AM ...
...READ THIS
Hello Folks. Maybe I'm not so happy that so many people are coming to this blog site. I'm not interested in media interviews. Thank you for your interest, but if you were doing your job to begin with, Mark Foley would have been exposed a long time ago. Instead of wanting to do a story about this blog, how about covering the fact that the media sat on this story for over a year. You're as bad as the Congressional Leadership that covered for Foley. In case you didn't notice, all of the comments on the blog are gone? Wonder why? Because there are so many awful people out there. I started getting threats, so I decided that if somebody was going to threaten me, they were going to have to email me directly. So, they have continued to do so. There is no logical reason for someone to be so angry. I understand that the ramifications of these emails is far and wide. Much farther than I could ever have imagined. Regardless, think about how awareness has been raised. AND.....here are the answers to some questions that have been posed. I am not Karl Rove, Mark Foley, or John Boehner. I am not employed in Democratic politics. I am not 'funded' by George Soros. I'm nobody that anybody should care about. So, please, go about your day as if I don't exist. If you have something that needs to be posted on this site, please let me know.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 8:38 PM
Monday, October 02, 2006
Let's Focus....
Let's keep our eye on the ball here.I'm thrilled that so many folks are looking at this simple blog. Please attempt to limit your comments to the purpose of this blog. I understand the media coverage is continuing to dominate Congressman Foley. Law enforcement is now involved and will sort out the truth. In the meantime, if you have further information, you can continue to email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com . If you have any ideas that I should post, please let me know. I'm happy to pass along information about the current situation, but would much prefer to keep marching toward the large goal or stopping sex predators. I don't think we'll see it in the Congress anytime soon, so let's focus our energy elsewhere.Thank you again for your interest in http://www.stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/ !!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 1:23 PM
Friday, September 29, 2006
WOW!
I'm not quite sure what to say. I started this blog a couple of months ago with the aim of stopping sex predators. It looks like we stopped ONE. A corrupt Congressman has resigned and dropped out of his race for re-election. THIS IS A GOOD START. And it's a good and visible start.But let's not lose aim of what this site is about. This is a high moment in the beginning of our little web community. I've been very pleased at the amazing response we've had.Please continue to visit the sight on a regular basis and report any information you know or have heard that we can look into.We have gotten inquiries from almost every major news outlet in the country. Perhaps if we get good information on here again, I can go back to some of those reporters and they can help expose these predators. It might not be as big of a news story as the past few days, but maybe we can keep stopping them!!!!! That's what we're here for!! Thank you everyone for helping to stop our FIRST sex predator!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 10:30 PM
Thursday, September 28, 2006
NEED MORE INFO!!!
I haven't posted anything since those emails came through. I never intended for this blog to go in this direction. BUT, after a lot of thought, I decided that this is just one moment in the roadway of this blog and it's actually living up to its purpose.SO, WE NEED MORE INFORMATION!!! The number of hits the blog is getting is steadily increasing. Does anyone know anything about CONGRESSMAN RODNEY ALEXANDER? There are some comments under the post of the emails from Congressman Foley. What does it mean?
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 10:30 AM
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Emails from Congressman Foley to 16 Year Old Page!!!!
This is absolutely amazing. I just received these emails. They were sent by Congressman Mark Foley to a 16-year-old male page. I have removed his name to protect his identity. But how shocking is this? I can't believe this was emailed to me? There must be even more out there. Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com and let me know what we should do!!!! Something must be done!!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:06 AM
Thursday, September 21, 2006
HOLY COW!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! This is another email that I received today. I'm absolutely flabbergasted. KEEP THE EMAILS COMING!!!!! Maybe we will get enough to make something happen!! Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com .Here's the email:
From: No Body Mailed-By: hotmail.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 21, 2006 11:18 AM
Subject: No Laughing Matter
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
I am tired of people treating this thing with Congressman Mark Foley like a joke. It is not funny. He's a danger to any young, slightly attractive young man on The Hill. I came to Washington because I care about the future ofAmerica. I wanted to be around good and decent men like President George Bush. Instead, I feel like a piece of meat. The worst part of it for me is there appear to be plenty of my fellow interns who don't mind Foley's particular "path to power." Please, if there is anyone who knows what I should do tell me. I am genuinely afraid of this man. Anytime he is around he just leers and one guy told me he asked for his email address and got abunch of invitations to go out and "party" whatever that means. Help. Help.Help.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 4:47 PM
Sunday, September 24, 2006 http://stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/2006/09/emails-from-congressman-foley-to-16.html
Emails from Congressman Foley to 16 Year Old Page!!!! [Sunday September 24th 2006]
[Alleged e-mails were ?scanned? into the stopsexpredators site and did not reproduce with my copy and paste operation. The first one listed Maf31 at aol dot com as the From. The next three listed Maf54 at aol dot com as the From. Contents as follows:
Glad your home safe and sound...we don't go back into session until Sept 5...si it's a nice long break...I am back in Florida now...its nice here...been raining today...it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks...how old are you now?
I just emailed will...hes such a nice guy...acts much older than his age...and hes in really great shape...I am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile jouirney now heading to the gym...whats school like for you this year?
I am in North Carolina and it was100 in New Orleans...wow that's really hot...well do you missDC...Its raining here but 68 degrees so who can argue..did you have fun at your conference....what do you want for your birthday coming up...what stuff do you like to do
How are you weathering the hurricane...are you safe....send me a pic of you as well....]
This is absolutely amazing. I just received these emails. They were sent by Congressman Mark Foley to a 16-year-old male page. I have removed his name to protect his identity. But how shocking is this? I can't believe this was emailed to me? There must be even more out there. Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com and let me know what we should do!!!! Something must be done!!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:06 AM
radical sapphoq's verdict:
-Every one in the Capitol building retains a lawyer.
-The stopsexpredators blog site is a total scam. Or, the author is sincere and people wrote to her scamming her. I tend to lean strongly toward the first-- that the site is a scam. Probably written by a survivor of sexual abuse with unworked through trauma issues and histronic tendencies OR written by someone or someone and friends as a total prank.
-The FBI should investigate the author of the site thoroughly and give ?her? a good scare so she won't scam like that again. Or give them a scare so they won't prank off of a prank again.
-Mark Foley is a closeted homosexual with a taste for "twinkies."
-When he was pranked by some pages, he did not have the good sense to not respond.
-He may or may not have showed up at the dorm of some pages and he may or may not have been drunk at the time, not that it matters.
-He is running scared for some other reason than Instant Messages and/or e-mails to pages containing questionable sexual inneundos.
-He may not be guilty of anything other than poor judgement regarding the pages. More will come to light as to what he actually said or did not say to the page or pages involved via electronica.
-Edmund Jordan is in possession of old emails which show only an overly friendly closeted gay man who is somewhat desperate to retain his fading youth and wanting some gay sex.
-Mark Foley quit Congress because his is running scared for some other reason than a bunch of Instant Messages and/or e-mails containing questionable sexual inneuendos. The other reason probably has nothing to do with twinkie sex but he is afraid that an investigation will reveal that reason. He went to treatment for alcoholism and "behavioral disorder" to avoid being censured by his peers.
-Mark Foley was told to resign and he agreed to because of this other reason which we do not know and may never know.
~radical sapphoq
-Page Jordan Edmund interviewed with the FBI today for approximately 90 minutes.
-He did not give a statement to the news media afterward.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20061007-084158-5003r.htm/ October 7, 2006 article from the Washington Post indicating that
-Page Jordan Edmund will co-operate with the FBI, according to his lawyer.
-His lawyer is Stephen Jones.
-Stephen Jones represented Timothy McVeigh in the bombing. Stephen Jones is a republican.
-Jordan Edmund is currently a 21 year old aide to Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla.
-Staffer Scott Palmer from House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office spoke with Senator Mark Foley about inappropriate SOCIAL contact with male pages approximately two years prior to other staffers in Hastert's office spoke with Foley regarding e-mails to [a page] from Louisiana.
Direct quote from the Oct. 7, 2006 at 10:20AM article at the Washington Post site:
Foley allegedly sent an instant message telling page Jordan Edmund, now a 21-year-old aide to Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., to "strip down and get relaxed," CNN reported.
http://www.abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4640778 10/10/06: Channel 6/ABC Philadelphia website reports that
-Former chief of staff Kirk Fordham from Mark Foley's office states that he spoke with the House Speaker's staff in 2003 or possibly in 2002 regarding Mark Foley's conduct toward pages.
-Kirk Fordham has a lawyer also. His name is Timothy Heaphy.
-Rep. Jim Kolbe, Arizona states that an ex-page he had sponsored contacted his office and registered a complaint about an e-mail that he [ex-page] received from Mark Foley.
-Rep. Jim Kolbe told Mark Foley about the complaint and also told the [at the time] House Clerk Jeff Trandahl.
-Jeff Trandahl is no longer the House Clerk.
-He has a lawyer. His name is Cono Namorato.
-Cono Namorato states that Jeff Trandahl will co-operate with FBI and House Ethics Committee.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/detail.asp?ID=92315&GRP=D, a site which re-posted the Washington Post article published on 10/8/06 in full written by Elizabeth Williamson.
-Jordan Edmund was popular with female pages and is not himself a homosexual.
-Jordan Edmund has been interested in politics as a teen.
-Jordan Edmund is taking a year off from U-Cal/Berkeley and is currently the deputy campaign manager of Istook's run for governor of Oklahoma.
-An anonymous page claims that Jordan Edmund boasted about being friends with Mark Foley.
-Some blogs are speculating that the messages from Jordan Edmund was a prank designed to get Mark Foley to send back messages of a sexual nature.
-Jordan Edmund has a MySpace blog where he goes by EDMO!
-It is alleged that Mark Foley mentioned visiting a former page in San Diego in some instant messages.
-Stephen Jones who is Jordan Edmund's lawyer denies that it was a prank. Stephen Jones referred to Jordan Edmund as Mark Foley's victim.
From the Drudge Report website: http://www.drudgereport.com/page.htm direct quote:
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 5 2006 22:01:25 ET XXXXX CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'**Update** According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, said he goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. The primary source, an ally of Edmund, adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund. Both are fearful that their political careers will be affected if they are publicly brought into the investigation. The prank scenario only applies to the Edmund IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others. Developing...
Also goto this site: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2Y2YWI3ZTI3ZjQzMWRkYzVkMmYwNjIyYTA5NWRhMjA
Matthew Sheffield's blog http://newsbusters.org/node/8115 also pasted the information from the Drudge Report, but he got to it sooner than I did. He re-posted the Drudge Report on 10/5/06 at 2:57pm [time zone unknown to me]
PJ Gladnick and Mark Sheffield themselves were hypothesizing that Democrats were behind the Mark Foley incidents.
-Two Jordan Edmund associates who are so far unnamed stated that the whole thing was a prank.
-Former FBI Chief Louis Freeh will investigate the Mark Foley scandal.
And finally, a small blog on blogspot which supposedly was contacted by one or more alleged pages who were the supposed recipients of Mark Foley's supposed titillating sexual verbal and/or physical advances:
http://stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/
The author of the blog did not fill out the "About Me" section of the blogspot profile. The profile shows when he/she/they started the blog and how many hits the profile has received as well as the name of the blog. The author states that [he or she] started the blog to stop on-line sexual predators.
Misspellings were left intact. Some spacing changed here because in copy and paste operations to Blogspot, some of the spaces were eliminated. Also for readability.
Direct quotes are all lifted verbatim from the blog to give you a flavor of what you will find there:
Shocking Emails:
I have been away for a while, so please accept my apologies for the lack of blog posts. BUT....while I was away, the blog has been noticed and some shocking emails have been received!!!! I can hardly believe it! I'm posting each one below. It's proof that the Congressional Corruption of the past is alive and well today. It's up to us to expose it and stop this predatory harassment! Please promote the blog and email any further information to stopsexpredators@gmail.com . Together we will make a difference!
FIRST EMAIL
From: congress intern Signed-By: yahoo.com Mailed-By: yahoo.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 12, 2006 12:34 PM
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
I saw your article’s about Congressional sex scandals with interns. Let me share what happened to me.I was near the end of my internship for Congressman Foley’s office he asked me for my email. I was not sure why he wanted but I gave it to him anyway. A few days later I got an email from him in the middle of the night asking me for pictures. I sent him a few pictures of me and other interns at work. A few days later he emailed me asking for more pictures of me but not from work. He was looking for personal pictures of me. I ignored the email he started emailing me telling me that he was going to be visiting my area. H e said he wanted to get together with me. he wanted me to come up to his hotel romm. I think that he was looking to have sex with me. After\n that email I block him from my email address Congressintern01
SECOND EMAILFrom: hill boy Signed-By: yahoo.com Mailed-By: yahoo.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 17, 2006 7:55 PM
Subject: Outraged by skinterns?
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
After reading your post on skinterns I wanted to fill you in on what really goes on in the halls of Congress.I used to be a House LA on the Hill working.When I was working up there, folks use to refer to the Terrible Three – Barney Frank, Mark Foley, and Jim Kolbe.Everyone knows about Barney Frank’s exploits…living with a man who ran a gay prostitute ring out of Frank’s house…and how he how used to hit on men much younger than him.And Jim Kolbe…everyone who works on the Hill has heard rumors about Kolbe. One of my friends even told me that Kolbe hit on him on several occasions.Despite all the stories, Frank and Kolbe are well respected because when they got caught, they admitted that they were gay.That and neither Frank nor Kolbe have anything on Foley.People were always talking about seeing Foley lurking in locker rooms around DC looking for sex, how he especially likes teenage boys, and frequents gay bars around D.C. and in his district.
THIRD EMAILFrom: repub intern Mailed-By: hotmail.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 18, 2006 2:07 PM
Subject: CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION!!!
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
My dad who gives a lot of money to republicans got me an internship capitol hill. I thought that I was hot shit, having such a good internship after my freshman year of college.After a few weeks, I was finally learning my way around DC and I was enjoying my job.One night, I decided to go out with my new fake ID to my first gay bar.I went to this bar named Coblot.There was old guy who would not leave me alone. He kept following me around.I tried to get him to leave me alone by going to the bathroom.Instead he followed me in and tried to grope me.A few days later my boss had me run something over to another congressmans office. It turned out that the guy who groped me was Representative Mark Foley.
Stop Sex Predators
Thursday, October 05, 2006
I CAN'T RESIST
There are a few points I want to address. I keep seeing things in the press and on the blogs (which I never read until all of this started going on).First, I can't believe that Speaker Dennis Hastert is blaming this blog on people like George Soros and Bill Clinton. That's just an attempt at escaping responsibility. What does it matter who actually posted those first emails? Which leads me to my next point.....How the heck can the FBI investigate this? Media reports say that they had the emails that I posted over a year ago. How are they investigating the House leadership for not handling it when they got the emails and they didn't look into it either?Although I totally blasted the media earlier for being lame for a whole year on this matter, I think they may be our best hope for the entire truth coming out in this matter. So, I hope they will ask questions about not only when Republican Leadership knew about it, what they did, how they were connected, what favors took place, etc; BUT, I hope they will also ask questions about who in the FBI let this go without investigating.The TRUE HERO here is the page who reported the emails in the first place. Can you imagine how he has felt over the past year? For an ENTIRE year, NOTHING was done to show this kid that he was justified in reporting this sexual predator to the authorities. I've seen a lot of press and read a lot of blogs in the past week, but NOBODY has given this kid credit for the incredible courage that he showed not only a year ago, but for the entire past year while he MUST have questioned if he did the right thing. Well, he did. Kudos to him.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 1:25 PM
GOOD POINTS FROM READERS
Just having gone through the hundreds of emails I have recently received, I found a couple of points that I feel warrant being posted. They come from two separate emails, so I will copy the body of both below, but also withholding their names/email addresses. I generally agree with the points that they make and thank them for sending them along.
FIRST EMAIL:First, I'd like to CONGRATULATE you on your efforts to stop sexual predators! Anyone who has been a victim of incest can identify with how it feels to be sexually hounded by someone and the requistie lifelong effects that has. You are providing a much-needed outlet for these young people who have been preyed upon; often times they are confused by the action(s) and feel they are the only ones who have experienced it.Second, I just have a few suggestions in light of the Congressman Foley scandal. Since many interested people will be checking out your blog for information, I suggest you make clear what defines a sexual predator. Combined with the political spin about the Foley scandal, and people's general confusion about this issue, the facts are getting marred. For example, often times the fact that these pages were minors -- under the age of 18 yrs. -- is seeming to escape peoples' thoughts. And, more importantly, people are forgetting that sexual predatory behavior of a minor is a CRIME! It is not "flirting," just sending "naughty emails," or happening because one is homosexual.The point I'm making is, like incest or sexual assault, sexual predators come in all forms -- and from all classes. I see nearly every night on my local news, stories about sexual predators, and more often they not, they are not the ones in business suits; rather, they are portrayed as some working class thug. So I'm proposing that those who post on your blog, provide their ages during the time they were preyed upon, and where it occurred (meaning the context, like "at work"), and how it made them feel.I feel your blog is going to be a very useful tool in getting sex predators. Good Luck with your efforts!
SECOND EMAIL:I just came across your blog and wanted to say a few things.First, your statement to the press is perfect!Second, I'm sorry to hear that threatening comments had been posted, and that you've been receiving threatening emails. I have a hard time understanding why anyone should find fault with you, but then I have a hard time understanding much of what passes for logic among some people.You do say to email you if there is something one feels needs to be posted. I have no information on this, but there is a point (two actually) that I think needs to be made. Since you have the ear of many people and a wonderful way with words, may I ask you to consider making one or both?There is now discussion on eliminating the page program, and I don't understand why I've yet to hear anyone make the connection: If young people 16 years old up to college age aren't safe on Capitol Hill, it's probably not the pages who need to be removed. What does it say about our elected officials that we can't trust them around these kids? What does it say about us that we still trust them to run the country? What does it say about all of us, that we're considering doing away with a tradition as old as the country is, that provides a such a wonderful opportunity, with so little outcry? After all, it isn't that there's illness spreading, or natural dangers (prone to dangerous weather or earthquakes), or the high crime rate has been a problem for the kids. The threat is our own elected representatives!The second point is emotionally charged, and if you're already getting threatening emails, you probably should stay away from this one. I would like to know though why Foley's homosexuality is such an issue. What if he had gone after female pages instead of male pages? Would that be all right? Maybe that is going on and no one is saying anything about it? As a fully heterosexual woman, it makes no difference to me if an unwanted sexual advance is made by a man or another woman. The minute I make it clear that it's unwanted, I expect it to stop. NO full adult should be preying on our kids, certainly no one in positions of power and authority. It doesn't matter what the gender of either one is! I'm concerned that Foley's sexual orientation is overshadowing the real issue here - he had no business treating ANY page as he did.There is one way in which his sexual orientation is relevant. I find it amazing how many Republicans are gay, given the party platform on homosexuality. Can we say hypocrisy? But that's another matter entirely.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:29 AM ...
...READ THIS
Hello Folks. Maybe I'm not so happy that so many people are coming to this blog site. I'm not interested in media interviews. Thank you for your interest, but if you were doing your job to begin with, Mark Foley would have been exposed a long time ago. Instead of wanting to do a story about this blog, how about covering the fact that the media sat on this story for over a year. You're as bad as the Congressional Leadership that covered for Foley. In case you didn't notice, all of the comments on the blog are gone? Wonder why? Because there are so many awful people out there. I started getting threats, so I decided that if somebody was going to threaten me, they were going to have to email me directly. So, they have continued to do so. There is no logical reason for someone to be so angry. I understand that the ramifications of these emails is far and wide. Much farther than I could ever have imagined. Regardless, think about how awareness has been raised. AND.....here are the answers to some questions that have been posed. I am not Karl Rove, Mark Foley, or John Boehner. I am not employed in Democratic politics. I am not 'funded' by George Soros. I'm nobody that anybody should care about. So, please, go about your day as if I don't exist. If you have something that needs to be posted on this site, please let me know.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 8:38 PM
Monday, October 02, 2006
Let's Focus....
Let's keep our eye on the ball here.I'm thrilled that so many folks are looking at this simple blog. Please attempt to limit your comments to the purpose of this blog. I understand the media coverage is continuing to dominate Congressman Foley. Law enforcement is now involved and will sort out the truth. In the meantime, if you have further information, you can continue to email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com . If you have any ideas that I should post, please let me know. I'm happy to pass along information about the current situation, but would much prefer to keep marching toward the large goal or stopping sex predators. I don't think we'll see it in the Congress anytime soon, so let's focus our energy elsewhere.Thank you again for your interest in http://www.stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/ !!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 1:23 PM
Friday, September 29, 2006
WOW!
I'm not quite sure what to say. I started this blog a couple of months ago with the aim of stopping sex predators. It looks like we stopped ONE. A corrupt Congressman has resigned and dropped out of his race for re-election. THIS IS A GOOD START. And it's a good and visible start.But let's not lose aim of what this site is about. This is a high moment in the beginning of our little web community. I've been very pleased at the amazing response we've had.Please continue to visit the sight on a regular basis and report any information you know or have heard that we can look into.We have gotten inquiries from almost every major news outlet in the country. Perhaps if we get good information on here again, I can go back to some of those reporters and they can help expose these predators. It might not be as big of a news story as the past few days, but maybe we can keep stopping them!!!!! That's what we're here for!! Thank you everyone for helping to stop our FIRST sex predator!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 10:30 PM
Thursday, September 28, 2006
NEED MORE INFO!!!
I haven't posted anything since those emails came through. I never intended for this blog to go in this direction. BUT, after a lot of thought, I decided that this is just one moment in the roadway of this blog and it's actually living up to its purpose.SO, WE NEED MORE INFORMATION!!! The number of hits the blog is getting is steadily increasing. Does anyone know anything about CONGRESSMAN RODNEY ALEXANDER? There are some comments under the post of the emails from Congressman Foley. What does it mean?
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 10:30 AM
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Emails from Congressman Foley to 16 Year Old Page!!!!
This is absolutely amazing. I just received these emails. They were sent by Congressman Mark Foley to a 16-year-old male page. I have removed his name to protect his identity. But how shocking is this? I can't believe this was emailed to me? There must be even more out there. Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com and let me know what we should do!!!! Something must be done!!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:06 AM
Thursday, September 21, 2006
HOLY COW!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! This is another email that I received today. I'm absolutely flabbergasted. KEEP THE EMAILS COMING!!!!! Maybe we will get enough to make something happen!! Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com .Here's the email:
From: No Body Mailed-By: hotmail.com
To: stopsexpredators@gmail.com
Date: Sep 21, 2006 11:18 AM
Subject: No Laughing Matter
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?
I am tired of people treating this thing with Congressman Mark Foley like a joke. It is not funny. He's a danger to any young, slightly attractive young man on The Hill. I came to Washington because I care about the future ofAmerica. I wanted to be around good and decent men like President George Bush. Instead, I feel like a piece of meat. The worst part of it for me is there appear to be plenty of my fellow interns who don't mind Foley's particular "path to power." Please, if there is anyone who knows what I should do tell me. I am genuinely afraid of this man. Anytime he is around he just leers and one guy told me he asked for his email address and got abunch of invitations to go out and "party" whatever that means. Help. Help.Help.
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 4:47 PM
Sunday, September 24, 2006 http://stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/2006/09/emails-from-congressman-foley-to-16.html
Emails from Congressman Foley to 16 Year Old Page!!!! [Sunday September 24th 2006]
[Alleged e-mails were ?scanned? into the stopsexpredators site and did not reproduce with my copy and paste operation. The first one listed Maf31 at aol dot com as the From. The next three listed Maf54 at aol dot com as the From. Contents as follows:
Glad your home safe and sound...we don't go back into session until Sept 5...si it's a nice long break...I am back in Florida now...its nice here...been raining today...it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks...how old are you now?
I just emailed will...hes such a nice guy...acts much older than his age...and hes in really great shape...I am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile jouirney now heading to the gym...whats school like for you this year?
I am in North Carolina and it was100 in New Orleans...wow that's really hot...well do you missDC...Its raining here but 68 degrees so who can argue..did you have fun at your conference....what do you want for your birthday coming up...what stuff do you like to do
How are you weathering the hurricane...are you safe....send me a pic of you as well....]
This is absolutely amazing. I just received these emails. They were sent by Congressman Mark Foley to a 16-year-old male page. I have removed his name to protect his identity. But how shocking is this? I can't believe this was emailed to me? There must be even more out there. Email me at stopsexpredators@gmail.com and let me know what we should do!!!! Something must be done!!!!
posted by Stop Sex Predators at 11:06 AM
radical sapphoq's verdict:
-Every one in the Capitol building retains a lawyer.
-The stopsexpredators blog site is a total scam. Or, the author is sincere and people wrote to her scamming her. I tend to lean strongly toward the first-- that the site is a scam. Probably written by a survivor of sexual abuse with unworked through trauma issues and histronic tendencies OR written by someone or someone and friends as a total prank.
-The FBI should investigate the author of the site thoroughly and give ?her? a good scare so she won't scam like that again. Or give them a scare so they won't prank off of a prank again.
-Mark Foley is a closeted homosexual with a taste for "twinkies."
-When he was pranked by some pages, he did not have the good sense to not respond.
-He may or may not have showed up at the dorm of some pages and he may or may not have been drunk at the time, not that it matters.
-He is running scared for some other reason than Instant Messages and/or e-mails to pages containing questionable sexual inneundos.
-He may not be guilty of anything other than poor judgement regarding the pages. More will come to light as to what he actually said or did not say to the page or pages involved via electronica.
-Edmund Jordan is in possession of old emails which show only an overly friendly closeted gay man who is somewhat desperate to retain his fading youth and wanting some gay sex.
-Mark Foley quit Congress because his is running scared for some other reason than a bunch of Instant Messages and/or e-mails containing questionable sexual inneuendos. The other reason probably has nothing to do with twinkie sex but he is afraid that an investigation will reveal that reason. He went to treatment for alcoholism and "behavioral disorder" to avoid being censured by his peers.
-Mark Foley was told to resign and he agreed to because of this other reason which we do not know and may never know.
~radical sapphoq
Monday, October 09, 2006
FOLEY'S FOLLY PART TWO 10/9/06
The problem I have with the whole thing-- well okay, several.
As an adult [and a politician] Mark Foley had the option to report the e-mails/instant messages sent to him by pages which were flirty/leading him on/looking for a gay bashing instead of responding to them.
I wasn't able to find the links to any articles that pointed to a possible gay bashing.
Even if it was a gay bashing/attempted gay bashing/outing of a closeted older gay male republican politican by the younger high school pages, Mark Foley had the option to not respond and to direct his concerns about any of this stuff to his superiors i.e. his bosses.
So the idea that this situation is a result of some high school kids fooling around-- looking to trap Mark Foley in some way, shape, or form or have fun with the affections or affectations of an older closeted gay republican politician does not, in my mind, excuse any of it--
as the adult, Mark Foley had the responsibility to report THEIR overly friendly sexy etc emails/ims to the boss.
BTW, I know that many gay men do talk about "twinkies" [blond on the outside, fluffy on the inside, ie younger and much younger gay men] at least in
Albany NY they do. Most of them have the sense to wait until their twinkies are of legal drinking age or out of high school. A few of them or some of them DON'T.
Therein lies the sickness. That Mark Foley, regardless of the reason, would e-mail/IM back to any page [or anyone period during working hours but that is my second issue] messages alluding to his underwear or any question along the lines of, "Do you find me sexy?" or "Do you find me attractive?" Especially when said pages were still in high school regardless of whether or not they were legal tender.
Lawyers are paid to make scum look good and less-than-scum look better. So I believe that Mark Foley was asked/forced/mandated to resign rather than the words of his lawyer that he volunteered to resign [before asked/forced/mandated to].
The fact that the democrats are attempting to use this stuff as shit-fodder for the upcoming election just points to me the nature of politics.
There is also the alleged upcoming testimony of one page now 18 from Louisiana who allegedly had sex with Mark Foley while he was fifteen. I can understand why a victim of a perpetrator would wait several years to come forward with this stuff, having been there myself.
It does seem a bit over-convenient to the democrats for all this to come out now.
As far as the republicans covering the whole thing up, I don't buy that.
Mark Foley's seat was a "safe" republican seat, the republicans have been traditionally associated with non-championship of some civil rights for glbt americans, and it was republicans who were in the forefront of reporting their suspicions about Mark Foley and the pages to their bosses.
The other problem I have is this man was working while allegedly looking for his thrills with the high school pages [or getting suggestive messages and responding to them in the same manner]. Bill Clinton was on the job too when he did some of his down and dirty stuff. But Bill was a democrat. We have Genevieve Flowers, Paula somebody or other, and Monica who didn't have the sense to send her dress to the dry cleaners.
I wonder if the democratic response would have been any different [that is to say, yup, it woulda. after all, Barney Frank got to keep his young lover in a paid-for-by-the-taxpayers apartment] had Mark Foley been a democrat.
Make sure to check out my friend Jeremy Crow's blog for another refreshing take on the subject at: http://blog.jeremycrow4life.com/2006/10/things-you-learn-when-you-pay.html
radical sapphoq
As an adult [and a politician] Mark Foley had the option to report the e-mails/instant messages sent to him by pages which were flirty/leading him on/looking for a gay bashing instead of responding to them.
I wasn't able to find the links to any articles that pointed to a possible gay bashing.
Even if it was a gay bashing/attempted gay bashing/outing of a closeted older gay male republican politican by the younger high school pages, Mark Foley had the option to not respond and to direct his concerns about any of this stuff to his superiors i.e. his bosses.
So the idea that this situation is a result of some high school kids fooling around-- looking to trap Mark Foley in some way, shape, or form or have fun with the affections or affectations of an older closeted gay republican politician does not, in my mind, excuse any of it--
as the adult, Mark Foley had the responsibility to report THEIR overly friendly sexy etc emails/ims to the boss.
BTW, I know that many gay men do talk about "twinkies" [blond on the outside, fluffy on the inside, ie younger and much younger gay men] at least in
Albany NY they do. Most of them have the sense to wait until their twinkies are of legal drinking age or out of high school. A few of them or some of them DON'T.
Therein lies the sickness. That Mark Foley, regardless of the reason, would e-mail/IM back to any page [or anyone period during working hours but that is my second issue] messages alluding to his underwear or any question along the lines of, "Do you find me sexy?" or "Do you find me attractive?" Especially when said pages were still in high school regardless of whether or not they were legal tender.
Lawyers are paid to make scum look good and less-than-scum look better. So I believe that Mark Foley was asked/forced/mandated to resign rather than the words of his lawyer that he volunteered to resign [before asked/forced/mandated to].
The fact that the democrats are attempting to use this stuff as shit-fodder for the upcoming election just points to me the nature of politics.
There is also the alleged upcoming testimony of one page now 18 from Louisiana who allegedly had sex with Mark Foley while he was fifteen. I can understand why a victim of a perpetrator would wait several years to come forward with this stuff, having been there myself.
It does seem a bit over-convenient to the democrats for all this to come out now.
As far as the republicans covering the whole thing up, I don't buy that.
Mark Foley's seat was a "safe" republican seat, the republicans have been traditionally associated with non-championship of some civil rights for glbt americans, and it was republicans who were in the forefront of reporting their suspicions about Mark Foley and the pages to their bosses.
The other problem I have is this man was working while allegedly looking for his thrills with the high school pages [or getting suggestive messages and responding to them in the same manner]. Bill Clinton was on the job too when he did some of his down and dirty stuff. But Bill was a democrat. We have Genevieve Flowers, Paula somebody or other, and Monica who didn't have the sense to send her dress to the dry cleaners.
I wonder if the democratic response would have been any different [that is to say, yup, it woulda. after all, Barney Frank got to keep his young lover in a paid-for-by-the-taxpayers apartment] had Mark Foley been a democrat.
Make sure to check out my friend Jeremy Crow's blog for another refreshing take on the subject at: http://blog.jeremycrow4life.com/2006/10/things-you-learn-when-you-pay.html
radical sapphoq
Sunday, October 08, 2006
FOLEY'S FOLLY 10/8/06
This morning on the teevee, we watched a newscaster attempting to dialogue with one democrat senator and one republican senator about the republican senator who was asked to resign. The latest scandal is that Senator Mark Foley was [allegedly] sending sexual e-mails to some male high school pages, showed up drunk one night looking for sex, and may or may not have had some sort of sex with one of them. "Under-aged" is the word that was stressed.
The democrat naturally insisted that somehow the republican was supposed to know of Mark Foley's actions, did know and didn't take any action soon enough, blah blah blah. The republican was fairly vocal about the fact that one Mark Foley's actions came to light, his resignation was immediately demanded. Both senators were heavy on the idea of a full investigation though for different reasons. Neither one mentioned the fact that the ex-senator is currently in treatment for "alcoholism and behavioral disorders." Neither one talked about the idea that any senator is not supposed to be sending any sort of personal e-mails during work time. [Well, at least I hope that they aren't supposed to be.]
When I first heard this story, I thought that the pages in question were college kids. That made it a bit less hideous to my way of thinking. High school kids though gave me pause. Why would any grown adult want to get it on with any high school kid? Mark Foley is old.
Quite frankly, I was also a bit put out that Mark Foley self-identified as being "gay." Personally, I DON'T WANT HIM IN THE NON-STR8 COMMUNITY. The fact that an adult goes after underaged teens of the same gender does NOT make him gay [or her a lesbian. I know that there are woman pedophiles out there too]. I don't care that he has an addiction to alcohol or a "behavioral disorder." He is an ex-senator. That is too bad in a way. He should go rot in a prison cell with the other pedophiles where he can have all the gay sex he doesn't want. Meanwhile, he is in a place that will probably drug him and teach him that he is powerless over his recent actions.
~radical sapphoq
P.S. I could not figure out from the democrat senator's comments exactly how the republicans were supposed to "know" these things were going on. There was no clear-cut evidence presented on the news show I watched this morning [names, dates, written records] of who allegedly might have reported concerns about Mark Foley several years ago.
The democrat naturally insisted that somehow the republican was supposed to know of Mark Foley's actions, did know and didn't take any action soon enough, blah blah blah. The republican was fairly vocal about the fact that one Mark Foley's actions came to light, his resignation was immediately demanded. Both senators were heavy on the idea of a full investigation though for different reasons. Neither one mentioned the fact that the ex-senator is currently in treatment for "alcoholism and behavioral disorders." Neither one talked about the idea that any senator is not supposed to be sending any sort of personal e-mails during work time. [Well, at least I hope that they aren't supposed to be.]
When I first heard this story, I thought that the pages in question were college kids. That made it a bit less hideous to my way of thinking. High school kids though gave me pause. Why would any grown adult want to get it on with any high school kid? Mark Foley is old.
Quite frankly, I was also a bit put out that Mark Foley self-identified as being "gay." Personally, I DON'T WANT HIM IN THE NON-STR8 COMMUNITY. The fact that an adult goes after underaged teens of the same gender does NOT make him gay [or her a lesbian. I know that there are woman pedophiles out there too]. I don't care that he has an addiction to alcohol or a "behavioral disorder." He is an ex-senator. That is too bad in a way. He should go rot in a prison cell with the other pedophiles where he can have all the gay sex he doesn't want. Meanwhile, he is in a place that will probably drug him and teach him that he is powerless over his recent actions.
~radical sapphoq
P.S. I could not figure out from the democrat senator's comments exactly how the republicans were supposed to "know" these things were going on. There was no clear-cut evidence presented on the news show I watched this morning [names, dates, written records] of who allegedly might have reported concerns about Mark Foley several years ago.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
OF HORSES AND CAMELS 10/3/06
The United Arab Emirates [UAE] is divided into seven emirates. The second emirate is governed by the Maktoum family. Two brothers in the family-- Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum the Crown Prince of Dubai; and Sheikl Hamdan bin Rashid Al Mantoum the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the UAE Minister of Finance-- have been named in a lawsuit filed in Miami, Florida the week of September 3rd, 2006. The brothers keep race horses on farms in Ocala, Florida which is why the lawsuit was permitted to be filed there.
The lawsuit was brought by parents of missing boys and it alleges that Sheikh Mohammad and Sheikh Hamdan have been involved in black-market purchases and kidnapping of young boys chiefly from India and Pakistan for import to the UAE so they can work as camel jockeys and stable hands. It is alleged that the boys are kept in substandard conditions in desert camps, given growth hormones to stunt their growth, and forced to work with the camels.
Camel racing is a dangerous undertaking. UAE camels have one hump. Boys have been trampled to death and otherwise injured by the camels. Undersized jockeys are preferred because less weight enables camels to go at top speeds. Boys who begin to gain weight as they get older are put to work as stable hands. Around the age of twelve, they are often arrested as illegal immigrants and given prison sentences. Those boys who are returned to India and Pakistan are often left in the streets of the "nearest slum" since records of their origins are not kept. A couple posing as parents of boys enable their crossing to the UAE when first taken. There are no "parents" availabe to help them when they are either brought back or arrested.
Sheikh Mohammad was served notice on the lawsuit on September 11, 2006 while attending Keeneland's Special Yearling Sale of racing thoroughbreds. Together with his bloodstock advisor John Ferguson, they topped the buyers' list there this year.
Read and learn.
radical sapphoq
Thanks to Lilly over at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-by2ZNJo4aKc7ON.DLInKEozU?p=681 for providing the links below and alerting me to this story:
http://www.keeneland.com/livesales/press_releases/details.asp?PID=2073 http://www.bloodhorse.com/rss/article.asp?id=35307
http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/english/history/history.asp http://www.sheikmohammed.co.ae/english/biography/crown.asp http://www.sheikhhamdan.ae/english/horse_racing.htm
http://www.ameinfo.com/82534.html
http://www.uaeone.com/traditions/camelracing.htm
http://www.camelraces.com
The lawsuit was brought by parents of missing boys and it alleges that Sheikh Mohammad and Sheikh Hamdan have been involved in black-market purchases and kidnapping of young boys chiefly from India and Pakistan for import to the UAE so they can work as camel jockeys and stable hands. It is alleged that the boys are kept in substandard conditions in desert camps, given growth hormones to stunt their growth, and forced to work with the camels.
Camel racing is a dangerous undertaking. UAE camels have one hump. Boys have been trampled to death and otherwise injured by the camels. Undersized jockeys are preferred because less weight enables camels to go at top speeds. Boys who begin to gain weight as they get older are put to work as stable hands. Around the age of twelve, they are often arrested as illegal immigrants and given prison sentences. Those boys who are returned to India and Pakistan are often left in the streets of the "nearest slum" since records of their origins are not kept. A couple posing as parents of boys enable their crossing to the UAE when first taken. There are no "parents" availabe to help them when they are either brought back or arrested.
Sheikh Mohammad was served notice on the lawsuit on September 11, 2006 while attending Keeneland's Special Yearling Sale of racing thoroughbreds. Together with his bloodstock advisor John Ferguson, they topped the buyers' list there this year.
Read and learn.
radical sapphoq
Thanks to Lilly over at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-by2ZNJo4aKc7ON.DLInKEozU?p=681 for providing the links below and alerting me to this story:
http://www.keeneland.com/livesales/press_releases/details.asp?PID=2073 http://www.bloodhorse.com/rss/article.asp?id=35307
http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/english/history/history.asp http://www.sheikmohammed.co.ae/english/biography/crown.asp http://www.sheikhhamdan.ae/english/horse_racing.htm
http://www.ameinfo.com/82534.html
http://www.uaeone.com/traditions/camelracing.htm
http://www.camelraces.com
Monday, October 02, 2006
ADIRONDACK PAGAN PRIDE DAY 10/2/06
I went to the Adirondack Pagan Pride Day on Saturday over at Adirondack Community College in Queensbury. There were the usual collection of vendors and a couple of tarot readers, belly dancers, and several workshops. Patricia Telesco was there promoting her books. She gave a fine talk on community-building. Folks from the Society for Creative Anachronisms were dressed in homemade battle armor. They allowed audience members to come up and bang their shields with pretend swords. I tried it myself. That was fun! Belly dancers danced to the beat of drums. Kids got their faces painted and colored pictures of the Green Man. There were two tattoo artists from a local business who attracted quite a few customers.
John Albee and some other folks from the First Church of Satan were in attendance and scheduled to give a workshop on their beliefs. That caused a bit of controversy with a local branch of the Catholic League and within some members of the pagan community itself.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue bashed the Adirondack Pagan Pride Day several days before the event. Under the sensational headline SUNY PROMOTES SATANISM, he observed the following:
“ACC Student Association, which is hosting Pagan Pride Day, says the event is free to the public and is designed to be ‘a celebration of religious diversity.’ But nothing is free—New York taxpayers are paying for this event—and a panel on religious diversity that was initially considered will not occur. However, Patricia Telesco will be there, author of How to be a Wicked Witch, and so will John Allee, a Satanic priest and founder of the First Church of Satan."
The specific amount of money-- a five hundred dollar honorium for Patricia Telesco, a witch and author traveling from Buffalo NY-- was voted on by the students. Mr. Donahue's observation about New York taxpayers funding the event was partially correct. Taxpayer money did not pay for the whole thing. And he forgot to mention that a few of the New York taxpayers are pagans. Some of the students who attend Adirondack Community College are also pagan. Thus, I don't have a problem with the expenditure. It was done in accordance with the laws of New York State and did not violate any separation-of-church-and-state concerns that some of us [myself included] have. Anyone who has read Ms. Telesco's books knows that she is not a satanist. Her book titled How to be a Wicked Witch will not lead anyone down the left-hand path, I promise.
I certainly have no fondness for Anton LeVey. I am not a satanist. For several years now, I have heard the heated arguements and protests gushing forth from the pagan community regarding satanism being a form of christianity in disguise. Witches, wiccans, pagans don't "believe" in the devil, the outcries go. Christians do. Satan is a christian construct. Ergo, satanists are actually christians. Ask any satanist about that and they will beg to differ.
The problem as I see it is that the christians don't want the satanists in their camp. The witches don't either. The satanists tend to ride on the coattails of witches. That is rather unfortunate. The literalist christians use that to bolster their claim that witches are satanists. I am sure though that even if the satanists decided that they were not witches, the fundamentalists would still attack earth-centered spiritualities and religions as being of the [christian] devil.
The committee who decides whether or not to allow the satanists to give a workshop every year seems unable to get the balls up to exclude the satanists. The committee down in Albany several years ago was also unable to decline the offer. "Chickenshits!" is the word that comes readily to my tongue when reflecting upon this sorry state of affairs.
But Pagan Pride Day Committees are not the only ones who have difficulty excluding undesirables. Quite a few Gay Pride Celebrations are infiltrated by the sickos from NAMBLA marching under their own banner and openly proclaiming man-boy "love." NAMBLA members wish to be known as homosexual when in fact they are sexual predators of the worst sort. "Bastards!" is the word that springs to my mind for them, along with visions of attending the Lorena Bobbitt School of Surgery and forcing them to be my unwitting patients. Those bastards should be left in solitary confinement in prisons to rot. Or put them to death. But I digress.
In spite of the inclusion of satanists at Pagan Pride Day events, I will continue to attend gatherings of pagans because I am one. I can [and do] exercise my free will by choosing to pet John Albee's dog and choosing to excuse myself from attending satan-themed workshops. [And I will continue to march in Gay Pride Parades while choosing not to march under the NAMBLA banner]. I am sorry that the folks over at the Catholic League feel left out of the fun. Pagans have been left out for a number of years. It is only by building community that we can enforce our visibility as a community and as a people working toward the betterment of our world.
~radical sapphoq
John Albee and some other folks from the First Church of Satan were in attendance and scheduled to give a workshop on their beliefs. That caused a bit of controversy with a local branch of the Catholic League and within some members of the pagan community itself.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue bashed the Adirondack Pagan Pride Day several days before the event. Under the sensational headline SUNY PROMOTES SATANISM, he observed the following:
“ACC Student Association, which is hosting Pagan Pride Day, says the event is free to the public and is designed to be ‘a celebration of religious diversity.’ But nothing is free—New York taxpayers are paying for this event—and a panel on religious diversity that was initially considered will not occur. However, Patricia Telesco will be there, author of How to be a Wicked Witch, and so will John Allee, a Satanic priest and founder of the First Church of Satan."
The specific amount of money-- a five hundred dollar honorium for Patricia Telesco, a witch and author traveling from Buffalo NY-- was voted on by the students. Mr. Donahue's observation about New York taxpayers funding the event was partially correct. Taxpayer money did not pay for the whole thing. And he forgot to mention that a few of the New York taxpayers are pagans. Some of the students who attend Adirondack Community College are also pagan. Thus, I don't have a problem with the expenditure. It was done in accordance with the laws of New York State and did not violate any separation-of-church-and-state concerns that some of us [myself included] have. Anyone who has read Ms. Telesco's books knows that she is not a satanist. Her book titled How to be a Wicked Witch will not lead anyone down the left-hand path, I promise.
I certainly have no fondness for Anton LeVey. I am not a satanist. For several years now, I have heard the heated arguements and protests gushing forth from the pagan community regarding satanism being a form of christianity in disguise. Witches, wiccans, pagans don't "believe" in the devil, the outcries go. Christians do. Satan is a christian construct. Ergo, satanists are actually christians. Ask any satanist about that and they will beg to differ.
The problem as I see it is that the christians don't want the satanists in their camp. The witches don't either. The satanists tend to ride on the coattails of witches. That is rather unfortunate. The literalist christians use that to bolster their claim that witches are satanists. I am sure though that even if the satanists decided that they were not witches, the fundamentalists would still attack earth-centered spiritualities and religions as being of the [christian] devil.
The committee who decides whether or not to allow the satanists to give a workshop every year seems unable to get the balls up to exclude the satanists. The committee down in Albany several years ago was also unable to decline the offer. "Chickenshits!" is the word that comes readily to my tongue when reflecting upon this sorry state of affairs.
But Pagan Pride Day Committees are not the only ones who have difficulty excluding undesirables. Quite a few Gay Pride Celebrations are infiltrated by the sickos from NAMBLA marching under their own banner and openly proclaiming man-boy "love." NAMBLA members wish to be known as homosexual when in fact they are sexual predators of the worst sort. "Bastards!" is the word that springs to my mind for them, along with visions of attending the Lorena Bobbitt School of Surgery and forcing them to be my unwitting patients. Those bastards should be left in solitary confinement in prisons to rot. Or put them to death. But I digress.
In spite of the inclusion of satanists at Pagan Pride Day events, I will continue to attend gatherings of pagans because I am one. I can [and do] exercise my free will by choosing to pet John Albee's dog and choosing to excuse myself from attending satan-themed workshops. [And I will continue to march in Gay Pride Parades while choosing not to march under the NAMBLA banner]. I am sorry that the folks over at the Catholic League feel left out of the fun. Pagans have been left out for a number of years. It is only by building community that we can enforce our visibility as a community and as a people working toward the betterment of our world.
~radical sapphoq
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