Where Everybody Knows You're Numb

Psych Lit · Guru

RE: and in florida......another no surprise here article

Date: Tue May 26 6:46 PM, 2009

Now that they finally balanced the budget. lol One of my favorite writers. Gator

CARL HIAASEN: Strange doings down on the farm

From the Miami Herald

Sometimes it's not easy to admit that you live in Florida.

Last week, our state Senate boldly took the first step toward making it illegal for a person to have intimate relations with an animal.

Although such a law might thin the dating pool in certain counties, it should ultimately serve to protect household pets and domestic livestock, which evidently are at far greater risk than most of us had imagined.

The cry for justice first arose from the small Panhandle community of Mossy Head, where in 2006 a 48-year-old man was suspected of abducting a neighbor family's pet goat and accidentally strangling it with its collar during a sex act.

I wish I were making this up, but the story is true. The poor goat's name was Meg.

After outraged citizens demanded that the suspect be arrested and locked up, local authorities were alarmed to discover that Florida was one of only 16 states that had no laws against bestiality.

While our moldy statute books still prohibit ''unnatural and lascivious acts'' between consenting adults, there's apparently nothing you cannot do with a four-legged partner.

More unwanted publicity came to Mossy Head when a local entrepreneur began selling T-shirts that said, ''Baaa Means No!'' Residents demanded that the suspected goat rapist be charged at least with animal cruelty, but DNA samples collected from the crime scene proved inconclusive.

Shortly after the fatal encounter with Meg, the same man was arrested while trying to sneak off with another goat. This time he was sentenced to 364 days for theft.

Enter Sen. Nan Rich, a Sunrise Democrat and longtime advocate for animal rights. Soon after the bizarre abductions in Mossy Head, she set out to write a law imposing tough criminal penalties on those who seek out animal companionship with carnal intent.

Although the bill died in the 2008 legislative session, this year it has a better chance of passing. A Senate agricultural committee has approved a version that would make bestiality a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

However, the discussion among lawmakers of this rather delicate topic already has provided a few uncomfortable moments.

As Rich's bill was being amended to make sure that some common animal-husbandry practices were exempt, Sen. Larcenia Bullard of Miami spoke up in puzzlement.

''People are taking these animals as their husbands? What's husbandry?'' she inquired.

The committee chairman, Sen. Charlie Dean of Citrus County, patiently explained that animal husbandry was a term used for the rearing and care of domestic animals.

Still, Bullard appeared confused.

''So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?'' she asked, an apparent reference to the recent incident in which a pet chimpanzee was shot by Connecticut police after it went berserk and mauled a visitor.

Bullard has taken some ribbing about her loopy comments, but in fairness she represents a big-city district in which neither goats nor chimps often make an appearance. (Miami does have a scattered population of chickens, which the proposed law would presumably protect from human sexual advances.)

Given the many urgent matters confronting the Legislature, it's easy to make light of the bestiality deliberations; lots of Internet correspondents have been chiding lawmakers for wasting time on such a silly subject.

Yet Rich asserts it's anything but silly, citing ``a tremendous correlation between sexually deviant behavior and crimes against children and crimes against animals.''

I'm not familiar with those statistics, but it's safe to assume that anyone with a burning sexual passion for farm critters has insurmountable psychological problems, and would not be a welcomed presence in most neighborhoods.

As fervently as we might hope otherwise, the goat-sex attack in Mossy Head wasn't an isolated incident. Rich says other disturbing acts against animals have been reported throughout the state, including the molestation of a horse in the Keys and of a seeing-eye dog in Tallahassee.

The latter case involved a 29-year-old blind man who four years ago was charged with ''breach of the peace'' after admitting to police that he had sex on numerous occasions with a yellow Labrador named Lucky, his guide dog.

You needn't be an animal lover to be left aghast by such accounts. Sure, we all knew Florida was crawling with sickos -- but boinking a seeing-eye dog?

OK, Sen. Rich, you win. We definitely need a law.

And a drink.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/carl-hiaasen/story/948715.html

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Psych Lit · Guru

My Turn wrote:

GOP governor eyeing Senate run to be outed in film tomorrow

BY JOHN BYRNE

Published: May 7, 2009
Updated 2 days ago

The Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, who is strongly considering a run for Senate, will be outed in a independent film being released tomorrow.
The film, Outrage, tracks the outings of prominent gay political figures, such as Crist and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. Its being produced by Magnolia Pictures and will appear in Landmark Theaters across the country.
Using some firsthand accounts of former sexual partners, old campaign footage (to occasionally humorous effect) and commentary from gay political media watchdogs, the film makes the case for each mans homosexuality, and presents his lifetime gay rights voting record, according to one reviewer. In each instance, the disconnect is staggering.
The usual suspects are all there: Craig, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, former New York mayor Ed Koch, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, former Rep. Ed Schrock, even dusty McCarthy relic Roy Cohn. Again, if youre reading this review, then youre likely no stranger to gay media, particularly gay online media (which is credited in the film as being one of the few places where these scandals are openly discussed) and none of these men is an unfamiliar candidate for speculation.

i saw this on the news headline this am along with some anchor out of control person who was very upset by this and actually threatened to punch the guy, well threaten is a strong word, more like suggested hed like to. i dont like either side of this argument they both have a big ick factor.

Anchor Loses His Cool With Gay Activist

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posted: 22 HOURS 12 MINUTES AGO

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(May 12) -- An activist devoted to "outing" closeted gay lawmakers who work against gay rights drew the ire of a news anchor who said he wanted to punch the activist during a TV interview.

Mike Rogers runs the Web site BlogActive, exposing what he calls government hypocrisy by listing the names of politicians and staffers who vote against gay rights issues but may be gay themselves. On May 6, he appeared on 'Let's Talk Live,' a Washington, D.C., show co-hosted by Doug McKelway on News Channel 8.

During the show, McKelway isn't shy about letting Rogers know that he doesn't agree with his tactics. When Rogers accuses the host of implying that being gay is wrong, McKelway tells Rogers he'd like to "take you outside and punch you across the face." In a follow-up segment, viewer e-mails and McKelway's own co-host take him to task, but he refuses to apologize.

-- Edited by Psych Lit on Wednesday 13th of May 2009 01:52:22 PM

My Turn · Senior Member

GOP governor eyeing Senate run to be outed in film tomorrow

BY JOHN BYRNE

Published: May 7, 2009
Updated 2 days ago

The Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, who is strongly considering a run for Senate, will be outed in a independent film being released tomorrow.

The film, Outrage, tracks the outings of prominent gay political figures, such as Crist and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. Its being produced by Magnolia Pictures and will appear in Landmark Theaters across the country.

Using some firsthand accounts of former sexual partners, old campaign footage (to occasionally humorous effect) and commentary from gay political media watchdogs, the film makes the case for each mans homosexuality, and presents his lifetime gay rights voting record, according to one reviewer. In each instance, the disconnect is staggering.

The usual suspects are all there: Craig, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, former New York mayor Ed Koch, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, former Rep. Ed Schrock, even dusty McCarthy relic Roy Cohn. Again, if youre reading this review, then youre likely no stranger to gay media, particularly gay online media (which is credited in the film as being one of the few places where these scandals are openly discussed) and none of these men is an unfamiliar candidate for speculation.

A top Republican leader signaled Wednesday that Crist will likely enter the Senate race for the seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), who is quitting.

All the signals Ive been getting is that he probably will [get into the race], but I dont want to make any announcements for him, because hes the one who will ultimately decide whether to pull the trigger or not, Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Senator John Cornyn told Politico for Thursday editions.

Cornyn told the site that if another conservative ran, he wouldnt pick sides also eyeing the post is former Florida House Speaker Mario Rubio, who announced his candidacy Tuesday.

But Crists only contender wouldnt be Rubio. It would also be himself.

Crist was first outed in a 2006 Palm Beach Post article by Bob Norman, prior to his election as governor.

A young rising star in the Republican Party has boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governors race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay.
The GOP staffer, 21-year-old Jason Wetherington, told friends at separate social functions in August that he had sex with Crist, according to two credible and independent sources who heard Wetherington make the claim first-hand.
Wetherington, who recently worked as a field director for U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris and currently works for state representative Ellyn Bodganoffs reelection campaign, also named a man whom he said is Crists long-term partner, a convicted thief named Bruce Carlton Jordan who also recently worked for Harris in her long-shot Senate bid.

Salon notes that Crist is the biggest fish in the film for critics.

The person most reviewers have been focusing on is Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was recently married his engagement was announced right around the time when speculation was mounting that he could be chosen as John McCains running mate,Salons Alex Koppelman writes. He was actually first outed back in 2006, by Bob Norman, a reporter for the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, who was also the first reporter to the story of former Rep. Mark Foleys sexuality, in 2003.

And, in cases like Crists, it means that the media knows something its audience doesnt, and is holding back information about people who are running for public office, Koppelman added. When his engagement was announced, there was largely no discussion of what most every national political reporter was probably thinking. What there was instead was a sort of inside joke, which was easy to catch if you were in on the secret, but not obvious to most readers and viewers. MSNBCs Chris Matthews, for example, could barely suppress an impish smile when talking about the news. Its time to move past that in some form or another, and if the movie helps in that respect, then thats a good thing even if its not actually outing anyone itself.

Crist was recently engaged, and then married quietly.

A Republican operative close to Crist told Politico he expects the governor to announce his future political plans very soon, perhaps as early as Monday. Crist has said he will decide after the state legislature wraps up its session, which ends on Friday.

_________________________________________________________________

still amazes me how many people here in fla still believe this guy is str8. i was not happy at all with his refusal to support prop 2 in the recent election. with his popularity, he really could have made a difference in the outcome (well, that, and wording the admendment so it wasnt so confusing and misleading to so many people) and all the other gay rights issues in this state...