text:
How 'gay rights' is being sold to America
David Kupelian on how marketing magic is 'normalizing' sexual perversion
Editor's note: Following is the widely cited first chapter of David Kupelian's classic bestseller, "The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom." In it, Kupelian rips the veil off the little-known marketing strategies and powerful propaganda techniques used with such stunning success to "sell" Americans on homosexuality and the radical "gay rights" agenda over the last few years – a marketing juggernaut that continues to accelerate daily.
"I did not choose to be homosexual. I would change my sexual orientation if that were within my power."
So confessed Robert Bauman, the powerful conservative congressman from Maryland. Americans were stunned in 1980 when headlines revealed Bauman had been caught red-handed having a sexual rendezvous with a young male prostitute. In his book "The Gentleman from Maryland: The Conscience of a Gay Conservative," Bauman revealed the conditions that shaped his own tortured double life as a pro-family Republican congressman and closet homosexual.
At the tender age of five, Bauman had been sexually seduced by a twelve-year-old neighbor. Reflecting on that pivotal experience, as well as subsequent similar episodes, Bauman described the powerful feelings he found welling up within him at a young age:
This was not a matter of chance attraction to a forbidden object. This was a frightening force from deep within my being, an involuntary reaction to the sight, smell, and feel of other boys. I neither understood nor accepted it. And I came to hate myself because of the presence within me of this horrible weakness, this uncleanness of spirit over which I seemed to have no control. …
I was sure my predicament was a unique punishment designed only for me. Unable to understand it myself, I could never even attempt an explanation to someone else. I countered my dilemma with a plan that constituted the essence of simplicity. I made up my mind that I was not "queer." I heard all those denunciations of homos by my military school peers and firmly resolved I could never be considered one of such a despicable breed.
Bauman was elected in 1973 as representative of the First Congressional District of Maryland, became chairman of the American Conservative Union in 1979, and, many thought, was on his way to becoming Speaker of the House. But he was leading a double life as a married man with four children while at the same time engaging in anonymous homosexual one-night stands. He described the wrenching emotional aftermath he experienced after every episode: "Each time I would feel great guilt and head for Saturday confession at St. Peter's or St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill so I could make amends with God and be in the state of grace for Sunday Communion. I would always vow to myself and God I would never do it again."
Submerging himself "in the excitement of politics where compliments, victories and deference helped reassure me I was a good person," Bauman looked every bit the quintessential conservative, family-values congressman. "If I could save the world," he later mused, "I might avoid having to save myself."
Read the exposé that revolutionized Americans' understanding of the "culture war," David Kupelian's "The Marketing of Evil." And through this limited-time offer, you can get your copy – hardcover and autographed – for only $4.95!
Looking back on his secret double life, Bauman engaged in some painful self-examination:
How could any normal and moral human being do what I did? How could anyone, however callous, repeatedly be unfaithful to one's spouse (lying, evading responsibility, breaking solemn vows)? I have described how it could be done. Why I did it is the serious question. And I have no answer, even to this day. I do not know. In many ways I was driven by a force over which I seemed to have little control.
Of course, my choice was conscious and deliberate. It could have been altered. But some compulsion drove me, blotting out all I had learned, diminishing in importance all that was most dear and important. I seemed willing to risk my marriage, my wife and children, even life itself.
It's hard not to have compassion on a fellow human being desperately struggling to overcome a powerful compulsion he "neither understood nor accepted." What happened to Bauman was a tragedy. He needed help – not rejection and condemnation for being a "queer," nor acceptance and praise for being an "oppressed minority" – but real help in understanding and overcoming his sexual problem.
In today's polarized climate, however, it seems most of us either condemn homosexuals as evil corrupters of society or we fawn over them as noble victims and cultural heroes. We either accuse them of "choosing" to be "wicked sexual deviants," or we claim – utterly without evidence – that "gayness" is an inborn, genetic trait.
Reality, however, lies somewhere else. Deep down, people of conscience know homosexuality is neither an innocent, inborn "minority" characteristic like skin color, nor a conscious choice to become evil and to corrupt others. But without understanding what we're really dealing with, we're not only powerless to help others but easily confused and corrupted ourselves.
Bauman, under the sway of an overwhelming and self-destructive compulsion, even admits in retrospect that perhaps he wanted to be caught so he could get help:
I can see numerous instances when my conduct, which I thought carefully discreet, was really designed to reveal to someone, anyone, what was happening to me. Perhaps my unconscious conclusion was that someone else must deal with the chaos of my life because I was rapidly reaching the point at which I could not do it myself.
Finally, in 1980, at the age of forty-three, Bauman got his wish and was found out. After the dramatic public exposure of his solicitation of a teenage male hustler, the congressman saw his political career crash. He lost not only his reelection bid but also his family, his historic home, and many of his powerful friends as well.
In truth, Robert Bauman's sad story is in some ways not too different from that of many others in America before today's era of "gay pride," out-of-the-closet politicians and celebrities, "lesbian and gay studies" in most colleges, "Gay Day" at Disneyland, and powerful homosexual lobbying and journalistic and legal groups throughout the land.
Back then, most people like Bauman remained "in the closet" with regard to their homosexuality. And in their secret world they suffered conflict, fear of exposure, and sometimes worse.
Today, thanks to America's politically correct "gay-friendly" culture, millions of human beings in the grip of this same unnatural sexual compulsion find it much easier to accept – even to wear as a badge of honor.
But they still don't understand it. In fact, they have less desire than ever to understand it – just as the larger society has also lost interest in understanding homosexuality. But sometimes not knowing what you're dealing with can be dangerous. So let's take off the rainbow-colored glasses and objectively explore this phenomenon we call "gay rights."
It grew out of the "sexual liberation" movement of the 1960s. To be precise, the June 11, 1969, "Stonewall riot" – when a group of homosexuals at New York City's Stonewall Inn resisted police commands to disperse – is widely regarded as the birth of the "gay liberation" movement.
This emerging political force made considerable strides during the '70s, most notably in persuading – many say intimidating – the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 into removing homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders. But "gay rights" was young, inexperienced, underfunded, and understaffed as political movements go, and the issue received little support from politicians or the nation in general.
"Equality for gays" was not yet a phrase that reverberated in the hearts and minds of Americans. Then came AIDS.
The problem of the plague
Surely, many activists thought, this would be their movement's death knell. For while they were trying to convince the mainstream that homosexuals represented a normal, healthy, alternative lifestyle, along comes a modern plague – horrible, incurable, fatal, and spread primarily by promiscuous homosexual men.
AIDS – originally named GRID (gay-related immunodeficiency disease) until activist homosexuals pressured the medical establishment to switch to the generic acronym AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) – was the ultimate public relations nightmare. It gave society a brand-new reason to fear and shun homosexuals – namely, concern over becoming infected with a nightmarish new disease.
And AIDS did something else. In order for the medical establishment and news media to communicate to the public how the disease was being transmitted, it became necessary to focus publicly on the one thing homosexuals most wanted to downplay – the sometimes-bizarre sexual acts in which they engage and their often astronomically high numbers of sexual partners. (A widely cited 1978 study by Alan P. Bell and Martin S. Wineburg reported that 43 percent of homosexuals had more than five hundred sex partners during their lifetime.)
In addition, the "silver bullet" medical cure Americans had virtually come to expect, having grown up in the age of miracle drugs like the polio vaccine and penicillin, never materialized. Rather, AIDS experts and public health authorities issued dire warnings about a disease reminiscent of the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages:
By the early years of the next century, we could have lost between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. There's no question about that. –Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
Ninety percent of the people infected [with HIV] don't even know it. – Dr. Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the HIV virus
In many areas, the number of persons affected with the AIDS virus is at least 100 times greater than reported case of AIDS. – Dr. James Curran, director of AIDS and HIV immunology and prevention activities at the Centers for Disease Control
Meanwhile, throughout the '80s and beyond, as AIDS infection and death rates skyrocketed with each passing year, high-profile figures were dying of the disease, including actor Rock Hudson in 1985, ABC News anchor Max Robinson in 1988, and ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev in 1993.
During this time the public experienced two distinct and widespread reactions to the unfolding AIDS epidemic. One was the natural sympathy evoked by witnessing the terrible suffering and death of AIDS victims.
But the other, if less politically correct, was fear and loathing of homosexuals. After all, there was no way back in those early days of the disease to rule out AIDS transmission via "casual contact" – that is, by means other than sex and intravenous drug use. As prominent Harvard AIDS researcher Dr. William Haseltine warned at the time: "Anyone who tells you categorically that AIDS is not contracted by saliva is not telling you the truth. AIDS may, in fact, be transmissible by tears, saliva, bodily fluids and mosquito bites."
Fears that AIDS would "break out" into the general population were further fanned by horror stories such as that of Kimberly Bergalis, a Florida girl who contracted AIDS (along with several other patients) from her homosexual dentist, David Acer.
As a matter of fact, many Americans not part of the two main "at-risk groups" (male homosexuals and IV drug abusers) were dying, mostly from HIV-tainted blood transfusions. One of them, Ryan White, an eighteen-year-old Indiana boy with hemophilia who became infected with HIV through a blood transfusion, died of AIDS in 1990 and became the poster boy for rallying Americans to support AIDS research. Two years later tennis great Arthur Ashe, also infected by an HIV-tainted transfusion, succumbed to the disease.
As a public relations matter, AIDS was daunting. This modern plague, if not handled brilliantly in the court of public opinion, could result in homosexuals being widely shunned. On the other hand, perhaps the sympathy factor could be harnessed and multiplied to advance the activists' cause. The movement definitely needed help.
The defiant, storm-trooper tactics of in-your-face groups like ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) may or may not have been successful in pressuring the federal government to increase its commitment to combating AIDS. But such tactics definitely were successful in giving activist homosexuals a very bad name.
One infamous incident was the assault on New York's famed St. Patrick's Cathedral on December 10, 1989. While Cardinal John O'Connor presided over the 10:15 Sunday morning Mass, a multitude of "pro-choice" and "gay rights" activists protested angrily outside. Some, wearing gold-colored robes similar to clerical vestments, hoisted a large portrait of a pornographically altered frontal nude portrait of Jesus.
"You bigot, O'Connor, you're killing us!" screamed one protester, while signs called the archbishop "Murderer!"
Then it got really ugly. Scores of protesters entered the church, resulting in what many in the packed house of parishioners described as a "nightmare."
"The radical homosexuals turned a celebration of the Holy Eucharist into a screaming babble of sacrilege by standing in the pews, shouting and waving their fists, tossing condoms into the air," recounted the New York Post. One of the invaders grabbed a consecrated wafer and threw it to the ground.
Outside, demonstrators, many of them members of ACT-UP, carried placards that summed up their sentiments toward the Catholic Church: "Keep your church out of my crotch." "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries." "Eternal life to Cardinal John O'Connor NOW!" "Curb your dogma."
Clearly, the young movement was flirting with oblivion if it persisted in such ugly, indefensible tactics. It needed a new, more civilized direction if it ever hoped to convince Americans that homosexuality was a perfectly normal alternative lifestyle.
This new direction would somehow have to convert the fearsome AIDS epidemic from a negative into a positive. What was needed was a comprehensive, long-term public relations campaign that had to be brilliantly conceived and skillfully executed.
War conference
In February 1988, some 175 leading activists representing homosexual groups from across the nation held a war conference in Warrenton, Virginia, to map out their movement's future. Shortly thereafter, activists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen put into book form the comprehensive public relations plan they had been advocating with their gay-rights peers for several years.
Kirk and Madsen were not the kind of drooling activists that would burst into churches and throw condoms in the air. They were smart guys – very smart. Kirk, a Harvard-educated researcher in neuropsychiatry, worked with the Johns Hopkins Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth and designed aptitude tests for adults with 200+ IQs. Madsen, with a doctorate in politics from Harvard, was an expert on public persuasion tactics and social marketing. Together they wrote "After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s."
"As cynical as it may seem," they explained at the outset, "AIDS gives us a chance, however brief, to establish ourselves as a victimized minority legitimately deserving of America's special protection and care. At the same time," they warned, "it generates mass hysteria of precisely the sort that has brought about public stonings and leper colonies since the Dark Ages and before. … How can we maximize the sympathy and minimize the fear? How, given the horrid hand that AIDS has dealt us, can we best play it?"
The bottom line of Kirk and Madsen's master plan? "The campaign we outline in this book, though complex, depends centrally upon a program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising."
Arguing that, skillfully handled, the AIDS epidemic could conquer American resistance to homosexuality and form the basis of a comprehensive, long-term marketing campaign to sell "gay rights" to straight America, "After the Ball" became the public-relations "bible" of the movement.
Kirk and Madsen's "war goal," explains marketing expert Paul E. Rondeau of Regent University, was to "force acceptance of homosexual culture into the mainstream, to silence opposition, and ultimately to convert American society." In his comprehensive study, "Selling Homosexuality to America," Rondeau writes:
The extensive three-stage strategy to Desensitize, Jam and Convert the American public is reminiscent of George Orwell's premise of goodthink and badthink in "1984." As Kirk and Madsen put it, "To one extent or another, the separability – and manipulability – of the verbal label is the basis for all the abstract principles underlying our proposed campaign."
Separability? Manipulability? Allow me to translate this psychological marketing jargon: We can change what people actually think and feel by breaking their current negative associations with our cause and replacing them with positive associations.
Simple case in point: homosexual activists call their movement "gay rights." This accomplishes two major objectives: (1) Use of the word gay rather than homosexual masks the controversial sexual behavior involved and accentuates instead a vague but positive-sounding cultural identity – gay, which, after all, once meant "happy"; and (2) describing their battle from the get-go as one over "rights" implies homosexuals are being denied the basic freedoms of citizenship that others enjoy.
So merely by using the term gay rights, and persuading politicians and the media to adopt this terminology, activists seeking to transform America have framed the terms of the debate in their favor almost before the contest begins. (And in public relations warfare, he who frames the terms of the debate almost always wins. The abortion rights movement has prevailed in that war precisely because it succeeded, early on, in framing the debate as a question, not of abortion, but of choice. The abortion vanguard correctly anticipated that it would be far easier to defend an abstract, positive-sounding idea like choice than the unrestricted slaughter of unborn babies.)
Okay, you might be wondering, even granting the movement's cutting-edge marketing savvy, how do you sell middle America on those five hundred sex partners and weird sexual practices? Answer, according to Kirk and Madsen, you don't. Just don't talk about it. Rather, look and act as normal as possible for the camera.
"When you're very different, and people hate you for it," they explain, "this is what you do: first you get your foot in the door, by being as similar as possible; then, and only then – when your one little difference is finally accepted – can you start dragging in your other peculiarities, one by one. You hammer in the wedge narrow end first. As the saying goes, allow the camel's nose beneath your tent, and his whole body will soon follow."
In other words, sadomasochists, leather fetishists, cross-dressers, transgenders, and other "peculiar" members of the homosexual community need to keep away from the tent and out of sight while the sales job is under way. Later, once the camel is safely inside, there will be room for all.
Rondeau explains Kirk and Madsen's techniques of "desensitization," "jamming," and "conversion" this way:
Desensitization is described as inundating the public in a "continuous flood of gay-related advertising, presented in the least offensive fashion possible. If straights can't shut off the shower, they may at least eventually get used to being wet." But, the activists did not mean advertising in the usual marketing context but, rather, quite a different approach: "The main thing is to talk about gayness until the issue becomes thoroughly tiresome." They add, "[S]eek desensitization and nothing more. … If you can get [straights] to think [homosexuality] is just another thing – meriting no more than a shrug of the shoulders – then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won."
This planned hegemony is a variant of the type that Michael Warren describes in "Seeing Through the Media" where it "is not raw overt coercion; it is one group's covert orchestration of compliance by another group through structuring the consciousness of the second group."
"Structuring the consciousness" of others? If that phraseology is uncomfortably reminiscent of various mind control and brainwashing tales you might have heard over the years, don't be surprised. Manipulating the emotions and thereby restructuring the thoughts and beliefs of large numbers of people is what modern marketing is all about.
"Jamming," explains Rondeau, "is psychological terrorism meant to silence
expression of or even support for dissenting opinion." Radio counselor and psychologist Dr. Laura Schlessinger experienced big-time jamming during the run-up to her planned television show. Outraged over a single comment critical of homosexuals she had made on her radio program, activists launched a massive intimidation campaign against the
television program's advertisers. As a result, the new show was stillborn.
But perhaps the highest-profile example of jamming occurred after the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming freshman Matthew Shepard. Lured from a bar, robbed and savagely beaten by two men, Shepard died five days later of head injuries. In the frenzied, saturation media coverage that followed, the press and homosexual activists singled out conservative Christians as having created a "climate of anti-gay hate" in which such a brutal act could happen.
NBC's Today show took the lead, focusing on a Christian ad campaign running at the time that offered to help homosexuals change their orientation. Reporter David Gregory narrated: "The ads were controversial for portraying gays and lesbians as sinners who had made poor choices, despite the growing belief that homosexuality may be genetic.
… Have the ads fostered a climate of anti-gay hate that leads to incidents like the killing of Matthew Shepard? Gay rights activists say the ads convey a message that gay people are defective."
And in a now-infamous interview, Today's Katie Couric asked Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer: "Some gay rights activists have said that some conservative political organizations like the Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family are contributing to this anti-homosexual atmosphere by having an ad campaign saying if you are a homosexual you can change your orientation. That prompts people
to say, 'If I meet someone who's homosexual, I'm going to take action to try to convince them or try to harm them.' Do you believe that such groups are contributing to this climate?"
Consciously or not, the media were following Kirk and Madsen's playbook to the letter, discrediting anyone who disagreed with the homosexual agenda by associating them with lowlife murderers. In reality, none of the Christian groups smeared by NBC had ever condoned mistreatment of homosexuals – in fact, they had explicitly condemned it.
As if to add even more shame to the whole-hog jamming of Christians after the Shepard murder, in 2004 a comprehensive new investigation by ABC News 20/20 concluded that homosexuality very likely wasn't a factor in Shepard's murder, but rather Shepard had been targeted for his money.
So much for desensitization and jamming. But what about "conversion"? Here, Kirk and Madsen announce defiantly:
We mean conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media. We mean "subverting" the mechanism of prejudice to our own ends – using the very processes that made America hate us to turn their hatred into warm regard – whether they like it or not.
Transforming another person's hatred into love ("warm regard") is the object of classic brainwashing. As Kirk and Madsen explain:
In Conversion, we mimic the natural process of stereotype-learning, with the following effect: we take the bigot's good feelings about all-right guys, and attach them to the label "gay," either weakening or, eventually, replacing his bad feelings toward the label and the prior stereotype. … Whereas in Jamming the target is shown a bigot being rejected by his crowd for his prejudice against gays, in Conversion the target is shown his
crowd actually associating with gays in good fellowship. Once again, it's very difficult for the average person, who, by nature and training, almost invariably feels what he sees his fellows feeling, not to respond in this knee-jerk fashion to a sufficiently calculated advertisement.
We're talking about some serious messing around with Americans' minds here. Do the homosexual activists thus engaged really know they're deceiving the public, or are they convinced they're just telling the truth?
"It makes no difference that the ads are lies," write Kirk and Madsen, "not to us, because we're using them to ethically good effect, to counter negative stereotypes that are every bit as much lies, and far more wicked ones."
Homosexualizing history
Another important technique promoted by "After the Ball," and employed repeatedly to great effect in recent years, is to claim that famous historical figures – "from Socrates to Eleanor Roosevelt, Tchaikovsky to Bessie Smith, Alexander the Great to Alexander Hamilton, and Leonardo da Vinci to Walt Whitman" – were homosexual or bisexual.
Although the authors know these claims are unproven at best and often baseless (they refer to them as "suspected 'inverts'"), that doesn't stop them from advocating the tactic.
A recent example of this was the highly publicized, though utterly unsubstantiated, speculation that Abraham Lincoln was a homosexual. Even more outrageous was the suggestion by openly "gay" New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson – a comment he quickly retracted after a firestorm of protest – that Jesus Christ was a homosexual!
As Kirk and Madsen explain:
Famous historical figures are considered especially useful to us for two reasons: first, they are invariably dead as a doornail, hence in no position to deny the truth and sue for libel. Second, and more serious, the virtues and accomplishments that make these historic gay figures admirable cannot be gainsaid or dismissed by the public, since high school history textbooks have already set them in incontrovertible cement.
The flip side of this "celebrity endorsement" tactic consists of associating all detractors of the radical homosexual agenda with negative images of universally despised tyrants and lowlifes. "After the Ball" lists some of the negative images with which opponents should be associated – including "Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered or castrated," "hysterical backwoods preachers, drooling with hate," "menacing punks, thugs and convicts who speak coolly about the 'fags' they have bashed," and a "tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed."
Indeed, says Rondeau, "perhaps the most menacing focus of the campaign is the special treatment reserved for the religious dissenters. The strategy is to 'jam homohatred by linking it to Nazi horror.'"
Kirk and Madsen explain the leverage gained by this nasty technique:
Most contemporary hate groups on the Religious Right will bitterly resent the implied connection between homohatred and Nazi fascism. But since they can't defend the latter, they'll end up having to distance themselves by insisting that they would never go to such extremes. Such declarations of civility toward gays, of course, set our worst detractors on the slippery slope toward recognition of fundamental gay rights.
Homosexual activists love to compare their opponents with Adolf Hitler and Nazis, apparently undaunted by the fact that, according to William L. Shirer's twelve-hundred-page "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," widely regarded as the definitive book on Nazi Germany, "many of the early Nazis" were homosexuals.
But this is not about truth. It's about manipulation. In a sense, modern psychology-based marketers understand people better than people understand themselves. They use emotional threads to tie their "product" (in this case, homosexuality) to preexisting positive attributes in the consumers' mind. And in a cultural-political campaign like this, they also successfully tie all who oppose their agenda to preexisting negatives, such as Nazis. The net effect of this conditioning can be so powerful over time that ultimately one's prior beliefs – based on experience, religious training, conscience, and common sense – are overwhelmed and replaced as a result of successive waves of emotion-driven reprogramming.
Still, one wonders how the press could allow itself to be used in such a blatantly propagandistic way and in pursuit of such a subversive agenda. And make no mistake, the "gay rights" agenda, which includes indoctrinating kindergartners with pro-homosexual propaganda and legalizing same-sex marriage, is extraordinarily subversive to America's foundational values and institutions.
For the answer to that question you have to realize what's happened to the news media in recent years.
As you no doubt already know, the establishment press is oriented far to the left of the American mainstream, as study after study for the past three decades has documented beyond rational dispute. But did you know that, in addition, a major homosexual presence has emerged in the "mainstream" media, especially since the dawn of the 1990s?
Indeed, part of the mobilization that occurred in the wake of the 1988 War Conference was the recognition that the news media represented the prime tool for changing the hearts and minds of Americans.
And if getting your message before the media was the name of the game, how much better would it be to actually be the media? Thus 1990 saw the launch of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), which has since grown into a formidable organization.
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, homosexual journalists from many major news organizations gathered in San Francisco for NLGJA's gala conference held September 7-10, 2000. The discussion on center stage was surreal. It focused on the question of whether or not, when reporting on stories related to homosexuality, mainstream journalists have a responsibility to include any viewpoints that contradict those of homosexuals. You heard me right.
MSNBC producer Ramon Escobar framed the issue this way: "This whole issue of 'balance' that we as journalists are supposed to achieve. … When we cover the black community, I've never seen a newsroom where you're covering one side and then you have to go run out and get the Klan's point of view: 'Well, I've got to go do my Klan interview.' How do you be fair?"
NLGJA member Jeffrey Kofman, at the time a CBS correspondent who later migrated to NBC, restated the question: "The argument [is]: Why do we constantly see in coverage of gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues the homophobes and the fag-haters quoted in stories when, of course, we don't do that with Jews, blacks, etcetera?"
Paula Madison, vice president of diversity at NBC and news director of WNBC in New York, added: "I agree with him. I don't see why we would seek out … the absurd, inane point of view just to get another point of view."
"All of us," Kofman rejoined, "have seen and continue to see a lot of coverage that includes perspectives on gay issues that include people who just simply are intolerant and perhaps not qualified as well."
Are you getting the picture? Whereas fifty years ago a news story portraying homosexuality as normal and respectable was unheard of, now we're facing exactly the opposite spectacle. Up on that glitzy convention stage were representatives of top broadcast news networks debating whether or not professional journalists should give voice to the Christian or traditional viewpoint on homosexuality. Or, they suggested,
Wouldn't it be better just to censor such "hateful" and "bigoted" viewpoints as being the moral equivalent of a "pro-racism" or "pro-bigotry" viewpoint, and thus beyond the margins of civilized debate?
By the way, lest you think this was just an unrepresentative group of radical journalists blowing off steam in their off-hours, here's who sponsored this particular homosexual journalists conference: Hearst Newspapers; Knight-Ridder, Inc.; CBS News; Gannett Foundation; CNN; Bloomberg News; NBC News; the Dallas Morning News; Fox News Channel; the Los Angeles Times; the New York Daily News; the San Francisco Chronicle; Time, Inc.; the Wall Street Journal; the Washington Post; and the San Jose Mercury News.
No wonder the "mainstream press," overwhelmingly sympathetic toward the "gay rights" agenda, seems to be on the same page as homosexual activists engaged in desensitizing, jamming, and converting Americans to their world view. As a matter of fact, as we saw in the Matthew Shepard case, it's hard to tell them apart.
Thus a lot of the credit for the "gay-ing of America" can be laid at the door of the news media who, intentionally or not, have worked in tandem with the movement's public relations machinery for years now.
We forgot one thing
Today, the homosexual activist movement is a juggernaut, racking up success after success. Even the occasional losses, such as voter rejection of same-sex marriage in the 2004 election, are simply the expected "one step back" in the time-honored "two steps forward one step back" mode of most long-term political wars. (After all, by audaciously conducting thousands of illegal same-sex marriage ceremonies, homosexuals all but guaranteed legal and social acceptance of their fall-back position – homosexual civil unions with the full legal force of marriage, something most Americans regarded as radical and unacceptable just a few years ago.)
As just one of a multitude of success indicators, consider that the popular teen magazine Seventeen conducted a reader poll in 1991, shortly after activist homosexuals abandoned the streets in favor of the television studio. At the time, only 17 percent of the magazine's adolescent readers accepted homosexuality as appropriate. In 1999, after eight years of intense "gay rights" marketing, a whopping 54 percent, more than three times as many teens, accepted homosexuality as appropriate. This stunning turnaround is reflected in virtually every area of society.
Whether in culture, politics, law, business, the news media, entertainment, education, or even the church, homosexual strides have been nothing short of astonishing. Once condemned as "immoral deviants," homosexuals and lesbians today are honored, idealized, defended as victims, and celebrated as role models. Thanks to "hate-crimes" legislation, they are now afforded extra protections as a special class of people – protections not granted to all members of society. (If you were assaulted, the perpetrator would get one sentence, but if you were assaulted because of your homosexuality, the perpetrator would receive a more severe sentence under hate-crimes sentencing guidelines.)
Meanwhile, in what was once a vibrant Judeo-Christian culture, Christians and other proponents of traditional biblical principles are routinely cast as bigots and "homophobes," thanks to constant jamming.
Direct quotes from the Bible regarding homosexuality are routinely condemned
as "hate speech," and – as we have seen – pro-homosexual journalists piously agonize over whether or not they should dignify the traditional, biblical viewpoint by even acknowledging it.
Multitudes of activists – with almost limitless time and energy to devote to advancing their agenda, largely unencumbered by any need to change diapers, pay for dental braces, or attend their children's soccer games, as do most heterosexual married people – have succeeded in their goal of transforming society. As public relations campaigns go, it's been an unqualified success.
However, in the "gay rights" movement's relentless struggle to legitimize homosexuality, and in the greater society's veneration of them as heroes of the great civil rights crusade of the new millennium, we've forgotten one thing. In the endlessly clever media campaign that's bamboozled everyone, "restructured their consciousness," turned their hate into love and their rejection into acceptance, something crucial has been lost.
We've forgotten about reality. We've been living in a Madison Avenue fantasy world of marketing images and carefully crafted rhetoric in the foreground, with court battles, fascistlike intimidation, and relentless waves of persuasion in the background.
But what about the truth we've left behind? What about the reality of homosexuality, of what causes it, and of what it means physically and spiritually for those so oriented? Do we even care any more?
Let's rewind and go back to former Congressman Robert Bauman, who in poignantly describing his internal struggles against his homosexual compulsions confided that he had been sexually seduced when he was five years old by an older boy.
Did that experience have anything to do with Bauman's future homosexuality?
There was a time when psychiatry, psychology, religion, and common sense all said "yes." In fact, sexually abused young males are "up to 7 times more likely to self-identify as gay or bisexual than peers who had not been abused," concludes the peer-reviewed 1998 study, "Sexual Abuse of Boys," by William C. Holmes, M.D. and Gail B. Slap, M.D.
On that topic, a reader recently wrote to me: "We are a family of eight siblings and the oldest is gay, and has lived with the same partner for 41 years. At various times, my siblings and I have tried to discover why he is gay and none of the rest of us are. We finally found out through an older cousin that my brother was repeatedly sexually molested when he was six years old by a 19-year-old man."
Even Kirk and Madsen, who advise activists to claim they were born homosexual, know better. "We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay," they write, "even though sexual orientation, for most humans, seems to be the product of a complex interaction between innate predispositions and environmental factors during childhood and early adolescence."
If "environmental factors" are involved – and everyone knows they are, whether or not they publicly admit it – why then advise homosexuals to claim they were "born gay"?
"To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen," Kirk and Madsen explain, "is to open the can of worms labeled 'moral choices and sin' and give the religious intransigents a stick to beat us with. Straights must be taught that it is as natural for some persons to be homosexual as it is for others to be heterosexual: wickedness and seduction have nothing to do with it."
Unfortunately, with all the brainy marketing behind the campaign to mainstream homosexuality, what's been swept under the rug is the recognition – once commonplace in America – that flawed early relationships or sexual victimization can put a child on the road to homosexuality.
Children are exquisitely impressionable, so much so that sexual seduction or assault is a major trauma that can, and often does, reprogram the victim's identity – his view of who and what he is. While the Holmes and Slap study confirms this, the point is self-evident: our prisons are full of child molesters who were molested as children and batterers who were battered as children.
What about the twelve-year-old who molested Bauman? What caused him to sexually seduce a five-year-old boy? No doubt he felt a strong compulsion to do to a new kid what had been done to him. But why?
An innocent young child has a "bright light" quality that feels mysteriously threatening to those in the grip of corruption. In fact, many see this dynamic at the core of a great deal of child abuse.
To the person who's already been "converted" and is acting out the homosexual "lifestyle," it's deeply satisfying – far beyond mere sexual pleasure – to "initiate" an innocent person. Doing so serves to anesthetize his own conscience and assuage his inner conflict by destroying the innocence of another person, since that innocence tends to make him aware of his own corruption.
There was a time when most Americans knew that homosexuals were not "born that way" but rather had their normal gender-identity development disturbed and redirected through early childhood experiences.
There was a time when we recognized on some level that unhealthy relationships with mothers and fathers could cause girls and boys to grow up with gender confusion – just like emotionally devastating traumatic experiences of molestation – if not dealt with properly.
But that was a time before much of America itself was seduced into believing there was no God, or if there was a God, He is inconsequential to the affairs of the world. It was a time when Judeo-Christian morality inspired the culture and laws of the land.
Today we've basically abandoned "old-fashioned" notions of right and wrong in favor of "consensuality," which means two people can do whatever they want, no matter how abominable, as long as they "don't hurt anybody else." The problem with that – aside from the fact that it denies the existence of God and His laws – is that in such a deluded state you have no basis for determining if you're hurting another person or not. A pedophile justifies sex with children precisely because he doesn't believe he's hurting the child; rather he believes he's loving him!
You might wonder: Where and when will this "gay rights" public relations steamroller stop? The end game is not only to bring about the complete acceptance of homosexuality, including same-sex marriage, but also to prohibit and even criminalize public criticism of homosexuality, including the quotation of biblical passages disapproving of homosexuality.
In other words, total jamming of criticism with the force of law. This is already essentially the case in Canada and parts of Scandinavia. "Why?" you might ask. "I thought gays just wanted equal rights and to be free to do what they want in their own bedrooms." No, they've had that for years.
Their campaign will not end until Christians and other traditionalists opposing homosexuality are shut up, discredited, and utterly silenced – and all because of a little factor we've forgotten about in our cleverness, namely this: In truth, there is something wrong with homosexuality.
Simply put, it is unnatural and self-destructive – just as Western civilization has long understood it.
Homosexual activists fancy their cause as identical to that of blacks and the '60s civil rights movement. But being black is not unnatural and self-destructive. Being of African origin obviously doesn't involve fleeing one's own conscience and the author of that conscience – God.
But it is precisely because of this difference that the "gay civil rights" movement is not about changing the laws so homosexuals can have equal opportunity for advancement or access as it was for blacks during the '60s. Homosexuals already live in freedom and can reside, work, or play virtually anywhere they want. In fact, as a group, homosexuals enjoy a higher income level than the general American population.
It's not about rights. It's about redefining truth and censoring all criticism so that militant homosexuals can be comfortable in their "lifestyle" without having to be disturbed by reality.
Remember, all of us – homosexuals included – have a conscience (that other-dimensional standard that God has tucked away inside each of us) that causes us inner conflict when we're doing the wrong thing.
But if we tumble into the grip of dark forces we don't understand and then start to defend our obsessions and compulsions, we inevitably come to regard our conscience as an enemy. And although we may be somewhat successful in drowning out that inner warning bell, what happens when this same rejected conscience factor appears in another person and gets too close to us for comfort? We feel threatened.
Therefore, we feel compelled to silence the "voice of conscience" – not just the one inside of us, but the one in other people, which tends to revive our own conscience with which we're at war. This means we can't tolerate dissent. We simply can't stand it. It makes us want to scream.
To the homosexual living in denial, then, even a loving offer of help from, say, a Christian ex-gay ministry or "reparative therapy" counselor (to help overcome homosexual addiction) feels like the most vile, abusive hatred. In fact, it's real love – which we misinterpret as hatred and "bigotry" simply because it causes us to confront a truth that is not welcome in us.
Love and redemption
When all is said and done, the "mainstreaming" of homosexuality over the last few decades has been a great tragedy. But of all the societal confusion, chaos, and corruption it has ushered in, the most tragic dimension of all is what it has done to people struggling with homosexual and "transgender" attractions and compulsions.
Remember, our conflicts contain the seeds of redemption – that is, as long as we know we have a problem, there's hope for a change. But if we deny there's a problem, we are literally robbed of the chance to find healing. That's exactly what America has done in buying into the "gay rights movement." We have betrayed our homosexual brothers and sisters.
Glorifying dysfunctionality and corruption, we have relieved homosexuals of the inner conflict they once felt over their condition – something they desperately need, indeed all of us need, if we're ever going to overcome our problems and find wholeness.
A generation ago, we understood there is such a thing as sin, and that sin is a serious matter and to be avoided. Now there is no societal consciousness of sin – only limitless "freedom," "choice," and "consensual relationships." Beguiled by our scientific and technological advances into believing we are enlightened, in reality as we move further and further away from our Judeo-Christian spiritual roots, we actually understand less and less about ourselves. Most of all, we've forgotten as a society what love is because supporting and justifying homosexuality is not real love any more than glorifying drinking helps the alcoholic or celebrating smoking helps wipe out lung cancer.
We defend our own corruption at great peril. And if defending that corruption becomes a national movement, as it has with our cultural and legal adoption of the "gay rights agenda," we're all in serious trouble.
In truth, most homosexuals experience guilt and conflict when they first discover homosexual urges. Thus there is a strong temptation – especially in today's pro-"gay" culture – for them to "resolve" the conflict by giving in to the compulsion and affirming,
"It's okay to be gay."
But if they do, there is just no way out for them. For this reason, the most loving stance for others to take is not to serve as enablers of self-destructive and immoral compulsions, but to stand in patient but firm opposition. In other words, we need to side with the afflicted person's conscience. In America, we've done the opposite.
""Hating the sin but not the sinner," the classic Christian expression for loving your struggling neighbor by nonjudgmentally disagreeing with his errant behavior, actually has great power – more than we realize. By resisting the temptation to hate, yet still standing firm against what's wrong, God's love is able to come through that obedient "neutral zone."
We started this journey into the world of "gay rights" with the poignant words of former congressman Robert Bauman, who said: "I did not choose to be homosexual. I would change my sexual orientation if that were within my power." Sadly, we've failed Bauman and millions suffering with similar sexual problems by glorifying and pandering to their dysfunction and pretending it's normal.
In the end, we have to ask ourselves which is worse – the previous era in America, when homosexuals were reviled and driven underground? Or today's America, when the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that those in the grip of powerful self-destructive compulsions are fawned over and lionized as heroes?
Either way, because the rest of us have failed to find real love, they remain victims.
The preceding was reprinted with permission from "The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom" by David Kupelian, Chapter 1, "Marketing Blitz: Selling 'Gay Rights' to America," published 2005 by WND Books.
SPECIAL OFFER: When you order "The Marketing of Evil" from WorldNetDaily's online store, you can also receive – FREE – three issues of David Kupelian's elite monthly Whistleblower magazine, which many have called the best news magazine in the world. That's a $22.50 free value! (Offer good in the U.S. only.) Watch for the free offer during checkout.
Get "The Marketing of Evil" autographed and personalized at the WND Superstore.
If you wish to order by phone, call our toll-free order line at 1-800-4WND-COM (1-800-496-3266).


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Republican leaders in the General Assembly say they are doing what the people elected them to do in trimming the state budget and cutting taxes. But legislative proposals to cut funding for some key environmental initiatives are shortsighted, damaging and unpopular.
Republican leaders in the General Assembly say they are doing what the people elected them to do in trimming the state budget and cutting taxes. But legislative proposals to cut funding for some key environmental initiatives are shortsighted, damaging and unpopular.
Most North Carolinians will welcome lower taxes as proposed under a tax reform bill that passed the N.C. House last week. N.C. Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Hendersonville, called this bill �a major step in the ongoing process of much-needed and long-overdue tax reform.�
�It begins the process of repealing tax loopholes and preferential tax treatment which favor specific industries within the state,� McGrady said. �Under the plan, the working families of North Carolina will see more dollars in their pocket, and our state will become more competitive for job creation.�
Two-thirds of North Carolina tax filers will see an average personal income tax reduction of 20 percent, McGrady said. Americans for Tax Reform predicts the state will go from the seventh worst to the 19th best business tax climate in the nation as a result. But this comes at a cost.
Budget cuts to education and other services have driven weeks of protests at the state capital in Raleigh. Hundreds of residents have been arrested while protesting GOP policies. These policies include cuts to public education and unemployment benefits and refusing to extend the earned-income tax credit, which benefits low- to middle-income wage earners.
Government cannot cut taxes without cutting services, and no one would likely argue that there is no room for savings within the state�s budget, which topped $20 billion this year. But GOP leaders should take care not to undermine efforts to protect the environment. Unfortunately, several proposals now before the Legislature would do that.
Following the Senate�s lead, the House is proposing in its draft budget to combine the state�s Natural Heritage Trust Fund and Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The merged fund would increase spending on wastewater and stormwater projects but would cap expenditures for buying new lands at $4 million per year. That could slow efforts to buy and protect 8,000 acres owned by former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor along the East Fork of the French Broad River in Transylvania County.
The N.C. Forest Service and its conservation partners hope to buy 5,895 acres over the next three to five years to complete what will be known as Headwaters State Forest. Capping funds for land acquisition at $4 million, as proposed by Rep. Roger West, R-Cherokee, will set back those efforts.
�We have over $20 million still to raise and if the whole state has only $4 million, that makes it pretty tough,� said Kieran Roe, executive director of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy. To put it in perspective, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund in the past had as much as $50 million per year to buy environmentally important lands.
Another proposed cut that would have environmental repercussions is the Senate plan to slash funding for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission almost in half, from this year�s allocation of $18.5 million to $9.5 million. The threatened cuts have stalled plans by the agency to build new boat ramps, fishing piers and paddler access points along the local section of the French Broad River, all of which would help boost the economy.
Cutting the agency�s budget in half would affect operations of the state�s six fish hatcheries, including the Bobby N. Setzer Fish Hatchery in Pisgah National Forest, and its four education centers, including the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. It would also harm the agency�s ability to enforce wildlife and boating safety laws.
The N.C. House budget also proposes to trim the agency�s budget, but not nearly so drastically, cutting $4 million in 2013-14 but allocating $16 million in 2014-15, said Dick Hamilton, coordinator for the N.C. Wildlife Federation�s Camo Coalition, an outreach program for sportsmen. Members of the Camo Coalition have been lobbying against deep cuts to the wildlife agency, arguing they would harm opportunities for hunting, fishing and other wildlife-related pursuits that generate $3.3 billion each year.
It�s clear that GOP leaders are going to cut taxes, and they can�t do that without affecting services and programs. But there is room to make cuts without resorting to draconian measures that will undermine the environment upon which our economy depends.

subset: commoncrawl


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Morgan Hill Trenchless Sewer Replacement
Morgan Hill trenchless sewer replacement contractors at Triple A Plumbing in Morgan Hill have been providing trenchless sewer replacement in Morgan Hill since around the time the technology was introduced. Trenchless sewer replacement is the process of replacing and existing sewer pipe with a brand new sewer line, without digging. Many homes in Morgan Hill have had extensive landscaping or driveways or patios installed over their sewer line. In many cases the landscaping installed over the sewer line ends up causing the sewer damage. In Morgan Hill there are many trees in our neighborhoods, the #1 cause of needing a trenchless sewer replacement in Morgan Hill in tree roots growing in the sewer line. Triple A Plumbing of Morgan Hill can preserve your landscaping while fixing your sewer problem so you don't have clogs in the future.
Morgan Hill Trenchless Sewer Relining
Sewer relining in Morgan Hill by Triple A Plumbing can usually be completed within 1 day. We use a camera to do a sewer inspection to determine the condition of your sewer pipe. If the pipe is busted or otherwise broken you may need a new sewer line. We can perform a trenchless sewer replacement in Morgan Hill by digging one small access hole. Through this hole we gain access to the sewer line. We thoroughly clean the line by hydro-jetting. Once the line is clean we use a liner and a resin mixture to create what is called Cured In Place Pipe. We make the new sewer pipe onsite and push it through the old sewer line using high air pressure. This process is an excellent choice for trenchless sewer replacement in Morgan Hill, California. If you are having a sewer problem and you think you may need trenchless sewer repair in Morgan Hill please call Triple A Plumbing at (408) 855-8099.
Morgan Hill Trenchless Sewer Replacement,


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Downtown parking bans leave New London businesses empty
Many businesses around the region felt the pain of Wednesday's snowfall, which left customers hunkering down at home, but downtown New London turned into a virtual ghost town that some blamed more on an extended city parking ban than on the weather itself.
Rod Cornish, owner of Hot Rod Cafe on Bank Street, said he understands that public safety is a priority but questioned why parking bans have been called so far ahead of storms and why they linger hours after the last snowflake has fallen.
"It seems like not a lot of thought goes into the business side of a parking ban," said Cornish, who decided not to open his business Wednesday, worried that patrons would not have a place to leave their cars.
Jack Chaplin, owner of Chaplin's restaurant on Bank Street, said he was hurt a few weeks back when a parking ban called at 5 p.m. - three hours before the storm hit - caused him to close on a Friday.
"It just scares people off," Chaplin said of the parking bans, which caused him to call off work Wednesday. "If we lose a Friday-Saturday, that totally ruins the whole month. ... They don't have the businesses' interests at heart during the storms."
New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio said parking bans are timed based on weather-service reports and other information. Wednesday's ban was extended, he said, because of weather reports indicating that a second storm wave was on its way in the late afternoon - though the snow arrived as a dusting after the parking ban was called off at 6 p.m.
"We factor in the effects on business when we decide on a winter parking ban," he said. "But we have to put public safety first."
Finizio added that he posts information about parking bans on the Office of Mayor Finizio Facebook page, in addition to his staff handling phones and emails inquiring about the situation. He added that he understands frustration is mounting because of the large number of storms that have occurred this winter.
"You make absolutely no one happy in a snowstorm," he said.
Whether because of the parking ban or the storm itself, a walk in downtown Wednesday afternoon showed more businesses closed than open. The Exchange Cafe, Flavours of Life gift shop, Lost Soul Tattoo & Piercing, Muddy Waters Cafe, Sarge's Comics, Northern Light Gems and Thames River Greenery were some of the businesses that either never opened or closed early.
The few that remained open, including Captain's Pizza and the newly opened New London Smoke & Gift Shop on Bank Street, reported little to no business.
"It's been a very quiet lunch," said Robin Hanney, a waitress at Captain's Pizza. "It's the weather."
What was bad for downtown proved to be a boost for businesses in other parts of New London. Dana Marelli, general manager of the Recovery Room restaurant on Ocean Avenue, said it was a tough January because of the weather, but things picked up Wednesday.
"We got lucky today," she said.
Parking bans can be a difficult situation for entertainment-related businesses, said Steve Sigel, executive director of the Garde Arts Center. He recalled having to postpone a performance of "The Nutcracker" in December because of the parking ban and said sales of tickets for some shows can be hurt if patrons expect dicey road conditions.
"It depends upon the intensity and the uncertainty of the storm," Sigel said.
Bobby Soper, president and chief executive of the Mohegan Sun, said the casino business is affected by storms just as is any other business. A volume reduction of 50 percent to 60 percent is not unheard of if a storm is particularly intense and prolonged, he added.
"It is harmful when weather reports tend to exaggerate the actual outcome," he said.
While Soper said its retail shops and restaurants remain open during and after storms, he acknowledged that the casino generally operates with lower staffing - allowing workers with children to stay home and take care of them.
Soper said the knowledge that Mohegan Sun is always open prompts many people to head to the casino to enjoy its amenities in good weather and bad.
"It's a good place to get away," he said.
Wednesday's weather, however, prompted Foxwoods Resort Casino to cancel a number of bus runs from Boston and New York City and to close portions of its gaming floor, including the Rainmaker, Great Cedar and Festival casinos.
Foxwoods, which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this month, also shut down keno, the race book and the "Real Pirates" display in the Great Cedar Exhibition Hall.
Sloppy driving throughout much of the winter has prompted many people to look into four-wheel-drive vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, according to auto dealers.
Rob Reardon, sales manager at the Antonino Auto Group in New London, said he has noticed an increase in the sale of Ford pickup trucks and super-duty trucks. Reardon said his dealership sold five super-duty Ford F-250 and F-350 trucks in the past three days.
"The worse the winter, the better for us," he said. "People get nervous when it snows."
Reardon acknowledged that the weather can have a negative impact on a dealership's service department, but he said Antonino's body shop has been busy fixing cars that have been in winter fender-benders.
"We hold our own when it snows," he said.
Jeff Aiosa, owner of Carriage House of New London and former chairman of the Connecticut Auto Retailers Association, also said business is good. The Broad Street dealership sold three cars Wednesday - same as it did Monday and Tuesday, he said.
"The weather is certainly not discouraging people from coming in," he said. "People with some down time have just taken advantage of the programs and deals that are out there."
While businesses somewhat dependent on good weather were reporting problems related to this winter's flurry of snowstorms, at least one retailer said he has seen a boost in sales thanks to nervous residents fighting winter's fury.
Bill Johnson Sr., owner of Johnson's True Value Hardware in Groton, said he just brought in a truckload of rock salt Wednesday that had been halfway depleted by late afternoon. He also had to reorder shovels after the first 600 to 700 that he brought in sold out quickly.
Snowblowers, gloves, windshield washer fluid and heavy flannel shirts were among the other items moving briskly, he said.
After last year's major storms, Johnson said, customers are learning to come in early to stock up on necessary items before everything disappears.
"The big storms have spooked them a little bit," he said.
Staff writer Brian Hallenbeck contributed to this report.
Hard winter, city hall frustrate downtown New London merchants
T.J. Horner brings toughness from the football field to the basketball court
Shutdown reaches Day 28 as Trump, Pelosi feud heats up again


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All In The Family...
I've been in the kitchen for several hours and I'm taking a break. I've been baking for tomorrow's Easter dinner. Keely and her boyfriend will be here, and I want to have a nice meal. Here's the menu:
Fresh Fruit salad
Pork Tenderloin
Mashed potatoes & gravy
Macaroni & cheese
Green peas
Baby Carrots
Baking powder biscuits
Cheesecake with blueberry topping
Rice Krispy Bars
The macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy are treats for us. I don't usually fix them because they are just too fattening! I don't make biscuits often either. But tomorrow, we'll splurge a little on carbs. I thought about making yeast rolls, but I have decided I am just not that energetic tonight.
I just got the cheesecakes (a big one and a little one) out of the oven. I am excited because for the first time ever, I actually have springform pans to bake them in. I bought some the other day. WalMart sells a pack of three heavy, nice, Wilton® springform pans that nest together for about $10. I don't know why I didn't buy them years ago.
I hope the cheesecakes are going to be all right. I used fat-free sour cream, mostly Splenda instead of sugar, and mostly fat-free cream cheese. The only "real" ingredients in the cheesecakes are the eggs, and the graham cracker crumbs and margarine in the crust.
In a few minutes, I'm going to put the tenderloin in a baking dish, ready to put in the oven tomorrow morning before we leave for church. I have already made the cheese sauce and cooked the macaroni for the macaroni & cheese.
I don't expect to get home from church until around 1 p.m. and we'll eat at about 2 p.m. I will reheat the cheese sauce right after we get home, pour it over the macaroni, and put it in the oven to cook while the rest of the dinner is coming together.
Now if I just had the house vacuumed and if I knew for sure what I was going to wear tomorrow, I'd be prepared. Well, to be honest, the house needs more than just vacuuming, so I suppose I'd better get busy.


text: It wasn't the easiest of months for Brendon Kay or anyone involved with the Cincinnati program. It wasn't about winning or losing, but mostly about finding out their head coach for the past three seasons is moving on to bigger and better. Still, the Belk Bowl was the perfect chance to put everything behind them. More


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Spencers Online
|Message from Spencers Online:
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Today is Christmas, the holiday that children around the world have been anxiously awaiting for including the arrival of man in the red suit himself, Santa Claus!
In honor of Christmas, we're presenting a WILD twist of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" story. Enjoy!
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.
Perhaps not the typical rodent of lore, the cute puffball known as the woodland jumping mouse is one amazing mouse; its elongated hind legs allow it to hop up to 3 meters (9 feet) at a time!
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.
The uniquely shaped and vibrant pitcher plant could easily be mistaken for a child's stocking. Don't be deceived however, this delicate plant is actually of the carnivorous variety with the ability to secrete an acidic solution.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
This snoozing koala might look snug as a bug in a rug, and you would be right; koalas are primarily nocturnal. The koala is often mistakenly called a koala bear even though it is not related to bears, but rather belongs to the marsupial family.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
While reindeer might not have shiny red noses like Rudolph, they still are an extraordinary species that can survive the extreme conditions of the north. Its specifically designed hooves serve as snowshoes and also aid in cracking ice when searching for food.
More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.
The regal bald eagle might not be as swift as Santa's reindeer, but it is an enduring raptor that can live up to 28 years. Its name is certainly a misnomer, since the bald eagle sports a full set of white feathers upon its head.
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard on his chin was white as the snow.
While Santa's beard might be more grandiose, one cannot deny that the emperor tamarin has a truly unique and elegant beard. Much like St. Nick, himself the emperor tamarin has a sweet tooth with a diet that includes fruits and nectar.
He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
With a belly to rival that of Santa himself, the big-belly seahorse has a large protruding stomach. Like other seahorses, it lacks scales and instead has skin stretched over bony plates. Additionally, much like the man in red, the big belly seahorse is most active at dusk and at night.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
The wondrous and colorful spear thistle is noted for its purple flower that does not appear until its second year of growth. The fluffy orb-like seedlings or down are functionally designed to aid in wind dispersal.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight — "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Merry Christmas from the Arkive Team to you!
William Lazaro, Arkive Social Media Intern, Wildscreen USA


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Nearby St. Louis attractions include the Gateway Arch, Forest Park, the Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, Muny Opera, Missouri Botanical Garden,.Grant's Farm, Union Station, America's Center, Busch Stadium, Edward Jones Dome, Savis Center, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Six Flags Over Mid America, and more.
Once the private residence of Senator Edmond Beall -industrialist, financier and politician
Welcome to a world of Eleven and a Half Foot Ceilings, Hardwood Floors, Crystal Chandeliers, Leaded Glass Windows, Pocket Doors, and Original Wood Work.
Welcome to a world of Imported Marble and Bronze Statuary, Chinese Artwork, and Handwoven Persian and Oriental Rugs.
Welcome to a world where you will revel in the opulence and the luxury once reserved only or the turn of the century elite.
Welcome to the BEALL MANSION.
Reserve one or all five guest rooms by the night or by the week.
Meeting Facilities, Fax and Copy Service are available.
Romance Packages, In Room Massage, "Ladies Only" Spa Getaways, Golf Packages, and Corporate Plans are also available.
NO Red Wine, Grape Juice, Tomato Juice, Bloody Mary Mix, or other items that may stain. We will provide an ice bucket to chill wine or other beverage. Please enjoy any food or snacks in the Dining Room, Butler's Pantry or on the front Verandah only. No food in Guest Rooms other than optional breakfast in bed if purchased.
For the comfort and safety of all of our guests Absolutely NO Smoking, NO Candles, and NO Incense!
Maximum two people per room unless otherwise arranged. The Senator Edmond Beall and Mary Harris rooms have an adjoining door which can be opened to form a connecting suite.
Not appropriate for most younger children.
No pets except for family cat and mascot, Princess. Nearby kennel facilities are available.
For a complete list please visit our website.
This spacious room overlooks landscaped grounds and gardens in three directions, the remains of the original gold fish pond and fountain to the West, and the Scarritt Mansion, circa 1865, in all of its Victorian splendor to the South.
Pampered Getaway $219.00 to $328.50
...Room Only Plan $179.00 to $288.50
Z. B. Job Room
One of our most popular rooms. Sleep where the rich and famous of the turn of the century slept. Originally the master bedroom, this extra large room has been the resting place of railroad barons, industrialists and politicians. Includes An Antique Bedroom Set with an exqusite Hand Carved Solid Mahogany Feathered King Canopy Bed, Fireplace with Wood and Tile Mantle, Hardwood Floor and Oriental Rugs. The Private Bath Has a Whirlpool for Two with Shower, Imported Marble Floor, Brass Chandelier, and a Priceless Art Glass Palladian Window that echoes the pride and the craftsmanship of a bygone era.
The Z. B. Job Room provides the best view of the neighboring mansions that, along with the BEALL Mansion, were the creme de la creme of the Victorian and post Victorian era. To the North sets the Duncan Mansion, circa 1860, with its two story columns and cupola. Next to it is the massive Drummond Mansion, circa 1882, which like The BEALL, was designed by Lucas Pfeiffenburger�the leading architect of the day. To the East, you can catch a glimpse of the Carey Mansion, circa 1895, defined by its perfect symmetry and balance and ready for entertaining with its large third floor ballroom.
...Pampered Getaway $219.00 to $328.50
...Room Only Plan $179.00 to $288.50
Mary Harris Room
Named after Senator Beall's wife, this large room features an Antique Bedroom Set with a Sumptuous Hand Carved Feathered Queen Canopy Bed, Fireplace with Wood Mantle, over Mantle and Mirror (Undergoing Restoration), Hardwood Floor and Oriental Rugs. Includes a Private Bath with Whirlpool for Two with Shower, Imported Marble Floor, a and a Crystal Basket featuring Hand Polished Czechoslovakian Crystal.
The Mary Harris and Senator Edmond Beall Rooms have a connecting door which can be opened to form a connecting suite. Great for a group or family.
To the North you will have a view of a weeping willow and red bud tree and the expansive front lawn. Across Twelfth Street stands the Duncan Mansion and carriage house, circa 1860, with its twelve rooms and six fireplaces, and the Drummond Mansion, circa 1882, with its wrap around verandah and drive through porte-cochere. To the West you will enjoy a view of the landscaped grounds and gardens and the remains of the original gold fish pond and fountain.
Pampered Getaway $189.00 to $283.50
...Room Only Plan $149.00 to $243.50
Verandah Room
Imagine yourself watching the sun rise while sipping morning coffee on your own private balcony. The room features a Hand Carved Solid Mahogany and Teak Feathered Queen Quarter Canopy Bed and Fainting Sofa. Also includes a Private Bath with Shower, Whirlpool for Two, Imported Marble Floor, and Crystal Chandelier.
To the East, this room overlooks a Saucer Magnolia Tree and herb garden while the Carey Mansion, circa 1895, serves as the perfect backdrop. To the South is the Scarritt Mansion, also known as the six chimneys, circa 1865�an example of Classic Italian Victorian Architecture complete with a fourth floor cupola.
Pampered Getaway $189.00 to $283.50
...Room Only Plan $149.00 to $243.50
Servant's Quarters Suite
Escape the problems and worries of the rest of the world in this intimate third floor suite. Its circa 1865 Victorian Sofa, Dormers and Window Seats make this the perfect place to curl up with your favorite book. French Doors separate the Private Sitting Room from the Bedroom.
This cozy suite is arguably one of the most beautifully furnished with its Ornately Hand Carved Rosewood Feathered Full Bed with Matching Chest on Chest and Night Stand. The intricate inlaid wood is truly a work of art. The Private Bath Has an Imported Marble Floor, Crystal Basket, Shower, and Antique Claw Foot Tub�wonderful for lazy relaxing soaks.
From this third floor retreat you will have a bird's eye view of the Scarritt Mansion, circa 1865, otherwise known as the Six Chimneys. Fully restored inside and out, the Scarritt Mansion is Classic Italian Victorian Architecture at its best. On winter days when the trees are denuded of their foliage, you will also be able to catch a distant glimpse of the Mighty Mississippi as it lazily winds its way around Alton.
Pampered Getaway $159.00 to $238.50
...Room Only Plan $ 119.00 to $198.50
The BEALL is a buff brick mansion distinguished by a weeping willow tree draping the driveway. Please pull in the driveway and under the porte cochere' to unload your luggage and ring the door bell. Off street parking is available behind the mansion.
From St. Louis Lambert International Airport: Take I-70 East, to I-170, North 5 miles. Bear right onto the on-ramp to I-270 heading East 5.5 miles. Turn North on Route 367 (Lewis & Clark Blvd.) Follow Lewis & Clark Blvd 11 miles over two bridges until it dead ends into Landmark Blvd. (Note: Lewis & Clark Blvd changes from Route 367 to U.S. 67 at Lindbergh.) Turn left (west) on Landmark Blvd two blocks to Henry Street. Turn right (north or away from the river) on Henry Street to East 12th Street. Turn left (west) on East 12th Street two blocks to 407. The BEALL MANSION is the last home in the second block on the left side of the street (on the southeast corner of East 12th and George.)
From Illinois I-55: Take the Hamel exit, Hwy 140 West "to Alton". (Note: Hwy 140 becomes College and College becomes 20th Street.) From 20th Street turn left (south) on Alby eight blocks. Turn left (east) on East 12th Street three blocks. The BEALL MANSION is located on the right (southeast corner) of East 12th and George.
From Downtown St. Louis, MO: Take the Poplar Street Bridge East into Illinois. Follow the signs to I-55. Take I-55 to I-255 North. Exit IL-143 left (west) through Wood River into Alton. At the Clark Bridge IL-143 becomes Landmarks Blvd./US-67. Go two blocks and turn right (north or away from the river) on Henry Street. Take Henry Street 12 blocks to East 12th Street. Turn left (west) on East 12th Street two blocks to 407. The BEALL MANSION is the last home in the second block on the left side of the street (on the southeast corner of East 12th and George.)
|Map Legend
|Voted Best of Illinois -Illinois Magazine
407 East 12th Street, Alton, Illinois
|St. Louis Gateway Arch
|25 miles
|Wineries Heartland Rivers Wine Trail
|20 miles
|Antique Shops
|1 mile
|Alton Square Mall
|5 miles
|Argosy Casino Alton
|2 miles
|Sam Vadalabene Hiking & Biking Trail
|1 mile
|Lewis & Clark Museum & Trail Site #1
|12 miles
|9 Golf Courses
|12 miles
|Lewis & Clark Museum & Trail Site #1
|6 miles
|National Scenic Byway
|1 mile
|January To December
|From: 0
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|Rate varies by room, date, and plan.


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|Episode Description
|Wednesday, Mar 6, 2013 - 2:00 AM
A group of incarcerated teenage girls are given a shot at redemption in a most unlikely form: a musical. GIRLS ON THE WALL follows three inmates as they write, rap and rehearse the harrowing events leading up to their crimes. In the process, they're challenged to find their own voices, reclaim their humanity and take a first step toward breaking free of the prison system. D
Mountain Time
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How Does Offering Free Content Insult Those Who Pay?
from the help-me-out-here dept
"I do think it's important to be technologically progressive and responsive to what consumers want. But that's a different thing, in my mind, from creating bad habits," Sapan said in an interview. "To offer these shows for free ... It's almost insulting to the consumer who's paying money for it, because it says to that consumer, 'What are you doing?'"Of course you could make the identical argument for any obsolete product. The telephone apparently "insulted" telegraphy purchasers. The airplane apparently "insulted" those who traveled by boat across the ocean. The printing press? Man, did that ever insult those monks who wrote out bibles by hand.
Honestly, it's yet another sign of the entitlement culture, where some seem to assume they're entitled to keep their business model, and it's somehow "insulting" to show their customers that there are better/cheaper/more efficient ways to get what they need.


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Nov. 13, 2004
CUMBERLAND, Maine - MIT women's cross country finished its season with an 18th-place finish out of 41 schools at the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Championships. Julia Espel led the Engineers with a 28th-place finish, the highest individual finish for a Tech harrier since Debbie Won finished 21st in 1999.
The defending national champion Middlebury College Panthers, led by senior Jessica Manzer, edged out conference rival Williams College by six points to win the 2004 Championship held Saturday at the Twin Brook Recreation Complex in Cumberland, Maine.
The Panthers placed five runners among the first 23 finishers for a total of 58 points. Williams had its five runners among the first 28 finishers for 64 points. Colby College, with 131 points, was third followed by Amherst College with 160 points and Wesleyan University with 163 points. All five teams earned a trip to next weekend's NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championship race in Eau Claire, Wis.
Manzer covered the 6,000-meter course in a time of 21:34.5 to finish seven seconds behind three-time race winner Caroline Cretti, a junior from Williams College who posted a time of 21:27.4. Senior Marisa Cawley was the second Middlebury runner to finish, coming home in fourth place with a time of 21:46.2. Following Cretti and Manzer in third place was Williams senior Jenn Campbell with a time of 21:43.4.
Competing against the best runners in the region, MIT had only one other runner finish among the top-100 as Alisha Schor battled for a 99th-place finish with a time of 24:43. Angelique Moscicki was the third Tech runner to finish (25:22), while Karen Condon completed the circuit in 25:28 to finish fourth. Vicky Hsu completed the scoring for MIT by finishing 139th overall. Over 200 runners competed in Saturday's championship.
Four individuals also earned spots in next weekend's national championship field. Going to Eau Claire next weekend are freshman Megan Brousseau of Wheaton College who placed eighth, junior Tracy Bassett who finished ninth, Trinity University sophomore Kristina Miner, and Tufts junior Becca Ades.


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Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Right now there's only For love or money (it's so bad) and Cupid (even worse!) but I can't help myself.I do Watch Survivor and am looking forward to the next one. The others I've watched I haven't really followed 100 % - the bachelor, the mole, celebrity mole (the worst of them all!). I think that's it.The amazing race is by far the best. Survivor was great but is now too much the same every time.
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Sobe647 has not received any gifts yet
it pisses me off too.
hello, dear girl! i was just thinking of you! i have missed "the group"....... i'm working so much now, which is good, but i'm like a zombie now; i'm sure you know......miss you sweet friend, huggles! :)
'ello love... me again....... happy belated B-day! hope your day was great :) all is well here; working a lot! thanks for thinking of me...... Pan :)
Ah! You had a birthday!
I find myself either busy or lazy lately. In both instances I am doing fine.
I will attempt to be around your time :P
Happy Birthday, Sabby, and many many more. xo Kathy
Sorry I missed you also. Hope you are doing well!
I will have a beer for you :D
Hi, Sabby! I haven't seen you in chat for a while. I hope everything is okay at your end. Do come to the chat room soon. You are missed.
Happy New Year to you also Sabby!
that little pile of hair looks like "tibble" [Star Trek}
Thanks for adding me, your aesthetics and music is profound. I need your guidance
to add music to your profile page.
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Naysila Mirdad - Artis Cewek Manis Indonesia
Come up calm, at TV may not mean not may have a party with friend. in a few photo that taken at a online forum, pretty artist Naysila Mirdad, always come up elegant, sweet and polite in every the character at sinetron appear a little dare at several photos.
Both that vulgar from photo that number 3 fruit. Naysila Mirdad being seen is drinking, embrace a man, and photo with the friends.
In these days of g-strings and styles are becoming fashion chain, not only among the young but also older women, my wife is in its forty-she does nothing but thongs. The main difference between the two types is that thongs really have a crotch thongs with them so that its name suggests, a "string!"
The next type of underwear is the most common bikinis and briefs. For women who are not comfortable in thongs. The reports are the types of pants style grandmother are called underwear. The cut is a sexy bikini with more cuts in the thigh and to reduce the size below.
After separation of the different styles of clothing, you can see who has points that are almost empty, you know what that means? It is time to go shopping. Get a little crazy and buy styles, you can buy and not to give a little diversity.
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Two Irving, Texas, women are suing two Texas State Troopers and the director of the Department of Public Safety after they say they were violated during roadside cavity searches in full view of the public and without probable cause.
On July 13, while driving along state Highway 161, Angel Dobbs and her niece Ashley Dobbs were stopped for littering by Trooper David Ferrell. In the dashcam video released by the women and their attorney, Ferrell can be heard telling the women they would both be cited for littering for throwing cigarette butts out of the car.
Farrell then returned to his cruiser and, in the video, can be heard calling female trooper Kelley Helleson to the scene to search both women whom he said were acting weird.


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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Visitors to Chapman Square in downtown Portland are finding benches and walkways covered with bird droppings.
A tourist from Philadelphia, Joe Goodman, told KOIN it's a disgusting mess.
Parks and Recreation development manager Barrett Anderson says an unusually large number of crows are occupying the square. Anderson says if the dry weather continues the staff will pressure wash the sidewalks after the first of the year.
Information from: KOIN-TV, www.koin.com


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Some of the big stories this week included the secret identities of Linux distributions, a new flash filesystem, Phoronix tests the speed of Arch against Ubuntu, Android gets an OnStar application, how Linux saved a fast food giant and last but not least a story entitled 'I could license you to use this software, but then I'd have to kill you'. Enjoy!
The end of the (Linux) desktop as we know it: What if the Linux desktop as we know it was a thing from the past ? Major players like Asus, Google, Canonical decided to create their own desktop in order to provide a Zen, very fast environment for millions of users. What are the consequences for the "legacy" windows managers; Gnome, KDE, etc.?
The Secret Identities of Linux Distributions : In the embedded space, there's been a lot of talk about whether Android is fragmented, and if that fragmentation will ultimately hurt Android, because developers won't know what version to code for and users won't know which one to use.
Linux gains flash filesystem: Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 2.6.34, which is notable for adding two filesystems: Ceph for distributed and cloud-based applications, and LogFS, which is optimized for flash-memory based devices. Other new features include a faster KVM virtualization driver based on Vhost.net technology, says LinuxPlanet.com.
Is Arch Linux Really Faster Than Ubuntu?: Often when we are preparing for cross-distribution comparisons or benchmarks of different operating systems (like our recent Mac OS X 10.6 vs. Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 10.04 benchmarks) we are often asked to include Arch Linux in the mix. This is usually on the basis of including a rolling-release distribution to provide a performance look at a constantly evolving distribution with many of the most recent open-source packages rather than a traditional distribution with packages that may be months older. Many of those requesting Arch be included in our testing mix also claim that Arch performs significantly faster than Ubuntu and our usual test candidates.
I could license you to use this software, but then I'd have to kill you: Just shy of 2000 different licenses cover the 230,000+ projects in the Black Duck Knowledgebase. It's important to note that the top 10 licenses cover 93% of all projects and the top 20 almost 97%. Well over 60% are GPL. So, the vast bulk of projects are under a small number of well-known licenses, and that's a good thing. But the other 3% of projects and 1980-odd licenses (and there are some odd ones!) clearly constitute a "long tail." Join me, won't you, for a journey to the outer reaches of that tail.
GM and Google integrate Android app with OnStar: General Motors (GM) announced that version 2.0 of the Android version of its OnStar Mobile app for the Chevrolet Volt will feature Google Maps integration. The voice-enabled feature, which shows a Volt's location on Google Maps, may only be the first step in Android integration with OnStar, say reports.
How to Convert Your Facebook Superfans Into Brand Ambassadors: Last week, I explored the birth of the "superfan" in social media, drawing from the superfan concept at sporting events and pointing out some fan qualities that my company has observed on our clients' Facebook Pages. This week, I'm going to discuss how to harness the passion of the superfan in order to convert them into an ambassador for your brand.
The Cost Of Running Compiz: Earlier this week we published benchmarks comparing Arch Linux and Ubuntu. There were only a few areas where the two Linux distributions actually performed differently with many of their core packages being similar, but one of the areas where the results were vastly different was with the OpenGL performance as Ubuntu uses Compiz by default (when a supported GPU driver is detected) where as Arch does not. This had surprised many within our forums so we decided to carry out a number of tests with different hardware and drivers to show off what the real performance cost is of running Compiz as a desktop compositing manager in different configurations.
How Linux Saved A Fast Food Giant: I am a Windows guy. I have always used Windows at home, work, school, everywhere with the exception of my phone (iPhone now Nexus One) and one Linux class at FIU. I have an A+ and MCTS in Windows Vista. Soon I will have my MCITP. I drink the kool-aid. But Linux saved me and the company I sub contract to, a large fast food giant, from near-total disaster. Last month McAfee posted a virus definition update that flagged SVCHOST.EXE as a virus. This is my story of what happened.
How to Watch Hulu.com in the UK: For those not familiar, Hulu is a popular video playback site from NBC that streams many mainstream television shows right to your browser. The biggest problem with the site is that it blocks access for users outside the continental United States. Hulu isn't the only site in the world that does this either. Many sites restrict access based on the IP Address that you are currently connected with.
Why Can't We All Use Chromium Instead of Google Chrome?: This is something I always asked myself. How is Google Chrome different from Chromium. Apart from the logo, there is hardly any difference visually between the two. So I decided to dig further. Here are some of the interesting facts you should know.


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this is a discussion within the NFL Community Forum; Patriots mascot arrested in sex sting - NFL News - FOX Sports on MSN I wonder if Billacheak has film on this too!...
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Woodlands
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Patriots Scandal!!!!
Patriots mascot arrested in sex sting - NFL News - FOX Sports on MSN
I wonder if Billacheak has film on this too!
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: New Haven Ct
Posts: 23,729
Re: Patriots Scandal!!!!
PROVIDENCERhode Island State Police said theyve arrested 14 people for prostitution-related crimes since a new law went into effect that banned indoor prostitution, including a man who plays the New England Patriots mascot.
State police said Friday that since last month, they have arrested eight men, five women and one 17-year-old girl for prostitution or for procurement of sexual conduct for a fee.
Law enforcement sources told NBC 10 one of the johns who tried to pay for sex with a prostitute was 47-year-old Robert Sormanti of Warwick. He is one of several people who plays the Pat the Patriot mascot.
The Pat Patriot mascot costume is worn by multiple people, each of whom are held responsible and accountable for their actions. The individual in question has been suspended. The mascot responsibilities will continue to be fulfilled by others, said a statement from the team.
A call to Sormantis home was not immediately returned.
These are the first arrests since the governor signed a new law that closed a loophole that made indoor prostitution legal. Eight men and six women were arrested.
Over the past month, state police conducted two stings. In one, they placed an ad on the adult section of Craigslist. A woman, really a state trooper, offered sex for money.
Shortly after posting to the Web site, we received numerous calls from males seeking sexual conduct in return for a fee, state police Capt. David Neill said.
The second sting involved a state trooper answering escort ads on Craigslist and in local newspapers.
One of the prostitutes arrested was a 17-year-old girl.
There was a 17-year-old arrested. Coupled with some of the conversations from the johns, its reprehensible that we have a young girl whos put in a difficult socio-economic situation, and she feels this is a good trade to go to. Well, thats not, said state police Col. Brendan Doherty.
One prostitute told the state police she makes $1,000 a day. Two of the hookers showed up to meeting placeshotels and motels in the Providence metropolitan areain a new Mercedes and a 750-series BMW.
A bill signed into law in November made prostitution a misdemeanor crime regardless of where it occurs. Previously, indoor prostitution was allowed in Rhode Island because of a legal loophole inadvertently introduced by the legislature in 1980.
The alleged johns face up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. The women arrested for prostitution face six months in prison and $1,000 fine.
The state police said the women arrested for prostitution were:
Katelynn Pegg, 18, of 8 Albro Ave., Taunton, Mass.
Charlenne Lavasseur, 48, of 11 Gail Ave., Cranston
Christine Aurelio, 29, of 464 Buchanan St., Pawtucket
Nicole Moyniham, 22, of 187 Cottage St., Pawtucket
Jessica Neves, 22, of 55 Wannisett Ave., East Providence
Jane Doe, 17
The state police said the men arrested for procurement of sexual conduct for a fee were:
Antonio Lima, 59, of 39 Willard Ave., Seekonk, Mass.
Ahmed Farhane, 33, of 136 George St., Pawtucket
Steven Jobe, 54, of 152 Bayard St., Providence
Robert McVey, 56, of 140 Kettle Pond Drive, South Kingstown
Robert Sormanti, 47, 31 Todd St., Warwick
Kennth Stiles, 47, of 29 Judge St., Fall River, Mass.
William Lee, 43, of 5 Cecile St., Lincoln
Daniel Fleming, 38, of 62 Lawn Ave., Warwick
" Anyone can take a picture Only a Photographer can take a photograph "
Bounty Money $$$
Join Date: Oct 2008
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Re: Patriots Scandal!!!!
Film at 11:00
100th Post
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 160
Re: Patriots Scandal!!!!
wowserz ............
1000 Posts +
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Wherever I lay my hat
Posts: 3,622
Re: Patriots Scandal!!!!
Ha! Funny! Hardly a PATRIOTS scandal - sadly. Unless he wears his costume for said acts! Wonder what damage the press could do with ........ tight end, hard count, illegal motion,
Aside: What is wrong with prostitution if all parties are willing (and I suppose any payments are subject to tax)?
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