Stephen may have been raised in a home where this type of behaviour would not be acceptable but nonetheless he did what he did, so apparently he made a choice that went against what he had been taught. He was held accountable and punished for his actions and frankly I do not think he received a severe enough punishment for taking another human being’s life. I do believe in the possibility of redemption. I hope that he has learned from this experience and will turn away from hatred and use the remainder of his life to do good. But part of that is accepting responsibility for his actions and your making excuses for him is not going to help him do so.

Not much to say after that.

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/page4.html

Carbon Leaf, indeed, is excellent. I hope to see them when they pass through Atlanta again.

Hope everyone gets a chance to see them!!!

The problem with students is that although we are in a free-thinking society, unfortunately schools are not. It is the responsibility of the educators to know what is going on. If it was a play about hate and murder, encouraging people to bash gays, we’d be in an uproar: “Why didn’t the principal know what was going on?” The principal has a responsibility to know what is happening in her school.

I’m not so sure who is telling the truth about revisions here either. Quite frankly, I don’t think either of them are telling the whole story, and I don’t fully believe either of them.

Interesting point about removing “the piece in time before having to be fully committed to the piece, including financially, and go with something else.” You have a good point. The teacher may have seen a protracted fight coming along and decided to just cave in right away. But if he was so sure of his being in the right, why didn’t he press the publishing house to rush a singular script for preview? Why didn’t he fight harder? Why did he just throw his hands in the air and say “Well she doesn’t like gay characters so we aren’t going to do it?” It just seems odd to me, like he’s passing the buck. Something is missing here.

Thanks for writing!

I stand with the teacher who removed the piece in time before having to be fully committed to the piece, including financially, and go with something else. There’s no reason a teacher or artist should have to submit their work for approval, that just shows students that we are not in a free-thinking society.

Mind you, this comes from the one that believes that intellectual property rights are overblown Capitalist hogwash. I hold the Native American philosophy that there is no such thing as unique thought or creativity: all ideas, songs, paintings, writings, formulas, inventions etc. have been thought and are in the aether, free to pass through your head, and out, or into another head: it is how it is used that matters. How can one claim ownership on an electrical impulse, or a divinely granted vision?

I still enjoy Friday nights right after work. I do agree that Cobalt is less than optimal, but it seems to be the most central option that is easy to get to from MD/VA and is well-served by public transport.

Thanks for the nice write up. Hope to see you at some of our activities sometime!

Thumper Bear Bradley

I do, however, have a problem with much of that funding being included in a “stimulus” package, which is being rammed through Congress without the usual committee oversight/review process. The purpose of a stimulus package is not to jam through the spending wish list of constituencies; it is to quickly inject cash into the economy.

By the administration’s own estimates, only 67 percent of the “stimulus” package will actually hit the economy in the next 18 months. This means at least 33 percent of the package won’t even come into play until the start of Fiscal Year 2011. Moreover, if the first 67 percent of spending actually “stimulates” the economy, the additional infusion of the 33 percent could spark a huge bout of uncontrolled inflation (similar to that experienced in the late 1970s/early 1980s). This would be disastrous to working people, as the only way to curb inflation is to slow down/reverse the economy (as Obama’s own advisor, the former Fed chairman, did to the economy in the early 1980s to kill inflation), thereby increasing inflation.

I am probably only one of the few people who have read the entire 600+ page plan passed by the House (right down to the cutesy provision which barred any stimulus money going to the State of Illinois as long as Blago was governor). I was for the package until I read it. The package has gone from an effort to stimulate the economy, to an attempt to pass spending that otherwise would fail the test of the usual congressional review process.

If the money is spent within eighteen months, then I don’t care if the package is $500 billion or $1 trillion. But as long as it is nothing more than a pork-laden wish list, it should be defeated.

I’m so happy that Lifetime made Prayers for Bobby into a movie that introduced a new generation of teens and parents to this moving story. To really understand the power of the story, though, read the book. Leroy Aarons captured the voices and stories of both Bobby and his mother Mary in ways that speak to us today, and the book has more character development and truth than a two-hour movie can capture.

I knew the author, Leroy (Roy) Aarons personally, and he told me about getting many letters from gay youth who had contemplated suicide before reading this book — it literally saved their lives. Joshua Boneh, Roy’s life partner, tells me that more readers continue to write about how important the book was.

This continued and escalated under Giuliani who drew on the full weight of federal ATF agents and the state Liquor Licensing authorities to raid and close popular Gay bars and clubs.

Under Bloomberg, LGBT youth of color have been harassed and fined for standing on street corners in Greenwich Village.

Still, no one is worried.

*name’s changed for confidentiality purposes

I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a child. However, I have lost many of my friends from car accidents. One of my close friends Andrew Campbell (RIP) was killed in a car accident; my friend Jon* was driving the car. Two of my friends Ben* and Justin* were in their truck following them to a party. They went to pass Josh and Andrew but another car was coming so in order for Ben* not to get hit Jon* ran off the road and then over corrected the truck flipped and caught on fire and Andrew was trapped, Jon and Ben* did all they could to get him out but couldn’t. It was a horrible accident! Ben* was charged for vehicular manslaughter. The point of me telling you about this, is that it was a horrible accident the same with Sean. I did not know him personally but I know the people he was with that night. One of them happens to be a very good friend of mine as well. What happen at Croc’s was exactly like my friend Andrews car accident it was boys being boys…and it’s just like ours mother told us when we were younger “it’s all fun and games till someone gets hurt!” Stephen will never be able to take back what he did. The Kennedy family will never have their son again. But from experience hate does nothing! My father was killed by my uncle when I was 3 years old. My uncle has always been in my life and I was never lied to about what happen. I’m sure you don’t give a shit about any of this cause your hurt and angry and you have every right to be! But don’t go around telling lies about your son’s death! Stephen did not just pull up in the car with his boys get out and then hit Sean!!! We were ALL at the crocs!!! We were all DRINKING!!!! EVERY ONE of us had a buzz!!! Stephen doesn’t have a good temper & he loves attention so after being provoct by Sean, Stephen got out of the car and hit him. Should he have HELL NO! Does he regret it, every second of everyday and he should, this is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. And for Sean’s family I’m sure that will never be enough because you’re on this big Gay trip! I don’t think I have heard in any of these blogs or protest or whatever the hell else you guys have been doing that your son Sean Kennedy has died without you announcing his sexual preference. Sean Kennedy being gay has nothing to do with this what so ever!!! Stephen didn’t even know he was gay until after we all found Sean was dead the next day! What if Sean wasn’t gay! Let me tell you what the story would sound like then…

Sean was reaching in the back window of the car where Stephen Moller was sitting…Stephen says something like don’t fucking touch me…Sean doesn’t stop Stephen gets out of the car and hits him then drives off. LIKE ANY OTHER BAR FIGHT!!!!

What do you have now? Still nothing but a son who is gone! I don’t care that your son was gay; I’m sure Sean’s friends didn’t either. Sean was just Sean to them and his family, and from what I have heard about him, he was a pretty awesome friend and a good guy. Not one person that I know that knew him introduced him as “Sean my GAY friend!” The only reason you are going on this big power gay rights trip is because you think it’s going to make a difference. You think they will punish Stephen more because he killed someone who was gay. You’re crazy! That’s just like saying someone who black should receive more of a punishment for killing a white man than a white man should for killing a black man! You can travel all over America and protest, make signs, defend gay rights, and gives speeches to defend Sean’s death and that is awesome. If he was alive I saw how supportive you were towards the gay community I’m sure he would be so grateful! But in this country NOT just South Carolina no stricter punishment will ever be given to someone because of race, religion, sexual identity, or lack of religion.
Everyone that I know in Greenville that knows of this accident knows that Sean Kennedy was gay. Stephen Moller killed your gay son. We get it OK…Sean was Gay

Actually, while that is a bit absurd, I’m not too against it. Part of the program is there to help teach street prostitutes safety, while trying to get them out of the life altogether. If they’re gonna do it anyway (and they will) it’s good for the government to do something to help them. But to have this guy go to the program is just asinine.

While I’m concerned about entrapment, how does it make sense to arrest someone for prostitution then send them to classes on how to engage in prostitution “safely?”