Jordan Brown update....the presumption of innocence vs. the presumption of integrity

Hi Friends;

A short update and some interesting issues. This is a picture of young Jordan. In his case, he is up against an interesting oddity of America....the presumption of innocence accorded to the defendant, and the presumption of integrity accorded to the officials investigating the case.

We are all familiar with the presumption of innocence. The presumption of integrity is a bit more elusive, but understood. What it means is that the officials are presumed to be honest, with integrity and honor in their dealings, acting in accordance with the laws and procedures appropriate to the postitions.

What happens if that presumption is misplaced? A frightening consideration, a scary thought. The very people who are involved in determining if there is a crime more less the direction of the investigation are given great powers presuming they have no agenda, aren't lazy, and are honest in thier charges. Paranoia, bad fiction, and real life horror stories speak differently. Please visit this link.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/

Thoughts...

Hi Friends:

I just watched another video about another Christian group talking about the end of the world being brought about by glbt folks.

Maybe I need to tell you about my youth. I could tell you how I grew up teased, I grew up knowing I was different and fought anyone who pushed at me hard enough to make me prove I wasn't different. I could tell you about how I became a bully to show that I was just like everyone else. I could tell you how I remember so very vividly going to a party with my "girlfriend". We kissed in the driveway; long, toungefilled kisses with groping hands and I had my mind searching for how to do whatever I was doing, thinking my way through a kiss....and, how my mind would go back to the fooling around that I did with the a couple neighborhood kids and how wonderful that felt and how I wanted it to last forever.

I knew I was different, and it scared me to death. Still does. Everytime I hear someone talking about someone who is gay and I see the facial expressions, everytime I wonder if I will be forced to "out" myself a little bit more as I begin to defend someone's right to be different, every time I look in the mirror and wonder where my life went, trying to live like other people want me to live. How very wasteful. How so very wasteful.

You wonderful people have asked me "why don't you come out". And I know, it is because I am still afraid. I have lived so long, so much of my life, hiding who I was from those who ought to love me regardlesss of who I find sexy. Can I simply stop and say 'Heeere's Randy!'?

There are some of you out there who have been outed, or outed yourself, and you are suffering the consequences. So many have even gone so far as to commit suicide, being unable to stand the criticism and the bullies. You believe yourself in a living hell that has only one escape. I tell you that you are not in hell. You are free.

You are free like the butterfly, fighting free of the confining mess of his transformation. You are free despite the horrible things people say. You are my heroes. You are my idols, my wanna-be's, my hopes.

You see, hell is living a lie. Hell is living alone, afraid of what will be said. Hell is knowing that it is dumb to feel this way, wasteful, horrible, and yet afraid to venture out. I tell you, you are suffering, but you are not in hell.

So, I tell you and hope that it will somehow strengthen me; no matter what assholes like Pat Robinson, Westborough Church, and who-ever else wants to preach hate from the pulpit; no matter the bullies that are so desperate for their time in the sun - it's very short lived, you know...it peaks in highschool and then is gone; no matter what people "who love you" seem to think, BE FREE.

No, someone made this up, right?

Yes, someone did make this up. They fooled me....and I am laughing at myself for being got. http://www.landoverbaptist.org/eastereggs.html

And I quote from the above linked page: "Are Your Children Playing With Lucifer's Testicles? is a Bible based book for Christian Pparents who by lack of faith can't afford to send their childrent to a decent Christian school. Their precious youngsters are infected by the secular filth and lies being taught by unsaved teachers in America's upblic school system. The book teaches parents how to easily explain to their children that Easter (as it is celebrated by the Unsaved) has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ but is actually a holiday celebrating lewd and sexually explicit pagan rituals of fertility. "It's ot that difficult to understand," says Author/Creation Scientist, Dr. Daniel Cameroon. "In the old days, deluded pagans would gather round and hump like bunnies on Easter Sunday because they thought it would make their tomatoes grow faster." Dr. Cameroon explains that it doesn't matter what god or idol the Pagans were humping under on Easter Sunday, because any god other than "Jesus" is "Satan". Dr. Cameroon dedicates four chapters in the book to Easter Eggs. "Easter Eggs are one of the wiliest tools of the Devil," he says. "Pagan kids didn't have anything to do on Easter Sunday because their mommies and daddies were stuck in a false temple all day, naked and writhing around with their neighbors in Satanic orgies of the flesh. You see, parents had to come up with a way to occupy their children while they were awway from home, praying and fornicating under the altar of Satan. And since they didn't have babysitters back then, they gave their kids eggs to play with and sometimes paint,"he says. "But the reason they chose eggs had nothing to do with any sort of fertility or fertilizers (as some misguided Christian historieans would have you believe). Nope, it was because of Lucifer's Testicles!.........And I won't say a word more about it! I don't want to ruin the book for you"".

I am speechless. I am unbelievably agog.

Oh, here's part of their best seller list:

• Nancy Boy Chrissy, the Bedwetting Sissy! by Pastor Deacon Fred.
• The Little Jew: Levi, The Dancing Cockroach by Gloria Steinhunt.

Oh, and here's a review by Pastor Deacon Fred: ..."The evidence is there, and thank you for taveling to the caves of Kenya to brave the dangerous coloreds in the region!.......It damands a full cleansing in every home of ALL evidence of Easter eggs, Easter egg paint, and rounded dippers. I sent two of my grandchildren to the Landover Baptist Memorial Hospital before even reaching Chapter 7, and if you are a True Christian (he trademarks those two words).....

Now, that is the same author of the above book "Nancy Boy...". I'm willing to bet those kids are going to be in need of more hospitalization soon due to this cat.

Oh, this is funny, too: List price: 18.95 Our price: 27.99 You save: Nothing. Only Jesus saves. Availability: usually ships within 24 hours (if Jesus wants it to).

Folks, these people are serious!!! Voting. And likely armed!!!

Oh, My Lord! There's more: Daddy? Why Did Jesus Kill Grandma? by Pastor Deacon Fred

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/grandma.html

Ok, no joke, this is - are you ready? - a coloring book for kids. Don't believe me, check the link.

Again, I quote:<p>

Remember dear Grandma, who baked so well?

Soon she will be baking - this time in Hell!

Dear Daddy, why Grandma? What did she do?

Don't question it child, or God will GET YOU!

Ok, if you've gotten this far, if you don't know whether to laugh or scream, see comment #3 and follow the link. this one got me,too, folks....but damn it was funny!

you gotta be kidding, right?

Nope, this one is for real....all the scarier. Now you can see how the above one got me.

A bit of the cuties....it's been a long wait. Sorry.