Lucky

citylaw makes a good point that so much is either overlooked by federal prosecutors or is treated much lighter than the Swarz was getting. The banks made out like bandits when they were shown to have committed fraud on foreclosures. They actually hurt people. The oil companies have also benefited from lax prosecution. They were proven to have made billions, yes, billions, in illegal profits, but paid fines in the millions. The Energy Department made a big deal out of the huge fines the oil companies were paying, but neglected to tell the public that it was a small price to pay for all the profit they made.

I would have said that the harder a top works, the deeper the reward!

Wayout, congratulations on your new family member. You have years of joy ahead of you.

Huffington Post takes a look at the law under which Swartz was prosecuted: Before his apparent suicide Friday, Internet activist Aaron Swartz was facing trial for allegedly stealing millions of scholarly journal articles from a digital archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now, in the wake of his death, some of his supporters are calling for changes to the controversial law under which he was charged, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. They say prosecutors have widely invoked the 1980s-era statute to bring harsh criminal penalties for relatively minor offenses. In a tribute to Swartz on Sunday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes said: “You should know his death is a good reason to revisit the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the law under which he was prosecuted, since it is far too broad." Timothy B. Lee, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, wrote Saturday on the blog Ars Technica: “We should pay tribute to Aaron's memory by reforming the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to prevent such disproportionate prosecutions from happening in the future." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/aaron-swartz-death-_n_2468879.html

For some reason, the death of Aaron Swartz really bothers me. He hung himself. No one knows exactly what his reasons were, but surely the fact that he was facing 35 years in prison for stealing files from MIT was a factor. 35 years might seem like a long time to a 26 year old. I had never heard of him until yesterday, but such a brilliant mind gone so young is troubling. Why would the government seek such a harsh penalty? Swarz's family sure believes that the prosecution was a factor in his death. They issued this statement: “Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy,” Mr. Swartz’s family and partner said in a statement. ”It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. attorney’s office and at M.I.T. contributed to his death.” The issues involved here are complex. Read more on Aaron Swartz and file sharing legalistics: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/technology/aaron-swartz-a-data-crusader-and-now-a-cause.html?hp And in California federal prosecutors are going against a man who started a medicinal marijuana business. He followed every state law to the T, yet he faces 15 years from a prosecutor named to the office by President Obama, Read that story to wonder what Obama is doing. It's really surprising that one argument the feds make is that the guy is not himself a user of medicinal marijuana. Apparently only sick people can help the sick in Obama's mind: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/us/14pot.html?hp&_r=0 We would have thought that with the election of a Democrat President that we would get more liberal judges and more liberal prosecutors. And by liberal, in this sense I mean more rational, not hard-charging guys who cannot think through the intricacies of an issue. Yet when Obama was re-elected, there were 42 federal judgeships open that he had not even nominated anyone to.

I thought I would try again on the links, and it worked! http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pets/China-made-treats-kill-hundreds-of-dogs-sicken-thousands.html From dogsnaturallymagazine.com: Hundreds of consumer complaints are aimed at dog food manufactures so far in 2012 and dozens – perhaps hundreds – of dogs are dead. Does this sound like deja vu? Could there be another massive recall like there was five years ago? The answer is, it is likely happening now. SAY "NO" To Pet Treats Made In China!!! Once again, an increasing number of complaints about sick dogs have been connected to chicken jerky imported from China, prompting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue its third advisory since 2007. The FDA previously warned about these products (also called chicken tenders, strips or treats) in 2007 and 2008. The 2007 warning was issued after nearly 100 dogs got sick. According to the FDA, a urine test of canines sickened by eating the treats could indicate increased glucose (Fanconi syndrome), and blood tests could show indications of kidney failure. Some dogs have died, the FDA reports, but most seem to recover. The most recent warning states that the “FDA is advising consumers who choose to feed their dogs chicken jerky products to watch their dogs closely for any or all of the following signs that may occur within hours to days of feeding the products:

This is a thread for animal lovers, so if that does not describe you, my apologies. You can move on! Almost any dog food one buys these days has the three magic words that put fear into the heart of the owner: "Made In China." Take a look at your treats and tell me which ones are made in the USA. Why does that worry me, along with oh, say, fifty million other dog owners? Because Chinese food cannot be trusted! Just last week the NY Times had an article about a run on baby food in Australia. What's that got to do with this? Well, the run was due to Chinese tourists buying baby food in bulk to take home. They don't trust baby food made in China. So if the Chinese skimp on quality with baby food, just think what they do with dog food! Sure, dogs are not dying across the country, but what is the long term effect of eating potentially unsafe food, and what are the chances of bad food causing an epidemic of problems in the current market? The Times article says: "A number of recent high-profile scandals involving tainted food products in China have shaken public confidence in the safety of domestic supplies." The article goes on to discuss milk producers selling contaminated milk powder and another huge recall of milk. Even Chinese producers are leaving China. They are building plants overseas to ensure better quality control. Last September the website philly.com reported that Chinese made dog treats had killed hundreds of dogs and sickened thousands of other animals. Dog magazines warn readers constantly of problems with Chinese made dog food. I am unable to link or cut and paste from these sites as the boytoy software seems to be blocking links. Even the box to add a link is not working at the moment,. Are the Chinese running the software? I doubt it, but hey, why else can I not link anything for this post? What's the solution? Consumer pressure, as always. But usually that follows some really unpleasant event that captures the attention of the public. Perhaps this hard-hitting boytoy investigation will light the fire...or would if it had any links!

Here is the main attraction in the revival of the play Picnic: The NY Times even began its review: "The Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of William Inge’s “Picnic” opened on Sunday night, starring an exceptionally well-developed torso." I saw the play last week myself, and my recommendation is that you read that review: http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/theater/reviews/picnic-at-american-airlines-theater.html?hpw Ben Brantley does his best to point out the good points of the play- the set, the costumes- but he pretty much came to the same conclusion that I did. The play is not very interesting. 60 years ago it was "the last word in sexual frankness." But we've come a long way since then, and this Picnic hasn't. At today's theater prices, your dollar can be better spent. I remember seeing Ellen Burstyn play Jared Leto's mother in the movie Requiem for A Dream and being so impressed with her acting. last year I saw her off-Broadway in one of the worst plays I have ever seen, and now with Picnic it looks like I will never see her act as well as she did in that movie. Too bad. The title of this thread includes the line "a cock in a henhouse." That line comes from Ben Brantley's review, just in case you won't be reading it and might think the line is mine.

Until today, I had never heard of Aaron Swartz, the computer whiz who took his life at the age of 26. A lot is being written since the young man was clearly a genius, and his death a particular loss of a wonderful mind. He had ideas that went against the mainstream, and in fact was under indictment at the time of his death. He had a quite liberal attitude about file sharing, and he knew how to get the files he wanted to share. So, a young rebel with a promising future is dead. But one thing that interested me is his 2007 article on why he isn't gay. I quote via towleroad.com: "Also, some have wondered whether Mr. Swartz was gay. In fact, he was not. Not by his definition. While he did hook-up with men, Swartz refused to identify by a label he found to be completely fabricated. His sexual thinking was very much in line with his generation's. From a piece he wrote in 2009; it's called "Why I Am Not Gay": Having sex with other people of your gender isn't an identity, it's an act. And, like sex in general among consenting adults, people should be able to do it if they want to. Having sex with someone shouldn't require an identity crisis. (Nobody sees having-sex-with-white-people as part of their identity, even if that’s primarily who they’re attracted to.) People shouldn't be forced to categorize themselves as "gay," "straight," or "bi." People are just people. Maybe you're mostly attracted to men. Maybe you're mostly attracted to women. Maybe you're attracted to everyone. These are historical claims — not future predictions. If we truly want to expand the scope of human freedom, we should encourage people to date who they want; not just provide more categorical boxes for them to slot themselves into. A man who has mostly dated men should be just as welcome to date women as a woman who's mostly dated men. So that's why I'm not gay. I hook up with people. I enjoy it. Sometimes they're men, sometimes they're women. I don't see why it needs to be any more complicated than that." Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/01/in-his-short-life-aaron-swartz-did-not-endorse-sexual-labels.html#ixzz2HupR7FWD Then I return home to find a lengthy NY Times article titled Generation LGBTQIA. It's about youth today and their resistance to having their sexual identity so narrowly defined. It's almost as if today's youth has taken our youthful march to acceptance of our sexuality and turned it around. It's a long article, but worth some time: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/fashion/generation-lgbtqia.html?pagewanted=all The article begins by quoting Stephen Ira, a young student at Sarah Lawrence College. His video on identity went viral. "With its adrenalized, freewheeling eloquence, the video seemed like a battle cry for a new generation of post-gay gender activists, for whom Stephen represents a rare public face.Armed with the millennial generation’s defining traits — Web savvy, boundless confidence and social networks that extend online and off — Stephen and his peers are forging a political identity all their own, often at odds with mainstream gay culture. If the gay-rights movement today seems to revolve around same-sex marriage, this generation is seeking something more radical: an upending of gender roles beyond the binary of male/female. The core question isn’t whom they love, but who they are — that is, identity as distinct from sexual orientation." One reason his video went viral is because he was born 21 years ago as Kathlyn, and his parents are Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. That tends to open doors. But his ideas are shared by many of his generation. Last week in New York I met, for the first time, a 21 year old relative who likes to wear heels and makeup. For him, it is more of a gender fuck kick than any idea that he might be other than gay. But it did seem to fit the tempo of the times. For me, there is no question. I have no desire to "hook up" with women. I am a man only kind of guy. Am I so out of date?

Thanks!

I'll try another photo of Billy: The play that he is in was my favorite of the week, and gave him a chance to be sexy and charming to the hilt. And he played it all out. My review will have to wait until I feel grounded after flying all day, This is from malecelebnews.com, http://www.malecelebnews.com/2012/11/07/billy-magnussen-in-new-play-vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike/ You are here : Male Celeb News » * Actors » Billy Magnussen in New Play ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ Billy Magnussen in New Play ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’Posted On Wednesday, November 7, 2012 By admin. Under * Actors, * Sightings, Billy Magnussen ‘Boardwalk Empire’ stud, Billy Magnussen, flaunts his toned physique as he spends most of his time in his underwear in the new play ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ currently showing at the Lincoln Theater Center in NY. He’s 27.

Well, I am probably one of the few members here who has seen all three in their current roles. It is simply no contest. Billy Magnussen is so hot, so sexy, so charming that the other two would be lucky to lick his boots. Seth Numrich was hindered by his role, but even so is not a knockout. Sebastian Stan's main claim to fame are his chiseled abs. They are superb. But Billy has it all. The picture I chose caused a pop-up claiming that I am not allowed to use that image in this community. My, the place sure got haughty while I was gone!

Right now, I am in New York doing my best to support the theater. I have seen 3 shows so far, with 3, or 4, to come. My reviews will have to wait until I get home since I can add pictures and clips using my PC that I don't know how to do on an IPad. Visiting New York is not only fun for theater, but I get to see so many old friends. I am also going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and Century 21, my favorite discount department store. On top of all of that, I will be meeting a gay grandnephew for the first time. He is living the party life in New York that I would have loved to do. Of course, I'd be dead if I had moved to New York at 21. On the trip in. I really was lucky. Got Premium Economy to Denver, then an exit row to NYC with no one in the middle seat, and most surprisingly, my luggage was the very first one to come out to the luggage belt! The hotel gave me a room with a view of Times Square, and the show I saw my first night was one of the funniest shows I have ever seen.

Thanks, Bud. Where would we be if you had not decided to join us?

Gosh, all of those poor soldiers who went to war to protect and defend our rights did so for noting if we are going to give up those rights so easily to so-called "trained" people to handle them as they see fit. I have to say , hitoallusa, that you don't seem to value freedom and liberty and the American way.

All I asked was for the bitching and kvetching to be done in a thread that did not have my name in the title.

Is it not enough that you have won the hearts and minds of your fellow posters?

citylaw, I would respect your position much more except for the fact that when you were recently banned, you asked me to post a thread at Daddy's calling attention to the problems at the site. I could not get back to you because that was when the malware issues here began. In the interim, you were allowed back at the site and I was banned. But, when you got back to the site, did you create the thread there that you had wanted me to create? No. Did you complain at all when I was banned? No. Yet we here are now supposed to be all concerned that you got yourself banned again. Now we're are all brothers in arms...at least until you are allowed back at the site. Then we will again be forgotten.

There is a website called biddingfortravel.com at which I participated for a long time and contributed quite a bit of information. The website is owned by a woman named Sheryl, and she rules the place with an iron hand and a short temperament. She has driven so many posters away that the site is of much less value since so few contributions come in. The purpose of the site is good. You post the bid that won you a hotel on Priceline, and this helps others make more intelligent bids on Priceline. You no longer bid so blindly. If you have no trouble following Sheryl's rules, the site might make your bidding much better. Sheryl does not like the fact that I find her rules cumbersome and say so. She beat deej to the punch long ago and banned me! It always amazes me that sites that depend on contributions of members can be so difficult to deal with. She is still in business, and I have no problem with you using that site to your benefit. I not only made money for her by using her link to Priceline, I travel a lot and provided many helpful bid information and other contributions to the site. Thankfully I am now a pretty savvy Priceline bidder and don't need the site as much. Are there any sites that you have problems with? Let us know so we can avoid them!

The problem for me is that the discussions on deej and the other site are coming here under a thread with my name on it. I don't care to be perpetually linked to the issues over there, so I will start a new thread for these discussions and ask that you respect the change and use that thread.

I've cleared the cache a million times and still get the warnings. Fewer of them, but it is still annoying.

It finally went away. It turned out to be a conversation that someone started even though I didn't know Yahoo had conversations.

Gosh. I didn't think he would actually read what I wrote...now he knows that I was worried about him.

That would be so cool if he did. My two posts there would get read! Gay movies would get discussed, and the Dead Sea Scrolls would still be dead.

Every once in a while this site goes through a flurry of posts about the other site. Attention is paid, and then those who came here to discuss that issue leave, and we are left where we were. This site will not grow if it just a place to bash the other site. My suggestion is to move on, post interesting things that others will want to stick around to read, and remember, only this site shows hard cocks.