mike carey

I was disagreeing with the characterisation that QTR says "accusation" = "indisputable fact", the rest of the quote was for context. I thought what I meant was clear, sorry that it wasn't clear to you. And yes, I should have thrown in an 'alleged' before victim as well as saying alleged crime. The purpose of my post was to express the view that people often make unwarranted assumptions and judgments when allegations of sexual assault are raised, and more commonly when the complainant is a woman. (There is a different set of negative dynamics when the complainant is a man.) The flip side of the Duke/Bryant/DSK cases are cases like the Cosby accusations and those against Jimmy Saville at the BBC that were widely dismissed because they were 'just not possible'. (DSK had a disadvantage too, in that so many people thought it was perfectly in character.) Judges in the Commonwealth of Australia are appointed by politicians, for criminal courts by state governments. Judges are not shy to object to political 'interference' in judicial processes, including objecting to minimum sentences enacted by parliaments. For lower courts prosecutors are usually police, for more serious cases the police hand the brief of evidence to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The prosecutors in the DPP are called Crown Prosecutors and are appointed by the Attorney-General. Neither judges nor prosecutors are party-political appointments.

That is wildly inappropriate. Proving an accusation is false is almost impossible and if the evidence doesn't stack up it's easy enough for the police or the [crown/state/district] prosecutor to say so and not proceed. If the police don't believe a claim they have no right to insist that the complainant recant their complaint. As in this case, the prosecutors should keep the details on file in case better evidence comes up.

I disagree with this characterisation. @quoththeraven is not a man-basher nor do I think she takes the view that accusation equates with guilt. Without putting words in her mouth, I read her take on this as taking issue with the frequent dismissal of rape claims as the alleged crime being somehow the victim's fault or that critics deny the power differential between alleged perpetrator and alleged victim. I don't think QTR was talking about the specifics of this woman's claims, but rather the immediate reaction to dismiss her claims before any further information came out. The power differential is relevant and real, 'She should just say no' should not be the default reaction in such cases. The discussion was about how to deal with rape accusations in general, not about the merits of this specific case. 'This woman lied so all rape cases are questionable' is not a reasonble position to take. (And of course not all rape victims are women.)

JD, just tell him you are happy no matter how his life works out but that you love him and don't need all the details of his life. Tell him he doesn't need to prove anything to you. He doesn't need to tell you how successful he had been because you like him whether he has been successful or not.

Texting while driving is incredibly stupid and dangerous. You're practically begging for typos.

Perhaps a little unsettling!

Brian, you don't need to defend how you conduct your sessions!

Clearly it's not Ireland, the car is left-hand drive.

Oh, too much of a dream!

For some reason I read this as 'Costa Rica'. *Retires stage left*

Like Gman, I sort of wish I had accepted or admitted earlier that I am gay. Regret? No, that would be to say that I haven't enjoyed the life and career that I led, and I have. If I had regretted I would most likely have tried to make up for lost time and I haven't done that not wished that I could. I too wonder whether I can fall in love. Again, I don't regret that I haven't, but I don't stress about whether I can in the future.

(WAAC is WA [Western Australian] AIDS Council)

I didn't do extensive research, well, any research before I went to Washington so I wouldn't have seen his website (which I have now seen). I figured I'd just enjoy the lunch and whatever other functions were held and if something happened, it happened! I wasn't there determined to hire while I was in town!

Sad indeed, although even if he had I can't see myself picking up at the luncheon. Well not this time around!

And to think I hadn't heard of him when I recently visited that fair city!

Great shots, Lance!

That was ROFL stuff!

But they are all Christianists who are straight as the driven snow (or some other analogy) so why would they possibly hire some gay whore?

Is it just me, or are there other posters who are in the process of wiping their coffee off their screens and keyboards at the idea of this event being held at the Gaylord convention centre?

They are still a thing! Not that I fly enough to use them.

Tristan, you're not competing with local escorts or anyone else in Singapore or whereever. You are your own thing when you are there, and men (particularly expats) will pay based on who you are not who anyone else is in that city. I'm sure I'm not the only person who would know who you are, recognise what you are worth and pay accordingly regardless of what the 'going rate' was in Singapore. Maybe I'm just smitten.

Good summary Tristan, some great points for new visitors to Singapore. I haven't been there for years and years. You're right that eating at US branded restaurants will be expensive, people may find it cheaper to eat in local restaurants serving western cuisine so they don't pay for the cachet of a US brand. I always found street food to be cheap and delicious, but then I love Chinese and Nonya food (and Malay and Indian curries). Times I visited Penang in Malaysia on work trips (years ago) the consensus always was that if you were going to get a bait [food poisoning] it would be in a hotel restaurant and not at a street food market. I can't speak to gay culture but homosexuality is illegal in Singapore and Malaysia, although the degree of enforcement of the law is variable. Air fares are variable and if you are prepared to buy non-refundable tickets you can get good deals. Fares from Australia tend to be expensive. Clearly you pay more for refundable tickets. (I can't remember all the details but I paid about AUD3400 [uSD2300 at the time] for a fully flexible Canberra to DC and return ticket with a stopover in LA: I could have bought a roundtrip Sydney- LA non-refundable ticket for about AUD1100 [uSD750].)

Mattr, you have identified my dilemmas in this choice! Still Kurtis for me, and Austin (noting issues identified). That said, I am not on my way there and if I were I would contact them directly not just talk about it in here.

I'm sure I could have one for him!!

It's alcohol abuse as far as I am concerned!