Prostitution Stings and my arrest!

[JamesK840]

Oh look, there's one now! ^^^

 

>And anyone else who can read. I guess that lets you out.

 

Mr. Secratary, I had no idea you were so clever. I'm in my place now, I'll tell you!

 

You're correct, I have no authority to arbitrate where you post your pointless drivel, but I often start my own threads for my CL ramblings (ramblings that usually have at least a tangential relationship to the board or thread they are posted in...), threads/postings which I don't recall much public sentiment against, BTW.

 

As opposed to hijacking a thread about a topic deeply important to this board with what could well have been a new thread entitled 'increasing homophobia in an increasingly undereducated and poorly paid military', in the new 'stating the incredibly obvious' forum.

[Doug69]

>Come on, Doug. Jeff never used ALL CAPS or exclamation

>points!!!, which are tools people use to "scream" online.

 

This isn't the biggest point, because I think there are lots of ways to scream online other than using upper-case letters and exclamation points, but since you seem to think that's an important point, I feel compelled to note that what you wrote is just factually untrue. Here is what Jeff wrote in Post #6:

 

<<This whole situation totally threw me into the worst manic-depressive cycle I'd EVER experienced complete with overwhelming anxiety and panic-attacks.

 

Needless to say, the past 2 weeks have been HELL, but I'm now looking at this as an opportunity to start another chapter of my life.>>

 

Those are some pretty serious statements (and use upper-case letters to express them). I think Woodlawn's point - which is really quite fucking innocouous and even helpful to Jeff - is that Jeff may want to consider that what happened to him isn't really as bad or as life-impacting as these statements of his suggest he took them as being. What is wrong with pointing that out? As I said, I think it is a lot more helpful to Jeff to point this out than it is to spew meaningless, repetitive, ritualastic expressions of shallow concern from strangers.

 

His

>posts have been calm, levelheaded, reasonable, factual and

>brutally honest. I don't personally know Jeff so it's not

>like I'm defending a friend; I just don't think it's right to

>mischaracterize anything he's posted here as "screaming" or

>complaining or whining.

 

I'm not really writing any of this in order to criticize Jeff, nor do I think Woodlawn was. To the contrary, on the far more significant points of how Jeff handled the arrest and stood up and publicly expressed his opinions, I think it was highly commendable what he did, and said so.

 

But look at what he has described as having happened to him as a result of this - he went on a manic-depressive spiral; said that this was the worst 2 weeks of his life; described his life as a nightmere and as being hell; is using all sorts of medications to cope with what occurred; and is saying he's retiring from escorting. Others in this thread are writing to him with a tone and sentiment appropriate if he just learned he has inoperable brain cancer, rather than got arrested and fined for a petty offense.

 

Woodlawn was merely commenting, in passing, on the starkly disproprtionate reaction Jeff had to the event. The ones who tried to have that point obscure the central discussion of Jeff's behavior vis-a-vis the arrest were the ones who responded to what Woodlawn wrote as though he committed blasphey and then began preaching on the Evils of those who have not followed the decreed script of propriety.

[Doug69]

RE: Oh look, there's one now! ^ ^

 

>Mr. Secratary, I had no idea you were so clever. I'm in my

>place now, I'll tell you!

 

Hey, James - there must be something weird going on with the forum software. I read what appeared to be your whole reply to Woodlawn but I didn't see the part where you apologized to Woodlawn for accusing him of lying about and making up that study on homophobia in the military, after which you learned that your accusation was false becasue the study actually existed because he posted the link.

 

The forum must have weirdly deleted that part of your post, because nobody would be so low as to accuse someone else of making up a study, only to then find out that there is really is such a study, and then not retract the accusation and apologize for it. Since I can't imagine that anyone would ever engage in such reprehensible conduct, the software glitch is the only explanation I can think of for what occurred here.

[JamesK840]

RE: Uh oh, they are multiplying... ^^^

 

>Hey, James - there must be something weird going on with the

>forum software. I read what appeared to be your whole reply

>to Woodlawn but I didn't see the part where you apologized to

>Woodlawn for accusing him of lying about and making up that

>study on homophobia in the military, after which you learned

>that your accusation was false becasue the study actually

>existed because he posted the link.

 

No, no, the software is working perfectly for a change, all you're missing having seen is where I called him a liar.

[woodlawn]

RE: Oh look, there's one now! ^ ^

 

>>And anyone else who can read. I guess that lets you out.

>

>Mr. Secratary, I had no idea you were so clever. I'm in my

>place now, I'll tell you!

 

Your place is with the other idiots who are too stupid to realize that I don't refer to things I can't cite. Perhaps next time you'll know better.

 

>You're correct, I have no authority to arbitrate where you

>post your pointless drivel,

 

My point, in case you have dyslexia on top of everything else, is that it's a very bad idea to tell escorts on this message board, as houseboy did, that they can avoid being arrested simply by asking a client whether he's a cop. Would you care to explain why that is "pointless" or has no relationship to this thread?

 

>As opposed to hijacking a thread about a topic deeply

>important to this board with what could well have been a new

>thread entitled 'increasing homophobia in an increasingly

>undereducated and poorly paid military', in the new 'stating

>the incredibly obvious' forum.

 

If you dislike hijacking you'll have to take that up with Rick. He is the self-proclaimed leader of the "Hijacking Threads is Good" Association, a group of which I am merely a rank-and-file member.

 

For the benefit of you and the other dyslexic types, 80% of my original post was about the misinformation that gets posted here on the subject of entrapment and about the illegality of prostitution in general, subjects that you'll be hard pressed to persuade anyone are NOT related to this thread. A couple of the usual suspects decided to make an issue of the other 20%. Any complaints about hijacking should be referred to them.

[JamesK840]

...

 

I agree with you on misinformation about the legal restraints of stings being unfortunate, and am all for increasing awareness of those types of things wherever possible.

 

Wasn't responding to that aspect, mind you...

 

Maybe a new thread so it's not lost in here? I was actually thinking CL may be getting to good to be true lately, to bring up a favorite topic of yours...

[Rick Munroe]

>>This whole situation totally threw me into the worst

>>manic-depressive cycle I'd EVER experienced complete with

>>overwhelming anxiety and panic-attacks.

>

>>Needless to say, the past 2 weeks have been HELL, but I'm now

>>looking at this as an opportunity to start another chapter of

>>my life.

>

>Those are some pretty serious statements (and use upper-case

>letters to express them).

 

Yes, those are serious statements, but one word in all caps is not considered screaming. That's called "emphasizing." An entire sentence in all caps would be another thing entirely.

 

>>I just don't think it's right to

>>mischaracterize anything he's posted here as "screaming" or

>>complaining or whining.

>

>I'm not really writing any of this in order to criticize Jeff,

>nor do I think Woodlawn was.

 

I didn't say "criticize," I said "mischaracterize." There's a difference.

[woodlawn]

RE: ...

 

>I agree with you on misinformation about the legal restraints

>of stings being unfortunate, and am all for increasing

>awareness of those types of things wherever possible.

>

>Wasn't responding to that aspect, mind you...

 

Too late for that. Once I get my teeth in you, I don't let go that easily.

 

This time you will. Take it to another thread.

 

>Maybe a new thread so it's not lost in here? I was actually

>thinking CL may be getting to good to be true lately, to bring

>up a favorite topic of yours...

 

Don't try to change the subject. You know very well what's going on here. As Doug explained above, a couple of the usual escorts landed on me because they don't like having it pointed out that (especially for someone who has long been quite open about his work as an escort) having to plead out and pay a small fine is not an earth-shattering event, and that those who portray it as such are behaving in exactly the ridiculous, self-dramatizing manner that homophobes would have the world believe all gay men display. If anyone hijacked this thread, it is they.

 

As for the entrapment issue, the only reason I bring it up is that I keep seeing people who don't know what they're talking about posting nonsense that is bound to get others in trouble if they pay attention to it. You would think that people who make their living selling their bodies would make an effort to find out what they can expect from law enforcement if and when. Apparently not.

x(

[Guest jeffOH]

Thanks Rick :-)

 

I'm well aware that my arrest is in no way as traumatic as fighting a war in Iraq or being blown up on a train in Spain. I never said or thought of it as being the worst thing that could ever happen to me. The thing is, I was already in a VERY precarious state. This event pushed me over the edge. As I mentioned, I'd stopped taking all my medication several months ago right after my overdose and I was basically self-medicating with pretty much whatever came down the pike. I'd been going downhill for some time,isolating myself from many of my friends and family.

 

It DID send me into the worst cycle I'd ever experienced, complete with major anxiety and panic-attacks that I'd rarely ever experienced.

Stress is a major trigger and this was stressful. Being manic-depressive, my moods and emotions often can go off the scale in no time at all when triggered by something and often out of proportion to the event. This left me feeling out of control. For the first time ever, what had occasionally been fleeting thoughts of suicide in the past, had become less fleeting and to ME that was very scary.

 

Actually, I can say that I'm GRATEFUL that I was arrested. That's what it took to make me realize BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that I could NOT deal with this bipolar thing on my own. I had to ask my friends and family for help. I had tried to downplay how bad things had gotten over the past several months. Just like with the alcohol, it was hard for me to admit defeat. It took me getting fired from my job, wrecking my boyfriend's car in a hit and run and him kicking me out--all within a 2 week period--to finally get me to AA and quit drinking.

 

I'm feeling better every day. Taking the meds, doing things to distract myself, like going to see Dawn of the Dead, which is way better than the '78 version by the way.

 

I'm often at a loss to describe how this bipolar condition feels. I've been re-reading a certain chapter of a book called Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison which is about "manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament". The chapter is about the poet Lord Byron (George Gordon), his poems, his journals, others' writings about him and his presumed manic-depressive condition.

 

His words resonate with me and how I've felt of late.

 

"I am ennuye beyond my usual tense of that yawning verb, which I am always conjugating; and I don't find that society much mends the matter. I am too lazy to shoot myself--and it would annoy Augusta... (his half-sister with whom he had an affair)...but it would be a good thing for George (Byron's first cousin and successor to his title), on the other side, and no bad one for me; but I won't be tempted."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The following words were written by Annabella Milbanke (whom he married in 1815) not long after she first met him.

 

"The passions have been his guide since childhood and have exercised a tyrannical power over his very superior intellect; there was however a chivalrous generosity in his ideas of love & friendship, and selfishness is totally absent from his character."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

She then went on to describe his mercurial temperament and his inconsistency of mind and mood:

 

"When indignation takes possession of his mind--and it is easily excited--his disposition becomes malevolent. He hates with the bitterest contempt. But as soon as he has indulged those feelings, he regains the humanity which he had lost--for the immediate impulse of provocation--and repents deeply. So that his mind is continually making the most sudden transitions--from good to evil, for evil to good. A state of such perpetual tumult must be attended with the misery of restless inconsistency. He laments his want of tranquility and speaks of the power of application to composing studies, as a blessing placed beyond his attainment, which he regrets."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

An observation by Byron's great friend and supporter Sir Walter Scott about the 3rd canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage soon after it was published.

 

"...We gaze on the powerful and ruined mind which he presents us, as on a shattered castle, within whose walls, once intended for nobler guests, sorcerers and wild demons are supposed to be holding their Sabbaths. There is something dreadful in reflecting that one gifted so much above his fellow creatures, should thus labour under some strange mental malady that destroys his peace of mind and happiness, altho' it cannot quench the fire of his genius. I fear the termination will be fatal one way or the other, for it seems impossible that human nature can support the constant working of an imagination so dark and so strong. Suicide or utter insanity is not unlikely to close the scene."

 

JEFF