Last Week's News

Danger, Young Robinson! Not only is the following post not fiber, it's probably not fit for children, or sissies.

This news story left me so befuddled that I'm still marvelling. Let me share:


Politicians, strippers mourn the loss of porn king
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 07/20/2007 10:13:27 AM PDT
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Right off the bat...what is this? Why am I suprised that politicians and strippers are in the same sentence with porn king? Somehow, I missed the invitation to that club.

ANTIOCH, Calif.—Hundreds of people, from politicians to pornographers, gathered to mourn the loss of a pornography profiteer who gained notoriety by turning eroticism into a political cause.
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Okay, nothing unexpected here. I've long since been desensitized against my will to the idea that legal pornography and free speech are equivalents.

Jim Mitchell, co-founder of the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre, was buried next to his brother and business partner, Artie, whom he shot and killed in 1991.
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Huh?!?! What? He had shooter's remorse? Who decided this? And how does Artie feel about his new crypt mate?

Mitchell, 63, died of a heart attack on July 12 at his ranch in western Sonoma County.

Included among the 300 mourners Thursday were former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, ex-District Attorney Terence Hallinan and political operative Jack Davis, all of whom mingled with writers, film directors and strippers.

"We all owe personal liberties and rights to the brothers that they fought for on our behalf," Davis said.
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Somehow I'm having a disconnect between this back alley slime ball and, say, ......oh.....Martin Luther King, Jr., all the Suffragettes that paid for my voting rights and even notorious bad boy, Patrick Henry who put his 'jewels' on the line so I may live without oppression.

The brothers also produced a string of pornographic movies, including the 1972 hit "Behind the Green Door," one of the first porn flicks with a plot line.
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Oh, Joy, a plot line. I'm sure the story line was epic.

In February 1991, Mitchell kicked in the door of his brother's Corte Madera home and shot him to death. The slaying led to a spectacular trial and a three-year prison term for manslaughter.
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Again....?!?!?!?

Mitchell's son Raef told the crowd his father was a man of his word, despite his faults.

"He always told me, 'Son, I'm not the greatest man. I'm not perfect,'" Raef said. "'Don't try to be the greatest man. Just be a man.'"
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That's right, boys and girls. Aspire not to greatness. Simply know your gender.

How have we come to the place where this man is celebrated? Here we have a written blurb parading not as sensationalism, not as the Jerry Springer show or 'reality' televesion. This garbage is being presented as legitimate news.

My nausea, fellow homo sapiens, is indescribable.