Excuse me Officer Cutts, which way to Death Row please?

thanks to Mabel, the Pirate's own Poet Laureate

Cutts, Cutts
he has no guts

Thought he'd try crying
they knew he was lying

Remorse for Jessee? Regrets for Blake?
So obvious in Court, he was merely a fake

No verdict yet, the jurors in and out
Strange it seemed, was there any doubt?

Cutts was nervous, seemed to know by then,
He was gonna be going straight to the Pen.

Police Officer Cutts is really very tough
Death Row for this guy is simply not enough

Roll the bastard in a rug
Let cellmate Bubba give him a hug

One down, many more to go
Our system works - it's starting to show

Jurors please make it right
Listen to the facts and help us fight

There's lots more undecided crimes,
Too many attorneys helping these slimes.

Peterson, Mack, Cutts ~ a pretty good start ~
Finding these bastards GUILTY will warm the cockles of our hearts!

Set Your VCR and Check Your Popcorn Supply

		Documentary, (noun) - a film or TV program presenting the facts about a person or event docudrama, documentary film, infotainment motion picture, motion-picture show, movie, moving picture, moving-picture show, pic, film, picture show, flick, picture - a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement; "they went to a movie every Saturday night"; "the film was shot on location"
		Documentary (adj) - relating to or consisting of or derived from documents documental
		Documentary (adj) - emphasizing or expressing things as perceived without distortion of personal feelings, insertion of fictional matter, or interpretation; real, existent - being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory; "real objects"; "real people; not ghosts"; "a film based on real life"; "a real illness"; "real humility"; "Life is real! Life is earnest!"- Longfellow

Last year BBC announced our favorite, still avoiding justice murderer, Phil Spector, had given his first full-length interview in 35 years to British TV Director Vikram Jayanti, and filmmaker Anthony Wall.

The 90-minute documentary is based on some eight hours of interviews at Spector's Alhambra, California, "castle". Phil reportedly speaks about his relationships with the Beatles and John Lennon, as well as soul stars Ike and Tina Turner. He will also discuss his troubled personal life. "Poor Phil"

Perhaps some might conjecture the interview should have been conducted in a California prison. It has been five years since Lana Clarkson was found murdered in the foyer of that same home. No evidence of any excuse for the crime other than "our Phil" playing one of his well-known games of senseless, reckless, violence toward women.

The original announcement claimed that BBC "has been granted unprecedented access to legendary Phil Spector as he stands trial for murder. The reclusive star has not given an interview in 35 years. But he has agreed to speak to the BBC for a no-holds-barred Wall documentary." FALSE

Apparently, the 2002 Spector interviews with Mick Brown on the exact same material is conveniently forgotten.

Especially endearing is Spector's own voice saying "I wasn't that well. I wasn't insane, wellum, I wasn't well. I am not able to function in regular society . . . I take medication for schizophrenia, I am the product of marriage between cousins . . . I don't play anything if I can't win . . ."

The upcoming 90-minute Jayanti/Wall "documentary" subtitled The Agony and The Ecstasy of Phil Spector was originally scheduled to air last autumn and then was delayed awaiting the final outcome of the case. Apparently, the Brits like so many of us have given up hope that the trial will ever have a conclusion.

Despite some BBC bigwigs expressing concern that the broadcast should be delayed until after the second trial, and their frank questioning of whether the program makers might be too close to their subject, the decision to wait has been revised to air this April.

Director Jayanti said, "Our interviews have covered an awful lot of ground, including the trial. The position the defense has taken is that Clarkson killed herself. I'm trying to stay out of issues of guilt or innocence.

I am more interested inthis strange collusion between an artistic genius and the criminal justice system.

I asked him if he would deconstruct his hits. Ultimately that's interesting - what he hears. For all the great fun of his public personna, there is also the music. I want to get past the history of it all because I'm not interested in archaeology. I'm interested in who he is not and what's going on in his head. I asked him if he would demonstrate his hits."

Jayanti and wall both have extensive history in lauding entertainment and music personalities. Peter Sellers, Bob Dylan

Documentary??? Or perhaps just another visit to "Phil, the manipulative" media user and abuser.

Personally, can't wait. Should be as much fun as listening to the genius rip Ike Turner at his funeral last December or revisit accounts of how he abused his children and made them watch his wierd sexual encounters. Where is the remote control when you need it?



When a Man Loves a Woman

A classic song, one I play over and over. It ranks way up there among my all time favorites. Percy Sledge immortalized it, but it's the divine Miss M, the one and only Bette Midler herself, who belts it out with such emotion that it never fails to grab my heart.

"When a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothin' else . . . He'd give up all his comfort, sleep out in the rain, if that's the way she said it should be."

It isn't stated explicitly, but the song seems to promise that love will last, that it will remain steadfast through tough times and passion, even when the spark of youth is gone. The song is great, but the song is at best a lovely promise and a fairy tale. Love takes work and faith and honesty and compromise. And sometimes - evidenced by more than 50% of marriages winding up in divorce - it doesn't last.

So what does happen when a man no longer loves a woman in this millennium? The increasingly violent answers to that question are providing a seemingly endless series of criminal cases.

The benign, normal answer would be to separate from that woman, get up and leave. The split and the way it happens is a choice. Does he start a fight in order to have an excuse to take off? Does he leave a message on a cell phone? Or leave a yellow sticky on the fridge to announce it's over? Does he confess he has fallen in love with someone else or admit he doesn't want the responsibility or pressure of an ongoing relationship? Does he hide those things of value that he might lose or have to split? Does he step up to the plate and deal with his decision?

Or does he just leave? There's always that old story that begins, He just went out to get a pack of cigarettes and never came home."

Any of these messy, sad, painful endings are at least still on the radar of humanity. The woman has the chance to get over it, get past it, find a new life, or even to dwell and mourn forever. But more and more , it seems lately, the choice is anything but. Instead, the man defiles, abuses, and finally kills the woman. And more and more he even chooses to have the life he created that waits to be born in her womb is taken without so much as an after-thought.

When did it become acceptable to end a relationship or a marriage, by disposing of a woman like an old mattress waiting for the for the trash collector to haul it away and out of his sight? When did taking someone's life because they are unwanted or inconvenient become a choice?

Even if it isn't instant true love or a lengthy marriage or a sweethearts since high school situation, love and passion do - at some point - go hand in hand. Perhaps women are more likely to confuse the two, perhaps not. Does the love have to be life-long? Can a quick tryst on a secluded beach qualify, at least for the moment? Honestly, no, but that does not make it any less wicked and despicable to end a brief encounter with the ultimate display of contempt.

The public remains glued to the news, internet, televison, true crime books, and death row interviews, learning the sick details of men, as a matter of convenience, taking the place of God or whatever higher power, into their own hands. Nicole, Lana, Laci, Natalee, Julie, Stacy, Maria, and so many more have had their lives taken by the men they once loved and trusted. Men who had fathered their children or men they had just met. Relying on an internal compass doesn't seem to work any better in long marriages than it does in one night stands.

Far too often, a man decides to twist and distort the situation to produce the exact ending he wants - the quick exit to a mistake he has made and will not be held accountable for.

GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, TESTOSTERONE IS NO EXCUSE!

Women are not disposable, they do not have sell-by date and then discard stamped on their foreheads, they are not inconveniences. If you want out, GET-THE-HELL-OUT with out resorting to depravity! Pay the alimony and child support, deal with the anger like, well, like a MAN. Not a cowardly batterer.

The key word LOVE is lost to these men and replaced with selfish, self-serving, self important . . . SELF SELF SELF. So when it comes to an OJ or a Scott or a Drew or a Joran or on and on and on, it raises the question: when a man loves a woman does he really love anyone other than himself?

What goes wrong? Too many men need a new roadmap, a new song that addresses what happens when a man doesn't love a woman. When he loves the sex, the convenience and whatever is on his agenda. Sting almost got it right, but instead of "if you love somebody, set them free", change it to " if you loved somebody, set them free".

"You can't control an independent heart
Can't tear the one you love apart
Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live
We can't live here and be happy with less
So many riches, so many souls
Everything we see we want to possess.

If you love somebody, set them free . . ."

Feb, 3, 2003 - We Will Never Forget

April 5, 1962 ~~ February, 2003

"what we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose . . . for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us." Helen Keller

The Time: 2:21 AM

The Place: The House of Blues

The relentlessly cheerful California girl, still dreaming of stardom, despite years of restaurant work and trashy TV roles clocked out of the Hollywood hot spot and reluctantly climbs into a limousine for "one drink only" at Phil Spector's "1930s Moorish castle" on the fringes of LA. DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

Some said if Phil had had his usual driver, nothing would have happened. His usual driver would have said, "No, Phil, you promised," when he ordered a drink at the Grill early that evening; he would have said, "Come on, Phil, no drinking," when he ordered another one at Dan Tana's; he would have said, "Phil, you know how you get," and taken the next one away from him when they went to Trader Vic's. And later when Phil was downing Bacardi 150's and champagne at the House of Blues, the driver would have said, "OK, buddy, I'm taking you home now," and then later that night, when the gun went off, the driver would have said, "No problem, I'll take care of it". DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

But instead Spector came out of his castle, gun in hand, and said to the substitute limo driver, "I think I just killed someone". Perhaps we will never know at what point the gun was drawn, who produced it, or why. We wonder what difference that makes in the scheme of things anyway. DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

But we do know this special lady was shot in the face and when authorities arrived, Lana was dead as she sat waiting to leave, lying in a pool of blood in the marble foyer, while Phil Spector wandered about his house washing his hands and churning alibis, as the essence of life drained from her lovely body. DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

Spector's long history - forever angry, selfish, impulsive, manipulative, depraved, indulged, appeased, self-centred, grandiose, pleasured by guns, and violent abuse of women was well-known in that strange place called Hollywood. Phil has never once been held publicly accountable for his actions. And because of his unaccountability how could Lana have imagined what lay ahead? DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

Five years after the beast dragged the beauty to his lair on that winter night five years ago, little could she have known, he would finally snap ~ unable to handle his liquor, refusing to abide a simple rejection, one more door closing, one more pair of lovely footsteps skittering away, that there was so much to fear. DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

This son of Satan, master of madness, demon of depravity, who would make the Marquise de Sade proud, still walks the halls of his Castle a free man. Manipulation of the system, countless legal tricks, he is still free. And those who loved the real Lana Clarkson sit and wait. Wait for the Justice that has to happen. Doesn't it? DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

Among those who knew and loved the real Lana Clarkson, some mysteriously woke up at 2:21 AM, others didn't sleep at all. But all of us stand together to demand Justice. We will not forget, we will not rest until he sits behind bars and pays for distinguishing the light that was Lana. DON'T GO LANA DON'T GO

We light candles for Lana at: http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=lana

One special personal friend of Lana remembers with these lyrics:

Not Ready To Make Nice - Lyrics/Dixie Chicks

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting.

UNTIL THERE IS JUSTICE WE WON'T GO LANA ~~ WE WON'T GO

What Ties Us Together

A curious phenomenon has taken place. Strangers, who first came together on the Internet to discuss the Phil Spector trial, then went on to an unhappy private message board (previously discussed in earlier posts), and then fleeing from that nightmare, have found real friendship. Not lifelong, agree-with-everything-you-say, practically siblings' friendship, but real friendship nonetheless.

It's fascinating that so many have coaleced the way we have in this short time. It was that trial for the unnecessary murder of Lana Clarkson that brought us together. It was the terrible non-outcome that kept us focused on the injustice of a mistrial, of a hung jury that was caused by one rogue juror and eight others who couldn't make a dent on his concrete - or contrarian - mind.

We are from everywhere - east, west, north south, the middle of the country and Canada too. Big cities, small towns, urban and rural. We are politically and religiously disparate; we have various levels of formal education; different levels of incomes. We are a true snapshot of free-thinking individuals.

Medicine, insurance, sales, law, entertainment, farmers; there are full-time moms, grandmothers, and retirees, at least one person has returned to school, one is looking for a new career, and some are retirees.

There are many issues we don't all agree on and some that aren't really discussed much at all. Occasionally someone will mention attending church or praying or not believing in anything, but for the most part, we are all mature and smart enough to have made our own spiritual choices . We don't feel the need to foist our personal beliefs off on other people.

Politics do come up, inevitably in this primary season - or would that be this primary decade. We represent a broad canvas of opinions and affiliations, and there is one uniting feature: not one of us seems to be happy with anyone or anything currently offered in the political arena. There may be some who hold out hope for this country, but many of us have been too repeatedly disappointed, angry, and disenfranchised to feel that way.

Only today we were having a discussion about this, and as posters dropped in and out giving their perspectives and opinions, it became crystal clear that all of us are worried about the future of our Nation. Even if we disagree on the solutions, we respect one another, and each individual's outlook and beliefs.

The uniting factor, the real glue that binds us seems to be the desire for a lawful society, a society of justice that protects, and when appropriate makes sure criminals are punished. We are also bonded by anger at the inequity of a system that seems to favor the defendant over the victim. The mere allowance of a "defense" consisting of denigration and marginalization of the victim is simply unacceptable.

We wonder how can it be right that a real human being, who once was flesh and blood, loved and needed by others, is now viewed as last week's news ad yesterdays trash.

The Phil Spector defense team tried best to muddy the truth - and only intermittently succeeded thanks to a no-nonsense judge - to turn Lana Clarkson into a cliché of an aging actress who couldn't deal with the passage of time or lack of success. Nice try sleaze artists!

We utterly reject your efforts. Lana Clarkson was a vibrant, beautiful, smart, caring woman, a working actress, who struggled with the same challenges that affect us all. Who doesn't doubt their own level of success, who doesn't reach forty without getting a shiver of what lies ahead? Who doesn't get sad or overwhelmed or lonely from time to time?

Lana Clarkson paid with her life for not knowing who she was dealing with. Not knowing this creepy, evil little man was capable of total disregard of life for his own convenience or pleasure. This cataclysm should not have happened. It also should not go unpunished for these five long years.

There is no conclusion to this blog entry - these are just my thoughts on a rainy afternoon. I marvel at the way this group has come into being and continues to keep rolling along as various issues and events come and go. This is a safe, smart place. It is comfortable to voice an opinion. There is mutual respect, courtesy and honesty here. As a group we are remarkably articulate, and both very funny and very kind. And more than anything else, we are ethical. We are who we are, say what we mean, mean what we say. There is no pretense, no deceit, and no underlying agenda.

I wonder what Lana Clarkson would think if she could see what her tragic death has set into motion? This is one time I wish I believed in an hereafter, because I would love to think that somehow she knows how an amazing group of strangers found each other and continue to honor her spirit. Thank you Lana.

Ambition and Technology – Sew High a Price

Trial Bloggers vie for position in the trial gallery, assuming their self-important bloviating will be validated by where they sit, who they speak to, and who may deign to acknowledge them.

One Blogger jostles positions and draws attention with false friendliness and advice for the technically challenged in this brave new kind of courtroom.

Reported: The Judge smiles at the Blogger. Twice!

Reported: The Blogger hears that the Prosecutor is following the Blog's observations closely. It must be true because he walks into Court daily with a huge smile and wink directly to the Blogger.

Reported: The Defense team assigns a monitor to the Blog and the Message Boards for ideas on tactics.

How much of this is real? Impossible to know since much of it may be rumor, and friendly greetings may be just that – friendly greetings to a familiar face.

Reported: Families of the victim have asked not to be bothered by anyone, but they are in close contact with the Blogger away from the scene. There is a measure of comfort in the support for them that the Blogger reflects an honest mirror in a sea of misdirection. When the Blogger is banned from the Message Boards the family is bereft at the loss of those postings. They now have to rely on the Blog alone.

Reported: Dominick Dunne seems to accept, even enjoy the Blogger's camaraderie.
Also reported by someone who was an actual witness to events: "Dominick Dunne did not have any interest in the Blogger. He actually used her from time to time as an unpaid gopher. It was not buddy-buddy as you might be led to believe."

Reported: Jurors seek out the Blogger after the trial to correct a wrong impression.

If a Blogger can make you "believe" will it not feed the feeling of importance that Narcissistic Personality Disorder craves?

It's all going so well. The Blogger ascends the ladder, moves to the back row, where the "up-to-the minute reporters" sit with BlackBerry's and laptops. Sitting in the coveted – and in this curious world, reported on - back row, the Blogger's ambition is fulfilled. Prominence, recognition, the right to preen.

As the testimony happens, the Blogger is on the spot. The readers will get the scoop immediately and direct. The readers respond, "You are the BEST!" They hang on every word, share thoughts and feelings about every observation.

Interestingly, another crime is taking place right there in the Court.

What would law enforcement, prosecutors, jurors, and families on both sides think if it was revealed that the Blogger's sudden technological ability, this in-the-moment reporting is due to an associate devising a way for the Blogger's new Wi-Fi connection to be stolen from a provider?

And if the Blogger is willing to resort to that kind of dishonesty, how much of what they have reported and will report can be believed?

From Imaginary case-within-case files: Theft is reported and the Blogger is escorted from the gallery of the murder trial to face criminal charges of a different kind. Read on if you think this is impossible.

Tapping into Other's Wi-Fi Can Get You Arrested

Have you ever been someplace besides your home or office with the old laptop in hand and attempted to "sniff out" a Wi-Fi access so you can get online? A hotel, a coffee shop, the doctor's office, the airport, or even Courtroom? Well you better be careful in the future, because apparently stealing tapping into a Wi-Fi connection that you do not have authorization to do so can get you arrested.

Michigan resident Sam Peterson was arrested after he was caught repeatedly stealing Wi-Fi from a cafe. Mr. Peterson was arrested under a Michigan law barring access to anyone else's network without authorization. The complaint reasons that since the cafe's Wi-Fi network was reserved for (paying) customers and Peterson never came into the cafe, he was essentially piggybacking off of the open network without authorization.

From the original story:

The arrest came about because Peterson apparently showed up to the Union Street Cafe to use its free Wi-Fi from the comfort of his car, and he did so every single day. A police officer grew suspicious of Peterson and eventually questioned him as to what he was up to. Peterson, not realizing that what he was doing was (at least) ethically questionable, told the officer exactly what he was doing. "I knew that the Union Street had Wi-Fi. I just went down and checked my e-mail and didn't see a problem with that," Peterson told a reporter.

Peterson's actions could result in a five-year felony and a $10,000 fine. Ouch!

It's very lucky for Peterson that prosecutors don't plan on making an example of him. Instead, he will have to pay a $400 fine and complete 40 hours of community service. I wonder if the amount of Internet access he stole borrowed comes close to the fine and hours he has to put in?

So next time you decide to tap into someone else's Wi-Fi connection, better check and see what the law says about it. Oh and if you do it, better not brag to people you intend to crap on either.

As Sir Walter Scott observed, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

The word deceive implies that the deceiver knows that what he/she is doing is wrong – immoral or illegal. Replace the word deceiver with the word Blogger and think about it.

How to be a Message Board Despot

To begin, Misrepresent yourself. Don't speak too often, find more likable and articulate people and charm them so they will stick up for you.

Use these people to point others to your Blog of a high profile murder trial.

Use personal photo Avatar of yourself and spouse that is as old and phony as you are.

Make self available to answer questions briefly every evening at a not so busy hour. Praise others for their wit.

Use "Wit" of others as though it were your own in busy times. Thank everyone who compliments you on your quick mind with an "It was nothing" attitude.

Bring the "Woe is Me" stories of past problems on message boards out slowly, and only as an explanation for former victims comments.

Create acrimony on the boards and then use that bad feeling to woo others to your own board.

Bask in gratitude and tell everyone they're FREE AT LAST ! Allow everyone to settle in and bond.

Encourage attacks on posters at original board. Give advice and blessings. Join attacks under different Nic's because you are so Godlike that everyone will pick on you under your own name.

Start testing the waters of power by making pathetic little threats to shut down the board, veiled in concern that someone isn't respecting your privacy. Make it clear you want no trouble.

Accept apologies and assurances from others that they would never betray you. Beneficently allow board to stay open. Bask in attention.

Get banned at other board and cut all ties. Leave announcement saying that the other board is evil and you are glad to be rid of it, but not requiring anyone else to leave it.

Claim you don't care about other board, because you are above all of that pettiness.

Get jealous of more popular posters. Collect fawning STOOGES.

Make more announcements about how you "See the board going".

Make sad, hurt, boo hoo announcement about the posters still participating on other board. Start demanding participation in contests and games on your board.

Reiterate how evil and awful other board is, but make clear you are too spiritual and pure to demand that other posters (all full grown adults on their own time) stop posting on other board.

Begin to squeeze life out of board.

Refuse to accept offers to share expenses for operating message board. State your benevolence in paying the costs yourself. Forget to mention you have NO COST.

Interrupt ongoing conversations and divert discussion to yourself and your interests. Explain in full detail what you are “doing”, how you make “CROTCHWARMERS”, even if not asked for details.

Post pictures of CROTCHWARMERS you are hawking (Even though it is against TOS for anyone else to mention a home business).

Take the obligatory comments and praise as invitation to give information for every CROTCHWARMER in your line to other posters.

Take any comment about health, from constipation to gallstones as an open invitation to shove the fad diet you follow, down the throats of all posters. Ask personal questions about them, and claim that said diet has cured you of exactly what they have. Begin to ask for private health information from them.

By posting PHONY PHOTO conceal what this wondrous diet has made YOU look like.

Have loyal STOOGES start throwing TOS around for statements with words 'politics' and 'religion' in them, even if it is not the subject matter.

Whine and lecture posters about spending time anywhere but your board. Explain that you have everything they could want.

Open a private thread on the board, for only yourself and STOOGES. Go to thread and talk down posters who were invited to your board. Make fun of them, belittle them, all behind their backs.

NOTE: Make sure decent honest posters are blocked from this thread. They tend to get insulted when stumbling across it accidentally and seeing the Real You.

Pressure other posters to buy your CROTCHWARMERS. If you can find one with a business of their own put pressure on them, as a "Trusted Friend", to buy from you.

Once they give in and agree, send them recycled crap you've had in another place. Make them pay in PayPal, so you can get that cash out before they change their mind. Ship to suit yourself, the Hell with them.

Begin to snipe at posters for any little thing. Do this on the busiest thread, in front of other posters. Be sure to include hearts and smilies on these mean little reminders.

If poster objects to this treatment, post cold message on board scolding them for making their side of the disagreement public, and request that they take it to pm.

Have loyal STOOGES start posting how sad and hurt you are that people still show minds of their own. Make sure STOOGES suggest that everyone give up the stress of thinking and give into the ease of mindless following.

If independent posters persist in wanting to discuss topics that brought them all together instead of YOUR personal projects and interests, make an Edict forbidding these adults from talking about anything, except subjects you approve. Approved topics include how talented you are, how special you are, your CROTCHWARMERS, eating nasty bread, your pets, what a great writer you are, how special you are, how great you'll feel on the diet, CROTCHWARMERS, where you can buy expensive vitamin supplements to make up for nutrients not provided by the diet, how terrific you are, and, of course, .......CROTCHWARMERS.

Jump on anyone who does not follow the Edict. Include hearts and smilies. If any poster objects to being treated like a child, tear into them on the boards. Be incredibly rude and condescending.

Make sure to accuse them of disloyalty and tell them they should not be disagreeing in front of everyone else. Ignore the fact that you started it, and leave in a dignified huff.

If other posters show anger for your treatment of poster you attacked, back off and say you were misunderstood. You did not mean to say they couldn't talk about those things, just that they needed a different area on the board to do it in.

Notice posters are unhappy. Some leave and do not come back, others point out that you are becoming a DESPOT. Jump all over them, have your STOOGES do so as well.

Try to bring board together by approaching a poster who has suffered a devastating loss. Ask poster to tell everyone the story.

If poster refuses to allow you to exploit their deep pain, for the sake of bringing everyone together, accuse them of being selfish. Make sure they know how much they misunderstood your caring offer. Hope they feel ashamed and relent soon.

Use Administrative abilities to read private messages passing between disgruntled posters. Start a campaign to divide and conquer, pitting posters who still believe you against those who've had it.

Begin banning anyone who isn't fawning. Have STOOGES continue to harass them through other board or email. Assure those still trusting you that all is well. Make excuses for absence of posters. Holidays, moving, work.

Send STOOGES to ex-posters saying they are fed up too, in order to spy. Have spy report back to you. Tell remaining posters others are evil. Send nasty emails showing you have a SPY.

When spy is kicked to the curb, announce there may be a virus on message board to scare remaining posters. Close board and have late night telephone conferences with minions to plan revenge on disloyal posters who jumped ship.

Use name of poster from former failed message board to send out banning notices to any posters spy saw who disagreed with you. Make certain notices say how disappointing it is that you were totally misunderstood. Be sure they know this is all their fault.

Get more resignations from posters who are done with you.

Close board for 'Holidays'.

Find solace on sex oriented board started by aforementioned SPY.

Decide two posters and four STOOGES aren't going to keep the board going, leave it closed until you can find more trusting suckers.

Plan revenge and comeback while watching interest in Blog drop to zero.

Tough work but someone has to do it.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

"Blogger" posts a photo with mate on every message board entry possible. This is the person we relate to. The Avatar never changes - is always the same..

Recently a photo appeared, taken during PS trial watch. The real Blogger and another well-known poster. The photo is so incredibly opposite that represented - one more time the falsehoods and deceit are flagged.

Why? would any normal person go so far out of their way to imply they are someone else?

Could the answer be found in the works of Sam Vakin, Ph.D., in his Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited?

"The narcissist resorts to self-delusion. Unable to completely ignore contrarian opinion and data – he transmutes them. Unable to face the dismal failure that he is, the narcissist partially withdraws from reality. To soothe and salve the pain of disillusionment, he administers to his aching soul a mixture of lies, distortions, half-truths and outlandish interpretations of events around him. These solutions can be classified thus:

The Delusional Narrative Solution

The narcissist constructs a narrative in which he figures as the hero – brilliant, perfect, irresistibly handsome, destined for great things, entitled, powerful, wealthy, the centre of attention, etc. The bigger the strain on this delusional charade – the greater the gap between fantasy and reality – the more the delusion coalesces and solidifies.

Finally, if it is sufficiently protracted, it replaces reality and the narcissist's reality test deteriorates. He withdraws his bridges and may become schizotypal, catatonic, or schizoid.

The Antisocial Solution

The narcissist renounces reality. To his mind, those who pusillanimously fail to recognise his unbound talents, innate superiority, overarching brilliance, benevolent nature, entitlement, cosmically important mission, perfection, etc. – do not deserve consideration. The narcissist's natural affinity with the criminal – his lack of empathy and compassion, his deficient social skills, his disregard for social laws and morals – now erupt and blossom. He becomes a full fledged antisocial (sociopath or psychopath). He ignores the wishes and needs of others, he breaks the law, he violates all rights – natural and legal, he holds people in contempt and disdain, he derides society and its codes, he punishes the ignorant ingrates – that, to his mind, drove him to this state – by acting criminally and by jeopardising their safety, lives, or property.

The Paranoid Schizoid Solution

The narcissist develops persecutory delusions. He perceives slights and insults where none were intended. He becomes subject to ideas of reference (people are gossiping about him, mocking him, prying into his affairs, cracking his e-mail, etc.). He is convinced that he is the centre of malign and mal-intentioned attention. People are conspiring to humiliate him, punish him, abscond with his property, delude him, impoverish him, confine him physically or intellectually, censor him, impose on his time, force him to action (or to inaction), frighten him, coerce him, surround and besiege him, change his mind, part with his values, victimise or even murder him, and so on.

Some narcissists withdraw completely from a world populated with such minacious and ominous objects (really projections of internal objects and processes). They avoid all social contact, except the most necessary. They refrain from meeting people, falling in love, having sex, talking to others, or even corresponding with them. In short: they become schizoids – not out of social shyness, but out of what they feel to be their choice. "This evil, hopeless world does not deserve me" – goes the inner refrain – "and I shall waste none of my time and resources on it."

The Paranoid Aggressive (Explosive) Solution

Other narcissists who develop persecutory delusions, resort to an aggressive stance, a more violent resolution of their internal conflict. They become verbally, psychologically, situationally (and, very rarely, physically) abusive. They insult, castigate, chastise, berate, demean, and deride their nearest and dearest (often well wishers and loved ones). They explode in unprovoked displays of indignation, righteousness, condemnation, and blame. Theirs is an exegetic Bedlam. They interpret everything – even the most innocuous, inadvertent, and innocent comment – as designed to provoke and humiliate them. They sow fear, revulsion, hate, and malignant envy. They flail against the windmills of reality – a pathetic, forlorn, sight. But often they cause real and lasting damage – fortunately, mainly to themselves.

The Masochistic Avoidant Solution

The narcissist is angered by the lack of Narcissistic Supply. He directs some of this fury inwards, punishing himself for his "failure". This masochistic behaviour has the added "benefit" of forcing the narcissist's closest to assume the roles of dismayed spectators or of persecutors and thus, either way, to pay him the attention that he craves.

Self-administered punishment often manifests as self-handicapping masochism – a narcissistic cop-out. By undermining his work, his relationships, and his efforts, the increasingly fragile narcissist avoids additional criticism and censure (negative supply). Self-inflicted failure is the narcissist's doing and thus proves that he is the master of his own fate.

Masochistic narcissists keep finding themselves in self-defeating circumstances which render success impossible – and "an objective assessment of their performance improbable" [Millon, 2000]. They act carelessly, withdraw in mid-effort, are constantly fatigued, bored, or disaffected and thus passive-aggressively sabotage their lives. Their suffering is defiant and by "deciding to abort" they reassert their omnipotence.

The narcissist's pronounced and public misery and self-pity are compensatory and "reinforce (his) self-esteem against overwhelming convictions of worthlessness" [Millon, 2000]. His tribulations and anguish render him, in his eyes, unique, saintly, virtuous, righteous, resilient, and significant. They are, in other words, self-generated Narcissistic Supply.

Thus, paradoxically, the worst his anguish and unhappiness, the more relieved and elated such a narcissist feels!

[Additional reading: Millon, Theodore and Davis, Roger – Personality Disorders in Modern Life, 2nd Edition – New York, John Wiley and Sons, 2000]

Note: The Prodigy as Narcissistic Injury

The prodigy – the precocious "genius" – feels entitled to special treatment. Yet, he rarely gets it. This frustrates him and renders him even more aggressive, driven, and overachieving than he is by nature.

Not all precocious prodigies end up under-accomplished and petulant. Many of them go on to attain great stature in their communities and great standing in their professions. But, even then, the gap between the kind of treatment they believe that they deserve and the one they are getting is unbridgeable.

This is because narcissistic prodigies often misjudge the extent and importance of their accomplishments and, as a result, erroneously consider themselves to be indispensable and worthy of special rights, perks, and privileges. When they find out otherwise, they are devastated and furious.

Moreover, people are envious of the prodigy. The genius serves as a constant reminder to others of their mediocrity, lack of creativity, and mundane existence. Naturally, they try to "bring him down to their level" and "cut him down to size". The gifted person's haughtiness and high-handedness only exacerbate his strained relationships.

In a way, merely by existing, the prodigy inflicts constant and repeated narcissistic injuries on the less endowed and the pedestrian. This creates a vicious cycle. People try to hurt and harm the overweening and arrogant genius and he becomes defensive, aggressive, and aloof. This renders him even more obnoxious than before and others resent him more deeply and more thoroughly. Hurt and wounded, he retreats into fantasies of grandeur and revenge. And the cycle re-commences.

Grandiosity and Intimacy – The Roots of Paranoia

Paranoid ideation – the narcissist's deep-rooted conviction that he is being persecuted by his inferiors, detractors, or powerful ill-wishers – serves two psychodynamic purposes. It upholds the narcissist's grandiosity and it fends off intimacy.

Grandiosity Enhancing Paranoia

Being the target of relentless, ubiquitous, and unjust persecution proves to the paranoid narcissist how important and feared he is. Being hounded by the mighty and the privileged validates his pivotal role in the scheme of things. Only vital, weighty, crucial, essential principals are thus bullied and intimidated, followed and harassed, stalked and intruded upon – goes his unconscious inner dialog. The narcissist consistently baits authority figures into punishing him and thus into upholding his delusional self-image as worthy of their attention. This provocative behaviour is called Projective Identification.

The paranoid delusions of the narcissist are always grandiose, "cosmic", or "historical". His pursuers are influential and formidable. They are after his unique possessions, out to exploit his expertise and special traits, or to force him to abstain and refrain from certain actions. The narcissist feels that he is at the centre of intrigues and conspiracies of colossal magnitudes.

Alternatively, the narcissist feels victimised by mediocre bureaucrats and intellectual dwarves who consistently fail to appreciate his outstanding – really, unparalleled – talents, skills, and accomplishments. Being haunted by his challenged inferiors substantiates the narcissist's comparative superiority. Driven by pathological envy, these pygmies collude to defraud him, badger him, deny him his due, denigrate, isolate, and ignore him.

The narcissist projects onto this second class of lesser persecutors his own deleterious emotions and transformed aggression: hatred, rage, and seething jealousy.

The narcissist's paranoid streak is likeliest to erupt when he lacks Narcissistic Supply. The regulation of his labile sense of self-worth is dependent upon external stimuli – adoration, adulation, affirmation, applause, notoriety, fame, infamy, and, in general, attention of any kind.

When such attention is deficient, the narcissist compensates by confabulating. He constructs ungrounded narratives in which he is the protagonist and uses them to force his human environment into complicity.

Put simply, he provokes people to pay attention to him by misbehaving or behaving oddly.

Intimacy Retarding Paranoia

Paranoia is use by the narcissist to ward off or reverse intimacy. The narcissist is threatened by intimacy because it reduces him to ordinariness by exposing his weaknesses and shortcomings and by causing him to act "normally". The narcissist also dreads the encounter with his deep buried emotions – hurt, envy, anger, aggression – likely to be foisted on him in an intimate relationship.

The paranoid narrative legitimises intimacy repelling behaviours such as keeping one's distance, secrecy, aloofness, reclusion, aggression, intrusion on privacy, lying, desultoriness, itinerancy, unpredictability, and idiosyncratic or eccentric reactions. Gradually, the narcissist succeeds to alienate and wear down all his friends, colleagues, well-wishers, and mates.

Even his closest, nearest, and dearest, his family – feel emotionally detached and "burnt out".

The paranoid narcissist ends life as an oddball recluse – derided, feared, and loathed in equal measures. His paranoia – exacerbated by repeated rejections and ageing – pervades his entire life and diminishes his creativity, adaptability, and functioning. The narcissist personality, buffeted by paranoia, turns ossified and brittle. Finally, atomised and useless, it succumbs and gives way to a great void. The narcissist is consumed."

What can the victims of these social misfits do to avoid being duped? How can they see this personality for what it is?

Thoughts on Sunday Bloody Sunday

Scott Peterson, O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector, Bobby Cutts, Drew Peterson, Cesar Armando Laurean - how many more?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO!

Laci Peterson. Kathleen Peterson. Almost certainly Stacy Peterson. Nicole Simpson. Lana Clarkson. Christa Worthington. Those are just the famous ones. Maria Lauterbach. Amina Yaser Said. Sarah Yaser Said. Those are just the most recent "newsworthy” ones.

Fact: Women Murdered in the U.S in 2000 - recent yearly statistics available from the U.S. Department of Justice - more than 33 percent were killed by an intimate partner.

Fact: Nationally, homicide is a leading killer of young women—pregnant or not.

Must have missed the memo, because I thought we were supposed to be a civilized society, striving for improvement. We were supposed to be kind towards one other. War or attack aside, we were certainly not supposed to annihilate other human beings.

Instead, we seem to be in a place and time of unprecedented violence towards women and children. In a society that is completely hit-and-miss when it comes to convicting, imprisoning, or punishing the murderers.

Maybe it was always like this, but has the need to hammer it home for the 24 hour ratings-grabbing media reporting changed the program? It certainly feels as if our society has descended into some sort of collective psychosis - a violent whirlpool of rage, entitlement, and devaluation of human life.

Turn on any crime show (and I confess I watch some of them) and there are literally nonstop images of - mostly - women and young girls bound, tortured, pleading for their lives from behind their gags. Yes, the heroes and heroines are working feverishly to rescue these victims, but the camera always cuts back to those victims. And of course, women and children are much easier to target and victimize, on screen and off.

Have we become immune to the horrors of these acts and these images? I don't want to believe that this is what entertainment is, or that we have become a society so intellectually and spiritually impoverished that we think that as entertainment goes, so real life must follow.

Walking my dogs this morning, I had to pull hard to stop Sabre, an 80 lb. ball of fur, from going after a rabbit. That is instinct. Sabre doesn't see the rabbit as a living breathing creature with rights equal to his.

Humans are supposed to be more highly evolved. But if there is anything like an ethical evolutionary scale, we, the Human Race, are cashing in the chips, calling it a loss, and relegating ourselves to the lowest possible level imaginable.

From W.B. Yeats' poem "Slouching Towards Bethlehem": . . .

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. . .

What wouldn't I give to disagree with Yeats?