A lesson in conservative thinking (so called).

I want to give you a lesson on how to think like a conservative. On our left you will see a picture of an individual who apparently had the ability to make a very adult-like decision. On your right is an individual who is "just a kid" and has no such ability. Welcome to the mind of the modern conservative.

On you left is a photo of Walter Polovchak. I knew Walter, he stayed in my home in San Francisco on one visit, some years after this photo was taken. When I knew Walter he was 20-years-old. Of course today he is around 40.

At the age of twelve Walter decided to leave his parents. He and his family and immigrated to the United States but the parents had decided to return to the Ukraine. Walter said he didn't want to go back. He wanted to stay in the United States even if it meant he was "divorcing" his parents. Conservatives rallied to his cause and applauded his ability to make the adult decision of seeking political asylum in the U.S. even if it meant he had to break up his own family to do so. They chucked "family values" because it conflicted with freedom. I personally thought they were right to do so, which is one reason I supported Walter and his decision.

Walter was a boy when he made a very momentous decision. In contrast, on the right, you will find Beau Breedlove of Oregon. Conservatives are referring to him as a "kid" who was "exploited". Breedlove worked as an intern in the Oregon state legislature. A city official from Portland, Sam Adams, had gone to Eugene to lobby for some legislation. While there he and Breedlove meet. This was just shy of Breedlove's 18th birthday. After that birthday Breedlove and Sam Adams dated briefly but were mostly friends. As Breedlove himself says: "I saw it as a friendship that had crossed the line a couple of times, but I saw it as a friendship. When I say cross the line, I don't mean as an unwarranted or unwanted affection." Breedlove made the decision to have sex with Adams. To be clear, he was 18 when he made that decision and was legally in an adult and entitled to do so.

And to this day Breedlove says: "I was not pulled into this situation by Sam. I was not unfairly influenced by Sam. I think Sam is a wonderful man."

Of course, Sam is the man that the conservatives are trying to lynch. Take the absurd "reporting" by a conservative "journalist" named Jennifer Cox. Cox claimed: "Sam Adams has finally admitted that he has been having sex with a teen intern." Note the number of falsehoods or false insinuations that Cox packed into that one sentence: she is a master at deceit. The term "has been having" implies it is ongoing. The fact is that they date briefly. Calling Breedlove a "teen" is her way of distorting the report so that the readers actually never know how old he was. In fact her article never actually mentions Breedlove's age.

This lying reporter wants her readers to imagine a teenager, perhaps one not much older than Walter was when he left his family, with the support of the conservative movement. In fact, Breedlove was an adult mentally, physically and legally. That is a distinction that Cox hides in her deceptive report. Also note that while she says Breedlove was an intern she also leaves out any further information about that position. The implication she intends is to deceive her readers into thinking that Adams used his position to seduce a young child who was interning for Adams. That is the false image she wants to convey. Breedlove was an intern at the state legislature. Adams was not a member of the legislature and didn't work there. In other words, the intern position had nothing to do with Adams.

Cox refers to Mr. Breedlove as "the kid". In fact this man is called a kid twice by Cox and referred to as a "teen intern" once. She reports "rumors" that the two had sex before Breedlove turned 18 but there is no evidence that was the case. She then becomes even more deceitful, however. "The rumors started when the kid was seventeen and Adams was running for mayor. A report from Associated Press notes that the pair denied the rumor, but a newspaper had the evidence so finally the mayor confessed, once he was trapped." Read that carefully. Ms Cox is lying, while berating a man for lying. Why brilliant hypocrisy! That sentence clearly claims that Adams and Breedlove had sexual relations before Breedlove was legally an adult and she also falsely claims that Adams confessed to this. She also lies about the timing of the Adams mayoral campaign in order to bolster her deception.

Let's unravel the lies of this Cox woman. Yes, Adams and Breedlove denied dating. But Adams never confessed to having sex with "the kid" before he turned 18. In fact, both men are very clear that the relationship only turned briefly sexual AFTER Breedlove was 18, not before. The relationship between the two men took place three years ago. The Mayoral election was in 2008. Cox says the rumor started when Breedlove was 17 and Adams was running for Mayor. Breedlove was 20 when Adams ran for Mayor, not 17. Ms. Cox had to move the date of the mayoral election by three years in order to deceive her readers. In fact, Adams didn't even announce an interest in the position until late 2007, when Breedlove would have been 19. At no point could it be simultaneously true that Breedlove was 17 and Adams was running for mayor. Ms. Cox was just fabricating claims to further her own personal agenda.

Cox is just a cheap pornographer pretending to be a reporter. She specializes in sleaze and sex, making me wonder why she is obsessed with the topic. If the public has a right to know, I'd like to know why she is obsessed with the sex lives of others. What sort of perversion is she hiding? Consider some of her other classic stories:

Britney Spears Nude Photos Purchased by Online Casino
Kenny Chesney Answers Allegations of Affair with Sara Evans
Kate Beckinsale Nude on Webcam for Hubby
Britney Spears Catches Hubby K-Fed Undressed at Ex's House
Super Model Sex Tape

The more you look at her own obsessive history with the sex lives of other people the more it becomes apparent that Jennifer Cox is simply sleazy. She is obsessed with the sexual activities of other people. I long ago learned to worry about people like her. It just seems that this sort of obsession is a cover up for some really deviant, sometimes dangerous, sexual obsessions. While I wouldn't make any specific accusation against Ms. Cox, other than that she is blatantly dishonest, I wouldn't hire to babysit either. At the very least she is profession voyeur. But I wouldn't be surprised if she has her own skeletons in the closet and, since the "public has a right to know", I think she should confess now.

Cox is clearly just dishonest and obsessed with sleaze. What is the excuse for other reporters? The Oregonian has turned into a local version of one of those trashy tabloids sold at the check-out stands for the bored and brainless. The Oregonian deceptively has a headline: Beau Breedlove tells of his romance as a 17-year-old with Sam Adams.

What are they reporting about? Breedlove meet Adams just before he (Breedlove) turned 18. He said that there were some "romantic" feelings but no sex. And he says he kissed Adams twice but there was no sex until after his 18th birthday. Yet the Inquirer, ooops I meant The Oregonian, breathlessly reports:

State law says third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misdemeanor, can occur when someone subjects another person to "sexual contact" when the person either does not consent to the advance or is younger than 18. The law defines sexual contact as "any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person ... for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either party."

Adams is under criminal investigation by the attorney general's office.

Apparently a kiss is "third-degree sexual abuse". I am horrified. It appears that for years I was sexually abusing my grandmother without realizing it! Oh, horrors! It is even worse than I thought! She was abusing me!!!!! I need compensation. Who can I sue?

The news media and conservatives have really stooped to new lows in this campaign to get Adams. Even some in the gay media are sounding like Jerry Falwell clones to their own shame.

The one person who kept his dignity in this has been Beau Breedlove. He has stood firm by his friend and says that nothing unwanted or wrong happened. As he said: "I do not feel like I was ever a victim." Of course he might feel different about being victimized by trashy journalists and moralistic conservatives.

Even Sam Adams has stupidly called the dating "inappropriate". That is ridiculous. The one good thing which Mr. Adams did was refuse to step down from office. I have no idea if I would vote for Adams in an election, even if I did think voting made any sense. I don't know enough about his views to say. But I don't think he did anything wrong for briefly dating an adult. Maybe he shouldn't have lied about the relationship. Personally I don't think even that was wrong since it is no ones business anyway and unrelated to his job.

But if I look at this incident and start to make moral judgments the people I find wanting are sleaze merchants like Cox and The Oregonian. The really unethical actions in this case are coming from journalists. But that is no surprise to me. Next to politicians I've long though journalists to be a pretty unethical lot. Both groups believes that the laws of common decency don't apply to them and that they are exempt from rules of morality. Both believe this exemption exists because they "serve a greater good". I'm not sure we need either group. Journalists only have value to the degree that the keep their eye on the sleaze of their counterparts holding office. But sometimes they go too far and this is one of those cases. When either group turns their attention on a private citizen watch out! Both are ruthless, vindictive, cruel and willing to do anything to anyone to further their own career.

In defense of Sam Adams or F... the media.

Here we have another example of America's Puritanical hysteria regarding sex. The bigot brigade is braying for the head of Portland's new mayor, Sam Adams. Adams, who is gay, is in the crossfires because a few years ago he had a relationship with a young man. The young man was 18 years old at the time, above the age of consent. The relationship was consenting. There was no coercion used. Nor did Adams have any professional relationship with the young man to muddy the waters.

That isn't stopping the hysterics from demanding that Adams step down from office. For what? Being sexual?

Here are the facts. Adams, was not the mayor in 2005 when this relationship began. Nor was he in a relationship, as he is now. He was single. Adams was a city commissioner. The young man, Beau Breedlove was an intern working in the state legislature for a Republican (now that's kinky). Breedlove already knew he was gay and approached Adams, who he knew was gay and struck up a conversation.

The newspapers, in order to fan the hysteria, now refers to Adams as a "mentor" to Breedlove, which generally implies a professional relationship. However, that is a distortion of the facts. They both worked in two different areas and had no professional relationship at all.

Breedlove was just under 18-years-old when he met Adams but no relationship started then. However, conservatives spread the lie that this was the case during the last election when Adams won office. Adams had attended Breedlove's 18th birthday party with a date, which also indicates no relationship started. But the papers, if you can trust them, report that aides had joked to Adams that Breedlove had romantic intentions.

Breedlove has issued a statement to blood-thirsty press saying that:

Sam Adams has always been a positive influence and friend to me. He has many outstanding qualities to bring to his position as Mayor of the City of Portland and I wish nothing but the best for him. I hope this subject can ultimately be put to rest and I sincerely believe in Sam Adams and what he can do for the city of Portland as Mayor.

The media began asking Adams if he had a relationship with Breedlove when he was campaigning. The one thing that Adams did, which might be wrong, was deny it. My view is that since they were asking Adams who he was dating, and since there was no question that his date was below the age of consent, then the media had no business asking. It is the sort of prurient interest that busybodies have in the sex lives of other people. Adams faced a dilemma. An honest answer would have made a total irrelevancy into a major issue just because some scummy reporters can't get over other people having sex lives. To tell the truth faced immediate disaster. To lie postponed the disaster. Adams chose the later and Breedlove himself lied to the press about it.

Adams apparently believed that certain political forces would use any admission to press the claim that the relationship began before Breedlove was legally an adult. This sounds plausible to me. Adams thought that it would be assumed he had seduced an underage youth and it would needlessly destroy his political career. Whether there are other reasons why Adams shouldn't be in office I can't say, but this surely isn't one.

The two men dated for a couple of months and Breedlove moved out of state. Since then he has returned to Portland and is clearly unhappy that his private life is being used to crucify someone he clearly believes to be a friend.

Had Adams used a position of authority over Breedlove to instigate a sexual relationship there would be problems. But, in spite of the media calling him Breedlove's mentor, the two were friends. Adams had no professional relationship with the young man. Since there is zero evidence the relationship violated age of consent laws that also eliminates a reason for the media being all over this "story". In other words this is non-story except for purely prurient purposes.

All reporters have is that Adams didn't tell them the truth when they started prying into his sex life. There are just some things that the media has no right prying into. By that I mean no right in terms of morality and decency. The media certainly has the legal right to publish trite, unimportant, salacious material. That is a right that they engage in with great relish. But when the media bastards start prying into relationships between consenting adults then they aren't reporting the news, they're writing pornography. Under those circumstances it is the right of all decent individuals to lie to the buggers. Considering how the media regularly twists facts there is a certain justice inherent in all lies told them.

Apparently two legal adults can't have a private sex life without the media hounds thinking they have a right to pry into things. Does an elected official always have the obligation to answer any question the media puts to him? I can't see how anyone can argue he does. Personally I would have turned the question on the reporter. Adams should have demanded that reporters asking him such questions provide him with a detailed listing of their masturbatory fantasies. Of course the reporters would scream that is an invasion of their privacy. And it would be. But it would be no less an invasion than what they were doing to Adams and Breedlove. And we must remember that while Adams was a minor public official at the time, Breedlove was not. He was just someone that wanted to date someone he found attractive. The media couldn't pry into Adams' bedroom activities without prying into Breedlove's private life as well. And there is simply no justification to do that to him.

Why is the media doing this? There is one main reason. It sells newspapers or boosts the ratings. There is a constituency of antigay types who will eat this up just because this supposedly proves one of their bigoted theories right -- though how it is hard to see. Add in the antisex types to this mix and it means the story will attract a lot of attention.

One thing I've discovered over the years is that the antisex types are actually rather obsessed with the subject. The reason they tend to get so hysterical about sexual issues in public is usually because, in private, they have a lot of fantasies or activities, that they are deeply ashamed of. For many of them that shame is with good cause. The typical Puritan is most often guilty of the very sins he preaches against the loudest. And when others "sin" (and they consider all sex outside marriage to be sin) the story gives them an excuse to feed their own fantasies. They can't wait to read about the sex lives of others as a form of pornography. They get off on it.

The media knows these people are out there. And, under the excuse of the "public's right to know" these reporters become amateur pornographers detailing the private lives of others. I don't know which group disgusts me the most? Is it those who want the details about the sex life of Mr. Adams, because of their own sexual pathologies, or the greedy reporters who think nothing of dragging someone through the mud in order to sell a few newspapers?

Actually I find all this far worse than any real porn. Porn is produced with willing performers or models who produce materia to give other people pleasure. The media "porn" like this is done with unwilling individuals. And the main intention is to hurt some people so that others can get their jollies. In cases like this I have far more respect for the Larry Flynts of the world than I do the bott0m-feeding media types who are eating this story up.