25 comments on “Rome, GA: The sexual hang-up capital of the country”
I’m suddenly reminded of what’s-his-name (Ashcroft?) having the statue of Lady Justice covered up during press conferences or somesuch. Can’t have an exposed breast interfere with the law, now can we?
You know, I’m not that big a believer in divine retribution, but I can’t help thinking that maybe Georgia’s recent drought was God’s way of saying he was getting just a little bit pìššëd øff at these sanctimonious little pipsqueaks.
Wow. Two brilliantly scathing pieces of writing in one day. Now if only that column would get the case thrown out of court with everyone involved in the PERSECUTION of Gordon Lee being thrown in jail for criminal stupidity.
Is there a way that if enough people all over this planet send something to the Rome judge, say, a petition that says, “This is really stupid, the prosecutors have bolluxed this from the word GO, and really nothing is to be gained by furthering this” this whole thing might just get dismissed?
Sean, it worked for Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, but that was a fictional story, while this one is obviously real. On the other hand, if you tried to explain the case to anybody who had never heard of it, they probably would have even more trouble believing it than a young Natalie Wood had believing in Edmund Gwenn.
In a similar thread at Newsarama, someone posted this link:
It’s a picture of the statue of naked boys and wolf teats outside the City Hall of Rome, Ga.
Is there a way that if enough people all over this planet send something to the Rome judge, say, a petition that says, “This is really stupid, the prosecutors have bolluxed this from the word GO, and really nothing is to be gained by furthering this” this whole thing might just get dismissed?
Probably not. This whole nation is going stupid. Texas just sacked their Commissioner for Science Education for merely passing along a message about a talk about evolutionary philosophy.
Nothing really new on that linked page. The prosecutor’s illicit mention of Lee’s past record was reported by Peter on November 6. The only wrinkle in the story I hadn’t heard of before was the bit about the Romulus and Remus suckling statue.
I’m not sure having the superheroes show up would help. (“Just look at what Wonder Woman and the Black Canary are wearing! And just WHY is he called “Elongated Man” anyway?”) But I digress…
It’s a good article, supplying lots of common sense. But common sense doesn’t always apply to the law (remember the guy who was just released from prison after 2 years for consentual oral sex with someone else under 18?) and certainly not for politicians out to score political points. No convervative lost votes for standing up for family values or protecting the children (cue THE SIMPSONS’ Helen Lovejoy shrieking “Won’t somebody think of the children?”) and this also faces the old prejudicial notion that comic books are for children only, never for adults.
So it’s a good article, but the case is hardly closed.
The world is full of hypocrites, and Rome is just another yearbook photo. Good article; it’s nice to see there are a few sane people left in the world (as I contort my face and scream real loud).
“(remember the guy who was just released from prison after 2 years for consentual oral sex with someone else under 18?)”
That would be, I believe, the same Marcus Dixon mentioned in the article PAD linked.
I know Gordon Lee (anyone who attends any event in Rome at which karaoke is present, it seems, does) and went to college in Rome (Shorter!).
I’m sorry he has to go through this nonsense, and it’s rather embarrassing for my home state of Georgia, too. Us conservative Christians have some nutballs in our mix – I’ll be the first to admit it.
Perhaps the crux of the problem is that people still think comics are for kids. All comics. And just for kids. And they’re shocked when they find out otherwise.
I’m just happy to see a newspaper article about comics that doesn’t include BIFF! BAM! POW!
Nice article, but not one I’d describe as scathing. I didn’t get a sense of outrage so much as a resigned “here they go again”. And it rambles a bit. For anyone not familiar with the case it takes about 75% of the article before any real details are mentioned.
The point about the Romulus/Remus statue was a nice one, tho. Shouldn’t have been left for the concluding paragraphs.
I have some more pix of the statue. They must’ve been taken during or shortly after a rainshower, making it look as though… ugh, I don’t even want to say it. Just have a look for yourself.
I mean, Jesus, I’ve seen less explicit things in Hustler! Well, okay, not really. But how can Leigh Patterson and John Tully can continue to prosecute Gordon while a statue of kids suckling an animal’s teats is sitting in front of City Hall???
Why doesn’t everyone here who has kids e-mail Rome’s city hall and complain that your kids saw their statue online and that you plan to sue the city for corrupting your kiddies?
Wow, now I feel kind of pervy. When I was in Rome (the Italian one) I bought a hat for the city’s university. The logo contained the wolf with the two babies under her. Not only do I feel creepy wearing it in public, I just realised that there’s a school that has naked babies on it’s logo.
Also just realised this; one of the greatest Italian football teams ever – Roma – has the same statue as their logo.
Also just realised this; I gave miniature statues of that to some relatives as a gift.
In fact, there were naked babies all over Rome! (and did I mention there was a statue of them also?)
Sorry if I went off on a tangent; I just wanted to get those babies off of my chest.
“Off your chest?” Technically, aren’t they under the she-wolf’s chest?
Posted by Joe Nazzaro
You know, I’m not that big a believer in divine retribution, but I can’t help thinking that maybe Georgia’s recent drought was God’s way of saying he was getting just a little bit pìššëd øff at these sanctimonious little pipsqueaks.
Speaking as a resident of North Georgia, all i can say is that if that’s so, God needs to clean Her specs so she can see just how aberrant this is…
Posted by Luigi Novi
The only wrinkle in the story I hadn’t heard of before was the bit about the Romulus and Remus suckling statue.
Which, if i’m remembering correctly, was a gift from either the city of Rome itself or the Italian government, in the mussolini years.
Someone mentions all the naked baby statues in the real Rome – what about the little boy in the public fountain in Brussels?
David: I just realised that there’s a school that has naked babies on it’s logo. Also just realised this; one of the greatest Italian football teams ever – Roma – has the same statue as their logo.
Also just realised this; I gave miniature statues of that to some relatives as a gift. In fact, there were naked babies all over Rome! (and did I mention there was a statue of them also?)
Luigi Novi: You left out all the paintings of cherubs in churches. 😉
You left out all the paintings of cherubs in churches
That was kind of the crazy thing. One of the laws Gordon was being prosecuted under was written in such a way that, if you sent someone a postcard that featured any of those images, you’d be breaking the law.
PAD
Yeah, you mentioned that in your BID column a while back (“Who is Remembered?”, or something like that?). The one with the Ninja Turtles.
Gah. -_-;; And I live about 30 miles from there. I want outta this state!
Holy crap! I went to school in Rome (Shorter). And I used to get my comics from Legends on a regular basis. And yes, Rome is the sexual hang-up capital of the country. Certainly most of the students at Shorter were…
FurrySaint: “I want outta this state!”
I wish this sort of thing were limited to the South. But lots of states have “harmful to minors” laws similar to Georgia’s. All it takes is one hysterical parent and one overzealous prosecutor, and you have a recipe for a witchhunt. I think that’s why it’s so important to support the CBLDF.
• 
I’m suddenly reminded of what’s-his-name (Ashcroft?) having the statue of Lady Justice covered up during press conferences or somesuch. Can’t have an exposed breast interfere with the law, now can we?
You know, I’m not that big a believer in divine retribution, but I can’t help thinking that maybe Georgia’s recent drought was God’s way of saying he was getting just a little bit pìššëd øff at these sanctimonious little pipsqueaks.
Wow. Two brilliantly scathing pieces of writing in one day. Now if only that column would get the case thrown out of court with everyone involved in the PERSECUTION of Gordon Lee being thrown in jail for criminal stupidity.
Is there a way that if enough people all over this planet send something to the Rome judge, say, a petition that says, “This is really stupid, the prosecutors have bolluxed this from the word GO, and really nothing is to be gained by furthering this” this whole thing might just get dismissed?
Sean, it worked for Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, but that was a fictional story, while this one is obviously real. On the other hand, if you tried to explain the case to anybody who had never heard of it, they probably would have even more trouble believing it than a young Natalie Wood had believing in Edmund Gwenn.
In a similar thread at Newsarama, someone posted this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leelefever/312263513/
It’s a picture of the statue of naked boys and wolf teats outside the City Hall of Rome, Ga.
Is there a way that if enough people all over this planet send something to the Rome judge, say, a petition that says, “This is really stupid, the prosecutors have bolluxed this from the word GO, and really nothing is to be gained by furthering this” this whole thing might just get dismissed?
Probably not. This whole nation is going stupid. Texas just sacked their Commissioner for Science Education for merely passing along a message about a talk about evolutionary philosophy.
Nothing really new on that linked page. The prosecutor’s illicit mention of Lee’s past record was reported by Peter on November 6. The only wrinkle in the story I hadn’t heard of before was the bit about the Romulus and Remus suckling statue.
I’m not sure having the superheroes show up would help. (“Just look at what Wonder Woman and the Black Canary are wearing! And just WHY is he called “Elongated Man” anyway?”) But I digress…
It’s a good article, supplying lots of common sense. But common sense doesn’t always apply to the law (remember the guy who was just released from prison after 2 years for consentual oral sex with someone else under 18?) and certainly not for politicians out to score political points. No convervative lost votes for standing up for family values or protecting the children (cue THE SIMPSONS’ Helen Lovejoy shrieking “Won’t somebody think of the children?”) and this also faces the old prejudicial notion that comic books are for children only, never for adults.
So it’s a good article, but the case is hardly closed.
The world is full of hypocrites, and Rome is just another yearbook photo. Good article; it’s nice to see there are a few sane people left in the world (as I contort my face and scream real loud).
“(remember the guy who was just released from prison after 2 years for consentual oral sex with someone else under 18?)”
That would be, I believe, the same Marcus Dixon mentioned in the article PAD linked.
I know Gordon Lee (anyone who attends any event in Rome at which karaoke is present, it seems, does) and went to college in Rome (Shorter!).
I’m sorry he has to go through this nonsense, and it’s rather embarrassing for my home state of Georgia, too. Us conservative Christians have some nutballs in our mix – I’ll be the first to admit it.
Perhaps the crux of the problem is that people still think comics are for kids. All comics. And just for kids. And they’re shocked when they find out otherwise.
I’m just happy to see a newspaper article about comics that doesn’t include BIFF! BAM! POW!
Nice article, but not one I’d describe as scathing. I didn’t get a sense of outrage so much as a resigned “here they go again”. And it rambles a bit. For anyone not familiar with the case it takes about 75% of the article before any real details are mentioned.
The point about the Romulus/Remus statue was a nice one, tho. Shouldn’t have been left for the concluding paragraphs.
I have some more pix of the statue. They must’ve been taken during or shortly after a rainshower, making it look as though… ugh, I don’t even want to say it. Just have a look for yourself.
http://billmyerscreations.com/blog
I mean, Jesus, I’ve seen less explicit things in Hustler! Well, okay, not really. But how can Leigh Patterson and John Tully can continue to prosecute Gordon while a statue of kids suckling an animal’s teats is sitting in front of City Hall???
Why doesn’t everyone here who has kids e-mail Rome’s city hall and complain that your kids saw their statue online and that you plan to sue the city for corrupting your kiddies?
Wow, now I feel kind of pervy. When I was in Rome (the Italian one) I bought a hat for the city’s university. The logo contained the wolf with the two babies under her. Not only do I feel creepy wearing it in public, I just realised that there’s a school that has naked babies on it’s logo.
Also just realised this; one of the greatest Italian football teams ever – Roma – has the same statue as their logo.
Also just realised this; I gave miniature statues of that to some relatives as a gift.
In fact, there were naked babies all over Rome! (and did I mention there was a statue of them also?)
Sorry if I went off on a tangent; I just wanted to get those babies off of my chest.
“Off your chest?” Technically, aren’t they under the she-wolf’s chest?
Posted by Joe Nazzaro
You know, I’m not that big a believer in divine retribution, but I can’t help thinking that maybe Georgia’s recent drought was God’s way of saying he was getting just a little bit pìššëd øff at these sanctimonious little pipsqueaks.
Speaking as a resident of North Georgia, all i can say is that if that’s so, God needs to clean Her specs so she can see just how aberrant this is…
Posted by Luigi Novi
The only wrinkle in the story I hadn’t heard of before was the bit about the Romulus and Remus suckling statue.
Which, if i’m remembering correctly, was a gift from either the city of Rome itself or the Italian government, in the mussolini years.
Someone mentions all the naked baby statues in the real Rome – what about the little boy in the public fountain in Brussels?
David: I just realised that there’s a school that has naked babies on it’s logo. Also just realised this; one of the greatest Italian football teams ever – Roma – has the same statue as their logo.
Also just realised this; I gave miniature statues of that to some relatives as a gift. In fact, there were naked babies all over Rome! (and did I mention there was a statue of them also?)
Luigi Novi: You left out all the paintings of cherubs in churches. 😉
You left out all the paintings of cherubs in churches
That was kind of the crazy thing. One of the laws Gordon was being prosecuted under was written in such a way that, if you sent someone a postcard that featured any of those images, you’d be breaking the law.
PAD
Yeah, you mentioned that in your BID column a while back (“Who is Remembered?”, or something like that?). The one with the Ninja Turtles.
Gah. -_-;; And I live about 30 miles from there. I want outta this state!
Holy crap! I went to school in Rome (Shorter). And I used to get my comics from Legends on a regular basis. And yes, Rome is the sexual hang-up capital of the country. Certainly most of the students at Shorter were…
FurrySaint: “I want outta this state!”
I wish this sort of thing were limited to the South. But lots of states have “harmful to minors” laws similar to Georgia’s. All it takes is one hysterical parent and one overzealous prosecutor, and you have a recipe for a witchhunt. I think that’s why it’s so important to support the CBLDF.