So, wait a minute - vibrators are illegal in America?
(wonders if this game accessory ever got released in the States, and whether Sega and Sony are about to get arrested)
"...Sources say Internet Guru Jim Loy of Bozeman, Montana, retains a 60% silent partnership in all sales teritory south of Husk, Iowa, and is wanted for questioning. In Wheat Futures, prices were..."
Dizzy=JimLoyFilter
(now, if you can get Jim Loy into your anagram competition, you'll be the ultimate winner of everything - well, your own box of poptarts, anyway)
So, wait a minute - vibrators are illegal in America?
No, just in Texas. As are women's orgasms, when you come right down to it.
Bad pun intended and apologized for.
that's what's so scary about it... vibrators AREN'T illegal. except in texas, apparently.
i just KNOW my stilettos are gonna be confiscated by the government. damn.
not to mention the fur handcuffs.
Sexual pleasure is obviously the worst crime in the world, and needs undercover sting operations to root it out. Down with masturbators!!!
When they outlaw Pop-Tarts, only criminals will have Pop-Tarts.
This vibrator... it vibrates?
Sorry.
Clearly, since the attempts of Texas law enforcement to stop gay men having fun were thwarted, they've obviously decided to enforce a rigid sex ban for everybody...
This is weird, worrying and just plain baffling. And as the article says - why Narcotics officers? They all Roxy Music fans down there in Texas?
"Yeah right Pops - no jury in the world is going to convict a baby . . . Mmmm maybe Texas."
--Chief Wiggum
Not that I disagree with any of you, but there may be more to this story than is being reported.
For instance, here's a page about Texas sex laws (and their collective stupidity - careful, links on sidebar NSFW). The laws ARE in place, nonetheless, making this arrest legal, though antiquated.
Okay, I better stop doing searches for this sort of thing while at work.
/and the first one of you who asks me why I hate vibrators is gonna get a double tap...
but why suddenly enforce those laws now, and through an undercover sting operation for chrissakes??? as an american, i'm getting a bit freaked out. what next?
This is taking place in Texas, sidedish. We who are lucky enough to live in other states have nothing to worry about, as long as we can keep anyone from that backward state from holding any prominent powerful position at the federal lev-
Oh, shit.
New meaning to the words "Texas Hold'em".
Heh.
I still hate my mother.
I'm not so sure these laws are "suddenly" being enforced. I mean, how did Lawrence vs. Texas get started?
f8xmulder - two words. Ash - Croft. Mr. "breasts are disgraceful".
Or maybe they're just taping a new "Fundamentalist Born-Again Zealot Bastards Gone Frickin' Insane" video.
The reason she was charged seemed pretty clear from the article. It was her interest in joing the Chamber of Commerce. This seems to have been a harsh warning that she was not very welcome. Ironic because the only two things I saw whilst driving through texas were shitty little churches and shitty little porn shops.
(pardon my language, but no other word works quite as well)
I know they have a law banning the sale of these devices in Alabama, as well. The obscenity law has been ruled unconstitutional by two courts, as long as it specifically contains this ban. But a bill to remove the ban failed to pass the Legislature in April.
To fight the Taliban we had to become the Taliban.
petebest: is that really fair? The article states that Ashcroft didn't know anything about the curtains.
But Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said Mr Ashcroft knew nothing of the investment.
The media leaves out enough facts on their own - let's not go propogating more errant omissions...
(on preview - homunculus, we're a pretty far cry from Taliban-like society. Let's not get our knickers in a twist and start calling a relatively isolated incident of antiquarian law being enforced Taliban-ic. Hyperbole is better used elsewhere.)
"nipple cream AND 'edible passion puddings'"???
I'm pretty sure that's what killed Bob Crane.
Nothing coming out of Texas surprises me anymore.
This needs to be taken to the Supreme Court. I want to watch them rule in favor of sextoys. It'd be so neat. Surely restricting pleasure restricts happiness, and it's not like it's hurting anyone. Bishop Bashers for Bush vs Deregulated Dicks for Dean. That's what the next election needs.
yes, this case does need to go to the Supremes, while, meanwhile, in the congress... (yes, this is real)...
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3687
To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 8, 2003
Mr. OSE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BILL
To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by inserting `(a)' before `Whoever'; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
`(b) As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'
SideDish - does that mean that any broadcast of swear words would be illegal? Would that cover all media? Is it likely to pass?
And would I be alllowed to say arsehole instead of asshole?
yup, although i doubt it would ever pass. here's a bit of background from Roll Call:
Obscene Development. Although Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) took some criticism for using foul language in a Rolling Stone interview, he didn't face legal problems. But if he ever drops an F-bomb in a televised presidential debate, he might run afoul of a new anti-profanity law being pitched by Rep. Doug Ose (R-Calif.).
Irate that the F-word was used several times during this year's Golden Globe Awards, Ose and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) have introduced a bill to "amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for punishment of certain profane broadcasts" and for other purposes.
Hill staffers were buzzing Friday about the fact that the actual text of H.R. 3687 - available for all to see at the Library of Congress' normally staid official Web site (THOMAS.loc.gov) - is more obscene than the Golden Globes broadcast.
Pressed for an explanation about why the text was so graphic, Ose spokesman Yier Shi told HOH, "Obviously, the FCC needed to have these words spelled out in order for it to act appropriately."
Has anyone notified George Carlin? Because he'd be fucked.
battery-powered vibrators that sell for $17 to $140
$140 for a vibrator now that's obscene.
Just when you thought it was safe to have gay sex in Texas, now we learn you can only have "straight" gay sex, no kinky stuff, no dildos. Oh well, all you kinky Texan queers can move to Georgia. We haven't had a sodomy law on the books for such a long time.
There are good people doing important things in Congress. Whoops - wasn't plugged in...
*click* This is an example of the inanity seemingly inherent to US House - poorly reasoned moralistic power-grabbing unfunded election fodder already legislated to another entity (the FCC) for the purpose of providing penal . . *snkkkk!* I'm sorry - cut! Cut!
Okay that's five people!
f8xmulder: good point, I didn't catch that detail and on inspection it appears ABC News is the only outlet (that I can find) saying Ashcroft ordered the statue draped. Snopes indicates the contention is regarding who authorized the $8,000+ purchase of the drapes, not who ordered them covered and I think it's consistent that Ashcroft did so.
dng: I dont get the brit-slang arse, it just doesnt seem like swearing, its like little kids who say "frick" to not get in trouble. But i am sure you could say that all you want in america. Frickin arseholes.
I'm sure Spike on Buffy got away with words that Americans consider quaint but are full-on cursewords in England. I just can't think of any examples right now.
Bloody this and bloody that? Or are those not so serious now? "Bloody hell" was said by his character a great deal, so much that I now have to try to break myself of the habit, because it just sounds silly in a Canadian accent.
Bloody always seems like such a damp curseword. I mean it isn't obviously, or else a whole people wouldn't be stereotyped as saying it all the time. It just seems to lack punch somehow. Could you British folk, as a nation do something about that? Maybe replace it with semeny. I mean it's a body fluid. Also, semeny hell just has that certain something.
Bloody isn't a swear word.
I dont get the brit-slang arse, it just doesnt seem like swearing, its like little kids who say "frick" to not get in trouble.
Arse isn't really a swear word, either, and certainly isn't used as a substitute for something stronger. When you call someone an arse, its usually meant as saying he's a pompous fool, or something similar. Its quite differenet to calling someone a cunt, quite obviously.
Anyway, the only things I think are really swear words over here - in that they offend people - are cunt and fuck (and probably wanker - that got edited out of the Simpsons, at least, when it was shown over here - and shit).
Not that I'm here to speak for all us British monkeys. And maybe its just me - I'm quite a foul mouthed little shit in real life, usually, and barely notice swear words at all.
Also, this topic is 8 months old - did that anti swear word bill get passed, does anyone know?
"Ass" has always sounded a prissy Puritan pronunciation to me (as a loyal Brit). It just sounds like a sneeze, whereas a deep growling rounded "Arse" is a good mouth-filler, as Spokeshave nearly put it.
"Bloody" is certainly mild, but if you think it's too "damp" I'm surprised "Semeny" is your candidate to replace it. "Bloody" is more upper-class than "bleeding" - when I was young I was told the Duke of Edinburgh might say the former, but never the latter.
Personally, when I need to express a degree of disapproval, I like to use the exclamation which I understand to be the favourite of Queen Elizabeth - "God's shitty arse!".
Queen Elizabeth the first, I mean.
Spike, I'm fairly sure, has said "bollocks" - I'm thinking particularly about the episode after the musical (Tabula Rasa, I believe it was called) where they had no memory of who they were. Somebody told Spike he was English, and his response was to reel off a load of identifiably British swearwords - "shag, bollocks, wanker," and so on...
"Bollocks" is at an unusual stage in its evolution from taboo word to acceptable conversation - still not allowable pre-watershed, but it seems to becoming acceptable on radio, for example.
Have to say there are circles in which arse is not regarded with great favour, unless perhaps to issue a serious pronouncement on another's supposed deficiencies/procliviites
'Bloody' and 'bleeding' were thought to be offensive back in the Edwardian period, but nowadays they are merely quaint relics for most people, I think.
Use of 'bloody'/'bleeding' in vampiric discourse: seems to me both are words a vampire would take very seriously. They would not utter the words lightly, I'm certain. This sort of attitude, the scrupulous regard or near-veneration for specific terms, seems to me somehow akin to the quasi-reverent attitudes which enable people to take seriously/be offended by 'fuck' or 'cunt'.
Possibly blood has a near-sacramental quality for vampires -- in which case such terms might be considered more blasphemous when used by them than as actual swear- or curse-words. Perhaps something along the lines of 'garlic'/'garlicky' or 'crucifixed' might carry stronger pejorative weight for a vampire.
Somehow analysis of vampiric utterance in this context has received short shrift in the past -- o will no better-informed monkey (or vampire) fill this gaping hole in our too-limited knowledge?
You monkeys have completely derailed the vibrator thread. Have you no shame?
Now that I think about it, then, wouldn't Spike be more likely to say 'bleeding' than 'bloody' based on his background? I don't remember but he's definitely from the 19th century and lower class based on his accent.
What always bugged me was that Angel has lost his accent while Spike maintained his, but realistically, I suppose, it happens to people. Plus Angel's Irish accent was atrocious.
I loved Faith. I love her still.
"Five by five", my sweet one. Five ... *sniff* ... by five ...
*weeps*
I was a huge Forever Knight fan because of the rich mellow-melo character of Le Croix.
Ah, bite me. Now bite me again! Heh.
Well my grand-dad was a working-class butcher in born in the Midlands, who lived in Leeds and by buggery did he swear his bloody head off.
Spike's accent changed as well - he was quite upperclass when he was William the Bloody Awful Poet (in an amusing twist that mirrors the conversation we're having right now, his nickname came from the sweary version of "bloody", not the haemoglobin version). Based on what we've seen in flashbacks, his accent migrated towards the current northener/Camden hipster hybrid during his years of slumming it and living the low life with Angel, Dru and Darla. During this period, he also had David Bowie's hair.
I'm really going to shut up now...
I just am thankful I enjoyed cherry pie with ice cream last night in my home state of Virginia. In Kansas, I could have been arrested.
Also, I shouldn't visit Massachussets because I'm sure the police can't tell a goatee from a Van Dyke--and I'll be fined. Thanks dng!
a deep growling rounded "Arse" is a good mouth-filler
Well, to each his own. Me, I'd worry about what that growling portended and keep the Arse well away from my mouth, no matter how nicely rounded.
beeswacky: What about the charming (and talented) Gerint Wyn Davies, aka Nick Knight? I actually had the chance to meet him once. But I had never seen the show, so I was just like "Who's this guy?" Of course, two months later I discovered it on late night and was hooked.
Envy, jb, is almost consuming me.
The character of Nicholas was well-done, yes, but it's Nigel Bennet whose amazing performance as Le Croix impressed me most deeply.
Not an easy role to play, let alone to play with both off-hand restraint, and sharp-edged cynicism, Bennet really sustained a fine performance in an essentially bizarre and unrealistic role. And I am all admiration for the job he did, coupling restraint and excess in a most convincing way.
If there is anything more terrifying than a bunch of terrorists smuggling bombs into America, it would certainly be terrorists smuggling bombs and high-powered dildos into America.
Oh, the humanity.
Islamofascists Orgasmofascists.
Put me down for two.
terrorists smuggling bombs and high-powered dildos into America.
Courtesy of a brain-congealing head cold, I read this as terrorists sNuggling bombs and high-powered dildos.
...compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).
Damn, those are some motherfuckin' versatile bastards, aren't they?
Lord, don't take my swearin' gerunds away!
note: because of potential arrest on account of tonsorial preferences, I still have not been to Massachussets.
Don't know wot is wrong with me, but I still find a serious consideration of the ways in which a vampire might swear to be more engrossing than dildo distribution.
What a waste of fucking time.
Pardon my French!
Remind me to avoid Alabama
Hey, smt: remember not to move to Alabama.
This is awesome. It's similar to saying, "If we don't give kids condoms, they won't have sex."
Perhaps they assume that, by preventing people from having sex toys, they won't wank?
Thank God I'm an athiest, and I feel no shame in artificial stimulation.
Niiiiiiice. That's just good repressin' there.
I appreciate the reminder, nunia.
I assume that Alabama has a higher incidence of emergency room visits dealing with the removal of beverage bottles, broomsticks, candles, vegetables, and other instruments from the nether regions of desperate individuals.
MonkeyFilter: I feel no shame in artificial stimulation.
Alabama restaurants serve a great Post-Coitus-Cucumber Salad.
Tastes a little gamey, tho.
IslamofascistsOrgasmofascists.