So I can't get a WiFi signal on my Eee and am reduced to the dead tree edition of the WSJ for my morning cardiac stimulation.
I am not disappointed: Smack in the middle of page one is a story about the Nekkid Pumpkin Runners in Boulder being hassled by The Man. Apparently, one guy streaking through the streets with a gourd on his noggin during All Hallow's Eve was cute, five or ten was a tradition, but the 150 they had last year was getting a mite out of hand, so this year the Boulder po-po is getting ready with the paddy wagon.
Now, while I'm generally on the side of the runners, I can kinda see the cops' point of view, too: There is a law on the books, even if it dates from days when even piano legs were modestly covered. One interviewee's response was priceless, however: "It kind of reminds me of what's happening in Tehran..."
Say what? Look, hippie, nobody's going to hang you or cut anything off, okay? You're exhibiting the same finely tuned sense of proportion as a sixth grader who threatens suicide because she doesn't get to go to spend the night at the slumber party with her friends.
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Same sense of proportion that brought us the "Bush = Hitler" protesters.
Hippie, if Bush was Hitler, you'd be in a concentration camp.
WOW!
I wonder what they would compare actually being in Tehran to?
tomcat, I'd be happy to contribute to an airfare fund to send them to Tehran to discover reality. I'd love to read the news coverage after the Great Pumpkin Streak.
Art
Streaking? Tehran? My God... we really did elect another Carter didn't we? Anyone remember how to do the disco duck?
Aren't there coyotes in Boulder?
Carter got his ass kicked by a rabbit. Any bets on what the Serengeti Savior gets mauled by? No, Girl Scouts don't count...
"But they don't want us to run naked through downtown! That's JUST LIKE gays being hanged in Tehran!!! FIGHT THE POWER!!!!"
Etc. Repeat until stomach contents exit.
If everyone that opposes you is evil (and, therefore, wrong), then you must be good (and, by extension, right). A great many of the more vocal hippies seem possessed of the moral and ethical framework of a pre-schooler.
I've never heard of this event, so I ran to google it. Turned up a blog post with someone ranting about how this means those ticketed for indecent exposure run the risk of having to register as sex offenders, and how that is completely unfair. I agree, that's unfair... you get ticketed for indecent exposure, you should have to pay the fine and put some clothes on, but you haven't molested a kid or raped someone. However, I also think this is a fine example of what happens when laws that demonize a general behavior that should be judged on a case-by-case basis get passed. If you want the perv exposing himself to kids in the park to be seen as being in the same class with a violent rapist, that means it's going to happen to the Pumpkin Runners, too. And I doubt the people who want the "life affirming" nudity, yet vote for more laws "for the children", will see that same connection.
Having gone to school there myself, I have to say that if you're going to act like an idiot, college is the place to do it.
OTOH, Boulder was actually a fairly conservative place until legislation was passed that encouraged the students to register and vote there.
College is supposed to be a learning experience, so if the cops want to bust a few mush-filled heads, then maybe some of them will actually learn something.
It seems a shame, a decade after the topless picnic rebellion in Syracuse, and any number of court cases clearly defining mere nudity, in absence of sexual behavior, is not obscene.
Which may well lead to any charges being dropped, or the Boulder police seeing their efforts dismissed, or the case being overturned on appeal.
What the event lacks is a clear religious celebration angle. October, either the 17th or the end of the month, is often celebrated as a Wiccan or other pagan new year. Just the concept of Halloween is pagan. The Christian church was appalled that the pagans had a celebration of spirits at the end of October; they invented "All Saints Day" the first of November to capitalize on what was going on, and managed to get the pagan rite re-labeled "All Hallow's Eve". Hallow Evening. Hallowe'en. Halloween.
Viewing the run as a religious celebration as well as freedom of speech would tie Boulder into knots.
*I* think the organizers should have preceded the runners with a free beer cart, to pacify the locals. Nekkid running is running, after all, and about as green as you get - think of how much less laundry to be done, or laundry soap flushed into the environment, when you run nekkid.
The Boulder police don't have any real crime to chase down? This seems like a waste of time and tax dollars to me.
If the hippies tried that in Tehran, the imams would have apoplexy figuring out which part to cut off first. Beheading would be the final step.
OTOH, streaking in CO will now get you on the sex-offender registry. That shows the same utter lack of a sense of proportion as the hippy's comparison to Tehran.
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