Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.
Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.
Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”
What a fine southern gentleman. That doesn’t even make sense. How do two people become a single member? How do they become an elitist-class individual?
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Cool YouTube video of a Russian MiG shooting down a Georgian drone. Evidently the two countries are fighting over the Abkhazia region. I’m not sure why anyone would fight over an area that most people have never heard of.
Not to give ending away, but the MiG takes out the drone with a missile. That seems kind of expensive when the pilot could have just used the gun. Missiles are expensive.
Word out of the New York Comic Con is that all charges against Georgia comic book retailer Gordon Lee have been dismissed. Writer Neil Gaiman and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) board member broke the news at a panel Friday evening.
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein spoke with Matt Brady at Newsarama about this latest development.
If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that my opinions about the Gordon Lee case differ greatly then most of the online comic book community. I don’t see Gordon Lee so much as a champion of the First Amendment, but as a comic book retailer that did something incredibly stupid. He allowed a comic book intended for adults (Alternative Comics #2) to get into the hands of a small child.
Does that mean I think he should go to prison? No, of course not. I do think he made a huge mistake.
One of my problems with this case has been that I never sensed any sort of remorse on the part of Lee. He allowed a comic that contained both male and female nudity and contained references to masturbation and oral sex to get into the trick-or-treat bag of a 6-year old child.
I believe that was an incredibly dumb thing to do.
It’s not like this was even the first time Lee had done something like this. He was convicted in the early 90’s of distributing obscene materials. Sandra Allen of Rome, Georgia became alarmed when her kid came home with comic books purchased from Lee’s comic book shop that she thought were pornographic.
Sandra Allen went to Gordon Lee’s comic book shop and found more of what she believed to be pornographic comic books on display to anyone entering the shop. Allen purchased two adult comics from Lee’s shop, Debbie Does Dallas and Final Taboo and took them directly to the Rome Police and filed a complaint.
My hope in all this is that Gordon Lee will be more careful when it comes to adult comic books. Is that asking too much?
Diamond Comic Book Distributors warned retailers not to give copies of ALTERNATIVE COMICS #2 to children. This is the free comic Georgia comic book retailer Gordon Lee stands accused of giving to a 6-year old and his 9-year old brother.
Please don’t give Alternative Comics #2 to children without adult supervision!!
From Diamond Daily:
FCBD: Watch for Mature Readers Titles
Free Comic Book Day, Diamond Daily, Thursday, June 17, 2004
As in Free Comic Book Days past, all of the Gold Sponsor titles (those required to be in participating stores) are all-ages appropriate, in order to make certain that the event has a family-friendly character and to make it easy for stores to participate regardless of their regional standards.
The Silver Sponsor titles — being optional — are not required to be all-ages appropriate. As in the past, some are intended for mature readers only and were solicited as such.
As you receive your FCBD editions, be sure to bear in mind that the following titles were solicited as being for mature readers, and be certain to hand them out only to the appropriate customers.
Diamond No. Title
APR040027J ALTERNATIVE COMICS #2 FCBD EDITION (MR)
APR040041J ADVENTURES OF BARRY WEEN SECRET CRISIS ORIGIN FILE FCBD EDITION (MR)
APR040042J LOVE FIGHTS #1 FACING THE GODDESS FLIP BOOK FCBD EDITION (MR)
Gordon Lee is charged with two misdemeanor counts of Distribution of Harmful to Minors Material, each carrying a penalty of up to one year in prison and up to $1,000 in fines. The comic contains nudity and adult language. It’s unclear why Gordon Lee chose to give this particular book to young children, especially if he had been warned a head of time by the distributor that it wasn’t intended for children.
Lee and his legal team, paid for by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, appeared in court this morning for jury selection and returned in the afternoon to begin the actual trial. Before the jury was brought in to begin the trial, lead counsel Alan Begner argued an oral motion in limine asking the judge to instruct prosecutors that they could not admit statements from their witnesses alluding to Lee’s character and previous legal actions Lee has been party to. Prosecutors assured the court that they had instructed their witnesses not to address Lee’s previous conviction for selling adult comics to an adult. Then during opening statements in front of the jury, prosecutor Tully said witnesses will testify that Gordon was defensive and that Gordon had told police, “I’ve been through this before,” a clear reversal of his earlier statement to the judge that prosecutors would not be entering such statements into the record.
Who would have guessed that instructions prohibiting witnesses from bringing up Lee’s previous conviction also included any statements made by Lee himself? I guess I can understand barring witnesses from mentioning that they knew that Lee was convicted in 1993 of “distributing obscene materials“. I wouldn’t have guessed this also included any statements made by Lee to the police. So much for, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Lee’s prior conviction was for selling two porn comics, Final Taboo and Debbie Does Dallas.
