I

  

.T. Barnum created a
circus and an institution

based on the simple idea
that people are easily fooled

and will pay for the chance to '

see it happen. Remember the
Pet Rock? Or the Mood Ring
that appears to have had a
recent popularity?

There are hundreds of hoax-
es on—line. No one is going to
get paid for sending on an
email. . i if
This sort of thing used to be
called a con, and a perpetrator
of said con was a con artist.
This is different from an ordi-
nary theft, different because
the victim hands over the
prize, and worse, may even
pay up front for the right to do
so. You have all seen this kind
of thing. sometimes it’s obvi-
ous and sometimes it’s not.
We all lined up at the counter
last June at the Pride table
being run under the premise of
“winning a cruise”. How come

‘none of us noticed the little

question about “having a valid
credit card”? Since when do
you need a credit card to win
something in an open draw-
ing? We all, I hope, caught on
when the phone rang.

The age—old “bait and switch”
routine still works. A lot of
baiting goes on in the lesbian
chat rooms I have frequented
online. These women (are
they?) describe themselves in
the most incredible ways. I tell
ya, how Cindy Crawford ever
found real love anywhere but
online amazes me. And the
switch usually comes the
day/night before two “women
in love” online are suppose to
meet. Suddenly, the picture
has changed and someone is
bailing out ofthe “marriage”
and instead of calling each
other “wifey”, it’s “ex—wifey”.
ls the real fraud here the lies
told, or the fraud of the “mar-
riage”?

We have all been fooled in
some way, some worse than
others. And you certainly
don’l have to be online for
“lies in love”. How many peo-

ple do you, Dear Reader,
know personally that have
fallen prey to misinformation?
The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts is looking for
victims ofa “bait and switch”
scheme that involved getting
signatures for two very differ-
ent petitions from two very
different groups. The first
group is Save Our Horses.
They were out gathering sig-
naturesito get on the ballot 5 4 '
question to ban the slaughter
of horses for food. They did
not get enough valid signa-

 

Ipswich) regarding the recent
events since 9-11. He is a con-
servative New Hampshire
Republican, with an ear for his
constituents. He is always
available, returns calls, and
listens with an open mind.
This is much more than my
state Senator, Mark Fernald
(D-Temple) does. The moment
that man hears the word ‘gay’
in a conversation, he runs. He
doesn’t get my support for his
attempt to be Governor of
New Hampshire unless he
takes a good long look at all
of us and changes his actions
as well as his tunes.

My partner and I have a friend
here in town. Sue buried her
partner in December after 16
years of the same address
together. Kim died of cancer.

after six years. oifsuffering.

Sue brought Kim home to
New Hampshire to die.
Everyone knew they were a

We have all been

fooled in some way,
some worse than others.

tures and say it was because of
the second group and it’s gath-
ering practices.

The second group is
Massachusetts Citizens for
Marriage also known as
Marriage Matters. Their peti-
tion was for a ballot question
on the definition of marriage
in the Commonwealth of
Mass, and an amendment to
the state’s constitution.
Specifically it says: “ Only the
union of one man and one
woman shall be valid or rec-
ognized as a marriage...”.
Marriage Matters claims that
76,607 signatures are valid
and on their side of the battle
to stop gay marriage, and
eliminate the validation of
civil unions from other states.

If you think you were
duped last fall signing peti-
tions in Massachusetts, go to
www.massequality.org and use
the link to see if indeed your
name is there. I have not lived
in Massachusetts since l989,
but I checked it anyway.

The New Hampshire
Freedom to Marry Coalition is
at work looking for benefac-
tors, lawyers, financial
experts, and more volunteers.

I contacted my state Rep.,
Mr. Don Carlson (R—New

lesbian couple. Seems Sue and
Kim never bothered to put
what little assets they shared
in Sue’s name. They never
thought Kim’s blood relatives
would do what they did.

Sue has no rights and no
recourse in the state of New
Hampshire. Life is one big
learning experience. We sat
and listened to the tale of shal-
low antics about Kim’s father.
He took Sue to court and got
himself declared the executor
of Kim’s estate. He took the
money from her accounts,
bought a truck, and went to
Foxwoods Casino in CT.
Seems he forgot, that along
with the money, he got the
bills. The funeral home has
still not been paid. Well now,
he cannot have it both ways.
Seems the court has heard
about the nonpayment of the
bills and such. Maybe,just
maybe, Dad will end up wish-
ing he had left things alone.
And now, to make all the
greeting card companies
happy, comes Valentine’s. If
you are lucky enough to love,
be sure and say it often and
mean it. lfyou’re even luckier
and are loved, don’t waste it.I

Practice limited
to male clientele

 
  

THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE
" E William Coil, NCMT

802-658'2390
800°830°5025

OITER CREEK ASSOCIATES

MATRIX HEALTH SYSTEMS
Psychiatric and Psychological

Services for Adults, Children and Families

Edward R. Langlois, LICSW
Lir.'en.i'ed Clinical Social Worker
Diplomate in Clinical Social Work

86 Lake Street
Burlington. Vermont 05401

Tel. (802) 865-3450
Fax. (802) 860-50l l

O.’I"l‘l-LR CREEK ASSOCIATES

MATRIX HEALTH SYSTEMS

Psychiatric and Psychological

Services for Adults, Children and Families

Robert L. Keith, Ph.D.
Director of Training
1.1’: 'z'I1.s'ezi _/“'.\‘_\‘{,'/l()l(7g[SI - Dm'tm'uIr'

l.ir'm1.wel Marriage and Fmm'l_\' Tlwrapisl
789 Pine Street
Burlington. Vermont 0540.1.

Tel. (802) 95l-2089
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516 . ..x“‘m’'°“’‘5w’”‘m%~. 8U//,-
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alto rn zyt

bIackwood.law@verizon.net ' fax; 302.353.0252

Concentrating in Employment, Special
Education and Civil Rights Law. Also Wills,
LGBT Issues, Estate Planning, Personal
Injury, other litigation and mediation.

Laurie S. Rosenzweig

Attorney at Law
18 South Main Street, PO". Box 1455,
Rutland, VT 05701
802-786-2251
e—mail: Sabu234@AOL.com

 

Real Estate, Wills &Trusts, General Practice

.Rebecca Sherlock M.S.W.,i L.I.C.S.W.

Diplomate in Clinical Social Work
Gender Specialist
Montpelier, Vermont
Phone: 802-229-2946,

Individual, couple, group and family psychotherapy.
Evaluations for hormone and surgical therapies and
referrals to medical services for gender variant individuals.

 

Lisa Grigg, 0.0.

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