[Magdalen] Now Keillor.

[Grace Cangialosi]

Yes, it’s a matter of consent, or lack thereof...
An affair assumes consent. An assault does not.

> On Nov 30, 2017, at 2:08 PM, ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> You do not seem to understand the difference between an affair and an
> assault.
> -M
> 
> 
> On Thursday, November 30, 2017, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> It is interesting that in the case of men in positions of some power, the
>> exploitation of women "just because" was a sort of hobby. Bill Clinton said
>> the reason for Monica Lewinsky was "because I could."
>> 
>> It was a given up until just a short time ago (and still is a given in a
>> lot of arenas, I suppose) that men can routinely do stuff to act out the
>> fact that they are totally in control over any female under them, and can
>> do whatever they want with them. The females are still seen as objects. But
>> of course, objects that also happen to be sentient have to be kept in line,
>> and those actions served to keep most of the flock in line.
>> 
>> I am reminded of the case of FDR. He had some kind of relationship with a
>> secretary, and Eleanor got him to swear never to see her again, and at the
>> same time, it seems to have ended their marriage in all senses but name
>> only.  FDR had ongoing relationships with several women throughout his
>> life. I understand that he was simultaneously making arrangements with two
>> (2!) women that after he left office he would quietly separate from Eleanor
>> and they would live together ever after.
>> 
>> One of these was Miss "Daisy" Margaret Suckley, who became a friend before
>> FDR was president. She was also from aristocratic stock, and gifted the
>> famous dog Fala to the President. She and three other women were with FDR
>> in Warm Springs when he suffered his fatal stroke. She lived at the family
>> estate, "Wilderstein," in Rhinebeck, just north of Hyde Park, and she died
>> there at the age of 99. My wife is a librarian and archivist, and is
>> friends with one of the archivists at Wilderstein, who was straightening
>> things out after Miss Daisy had passed away, and they noticed a box under
>> Miss Daisy's bed. It turned out that in that box were a treasure trove of
>> letters. There were a lot of letters from FDR in which these matters were
>> spelled out.  The letters were sold, and an editor published selections
>> from them as the book, _Closest Companion_, which pretty much demonstrates
>> that these things were going on.
>> 
>> Stories of affairs are all over the place, and it seems that the country
>> has decided the simple way of dealing with this double standard in our
>> leaders is to let sleeping dogs lie. The trouble with that is that people
>> grow up assuming that Washington, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Roosevelt were
>> our fine leaders, and there is little said about their affairs. Thus it
>> seems that today when someone has a zipper problem, the attitude is that
>> it's something new, which is just not true. It used to be that a gentleman
>> had his wife and his mistress, or perhaps several sometime mistresses.
>> 
>> I don't know what ought to be done about this, except that probably one
>> thing would be to face the fact that these affairs were at one time the
>> rule rather than the exception, and we need to work out a way of being
>> realistic with our past history without throwing it all in the trashbin.
>> For instance, George Washington was a very happily married man who also had
>> affairs and who also had slaves, and who also set the pattern for so very
>> much that is good and just and honorable about the office of the President.
>> He wasn't blameless, and we should recognize his virtues and his faults
>> equally, not trying to stereotype him into some myth.
>> 
>> Surely the same can be said for Eisenhower, Kennedy and Clinton.
>> 
>> "You mean to say that those horrible things are somehow okay because a
>> president did them?" I think we should cut it out with saying whether
>> something is "okay" with us, since we don't get to judge anyway, don't even
>> begin to have the full story, and saying something is okay is really
>> pointless, since this is all history now. We can look dispassionately at
>> it, fully recognizing the good the person did, absent all those "Yes,
>> but--"s, and also looking at the harm they did without flinching too.  We
>> have a unique opportunity in Monica Lewinsky to examine the after effects
>> of this. Washington is so far removed it is next to impossible to get
>> anything beyond innuendo and rumor, but here we have the opportunity of
>> taking a real lesson from the woman involved. My understanding is that she
>> feels it has essentially ruined her life, which, without arguing up or
>> down, I think ought to get more than some pulp journalist's casual
>> sensational examination.
>> 
>> The Diocese of New York is making 2018 the year of lamentation, planning a
>> series of events designed to explore slavery and New York's contribution
>> (if that's the right word) to it. Such examination might be some steps
>> toward finally beginning to deal with the after effects of slavery,
>> enabling us to get on to the subject of reparations and healing. The
>> following article, written by the rector of my current parish is an
>> explanation of some of the ideas involved.
>> 
>> http://www.evergreeneditions.com/publication/?i=427324&
>> article_id=2844782&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5#{
>> "issue_id":427324,"view":"articleBrowser","article_id":"2844782"}
>> 
>> or, if that engulfs your browser:
>> https://tinyurl.com/ya3q4xza
>> 
>> Also:
>> https://ednyreparationsblog.wordpress.com/author/ednyreparations/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
>> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>> 
>> On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 12:48 PM, M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com
>> <javascript:;>>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20171129/
>>> a9fa334b-db15-4f70-9238-0a617872feb6
>>> 
>>> The world is upsidedown.  I'm sure that right now it needs to be that
>>> way.  But I'm frankly getting dizzy.
>>> 
>>> M J (Mike) Logsdon.
>>> 
>>> "Aaugh[.]" -- Charles Brown.
>>> "Avoid dull needles and use a soft cloth." -- E Kovacs.
>>> 
>>