This story sounds like a gay modern day morality play…
Former hedge fund manager and CNBC commentator Seth Tobias died after allegedly drowning in the pool at his Jupiter, Florida home. His nude body was discovered by his wife, Filomena. Soon after his widow had the pool totally cleaned and resurfaced. They had been married or only a year or two at the time of his death.
Tobias’ wife has been accused of his murder, and now the New York Times (12/4/07)is revealing more. Evidently Seth Tobias led a secret gay life.
The Times is reporting that Tobias was known to frequent a gay bar called Cupids in West Palm Beach. That’s where, according to the Times, he met a go-go dancer named Tiger who “is blond and covered with tattoos that look like stripes.” He also appeared in a movie, “Dreams Cum True.”
His secret life was evidently filled with drugs and gay sex.
Now the big question is…did his wife found about his secret life and kill him or did he piss off the wrong gay guy or drug dealer?
Tobias’ brothers claim Mrs. Tobias drugged her husband and lured him into the pool. Bill Ash, a former assistant to Mr. Tobias, said he had told the police that Mrs. Tobias confessed to him that she had cajoled her husband into the water while he was on a cocaine binge with a promise of sex with a male go-go dancer known as Tiger.
On December 23 PageSix.com quoted Lexx Parker, 24, who claimed Tobias paid him for sex numerous times over an 18 month period. The porn star from Memphis, Tenn., said he met Tobias 3½ years ago at Micky’s, a gay bar in West Hollywood. “Seth knew I was a hustler and knew how much I charged…I did what I got paid to do…I was very well taken care of,” Parker said.
He told PageSix.com Tobias enjoyed watching gay porn while they had sex, particularly films starring Parker. “Seth was a really good guy, a great guy. I had a lot of fun.”
For the last several years I have wanted to go to Bethlehem for Christmas. I have it in my mind to make a pilgrimage to Israel sometime before I’m too old to travel.
I would like to walk with other pilgrims in the Holy Land; where Jesus, St. Paul, and my crusader ancestors walked; but mostly I want to go to see the situation of Catholics in Bethlehem for myself. I don’t believe any of the news media – they seem to me either too naive, biased or religiously strident.
I read a news item last week about Palestinian Christians who had their property confiscated by Jewish settlers. The settlers plan new housing on the site. They were partially financed by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a Chicago-based Christian Zionist group.
Christian Zionists are largely fundamentalist Christians whose commitment to the restoration of Greater Israel to the Jews is based on their belief this is necessary to facilitate the Second Coming of Christ.
Large numbers of Christian Zionists also believe the conversion of the Jews (and the death of the rest of them) is also part of the equation…but obviously they’ve papered-over that little stinking pile and their Jewish members find it convenient not to press the point.
Bush’s jihad for democracy has cost the lives and property of many Iraqi Christians. No one in our government has spoken up for them.
The property of Palestinian Catholics and the church has been confiscated in Israel, and the creation of the Security Wall-while necessary to stop suicide bombers-has often facilitated a land grab and cut off many Catholics from worship, family and work. Our government has not spoken up for their human rights.
“What are you going to do for the human rights of Christians in Israel and Iraq?” That is a question I plan to pose to my elected representatives, and on the websites of both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.
There are three exposes I’m waiting for…
– The death of Pope John Paul I
– Pope John Paul II and the global sex abuse scandals
– The Legionaries of Christ
The Legionaries of Christ are suing a former priest, John Paul Lennon, in Alexandria, VA Circuit Court to recover some documents it alleges have been stolen. These include private letters from the group’s founder, Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. The suit accuses Lennon of distributing stolen property and “malicious disinformation” by posting the materials on the web.
Some internal documents chronicle the conservative group’s strict rules of conduct, including directives on how a legionary, as the order’s members are known, must butter his bread, part his hair or sit in a chair. The documents also include the group’s “private vows,” which say that members must never criticize the order and must report anyone who does.
In the lawsuit, the Legion is also asking for the identities of individuals writing on the Regain site and on a Web discussion board exlegionaries.com that was once affiliated with it. Regain severed ties with the discussion board this year after pressure from the Legion, Lennon said.
In its January 23, 2005 edition the Wall Street Journal did a front page article on the Legion. It detailed the organization’s rise and clout-particularly in Mexico-and what an adroit and successful fund-raiser Father Maciel has been for the Legion and the church.
In 1997 eight men went public with complaints, made previously through informal church channels, that Fr. Maciel had sexually abused them when they were seminarians in the 1940s and 1950s. The Vatican department that investigates such charges-then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger-quickly tabled a formal complaint, filed with church authorities in 1998.
The investigation into Father Maciel seemed dead until 2004, when it emerged that Cardinal Ratzinger had revived the probe in the waning days of Pope John Paul II’s reign. In January 2005, soon after the probe began, Father Marcial resigned as head of the Legion, citing his advanced age. In April 2005 a top Vatican investigator went to New York and Mexico to interview Fr. Marcial’s accusers. The same month Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI.
Exposes #2 and #3 seems to have a number of links.
www.regainnetwork.org
www.exlegionaries.com
www.life-after-rc.com
www.rickross.com
www.legionariesofchrist.org
We found this Nativity scene last year at the Eastern Long Island Hospital Thrift Shop. It was missing a few animals, so we went over and bought a bag of farm yard animals from Goldsmith’s toy store. It’s mostly complete, but we’re still on the lookout for a camel, donkey, and ox. If I decide to create something beyond historic, I’ll probably add a few Eastern Long Island type animals – deer, squirrels, sea birds, a racoon. Why not?
The angel came from Brooklyn. The little monkey drummer boy was a Christmas gift from a our next-door neighbors, the Foltinys, when I was about 11 or 12. He bangs away in joyful anticipation of the happy day to come.
My warmest wishes for a happy and blessed Christmas.
Last Saturday a friend unexpectedly handed us a Christmas gift at Mass. We unwrapped it when we got home and popped it into the CD player. We turned off all the lights off except the Christmas tree and let the music fill the living room. And us.
“With One Voice” was produced by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scranton, PA. (Not far from our old place in Milford, PA!)
“Music has been an integral part of the life of the IHM Congregation. Our rich musical heritage has been experienced in our liturgical celebrations as well as our varied places of ministry. Music creates a sacred moment to encounter our God, the source of all we do and are as IHM Sisters. We offer this recording in loving tribute to all IHM Sisters who graced our world and of whom we sing, ‘We hold the treasures of those who’ve gone before us, prophets of vision and pilgrims of the dream.'”
www.sistersofihm.org
We have two Christmas trees this year: one in the front yard and our decorated tree in the living room. Much to my delight, the golden star has stayed atop the little Norway spruce. Between wind and kids I thought it would be gone.
One Christmas in Pennsylvania we decorated a nearby fir tree with strings of cranberries, popcorn and some other food for the birds and deer. I never forgot my little shining Christmas sentinel in the woods.
A few years ago we were too stressed and exhausted to decorate a big tree. We went to a farm in Cutchogue to get a small potted tree instead. Everything was pretty picked over, except for a small tree missing branches on the side (Lori called it my “Charlie Brown” tree.)
After Christmas we put the tree outdoors and in the spring we planted it. It has grown and filled out enough to wear a star.
I love both trees: the magic and peacefulness of our indoor tree; and the connection to nature and creation that comes with our outdoor tree.
We’re ready for Christmas.
The only thing that remains is to order the shrimp for Christmas Eve, select the cheese, prepare the feast. My mother’s old bundt pan arrived yesterday, and I’ll use it to make pineapple upside down cake. It was my father’s favorite–a nice remembrance for Christmas dinner.
Our Christmas present won’t be under the tree-it will be boarding a jetBlue flight to Phoenix two weeks from today. We’re heading off Arizona for a much-needed and deserved vacation. We’ll plan each day when we roll out of bed. Some days we won’t roll much past the patio-just lounge, read, and breathe in deep the desert air.
Arizona is a favorite spot – if I hadn’t ended up with Lyme disease we probably would have retired there. But the intense sunlight and heat would be too much for me, now.
We have a few places lined up for a visit – Kartchner cave, some favorite places to eat, and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. On the way from Tucson I’ll stop and hike out to the petroglyphs I used to visit on retreat. The ancient figures of bighorn sheep running towards distant peaks was a reminder of my spiritual journey-running hard towards something, faraway, unseen, but sensed.
I could also relate to the spirals scratched into the boulders-the endless circling back to relearn and revisit and encounter over and over again.
The retreats never settled the issue of the stronger call–yearning for stillness and yearning for distant peaks.
It seems we’re treated to one X-rated Christmas story every season.
Last year, the Daily News reported that a man in West Virginia had been caught (pants around his ankles) sodomizing one of the sheep in a “live” Nativity scene.
Yuck.
This year, we have a story about a Santa that was groped at a Danbury, CT mall. “Don’t touch my sack!” read the headline.
A 33-year-old woman was charged with sexual assault and breach of peace. The police quickly found and identified her because the woman was described as being on crutches.
Police did not give the name of the disconcerted Santa, but they said he is 65 and felt badly because children were waiting to see him. “He was apparently shocked and embarrassed by the whole incident,” a police officer said.
Double yuck.
I found this gem a few days ago.
“Life is tough. But Nuns are tougher. If you need helpful advice just Ask Sister Mary Martha. She’ll help you. Just don’t expect any sympathy.”
Enjoy!
Sister…if you read this….thank you and Merry Christmas!
http://asksistermarymartha.blogspot.com
Whenever I used to hear “Dominique” on the radio, I wondered what became of “the singing nun.” A drawing of her in last Sunday’s newspaper prompted some investigation via Google. “Soeur Sourire” had a sad ending.
This 30ish, Belgian, Dominican nun became an international star in 1964 with her #1 hit record “Dominique.” However, Sister Luc-Gabrielle-now billed as “Sister Smile”-felt uncomfortable with her new-found celebrity and quit performing in 1965.
Sister Luc-Gabrielle, who gave all residuals to her convent, soon left the religious life and fell in love with another woman (also an ex-nun). Twenty years later, they were found dead, apparently a double suicide caused by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol.
What’s the song about? It eulogizes St. Dominic, founder of the Dominicans. Sr. Luc-Gabrielle’s Mother Superior, a little cranky, said the song “treated St. Dominic ‘with familiarity and a touch of impertinence.'”
In 1965, two years after her hit single, she left the convent to pursue a new life as a singer and artist (her watercolor-paintings adorned her album covers and were displayed annually by the Dominican order).
Together with her friend and lover, Anne Pescher, Jeanne Deckers embarked on a celebrity trail which openly criticized the church, supported birth-control and ultimately led to her demise into obscurity.
In the 1980s Jeanne and Annie purchased and operated a school for special-needs children. But it was ultimately ruined by financial troubles (she supposedly owed over $47,000 in back taxes from her “singing nun” days)
Destitute and depressed Jeanne and Annie committed suicide together in 1985.
