Last updated on 2013.02.14
South Dakota smut peddler David Eliason made a deal in May with the Meade County States Attorney Kevin Krull. Eliason said he'd move his Sturgis masturbation-aids store by July 15. In return, Meade County agreed not to prosecute Eliason for five counts of failure to comply with local ordinances on adult-oriented businesses.
It's July 23. Eliason hasn't moved. Meade County hasn't arrested him or shut down his store. Evidently justice and keeping one's word takes a back seat to Sturgis Rally profits.
But Eliason isn't just flipping Meade County the bird (Eliason can sell you a video on that theme). He's turning into Joe McCarthy, keeping Sturgis safe from communists:
"Business is good," he says. "And we have a right to stand up for what we believe in. If people start caving in on what they believe in, we might as well switch to a communist form of government where people can tell us what to believe and we'll just follow, like sheep" ["Owner of Sturgis Adult Store Says He Plans to Stay Put," KBHB Radio, 2012.07.17].
(Sheep: yes, Eliason can probably hook you up with a video on that theme, too.)
Eliason is no principled defender of liberty against the Red Menace. Like so many children and libertarians, Eliason is just selfish. He wants to do whatever, wherever, whenever, without any consideration for others. And he'll dress up his selfishness in whatever words suit him at the moment.
And since Meade County hasn't busted Eliason for welching yet, I can't say much for the county's passionate defense of liberty in community, either.
Cory Heidleberger is no principled defender of liberty, but rather a defender of behavior that does not annoy him.
Cory, have you been fair and gone in the store? The Sioux Falls location looked pretty tame from the outside.
John, you will not catch me setting foot in a masturbation-aids store, not unless we arrange and announce the visit as a press tour.
Bob, your claim about me could be true yet still not refute what I have said about Mr. Eliason's absurd and self-aggrandizing rhetoric.
[Fred, you're on a short leash. Check your e-mail and get back to me before you say anything else here.]
I'd say that the Meade County prosecutor and CAH more closely resemble Joe McCarthy than does Eliason.
'eh, 'eh, 'eh; just getting a kick from how most of the comments here fly in the face of the vaunted "French" tolerance. Ben Franklin would blush. His antagonist in negotiations with the French, John Adams, the author of the Anti-Sedition Act, would cheer. Pretty "creative" to pry the spirit of Pigalle from what is Parisian or French. Oh, we live in interesting times here in Puritan Amerika. Sturgis and Meade County chose to be a cesspool. Far be it our business to deny them their privilege to wallow in it.
John, I tire of the conservative effort to make mirth with the word tolerance, as if liberals are not allowed to speak out against unhealthy behavior or thuggish hypocrisy. My liberalism does not require me to "tolerate" everything and everyone. Let's be clear: David Eliason does not give a rip about anything other than himself and his profit. I have every right to seek as much distance as possible between his childish filth and my family.
The main point here is that he made a deal with the prosecutor and now is welching on it. The offensive nature of his business does not change the offensive nature of his lie to the public.
Bob, among the many differences between McCarthy and myself is that I do not lie to advance my political career. Eliason has a documentable record of flouting community standards and rules.
David Eliason is a real piece of work. But I don't get my panties in a bunch over his stores. (He's probably got a video on that).
420 warning eastbound I-90 South Dakota!
Aggressive interdiction using dogs as weapons: if traverse of this oppressive police state is unavoidable have a white person drive, rent vehicles without West Coast license plates, check your vehicle for faulty equipment, obey traffic laws.
Copy, then paste this warning to your favorite online forum.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/two-sentenced-for-carrying-medicinal-pot/article_022890ad-4532-50a7-8b6d-b154316e0e55.html
We have no more "right" being a non-resident to dictate Sturgis or Meade County's choice to occupy the cesspool than to insist on closing Nevada's Mustang Ranch, or the Taliban's use of sariah law, or that other great vestige of intolerant liberalism - to tell the Indians how to worship, dress, speak, and what boarding schools to attend. What Sturgis and Meade County decide is their business; just like it's Spearfish's business to host the 2012 Hells Angels MC (considered an organized crime syndicate by the DOJ) gathering this week. The 1%ers are everywhere and they and their "corporations" are doing us in.
CAH says: "among the many differences between McCarthy and myself is that I do not lie to advance my political career. Eliason has a documentable record of flouting community standards and rules."
Arbitrary rules that reflect the majority prejudice of the moment, not grounded in evidence of disruption of public order. Pretty much like what McCarthy was doing.
My sister tells me adult stores are common in suburban strip malls of southern California and don't carry the same stigma as they do in the Midwest. It's at least worth considering our basis for judgment.
John, as I understand it, Spearfish had no choice in hosting the Hell's Angels this week; the group just picked Spearfish.
Interesting, John, that California countenances the sale of porn more casually than South Dakota. I suppose it's like gambling: some see simple fun; others see social harm.
But the bigger point here is that Eliason reaffirms what R points out, that he's a "piece of work." Right or wrong, communities have rules, and Eliason regularly flouts them for purely selfish reasons. If he were selling bicycles or computers or French novels, my disgust would not be tempered much if at all.