Sorry, NO FLOWERS FOR JANEANE...here's why

Hey there,

I Just got wind of this idea, and a PM in my inbox, asking me to enable a delivery of flowers to Janeane Garofalo, or some such token of our appreciation here at DU regarding her rockin' week on CROSSFIRE.

Many of you know that I know her, I'm in touch with her. There was also this thread suggesting it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=211936#213177

Not sure how to proceed, tho...my response to this idea started out like this...

" If something comes together, it'd have to come together real soon. I"m here in LA, and right now it's 225am. If someone wanted to get together funds to buy her flowers, and have them sent to her, I can provide you with where she is staying.

I'm assuming, since tomorrow's her last show, that she'd be leaving wherever she is staying very soon, either before taping the show, or some time after. I know she lives in NYC, I am not willing to provide a home address.

I dont' have PayPal, nor do I have a decent bank balance at the moment (Captain Mike, in a sharp contrast to Janeane, is a stark portrait of the OTHER side of show biz)...

BUT, if someone here got the gumption to call FTD, have flowers delivered to her agency in NYC, include a card that said something like, "WELL DONE! from the gang at Democratic Underground," I know I'd be willing, poor as I am, to whip out my wallet and send the perpetrator of such, five measly bucks!""

Then, I thought about it for a bit....

That all being said, I'm starting to realize, I DON'T KNOW ANY OF YOU, PERSONALLY. I wanna believe the idea is a pure one, but let's face it, in Bush/Aschroft's America, any one of you proposing such an idea might be doing so for less than savory reasons. I'm sorry to have to type this, but here at DU, I've been warned by many to "watch it" when it comes to providing personal info. I dont' doubt that there are "spooks" or "freepers" here who would be more than willing to locate Janeane's whereabouts at any given point and do something to either upset her, sabotage her last day on CROSSFIRE, or worse.

Janeane's done some real damage this week to the Right Wing and the Bush Cabal. Huzzah! But let's look over our shoulders, now...

I almost provided someone here with my home address so they could send me some "evidence" regarding something I was investigating, until I was STOPPED by folks who'd been here longer, and knew better.

I've already gone into it months ago, in some long ago post, but ever since I met Janeane while we both were performing at the Aspen Comedy Festival, and then I excitedly brayed about such and posted my pix with her here, that's when I started getting fucked with.

I have a daily political email blog, "The Captain's List," which I send out daily, if not even more often. It's up to 80 members now. Once I'd made it known that I was friends with Janeane, had provided her with some 9-11 stuff, Bush stuff, Scarborough stuff that even SHE didn't know about, and indeed, I publicly brayed here and on my email blog about my setting up an interview with her at BUZZFLASH, and then I introduced her to Symbolman at TAKE BACK THE MEDIA where she joined their Advisory Board...that's when I became more "known" on the internet political beat, and in all likelihood, became an Ashcroftian "person of interest." Then bad shit started for me.

First my email got hacked, my email was getting intercepted, taking hours to reach me after hitting SEND; members of the Captain's List, to this day, still aren't getting my bulletins sometimes, and just today my mom, who's on my List, commented on an email sent to me that I NEVER got. Also, my Earthlink was fucked with, and they cancelled my account, insisting that I called them to cancel it, then couldnt' find the order, but I lost email for a few days, and my DSL was unhooked for TWO MONTHS!

My Mac started going haywire, and I had to trash my corrupted files, which, I kid you not, mostly resided in a folder on my hard drive that I'd labelled POLITICAL. One particular corrupted file was labelled WELLSTONE MURDER. Coincidence? Then my phone got tapped. I kid you not. It was pretty obvious, too. All the usual symptoms you hear about. Odd clickings, sound drop-outs, literally the sound of someone picking up another phone in another part of my shared house, when my phone line was a private one, sometimes even hearing what sounded like background office noise under the dial tone before I'd even dial. I mean, it was friggin lame!

Okay, here's the tinfoil part, so you can believe it's related or not. I don't know. I'm a bit active in LA nightlife, out here. There's regular bars and clubs I like to go to, and I usually hit diners in the wee hours after, and strike up lunch counter conversations. Again, maybe coincidence, but I found people coming up to me more than the usual, "hey, wassup," and engaging me in conversation, and either bringing up 9-11, Bush, etc., or whatever, and asking me what I thought about it and what I believed. I don't know about you guys, but I find it usually hard to engage anyone out here in a conversation about that stuff, and initially, I was thrilled that so many people seemed to be so curious. Then I got dosed.

One night, at one of my hangouts, I got slipped the date rape drug in my drink, and I still dont' remember all the details. Luckily, I woke up in my own bed, but it was like a curtain came down on me after being at the bar for only half an hour. Luckily, there were folks there that were watching my back, and noticed me stumbling around, not "acting like" me. I'm told they found me out in the middle of the intersection near the bar, trying to hail a non-existant cab, and that a guy I know (a Republican I often parried with) carried me to this lady's car who i didn't even know, but she sorta had seen me around the club, and drove me home. I remember none of this. I was just fried for about 3 days, and took a week to feel right again. I certainly couldn't send out The Captain's List for a few days.

Okay, now, we know the date rape drug, whatever it is, is sorta popular these days, with kids taking it voluntarily, and sociopathic loser guys like that Max Factor heir using it to take advantage of women. But I"m a guy. And I wasn't in a gay bar, okay, so it's not like some guy was trying to trick me into bed. Maybe it was just someone being a jerk, someone wanting to fuck with anybody. But again, this happened on the heels of all this other stuff happening, starting with my email problems.

The main reason even I MYSELF dont' wanna believe I'm being targeted is that I think I'm such small fish to go after. Maybe my suddenly knowing Janeane and helping her "spread the good word" suddenly made me more of a threat, because I was gaining in my potential "influence." Even a positive incident sorta jolted me as to my new-found "name recognition." I mean, if I was being fucked with, I think THOSE GUYS are the ones who are paranoid, ya know?

I was at the screening of the 9-11 documentary, AFTERMATH in San Francisco, and was asked to address the pre-screening reception crowd, which included the guest of honor, Mike Ruppert, Peter Dale Scott, Kyle Hence, Barry Zwicker. I got up there and rambled into the mike for about 5-10 minutes, got lotsa laughs, and I guess I made an impression. But when I walked away, I was surprised at how many people "knew" me, "Oh, YOU'RE Captain Midnight! I read your stuff at DU," "I've had your stuff forwarded to me...etc." I was pleased but taken aback. Oh, and to brag a bit, Peter Dale Scott came up to me, touched my arm and said, "I really loved what you said."

So, many of you may think I'm being paranoid, but I went into this long and windy tale to let you know why I'm so cautious about providing a faceless stranger here with Janeane's exact whereabouts and when. These are the times we live in, and I"m gonna err on the side of being protective of Janeane. Not cuz "Hey, I saw her first!" and I wanna keep her to myself or inflate my importance by acting like some sorta "gatekeeper," doling out what little access I have to her when I bloody well feel like it.

I never used to be this cautious about anything. Hey, I'm an actor, an artist, and I'm not into being a cautious guy, nor have I ever thought people were out to get me, until The Bush Cabal assumed office and started their reign of terror, from the stolen election, to 9-11, to the Anthrax attacks, to Wellstone's plane, to journalists and whistleblowers with the goods on Georgie Boy "committing suicide," to "watch what you say," to the things that have happened to ME...they might still be the work of some ordinary Joe "patriot" who wants to fuck me up, and not necessarily that of, uh...government goons.

But again, with all-of-the-above happening in this country ever since a certain spoiled brat took office, I don't find it curious at all why the Democrats have become so spineless.

So far, the shit that's happened to me has only sharpened my resolve. I can take it. But I think I'd die if I mistakenly enabled some creep to fuck with Janeane. If something really bad happened to me, now or in the future, that wouldn't be of significance to the "movement" at large, much less register on anyone's radar screen.

But if something bad happend to Janeane, I think it'd be monstrously bad for the progressive movement and incredibly disheartening, and take the wind out of our collective sails. Aside from being a horrible fucking tragedy!

Melodramatic of me to consider this? I mean, who thought they'd whack Wellstone? SO as long as Bush is President, Ashcroft is out there flogging his new Liberty Act, and all other such attacks on our Democracy from within continue to remain "unsolved," I will remain a little extra-protective of my very small influence with Janeane.

In my own little pathetic and insignificant way, much like Albert Brooks with his newly-added shoulder pads in BROADCAST NEWS, "I'm just gonna stand here, guarding this corner." If ever called upon, I will be Janeane's royal food taster, her virtual Rosie Grier, walking through doors before she does.

Yeah, do I sound like a melodramatic dolt and romantic idiot for dramatizing a single request to send Janeane flowers? Yeah, I do. Maybe it's the fact that it's 4am right now, and I'm still awake, listening to Bill Evans, nursing some very cheap wine...But c'mon, she certainly inspires such feelings in just about all of us.

Doesn't she?

Captain Mike

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:shrug: he did say he's drinking some cheap wine. i agree with others...you can't be too careful or too paranoid these days.

the way phones are tapped, at least on a professional level, i don't think it's possible for the tap-ee to hear background office noises. i mean it's not as if someone is sitting there listening on a phone with his hand over the microphone part.

Captain Midnight, trust your gut. And only take drinks from a bartender you know.

I think Will Pitt and you might wanna have an off-line chat about what kind of shit the pugs can throw at their "enemies."

Keep the faith. And watch your fuckin' back!

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I know you are, but what am I? LOL! Lame city bingo!

Could someone explain the "tin foil" reference to their poor ol' TioDiego? I would appreciate it.

before - have files to verify that - and cam spot our friends at work.

Nothing to fear - but then I would not put down someone for noticing that there are "new faces" around them!

But I agree, having gone through this for clearance long ago - and then off and on over the years - that he is assuming that every new noise is the gov - and I am sure not every new noise really is the gov.

but some may be.

In anycase - I am out there with real address, name, whatever - and a gun carry permit - if he wants to use my name and email or whatever he can just PM me.

But he should give JG a hug from DU in any case!

:-)

But it's much easier to be drunkenly paranoid in Bushco's America than it used to be.

n/t :kick:

And allow me to say that it's so cool that you are acting as a conduit between this community and someone as visible, brilliant and articulate as Janeane. Occasionally, the board speculates whether or not anyone "famous" is lurking or participating - now we know that at least someone is, and that Janeane is, at least vicariously.

I've been a fan of her commentary (oh yeah and acting and comedy) for a long time, and she gives voice to a lot of us that are not nearly so glib or organized-of-thought.

Thanks for that, and keep up both the excellent work, and your defenses.

PS: I'm sure you've thought of this by know, but in the future, I'd put those "sensitive" files in folders with mundane names like "Utility Bills" or "file_000"). That may not prevent theft or corruption of the files, but at least it's not a neon sign... :shrug:

I don't know many people here. I tend to fly under the radar most of the time. But I know you are correct, as I have had bad things happen when I stood up,and got fucked for it.So Cal is a dangerous place, I am in Coachella Valley now, and I sure miss the Nor Cal life.It is 4an i woke up in pain cause i almost cut my finger off in the garden today

until you figure out where things stand. I would never give my address/phone details on this board, and you're certainly correct to speculate as to who might be lurking.

I know a lot of people will ridicule you for your decision, but it is not your life we are talking about. You take your risks, but you MUST NOT endanger someone else even if you risk facing such ridicule.

Hell, I would say this whether you were talking about Janeane Garofalo, or John Smith down the road. Even if there is no government conspiracy types (which there probably are - as you can attest to) who wish to harm Miss Garofalo, there could be any number of right wing nuts, or just plain old stalkers who would love to get their hands on her whereabouts at any particular time.

Having people send flowers to her agent is more than enough, and I am sure she will hear about it. No need to endanger her just so we can feel good about having flowers sent to her.

Don't get suckered into making any stupid mistakes.

works for a major network. No, really, I do ;-) Really :-)

From what Janeane has said so far on XFire I would not be surprised in the least if she were a DUer.

Draft Garofalo? :loveya:

and she's still with us.

to Tim Robbins, not sure what ever came of that.

watch 'All The Presidents Men" again.. then they felt they were Fucking the 'Rats', only today i see the term as the the 'Rats' fucking with us. I have had my phone illegally tapped, you could hear they talking .. we could not dial a number, we tried about 6 times.. then i heard them say, "they keep dialing the same number over and over. so i said,"hello bug, this is the suspect can you give me an open line?".. my roommate was dating the phone companies directors daughter. When i saw the movie, "It's a Beautiful Life" all i could see is, "It's a Beautiful Goverent"... i saw that the NEOCON's were mentally ill and had such a real delusions that they were able to communicate this schizophrenic obsession to others who also became obsessed probably because of wanting to stay in association with the power and money. when i discovered the Machiavellian theory association i knew they were nets, a Ledeen in association with the PNAC. We got a government in tinfoil lined suits. thanks you for the article.

or not. Doesn't matter. You are absolutely right about watching out for Janeane's privacy and your own.

If anyone really wants to send "flowers", why not instead. . .send a donation to Moveon, and let Captain Midnight know how much (via the board) and he can tote it up and tell Janeane it's cuz of her.

eileeen from OH

Handling fan submissions is one of the things they're paid to do:

Janeane Garafolo
C/O United Talent Agency
9560 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 500
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA

knowing the enemy.

"Rat-fucking" is real. My oldest friend, a Toronto attorney involved in a case touching on 9/11, suddenly found himself bugged, threatened and followed, his car burgled of only his legal papers, and his colleague and client poisoned, and it sounds like the drug was similar to yours.

So be careful, and don't let anyone make you feel silly for taking caution. There be monsters.

types of things happen to him last year. Even his family was threatened in the same, vague, bizarre ways.

Last year I had some odd, vague things, including the same thing with my telephones, and would literally SAY to my friends, "oh yeah, it's the government phonetaps again!" And say silly things, like "don't you know? I'm a conspiracy theorist and I oppose bush, so the feds are listening in!" And then LAUGH my ass off. All good fun, since I'm pretty hard to actually get to, and I ain't done nothing wrong but have an OPINION.

I do watch my back though. We have to. We're the ones karl rove fears the most.

that includes the line "Just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you!"

I tend to agree with that sentiment. When I hear funny noises on my phone line I usually say a warm "Hiya" to whoever may be listening.*shrug* It's all part of the giant mind-f*ck we live in these days.

comes to a screeching halt in November 2004. Bush gets his eviction notice.

:shrug:

Like I said, we've done other things for other people and I was just trying to help organize something, which if you look at my previous posting history, I have been prone to do throughout my two-plus years posting here. For example, when HawkerHurricane's ship was in the ME, I (along with a few others here) served as a liaison with the DU community. He trusted me with his identity -- and guess what, he's still alive and hasn't gotten f*cked with. And there have been other things as well.

I'm sorry for all that you have gone through, what parts of it are connected I don't know. However, I am in NO WAY some evil CIA plotter. If you look back at my PM to you, I did not ask for Janeane's whereabouts or for any information about your personal identity. Another poster simply suggested you could help since you know her. I really think it could have been done without revealing any personal information, nor was any ever requested.

I guess I feel a little on the defensive with comments like this:
"But I think I'd die if I mistakenly enabled some creep to fuck with Janeane."

You could -- and should have IMHO -- handled this much differently. You didn't even respond to my PM, choosing instead to post this thread. You could have PRIVATELY said that you didn't think this was a good idea or didn't feel comfortable participating and I would have just dropped the idea.

And, yes, I do feel that this is an attack on my personal reputation. You now have me publicly associated with some plan to get you and f*ck with your life. I thought about handling this privately with you, but since your implications against me are on the board, I'm going to defend myself here as well.

You shouldn't take it as a personal affront.

You know I trust you!!!:-)

And I'm sorry, it is hard not taking this thread as a personal affront. I was not trying to act like some weird stalker or invade anyone's privacy.

but rather the fact that on a board such as this, and with e-mails, things get intercepted.

It's pretty freaking easy for someone to read your e-mails. To see what you type, and to see what websites you visit, and to listen to your phone calls.

He should only give out such information in private, vocally, where no one else can over hear. That's the bottom line.

I feel he really appreciated the idea, and wanted to help, but realized it would be irresponsible if he did. I think it was a wise decision and I respect his decision to air his concerns here.

I NEVER ASKED FOR EITHER HIS OR JANEANE'S PERSONAL INFORMATION!!!

And, yes, this is really starting to bug me.

You didn't do anything wrong. A drunken rambling post at 4 AM should not be taken seriously. He's obviously just a little paranoid. Don't let his neurosis make you regret trying to do something nice.

I have a friend who's a stand up comic and is conservative. He does primarily political material. During the Clinton administration, he was sure his phone was being bugged, that he was on some super secret government list and that people were out to destroy him for his political beliefs. He used the Freedom of Information Act to get his FBI files. Imagine his chagrin when he was told he didn't have one. Inflated senses of self importance abound in the comedy world (as well as in show business in general).

Sometimes bad things happen to people in clumps and they assume that those coincidences aren't really coincidences, and look for reasons when reasons don't actually exist.

We'd love to have her as a guest on the show and everyone should know by now that Guy isn't a freeper or undercover goon. Neither am I.

He'll be doing a show for IEAmerica next week and filling in for Malloy so legitimacy ought not to be a problem.

I would say trustworthy Liberals (Me a tad more to the Left) would sum our show up!

What do you think?

PS~ Sorry about your troubles, be careful...So far I've been lucky <crosses fingers and contemplates bulletproof vest>

i'd like to meet ms. garofalo. she's hot and smart.

Great news about Guy and filling in on IEAmerica and for Malloy, btw!

A cooperative florist opened an "account" and the florist's phone number was posted here. Anyone who wished called the florist and contributed via credit card to that account. After a deadline, the monies were totaled and flowers sent.

Maintains anonymity, generated business for the florist and gets flowers to the desired party.

I haven't read the whole backstory, but good grief there are plenty of options to show Janeane our appreciation without showing up unnannounced on her backdoor step, or otherwise acting like a collective stalker.

- There's the agent. That's public domain info. They get paid to buffer the the star from unwanted attention as well as get said star work.

- There are the donations to organizations in her honor. This is equally good, not to mention convenient. We get to honor her, she gets the love and dosen't have to worry about what to do with leftovers.

- Send something to the Crossfire Set. This has the double effect of appreciating her and letting the Crossfire staff know someone worked out very well, that Janeane pulls in a whole audience segment, not just some individual viewers.

Again, all of these venues are very public. It protects her privacy and ours. Using them is appropriate, professional, and classy.

CaptainMidnight, sorry you are having a rough time of it lately. The date rape drug is RUFFIES. Nasty stuff that. Have you thought about striking up a friendship with a local detective?

not all women like roses or flowers period. she-bear would have my head if i gave her cut flowers. she says why would anyone want to force her to watch flowers die.

awhile back she and i kicked in for a tribute to someone by planting trees in their honor. i didn't run the thing but i'll see if i can find out how it worked.

ON EDIT
http://www.friendsoftrees.org/commemorative_trees/index.php

i'm not sure this is the outfit we used but it seems familiar.
it would require someone step up to collect money yada yada.

much more meaningful INHO, that cut flowers.

Sorry to hear about all this, Captain Midnight.

Here's one for you:

I'm pretty much a nobody, just a garden variety democrat who votes and plays the role of pain in the behind to my reps and senators and to election officials lately w/ the BBV stuff, but their was a thread in the Lounge lately that asked for everyone's birthday and I was afraid to put mine in there, out of sheer distrust of these T.I.A. thugs.

I never mention the town I actually live in now on here, although I've mentioned cities near here. I actually blanched when someone called out the name of their town earlier on this thread while saying in the same breath that they had been harassed by the feds before. One reason is I use someone else's computer to post on D.U. and I sure wouldn't want anyone's stuff to get damaged because of me.

About ten or fifteen years ago the feds took the mailing list of high times and started busting people based on the addresses there. My then boyfriend and I arrived at his house to find his Dad and neighbor frantically tearing down their growing rooms and getting rid of all their equipment and burying their weed. I don't even smoke anymore, haven't for over a decade, yet I don't put anything past these huns, or anyone when millions of dollars and unlimited power is at stake.

Just posting all this to say you ain't go nothin on me in the paranoia department. Hope the feds get bored and move on soon.

... and you could give her the link for it.

you're doing the right thing. It would be different if Janeane were a member here herself and some of us wanted to send her something to show support for her, but since she is not here on her own(assuming)I think it would be wrong to open her up to something that could possibly cause problems for her. While you might be a tiny bit paranoid, better to err on side of caution in this day and age. But realize too that DUers occasionally send flowers to some of our hero's as a sign of support and solidarity on certain issues.

"I don't think that's a good idea, but thank you anyway."

Since you are using your association with a famous person to get attention on the internet, maybe you should learn to be a bit more gracious about the attention you get.

Manners, dear.

if you want her to know how well she's done - send CNN an email. Write a letter to the paper.

Post on public forums.

If there Captain Midnight were to have a PayPal account and deliver a significant token of thanks to Janeane. Parting with $1 is no big deal for anyone.....

She's making a personal statement with her clothes and hair as being against all matters of vanity and style. Why would she want the stereotypical gesture aimed to flatter a woman? It might even be insulting.

This is somewhat of an overreaction to a genuinely nice idea.

only in my case, I don't think it's the gov cyber-stalking me, just freeper-types and AOL subscribers (if my email is any indication). Lately it's been someone subscribing me to religious or right wing email newsletters. Not too long ago I got a bunch of quote requests, trying to obtain personal information. I don't give that out unless they've paid a 50% deposit with a credit card and provided me with a listed telephone number, so that's not really a security issue. One wrote and acted all mysterious and asked me if there's an address so he could send me information that is too "sensitive" to send by email.

I don't think you're being paranoid at all. With the Patriot Act, I think that anyone active online should be aware that if they have not been "looked at" they certainly will be. In that light, whenever I am in conversation with another online political pal on the telephone, we always make sure that we say hello to the guys who might be listening, and offer our sympathy - it must not be easy, working for the maladministration and knowing that they have to answer to a chimp.

for the support, or at least the understanding.

I just read again what I wrote and, ooooh, it's uh...verbose.

Face it, the easy thing would be just to provide Janeane's information, and hope for the best, and if something bad were to happen, I could be like so many other Americans these days and be like, 'so what, it's not my problem!"

Of course, my INbox had quite a few nasty emails, calling me an egotist, an elitist, full of myself, etc.

Maybe they can't read. I thought I made it clear, in quite the flowery way, that I'm pretty insignificant here, and admit I sound a bit melodramatic. I thought I was doing something positive, and yet folks found the time to type something that was the equivalent of jumping down my throat. I noticed more than one email had an profile name that then no longer existed.

It amazes me that people take time out of their day to do something like that.

Captain Mike

If we every meet here in LA, I'll buy ya a drink .... without any extras!

As far as you conservative friend goes....


Yeah, Clinton was President, and everyone was after HIM, not the people criticizing him. Hell, anyone with an opinion slamming the President back then was allowed on talk shows.

Ashcroft was not AG. There wasn't a Patriot Act or phony War on Terror back then. You simply cannot compare the times we live in now to back then. I certainly wasn't paranoid back then, during peace and prosperity.

It amazes me, the hypocrisy. WE'RE paranoid? Oh, right, there's no such thing as conspiracies in this country. They only happened with Clinton was President! Vince Foster, Clinton 'murdering' people in Arkansas, Falwell going on 700 Club and hawking his tape, "The Clinton Chronicles"

Yeah, I'd point the finger and call your conservative friend paranoid for feeling that way back then. But now? ME?

I mean, does anybody get it yet? WE are not the paranoid ones. I mean, 'THEY STARTED IT FIRST," by bugging our phones even tho we're NOBODY. If you look at Bush, Nixon, it's always the Republican Administrations that encourage this witch-hunting and crack down on ordinary citizens.

You simply havent' thought it through.

You don't need someone's personal info to fuck with them, disrupt them, harm them. All they would need is to know what hotel Janeane was staying in, head over there, and hang out in the lobby waiting for her to leave for her CROSSFIRE appearance, okay?

Janeane is down to earth and modest. She doesn't have an entourage. She's by herself, meaning, it's not like she'd have bodyguards surrounding her like Stallone or J. Lo. OR like some rock group, leaving out the service elevator to get on her Silver Eagle tour bus. She's very approachable, which is how we struck up our acquaintance. Positive virtues, but in this day and age, it makes her vulnerable.

Oh, and in a side note, yeah, there's inflation all around when it comes to egos in showbiz and in comedy. I found it especially so in comedy. I mean I still dabble enough in comedy to be invited to the Aspen Comedy Fest, which is the "Sundance" of Comedy, but one reason why I haven't stayed with it is, yeah, comedians are really the worst when it comes to neuroses, ego, and nastiness.

It's bad enough, we actors and comics having no power and being on the lower rungs. But I found the worst abuse was not from "the man," the execs, the agents, the producers, the booking agents, but from other comics, and I thought it just poisonous to all of us.

I really don't know how they can stay with it.

Captain Mike

First of all, I have also met Ms Garafalo and know her former boyfriend, Mitch Rouse from Second City here in Chicago. Trust me, anyone who wanted to fuck with her, could do so with or without your help. Stalkers manage all the time. Hell, I even had my own once or twice. Celebrities, even lower tier ones are almost always accessable to the public, particularly if they live in NYC. Check out gawker.com sometime to see what I mean. They've reported on several Janeane encounters as well as many other public figures who live in NYC.

My friend is a very successful comedian. He has been involved in politcal "debates" (comic of course) with Louis Black and Will Durst and was extremely successful with those events. He's been working since the comedy boom of the eighties. But as soon as the politcal climate shifted to one he disagreed with, suddenly he was sure he was being persecuted by the dreaded liberals. It cost him work and it almost cost him his friends. He believed, as you believe that the opposition would do anything to silence him. Time proved him wrong. He just wasn't important enough. Small potatoes, if you will.

Whether you are being targeted, I know not. I was only responding to the way Prolesunited's suggestion was handled by you. I know her personally (I've actually, gasp, met her in person several times), and she doesn't deserve this response to her kindhearted suggestion. Responding to her PM would have been a much better way to avoid all this drama, if that was your intention.

If you read my original post carefully, the first few paragraphs contain my true intention, and initial reaction. Great idea! Let's do it!

Proles has somehow taken it as an attack on HER, so for all of you who have trashed me here for my posting as being full of my EGO, she has found a way to think my caution was somehow about HER>

I never said she asked for the personal info. Again, she, you, could have good intentions. But SHE wasn't saying, "trust me, call my private #, I WILL send her flowers." She was putting a very good idea out there, for ANYONE to take up on. She wasn't necessarily gonna be the one who did it. And my fear was info passed to her might be passed to someone else who's not as "paranoid' as I am, and god knows what they might do.

I hate the need to explain myself. I take all of your last post into my main point. Yeah, I believe you about anyone's access to Janeane.

Which is WHY I POSTED MY WHOLE MISHEGAS. I mean, I have much less impact, importance, sway, than Janeane, and LOOK at how much I'VE been fucked with. I would paste your first paragraph here, with the disclaimer: "Ordinarily, this should all be fine and friendly because..."

And then I'd finish with the points I was making, "However..."

Again, as modest as I try to be, meaning for a NOBODY like me, this is what I've had to endure, and that was my point. If we or Janeane end up being too cavalier about trusting people in this day and age, we're not gonna know until it's too late and something bad happens.

It's also the timing. I'm sure she just pissed off 'them' all the more this week. Running into her in the Village years ago, I dont' think she was the "threat" to them that she is now.

And again, I guess I'm such an EGOTIST and making this ABOUT ME (as many of you have suggested), that I neglected to mention in my original post a certain highlight of my own career, and that yes, I HAVE BEEN STALKED, I was the star of a TV show in New York about ten years ago, was nominated for a major television award, and have sampled lunatics, stalkers, and people who disagree with me violently and fucking with me, AS A CELEBRITY. Hate to say it, but I was considered such, for a while.

I could have mentioned that in my original post, like "Oohhhh, yes! I can soooo relate to Janeane, because, Ahhh yes, I've been famous, too!" Aside from my personal issues of absolutely hating my "cheap" and sudden fame at the time, and feeling as though I was throwing away my god-given talent on a silly TV show, I was probably the person impressed with myself, the least!

I DIDN'T mention what i called my artistic equivalent of "local weatherman fame" from years back because I thought that would be braying, it's in the past, and it would detract from my MAIN POINT, that I am "small potatoes," and I've been harassed so much. I do think I can distinguish between the two era's and point a finger, being a pot calling the kettle your friend, "paranoid." Was his phone tapped like mine? His emails disrupted, service cancelled? The date rape drug I'm not sure i can attribute to that pattern.

And was your friend contacted, like I was, by someone who's S.O. is a semi-bigwig at a three-lettered uh, intelligence service informing me, "I can't say anything more, but what you think they might be doing to you, they are. It's how they operate. Never underestimate what our government will do to keep its secrets"?


I didn't respond privately to your friend because, by the time I saw the Flowers Posting around 2AM, so many other people had chimed in, and Captain Mike had been "outed" as her friend, 'contact him, talk to him." So if the idea died on the vine after my private response, I could see myself getting flamed for being a Grinch and not following thru.

I thought I owed an explanation to everyone, and admittedly, I wanted to provoke a response. I'm glad and comforted to see that I'm not alone in what I've been through. It makes me less paranoid now to know that I'm not the only one so paranoid.

I hope this explains it.

I believe it's LEWIS, not Louis Black. Wow, would have loved to see that debate. I knew Lew a bit in NYC, and had the dubious honor of sitting next to him at the bar of his hangout, WestBank Cafe in NYC, when he went returned from the payphone after hearing from his agent that his series was not being picked up. Yikes!

Please, you and your friend, keep up with the noble sentiments and generous ideas. Good behaviour should be rewarded and encouraged, especially in Bush/Ashcroft's Amerika.

Captain Mike

problem solved! :)

i am a genious! genious! :*

:D

he wants to spend $600 on a date!

j/k

who'd gladly give you your six hundred dollars worth for a date.

Just ask them to wear a papier mache' JG mask, and you'll get everything you could hope for...

Captain Mike

I sent you a message just now. Be careful and take care. We're a little down I think but nowhere near out. That means we're a threat, which also means we're targets. Oh goody, eh?