Girlfriend of 'vampyre' gubernatorial candidate is fired

[DoYouEverWonder]

1/16/2006




The partner of the new gubernatorial candidate, Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey, says she's been unjustly fired from her job.

News traveled fast Friday when Sharkey announced he was a vampyre and he wants to be Minnesota's next governor. Just hours after the Friday news conference, Sharkey's girlfriend learned she was losing her job as a school bus driver.

On Saturday she tearfully read from the letter the Princeton School District gave her employer, Peterson Bus. The letter says, "It is our opinion that Ms. Carpenter does not serve as a role model, nor is suitable to provide transportation services for the Princeton School District, in light of recent media reports of her husband/friend to be a vampyre who is running for public office, and Ms. Carpenter informing other bus garage employees that she is a witch."

Carpenter, who says she's been driving bus for Peterson Bus for five years, says she is not a vampyre like Sharkey. She says she's a pagan and has only talked to two curious co-workers about it. She adds she never talked to students about it.

http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=116410


I guess in a state that elected Jessie Venture for Governor, Jonathan the Impaler might not be much of a stretch. Shame it cost his girlfriend her job. Maybe if he wins he can put her in charge of all the school buses?

[baldguy]

1. No union, I bet.

[WhiteTara]

50. who needs those stupid unions, anyway?

:sarcasm:
The gummit will take care of us, we just need to trust them.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

2. sounds like some religious discrimination to me.

did i miss something?

[nickinSTL]

3. yes, it does

#1, who her partner is should have NO bearing on her employment, and
#2, firing her for being a witch (if she does, in fact, mean that she's Wiccan) - IS religious discrimination

[SlavesandBulldozers]

5. exactly.

the "district" is way out of line for figuring "it" can just make qualitative assessments about people by who they are in a relationship with and what they find sacred. it's un-American.

[thinkingwoman]

28. It's religious discrimination even if she's NOT wiccan

Pagan is a religion too, and besides, atheism is not and still is afforded 1st amendment protection.

Princeton Schools are toast in court on this.

[nickinSTL]

32. The point I was making was...

unless her calling herself a witch is not a religious thing.

If she's just odd, and thinks being a 'witch' would be cool, without understanding witch in a religious context (for instance, as a Hollywood-esque sense) - then it wouldn't be religious discrimination.

I certainly am WELL aware that paganism is a religion, thank you. (or more correctly, a loose grouping of many religions)

[thinkingwoman]

34. ah, well, now that you have clarified

I understand what you are saying.

The article made it clear she was saying she was pagan.

[IndianaGreen]

6. I smell the stench of Christian jihadists

They refuse to recognize Wiccans as members of a legitimate religion, just as valid as their own stupid beliefs.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. you too?

I'm not a Wiccan, but I really feel for them for the shit they have to go through. I hope somebody gets sued bigtime for this, and a rich wiccan is the result.

[Generator]

4. What's with the vamprye spelling?

vampire...but on another subject..at least this dude is open about it..Dick "the impaler" Cheney must be nashing his fangs about now.

[tomreedtoon]

27. Did this guy play White Wolf Games's stupid-ass role playing game?

I've been a long-time gamer and have helped run many role playing conventions. And while the "Vampire: The Masquerade" audience was large...and we always tried to make room for them, defended them and not be critical of their entertainment choice...

...and while the "murders" associated with the game are media crap, because the individuals would have been psychos whether they played "Vampire" or were "Swift Boaters for Bush"...

...despite all that...

...as a group the Vampire players were more insecure, sexually and socially, than the girls who wear chainmail bikinis and the guys who dress as superheroes. Let's be honest, playing a vampire - which is the fictional equivalent of a rapist and serial killer - is the direct opposite of heroism. I would expect a Vampire drama queen to automatically be a Republican. (As the real-life Cheney, et cetera, are.)

I am really sorry for the Wiccan lady who lost her job because she was tarred with the same brush and splattered with the same feathers as this "Camarilla" guy. Wiccans are generally nice people with an honorable belief system, who too often get lumped in with the more offensive weirdos.

[thinkingwoman]

35. yo, fellow gamer geek

so you have a +2 in psychoanalysis?

Seriously, what a load of bunk to label an entire group sexually insecure based on, what, your opinion?

BTW, which gamer subset is the most sexually and socially secure? I want to know who to flirt more heavily with at GenCon this summer. ;-)


P.S. As a rape victim, and someone who has played Vampire (more than a decade ago before White Wolf destroyed the game), I find your description of vampires as the equivalents of rapists a tad melodramatic, but that's just my opinion of course.

[tomreedtoon]

42. Well, since I suffered a rape-like assault in my home...

...with the resultant PTSD, and since even before that, I was agonized by vampire stories and movies, and since the "Vampire: The Masquerade" players love to kill each other's characters off and play little S-and-M games of dominance and submission inside the game...I think the term "melodramatic" is exactly what they are about.

Not that all gaming isn't melodramatic, but somebody stalking around dressed in all black, muttering "I'm a bad mo-fo! I'm evil! Hold still so I can kill you, you pathetic groundlings!" pretty much turns it up to eleven. As well as worshipping what I consider wrong values. (Republican values.)

Mind you, I don't believe in censoring these people. Let them play their little power and rape fantasies, as long as they only stay fantasies. However, when the Camarilla (the national organzation of people who like to play Vampire in live-action gaming) imploded a few years ago, I couldn't help but dance with my arms raised high.

And if I'm ever in the presence of Anne Rice - who, despite her supposed conversion to lunatic Christianity, helped make these blood-sucking rapists popular "heroic" figures in fiction - it will take all my self-control to keep from pulling some WWE chair-throwing moves on her.

Finally, do you seriously hope to hook up at a gaming convention? People do role playing games because they can never, EVER have sex with another human being without the exchange of money and lots of guilt. I know, having been to far too many GEN CON's and Dragon*Cons and having helped organize Orlando area gaming for almost a decade. Gamers sleep six people in a one-person hotel room, but they all still sleep alone.

[thinkingwoman]

43. ok, you need to lighten up

I'm married. The flirting comment was sarcasm. I'll be going to GenCon with my husband and teenagers. We're all gamers and have been for a long long time. Our friends are gamers. Our friends' friends are gamers. They're all some of the nicest and most tolerant people I've ever met and, shockingly, many of them have had stable long term sexual relationships, gotten married, had children, etc., without the "exchange of money and lots of guilt." Your generalized descriptions of gamers are pathetic nonsense.

Secondly, unless you suffered that "rape-like assault" at the hands of people claiming to be vampires, your PTSD is playing some transference games. And your obsession with vampires to the point of wanting to hurt Ann Rice for popularizing them indicates you have serious issues. Get help.

In advance I'm going to clarify the above paragraph by adding that I, too, have suffered from PTSD in the past. It is with the best intentions that I urge you to get help immediately.

edited to correct subject verb agreement error made with too little caffeine. :eyes:

[tomreedtoon]

47. Sorry, but PTSD is incureable.

If you really read about PTSD, as I have, you'd know that PTSD is hard-wired into your brain structure once the damage occurs. You can never cure it, just like diabetes or a missing arm. You can only adapt to it.

So, I avoid the trigger mechanism (which for me is gratuitous sadism, including your beloved blood-suckers), and when I can't or am suprised by the trigger, I go into meditative mode, talking myself down until I can get away from it. That is all you can do, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fee-seeking liar.

And the thing is, what I have is a mild case. I know a non-degree therepist who works for the Veterans Administration, trying to help veterans of America's last few wars through their emotional problems. He's up to his eyeballs in troubled men and women, especially when our country does the next stupid thing; he has to work weekends and late nights during such events.

They're the ones who need the real help (what little the psychiatric profession can provide) and thanks to Bush and Company, they're not getting it.

[thinkingwoman]

48. I call Bullshit

Did you read my post? I had PTSD too. HAD. I'm no longer afraid whenever it snows just because I had to trudge through 2 feet of snow to meet my stalker in court several years ago. To me, if I don't have the involuntary fear and flashbacks and anxiety when faced with the trigger, then I am cured. I don't need to read anymore about PTSD. I HAD it. I don't anymore.

Whether yours is curable or not is up to you and the circumstances of your situation. There are people who cling to victimization and there are people who are undeniably changed for life by events they have witnessed. But life moves on, with or without them. Personal desire to get well does play a part in the process. I continue to urge you to get help from a trained and licensed therapist.

A couple of points about your response and then I'll leave you to wallow in your misery.

1. "your beloved blood-suckers" -- at no time in any of my posts to you have I said anything that warrants or supports such a characterization. Maybe if you spent more time improving your reading comprehension and less time psychoanalyzing the sexuality of thousands of people you don't know, you'd be better off.

2. Veterans -- have nothing to do with this tangent, and you know it. If you don't, reread the above paragraph about improving your reading comprehension.

I have been very patient with you but I cannot see any value in further conversation with someone so belligerent, melodramatic and blinded by their own biases, especially given that your first post was a tangent off of the main thread anyway.

Have a nice life and happy threadjacking.

[tomreedtoon]

49. Read it and weep. Or cower in a corner.

Quoted from the official site of the US Department of Veterans Affairs:

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/facts/general/fs_what_is_ptsd.html

How is PTSD treated?

PTSD is treated by a variety of forms of psychotherapy and drug therapy. There is no definitive treatment, and no cure, but some treatments appear to be quite promising, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, and exposure therapy.

You are wrong, pretentious-breath! Remember, you brought up the "rape" part of this first. My segue into PTSD was only natural, since you seemed to be playing a "victim card" in this thread. It might have been wrong to pit my suffering against yours, but I wasn't appealing for sympathy, just pointing out that other PERMANENT victims of PTSD can have strong feelings about the subject.

And since you seem to be championing the "Vampire" game and this Vampire candidate...watch out for wooden stakes, okay?

[thinkingwoman]

51. More bullshit

In the interest of truth, I have to swallow my bile and reply to you once more. But I swear this is it. You can post that the moon is made of green cheese next time and I won't respond. I promise.

I'm only posting now to refute obvious lies you are telling about me.

1. PTSD curability--there are experts who think it's not curable. You linked to one--good for you. There are experts who disagree. I don't care enough to link to them. It really doesn't matter as much to me as it does to you. It doesn't excuse your venom either.

2. Rape--you posted this lie: "Remember, you brought up the "rape" part of this first."

No, I didn't. Your reading comprehension is so bad you can't even figure out what you have written yourself. In your first threadjacker post (post 27 titled "Did this guy play White Wolf Games's stupid-ass role playing game?") you said:

"Let's be honest, playing a vampire - which is the fictional equivalent of a rapist and serial killer - is the direct opposite of heroism."

In my response to you (my first post in this thread, number 35 titled "yo, fellow gamer geek") I included this line:

"P.S. As a rape victim, and someone who has played Vampire (more than a decade ago before White Wolf destroyed the game), I find your description of vampires as the equivalents of rapists a tad melodramatic, but that's just my opinion of course."

Pardon me for speaking the truth, but doing so is not the same as playing the "victim card." I didn't ask for any special consideration or sympathy. I simply stated that I don't find bloodsucking equivalent to rape. Assault and battery maybe, but hardly rape. Rape is a narrowly defined concept regardless of how many times melodrama queens slap the label onto something unrelated for effect.

3. Pretentious--again, nothing in my posts to support that characterization (not that you let facts get in the way of your namecalling). Exasperated? A little. Amused? A lot. Both of those are clearly supported by the texts of my posts. And if you can smell my breath then you are sitting a little too close to your screen.

4. Cowering in a corner--I'm not the one afraid of, or frothing at the mouth about, boys and girls playing dress up with overcoats and sunglasses.

5. Pitting suffering--you said: "It might have been wrong to pit my suffering against yours, but I wasn't appealing for sympathy, just pointing out that other PERMANENT victims of PTSD can have strong feelings about the subject."

Sure you weren't. I'll take your word for it. Of course, if you could comprehend what you read you would know that I never accused you of that.

6. "And since you seem to be championing the "Vampire" game and this Vampire candidate...watch out for wooden stakes, okay?"

Wow, this one is almost too funny to respond to. I have, at no time, on this thread or any other, online or off, "championed" that idiot. I actually have not mentioned him in any post until this one. As for championing the vampire game, again, you have no factual basis for that accusation. I said I played it a decade ago. End of story. There are different games you know.

7. "watch out for wooden stakes" -- why? I'm not a vampire. In fact, I've got a little secret for you ... they're not real. You're afraid of a fantasy. An illusion. A FICTIONAL entity. You might as well be afraid of monsters under your bed.



The more I read your posts, the more convinced I become that you actually are not who you presented yourself to be in post 27, and that your claims that you don't want to censor people are questionable, at best.

I'm done toying with you now. If you post more lies about me I'm going to trust that people reading your crap have better comprehension skills than you.

I do hope you get some help. Good luck.

[boobooday]

7. She wasn't his type . . .

Blood type, that is . . .

Edit: sorry, I thought the vampyre fired her. heh heh

Did she work at the blood bank?

I can't stop.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

9. The Guy's A Repub Whacko!

So why exactly are you speaking up for his girlfriend? The guy is right wing, and a bit nuts.

And she's spoken to only 2 other employees about being a witch? Sounds like she's got a screw loose. That's what you get for trusting people.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Well at least he has a sense of humor, I suppose

'Impaler' sinks his teeth into governor's race
Self-styled "vampyre" Jonathon Sharkey is running for governor on a platform that includes impaling terrorists.

January 11, 2006

Looking for something really, really different in a political candidate this year?

Take a gander at Jonathon (The Impaler) Sharkey, who will launch his gubernatorial campaign in Princeton, Minn., on Friday the 13th as a "satanic dark priest" and the leader of the "Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party."

Since there's nothing but a $300 filing fee to stop anyone from running for statewide office, campaigns in Minnesota typically attract colorful and eccentric characters looking for attention. And of course, former Gov. Jesse Ventura broke the mold and got elected. But Minnesota may never have seen a more outside-the-box politician than the Impaler, also a former pro wrestler.

For starters, he describes himself as a "sanguinary vampyre ... just like you see in the movies and TV, I sink my fangs into the neck of my donor (at this time in my life, it is my wife, Julie), and drink their blood," he said in an e-mail.

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/178289.html

[PittPoliSci]

11. i don't think he's a repub wacko at all.

he seems to support quite an ambitious social welfare program.

only downside to him is the fact that he's an impaler.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Ah. you might want to read about his platform

before you decide to support him?


Quite some distance from the mainstream, however, is his pledge to execute -- by impalement in front of the State Capitol -- terrorists, rapists, drug dealers, child abusers, repeat drunken drivers and anybody who preys on the elderly.

"I'm going to be totally open and honest," he said. "Unlike other candidates, I'm not going to hide my evil side."

Sharkey's religious convictions also might be described as well removed from the middle of the road. Call it compassionate Satanism. "On a whole, those who worship Lucifer are no more evil than those who worship other gods," he says on his website.

Although he calls the "Christian God the Father" his "mortal enemy," Sharkey said he has nothing against Jesus Christ or his followers. But he thinks God the Father was a poor parent for allowing his son to be crucified.

[Der Blaue Engel]

18. The repub's psychosis notwithstanding, being a witch is not a crime

If sharing one's magical beliefs in the workplace were reasonable grounds for dismissal, there would be few Christians employed in America.

[ticapnews]

13. Let's look at a different version of this letter...

"It is our opinion that Ms. Carpenter does not serve as a role model, nor is suitable to provide transportation services for the Princeton School District, in light of recent media reports of her husband/friend to be a priest who is running for public office, and Ms. Carpenter informing other bus garage employees that she is a nun."

I get a feeling this letter would outrage an awful lot of people...

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

14. He Is Not A Priest & She Is Not A Nun

They're nutcases, and he's trying to attain public office. Don't we have enough nutcases in office already?

[ticapnews]

15. It's freedom of religion

Would they fire this person if she were a nun? A cleric? A medicine woman? Would they fire the wife of a priest? Why is it "ok" to fire a Wiccan and not fire a Christian? I'm not religious, and am very vocal against religious extremists of all stripes, but how is it legal or right? It's religious discrimination.

What's the next step? You attend the "wrong" church or aren't a "proper" Catholic/Christian/Jew so you can be fired for cause?

As far as the guy/bat running for office, how does that justify her losing her job? Yes, there are a lot of nutcases out there. If my girlfriend had the insane notion that a man was crucified and then mysteriously rose from the grave should I lose my job? Conversely, if I don't believe that that man came back to life, is that cause for me to lose my job?

My point is, once we start firing people for being one religion - even one that might not be "mainstream" - we are starting down a very dark road.

[MetaTrope]

16. Seems Minnesota is the northern counterweight to Florida

[electron_blue]

17. Nah, it's just the middle of a looong winter...

[PatGund]

19. Nutcase or not.......

If she got fired for being Pagan, then *that* is religious discrimination. No ifs, ands or buts.

Personally, as a Pagan myself, I cringe at flakeiods like this guy. But what he's doing has no bearing on her job at all, and she shouldn't have to pay the price for it.

[Ian David]

24. She wasn't fired for being a nut, but for being the "wrong" religion

We should come to her defense whether she's a Wiccan, Christian, Jew, Atheist, Satanist Budhist or even a Moonie.

[superconnected]

29. I agree totally.

And I'm surprised he doesn't change his name to Vlad the impaler. The satanic priest stuff is enough to simply fork over $300 and let my cat run.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Screw religion and Bible thumpers

They are as intoxicated in that nonsense as an addict is on crack.

[Lochloosa]

25. Well said. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

20. That's not just discrimination based on religion,

it's religious persecution.

[corporatemedia]

21. How refreshing! A politician who admits to being a bloodsucker! n/t

[Ian David]

22. Deffinitely discriminatory. I hope she sues their pants off. n/t

[BiggJawn]

26. "Role Model"?

When I was a kid, Ernie the Busdriver was a fat, beer-swilling redneck.

Not my idea of a "Role Model". Oh, I suppose he could have been, if that was my goal in life, to be a fat, beer swilling redneck instead of a fat, non-drinking Liberal....

[baldguy]

45. When I was a kid

There was a bus driver in town - while he was rather "over-large" (what's up with that?), he was a pillar of the community. Scout troop leader, deacon in the church, worked on the Teen Center, etc etc etc. I'm sure he would have would have met their stringent standards of belief.

A couple years ago he was arrested, charged & convicted for being a pedophile.

[BiggJawn]

46. Just goes to show...

The ones you LEAST expect...

[superconnected]

30. Nilla would like to announce his run for governer of Michigan.

He coughed up the $300 to run himself by selling his toy mice.

He feels he could do a better job than republicans, democrats and vampires.

He isn't afraid to say what's on his mind and he always stands up for what he believes.

He fully believes in food for everyone and shorter work hours. He wants to impose afternoon naps on the workers of michigan. He understands the benefits of them.

Of course he does refuse to wear clothes; and he has been known to bathe in public. But he is cleaner than any candidates running.

He has never been divorced and has never owed taxes. He has no embarassing past mistakes. He has never taken money from any lobbiest or corporation. He has never owned a gun and has never belonged to any pro-war movement. He has never impaled anything in his 1 year on earth.

Nilla stands for peace, justice, and afternoon naps.

Please elect Nilla Vanilla (his real name is Vanilla) for governer.

[Solon]

33. I think he's doing this for the attention, but up to a point...

From his horrendiously hideously designed website:
(snip)
The time has come for Vampyres,
Witches and Pagans to united in an
effort to protect our rights and freedoms
to practice what we believe.

This Country was founded on many
beliefs. One of those beliefs was
'Freedom of Religion.' Unfortunately, in
America today, the Christian Right-wing lead by
the Bush Administration and his followers, are
trying to take our rights away from us.

They have abandoned what our Founding Fathers
fought and died for. One of the issues that our
Founding Fathers fought for against the British,
was the right to practice their religious beliefs.

Earlier this year, Marion County Superior
(Indiana) Judge Cale Bradford ordered two
divorcing Wiccan parents not to teach their
children about Wicca. Though the Indiana Court
of Appeals overturned that ruling, the fact
remains that a judge who supported Bush made
that ruling.

The New 'Salem Witch Hunts' are very likely and
possible unless Vampyres, Witches, Pagans and
other-Kin in our Communities unite and take an
active along with aggressive role in American
Politics.
(snip)

http://www.jonathonforgovernor.us/the_vwp_party.html

Now, to be honest, I think most of his "campaign" is tounge in cheek, but, as demonstrated by what happened to his girlfriend, it seems he was proven right in one respect. However, given the attitudes displayed by a small minority(2) on this board, that attitude is not confined to just the right wing, sadly.

[superconnected]

37. Yes, my point is, at this point, my cat would be the best candidate

anyone can run, these people pick people like ventura. Since vampires are in the running, why not my cat. Nilla would just do a better job.

BTW, he'd have done a better job than Arnie too. And GW couldn't compete with him either.

And, the first lady is homlier than nilla and any choice he'd pick for a spouse.

Since the corporations are ripping us off from both sides, what's the difference. I'd rather be represented by my trustworthy cat.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

38. That's a really beautiful cat.

nt

[MindPilot]

44. I demand an investigation.

It's a little difficult to believe that a one-year-old cat has never impaled anything. In fact it's pretty common knowledge for anyone who wants to spend some time on Google that Vanilla--a name which is clearly a racist response to Mayor Nagin's comments--was actually the perpetrator back in June 2005 of the impaling of an innocent grasshopper.

Also Drudge has reported that according to an unnamed official at the county clerk's office, the $300 Vanilla "coughed up" was in fact a hairball.

[VegasWolf]

31. What's new? All Repukes are blood-suckers. nt

[dryan]

36. Sounds wacko....

to me but I think she's got a good case for religous discrimination.

[barb162]

39. self delete

[IA_Seth]

40. This guy is a loon...and a former Republican....

http://www.jonathonforgovernor.us/Jonathons_Political.html

This guy is one pint short of a transfusion.

[thinkingwoman]

41. One pint short of a transfusion!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks for reminding me why I should not drink tea while reading posts.