(name deleted), your post is wrong on so many different levels, that it is hard to know where even to begin with it.

> sigh... it isn't make believe. it's a fact. i'm not believing what i'm
> reading... i witnessed the giving of a ticket for a sex act last year.

* Shrug * News flash. Cops tend to be idiots. They frequently do arrest and give tickets for acts that are perfectly legal. That is why we have courts, and lawyers, instead of rule by police fiat.

Guess what. Law enforcement gets overruled all of the time, sometimes, even when it shouldn't be. Oh, and what was alleged to be "make believe" were the roads, not the arrests. Try to read, before responding. You'll make less of an ass of yourself, that way.

> if the LEO's mandate that a dirt area is a street and you're facing it
> doing a lewd act, you'll get a ticket. no arguments or clever sohpistry
> will change that.

It's true, you're right, and that's all there is to it? Sorry, buddy, logic and common sense are not the same thing as "sophistry". "Sophistry", by definition, is the construction of an elaborate fallacy whose flaw is difficult to find. It is not the rebutting of a transparent fallacy, such as the one you put forth.

Law enforcement officials do not have the authority to decide what the law means. Only judges do. The fact that some nimrod with a badge has made a pronouncement does not guarantee that this pronouncement will stand up in court. The ludicrous nature of this one gives room for doubt.

> do i agree with the policy, no. will i adapt to it, yes.

Little for me to adapt to, as I'd just as soon not have an audience when I make love to somebody, but that is neither here nor there. Besides which, you're changing the subject. Mr. (ommitted) asked about public nudity. You're talking about public intercourse. If the two were the same thing, the birth rate in Southern France would be phenomenal.

> overall what does it matter? people think that burningman is somehow
> not subject to the same laws that govern the rest of the country however
> those people are mistaken. burningman and you are subject to the same
> laws that every municipality has from local/state and federal LEO's. (*)

This may be the most clueless comment about a legal matter in the history of the Republic. Think about what you just said. "The same laws that every municipality has ..." You clueless idiot! Every municipality makes its own laws. Every local court system, and every federal district, has its own set of legal precedents. There is no such thing as "the laws that every municipality has". In New York City, it is legal for a woman to ride topless on the subway. In Zion, Illinois, some years back, that very same woman could have been arrested for showing her bare ankle in public.

Besides which, IT'S NOT A CITY. How hard is it for you to get this through your thick skull? "Black Rock City" is a fiction, and not even a legal fiction. Real cities have charters. They are recognized by their states. And they don't disband at the end of a festival, because it would really, really annoy the state legislature to have to keep re-approving the application on a yearly basis. (LOL, shaking head).

But, guess what. If Black Rock City was, legally, a city, and if Nevada, like most states, has a little something called "home rule status", guess what the first thing you could do with those cops would be? Yes, you could tell them to leave. "Public decency" is defined in terms of LOCAL community standards, and the county does not have the authority to overrule the municipality on this. Do you think that the Cook County board is all that thrilled about the "gentleman's clubs" that one finds in Chicago, for example? But, that's too damn bad, because Chicago is a home rule unit. The same principle would apply here.

The applicable "community standards" would be those of the electorate of Black Rock City, ie. the burners. What it would take to go beyond those standards is something that I just don't even want to think about. It would have to be pretty frigging bizarre.

> people should behave as they would in any city, be discreet when you
> break the law especially since you know that in this place there are more
> cops per person than almost any other city you care to name.

(name ommitted), if that were true, and one really couldn't do anything at Black Rock City that one couldn't do back home, then what would be the point to even going? The whole point to the festival is that normal expectations DO get set aside, and that you CAN see and do things there, that you couldn't see and do back home.

I'm not going to agree to throw that little bit of freedom away, because of an ignorant man's panicky response to a cop overstepping his bounds. Neither will 24,000 other people at the festival, even if you do get a handful of your friends on this list to back you up on this silliness. Pardon me if I dredge up a cliche from the last century, but freedom isn't free. If we back off the moment even the slightest bit of hassle makes its appearance, we might as well all go home and lock the doors right now, because people like that cop will keep on pushing until they meet resistance. Appeasement just doesn't work.

(name ommitted), there's no nice way to say this, so I'll just say it. You're a coward. You're running scared because if you do something that 'you're not supposed to', you MIGHT get in trouble. Shit, man, if you think like that, why are you even going? Accidents happen. One of the fire spinners might hit you. You might get lost in the desert. Who knows? Who cares?

Life is risk, at at least some level, or it isn't lived at all, at least not in this world. And, if all that you're ever going to do, are things that you absolutely know won't ever get you in trouble, and you end up living in that box, then what exactly is it about that life that would make you so afraid of having it disrupted, or even of losing it? Because let me tell you, on those terms, it's not like you're going to be missing out on any experiences.

Now, that's a rant, and I'd give it again. People who take on the hardships of the desert, and then try to nudge us into acting like we were still home? That's just plain dumb. It's the worst of both worlds. And, my answer is "no".

Joe

PS. Warm weather is projected for the week of my stay. I understand that even nighttime temperatures have only been dipping down to 70. So, in response to Mr. (ommitted)'s concerns, I plan on being nude, pretty much the entire time I am there. If I get arrested, then I get arrested. That's life. But I kind of doubt that I will.

I'll write when I get back. The point here is, I'm claiming that there is nothing to this rumor but bullshit, and I am absolutely prepared to put "my money where my mouth is", as the cliche goes. A lot of people do, every year, without incident. So guys, why sweat it?