[SeeRushToldU_So]

This very interesting.I wonder if his handlers were holding this over his head for blackmail purposes? I wonder if this the cause of his 180 degree flip?

[gridlock]

I don't think that anybody could use this arrest to blackmail him. It's the public record, after all. But I think that they could use something much, much worse to blackmail him. That much, much worse thing probably is out there, since people who do such things are usually acting as part of a larger pattern.

If you assume that this person has acted out these desires before, it is reasonable to assume that he was successful at least part of the time. If anybody had Polaroids of one of those encounters, they could make this person say or do almost anything to avoid exposure.

Given that this person seems to have these proclivities, how hard would it be for a foriegn intelligence service to set the hook in his lip? Childs play, really. One could debate at great length whether or not having inappropriate desires for young children would effect a persons professional or analytic abilities, or are indicative of some sort of general psychological disease. But there is no question that it makes that person a tremendous security risk and an excellent candidate for blackmail.

[templar]

This very interesting.I wonder if his handlers were holding this over his head for blackmail purposes?

IMO, If he was involved in something like this, you can bet he was involved in other stuff as well. They probably got more on him than something this minor. Somethng I have always suspected might be true about a substantial number of our elected officials.

[Axenolith]

My thoughts exactly. I was thinking maybe he got caught over in "totalitarian paradise" with his hand in the proverbial pedophylic cookie jar and some enterprising Iraqi intelligence guys got pics...

[Boot Hill]

SeeRushToldU_So asks:   "I wonder if this the cause of his 180 degree flip?"

Nope, at least not from the incidents mention here. The timing is wrong, SR flipped between 12/98 and 6/99. The incidents in this thread occurred 4/01 and 6/01. See piasa's timeline here.

--Boot Hill

[Eva]

That was my first thought too, that he was being coerced. Now, I don't think so. I think that Ritter has had this problem a long time, maybe even drummed out of the marines for it (unofficially of course). I think that the exhibitionism is his main symptom but that the problem goes much deeper and his irrational rants on both sides of the Iraq issue have kept him in front of the camera and that's where he needs to be, so whatever it takes he will say. Simply put, the guy is nuts and I'm not the first Freeper to say that. Someone else mentioned it before we knew about the masturbation exhibition.

[ErnBatavia]

This very interesting.I wonder if his handlers were holding this over his head for blackmail purposes? I wonder if this the cause of his 180 degree flip?

Yes indeed; I'd guess you don't just all of a sudden start up with this behavior at age 39 or 40.