Don't call her MADAM any more

Phil Robinson · Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 691 Location: MA

Report: D.C. Madam Commits Suicide
By Paul Kiel - May 1, 2008, 1:23PM
From Fox News:

Police say DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has committed suicide in Florida.
Police were called to the home of Palfrey's mother on Thursday to investigate the suicide.

David Traver · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 01:19 pm Post subject:

Suicides and murders are always a disaster for everyone involved. I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for the poor mother who found her daughter that way and everybody else in the family. What a tragedy.

(I wrote the following after midnight and before dawn on October 11, 2007. It is posted here: http://traverlaw.stumbleupon.com )

I first encountered death as a child with a beloved parakeet discovered at the bottom of his cage. I buried him in a wooden jewelry chest under a cherry tree.

Then, a neighbor who had given me a toy top died. I cried alone in my bedroom when I heard my parents discussing the news downstairs. Before I was ten years I saw a man riding a bicycle fall over in a school yard. His pants were wet and he did not move. I learned later that he was the father of a classmate -- I had watched him die, not knowing what I was seeing and not knowing what to do.

I've known at least six suicides. Some were dear friends. Joe killed himself when I was 20, as had a college friend the Christmas before. Laurel died on railroad tracks and another hung himself. They all died violently, each death a disaster.

Peter was murdered when I was 26. Peter's wife Linda had died in a car crash the year before when she was thrown though the windshield after a tire blew out and the car tumbled. I was with my sister-in-law as she was dying from cancer four years ago. Mario, bigger than life, taught me the trick of selling anything to anyone. He died from Lou Gehrig's disease two years ago.

I watched my father die of coronary disease in a hospital when I was 28. Last year my mother died of old age in my home while I was giving her a last drink of water.

Last month I went to the funeral of a good friend who called me for help shortly before his unexpected death. There was no help that anyone could give, for there was no help that he would accept. Is an alcoholic a suicide or a victim? For him, for others, and for myself I have done what I can to fight death, to slow it down, and to hold it back. From this I have learned that death is patient and relentless.

I have also learned that every death leaves the Universe smaller and diminished beyond our capacity to see. The people of my parent's generation have completely gone and those of my generation are beginning to pass away. Funerals are more frequent. Each time the Universe is left smaller.

But I am blessed by my long life. These blessings include courage and perspective. Tonight, as I changed my daughter's diaper, I kissed her and she smiled at me through her large sleepy eyes. I felt that the Universe had expanded with her arrival. My beloved adopted daughters in their diapers have confirmed that God's Mercy exceeds God's Wrath.

However, until tonight I did not know the extent by which Mercy exceeds Wrath.

Now I see the difference is infinite.

Goodnight moon.

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1083 Location: Michigan

While I was working toward a MA in Guidance in Counseling I did volunteer work as a suicide prevention counselor - they put a phone in my place with a second line a PDR. It gained me a respect of the sorrows of others and was interesting. I would keep someone on the line and my wife (a RN BTW) would use the second line to call emergency personnel. I am sure there are such agencies still in existence. It was a needless death and I likewise fell the sorrow brought on by obvious depression and the hurt felt by the family. without coping skills and others for support life loses some of it's luster for some - not me BTW.

CrescentCity · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 65

Laws must be enforced so I am not going to fault the US Attorney in this case. But really, should someone who runs an escort service be subjected to the racketeering laws?

This lady should not have been facing 4-6 years in jail. The case certainly embarrased Senator Vitter (R-LA) and showed him to be something of a hypocrite. But was that really worth the cost in time, money and this woman's life?

I for one, am glad that the people of Washington DC are safe from this escort service. Hopefully, the FBI agents who worked on this case can be redirected to New Orleans to help with our murder rate. Escort services and whore houses are not really our crime priorities here.