tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post1837438073075634019..comments2024-03-25T13:42:25.771-05:00Comments on Advance Indianaâ„¢: Star Posts Online Story On Joe Miller's Death And Then Yanks ItGary R. Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15185079937305083438noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-57362910148961834622013-02-07T00:15:56.274-05:002013-02-07T00:15:56.274-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.bruce.davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10750003395394305852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-65922437780380299372012-03-12T18:30:06.845-05:002012-03-12T18:30:06.845-05:00Dear Mr. Petree:
Mr. Miller has left a "very...Dear Mr. Petree:<br /><br />Mr. Miller has left a "very complicated" legacy, in the words of many of his supporters. I've partly been exploring this in a series of blog entries called "Hoosier Hysterias" at my Ideas Without Ideology blog. <br /><br />Mr. Miller is dealt with from contemporaneous news accounts of his selling amyl nitrate, arrests for selling marijuana (1976) and underage sodomy (1977). While the circumstances around those arrests suggests that what we get in court documents may not completely reflect what in fact happened, especially during a very corrupt period in the Indianapolis justice system--this is what we have on the record. <br /><br />Mr. Miller lived a compartmentalized life in which folks in one area of his life often knew little about what went on in another. I am attempting to understand this period by reconstructing facts as best we can understand them, three decades later. So I would be interested in more information on what happened in 1980 with your uncle.<br /><br />Hoosier Hysterias series entry which focuses on Miller's arrests can be found here:<br /><br />http://ideaswithoutideology.blogspot.com/2012/02/hoosier-hysteria-7.htmlJohn Michael Vorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10663997668057498834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-14056935933203652252012-03-11T22:47:12.820-05:002012-03-11T22:47:12.820-05:00This seemingly great person was linked to my uncl...This seemingly great person was linked to my uncles death in 1980 who was 15 at the time. Joe Miller was known to hang out with young boys and sell his drugs to them.Tell me what was so great about a man who was linked to my uncles death, who was thought to hang with him and take him on drives to Brown County. <br /><br />To this day my uncles death is unsolved and I fear that the one person who had ties to him during the time of my uncles death and who was in bed with politicians and a marion county prosecutor <br /><br />( which with money and ties like it can help distort a police investigation, like my uncles which from what I read was all messed up ) <br />and had a wealth of money took secrets of my uncles death to his grave. He looked like a great person to many for his contributions but he had a dark past obviously that he probably Im sure covered up with this money he had.<br /><br />It was not known for sure if my uncle was gay but digging up the past has turned up new evidence linking my uncle to Joe and the gay community. I dont care if he was gay and it doesnt offend me, but my uncle was thought by many not to be.<br /><br />So dont think for a second that this is a slight to his gay ties, because my brother who I love dearly is also gay. Im just pointing out bad things,things about this guy who people thought was so great. He obviously had a shady past.I guess when you throw your money around like that people will look at you in a different light.Randy Petreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12972060256861651988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-17837921514163424642010-10-28T17:31:47.312-05:002010-10-28T17:31:47.312-05:00So sad. As Freddie Mercury put it so short and swe...So sad. As Freddie Mercury put it so short and sweet about our brothers dying in many different ways but basically for what their sexual orientation was. To the beat of Another One Bites the Dust...<br /><br />Duuent Duuent Duuent <br />Another one bites the dust<br />And another one gone<br />Another one gone<br />Another bites the dust<br />How do you think we're going to get along without your nitrate poppers?<br /><br />Duuent Duuent Duuent <br />Another one bites the dust<br />Joe Joe Joe<br />Another one bites the dust<br />You can eat me you can beat me you can treat me bad but don't you touch my poppers<br /><br />Duuent Duuent Duuent <br />Another one bites the dust<br />Joe Joe Joe<br />Thank you Joe<br />See you see you see you <br />On the other side<br />Another good man bites the dust<br />Bites the dust<br />Bites the dust<br />Bites the dust<br />Damn itUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17383575470094292308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-48820244492486112332010-09-08T08:00:27.102-05:002010-09-08T08:00:27.102-05:00Does any have any links to public information abou...Does any have any links to public information about CPSC action? Typically, they do not conduct 'raids' but rather product recalls. It's not quite the same thing as the FDA or the USDA inspecting and shutting down a sausage factory - and even those get some publicity.<br /><br />I would think that if the CPSC had determined that Rush and other PWD products were dangerous, they would have issued a press release to warn the public, just like they do with the baby cribs and other consumer products. I can't find anything like that, nor any other publicity from the feds, even though I've spent a couple hours Googling it. Generally they also like to publicize enforcement actions to demonstrate to taxpayers that they are doing their jobs and to serve as a warning to others who might be in the same business.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14159844721800078930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-61249355428484568832010-09-07T13:54:32.525-05:002010-09-07T13:54:32.525-05:00Thank you, Andrew37 for your fact-based informatio...Thank you, Andrew37 for your fact-based information and your kind and accurate account of our fellow dear friend, Joe Miller. <br /><br />For those of you who didn't know Joe personally and are making venomous attacks on his business ethics and character, I pity you. How dare you accuse a man who gave so much of himself to others of being cold-hearted, cheating, and ruthless. <br /><br />First of all, in addition to what Andrew37 posted, did you know that in the wake of all of the falsities that emerged decades ago that poppers caused AIDS, Joe spent millions of dollars of his personal money to do extensive research on the products he sold to ENSURE that there was no link between poppers and AIDS? If Joe would have found a link, he would have, without question, ceased his operations. Joe was a bleeding heart for human rights and health issues, and he would have never contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS or to the decline of human health.<br /><br />In his personal life, Joe was also a health NUT. He exercised rigorously every single day, watched everything he ate, and when we dined out together, skipped dessert 99% of the time. He also, for years, used his own products on a regular basis. Joe got regular physicals from his doctors, and always boasted to me that he was always ranked in the top 99% healthiest people in his age group. Do you think that a man obsessed with his own health and well-being would use a product he thought was going to harm his body or somehow make him more vulnerable to HIV? Obviously, the answer is "NO". So get off your 30 year-old soapbox and let's be reasonable. As a businessman, Joe Miller was ethical and conscientious about the products he sold. And yes, he was very successful. <br /><br />As a philanthropist, Joe was one of the most concerned and committed advocates for the health, welfare, and fair treatment of the gay community. Joe gave millions of dollars over the years to advance causes for the improvement of the gay community both locally and globally. In Indianapolis, Joe was a pioneer for the GLBT community, and every GLBT person in this city should look to him with gratitude for his commitment to us. <br /><br />Before you cast your stones full of venom, lies, and misinformation, I suggest you ask yourself what you've done for your community. Joe gave his life to helping others, and those of you who want to tarnish his legacy will soon be overlooked and outshone by those of us who really knew Joe and will ensure that he is remembered as the great man he was.Seth29https://www.blogger.com/profile/10564080082260832343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-25236090171736545942010-09-06T21:07:46.790-05:002010-09-06T21:07:46.790-05:00The man made his fortune selling inhalants that ar...The man made his fortune selling inhalants that are known carcinogens, mutagens, and damage the immune system. To gay men, in gay periodicals. For decades he helped kill gay men.<br /><br />He spread his money around and used it to conceal how dangerous his products were. He was a corrupter, a fraud, a liar. Pretending that this man gave a damn about the health of gays is farcical.<br /><br />To all his wonderful "close friends" posting how great he was, I have nothing but contempt and scorn for you toadies. Do the world a favor and imitate him.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-29267536818754939332010-09-04T14:27:46.432-05:002010-09-04T14:27:46.432-05:00Joe Miller was a dear personal friend. He called,...Joe Miller was a dear personal friend. He called, two weeks ago, to let me know that his company, Great Lakes Products, had been raided by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and that he loved me. He sounded emotionally distraught at the time. His suicide was obviously a response to the CPSC raid. <br /><br />I have read every single CREDIBLE journal article on alkyl nitrite compounds (i.e., open chain nitrite compounds, the type of poppers that are illegal). They are among the safest compounds known to man. Joe knew that and it is why he had no ethical qualms about engaging in that business. It is also why his company, Great Lakes Products, was LICENSED BY THE US GOVERNMENT TO MANUFACTURE AND EXPORT THESE PRODUCTS. The US Government knows that poppers are safe and that's why they allow them to be manufactured for export. <br /><br />The ban on poppers, as it exists in the US, was enacted as a knee jerk response during the early days of the AIDS epidemic when some misguided junk scientists thought there was a causal relationship between their use and HIV transmission. The same could have been said about water because all gay men at the time were consuming both substances liberally . The law that banned poppers went through Congress unnoticed as part of a big, unrelated omnibus bill and has never been revoked, despite the fact that there is no valid scientific evidence to support that poppers are in any way harmful.<br /><br />The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is indirectly responsible for Joe Miller's untimely death. They relentlessly pursued him like pit bulls throughout the decades and finally raided his factory, causing him great emotional distress. They are trying to keep this quiet and are the reason why the details of Joe's suicide were pulled from the papers. Big brother screwed up again and, as a result, one of our dearest and most philanthropic brothers is gone. <br /><br />The raid on Great Lakes Products was part of a giant, misguided, coordinated, nationwide effort by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to remove poppers from the marketplace. Every business in the US that sold poppers on the internet has been sent a cease and desist order by the CPSC. You won't see poppers on the web sites where they were staples before. You would think that the CPSC would have something better to do (like perhaps protecting our children from faulty toys, which is more aligned with their charter) than to spend millions of our tax dollars ridding the marketplace of substances that have been proven to be harmless. The irony is that the cyclic nitrite compounds that were manufactured to skirt the law, and are now legal, are actually harmful to humans because they remain in the body and are known carcinogens. You would think that the CPSC, operating with full awareness of these facts, would lobby to have straight line nirties made legal and cyclic nitrites made illegal. Does the CPSC care about the health of the US populace, which is ostensibly why they are here in the first place? No. Their sole concern is looking good, and they do so by intentionally and misguidedly focusing their efforts on an illegal product that they know to be safe. How sad is that? The same ego-driven and rewards-driven behavior that drove the CPSC to enforce the ban on known safe products is what led them to cover up Joe's suicide. I know better!!!Andrew37https://www.blogger.com/profile/06946435148964610761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-86250183125845337222010-09-03T15:49:34.044-05:002010-09-03T15:49:34.044-05:00From reading your post I assume you did not know J...From reading your post I assume you did not know Joe Miller personally. When people said that he was a champion for peoples health it was because he was deeply involved in HIV/AIDS education. I met Joe when I was involved with IYG, a gay youth group whose focus was to educate at-risk youth. He was very generous with not only his money but his time. I was fortunate to be his friend and whatever lead to his untimely death, he leaves behind a legacy of truly caring for people, no matter how he made his money.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08742150513936665425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-25133624878511128262010-08-29T20:18:10.175-05:002010-08-29T20:18:10.175-05:00Thanks for sharing, John.Thanks for sharing, John.Gary R. Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185079937305083438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-48205098578956089562010-08-29T19:14:56.811-05:002010-08-29T19:14:56.811-05:00I created an "info-graphic" about this f...I created an "info-graphic" about this four hours ago...which you might have seen at Ruth Holladay's blog? Since you commented on it?<br /><br />http://www.twitpic.com/2jfvtzJohn Michael Vorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10663997668057498834noreply@blogger.com