Dudes of Cancer: Monsieur January

Two weeks ago I asked my readers to vote on whether they wanted my Girls of Cancer Calendar to be continued in one way or another. The people have spoken with a final vote of 12-0 for the Calendar.

Without further ado, I present the 2010 Dudes of Cancer Calendar.

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Marion Barry

Former four-time mayor of Washington D.C., Marion Barry has done some good as a politician. He joined the American civil rights movement, attempting to eliminate racial segregation of bus passengers. He co-founded a federally funded program to provide job training to unemployed black men. In D.C., he opened a chapter of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee where he coordinated peaceful street demonstrations as well as a boycott to protest bus fare increases. Marion Barry helped put the city's finances in order; offered legislation to produce property taxes; made the local income tax system more equitable; and cut senior citizens' taxes in half.

By many accounts, Marion helped a lot of people in D.C.

And now to the fun part. In 1990, Barry’s girlfriend helped the FBI and D.C. Police set up a sting operation to catch him possessing and using crack cocaine. The incident was shown on TV, where Barry muttered, “Bitch set me up.”

In 2006, he was sentenced to probation for failing to pay local and federal taxes. The mandatory drug testing for the hearing showed that he tested positive for cocaine and weed. According to one prosecutor, Barry had not filed his taxes in eight of the last nine years.

There were some alleged traffic violations, and then the alleged stalking of his ex-girlfriend. Marion was arrested and charged with “misdemeanor stalking.” As is often the case with Monsieur January, the charges were later dropped.

Despite his past “alleged” criminal behavior, developing cancer should never be a punishment, and fortunately Marion was successfully treated for prostate cancer at Johns Hopkins in 1995. The cancer was detected early during his annual physical exam. Heed Mayor Barry's wisdom, men.

Crack cocaine possession is unfairly punished, everybody stalks on occasion (well, at least Facebook-stalks), and with only a 1% chance of being audited for tax fraud, everybody seems to cheat on taxes, as well. Keep on keeping on, Mr. Barry.