"THE" Newsweek article...

i finally read the article in Newsweek - Gay Marriage: Our Mutual Joy - published Dec 6, 2008. if you've missed it, i recommend that you click on the link to read it.

the article, if you are not familiar, uses the Bible, just as the anti-gay marriage people do, as a means of supporting same-sex marriage. it's interesting and i've been familiar with most references in the article. the main points are 1) that there is no direct reference to homosexuality in the either the New or the Old Testament and 2) the message of Jesus was inclusion of all people in the love and joys of his father.

the more interesting part of the article is the comments following it from readers. [Note: Newsweek has had to suspend people from making additional comments because the server couldn't handle it. interesting!]

the comments have the usual mix of arguments that have been going around for the last number of years. there are people who say that the Good Book cannot be wrong; there are others who say that the book was written for the specific times it makes rules for and a lot is lost in translation; some comments are very well thought out and written and others are, well, ridiculously blind.

i was especially struck by the latter. the people who have their blind faith with no question or thought are especially rancorous. it is almost as if they are threatened that their entire world will end if same-sex marriage becomes widely accepted. of course, the article and the comments also point out this similarity to slavery, but it makes no difference to them.

personally, after reading both the article and its comments, i more firmly believe something that i've thought for a long time:

if Jesus were alive today, there is one thing he would not want to be - a christian!

blasephemy? afraid not. i'm no longer a believer in the mythology. only in its inherent message of brotherly love and equality of all.

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

Henry II referring to Thomas Becket who was once his closest adviser and became his greatest enemy when he took the side of the church. [that would be the Roman Catholic church.]

We are faced again with meddlesome priests who want to destroy people's rights, control people's lives, and threaten them with eternal damnation if they don't support the things they want them to.

Today, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Fransisco has compared the people who supported Prop 8 in California to abolitionists and civil rights marchers [Queerty: SF Catholic Archbishop Compares Prop. 8 Supporters to Abolitionists & Civil Rights Marchers. So, now they are the victims. They have the sole responsibility of deciding who is worthy of equal rights. This man was the person who brought the Mormans into the fight in California though only 2% of Californians are Morman, along with $20 million. Oh, would it also surprise you that Niederauer was the R.C. bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah before going to S.F. Don't say collusion to me...

Two days ago, December 3, 2008, the Vatican and its man in red decided to enter the fray in another way: The Pope's Christmas Gift: A Tough Line on Church Doctrine Times.com.

s, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, has announced that the Vatican will oppose a proposed U.N. declaration calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals.

Why? Because some religious are against LGBT and no one should interfere with their beliefs. Huh? That's real christian of them.

Oh, wait. On the same day Benedict, aka God's Rottweiler, the Panzercardinal, as he has been called in the past, also sent this little message to the United Nations: Holy See refused to sign a UN document on the rights of the disabled because it did not condemn abortion.

Following the Vatican's controversial opposition this week to a UN declaration calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican envoy to the UN, has confirmed that the Holy See also refused to sign a UN document last May on the rights of the disabled because it did not condemn abortion or assert the rights of foetuses with birth defects....

...the Vatican supported the rights of the disabled, but could not accept a clause in the UN declaration affirming a right to "sexual health and reproduction" because "in some countries such rights include the right to abortion".

you read that correctly.

It's all right to discriminate against all kinds of people if they don't agree with your isms. It's all right to allow at-risk people to suffer and hurt because some people do not agree with your dogma.

real christian, don't you think?

just asking...


again, though i in no way advocate violence of any kind, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

rather than priest, i would replace it with the word religion. i think religion has outlived its usefulness and the likes of Benedict, Dobson, Falwell, Bush and all the others know and fear just that. they will lose their power. they will lose their influence, and, most important, they will lose their money.

life should be a musical...

Andy over at Towleroad put this up on his site today - NEIL PATRICK HARRIS AND JACK BLACK IN PROP 8: THE MUSICAL

i've always thought that the world could be a better place if it was a musical. just think about it.

feeling down? - break into song! really happy? - break into song! feel discriminated against? - break into song!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

of course, they may lock you up if you break into song. they may say you're a little bit off. oh, and they'd probably say you are blasphemous also...

personally? i'd rather have a good time.

seems like nothing going on...

the last couple of weeks it seems i've been doing more humor that anything else on the site.

post-election blahs? not really. i'm glad it's over.

too much Obama? no. it is to be expected. Tsar George has basically bowed out of everything, and people are looking forward to a change from the last eight years. i'm sure even the Busheviks are included in this. they probably are happy that the lead weight is going to be gone from around their necks.

holiday blues? not really. holidays have been great for me the last several years. i look forward to them and have a good time.

cabin fever? too early. the weather has just begun to change in Chicago and the sun is coming out every couple of days. besides, fall has always been my favorite season of the year.

idleness? no way. the Thanksgiving holiday. the HEDAC holiday donation mailer. a new startup charity i'm getting involved with called H.A.N.K. - Helping All Needy Kids based in the community my school was located. opera season. [i've already seen Les Pecheur des perles, Manon, and Lulu. Porgy & Bess is next.] the gym. doctors.

oh, there's a big part of it. i've been to see the neurosurgeon again, had a new MRI and also underwent a series of tests to determine nerve damage with my back. it's been a year since the original injury; i've had multiple interventions and one major surgery. looks like it may be another, even more complicated. i'll find out more on the 18th.

the economy? definitely. my portfolio is waaayyyyyyy down, but who's isn't. it's sad to see everyone struggling. being on a fixed income with retirement, i watch the prices of things going up and realize that it effects me also. i go by the local churches and see more people in line at the food pantries, and i don't live in a poor neighborhood. it's very middle class and established. it's kind of sad. no, it's very sad.

Propositon 8 in California? yes, that's a large part of it also. i've been watching so much of what has been happening as it's result. the LGBT community is at odds not only with the wingnutters but with itself also. the latest was an op-ed in the New York Times - Gay Marriage and a Moral Minority - by Charles M. Blow. there is a lot to the article but the effect it is having has at its heart that Civil Rights and rights for LGBT are not the same thing.

you see, i've always believed that a civil right is a civil right no matter what you gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. that civil rights are the promises made by the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Rights of Man, Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen, etc. had no barrier to anyone who is a human being, in spite of the decades it took to complete it for women, African-Americans and others.

with the latter, i thought that when Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, though it was meant to specifically address the standing of the Black Community, it would be understood that no one should be left out of basic civil rights.

i suppose i could mention other things, but probably the ones above are the biggest and, add in my back problems, it sometimes seems overwhelming. i also understand that others are worse off, but i am only a speck. there is only so much any one of us can do.

we just have to make sure we do it...

if they really want to "defend" marriage...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

i've often thought about this myself. with the divorce rate in excess of 50% and the number of children in one-parent homes and in foster care, the people against same-sex marriage should put their money where their mouths are...

i worked with kids for my entire adult life in schools. one of the biggest problems we had was not the kids; it was the parents. i dealt with some very strange physical and mental abuse cases. i could never understand how anyone could do something harmful to kids.

once, after a particularly difficult case, i made the comment that i thought that "people should have to pass a test to become parents, just like you have to pass a test to get a driver's license."

one of my more conservative teachers return comment was, "I think they should have to pass a test to have the fun to have a child."

there was absolutely no arguing with that logic.

olbermann special comment: 11.10.08...

not just on Proposition 8, but also on the entire idea of hypocrisy and the changes that need to be made in the concept of humanity





Picking and choosing has always been a trait of the christianists. They use what they want for their ends and ignore the ones that do not meet their personal prejudices and agendas. They accuse others of having agendas against their religion when they are experts at the technique. They decry activist judges who do no keep in step with their drumbeat, yet they use their own activist justices like Alito, Thomas, Roberts etal. to foster hatred and scorn. These people are the ultimate hypocrites.

MSNBC just announced that they have renewed Keith Olbermann's contract for another four years.

some men (and women) and NOT more equal than others...

In the Constitution of the United States, as in the Declaration of Independence, there are references to equality.

the U.S. Constitution:

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

[note: the words all in bold are my highlighting for emphasis.]

sadly, there has been a struggle in this country to secure the equality of all men - the Civil War, Women's right to vote, the ERA to name those that have been the biggest struggles (still the ERA has yet to be passed. you just have to note the inequity of pay between men and women for the same jobs.)

one of the most vocal fights of inequality for the last couple of decades has been against the LGBT community, most notably through the anti-marriage amendments that keep sprouting up in various states. right now the fights are focused in Arizona, in Florida, and, most viciously, in California.

Arizona seems to be a given, even though the state legislature and courts are in favor of equal rights but without the word marriage. Florida looks as if the Amendment 2 is not going to pass, but probably the biggest reason for that, rather than being LGBT focused, is that it would forbid rights for straight people who live together, usually the elderly in Florida, who could lose benefits they already have.

Proposition 8 in California is the most contentious. The state Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex marriage is a denial of rights provided for in the California Constitution. of course, the wingers and christianists in the state know that the only way to overthrow the court's ruling is to change the state Constitution. Proposition 8 is meant to do just that.

there have been many reports of vitriolic speech and physical altercations being used by those who like to deny rights to others in the state; of the Mormon church funding a major push for the proposition's adoption; and with the fear that is being used to spread the lies and innuendo. the rhetoric is monumental.

again, throughout our history, there have been those, and they are the ones usually in political power, who think that some people are more equal than others. they believe that if the definition of marriage is open to all, their own marriages will be diminished. yet, in those states and countries that allow same-sex marriage, research has shown that it has had no effect whatsoever on the institution of marriage as it has existed for centuries. no straight couple has become less committed because of same-sex marriage; no relationship between a man and a woman has been diminished; and, maybe most important, the divorce rate in opposite sex marriages has still maintained its 50%+ level.

the fight against Proposition 8 in California is being monitored closely. other states are looking to see that, if it is passed, it can give them the nod to spread the inequality to their own states. the conservative base of the fundamentalists in the Republican party are in the last throws of maintaining the influence and political clout they've had for the last several years. their agenda has fallen apart in almost all areas. they are being turned back by the U.S. electorate. the emphasis on Proposition 8 almost seems like a last ditch effort to keep a hold on something. there is one problem with their logic.

the most used argument by the christianists and wingers is Leviticus 18:22

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

however, they forget what is 26 lines following it in Leviticus 19:18

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

yes, most christianists believe that Jesus said this. they fail to understand that he quoted from the Torah, being the devout Rabbi that he was. his use of the message of Leviticus 19:18 cannot be denied nor ignored.

and, by it's words, it conveys that all men are created equal. no one is more equal than anyone else.

if i was a California resident, i would vote NO on Proposition 8. if you live in California, please prove to the rest of the country that all men are created equal by voting NO on Proposition 8...

cause of "financial crisis" explained... finally...

Fundamentalists blame Wall Street's woes on gays

some of the signs...

"In a September 25th blog post titled 'The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex', Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath writes that the financial crisis facing Wall Street is a symptom of America's sinful sexual culture, including the acceptance of gay unions...."

and

"A related post by Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian at the National Review's website pushes a similar theme, this time focusing on Friday's failure of WaMu.

Krikorian suggests the big bank failed because it was too accommodating to minorities, including gays, African-Americans and Hispanics...."

and here i thought that queers only caused terrorist attacks and hurricanes.

you learn something new every day.

never realized how much power we actually have.

i wonder if the House failing to pass the bailout bill yesterday is part of the conspiracy?

just asking...

the closet...

no comment...

it says everything...

another reason we're lagging so far behind...

I posted about US commercials and how ridiculous and neanderthal they can be. They're obsessed with sex, pharmaceuticals and body odor prevention.

Andy Towle over at Towleroad posted this example of a TV commercial airing on British stations for Heinz mayo. It's cute; it's refreshing; it's non-assuming; and it's fun.

enjoy, and think about the day when everyone can be commonplace in our world...

Straight home from work, Sweet Cheeks.

just havin' some fun...

fun... that's what this is. lots of fun...

a good friend sent me this. the video is from the Milwaukee Pride Event held last Sunday. Jim also happens to be in it. he and his dance partner won the Gold Medal at the Gay Games VII [the LGBTQ equivalent of the Olympics] when it was held in Chicago in 2006.

i guess i could also use the old cliche, "girls just wanna have fun", but i won't. oops... i just did!


thanks, Jim!




though i'm not a big fan of C&W, i really like the song - LeAnn Rimes' Nothing Better To Do

heehawwwww...

it's not just being queer...

Another sergeant allegedly told Specialist Hall that as an atheist, he was not entitled to religious freedom because he had no religion.

Everyone is aware that most in the military don't want LGBTQ involved with the service but there has also been a concerted effort by evangelical [christianists] service members to eliminate atheists as well.

Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats

FORT RILEY, Kan. — When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.

But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Specialist Hall and another soldier about atheism, Specialist Hall wrote in a sworn statement. “People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!” Major Welborn said, according to the statement.

Major Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from re-enlistment and bring charges against them, according to the statement.

Last month, Specialist Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, filed suit in federal court in Kansas, alleging that Specialist Hall’s right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment had been violated and that he had faced retaliation for his views. In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers. New York Times, April 26, 2008

There is a large flaw in Maj. Freddie's argument - going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!

What the Founding Fathers wanted was a nation that had tolerance for all beliefs. Contrary to what Freddie thinks, not believing is a belief.

Add to that the fact that many of the Founding Fathers were not Christian but deists and warned against the intolerance and bigotry of christian sects and you have to wonder what history class Major Freddie missed. It may have been all of his American History classes. Of course, people also hear and read what they want. Christianists insist that they read their Bible literally, when in fact they are the biggest interpreters of it. They will pull the parts that they agree with to bolster their intolerance and ignore the universal message behind it.

Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Of course, Specialist Jeremy Hall isn't the first time we've heard about religious intolerance in the military. There was the scandal at the Air Force Academy when commanding officers were evangelical proselytizing and forcing cadets to participate and belittling them if they didn't. It was in direct conflict with Air Force procedures and rules.

Also, Remember footballer/soldier Pat Tillman? After his death by friendly fire, there were questions about his non-belief and wild inferencing that it may have been because of this. At the least, military personnel belittle his family after his funeral because of their non-belief.

So much for defending your country's right of tolerance.

DAY of SILENCE 04.25.08

we are silent today...




Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network


DAY of SILENCE.org


blog.DAY of SILENCE.org

wanna guess what they're selling?

wouldn't take long to twist the real message of this advertisement. messrs. dobson, fallwell, labarbera, et al would be on it in a minute if it showed up in print in the U.S.

so, what are they selling? ----

Et vous, comment dormez-vous?

trans.

And you, how do you sleep?

give?

mattress and bedding...

of course, an ultra-right wing Catholic group in France, E-Deo, has an article on their blog enititled

SCANDALE! Matelsom affiche l’homosexualité dans le métro parisien!

i think you can figure out the first & fourth words yourself. it says pretty much what you are thinking: Matelsom is showing homosexuality in Parisian subway!

now that's a fairly literal translation. what's missing is the meaning behind it. what E-Deo is saying is that Matelsom is trying to push homosexuality on the unsuspecting French people. Sounds just like the christianist whackos that we have. they're the same all over...

Matelsom is the name of the company. If you go to the website, you will see that you go through a process to determine what type of mattress and linen would be best for you depending on your sleeping habits and position for the best night's sleep. it's innocuous at the least. oh, and the company has a totally green line and are green as much as possible with all of their products.

now le pub gai, as the ad would be called, is just one of the print ads in a series showing all kinds of people sleeping. here are a few of the rest:

i can come up with some ominous detritus for these. is the couple in the first one married? did the couple in the second one just do it? does the third one border on child pornography? or worse? we can all play the game...

the company also has a great website with a blog post that is brilliant in response to the rightist/french christianist blathering -

Nous avions souhaité orienter les réflexions dans une démarche plus citoyenne au travers de la problématique du sommeil. Matelsom a pris le parti de vous sensibiliser à l’importance d’une bonne literie notamment en lançant le débat autour de cette question « Et vous, comment dormez-vous ? » et non « Et vous avec qui dormez-vous ? » (comme on le retrouve chez certains detracteurs)

i will translate as best i can.

We wanted to reflect the broadest cross section of people and the problems they have in sleeping. Matelsom wanted everyone to know the importance of good matresses and linens around the question "How do you sleep?" not "With whom do you sleep." (as some of our detractors would have you believe.)

at least we have Lawrence v. Texas to protect us in the U.S. in 2003 SCOTUS said that we could sleep with whomever we wanted and it was none of the governments' business.

of course, it did take until 2003! still, we don't have to worry about anyone checking our mattresses...

errr, do we?

truth in advertising...

There are federal and state laws about truth in advertising in order to protect consumers. Just recently the courts ordered a company to stop pushing a product that promises to stop the common cold* or at least make its symptoms last shorter than normal to stop making claims and fined them $23 million. So the government takes these things seriously.

There is one company in particular that uses a gecko as its main spokes, umm, animal. I'm not going to mention the name of the company, but I know for certain everyone who has seen the commercials knows of which I'm speaking.

Well, here's the problem. The gecko used in the commercial is male. This gecko has an Australian or New Zealand accent. The problem is that almost ALL south Pacific geckos are female!

They reproduce asexually almost as a clone of themselves. Neat and clean. Every several generations they produce males to prevent genetic contamination and impurities. It's an automatic built-in safeguard created by evolution.

So, next time you see the company's commercial, just remember that they may not be telling the entire truth about other things either.



If you're interested in more of this, look into Joan Roughgarden's book Evolution's Rainbow. There are lots of amazing facts in her book about gender identity and sexuality in different species that blow holes into the christianist's beliefs.

Oh, by the way, Professor Roughgarden's name was originally Jonathan. She has taught at Stanford University since 1972 doing research on links between ecology with economic theory. She has also written on the relationship between Christianity and science.



*on colds, there is no cure for them. one just has to ride them out. the general thinking is that it takes three days to get the cold, three days with the cold, and three days to get rid of the cold. the only promising thing that may lessen a cold's symptoms is the use of zinc. i mean even my doctor, whom I respect greatly, has told me to use it.

what i'm listening to that's new...

Longview
Lea Delaria

not bad for big hairy dyke...



ummm, i guess i should have mentioned it's a song by Green Day and it's about masturbation. oh, well...

no comment...

where's the outrage?

from Sara Whitman at the Huffington Post today concerning the killing of a 15-year old young man in Oxnard, California for just being being gay -

While the gay community has been blazing for days about this incident, the rest of the country dozes on, reading about Michelle Obama's wardrobe choices on the campaign trail, or Roger Clemens lying his ass off on Capitol Hill.

Because this is the one kind of hate no one seems to be willing to stand up against. Let's not offend anyone who believes Jesus was anti-homosexual. Careful not to send a message of tolerance to young children in case they find some condolence in that message and face another day.

Don't worry. I get the message, loud and clear.

Just one more dead faggot.

-- Sara Whitman: Just One More Dead Faggot

Whitman also mentions that neither Clinton nor Obama, who support LGBTQ rights, has made no mention of this. McCain, of course, one would not expect to make a comment. He at least is honest in his pandering to the conservatives, christianists, and wingers by his silence.


so, where is the outrage?

just asking...

you'll never see this on ABC, NBC, CBS...

maybe not even on Logo or here!...



only the British are prudish enough and accepting enough and open enough to allow this shameless display of real life.

a gay off?


i sigh...

is this the real problem...

with DADT?



then why are they all smiling?

just asking...