Quote of the week

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick

Conservative doublethink

Say what you like about Obamacare (and I have my issues with it), but at least try to be consistent. Attorneys general, mostly Republicans, are suing to stop it. I thought that conservatives, especially anti-gay conservatives like Ken "One Issue" Cuccinelli, didn't want unelected activist judges to protect individual liberty against democratically elected legislatures. It just goes to show that being a conservative means knowing when to cheer for democracy and when to say that America is a republic, not a democracy.

I also like the discussion of the interstate-commerce clause. If they genuinely think that way, why didn't they say so when the issue of medical marijuana was before the courts?

The Boy Scouts' "perversion files"

The Boy Scouts of America have long held themselves out as a private, religious organization (that is somehow still entitled to taxpayer-funded special privileges) and, as such, entitled to exclude gays and atheists. Yet it now appears that the Boy Scouts, like a certain other officially homophobic faith-based organization, may have "a national pattern of failure to prevent abuse or punish child molesters."

Explain to me again how homosexuality is very bad, but only when it's consensual and age-appropriate. When groups like this engage in their more-sexually-correct-than-thou posturing, I like to prefix their pronouncements with "Child molestation is okay, but ..." to see whether they still make as much sense.

Quote of the week

"No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie." - M. Lamar Keene

A rabbi's comment on same-sex marriage

From here:

Judaism, though steeped in tradition, is an evolving religion. It is impossible for me, as a 21st century American Jew, to live by a strict interpretation of laws that were first introduced in a societal context completely foreign to modern experience not to mention current knowledge of gender and sexual identity formation.

If her point is that Biblical law cannot be reconciled with modern standards of liberty and cannot be relied on as expressing the will of an omniscient God, I am not going to argue.

Gay men and manhood

Many gay men seem to take one of two extreme views of manhood. Some revere it to the point of making Tom of Finland their prophet. They often adopt what Alison Bechdel called "cosmeticized masculinity," which is ultimately self-defeating. Others want nothing to do with it, insisting on being boys forever. At least it is no longer the eighties, and the latter group do not for the most part call one another girls.

One would think that being a gay man had something to do with being a man and being sexually attracted to men. Yet saying so is a good way to be shouted down as a heretic. Ultimately, however, we cannot truly accept ourselves as gay men unless we accept ourselves as (i) gay and (ii) men.

Fun with letters to the editor (2)

Unsurprisingly, someone has responded to my letter to the editor. Just as unsurprisingly, she has missed the point entirely. Why won't people answer the question? Could it be that ... oh, gosh, I don't know ... they know they can't?

Also, the fact that Christians so often play the discrimination card on this issue is causing my irony meter to overheat. No one is trying to deny Christians equal rights; some of us just think that they can make do with one fewer special right.