30 September 2006
Playing Catch Up
Just a few short items of comment and recommendation:
- A Marine's report from al-Anbar province, reproduced here at Defense Tech.
- Engage, engage, engage. The point is not to identify the comments of others as "right" or "wrong," the point is to engage those we disagree with in honest, thoughtful, exchange. Yes, it's more easily said than done, but it's what actually increases the likelihood of their pulling the lever (now, metaphorical) for candidates and ideas we'd like to see chosen and enacted. Calling people "idiots" or indicating otherwise that that's what you think about them, doesn't accomplish that. The point is to win elections and create better circumstances, better lives, more security, more prosperity, not to be right and lord it over everyone else. That means listening to people, even when you disagree with them, because not listening means not taking seriously, and people deserve to be taken seriously until events prove otherwise.
- The Onion, 21 September 2006, American Voices: "Willie Nelson was issued a citation Monday for possession of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms. What do you think?"
- Terry North, Osteopath: "You can't arrest Willie Nelson for doing drugs. That's like arresting Aretha Franklin for being fat, or James Brown for any of the various crimes he's committed."
- Janet Gansburg, Bond Insurer: "That's the difference between marijuana and alcohol: When Willie Nelson was pulled over, he had only nice things to say about Jews."
- The Onion, 29 September 2006, American Voices: "U.S. airlines are now allowing small quantities of fluids onto airplanes. What do you think?"
- Elaine Siegel, Sales Representative: "Thank God. I don't think I'd be able to make one more flight from New York to Chicago with a mouthful of shampoo."
- Alex Hunter, Surveyor: "The ban was a necessary precaution. We have to be willing to make these kinds of sacrifices if we're going to prevent scientifically impossible terrorist attacks."
- Foley. Ugh. Mustang Bobby gets it right (here):
The most bothersome thing about this is that it contributes once again to the cultural stereotype that gay men are by nature pedophiles. Hairsplitting about the age of consent (16 in D.C.) doesn't cut it; the homophobes don't care if the law says it's not illegal, and every time a story like this breaks it makes it that much harder to overcome the prejudice that gay men can't be trusted around teenage boys.
I'll take it further: Thanks to all the creepy almost-closet cases. Yes, I know people should only come out when they're secure enough in their own skin about being gay (generic: GLBTO -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, other) -- in a world that is often against gay people, but, dammit people, folks who hide their sexuality at work while being open about it socially or with families are nothing but trouble. And it very frequently has to do with being in positions of power and authority, and that's troubling. It's the closet cases who end up being congressmen having horny chats with teenage boys and Boy Scout leaders trying to diddle the young men in their troops and the priests and preachers doing it with altar boys and those they're supposed to be praying with. The gay community doesn't need to put up with these putzes any longer: Anyone who's comfortable enough about being gay to be out to family or go to a gay bar ought to buck up and come out at work. It's okay to shun people who don't. That doesn't mean being hateful: it means having principles and sticking to them and expecting other people to behave similarly.
It's tough enough to live in a country where the basic rights that heterosexuals enjoy -- the right to marry the one you love and take care of them without legal barriers, for example -- are denied to gays and lesbians, and it's not easy knowing that an entire political and religious network exists solely for the purpose of demeaning and degrading them. So the last thing we need is yet another closet case giving the bigots yet another poster boy for their campaign of repression and hatred and helping people like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and D. James Kennedy with their next fund-raising campaign to marginalize the gay community even more.
Thanks, Congressman Foley, for setting us back yet again. - From yesterday's Achewood:
- I love my XM, but Mack's Sirius (he's a big Howard fan) is running a Who channel. Sweet.
- I've got two sets of pics up at our Flickr site from the Teton's trip, with more to come.
- Here are pics from Saturday, 23 September, including more of the moose who came to the lodge for dinner. One sample:
- Here are the ones from Sunday, 24 September. After I got out of the SSCI team meeting, the sun was right over the Tetons in the west, so all these feature aperture stars, lens flares, etc. Fun. A sample:
- Here are pics from Saturday, 23 September, including more of the moose who came to the lodge for dinner. One sample:
