Does anyone know where my muse has gone?

There are a lot of things to blog about, and even more things for me to comment on, but apparently every summer my muse decides to take a vacation and leaves me bereft of inspiration and motivation.  Thus I don't blog, and when I do it's simply to give excuses as to why I'm not blogging.

I don't deal with heat well, and it's been humid and hot here the last couple days.  So much so that I felt well into "the dog days of summer" which we haven't even hit yet, technically.

So while the whole world goes to pot (or crude depending on where you are and what news you listen to) I'm just going to sit back and watch it.

Have fun!

Le Sigh

So I had hoped that yesterday would be the blog day, but alas I was mistaken.  Don't worry, the blog is there, percolating in my head, and it's taking awhile to get to the point where it's more than just a jumble of incoherent thoughts that have something in common.  Which is my problem.  But let me tell you, it'll be good. 

Hrm, I did find something interesting though, the other day by listening to the Progressive Talk Radio on Green 960 out of San Fransisco.  Link here.  Apparently there was a raid on a Texas gay bar, last year.  IN 2009!  This is the freaking new millennium people, why are we still standing for this.  But I guess it could only happen in the south.  (see previous posts for various and sundry opinions regarding the south).  Not only did they raid the bar, they did it on the 40th anniversary of the raid on the Stonewall Inn in NYC, and you'll notice a lack of media coverage, even a year later.  And all I can ask is why?

For links to the story:

Seattle Gay News

Georgia Liberal (they have those there?)

Huffington Post

Dallas/Fort Worth local news

So that's all I've got for you today, as laundry needs to be done before I head off to work.  Being an adult stinks.  I have no idea why children want to grow up so fast.  Oh wait...yeah I do.

I'm playing hooky/ey/ie

So today was not the prolific blogging day that I had hoped it would be.  I don't know.  Usually my weekends are sort of fulfilling, but today/this weekend, I've just felt that my me-time hasn't been as revitalizing as it should be.  Ergo, no huge blog about politics and religious issues today, but don't fret, the issues that I want to write about are still there.

Woke up Wednesday to discover that one of my email accounts had been hacked.  Needless to say that I'm very upset with hackers and think they need to be dealt with in a painful and time consuming manner.


Apparently there are multiple ways to spell the phrase used in the title of the blog for today.  And whilst searching for the correct way to spell the phrase I happened across this (which English-y people should like).  Homophone.com which is a supposedly complete list of all homophones.

So there, vittles for you all.  Have a good rest of your weekend.

See what happens when I miss a post

I awoke this morning to find that the email associated with my blog had been hacked and disabled, and the email was associated with my blog, so that was disabled too.  Needless to say that it was not a good morning for me.

I've been reading The Cost of Discipleship (see link in previous post) and there's some pretty thought provoking things in there (really, thought provoking things in a religious text, shocking, I know!) which I was going to blog about yesterday, but my day was consumed with laundry, food, reading up on a new RPG that I'm going to be running, getting the ballpark figure of the new computer, and a little gaming. 

Kinda like an actual day off.  Which I kinda needed.  Anyway, I'm not really doing anything on Saturday, so look for the new blog then.  See ya!

Making ones way through the quagmire

Well, it certainly is a week for issues that have no clear answers.

Firstly, lets see.  Well the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has (since abolishing it's anti-gay policies) begun an attempt at healing.  Now, I reiterate, that I'm not sure this is the way to go about mending the ties between religious institutions and the gay community.  I'm not professing to have any answers to a problem that is as old, deep, and complicated as that, but I'm not sure if asking a religious institution to completely change it's outlook (and thus sort of give up some of it's identity) is the right way to go about it.  Especially when we [the gay community] can't seem to practice what we preach when we talk about acceptance and tolerance.  One simply needs to visit a gay bar and watch some of the patrons to see an example of this.  (Oh, and don't try to argue because we all know it happens).  Can you imagine the backlash that would happen were the gay community asked to give up something the we consider community defining?

Then there's the Boy Scouts.  This article goes on to say that the reason they lost the appeal and were not allowed to lease some land for camping purposes was due to the fact that they are considered a "religious organization".  As an Eagle Scout, I have to say that I'm supportive of the organization as a whole.  As a gay man, I disagree with their discriminatory policies.  All that being said, I can't figure out a good answer to the problem, mostly for the reasons described above.  But of course, I have a question.  What is to stop anyone from creating a similar organization, with similar goals and activities, that would not have a policy of discrimination? 

In what I think is a victory for the secular world as a statement that they will not stand for religious hatred and bigotry to be spewed in a public forum, this article gave me hope.  While I agree that there is freedom of religion in this country (to a degree, see the religious right for more details) I also think that it is the responsibility of religious institutions and leaders to present their views in a manner that is in line with what they are preaching.  Also to have the proper permits and such in order to be able to spread their messages in a public forum.  They should also have the decency to acknowledge when they are being disruptive. 

However, I will say that much like the previous two issues, this one is an issues that extends into freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  Again, I will say that the mixture of church and state in any form, whether it's an issue of protecting religious freedom or allowing religion to dictate political policy, is a complicated issue with no clear answers.

There's a problem with reporting, or more importantly the issue of headlines.  I clicked on the link to this story because the headline read that the teens were charged in the murder of a gay principal.  If you'll read the blurb on Advocate you'll notice that the blurb does mention that they met him on a sex chat.  But nowhere in the blurb is it mentioned that the principal is gay.  I also skimmed the story that is found on the Washington Post website and there's no mention that the man was gay that I could see.  Simply that they met him off a phone sex line.  Now, my question is, what sort of journalistic integrity does it take (or not take) to say that a man was gay, put it in a headline, and not support the fact that you're saying the man was gay.  If the only reason that you posit that he is gay is that he was on a phone sex line, well there's lots of those for heteros too.  I'm challenging Advocate to retract that story and issue an apology, or give evidence that the man was indeed homosexual, and thereby attempt to keep their journalistic integrity.

I've thought for a long time that the law is not up to speed with what technology is capable of.  This story which is just another in a long list of social networking sites leading the horrible murders, really makes me wonder about a couple things.  Firstly, I think it's interesting to note that the social networking sites that lead to this (the many that there are) are all created to get people to have anonymous sex.  Which just goes to show you that there's really only one thing that the average person really wants.  Secondly, the law is vastly behind in being able to deal with issues that have to do with technology.  Cyber bullying which leads to suicide of [pre]teens is very prevalent and someone needs to be held responsible.  But the only way to do that is to stretch existing laws to cover it.  Perhaps there needs to be laws that cover crimes that happen purely in the virtual realm.

Speaking of issues regarding law, this story brings to light something I think we should all attempt to remember when dealing with crimes.  The fact that it was made a hate crime and therefore a felony was not that they were actually shooting at gay men (although I'm sure they were) but that they were targeting guys who looked like they were gay (by American standards of homosexuality/masculinity) and that is the reason that it was upgraded to a hate crime.  Because of intent.  I also think that they should have the book thrown at them because shooting anybody (whether it's with BBs or not) shouldn't be tolerated, and if your intent is to harass people based on your perception of their orientation (or anything else for that matter) you need to have the book thrown at you. (In my opinion)

Well that's it for this weeks quagmire presentation.  Next week, we'll see.  Oh, last weeks Savage Love had a link to the Savage Love Merchandise.  Since I really like Dan, I figured I'd give him shameless plugs on stuff.

Happy week!

As promised with a surprise included

So like I promised, here is your blog that is only a few days late.  In my defense, reorganizing a basement is exhausting work.  Anyway, let's see what issues are out there this week for me to blog about.

I can't blog without mentioning the oil spill in the Gulf.  Notice the lack of a link, because everyone knows about it.  I'm not getting into whether we should drill here, drill now or any of those issues.  However, I do have a few questions that I have about this.  First, what was the condition of the rig that it exploded in the first place?  Second, what sort of regulations were in place to keep the rig in a workable condition?  Third, when it did explode (wherein the logical extrapolation would be that it would sink and oil would end up in the ocean) why didn't they immediately begin to prepare for the oil spill instead of waiting until it happened?  Just a couple things, like I said.

"THAT GROUP" is doing more reprehensible things.  I mean, come on, picketing funerals (the funerals of veterans to boot) is one thing.  But who pickets and protests at a high school graduation?  What message is this sending, and what can possibly be gained from doing this, aside from cementing the fact that you and your group are the biggest [insert whatever appropriate expletive you want] in the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article (and possibly linked to it here, but I can't find it) about how some baseball players got kicked off a league for not being gay enough.  You can find the PDF file of the lawsuit that followed here.  I can't think of anything that would justify this.  Is the gay community setting itself up for some sort of reverse discrimination quagmires?  I'm not sure.  But I don't like this sort of thing.

Apparently DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) is working just fine.  As evidenced by the video for this week's blog.  The video shows a group of soldiers who are apparently in Iraq making a parody video of Lady GaGa's music video "Telephone".  So...yeah.  DADT, works great.  I'm not supporting DADT in any fashion, but attempting to make a joke.  Not sure if it worked.  Blogging is a hard medium for comedy.  Go watch the video already.





So even the former FLOTUS couldn't even convince her hubby to leave gay marriage alone.  This article/blurb mentions a quote from her memoir.  I'm actually shocked that they have gay friends and such.  And I don't know why, but it just strikes me that if they have gay friends, and are friends with people who have gay children, wouldn't you think that would give you some insight into the hardships of the gay community?  Apparently not, as evidenced by the last sentence of the blurb.

The bigotry and hatred in the south continues to abound in ways that continue to astonish me.  But then again, it's the south, so...  This article mirrors the Constance McMillen issue, but apparently being gay is still thought of as catching according to this article. 

I wonder if these issues involving High School-ers are being thrust into the spotlight is because kids are coming out earlier.  In any event, here's another issue of High School bigotry in full force.  I can't even imagine how she must feel to have been left out of the yearbook.  The yearbook is one of the highlights of every year of school.  To be left out, would be tantamount to having your classmates tell you that you don't exist, and aren't worthy of being acknowledged as a person.

Being that it's the south, I'm sure that they're approach to homosexuality would be to send them to an ex-gay ministry/therapy.  Well as this video shows, and I'm sure there are more, but I'll post a link rather than just the video so you can explore.  The video is basically ex-gay advocates apologizing for what they supported.  I watched part of it, and it's not bad.  

There's a lot more going on in the realm of gay news.  You can follow links on this page to go search for yourself.  On that note, happy weekend, and I'll see you next Wednesday, assuming that I don't get totally wrapped up in dealing with boxes and re-packing.