I played Wii for the first time this week, when I managed to beat a 7 year old at Wii Tennis. And I had an epiphany...
How many children could be saved if Nintendo created Wii Child Abuse. In this game, you beat the crap out of your Mii off-spring. No bruises or permanent emotional scars. Better yet, no jail time!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas
When I was 6 years old, Bob Geldoff assembled his rock star friends to write and record this song. 20 years later, they re-recorded it because it parts of this world, conditions continue to worsen.
Let's remember when we are with our families this week that we are lucky to have what we have and to be who we are... and to hope and pray for something better for much of the world.
Peace.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Dear Elder Romney, smoke much pot do you?
"Let me, uh, let me offer just a thought. And that is, uh, one of the great things about this great land, is we have people of different faiths and different persuasions. And uh, I'm convinced that the nation, that the nation does need, the nation does need to have people of different faiths but we need to have a person of faith lead the country."
Mitt Romney is pissed at Mike Huckabee because Rev. Mike is attacking Romney's religion. Romney believes that as along as a candidate has a religion, that religion should not be considered critically prior to his successful journey to the presidency. The problem as that while Romney thinks it would be okay to attack the beliefs of a person not subscribing to traditional relgious dogma, he wants his religion to remain as unscuffed as his holy underwear. This is absurd.
I've been raised in and spent plenty of time by choice in the Catholic Church. These days I've started considering the absurdity of what is most of Christianity. Drinking my Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks right now, I should be preparing for the celebration of a virgin birth of a Jew to a 13 year old girl in a manger among talking animals. 30 years later, I'm to believe this man cheats death, walks the Earth for 40 more days, and somehow saved my life, eventhough I'll still die anyway. (If God wants us to live eternally in Heaven, why not here on Earth with all my friends and SCUBA equipment?)
And while this is all pretty lame, do you know what Mormon's believe?
- That God wasn't born God, but got that way through some hard work.
- That God is married.
- That if you are a good human, and work hard -- and certainly tithe -- then you can become a god in the afterlife.
- That you existed before your body as a spirit.
- When you are a god, you can make little body-less spirits, too.
- That Jesus volunteered for service back when he was a body-less spirit. Mostly because he was willing to follow God's plan, while Satan, Jesus' spirit brother had some ideas of his own. (ed: How very anti-entrepreneurial!)
- That the LDS church is the only "true church on Earth." (ed: Sorry, 1 billion Catholics.)
- That it took God about 1800 years after Christ to finally get around to telling someone in the world that all the other churches were wrong. (ed: He creates the world in 6 days, but takes 1800 years to tell the people they are on the wrong track.)
- That God and Jesus both visited Joseph Smith personally to tell him how screwed up we all are.
- That Adam, who may have been God at some time, once chose to live in Missouri. (ed: No doubt in a 3,000 square foot tract house nearby a Wal Mart.)
- That the Book of Mormon, "the most true book ever written," was given to Smith on tablets by an angel, written in a foreign, unrecognizable language, but Smith used special stones to translate it.
I could go on, but that Peppermint Mocha I just finished is dying to come out...
All this is to say that just because you call it a "religion" doesn't mean its any different from the mumbling ramblings of a crazy homeless man.
Sources:
http://dearelder.com/index/inc_name/Mormon/title2/What_Do_Mormons_Believe
http://www.allaboutcults.org/what-do-mormons-believe.htm
http://www.gotquestions.org/Mormons.html
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/faq/
http://www.shiblon.com/beliefs/what-do-mormons-believe.php
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Would you cross a picket line?
Same answer to this question: Do you want me to kick your ass?
And because I love him so...
Update: See Damian, I fixed it.
And because I love him so...
Update: See Damian, I fixed it.
And Mussolini had the trains running on time…
My friend Christopher, whose blog is one of my regulars and whose link I need to correct, has been writing recently about Peter Lababera’s recent criticism of the Folsom Street Fair and Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to condemn the event that Peter L. finds so offensive.
It’s been interesting to read Christopher’s insights. I should begin with saying that I definitely respect his right to feel this way and appreciate that he’s given serious thought to an issue affecting our community. Furthermore, I recognize that he’s bravely taking a principled position that might create scorn in others. Kudos to him. I also would like to begin with saying that I think he’s wrong.
He’s wrong because the Folsom Street Fair isn’t a gay sex perversion, it’s a festival that celebrates a small, unique community that is as diverse as the city in which it’s hosted. Folsom is for gay men, straight people, lesbians, transgender individuals, and anyone anywhere else in the spectrum of identities or choices that exist out there.
Folsom is also not an event on a public street. It’s a festival, in a controlled environment, in which admission is controlled. As a non-profit, Folsom doesn’t demand an entry fee, but there is no way that the casual passer-by stumbles on to Folsom. If you are at Folsom, you wanted to be at Folsom. This is unique from even a gay pride parade. While the ages may be unrestricted, everyone there is a consensual participant seeing what they want – and many pay – to see.
And while it may exist, the “blatant anti-Christian bigotry in the form of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’” is no more an affront to the good Catholic Church than the church itself. In fact, in their nearly 3 decades in existence there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people that are alive today because of the charity and AIDS prevention work the Sisters have done. They were the organization that coined the term, “safe sex,” using it for the first time in the first plain-language, sex-positive health brochure at the very dawn of the HIV pandemic. Many of the Sisters are Catholics and former Catholics themselves who are trying to make a positive change from their very negative experience in such a dangerous Church. Furthermore, most, if not all, are artists who use the politically charged imagery to make a profound statement. When Peter L. and his friends stop displaying so much anti-gay bigotry, than maybe of the people of San Francisco might be more willing to appreciate what he views as anti-Christian. Lastly, I would argue that what he perceives as anti-Christian, is really anti-Church. I’ve met few atheists, Jews, agnostics, Muslims, and people of other faiths and no-faiths that really find objection to “Christianity” but rather to their special expression of Christianity by the Church and its followers.
I think we can counter Peter L. with a much storied definition of obscenity credited to the Supreme Court. To declare something obscene, “it must be: 1) prurient in nature (which we can probably agree and concede Folsom is), 2) completely devoid of scientific, political, educational, or social value (which Peter L. should concede Folsom is not – especially since it’s ripe with political activism, artistry and health and safety education), and 3) it must violate the local community standards. If it meets all three of these things, it is obscenity.” On the last point is where Peter L.’s criticism lacks all validity and shows itself as nothing more than political grandstanding. Folsom is an old, popular (visited by more than 400,000 people) and some would argue cherished community event. What is right on Folsom Street may not work on Main Street, but the people of Main Street don’t have much say.
I would never engage in a sexual act in public. I would never take my children to a place where sex play is celebrated. But how many children are victimized by predators because parents aren’t comfortable speaking plainly and openly about human sexuality? How many girls will end up pregnant this year? How many children will kill themselves? These things are all just as profane. By celebrating Peter L., we say that his concern should be an area of national focus when we are plagued with so much worse. After all, despite all of his disgusting, murder filled conquests, even Mussolini got the trains to run on time.
In my life experience, including my work at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, I met a lot of interesting people that came from very different experiences and had very different interests than me, many of them prurient! And none of these people I would consider bad people. In fact, I think many – especially those I have been closest with – are astonishing, proud, and strong symbols of our community. When our gay brothers were dying from a devastating disease, it was these – the most vocal, most outrageous, most radical – members of our community that raised the national consciousness. They sewed the quilt, they lobbied the lawmakers, they raised the money, and they changed the face of AIDS. A gay man like me just 5 years older probably lost scores of friends to AIDS. A gay man my age, I’ve never lost a single friend. It wasn’t the Roy Cohn’s or the gay families safely hidden behind their picket fences that made this change happen. It was the Sisters and drag queens and leather daddies and artists and radicals – all worth a lot no matter how different their interests. And Folsom was and is a home for them.
The video may be shocking but so is reality and there’s no point in ignoring it, trying to silence it, or working to squash it. It might not be our reality, but it belongs to someone.
It’s been interesting to read Christopher’s insights. I should begin with saying that I definitely respect his right to feel this way and appreciate that he’s given serious thought to an issue affecting our community. Furthermore, I recognize that he’s bravely taking a principled position that might create scorn in others. Kudos to him. I also would like to begin with saying that I think he’s wrong.
He’s wrong because the Folsom Street Fair isn’t a gay sex perversion, it’s a festival that celebrates a small, unique community that is as diverse as the city in which it’s hosted. Folsom is for gay men, straight people, lesbians, transgender individuals, and anyone anywhere else in the spectrum of identities or choices that exist out there.
Folsom is also not an event on a public street. It’s a festival, in a controlled environment, in which admission is controlled. As a non-profit, Folsom doesn’t demand an entry fee, but there is no way that the casual passer-by stumbles on to Folsom. If you are at Folsom, you wanted to be at Folsom. This is unique from even a gay pride parade. While the ages may be unrestricted, everyone there is a consensual participant seeing what they want – and many pay – to see.
And while it may exist, the “blatant anti-Christian bigotry in the form of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’” is no more an affront to the good Catholic Church than the church itself. In fact, in their nearly 3 decades in existence there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people that are alive today because of the charity and AIDS prevention work the Sisters have done. They were the organization that coined the term, “safe sex,” using it for the first time in the first plain-language, sex-positive health brochure at the very dawn of the HIV pandemic. Many of the Sisters are Catholics and former Catholics themselves who are trying to make a positive change from their very negative experience in such a dangerous Church. Furthermore, most, if not all, are artists who use the politically charged imagery to make a profound statement. When Peter L. and his friends stop displaying so much anti-gay bigotry, than maybe of the people of San Francisco might be more willing to appreciate what he views as anti-Christian. Lastly, I would argue that what he perceives as anti-Christian, is really anti-Church. I’ve met few atheists, Jews, agnostics, Muslims, and people of other faiths and no-faiths that really find objection to “Christianity” but rather to their special expression of Christianity by the Church and its followers.
I think we can counter Peter L. with a much storied definition of obscenity credited to the Supreme Court. To declare something obscene, “it must be: 1) prurient in nature (which we can probably agree and concede Folsom is), 2) completely devoid of scientific, political, educational, or social value (which Peter L. should concede Folsom is not – especially since it’s ripe with political activism, artistry and health and safety education), and 3) it must violate the local community standards. If it meets all three of these things, it is obscenity.” On the last point is where Peter L.’s criticism lacks all validity and shows itself as nothing more than political grandstanding. Folsom is an old, popular (visited by more than 400,000 people) and some would argue cherished community event. What is right on Folsom Street may not work on Main Street, but the people of Main Street don’t have much say.
I would never engage in a sexual act in public. I would never take my children to a place where sex play is celebrated. But how many children are victimized by predators because parents aren’t comfortable speaking plainly and openly about human sexuality? How many girls will end up pregnant this year? How many children will kill themselves? These things are all just as profane. By celebrating Peter L., we say that his concern should be an area of national focus when we are plagued with so much worse. After all, despite all of his disgusting, murder filled conquests, even Mussolini got the trains to run on time.
In my life experience, including my work at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, I met a lot of interesting people that came from very different experiences and had very different interests than me, many of them prurient! And none of these people I would consider bad people. In fact, I think many – especially those I have been closest with – are astonishing, proud, and strong symbols of our community. When our gay brothers were dying from a devastating disease, it was these – the most vocal, most outrageous, most radical – members of our community that raised the national consciousness. They sewed the quilt, they lobbied the lawmakers, they raised the money, and they changed the face of AIDS. A gay man like me just 5 years older probably lost scores of friends to AIDS. A gay man my age, I’ve never lost a single friend. It wasn’t the Roy Cohn’s or the gay families safely hidden behind their picket fences that made this change happen. It was the Sisters and drag queens and leather daddies and artists and radicals – all worth a lot no matter how different their interests. And Folsom was and is a home for them.
The video may be shocking but so is reality and there’s no point in ignoring it, trying to silence it, or working to squash it. It might not be our reality, but it belongs to someone.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Another victim in the war on Christmas...
Bill O'Reilly and I are getting along again and it's pissing me off. This holiday season, I hope people wish me glad tidings, and I'll typically graciously accept a Happy Holidays.
But when someone is buying a Christmas tree at sunset on the second night of Haunakah, it's probably a safe assumption that you can wish me a Merry Christmas without me getting offended.
I bought our Christmas tree tonight and was wish a Happy Holidays by the two employees I spoke with on my adventure. Really.
But when someone is buying a Christmas tree at sunset on the second night of Haunakah, it's probably a safe assumption that you can wish me a Merry Christmas without me getting offended.
I bought our Christmas tree tonight and was wish a Happy Holidays by the two employees I spoke with on my adventure. Really.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
What's a gay man to do?
I am home sick today. I have an ugly head cold that might have something to do with me diving without a hood. My roommates -- and bosses -- suggested I stay home so as to not spread my germs.
I am trying to keep myself feeling like I have worth. I was doing Christmas cards a little. And of course I am watching television. I saw a documentary, "The Girl who Survived Rabies" and watched the Closer from last night. But now it's the 3 o'clock hour. And what is a gay to do?
I could watch Oprah, the uplifting diva who speaks for America. Her host in the inspirational author of "Eat, Love, & Pray." We can tell Oprah is fat again because she's concerned for our souls.
Or, I could watch that snarky bitch Kathy Griffin on her special, "Strong Black Woman."
Yep, I'm watching Kathy and switching to O during the commercials.
I am trying to keep myself feeling like I have worth. I was doing Christmas cards a little. And of course I am watching television. I saw a documentary, "The Girl who Survived Rabies" and watched the Closer from last night. But now it's the 3 o'clock hour. And what is a gay to do?
I could watch Oprah, the uplifting diva who speaks for America. Her host in the inspirational author of "Eat, Love, & Pray." We can tell Oprah is fat again because she's concerned for our souls.
Or, I could watch that snarky bitch Kathy Griffin on her special, "Strong Black Woman."
Yep, I'm watching Kathy and switching to O during the commercials.
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