I guess Summer's Over

23 F right now, on our way to 16. Icky.

The Homosexual Agenda: Have these People no Boundaries?

Well, I guess the religious right was correct after all: gays are trying to take over the world, and will stop at nothing in their evil pursuit of conquest. The latest salvo in their attempts to pervert us all?

Lesbian Koalas.

Yes, these cute, cuddly little mascots of Down Under land have been recruited in the effort to infect your children with Teh Gay. Imagine: you take the younguns to the zoo for a day of fun, and what are the tykes confronted with? Up to five female koalas hanging from poles and canoodling.

The humanity!

Great American Smokeout: Snuff That Butt!

Normally, I try to avoid getting all preachy about smoking: I like to think that people should make their own decisions about their behavior, as long as that behavior doesn't harm others. Hell, I used to smoke pot, and I drink more than I should. I don't care for people lecturing me about those vices.

But as a former smoker who had a nearly 2 pack a day habit, once in a while I have to ask those of you who still light up a question:

What, exactly, are you getting out of it?

Booze and weed create a buzz. Intoxication is a tangible function, though the value of that function can be debated. But cigarettes? They cut your cravings for carbohydrates, but so do a lot of other things: I find a brisk bike ride does the same, without the cancer and addiction. Some say smoking clears their heads and calms them down, but is that relative to a non-smoking existence, or simply relative to being in nicotine withdrawal? I certainly don't feel more on edge or muddle-headed since quitting years ago.

Cigarettes are now, depending on where you live, somewhere between $4.50 and $10.00 a pack. For someone with a pack a day habit, you'll drop an average of $2650.00 a year. That's a lot of money, folks.

Why not give quitting another try?

Cheney and Gonzalez Indicted - Yeah, Good Luck With That

This story in the Huston Chronicle seems to be drawing a lot of attention in the blogosphere today. Seems a DA in Texas has convinced a grand jury to issue indictments of our Vice Felon and his former piss-boy on complicity in the abuse of an unspecified number of convicts in a private prison there.

I don't see the abuse argument going anywhere. The DA in the case seems to be a bit of a whack-job for one thing, and it seems to be stretching it a bit to claim that someone who invests in a company that then invests in another company which helps run a private prison is somehow guilty of abuse committed in that prison.

If we're going to go after these assholes for prisoner abuse, let's start with the torture and illegal detention at Gitmo.

How Not to Advocate Gay Rights

A recent Ed Brayton post described a protest by a Gay-Rights group at a mega-church outside of Lansing, MI, in which the protesters went beyond civil demonstration and infiltrated and disrupted Sunday services. I agree with Ed's take on the incident, but on checking out the group's web site (which I won't link: Google 'Bash Back' if you wish to check it out), I've just got to shake my head in disappointment. This sort of nonsense is not what the gay rights movement needs:

Bash Back! Olympia Trashes Mormon Church

Last night, under the veil of fog, we visited the Church of Latter Day Saints. We left their locks glued with anarchist messages scrawled in spray paint over their boring veneer.

We did this to show our solidarity with all who are resisting heterosexism everywhere, hopefully to spur them into action

This is just the sort of thing that is picked up by the conservative echo-chamber and used to paint the entire gay community as a group of radical, deluded ass-hats (which the members of Bash Back obviously are). Unfortunately, a great many Americans listen to that echo chamber and put far too much credence in its claims. I hope that the folks in the gay community are as vocal about condemning this idiocy as they are about condemning Prop 8, or groups like this will always hold them back.

Thoreau on Living in California

Over at UO, a funny:

Every year during California’s fire season we inevitably get crap from people who want to know why Californians would build in fire-prone areas. What they don’t get is that we do it because we know the fires can only burn for so long. In a few weeks the rains will come and mudslide season will start, and then all those people who criticized us for building in fire-prone canyons will have egg on their faces, won’t they?

One of the reasons I love that blog. And two why I wouldn't want to live in CA.

Ted Haggard is Really Totally Un-Gayified

Old Ted "Buttocks-and-Meth" Haggard is back on the pulpit, apparently.

He gave a pair of sermons at a small church in Illinois where the pastor is an old friend of his.

Hey, another reason for me to dislike Illinois!

That people actually sat there and listened to this hypocritical jagoff just illustrates the depth of evangelical Christian stupidity. I love this part:

"There I was, 50 years old, a conservative Republican, loving the word of God, an evangelical, born-again, spirit-filled, charismatic, all those things," he said. "But some of the things that were buried in the depths of the sea from when I was in the second grade started to rage in my heart and mind."

No, Ted: there you were, a closeted gay man, loudly advocating venomous bigotry against other homosexuals, but you couldn't bury your own sexual nature any more than you can heal through prayer.

"There came a moment in my life when we were so alone and there was so much despair that I was suicidal," he said. "And I'd figured out how I was going to kill myself and rid the world of the horrible curse of Ted Haggard."

My ass you were going to kill yourself. If there's one characteristic that all con artists like you share, it's an unshakable belief (and a correct one, unfortunately) that there's always another mark just around the corner. I look forward to your next scandal, Teddy.