Two Things I Know for Sure

1) Lately the GOP has perpetuated a culture of shame around sex*. A growing faction of the party paints premarital sex as destructive, single parents as irresponsible, women who have abortions as evil, ditto women who take birth control. Of course, in their eyes, gays make the short list of threats to family values too. I’m guessing it’s ‘cause we have non-heterosexual sex, outside of wedlock, how shameful**.

2) Larry Craig’s exposed genitals have been getting more, er, coverage than they deserve. It is important for Americans to know when our leaders don’t hold themselves to standards to which they would hold others. Also there is perverse pleasure in watching the hypocrisy of moral majority types unfold. Even so, does this minor story really need to fill a news cycle? If it must, can we make things more exciting by filling in details. Exactly what is lewd & lascivious conduct anyway? But really, Craig’s marital infidelity is worth way less airtime than actual news like, say, the attorney general’s resignation, the war in Iraq, mismanagement of Katrina clean up funds.

Ps. Craig, thanks for clarifying that you're not gay. The (alleged) cruising had me confused. I’m glad to know you aren’t, ‘cause you sure are creepy.

*Okay, they’ve been doing it as long as I’ve been alive. Wait, Wait, not doing “IT,” mind you, it’s only okay to “do IT” for procreative purposes. Unless you are a powerful (preferably white) man who acts like sex is immoral. Then, “doing IT” for pleasure is okay.

**All the flap around gay marriage does suggest that queer sex inside of wedlock would be just as threatening to them. Go figure.

Two Years Later (aka Homeland Insecurity)

Two years ago today, Hurricane Katrina was all over the news, and in south Florida there wasn’t much else to do, so I was watching. My sense of dread as hurricane Katrina headed for the gulf coast was tempered by ignorance of how much damage a hurricane could do.

To mark the 2^nd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, B & I have been watching When The Levees Broke. The scale of the tragedy is mind boggling. Even more devastating is the extent to which it was preventable. I admire the strength of Gulf Coast residents who survived not only the storm, but also its aftermath. They were beset by government negligence and apathy. Negligence was inadequate levees, evacuation procedures, and officials ill-prepared to deploy relief efforts. Apathy was the federal relief arriving at the scene days later, the president continuing business as usual. No human should have to endure the conditions they did. We can’t control the weather, but we can control our response to it. In this case the response was piss poor.

Two years after Katrina, we are rebuilding at a glacial pace, and I see no evidence we are better prepared for a national disaster of that scale. We are obligated to help each other in times of need. Over generations we’ve created public structures to do just that. When these structures can respond effectively to a disaster of Katrina’s proportions I’ll feel better about so called “Homeland Security”.

The Return of Photogenic Veggies!

Actually, a more apt title would be "the return me having time to photograph vegetables."

Progress

As John Stewart put it, liberal politicians tie themselves in knots “trying to reassure the gay community how much they support them, while reassuring the rest of the country that they don’t completely support them.” Around here, it’s playing out like this: the leadership in the legislature has convened a commission to asses public attitudes about marriage equality. It’s an oh-so transparent attempt to put off a vote on marriage equality until after the 2008 election. Politicians aren’t going to alienate the homophobes by introducing marriage legislation right before an election. The commission lets them look like they are doing something for us without actually doing something for us, and risking their seats in the process. This might be a baby step in the right direction, maybe. Forgive me for suspending my gratitude until something actually happens.

In case you were wondering why marriage equality is necessary, even in states with civil unions, here’s one more reason: Until we have marriage rights, unscrupulous sorts will wiggle out of granting benefits to LGBTQ spouses at every available opportunity. Look at Vermont, the first state in the union to grant civil unions. By law, these unions, not incidentally only available to same sex couples, provide all the benefits that the state gives to married couples. But wait, even in friendly Vermont this doesn’t always pan out. One example, the Corporate Tax department refuses to acknowledge civil unions, thus subjecting same-sex spouses to tax penalties that married hetero couples don’t face. Bottom line, in this way, and in many others, the separate status of civil unions has not led to full equality.

Such Is Life

There was a time when I read every newspaper I could get my hands on. It gave me a vague idea of what was going on in the world, and plenty of fodder for a blog. So I started blogging. Now I spend my free time blogging, which leaves less time to know my subject matter. Solution? No more work!
Right.
Anybody want to be my sugar mama?
(Yes, B you can share the goodies)
(Or better yet, be the sugar mama).

In My Dreams

Foiled Again!

Geeze louise, is it me, or is the public library getting more prudish? I have this really snappy image to post, but can't view it. Why? Because it contains the word sex! Geeze lousie, that is one harsh filter. There are plenty of boring ways to use the word sex: biological sex, sex-ed, sex in missionary position-- you get the picture.

The quandry is this: I can't get too mad that would be biting the hand that feeds (my mind), provides me with internet, and is a constant source of nice librarians bearing good book recommendations.