Category: Other People

NYT Sunday Styles: Reality of Gay Marriage:

The reality of gay marriage in Massachusetts has left some young people susceptible to the same sorts of pressures families have always levied on unwed children. Not long after the courts made gay marriage possible, Alison Rheingold, 34, who lives north of Boston and has been with her partner for six and a half years, began receiving inquiries from relatives about a wedding they presumed would happen right away.

The article closes with a gay lawyer quoting a New Yorker cartoon on the subject, to the effect that why the hell would gay people want to get married. The line I think of, of course, is the line “of course I’m in favor of gay marriage. I’m a divorce lawyer.”

Saturday night I saw Margaret Cho’s new show, Assassins. I think it’s a lot better than her previous show, “Revolution,” and possibly better than the previous “Notorious C.H.O.” Maybe it was because I saw it live, but her timing was great and she didn’t rely as much on mugging and long, drawn-out pauses the way she did in Revolution.

And the things she said about Laura Bush!

There was a group of annoying teenagers behind us, two or three girls and a couple boys, accompanied by the father of one of the girls, and halfway through the show, the grownup leaned to his daughter and whispered loudly you didn’t warn me.

I usually find those quiz things a waste of time– they have stupid questions, dumb answers, and don’t reveal anything. The PBS snob-o-meter for Manor House is a bit of a chuckle, but really I look down on the entire ‘o-meter’ business. (Yes, I scored more than half-way snob).

Robertson says Muslims shouldn’t be judges and also claims that God doesn’t directly cause tsunamis. Now, he earlier said that God would send hurricanes to Florida if they allowed gay parents to adopt. So… that was an idle threat, I guess? Yes, yes it was.

Also, left-wing media alert: Focus on the Family can get ad time, but gay-friendly churches cannot. Focus on the Family is basically a hate group, and they can get an ad on TV promoting their twisted child-rearing philosophy, while the United Church of Christ can’t get an ad out saying “all are welcome at our church?”

Yay, humanity.

Winning hearts and minds, yo. Winning hearts and minds.

I’ve decided I need to start saying “… and I am Marie of Roumania” more often. It’ll make things more exciting.

And it’s appropriate for more situations than the other phrase I’m currently in love with, “pick a goddamn lane, shitbird.”

Mimi Smartypants is the funniest shit I have seen in ages.

It’s shit like this that makes me fear for the future of our nation. Not because there are bigots but because working in education one should be able to be an honorable human being. But for some reason, we expect not honor but hypocrisy of those who teach our children. People of common sense and decency can get, hold, or keep jobs at any educational institution, I know– but I’d feel like a hypocrite having to toe the party line on so many things. I guess that’s the way it is.

I get a semi-regular mailing from T-Shirt Hell and this latest one was absolutely hysterical. Note for the record that I’m not actually opposed to children– I don’t want any of my own, but they sure are cute when they belong to other people. Nonetheless, read the T-Shirt Hell rant on them in the “Extended Entry” below.
Continue reading “A Hard Rain Gonna Fall”

Novell is one of the year’s top ten most ethical companies. Finally, recognition that I am, in fact, holier than thou!

My friend Petra points me to a scathing editorial about the latest recklessness from our dear leader: Which leaves us wondering what Mr. Bush’s next nomination will be. Donald Rumsfeld to negotiate a new set of Geneva Conventions? Martha Stewart to run the Securities and Exchange Commission? Kenneth Lay for energy secretary?

I’m sure the right has some defense for this. If you hate the very concept of international cooperation, have no respect for the aftermath of the world wars, and never really got the point of consensus or negotiation when it should be obvious God is on your side, it seems perfectly logical to appoint someone who has no respect for the job he’s about to do. Or, I guess, not do. Sounds like a good gig to me, really: “Hi, I’m an international gesture of ‘Fuck You.’ My job is to point out how much I don’t care about this position and this organization. Nothing you can say to me will ever make it back to my boss, and even if it did, it would have no effect on my boss or on our actions. So let’s just skip the negotiations and seminars and go right to the golf course, OK?”