Archive for August 2009

New Anti-Gay Religious Organization Says Sexual Relationships Belong to Married Heterosexuals

August 18, 2009 LGBT, Religion, Sex and Sexuality, WTF? 5 comments

On GayWallet.com this afternoon, I saw an ad for The Lighthouse Covenant, the newest anti-gay religious organization (like we needed another one, right?). I thought it was strange that the ad was running on a gay web site, so I clicked it. Here’s what I found:

If you affirm the following, you are welcome to partner with us:

We covenant to teach a high view of Scripture. We trust the Bible as the only final authority for all aspects of life.

We affirm an aggressive, positive stance on kingdom expansion and congregational growth.

We choose to advance the use of all spiritual gifts through unleashing the priesthood of all believers.

We teach and practice that a full sexual relationship belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a publicly committed marriage between one man and one woman.

We believe that mission and ministry is best accomplished within the context of congregations. Facilitating that mission and ministry should be the central focus of all expressions of the church.

I was so tempted to encourage GayWallet.com members to click on that ad just to blow the organization’s daily Adwords budget, but I opted to block the site instead. After blocking the site, I went back to see if they’re much of a threat. They’re not – at least not right now. It looks like a fairly new organization designed specifically to encourage its members to stand against gay rights issues. They made a rather lame (and confusing attempt) to justify point 4 in their mission statement:

Why do you make #4 a point? The rest sounds so missional. This sounds legalistic.

Answer: Every generation has its defining issue. In 1860, you had to say were you stand on slavery. Someday the sexuality issue will go away and there will be another defining issue. Clarity on the defining issue of the day frees a group up to do other things. Un-clarity leads to yet another round of discussion and lack of focus, therefore, on mission. It is ironic but true that clarity on divisive issues leads to less focus on them.

Anybody else confused with all that babble?

Perhaps The Lighthouse Convenant wants to take over as the new, younger generation of those old folks in the anti-gay religious organization AFA.

World War II Vet Gives Speech Supporting Gay Marriage Rights

August 18, 2009 LGBT 4 comments

A WWII veteran, husband of 50+ years and a father of 4 sons gave a really nice speech for full equality for gays and lesbians:

“We must have equal rights for everyone, it’s what this country was founded for.”

Video source: EqualityMaine

Dear Teenage Son: No, You Can’t Have Sex In My House

August 18, 2009 Parenting, WTF? 6 comments

I haven’t done a parenting post in ages, but that doesn’t mean my teenage boys haven’t given me plenty to write about, like: the time my 16 yr-old was placed on electronic monitoring, or the time I locked my 16 yr-old outside with his pillow and sleeping bag because he missed curfew, or the time the same 16 yr-old was picked up by the police at 8:30am for skipping school, or the time . . .

My son (let’s call him Juvie Delinquent – JD) is very popular with the ladies. I often ask him to turn the ringer off on the house phone because I get sick of hearing it ring. JD has a very jealous girlfriend who completely flips out when he takes more than 60 seconds to return her call (because she’s sure JD’s on the phone with another girl). JD and his girl (we’ll call her Nutcase) bicker constantly and sometimes I’m forced to send Nutcase home because they get so loud and obnoxious. Last night, JD and Nutcase decided it was okay for Nutcase to spend the night – in JD’s room, in JD’s bed.

What.the.fuck?

Since when . . .

What.the.hell?

Last night I went to bed pretty early and I told JD and Nutcase that she would have to leave no later than 10pm. I woke up pretty early this morning (5am) to get some work done. At about 8am, I noticed Nutcase was sleeping in JD’s bed. I woke him up and asked, “Did she spend the night here?” He said, “No, she came back really early this morning.” I said, “Really? How early? What time?” He paused. I waited for him to answer but he kept quiet. I said, “I was up at 5am so unless she came before then, she’s been here all night.”

I sent Nutcase home and told her she couldn’t come back for awhile.

What’s going on with kids these days? I was talking to my ex-girlfriend a week ago and she told me her girlfriend’s 18 yr-old son moved out the house because he was mad he couldn’t do the nasty with his girlfriend in his room. It’s his room, right – so he should be able to use it for the nasty, right?

Wrong!

No one gets to do the nasty in my house but me. I pay the bills, so I get to do the nasty where I pay the bills. That’s pretty much the way it works; but, for some reason, teenagers don’t get that.

I’m wondering about Nutcase’s mom. She didn’t notice her 16 yr-old daughter wasn’t home last night? Probably not, since I didn’t notice she was in my son’s bed all night.

Police Officer Bodyslams 80 Year Old Woman

August 18, 2009 WTF? No comments

Oh.my.gawd.

You decide if the police officer’s behavior was necessary.

Last year, another cop used excessive force and his superiors thought his behavior was unnecessary. His fellow officers believe he used excessive force, too.

Arizona Man Brings Military Style Assault Weapon to Obama Protest

August 18, 2009 Barack Obama, Bitch Slap, Politics, WTF? 4 comments

I support a person’s right to bear arms, but seriously, since when is it okay to bring a gun near the president? Oh wait . . . this president is Black so it’s perfectly acceptable, right?

About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested. [source]

Who wants to bet if someone brought a gun anywhere near a white Republican president, these anti-Obama Arizonians would call the gun-toter unpatriotic and demand he was arrested for threatening the president’s life.

Several Tweeters have suggested that if a Black man had shown up at a presidential protest with a gun, the media would be all over that shit – calling it a Black-on-Black hate crime. I’m willing to bet he’d probably be in jail, too.

Update: 4:15pm

I just found some great commentary on this issue:

Arlington, Va.: While I support gun ownership rights (within the legal framework), I see protesters “exercising their right” to carry a firearm at town hall protests as a form of intimidation. The reason for this is that I doubt (yes, I don’t have the facts) that they carry their firearms everywhere (home, work, supermarket, church, etc.). If they don’t, then they’re doing it to make a point, and that point seems to be the threat of violence.

I’d like to get feedback from you and others, in particular those with differing opinions, on this.

Rick Perlstein: Carrying a gun to a political meeting is an obscenity. Anyone who does it, even if they are within their legal rights, should be ashamed. Our founders fought a revolution (and, yes, took up arms) to build a society where political disputes are not settled through force or intimidation–and that’s the only purpose of bringing a weapon to a political discussion: to intimidate.

It is utterly unacceptable, and every politician should have the guts to say so. What worries me is that the people bringing weapons are hoping to have their weapons taken away, forcing a confrontation that will escalate; many of them, after all, quite frankly proclaim them “revolutionaries.”

I agree. The intent there was indeed intimidation. Unless he’s carrying his military style assault weapon with him to church, the grocery store and to pick up his kids from school, he was just being a bully when he carried that very weapon to an Obama protest.

Daily Tweet Digest

August 18, 2009 Twitter No comments

What I Posted on Twitter Yesterday:

  • 17:14 Why do people think the internet is the place where you’re supposed to act like you’re working a street corner? #
  • 17:19 Wednesday, 5pm ET: Obama on BlogTalkRadio discussing health care reform – tr.im/wzm2 #
  • 17:57 Best. Birthday. Weekend. Ever. cli.gs/7QPGH #

– Follow me on Twitter