24 December 2008

The Gift of Laughter

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a daily comic that may be the reason RSS Feeders were invented--





I don't know if there's a site for these. I just get them in emails from time to time--




Cyanide and Happiness is just what it sounds like: cynicism made funny--




The Fail Blog proves failure is funny--






Dinosaur Comics prove irrational fear is funny--

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15 December 2008

Why You Will Lose

- a three part series by playasinmar -

Part One – Hollywood’s Example

Hollywood has long portrayed gays as sympathetic victims of a Straights Only culture much to the ire of social conservatives. These portrayals have little to no effect on culture at large and are mainly for the entertainment of social liberals. These teleplays aren’t what I mean by Hollywood’s Example.

Have you noticed there aren’t any high-ranking gay actors? How many can you name off the top of your head? Ellen, Rosie, and Neil Patrick Harris are probably the best known. And their status in the Hollywood Universe: talk show host, vagrant comedian*, and sitcom actor.

Let’s look at the winners of Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress from the last five years: straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight. So why does Hollywood support the gay community if they aren’t deserving of their industry’s top honors?

Because they talk to, work with, dine with, and toast with gays. Gays are their friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

They know and therefore aren’t afraid of gays.

It will take time but it will happen everyone eventually. Unless you live on the moon or Northern Idaho you’ll meet one and you’ll undersand Hollywood’s Example: gays aren’t any different from straights. They’re just as fat/skinny, polite/rude, corrupt/virtuous, and detached/involved as everyone else.

That’s why the anti-gay bigots will lose.

*Poor Rosie. Now living life as a punchline.

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good video
.

03 November 2008

If You Read Only Seven Scriptures Today

...make it these seven

Jesus commanded, "…Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another."
(Book of Mormon, Mosiah 23:7)

"And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself."
(Doctrine and Covenants 38:24)

"And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men; That they should let no pride nor haughtiness disturb their peace; that every man should esteem his neighbor as himself…"
(Book of Mormon, Mosiah 27:3-4)

"We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others…."
(Doctrine and Covenants 134:4)

We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another [prohibited] in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied."
(Doctrine and Covenants 134:9)

"…it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds."
(Book of Mormon, Alma 30:7)




Please, vote No on 8.

20 October 2008

That Email

hey, L. havin' any luck keepin' me off northern lights?

You know that email. The one forwarded to you by every family member you’ve ever heard of and their podiatrist. The one titled “Six Consequences the Coalition Has Identified if Proposition 8 Fails.” It seeks to provide logical reasons why no sane person would allow for gay marriage.

Today wasn’t Christmas but I did awake today to find the internet had brought me the best gift I’d received in years: a rebuttal to “Six Consequences” written by a BYU Law School professor. This isn’t your average rebuttal. This is a rebuttal so razor-sharp it will slice the very air molecules between your eyes and the screen.

You can read it here.

I’ve always held to this tenant: You can believe what ever you want but your arguments need a rock-solid foundation. If I see foundational weakness I’ll tear it down. Or, as that PDF demonstrates, a BYU professor will do it for me.

I realize*, of course, there are other arguments than the six presented in that email. I only wish to point out the inherent fragility of the arguments used in this campaign. Arguments built on fear, exaggerated consequence, and flat-out fabrication.

And this isn’t just a weak foundation! The whole structure built upon it is thin and wafer-like. It’s an entire house built out of frickin’ graham crackers.

*In civilized society a learned person will use the “z” (or “zed” to the heathen) if the need to be taken seriously should arise.

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good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mP3FqUUAAw

18 October 2008

Good, Honorable Men

because shifting my IP address is simple, really

Mark over at Northern Lights had this to say:

"In an early post [on cranieum's blog] he describes his video game addiction history and his committment to his young family. Sometimes it’s just good to know that non-ssa guys struggle with unhealthy addictions but have the same desires to be good, honorable men."

Addiction? Hurumph!

Is it addiction to be loved by someone you actually love in return? Not platonic, not brotherly, not familial. Actual Love loving.

Is it addiction to be kissed by someone you actually enjoy kissing? Not a peck on the cheek or a brush of the lips. Actual Kiss kissing.

Is it addiction to sit next to someone you fully appreciate? Not thanks-for-toughing-this-out-for-eternity closeness or please-help-me-control-my-inconsolable-sobbing closeness. Actual Cuddle closeness.

And while we're on the subject of sobbing... wouldn't it be nice if sex didn't end that way?

I'm sure your spouse would appreciate it.

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good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liLVAf6ViAg

26 August 2008

Headlines I Await

there’s one reason and one reason alone I read the paper and that’s to one day stumble across one of the following headlines:

Son of Orson Scott Card: I’m Gay!

Orange County Mormon Choral Organization to Perform at Gay Weddings

Local Newspaper Employee Forced to Hire Personal Copy Editor

Local Lesbians Spend One Day Unconcerned With Men


Ty Mansfield Arrested Soliciting Male Prostitute
-or-
Ty’s New Pal is Not Real Gal


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good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ErAz7r7Bhs

20 August 2008

Growing Up

this post has nothing to do with the Orange County Mormon Choral Organization (OCMCO) but this other post does

It’s amazing just how young some people are. I’m not naming any names here but there are a lot of 11-year-old bloggers in our little corner of the intertubes. You know the type: emotional maturity stopped developing right after they figured out they were attracted to the wrong gender.

Never grew up, those Lost Boys*, did they?

It fascinates me to see that some of them have children. Some of them even have children older than 11! (If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to throw a tantrum better than your kids you need read no farther than John Galt’s blog.)

Also interesting to me is what happens when some of them suddenly decide to mature. AtP got himself a boyfriend and suddenly gets arrested for violating curfew. Curfew violation! Like a 15-year-old. He’s aged four years in five months!

*The term “Lost Boys” is used as a literary illusion to invoke the idea of a person who never grows up and is no way meant to exclude any lesbians from the thesis presented herein.

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good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmecyCCdknk