Anagrams

TOMS A TRIM CHEYENNE HUNK
A TRIM CHEYENNE MONK TUSH
MR NUT A MINT CHEESE HONKY
A HOMY SHRUNK ENTICEMENT
OH MY A SHRUNK ENTICEMENT
MY OUT HENCHMEN A STINKER
OK SEMI HENCHMEN TRY A NUT
NO MY HENCHMEN TIES A TURK
I TRUST A MONKEY HENCHMEN
HENCHMEN KEN A MISTY ROUT
MY KEN IS A HENCHMEN TUTOR
I A MOST TURNKEY HENCHMEN
OMIT A HENCHMEN TRY NUKES
NUTS A HERETIC HYMEN MONK
KEN SMUT ON A HERETIC HYMN
HYMNS TUNE A HERETIC MONK
A NUTTY SMOKIER HENCHMEN
A NUTTY IRKSOME HENCHMEN
KERMIT A SNOUTY HENCHMEN

What is your favorite?

Know Thy Washington Neighbor

Mr Eyman has filed his challenge to the anti-discrimination bill:

Referendums, intended to give voters a say on laws passed by the Legislature, need 112,440 valid signatures to get on the ballot. The signatures have to be turned in within 90 days after the session ends. March 9 is the final day of this year's regular session.

Initiatives, on the other hand, are generally used to get new laws on the ballot but can be used to change existing law. Eyman would need 224,880 valid signatures to get an initiative to the people on the ballot, but has more time to do so. The signatures for an initiative don't have to be turned in until July 7.

I have an idea.

Why don't we run a project similar to KnowThyNeighbor.Org in Massachusetts?

Lets publish the names and addresses of everyone in Washington State who signs to support the Eyman-Hutcherson ballot initiative. It's been done before. I think it is both fair and reasonable to know who is against fairness and justice in Washington State.

Tim and Ken sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

Everyone's favorite media hungry opportunist and profiteer, Tim Eyman, has found a cause in common with the Reverend Ken Hutcherson.

Someone needs to tell Tim that hands on hips is like pursed lips...

From The Olympian:

Tim Eyman says he will file an initiative Monday to repeal the gay-rights bill narrowly adopted Friday by the state Senate.

The longtime initiative promoter said in an e-mail to supporters and the media late Sunday, "Politicians aren't thinking about what the voters want. Let the voters decide."

"Politicians are deciding based on special interest group pressure and their own re-election calculations," Eyman added. "The voters have watched this disgusting display of arrogance and selfishness for weeks. The issue has become hopelessly politicized."

Yes, a truly disgusting display of fairness and equality after 30 years in the wilderness for GLBT people in Washington State.

Eyman, who has made hundreds of thousands of dollars running initiatives, earlier this month filed Initiative 917 to repeal the vehicle weight fees imposed by lawmakers last year as part of an $8.5 billion, 16-year transportation plan.

That comes on the heels of I-912, with which Eyman did not get involved but which had help from talk radio and some of Eyman's typical supporters; I-912 sought to repeal the gas-tax portion of the transportation-tax package but failed at the polls in November.

Eyman said in his Sunday e-mail that he'll continue with I-917, too. He indicated that he would not comment to the media about the gay-rights initiative before Monday's filing.

Tim Eyman wouldn't be the first to profit from prejudice. We already know what ethical $tandard$ he holds to. I look forward to hearing his rationale for repealing this legislation. I can't imagine that it will have a fiscal basis, so it has to be more populist hoo-haa about politicians out of control and reclaiming our democracy. Does Tim really think our elected officials don't have to account for their actions when they face re-election? Lawmakers don't appear passive on Eyman's actions:

"It's sad. It's appalling. It's anti-American," state Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, said late Sunday when told of Eyman's latest ballot proposal.

"It's bullying, and it's a money-making scheme for his organization. It looks like he expects to make a lot of money from bullying innocent people. I think everybody should decline to sign."

The new measure targeting discrimination law will be filed at 11 a.m. It includes language forbidding sexual orientation or sexual preference as a protected class listed in anti-discrimination statutes. Rep. Hunt expressed outrage over the proposal.

"Tim Eyman, have you no shame?" Hunt said. "Eyman is stooping to a new low just to line his pockets and get a mailing list of bigots."

Hunt described himself as "pissed but sober," then added, referring to Eyman having dressed up as a prisoner during a legislative hearing last week: "If Tim Eyman is fond of wearing costumes, I suggest his next one be a white sheet and a pointy white hat. I just think it is a sad day for Washington what he is doing."

Representative Hunt gets awarded "Australian for a Day" for using "pissed but sober" correctly in a sentence.

In this marriage of political convenience at least, Tim Eyman and Ken Hutcherson are made for each other.

Insane amount of Comment Spam

I've been seeing an increasing amount of comment spam so I've had to enable word verification. Sorry for the extra step folks.

For some reason The Gay Curmudgeon is where all the Indian food spam ends up.

Blogspot/Google needs to identify and kill spam blogs more aggressively.

Why is this even a discussion?

I see that the previously localized insanity regarding a vaccine for the human papillomavrus (HPV) has spread to Australia.

Fast Facts on HPV:

• IT IS COMMON - HPV is the most common sexually transmitted viral infection in the U.S. It is estimated that 75% of the population has been exposed to HPV at one point in time, and at least half of U.S. adults have been infected, though not all with the deadliest strains.
• IT CAUSES CANCER - HPV can cause abnormal growths on the cervix which can sometimes turn cancerous.
• IT CAN'T BE EASILY DETECTED - Though detection methods for HPV are available, their effectiveness is limited. For example, the DNA test for HPV has only been approved by the FDA for women aged 30 and older. In women under 30, the test is used only when Pap test results are inconclusive.

Fast Fact on the Vaccines:

• THEY ARE EFFECTIVE - Merck's experimental vaccine, called Gardasil, targeting the four HPV strains that are most likely to cause cervical cancer or genital warts was 89% effective in preventing infection with the viral strains and 100% effective in preventing cervical cancer, precancerous lesions or genital warts. GlaxoSmithKline research regarding the effectiveness and safety of their experimental HPV vaccine that targets strains 16 and 18, called Cervarix, are "almost identical" to the Merck findings.

I like The Nation's take on this:

HPV is not only an incredibly widespread sexually transmitted infection but is responsible for at least 70 percent of cases of cervical cancer, which is diagnosed in 10,000 American women a year and kills 4,000. Wonderful, you are probably thinking, all we need to do is vaccinate girls (and boys too for good measure) before they become sexually active, around puberty, and HPV--and, in thirty or forty years, seven in ten cases of cervical cancer--goes poof.

Not so fast: We're living in God's country now. The Christian right doesn't like the sound of this vaccine at all. "Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful," Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council told the British magazine New Scientist, "because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex."

Raise your hand if you think that what is keeping girls virgins now is the threat of getting cervical cancer when they are 60 from a disease they've probably never heard of.

I think holding an unnecessary and premature death over teens as a supposed deterrent to having sex is futile and extreme. More proof that "pro-life" is just empty political rhetoric.

What is it with these right-wing Christians? Faced with a choice between sex and death, they choose death every time.

Moral arguments are orthogonal to this issue. There is a virus. It kills some people. It can't be reliably detected. These vaccines work. They can prevent the infections and deaths.

Why are we still talking about this?

The Nation swerves into the neighboring territory of abortion and contraception, and raises a point that has baffled me for years:

As they flex their political muscle, right-wing Christians increasingly reveal their condescending view of women as moral children who need to be kept in line sexually by fear. That's why antichoicers will never answer the call of prochoicers to join them in reducing abortions by making birth control more widely available: They want it to be less available.

Their real interest goes way beyond protecting fetuses--it's in keeping sex tied to reproduction to keep women in their place. If preventing abortion was what they cared about, they'd be giving birth control and emergency contraception away on street corners instead of supporting pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions and hospitals that don't tell rape victims about the existence of EC.

If abortion is bad, then surely contraception of any kind is less bad.

Following is a partial list of groups in the USA who are against broad vaccinations of teens for HPV - let's call them Pro-Death Moralists:

• Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership
• Family Research Council
• Physicians Consortium
• Abstinence Clearinghouse
• American Family Association and it's reality free publication "Agape Press"
• Focus on the Family Concerned Women for America and their Culture and Family Institute

Now I'm intrigued to build the same list for Australia. I wonder if we'll see a correlation?

Dinner Menu Blogging

We had friends over for dinner last night.

• Cheeses (Whisky Cheddar, Fromage D'Affinois, a very small and firm round of goat cheese and Sheeps milk that escapes me) with an emerging favorite Lucien Albrecht Brut Rose Champagne
• Pumpkin (Butternut Squash) and Marsala Soup garnished with toasted Pumpkin seeds and Paprika served with a cheerful little Chablis Premier Les Fourneaux 2004 from Alain Gautheron
• Roasted Rack of Lamb with a fresh Moroccan Spice Rub, Organic Baby Carrots and Fingerling Potatoes served with a solid but not sublime 1997 Penfolds Bin 707 from 1997 (there is a reason that Costco got such a large allocation of that vintage)
• Creme Brulee and Coffee

He Who Must Be Obeyed made the Creme Brulee so he got to use the blowtorch. He'll tell you that it was a more even division of labor, but I know its really his reasonable and quite justifiable fear of my own rampant pyromania.

Next time, it's my turn with the blowtorch.

Why are Republicans lying to America?

Finally someone has done the analysis of Abramoff money trail. Kudos to The American Prospect for engaging Dwight L. Morris and Associates, a for-profit firm specializing in campaign finance, to complete the research. Hat tip to Talking Points Memo via Crooks and Liars.

The most import metric for me is the percentage change in donations from Abramoff clients to each party before and after Abramoff was engaged as their lobbyist:

• Abramoff Client donations to Republicans....+135%
• Abramoff Client donations to Democrats......-9%
• Seeing through Republican Talking Points...PRICELESS

This is the one simple point on this scandal that Democrats need to drive home relentlessly: "Democrats got no money from Abramoff and donations by Abramoff clients to Democrats went down while donations to Republicans more than doubled."

The analysis shows:

• in total, the donations of Abramoff’s tribal clients to Democrats dropped by nine percent after they hired him, while their donations to Republicans more than doubled, increasing by 135 percent after they signed him up;
• five out of seven of Abramoff’s tribal clients vastly favored Republican candidates over Democratic ones;
• four of the seven began giving substantially more to Republicans than Democrats after he took them on;
• Abramoff’s clients gave well over twice as much to Republicans than Democrats, while tribes not affiliated with Abramoff gave well over twice as much to Democrats than the GOP -- exactly the reverse pattern.

“It’s very hard to see the donations of Abramoff’s clients as a bipartisan greasing of the wheels,” Morris, the firm’s founder and a former investigations editor at the Los Angeles Times, told The Prospect.

Color me shocked. Shocked I tell you. Here is the detail:

Taken together, Abramoff’s tribal clients gave $868,890 to Dems before hiring him; afterwards, they gave $794,483 -- a decrease of nine percent. By contrast, the tribes’ donations to Republicans went from $786,560 pre-Abramoff to $1,845,975 after he became their lobbyist -- an increase of 135 percent. In other words, when Abramoff entered the picture, contributions to Dems dropped, while donations to Republicans more than doubled.

More. Than. Doubled.

Adding to the case, the Morris firm also did a year-by-year analysis, from 1991
to the present, of the giving of scores of tribes -- Abramoff’s clients included. The firm’s look at the year-by-year giving of his clients is eye-opening. It shows even more clearly that in some cases clients’ giving to the GOP jumped dramatically just after Abramoff signed them.

How closely is Jack Abramoff connected to President Bush and Bush Administration Staff? Why won't Scotty tell us who Jack Abramoff has met with in the White House?

INTRIGUE

INVESTIGATION

IMPEACHMENT

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

No Gay Discrimination (this time) because it's God's will

This is why anti-discrimination legislation like Washington State's HB2661 is needed. Here is a whole article designed to justify the hiring of Chad Allen, an actor who is openly gay, in the role of a missionary in the film End of the Spear, and explain how it happened to mollify Christians upset with that decision. Hat tip to Joe Perez at the excellent Gay Spirituality and Culture blog.

In the article at Christianity Today Movies:

Allen told Christianity Today Movies that he didn't tell End of the Spear's filmmakers about his sexuality until after they had offered him the job in late 2003. The filmmakers also say they didn't know about Allen's lifestyle until after they offered him a contract, but they felt obliged to honor it even though it had not yet been signed.

"We found out Chad was gay after we offered him the parts," said executive producer Mart Green of Every Tribe Entertainment, the production company behind the movie. "We felt like when we offered him the contract, we were obligated to honor it."

Full marks to Every Tribe Entertainment for their just and ethical action on this. Here is the interesting bit:

"To be honest," Green said, "I would not have hired Chad had I known everything
about him. But God had to work around me to get Chad on this project. He wanted Chad on this project. I wish I were able to articulate all the things that led me to understand that. It is very hard to share the ways the Lord leads, especially when you can't fully grasp why he is doing things that don't make sense to the natural man.

Failing to hire him because he is gay would have been clear discrimination against an otherwise fully qualified person. It's real, it happens and it is very under-reported. I look forward to the time when a PR campaign isn't nessecary to provide air-cover for doing what is fair and just.

I have heard that God is still speaking. Thankfully it seems some Christians are still listening.

Long time coming...

After three decades of effort, Anti-discrimination Protection for GLBT people in Washington State is finally law. It was close and there were impassioned speeches on both sides:

ESHB 2661
Senate vote on 3rd Reading & Final Passage
as Amended by the Senate
1/27/2006

Yeas: 25

Nays: 23

Absent: 0

Excused: 1

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Finkbeiner, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Jacobsen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Thibaudeau, and Weinstein.

Voting Nay: Senators Benson, Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Deccio, Delvin, Esser, Hargrove, Hewitt, Honeyford, Johnson, Morton, Mulliken, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Roach, Schmidt, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli.

Absent:

Excused: Senator McCaslin.

Congratulations to all those who have been working so hard, for so long to get this basic legislation passed. Let's celebrate tonight and get up tomorrow with the goal of moving the speed of progress from "Glacial" to "Lava-flow".

On the knifes edge

Today, this is just the way it is:

• A gay business owner cannot refuse to hire a person on the basis of their religious belief.
• A religious business owner can legally refuse to hire a person because they are gay or lesbian.
• A gay property owner cannot refuse to rent to a family based on their religious beliefs.
• A religious property owner can refuse to rent to a family because they are lesbian or gay.

Now, try telling me again how religion and religious freedom is supposedly "under attack" by "powerful" gays and lesbians in Washington State. With so many lesbians and gays of faith in Washington State, that hardly seems likely or in their own self interest, does it?

The Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill (HB2661) comes to the floor of the Washington state senate for a vote today between 10:00am and 12:00pm.

Will today mark a miniscule movement towards fairness and equality, or a continuation of the decades long darkness for GLBT people in Washington?

Can Hutch do anything right?

No surprises here. Hutch plans a ballot initiative to repeal HB2661.

Hutch is supposedly using numbers from the Seattle Office for Civil Rights that were quoted in a recent Seattle Times article. The article pointed out that sexual orientation bias cases have been rare and hard to prove. Above he claims that there were only 8 such cases in the last 5 years.

In typical Hutch fashion he gets it dead wrong. From the Seattle Times:

Discrimination complaints in Seattle

In the half-dozen local jurisdictions in Washington with ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, few complaints have been filed on that basis. These numbers represent complaints over five years to the Seattle Office for Civil Rights:

Total discrimination cases

• 2000 - 200
• 2001 - 213
• 2002 - 213
• 2003 - 211
• 2004 - 253
• 2005 - 146

Sexual-orientation cases

• 2000 - 12
• 2001 - 19
• 2002 - 11
• 2003 - 10
• 2004 - 21
• 2005 - 8

Source: Seattle Office for Civil Rights

By my reckoning there have been 69 sexual orientation based cases in the last 5 years.

Is Hutch confused by god for his own wickedness, incapable of simple math, as his masterful stock-dumping plan would suggest, or is he just lying?

From these numbers it looks as though anti-discrimination protection for GLBT folks is desperately needed. And there is little doubt that the vast percentage of GLBT discrimination goes unreported. That so few of these cases are ever successfully prosecuted is hardly an inducement to report them.

According to Hutch there is a threshold at which anti-discrimination protection is no longer needed. The circular logic of his argument says that the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill is unnecessary because there have been so few complaints.

What an interesting idea.

The friendly people at the Seattle Office for Civil Rights found some other interesting numbers for me. Here are the cases of Religious Discrimination reported for the same period (2001 through 2005):

• 1 - Southern Baptist
• 1 - Protestant
• 1 - Catholic
• 1 - Agnostic
• 3 - Jewish
• 14 - Muslim
• 3 - Other

There have been a total of 24 cases of religious discrimination even though it has long been a protected class in our society.

Using Hutchs' own argument, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Seattle are more in need of anti-discrimination protection than his own religion or all religions put together.

For a pastor who is meant to be ministering to the needs of his flock and doing charitable works, he sure spends a lot of time trying to make the lives of lesbians and gays unpleasant.

What with ineffective boycotts against Microsoft, futile Stock Manipulation Conspiracies violating SEC legislation, and now a mean-spirited ballot initiative to repeal a law that is barely even five hours old.

Where does he get the time?

God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.

I was sitting near Robert Scoble earlier this week and I was struck by the resemblance that Philip Seymour Hoffman bears to him.

It seems this isn't a new observation, but the comparison images are a very small sample and, in my curmudgeonly opinion, do not adequately illustrate the point. So, in a fit of truly compulsive behavior, I spent an undisclosed period of time trolling around for images that highlight this observation.


A more competent colleague assembled these images together for me. When I was explaining what I wanted he didn't know who Philip Seymour Hoffman was, but said "I've always thought Scoble looked like the crazy friend in Along came Polly." It will be no surprise to you, gentle reader, that the role of Sandy Lyle was played by the aforementioned Philip Seymour Hoffman.

When they make the seminal biopic film about the rise of geek blogging in general and Scoble in particular, Philip Seymour Hoffman is the actor for the job. After playing Capote, I'm sure getting under the skin of another writer will be a familiar challenge.

But more interestingly, when Philip Seymour Hoffman needs a stand-in, stunt double or an on-screen twin it's clear that Scoble is the full-contact blogger for the job.

Now, how do we get Scoble his first Equity and SAG gigs?

Happy Australia Day!

It's an aussie thing, you wouldn't understand...

Today, I turned this up to 11

LIES

You read the paper, watch the news and think
You're well informed
I’ve got some new for you my friend
That headline that you read, the story that broke
Was a scandle and a scam, a political master stroke
They tell you what they want you to hear
So close your eyes and open your ears

It’s easier that way when you don’t have to
Think for your self you say
I tell you no lies
I read it all in black and white
It was on my TV – they were telling me just what to believe
I tell you no lies – all the while they’re tellin you lies

Everyday you and me, we see what we are shown
It’s hard to scratch below
The people at the top, are hidden far from view
They’re not goin' to show their faces
To the likes of me and you
You never see them on the street
Always see the things that they do

They know they can get away and no price is too
High for them to pay

I tell you no lies.
It’s very simple it’s in black and white
It’s on your TV – we got every thing you need to believe
I tell you no lies – and all the while they are telling you lies

- The Waifs

There is little in life as disturbing as this...

It's not my fault. Fitz made me do it.

Hutch's Illegal Buy-and-Dump Conspiracy

In another pathetic and cynically attention seeking move, the good Reverend Ken Hutchenson is now urging followers to violate existing securities law to prevent passing new anti-discrimination law.

From the Securities Law Weblog:

Pastor Urges Followers To Securities Fraud

A pastor who has threatened a boycott of Microsoft has apparently taken another tact - he wants his followers to buy up Microsoft's stock and then dump it on May 1.

I can't imagine what this guy is thinking. Microsoft has a market cap of 280 BILLION DOLLARS. It trades an average of 60 MILLION shares a day, has 10 BILLION shares outstanding. Not to mention that over 60% of its float is held by insiders and institutions.

But the good reverend has got this all figured out. He wants everyone to buy one or two shares, and then dump them on May 1, to drive the price down, presumably to punish Microsoft for not caving to his demands.

Lets see, he will need to have his followers sell something like 30 million shares on May 1. If each of his followers buy 2 shares...are there that many people in the entire state of Washington?

The Washington State population was projected at 6,203,788 in 2004. About 25.7% of the population at under 18 years and unlikely to be buying and trading stock. That leaves 4,609,414 people. If every one of them buy two shares of Microsoft stock that will give them 9,218,828 of the 10,000,000,000 outstanding shares, let's call it 0.092% of outstanding stock and 15.36% of the total Microsoft stock traded in a single day. Even at the most enthusiastic estimate it's just not enough to make a dent.

And what happens on May 2, assuming this happens? If the stock moves at all, it undoubtedly pops right back up.

The stock has been very steady for a very long period even with material happenings like earnings statements and legal decisions involving the company being announced. I hold Microsoft stock and I'm not concerned by this big-noting bigot blowhard.

Has anyone taken a look to see if the pastor has a position in the stock?

That is a great question. A personal interest by Hutch or a stock holding in the name of Antioch Bible Church would make this much more interesting.

And didn't he just attempt to conspire to violate the securities laws?

Yes, he did. I'm not holding my breath for justice on that score. If I'd been holding my breath for justice on anti-discrimination in Washington State I'd have been dead close on 30 years by now.

Bragging Frist's Veracious Tryst

Uh oh.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Republican Party activists on Friday night that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was the "worst nightmare of liberal Democrats."

I always find it amusing when someone who knows the talking points very well abandons them for adventures in spontaneity and veracity.

Frist, a Tennessee Republican, made the remark to fellow Republicans during a private tour he gave them of the Senate chamber when the Senate was not in session.

Frist was not available for comment following his remarks.

Well, obviously it's hard to comment when you're out in the woodshed opening a can of whoop-ass on yourself. Please write on the board 9000 times:

"I will not brag, even in private, about how extreme our judicial nominees are until after they are confirmed."

Asked about the senator's remark, Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said that Alito "is a thoughtful mainstream conservative jurist who is well respected by his peers, by Democrats and Republicans alike."

After hearing the truth the talking point doesn't stand up that well, does it?

John Howard really chaps my arse

Hat tip to nikscott.com

Finally, Lt. Laurel Hester gets her dying wish

After months of refusal and stonewalling, the Ocean County freeholders are scheduled to vote Wednesday to extend pension benefits to the domestic partner of Lt. Laurel Hester and other members of the Police and Fire Retirement System. Hat tip to BlueJersey.net:

Hester is a a 24-year police officer with the county prosecutor’s office who is dying of cancer. She personally requested the benefits from the board so that her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, could have the same pension rights that surviving spouses of county employees enjoy.

Despite widespread protests and public condemnation of the freeholders—some of whom cited the “sanctity of marriage” as a defense—Ocean County has refused to budge. Several other counties, however, have since acted to extend domestic partner benefits to their employees.

I'm very glad for Laurel and Stacie. Reading the article, this caught my attention:

The decision came after a political teleconference among the Republican leaders
of the county yesterday afternoon.

It sounds like the PR pain of the injustice was becoming a local and not-so-local electoral liability. My guess is that someone with a clue in the republican apparatus realized holding the line against a dying woman and her partner was a big loser, and something that no voter would quickly forget.

It also raised the problem in communities where this had not yet become an issue. They got word that is was doing more damage than good and decided the best action was to give in and manage the PR impact to neutral.

I'm happy that the right thing happened. I just wish it had been for the right reason.

Yes, it is in the genes.

For a change of pace, let's hear from the reality-based world of peer reviewed science. This research caught my eye this week:

Extreme skewing of X chromosome inactivation in mothers of homosexual men

By Sven Bocklandt (1)(3)(4) , Steve Horvath (1)(2), Eric Vilain (1) and Dean H. Hamer (3)

(1) Department of Human Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
(2) Department of Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
(3) Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
(4) Gonda 5524, 695 Charles Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7088, USA

Received: 6 September 2005 Accepted: 1 December 2005 Published online: 21 December 2005

Abstract Human sexual preference is a sexually dimorphic trait with a substantial genetic component. Linkage of male sexual orientation to markers on the X chromosome has been reported in some families. Here, we measured X chromosome inactivation ratios in 97 mothers of homosexual men and 103 age-matched control women without gay sons. The number of women with extreme skewing of X-inactivation was significantly higher in mothers of gay men (13/97=13%) compared to controls (4/103=4%) and increased in mothers with two or more gay sons (10/44=23%). Our findings support a role for the X chromosome in regulating sexual orientation in a subgroup of gay men.

I am not a medical research scientist nor do I play one on television. Despite this, even my curmudgeonly mind can see that science has, once again, exploded the myths of choice and "immorality". Hat tip to the folks at Scientific Gay.

Houses are Time Machines

We remodelled our kitchen and bathroom in 2004. On the day they did demolition for the bathroom the contractors found this message above a false ceiling. It's written on the original lathe and plaster ceiling:

"May 11 1953
8:00pm
Mother playing Canasta
Neil at St. Martins
Judy at home,
Me killing time"

A 1950s Bathroom Blogger. Messages from the past like this get into my head. Almost two years after finding this I still wonder about who wrote it.

What was their life like? How is remodelling your bathroom yourself "killing time"?

And what were they thinking when they put that mint green tub in? 

This close and not wrestling...

It's miraculous.

Somedays I swear these two think they are on a photo shoot. That's why we have to keep the digital camera handy. 

Give it up, Scotty

The role of the White House Press Secretary to protect the President and the administration isn't new. But Scott McClellan has certainly moved the level of misdirection, misinformation and plain stonewalling to a whole new level. Holding back so much must keep him under enormous pressure.

This is why reading the gaggle transcripts at Editor and Publisher has become one of my guilty pleasures.

The latest revelation is that highly toxic lobbyist Jack Abramoff attended "a few staff-level meetings" at the White House. But despite repeated and insistent questioning Scotty isn't telling how many meetings there were or who Abramoff met with.

In the case of the January 17th gaggle, Scotty appears to be alternately deaf, helpful, forgetful and confrontational. He's daring the press to make a specific allegation or shut-the-hell-up. This is my favorite section:

Q Would you qualify it as senior staff that he met with here?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm just saying staff-level meetings is the way I would describe it. And if you have anything specific, I'll be glad to take a look into it.

Q Well, we're counting on you for the specifics --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if there's any reason for me to check into it, please bring it to my attention.

Q He's pled guilty to some serious charges.

MR. McCLELLAN: And so are you insinuating something?

Q We're just trying to find out the facts.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if you've got something to bring to my attention, do so, and then I'll be glad to look into it.

Q Scott, that's not a fair burden to place on us. This is a guy who is a tainted lobbyist, and he has connections -- we want to know -- with whom in the White House. You shouldn't demand that we give you something specific to go check it out. I mean, this guy is radioactive in Washington. And he knows guys like Karl Rove. So did he meet with him or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: I know of nothing that --

Q Don't put it on us to bring something specific. It's a specific question about a specific individual.

Q Can you tell us if he met with Karl Rove?

MR. McCLELLAN: Because we don't discuss staff-level meetings --

I understand that it's an honor to serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States, but isn't there a point where your personal integrity has to kick in?

What do Jack Abramoff and Karl Rove have in common?

Both are former heads of those whacky, zany, hawkish but military service averse College Republicans. Those College Republicans chapters are starting to sound like spawning grounds for all kinds of shenanigans.

Here, in a prescient moment, Karl is modelling his manful and defiant "getting handcuffed" stance.

HB2661 Passes Washington State House, again.

Just moments ago, the Washington State House passed the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill. Again.

ESHB 2661
House vote on Final Passage
1/20/2006

Yeas: 60

Nays: 37
Absent: 0
Excused: 1

Voting Yea: Representatives Appleton, Blake, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eickmeyer, Ericks, Flannigan, Fromhold, Grant, Green, Haigh, Hankins, Hasegawa, Hudgins, Hunt, Hunter, Jarrett, Kagi, Kenney, Kessler, Kilmer, Kirby, Lantz, Linville, Lovick, McDermott, McIntire, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Murray, O'Brien, Ormsby, Pettigrew, Priest, Quall, Roberts, Santos, Schual-Berke, Sells, Shabro, Simpson, Sommers, Springer, Sullivan, B., Sullivan, P., Takko, Tom, Upthegrove, Wallace, Walsh, Williams, Wood, and Mr. Speaker.

Voting Nay: Representatives Ahern, Alexander, Anderson, Armstrong, Bailey, Buck, Buri, Campbell, Chandler, Clements, Condotta, Cox, Crouse, Curtis, DeBolt, Dunn, Ericksen, Haler, Hinkle, Holmquist, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, McDonald, Newhouse, Nixon, Orcutt, Pearson, Roach, Rodne, Schindler, Serben, Skinner, Strow, Sump, Talcott, and Woods.

Absent:

Excused: Representative McCoy.

Now HB2661 goes to the Washington State Senate. Again

"But am I bitter? Absolutely!"

Listening to Prejudice

Earlier this week I listened to the public hearings on the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill which is designated as HB 2661 in this new session of the Washington State Legislature.

This bill will make it illegal to discriminate against lesbians and gays in employment and housing. That's it. Nothing else. Nothing to do with religion. Nothing to do with marriage. Just getting the same protection that religion has enjoyed against discrimination for years.

Listening to the hysterical (both kinds) public testimony at the hearings this week, you could be forgiven for thinking that HB2661 would grant supreme executive power to a Grand High Council of Fags and Dykes for Hastening the Inevitable Rapture.

Religion has always been a basis for discrimination. The Founding Fathers of the United States of America knew it. And one has only to look at the current plight of moderate Muslims in the US to see that truth of it. I support freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination on the basis of religion. It is one of the many reasons that I recently joined the ACLU who work to protect that freedom.

But listening to the public testimony on HB2661 brought one thing home to me with a resounding crack in my curmudgeonly brain-pan - that most religions and the most vocal religious people don't return the favor.

They will say anything. Reach for the most spectacular hyperbole. Make up the most heinous lies. Use the most hateful, demeaning language. Twist existing laws in terrible ways. Use their religion as a justification and sheild for their fear and ignorance.

All of this just to preserve their ability to fire and evict people they percieve to be GLBT. Metrosexuals beware!

Listening to the arguments that the opponents of HB2661 put forward, I have to ask:

Why is religion a protected class?

If I follow the arguments I heard correctly, one of the key reasons put forward that GLBT folks don't deserve protection as a class is that being GLBT is a choice, it is not genetic (despite the evidence to the contrary), is not immutable and can be concealed.

Doesn't this describe religion perfectly?

Based on their own arguments, the presence of religion as a protected class in anti-discrimination law is a proof that GLBT people also qualify for that protection. As if the dramatic increase in reported hate crimes and discrimination against GLBT people isn't enough motivation.

It's time for almost 30 years of legal discrimination in Washington State to end.

The Washington State Legislature is considering HB2661 now. I'm going to Olympia next week to have my voice heard.

The Prejudice Map

I have travelled some and found this Prejudice Map interesting.

It says that Australians are known for:

"no nonsense, uncomplicated friendliness, directness and obsession with sport"

And that Americans are known for:

"strength, dislike of walking, geniality and hospitality, guarding their rights, and anti-muslim politics"

Finally, Canadians are known for:

"cultural diversity, humility and kindness, liking their beer, being tolerant."

Thinking about these summaries it sounds like Canada is the more attractive set of attributes.

Bush wants Google's data on you

Do you even care? Hat tip to Google Blogscoped.

Satya

I make it a habit to read a lot of blogs. I make special effort to read blogs that put forward views and perspectives that are radically different from my own.

I find that through understanding the thoughts, ideas and feelings of others I can reach a better understanding of myself and the world we are creating around us.

Sometimes the core of what people believe is easily divined. Sometimes people hide what they really believe behind a plausibly argued idealogy.

Sometimes the gaps in our mutual understanding seem completely insurmountable. Sometimes it is as though we live in totally different states of being with no possibility of ever really connecting.

Sometimes it is as sad and futile as a box-girder bridge that desperately wants to pick up a kitten. Sometimes, for a few electric moments, we really do understand what is outside and other than ourselves.

And the elation and memory of that, of understanding a truth, is as heady as it is shortlived. I wish we could hold it fast. I wish it would happen again.

Until then, waiting is.

Brodeur's Dead On with "Pious peashooter misfires"

Nicole Brodeur at the Seattle Times get's it right.

We first heard Hutcherson's message of intolerance last year when he called for a boycott of Microsoft after the company supported the gay-rights bill being debated in Olympia.

Microsoft pulled its support, but then came to its senses, dismissing Hutcherson's threats. The bill failed anyway. Now that the Legislature is calling for another gay-rights vote, Hutcherson is blustering about another boycott of any company that supports it.

Aside from this being preposterous (how exactly does one boycott Microsoft?), Hutcherson also proved to have lousy timing.

Last Monday may have seemed like a good day to aim his pious peashooter, what with lawmakers headed to Olympia.

But it was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day — named for a man who preached tolerance.

My point exactly. And how smart can this guy be? I mean, if you wanted to pick a worse day for an African American man of faith and pastor to announce his opposition to equality and civil rights, could you think of one?

Hat tip to Mike Tidmus for this image based on a photo by Mike Siegal, of the Seattle Times.

Ms Brodeur continues:

State Republicans are doing no better. Their main spokesman when it comes to gay rights is Sen. Dan Swecker of Thurston County, who doesn't serve on a single committee that deals with gay-rights legislation.

"I'm not a scholar, but I did a lot of reading," Swecker told The Seattle Times. "It became obvious to me that homosexuality is in the area of sin."

So much for seperation of church and state. That'll really stick it to the atheists and heretics.

Hutcherson was a little more specific.

"We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," he told The Associated Press. "Check out the past presidential election. We made the moral issue the No. 1 issue."

So is it moral to deny gays and lesbians equal access to housing? Health care? Insurance and jobs? Does he believe gays should be sick and unemployed and turned out into the street, simply because of who they love?

What would Dr. King say?

Hutcherson couldn't tell me. He wouldn't return my phone calls.

Of course not. It's a losing game to defend the indefensible. That's why shills like Hutch play to their own gallery.

Oh my god, what is that thing hovering over me?

Ah, that's right. It's the Australian Government's noxious cloud of fear and prejudice that follows gay and lesbian Australians no matter where they go in the world.

Even when South Africa still had apartheid they didn't try and enforce it on their citizens outside their own country.

Hutch dishonors the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the day when the rest of America honored the life and vision of Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Hutcherson decided to spit on the King legacy of civil rights and justice for all. His pre-announcement of a boycott against employers in Washington State who are against discrimination and for equality, on this day of all days, is mind-boggling.

No, more than that. The sadness and irony of this is heartbreaking. That someone must remind an African American man, a man of faith and a minister, of Dr King's words:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

- Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'

- Martin Luther King Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963

The boycott will not accomplish what he hopes. Truth and Justice have a way of winning through against callous ignorance and calculating ambition. People will see this for what it is.

Opportunist, discriminatory, hypocritical, self-promoting, unjust and very, very sad.

Golden Globes honor "Brokeback Mountain"

In a haul that is sure to have conservatives wailing about the "terrorist-loving, pro-death, liberal media fag-o-matic conspiracy", the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded four Golden Globes to "Brokeback Mountain" in the following categories:

• Best Motion Picture - Drama
• Best Director - Motion Picture
• Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
• Best Original Song - Motion Picture

The clock starts now to see which attention seeking conservative whack-job denounces the awards given to this film. I fully expect that Transamerica, also honored last night, will get its share of attention from some personality teetering on the edge of reality.

Hutch is going after Microsoft again

What joy is ours. Radio Station KUOW NPR in Seattle is reporting that Reverend Hutcherson from Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Washington will be announcing a boycott of Microsoft on Thursday January 19th, 2006 in response to Microsoft Corporation’s backing of the Washington State Anti-Discrimination bill.

I wish this guy would just get a hobby.

Satyagraha

Satyagraha is the philosophy of non-violent resistance that was used by Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. I have been thinking about this concept a good deal in the last few months. From Wikipedia:

Satya is Sanskrit for Truth, and Agraha is used to describe an effort, endeavor. The term itself may be construed to mean any effort to discover, discern, obtain or apply Truth. The word is rooted in Sanskrit, Hindi and Gujarati.

The three principles of Satyagraha are:

1. Satya - truth; implying openness, honesty, and fairness.
2. Ahimsa - refusal to inflict injury upon others.
3. Tapasya - willingness for self-sacrifice.

Satyagraha has also been translated as "soulforce". I have been thinking about how to apply these principles in my own life.

It is harder than it seems.

The Seduction of Flavour

Growing up we were a solid "Meat and three vegetable" family. Being from Irish stock, it might well be encoded into our family DNA. There are some things from the old family menu that I still crave and indulge in - Shepherd's Pie, with lamb of course, a Roasted Chicken, or a leg of Lamb or Pork for dinner on Sunday evening are all special treats. But growing up in an Australia awash in multi-cultural influences on food and wine opened my eyes, ears, nose and mouth to how much more there was to experience with food and wine.

After I moved out of home to share a place with a friend in Balmain, I had the raw curiosity for new aromas, textures and flavours but little experience or confidence to prompt my own experimentation. That we are not taught the basics of how to cook as a simple survival skill is a scandal that I'll leave simmering on the burner for some other time.

Balmain itself and inner west of Sydney around it had, and still has, a strong and competitive restaurant and cafe culture. I ate Indian and Thai, Japanese and Chinese, Malaysian and Polynesian, Moroccan and Italian, Greek and Lebanese. I also ate at many fusion restaurants where classifying the food was beyond my small but growing vocabulary.

When I moved from Sydney to Seattle I adjusted to the short winter days and the misty rainfall without too much trouble. But the food was a little more challenging. My first visit to a supermarket in this country involved a 45 minute investigation to get a breakfast cereal that was fairly healthy and might taste good. Restaurant food in Seattle seemed strangely homogenized compared to my experiences in Sydney. Asian and Indian food especially so.

Looking for a delicious hot laksa was an exercise in futility.

Trying to explain to friends here what I felt was missing led to a new problem.

Me: "Food here seems dumbed down, overwrought somehow..."
Them: "What do you mean?"
Me: "I'm not sure, it's just different from home."
Them: "Well, what is Australian food like?"

I suddenly realized that I didn't have any idea how to explain or describe the Australian cuisine. This preyed on my mind for several months until one day I was browsing the gargantuan book tables at a local Costco warehouse. I found a book that purported to be an Australian cookbook. Discovering these supposedly Australian products usually begins an hilarious episode of mocking and chortling that earns us surprised stares from other shoppers. To whit, the popular and entirely fictional "Australian Toaster Biscuit" which is wrong in so many ways.

This time was different. As I leafed through the book, I realized that the recipes had been collected from famous restaurants around the country and as they went through the regions and talked about the influences of immigration, the freshness, zest and fun of Australian food and cooking crystallized in my mind. Despite it being one of the prettiest and glossiest cookbooks I'd ever seen, I bought it. The first thing I made from it was a Sticky Toffee Date Pudding that reminded me of a Ginger Pudding with Caramel sauce that I used to get from Caffe Troppo in the dead of Sydney's winter. And lo, it was very good.

Now I'm all over the map. I am a big fan of complexity and spicyness of any Asian and Indian cooking and of the richness and simplicity of French cooking. A holiday in Oregon is likely to involve as much time in the cookbook section at Powells as we might spend at any winery in the Willamette Valley.

I even prefer to make key staples in the kitchen myself. Curry and stir fry pastes, dry spice mixes, stocks and oils. My touchstones here are Christine Manfield's tome Spice and it's younger, slimmer and more accessible sibling, Stir. While there is some overlap in the recipes between the two, but both are essential in our kitchen. Stir is easier to work through and more focused on illustrating the many different dishes that can be made from a single preparation. Ironically, I had already gone through Spice with a pencil noting all the dishes that could be made from each preparation at the bottom of each recipe.

Christine is a taskmaster who seems well suited to my own perfectionist drives. Some of her recipes require several other preparations to complete, but I find the results so fresh and flavourful that I'm always willing to make the effort. She has a justifiable insistence on fresh whole spices as a starting point. The beauty of these pastes, oils and spice mixes is that for a small amount of effort in advance you can use them any time to make an excellent meal. Usually in less than 30 minutes.

Wet preparations in permanent rotation in our kitchen are Chili Jam, Paramount Curry paste, Thai Green Curry paste, Massaman Curry paste, Nonya Spice paste, Laksa paste, and Black Pepper and Lemongrass stir fry paste. Dry preparations include Kashmiri korma, Paramount Garam masala, Madras Curry powder, Chinese Five spice, and Chinese spice salt. This gives us the building blocks for a variety of great meals and the freedom to decide what we'll make based on what is fresh and in season at the market.

As I look back, I have traveled a long way from my roots. The food I thought was pre-ordained in my DNA has been fused with the heady aromas and flavours of India and Asia.

Now I'm just left wondering what the next evolution will be.

Australian Government: Oppressing Lesbian and Gay Citizens at home and abroad

The Australian government, unsatisfied with limiting it's oppression lesbians and gays to just while there are within Australian borders, is now refusing to give gay and lesbian citizens proof of their single status when they attempt to marry in countries where civil marriage is legal. Hat tip to The Muriels.

Er, excuse me? It is not enough that gays and lesbians are stripped of their right to civil marriage in Australia. It's not enough that marriages in other countries are not recognized in Australia. Now they are preventing marriages in other countries by refusing access to documentation based solely on the gender of the intended spouse.

From the Age:

The Australian embassy in Vienna refused Peter Kakucska, originally from Melbourne, a certificate confirming his single status once it was clear he needed it to marry Markus Muehlmann, an Austrian.

Like many countries, the Netherlands requires proof that foreign nationals wishing to marry there are not already married. Australian embassies provide this proof.

How does the Australian government that works for and is accountable to us, have the right to refuse an entirely legal request for documentation?

The embassy later provided Mr Kakucska with a stamped "certification" dated August 16 and signed by Mr Dobias, the senior consular officer.

It stated: "Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General's Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage."

Mr Kakucska received a similar document saying the embassy could not provide a Single Status Certificate.

Australian Law doesn't allow it? The Attorney General says there is a law that makes it legal to refuse Australian citizens documentation they need for an entirely lawful activity in another country. Not so fast. Here's Australian National University senior law lecturer Wayne Morgan:

"There is nothing in Australian law … that would prevent a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage (being issued) in such circumstances.

"This is an internationally accepted document that has nothing to do with the validity of the marriage back in the couple's own country."

So... not actually legal at all.

Imagine a hypothetical same-sex couple, one Australian and one Canadian. They live and work in Canada and have done for years. They have been together 5 years and decide to get married in Canada. Canada doesn't place any restrictions on the citizenship of people marrying inside their borders. The Australian applies for a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage from his closest consulate or embassy. The document is refused and the Australian cannot provide a document proving single status.

Now we have a foreign (Canadian) citizen who can't marry their fiance in their own country (Canada) because their fiance has the misfortune to be an Australian citizen.

Being an Aussie overseas used to be great, everyone liked us and thought of Australia as an idyllic place - peaceful and free. Now I get "please explain" questions about "Rabbit-Proof Fence", Race Riots in the Suburbs, Support for the Iraq invasion and now prejudice against lesbians and gay is added to the list.

But ultimately, did refusing to provide the documents work for the government?

The Netherlands ultimately accepted the documents, and an affidavit from Mr Kakucska, as proof he was single. The couple were married in November. He said he plans to take legal action against the Government.

Not. As. Such.

So, to sum up, it's clearly unfair, it's bad for Australia's image, it's likely illegal, it's destined to be challenged in the courts, and it didn't work.

Cute, but not to be trusted.

She is the huntress, Diana, territorial and fearless. She is as fast as a freak. She is the stealer of lamb shanks and the attacker of toothbrushes. She is long, lean and athletic. She is as quiet as night and as still as a stone. She is as graceful as a gazelle and as alert as meercat. She cannot be trusted. She is the scavenger gourmet and a thief of butter.

She could not be done without.

One way or the other, Nominee Alito is lying

I've heard a large chunk of the Senate Confirmation hearings for Nominee Samuel Alito and something is puzzling me.

A lot of time was spent discussing the nominee's membership in the group Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) that he mentioned on a 1985 job application to work on the Reagan Administration. From the Daily Princetonian:

Near the end of his "Personal Qualifications Statement" for a high-level job in Ronald Reagan's Justice Department, Alito wrote that he was "a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton University, a conservative alumni group."

Another piece in the Daily Princetonian lays out some of the history and goals of CAP:

At the very least, Judge Alito will have to explain to the Senate Judiciary Committee why he paid dues to an outfit whose modus operandi was deceit and dirty tricks. He will have to explain how he permitted himself to belong to an organization that was overtly racist and sexist for its entire 14-year
existence ­- at times passionately so, too.

Even today, they lie. The Daily Princetonian reported Friday that CAP's longtime board member Andrew Napolitano '72 denies that the group opposed coeducation! This is like denying that the Catholic Church opposed abortion. Opposition to the presence of women at Princeton was CAP's central precept. Fortunately, your reporter quoted co-founder Shelby Cullom Davis '30 writing in Prospect, CAP's member magazine, in 1973, that he could not "envisage" a future student body of 40 percent women and minorities. More important, according to a 1977 New Yorker article, the group used the same language in its fund raising.

From its founding in 1972 till its unlamented demise in 1986, CAP was an organization that at first openly opposed full coeducation and the representative inclusion of minorities at Princeton, and then when those became "settled issues," continued its opposition to the mere presence of women and minorities at Princeton through tactics ranging from code words to open harassment.
Simultaneously, and with a blind eye to its perverse irony, CAP campaigned for affirmative action for alumni in the administration and faculty. CAP especially wanted affirmative action in the admissions office for its members' kids and for those student-athletes with bad grades and board scores.

Nominee Alito's response to questioning by Senators on his membership of CAP was that he had "no specific recollection" of joining the group. A search of the available CAP records requested by Senator Kennedy finds no mention of Nominee Alito as a member. Fair enough.

Now we get to the puzzling bit:

• If he was a member of CAP, he must explain why he joined the group.
• If he wasn't a member of CAP, he must explain why he lied on a government job application.

His response that he has "no specific recollection" is the only possible path between the rotating knives.

Here is the nub of the issue for me:

Nominee Alito's recollection of joining CAP and his understanding that CAP membership might be attractive to theReagan administration was specific enough for him to include it on his application to join theReagan Justice Department.

But his recollection of joining CAP and his understanding that CAP membership might be un-attractive to the Senate Judiciary Committee suddenly isn't specific enough for him to answers questions during his hearings on his confirmation as an Associate Justice of the Supreme court.

How does this pass muster?

Did he lie on his application to join the Reagan Justice Department, or did he lie in his Senate Confirmation hearing testimony?

77% Undecided on Alito

A CBS News Poll reveals that the American public is undecided on Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito:

OPINION OF SAMUEL ALITO

• 16% Favorable
• 7% Unfavorable
• 77% Undecided/haven’t heard enough

SHOULD ALITO BE CONFIRMED BY THE SENATE?

• 17% Yes
• 9% No
• 70% Can’t say

I wish the poll had captured the political and religious affiliation of the repondents. I'd like to see how the results slice along the fault lines.

I noticed something else interesting in another CBS News Poll. Either the post 9/11 fear has subsided or the public are beginning to see get the message that Republicans don't care about their rights.

WHICH PARTY WILL DO A BETTER JOB AT FINDING TERRORISTS WITHOUT VIOLATING PEOPLE’S RIGHTS?

12/2001

• 33% Republicans
• 26% Democrats
• 14% Both

1/2006

• 33% Republicans
• 42% Democrats
• 5% Both

I can't let this pass...

I decided that I would hold off on posting about the Supreme Court confirmation process for Samuel Alito for a few days. But that doesn't stop me reading about other people's thoughts and opinions. It seems that was a terrible mistake. I spotted a post by Dreadnought and, well, here we all are.

He observes:

Surprisingly, the focus of questioning during the first day of hearings on Judge Samuel Alito Jr's confirmation to the Supreme Court was not abortion. Rather, it was executive power.

There is no surprise for those of us living in the US. Abortion is a big issue, but it certainly isn't the only issue and, despite sporadic reporting of their other opinions, the Supreme Court isn't a single issue court.

The record of the Bush Administration thus far, it's very clear actions with the goal of expanding Executive power, and the flouting of laws passed by congress on Domestic Spying without warrants all make assessing Nominee Alito's position on Presidential power both relevant and urgent.

He continues:

Even more surprising, at least to the pro-death media, is the fact that average Americans aren't terribly interested in the hearings:

"Because of the implications of President Bush's clear desire to move the court in a more conservative direction, many activists have predicted a clash this year akin to those that occurred over the nominations of Robert H. Bork and Clarence Thomas -- Bork's heavily freighted in ideology and Thomas's overwhelmed by accusations of sexual harassment. It has not happened."

"One reason may be because the public considers these nominees differently than do the ideologues or both sides, looking at experience and demeanor more than at ideology. Or it may be because Alito's nomination has been overshadowed by more compelling issues, such as Iraq, the cost of home heating oil and natural gas or lobbyist Jack Abramoff's plea bargain."

Or it may be because the public agrees with Roberts' and now Alito's position. Perhaps, despite the skewed sampling of major newspaper articles and the nonsense spouted by NARAL, Americans reject the wholesale slaughter of children that has been carried out with Constitutional approval since Roe v Wade. "

I'm not going to wade into the abortion debate. In truth the American public who usually do pay attention have "Scandal and Lie fatigue". So much has gone so wrong for so long that they are afraid to open a newspaper or turn on the television for fear of what they will learn.

I will only point out that Dreadnought is in a fantasy world if he thinks that the American Public agree with the Pro-life and Anti-choice positions of Roberts and Alito. The numbers are overwhelmingly against him.

Now, I may be a rusty old curmudgeon but it looks to me like the number of people in the USA who want to ban safe and legal abortion (and there would still be unsafe and illegal abortion if they did) has declined. In fact, at only 20%, it looks like it's at it's lowest level for three years.

Let's consider "Generally Available" and "Stricter Limits" as generally for abortion in some form. Let's consider "Not Permitted" and "Unsure" as against abortion. I make that out to be 77% of Americans for Abortion in some form and 27% of Americans against abortion.

But wait, there is more:

The tide is turning. The days of legalised child-killing in America are almost at an end. Samuel Alito will be confirmed and Roe will fall. Who would ever have thought it even ten years ago? John Paul the Great really is working hard upstairs!

No, actually, the tide isn't turning. None of the numbers I've examined support that view. Sadly, it is very likely that Samual Alito will be confirmed. But as I listened to Nominee Alito today, he confirmed his agreement with "Stare Decisis" the principal "to let stand that which is decided". I also learned today that Roe vs. Wade has been reinforced in 38 separate rulings. Given those two pieces of information I can't realistically see the Supreme Court going against established law and public opinion to strike down Roe vs. Wade.

I wonder if the DreadPerson hopes that Griswold vs. Connecticut will also be overturned. Imagine, his joy at both contraception and abortion being illegal. Uncontrolled human reproduction and more unwanted babies. It's okay for him though, he will still be allowed to use a condom if he visits his Manhattan based boyfriend because it isn't preventing the conception of children.

At least until they reinstate the sodomy laws, that is.

Republican Senator to vote for Gay Civil Rights

Senator Finkbeiner, a former leader of the Republicans in the Washington State Senate, has confirmed that he will be voting for House Bill 1515 the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill. Hat tip to Stranger reporter Eli Sanders

The Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill passed in the State House but failed passage in the senate by one vote.

Here is the text of his statement:

“I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I plan to vote for House Bill 1515 this year.

“There are two strong reasons that have swayed me to support House Bill 1515 for the 2006 state legislative session. First of all, I’ve had a number of conversations over the past year that have led me to more fully understand the level of discrimination against gays and lesbians, and I now find it is both appropriate and necessary for the state to make it clear that this is not acceptable.

“Secondly, I believe that, unfortunately, this issue has become a political football used by both parties. This bill failed year after year, even in years when Democrats have held strong majorities, because it motivates some party activists on both sides. And the issue has become one of many ‘wedge’ issues used to split our communities and divide us. Real people are affected by this issue: our friends, our co-workers, our family members, our neighbors. I don’t agree with the politicization of people’s personal lives and I think it is time to move on.”

I applaud the sentiments he expresses here. It is heartening to see the Senator join the ranks of Republican legislators who are for fairness and justice.

I find the timing interesting. I note that as the Senate Republican Leader he opposed HB 1515 when it came to the floor on April 21st, 2005. The Senator resigned as the Republican Leader in the Senate on November 29th, 2005. He announced his support for HB1515 on January 9th, 2006.

What a difference 9 months makes.

Introducing prescription Hetracil and Agnosil

Today I came across an interesting thought experiment about a fictional drug called Hetracil and an equally fictional Proposition 313 that would restrict the age at which the drug would be administered. Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for the pointer to a HomoMojo.com interview with the author, Benjamen Leo.

From the HomoMojo interview:

"Anti313 is a work of experimental fiction. It's a story written as the blog of a man who is under the influence of a drug called Hetracil: a fictional drug, which in the world of this story, eliminates effeminate behavior in men.

"Hetracil.com is a support site. It was made to make the story seem more realistic to make readers envision this drug as a substance that could feasibly exist. "

The idea that homosexuality could be medicated into heterosexuality is subversive and intriguing. No doubt interest groups would swing into action both advocating and decrying use of the drug as Benjamen suggests.

This idea reminded me of a group of books by Robert J Sawyer called the Neanderthal Parallax.

In the final book called "Hybrids" two of the characters, one a Homo Neanderthal male called Ponter and the other a Homo Sapiens female called Mary (or Mare), decide to have a child with the intervention of advanced and prohibited Neanderthal genetic engineering technology.

They are part of research that has identified the gene in the Homo Sapiens make-up that enables religious belief. A gene that Homo Neanderthal doesn't have. The Neanderthal version of Earth that Ponter comes from has no religions, no belief in a god or life after death. They have to decide whether their child will get the gene from Ponter and be agnostic, or from Mare and be a believer. Here is an extract from the book where Mare and Ponter are discussing it:

"...If they were going to go ahead and have a hybrid child a decision had to be made one way or the other.

"Ponter let go of Mary's hand, but then started stroking it's back. "It's not," he said, "as if we are deciding if our daughter will have a soul. At most, we are choosing whether or not she will believe she has a soul."

The idea that belief in a deity could have a genetic basis and could be proved using the science of evolutionary biology is a tasty one rich in it's own special ironies. Instead of taking the path of genetic correction, let's follow Benjamin's thought for a moment.

What would happen if big pharma discovered a drug called Agnosil that neutralized the effect of the God gene on the human brain?

This drug would remove the belief in gods, religion and the soul.

• What would happen to religious extremism?
• Would religious belief be added to the DSM?
• Would their be renaissance in modern psychology?
• Would psychological archetypes and symbols change dramatically?
• What would happen to the religious right?
• What would happen to the accrued wealth and power of churches?
• What would happen to all the serving clergy in the world's religions?
• Would people be forced to take it?
• Would you want to take it?
• Would you refuse to take it?
• What about your kids?
• What would happen to abortion?
• Would the law mandate the treatment of violent anti-abortionan activists with it?
• What would happen to wars based on theology?
• What would we learn about life after death experiences?
• What would happen to religious holidays we celebrate?
• What would Pat Robertson have to go crazy-ape-bonkers about?
• What would happen to jokes and modern comedy?
• What would happen in the Middle East?
• What book would people swear on in court and to take oaths?

I'm sure there are lots more interesting questions. What else?

Epiphany makes me sad

In our home we observe the Twelve Days of Christmas. We don't consider the Christmas season to be over until the end of Twelfth Night.

When Twelfth Night falls on a Friday or Saturday we have a party and invite friends over. By that time the drama and angst of the Holiday season is over and everyone is relaxed, feeling happy and ready to have fun. I love Twelfth Night.

But in our house Christmas really starts with the arrival of the first Spangly Christmas Poo.

That really does demand explanation. A certain white cat likes to sit and stare at the Christmas Tree. It's not that he is aesthetically minded or that he sees an ornament with feathers twitching enticingly in the breeze. It's not that he is a reincarnated druid loving the smell of the tree and performing silent worship. It's not even that he wants to chase his sister around and through the tree and drink the tree water.

You see, he is a tinsel eater.

He loves to gobble up indigestible lengths of something or other. Perversely, he won't eat fresh chicken or fish or lamb that his sister, the evil wench, is very keen on. Nothing that is actually food. There was the Twinings Tea wrapper phase and the dental floss phase. But my favorite is the tinsel.

That's why cleaning the litter box in mid December is a task filled with excitement and expectation, and why Epiphany makes me sad.

No Oversight, No Impeachment: Is US Democracy dead?

It's hard living in a country where they used to revere and respect their constitution, but now it has become just another piece of paper trampled underfoot. The desperately sad part is that no one seems to care.

At the beginning of the American experiment they sought to provide a balance of powers and a set of checks and balances on the Congress, the Judiciary and the Executive branches of government to guard against abuses of power.

Oversight was quite literally the watchword. And in a way it still is.

Currently the Republican party hold the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Presidency. Under these conditions the Bush Administration has been able to short-circuit that oversight with little consequence.

The dictionary entry on oversight is still useful, and strangely prophetic, in describing the current state:

1. an unintentional omission resulting from failure to notice something
2. supervision: management by overseeing the performance or operation of a person or group
3. a mistake resulting from inattention

The executive branch has sought and gained an unprecedented expansion in power under the guise of war powers. The media sleep-walked through the preliminaries failing in their own oversight role. The public has either failed to understand or to care sufficiently to make a difference.

Now we move into the territory of farce.

On the one hand, we have the CIA Plame Leak. A non-official cover CIA agent's name was intentionally leaked in June 2003 by Senior Bush Administration staff as political payback for her husband's public debunking of the intelligence claim that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium from Africa and significantly undermining the President's rationale for the War in Iraq.

There have been no substantial moves for a Congressional investigation, their mandated oversight, into this leak that occurred more than 2 years ago. All evidence leads back to Senior Bush Administration members being the source of the leak with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby already indicted in the case. The complete timeline is available here.

On the other we have the NSA Domestic Wiretap leak. In 2002, President Bush signed a secret order that authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States. This is despite legal prohibitions against domestic spying that were put in place as a result of illegal wire-taps unearthed in the Watergate scandal.

It is early days, but there have been no Congressional hearings or investigations scheduled. President Bush and Secretary of State Rice are much more interested in finding out who leaked details of the Domestic Spying program to the press than they are in addressing the serious constitutional and Civil Rights concerns that this illegal surveillance suggests.

These are the grounds for Impeachment: “the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

President Clinton met this standard through a personal relationship he lied about. A partisan Republican Congress certainly helped make his impeachment a reality.

President Bush has lied to the American people and the world. He lied about the reasons for invading Iraq, he lied about the intelligence that he used to justify the decision. Now he has materially damaged the rights of citizens and the constitution of the United States by illegally spying on American citizens and lying about it. He is using 'war powers' as a lever to gain more power for the Executive branch of government. And it is a partisan Republican Congress that will strive to ensure that his impeachment will never be a reality.

I'm not a citizen. I don't even have the rights left to you and I'm outraged.

What does it take for "We the People" to find their voices?

Thoughts and feelings on Brokeback Mountain

He Who Must Be Obeyed and I saw Brokeback Mountain this afternoon. It didn't have the effect on me that I expected. I'm going to sleep on it and post in more detail in the morning.

Warning: Renovation may be hazardous to your Wine Cellar

As a callow 18 year old I had the dubious fortune of a friend who worked in a posh Sydney grog shop. I would get frequent calls from my friend to run over at lunch time to taste all manner of tasty tipples.

I speak of this as dubious fortune because it diverted me from my likely destiny as a cheap lush to an expensive lush. Don't get me wrong, nothing makes me happier than a US$6 bottle of plonk that tastes far beyond it's price. But due to an appalling lack of naivete, some good wines are actually priced like good wines. Smug bastards.

Over the years I purchased young Australian wines in small quantities and set many of them aside. And, until a few years ago, we were still drinking jems like the odd Henschke Hill of Grace and Cyril Henschke bottles from the late seventies. But, alas, no more. We are diligent in restocking our basement wine rack with new discoveries and we pace our acquisition with our consumption.

In our home both of us like to cook and wine is drunk regularly with evening meals, hearty reds with rack of lamb, sauvignon blanc with spicy green curry, and soft unwooded chardonnay with grilled white fish.

Lovers of food and wine, heed this warning. Beware of Home Renovation, it is the harbinger of empty wine racks. When your system includes putting "Drink now" at the top of the rack and "Age 5 to 10 years" at the bottom of the rack, the end of the line can be shocking.

In a recent remodel we depleted our wine racks to the point where there was nothing under US$150 that didn't need at least another 5 years before being drunk. To make this worse, it was a kitchen remodel and the kind of food that an electric hotplate and a toaster oven can deliver is very limited.

I knew things were grim when drinking Grange Hermitage from a water tumbler with spaghetti seemed like a good idea.

Today, over a year after the remodel, the wine rack is still thin on "Drink now" bottles. I just hope I can stop myself using E. Guigal's Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1999 in a pasta sauce.