Take me back to the Galapagos

I’ve been gone for 11 days now, and I’m not having a happy re-entry. Trying to get out of Quito this morning was a nightmare — we were up at 3:30am to catch a 4:00am shuttle to the airport for a 6:30am flight, and in order to leave Ecuador they make you stand in line for over 2 hours. Do the math, and you’ll note that we barely made it. Then our destination was Miami. There’s some storm on the way here, the airport is packed with people trying to flee, and our flight is not until 8:30pm…so we’re just stuck in an airport concourse all day, hoping our flight will get us out of here tonight.

I made the mistake of actually looking at the news last night before going to sleep. What? John Edwards imploded over yet another peccadillo that is no business to the electorate? And worse, Obama pandered to the religious lunatics by groveling before the vapid and cheerfully toxic RIck Warren of the Saddleback Church? I saw a few clips of that sorry spectacle, and once again Obama is making me regret having to vote for him this year. Please, please, let’s not ever nominate a spineless quisling to run for the presidency, OK? At least Barry Lynn offers exactly the right criticism of this move, which cheered me a little bit.

Maybe Lynn should run in the next election…

Anyway, I’m ready to go back to the islands with virtually no internet connection and limited news access.

The “problem” is our existence

MAJeff here, getting all gay and stuff. It’s been a pretty big year for LGBT folks in the U.S. A couple weeks ago, the state in which I live repealed a law enacted during the height of anti-miscegination activity, and is now allowing same-sex couples from anywhere to marry here. Prior to that, California joined us in offering full equality to same-sex couples. That victory may be short-lived, though. There is an effort underway to take away the right to marry. Folks here can help out by contributing to Equality California who are leading the NO ON 8 campaign.

I had to chuckle the other day when I came across this post at an LA Times blog about their meeting with the folks trying to make life worse for queer people:

The measure’s supporters are generally careful to avoid appearing anti-gay, probably because they realize that, for all the voter split on same-sex marriage, Californians generally support gay rights. They professed in our meeting to have no ill will toward gay people…until the talk went deeper.

Wait, you mean they’re lying when they say they have no problems with gay people? I’m shocked! Shocked, I say!

The LA Times writer continues:

one Prop. 8 supporter said, gay rights are not as important as children’s rights, and it’s obvious that same-sex couples who married would “recruit” their children toward homosexuality because otherwise, unable to procreate themselves, they would have no way to replenish their numbers. Even editorial writers can be left momentarily speechless, and this was one of those moments

Ah, the recruitment line, code for “They’re coming to rape your children.”

The Times blogger is right: the anti-gay folks are careful to avoid showing their true colors; they work very hard to hide the anti-gay animus that drives them. But, lurking beneath the surface of their “We only want to protect marriage” lie is a deep and abiding hatred of queer folks and our communities. Their problem isn’t that we want equal access to the same rights our heterosexual counterparts have. No, their problem is that we exist at all.

That was brought home pretty clearly in a recentletter-to-the-editor in the Boston Globe:

ENOUGH ALREADY with the Globe’s gay agenda. How many front-page stories do we have to see to know that your agenda is to promote the gay/lesbian lifestyle? The July 21 article “Bloom’s off the brick row house: Buyers picking modern high-rise over classic style” could and should have been written from the heterosexual perspective. What you’re writing about is not a gay issue, it’s a human issue, and casting the story in a manner to feature gays is inappropriate. It’s time to straighten out, and I mean that in all senses of the word.

I have my own problems with such stories–namely that they continue to put forth an image of gay men as wealthier than the general public, when there’s actually a wage-penalty attached to those of us who aren’t hetero, and, regarding marriage issues, gay parents are getting by with fewer resources than their straight counterparts (that report is specifically for CA)–but that’s not the point. The bigoted letter writer isn’t concerned with accurate presentations, he’s concerned that there are gay presentations at all. Housing issues may be universal, but the universal is particular–and it’s straight.

I’m sure some folks will trot out the, “Just because I’m against gay marriage doesn’t mean I’m anti-gay” or “just because I disagree with the homosexual lifestyle doesn’t make me a bigot.” Well, it does. What they’re saying is that they want us gone. They want us to disappear. They want gay life to cease.

When folks come out and say they’re opposed to discrimination against people but actively foster such discrimination, they’re lying. They are pro-discrimination. That goes for John McCain, too, who recently said a pro-choice running mate would be acceptable, but not a pro-gay one. He has opposed every effort at including gay people in the institutions of American life. He may not be one of the crazy-ass-type fundies, but he’s also no social moderate. He’s just a “nicer” version of the “agents of intolerance” he “denounced” 8 years ago. His policy preferences on issues related to sexuality are very similar to those of Pat Robertson and John Hagee and Pope Nazinger.

McCain, Robertson, Hagge, Nazinger, McConnell…. These folks and the organizations they lead aren’t just opponents of gay rights, but enemies of gay people. They are all pushing for a return of the institutional closet. They want us neither seen nor heard. And, as ACT-UP so accurately put it, Silence=Death. They may not always want individual gay people to die, but they want our communities to do so.

I take that back, by attempting to push us back into the closet, they do want us to die. There is no life in that miserable space.

Blurring the distinction between contraception and abortion

Monday morning, PST: time for some science with a side of controversy, Danio-style

There’s a Department of Health and Human Services document circulating that’s got the pro-choice lobby up in arms. Afarensis and The Questionable Authority weighed in on the sociopolitical impact of such a policy last week, but in addition to the significant threat to reproductive rights that it presents, this proposal is yet another example of the complete lack of scientific expertise informing decisions about public health.
At issue is the determination of a time point that marks the beginning of pregnancy. The consensus of the medical community is that an established pregnancy occurs at the point when the blastocyst successfully implants into the uterine wall. This time point makes a lot of sense in considering early events in the reproductive process. Pre-implantation embryos have a vast distance to travel, complex chemical cues to navigate, and a ticking biological clock to contend with within the bounds of the female reproductive cycle. Roughly 40% of all embryos don’t survive the ordeal. These odds are one good reason to hold off on crying ‘pregnant’ until a successful implantation is achieved; another is that implantation signifies the beginning of the physiological impact of a pregnancy on a woman’s body. Developmental events prior to implantation have essentially no impact on maternal tissues, which are just marking time until the beginning of the next menstrual cycle. The massive signaling between embryonic and uterine tissues that occur during implantation, the establishment of maternal and embryonic connections and boundaries, delineating the difference between ‘self’ and ‘not self’, are all medically relevant occurrences in terms of the physiology of the female patient, hence the general accord within the medical community in marking this time point, and none before it, as the point at which a pregnancy is established.
[Read more…]

How to pretend you give a shit about the election

Here’s a little funny for your Sunday morning, just to change things up a bit.

Are you feeling forced to vote for the lesser of two evils in the upcoming (American) presidential election? That trusted source The Onion shows you how you can pretend you care, while not having to vote at all.


Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

Note: because I’ve caused some confusion before, I will note that my text above was largely sarcastic, and I really do believe that it is important to vote.

Posted by LisaJ

Things we’re apparently tired of

LisaJ here: A new survey shows that 48% of the American public is suffering from a frightening new illness, termed ‘Obama fatigue’. Apparently a lot of people’s Obama receptors have reached saturation, and we’re all hoping that a week long Hawaiian vacation will relieve this little issue. Now even I have noticed that Barack gets a lot more airtime than his opponent Johnnie, but how could you wish him away? He’s just so damn charismatic, with his little rock star style. So the question here is, even if you support Obama (or at least prefer him to your other choice), are you suffering from Obama fatigue? My two cents is that I’m at least glad for him that Oprah’s intensely public campaign on his behalf was largely axed.

Another rock star the public is apparently tired of is Bono. This AIDS fundraising group is asking our beloved Bono to retire from public life for his apparent philanthropic ineptness. Are you tired of this guy too?

I’ll tell you what I myself am really am tired of hearing about from the media. The fact that there’s lotsa smog in Beijing. I mean, come on, we’ve been hearing about this smog problem for months leading up to the Olympics, and now that the games have started – just watch out! The smog alert is on full force. I just got home from the movies, turned on the CBC to watch some mass Olympic bike race, the first bit of Olympic coverage I’ve seen so far, and I swear I’ve heard the words ‘smog’ and ‘athletes breathing’ 15 times in the first 23 seconds. OK, I understand that there really is a lot of smog in Beijing and that the many athletes assembled there right now may incur some respiratory tightness (but how much though really? I’m watching them ride their bikes right now and they all look pretty comfy and no one’s fallen off their bike gasping for air), but I get it already! I know the air looks foggy, I know the American (sorry about the Australian thing) athletes got off their airplane wearing masks, I know people are concerned… but it’s just getting ridiculous. I’m more than half expecting a colour coded smog alert warning to pop up on my TV screen, akin to the terror alerts commonly seen on US news stations. Is anyone feeling me here?

Oklahoma, you can do better than Sally Kern

I’m afraid the odious Oklahoma legislator, Sally Kern, has opened her mouth again. She has declared herself a “cultural warrior for Judeo-Christian values. I despise the term “Judeo-Christian” — it’s so fake, and such a transparent attempt to tie morality to religion. So what are these “Judeo-Christian” values?

“I am not saying everyone has to be Christian; this is not a homogenous nation,” Kern said. “What you have to be is someone who believes in a Judeo-Christian ethic, in other words, in knowing there’s a right and wrong.

That’s it? Knowing that some things are bad to do and others are good is all there is? Pagans, heathens, wiccans, atheists, Muslims, and animists all know that; dogs seem to feel guilt, and we could even argue that jellyfish are able to see the world in these kinds of binary terms. So why pretend Jews and Christians invented it?

Oh…because she has to have an absolutist rational for parochial fundagelical American bigotry.

“Not all lifestyles are equal; not all religions are equal,” she said. “Was I saying all people are not equal? Heavens no; we were all created equal.”

Kern repeated her opposition to gay marriage and homosexuality, though the lawmaker said she supports people’s individual rights.

Pssst, Oklahomans: Vote for Ron Marlett this fall. Anyone but Bughouse Sally, please.

Who needs civil liberties?

As someone who takes his laptop everywhere, this is chilling news about the ongoing erosion of our rights:

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For further Orwellian perspectives, take a look at this quote:

Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts “do not infringe on Americans’ privacy.”

Information must be impounded, shackled, and waterboarded in this New Republican United States of America.

Medblogger alert

The Kaiser network is hosting a live webcast to discuss the influence of the blogosphere on health policy — the panel is tilted towards right wing bushites who prioritize money over health, so a more progressive contribution from the audience would be desirable. It’s going to be on tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1pm Eastern.

Oh, and if you worry about the future of health care, get a load of this: nurses in California can get continuing education credit by attending a Catholic conference full of woo. This is not reassuring. I don’t think a lecture on sex ed by a nun reciting papal dogma should count as education.