posted by Dub at 6:26 AM

Ha ha, remember Pat Robberson's recent prayer offensive against Supreme Court justices that he doesn't like? Well, here's Larry Flynt's answer to that. (It's not porn--go look.)
posted by Dub at 6:59 AM

Oh yeah, and now more about those monkeys typing Shakespeare. Kinda fun, really, in a geeky way.
posted by Dub at 6:59 AM

eBay censors "Axis of Weasel" cards. Jerks. But the artist gets the last laugh: check out what domain name he acquired. Good.
posted by Dub at 6:02 AM

Reason number 5041 to love Canada: Chretien family history mirrors Canada's traditional church-state separation. The lead grafs:

No one should expect Prime Minister Jean Chretien to fret over the threat of eternal damnation for his support of gay and lesbian marriage.

The Chretien family has been defying similar warnings from the Roman
Catholic church since the early days of Confederation. As a fire-breathing
young protester, Chretien would aim a loudspeaker at parish churches and
hurl his own menace of damnation at the clergy for their active role in
Quebec's politics of that era.

Lots of good stuff in the article. Wish someone with that background could get elected here. (Note: don't know enough about internal Canadian politics to be endorsing Chretien in full--just commenting on the Canadian mindset. No flames from theoretical Canadian readers, please.)

Reason number 7462 to love Canada:57% of Canadian Catholics ignore Vatican, support same-gender marriage.

All of this and Great Big Sea, too. How can you go wrong?

posted by Dub at 4:04 AM

It's hard to say what is funniest about this story: the headline or either of the two pictures. Despite the implication, apparently Charles did not actually see the statue. But what a great choice of photos for that article.
posted by Dub at 5:38 AM

I must quote an eagle-eyed fellow email list subscriber about this picture: "Click quick before it disappears. Looky here! On the right of the picture. Someone appears to be inappropriately touching Bishop Theuner." So that's that. So far the best commentary I've seen on the smear against Bishop-elect Gene Robinson was in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, but unfortunately their website requires registration to read their articles (and crashed my computer the first time, too.) Oh well, I'm sure assorted others have said the same things (like connecting it to the evil Scaife cabal, etc.) It was just a really good summary of the truth laced with appropriate outrage and some actual reporting.

I still will not set foot in an Episcopal church except for family funerals and weddings because of the extraordinary insensitivity shown by our local bishop's minions (probably ordered by +Herself) in the wake of the Matthew Shepard murder. But I am of course pleased with the outcome of the votes. I met Robinson several years ago now. Ironically, it was at the installation as rector of one of the homosexual collaborators of +Herself who is largely responsible for my estrangement from the church (both +Herself and the priest are largely responsible.) But Robinson himself does seem to be a standup guy and a quintessential Episcopalian, and not in a bad way.
posted by Dub at 3:06 AM

File this under "maybe that dual citizenship really will come in handy": Same-sex couples stage kiss-in at Brazil mall. But what's really cool about this is that, at least according to the Advocate's report:

The mall welcomed the kissing couples with open doors. Staff worked through the night to stick big bright red lips all over the front and inside of the building, with colored disco lighting in the food court and a music DJ whose repertoire was limited to songs with the word "kiss" in them. An estimated 35,000 people visited the mall Sunday, he said, compared with the normal average of about 25,000 people.

posted by Dub at 1:41 AM

Writeup about my father's surprise party in the Knoxville paper. Read down, as my father is not an African-American female county commissioner (although Diane Jordan is cool, too) or a busy 90-year-old woman. I am, however, accurately listed as a community activist thanks to my little bro (actually, I told him what to write.)

posted by Dub at 1:33 AM