This Old House

New Yorker cover by Bob Staake - "Spectrum of Light"

Waitin' for the Weekend

Obama Comes Out of the Closet at Last

Well fuck me to tears, he went and done it.  And about damn time, too.



Well, hooray. Thank you, Mr. President.  Now I might have to revise my predictions back by a decade or so.

But it's still not going to be an overnight thing, fellas, getting marriage equality nationwide, mark my words.  Despite an encouraging word from the White House, it's still all in the hands of the courts and the legislatures.

P.S. - You do know, despite all this talk of "evolution," that the man endorsed gay marriage in writing back in 1996, don't you?

Just sayin'.

Update:  Rachel discusses Presidential attitudes towards the gays, past and present:

And Rachel gets Barney Frank's views on where it all goes from here:

The Solid South

Even Billy Graham came out of retirement to speak against the gays. 
So there was no way in hell that amendment could pass.
Billy is to North Carolina what the Pope is to Italy.

Yesterday, North Carolina voters approved by a 3 to 2 margin a constitutional amendment prohibiting not only same-sex marriage but also all other forms of same-sex unions.  (See map of results by county here.)  This makes the Tarheel State the final brick in the solid wall of Southern states to pass a constitutional amendment against marriage equality (N. C. already prohibited it by statute). 



Nationwide at the moment there are 31 states that prohibit same-sex marriage by statute or by constitutional amendment; six states and the District of Columbia allow equal marriage, and in June, Washington State will also.  The rest of the states have either a strong civil unions law or a weak domestic partnership law, with the exception of New Mexico, which doesn't deny or recognize anything officially, so far.

Meanwhile, after the flap over Vice-President Biden's remarks on Sunday's Meet the Press (you go, Joe!), the President has scheduled an interview with ABC later today to "clarify" his phony position on marriage equality.

What I Say:  Boys, you don't need to be expecting any big change on this issue anytime soon.  Neither the President, nor the Supreme Court, nor the Congress is going to get very far ahead of those 200 million good country people in the heartland who are dead-set against lettin' them damn perverts flaunt their sexshul acts in everbody's faces and ram it down our throats.  That's just the reality of politics.

I don't doubt that Obama's broad intentions are good; but fellas, the Prez is and has been playing us for his own ends, and his one concern right now, to the exclusion of all else, is to get re-elected.  And he will do and say just about anything he thinks he has to for that.  Your rights do not enter into the equation; trust the old man on this one.

If you asked him why, the gist of his answer would most certainly be that his good accomplishments can't continue unless he gets re-elected, and to do that he needs the goodwill even of millions of homophobic voters; and there is a pragmatic truth to that. Even if the truth sucks.

We still have to vote for him come November, of course - make no mistake on that, boys. There is no alternative. And you damn sure don't want leather-bottom-twink Romney in the White House, letting the Bushcheneyites and Tea Partiers in the back door, now do you?

What Obama will do in his second term remains to be seen; he did get DADT repealed, and he has stopped defending DOMA in the courts, among other good accomplishments for our community, so we can't say he's not a friend; but he is a politician first and foremost, and not about to be a martyr for the gays, or anyone else for that matter. 

Your Head Trucker has polished off his crystal ball, and he predicts that if and when Perry v. Brown gets to the Supreme Court, Justice Roberts and crew will not issue a sweeping judgment making same-sex legal across the land.  The best we can hope for is that they will make it legal in California again, or maybe in the Ninth Circuit; but even that is very iffy.

Other cases like Golinski may well open up some more cracks in the wall at the federal level; and I wouldn't be surprised if the federales contrive some sort of registered status at that level in the next few years to cover things like immigration rights, insurance benefits, social security and veterans benefits, joint returns on income taxes, etc.  Not a marriage or civil union - just a status, a form to fill out and get notarized, like when you apply for a passport.

Elsewhere in these United States, yes the tide of history is flowing in our favor - in favor of equality and justice for all - but it's a slow tide, ebbing in and out gradually.  Problem is, we're not ever going to get marriage equality at a single stroke nationwide, as in Canada and other countries, and I'll tell you why.  In Canada, for example, their Constitution specifically gives the federal government the power and authority to regulate marriage.  In other countries that already have same-sex marriage, there's either the same principle at work, or they are unitary governments, not federal ones; therefore it takes only one vote in the national legislature to make it happen.

Our case is just the opposite:  the power to regulate marriage has always resided in the states, not in the federal government.  It's possible for the Supremes to overrule the states, as they did in Loving v. Virginia; but fellas, you have to remember that didn't happen until 1967, when there were only 15 states left that prohibited interracial marriage, and all of them were states of the former Confederacy, which by that time had shocked and outraged all the rest of the nation with their resistance to integration, marked by mass arrests, beatings, bombings, murders, and general reluctance to get out of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. 

The Supreme Court at that time was reflecting the values of the majority of the country - which if you read your history books, you will see that it nearly always has, and probably always will.  The mule can't go any faster than the wagon, and vice versa.  Justice proceeds by fits and starts - look at how long the blacks had to wait for full equality, and women too, and other groups.  Our cause is just as right as theirs, but we must endure as they also endured.

When you hear pundits glibly say, "A majority of Americans now support
same-sex marriage," remember that this is the reality.

Above you see one of several charts that the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has prepared, showing the glacial movement of public opinion yea or nay on marriage equality.  Now your Head Trucker has done some cypherin' on these figures, and he can't see the pro side getting above 60 percent until at least 2020 - and it would take at least that level of support across the board for any nationwide changes to be possible, he believes, if not 65 or 70 percent.  It wasn't until support for repeal of DADT got up to nearbouts 75 percent that we finally got that wicked law changed, and even then there was a shit load of bitch-squawking from the rightwingers, as you remember.

But nationwide marriage equality, recognized everywhere in every state, no questions asked - not until somewhere between 2040 and 2050.  There may be various stopgaps and almost-nearly things before then, but actual seamless marriage equality from sea to shining sea as the straights now have it - not before then.  Remember, fellas, you heard it here first.

So we'll see what the Prez has to say later today, and I'll update you here - but don't be expecting a dramatic, earth-shaking bulletin; ain't gonna happen. 

Meanwhile, I'm sure you guys have seen this already, but here's a replay of Biden's delicious remarks that caused such consternation back in the West Wing:

Queen and Country

A charming little behind-the-scenes story of the Queen's visit to Dorset and Wiltshire just last week.  (The Queen is in the process of visiting all parts of the realm for her Diamond Jubilee - she's letting the kids cover most of the colonies dominions Empire Commonwealth, which who can blame the old girl for that?  She's 86, you know.  Though still going strong, as you can see here.)

The charm lies in the stories of the people who come to see her, and what they have to say, which gives a different perspective from the usual media coverage by cynical city types.  As I understand it, this is a very rural part of the country in the West of England - no big cities, lots of small towns, many of them quite ancient.  Which makes me think of rural Texas, of course, and I can see the similarity - down-to-earth folk who work hard, get on with things, and love their country and their Queen - who to them is like Old Glory and the Constitution and maybe the Statue of Liberty all rolled up into one living, breathing symbol of the nation and all they hold dear.

Or so it seems to me.  For a long while there after the whole tragedy with Diana, I wasn't sure they would keep the monarchy very long, but all seems sorted out now.  See what you think.



Bonus:   A bit more on Allen Parton, the disabled vet, and his Hounds for Heroes program. So amazing, what a wonderful story.

Tired Old Queen at the Movies: All About Eve

Steve celebrates his 100th movie review with this tour-de-force performance of the great Bette Davis, one of your Head Trucker's favorite films too:

Bette Davis gives the performance of her career in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's classic ALL ABOUT EVE, the quintessential film on life in the theatre. Winner of multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, George Sanders. It also boasts Oscar-nominated performances by Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and the incomparable Thelma Ritter, as well as solid support from Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlow and up-and-coming starlet, Marilyn Monroe. One of the wittiest and most sophisticated comedies in motion picture history, it stays with you long after the first viewing, and the unforgettable Oscar-nominated Bette Davis, as the aging actress Margo Channing, is not to be missed!

Catch more fabulous movie reviews at Steve's YouTube channel.

Sunday Drive: Beautiful Isle of Somewhere

This lovely old hymn was a favorite of my Papaw's, and I had it played at the funeral of my darling Mama, who died eighteen years ago this week.

Somewhere the sun is shining,
Somewhere the songbirds dwell.
Hush then thy sad repining,
God lives and all is well.

Somewhere, somewhere,
Beautiful isle of somewhere,
Land of the true,
Where we live anew,
Beautiful isle of somewhere.

Somewhere the load is lifted,
Close by an open gate.
Somewhere the clouds are rifted,
Somewhere the angels wait.

(Repeat chorus)

Putting on the Ritz

Came across this amusing little British series yesterday, thought I'd share with you guys just for laughs.  The Ritz Hotel is, of course, maybe the classiest hash joint in all of London, just at the other end of the block from Clarence House and catty-corner from Buckingham Palace, so to speak. 

The thing that strikes me about these two young men - whom I've never seen or heard of before - is how articulate and open they are about expressing their feelings to each other and to the camera in between practice drills.  When your Head Trucker was that age, straight boys were not nearly that open about their emotions.  Or were they, and this old man has just forgotten?  It does seem, though, that the younger generation is in some ways more up front and laid-back about that sort of thing.

As a side note, your Head Trucker finds the "backstage" stuff rather fascinating and educational, having never waited a table in his life.  If that sort of job ever crossed my mind, I immediately rejected the thought, fearing I would just make a mess of it.  So I scrimped and suffered through a number of other kinds of minimum-wage jobs for years until I finally got done with college.  It wasn't until many more years later that someone finally informed me that waiters can make out like bandits with tips and all that.  As in, make in one night what I used to barely make in a whole week.  Huh.  Who knew? 

I would have needed a lot more training and practice than these dudes got, though. 

Waitin' for the Weekend

Joe Manganiello

Classic Shacks: Villa Arnaga

While padding about from here to there this morning on the 'net, I happened across this picture of the studly Edmond Rostand, fameux écrivain in the Belle Epoque of the play Cyrano de Bergerac and others.  I also discovered these pics and clips of his lovely Villa Arnaga in the Basque country of southwestern France, which is not my style - I suppose it falls somewhere along the scale from Art Nouveau to Arts and Crafts, don't you? - but with its formal French and informal English gardens is nevertheless a joy to the eyes and a rest for the soul.  So I thought I'd share this work of art and nature with my truckbuddies this morning - enjoy.

Savage Wrong and Right

I suppose you fellas have already heard about the brouhaha over Dan Savage's remarks a couple weeks ago during the National High School Journalism convention in Seattle.  I've ignored it until today, but for the record, here is what Savage said to the assembled high-schoolers:



The thing is, as I may have said before in this blog, at his best Dan is a very intelligent and highly articulate advocate for gay rights.  At his worst, however, he can be a self-righteous prick, as bad as anyone on the right wing of the spectrum - and that goes for some other other gay speakers and bloggers whose names are familiar to you.  Being gay, being a minority, being oppressed - for whatever reason - does not make you infallible, does not mean you can never do anything wrong.

Nor, as my mama always said, do two wrongs ever make a right.

I was, then, pleasantly surpised to learn that Dan is not a total prick:  he has actually apologized in his blog for using the phrase "pansy-assed" - which he was indeed quite wrong in using, for several reasons.  In your Head Trucker's mind, he was also wrong to use "bullshit" to a captive audience of high-school kids.  This wasn't a nightclub, it wasn't even a college crowd.

When you are speaking in public, you must always consider your audience and your purpose for being there - not just saying whatever the hell first pops into your head.  On an occasion when Dan might have opened some young minds to a more insightful view of what it means to be gay in a world dominated by unreasonable prejudice, he may have closed some of those minds forever by being too quick-tongued and too potty-mouthed - which is, in fact, a form of arrogance, despising your hearers.  Whether they are right or wrong, smart or dumb, you have to start with people where they are, or you won't start with them at all, ever.

As a prime example, your Head Trucker is old enough, just barely, to remember when bigshot Mr. Kruschev came to the United Nations and told the West "We will bury you," all the while pounding the podium with his shoe. Yes, I'm not fucking kidding, youngsters - he really did, go look it up.

I'm sure he enjoyed the hell out of that little self-aggrandizing stunt at the moment he did it - the human creature is so perversely constituted that being a prick in public is quite thrilling, and I'm ashamed to say that I can testify to the fact - but what exactly did he accomplish for the good of his country and his fellow Soviets thereby?

Absolutely nothing. There he was, for one golden moment at the summit of the whole world's attention, and he had no more sense of how to use that rare opportunity for the good of the world, or at least for that of his own countrymen, than a dog pissing on a fire hydrant. How.Fucking.Sad.

And yes, your Head Trucker has a pretty damn dirty mouth himself when he gets wound up, but I'm just talking among us guys here.  There's a time and place for everything, ya know.

Here's Dan's own response to the uproar, after the jump: