Waitin' for the Weekend

Why not head down to the coast and shed all your worries?

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The Great Agnostic: Robert G. Ingersoll

Happiness is the only good.
The time to be happy is now.
The place to be happy is here.
The way to be happy is to help make others so.

Reason is the highest attribute of man.

The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. . . .  It is the only nation with which the gods have had nothing to do.

Argument cannot be answered with insults. Kindness is strength; anger blows out the lamp of the mind.

Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.

The other day, while doing a little research on the history of divorce laws in this country - which just goes to show that the straight boys have been changing the rules of marriage all the time, just as they pleased - your Head Trucker happened to stumble upon this very interesting work:  Is Divorce Wrong? 

Written in 1889, it is a response to the question by three well-known public figures of the time:  Archibishop Cardinal Gibbons of Maryland, who naturally condemns the very idea out of hand, holding squarely to Roman Catholic teaching on the sanctity of marriage; Episcopal Bishop Henry C. Potter of New York, who as a good Anglican naturally waffles a good deal about it, pro and con; and finally Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, known as "The Great Agnostic," who ringingly denounces the tyranny and injustice of religious precepts against divorce, which cause so much needless harm to innocent people, though at the same time very warmly and rather poetically defending the sanctity of marital love and the family home.

Somewhere along the line I had heard of Ingersoll's name before, but couldn't remember anything about him.  So a little further googling turned up the very interesting facts of his life, and his numerous speeches and writings, which you can browse through at your leisure if you have nothing better to do after brunch.  Many of which are quite good, and even amusing at times.  "The Most Remarkable American You Never Heard Of" - yes, and I can see why he was never, ever mentioned in the history books down here in the Bible Belt when I was a schoolboy.  Or if you don't have time for reading today, at least check out this video, I think you'll be amazed for one reason or another:

[For some strange reason, none of Ingersoll's videos will display here - how odd. But try this link for an overview of his life and work:]

What I Say:  Ingersoll was a man of great intelligence, and of great compassion for the human race.  It seems to me that he is a more outspoken proponent of Thomas Jefferson's famous vow of "eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the human mind."  And I agree wholeheartedly with Ingersoll's great aim of removing the shackles of ignorance and superstition from the human race.  Quite an admirable man, who deserves to be better remembered than he is.

Yet from reading a few of his works, I think Ingersoll, in his zeal to bring light and freedom to his audiences, sometimes overstates his case - as all zealots do.  Just as Ingersoll inveighs against ever placing "unquestioning faith" in any scripture or supernatural authority, so your Head Trucker would offer a gentle warning against placing the same kind of blind faith in any one remark of Ingersoll's.  To take just one example, in one of his writings he heaps great scorn upon the book of Job and condemns it as essentially worthless.  Perhaps so, if you think it was written to be taken literally.  On the other hand, if you approach it as a work of fiction - moral fiction - to begin with, then you may take an entirely different view of its worth.

Continued after the jump . . .

Target Ain't People

Hahaha.  Your Head Trucker is an old codger who is not up for street protests anymore, but he throroughly admires the spunk and creativity of these young whippersnappers.  What a marvelous job they did - and left the onlookers smiling, and probably more sympathetic to the cause than they would be if the protesters had broken windows and torn up the merchandise.  Effective - memorable - nobody hurt.  Excellent.

And notice how quickly the little old lady shoppers get into the swing of it.  A charming way of doing things, my hat is off to the younger generation on this innovation.


Honk to Truthspew via Reluctant Rebel.

So Exactly WHO Are the Child Molesters?

Above, a pamphlet from the infamous Save Our Children campaign in Dade County, Florida, in 1977, led by Anita Bryant:  the Big Lie that's been told and retold down to this very day by Christianists - who like to keep the real sexual abuse story hidden away, not talked about . . . oh no.  That would be too embarrassing for a lot of straight men.

With his usual excellent logic - and the plain, provable facts - Rob Tisinai exposes the vicious lies in this great video, with source references at the end. 



See also the very well documented report at Box Turtle Bulletin, "Are Gays a Threat to Our Children?"

Of course, being gay - or being any other minority, for that matter - doesn't make you an automatic saint, of course not.  But neither does it make you an automatic monster.  We are human beings just like our straight brothers and sisters - a mixture, just like them, of good and bad and indifferent.  No better, no worse:  human.  And now it's time for these lies to stop.

Send this on to someone you love who has never gotten these vile old myths about gay people completely out of their heads.

P.S. - Read Rob's touching story about growing up gay, and learning to hide it behind a "nice-guy" image, so he'd be liked - not hated.  I think many of us can relate to that one.

Learn to Speak Teabag

Totally funny, especially the ending.  Too bad the cartoonist, Mark Fiore, is now getting death threats from the teabag crowd.  Seriously.

Sunday Drive: The Gifts I Have

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Everybody has a talent, big or small, weak or strong.

Use it, and be glad for what you can do, not what you can't.

Bullshit Alert: Gay = Serial-Killer Nazi Monster

Here's a concrete example of what I meant in the last post about the difference between mere fence-sitters and actual haters, boys.  This twisted bastard and his cohorts bragged about how they delivered a "nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda."  Aye, and they will stand in judgment for all that too.

By comparison, Joel Osteen is just a silly little pretty boy, waving a feather fan.  Watch this video and see what I mean.  Also, go check out the rest of the video series and excellent coverage on all this by the guys over at Box Turtle Bulletin.




Honk to Joe.My.God.  Also worth reading at his site:

Anti-Gay Irish MP Iris Robinson Committed Adultery While Calling Gays Abominations

Joe hits it right on the money when he says:  "See? The UK isn't that different than America. The guilty dog barks the loudest there too."  Amen, brother.

The Unique-ierest Species

Men and monkeys, science and faith:  World-renowned neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky gives the commencement address at Stanford University.  This guy is the professor you wish you had for Biology 101:   sharp, witty, down to earth, and speaking plain English.

(I also totally love the beard, woof.  I just might get mine out that long one of these days.  The hair is groovy too, but I sure don't want to have to wash and dry it every day:  been there, done that.)

Skip the intro remarks, the speech starts at exactly the 5:00 mark.  Listen to the first minute, and you'll be hooked till the end.  Closing concept, paraphrased by your Head Trucker:

The more you realize it's impossible for one person to make a difference, to make the world better - the more you realize that you must try to do just that.

(Honk to Andrew Sullivan)

Matthew Shepard Video Surfaces

A blog called Joshalot has posted a short video of Matthew Shepard and then-boyfriend Lewis Krider, filmed at Catawba College in North Carolina sometime in the mid-90's.  Though brief, it preserves for posterity the voice of an ordinary, friendly college kid - whose fate was to end up beaten to death and crucified on a wooden fence one dark, freezing Wyoming night.  The vid can't be embedded, but you can see this moving clip here.

More about Matthew and his parents' noble struggle for understanding, compassion, and acceptance on behalf of all LGBT people can be found at the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Rick Warren Condemns Ugandan Antigay Bill

"This law is unjust, extreme, and unchristian towards homosexuals," he says, which is a forceful statement, to be sure.

Sullivan is grateful to Warren for using "Christian arguments in defense of the dignity of homosexual persons," and notes that the Pope has yet to speak out against the bill, even though 40 percent of Ugandans are Catholic, the largest church in that country.

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out applauds, saying Warren showed "true moral courage and stood for what is right and just."

What I say:  Well, I'm glad to hear Brother Warren testify, I sure am.  And given his celebrity status and longtime involvement with Ugandan religious and political leaders, his words will probably carry a lot of weight over there, to the ultimate relief of our gay brothers and sisters - although it's important to remember that even before this bill was proposed, gay sex was punishable by life imprisonment, and that law has not changed.

Yet having been around and dealt with these Southern Baptist types all my life, I can see a ways beyond the surface to a certain level of phoniness they all have, even if unawares.  And when I heard the opening text of this video, there was a very strong smell of CYA in the room.  Read the words (emphasis mine):

But because I didn’t rush to make a public statement, some erroneously concluded that I supported this terrible bill, and some even claimed I was a sponsor of the bill. You in Uganda know that is untrue. I am releasing this video to you and your congregations to correct these untruths and to urge you to make a positive difference at this critical point in your nation.

So in his own words, what is the real cause and effect at work here?  If Warren hadn't been publicly tarred with the origins of this bill, would he ever have spoken out against it?  For the sake of gay Ugandans, I'm glad he did; but does any of this make him our friend? 

You be the judge.

Map of world homosexuality laws from Wikipedia.  Red and brown indicate life in prison or the death penalty for homosex; orange and yellow indicate lesser penalties.

How to Make a Baby

Huh.  So that's how the breeders do it.  Who knew?


How to Make a Baby from Cassidy Curtis on Vimeo.

Gay Twins

Interesting stuff.  Take note, however, that nothing is as yet proven:  pay attention to all the times "may" and "might" are used.

And in any case, whatever the ultimate "cause" of gayness is, even when we find out - does it really, truly matter?  We are human beings.  We live, we love, we laugh, we work; we have our particular contribution to give to the life of the world.  Like every other mother's son on this planet.

Beyond that, what else matters?  Every flower that blooms adds its small touch of beauty to the world before it withers into dust.  Every bird arcing through the sky has its little song to sing before it falls, as it must one day, to earth.

Life is short.  We are all given a moment out of eternity to live and bloom and sing our song before we return to dust.  Science and knowledge are important, don't mistake me; but even more important is to live a decent, compassionate, unselfish life in the concert of humanity.

To add our warbled note, however tiny, however frail, to the beautiful, mysterious aria of Love that proceeds from the heart of things:  that's why we're here.

Table Manners

Do you get into difficulties at the dinner table?  Are your parties ruined by worry, doubt, and confusion?  Do you know how to eat correctly?  Are you positive about that?

Better brush up on the old ettykit before the big feed tomorrow, boys.  You don't want to embarrass Mother and Dad in front of company, do you?



Jeezus Kerr-ist, what a freakin guilt trip.

Golly Gee, It's Thanksgiving

What to do if there's no turkey on the table tomorrow?  Just count your blessings: free books from the library, hot water from a tap, bill collectors knocking at the door . . . .



Produced in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1951 with nonprofessional actors.  And it shows.

Sorry, Charlie

I know, I'm disappointed too.

Ask the Expert: "Is it true some herbs will increase the size of your penis?"

Posted using ShareThis.   Photo from Homotography.

Marriage, Explained

Found on Joe.My.God. today:  Dan Savage gets right to the heart of the marriage argument.



All that Dan says is correct.  Until straight people changed the laws - with no little opposition from conservatives, mind you - in the late 19th/early 20th century, women in the English-speaking world who married lost their legal identity, being subsumed into that of their husbands':  a single woman, in legal terms, was a femme seule (single woman); a married woman, however, was a femme couvert (hidden woman).  A woman's property, with rare exceptions for very wealthy women, belonged entirely to her husband, down to her smallest personal possessions.  If a husband wanted to, in theory he could sell all her dresses - though of course, I doubt any man who enjoyed three homecooked meals a day and some nookie at night would be that stupid.  But realistically, women had no legal say in the disposition of their money or property:  a husband, for example, could demand that an employer pay his wife's salary to him, not to her.  And so forth.

The point being, until the laws on property and divorce were changed, women were in a legal sense owned by their husbands:  I don't have time now to go look up the references, but I can tell you that both Queen Victoria and Virginia Woolf - and it's hard to think of two more contrasting personalities - at different times in their writings made the identical statement:  women are slaves to men.

But most people's historical knowledge does not extend any further back than their parents' time or their grandparents'; yet they believe that the way mama and daddy lived is the way people always lived, as far back as Adam and Eve.

It just ain't so.  Marriage in the Old Testament often included multiple wives:  go look it up.  But oh my goodness, you never hear the Bible-thumpers arguing to bring back polygamy, do you?  A while back, I wrote a lot more in my post about the history of marriage, and the difference between civil marriage and religious marriage, if anybody wants to read it.  Bottom line:  just as Dan said, straight people have been redefining marriage for centuries, millennia, as it pleased them.  But people forget that:  it didn't happen in mama and daddy's time, so they don't know anything about it.

Legal marriage serves a number of very useful, necessary purposes for society and for individuals.  There's room enough for gay people - my God, it's not like we're asking to abolish it, we just want to get on board with it!  

Not that everybody needs to be married:  I'm thinking of some straight and some gay people.  Some folks are just not equipped for the job, some just can't stand to be "tied down," and some just don't want that much responsibility.  But for those who do, it should be an equal opportunity institution.

DILF Alert: Jarrett Barrios

Smart, sexy, newly installed GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios - who is raising two teenagers with his husband in Boston, where he was a former Massachusetts state senator - lays out his plans for the future of his organization:

Afternoon Drive: Hairy Halloween

Whups!  Need a last-minute, no-frills, sure-fire Halloween outfit?  Here's one I found over on Ray's Cowboy that requires no sewing and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, big time:

If that doesn't do the trick for ya, here's some more outfits that should stimulate your thinking.  Certainly gives me ideas:

How are you dressing up?  Or undressing up, as the case may be . . .   Whatever, hope y'all all have a big, hairy Halloween!

False Advertising?

This Ikea ad shows two guys picking out furniture together.  Sweet. 

Trouble is, I don't believe for one minute these guys are gay, not at all.

Admittedly, my gaydar is woefully inefficient, and only fully operational at a range of, oh, say eight inches or so.  But still.  These guys don't raise the needle even a hair.

What do you think, fellas?  Am I missing something here?

Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins Animated Poetry from smjwt on Vimeo.