Jimspeak

Thank you Andrew Sullivan for the below quote from this article.

"The very idea that gay people are trying to tear down marriage is nonsense; heterosexual people are doing quite fine on their own in that regard and hardly need the assistance of others. Gay people have not caused the divorce rate to soar. Gay people haven't caused the rise in single-parent families. To make gay people the scapegoat for the problems that plague modern marriage is absurd on its face.

In fact, to the degree that gay Americans wish to join in marriage, it ought to be seen as an endorsement of the institution, as a recognition that the civilizing merits and rich emotional rewards of marriage appeal not just to people of all cultures, races and ages, but to people of all sexual preference as well.

The interest of gay Americans in getting married is a celebration, a validation of marriage. It is not a threat.

Ten, 20, 30 years from now, we're going to have to go back into the Georgia Constitution to pull this hateful language out. And some of the very politicians who today will vote in favor of that language will no doubt be there when it is repealed, sheepishly trying to explain how it wasn't really about hate and discrimination, how back then they were just worried about protecting marriage and the family.

And you know what? Nobody will believe them. Nor should they."


Hell of a good statement. It illustrates how once again, our socisety would rather blame their problems on someone else instead of taking at look at themselves.

This is a little macabre, but at the same time, it's kind of funny. Can you imagine walking down the street and getting hit (or watching some one else get hit) by flying whale guts? Is it bad that the image made me giggle a little?

I would say making a gay porn video is a mistake (especially as a pro baseball player), especially if he is not gay as he claims.

Talk about a need for money

A study tries to show this...

People in the UK will no longer be arrested for marijuana possession. They will get a warning and the drugs will be confiscated.

Imagine how much money this country would save if it would downgrade the seriousness of this 'offense': outrageously fewer convicts which would result is reducing the number of prisons and jails needed (also reducing overcrowding that is all too endemic), a lot less tax payer money being wasted on trials and imprisonment to punish drug offenders who often times are punished much harsher than much worse crimes (i.e.-murder).

I won't even break into the multiple uses of the plant that will help many facets of our lives (i.e.-hemp for paper, clothes, revitalization of soil, etc.)

54 people are now held in Chinese prisons, simply for using the internet to express and spread political opinions or other ideas that have been deemed dangerous by the government. That explains why my sister (who is over there teaching English right now) can't access this website. It is very sad that so many people are being repressed and kept ignorant simply because those in charge are scared that their people will find out all that is wrong with their leaders. I am glad I live here.

And we complain about not having water here; browning lawns, watering restrictions, not enough snow at ski areas, etc. All these whining complaints about a lack of water here seem even more pitiful when reading about a real drought.

This is in no way a big deal, but kind of amusing.

Seems the number of illegals entering this country keeps increasing. I just finished the book Reefer Madness, by Eric Schlosser, which discussed immigrants for about a third of the book. One of his bigger concerns is their treatment, or more accurately, their mistreatment. One of his proposed solutions (which makes sense to me) is to make the employers pay for employing illegals, instead of dumping most of the blame on the illegals. If you make the employers shoulder the blame, they will be more hesitant to hire the illegals. This may help slow the tide crossing the border, and will hopefully reduce the number of people who die or are killed while trying to make it to the US.

Check out this website. I met two members of this group while I was in Hawaii (Love and Light), and I was given a copy of their CD (Stages of Life), and I think it's great. My new favorite instrument is the didgerydoo, and Love has the most beautiful voice! I am bummed I couldn't see her in the hotel's production of South Pacific (it started a couple days after I left). It has such an incredible sound! Very surreal, and in my opinion, not used extensively enough on this album. It's a free download, so why not? Don't let names, looks, or any of that garbage scare you away from listening to their stuff. It's great, and well worth the time.

Good news, fan! I now have wireless internet service in my house, so I can blog at almost any time of the day! I like it! Now to search for something worthwhile...

If this is true (as it appears to be?), it's pretty amazing. A parrot with a vocabulary of 950 words that may has exhibited a sense of humor and telepathy? That makes his own sentences? Sounds like he communicates better than I do on some Sunday mornings.

I am confused. Maybe I am not sufficiently in-tune with this issue, but isn't it ok for a company to try and keep jobs "in-house" instead of outsourcing them? India doesn't think so. If positions were reversed, I wonder what they would think then?

Wow. Some people are a bit over the top. Even if you don't like Dubya, I think comparing him to Hitler is over the top.

I am impressed/disgusted by a New York filmmaker's recent project: for one month he ate nothing but McDonald's, 3 meals a day. His documentary is called: Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions. Within days, he was experiencing physical and psychological ailments. I would have called it quits, based on what he was going thru, but apparently he kept at it for the entire month.

This film is being shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and I can only hope that it will be shown in theaters for all to see. It'll be a good way to show people how bad fast food can affect you (for those who haven't figured it out yet).

The only question is, what effort will the McD Corp. go thru to keep this film from getting widespread play? I would guess they would do all they could as the few details gleaned from this article are enough to make a good case for not eating fast food.

Check out the article. Very interesting stuff.

No matter who side you believe, an 18 year old with a promising future now sits in jail for 10 years, his future possibly destroyed. Is it a case of southern justice or not? Hard to say, but it sounds to me (based on this one article, and we know how unbiased the media is) like this guy got screwed. And if that is the case, it is a crying shame.

Looks like the RIAA is at it again. More lawsuits, more harassment and the like. It's funny, to me, how we are hearing all about the 'industry's' hatred of file sharing, copyright infringement, etc. But you don't hear much from artists (Lars must be busy). Once again, in talking to my brother he says the unknown artists don't mind it, because it gets their music out. Plus, they don't get much money from cd sales! They get it from concerts and memorabilia type sales. So why would they be against file sharing? Only the big boys care, because that is their cash cow. I say screw 'em. Make it about the music and the artists, not the big wigs who make too much money off these artists anyway.

Here is an interesting thought from Charlie, a friend of my dad’s. I spent most of last week with my dad and this guy, and there was quite a bit of talk about war in general, past wars, and the recently “ended” war in Iraq. When discussing how happy the Iraqi people are to be liberated, his response was basically this-if someone came and blew up my farm and my equipment, I’d hate the bastards. It wouldn’t matter why they were there, to lose his livelihood would create perpetual enmity against the invaders/liberators. This was Charlie looking at things from the perspective of the Iraqi people. An interesting viewpoint, that I think helps to highlight some of the animosity reigning in Iraq.

I am finally back on here! It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged, and I knew something was missing from my life! Time to get back in the swing of things.

The reason for my non-blogging is that I was in Hawaii for almost 2 weeks-on the island of Kauai. Awesome place. I did some hiking (the Na Pali Coast-awesome), camping, and laying about like a beached whale. It was great. I can't wait to go back! Except for the proliferation of newlyweds, it's a great island. Traveling around solo was greeted with many strange looks and incredulous comments, but such is life.

Detailed stories will go on my "Random Jim" page. There are some interesting ones!