Meet Fred Phelps, your new best friend

I have long believed that sometimes to get someone to change their mind, you need to show them a caricature of themselves. You need to show them someone that takes their own beliefs and stretches them so far "out of bounds" that they see themselves in a new light. The terrible story of Matthew Shepard is one good example. I know of a few bigots and homophobes that when faced with this terrible story had to actually admit that it was a tragedy and that even a homosexual should have been beaten and killed.

The case of James Byrd, the black man who was dragged behind a truck and killed, also serves to illustrate an extreme that even most racists will admit was unncessary, a tragedy, and a terrible crime.

So, now we have the Rev. Fred Phelps, whose God Hates Fags web site presents the most extreme possible view of homophobia, racism, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reid, the Christian Coalition, and the America Family Association. When Rev. Phelps church came to Hawaii a few years ago, even our own local bigots such as Mike and Carolyn Gabbard had to admit that Phelps was too extreme. The commentary by the television anchor people after the story had aired was openly hostile and condeming to Phelps and his followers.

So, in my humble opinion, thank you Rev. Phelps for showing the world about homophobia and racism. You have a few followers, but you have the opposite effect that you desire on most of the population.

Former Republican U.S. senator Danforth calls marriage ban silly

Former U.S. senator John Danforth says a conservative push to ban same-sex marriage through a federal constitutional amendment is silly, calling it the latest example of how the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the GOP. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided.
"Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human behavior; that was prohibition. That was such a flop that that was repealed 13 years later," Danforth said.Referring to the marriage amendment, he added that perhaps at some point in history there was a constitutional amendment proposed that was "sillier than this one, but I don't know of one."

It is too bad that Republicans that are currently in office don't have as much guts, straight-forwardness, and forthrightness.

Theft and online meetings

Recently, a friend was telling me about someone that he met online. He invited the guy to his house. When the guy showed up, my friend went to take a shower, came out of the shower, the guy was gone, and so was his wallet, some jewelry, and an LCD television. I know many guys that this has happened to including one that woke up "the next morning" and his car was gone.

As long as we insist on inviting strangers in to our homes, the odds are we are going to get screwed sooner or later. Back in my single days, I would never have let someone out of my sight that I had not been on at least two dates with. Going to their place, I would leave my wallet in my car, or at least hide it. On one occasion while at some guy's apartment, I found him going through my clothes. He claimed he was about to do laundry and offered to wash my jeans. Right...

So, guys, for heavens sake, show a some judgement and caution!