Some of the news that is fit to print

We're going to Disney World!

The traveling TypePad goes to Disney World on Sunday to spend some time with the in-laws at the happiest place on Earth. I'm hoping we'll also be able to get some much needed R&R. It has been intense at work for the last few weeks... and intense as my best friend has been facing some personal challenges. I'm hopng that a little distraction might just do me good.

We then go West to see my family... and again, we hope for some R&R.

I'll post from both places, no doubt.

Sorry... we need your house for a Wal-Mart

From the 'what in the hell where they thinking' department comes today's U.S. Supreme Court decision [.pdf] that says that local governments can seize an individuals' businesses and homes to promote economic development. Yes, it was a spit decision, but...

The case came from New London, Conn. residents who challenged the government's use of eminent domain to take and pay for private property and use it for private economic development. Homeowners sued the city, which wanted their land for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices.

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for a 5-4 majority, said local officials know better than federal judges whether a private development would benefit the community. States, though, can pass laws restricting cities' rights to condemn private property, the court ruled.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor strongly disagreed, writing that the decision allows the powerful and well-heeled to benefit at the expense of others.

Please don't retire, Justice O'Connor! (See, Ronald Regan did give us sometime worthwhile!) And how is this for just shocking -- I'm in agreement with the right side on this issue. This from Slate.com's Today's Papers:

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing the dissent, wasn't exactly mollified: "The specter of condemnation [now] hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory." Joining O'Connor in the dissent were Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas.

Still to come before the Court adjourns for the year is the much anticipated decision about whether Internet file-sharing services are liable for their users' illegal downloads of movies and music. Dum-da-dum dum daaaaa!

Gays are the new Jews?

Andrew Sullivan, the British, gay, conservative Catholic commentator, posts about the NYT Magazine piece on gay marriage:

The danger of the Jews/Gays spreading their disease throughout society, their enormous power despite tiny numbers, their ability to pass, their threat to children, their flaunting of their disagreement with the New Testament. It's all so familiar. I think the arguments now made by some Christianists are replicas of the old anti-Semitism, peddled by so many Christians in the past: that Jews are to be loved, but loving them is dependent on their conversion to Christianity; that you can love individual Jews while disdaining Judaism; that Jews' stubbornness in resisting conversion is evidence of their inherent evil; that such evil, at some point, has to be segregated from mainstream society as much as possible. Gays are not the new blacks. They're the new Jews. And the Church, in both Catholic and Protestant variants, is dredging up its old anti-Semitism in new guises. The GOP is along for the ride.

Anti-gay (marriage?)...

The NYT Magazine Sunday featured a cover story on... well, not gay marriage, exactly... more about gayness itself.

What's Their Real Problem With Gay Marriage? (It's the Gay Part) [NYT Magazine, 6.19.2005, registration require]
Maryland's anti-gay-marriage crusaders share this with organizers nationwide: They say they are fighting a disease.

The story is depressing beyond the fact that these are people who can see me... or my friends... as morally repugnant. To be honest, I don't have a problem with that. But what truly scares me is that they aren't comfortable having their own views. They need to impose their views on others. And because their views are ordained by God, there is no room for discussion or debate. Their arguments are, of course, intellectually empty because it largely rests on the blind belief that the Bible says homosexuality is immoral therefore it is wrong. And because being gay is wrong, it can't be associated with racism or other cases of discrimination.

What I find truly curious is that we are stuck in the Middle East as part of an effort to bring about a democracy and free people from dictators and radical religious fanatics. Yet at home, we are turning our country over to religious fanatics. A case in point: Terri Schiavo.

It is curious that these people think that their beliefs are under attack. In fact, this quote just cracked me up:

Bryan Simonaire added: ''We have to recognize that they have a strategy to propagate their lifestyle. Think back 10 or 20 years ago, when you had the first openly homosexual person on TV. It was shocking to a lot of people. Now it's the norm on television, so you don't have the shock factor. Then they had two men with a passionate kiss on TV. That's the road they're heading down. They have a strategy.''

It is out there more because we are not staying in the closet any more. Many of us are proud of our lives. Are we perfect? Of course not. But is any group? Is anybody?

''My concern is the health issue,'' said Evalena Gray, an activist in southern Maryland. ''I want to get these people away from AIDS, out of that unhealthy lifestyle.''

Unfortunately I feel sorry for her kids because she is raising them in a culture of hatred.

I don't care about anybodies beliefs. People can believe whatever they want as long as they don't impose their beliefs on me. And I'm sorry but if find Will & Grace or Queer As Folk repugnant, don't watch! I don't have a problem with that. But about 10 million people watch Will & Grace. (I'm not one of them because I found the stories getting tedious and boring.)

Unfortunately I'm not sure how we live in a free and open democracy if there are all sorts of issues where a large group of people merely opt out and feel it is within reason to obliterate others rights.

Anti-gays argue that it is not nature, but it is a 'lifestyle.'

Indeed, a constant refrain among the anti-gay-marriage forces is that they are motivated not by hate but by love. Most of the activists I spoke with say that they know gay people -- several said they have relatives who are gay -- and that they have approached them, with love, to try to get them to change. Rick Bowers, a pastor of a nondenominational church in Columbia, Md., is the head of Defend Maryland Marriage, another activist group, which works with Focus on the Family. ''There are those extremists who say that if a gay person were on fire you would burn in hell if you spit on them to put out the fire,'' he told me. ''But we're not like that. We love the human being. It's the lifestyle we disagree with.''

''Lifestyle'' is a buzzword in conservative Christian circles. It's a signal of the belief, and the policy position, that homosexuality is not an innate condition but a hedonistic way of living, one devoted to partying, drugs and wanton sex that ends, often, in illness and early death. In 2004 the Family Research Council put out a book called ''Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows About Homosexuality,'' which purports to explode the myth that homosexuality is natural or genetic and puts forth an alternative theory that it springs from childhood abuse or other developmental factors. Chapter 4, ''Is Homosexuality a Health Risk?'' lines up studies and statistics to link homosexuality with cancer, alcoholism, mental illness, suicide and reduced life span, in addition to H.I.V./AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The activists opposing gay marriage echo these points. ''My concern is the health issue,'' said Evalena Gray, an activist in southern Maryland. ''I want to get these people away from AIDS, out of that unhealthy lifestyle.''

I have argued with gay friends that being gay is -- or can be -- a choice. I lived a 'straight' life for a long time. After all, I didn't come out until I was in my mid-20s. But I was miserable and it had long-term ramifications on my life that I'm still dealing with these days.

Nature or nurture -- who cares? So you don't agree with the 'lifestyle.' So... don't get into a gay relationship. Don't watch television shows. Even don't associate with gay people, if you want. But why is there the need to impose your views on others? And we aren't talking about sex with children... and we aren't talking about sex with animals... We are talking about two people who have entered into a mutual relationship with one another... and I'm not sure why these folks care what I do with my life. They are afraid of what it will do to the institution of marriage? Well, straight people have made a pretty good mess of it on their own, thank you very much.

DMV and I are going to have a commitment ceremony next year and it is not meant to be a political statement, but one person noted that merely by its nature, it is making a political statement. DMV and I love one another and we are inviting our friends to support our commitment to one another -- through thick and thin, richer and poorer, sickness and in health. And we all know that kind of commitment isn't always easy, but I truly believe that love breads more love.

A long post, but this is an issue that touches on so many issues.

I'm sure I'll return to it. Meanwhile, I'm off to dinner.

Will Terri EVER RIP?

As a small-c conservative -- I actually believe that the government should not play a role in most people's lives -- the entire Terri Schiavo case just sickened me. The Republicans were nothing short of disgusting... and the Democrats are such cowards, they never said a thing. It is a sad, sad story that pols only made worse.

And then a Bush -- in this case, a government rather than a president -- finds a way to make it worse!

Gov. Bush Seeks Another Inquiry in Schiavo Case
[NYT, 6.18.2005] Gov. Jeb Bush said a new autopsy report revealed a possible gap between when Terri Schiavo fell unconscious and when her husband called paramedics.

This is nothing short of repulsive. She fell 10-years ago and suddenly a sleazy politician -- not the authorities anywhere, but a politician -- thinks he can make some hay off of it.
Can anybody justify the handling of this case?

Life and death issues are complex, but in most cases, they are intensely personal... abortion, euthanasia... they a decisions that should left to citizens in conjunction with their doctors. And we ought to stop letting the extremes define these issues. There are few abortions going on in the third trimester. There are few people out there killing the infirm against their wills. Yet these cases define the debate? Stop the madness!

Why judge battle matters...

Most people out there in the world are baffled by the fight over judges that has been going on in the Senate. But it does matter.

Last week, the Senate confirmed former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor to the U.S. Appeals Court. This guy is just repulsive.
I don't believe in extremes on either side, but the liberal group People for the American Way notes:

Pryor believes that it is constitutional to imprison gay men and lesbians for having sex in the privacy of their own homes, and has filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold Texas’ “Homosexual Conduct law,” which criminalizes such conduct. Pryor believes that singling out gay men and lesbians in this manner does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the same brief, Pryor equated for purposes of legal analysis sex between two adults of the same gender with “activities like prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia…”

And have him for life!

No shock here...

Needless to say, I didn't fall out of my chair when I saw this... but at least there is somebody out there saying something. (A big thumb up to our neighbor, CT! Nice job!)

Independent: The British government is deeply disappointed that President Bush hasn't made a greater commitment to tackling climate change ahead of the Group of Eight summit, U.K. Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a rare, outspoken critique of the American position on global warming.

Amazing 'Crash'

Yes, I know I haven't posted in awhile. I am now running the blog for work and I have to post something every day there. I then end up in the situation where either I don't have enough time to do everything... or I don't have anything else interesting to say. I have been working on a post about our recent trip to Kenyon College, but... I'll try to actually finish that today.

But a short and sweet... We went to see Crash last night, which is the best movie I have seen this year... and there really isn't a second place. I won't give anything away, of course, because one of the things I loved about this movie was I went in with almost no expectations. We had been trying to see the movie for weeks. We went a few weeks ago, but because of a fire in the neighborhood, traffic was terrible and we ended up seeing Monster In-Law. I'm trying to think if there could be a more stark contrast.

Crash is difficult to describe. It is a wonderful movie where there are multiple story lines that all come together through chance and circumstance. The first movie using this writing style that I remember was Pulp Fiction. I generally the writing style because I am in awe of it. I cannot imagine the work it must take to bring all these people together without making a movie seem phony. The careful writing, keen direction, and phenomenal directing ensures that you care about these people even though some of them are distasteful. You get a passing glance into each person's life, yet you feel like you know them and care about them, to one degree or another, even despite their sometimes egregious faults.

At the crux of it all is the race issue. Every race is in the movie -- black, white, Chinese, Arab... sorry, Persian... and the underlying story is about how all of these races deal with one another -- or don't, as the case may be.

There are a few negative reviews and, to be honest, I don't know what movie these folks saw.

It is rare that we are ever shocked these days. We've been there and done that. After Janet, Michael and Dean's crazed scream, is there really much that can surprise us? Check out this movie because it is shocking in its honesty. There is race talk that we all know goes on, but is never really addressed publicly. The white woman who wants the locks in the house changed because a black man has put them in... The black man who complains that he wasn't served coffee at a restaurant -- he says because he is black -- even though he doesn't drink coffee.

It isn't a light film, but it is amazing and wonderful.

Crash is just amazing and it will leaving you thinking for days.

CJD's grade: A

One irony... I actually had to switch seats because the group of people behind us were talking through the movie. And yes, it was a group of some minority. Perhaps I could be a character in the movie?