can this be true?

Mike Jones voted for that thug George Bush?

no fun for our soldiers

. . . UCMJ [Uniform Code of Military Justice] basically says that . . . none of our soldiers, gay or straight, can have oral or anal sex, period, with anyone, same or opposite sex, even their married spouses (really).

John Aravosis at Americablog tells the tale.

familiarity, contempt

We took the mother-in-law out to eat Thai food for her 75th birthday. The music was incredible, enchanting, magnificent. The lead guitar player, Tommy Crook, is a true virtuoso. In his early years, he ran with Leon Russell, J.J. Cale and others who were originators of the "Tulsa Sound." He was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004. He's semi-retired and plays here on Friday nights. Mike and I were early, so we sat near the stage, listening to the trio. Just watching Tommy's hands was mesmerizing.

So here's what I don't get: Tommy's my brother-in-law. He played at my wedding, he occasionally plays at our family gatherings. Experiencing his musical genius in an unfamiliar setting, it occurred to me that I often overlook the close-up wonders and treats of my life while searching for inspiration elsewhere. Tommy's underfoot, but I had to hear him in new surroundings to appreciate him again.

My life is so rich and full and wonderful if I only make an effort to take the time to appreciate it. Always striving, working toward, making plans, doing doing doing. At the risk of sounding like the old hippie I am, I think my plan for today is simply to be, to try to be fully present in the life I have, this day, this hour, this moment.

Do you do this? Overlook the obvious in a quest for something new and exciting? What do you think causes it?

garrison keillor-coulter?

Is Garrison Keillor channeling Ann Coulter in his stereotyping of gay men?

The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men — sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That’s for the kids. It’s their show.

In the context of the Salon article, he's blabbing about himself and speaker fees, that sort of thing. And in the quote, he's actually describing the stereotypical gay man, not saying "this is gay life." I know he's trying to be funny, that's what he does. Bad timing, I think, coming fast on the heels of Pace and Coulter and all of the other insensensitive and hateful jackasses we've heard from the last weeks.