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First, forgive me for the series of posts linking to other blogs. I went browsing through Technaroti and found some quality material. Amidst it was this gem: Five Public Opinions.

I found a new source for my daily dose of culture, politics and world affairs, and of course, it is coming from abroad. I only looked at the last couple of days, but these pieces got me hot enough that I felt they needed to be shared.

Hillarious, and dead on.

There's a "week that wasn't" piece with some priceless stories.

• A kid burning down his churche because they weren't teaching the Bible in his way. What a postmodern revolutionary this kid is.
• The Pentagon downgrades homosexuality from a "mental disorder" to a "condition." It always makes me feel good to know that we are 5 years behind China on anything, especially when it's on social matters.
• And, A Texan launches a complaint for non-hostile coverage of a gay marriage... I have nothing to say to that.

I also dug the piece on the Klan. Unreal.

This guy is motivating me to move to Australia. Is everyone this openminded down under? I wonder.

Benedict for Saturday Breakfast

I have to hand it to the Vatican, their PR machine runs smoothers than GW's. Here's another Vatican Blog speaking the highest praises of Pope Benedicts visit to Turkey.

My favorite part was this excerpt:

From his support for Turkey’s European Union membership to his speaking in Turkish during prayers in the ancient city of Ephesus, the Pope surprised and impressed.Most enthusiasm was reserved for his decision to pray alongside Mustafa Cagrici, the Mufti of Istanbul, at the Blue Mosque.The Mufti characterised the moment when Pope Benedict faced Mecca and clasped his hands in the Muslim manner, as the full apology that the Pope failed to make after his controversial address about Islam at Regensburg University in Germany in September.

A symbolic apology? How about a real one.

Same sex marriage bans pass in seven of eight states.

The count is still going on, but it appears Arizona was the only state to reject a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage yesterday. Still, there is no reason to be disheartened.

Althought the ban was passed in South Dakota, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Colorado and Virginia, it was not by an overwhelming margin. Look at the numbers.

(in percents, for ban/against ban)
Arizona: 49 / 51
Colorado: 56 / 44
South Carolina: 78/ 22
South Dakota: 52 / 48
Tennessee: 81 / 19
Virginia: 57 / 43
Wisconsin: 59 / 41

Average: 61.7 / 38.3

Take the Bible-belt states of Tennessee and South Carolina out of the mix and the numbers are even tighter.

Average: 54.6 / 45.4

Pretty close to an even split.

What does this mean? Though the American people may not yet be ready to hear same-sex couples say 'I Do', they are not ready to write discrimination into their constitutions. While this is not necessarily a giant leap for homo-kind, it is a small step toward equality.

Laying the smack down.

Don Walten, evangelist preacher and founder of Truth Ministries, went on a rant this week about Rosie O'Donnell in a Florida magazine called Witness (see the full article). In his bluster, Walten addressed a variety of topics ranging from the national doctorine of seperation-of-church-and-state to Islamic values. He turned each of these topics on their head, shook them out and then used them to accuse O'Donnell of ignorance.

The piece was birthed out of a comment that O'Donnell made on ABC's morning talk-show The View. Apparently, O'Donnell's fellow co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, was in the middle of a speech about the dangers of militant Islamic extremists, when she was interupted by a statement that sent Walten on a writing-spree. O'Donnell compared fundamentalist Islam with fundamentalist Christianity saying, "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state."

Walten decided to refute that statement in a "humorous way".

"While poking fun at Rosie for her serious gray cell deficiency is tempting, [I limited] myself to poking holes in her absurd assertion," Walten said.

Walten first attacked the notion that there is an actual seperation of church and state in the United States.

"To begin with, there is no such thing as separation of church and state in America," he said. "The words 'separation of church and state' are nowhere to be found in our Constitution."

He quoted the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to prove it.

While Walten is correct in respect to the Constitution, he failed to recognize that the doctorine is recognized in Supreme Court law and is found in the texts and writings of our Founding Fathers (proof). The doctorine was referred to in numerous cases that have defined our concept of civil rights, and in conjunction with the Fourteenth Amendment, it has been applied to states and localities as well.

An example that Walten should be familiar with is Abington School District v Schempp (1963), which officially banned prayer in public schools. A follow-up case, Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), created the "Lemon test", which established that a publicly sponsored school must have a secular purpose, must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and must not result in an excessive entanglement between government and religion.

A history/ civics lesson:
A government that does not have seperation of church and state would, in fact, have a state sponsored church. For example, in the United Kingdom there is the Church of England - also known as the Anglican Church - which was founded by Henry VIII when the Catholic pope would not grant him a divorce. Henry VIII made himself, as king, the head of the church. Today, Queen Elizabeth II is the "Supreme Governor of the Church of England".

Our government allows room for the practice of any and all religions, and is not directly tied to any religious organizations in order to prevent biases. Although Christian principle's are central to the government and moral structures in the United States, they are not protected by the law any more than those of Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews or even Muslims.

Walten would have us believe that freedom of religion is corrupt. He would have us believe that allowing people to choose for themselves is dangerous. And, he would have us believe that the United States is as much a theocracy as, say, Iran or Saudi Arabia.

"In Rosie O'Donnell's twisted interpretation of the Constitution, our government must never act in accordance with Christian beliefs or convictions. If it does, it is acting in cahoots with the church and in violation of the Constitution," he said. "Thus, if the church condemns homosexuality, the government is constitutionally bound to condone it by legalizing its practice and sanctioning same-sex marriages."

Walten also stated that O'Donnell would be killed for her statements in an Islamic state. He said that "...Rosie O'Donnell, who would be imprisoned or executed for the crime of homosexuality in a Muslim country, to denounce Christianity, the very faith upon which our country's freedoms were established, as tantamount to Islam is more than a little preposterous...In a Muslim country, however, she'd still be in the closet; or worse, she'd be in the gulag or a grave."

(An imporant note: A Muslim Country is one in which the majority of is citizens are Muslim. The majority of these countries have secular governments and are governed by secular laws. An Islamic country is one that is government by Islamic law. The laws against homosexuality are not related to a region, but rather, a religion.)

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and organizations such as Amnesty International have given numerouse reports on the issues of gender identity and sexual orientation in recent years. Although there are laws prohibiting "homosexual acts" in Islamic nations, the excerise of these laws is dependant on the country itself. For example Iran, a country notorious for its human rights violations, has recently been in the spotlight for the beheading of two homosexual men.

Walten's rant had O'Donnell killed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh, 250 people in attendence of a gay wedding were arrested in August. However, 230 of them were released the same day. It is believed that the rest of the people were detained for illegal drug use.

As an aside, Honduras, a Catholic country, has been in on the Amnesty International watchlist for killings and discrimination as well.

In truth, Islam as a religion, is evolving on the issue of homosexuality in the same way that Christianity is. There are many unanswered questions, and in countries where civil and human rights are not held to the same standard that they are in the United States, there is still a great deal of intolerance toward homosexuals. However, Muslims are bound by teachings of the Qu'ran to love others as themselves - same as Christians are by the Bible. The right to judge is left to God alone. Don't believe me, read what an imam had to say, or check our what the Qu'ran says.

Google Santorum

After Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa, stood before Congress denounced homosexuality a spectacle ensued. When he equated gay sexual relations to sex with a dog, an LGBT community storm rose against him nationwide and he recieved his own place in history: Santorum has now become synonimous with "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex".

We can thank sex-columnist Dan Savage, author of Savage Love and editor of The Stranger in Seattle, for this. He made it a personal quest to defame the name of Penssylvania's Senator for his statements in the AP Interview.

SANTORUM...It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality —

AP: I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about "man on dog" with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out.

SANTORUM: And that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately...

Philadelphia Weekly ran a feature on Savage and all of his hostilities. A previously well-known and frequently syndicated writer, he rose to a new level by making his web site, www.spreadingsantorum.com the number one hit on Google searches for "santorum". His site ranks above Santorum's own site. Check it out, click here.

Although it is an excellent profile, it leaves out one key element: by taking a political stance as Savage has alienated himself. Although he may have risen to a new level of notoriety and put Santorum's comments on a massive public display, he has pulled the pulpit out from beneath himself and now stands among the ranks of Michael Moore. Ouch. Ouch. and More Ouch.

True, Savage's reasons for hostility are indisputable (right?). Check out the full text of the AP interview. But, when you are having donations checks returned from Bob Casey's camp because they don't want to be affiliated with you, something needs to be said for the solidarity of the gay civil rights campaign. Notoriety cannot be gained at the price of self-respect, and we can't expect the religious right to take LGBT rights seriously when we are throwing scat in their faces. Though it is funny Mr. Savage, perhaps you have gone too far.

Supreme Court slaps down religious group.

Even as a believer in the need for free speech, sometimes I have to be thankful that some people are made to shut the hell up.

The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal brought Christian Civic League of Maine today. The group attempted to air advertisments on local television and radio outlets that focused on the constitutional ban against same-sex marriage. The ads urged constituents to call Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and ask for their support of the ammendment. Under federal-election law, corporations and labor unions are not allowed to pay for aired advertisements referring to a candidate for federal office within 60 days prior to the general election. Snowe is on next months ballot, running unopposed for reelection.

This did make me think, however, what would the world be like if everyone was allowed an equal amount of time at the microphone? Would people simply stop listening?