NICOLAUS COPERNICUS – 21st Century man.
I know how Copernicus must have felt. He’s the fellow who first posited that the Sun, and not Earth, was at the center of the universe. For his trouble he was branded a heretic and ostracized by the Catholic church. It turns out Nicolaus was right and the Pope, not so much. It’s a familiar story. It has legs. It’s still happening at the hands of the far right ignorati.
SASHA GREY - The former porn star demonstrates her commitment to the community by reading to kids.
Sex work holds an odd niche in America. To some, it’s strictly taboo in any situation. To others it’s a personal choice based on pay, circumstance (both private and public), or genuine preference for the work. Even sex workers have a difficult time in defining it as empowering or misogynistic.
When is history not history? When it’s written by legislative fiat.
California Sen. Mark Leno (D) has sponsored legislation requiring schools to include historical contributions by gays and lesbians. It passed on a party line vote and went to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for signature this week.
U.S. bishop resigns after allowing pedophile priest to flee
Catholic League president Bill Donohue is outraged. Outraged because those damn gays are getting married. Bill says that if you open the door, a Rick Santorumesque world holds sway – threesomes and moresomes will suck all the life out of the Catholic church and bring the human race to ruination.
DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL - The illogical and irrational belief that gay people only become gay when asked if they are gay.
UPDATE: McCain’s DADT Support Letter Signed By A Bunch Of Dead Guys
Don’t ask, don’t tell (DADT) opponents are nothing if not persistent. For nearly 20 years they’ve held tightly to the illogical and irrational belief that gay people only become gay when asked if they are gay.
One of the chief reasons DADTers give for keeping DADT alive is that military units would dissolve into pits of undisciplined chaos with poor morale and troops running from the showers because their buddies might see their dong. This pretzel logic seems to suggest that only straights can foster effective leadership and morale.
Well think again delusional kiddies.
The Navy recently revealed the presumably straight captain of the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens is a modern day Captain Bligh. Capt. Holly Graf apparently belittled sailors and officers with a relish the nation hasn’t seen since Humphrey Bogart obsessed on strawberry ice cream in The Caine Mutiny.
She publicly cussed her crews. She shoved, grabbed, and spit on them. She winged a ceramic coffee mug at one officer and even put one well-respected master chief on time out like a 10-year old with more emotional maturity than she demonstrated.
Thankfully, I never served under anyone as out of control as Graf in my military career, but I did serve under some who were more dangerous to unit cohesion and morale than a brigade of lesbians or a squadron of gays. I’d dare say serving with Graf would be much more damaging to morale than serving under a gay captain who stayed professional, valued his crew, and didn’t try to thump them with a mug of java by way of saying, “Have a shitty day!”
DADTers like to remind us the military has customs and mores different than those in civilian life – and they’re right. Unit cohesion and good morale are essential to ask people to risk their lives for the folks (ironically including many DADTers) back home. However, there’s a point where civilian and military mores intersect. As Capt. Graf amply demonstrated, an asshat is an asshat whether their hat is a straight navy blue or gay lavender. The environments straights can create can be just as poisonous to morale and good military discipline as ones gays can create.
It’s not who they are sleeping with that’s the problem, it’s the fact they can be incompetent regardless of their sexual orientation.
