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A while back after the election, I posted Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the passage of Proposition 8 in California --a righteous rant if there ever was one-- and though many folks' inner anger is still seething (probably by the day) about this revocation and denial of our basic rights, at least now we can afford ourselves some much needed levity. And by now, I'm sure this video has gone completely viral across the web, so let me also put my pitch in for this clever song and dance routine from some of our favorite Hollywood libruls. With the likes of Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney and Margaret Cho (Neil Patrick Harris too, hehe!), that raises certain expectations that are more than adequately met in this short number (it's less than 2 min!). Though I saw this posted early today, I made myself wait until I was done working for the night to check it out, and boy howdy, I was not disappointed. It definitely put many smiles on my weary face and provoked chuckles tonight. So if you're up for a well done little number, check the video out! I think you'll smile too....
So while we're on the topic of songs ....
As some of you know (oh gentle readers...), I (try to!) frequent some very good garden blogs around the web (though not as many as I'd like to, alas), I haven't run across many that actually post original songs, save for Annie in Austin, who periodically posts her original songs as videos done with her husband Philo. Well, she has a lovely new one posted this week, Can I Recover Christmas, and if you aren't familiar with her work, it's definitely worth a look! It's part of a longer project she has been working on, Roots in Austin, a musical play in progress.... If you haven't already seen this poignant video yet, click on the image below....
As Annie told me today, frost is forecast in Austin tonight ... well here, we had about another 2 in. of snow today, with bitter cold and brisk winds, which made it rather unpleasant to be outside, though at least this time it didn't freeze on the satellite dish and knock out our signal, which just came back on yesterday with a brief thaw from Sunday's rain/snow mix. Whew. So I was able to see my usual round up of news programs (Keith and Rachel) and recorded the newest episode of Pushing Daisies, my new (and only ) favorite network program just canceled after an all too brief brilliant and innovative run. It was great while it lasted, and I can only hope that ABC will still air the remaining 5 episodes they have completed. (Again, I have to give a hat tip to Annie who first brought this series to my attention a few months.)
It looks like we'll be getting a tree this weekend, probably on Saturday, when we're forecast to have a positively balmy high of 31F/-1C, because it looks to be the warmest day we're going to get until next week. So Ornament Blogging and Tree Decorating aren't far off ... we also hope to get the porch decorations up if it's not too cold to work out there on Sunday. With this weather, it also looks like Potage and Baguette time in the kitchen, now that the season of cold weather comfort food is upon us. I may even thaw out one of our pork tenderloins to go along with that, since winter food seems to be my specialty these past few years. So if anyone wants me to go all "Food Networky" again, I can plan on blogging these recipes too. Potage is one of my favorite French dishes to make in the cold months, and Baguettes, I can practically make those in my sleep after so many years, lol.
Here's hoping that it's warmer where you are now, as we're now currently at 13F/-10C as I finish this post!
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For all the right wing blather about "protecting the sanctity of marriage," who are the true victims here? Not those heterosexual couples who have a 50/50 chance of their marriages surviving a potential divorce. This is about civil rights, pure and simple. Why should same sex couples be denied the rights (tax breaks, Social Security benefits, visitation or adoption rights, etc.) that heterosexual couples take for granted? There is no conceivable rationalization for this mindset, because there is no palpable effect on "traditional marriages" of legalizing and recognizing same sex marriages for such couples. Everybody would be a winner here if same sex marriages were recognized and afforded comparable benefits: gay people would most certainly want to divorce at times (hooray for the lawyers!), and just think about how much the churches and city halls would make in charging for marriages? This is hate. Pure and simple. First it was the Jews. Then it was Black folks, and now, since the 80's onward, we gay folk are the targets of hate. Once the extremist theocrats are done with us, who will be the next victims? This is bigotry and idiocy, pure and simple.
Here are the arguments I've used when discussing this issue with people over the years...
Fernymoss and I met and fell in love in 1997 and we've been together ever since. According to most statistics I've seen, the divorce rate among heterosexual couples outpaces the chances we should have had at staying together these past 11 years. Why can't we file our taxes as a married couple and get that benefit? Because we're not "legal" according to state and federal law. That's not Equal Rights, that's no rights.
If either of us decided to enter into a sham marriage with a woman, and then died three weeks later, that woman would be entitled to collect Social Security benefits that we have paid all our working lives. Where's the equality in that?
We can't share equally in health care benefits either. Neither of us is recognized legally by the other's insurance. We're considered "single" workers and cannot benefit from the other's coverage. And I won't even go into the legal complications about whether either of us could legally make life or death decisions about the other (e.g. "pulling the plug on extraordinary measures" even if that were perfectly clear between the two of us). The only option I see as us having is granting power of attorney for such rights to the other, and even that has been challenged in certain state courts. But it's the best we have in the current state of things legally.
And then there's the whole issue of general respect. As gay tax payers who have dutifully paid into funds all our lives that protect others over many years, why should we be denied the same benefits? I guess that, according to current laws, it's OK for us to subsidize benefits for divorced, married or common law marriages, but when it concerns responsible, tax paying gay "singles," we're out in the cold. And we should, I guess, just be happy about not being herded into prisons or concentration camps for the privilege of subsidizing those who are more "pure" than we are?
It's no wonder that spontaneous protests against Proposition H8 have sprung up over the country since last week. I suspect there will be many more before this all ends up in the courts. Good on them I say....
Please click on Keith Olbermann's Special Comment from Monday (above), because he makes a much better general case than I can against this idiocy. For us, its just too personal, and we're not going to get over it any time soon, no matter how the mainstream media covers this.
I'll back down from my soapbox now. But this is an important issue to us, and I hope readers will understand where I'm coming from on this issue. And thanks for reading, as always!
