I don't know why, but this is always one of my favorite days of the year.

When I came home for vacation, I thought I'd take a look at Brokeback Mountain and see if all the critical acclaim/hype was justified. So I checked the newspaper and the web, and discovered that it's only playing at two theaters -- both of them far from where I live. I figured the Christian right had had its way, and was intimidating theater ( Read more... )

I'm not sure what to make of this Judge Roberts guy. On the face of it, he seems like such a reasonable and even genial person... definitely not the type of conservative I can't stand. His resume sure looks impressive ( Read more... )

Now it's really hit the fan at the Supreme Court. Instead of the expected retirement of the ultra-conservative Chief Justice (who still may retire -- who knows?) we get this morning's announcement of the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court ( Read more... )

I don't think I'll ever understand the workings of the Catholic Church, and that's probably just as well. They've chosen Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (whose name loosely translated from German means "Slinger of Rats") to be the new pope. He combines the last pope's unbending conservatism with a demeanor that suggests he would like to bring back some ( Read more... )

About a week ago, the Supreme Court upheld a Florida law banning adoptions by gay people based on sexual orientation alone. They didn't even hear the case, allowing a lower-court ruling to stand. This is a disappointing setback after the progress the Court seemed to be making a few months ago ( Read more... )

I just read one of the most incredibly disgusting things I've ever seen in my life. (This is what I get for adding new people to my LJ friends.) It's an article in Rolling Stone titled "Bug Chasers." Believe it or not, it's about guys who WANT to get infected with HIV (apparently due to some misguided erotic fantasy to be "initiated into the ( Read more... )

who, as it happened, turned out to be from Australia. This got me thinking about a pattern I'm starting to see. Australia is FULL of hot guys... in fact, THERE ARE TOO MANY HOT GUYS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. Something has to be done about it ( Read more... )

Tomorrow morning, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage. It's clear that it won't come anywhere near the two-thirds majority (67 votes) that is needed for passage, and some senators are predicting that it won't even get a simple majority. The good news is that there's no way a constitutional ( Read more... )

I heard on the radio that some "gay advocacy group" is targeting my home state with a campaign titled "Virginia Is For Haters." Apparently because our state legislature passed a reprehensible law back in 1997 prohibiting same-sex unions (among other things), this group has decided to ask all gays and their friends to boycott Virginia ( Read more... )