Random Musings

Either the times are a'changing too fast, or, well, I might be slipping, mentally.

See, I rarely send regular mail. I email and talk to friends and family through Facebook. I pay bills online, read the paper online, and do all kinds of stuff online. But this week, as I readied a  birthday card to send to a very good friend through regular mail, I had to stop and think:

"Which corner does the stamp go on?"

I know.

And then there were seven.

Out there in New Mexico, Grant County Clerk Robert Zamarripa has said his office will comply with a judge's ruling issued Tuesday and will begin providing marriage licenses to same-sex couples next week: "We'll let the Legislature and courts decide after this what needs to be done."

His comments came shortly after District Judge J.C. Robinson issued an order requiring the clerk to issue marriage licenses "on a nondiscriminatory basis" to same-sex couples.

And, in a separate case, Los Alamos County Clerk Sharon Stover is fighting a similar court order and said she won't immediately change her policy of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Stover is to appear in state district court next week to ask Judge Sheri Raphaelson to put a same-sex marriage lawsuit on hold until the issue is resolved by the state Supreme Court in another case.

But however you slice, as of today, 57.6% of New Mexicans live in marriage equality counties.

UPDATE: Los Alamos County has just become the eight county in the state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The march goes on ....

John McCain. Prisoner of war; war hero; perpetual--at least until he lost to Obama--candidate for the White House; the Senator from Arizona. And, well, half-assed, barely there Senator, too.

See, as the hearings went on about what to do about Syria, Melina Mara, a photographer, says she saw the esteemed McCain “passing the time by playing poker on his iPhone during the hearing.”

Yes, while we elected him to office to represent us--or at least the people of Arizona did that--and while we ask that he make an informed decision on whether or not we should go into yet another war, McCain is playing games on his phone rather than listen to the discussion.

Bad enough, but he even admitted as much, sending out this ridiculous Tweet as some sort of an excuse:

Vote.Him.Out.

Grandpa needs to go sit on the porch now.

Speaking of McCain and his ill-fated yet desperate need to be president, we finally saw Game Change last week. We live in an HBO-free house so missed it the first go-round but caught it long enough to DVR it during a free HBO weekend.

And I'll say this, I felt a bit sorry for the MGB™.

Now, don't get me wrong, she's a loon, and completely inept and unfit for public office, but she was such a pawn in McCain's ego-driven campaign for the White House. She was wack-a-doo and stupid, turned arrogant and threatening when provoked, but I did feel bad that she was so alone, without her family, and so out of her element that she had to be shown a world map and then given the names of the countries in an effort to train her about Foreign policy.

Like I said, I felt bad, but I do know that we dodged a pretty incredible, and incredibly stupid, bullet when the McCain campaign lost ... big time.

Boy, do we grow 'em stupid down here; stupid and too horny to think straight.

Emily Craig and Shaun Bowden, right up there, were arrested last week for having sex inside a display shed at a Home Depot near Charleston. Officers were dispatched to the business “in reference to a male and female entering a display shed on the property, closing the door behind themselves and remaining inside.” 

Upon arrival, an inspection of the outdoor sheds turned up Craig and Bowden; Craig was "partially clothed; the top of her dress was untied, hanging at her waist” while Bowden was shirtless and “had his pants down near his knees; his penis was exposed.”

During questioning of the duo, “it became apparent that they were engaged in sexual intercourse within the shed.” During questioning it became apparent????

Craig and Bowden were each arrested for disorderly conduct, while Bowden was also hit with an indecent exposure count for “having his genitals within public view". Additionally, Craig was charged with providing false information for initially giving officers an incorrect name.

Stupid and horny, emphasis on the stupid.

Liz Cheney, daughter of W's Hellhound, Dick "If I Only Had A Heart [and Brain]" Cheney, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Wyoming, reacted yesterday to charges by her opponent that she "aggressively promotes" same-sex marriage by saying it's all a damn lie.

Cheney is challenging fellow Republican Senator Mike Enzi for the seat, and in a statement she accused the Enzi campaign of conducting a “push poll” in the state, which asks “Are you aware that Liz Cheney supports abortion and aggressively promotes gay marriage?”

The Enzi campaign categorically denied it conducted the poll and Cheney clarified her position:

“I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage. [T]he issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves.”

Yes, people should vote on the rights of a minority, is what Liz Cheney is saying, and that always works, eh?

And Cheney's stance varies widely from that of her own family, including her openly gay sister Mary, and her equality supporting parents, the aforementioned Dick, and wife Lynne. Mary Cheney, in fact, had her own statement about her sister: 

"For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage. Freedom means freedom for everyone. That means that all families — regardless of how they look or how they are made — all families are entitled to the same rights, privileges and protections as every other. It’s not something to be decided by a show of hands. Please like and share if you agree."

Infighting is fun, even within a family.

I love BBC America because the shows are a bit ore edgy, less pandering, and feature some very attractive men.

Like Jonathan Bailey, seen as young eager cub reporter Olli on Broadchurch, and then the absolutely delicious Idris Elba--who many hope will be the first Black Bond--on Luther.

Man Candy from across the pond.

That picture of the sign outside an Anglican church in Niagara Falls which sends a message of inclusivity when it comes to homosexuality has gone viral.

The billboard outside St. John’s Anglican Church reads: “Jesus had two dads and he turned out just fine!”

An image of the sign caught worldwide attention this week after it was posted on the social-media website Reddit. The post gained hundreds of thousands of views and received more than 15,900 positive votes and more than 14,300 negative votes.

“I don’t find it offensive in any way,” said St. John’s rector Lynne Marchant. “We have people in our congregation who are homosexual. We are an all-inclusive church, a family. No one cares what your sexuality is. Come on in, we don’t see any difference.”

That's what church should be about, for those of you who think otherwise.

Last week the Big Brother racist--well, one of them--Aaryn Gries was finally voted out of the house and had a  sit-down with host Julie Chen, who questioned some of her more, to put it mildly, off-color remarks.

Like, "Be careful what you say in the dark, you might not be able to see the b-tch." She said that about African-American contestant Candice Stewart

Like: "Shut up, go make some rice." Gries said that about Asian player Helen Kim

Like: "Nobody is going to vote for whoever that queer puts up." She said about openly gay contestant Andy Herren.

Her excuse? Well, first she said she didn't remember saying any of those things and then she blamed it on being Southern in a non-apology-apology:

"Being Southern, it is a stereotype and I have said some things that have been taken completely out of context and wrong. I do not mean to ever come off racist. That is not me and I apologize to anyone I have offended for that."

Then Chen called her a cracker, bitch-slapped her, and sent her off to the Jury House and the story would have died--until the reunion show--except that Gries' mother, Elizabeth Owens penned a letter to the LA Times where she said that CBS and Julie Chen used her daughter’s racism to get ratings:

“While I love and continue to support my daughter Aaryn, words cannot describe my disappointment in some of her comments made on ‘Big Brother.’ These inappropriate comments certainly do not represent the value system under which her father and I have raised her. Aaryn is a young 22-year-old college student that has spent 70 days living in a fish bowl and making mistakes for America to see.

“It appears that it was beneficial for ‘Big Brother’ to focus on the negative comments made by Aaryn to boost ratings. Again, I DO NOT condone those inappropriate comments, but I — and I am sure the entire ‘Big Brother’ audience — would have appreciated the show’s producers also airing her complete statement acknowledging the mistakes she made and more of her apologies to the Houseguests while still ‘in the house.’ I am disappointed that a woman of Julie Chen’s stature would choose to attack Aaryn and influence America to judge the fallacies she [Chen] seems to have about Aaryn.”

Inappropriate? Hardly. Racist, rude, homophobic and disgusting, and since she said all those things and more, they are far from inappropriate. Then of course, as racists are apt to do, Mama Owens listed all of the, um, ethnic friends that Aaryn has as proof she's no racist:

• Aaryn apparently attended her senior prom with an African American man, “one of her closest friends through high school.”
• And how Aryan’s Aaryn’s first love was a "Cuban American, and she has cousins of Japanese descent who she truly loves. She has never discriminated against anyone for their sexual orientation whether within our family or not. Aaryn truly loves all people equally.”
• She ended with the news that Gries recently sponsored a little girl in the Philippines through the Save the Children program.

Well, there you have it: she danced with a Black guy, dated a Cuban, has Asian relatives and sponsors a girl from the Philippines. She can't be a racist.

Except she played one on TV.