No Words

The vote for marriage equality in Maine draws near.  Polls show a deadlock, 48% to 48%.  As a refresher, the Maine legislature passed a bill legalizing gay marriage.  The governor signed it, making it law.  Shortly after, a citizen referendum was spearheaded to overturn the legislative decision.

Opponents of same-sex marriage have released two more ads.  I have no words.  Confession: my ability to offer any sort of objective comment on these things has long ago disappeared.  To me, these are hateful, sad displays that will be cringed at years from now.   But that could simply be a product of my clear bias.  Consider for yourself, I suppose…

In The Beginning

At least this ridiculous ad currently running in Washington doesn’t hide the fact that it thinks one particular religious view should be mandated upon the entire state…

Sacred Ground from Protect Marriage Washington on Vimeo.

NOlympics

KG, Paul, and random stranger hold up Olympic rings on Daley Plaza

No words need typing to describe the saddness that befell all of us on Daley Plaza the moment we learned that our beloved city was eliminated from contention for hosting 2016’s biggest party.  On the first round.

Other have already typed the words: stunned, shocked, disgusted, flabbergasted…

Other have already given the rallying cry: keep our heads up, funnel the energy, move on stronger…

Personally, my spirits returned quickly without need for the generic rallying cry.  For that, I know exactly who I need to thank:  The Cubs.  A lifetime as a Cubs fan is a lifetime of preparation for these moments. A Cubs fan knows disappointment and knows how to find strength and sucess in spots where others fail to see any.  We don’t just say these cliches…we live them.

Competition is about stepping into the stadium at the beginning, not holding the trophy at the end.

Losing once is not losing forever, no matter how much it may seem that way.

Victory can be achieved by keeping faith in the face of arrogant winners.

Go Chicago Go.

So Close…

The countdown to the Olympic announcement inches forward.  The current tally: 9 hours, 8 minutes, 2 seconds.

I have been scanning new stories on a continual basis to get the buzz.  The cliff noted findings: Very very close, but if forced to pick just one, odds makers say Chicago wins.  However, experts also note that front-runner status at the very end is often a negative characteristic.  Oy.

President Missing in Action

Andrew Sullivan has long been my favorite mega-blogger.  His online audience is so huge, however, that it often seems silly to parrot things he says.  It’s like posting something said by Oprah because she needs help spreading the word.  Kind of unneccessary.  Yet, I like his stream of conscious comments today summing up his role in making hay about gay rights matters..

It’s that last point that brings this home. A gay couple can be together for thirty years and still be regarded as total strangers by their own government and by their own president and their own Speaker. They can be denied access to hospitals, thrown out of shared apartments if one of them dies, barred from the funerals of their spouses, and denied over one thousand federal benefits. They can be forced to testify against one another in court, or be forced to leave the country in order to have a stable home if one of them is an immigrant. [...]

One major political party regards this kind of cruelty and discrimination as something so vital it wants to enshrine it in the federal constitution – a position championed by the last “compassionate conservative” president. And his successor pays lip-service in small gatherings of gay activists, takes their money and work and support but will not lift a pinkie finger to help. All the time he is firing gay servicemembers for the crime of being gay.

He may believe it is prudent to wait. That is his prerogative. It is my prerogative to call the first black president missing in action on the vital matter of a minority’s civil rights.