A hostage worth ransoming

The policy-making body of the American Psychological Association (APA) unanimously (157-0) approved a resolution to support same-sex marriage. The resolution says in part, "many gay men and lesbians, like their heterosexual counterparts, desire to form stable, long-lasting and committed intimate relationships and are successful in doing so." In addition, "emerging evidence suggests that statewide campaigns to deny same-sex couples legal access to civil marriage are a significant source of stress to the lesbian, gay and bisexual residents of those states and may have negative effects on their psychological well-being." Short version: Gays can handle marriage just as well as straights. Banning same-sex marriage is harmful to gays.



Scott Lively rants that "God has chosen rampant homosexuality to be a key warning sign for judgment of the world as a whole, and not just of individual nations." Normally, I wouldn't bother with such idiotic blather. Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin comments that what is going on is the Christian church used wield control of the social conscience and standards of decency in this country. That is now gone and is because they arrogantly misused their power and failed to advocate for the less fortunate. Lively is blaming that loss on gays so that he doesn't have to think of himself as part of the problem.



The New York Post has an article dated the day after the debt ceiling bill was signed. It reviews the various bills that were proposed, shot down, and finally adopted. Whether true or not, the story has the narrative that the rookies first tried for a deal and failed. Rookies include (at least in this story) the GOP House freshmen, Obama, and Boehner. Only after they failed did "old Washington" have a go. That was essentially Mitch McConnell for the GOP and Joe Biden for the Dems. The two have a combined 64 years in federal office.

While interesting (at least to some of us), what caught a lot of attention is the quote from Mitch McConnell at the end of the article. He says what many have been thinking.

I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting,” he said. “Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.

I had a fine time at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea yesterday seeing the new comedy Consider the Oyster. People in Michigan will get a hint of the kind of play it is because it starts with several people watching the Detroit Lions within striking distance of winning the Super Bowl. One of those enthusiastic fans is Gene, who in a strange stunt breaks his leg. To speed healing the doctors use ground oyster shell. But there is a side-effect. All oysters are born male and become female as they mature. Late in the play Gene has a touching monologue. I wish I could remember more. Parts of it are, "When we fall in love with someone, what do we fall in love with? … Their gender? … And what if that something changes?" That's enough hints. Find a review here (alas, not possible to link to one review so you'll have to scroll down).