178: who, me, cynical?

breaking news headline:

Mormon church supports Salt Lake City's protections for gay rights

do i smell a public relations campaign? sure, but that's okay. it would have been nice to see a bunch of evangelicals and republicans make similar statements at that meeting.

177: crossing the jordan

remember those israelites who couldn't enter the promised land? a new generation had to rise up, unburdened by egyptian idolatry. now that's sort of anti-gospel, isn't it? whatever happened to repentance and starting over again and all that? maybe it's the difference between individuals and a generation. same thing for gay marriage, opposed by the old, accepted by the young. a few more years will see older opponents die or slip into alzheimer's, replaced by a more tolerant younger generation. and the votes from maine to california will be reversed.

does anyone really think that the civil rights bills passed in the 1960's would have withstood a popular vote? nope. legislatures sometimes need to be just one step ahead of their constituents.

the washington state legislature had it right. they probably could have passed a gay marriage law but decided instead on "everything except marriage" domestic partnerships. the latter was affirmed by a referendum last week. gay marriage is coming, but must wait a few more years.

176: yea, yea, nay, nay

passing through an intersection yesterday with lots of people holding up signs (it was a very pleasant fall day), mostly "no on ref 71" (meaning opposition to the state's new "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law), but also a few with "yes on ref 71." the nay'ers were clean cut, some children and teens--I wondered, is this an organized mormon activity? but one woman looked decidedly evangelical (don't ask me how i know, i just do). my ward has been remarkably silent, not even a talk on family or fidelity by the stake high councilman who spoke last sunday. the thing that got to me though were the american flags attached to each of the nay'er's signs. like, what's that got to do with anything?

175: dv

my work yesterday saw its share of domestic violence:

1. R. raped by someone she knows; won't tell his name because she's afraid of reprisal

2. S. is pregnant; her estranged husband threatens to come to the hospital with a loaded gun to take the baby.

3. J. was kidnapped by her husband, driven around while deciding how to kill her (so he told her). She quietly called 911. A dutiful dispatcher kept the line open and with GPS technology the police tracked the car and rescued her.

Why this local epidemic of DV? Must be the threatening storm of gay marriage.

174: a rose by any other name

this year washington state enacted a domestic partnership law which is gives domestic partners every right that a married couple has.... except the right to use the word, "marriage."

[remember of course that still missing are hundreds of federal marriage rights]

referendum 71 challenges that law. so far the church appears to be silent, though copyrighted church pictures are used in an ad. and church money may have surreptitiously found its way into the campaign.

on the other side, microsoft has donated $100,000 to support the law. nice try, bill, but i'm staying with my mac.

173: crime and punishment

my wife and i generally agree on politics and social issues (tho she hung onto hillary much longer than reasonable). but we differ on roman polanski. i think, let it go; she says, a terrible crime, bring him to justice. an understandable difference--of course i'm more likely forgive a sexual transgression.

172: dreams, part 4

dreamt that I had just been installed as queen of england and feeling pretty good about it, when i realized that meant i was head of the church of england, so said i said, that can't be, i'm mormon.