"Since this is our last Christmas here, we wanted to do a patriotic theme."— Laura Bush, commenting on the red, white, and blue theme for this year's White House Christmas decorations No, no, no. Jesus was not an American. He was not a Republican. I kinda think he wouldn't be a Bible-toting right-wing self-satisfied Christian, either. I do appreciate the inappropriate schmooshing together of symbols of shallow self-righteousness, though.

photo- Wall Street Journal Today's Wall Street Journal headline renewed my inability to understand how the United States reacted to September 11th. When India's government failed to protect its citizens from terror, cabinet ministers and other officials are fired. When 9/11 occurred, no one was fired.  Instead, rights-limiting laws were passed even though our intelligence agencies had had a lot of information about the impending attack.  Our intelligence agencies did not talk to each other or act on the information they had.  President Bush and his administration used 9/11 to create more fear and successfully projected the image that only Republicans [...]

Whenever I woke briefly last night to turn over or to move a dog, the dreams that I was in the middle of were those of loss and impermanence.  I don’t recall a particular event, just the general feeling of sadness over the transitory nature of good people and good relationships. They were dreams and emotions that were more common in my life 20 years ago, and I know where they came from. Milk. […]

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has created some sharp electronic post cards to send to family and friends to start the holiday conversation about marriage equality.  I subscribe to the Harvey Milk approach to social change: telling our stories is the best way we can fight for our civil rights. These cards are a tool in the Milk-approach arsenal.  "... talk to your family and tell them why marriage equality matters to you, " writes HRC president Joe Solmonese. "The conversation may be easy, or it may be hard. But in the wake of Prop. 8, a dialog to change [...]

 Theatre Rhino can be a fun client.Yesterday their photographer finished with the publicity shots for their Christmas Panto (December 4 to 21). Fun photos to put online.  Looks like it'll be a fun show, too. 

The Marriage of Galen and Geoffrey October 25, 2008 (See the Pictures!) The day went just as we hoped.  The ceremony let us stand up and be supported by our family and friends as we were married.  At the reception we talked to many people who are very important to us.  The food, squaredancing, and conversation were meaningful fun.   We had a wonderful time!  The donations from friends and family in honor of our wedding helped the effort to defeat California's constitutional amendment that intends to stop same-sex marriages. The Unitarian Universalist church, with help from you, strengthened the [...]

from the San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, whose district includes the Castro, said the No on 8 campaign was not "culturally competent." Dufty said the campaign should have gone into "places where it isn't as easy to be gay or queer," like Visitacion Valley and Chinatown."I was a foot soldier going where people asked me to go," the supervisor said. "The focus was really misplaced."It was redundant to campaign against Prop. 8 in the Castro, which overwhelmingly opposed the measure, he said. "It's kind of like if the freedom riders of the '60s never left Harlem." Yep. Another [...]

Earlier this year I signed up for a Facebook account to read the occasional postings by a cousin living abroad. In the next few days I agreed to friend requests from people who'd found me somehow. Then I forgot about Facebook. I don't read my wall or otherwise check the site for weeks at a time. Today I went back in order to see if I could retrieve some photographs of a friend that he emailed me that posted there and wanted me to use for a publicity project. Geeze!  There are messages to me from weeks and months ago.  [...]

I always shake my head in wonder about the folks who do civil disobedience in San Francisco, annoying their allies by blocking traffic or otherwise inconveniencing people who already support their cause. I doubt that isolated, lukewarm San Francisco liberal civil disobedience works very often, anyway. And, why disrupt the lives of people already honking their horns at you in support? It is simply nut-cake crazy to take your frustrations, however legitimate, out on your friends. You'll annoy them and maybe turn them against you. And, yet I felt good today hearing my minister talk on the local Air America [...]