Thursday, June 25, 2004-Gay Marriage & the War in Iraq

Gay Marriage. …An interesting topic, that. First, one must consider the topics of homosexuality, and of marriage…

Homosexuality, as a sexual orientation, can not be "a sin", as, for most, sexual orientation is not a choice. (I personally beleive those "homosexuals" who claim to have been "cured" were actually bi-sexual. There is also some scientific evidence that sexual orientation is neither hereditary or learned, but instead is determined by what chemicals and hormones the fetus is exposed to at certain points of its' development.)

The most we can say (and the most the bible says), is that it is a "sin" to have homosexual intercourse. (Which goes without saying if gays can't marry, as pre/extra marital sex is also considered a sin!)

Most of those who denounce homosexuality in our culture use the bible as a reference. However, the support for their view isn't as strong as they make it out to be. The only actual order by God against homosexuality (that I can recall) was in Deuteronomy-which I see more as a legal document for the original nation of Israel, rather than a religious text. Certainly, there are many laws in there we don't follow. (From a religious point of view, this is because, according to Peter, Jesus rendered these laws obsolete. From a practical standpoint, it's because we don't live in ancient Israel…) Another thing often mentioned is the city of Sodom-however, considering that when the crowd wanted Lot to give them his guests, the crowd was apparently planning public gang rape… I think homosexuality was the least of the city's problems…

Personally, I don't count the bible as the ultimate authority on things, so I tend to judge morals by one simple question-"Is anyone harmed by it?" So far as I can see, homosexual intercourse between consenting adults harms no one, so what's the problem? (The risk of sexually transmitted disease is one to do with promiscuity, not homosexuality.)

Moving on to marriage, one needs to decide what it's for-or who gets to make that decision. All cultures have some sort of socially recognized bonding between men and women for the purposes of creating families. However, the details vary greatly. Here, we marry for love, but in other cultures it's often arranged by the parents, with the financial and political ramifications well thought out in advance. Here, a marriage is between two people, but in other places, a man may have more than one wife (or, in rare cases, a woman may have more than one husband, or a group of men and woman may all be married to each other). Here, a marriage is increasingly seen as temporary, while in much of the world it's still for life-even if that means abused stay with abusers, and unwanted spouses meet mysterious ends.

There's also the question of who is the authority that grants marriage. God? The government? Or just the people who say they have a bond?

Personally, I see marriage as a social contract between prospective parents, saying that they are committed enough to each other to raise children together. It can mean a lot more, of course (and certainly doesn't have to end once the children are out of the house), but that's the main reason for having it in the first place. Without that, it's just a variation on the theme of friendship (even if usually more intense).

So… by this reasoning, marriage between same-sex partners is rather pointless… Unless, of course, they can adopt… Which is another interesting question.

Luckily, it's much easier a question to answer. If homosexuality is not, generally speaking, a choice, then there's no danger of parents "teaching" it to their children. The only real "danger" is that these children will grow up not seeing homosexuality as wrong…

In other words, it's not really a question of right and wrong-it's a question of culture. As in, do we want homosexuality to be an accepted part of our culture? Obviously, a lot of people don't. Personally, though, I think homosexuality should be accepted-I prefer the idea of living in a culture that doesn't reject people just for being different… But, we don't need gay marriage to make that happen-we're heading towards it already. (The fact that the possibility of gay marriage is even being discussed proves that!)

So, weather the government chooses to give marriage licenses to couples of the same sex really doesn't matter all that much in the end-it's the idea that counts, and the idea's already here.

* * *

Iraq-- don't get me started on Iraq. (Oops, too late!)

First Bush suggested Iraq and Al Quida were linked. Yeah, right. Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden hated each other! The whole reason Bin Laden formed Al Quida was to overthrow corrupt Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq! (The only reasons he started attacking America is because we're helping keep the Saudi government in power, and because he figured fighting the "Evil American Empire" would inspire lots of recruits.) And Saddam Hussein actually repressed Muslim fundamentalists, for fear they would attempt to overthrow him!

Well, when Bush discovered that no one outside of America was buying the Al Quida / Iraq connection, he started quoting questionable intelligence reports suggesting Saddam might still have some of the Weapons of Mass Destruction we gave him back in the 80's. (Bush also made a big deal about some aluminum rods that someone thought might be used for processing nuclear material-even though that theory was discredited months before Bush mentioned it.)

And so, Bush got the UN to step up the weapons inspections… but nothing was found.

Not satisfied, Bush gave Iraq an ultimatum: show us the weapons, prove they were destroyed, or we'll attack. Iraq complied, sending to the UN large numbers of documents telling of the disposal of all the Weapons we'd given them. Of course, those documents had been publicly available for years, but hey, it's what Bush asked for, right?

Well, finally, Bush got a bunch of third world nations to agree to go along with the US, and convinced Europe not to interfere. After giving Iraq one last ultimatum (and how many had the US given to Iraq over the years, without ever following thought, I wonder?), the US "coalition" attacked.

As expected, the invasion was completed quickly, and Saddam was overthrown. No one seemed to wonder what had happened to the Iraq army… until they started attacking the US forces-- after Bush declared major combat over, no less.

And where are we now? Saddam is in our hands, but still no signs of those Weapons of Mass Destruction, and now an extreme Muslim cleric is trying to take control of the country. As we prepare to hand the nation over to what many (in and out of Iraq) suspect shall be just a "puppet" government, Iraq is on the verge of civil war…

…And Al Quida recruitment numbers are up…

Gee, that worked rather well, didn't it? [*rolls eyes*]

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

The other day, I saw Terminator 3. Wow. Awesome movie. The special effects were exactly what we’ve come to expect from big-budget action movies these days—in other words, absolutely incredible. There was also tons of action, a nice smattering of humor, and even a story as good as the stories of the first two.

I was especially pleased that they managed to keep 3’s story consistent with the earlier chapters—no mean feat given the second one’s ending. Actually, this move resolves an inconsistency between the first two movies regarding the rules of time travel… (If you pay enough attention to that sort of thing to have noticed the inconsistency in the first place, you should have no problem noticing its resolution—it’s rather obvious.)

In fact, my only complaint would have to be that they only played the "Terminator Theme" at the end of the movie—it should have been used throughout the movie, as it was in the first two. Ah, well. The music they did use was pretty good, so it all works out. I’ll just have to go back and listen to the soundtrack to the first movie a few times to get my "Terminator Theme" fix…

Saturday, July 19, 2003

Got a chain letter today. Afraid I went a little hard on the person that sent it to me. It was obvious that it was a chain letter to me, but she didn’t realize until I pointed it out (and then she felt really stupid, which made me feel mighty guilty). That’s one frustrating thing about being smart—one must always try to remember not to blame others for not being as smart as you. Especially as even smart people can do dumb things from time to time…

To my knowledge, there are 3 basic kinds of chain letters. The most obvious, are the ones that claim forwarding it will bring you good luck and not forwarding it will bring you bad luck. Right. If you believe that, you probably also believe the stars control our destiny, or that the Harry Potter books promote witchcraft. I may not know if there’s a God, but I do know there’s no such thing as magic, and that "luck" (as nice as good luck is) is just a matter of coincidence.

The second kind of chain mail, and the sneakiest, is the kind that make you think you’re doing a good deed by forwarding the letter. "For every letter sent we’ll donate… [pick an amount of money]." Think about it. How is the organization going to know whether you forwarded the letter, or even that you got it in the first place? Another old one is, "[So-and-so] wanted to receive [a whole bunch of] letters before [he/she] died of [something nasty]." That one has been going around for a LONG time, and as far as I know, it’s never been true.

The third, and least annoying type, is just people passing on things they find neat. It only becomes a problem when one person thinks something is neat, but the person they send it to doesn’t find it so neat.

…In other news, I got the Evanescence CD "Fallen," the other day. Wow. I think that’s the first tape or CD I’ve ever gotten that I loved EVERY song on…

November 1st, 2003

Election Day's coming up here in the US... if you're voting age, go out and vote! If you don't care about a position or issue, leave it blank, but vote on the things you do care about. And if you don't trust politicians, find a minority candidate with views similar to yours-- personally, I prefer Green. The most important thing is, if you have any opinion at all, voice it! Otherwise, you're leaving it in the hands of whom ever does voice their opinion-- and you can bet, the political and financial elite are going to be voicing their opinions!

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Toonami just started playing Dragon Ball GT last Friday, and I must say, I'm very disgusted with Funimation… I mean, I knew they were going to be "speeding up" the series, but to combine episodes 1, 2, and 16 into ONE EPISODE?! Who's bright idea was that?! Well… at least we're supposed to get the original version eventually… in the mean time, here's a quick summary of the first 16 episodes, based on the episode guide in Anime Invasion #5:

December 13, 2003

…On Toonami, in Transformers: Armada, the Transformers have been fighting against Unicron. I thought it was a nice touch that they included him. (I can't wait to get the toy-I've been waiting almost twenty years for a Unicron toy!) Still, I prefer the version of him from the Movie… But then, Transformers the Movie IS practically my favorite movie, second only to Princess Mononoke!

Sunday, March 21, 2004

It's funny-the Bush campaign is trying issue-based attack ads. Only problem is, what if you agree with Kerry's position? I mean, they complain Kerry will raise taxes--well, I don't think that's a good thing, but it's better than getting the country even more into debt. Then they say Kerry will weaken the Patriot Act. Good! I only wish he'd eliminate it entirely--the abilities it gives law enforcement are unconstitutional. Finally, they say Kerry would have waited for UN approval before military actions such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gee, obey international law--what a strange concept!

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 -- Brother Bear and the new TMNT

Well, I'd been wanting to see Disney's Brother Bear since I first saw the commercials for it…. When it came out on DVD a month or three back, I finally got the chance. Let me tell you, it far surpassed my expectations-It's gotta be the best "transformation" story I've ever seen. It was great how the main character was really uncomfortable with his bear form at first, and all throughout the movie, was trying to get changed back. But by the end, he's actually come to like it…

In far too many online transformation stories, the whole point of the story is the transformation. When it's done, the story's done. There's rarely any consideration as to how the character deals with living in their new body-to me, as vital a part of the change as the physical transformation. (It reminds me of something I read in a "how to write" book once-I think it was Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy", but I couldn't find the spot-about how a lot of young writers these days will tell a story about how a character got killed, but then fail to show how other people reacted to that death.)

But, Brother Bear has it all covered. This is how transformation stories should be told.

In more recent news, Cartoon Network has restricted Toonami to Saturday nights. [Shakes head and rolls eyes.] On the bright side, weekday Toonami has been replaced with a new Action/Adventure block, "Miguzi". In addition to playing "Totally Spies" and "Teen Titans" in it, it also has an interesting new show called "Code: Lyoko", and… --drum roll, please,-- the new TMNT cartoon!

Let me tell you, the new TMNT rocks! It's everything I hoped it might be-a worthy successor to the defunct incarnations of the series. It combines the crazy stories of Mirage with the fun of the original cartoon, while taking itself as seriously as the first two movies. It even has epic stories that give my favorite TMNT incarnation, TMNT Adventures (during the Dean Clarrain / Chris Allen run), a run for its money. Truly, a masterpiece.