worldwide pablo

From columnist Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe:

…The Boston Globe reports that in the three years since Vermont extended near-marriage status to same-sex civil unions, nearly 5,700 gay and lesbian couples have registered their relationship. Of those couples, close to 40 percent, or more than 2,000, include at least one partner who used to be married.

… Of course, it doesn't mean that Vermont's civil union law broke up 2,000 straight couples. It does mean that where there used to be 2,000 traditional marriages, there are now 2,000 ruptured ones - and 2,000 gay or lesbian unions in their place. Were some of those marriages doomed from the outset? Probably. But it's also probable that some of them weren't. In another time or another state, some of those marriages might have worked out. The old stigmas, the universal standards that were so important to family stability, might have given them a fighting chance. Without them, they were left exposed and vulnerable.

…Vermont's experience with civil unions is just a ripple compared with the tidal wave of change we will see if same-sex marriage is legalized outright. The structure of norms and taboos on which healthy marriages depend will be buffeted beyond anything we can imagine. Just how many conventional marriages will founder under the pressure of that wave, just how many more will never be formed in the first place, we have no way of knowing in advance.…

So let's see if Worldwide Pablo has this right: Fifty percent of all traditional marriages today end in divorce, and the leading reason for this perilous condition has nothing to do with the whole host of problems (incompatibility, abuse, infidelity, boredom, immaturity, absence of life skills, and so on) that can beset any relationship, straight or gay. No, it's gays who are to blame for the current state of matrimony, because they're snatching vulnerable, weak-willed persons out of the straight lifestyle and converting them to the irresistible, potent paradigm of gay marriage.

Oh yeah, that explains all those available bachelors beating a path to WWP's door. What a relief to have it all explained.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

In a recent Gallup poll, 72 percent of those aged 18-29 agreed homosexual relations should be legal, compared with 39 percent of those aged 65 and older. Most Americans don't believe same-sex couples should be able to marry, yet 59 percent of incoming college freshmen support same-sex marriage, according to the latest survey by the Higher Education Research Institute.

Pablogram to Bill Frist: Tick, tock.

It's been busy week for the "homosexual agenda." Our neighbor to the north, British Columbia, made it official this week and became the second Canadian province (joining Ontario) to allow gay marriage, and already the B.C. decision is bringing queers to the altar, from both sides of the border. (It's perfectly legal; Canada has no residency requirements for marriage.) When the Ontario decision was announced a few weeks ago, Worldwide Pablo surveyed his friends to see if any of many same-sex couples that populate his life were interested in trekking to central Canada for a wedding ceremony. There were no takers then, but now that gay marriage has landed a little closer to home, just about five or six hours up I-5, WWP suspects that could change. When it does happen, WWP will be there … and maybe this time, he'll catch the bouquet.

Meanwhile, the social conservatives and religious right are in a self-induced froth over the impending loss of their heterosexual privilege. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, feline-stalker cum solon, seems to feel the most threatened by the pretty ordinary idea that gays might actually be wired to want the very same things in life (commitment, covenant, caring relationships, family, home, health, benefits, etc.) as straights -- the horror! -- and has taken up the cause of the "federal marriage amendment," which would constitutionally limit marriage to opposite-sex couples only. That Frist and Friends (did WWP mention he's a feline-stalker?) are pandering almost goes without saying: he knows he cannot quell the gay marriage trend and the growing acceptance of it, but a least he can attempt to marginalize it and punish it, and in the process rabblerouse the faithful right into a pique that will carry through to Election 2004. A fine analysis of this point can be found at the very readable Oregon blog, ReachM High Cowboy Network Noose. Check it out.

Worldwide Pablo subscribes to this idea: That despite what the "nanny-state" adherents may believe, the recent sodomy decision and the pending reality of gay marriage will only breathe new life into such cherished American principles as equality, the right to be left alone (or as ReachM High Cowboy puts it, the right to keep the U.S. out of your pants), liberty and fairness. All of which, when you come to think about it, used to be called "conservative values."

It would take a kitty killer to think otherwise. [Meow.]

In yesterday's news was the tidbit that cable TV rates across the U.S. jumped 8 percent last year, the fifth year in a row these rates have increased faster than the rate of inflation. Media ownership – now down to just 10 conglomerates that have commandeered nearly all of the U.S. media markets, but with usually only a handful in each market – would have us look at it another way: Since they are offering even more channels today, the cost per channel has gone up only 1 percent. Well, that strikes Worldwide Pablo a little bit like supersizing the already calorie-hefty Big 'n Tasty with extra french fries (freedom fries to some of you). Really, who needs another pound of spuds for 39 cents, when the obscenely sized portion already at hand would feed a small family for a week? As for cable, do we really need or want those extra 100 channels on top of the hundreds already available? Who has the time?

More disappointing, but not surprising, is that cable TV prices have not gone down, as was so enthusiastically predicted. WWP's readers will recall that when communications giants were allowed to merge, maximize and then monopolize, the Federal Communications Commission promised the American public the new "synergy" would result in increased competition and lower prices for telecommunications services such as long distance, local phone service, Internet access and cable TV programming. WWP wonders if this is the same kind of "synergy" the FCC has in mind for the next round of media supersizing. Let this recent news serve as a reminder that it's still not too late to weigh in on the FCC's most recent corporate giveaway. Contact your legislators now to bring and end to the Media Baron Protection Act.

There wasn't a lot of action on WWP's invitation for names for the soon-to-be-renamed and financially strapped Rose Quarter Arena. (As you will recall, WWP suggested it be renamed "The Courthouse," for ever-increasingly obvious reasons … but he digresses.) Here are the few suggestions proffered: "The Joint." Or, "The Ganja Bowl." Or, how about "Theater of the Clouds"? [Oops, that one's already being used.] And then there's Jack Bogdanski's suggestion at Jack Bog's Blog, an idea very corporate and free-market: "Corrections Corporation of America Arena." Brilliant, Jack. Or, as they say, "farookin' brilliant."

Worldwide Pablo has heard innumerable ideas of late (both online and elsewhere) about the consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning sodomy laws. Among the more intriguing suggestions about Justice Scalia's particularly vituperative dissent is that he's simply lost touch. Yes, much of the frothing may be chalked up to frustration with the legal profession and an animus toward the American Bar Association, and perhaps also the Association of American Law Schools, but more compelling and intriguing is the notion that Scalia's exasperation is more the result of having become increasingly disconnected with the changed landscape of modern American life. "At that session and in his Lawrence dissent," one legal expert says, "he is giving voice to a position's dying moments -- the last gasp of unlimited heterosexual privilege." Catch this article while you can, at Legal Times (and elsewhere in the law.com online empire).

The article, by the way, quotes one of WWP's language heroes, the esteemed Bryan A. Garner, once dubbed by a colleague of WWP as "The Greatest Living Authority of Language Usage," or GLALU for short. Back to Legal Times:

"Even Scalia's syntax in using the label 'law profession' rather than 'legal profession' seems pejorative to some -- in the same way that conservatives sometimes dis the Democratic Party by calling it the 'Democrat Party.' But legal writing expert Bryan Garner says Scalia did not necessarily mean to be derogatory when he used the noun law instead of the adjective legal in describing the profession. 'It's not the standard idiom,' Garner says, but it does appear in 19th century usage and in phrases still in use today, such as 'law teacher.' 'Justice Scalia often finds a special way of putting things, doesn't he?' "

Other reading: Columnist Susan Reimer of the Baltimore Sun wonders if, in denying marriage to gays, are we not forbidding gays access to the very virtues society accuses them of lacking? "…We aren't going to strengthen our own families by persecuting families of another description." Click here to read her reasoned approach.

And then there's this light-hearted, if slightly R-rated, look at how the Lawrence decision really benefits straights. Yep, nearly 83 million oppressed heterosexual Americans, all living in "the oppressive anti-sodomy belt," stand to gain. Don't say Worldwide Pablo didn't warn you.

But who's counting? It's been 14 days now since the Supreme Court emancipated gay Americans by overturning sodomy laws. Still no word from GWB…

Part I: Is there anything in today's news more heartbreaking, and more inspiring, than the bravery exhibited by the two young Iranian women, twins conjoined from birth? The world pays tribute.

Part II: In contrast, is there anything ballsier than standing up in Congress before a nationally televised audience and lying? Worldwide Pablo has seen a lot of chutzpah in his time, but to hide behind a veil of patriotism and national security in order to execute a well-placed lie (one that maneuvered both the U.S. and U.K. into war) should give all Americans reason to pause. Be honest: Doesn't GWB's admission today that the causus belli for our little Picnic-in-Baghdad-Quickly-Going-Sour was known to be false at the time of this year's State of the Union address rank right up there with the "third-rate burglary" and the "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" lollipaloozas? Think it will stick? WWP doubts it. Expect the fawning Fox-driven news media, and a compliant, war-bent public blind so far to holding the administration to a single, definable standard, to rack up this whopper as another achievement in the annals of courage.

WWP just might wretch.

WWP tipster Chuck C. alerts us that MSNBC today fired talk-show host Michael Savage for making anti-gay comments on his cable program. To which we can all say: What took so long? Just what did Savage say to finally get the boot? Responding to the Supreme Court's recent sodomy case, he told a gay caller: “You should get AIDS and die, you pig.” Read more of the transcript here. As is to be expected of Michael Savage, it's pretty disgusting.

The bad news is Savage can still be heard on radio stations across the country, belching his usual violent discharge against gays, the homeless and Muslims (think of him as an "equal opportunity bigot," Chuck says). Portland radio station KXL is one of those stations still airing the Savage screed, despite religious leaders' pleas for decency. Worldwide Pablo is all for free-speech rights, but knows full well they come with responsibilities, not the least of which is simple human decency. Free speech that incites violence is simply not protected by the constitution, no matter what the Savageheads might believe.

WWP thinks it's time to turn up the heat on KXL, don't you think? Let them know what you think. [Be sure to click on "general manager Tim Mcnamara".]

Worldwide Pablo has extended his Fourth of July holiday, and will return in full bloom tomorrow. In the meantime, some weekend morsels:

If you haven't done so already: It's not too late to sign up for the "Do Not Call" list, a website where you can register with the government for a period of five years so you will not receive at-home telephone solicitation calls from for-profit groups. It's easy – so much so, that the website has been swamped at times. Keep trying. You have 'til Aug. 31 to have your registration take effect this fall; wait until later, and your call pre-emption will take effect later. Do it now.

Morning reading: William Safire, as usual, has the goods on why the minority-registration political party, the GOP, rules, and how the Dems (like his "interview subject") are simply dead to the world. Also: Social conservatives, spurred on by the Supreme Court's landmark ruling decriminalizing gay sexual conduct, are vowing an intense battle for America's political soul. You thought Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade were contentious? They'll look like a Methodist ice cream social once the vituperation begins in earnest over the future of gay marriage. [By the way, see today's Living section article in the Big O about local gay couples considering Canadian marriage. A mixed decision, it appears to WWP.]

The reviews are in: Two interesting cultural events attracted Worldwide Pablo's attendance over the long weekend. First up was "Mamma Mia," the clever and toe-tapping revue of songs from that Scandanavian sensation of the '70s, Abba. It isn't very deep, a simple and predictable plot draped around those familiar songs … but, oh, who cares? By show's end, it was an out-and-out Abba lovefest, the audience of teens to seniors on their feet, swaying and clapping, all singing the familiar words. This scene repeated itself two nights later at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, when headliner Etta James belted out her signature "At Last." All ages, all races, all singing along and clapping.

Occasionally, WWP thinks there's hope yet.