as I live a few more questions

Lord Black's plunge into ignominy

On the eve of his trial for racketeering and criminal fraud, here is a review from The Telegraph, the British newspaper Lord Conrad Black used to own.  In fact, Lord Black of Crossharbour actually got his title because he was the owner of The Telegraph (apparently, it's a kind of perk that comes with the job; all the previous owners were given titles as well).  Anyway, Conrad Black gave up his Canadian citizenship to get this title, and I have read in the papers that he is desperately trying to get his citizenship back.  If he is convicted in this case, his chances of regaining Canadian citizenship are pretty much zip.

read more | digg story

Guardian Report: U.S. drawing up plans to strike Iran in the spring

And the madness continues.  I am speechless. 

US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.

The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office...

But Vincent Cannistraro, a Washington-based intelligence analyst, shared the sources' assessment that Pentagon planning was well under way. "Planning is going on, in spite of public disavowals by Gates. Targets have been selected. For a bombing campaign against nuclear sites, it is quite advanced. The military assets to carry this out are being put in place."

He added: "We are planning for war. It is incredibly dangerous."

No wonder Bush is pushing for even more troops to be shipped over to Iraq.  Despite the upheaval that is going on in Iraq, it would still be the perfect staging ground for an attack on Iran—right next door.  How on earth does the Bush administration figure they can pull off a surgical strike on Iran's nuclear capability without falling into yet another quagmire, especially given their recent track record?

read the original Guardian news report | digg story

The Crunch is Coming: Welcome to the Post-Abundance Era

We're closer than we think to an age when gasoline becomes a luxury and restaurant meals become unattainable.  The sense of abundance that characterized the late 20th century is likely to evaporate for the great majority of us.

read more | digg story

"It's not my fault! the priest made me do it/I was drunk/I'm gay!"

I am so angry, and I have so much to say about the Mark Foley scandal down in the U.S., that I hardly know where to begin.

Lawyers acting for Mark Foley, the Republican congressman who resigned after it was revealed he had sent sexually charged emails to teenage boys, said yesterday that the politician had been abused by a member of the clergy as a teenager.

No details of the alleged abuse were given, other than that Mr Foley, who is a Roman Catholic, was between 13 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse. One lawyer, David Roth, acknowledged for the first time that the congressman, 52, is gay. "Mark Foley wants you to know he is a gay man," Mr Roth told a news conference in Florida, adding that the admission was part of a "recovery" programme. He also insisted that Mr Foley was "absolutely, positively not a paedophile". Mr Foley said in a statement on Monday that he was an alcoholic and that he was entering a recovery programme to treat his condition. (Glaister, Dan. "Republican who sent indecent emails was abused ", The Guardian, October   4, 2006)

Oh, so now he finally decides to come out of the closet, several years after he was already outed by The Advocate newsmagazine for hypocritcally voting in favour of the "Defence of Marriage" act. 

And of course, now he checks himself into rehab, whimpering: "I did because I was drunk.";  "I did it because of that priest." 

Entering a "recovery" program?  Recovery from what?  Being gay?  Being drunk?  Getting caught??

I find it beyond pathetic that Foley finally plays the gay card, only when he thinks it will help him.  How can it help him, you ask?  By not-so-subtly using the "I'm gay so I molest children" charge which the Religious Right likes to keep throwing at us God-damned sodomites.  That way, perhaps he can cast his sexual orientation as more of a "sin" that needs "recovery".   This man is a disgrace to honest queer people everywhere, and I comfort myself with the thought that he's gonna be one helluva popular bitch at whatever prison he lands up in.

Oh, and he says he's not a paedophile?!?  Well, I guess that depends on the law, but really.  As more word leaks out about the content of those IM messages between him and one or more teenagers, one has to ask just how Mark Foel defines the term. 

Apparently he is now saying (via his lawyer) that since no physical (i.e. face-to-face) acts took place, he is not a paedophile.  This defence falls intro the category of "I never has sex with that woman!"   Clinton learned a blow job is sex.  Foley is going to soon learn that cybersex is sex.

And to make matters even worse, until his resignation he was a co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, and a backer of new legislation, the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which he may well now be charged under.  HE WAS IN A POSITION OF TRUST.  (I wonder what Joe Walsh, Adam's father and host of America's Most Wanted, is thinking now.)

I got news for Mr. Foley: Being gay does NOT excuse what you did.  Being a drunk does NOT excuse what you did.  Being a victim of child sex abuse does NOT excuse what you did.  Being ANY COMBINATION OF a diddled-with, drunken faggot does NOT excuse what you did, in any way, shape or form.  That you even TRY to use these as excuses or defenses makes you even viler, if that is possible.

I hope Foley gets the book thrown at him.  His grasping, gawping response by checking into rehab and blaming booze/sexual abuse/being gay is absolutely, utterly, completely vile and reprehensible. Thankfully, most people can already see through that "rehab" act pretty easily; it's getting old. 

And ANYBODY in the U.S. federal or state govenments who is found to have kept his secrets hidden deserves to be tossed out on his ass and go down in flames along with Foley. 
  

UPDATE: Now Newt Gingrich has said that one reason why the Republicans in power didn't act on Mark Foley sooner was that they were afraid of being accused of "gaybashing".  What the...?!  As John Stewart said in response on The Today Show, assuming that all homosexuals are child sex offenders IS gaybashing.

An Actual Snippet of Conversation from the Life of Ryan Schultz

Ryan: "I've decided to teach myself how to read and write Chinese characters. It will keep my mind agile."

Sarcastic Friend: "You already have an over-agile mind. Why don't you take up vacuuming?"

Cynical, Jaded, and Bitter

Life is throwing Layne yet more relationship grief to blog... Evil Ex is back sleeping on the couch and in serious, serious trouble.

God, I can only imagine what she must be going through. I wish there was something more I could do than offer virtual hugs and advice (which, frankly, I often don't take myself).

Sometimes I'm so glad I'm not in a relationship, when I see how painful it can be.

Save the Carbs!

YES! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Amateur Gourmet!   Please be sure to check out the promotional video (QuickTime video, 1.6MB)...it's a hoot!

Atkins, Schmatkins. You'll be taking my bread from my COLD. DEAD. HANDS.

The Enneagram: A Brief Introduction

I first learned about the Enneagram in November 1997 at a workshop put on the Beginning Experience of Winnipeg.

I guess I'd better explain what Beginning Experience is. The Beginning Experience (B.E.) movement began in Texas in 1974, and has since spread to Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The purpose to B.E. is to help separated, divorced, and widowed people to work through their pain and grief, provide a safe space for them to work through their emotional healing and begin a process of self-awareness, and ultimately to free them to live again and love themselves, others and God. It is, at heart, a faith-based peer ministry, organized and led by former B.E. participants (of various Christian denominations) who have undergone some training and have become lay facilitators to help the newer participants through the first steps of the grief and healing process. I went because I had never dealt with my guilt and anger over the failure of my 2-1/2 year marriage in 1991.

B.E. consists of retreat weekends, as well as a weekly "levels" program, levels 1 through 4 of weekly classes. Lower levels focus on the failed/ended relatonship; upper levels tend to focus more on self-awareness and personal growth. After a participant completes level 4, there is a Level 5 available: Enneagram workshops.

I attended two 10-week sessions during 1997-1998 as part of a group of about 20 B.E. facilitators. Our workshop leader was a tiny French-Canadian Roman Catholic nun called Sister Thérèse, a member of the Holy Cross religious community and a co-founder of Contemplative Outreach Canada. I took lots of notes during the sessions, and put them away in a binder, along with my Myers-Briggs personality type stuff, etc. I had to put the Enneagram aside to deal with more pressing matters (i.e. burning out of my job AND coming out the closet to myself). I had other, much more serious, things to worry about than some silly personality system.

Last year, I decided to pull out my 1997/1998 Enneagram workshop notes and read through them again, and I was surprised at how much wisdom there was in what Sister Thérèse had said, and how that fit in with my previous readings on self-awareness (Anthony de Mello, for example). So I made the decision to contact her again. I have since been talking with her regularly as a sort of spiritual counsellor or "guru". I have learned a lot more about the Enneagram along the way, from Sr. Thérèse and from my readings, and what follows is my (admittedly amateur) attempt to explain "what's it all about":

Toby's Take on Gay Monogamy

Three entries from Toby's very funny vividblurry blog: Like me, my boyfriend is always tanked, I am never mever shopping on eBay while high again (hilarious), and On monogamy...

Gay Sexual Ethics

The response I get is always the same when I tell my gay friends what I am reading: a guffaw, usually followed by a cheap joke. "Gay sexual ethics? Must be a short article."

(Aside: my friend Brian pointed me towards an interesting article on gay.com: "What's the link between sex and intimacy?", where five queer people talk about their experiences.)

Out of all the entries that I have made since I first started this weblog, which post do I think has had the most impact on my life?

It's the one where I quoted extensively from the article by Rev. Ron Rolheiser on 'moral loneliness' and my explanation of why I agreed—and disagreed—with Rolheiser's stance. That one post has sparked several conversations with other people (significantly, only by face-to-face or by private email, not via the comments section of this blog). Obviously this is a topic that either touches people deeply, or hits a raw nerve, or is completely disregarded as useless, outdated, 'old-fashioned'.

As I have said before, one of the things I like about being a librarian is kicking the tires on electronic databases that the Libraries has bought or is considering buying. Several weeks ago, during just such a tire-kicking session, I serendipitously came across an article written by Dr. Daniel Helminiak, a professor of psychology at the State University of West Georgia, where he teaches psychology and spirituality.