I back an amendment banning stupid presidents

The title of an AP article out this morning reads, "Bush backs amendment banning gay marriage." Aside from holding this belief himself, the article attributes Bush's support for the amendment to appeasing his religious conservative base.

I personally like the position taken by Kinky Friedman, candidate for governor of Texas: Kinky supports gay marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. He believes that the constitution protects everyone. As he says, "I believe love is bigger than government. And besides, they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us."

I know and am friends with many in the gay community, and of those in long-term relationships, not one has expressed a preference for entering into a "marriage" with their partner vs. entering into a "civil union"; what they are interested in is equal protection of the law as guaranteed in the 14th amendment. Today there are 1,138 benefits, rights and protections granted to married couples that do not apply to same-sex couples (because even long-term partners can't marry), and herein lies the problem since these obviously discriminate against same-sex couple who cannot marry today. Among these rights and benefits are:

• Community property ownership protections
• Eligibility for health benefits (without taxation) and COBRA benefits through an employer
• Right to inherit a spouse's pension
• Immunity from testifying against a spouse
• Right to sue for wrongful death of a spouse
• Child custody, visitation, and duties of financial support to children
• The right to make medical decisions for a sick spouse
• The right to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse
  

The basis in the argument against gay marriage boils down to one issue: discrimination. While the sight of a same-sex couple expressing their affection publicly is more awkward to me than seeing a heterosexual couple doing the same, I recognize and understand that this is my problem and prejudice--not theirs! And note that less than 40 years ago, interracial marriage was against the law in 16 states (interesting that all of these are "red" states with the exception of Delaware) when the Supreme Court struck down those laws in Loving v. Virginia.

Politically, I find it offensive that instead of working to extricate the United States from the quagmire of Iraq or spending time solving the problem of exploding government debt, that our president would rather focus on inane matters like banning gay marriage, because everyone knows that's what Jesus would do.

Almost finished

The standing joke is that for the last several months, whenever someone asked how my project house was coming along, my response has been, "It's almost finished."

Well now it really must be almost finished since the things left on my punch list are things I really loathe doing like working with insulation. It was 94 degrees in Atlanta yesterday--10 degrees hotter than in Dallas/Fort Worth, so why I didn't do this when temperatures were conducive to wearing long sleeves, jeans, gloves, and a respirator are beyond me, but the job is now finished and the basement walls are insulated. Next step: hang the drywall.

North Point again fails to honor Memorial Day

For all of the wisdom and leadership that exists in this church, there is one thing at which North Point Community Church fails miserably: knowing how to address Memorial Day.

The most offensive tribute was the Sunday service Memorial Day weekend in 2004, after which I sent our pastor, Andy Stanley, a letter, which included this paragraph:

The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor American soldiers who have given their lives in defense of freedom. I’ll confess my sensitivity in holding to this purpose: my hero, mentor, and cousin, Lt. Col. Timothy Kehler, was an Air Force fighter pilot who was killed when his Phantom F-4E crashed in 1986. This past Memorial Day, North Point made no attempt to honor American soldiers who have given their lives defending the freedom we all enjoy. The song “American Soldier” followed by the recognition of former and active American armed service members was patriotic and heartfelt in its sincerity, but these are more appropriate for Veteran’s Day in November. The slideshow of U.S. soldiers shown during the song appeared to be desert images which reminded me of the 700+ service members killed in Iraq, but yet no mention was made of them. In ignoring them, the church also ignored tens of thousands of American men and women who have given their lives in wars and conflicts before. Was a proper acknowledgement of Memorial Day too solemn for North Point’s upbeat service format or does remembering the deaths of service members run contrary to someone’s politics?

Regrettably, Andy never responded to this note unlike my letter a year later.

While North Point wisely ceased stunts like those of two years ago, it still fails to give honor and respect to our dead armed service members and their families while patronizing current and veteran members of our armed services by acknowledging them instead.

And perhaps it was nervousness, but insulting nonetheless were the announcements made by the Navy officer (in full uniform) at the 8:30am service on Sunday when he twice mentioned celebrating Memorial Day "today" when in fact Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May, never a Sunday.

Worst Tech Products

PC World just came out with a list of the 25 worst tech products of all time, and it just goes to show that the bane of one man's existence is another man's love. I thought it funny that I really liked two of their 25 products: #11 Priceline Groceries & Gas and #13 IBM PCjr.

The Priceline Groceries & Gas was awesome for consumers. I'm not convinced it ever helped out grocers or gas stations. I lived in Orlando at the time and remember being able to pick up staple groceries like milk and eggs for next to nothing using Priceline. At the time gas was a buck and change per gallon, so I'm sure consumer demand wasn't overwhelming, but I'm a cheap bastard and managed to save about 10 cents per gallon from one of three gas stations that were on my route to/from work using Priceline Gas.

And I've already discussed my love of the PCjr.

I also really liked and still use my Timex Data Link Watch which made it onto PC World's list of dishonorable mention, though today I only wear it when working on my project house.

The only place to stay when visiting Orlando

I've learned that when we're traveling with kids, we need to have a suite if the trip is to be enjoyable and for everyone to get a good night's sleep. My definition of suite requires a door between the bedroom and living area which has a pull-out sofa sleeper, whereas a studio implies there is no physical barrier (door or otherwise) between different funcional areas in the room.

Many hotel chains use the term "suite" in their name when what they really mean is "studio", including Homestead Studio Suites (you may as well drop the "Suites" since all of their rooms are studios), Staybridge Suites (yes, most of their rooms are suites but usually 1/3 of the rooms are only studios), and AmeriSuites (no door between kitchenette, living, and sleeping areas).

Examples of all-suite hotel chains are Homewood Suites and Residence Inns, and these two chains even offer complimentary breakfast!

For our Orlando vacation, we discovered that an alternative to these all-suite hotel chains is a timeshare/condo. Timeshare developers never sell out their development; there are always unsold weeks, and there are always timeshare owners who drop out of the system by not paying their annual maintenance fees. To maximize revenues, many timeshare/condo resorts have gotten wise and are now renting out their excess inventory through sites like Expedia and Orbitz. We decided that for Orlando, timeshare/condo resorts are the only places to stay.

"Daddy, I want to ride car"

These were the most oft spoken words by my toddler during our trip to Orlando/Disney World, and what she meant was that she wanted to leave the park and go riding in our car back to the condo. By the time we left, however, she did incorporate several other requests into her vocabulary:
. "I want to ride boat", meaning she wanted to ride the boat from the parking area to the entrance of Magic Kingdom
. "I want to see castle", which meant she wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom and see Cinderella's castle
. "I want to go sweeeming", meaning she wanted to stay at our condo resort and swim with her water wings

I've never been more tired after a vacation, but I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.

Off to see the Rodent

Yes, it's that time again to make the annual pilgrimage 300 miles south to visit Disneyworld. After Andy's sermon last Sunday about "greed", I'll feel somewhat guilty paying $56 to feed my family hot dogs and Coca Cola for lunch, but that's just part of the experience.

We had planned to stay at one of the Disney resorts, but a contact of mine in Orlando completely dropped the ball. Things have a way of working out, though, and we're now staying at a condo resort between Sea World and Disney. I think we're going to be much better off anyway, as we'll have a two-bedroom suite, and it's just right for the budget: $188.75 for 6 nights. Fortunately I don't have to sit through a timeshare presentation to get this deal.

Rain, rain, go away!

I'm still holding out hope these bands will pass as I wanted to install facia in several places after work. I've painted the Harditrim planks, cut them to size, and even have someone coming to help me (because of their weight).

The Weather Channel's Desktop Weather application gives an hourly forecast for the next 24 hours, and it's been incredibly accurate throughout this project. Unfortunately it's telling me I'll see thunderstorms until 3:00am.