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I got into a discussion on another blog that I follow irregularly and thought this of note.  The question being debated here is to whether homosexuals are born that way or whether it’s a choice.  My take on it is (obviously) that it really doesn’t matter WHAT it is.  I personally believe it can be either, and as such is a null answer to a null question.  People choose to be who they are based on a preference that is pre-programmed.  My wife and I love chocolate but have a son who can’t stand it and doesn’t eat it.  This is a choice he makes based on his tastes.  (Though we *HAVE* considered counseling for what we consider to be his fatal flaw.(Kidding))

Thank you Miss Britt for providing the fodder for my latest work of mediocrity.

The conversation on Nature vs. Nurture has turned, as many of these conversations do, into a debate as to the validity of the bible.   I’ve paraphrased my response here because truthfully I believe it’s a discussion in and of itself.

At this point it’s very important to remember that the monks who translated what we now call “The Bible” from Latin to English had about a 2nd grade education in Latin.

*LOTS* of room for error here.  Remember the bible also wasn’t translated to English until the late 1300′s. As late as the early 1500′s the Roman Catholic church was still burning people at the stake for the crime of possessing an English bible or saying the lord’s prayer in english.  (It is interesting to note that in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg.

In the 1490’s an Oxford professor, Thomas Linacre, decided to learn Greek. After reading the Gospels in Greek, and comparing it to the Latin, he wrote in his diary, “Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel… or we are not Christians.” The Latin had become so corrupt that it no longer even preserved the message of the Gospel… yet the Church still threatened to kill anyone who read the scripture in any language other than Latin… though Latin was not an original language of the scriptures.

Sorry, didn’t meant to go off on a tangent like that.  Biblical history is kind of a hobby of mine.

My point is this the bible has been translated through at least 5 languages and re-written dozens of times in the period from 1st century AD until today.

It is also important to remember that these re-writes were done by imperfect men, each and every one of them with their own agenda.

Stepping down off my soap-box now.

Fifty-Two Percent of Californians voted for Prop-8.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians succeeded in setting civil-rights back a decade.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians forgot who they are.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians have forgotten what a minority really is.  (Estimates range from 4% to 10% of people define themselves as exclusively homosexual – a much larger number as “Bi-Sexual”)

Fifty-Two percent of Californians believe that they know what’s best for 100% of the people in their state.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians voted with fear.  What’s worse is that it was a fear not their own.  A fear that was shoved in their face by right-wing religious groups.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians would rather raise their children ignorant of the real world that to expose them to ideas.

Fifty-Two percent of Californians are dead-wrong.

Just once I’d like to get my picture in a publication for something I did that worked.

A couple of months ago I got my picture and story in MSNBC.  Why?  Because I’m failing.  More specifically because I am a small business owner who was hit very hard by the credit crunch.

Today I got my picture taken again, for yet another publication.  Again, because of my impending failure.  The fact that I’m about 4 days from surprise unemployment is just icing on the cake I guess.

I don’t want to be known for my failures.  Lord knows there have been enough of them in my life.

My youth was riddled with them.  My parents could be nothing but disappointed in me.  Repeated the 7th grade, dropped out of the 9th, broke a few laws, went through a few marriages, etc. etc.

It took a while.  It’s said that the longer you go in the wrong direction, the more effort it takes to correct your course.

Well for the past 15 years my course has been “corrected” and no-one has noticed.  But one damned stroke of bad luck and suddenly I’m famous?

Damn

Now it’s time to heal.

Part of that healing has to be for us, those who voted for Obama, (Because I can’t really say “Democrats” can I) to put the campaign behind us.

As an example.  I’ve got bumperstickers on both cars, signs in my front yard, etc. etc.  When I get home this weekend that all comes down.

The reason being that I don’t think we can do anything to heal the rift while keeping a constant reminder to those who came away from November 4th disappointed that they lost.

As I’ve said before.  The president is the president of the entire US.  We absolutly CAN NOT continue an Us and Them mentality and expect to heal.

So please.  Take the icons/avatars down.  Put the signs away (keep them if you want, for they *ARE* momentoes of an increadible occasion) and start talking about what our government is going to do for EVERYONE.

We are “Liberal” because we’re more capable of moving forward.  Let’s do that.

Ok – maybe I lied about getting away from politics.

I got myself trapped into reading the right-wing-whack-job blogs today.  It’s kind of fun in the fact that it’s an exact reversal of 2000.  It’s kind of not fun in that our country, which I love, is still horribly fractured.

In 2000 after the Supreme Court ended the recount in Florida, effectively giving Bush the presidency, the ardent bush supporters said that democrats should “Get over it” and finally said that everyone should do the “American” thing and support then president-elect Bush.

The amazing part is, pretty much universally these are the same people who are saying that Obama will never be their president.

By their own argument that would make them quite Un-American.  Why doesn’t any of the far-right commentators they are blubbering to point that out to them?

We all live in America.  We all live by the Constitution of the United States.  And that document states that the person who wins the election by virtue of a majority of votes in the Electoral college *IS* the President of the United states.

All of them.  Not just the ones he won.  Not just the counties.  All of them.

Barack Obama not only won he won decisively.  Winning 8 states previously carried by Bush, and with a decisive popular vote tally as well.  He won the country.  Of this there can be no doubt.

Get behind your new president.  He’s going to be around a while.  Or get used to years of being referred to as the Un-American ones with no love for your country or it’s rule of law.

I have an addiction.  I can’t get away from it.  The way I look at it my job, as far as the active participation, is over.

So now what do I do?  I’ve spent the past two years obsessing about this election. I find myself hopelessly without purpose.

I actually got into a fight with my wife tonight because I can’t let it go.

So tonight I’m going to drink.  I’m going to toast in the new presidency over and over again until I reboot.  And tomorrow I will give it up.  All of it.

Wow -

I never let myself truly believe it was going to happen.  Hope was a luxury.  I’d hoped before.  In 2000, in 2004, and had my hopes for our future dashed both times.  I started to worry that we would never really get back to our greatness.

Not only did we Elect Barack Obama as president.  The first African-American.  We did other amazing things as well.

North Carolina is on the verge of being a blue state.

Virginia *IS* a blue state. (Thank you, I had something to do with this one)

Florida is blue again.

Now look what we’ve done.  We voted.  We spoke loudly and clearly that we would not endure even one more day like the last 8 years.

We’ve done a good thing.  We’ve done a glorious thing.

Now, to mis-quote the great Charles Wilson, let’s not fuck up the end-game.

Remember if you’re reading this from within the US, don’t forget to vote on November 4th.

If you’re reading this from outside of the US, don’t forget to point and laugh if we screw this up again.