Toyah

Ryan Zempel on today's Townhall C-Log:

Last night I happened to watch the rather bizarre movie The Shipping News and was shocked to discover Hollywood addressing one of the true causes of homosexuality.

In a major subplot of the movie, we discover that a character named Agnis (played by Judi Dench) was raped by her brother when she was 12 years old and is now a lesbian rather hostile towards men. I applaud whoever it was in Hollywood who dared to make the politically incorrect implication that her (admittedly affirmed) homosexuality was the result of the sexual abuse.

If only people would pay attention.

When will liberals quit clinging to the "it's genetic" claim and acknowledge the fact that much of homosexuality (especially lesbianism) is the result of sexual abuse? And when will conservatives ingest this fact and begin responding to homosexuals with compassion rather than condemnation?

Some of C-Log's readers repond Here, here, and here.

The WWII Memorial on the National Mall is finally open. (images available here and here) Recent visitors say that they are impressed by the immensity of the memorial, which I am happy to hear. The memorial should instill some sense of the grandeur of the sacrifice given by so many Americans as well as WWII's impact on the development of our national identity.

If you know a WWII veteran, ask them about their service and sacrifice, and tell them Thank You!

NYT columnist Nick Kristof (subscription) comments on liberal and media bias and bigotry aimed at conservative Christians. I appreciate Kristof's effort, though his ignorance of Christianity, and apparent lack of effort to verify some of his information, seems to partly explain the problem; people are often hostile to things they know little or nothing about.

A couple of problems:

• "there's no clear objection in the Bible to lesbianism" -- Uh-uh. Romans 1:26. Important to note that gay and lesbian activity is listed right along side lots of other sins indicative of we who "worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom 1:25). This list includes such zingers as greed, envy, arrogance, gossiping, and disobedience to parents, to name a few.



• "And in polite society, conservative Christians -- especially Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses -- are among the last groups it's still acceptable to mock." -- Well, getting warmer, that is if LDS and JWs really were Christians. There are a few fundamental differences between LDS/JWs and Christians, namely the nature of God, the nature of man, and the relation between the two. Doesn't a man like this at least have an editor or someone who knows the difference? Sadly, probably not.



• "But there's no clear objection in the Bible to lesbianism at all. And since some fundamentalists have argued that AIDS is God's punishment for gay men, it's worth noting that lesbians are at less risk of AIDS than straight women. So if God is smiting gay men for their sin, is he rewarding lesbians for their holiness?" -- interesting argument, if this is really what most Christians believe. To be fair, many do.

On the other hand:

Liberals often protest that they would have nothing against conservative Christians if they were not led by hypocritical blowhards who try to impose their Ten Commandments plaques, sexual mores and creationism on society. But that's a crude stereotype, and it ignores the Christian right's accomplishments. Polls show that evangelical Christians are more likely to contribute to charities that help the needy, and in horror spots in Africa Catholics and other Christians are the bulwark of the health care system.

Good. And:

It's always easy to point out the intolerance of others. What's harder is to practice inclusiveness oneself. And bigotry toward people based on their faith is just as repugnant as bigotry toward people based on their sexuality.

Right on both counts.

I'm not quite sure what this means . . . I am not a Seventh Day Adventist. I don't even know what they are!


1. Seventh Day Adventist (100%)
2. Eastern Orthodox (99%)
3. Roman Catholic (99%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (96%)
5. Orthodox Quaker (90%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (65%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (63%)
8. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (62%)
9. Hinduism (62%)
10. Islam (57%)
11. Jehovah's Witness (56%)
12. Sikhism (49%)
13. Bahá'í Faith (48%)
14. Liberal Quakers (46%)
15. Reform Judaism (38%)
16. Jainism (37%)
17. Unitarian Universalism (33%)
18. Theravada Buddhism (27%)
19. Mahayana Buddhism (27%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (25%)
21. Neo-Pagan (20%)
22. New Thought (18%)
23. Scientology (18%)
24. Nontheist (17%)
25. Taoism (16%)
26. New Age (14%)
27. Secular Humanism (11%)

Ralph Nader spoke at the law school yesterday, and, of course, I was there to lend support. He was in town organizing folks to collect signatures to get his name on the Texas ballot.

Nader's speech focused on condemning corporations. Specifically he criticized law schools for their focus on corporate law and lack of concern for public interest law and issues. Mostly your typical Marxist-Socialist rodomontade; Corporations bad, universal healthcare good.

Nader is certainly not troubled by the prospect of drawing votes from Kerry. He sees politics, as he sees life, as a fight between the corporations and the people. In his view, both Rs and Ds are in the pockets of the unaccountable corporations and will remain so as long as corporations are allowed to fund campaigns. Essentially, there is no significant difference between Republicans and Democrats so he cares little if he helps Bush to win. In this view, Nader has much in common with the libertarians, who, by the way, were also present, asking folks to sign a petition to get their candidate on the ballot (whoever their candidate is).

Interestingly, this is the second time since declaring his candidacy that Nader has spoken at UT. I guess since his goal is to get the highest percentage of nationwide votes he can (and therefore receive federal money the next time around) he is focusing on getting on the ballots in the biggest states Bush will certainly win. No matter how many votes Nader draws from Kerry, Bush will win all of Texas' electors. Nader's is a good strategy if your goal is to win 5% of the popular vote and not the overall election. (BTW, over 10% of Austin voters voted for Nader in the 2000 election.)

Nader received this week's Federalist "Alpha Jackass" Award for this quote:

"We are dealing here with a basically unstable president. ... We are dealing with a messianic militarist. A messianic militarist, under our constitutional structure, is an unstable officeholder. Talk about separation of church and state: It is not separated at all in Bush's brain, and this is extremely disturbing." --Ralph Nader, responding to Bush's statement in Bob Woodward's book that he prayed "for the strength to do the Lord's will" when committing the nation to go to war in Iraq.