Execution of Homosexuals — some thoughts

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I got several e-mails from Christians regarding this posting below, asking me not to judge all Christians by the men I noted, and saying that they feel they love the sinner, and hate the sin.
Here’s my problem with that…. the fact that ANY Christian that promotes the idea of executing me is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. I don’t care that most Christians take the “love the sinner, hate the sin” attitude (I have a problem with that, too; that I’ll cover in a future post). I care that are are SOME Christians that think they should be allowed to execute me. And the guys I noted… they have access to lots of money, and to high profile people in our government. And none of those high profile people have ever condemned those beliefs. They do say, “well, that’s not what I believe” but they don’t take a stand against the beliefs of their friends.
The fact that people who want to execute me have access to lots of money and to high profile government officials, and the fact that some express willingness to go around the law of the land if it doesn’t fit with their beliefs, makes me believe they are a CREDIBLE THREAT to my well being.

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Indiana Sex Offender Registry

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The name, age, address and physical description of convicted sex offenders, as well as the crime they committed, are listed on the Indiana Sheriff’s Web site under the link for Indiana Sheriffs’ Sex Offender Registry.
An amendment to Indiana’s sex offender registry law, also known as Zachary’s Law, took effect in June after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that posting offenders’ photographs and home addresses on the Internet did not violate their civil rights.
There are 1347 registered sex offenders in Marion county. Holy crap — 24 of them live on my street. Okay — that’s because there’s a half-way house down on 13th and Pennsylvania in Old Northside. Also, some of them are listed at the Salvation Army Check out some of these guys, though. They ain’t pretty.
It’s interesting to note how many of these guys list Wheeler Mission or other homeless shelters as their address of record. Obviously, that’s not any sort of permanent address.


I happened to click one of the links to current Indiana legislation covering sex crimes, and noted under the heading of Rape “a person who knowingly or intentionally has sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex when:
��������(1) the other person is compelled by force or imminent threat of force;
��������(2) the other person is unaware that the sexual intercourse is occurring; or
��������(3) the other person is so mentally disabled or deficient that consent to sexual intercourse cannot be given; commits rape, a Class B felony.”
Interesting… apparently it’s not illegal to force someone of the same sex to have sex. That seems like something that should be fixed in the law.

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“Execution of homosexuals”

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Nobody seems to believe me when I say that’s on the agenda of at least some religious right… but this is the second time I’ve seen it in print lately… this time in a Salon article about millionaire Howard Ahmanson Jr., a religious fanatic who has funded every major right wing cause from the recall election in California, to the schism in the Episcopal church to Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
Right there on the second page of the article:

“It was then that he found his salvation in the church and in R.J. Rushdoony, a prolific author and an influential theologian of the far right. Rushdoony is the father of Christian Reconstructionism, a strange variant of Calvinism that stresses waging political struggle to put the earth, and in particular the U.S., under the control of biblical law. In his 30-some books, he advocated everything from the end of government-administered social welfare and public schools to the execution of homosexuals. For around 20 years, until Rushdoony’s death in 1995, Ahmanson served on the board of his think tank, Chalcedon, granting it a total of $1 million. In exchange, Rushdoony acted as Ahmanson’s spiritual advisor, imbuing him with a sense of order and a mission.”

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Fingerprinting Visitors to the U.S.

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MIAMI — U.S. Immigration officers began fingerprinting and photographing tens of thousands of visitors arriving from certain other countries Monday, in what federal authorities described as a sophisticated new security measure to monitor who enters the country and how long they stay.
Citizens of 27 countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and most European nations, are exempt from the program if they are visiting as tourists for fewer than 90 days.

Wow, is this extreme. We can’t do better on the intelligence end, to prevent this from being necessary?

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Weekend Update 2004-01-06

Over the long New Years weekend, my friend Cate, who was in from Germany, came over and we went to Dan and Doug’s New Years party (photos soon!) along with Kathy and had a good time. Cate and I went to the Catholic supply store downtown and got religious medals (I know, I know, I was just saying below that I’m not a fan of the Catholic church. I still like the saints, though. They never did anything to me.) and went to the 62nd Street antique mall. It was great to see Cate again, and I hope it’s not two years before I see her again. I’m hoping to visit my sister in England, though, and if so, maybe Cate and I can hang out in London.

I went to see House of Sand and Fog with Melissa. Deeply depressing. If you see this, do it on a bright sunny day, not a dark gloomy one like we did.
And I did more painting in my living room. I also read ALOT. I finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and read Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown, the guy who wrote the DaVinci Code.

Middlesex was excellent. Angels and Demons was good, but not off the charts good. If you liked the DaVinci Code, you’ll enjoy this. I had it figured out well before the end, though, and it basically followed the same formula the other: Langdon as hero, girl as intrepid side-kick, a race against time to solve a puzzle, with an anonymous, unknown bad guy who turns out to be someone familiar to you in a wild twist at the end of the book. The appeal for me is the idea of clues to mysteries hidden in plain sight, amongst objects you see every day, with a scavenger hunt like puzzle attached. And I love the idea of secret societies, unusual iconography, etc.

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My “Best of 2003” Retrospective List

Best TV show: Joan of Arcadia.

Honorable mention: Celebrity Poker Showdown, The Amazing Race 4

Best Fiction: Life of Pi.

Honorable mention: American Gods, The DaVinci Code

Best Non-Fiction: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At The Right

Honorable mention: Indiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff

Best Song: Crazy in Love – Beyonce

Best Album: Home – Dixie Chicks

Honorable mention: Elephant – The White Stripes

Best Movie: Return of the King

Honorable mention: Cold Mountain, Master and Commander

Best DVD: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)

Honorable mention: Spirited Away

Best Website: Friendster.com

Honorable mentions:
Eschaton by Atrios
Television Without Pity
Tee Vee – Home of the Vidiots

Most Evil GOP Bastard: Tom DeLay
In the field of GOP bastardy, few can compare with the malevolent influence of the GOP House majority leader. Known as “The Hammer,” this Texas power broker maintains tight control of his “peers” through his prodigious fundraising (he apparently lets lobbyists write their own legislation).

A big list of “best of” lists from major news outlets, etc:
What Do I Know’s Best of Lists

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