Hey Rick, What Are You Comparing Gay Marriage To This Week?

Rick Santorum thus far has compared gay marriage to water and beer, napkins and paper towels, and now says in an interview with the Iowa Independent that gays can't get married because a tree is not a car.  Or something.

Because it changes the definition of an intrinsic element of society in a way that minimizes what that bond means to society.

Marriage is what marriage is. Marriage was around before government said what it was.
It’s like going out and saying, ‘That tree is a car.’ Well, the tree’s not a car. A tree’s a tree.

Marriage is marriage.

You can say that tree is something other than it is. It can redefine it. But it doesn’t change the essential nature of what marriage is.

So which is this?  A beer?  Or a tree?  Or a paper towel?!  Hmmmm...

Marriage is a union between a man and a woman for the purposes of the benefit of both the man and the woman, a natural unitive according to nature, unitive, that is for the purposes of having and rearing children and for the benefit of both the man and the woman involved in that relationship.

His arguments are getting even more nonsensical and only seems to highlight how irrelevant he actually is.  His entire argument, of course, is that same-sex marriage will lead to a slew of social disasters such as interspecies nuptials:

And for the benefit of society because we need to have stable families of men and woman bonded together to raise children. That’s what marriage is. You can say two people who love each other is marriage. But then why limit it to just two people? Why not three people? Why not 10 people?

If it’s just about love and everybody needs to be treated equally, then why not 10? Why not allowing nieces and aunts to marry? Why not? If marriage means anyone who is in love, well, then, let everybody who is in love get married. But it’s not what marriage is.

 
Yawn.  That old thing?  That argument is about as old as I am.  No, Rick, I don't think the advent of marriage equality will lead to the FLDS suddenly being in the clear for polygamy.

His finishes off, of course, with stating that his position is an attempt to preserve the religious right's ability to discriminate against people they judge to be sinful:

Anybody who does not recognize what the state says is good and right is a bigot. We don’t give licenses for adoptions to organizations that won’t do gay adoptions because they’re bigots. And a lot of those are faith-based organizations.

Will we go into pulpits and tell preachers they can’t preach that gay marriage is wrong? Well maybe not right away but maybe tax-exempt status is next.

There’s a conflict here because we’ve created something that is not what it is.

 Rick Santorum is, by this time, the laughingstock of the GOP in his insistence on running for President.  He can't raise money and is a shoe-in for "worst GOP candidate for 2012."  Basically the only thing he's getting for his pains is yet another Google bomb from Dan Savage. 

Will The GOP Please Leave Our Luscious Teen Bois Alone?

Yet another anti-gay Republican politician has been outed as a big, creepy gay as a sordid story of a Craigslist hookup comes out of Indiana today.

er.  I would have tried to leave, too...

18-year old Kameryn Gibson was approached by a supposedly "in shape married professional, 5'8", fit 170 lbs, and love getting and staying naked," through the Craigslist M4M hookup forum.  The "professional" offered Gibson up to $140 in order to come over to his hotel room and have sex with him.  Gibson agreed, and came to the hotel room, only to find anti-gay state Rep. Phillip Hinkle waiting.  The story then takes a turn for the even grosser, as Gibson attempted to leave:

He said the lawmaker at first told him he could not leave, grabbed him in the rear, exposed himself to the young man and then later gave him an iPad, BlackBerry cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet.

The story appears to have been corroborated by incriminating e-mails on the BlackBerry, but Hinkle hasn't commented much on the scandal except to refer to it as a "shakedown."

Good job, Hinkle!  You've joined the hallowed ranks of social conservatives who secretly like to get some man-on-man humpin'!  Such luminaries as Larry Craig, Mike Haggard, and George Rekers have trailblazed this path before you, and I look forward to seeing your crisis of faith, resignation, ex-gay counseling, etc.  

On Rick Santorum And Napkins And Such

Failing Presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently was filmed making some nonsensical comparison of marriage to napkins and paper towels... or something.

Cutie-patootie Sean Chapin filmed his response, and eloquently comments on the whole thing without saying a word.

Catholic Anti-Pedophilia Tsar Caught With Reams Of Child Pornography

This is both terrifying and disgusting.

Christopher Jarvis, father of four and former social worker, has been employed by the Diocese of Plymouth for the past nine years.  He has been tasked with monitoring church groups in order to ensure that sex offenders did not gain access to children through church functions.  Imagine his community's shock when, in March, he was discovered with over 4000 images of children being sexually abused on his home computer and work laptop.

"He admitted 12 counts of making, ­possessing and distributing indecent ­images when he appeared before ­magistrates in Plymouth and is likely to face jail when he returns to court for sentencing next month

"Jarvis, who has been sacked from his job as child safeguarding ­officer, worked the Diocese of ­Plymouth for nine years.

"Church spokesman ­David Pond said: 'Mr Jarvis was suspended from his position as soon as the diocese became aware in March of the police investigation.'"

This is shocking and dismaying.  One wonders how this kind of oversight could have put this man in his position?

Dan Savage Wants To Redefine Santorum's First Name

In an effort to get Rick Santorum to quit bashing on the gays in his campaign, Dan Savage released this funny video threatening to create further "Google problems" for the anti-gay candidate.

I would argue that someone with his clout could be targeting more dangerous candidates-- Santorum is trailing the polls and is not going to get the nomination-- but it's a cute video nonetheless.

Tea Party Leader: Bullying Is "Healthy Peer Pressure"

So let me get this straight: bullying is now an endorsed social tactic from the right?

Rich Swier, a Tea Party activist involved with anti-muslim group ACT! For America who previously stated America was facing a "white extinction," responded to a study released from charity group Gulf Coast Gives which states that 77% of bullying victims were tormented based on their sexual orientation, real or perceived. His take? That bullying is a healthy means for peers to dissuade youth from following an unhealthy lifestyle.

So is racism a healthy method of dissuading people from being black?

"This is not bullying. It is peer pressure and is healthy. There are many bad behaviors such as smoking, under age drinking and drug abuse that are behaviors that cannot be condoned. Homosexuality falls into this category. Homosexuality is simply bad behavior that youth see as such and rightly pressure their peers to stop it. In Sarasota County over 70% of all HIV/AIDS cases are due to male sex with males."

He then goes on to compare smoking and underage drinking to homosexuality and calls the founder of GLSEN, one of the more respected gay organizations in the country, a "radical gay activist."

Let me be clear: shielding our children from anti-gay bias is not radical. It's necessary. I doubt the victims of bullying who have killed themselves to escape their tormentors would call the emotional torture they faced "healthy peer pressure." This guy is disgusting.

Geek Shit Wednesday, Vol. XV

Anonymous Hacks, Releases Personal Details Of Arizona Cops

It's gotten personal with online hacktivism group Anonymous, as they have now attacked the private e-mail accounts of thousands of Arizona law enforcement officers and put out a data dump of personal information on the cops.  Why?  In order to protest the racist-- and I don't disagree with that-- policies of law enforcement in the Grand Canyon State.

Last week, they said in a statement titled "Chinga La Migra":

"Every week we plan on releasing more classified documents and embarassing [sic] personal details of military and law enforcement in an effort not just to reveal
their racist and corrupt nature but to purposefully sabotage their efforts to terrorize communities fighting an unjust 'war on drugs'.

Then, today, the dump hit the interwebz in "Chinga La Migra, Communique Dos":

"In this second bulletin, we're dumping booty pirated from a dozen Arizona police officer's personal email accounts looking specifically for humiliating dirt. This leak has names, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, social security numbers, online dating account info, voicemails, chat logs, and seductive girlfriend pictures belonging to a dozen Arizona police officers. We found more internal police reports, cops forwarding racist chain emails, k9 drug unit cops who use percocets, and a convicted sex offender who was part of FOP Maricopa Lodge Five."

I'm generally a fan of Anonymous, so I was surprised when I felt a bit icky about this.  I felt the same way when Julian Assange threatened to release personal details of intelligence operatives.  To be frank, this sort of thing places people's lives at risk.  I'll definitely be watching this story unfold.

(Thanks to Robbie at Mount Vernon Wireless for the tip)

Drug Resistant E. Coli Traced To Antibiotics Use In Chicken Farms

Bad news for chicken farmers, as cultures of E. Coli found in humans appear to have developed drug resistant genes also found in chickens given antibiotics as part of their diet in large-scale farms.  The CDC's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases published a paper with some startling similarities between the genotypes of the compared bacteria.  

"In each set of samples, they were looking at the E. coli to see whether they harbored genes for the type of resistance known as ESBL, for 'extended-spectrum beta-lactamase,' an enzyme that denatures a category of drugs used for serious infections that occur mostly in hospitals. When the extended-spectrum beta-lactams no longer work, only a few last-resort drugs are left. (Back in the 1980s, the most common genes for ESBL wereblaTEM or blaSHV, but in the past 10 or so years there has been a rapid global increase in the occurrence of a different ESBL gene, blaCTX-M.)

"Here’s what they found:

• Out of 876 patients tested by rectal swab—because E. coli is a gut bacterium, carried in and spread by feces—45 (5 percent) harbored ESBL genes.
• Out of 31 blood cultures in the hospitals’ labs, 23 (74 percent) contained ESBL genes.
• Out of 262 meat samples, 79 (30 percent) harbored an ESBL gene. Broken down by type of meat, there was ESBL in 80 percent of the chicken samples, 5 percent of the beef, 2 percent of the pork, and 9 percent of ground or otherwise mixed meat.

The business of mass-farming animals for their meat is just kind of generally kind of gross anyway, but now we are starting to see that there is considerable risk in some farming methods.  

OMG! 50,000 Piece Lego Barad-Dur Is Too Awesome For Words

So I'm not going to say many, other than "Sweet Saruman's Socks, that's cool!"

Gaga's Meat Dress Turned Into Jerky Dress For R&R Hall Of Fame

This is just bonkers.

Remember Gaga's famed dress made of quality Argentine beef? It's spent the past few months drying and being preserved by chemicals in order to be showcased in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

"According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the dress and shoes worn by Gaga at the 2010 Video Music Awards were cured and dried. The result? A jerky outfit, fit for display (or to eat on a hiking trip).

"The outfit, made of Argentine beef, was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals, and dried by a team of taxidermists over a period of several months."

It took on a dark brown jerky appearance, evidently, so they painted it to look fresh and meatlike:

I'm not sure why, but it is almost more gross than it was at the actual award show Gaga wore it to.

Exploding Melons In China Raise New Concerns About Food Safety

You know you're farming wrong when your fucking crops start blowin' your farm up.

About 120 acres of crops have been affected in the eastern city of Danyang, with melons exploding in the fields.  This bizarre phenomenon has been blamed on unchecked use of the growth hormone forchlorfenuron.

"'On May 7, I came out and counted 80 (exploded watermelons), but by the afternoon it was 100,' farmer Liu Mingsuo told state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) in a report that aired Tuesday.

"He said he had sprayed them with the chemical just a day before.

"'Two days later I didn't bother to count anymore,' added Liu, who admitted using forchlorfenuron and saw three hectares of watermelons -- more than two-thirds of his crop -- laid to waste."

The state-controlled media is trying to blame heavy rainfall followed by dry conditions.  While this has in the past led to burst melons, it didn't near approach the level of this rash of melon bombs.

Right.  Rain did it, not the nasty-ass chemicals y'all spray on your fruit.  Uh-huh.

[TheRawStory]