10:51 am - Fri 1/6/06
A Shout-Out To All My Fundamentalist Friends

Fri 1/6/06 (12:50 a.m.)

This was a nice little post-Xmas present--The day after Xmas, I received a couple cds from my friend Tim F., of Monkeyshine fame.

(For those of you who missed the first time I wrote about this, Monkeyshine is a duo composed of Tim F. and Cate D, two talented folks I knew back in high-school days. They sing and write lyrics together, while Tim writes music and plays about a bazillion instruments.)

He sent me their debut cd, along with another cd of �Rarities� (Initial recording efforts, rough cuts of songs for the next cd, etc.)

I�m not going to try to write a review here, because I don�t know how and would sound really stupid trying. I just wanted to say that I�ve listened to the music a couple times now, and I think it�s really good.

So check their website out (It�s Monkeyshineonline.com, in case you missed the link), sample the songs, then buy some cds, for yourself and all your friends.

This was Dan Savage�s response to charges, stemming from a recent �Savage Love� column, that he was �intolerant� of Christianity (If you don�t know who Dan Savage is, he�s a gay man who writes a sex column forThe Onion, where he dispenses advice to gays, straights, transvestities, and assorted kinky types of all stripes).

Joking about Christianity isn't evidence that I'm intolerant�hell, I'm perfectly willing to tolerate Christians. I have never, for instance, attempted to prevent Christians from marrying each other, or tried to stop them from adopting children, or worked to make it illegal for them to hold certain jobs. I don't threaten to boycott companies that market their products to Christians, and I don't organize letter-writing campaigns to complain about Christian characters on television.

It would indeed be hypocritical for me to complain about fundamentalist Christians who've done all of the above to gay people if I turned around and did the same thing to Christians�but, again, I've done no such thing. Intolerant? Hell, I'm a model of tolerance! Oh sure, I joked about the Virgin Birth because I think it's silly and sex-phobic. And I'm free to say as much, however unpleasant it is for some Christians to hear. Fundamentalist Christians, for their part, are free to think homosexuality is sinful and unnatural, and they're free to say so, however unpleasant it is for me to hear. But fundamentalists aren't willing to just speak their piece, Rob. Nope, they seek to persecute people for being gay, and that's where their low opinion of homosexuality�which, again, they have an absolute right to hold�transubstantiates into intolerance.

I think this hit me as strongely as it did because a few weeks ago, I read a book called How The Republicans Stole Xmas, by Bill Press, that deals in part with just this sort of thing.

From the back cover:

How The Republicans Stole Christmas is also Press�s fervent call to Democrats and liberals to reclaim religion and return it to its basic principles of social justice, charity, and tolerance. Press argues that the Right didn�t just steal religion, the Left let them have it, offering no resistance as conservatives dictated what�s right and wrong. But on today�s social issues, according to Press, religious conservatives have gotten it all wrong. They have turned Jesus from a loving Messiah who championed the poor and dispossessed into a cold-blooded advocate for the rich and powerful

Even though Press is a Christian and I�m not, I have been frustrated for years by the same thing that frustrated Press so much he wrote a book about it�Self-righteous, judgemental, hate-filled �Christians� who have made themselves the last word on what�s good and right and �moral� in our society, when in reality, they are anything but good and right and �moral�.

I could go off on a serious tear on this subject, but I wouldn�t want to lose my giant Fundamentalist fan base...

It�s a red-and-silver Schwinn SX 2000. It�s 26", with an aluminum frame and Shimano brakes...and it�s a girl�s bike.

I�m a little bothered that I bought a girl�s bike�How did I not notice such a thing?�but only a little (I mean, it�s not like it�s pink with hearts and flowers, wearing little lace panties�It just doesn�t have that crossbar going across the top. Which I never quite understood, anyway�Why is it the guy�s bike that has a big metal crossbar going across the top, where you run the risk of serious trauma to the gonads in an accident? Is it just a �phallic thing", or what?).

Anyway, had a nice surprise at the register: I bought the bike, and a floor pump (Which I�ve wanted for awhile), and while the clerk who initially helped me said the bike was $180, everything rang up, with tax, for $163.

I rode the bike home, and rode to ArcLight today (Where I saw The Matador. Which, by the way, was a fun enough movie�Pierce Brosnan is obviously enjoying himself�but you don�t need to rush to see it on my account).

And I like the bike fine, except the seat hurts my ass a bit (I wonder somehow if that�s the essential �girliness� of the bike. Except that it�s my ass that hurts, and not my �manly bits�).

Jane wondered if it might be worthwhile to try to sell my old bike, but I wouldn�t have been comfortable with that (Not with the �This bike has no 'legs'� judgement of the bike shop guy last time I had it in the shop). So, since I�ve gotten a lot from the �giveaway area� in the lobby of my building lately, I left it there--With a note that I'd be taking it out to the trash in 24 hours--and it was gone today.

(In retrospect, I wish I'd taken the seat off--It was still pretty new.)
(END)

Well, I find myself wanting to write some more, but I've actually got to get a few things done before work this evening (The annual "smog check" on the car, a haircut, and groceries), so I'm going to hop in the shower and make myself presentable to the public at large...

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