Feelin' like some Tidbits today:

• Still on the Sports Bandwagon, how great is it that the UConn women's hoops team has dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since, like, the mid-1990s! That means other women's hoops teams are more organized, competitive, and recruiting blue chip players away from UConn. ;)


• From the Lesbian Front - good ole' Pastor Beth has decided to appeal her case and try to be reinstated as a Methodist Minister. Good for her! And, yesterday, some "conservatives" admitted it'll be very difficult to try to pass the FMA in the next Congress (but, they'll try!).


• Mommy Maria here: just how many times can a child watch the same DVD over and over again? In the case of The Banana and "The Sound of Music" (or, really, any movie with Julie Andrews in it) = an infinite number of times!


• Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind sitting through "Victor / Victoria" again someday (when she's older; much older!). And, personally, I kind of enjoyed "The Princess Diaries".

Ah, my ongoing love-hate relationship with NPR continues. . .

Today's 'Talk of the Nation' topic is "The Psychological Effects of Tramatic Incidents" (i.e. tsunamis; terrorism). No sooner than host Neal Conan made mention of the difficulties of surviving / seeing such trauma, then a caller ("Ali") phoned in from Southeast Asia noting how difficult it was to see "all the bodies" on the beach.

Neal asked, "about how many bodies?"

Ali continued with how he'd seen terroism up close (bombings and such) but this devastation was much worse.

Neal asked, "how many bodies do you think there are?"

Ali noted that he couldn't stay where he was and had to walk away, it was too difficult a scene to view, the bodies on the beach.

Neal, to his credit, DIDN'T ask "but what about those bodies?" (but I sense he was thinking it), and thanked Ali for his first-person account.

Cut to : guest psychologist who specalizes in trauma. Does SHE acknowledge Ali and his obvious emotional pain?

Nope. Moves right into "her" agenda - how volunteers and survivors can "get help" i.e. trauma counseling, in such situations (ya think she'd provide a bit of it, herself, to Ali, wouldn't ya?).

Ah, The Media.

"Sporty" (Spice) Maria here. Watchin' the Iggles. Feel kinda bad for those teams whose seasons are depending on them to win tonight. Won't happen. Oh well, we're holdin' out for the Super Bowl, ya know - 3 long years of losing in the Division Title game has made us ornery fans.

Speaking of ornery fans - I've pilfered an X-mas gift from my dad. He got the book "Faithful" from my aunt and hasn't had time to read it, so I felt it was my duty to do so. It's written by Stephen King (yes! that Stephen King) and Stewart O'Nan about last year's run by the Boston Red Sox to the World Series, from a Bosox fan's point of view.

Which, is not unlike a Philadelphia fan's point of view (pick your sport): defeatist, despondant, and downright dreary at times. Always hoping for a win, expecting a loss.

When I moved here I realized that Philly was the perfect Sports Town for me (with the exception of a lack of decent sports bars with satellite dishes for college basketball season!). We've got WIP radio callers trashing the home teams; in-depth news coverage of pre-season baseball (we get Thome!), football training camps (even the "mini's" and what Donovan is up to in Arizona), off-season hockey stories (Lindros! the strike!); A.I. and T.O. (and formerly A.J.) to keep the gossip columnists happy; and no hunting pix! (Can you tell I've been reading the Erie Daily Times lately?)

Anyway, this book is a great read for a sports fan (who reads). Day-to-day coverage of the BoSox season by two fans - their e-mails to each other, their diaries of the year, all in great sports "shorthand" (like we talk): with player nicknames ("Papi"! "Nomah"!), baseball verbage ("he served up 7 K's"), and game viewing experiences - via radio, TV, and "live" at the Fen. (O'Nan especially seems to spend a lot of time trying to shag BP balls on the Monster, even using a fishing net at one point!).

So, even though I can't get my Marquette on TV quite yet, and the Iggles are fielding the second string, I've got The Book!

Driving across Pennsylvania this week (sounds like a good title for a book, eh?) I couldn't help but notice all of those Magnetic Car Ribbons that have become quite the fad. The Gal & I first noticed them when we traversed to Boston earlier in the year; mostly in upstate New York; mostly the Yellow "Support Our Troops" ones with a few Red-White-and-Blue "We Luv 'Merica" or Black POW-MIA ones thrown in for good measure.

Recently, my boss ordered Purple "End Domestic Violence" ones, as she wanted to jump on the Magnetic Car Ribbon Fad Bandwagon (which I felt was already over). Nevertheless, I put one on my car for the drive to and from the far reaches of western PA this week.

Saw many other, new, ribbons too. . . a Pink Breast Cancer Awareness one; the Yellow-and Red-White-and-Blue- flag one; and a Green one that I can only assume was Environmentally-related (couldn't get close enough to the car to check it out).

It wasn't until I saw the Black-and-Gold one, however, that I knew the fad has, indeed, worn out it's usefullness. It said, "Go Steelers" on it.

Drove across my home state yesterday - 425 miles from our home in Philly to the netherlands that make up the North Coast of PA. Also known as Erie, PA. Dreary Erie. The Mistake on the Lake. It's a long drive, a boring drive, but at least we have our luggage!

Sometimes I feel I could make the drive with my eyes shut. But I kept them wide open this trip, and noticed a very interesting thing: New billboards around the Harrisburg (our state capitol) area which make direct reference to some current legislation. While "educational" in nature, they could also be viewed as "lobbying." Although, whom, I don't know.

Me, the voter? To call my attention to an issue so I'll call my legislator?
My legislator? While he/she (I have one of each) is on his/her way to session?

Interestingly enough, I saw only 2 - and they both addressed a particular Philadelphia (the "Big Bad City" as it's known in the rest of the state) issue.

One billboard implored that KOZ (Keystone Opportunity Zone) $$$ be kept out of Center City Philly. The other, not so subtle, billboard pretty much said - in a nutshell, and I'm paraphrasing here - Comcast Has More Money Than God, why give it a tax break to build in The City? and referenced the legislation in question: HB 1321.

KOZ $, you see, was originally meant to foster development in "areas of economic distress" within first class cities in the Commonwealth (basically, Philly). While Philly does, indeed, have many areas of economic distress, Center City - where Comcast is building a high-rise office tower as its new HQ - is not one of them.

Nor do many folks seem to think that Comcast needs any tax break (myself, each month as I write out my cable bill, included) - although, labeling the area a KOZ would require Comcast to add jobs to the City.

And, thrown into the mix - the current PA Gov is non other than Former Philly Mayor Ed Rendell (who most certainly would like to see Philly and Comcast both benefit from a KOZ). Stay tuned, folks, it's Pennsylvania (and Philadelphia) politics at its finest hour.

Happy Hanukkah! Light those Lights! Make those Miracles happen!

One of which, it seems, did happen today : The PA State Supreme Court upheld Philadelphia's domestic partnership law! Ok, so parts of it. . .

Of course, now that The Mrs. is no longer employed by The City, the health insurance benefit no longer applies to us.

We were eligible for the "benefit" of not having to pay a real estate transfer tax (when transfering property amongst each other) - but that was struck down by the court, citing state tax law and the state's constitution.

I can live with that. The more imporant issue was their ruling that "life partnership is . . . not the functional equivalent of marriage" - which might go a long way for us in PA trying to obtain benefits as "life partners" i.e. medical visitation and decision-making, employee benefits like bereavement leave, insurance, etc.

It's all about being treated fairly and equally.

Of course, "marriage" does have, like, 1,049 federal benefits that go along with it. You may recall my previous musings on the subject. I'd like to have a joint fishing liscense with The Gal, as well as get her social security benefits (what will be left of them !) if she dies, etc. Oh, well, that's another fight, another day.

[P.S.: other big wins regarding this case. . . William Devlin, conservative foe of the LGBT community, lost! And his Arizona-based, right-wing legal representation, the Alliance Defense Fund - defenders of Traditional Family Values and the Sanctity of Life - lost as well! Go home, y'all, and fight the real battles: guns on the streets, the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness, racism, sexism, et. al.]

this morning I'm doing a quick mailing and half-watching George Stephanopolis, when I hear Trent Lott talking about "abstinence education" - you know, Bushie's big thing - not talking about sex, birth control, reproductive rights to young people, women in foreign countries, etc.

I found it kind of funny, that phrase. As much as I've heard it, it didn't really hit me until today that, in how the Bush Administration uses the phrase, it's an oxymoron. In the strict sense of the phrase, they should be educating the masses about how to be abstinent - which, to most people (I would hope), would mean teaching them about alternatives to sex with a partner i.e. the intricacies of masturbation, sex toys, the relative benefits of soft-core porn, or dispaced fixations (oral and otherwise) such as working out, smoking, eating, etc.

Then, of course, I read the newspaper and there, in the article on the now-defrocked Pastor Beth Stroud, was the wonderful phrase "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" - actual words used in the "courtroom" during her "trial." I wonder how hard it was for her to resist the urge to say, "Actually, I don't have to practice much anymore; I'm pretty good at it."

I know, I know. . . it's been 2 long, dry weeks for you all. Hey! I have a real job, too, ya know ;) Here's some depressing Friday Tidbits :

• The United Church of Christ is airing a great pro-LGBT 30 sec. TV ad on a bunch of broadcast and cable networks but neither CBS nor NBC will air it, because it's all-inclusive message is "too controversial" (!) Check it out at : http://www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm


• Speaking of churches and gay people, how depressed am I that Beth Stroud (no, we do not know her - not all lesbians living in the same city know each other! ;) - the Methodist pastor here in Germantown - has been de-frocked for caring enough about her parishoners that she was - GASP! - honest with them about being a lesbian ! GASP!


• Which is kind of funny here in Philly since just about every other Jewish woman in the Mt. Airy/Germantown 'hood is a lesbian rabbi or going to school to become a lesbian rabbi. Maybe Pastor Beth can start a Jews for Jesus group.


• To leave you on a more positive note, here are some suggestions of How You Can Help from the Beth Stroud (see above, the lesbian pastor) web site at http://www.fumcog.org/: Take a seventh grader out for ice cream; Tell someone a funny joke; Buy fair-trade and environmentally friendly products; Take a casserole to someone you don't know very well; Visualize what justice and peace would look like.