I just bought a house. In Indiana. How fucking weird.

VATICAN CITY (CNN) — The Vatican has launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions is “gravely immoral.”

“Marriage exists solely between a man and woman … Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law,” the 12-page document by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Thursday.

“Unless they involve cornholing cute altar boys,” the statement continued, “in which case, hey, who could blame you. Since priests are forbidden to marry anyway, no harm done there.”

And I am running for President because it’s time that we stood up to this President, to the Republican Party, to their radical conservative agenda, and forced them out of office…

Our country’s founders feared that those with economic power would one day try to seize political power. And under this administration, that fear is becoming a reality. -Howard Dean

He uses radical conservative three more times in the speech. I’ve had my eye on the Doctor for a while. My skepticism is fading.

From a recent book review in the New Yorker:

The more extreme and outrageous the totalitarian ideology, therefore, and the more devoid of practical political sense, the more ineluctable its appeal. Totalitarian rule, Arendt argued, is predicated on the assumption that proving that a thing is true is less effective than acting as though it were true. The Nazis did not invite a discussion of the merits of anti-Semitism; they simply acted out its consequences. This is why documents like the memorandums for which Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” continued to be believed even after they had been exposed as forgeries, and why the Moscow Trials were defended even by people who knew that the “confessions” were fraudulent.

Is this also why 50% (or whatever it is today) of Americans believe Saddam was directly involved in 9-11? Or why the “Arab on the street” believes the Israelis engineered the terrorist attacks? Or why the uranium statement was included? Compare to an article in time:

Why has the uranium story puffed up so huge? It wouldn’t have been a very big deal without the deepening crisis in Iraq. But it also has ballast because it clarifies an aspect of George W. Bush’s essential character — specifically, the problem he has with telling the truth. I am not saying Bush is a liar. Lying is witting: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” This is weirder than that. The President seems to believe that wishing will make it so — and he is so stupendously incurious that he rarely makes an effort to find the truth of the matter. He misleads not only the nation but himself. Every worst-case Saddam scenario just had to be true, as did every best-case post-Saddam scenario.

A serendipitous entry by Rev. Furuya today: “A small mind may not be an evil mind, but the results of a small mind’s actions can be the same.”

PILOT POINT, Texas (AP) — People here aren’t upset about what’s inside a local art gallery. It’s what’s painted outside: a mural of a nude Eve…

City Council member Jay Melugin called the mural disgusting.

“I just don’t like my children seeing it,” he said.

What sort of sick, twisted pervert considers a painting of breasts disgisting? This is what drives the porn industry.

“[P]aramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.” - Justice Hugo Black

I would wager Scalia considers free press part of the “homosexual agenda”.

Saw Afro-Celt Sound System last night. Excellent sound, great show.

If the music contains a powerful experience for the musician, then we touch that. If the music is a vehicle for the musician to puff himself up in front of others, then we hear that. If the music means nothing to the player, then that is what we feel — nothing. If the music is a means for the musician to give us something real of their experience, then we receive it. -Trey Gunn

The actor made famous for his role as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers film series has announced he is to wed his girlfriend - who is six-foot, two-inches tall.

Verne Troyer, standing two-foot, eight-inches in his socks, said he felt like a giant when 29-year-old yoga instructor Genevieve Gallen agreed to tie the knot.

Please tell me there’s something wrong with my eyes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kansas really is flatter than a pancake, U.S. geographers reported on Monday.

A scientific comparison of the topography of Kansas to a pancake shows the state, known for its vast, even fields, is in fact really, really flat, geographer Mark Fonstad of Southwest Texas State University and colleagues found.