For Val and Ricki

The whole crew over at the FFOT has been weirded out and traumatized by Ricki's reference to the mastodon balls and that, um, news story linked by Val. So I thought I'd lighten the mood by posting about a song I heard on KFAT radio years ago, called "Rocky Mountain Oysters". I went a-youtubin' for it. Couldn't find it. However, I did learn that there is a musical-comedy drag troupe called "Rocky Mountain Oysters".

No only that, I also learned that the town of Eagle, Idaho, holds a rocky mountain oyster feed every year as a fund raiser for its fire department. And they have some kickass funny ads for it:

Dear Gay People

Not all of you, just those of you protesting and blocking intersections and roughing up old ladies and boycotting Utah:

STFU and listen to this guy. And this guy. Yeah, you're unhappy and I understand that, but right now you are starting to piss off the fence sitters and even your supporters like me.

You are your own worst enemy. Well, if what little I've read about some marginal fringe group called "Bash Back" is anywhere near accurate, they are probably your worst enemy, and you should strongly consider bashing them right back before they set back the cause even more than you yourselves seem to be intent on setting it back.

Crap

Literally.

I really hate coming into something midway. Meetings. Conversations. TV shows.

After taking the trash out, I turned on "Mythbusters". They were talking about baking and then polishing animal dung. I'm not sure I want to know what this myth was about.

And then there was the other myth, about "hitting the ground running". You know folks? Sometimes a "myth" is just a colorful metaphor.

Too true

Giggle.

"They told Glenn Reynolds..." [updated]

[See update at end]

They told Glenn Reynolds that if George Bush were re-elected, people would be hounded out of their jobs for supporting unpopular political causes. And they were right!

CMT artistic director quits in fallout from Prop. 8 support

California Musical Theatre's artistic director, Scott Eckern, resigned from his post today amid controversy over a donation he made to the Proposition 8 campaign to ban gay marriage.

Eckern gave $1,000 in support of Proposition 8, a donation that sparked criticism from theater workers and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

[...]

Eckern said that he "honestly had no idea" that the contribution would spark such outrage and made the donation to act on his belief as the traditional definition of marriage be preserved.

"I support each individual to have rights and access, and I understand that in California domestic partnerships come with the same rights that come with marriage," he said.

Eckern said his sister is a lesbian in a committed relationship and he loves her and is supportive of her and her family, just as she is of him and his family.

"I definitely do not support any message or treatment of others that is hateful or instills fear," he said. "This is a highly emotional issue and the accusations that have been made against me are simply not true."

Get over yourselves, people.

UPDATE: Well, at least someone recognizes that you don't get people fired over political differences:

Supporters rally behind departed theater director

More than 100 people gathered outside the Music Circus today to support Scott Eckern, the theater director who resigned amid controversy over his donation to support the ban on same-sex marriage.

Carrying signs that read "You Made a Circus Out of Freedom" and "A Sad Day for Sacramento Theater," supporters from throughout the region showed up for the hastily arranged rally.

Good for them. I'm on the opposite side of the issue from Mr. Eckern, but people should not be punished for simply disagreeing with me on a political issue.

More than that, I'm getting really pissed off by people being too quick to throw around the word "bigot". It's not helpful to the cause (as a practical matter), it's not fair to the people whose only concern is a quaint notion of "marriage" (yet don't discriminate against gays and actively support gays having all the legal rights of marriage but are hesitant to grant the word), and it's grievously unfair to equate gay marriage with Jim Crow.

You want to equate the gay life before the Stonewall riots with Jim Crow? Fine, that's fair enough.

Want to compare the Brown case to the Lawrence case? A bit more of a stretch, but be my guest.

But please don't try to tell me that allowing all (or nearly all) of the legal rights of marriage, but not allowing the word for religious reasons, is morally equivalent to lynchings.

Tim Robbins: Jackass

Good grief.

NYC Election Board, Tim Robbins continue dispute

NEW YORK – Tim Robbins' difficulty in voting on Election Day was his own fault, New York City's Board of Elections maintains.

Board representative Gregory C. Soumas wrote a letter to Robbins, telling him that he was not on the rolls at the poll site he visited last week "because you simply went to the wrong poll site."

Soumas said Robbins filed a new voter registration form in February 2004, changing his voting address — which meant he had to vote elsewhere, about six blocks away.

The letter said Robbins should have gone to the new site and that this problem would have arisen earlier had Robbins voted in either the presidential primary in February or a second primary in September.

The confusion appears to stem from the double registration of Robbins — one his home address, the other his nearby office address — and the board eliminated one.

Okay, couple of things: One can register to vote in New York at an office? WTF? Every other place I've ever heard of, one is required to register at a permanent residence address.

Also, does New York not send out election materials that tell a voter where to vote? Shouldn't Robbins have noted that he was receiving two copies of voter pamphlets? With different voting addresses? Or does he just not read the voting material? Didn't it occur to him that he probably shouldn't have been double registered? Oy, what a dolt.

More:

"The system is in need of repair," said Robbins. "And the people that run it are pretty petty and vindictive when they would release to all the major newspapers in the New York area private information like your home address and your driver's license number."

Yeah, the system is in need of repair. And you can talk to Joe the Plumber on that "private information" part.

Robbins thinks the board's actions were meant "to save face," and reiterated that he hoped his case brought attention to broader voter troubles.

"If it hadn't been for shenanigans like this, Obama's margin would have been much, much higher," he said.

Uh huh. And if it hadn't been for the shenanigans pulled by ACORN and Friends, he might even have lost.

[Sigh]

Yeah, I've been expecting it, but still.

[sigh]