I always have mixed feelings in the midst of price gouging parties at the gas pumps.

I'm obviously worried about my bank account and feel for the small businesses that depend on transportation to make a living.

But another part of me... just can't squelch a giddy feeling of glee at the thought of Ford Explorer owners having to shell out $40 every three days.

Ahhh... That's nice.

A few links in addendum to the previous rant. (I never thought I'd feel so strongly about a subject that doesn't affect me directly... But there it is.)

Ephemera: Justly Married
Photographer Derek Powazek captured some incredibly moving images of some of San Francisco's happiest newlyweds.

dontamend.com
Because like Jon Stewart said, "There's only been one other amendment to the constitution that prohibited freedoms rather than adding to them. ...And we all know how well that worked." Bigotry doesn't deserve a place in the constitution.

ACLU's Take Action
Fax letters to your representatives saying you won't stand for this backwoods thinking in government.

Gay marriage.

Get your attention? I thought it would. Nearly everyone has an opinion on the subject, and the more I hear, the more confused I become. Is it possible that there are so many people out there who have no concept of the difference between right and wrong?

How can anyone with a conscience sincerely say, "You and you - not allowed to be married. Because that's what I believe, and that's how everyone should believe"? How do you sleep at night knowing you're a bigot and a coward and ignorant of all things beautifully, tragically, essentially human like love and truth and faith (yeah, real faith)? How?

I've read the comments of far too many God-fearing Christians tonight. The arguments against affording homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals read like twisted superstitions. But just like black cats crossing paths, gay marriage hurts no one.

The first and probably most ridiculous idea I've seen so far goes something like this:
Marriage between a man and a woman produces children and is therefore natural. A union between same sex partners is unfruitful and should not be considered a marriage.

First off, ahem. I never plan on having children. Soooo... that means I shouldn't be allowed to marry my boyfriend? Oh, and just exactly what purpose is there to forcing everyone who wants to be together to have children? Are we looking to boost the sagging population growth on this tiny little planet of ours? Last I checked, there were so many people on Earth that 24,000 people die every day because there isn't enough food to go around. How the hell do you get off using a lack of children as an argument against two people coming together in the eyes of the law?

The next arguments you hear fairly often can be lumped into one big morality pie:
The Bible tells us that homosexuality is wrong, and so in condoning its practice by law, we are setting a bad example for the children. {And} Marriage is a sacred bond that must be protected from acts that would lessen its importance.

My response also comes in a nice package deal: Are you fucking serious?

Pardon my language, but I get worked up when I hear anyone tossing the word "morality" around like a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card. The idea of morality does not, in itself, make for a logical argument, especially when it's being slung around by someone using the B word. But let me calm down and get specific. If the champions of the "Bible says this" cause actually lived by the exact word of their precious book, they'd never get anything done. In one of the three passages in the Bible that warn against homosexuality (in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus), God also condemns anyone who eats pork. "No sex with other men and no bacon. You heard me," says God. Not only that, but isn't adultery supposed to be sinful? Okay... so when Jesus says (in Luke) that remarriage after divorce (or death!) is equal to adultery... are we following that part of the Bible too or not? Because last I checked, it wasn't against the law to remarry.

And as for protecting the "sacred bond," I have two thoughts - Britney Spears and the Fox Network. It's legal for some no-talent bimbo to drunkenly shack up in Vegas to put herself back on the cover of teen magazines everywhere but not for two guys that have been together for four years and actually (gasp) love each other? Oh, and it's okay for Fox to marry off two complete strangers for a million dollars and a sadly telling ratings share, but we tell two lesbians who'd just like the same rights as everyone else that, nope, sorry, you're second class citizens.

...

I realize the problem with all this reasonable thought is that Bible thumpers (and I mean that with, oh, the utmost of respect), don't listen. They don't listen to anyone who doesn't believe what they do. From the comments I've read, it's obvious that "If you're a sinner [which all us open minds obviously are], then you have no reason to fight sin. No wonder you stick up for them queers."

I just hope that if there are any of you out there who have functioning brains that know words that exist outside the Bible and the canon of prejudice, you might be able to actually think about what you're doing by trying to ban an act that hurts no one and can only benefit the emotional growth of mankind.

Please.

Imagine the possibilities... if the drunk penguin and the dancing penguin got together...

Man, I really need to start thinking about bigger things.

...swelling her ribs with the rise and fall of fur. Breathing became uneasy, a measured heaviness behind every dragging exhale. Though she could have stopped at any time, she continued, pushing and pulling at the stale house air, mimicking the untroubled sleep of the cat at her side.

Talk about decisions that put you on a gangplank... jump or die, jump or die?
Hm.

And now, a picture of some band kid and his cello at a high school graduation for no apparent reason.

Intellectualism has its place, but I feel for those without heart.
Tin men of the world, I think I know of a place you can go to get what you need.

Ever feel like you've got this film of status quo wrapped tight around you, so tight your ribs ache, so tight you'll go insane at any moment?

Yeah, that's where I'm at.

Last night, in a parking garage crawling like a ant-farm, I watched a man climb out of the passenger hold of a Californian SUV to stand in front of a car that had laid claim to a soon-to-be-vacated parking spot. As the third car reversed from the coveted spot and slid past the mammoth "sport utility vehicle," the appropriately large man stood entrenched, arms folded, ass to the hood of the rightful owner of the prize, allowing the SUV to cram itself in without competition.

It was perhaps the most childish thing I have ever seen occur in a parking garage - and that means something, being an alumni of a university with a 3 to 1 student to parking spot ratio. I just feel lucky I wasn't the driver of the ass-blocked car. I'd be in jail right now for running the jerk over.

I'd like a show of hands. Everyone here who owns an SUV and isn't an asshole... raise your hand.

{crickets chirping}

Yeah, that's what I thought.

You said it would be this way, maybe not aloud or as loudly as the medium could offer, but you knew it would. Even as I clenched my eyelids into unseeing fists of denial and shook my head like a child, you knew it'd be this way.

And now I stand dumbstruck, wordless, blinking like a cat fallen from a roof. And I feel no need to say a thing, no needle prods my side to convey, and my thoughts stagnate and fall from the vine to rot. Museless, they call it. Could be true.

Did you see it coming all along? Did you watch the decay on the monitor?

Well I won't stomach it much longer. You'll see.

Knot.

Imperative, but she didn't understand.
In a field
In her head
On a night wasted
On nickel shot tequila
the blood
Crept through her fingers
Under cotton and smelling of
someone else's tar.