I am Bernardo Catastrophe.

It appears that William, Jessica's DH and I are siblings. Or possibly cousins.

I'm trying to decide if a politician who can't lie for shit is a good thing or a bad thing.

I think it's mostly an unusual thing.

Apparently I am Silvestre Verboten.

Apparently I am Silvestre Verboten.

Me too!

I'm trying to decide if a politician who can't lie for shit is a good thing or a bad thing.

It would be a good thing if they were even a halfway decent person. Maybe. People don't really like the truth.

Halfway decent person doesn't mean a good leader. I really think that Obama is a halfway decent person and he does an excellent job staying cool under pressure, but it still doesn't help him with being an ineffable good leader.

I wrote an essay about just this topic (should leaders have integrity. My answer is no, at least in the Stanley Fish version of integrity which includes consistent application of values irrespective of context).

So, a friend and coworker who is a Christian-Christian (caps intended) and active in her church told me that as an Elder in the church, she's been asked to participate in a meeting about gay marriage. She thinks it will be just an opportunity for people to try to persuade others to believe what they believe and therefore stirring up lots of angst with no resolution. I pointed out that it doesn't matter what people want to believe, the only thing that is important is that her church is clear on its policy (and even as a gay person, I think sacramental marriage should be decided by churches as befits the church. I would be aghast at a gay person suing a church to force the church to marry him or her to his or her partner. I also choose not to support churches that are not inclusive).

I was gobsmacked when she said they had already decided not to perform gay marriages because there was enough biblical evidence to suggest that marriage was intended, not to bond people in love but to glorify God and if that doesn't happen then it should be marriage. She actually said, "We've decided marriage isn't about love but it's about glorifying god." I wanted to point out that according to gospel, all sacramental acts are about Love ultimately; for example, baptism is about accepting God's grace (which is another form of love).

I bit my tongue but wanted to point out she is a 40 year old woman who is never likely to have children, therefore she herself is not glorifying god, but me and my gay partner? We've already bred. I did say that the issue is she was uncomfortable with acknowledging the exclusionary nature of her church and that's why she didn't want to go to this meeting.

It makes me think about her totally differently. So much so that I called her explanation of passive voice simplistic today.

I am Rolando Trouble.

we knew that though.

I am Marcelino Peril.

I can't imagine how they reconcile all those verses about adultery, divorce and marrying one's brother's widow with that view.

Two teenagers were injured sliding down the restricted side of Stone Mountain today. It's restricted because it's nearly vertical. Their father claims there weren't any signs saying it was restricted. I don't know about signs, but there's chain link fence, which most people would view as a clue. Even without the fence, I'd think "nearly vertical wet granite" would be a clue.

I think I'd ask the father if it was his aim to raise children too stupid to live, or if that just turned out to be an unintended result of negligent parenting.