Gay Marriage

My purpose here is not to state whether or not gay marriage is a good idea. I do, however, think there are some interesting issues regarding the idea that I haven't seen addressed very often. In my experience it seems that people who promote gay marriage tend to treat marriage somewhat less seriously than those who oppose gay marriage. Generally, my more liberal friends are quite supportive of it. However, they are more likely than my conservative friends to have cohabited with a lover outside of marriage. They are also more likely to have given up on a marriage through divorce than my more conservative friends.
This all leads to the question of why marriage exists in the first place. There's a wide range of opinion about this, obviously. A good argument could be made that the best reason for it is to provide stability for children who are created from a relationship. Conservatives probably would view it this way. Some would argue that the chief reason for marriage is to provide someone with a partner. However, I don't know that people are really monogamous by nature, so I don't know that we really need a partner.

If marriage is for the purpose of giving someone a partner, then fine. Gay people should have a right to a "legal" partner too. There should be no discrimination. But if marriage is best justified as a way to encourage fathers to not abandon their children, then the rationale behind gay marriage is less apparent.

Having a mechanism to provide people with partners may be less compelling than having one that encourages involved parenting. Liberals acknowledge this through their behavior. Many see nothing wrong with living together outside of marriage. In other words, they see no great need to "legalize" the relationship and are comfortable "partnering" without government or religious blessing. My guess is that many liberals wouldn't really care if the institution of marriage eventually faded away completely. For that reason, it seems that they are being somewhat hypocritical in their demands regarding gay marriage. They are demanding that people have a right to partake in something they don't really support or believe in in the first place. (I realize there are a lot of liberals who do value marriage. I'm generalizing here).

So, is the institution of marriage still a viable idea in this post-modernist age? Interesting question, I think.

Blah

It's mid-August. The sun is starting to lose its intensity. The days are starting to get shorter. The air seems more, oh, yellow somehow. And I'm down. For some time (like over 40 years) I've been convinced that I must suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Of course, they didn't call it that 40 years ago. But I knew there was something "wrong." I don't know if there's some biological change that occurs as a result of the shortening days, or some other explanation. For example, I love summer. I know that summer is coming to an end and perhaps that knowledge is enough to make me feel "down." In any event, I am.

On a happier note, I was able to celebrate my daughter's birthday over the weekend. She's 23 (!) and was down here from North Dakota to visit me and others.

What's with the Twins?? Their pitching is just abominable. Today, Francisco Liriano had another horrid outing, giving up 7 runs in 2 innings. The team is scoring runs, but there's no way they're going to be competitive without better pitching. Joe Mauer is back on one of his tears. Unbelievable! He's hitting .380 again.

Lazy Sunday

Alright, so not a lot of excitement today. Church was interesting. A young man, whom I assume is a helper to our youth pastor, gave the sermon. He's a natural. Good sense of humor. I wish I could recall the sermon. This isn't his fault, but is a fairly common phenonenom for me. Oh the joys of getting older! After church I did have the chance to chat with some friends, and that was fun.

Then, it was time to visit the wonderful world of realty. Not reality. Not close. I looked at potential new digs for me. I've been thinking of moving for some time now, as my home is much too big for me. So I checked out five townhomes/condos closer to the Twin Cities.

The spread of desirability vs. price is interesting. The most expensive townhome was the least desirable, IMHO. The first rule (these days) for home sellers should be: remove all smoking stench from the home! There are far more non-smokers than smokers, and non-smokers (like me) are really turned off by that smell. I won't stay in a hotel room with that smell. Why would I consider buying a home that stinks! The realtor blamed it on a houseguest of the owners, but the owners should have forbade the guest from lighting up.

I checked out five places and liked two of them. One of them, a condo, has a fabulous view of the river. In fact, I think it might overlook the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The other, a townhome, overlooks a highway, although it has an attractive garden/pond in the foreground. The townhome has a great layout except for one large problem: there are no bedrooms on the main level. I have a knee replacement and need another, so it would be nice to have at least one bedroom on the main level of whatever home I get. The problem with the condo is the cost. $650 a month for association fees! Wow! So, I'll keep looking while keeping these two in mind as comparison pieces.

The Twins have fallen back to their losing ways after yesterday's blowout win. They lost 8-7 in a game they had a good chance to win. Pitching failed again. This is very frustrating to see. The Central Division is extremely weak. It's the Twins' for the taking. But they just can't seem to get it together. Sad.

On the exciting news front, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is back on primetime. I tried to get on that show when it was last a primetime hit. I made it through the telephone questions and then had to stay home one Sunday awaiting a call to go to New York. It never came. I don't think I'll try again as I'm not quite as sharp as I was back then.

Does anyone out there know how to get stain off off aluminum siding?

Fun Saturday

It's been a very fun Thursday/Friday/Saturday. My wonderful "girlfriend," Karen came to visit me and "hang out." We saw Hitchcock's North by Northwest Thursday night at the beautiful Sheldon Theater in Red Wing. We've each seen it many times but we still get a kick out of it. So very 50's! The theater itself is wonderful. The interior is classic, with rich red colors, and a balcony. The movie projector could use a little oomph, as the light output is less than optimal. However, the ambience makes up for it. The theater has been running a Hitchcock perspective for most of the summer. Next week is as good as it gets: Psycho! I can't wait!

On Friday I worked and Karen kept very busy with visiting friends and going to the Mall of America. We had a good dinner at a brand new little restaurant, Potters on Main in Red Wing. We also got to watch six great Frasier episodes over the weekend.

Today we started the day with a workout at the Y after some early aerobics. I have been very remiss about exercise lately, and it was nice to get back in the groove. We had a good lunch at a new Italian restaurant, Provenzano's, and then went to see the new Meryl Streep/Amy Adans movie, Julie and Julia. It was actually pretty decent. I'd give it 7 stars, and I'm not easy! Meryl was her usual tremendous self, and Amy is one of the most appealing actresses around. The story didn't get in the way of those two. And it made me hungry! Unfortunately, I've been satisfying that hunger a little too much this weekend.

After Karen headed for home I hit some balls (without much success) and watched the Twins destroy the Tigers, 11-0. Their brand new (as of yesterday) pitcher, Carl Pavano, was terrific as he pitched 7 shutout innings. Joe Mauer was his usual incredible self, hitting a first inning two-run homerun. Denard Span went five for five! This win was critical as we were 5 1/2 games behind the Tigers going into the game. A loss could have been a dagger to the heart.

Well, that's a wrap, except to point out that Karen is wonderful!

Sadness

I've been away for awhile. About a year, actually. There have been lots of changes to my life since then, unfortunately. In March, my wonderful wife finally succumbed to cancer. She was about as courageous as a person could be. At one point, a few days before she died, she refused to take her morphine. I think that she thought she could gut it out, and wanted to remain able to communicate. Reality struck quickly, and she had to go back on the morphine. She died at home, on hospice. My son, daughter, and I were able to be with her to the end. It was extremely difficult.

The aftermath of her death has been traumatic for all of us. The emptiness of the house is palpable. The grief, for the short term, was overwhelming. Time is helping to heal, but it will be a long, slow process. This experience has certainly helped to make me more empathetic towards others who have suffered loss.

Giant Cell Sarcoma of the Uterus

My wife was diagnosed with Giant Cell Sarcoma of the Uterus some time ago. She is being treated for it with chemo and other drugs. She is supposedly one of less than ten people in the world who have been diagnosed with this form of cancer. I have searched the internet many times for information on this disease and have found nothing about it. So, if anyone out there stumbles across this post and knows something about it or knows someone who has it, please respond.

Brittney, Oprah, Pawlenty, Klobuchar, Mauer et al

In order to increase the readership of this blog to more than one (i.e. me) I am tempted to start typing out random words that might attract potential readers. Things like Oprah, Brittney, and Angelina. Tempted, but I still have some pride. So I'll resist. For now. However, if some of you out there don't start reading this tripe soon, I'll bombard you with stupid words. Words like Pitt, Cruise, Klobuchar. Klobuchar? Sorry, I claimed that this site would have some political discussions, so I have to put in this word. I'm not getting paid for it though.

As you can tell, this is a slow day. My imagination is a gaping void. I'm in the dumps for a number of reasons, some too painful to discuss here. But I can mention the Twins loss to lowly K.C. on a day when they could have overtaken Detroit. A hugely wasted opportunity which can be laid at the feet (arm) of Carlos Silva. On the positive side, Joe Mauer got two more hits and is maintaining his lead over the deadly Yankee duo for the batting title.I'll try to cheer up soon, and say something interesting. Oh yeah... Pawlenty.

The French Defense Blues

I've been playing chess for over 40 years. In my "youth" I played in a number of state tournaments, and the U.S. Junior Open. I played in several postal chess tournaments in the 70's and 80's as well. So, I got the bug again last year, and I played in the GlobalChess Challenge in Minneapolis. There were about 1600 players there, and it was quite the event. Having not played tournament chess for 25(!) years, I hoped to at least get 1 point out of a possible 9. I was pleasantly surprised to have 3 1/2 points after 6 games. Then, disaster struck. I lost 3 games in a row. In 2 of those games I had white against the French Defense. I've had little experience against it, and I felt totally lost. It almost seemed like I was playing some foreign kind of game. My positions became so suffocated that I was crushed.

So, what is it about the French? Have other players out there had similar experiences? Any suggestions?

If You Are Willing to Go to War, You Are Willing to Torture

I'm trying to make sense of some of the rules regarding torture, etc., of prisoners of war. For example, apparently the Geneva Convention says do not torture captured soldiers. Torture causes pain, disfigurement, psychological damage, and other personal devastation. But so does war, usually to a much greater extent.

So, if we capture someone whom we have great reason to believe holds information that may prevent the slaughter of hundreds (or, with nuclear weapons in play, millions) we apparently cannot use torture to obtain the information. Yet, we claim that we should be able to engage in acts of war (such as invading Iraq) to prevent dictators, governments, or others from using weapons of mass destruction. In committing these acts of war, we would probably kill thousands of people, maim many more, and cause long-lasting psychological damage to the survivors.

Thus, to prevent a (remotely?) possible attack on our country, we can do great damage to a wide range of people. But we are not allowed to do great damage to one person whom we are certain has information that could prevent a devastating attack. This makes no sense to me. I guess that's what happens when you try to set rules for something as ruleless as war.

One of the chief arguments against Bush's plan to perhaps redefine the terms of the Geneva Convention and surrounding treaties is that to do so would endanger American soldiers. However, one blogger (it may have been Captain's Quarters) has issued a challenge to the public to identify any American soldier who has benefitted from the Geneva Convention and treaties when held by renegade regimes (such as North Vietnam), al Qaeda, and middle East terrorists. It seems to me that if those parties don't honor the treaties, we should carefully consider whether we will do so. Treaties should be a two way street.

Twins and Bush win

The Twins pulled out another one, 7-5, over the A's. Pretty amazing. They looked like they were sunk. Their pitching was questionable. But the pirhanas came fighting back and beat the A's, staying just 1 1/2 games behind Detroit. Wow!
I also noticed that President Bush defeated Matt Lauer. His victory was much more dominant than the Twins. You can see the massacre at http://youtube.com/watch?v=G2JGTFI2PPM

I'd Love to See a Lawsuit

The Democrats have apparently threatened, or at least hinted at, government action against ABC if they proceed with their 9/11 movie. It thought we had something called the 1st Amendment in this country. I also thought that it is illegal to intentionally conspire to deprive people of their civil rights. I suppose that only applies to "protected classes." If that's the case, maybe the protection should be expanded. I'd much rather see a defamation lawsuit against a network than have what amounts to a prior restraint against them.

Boof Comes Through

The Twins needed some big help in the pitching department today against the first place Tigers. They got that help from a somewhat unexpected source-- Boof Bonser. Boof had come through in his last outing, but that was against hapless Tampa Bay. This time he proved he could pitch against the big guys. 6 innings, 5 hits, and 1 run given up. Not bad! So now the Twinkies trail by only 3 games in the division. Unfortunately, the White Sox won too, so they are only a 1/2 game behind. Tomorrow it's Santana to the mound. He's been only the best September pitcher in the majors for the last 3 years. Sounds promising.

OJ and America's Popularity Overseas- A Parallel

A friend of mine moved to southeast asia a while ago. Recently, he sent me an email commenting on how much the U.S. (and especially George W. Bush) is disliked overseas. He says that strangers approach him and blast Bush. I'm sure he finds it kind of ironic to take heat for Bush, since he never liked him and would never vote for him. He asked me how I feel about the matter. I suspect that he's looking for confirmation that I, too, am disheartened by what Bush has done to our image overseas.

Actually, it got me to thinking about OJ. I've concluded beyond any reasonable doubt that OJ killed Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. The jury verdict was a travesty. Yet, after the verdict was announced, there was open rejoicing amongst a significant number of people, largely in the African-American community. Despite the overwhelming evidence in the case, many people wanted OJ to walk. They chose to ignore the issue of justice and the evidence, and instead focused on "their" side winning the case. They chose to be ignorant of the facts, and let their prejudices rule the day.

Does the fact that a significant number of people believed OJ to be innocent mean that he is innocent? Do the prosecutors owe OJ an apology for charging him and bringing him to trial? Obviously not. Yet, using the same rationale (lots of people sided with him so they must be right) many Bush critics claim that Bush must be wrong, or Bush is an idiot, or worse. They claim that Europeans or Asians or other nations' peoples hate us, so we must be evil or in the wrong. But, as in the case of OJ supporters, having a large group of people ardently support a position does not prove that the position is correct.

My friend probably did not question the people who lambasted the US. He probably did not ask what their news sources are; what their attitude towards the US has been in the past; whom they think caused the Towers to fall on 9/11 (many overseas claim it was a jewish plot); whether radical Islamism presents a much more potent danger to the world than capitalism, etc. The US should not be overly concerned with being "popular" overseas. One of the biggest mistakes Gil Garcetti (the District Attorney whose office prosecuted OJ) made was moving the case to downtown LA. He apparently did this to satisfy the cries of those who demanded political correctness. The result was a disaster.

Our leaders should base their decisions on what they believe to be right, based on the best information available to them. If they base their major foreign policy decisions on a desire to be popular, then we are headed for disaster. When the OJ verdict came in, many people were dancing in the streets. If we place popularity above pragmatism, those who hate us may be dancing on our graves.

Wish I'd Seen It

60 Minutes apparently had an interesting story last night about gays. Unfortunately, I missed it! So I have to go by reports from my wife and from CBS's web site. Apparently there is more support for the theory that gays are born that way. Studies with twins, which I always find to be fascinating, show that there are some identical twins out there where one is straight and the other gay. This would seem to indicate that something more than genes is playing a part. The best guess at this point is that hormones might have something to do with it. Specifically, exposure to the mother's hormones or even anti-bodies. Take a look at the story. It's really quite fascinating. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/60minutes/main1385230.shtml

Go Boof!

Boof Bonser managed to pitch decently well, giving up just one run (a homer, naturally) over 6 innings as the Twins pulled out a 2-1 win over hapless Tampa Bay. Rondell White (!) hit the game winning 2-run homer for the Twins.
Tomorrow, Santana will be pitching and we should be able to prevail. Chicago lost to the Red Sox, so we have a 1/2 game lead in the wild card race. We should still have at least that after tomorrow's game.

This is one of my favorite pics I took during a vacation to Britain. It shows the Beachyhead Lighthouse in Surrey. The views there are incredible.

Welcome

Welcome to Inside Slider. The blog's name reflects the blogger's interest in baseball. Specifically the Twins. The little team that could. Maybe. If injuries don't totally derail them. But this blog will be about much more than baseball. Current events, psychology, human relations, chess (!), politics (with limitations), and the law are all fitting topics.
Let's see what happens. It could be fun. Or at least mildly interesting!