How can he live with himself?

Colin Powell really should consider suing W for character assassination. Remember 5 years ago when both Democrats and Republicans talked about wanting Powell as their presidential candidate? I bet he longs for those days. He must absolutely hate having to be one of W's yes-men, when everything he says and does further damages his already-destroyed reputation. You can even tell it hurts him to say things, knowing full well that they aren't true (same thing with Condi Rice), and that as soon as W is out of office his political career is over.

The Nation magazine pointed out in its Sept. 13 issue another beautiful irony on Powell. Discussing Vietnam in his 1996 autobiography, he wrote:

I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well placed... managed to wrangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units.

Hmm...don't we know a certain Commander-in-Chief who, whether or not he actually showed up in Texas or Alabama, is exactly one of the "sons of the powerful" that Powell was so angry about? It must just eat Powell up inside that he has committed political suicide supporting the endless deception of such a dispicable administration.

The purpose of family

Illinois senatorial candidate Alan Keys called Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter a "selfish hedonist" this week, according to, of all people, Matt Drudge. (I really don't know why no one else has reported this.) Keyes, if you recall, is running against Democratic savior-in-waiting Barack Obama. In an interview on Sirius satellite radio, Keyes stated rather bluntly his position on homosexuality:

The essence of ... family life remains procreation. If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage, we are saying that it's possible to have a marriage state that in principal excludes procreation and is based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism.

Now, let's break that down...

"The essence of ... family life remains procreation."

I hate to sound new-age or hippie, but to me the essence of family life is love! If family life were only about procreation, wouldn't it be easier if we all had arranged weddings and didn't have to go through the annoying hassle of the dating game?

A "good" family to me is one that teaches its children to love. Out of love is born every other human virtue: respect, compassion, kindness, faith, honesty, integrity, and so on. Smart people from the Beatles to Jesus proclaimed the need for love in the world. If the only reason the family exists is to make more families, what's the point? We are no more significant than any other species on earth.

"If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage..."

Again, not to be simplistic or repetitive, but it's about love. I didn't marry my wife because I thought she'd be a good person to make babies with. I married her because she's the one person in this world I'd rather be with than anybody else. My soulmate, if you will. We haven't even fully decided whether or not to have kids (although we're leaning towards yes). If we decided not to have kids, does that take away from the legitimacy of my marriage, because we didn't procreate?

"...based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism."

Is it selfish or hedonistic to want to declare to all the world that you love one person enough to "forsake all others" and commit yourself to that person till death do you part?

Actually, yes. Let's rewrite the wedding vows:

I, _______, take you, ________, to be my lawfully wedded (husband/wife/whatever), so that we may do our duty in perpetuating the species, ensuring that humanity will endure until someone finally blows us all up or we run out of oil.

This is why I can't see the logic in the arguments against gay marriage. The basis for every argument is flawed. How did my mom's wedding in Vancouver in June threaten whatever sanctity exists in George W. Bush's marriage? Since when is the primary purpose of the family to procreate? What exactly is tradition except old habit? Stop oppressing gay people and try to love instead.