In less than three weeks the people of Maryland are going to vote on my civil rights. For anyone reading from another country, yes this happens all the time in the United States – seems like every year some religious group manages to put on the ballot a referendum question asking the citizens of one state or another to vote to limit the civil rights of gays and lesbians. For a country that touts the separation of church and state, it is astounding how much of our civil rights are control by religion. But in 2012, the Maryland legislators voted to pass civil equality on the issue of marriage.  Contrary to the scare tactics of the religious right and the …

Sunday I said this would be a two part post, but didn’t quite get to it last night.  What started this was an article in the Washington Post Editorial section I read on Sunday. Why I Oppose Gay Marriage. The author claims to be a gay man, but is also a co-founder of the local Tea Party chapter. Among other things, he says he was for gay marriage before, but after reading up on the topic he found he could not defend his position and is opposed to it now.  He concludes by saying he is all for equal rights for same sex couples, but wants them to be called something different.

This is going to be a two part post. Today, in Part One, a more positive post.  Tomorrow’s will deal with an editorial in the Washington Post by someone who made – in my opinion – some ridiculous arguments. But today will be non-confrontational. Today there was a fund raiser for Equality Maryland – the lobbying group trying to get the referendum on the gay marriage bill to pass.  Originally it was supposed to be a screening of a movie with some comments by the State Attorney General, Doug Gansler.  Attorney General Gansler was one the first high profile elected official to support same sex marriage in Maryland. His office took the position that Maryland HAD to recognize same sex …

What prompted this post is a story about Chick-fil-A possibly ending it’s support of anti-gay marriage groups.  According to this story, Chick-fil-A has agreed to stop funding anti-gay—which means anti-gay marriage as well since those are mostly one and the same—at least that is what Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno, who has been fighting the construction of a Chick-fil-A in Chicago, said today. I hope he’s correct, the company didn’t formally agree with the Alderman’s announcement, but I’d say that after 10 months of fighting Chick-fil-A and all the success he’s had, he must feel pretty confident he won for him to now support the construction of the store. Not that it matters, but I don’t think Alderman Moreno is gay. That he …

When little kids get sick, they produce an infinite amount snot. I should not drive when I have my daughter in the car because I still have a potty mouth. A potty mouth is very hard to stop cold-turkey. Most people who drive are stupid – but I’m not ‘most people.’ 😉 What looks like a little bit of pink medicine for a baby can leave a huge stain when spit out. It is never a good idea to take the first half of the day off on Friday. Migraines ruin even the most beautiful of days. Political reality is some bizarre dimension where only the candidates and their ‘surrogates’ live, but they seem to be allowed unlimited free passage to our …

In fifteen days my daughter turns 1 year old. A year ago, I couldn’t wait to meet her and hold her. Now I wonder where that year went. She’s all but walking, she’s animated and vocal, she’s happy and playful, in daycare and about to turn one. Some milestones this past year – some good, some sad: My parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. My niece(s) graduated college. My first book was purchased by a publisher and is now out. My second book was purchased by the publisher for a release date in early 2013 My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery, chemo, radiation and is now cancer free. We lost our dog, the first dog we got …

Yesterday I suggested that authors, like businesses, need to take a more measured approach when offering their opinions. A wise person who has been generous with his insight in the past, asked me, what good is the first amendment if we fail to exercise it by self censoring ourselves.  He further said that if something was near and dear to my heart before I began published a book, I ought to continue to speak out for it after the book came out. – Thank you Podga. That said I don’t know that I totally agree in that my online persona is not me in real life. In real life, using my true name, I can and do voice my opinions …

A wise someone suggested I do a bit more posting to let readers get to know me a bit better. The same wise person also pointed out why my new story wasn’t going to get very far as I started it.  Given that he was totally right about the story, I suspect I ought to give him credit for being wise and try my hand at doing more posting.  So I’ll strive to it more often. Our daughter started daycare today – I’m not sure who that was more traumatic for, her or us. If I say so myself, she looked adorable in her school outfit.  From the comments we got from the staff, I think we might want to …