The Loveshade Family Blog

Connecticut is set to become the fourth U. S. state (if you don't count California) to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

A spokesperson for Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she will sign it into law.  The state house and senate already approved the proposed law, which came after the state supreme court voted 4-3 that marriage could not be restricted by gender.

The state will join Massachusetts, Vermont and Iowa as the fourth state to recognize same-sex or gay marriage.  The gender discrimination had been rejected by the court in California, only to be overruled by the voters who changed the state constitution.

Same sex couples in Iowa have begun tying the knot.  Some of these lesbians and gay men have been couples for years, but not recognized as married.  But if relatively open-minded California reversed same-sex marriage, how long will it take voters to outlaw it in heartland Iowa?

Marriage is still defined in the United States as being between one person and another, usually restricted to one man and one woman.  But the changing definition leaves another question.  How long will it be before biblical fundamentalists push for biblical marriage, that between one man and multiple wives?

See the Iowa story at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6395280.html and the Connecticut story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_re_us/xgr_gay_marriage_connecticut.

For all our blog entries dealing with same-sex marriage, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=same-sex+marriage.  For entries on other terms, such as "gay" or "lesbian," use our search box.

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

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American President Barack Obama has absolved CIA officers from prosecution for waterboarding, depriving detainees of heat and clothes, and slamming them against the wall.  At the same time, Obama released details of the treatment against legally-innocent suspects.  The ACLU had fought for the release of the information on the methods which the president said are no longer being used.

The announcement has drawn criticism from both supporters and detractors of "harsh interrogations" (what many observers in and out of the United States call "torture.")  Some say the release compromises American security.  If other nations know the CIA can't keep information secret, they may not trust American intelligence.

Others say the reports should have been released long ago.  Releasing information on discontinued methods are not a threat to American security, and those who promoted and did the horrible acts should be punished.

One technique that was approved but not implemented involved putting a detainee who was afraid of insects into a box filled with caterpillars.  Those who've read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four will recognize this kind of method.  It was a key technique Big Brother used in brainwashing and even ripping away a couple's love.

The issue brings up several key questions:

What is torture and what isn't?  Is it all right to torture people, even though they haven't been convicted of anything?  Does torture even work--won't people tell you anything, even something made up, just to get the torture to stop?  If your nation tortures citizens of other countries, doesn't that mean other countries are more likely to torture your citizens?

I think of a kid twisting another kid's arm until his victim says, "uncle."  The words could be anything, as long as it stops.  If allowed, police could use this on anyone they arrest--hurt them until they confess.  Conviction on the spot.  It would save a lot of money, for we would no longer need juries and lawyers.  Just hope you aren't the next one they arrest.

But that leaves the question of should interrogators/torturers be punished.  Weren't they following orders, following legal advice that said what they were doing was approved and legal, following the wishes of the leader of their nation?

Attorney General Eric Holder White said, "It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department."

I agree.  I believe the methods used were wrong, ineffective, and contrary to fundamental American values.  The U. S. Constitution protects even the convicted from "cruel and unusual punishment."  And these people weren't convicted.  What is wrong with a nation that tries to protect its rights by stripping away the rights of others?

 But I believe people who are acting under orders from their government, who are told by the legal representatives of their government that a method is approved and legal, shouldn't be punished for obeying orders.

What I believe should be changed are the laws, practices and leaders who approve those methods.  Fortunately, these things are happening now.

See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090417/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/torture_memos

For all our blog entries that mention waterboarding, go to http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=waterboard

For all our blog entries that mention torture, go to http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=torture

For other terms, go to http://www.loveshade.org/blog and use the search box.

Posted by Alden Loveshade at 01:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

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Portions of this were lifted from our report on Gary Gygax, who died a year ago.

Dave Arneson, who with Gary Gygax created Dungeons & Dragons which changed both fantasy and gaming, died at age 61. As Steve Jackson wrote, "Dave never did get as much attention as the other guy whose name was on the box, and he never will."  It was apparently Arneson who had the idea of playing not a group of miniatures as is done in war games, but a single one, an independent "character," who could grow in power through adventuring.

Arneson's game-in-progress Blackmoor, which became a D & D suppliment, was likely the first true roleplaying game.  Without their creation, Steve Jackson Games might never have existed.  It wouldn't have produced the roleplaying game GURPS, and probably wouldn't have published the most-seen edition of Principia Discordia, or hosted perhaps the first open online discussion of Discordianism.  These in turn led to the creation of several Discordian works.

Alden Loveshade and I have a personal interest here. Years ago Alden got involved in a D & D group, which eventually led em to GURPS in Steve Jackson Games. Most of es closest friends played one or the other game with em as either player or Game Master (GM). During a very difficult phase of es life, es weekly GURPS game kept em going. These also led em to involvement in the Society for Creative Anachronism, which lead to an interest in alternative forms of society, which led to...well, keep reading.

I, Reverend Loveshade, saw the Steve Jackson Games edition of Principia Discordia (the first edition that put the book in bookstores) when it came out in 1994. Before that I didn't know of the book, but it led me to some very strange places. Discussing it with my Mum led to my learning that my Mum had been friends as a teenage girl with Luna Wilson, who was murdered at age 15. Luna was the daughter of Robert Anton Wilson who contributed to the Principia, and who wrote about the Illuminati. I had learned about the Illuminati through one of Bob Wilson's books, but didn't know of es connection to my mother. But learning this connection led to my contacting the borderline fringe-mainstream writer whom I grew to call Grandbob.

These various connections came together when I had a vision of doing a book, which became the still evolving Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht. Alden brought es vision to it, as did Princess Unicornia, Fairy Princess Yoshikyoko, Dr. Sinister Craven, Untroubled Teen and many others. Each of those mentioned above connected to the book either through fantasy or roleplaying. It's likely that, without Dave Arneson and all the interconnections made through the creation of D & D, our book would never have happened, and likely neither would Apocrypha Discordia or several other great Discordian works.

See the CNN report at http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/04/10/obit.david.lance.arneson/index.html and the AP story at http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/10/us/AP-Obit-Dave-Arneson.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

(Alden Loveshade contributed to this report.  For rights information on the photo, see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dave_Arneson.png)

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See blog entry on the loss of Gary Gygax at http://loveshade.org/blog/2008/03/dungeons_dragons_cocreator_gar.html

Posted by Reverend Loveshade at 05:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

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