His son is his brother … [Darleen Click]
Many, many years ago when I was twenty-three
I was married to a widow who was pretty as could be
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red
My father fell in love with her and soon they too were wed
This made my dad my son-in-law and really changed my life
For now my daughter was my mother, ’cause she was my father’s wife
And to complicate the matter, even though it brought me joy
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy
My little baby then became a brother-in-law to dad
And so became my uncle, though it made me very sad
For if he were my uncle, then that also made him brother
Of the widow’s grownup daughter, who was of course my step-mother
Father’s wife then had a son who kept them on the run
And he became my grandchild, for he was my daughter’s son
My wife is now my mother’s mother and it makes me blue
Because although she is my wife, she’s my grandmother too
Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I’m her grandchild
And every time I think of it, it nearly drives me wild
‘Cause now I have become the strangest ‘case you ever saw
As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa
I’m my own grandpa, I’m my own grandpa
It sounds funny, I know but it really is so
I’m my own grandpa
The mother of a gay man has told how she gave birth to his baby after a surrogate pregnancy.Anne-Marie Casson, 46, gave birth to a boy, Miles, who is now eight months old, after she became pregnant with a donor egg fertilised by the sperm of her son Kyle Casson.
He is understood to be the first single man to have a child through surrogacy in the UK, and the first to use his own mother as a surrogate.
The arrangement emerged after a High Court judge ruled that Mr Casson can now adopt the baby and become his legal father, even though he is also the infant’s brother in the eyes of the law.
Mrs Casson has now told the Daily Mail how she felt compelled to help her son have a baby, saying: “When he first came to me and his dad, I thought ‘I could do it’. Some people, when they did find out, said ‘urgh’, but they don’t understand.
“He is not biologically tied to me, other than he’s my grandson. I love being a parent and for Kyle to experience that, I would do that for him.”
I find this disheartening. In the article, and in many comments I’ve seen addressing this situation, no one ever addresses the rights of the child. This isn’t about a gay man being a parent either, though it forever closes off the possibility of the child to ever have a mother.
Any situation that deliberately deprives the child of a parent, either the father or mother, is not good. I recall an article written by a thoughtful man who happened to be gay who realized how much his child was missing having a mom.
I feel the same way about women who “haven’t found the perfect man” using a sperm donor to have a child alone.
Men and women are not fungible. A child having both mom and dad is going to have a close, emotional relationship with a person of their own sex as well as the opposite.
I do not want The State to interfere with people’s choices on parenthood unless a child is clearly in danger. However, pointing out the ethical and moral hazards of single or single-sex parenting is paramount.
Ah, the irony of Obama claiming Americans don’t like uncomfortable truths when his ideological brethren on the Left refuse to honestly state what happens with the destruction of family.
The relatable women on a couch [Darleen Click]
It’s official. Obama doesn’t want the Clintons anywhere near the White House in 2016.
Isn’t nice that the White House suggested this skit to the SNL writers.
Good doggies.
“Do you ever get tired of cleaning up after the Clintons?” [Darleen Click]
Chris Wallace owns Hillary spokeshole, Lanny Davis
What we did last Sunday [Darleen Click]
It’s kind of a crap shoot when a storm comes in and you rush to the beach to see what pictures you can get … but sharing a few …
White males got no reason to live … [Darleen Click]
I’m always amazed at the magic power that Penis People of Pallor have, by their mere presence, to drive others into fits of terror and incomprehensible speech.
A student at Kalamazoo College has been attacked and labeled “homophobic” and “racist” by student government representatives because he wanted to facilitate a discussion about campus carry.In an audio recording exclusively obtained by Campus Reform, students at a Student Commission meeting—K-College’s student government—interrupted Alexander Ross, a sophomore political science major, as he requested that the students engage in a conversation about campus carry, a request he had been asking the Commission for five straight weeks.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Ross addressed the Commission’s refusal to discuss issues outside of its ideology. Despite being interrupted several times, Ross encouraged the Commission to stop automatically saying “no” to students’ requests and be more open to other viewpoints.
“I’ve been here for five weeks and I’ve talked to two of you” Ross told the Commission, which according to its website, has over 23 commissioners.
“Sorry, I’m gonna have to interrupt you because you as a white male talking to me,” protested an unidentified member of the Commission midway through Ross’s remarks.
“Seek out people who think differently than you instead of shutting them down as wrong,” Ross responded. “It’s extremely childish to call me names,” he said, but the name calling had just begun. […]
Another student commissioner at K-College, said Ross was “disrespecting” people on the Commission as he was “talking to [another student] like that as a person of color when you’re coming from a white male privilege stance in life.”
“And what’s interesting right now is that you actually can’t respond to me because your time is up,” a student identified as Vice President of the Commission Rian Brown said at the meeting. “And I know that’s going to be hard for you because you come from a place of such privilege that you felt it was okay to disrespect people of color in this room.”
Members accused Ross of “racism,” “homophobia,” and “sexism,” and some even went so far as to accuse Ross’s pro-Second Amendment position of desiring to kill students in black hoodies.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Alex. I never advocated for you. I never would have,” Brown said. “I would never represent you because, I couldn’t because, you directly conflict with my life. Period.”
“For anyone on this Commission to represent you would be to represent racism, sexism, homophobia,” Brown said. “And clearly you just spent two hours of your time listening that this body would like to be an anti-racist institution. So what you seek should not come from here. At least not this body with these people.”
“There will be no resolution written for your racism,” she continued. “It won’t happen. No one will support you. If you want to do this, whatever you call yourself, disrespecting, burning bridges, having no reason to create open dialogue, you’re going to continue to be the lone ranger, who from my perspective is threatened by black and brown people. So no. I will not advocate for you to get a gun to shoot me because you feel scared in the middle of the night when you see me in my black hoodie. I will not. I would not.”
What precious snowflakes fascists!
Conan, Cuba and the tourist gaze [Darleen Click]
You can’t go to Cuba and be apolitical.
A few weeks ago, when I heard Conan O’Brien was in Havana to shoot an episode of Conan, my heart sank. I’ve always liked him but I’m allergic to the tourist gaze. My many trips to Cuba have taught me how damaging it is. The Cuban regime, like all dictatorships, depends heavily on propaganda and learning it would take center stage on a late night show filled me with dread. Conan promised that his goal in Cuba was to make people laugh, that he wouldn’t touch the complicated politics of the situation. Ay Conan, if it were only that easy. […]You can’t go to Cuba and be apolitical. Traveling there is a political act alone. The brands he joked about at the grocery store were all companies that were appropriated by the Cuban government. That cigar factory he visited was taken from a Cuban family of cigar makers. Cubans cannot afford to eat at paladares because the average Cuban only makes $20 a month, creating an unofficial tourist apartheid where foreigners enjoy Cuba while Cubans endure the regime. The “ruins” that took Conan’s breath away are dilapidated buildings that thousands of people have to live in because they are not free to move out of them without government permission.
Did I expect Conan to go deep? No. That would be unfair of me. […]
He was there to connect with the people. But he was only connecting with the people that work in tourism — which any Cuban will tell you are a small and distinct sector of the population. Even acknowledging that would have been nice, but instead Conan lamented that in a few years there will probably be American stores in colonial Havana. That’s when he lost me.
I’ve observed a certain conceit among well-heeled liberals, and that is the “charm” they find when visiting third world countries should be preserved in a kind of cultural amber for them. Oh look at the happy peasant kids playing soccer in the dirt road with a ball made of a sheep’s bladder! Snap a few pictures, buy some handmade clothing from the women who stitch while tending cooking over wood fueled stoves in homes with no plumbing – then fly back to the first world of air conditioning and jacuzzi bathtubs.
I don’t doubt that Conan’s intentions were sincere. Cubans are awesome. We know how to have fun and have always had a natural kinship with Americans. But by the end of the show I felt I had watched a very friendly stranger go to a party on the third floor of my family’s house, while my family was being held captive in the basement, desperate to escape. I would have loved to have seen him connect with all the floors in that house and not just the ones approved by watchful, very political eyes.
Conan should be careful of not following Walter Duranty’s path.
Patronage Update
Thanks to all of you who contributed to the fundraiser geared toward Satchel's continuing wrestling education. Yesterday was his first tournament as a member of Colorado Top Team. Satch was sick with the stomach flu all week, so rather than wrestle him at All-States 90 miles away in Colorado Springs as I'd initially planned to do, we took him with the majority of the Colorado Top Team members to Wiggins, Colorado, where he wrestled and won first place, scoring a 9-1 Major victory in his first match (the only point surrendered was when we gave his opponent a free escape point to allow Satchel to start from the neutral position, wishing him to work more on his take downs), then finishing up with a 15-0 tech fall victory.
Still haven't gotten our new phones, so no video, unfortunately. But he wrestled pretty well, keeping opponents off his legs, which is something we've been working on. He also pulled off one of the tilts we've been practicing, and thanks to all of you, I've found a hybrid-style stance/motion game via Mark Perry that I want Satch to begin drilling, because it fits perfectly with his style and augments his quickness. Essentially, it melds the hand-fighting physicality of the Iowa-style wrestlers (and Colorado Top Team is dedicated to really teaching aggressive hand fighting and getting angles) with the outside wrestling style of Oklahoma State. To date, I've never really taught Satchel anything but a very basic single leg; going forward off his new stance and motion drills, I'll be adding a low single and sweep single to his arsenal which, when built off of head blocks and down blocks, should create ample opportunity for re-shots and improved angles of attack, something that I think Satchel will ultimately excel at.
He's also going to start working out with me this spring going forward, though I won't have him using weights for another few years. Instead, we'll work on plyometrics, band training (without the Harry Reid pitfalls, I'm betting), isometrics, and aids to his stance and motion: hercules chairs, quick feet drills, etc. I might begin him on some weight training, but only for grip -- essentially, the same kind of strength training he'd get from rope climbing, only without the rope.
He wrestles next weekend at an eastern plains league tournament. I'll update then. And if anyone who didn't contribute would like to, there are still 3 DVDs I'd like to purchase for him right now -- Matt Acevedo's hip-heist changeover series; Jordan Leen's safe leg series; and Rob Koll's leg sweeps series, all from Championship Productions.
Thanks again!
Jeff and Satch
“A Fight to Keep Catholic Schools Catholic” [Darleen Click]
Leftism is the most dynamic religion of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will have no other religion before it.
Here’s the back story. During contract renegotiations with nearly 500 staff members last month, the archdiocese [San Francisco, headed by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone … ed.] issued an updated faculty guide for its Catholic high schools. The addendum introduced three new clauses—which staff members are required to “affirm and believe”—denouncing masturbation, pornography, same-sex marriage, contraception and other issues that, in line with Catholic teaching, are described as “gravely evil.”These beliefs shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the Catholic Church—the 2,000-year-old institution has clearly defined its moral teachings throughout the years. Yet lawmakers objected, contending in a Feb. 17 letter to the archdiocese that the new guide is “divisive.” They asserted that by spelling out the teachings of the Catholic Church and requiring high-school staff to not publicly undermine those teachings, teachers could be dismissed for private decisions not in accord with Catholic teaching.
The archbishop responded, calling the idea that the clauses could apply to an employee’s private life a “falsehood” in a Feb. 19 letter. Then he put a question to the lawmakers: “Would you hire a campaign manager who advocates policies contrary to those that you stand for, and who shows disrespect toward you and the Democratic Party in general?” Of course they wouldn’t, and Archbishop Cordileone summed up the problem: “I respect your right to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission. I simply ask the same respect from you.”
[…]
Yet similar coercion is taking place throughout the country. Last year, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges opened an investigation into Gordon College—a Christian school. The association gave the college a year to review its conduct standards, which ask all members of the Gordon community to live by the Christian virtue of chastity—with the implication that Gordon could be at risk of losing accreditation. Gordon is currently undergoing that internal review and says it plans to submit a report later this year.
Elsewhere, the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate has created a comparable threat for Notre Dame and Wheaton College—both of which are plaintiffs in ongoing lawsuits. That mandate forces religious schools to provide and pay for coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization regardless of a school’s religious objection. The law would compel these colleges either to stop offering health insurance altogether—and incur steep fines—or to violate their deeply held beliefs.
In January, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the euphemistically titled “Human Rights Amendment Act.” The bill would compel Washington’s private religious schools to violate their beliefs about human sexuality by recognizing LGBT student groups or hosting a “gay pride” day on campus. The bill is currently under congressional review.
Provided private schools meet basic standards of safety and education, the government shouldn’t be in the business of coercing them to conform to someone else’s moral beliefs.
Leftists not only have no respect for dissenting views, they will fight to destroy those who hold them.
As long as Catholic Schools are traditionally Catholic, the Left will bring the power of The State to oppose them.
Obama claims it is easier to buy a gun than a vegetable [Darleen Click]
As if I have to go through a background check and a three-day wait when buying a bunch of broccoli at Stater Bros.
Citing his failure to pass stricter gun laws in 2013, President Obama used dramatic language to discuss the gun debate on Friday.“It is hard to reduce the easy availability of guns,” Obama complained during a town hall meeting at South Carolina’s Benedict College.
“As long as you can go on into some neighborhoods, and it’s easier for you to buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book, there are neighborhoods where it’s easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable,” Obama continued. “As long as that’s the case, we’re going to continue to see unnecessary violence.”
“Despite the failure of Congress to act, despite the failure of too many state legislators to act, in fact, in some place it is goes in the opposite direction,” he said, asserting that some gun rights supporters believe “we should have firearms in kindergarten and we should have machine guns and you know in bars.”
Yeah, we really dodged a bullet when we failed to elect that stupid, gaffe-prone, snowbilly Palin.
UC Irvine students vote to ban American flag [Darleen Click]
Which is cool — as long as the “students” forgo all American taxpayer money …
The Associated Students of University of California, Irvine (ASUCI) voted Tuesday to remove all flags, including American flags, from an inclusive space on campus because of their offensive nature.The bill, R50-70, was authored by Social Ecology Representative Matthew Guevara, and accuses all flags, especially, the American flag, of being “symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.”
“[F]lags construct paradigms of conformity and sets [sic] homogenized standards for others to obtain which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality, and democracy,” the bill reads.
The legislation argues that flags may be interpreted differently; the American flag, for example, can represent “American exceptionalism and superiority,” as well as oppression.
“[T]he American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism,” the bill continues, arguing that “symbolism has negative and positive aspects that are interpreted differently by individuals.”
And least you think that “inclusiveness” means in anyway tolerance of diversity of ideas, let’s put that to bed right now.
The anti-flag hanging bill adds that free speech, such as flags in inclusive spaces, can be interpreted as hate speech.“[F]reedom of speech, in a space that aims to be as inclusive as possible[,] can be interpreted as hate speech,” the bill reads.
How special!
As a Californian, I’m really not too surprised by this. UCI has a rather sordid reputation.
Let’s just say where you find anti-semitism, you usually find anti-Americanism.
