For My Kelly ...

Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her
by Christopher Brennan (1870-1932)

If questioning would make us wise
No eyes would ever gaze in eyes;
If all our tale were told in speech
No mouths would wander each to each.
Were spirits free from mortal mesh
And love not bound in hearts of flesh
No aching breasts would yearn to meet
And find their ecstasy complete.
For who is there that lives and knows
The secret powers by which he grows?
Were knowledge all, what were our need
To thrill and faint and sweetly bleed?
Then seek not, sweet, the "If" and "Why"
I love you now until I die.
For I must love because I live
And life in me is what you give.


Happy first anniversary my love, Tim

Still Here

Still here. Blogging is taking a back seat to my wife's pregnancy. Ten weeks and counting and all systems go. We have a doctor appointment on Monday at which time we hope to receive continued good news. Then it's off to camping for the rest of the week, culminating in a 50th birthday bash for five guys who graduated together in 1974.

There will likely be conservatives and liberals in attendance. We didn't have to pretend to be nice, or act like lap dogs, to invite the conservatives, they were already our friends (heck, my wife numbers herself among conservatives ... but she's much smarter than most of them, she married me).

Anyway, scanned through a number of blogs and while there is plenty to blog about, don't feel like it. Enjoy the weekend.

Oh, I've thought of doing this for a while. Below is a list of my favorite blogs (in no particular order). These bloggers write with style.

The Xoff Files
Liberal voice with an attitude. Doesn't back down from the hacks and has skin the thickness of a rhinocerous (his words).

folkbum's rambles and rants
A more gentle liberal voice from the viewpoint of an educator (I'd want him as my kids' teacher). Not afraid to take on the forces of evil (McIlheran). And, his Friday Random Ten introduces me to music I've likely not heard.

Pundit Nation
A newer entry and old college buddy, Mike Mathias. We actually both ran for editorship of the UWM Post many years ago. Mike was victorious, but not by that much. Excellent writer and by all accounts, great husband and father. Good to be in contact with again.

Above the Borderline
These guys are crazy. Jim Nelson leads this pack of western Wisconsin bloggers who are not afraid to duke it out with the forces of evil, and with humor.

Wigderson's Library & Pub
James Wigderson. Shameless promoter (I mean that well) and active conservative and conservative writer. He has a Thursday column in the Waukesha Freeman that is a must read, even if you disagree. His humor is edgy ... and my mom likes him.

Shark and Shepherd
I don't agree often with Rick Esenberg, lawyer and teacher at Marquette. But he brings a decisiveness to his writing that, regardless of what side you're on, is refreshing. I simply like to read his posts, though I often gnash my teeth at the end of them. Nothing wrong with agreeing to disagree.

The Happy Circumstance
Grumps. The name he uses for his posts suggests someone elderly. His writing suggests something else ... vibrant and standing up for what's right (yuck, I didn't really use Syke's line). But grumps is always fun to read and gives good comment.

Max and Molly's Mom
What can I say, my wife is beautiful in every way and I am truly blessed.

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Patrick McIlheran started a tasty little debate about homosexuality when he commented on Jennifer Morales' decision (she is a Milwaukee school board member) to announce that she is a lesbian. He claimed to not really care and said "we didn't need to know that."

Jay Bullock, author of folkbum's rambles and rants, took McIlheran to task with a piece titled "Hey Gays, Go Back in the Closet and Let me Insult You." I thought it was funny ... and to the point.

Back came McIlheran and this time he backed up his play with a quote from a post by Rick Esenberg, Catholic lawyer ubiquitous. Below is the quote with an intro from McIlheran (which is pertinent to my response ... gee, this is fun):

Esenberg is responding to a response, that of blogger Jay Bullock, who didn’t
like my comments, saying it’s because I must not like gay people. Actually,
Jay, it depends on the gay person. Some are nice, some aren’t, and their gaiety
doesn’t seem to have much to do with it.

Esenberg points out — and I’m going to quote him at length, because he says it so well — that there are people who “may have gay friends and may accept gays and lesbians in all walks of life. They may support civil unions, or at least are willing to
honor and respect gay and lesbian relationships. ...”

“But somewhere, in ways that they may not be able to articulate, they do
not believe that homosexuality is ‘just as good as’ or ‘essentially the same as’
heterosexuality. Maybe its a deeply embedded preference for relationships that
continue the species (wouldn’t evolutionary biologists expect this?) or maybe
it’s an innate belief that heterosexual relationships are complementary; uniting
the two parts of the human family (the Roman Catholic view). In that sense,
homosexuality is to be accepted, but heterosexuality is the norm and, perhaps,
something to be hoped for.

“So many people I know would fully accept their children as gays or
lesbians, but are glad that they are not.“Are such people bigots? Are they in
need of reeducation?”

Apart from the flippant use of the word “gaiety” which nails Patrick McIlheran’s bigotry to the wall, Rick Esenberg’s comment is interesting. I suspect Esenberg is speaking more for his group of friends than the general populace. I can believe that his group of friends would have an innate belief that homosexuals are not as good as heterosexuals and that they are essentially not the same as heterosexuals. It’s pretty obvious from his previous writings and from the position of the Roman Catholic church of which he is a member.

Does it mean that he and his friends are bigots? No, I don’t think so. I have a younger brother who is gay and I do not claim to understand the why either. But, there is the difference. My group of friends and family don’t even bother with the questions that Esenberg posts. We don’t have the answers … it’s a biological, perhaps cosmic thing and we are not meant to understand.

And, I’m sure Esenberg is right about some parents being relieved their children are not homosexual? They’re probably relieved though, not because of any shame, but probably because they don’t have to worry about bigots like McIlheran diminishing their children and relegating them to being objects for flippant comments and to second-class citizenship.

New Background

George Bush is seen reading the story of Hansel and Gretel to a kindergarten class in Washington D.C. Behind Bush is the new, approved, background for all speeches, replacing the presidential seal.

Bushspeak

A sample of Bushspeak for the next five months before the November elections.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen [Zarqawi].

Tonight I want to [Zarqawi] speak to you about the recent gains [Zarqawi] we have made in[Zarqawi] Iraq. Our troops have a done a [Zarqawi] magnificent job putting down the [Zarqawi] insurgency, helping Iraqi citizens [Zarqawi] move towards a normal and safe [Zarqawi] understanding of how to live in a [Zarqawi] democracy.

That’s all and thank you [Zarqawi] for listening. Remember 9-11.