<<the ad, featuring Caviezel speaking one line from “The Passion” in Aramaic, a clear appeal to fundamentalist Christians>>

Okay, fundies speak Aramaic or understand it when it's mumbled at them by someone who looks like a junkie? What about everyone else?

The ad is incredibly off-putting and weird for non-Aramaic speakers with that opening.

It's a sign (not a Sign) of how desperate the right wing is, and how they have once again misjudged their impact.

But hey, they have ears and do not hear, eyes and do not see. To coin a phrase. . .

He was only homophobic to cover the Freudian slip he made:

"Shoulder pads are hard and stiff."

Note the excitement in his voice when he uses those two adjectives, and then note how his tone became sensual:

"Your hands are soft" etc.

He realized as he was making those comments he was revealing too much about himself, so he laughed it off as "kind of gay" meaning, of course, that he isn't.

Wrong!

Why on earth is Kerry on the campaign trail to begin with? His orotund, ham-handed speaking style is equal parts purgative and sedative. Why would any candidate want him? Because Clinton was unavailable? And then why can't the man learn how to read a speech as it was written, if that was the problem? He's no ad-libber, and he can't think on his feet (or sitting down, most likely). He was a mortifyingly bad candidate in 2004, and watching him debate was not an edifying spectacle. He scored points against the frat boy? So what. he was good by comparison, not intrinsically. Democrats, dump this has-been, shun him for your own good. And bring on Bill Clinton, because his stature continues to grow, and the man knows how to speak clearly, effectively, passionately.

Sure, there's "nothing inoffensve" about using the word "gay" to mean something "lame."

So, tell us, you work for Zogby and you've polled 5,000 people in the Bay area who overwhelmingly agree?

And you think we're cavalier?

I'm always struck by the absolute conviction with which these Bible thumpers rail against homosexuality and use Leviticus as their source. Funny how the same book that contains the Golden Rule is used as a weapon, not a guide, and one might almost think that the Hebrews were obsessed with same-sex acts. Nothing could be further from the truth. If same-sex acts were so important, why would they have been left completely out of the Ten Commandments. Even if you believe that the Bible is the word of God, it's clear that God (or the authors of these texts) had different priorities.

An excellent source, btw, on the profound ambiguity of the Leviticus passage appears here:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibh.htm

Nobody can say for certain what it means, and I for one refuse to cede ground and not even both arguing with fundies on this text. The real question is why they choose this prohibition of all others to cudgel people with. We see one reason in Ted Haggard. But they can't all be closet cases, can they?

Some episodes are indeed physically dark and boring, with lame attempts at trippy camera work that make you think someone once might have spoken to a stoner trying to recall a film he thought he saw, dig?

Last week or two weeks ago, again and again we saw Gaius in a robe, out of a robe, on a couch, off of a couch staring, wondering, staring, lights one color, lights another. He's disoriented? We get it already! Too often, I feel as if the writers are killing time because they can't come up with good dialogue.

Yet some episodes are exciting, tense, dramatic, and move the story and characters along. The uneven nature of the show can be maddening, and it's never completely recovered from the point where the Cylons became human lookalikes (some of them, anyway). That was as disappointing as when the all-powerful Borg suddenly met a force stronger than themselves (or itself).

I watch this show expecting to cringe, and am relieved when I don't, sometimes even entertained. But not as much as I was in the first season.

WMD: Women Muslim Deviants

I agree with ReMixdog, it doesn't matter how many Bush Senior minions try to put out the fire, it's too late. Everything about this presidency shows that openness to new ideas, changing course, taking advice are always slogans with no reality.

You can bet that the Baker group will be defanged and sidelined, because the President has already signalled his profound and utter contempt for the group. How? He said he admired "the quality of its membership"--as if he'd just learned who was on it? Ludicrous. And he said he also admired "their questions." He's the one who should have questions, not them.

Those two contemptuous, demeaning comments, beautifully summed up by Jon Stewart's joke that Bush also admired their suits, say everything: the President doesn't take the group seriously, doesn't care what they know or recommend, and will not kowtow to them in the slightest.

Character is action? It's much worse than that. Heraclitus said that character is destiny. We see where Bush has been, we know where he is going and whom he will listen to. It's not ever going to be the Fabulous Baker Boys, despite all the media hype.

If tasering shocks and incapacitates someone, how does that further the stated goal of removing him from the building? He's said to have gone limp and resisted being moved. Well, duh. He was being tasered, repeatedly. This is clearly an over-reaction. He was not a threat. He was shouting? So what? Pick him up and carry him off. We see that happen all the time at demos when the police cart protesters off, that is, when they're not mounted police running them down in Houston.

All together now: "I like to be in America, everyone free in America. . . ."