homefries.org

A really fine article on Lee Hays, singer and songwriter, a favorite of mine from The Weavers. The People’s Singer
At the end of 1955, the Weavers held a reunion. Their manager beat the blacklist by renting Carnegie Hall for a nameless quartet and then selling it out before anyone could complain. Their opening number was [...]

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Well, all I can say is, God bless Peggy Parsons: Star-belly Sneeches and modern day cossacks
I don’t like fear-based segregation. I do not often find that it is based in reality. I like to challenge it and look for the good in the other side. That’s my default setting.

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I won’t link to their website, because that’s actually good for them, but the Snickers website has 1) a homophobic ad they aired during the Super Bowl; 2) three more even worse ads that they’re inviting people to vote on for airing during the Daytona 500; and 3) bigoted reactions from pro football players.
So, no [...]

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Haaretz reports on gay marriage ruling in Israel:
the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that five gay couples wedded outside of Israel can be registered as married couples.

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The Observer is reporting:
There is growing evidence that Shia militias have been killing men suspected of being gay and children who have been sold to criminal gangs to be sexually abused.

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Mark Turner in The Observer: Welcome to the cruising capital of the world
Whether he was careless, reckless or foolish, as some have claimed, really isn’t very interesting. I also don’t care if he takes drugs (’Shock! Horror! Pop Star Smokes Dope!’). I don’t care if he’s a well-adjusted homosexual. I don’t care about his pending [...]

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There’s a skirmish in the culture wars under way in Lexington, Massachusetts. Elementary school principal Joni Jay is holding her ground about a teacher’s decision to read King and King to a second-grade class. The newspaper account describes her as a real pro, as well as having a balanced and sensible attitude. She’s met with [...]

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The New York Times has an article on A Religious Push Against Gay Unions:
Organizers said the petition had brought together cardinals from both the left and right sides of the United States bishops’ conference, including the liberal Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and the conservative Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, as well as [...]

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Inspired by Doc Smartypants, here is my inaugural Friday Ten:

David Brown

David Epstein

Jeffrey Kofman
Anderson Cooper
David Muir

Jim Sciutto

Dan Harris

Terry Moran

Jake Tapper

Matt Lauer

(And if you think, "Ten what?", well, the only point is that there are ten of them. That’s all the guidance there is from the Doc. But these are in fact ten of something very specific.)

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Check out this UCC blogger: Chuck Currie: Beth Stroud And The Call To Ministry. He comments on a sermon preached by Beth Stroud, a lesbian United Methodist minister currently appealing the revocation of her credentials. Here’s a snippet. (He includes a link to the whole sermon.)
It’s taken me a while to learn that my calling [...]

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