What's New at Green Man Review.

Sadly, nohing. We're in between hosts and had expected to be up and running before now, but there have been complications. As for this site, I really am going to have to move over to Wordpress or something. Aside from being user-hostile, Blogger is now causing my computer to stall. I'm having to write posts on Wordpad and copy and past them in, which is a pain. I'll try to keep you posted.

For Some Reason

The sidebars have been crammed into the bottom of the page today. When I go in to check the layout, it's right, but not when I view the blog.

*sigh* Google strikes again.

Today in Computer Weirdness

I don't know if it's Blogger, my computer, or gremlins, but the calendar in Blogger decided to just cancel the last year and reset itself to December, 2016.

Is that a political statement, do you suppose?

Blogger Strikes Again

For some reason, Blogger has rearranged the layout of the front page here, and won't let me correct it.

I'm sure it will eventually sort itself out. Probably. Maybe.

Yay! (Knock on Wood)

It looks as though the layout of the blog has corrected itself -- side bars on the side and footer at the foot.

Cross your fingers.

About the Page Layout

I don't know if this is happening on anyone else's browser, but suddenly when I view the blog, all the sidebars are down at the bottom and the copyright notice is up where the sidebars should be. When I try to edit the layout, everything is where it should be. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to correct it, so I'll just have to hope that it will correct itself.

Can I Tell You How Much

I hate Google right now?

I made the mistake of enabling two-step verification when signing in to my Google accounts. So this morning I entered my gmail address, my password, and waited, and waited, and waited for the call to give me the verification code. I tried again. Ten minutes after the first try, I finally got the call, entered the code, and signed in. And now Google's robot has called me five times with verification codes.

I disabled two-step verification once I got signed in, since Google has ignored the box I checked that said "Don't ask again on this computer."

Feh.

Well, Finally!

Google had me locked out of Blogger for about 10 days. I'm still not sure what I did that got me back in, but here I am.

Let's hope it sticks.

Today's Must Read

Laurie Higgins, who is something called a "cultural analyst" for the hate group Illinois Family Institute (which you may remember as Peter LaBarbera's old gig, before he proved himself incompetent even in their eyes, and is one of the few state-level organizations designated as a hate group by the SPLC) has once again gone off the deep end: It seems that Kelly Cassidy, openly gay representative from Chicago's North Side (and my former rep, actually) has introduced a bill to ban so-called "conversion therapy" for minors. Rob Tisinai has an excellent analysis/take down at Box Turtle Bulletin, so I don't need to rip it to shreds myself.

I do want to point out one thing, where Higgins gives the game away:

The bill claims that homosexuality is not a “disorder, deficiency, or shortcoming,” stating that “The major professional associations of mental health practitioners and researchers in the United States have recognized this fact for nearly 40 years.” What specifically does this mean? Are the bill’s sponsors asserting as fact that engaging in homoerotic activity is not morally disordered, morally deficient, or a moral shortcoming? If so, where is their conclusive scientific proof for such a claim about the moral status of freely chosen activity?

So we know it's not about the welfare of young people, or the fraudulent basis for what they're now calling "SOCE" (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts. Apparently "reparative therapy" wasn't working, as in, if it ain't broke, don't fix it), it's all about enforcing her warped sense of morality on everyone else. And what kind of loon wants a scientific proof of claims about morality?

Anyway, read Tisinai's post -- it's long, but it's thorough and just a wee bit snarky.

I Finally Got Hold of a Person

at Google. Google doesn't want to offer tech support for "free applications" (like Gmail, Blogger, and YouTube) because of "liability concerns." I asked, but the answer was incoherent. But I can now get in to Gmail, Blogger, and YouTube, after deleting not only my Google-related cookies, but my entire browsing history. Which means I'm going to have to re-log in to everything else.

So, in what is undoubtedly one of the most eventful weeks in gay marriage ever, I wasn't able to blog. Here's a couple of posts I did at Live Journal as stop-gaps:

The first:

"Marriage"

I usually reserve posts on political events and news stories at my blog, Hunter at Random, but you may have noticed that I don't have access to post there for the past few days, and this is sort of important:  The Supreme Court has refused to grant certoriari in any of the seven cases concerning marriage equality that had been appealed by the states.  The marriage bans had all been found unconsitutional by district courts, decisions that were upheld by panels in the Fourth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits.  What the Supreme Court's decision to not hear those appeals means is that in Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah, same-sex marriage is now the law of the land.  (And marriages havbe begun in all but Wisconsin, which will follow suit shortly.)  Most observers expect that within a few weeks, the remainder of the states within those circuits will have those rulings applied to them as well, which will make same-sex marriage legally recognized in West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming, bringing to total of states with same-sex marriage recognition to thirty.

Timothy Kincaid has a good summary of the state of affairs as of last night at Box Turtle Bulletin, where, if you run down the posts from yesterday, you can get highlights, statements from state Attorneys General and Governors, and whining from the usual suspects.  Also worth checking out on this is Joe.My.God., which also has the news that Colorado, although not directly affected by yesterday's decision, will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately.  (And lots of whining and vows of civil disobedience -- how do you do civil disobedience about same-sex marriage, anyway -- refuse to marry someone of the same sex?  No one's asking you to.)  And Towleroad has a some interesting analysis and speculation by Ari Ezra Waldman, as well as news reports.

Two points:  First, Anti-Gay, Inc., is screaming about this being this generation's Roe v. Wade, trying to generate some traction for what most observers see as a losing battle.  That's not going to fly -- there's no similarity in the two cases whatsoever, and public opinion has steadily been trending toward acceptance of same-sex marriage over the past couple of years, with a clear majority of the country in favor.

Second, look for increased attempts to pass "religious freedom" laws at the state level.  These are basically nothing but a license to discriminate; Arizona passed one, which was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer, and Mississippi passed one, which is facing backlash from businesses and other organizations in the state.  There will be more of these, giving business owners the right to refuse service to anyone based on "religious belief."  Talk about unintended consequences. 

 

The second:

"Sex, drugs, and rock and roll."

 

 That's the money quote from the 9th Circuit's decision striking down marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho, in response to a ridiculous contention by the governor of Idaho, Butch Otter.  (Seriously -- that's his name.)  The full quote, which is footnote 12 on page 21:

He also states, in conclusory fashion, that allowing same-sex marriage will lead opposite-sex couples to abuse alcohol and drugs, engage in extramarital affairs, take on demanding work schedules, and participate in time-consuming hobbies. We seriously doubt that allowing committed same-sex couples to settle down in legally recognized marriages will drive opposite-sex couples to sex, drugs, and   rock-and-roll.

The decision was unanimous.  The full order is here.

A footnote:  At present, all states with marriage bans have had suits filed to overturn them.  The 9th Circuit also includes Alaska, Montana, and Arizona (it also includes Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and California, which already recognize same-sex marriages), so any decisions on those suits are pretty much a foregone conclusion, since it's obvious a decision supporting the bans will not survive appeal.

 

The third:

"About that stay"

 

 Jimi Burroway has a good analysis at Box Turtle Bulletin of the screw-up that led Justice Kennedy to stay the implementation of marriages in both Idaho and Utah.  It's been resolved and marriages are once again happening in Nevada, but it wasn't without a few more wrinkles.

Here's the marriage map as of yesterday afternoon:

Purple denotes those states with marriage equality, light blue (lavender? Depends on your monitor, I guess) those that are affected by recent circuit court decisions (i.e., will probably have marriage equality within a few weeks at most), and white those that are still in the Eleventh Century with Rick Santorum.

And a note:  apparently those responsible for issuing marriage licenses in South Carolina and Kansas have begun doing so.  (At least, county clerks in Kansas have been ordered to do so by the court.)

 

And this morning:

 

"Twenty-seven states and counting."  

 

Add West Virginia to the list.

The updated map:

Dark purple – states which have marriage equality
Light purple – states in which the circuit court has ruled for equality but which have not yet been ordered to provide marriage equality

 

And now that I'm back in the saddle, expect me to resume regular programming.

Fiddling Around

I'm not sure I love this, although it's easier to read. I may jigger it a little. What do you think?

I may also bolt from Blogger completely, unless they can tell me how to get my navbar back. It vanished about the time I got shifted over, kicking and screaming, to the new interface (which, by the way, sucks).

Maybe I'll finally set up my own real website.

Bloggered

It happens, even to me.

Damn! It was a good post, too.

Blogger

I just tried to update my template. What I really want to do is to put a photo in the header, like the big kids (see towleroad). I thought this one might be nice:



I don't know enough html to just do it, and I thought maybe the "new, improved" Blogger would have a way.

Well, lost all my links, my ads (such as they are), and pretty much anything else that was worth keeping, without being able to do anything I couldn't do before. Hurriedly reverted to the "classic" template.

If anyone knows how to put in an image at the top, I'd really appreciate a tutorial.

Until then, I ain't messin' with it.

Comments

Got bloggered. Sorry if any of you were trying to leave some (Heh. Indeed), and for those of you who were waiting with bated breath for my responses, apologies. I couldn't get into them for two days.

All better now.