Brain on Fire Tim McCormack, distilled.

Try to find what is wrong in this line of argument by Del. Marshall [source]:

Equality Virginia says it represents gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people who are opposed to the marriage amendment. So, how are the bisexuals to gain their "rights" without having one marriage partner of each sex? What do they really want?

If you still don't see it, let's try replacing one civil right with another:

Why does Marshall insist on the right to a fair and speedy trial? How is he going to gain his "rights" without committing a crime? Is that what he really wants to do?

It seems Mr. Marshall, by his own logic, is planning on exercising every right in the book. Perhaps he should be arrested, a la Minority Report, as a potential menace to society.

Or maybe there's a fault in the logic somewhere.

The problem with rich, deep interfaces is that when you make a mistake, it can be a really big mistake. And you don't know what you've just done.

Cory Capron has an excellent analysis of the recent attempts to institute an anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment, which would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. He shreds each of the major points, expertly dissecting the homophobic rhetoric and exposing it as contradictory and unfounded.

I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine about transgender issues and transexuality, speicifically about the irrational fear and defensiveness that some people exhibit around gender-ambiguous folks. The conversation got me to thinking about Fear of the Other, Fear of the Unknown. I think I know why it exists.

Waldo recently posted a link to a story about an intercessory prayer experiment published in the American Heart Journal. I disagree with the conclusions reached by Waldo and others, who claim that the study shows that prayer can have a harmful effect on patients.