Watching the Detectives: Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a Texas case that could affect the outcomes of sodomy laws. The case involved a gay couple who were caught in an intimate encounter by police. The debate was supposedly lively between the liberal and conservative wings of the high court. The swing Jutices, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, were silent, probably taking it all in, I guess.

It is high time that the Court strike down sodomy laws. As a gay man myself, I find it outrageous that if I choose to be intimate with another person of the same sex, the state could deem it illegal. Whatever your views on homosexuality, such laws are odious to our society. The state should not be peeking into our bedrooms to judge what goes on. True conservatives see this is as an extreme overreach into the the private lives of citizens. There are those that say that we need these laws to maintain order, which is a conservative virtue. Yes, we need order to keep people from stealing or murdering, but should it tell people who to love? Heaven's no! Such policies are more in line with Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia than anything America. It's time to consign such laws to the dustbin of history like Jim Crow.


"Reason"able coverage: I have to give my hats off to the libertarianReason magazine. They have put out some great criticism about the war in Iraq in ways that most of media have failed to do. I also love "Hit and Run" their daily blog. It's amazing that the news media has been silent on the amount of libertarians and conservatives that were wary of this venture and are still critical of it. The "peace" movement is not just a lefty event.


Pitying Powell: I used to admire Collin Powell. He made me proud to be a moderate Republican. I would have voted for him had he went ahead and ran for President in 1996. He was willing to go in front of the far right in both the '96 and 2000 conventions and claimed his support for affirmative action and abortion rights. I was happy that he became Secretary of State, the first African American in that role. I had hoped having a moderate in such a position meant that moderates would have a voice. I was wrong. He has slowly become the waterboy for the neoconservatives who do not much care for him anyway. The man that grew up during Vietman and is wary of his nation going in to wars where the outcome is not certain is now backing a war that seems contrived and co! uld result in a phyrric victory. Salon wrote earlier this month that if Powell has any integrity, he should resign just like Cyrus Vance did in 1980. I agree. For him to stay would be disasterous to his credibility. The so-called "grown-up" in the Bush Administration has caved in to "children." Leave, Collin, before you make a fool of yourself.