Friday, March 31, 2006

Friday Roundup

Spent yesterday morning in Northampton MA with the CCS and my amigos at Mirage Studios. Yep, class trip! It was a great session, beginning with a conference room chat led by Steve Murphy touching on Mirage history, the current licensing situations, movie adaptations (flanked as he was by framed posters for the 1990s New Line trio of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle films), the animated cartoon series old & new, and much, much more.

As that wound down, I headed upstairs to let Dan Berger, Mike Dooney & Jim Lawson know the group were on their way, and all three were incredibly accomodating to all of us. When lunch break came at last, I dined with Dan, Mike & Jim (always a pleasure) and Eric Talbot was in the studio upon our return -- got to meet his new baby; what a charmer!

Given the amazing end-of-March weather we were blessed with, the drives to and from Mirage only sweetened the day.

Ah, spring.
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A jaw-dropper March 23rd news item from Norway, Maine concerning "delegates" (ahem) from the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church scheduled to descend on the March 25th funeral for native son Sgt. Corey Dan (killed in Iraq) sticks in the craw. The Baptists have apparently been targetting such funerals in states like Maine to (according to the AP news story) "...express its belief that American soldiers are being struck down by God as retribution for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality."

Huh.

And here I thought it was because of the nation's tolerance of President Bush and his neoconservative cronies in power.

So, it's not Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, et al who are responsible for American soldiers dying in Iraq: it's the gay community's fault. (Never mind that gays can't serve in the military -- it's their fault.)

Good thing we've got the rampaging homophobes in Kansas to redirect rational thought away from the real cause of "American soldiers... being struck down."

These bible-thumpin' hate-mongering busybodies intent upon disrupting the funeral of a fallen Norway, Maine son (as they have in other states) funerals prompted the mobilization of local sheriff dept. and police and the superintendent of the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School to issue a 'no trespass' order against the Kansas protesters.

What absolute madness.

"Dear Westboro Baptist Church:

The only things you should worry about being stuck up your collective asses are your heads."


Oh, I'm sorry, was I being rude?

Not nearly as rude as a misdirected church's ongoing protests needlessly adding to the agonies of families who've made the ultimate sacrifice to the current US foreign policies.
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[Howdy to Tom L. -- hope your mom is feeling better!]