Ever wonder about how Sharya Law handles homosexuality? Wonder no more...

Cross Flame :: View topic - 6,000 years under one definition - the pros and cons of tradition: In reading these statistics, it is important to keep in mind that the existence of legal consequences for homosexuality does not necessarily result in perpetrators being prosecuted. In Afghanistan, for instance, there is a widespread tradition of male homosexuality. Estimates of the number of Afghan men who engage in sex with teenage boys or other men at some time in their lives range from 18-50%. This unusually high frequency is quite surprising since Islamic law in Afghanistan mandates that homosexuality be punished by being burned at the stake, pushed off of a cliff, or crushed under a toppled wall. In February 1998, three homosexual men were executed in the city of Kandahar by having a tank push a brick wall over on them.

The American Family Association didn't get the results they wanted from their gay marriage poll, so they're discarding the results. They blame the outcome on the subversive antics of "gay activists."

Wired News: Gay Marriage Poll Gets Annulled: When the American Family Association posted an online poll last month asking its constituents their position on gay marriage, it thought it was engaging in a straightforward exercise. The conservative organization supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, and it planned to forward to Congress the results of the poll, which it expected would support its position, as evidence of Americans' opposition to gay marriage. But the AFA never counted on the power of the Internet. And once the URL to the poll escaped its intended audience, everything went haywire. As of Jan. 19, 60 percent of respondents -- more than 508,000 voters -- said, "I favor legalization of homosexual marriage." With an additional 7.89 percent -- or 66,732 voters -- replying, "I favor a 'civil union' with the full benefits of marriage except for the name," the AFA's chosen position, "I oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and 'civil unions,'" was being defeated by a 2-1 ratio. "We're very concerned that the traditional state of marriage is under threat in our country by homosexual activists," said AFA representative Buddy Smith. "It just so happens that homosexual activist groups around the country got a hold of the poll -- it was forwarded to them -- and they decided to have a little fun, and turn their organizations around the country (onto) the poll to try to cause it to represent something other than what we wanted it to. And so far, they succeeded with that." Of course, no such poll can be said to represent an accurate picture of popular opinion. But, clearly, the AFA had hoped Congress would take the numbers it planned to produce as exactly that kind of evidence. Now, Smith says, his organization has had to abandon its goal of taking the poll to Capitol Hill. "We made the decision early on not to do that," Smith admitted, "because of how, as I say, the homosexual activists around the country have done their number on it."

We drove to Sundance this last weekend, all 750 miles of the stretch from San Diego to Salt Lake City. It used to be so close. I still haven't completely gotten used to the idea that, to go to the Sundance Film Festival, I need to either fly or take a damn long road trip. Going to film school in Salt Lake spoiled me. But it was a good road trip. Our friend Vanja came with us (and in fact offered to take her newer car), which made us three drivers strong. The 13 hours on the road just flew by. And, since I was, in fact, attending the festival with other people, I was forced to adhere to a film-watching regimen that resembled sanity. Brooke and Vanja didn't seem too keen on a schedule that required us to see a midnight show in Park City (which means bedtime in the valley at 3:30 AM at the earliest) and then to wake up at 5:30-ish to be back in Park City at 7-ish to wait in line for a 9 AM show. Can you believe that? We saw four worthy movies, though:

Journeyings and Conversations -- An almost dialogue-less observational documentary about this giant train station that takes people into Calcutta, and the hopefuls who end up living there, in a literal limbo. Fascinating stuff, and quite possibly my favorite of the four. Mon Idole -- A French feature about a young TV assistant who wants to climb the TV ladder, and ends up having to do some weird things to do so. A strange film, but I don't think it worked so well on the whole. Three Step Dancing -- An Italian feature in four parts, about life and love and culture in Sardinia, a largely rural part of Italy, and also a major resort destination. Pretty good. I might have to see it again. Nina's Tragedies -- A very good Israeli film; apparently it was a pretty big hit in Israel. It's about a boy and his unspoken love for and devotion to his aunt. Stuff happens to the aunt: love, death of loved ones, mixed feelings over other potential loves, etc. It sounds trite, but, like most things, it's all in the execution. Very good. I would imagine it will be released here in the states (at least on DVD).

All in all, a nice batch. We tried for a midnight show on Sunday, but didn't make it in. So we sat around in the mall on Main Street and shot the breeze for an impressively long time. At this point, Andrew was with us, so our previously intense-times-three conversations turned intense-times-four. Which brings me to my point. I pretend no erudition beyond normal, but, in addition to being a conversation connoisseur and junky, I have had the good fortune to be exposed throughout my lifetime to an extremely large array of media stuff. Media stuff includes lots of examples (fictional and non-fictional) of people talking to each other -- more conversations. I must confess that, despite my general love of the film-watching (and making) experience, and my love of film festivals in general and Sundance in particular, perhaps the stupidest, most ridiculous conversations I've ever overheard have been those I've overheard in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. Why is this? One would think that a film festival would attract generally intelligent people who would be aware of the basic rules and guidelines of critical thinking and would be able to avoid logical fallacies when formulating an opinion about a particular movie. But this is clearly not the case. Some people who come to Sundance are really just movie fans, looking to see things they've never seen. Some people are Hollywood types looking for a relatively cheap art-house hit. But I think the vast majority of people who stand in lines and sit in the theaters at Sundance have no real interest in film as either an art or a business, but are simply celebrating themselves and their perceived hipness by aligning themselves with an institutionalized version of hipness, the film festival. (I stole this basic idea from an article in Ron Rosenbaum's The Secret Parts of Fortune.) They have no interest in whether the film they saw is objectively good, or where it stands among the classics of the genre (unless such a comparison includes other perceivedly hip films from the past), or how well it treated the core themes within art and life. They are not interested in the festival. They are interested in how they look standing beside the festival. It's entirely possible, though, that my irritation stems from my debilitating snobbery. Not snobbery in a Park Avenue sense, but the snobbery of the mind. In which case, I don't know what else to say, but that I had a great time this year. I overheard next to zero aggravating conversations. That was because of the people I was with. In any combination of two, three or all four of us, we seemed capable of coming up with our own conversations. Interesting conversations. Conversations so good that they drowned out those of the people around us. Conversations that seemed really, objectively good. Even to a conversation snob, like me.

Weigh anchor! Avast! Yargh! There be water on the red planet after all! CNN.com - Scientists: Water found at Martian pole - Jan. 23, 2004: "Europe's Mars orbiter has detected evidence of water on the planet, scientists at the European Space Agency announced Friday. Mars Express, circling high above the surface, made the discovery on the Red Planet's south pole, said agency scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring -- an indication that Mars may once have sustained life. 'We have been tracking it on the south pole and there we have detected water, probably for the first time,' Bibring told a news conference at mission control in Darmstadt."

Here's one school I might be scratching off my list:

CUGOP: College Republicans: : "Biased Professors at CU: Fox News and the Denver Post think it's important - help us show that liberal bias is a serious issue at CU. Be the coolest kid in school while sporting your very own College Republicans T-Shirt. Let them all know they can either Join us now...Or work for us later! EMail or call the office for ordering information."

To a great extent, when considering whether to join the faculty of a school, you have to evaluate the school based on the quality of its students. If the students are going to organize a list of commie professors to take to the legislature, that's not the kind of diversion you want from your academic duties.

CBS 4 Denver: Web Site Gathers Complaints About CU Professors: "BOULDER, Colo. (AP) Republican students at the University of Colorado have launched a Web site to gather complaints about left-leaning faculty, saying they want to document incidents of discrimination and indoctrination. 'We want concrete examples of bias in our arsenal when we go to the administration, the regents and the Legislature,' said Brad Jones, chairman of the College Republicans, who launched the Web site last week. Jones and the CU College Republicans are affiliated with Students for Academic Freedom, a national organization started by California conservative activist David Horowitz, who is pushing a Colorado effort to protect students from harassment or discrimination based on political beliefs. Lawmakers are also involved. State Senate President John Andrews, R-Centennial, called for all state universities to submit their anti-discrimination policies in November. Conservative lawmakers introduced a resolution last week calling for the defense of students' First Amendment rights, including expression 'based solely on viewpoint.' Most faculty and many Democrats deny liberal indoctrination exists on campuses. 'I'm shocked the students would resort to this,' said Barbara Bintliff, a CU law school professor and chairwoman of the Boulder Faculty Assembly. 'I'm concerned they may wind up with a blacklist or engage in an attempt to censure certain professors.' Travis Leiker, 22, president of the College Democrats at CU, said classrooms are full of different perspectives. 'I think the conservative students who feel there is a bias are more afraid of hearing points of view different from their own,' he said. 'You don't see College Democrats doing this with the business or engineering school, which clearly have a conservative bias,' Leiker said. 'We could play this game as well.'"

Engineering is conservative?