Case in point

Personal Update: I couldn't stop thinking about this story all night. I never thought I could have an ounce of compassion for Dick Cheney. Now I think I like him more than Bush. Why? He seems to actually have a shred of the "compassionate conservative" that Bush said they were dripping with. I don't want to like him. I did everything I could to fight it. When I read this article I felt like I was looking down over Whoville as the children awoke and found their presents gone. The camera zoomed in on my heart, and it broke. I can't look at Cheney as a soulless Halliburton Mitochondrion anymore. This really muddies the waters of personal opinion, but not enough to vote for him.

This is what happens when you realize that someone you love--someone whom you would give your life for--has been consciously and systematically oppressed his or her entire life.

When you see the anguish that person has faced, you start to oppose the oppression. It doesn't matter how high in the government you are or how far your resistance places you from the party line. Suddenly that nameless and distant pain is foremost in your mind and it has a face you adore.

If everyone in America had a gay son or daughter, there would never have been a gay marriage issue. The same would have been true in the 60's. Rights for African Americans would have come much sooner if segregation wasn't so pronounced.

This is what I've been talking about. Xenophobia--Fear of outsiders, the other--is most easily broken down in close quarters. By keeping other people and other cultures at bay, we only ramp up the hatred, the ignorance, and the intolerance. Once again I point to my man Goethe.

He's in it for the Quiche.