What's up with this Boy Scout excommunication thing? To be clear: I understand that they are a private organization and can make whatever stupid, homophobic, narrow-minded, exclusionary rules they like. I mean, realistically, expecting an organization called the Boy Scouts of America to not exclude folks who, say, aren't male would be pretty silly. But to exclude athiests, while accepting belief in any sort of higher being whatsoever? I just don't get it.

Tomorrow being election day, Las Vegas--like everywhere else in the USA, I'm assuming--is being barraged with an onslaught of political ads. I saw one last night that completely faked me out. You see, there's a measure on the ballot that would require Nevada to acknowledge same-sex marriages. The commercial talked about how a similar law was enacted in Vermont. Now Vermont health or sex-ed classes include discussion about sexual orientation, and they talk about families that include same-sex partners just like they were any other married couple. And I'm thinking that sounds all fine and dandy, and that this is a pro-Issue Number Whatever commercial. And then comes the final line: "We don't want to make the same mistake as Vermont."

Yeah, heaven forbid that we should have our kids learning that the concepts of "right," "wrong," or "normal" are not always simple, black and white issues, or that differences--at least the ones that don't result in unwanted open wounds--are things to be appreciated and understood. Heaven forbid that we take one step closer to abolishing this apparent yardstick of normality that we're supposed to judge others against, and treat them accordingly. Because if we started doing that, it might be harder to justify things like, oh, getting all worked up about an unpopular, unjustified, foolhardy attack against a bunch of foreigners instead of lookin inward and judging our leaders by their own actions, instead of being blinded by a bunch of distracting rhetoric all dressed up in emotionally-charged buzzwords like "terrorism" and "patriotism."

And yes, I am voting for the issue that recognizes same-sex marriages, and the one that makes medicinal marijuana legal. If supporting the things that increase freedom for our citizens isn't patriotic, then I think I've been reading the wrong Constitution.