Gay marriages, Israel, Intelligence, Music and Ethical Eating?

Marriage is love.

Also, you can sign a petition here: http://www.hrc.org/millionformarriage/index.shtml

Have finished my response to Jared Israel's
claims that Israel is not an apartheid state. It's often a tiring debate, especially when confronted by those (not in this instance, I must admit) who place their religion above universal human rights.

On a strongly related issue, the problem of the US and cultural studies definition of "ethnicity" and "race" has led to a new whites-only scholarship:
. The concept follows through in other places as well. In Singapore, a Judge defends ban on oral sex on grounds that it is contrary to "Asian values".

In the "told you so" department:

Government 'warned' on intelligence. The politicisation of such bodies has
dire consquences. The following is particularly close to home: And a 1999 intelligence report predicted the result of the East Timor referendum and the probable Indonesian reaction, but then "senior policy-making officials refused to believe it because it so starkly contradicted their own opinions and desired policy outcomes".

On a amusing related note, a competition to
Huttonise history.

Two pleasant social occassions over the last few days: Last friday eve was spent with severina_242 at horngirl's birthday drinks at Polly's. Enjoyed seeing many people who I hadn't had the chance to chat in person to for pretty much two years, including lj entities adricongirl, blithespirit, damien_wise, drzero, frou_frou, insinceritylj, seedy_girl, thorfinn and usekh. It was a great night - thanks horngirl!!

Saturday eve was a nice picnic with caseopaya at the Sidney Myer Free Concert. Despite the heat and crowds it was a fairly good performance and a nice opportunity to wander through the gardens after the concert. This things should happen more often.

Whilst on topic of musical things, I'm still working away at the violin. I suspect however this this is just a lead to something that I'm reasonably sure that I'll be better at - composition. A musical instrument is a tool, and I've always been better as a generalist rather than a specialist in technical matters. It's the reason why I am, for example, a systems administrator rather than a C/C++ programmer.

Annoyance section: I was earmarked as a guest speaker - indeed, the guest speaker at the CERES/Timor Leste Permaculture fundraiser this weekend. However the person who left a message on my mobile spoke in a garbled tone and returned calls indicated a complete lack of knowledge of when and where I was supposed to turn up. Face it: Email is superior to voice communication

Once again, for the third time in my life, I'm considering vegetarianism or semi-vegetarianism on a ethical basis. The basis of my moral decisions is not from a book (legal or religious) but rather on intersubjective consensus. To be sure, this has an improbable ideal - the fully informed and complete communication - which also means that they are rational, capable of falsfication and improvement, rather than absolute. But does that mean, to the degree that other species can express their wishes - that moral behaviour means not eating/using animals? And if so, which animals? And does Eating oily fish lower hostility?