Dating service now open to gays and lesbians

The online dating service eHarmony ™ has settled out of court with a man from New Jersey and, as part of the agreement, will now add two more dating options -- women seeking women, and men seeking men. It has been up till now been only open to heterosexuals.

The service, founded by Dr. Neil Clark Warren and which was once connected to Focus on the Family (no, seriously), had apparently been considering the options but kept putting it in the "planning stages." The new site which is going to be up by March 2009 will be called "Compatible Partners."

Absolutely the correct thing to do. I have no issues with two people of the same sex living together or trying to find companionship -- they face the same difficulties finding someone as people who are "straight," like me. Denying one's matchmaking services to a specific subset of the culture, or any other business so denying their fare for that matter, for a fee -- even when someone is willing to pay -- is a stupid way to run a business as far as I'm concerned. It's as stupid as the days when entire neighbourhoods were off-limits to those of the Jewish faith.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't care if someday we have a Prime Minister who is gay or lesbian and has his or her partner living with him or her at 24 Sussex -- as long as they can do the job of running the Langevin Block, I don't give a damn what they do under the sheets. If I recall correctly, Sweden has already had this precedent, and gay marriages become legal there next year (civil unions have been available in Abbaland for quite some time).

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Microsoft offering free anti-virus

So many of us use the PC platform for our computing that it's become almost ubiquitous. On the one hand, having a near universal standard makes life that much easier for software developers (who are then freed to make their programs even better than if having to start from scratch); on the other hand we become so reliant to the MS standard that we've exposed ourselves to numerous Trojan horses and other computer bugs -- a fact Apple's Mac ™ keeps poking fun at (even though there are quite a few Apple-specific viruses out there). The danger is so great that both platforms, but especially the former, keep urging us to have a registered and up to date anti-virus and firewall program.

Now, Microsoft is getting set to offer its own security and anti-virus package next summer, for free -- a tool which will work on XP, Vista and the forthcoming Windows 7. Just as Netscape went the way of the dodo, a lot of people wonder if this is The End for McAfee and Norton, among others.

I doubt it -- the MS program appears to be a no-frills program for those who want only the basics. Looks like they're going after the notebook crowd, mainly, as well as those still on dial-up. Many of us want and need something more robust.

Still, seeing how MS mowed down the competition in the past, such as IBM's OS2 and the NeXT Station, I wouldn't be too eager to be optimistic if I were one of those who make commercial packages. I would just promote it as a better product and why a pay package is better than the free one -- just as pay TV and extended basic cable often is better than free TV. Heck, even some free software anti-virus in competition might end up being better too. I didn't much like MS's spyware tool which I had to uninstall because it slowed down my desktop big time but some downloadable freebies work for spy and adware I have work just fine -- they're in the background and unobtrusive and often killing the spyware without even me knowing about it.

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Breaking: Ted Stevens, loses Senate seat? Wunnerful, wunnerful!

From the AP, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich now has an insurmountable lead of 3,724 --since there are only 2500 ballots left to be counted. One (Alaska) down, two (Georgia, Minnesota) to go!

Also, Stevens said he will not seek a pardon from Dubya. I don't think Shrub would want to give him one anyway.

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Man got (then lost) an annulment -- for this?

A headline in today's Toronto Star reads "Muslim loses virginity case". Stupid wording in my opinion, but here's the gist: Some time ago, a Muslim man in France sought an annulment from his wife because, he claimed, his bride "lied about being a virgin." A lower court granted the man's request but an appeals court has reinstated the marriage; saying that's not a good enough reason, that an annulment can only be granted if one of the partners "has misrepresented his or her essential qualities.'"

Guess virginity doesn't count as one of them. What, he actually believed she had been telling him the truth? Prosecutors said granting an annulment would amount to discrimination against women -- and I totally agree with that.

This isn't a swipe against any one religion in particular. Not long after the Charter of Rights came into force in Canada a number of Christian husbands tried to block their wives from divorcing them saying their religion forbade a divorce and they took an oath to be married "until death do us part" -- in other words, divorce against one's beliefs amounted to violating one's freedom of religion.

The courts correctly ruled that the state is not concerned with the religious aspects of a marriage even if is held in a place of worship; only the civil aspects since a minister, rabbi or imam is also a licensed agent of the state. In the event of bona fide marital breakdown a divorce must be granted since, in the view of the state, anything that comes after the only legally required words "I take you to be my wife / husband" is obiter dicta (excess verbiage); a religious separation based on what comes after those words (or violation thereof) is a matter for the denomination to decide, not the state.

I don't like divorce especially as my parents split up that way, but sometimes that is the only option. If the woman misrepresented her "nature" such that it was, then the man should have sought an immediate divorce, not an annulment -- then pressed charges of fraud if he thought the lie amounted to a breach of trust. Even then I don't anyone would take the man seriously. If everyone was bound to the double standard he would have liked the courts to abide by, the divorce rate would double overnight -- and civil courts throughout the EU have a notoriously long backlog.

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FOTF slashes workforce

Is it just the bad economy or "cash strapped" donors as the ministry claims -- or have people finally gotten fed up with Rev. James Dobson and his repeated attempts over the past year to ensure who he believed to be "God's candidate" -- i.e. anyone but Obama -- got elected? It's hard to say but Focus on the Family is eliminating 202 jobs and slashed $22 million from its budget for next year. It's also eliminating four of its eight print magazines and moving them to online content.

I'm not going to gloat on this one -- Colorado Springs is being hit hard by the recession with unemployment already at 6% before this bombshell.

But surely a ministry must understand that if it wishes for something it's bound to get it back in ways unanticipated. Remember during the summer when FOTF asked its members to pray for a downpour in Denver so Obama couldn't give his speech at Mile High? Instead, it was Galveston, over 900 miles to the southeast, that got inundated. The laid off employees have their bosses to blame -- stupid things said will lead to a decline in donations which usually remain robust even during difficult times.

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Happy b-day, Gord!

Before I forget, a very happy b-day to one of the legends of the music business and one of Canada's best exports ever. Gordon Lightfoot turned 70 today.

Mark Cuban charged: "Insider trading" sez SEC

The SEC, the US Securities and Exchanges Commission, has issued insider trading charges. Nothing new there. But the accused is quite a shock: Dallas Mavericks owner and erstwhile film producer Mark Cubanwho it is alleged sold 600,000 shares in a Canadian search engine called mamma.com (now called Copernic) -- essentially, he knew an upcoming supplementary offering would dilute the share price so he sold all his shares the same day he supposedly got the tip. By doing so, he avoided losing $750,000.

(Source: KTXA, Dallas TX)

Yes, the same Mark Cuban who made a huge profit before the dot-com bubble burst; the same Cuban who has been fined about $1.5 million over the years by the NBA for his repeated outbursts against referees.

As always, one presumes innocence until proof of guilt. But after Enron, Worldcom, Xerox and even one solitary figure named Martha Stewart, you'd think that Cuban would know better than to profit from important info like that at the expense of others -- if the allegations are true. Even if one could make a technical argument that nothing illegal was done, it still amounts to an unfair advantage. Just as there's a morals clause for players there should be one for owners -- and the NBA should suspend Cuban pending the outcome of the trial.

Sadly, there goes yet another figure we presumed was at least slightly ethical; even if he's acquitted he's dead meat as far as a public profile goes.

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The Old Boys -- um, the Old Idiots

If the Liberal Party is supposed to be going through a renewal process, it's going to be a very messy one with former roommates Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff already throwing the gloves off. Rae accused Ignatieff of trying to keep the press out of an all candidate forum. The latter said he presumed that it was a private meeting before party executives.

Iggy was my second rank choice last time out (behind Gerard Kennedy who isn't running this time), but if both he and Rae Day are going to act like most of the other brats that come out of Upper Canada College then maybe it's time both stepped aside and some new ideas be allowed to be injected into the system. We don't need idiots running the party, especially Old Boys -- we need leaders and Rae and Ignatieff are acting anything but like leaders right out of the gate. Disgusting.

I mean really. A former Ontario Premier who busted the budget, and a Harvard Professor. Wow. How did people expect they would act?

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Saturday night music vault: Pilot of the Airwaves

At the close of another crazy week, something I've been looking for, for a long time. Remember this classic from 1980? Charlie Dore is well respected in Europe and has written a number of hit songs for quite a few A-listers on both shores of the Atlantic, yet on this side of the pond she is still considered one of those "One Hit Wonders." Too bad ...





What do we have as an excuse for music today? Don't even go there. About the only good thing to come out of the factory the last couple years was Weird Al's "White and Nerdy," a parody song. That's how bad it's gotten.

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Girl power in Nunavut

Nunavut, like the Northwest Territories, does not have territory level political parties. The legislature operates on a consensus basis -- with the Premier and Cabinet chosen among its ranks. This means among other things that even if an incumbent Premier is re-elected as an MLA in his home district he still needs the confidence of his fellow legislators to stay on in the top job. In a delightful surprise yesterday, the two-term Premier, Paul Okalik, was voted out. His replacement is Eva Aariak. What's more incredible -- Aariak is the only woman on the legislature, and she's a rookie MLA. (Previously, she was the territory's language commissioner.)


Aariak admits her job won't be easy. The cost of living in the territory remains the highest in Canada, development prospects remain grim in the current credit meltdown and if that's not bad enough the rate of suicide is far ahead of the rest of the country and there are health care issues exacerbated by a vast territory the size of Western Europe.

Perhaps this is reflected in the fact that five of her six cabinet members are also new to the executive and of them three are also rookies. (A seventh post will be filled once a by-election is held next month -- the general election in that district was cancelled to a court challenge alleging major irregularities.)

Regardless, it will be nice that the next Premiers' meeting won't all be thirteen men in suits (plus Laureen Teskey's clown, whenever he actually deems to show up). A woman's touch may actually knock some sense in the other bozos. We're going to need that in the rocky months ahead. And as a wise woman said: "If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."

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Whither the Eurozone?

It's official -- the 15 EU countries that use the Euro currency are in recession or more correctly have been since April of this year. So too, it turns out, is the entire EU block, including the twelve states that presently have opted out of the Euro.

Is this trouble for the world entire? You bet.

There have been currency unions before -- some Caribbean states for example share a common currency (the Eastern Caribbean dollar, or XCD) which in any case is pegged fairly close to the US dollar. But the Euro (EUR), which celebrates its 10th birthday in the new year as a virtual currency and its 7th as a material one (in terms of paper notes and coinage) is a behemoth by comparison. At the end of last year, about €610 billion were in circulation -- which is more than all the equivalent in greenbacks out there on the entire planet.

For those who don't remember, here are the countries that use it: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus (South), France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Slovenia. Slovakia will adopt the currency in the new year, with more countries to follow in the early 10s. (Three other countries, all outside the EU -- Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City -- also mint Euro coins by permission but are not part of the group that decides how the currency is managed.)

Why should we worry on this side of the pond? Because this is the first time in living memory so many countries have fallen flat and so fast -- and certainly the first time so many have at the same time.

On the one hand, a common currency simplifies life both for B2B transactions as well as for tourism. No need to change money at the border, no more hedging that a vendor might end up losing money on the deal. On the other hand, if one country goes into recession (or, in reverse, overheats economically) that country's government can't simply loosen or tighten the money supply (respectively) on its own -- it has to act in coordination with its partners as well as the head office of the currency, in this case the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. The very strength of the money also is its strongest weakness.

Now imagine having to juggle fifteen developed countries with often competing interests and various national rates of slowdown. All states being relatively stable democracies to be sure, but all of which have surrendered one of the ultimate and tangible symbols of national sovereignty. And, let's not forget, while the UK is still sticking with the pound sterling officially, its banks actually do at least 90% of their business in the Euro, so it's not like they're not catching the cold from the Continent. So you can imagine Jean-Claude Trichet pulling his hair out right now figuring how to keep things from collapsing after floating hundreds of billions of euros on the open market already this year.

While many may wish for their old money back, most would admit the Euro is pretty much permanent. So why should we care?

Much of the world does trade with Europe, including Canada. So we're bound to feel the impact too. If the currency continues its rapid downward slide as the recession deepens -- a total reversal from just a few months ago when it was flirting with $1.60 US -- then new quality machinery companies need here will become more expensive to procure; leaving manufacturers to go to places with already questionable quality, Mainland China just being one of them. On the flip side, a lower Euro should mean a boon for foreign tourism but with people just barely scraping by here it's hard to see too many people going to Europe for vacations in the near future; Europeans in turn are going to be reluctant to return the favour.

Making things even worse.

Where does this leave Barack Obama? With one hell of a juggling act. He's going to have to figure out how to appease his own people in America as well as the citizens of Fortress Europe without offending either side. Failure to do so will lead to greater destabilization. At least he only has to deal with two currencies -- not dozens. But there are a whole lot of countries at stake.

Fasten your seat belt folks -- we've only just begun.

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Since when did the Amish do this?

I don't know if it was in your local paper, but earlier this week the rag here in Hamilton had a full page ad giving away "free" Amish heat stoves on a first come first serve basis. Of course you have to pay shipping and handling -- which probably covers the cost of the materials plus a bit of profit.

But didn't anyone notice that the stoves are electric? I thought the Amish eschew electricity; so why would they make stuff that uses it? If -- if -- they drive cars, it's always black, just a base model and they never use the a/c; and they go in and out of merchant shops as fast as they can so they're not exposed to the "sinfulness" of our world for longer than absolutely necessary. That includes artificially produced heat and light. Granted, the vast majority of the community has a peace of mind that most of us can only dream of.

You can slap the word "Amish" on anything to give it an imprimatur of quality or a wholesome character. Doesn't mean it is really Amish. Chinese food here in North America (at least the kind at quick serve restaurants or buffets) isn't Mandarin or Cantonese -- it's mostly San Francisco fare. "Pizzas" aren't Italian, either -- a real Italian pie is thick, even thicker than the fare in Chicago. I have to wonder what the deal is here. Has anyone out there tried those heat stoves and is the provenance of origin genuine?

If this was a real advertisement, all the power to the vendor. If it was a fake, shouldn't the paper as well as the seller ask questions about its truthfulness? Uh, well not the paper -- after all Newsworld ran ads for weeks about silver coins made from the finds in a vault under Ground Zero in Manhattan, years after Eliot Spitzer (yes, him) ruled the whole operation fraudulent, and other than a few random blog posts I don't know if the CRTC or any fair practices agency called out the CBC on it.

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Hillary for State?

NBC reported tonight that Barack Obama will resign his Senate seat on Sunday, a lot earlier than expected, paving the way for a by-election in Illinois sometime mid-winter. (Theoretically he could stick it out right to January 20th but I guess he's too busy with the transition and security briefings.)

The network's Andrea Mitchell reported as well that Obama is seriously considering putting his main Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in his Cabinet. No surprise there. What is a surprise is the post for which she is being considered: State.

Clinton has never been as media saavy as Obama. (Remember how the "vast right wing conspiracy" talk wound up blowing up in her face, when Bill admitted the real blow up -- pardon the expression?) The extent of her foreign affairs experience is some time at the airport in Tuzla and Track II chats with women's groups in Northern Ireland, as well as the junkets she went on with Slick Willy while she was First Lady. No doubt a chance to gladhand with executive and legislative officials from other countries, but that does make her qualified to be America's top diplomat?

She's no Madeleine Albright. Her tough as nails approach would be much better served as Attorney General. After all, you need to keep the press that covers the diplomatic beat happy. You don't have to care about the Fourth Estate if you're the top law enforcement officer. Just ask John Ashcroft.

For State, I'd pick someone with more foreign policy experience. It should be a career diplomat, or perhaps an ex-spy. Nothing would be sweeter justice than to see Valerie Plame or her husband, Joe Wilson, get the job -- after the way they were both ratfucked by the Bush White House. Given political realities right now, the likely candidates are John Kerry, Bill Richardson

On a totally unrelated subject: A Catholic priest today in Greenville SC said no communion for Obama voters. I thought it was a secret ballot ...

It's also patently silly. It's one thing to challenge Obama on his pro-choice position, as America's Catholic bishops have vowed. To take it out on their parishoners risks internal strife and schism, and given the American Church is still ripped apart over the sex abuse scandals, alienating the laity even more is the last thing that is needed right now. As usual, Roman Catholics in America went with the winner (54%, just slightly above the national overall) and "seemless web" issues weren't the only thing on their minds last week.

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"If invited, would you attend?"

Not too long ago, a fellow blogger (can't say which, since he or she asked to remain anonymous) asked me a hypothetical but good question. Notwithstanding how I feel about gay marriage, if I got an invitation to attend one, would I reply that I was coming?

I never thought about that about, actually. But here's my answer: If it was two men, probably not unless one of the partners was a relative. If it was two women, almost certainly yes; especially if one of them was someone I had a great deal of respect for.

That's just me, though.

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Ted Stevens now behind (uh, in vote count)

For those of us who've been hoping that convicted US Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) would be voted out of office and not have to face an almost certain expulsion, there's some good news.

Absentee ballots and votes cast at the advance polls have been counted since last Tuesday's election, when Stevens appeared to have a 3000 vote lead despite his conviction -- confirming suspicions by many in the Lower 48 that corruption and greed are part of an oil economy no matter if there is democracy or not (as in Saudi Arabia). With about 35,000 or so ballots left to be counted, Stevens' Democrat challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has begun to pull out a very narrow lead over Stevens -- first just three votes, now 814.

The mail-in ballots are mostly coming in from parts of Alaska that tend to be friendly to Democrats, but Begich was also leading in many parts of Bush country. If the trend lines continue that will be another Dem pickup and increase the chances the donkey will get closer to the magic number of 60. There's still that recount in Minnesota between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, while there's a runoff in Georgia between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin.

One other thing -- why hasn't Missouri announced who won the Presidential in that state? Could it be embarrassed to have not picked the winner for the first time in 52 years -- or are there still absentee ballots waiting to be counted there? We just don't know.

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