January 15

Anti-gay legislator blames 'betrayal' on ay marriage for his drunken boating crash

Maryland state legislator Don Dwyer is a religious conservative who has called himself "the face of the opposition" to gay marriage, chastising fellow legislators to reject it because Jeebus and stuff. Most Americans, however, know this self-proclaimed defender of the Constitution and freedoms and whatnot mostly from his alcohol-fueled boating crash last year (and yes, there were injuries, and yes, he's still facing charges).

In this new, miserably depressing story on Dwyer, he cites two things as the reasons for the "increased" drinking that culminated in his crash with another boat, causing him multiple injuries and fracturing the skull of a five-year-old girl. The first is his 2011 separation from his wife. The second is the pressure of being in the legislature, but more specifically, that time other legislators "betrayed" him by not being sufficiently anti-gay-marriage themselves:

Dwyer says he felt sold out when Dels. Tiffany Alston, Wade Kach and Bob Costa voted for same-sex marriage, an issue he spent years crusading against. Dwyer told reporters one day before the vote that he had enough support to block the bill.

Kach, a Republican from Baltimore County, and Alston, a former Democrat from Prince George's County, voted against the bill in committee. But Kach changed his vote after hearing testimony from gay couples. Alston shifted her vote after her amendment was adopted.

Kach and Costa, of Deale, were the only two House Republicans to vote for the bill. It passed the House by two votes in  February.

"I had no time to do anything," Dwyer said. "Had I known earlier, I could have taken some action."

It was petitioned to the November ballot and passed by 52 percent of voters state wide. Voters in Dwyer's district, however, rejected it.

"That betrayal really affected me," he said. "I was physically ill. You pour your heart into an issue like that and it's devastating."

He said his drinking culminated in the crash.

So an intense hatred of gay marriage—and not having that hatred reciprocated by his fellow legislators and voters—is what drove this poor defender of proper marriage and proper faith to booze up and crash his damn boat into another boat. That's some powerful hatred, right there.

In the wake of the crash, Dwyer did not resign as any decent person might, instead gaudily announcing he needs to stay put to "defend individual liberty against unconstitutional laws," but he does admit he needs to rebuild "trust" with voters. I don't know that voters should be keen on reelecting someone whose past reaction to other people being insufficiently anti-gay was to booze up and nearly get some people killed, but I am not from Maryland, I am not a Republican voter, and Dwyer seems confident that all will be forgiven, allowing him to get back to expressing his obsessively anti-gay frustrations in some hopefully less child-skull-fracturing ways.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it means to be an American religious conservative.

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Over 1000 Catholic Priests Sign Letter Opposing Same-Sex Marriage

From the letter: 

After centuries of persecution, Catholics have, in recent times, been able to be members of the professions and participate fully in the life of this country. Legislation for same-sex marriage, should it be enacted, will have many legal consequences, severely restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about marriage in their schools, charitable institutions or places of worship. It is meaningless to argue that Catholics and others may still teach their beliefs about marriage in schools and other arenas if they are also expected to uphold the opposite view at the same time.

The tabloid Daily Mail notes: "The letter, signed by 1054 priests as well as 13 bishops, abbots and other senior Catholic figures, expresses fears that the simple acts of practising or speaking about their faith will be severely limited."

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In other news, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke for the first timetoday in nearly seven years.

Unfortunately he didn't have anything worthwhile to say, he just mumbled a bit.

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Military suicides continue to climb Last year more American service personnel -- 349 -- died by their own hand. That is more deaths than were caused by combat in Afghanistan, and experts don't see the trend reversing any time soon. "The problem reflects severe strains on military personnel burdened with more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, complicated by anxiety over the prospect of being forced out of a shrinking force."

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Hillarity is bound to ensue. Glenn Beck is going all out in his embrace of libertarianism and plans to build a massive "Galt's Gulch" type commune that is estimated to cost $2 billion.

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