Dolphin’s Dock

• My head is killing me! #
• Check your clocks. Our days just got shorter. http://bit.ly/adHmlj #
• To the kids loitering on the street corner: why aren't you in school? #
• and it's snowing again. #
• http://twitpic.com/168zbj – It's almost 40 out, why is the snow sticking? #
• IE6's funeral is today: One thing I'll always remember about him is that he was never one to follow the crowd…. http://bit.ly/aFuLqW #
• A man shoots up the Pentagon because he's anti-government & the police say "no indication of terrorism." What? That's what terrorism is! #
• How did I not know about this? As I was reading I was thinking, yeah and it probably works on 2 browsers, but… http://bit.ly/cBm80b #

The election of Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have made Virginia a pretty hostile place to be gay. Which is a feat for a state that was not exactly pro-gay to begin with. Gov. McDonnell kicked it off by removing discrimination protection in employment for state agencies, and AG Cuccinelli has taken things a step further by informing state colleges and universities that they are violating state law if the enact such policies on their own. The ACLU of VA is already challenging him on it (on grounds that I find terribly interesting because if they are right, they’d be invalidating both Cuccinelli and McDonnell’s actions and possibly effectively establishing a federal anti-discrimination policy for sexual orientation in the public sector), but I find Cuccinelli’s move to be extraordinarily disturbing.

Unlike McDonnell who simply regressed to no particular policy at all regarding sexual orientation, Cuccinelli is contending that NOT discriminating is a violation of state law. I’m intentionally ignoring here the distinction between written policy and observed but not written policy, but I’m doing to to make the point of why Cuccinelli’s action is so much more disturbing than McDonnell’s. I’m not suggesting that Cuccinelli’s letter could be enforced in this manner (if it’s enforceable at all which is questionable), but bear with me while I follow it to it’s theoretical end. One cannot legally prohibit NOT discriminating without simultaneously legally mandating discrimination. They are two sides of the same coin. If I can’t choose NOT to discriminate, then the only choice I have left is TO discriminate. If we ignore the distinction between written and simply followed policy, we’re left with a letter from the Attorney General that effectively makes it illegal for a state school to hire a gay person.

As I mentioned, obviously a school might choose not to discriminate despite the absence of a written policy, but I think prohibiting them from writing down the policies is a pretty clear shot at eliminating the policies altogether. The whole notion of setting up the law to explicitly prohibit the employment of certain groups of people strikes me as not simply “conservative” but a not so small step in the direction of social experimentation on the scale of eugenics.

• More snow? Really? #
• I support @k92angryzack 's quest to kill FarmVille! #
• Look at what I just found in the @MacHeist warehouse! Free copies of the new app Squeeze for Mac! http://MacHeist.com #
• If you're only supposed to take Tylenol once every 4 hours, why does it only make your headache go away for 1! #
• I'm tried of being sick. #

• I get back from teaching and get hit with the same CSS IE bug I JUST finished warning my students about! #
• My office building is on fire. #
• Back in. Just a small fire on the 4th floor. #
• Want either an iPod Touch or an iPad at the end of the semester; can't decide. I like the size of the iPad but the portability of the Touch. #
• Gee VA, thanks for electing McDonnell. Virginia is for Bankruptcy AND Bigotry. http://bit.ly/bjE2gI #
• The problem w/ making delicious, vegan, gluten-free lasagna, is if you don't eat it every meal for a week some will go bad before it's gone. #
• My boss finished our morning meeting with "Ok, have a good weekend everyone. Umm…. I mean after work." #
• All the interesting nipple jewelry is 14g and I wanna stick to my 12… #
• To head to The Park or not. Friend from Lburg I haven't seen in awhile is gonna be there. OTOH, I'm old now and get tired early! #
• Can we add a couple of days to this weekend please! #

• I get back from teaching and get hit with the same CSS IE bug I JUST finished warning my students about! #
• My office building is on fire. #
• Back in. Just a small fire on the 4th floor. #
• Want either an iPod Touch or an iPad at the end of the semester; can't decide. I like the size of the iPad but the portability of the Touch. #
• Gee VA, thanks for electing McDonnell. Virginia is for Bankruptcy AND Bigotry. http://bit.ly/bjE2gI #
• The problem w/ making delicious, vegan, gluten-free lasagna, is if you don't eat it every meal for a week some will go bad before it's gone. #
• My boss finished our morning meeting with "Ok, have a good weekend everyone. Umm…. I mean after work." #
• All the interesting nipple jewelry is 14g and I wanna stick to my 12… #
• To head to The Park or not. Friend from Lburg I haven't seen in awhile is gonna be there. OTOH, I'm old now and get tired early! #
• Can we add a couple of days to this weekend please! #

• Ok, but what if you have cats AND a dog? http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AmazingAnimals/pet-/story?id=9781764&page=1 #
• Another night in courtesy of falling ice. #
• I developed a new simply jQuery plugin today for work that I'm calling "Easy Prompt" I need to tweak it up a bit… http://bit.ly/9NWEic #
• I swear Lynchburg just doesn't bother clearing the street. Roads were great all the way til the city limits. #
• Need to get my haircut BAD. Can we please have just one non-snowed in weekend? #
• Drove all the way into to Lynchburg before realizing I left my computer at home! #
• The bathroom is the warmest place in the entire office. I'm half-tempted to take my MacBook in there to work! #
• Why is it that I almost always type "sidebar" as "siderbar" #

• Enough with snow and ice already! #
• I think if I don't have to teach because of snow, my other job should be cancelled as well! #
• Of 7.6 million vehicles affected, only 70 actual complaints and a fix is already being shipped out, yet Toyotas are no longer "safe." Huh? #
• People are complaining that the iPad is just a large iPod Touch. But a larger iPod Touch is exactly what I've been wanting for awhile now. #
• ummm… Snowstorm coming and we have no alcohol in the house (plenty of food tho)!!! Problem? I think so. #
• I'm getting used to looking out my window and seeing white. #
• http://twitpic.com/11rozg – Zeke loves trying to catch snowballs! #
• http://twitpic.com/11rpw1 – It's a snow castle. #

Nice thing about snowballs, is that when he decides not to bring it back, I don’t have to go get it!

• Can't decide if this CSS tool would be useful or annoying. I'll have to try it on my next website I think. http://bit.ly/5kpGim #
• I'm guessing the river outside my office window is about 4-6ft higher than normal. #
• If you do anythign in the web design field, you'll love this comic. http://bit.ly/62DqrP #
• My HS show choir is scheduling a reunion after a pic of us on FB got us all talking again. #wtdh #
• Wow, so found out today three friends from my past are dead. Only 1 over the age of 30 (31). #
• They were saying the snow was gonna start at 1pm. It's 9:30 and I haven't seen the first flake… #
• CBS'll air a political "pro-life" ad, but a gay dating website's ad (albiet stupid) gets cut? True colors are showin – http://bit.ly/atnJnV #
• Happy Birthday @stfu_justin! #
• I think soaking in a outdoor hot tub would be a great snow day activity. Too bad I don't have one. #
• Anyone else think believing Palin is "presidential material" ought to disqualify them from holding public office? http://bit.ly/9dYxmz #
• I really love the fact that my step-dad just introduced Ben to someone as his "son-in-law" #

I usually don’t get caught up in the abortion topic. I certainly have my views, but as hot button issues go, I don’t get as worked up over abortion as most (on either side). But I can’t help but think Focus on the Family is kinda accidentally running an ad for their opposition during this year’s Super Bowl.

Tim Tebow may go down in history as the greatest college football player who ever lived. And to think none of that would have happened if not for a decision his mother made nearly 23 years ago.

That is the message of a controversial new ad starring Tebow and his mother, Pam.

Isn’t Tebow’s very existence evidence that we DON’T need to criminalize abortion? Here we have a mother who, when given the choice, decided not to have an abortion. Is it just me or is that a shining example of how people can make (what one assumes FotF thinks is) the “right” choice without being compelled to do it against their will?