Nothing like being the political football...

It's Marriage Protection Week, courtesy a national proclamation from the Office of the President. The full text is here.

It's not a big deal, really, except for the intentionally exclusionary language. President Bush is again making the statement that marriage is a man and a woman, setting that position on paper in the form of a national political statement, and doing so in a context that says that the rest of us are the ones from whom marriage needs protection.

But this isn't news to anyone. This is the usual political rhetoric, just writ into a national proclamation. I really don't see the point.

I mean, I presume it's the lead-in to the big push next year, the one for for an amendment to the Constitution banning same-gender marriage. In the draft I saw last, it'll also ban anything that provides similar recognition to same-gender couples - in other words, no more domestic partnerships. Take that, Vermont. Take that, California. Take that, presumably, Massachusetts.

(Not to mention, "take that, Federalism," but then the Republicans haven't been Federalists - or small-government politicians, either - unless it suited their real agendas. Not for a long, long time.)

Proclamations don't really help with an amendment effort, though. I don't even know why it's been thrown out there. Is it just a slap at us? Is it just a little poke, a little reminder to say, "we really don't like you. We like rubbing your face in it."? Is it just a moment's assurance to the fundamentalist right, letting them know that he'll be on their side? That's not news. Everybody knows.

So... what does it mean? What's the real intent here? Is there one, beyond "take that, queers?"

I really can't tell.

Aikido, plus Alphabet Meme

News from the land of aikido:

1) Assistant-sensai was surprised that my previous time at the dojo had only been four or six weeks or so. (I don't remember how many exactly.) Apparently, as far as he can tell, I remember all of it, or something like that. I really thought I did kind of badly today, but apparently not.

2) He also thinks I should be able to test up next testing session. That'd be neat. And fast, apparently.

3) In fact, I'm getting a little nervous that I may be being seen as the New Talent, which is kind of neat, but also vaguely scary. (Mmmm, pressure!) I'm getting a lot of sensai attention over details. Tonight, sensai was pairing me with a assistant-sensai most of the time. I do take it seriously and I do want to be good! But only as long as I keep enjoying it. I'm afraid of screwing that up by getting too much into it, or something.

4) The dojo is moving! It's very sad. The rent on the current place has just been going up and up and up, and it's become impossible to keep up with the rent. It's sad; they've been there since I was there the first time, and that's a long time. Plus, it's a really nice building. The good side is that they're moving closer to my house, down to University Heights, on the Ave. This takes it from a 15 minute walk down to a five minute walk away. They won't have significantly less room - the changing area will be a little smaller - they get to build in an elevated mat floor, so that will be just as good as it is now, and the rent will be a lot less. So! It's not a total loss.

4a) On the other hand, I really do like the walk. Oh well.

5) Introduction to the bokken today! Very neat. I've never played with one of those before. An actual sword, yes, but not in this kind of context. They're making me learn it right handed, though, which is kind of annoying. (I got the idea that everybody has to learn it right-handed and this isn't just a trick of this dojo.)

Anyway, I'm really enjoying it. I hope it stays that way. ^_^

( And now, the alphabet meme, completed )