Utah: Home of America's Most Voracious Internet Porn Consumers

New Scientist is reporting a study showing that states high in religious right conservatives consume the greatest amount of internet porn per capita.

The study, Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment? was published in the Winter 2009 Journal of Economic Perspectives.

The state earing the title of America's Internet Porn Champ is Utah.

Other findings show that subscriptions are heavier in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality, states where “defense of marriage” amendments have been adopted (making same-sex marriage, and/or civil unions unconstitutional), in states where more people agree that “Even today miracles are performed by the power of God” and “I never doubt the existence of God,” and in states where more people agree that “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage” and “AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behavior.”

Mike's Diary: Nicolai Ceauşescu Visits Conservatorul Ciprian Porumbescu

I posted this elsewhere for the Bucharest folks, but then I thought some readers of this blog might find it amusing too.

I dragged out my Bucharest diary today for the first time in decades. From time to time I'll post of bit of in here. That is ... if I can stop laughing long enough to type. This one had me laughing out loud with tears streaming as I remembered this series of events.

Wednesday, September 29, 1971

Yesterday was kind of a bad day. I was wishing to be back in the US all day and not concentrating much on practicing. When I got back to my room, I realized it had been “looked at.” I know there was no cleaning lady that day. I was told to expect this to happen, but this is the first time I know it has happened.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, at 10:30 some official-looking person barged into my room and started yelling at me in Romanian, then switched to German, but it was so fast I couldn’t understand him. He made me sign a paper for something … who knows what!

President Ceauşescu is going to make a visit to the Conservatory on Friday. Today they made all the students get there at 8:00 (not me) to clean the whole school. They also started rehearsing an orchestra. Of course, all the students think it is a big joke, especially since he’s supposed to catch the school by surprise.

Thursday, September 30, 1971

You won’t believe what the students at the Conservatory had to do today. First, all the boys had to have haircuts and shave off any beards or mustaches. Then, for 2 hours they had to stand around the school and practice clapping. The director of the school of the school walked around like Ceauşescu, and they had to clap whenever he came by.

I have a lesson at 9:00 tomorrow, the time that he’s to be at school. Several of the students think that he will come into my lesson … Yuck! Although they didn’t tell me to get a haircut, I went to the barber with a friend so he could tell the barber what to do. He told him I’m American and I got the whole works! That kind of treatment in the US would be about $11.00. [Remember … this was 1971] Here it was 20 lei, about $1.10. I think it is the best haircut I’ve ever gotten.

Friday, October 1, 1971

President Ceauşescu’s visit was most amusing. I got to school very early for my 9:00 lesson, but discovered that all the practice rooms and studios were locked, and the man who gives out the keys had conveniently disappeared. Mr. Halmoş couldn’t even get a key. At 8:55 we went into the auditorium to wait for Ceauşescu who was due at 9:00. Once we were in the hall we couldn’t leave, so we waited until he came at 10:30. The orchestra played for about 2 minutes, and then he left. We still couldn’t get the key after he left, so we just gave up and left. I spent all afternoon wandering around and went into a beautiful old church with gorgeous icons.

A Most Wonderful Thing Has Happened

Dear blog friends, I know I've been neglecting you. But it is because something wonderful has happened.

It all started during the 1971-1972 school year when I was a Fulbright scholar in Bucharest doing a research project on the piano music of Bela Bartok. I know you probably associate Bartok with Hungary, but after the first World War, the borders were moved around. Bartok's part of Hungary (Transylvania) became part of Romania. And one of Bartok's students was teaching in the conservatory in Bucharest at that point ... so that's how I ended up in Bucharest.

It wasn't long before I met up with a small group of other students, mostly American and French. Since we were all foreign students in a situation behind the Iron Curtain completely foreign to our experiences, we soon developed very strong bonds and had all sorts of wild adventures during the year ... being rebellious college-age types in the 70s (koff).

After that year I was able to correspond for awhile, but it wasn't long before I completely lost track of everyone.

Until the day before yesterday ...

... when one of the gang, David, an American now living in Shanghai, found me on Facebook. He's retired from a foreign service career, but his wife is still working and is now the US Consul General in Shanghai. Through their years of living all over the world he was able to meet up with some of the gang from time to time and is still in contact with some of them.

This morning another of the gang found me thanks to David, she was a Parisian when I met her in Bucharest, but now she's living in the Dominican Republic. (And she's the one most responsible for developing my French-speaking skills back then.)

And we're waiting to hear back from 3 more who haven't yet found any of our e-mails.

As David wrote the other day after we started remembering various misadventures, ....

"Wow, Mike! In terms of memories, this is like opening a barnacle-encrusted chest on the beach that reveals itself to be brimming with a pirate's treasure! "

So, my good friends, please bear with me for awhile as I dig through the treasure.

Bishop Gene Robinson's Testimony In Favor of NH Marriage Bill

Truly a home run with bases loaded.

Video Here.

Christian Bashing Fumbrage*

A federal judge has refused to exempt Prop 8 backers from the law mandating disclosure of contributors. As you recall, Proposition 8 was a voter initiative designed to roll back the civil rights of California GLBT resident. The campaign to get it passed was highly dishonest and hateful and was heavily funded by religious groups, particularly Mormons and Roman Catholics.

U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. ... said California's campaign disclosure laws are intended to protect the public and are especially important during expensive initiative campaigns.

"If there ever needs to be sunshine on a political issue, it is with a ballot measure," England said.

He said many campaign committees have vague names, obscuring their intent. The public would have no way of knowing who is behind the campaigns unless they can see who's giving money, he said.

I think we can expect the so-called "Christian Anti-Defamation Commission" to make another attempt to push their ridiculous Top 10 Christian Bashing Incidents in America, 2008 again.

Poor things ... they want to act like bigots, but they want to be able to do so in secret so nobody knows who they are. Get set for another round of Fumbrage* from the religious-based hatred crowd now that the court ruling won't let them crawl back under their rocks.

But this time there is a brilliant response available to put their pathetic whining to rest.


H/T Lee Weiser

UPDATE 01/30/08: And so it begins, courtesy of Faux Noise: Anti-Gay Marriage Donors Fear Increased Threats After California Judge's Disclosure Ruling

Amazing Mel White

OK, it's time to make a confession. I'm hooked on the TV show, Amazing Race. And what a delightful surprise I had finding an e-mail from Soulforce this afternoon announcing that Mel White and his son, Mike, will be participants in the next edition of the show.

Once ghost writer for Jerry Falwell, author of Stranger at the Gate, and founder of Soulforce, Mel White is now going to star in a television reality series!

There's a clip of Mel and Mike in this video.

Vindictive Hateful Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Other Roman Catholic Hierarchy

This has been quite a week for the Roman Catholics. First the Vatican affirms a Holocaust denier, and now this.

Father Tony has posted news of a disgusting development regarding the Roman Catholic hierarchy's vindictive persecution of Father Geoff Farrow, the priest who came out against rolling back the civil rights of GLBT California residents.

You must read all of Father Tony's post, but here's a bit to get you started.

Today I spoke with a member of CLUE's board of directors, Rev. James Conn, a Methodist minister and Director of New Ministries for the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church. Reverend Conn had been directly involved in the recruitment and interview process involving Father Geoff.

I asked him if CLUE had denied Father Geoff a second interview specifically because the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles threatened to cut off all its significant funding for CLUE should Father Geoff ever be offered the position in question.

As incredible as it may seem, Reverend Conn confirmed the truth of this and expressed his heartfelt disappointment over the fact that CLUE had to choose between continuing the interview process with an extremely promising and qualified candidate or risk losing the financial support of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles that is critical to CLUE's work.

The entire post is here.

UPDATE 01/30/09: The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation into Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in connection with his response to the molestation of children by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.
H/T TomTallis in the comments.