So tonight we met friends at Waterfire Providence. Well, it’s kind of always been an attraction to the inner pyromaniac in me.

That said, I can recall when it first started you got nice sparse crowds, it was quiet and serene.

Apparently it has become a draw for subarbanites too. And very nattering and no longer serene. It’s like you temporarily transplanted the entirety of the state into an area that is about 1.5 miles long.

Sometimes they hit rather close.

As I’m sure everyone is aware the oxymoronically named National Organization for Marriage has been touring a handful of states and presenting their Bigot Cavalcade.

The Cavalcade is performed by perennial bigots like Brian Brown, Maggie Gallagher, and a host of new characters particularly Catholic bishops and priests.

In their St. Paul stop they spoke to a priest who not quite as slick as our local equivalent here in RI, brought up something interesting. He said that gay people weren’t born that way but formed.

This brought up by readings of Heretic Tom’s blog. Tom is a former Catholic priest who is now openly gay and for the most part atheist.

In it he talks a lot about his formation as a Catholic priest. I think the nearest civil equivalent is compartmentalization. The vast majority of priests are very deft at that skill. Just as how Tom reminds us that there are a plethora of gay priests out there, despite the Vatican’s best efforts to purge the ranks.

But the upshot of all this is the mindset of the bigots. I recall the phrase “Do as I say, not as I do.” That’s right. This is pretty much the hallmark of the anti-equality crowd. It can also be summed up as the thought that “I got mine, screw you and yours.” or the term “assholes”. So they don’t want to be called bigots anymore? I think Asshole works just fine.

If they are really the National Organization FOR Marriage then you’d think they would be out making ridiculous statements to deny LGBT people our full measure of equality.

Instead NOM is just a group of religious bigots who want to see their version of a hateful, petty and vindictive god rule over everyone else especially those of us that are LGBT.

But what if I don’t accept your god. In fact I’ll tell you that your god doesn’t exist.

And I note with some great degree of glee that Maggie “The Loathsome” Gallagher is looking rather porcine and haggard lately.

And Brian Brown needs to shut his pie hole. We’re not violating YOUR rights buddy boy, but you’re violating ours and every time we get in your face I cheer!

I really like this phone. I’m learning more and more about its capabilities.

Granted the net speed is 144 Kilobytes, not too fast but not too slow either.

I’ve setup my weather and news feeds on it. Not a lot of options for news sources but the web browser does work with the local rag.

Text messaging and email on this thing absolutely rock. That keyboard makes it so easy to tap out a message in a flash.

The sound quality on it is excellent. CDMA spread spectrum sounds REALLY GOOD!

I believe Spring carries a version of this phone. It’s called the LG Remarq and Sprint gives it away for free, and yeah you’re locked into a several year contract for that.

The Imprint on the other hand cost $109 but it’s MINE. And there is no contract. As long as I want to use the service I just keep paying and it is all good.

It’s the model for cell service that I always advocated. Granted it costs double what I think it SHOULD cost but consider the last cell I had was a T-Mobil and for the same cost per month all I got was 1,000 minutes of voice.

For the same price I get a host of features. Unlimited voice, unlimited texts, international texts, So it’s a wash.

And as for Keyron’s phone – I was gonna put him on the cheapie plan but realized Loopt wasn’t included. Still, I’m toying with dumping the Vonage line because the phone number I use most is a Google Voice number that just shunts calls to the cell now.

So I noted I had waiting mail on yahoo. Logged in and watched it hang. Though that was odd so I killed the Firefox task and restarted. Same result.

Also getting messages that software update couldn’t work, etc. This was Firefox 3.6.7

Downloaded 3.6.8 and on end of install it wants to fucking reboot the computer. Three words for the Mozilla crew: WHAT THE FUCK!

Once again I have a job where a cell phone is required. Of course not on the company’s dime but mine. Then again I’m told that the level of on-call activity is such that 1 call during my week of rotation on would be a huge volume of calls.

I’d already decided to go with MetroPCS. Stopped in Friday afternoon. The whole process to buy the phone took about 10 to 15 minutes. Not too bad and I walked out with a fully charged and active phone.

I like their $40 to $60 plans that include unlimited voice and SMS as well as web, email, etc. I went with the $50 plan. The only real difference $5 extra gets me is the ability to connect to ANY email server.

That $60 plan is for if you’re using a Blackberry. Guess you have to pay a premium for that Crackberry huh? One thing I really like is that when they say $40 they mean $40, not like the example of Vonage where their $24.99 plan turns into $35 after all the fees, taxes and bogus charges laid on.

Didn’t sign up for international calling because most of our clients for this office are U.S. centric.

Ended up getting the LG Imprint. It’s biggest attraction was it’s price, $109 as opposed to over $200 for the Crackberry.

Interesting phone.

In the photo it’s fully extended. It’s a slider and is half the size when slid down. It’s roughly rectangular when closed. It’s .6″ thick which is a bit on the thick side and weighs a scant 3.81oz. Fits nicely in my pocket too.

For such a small phone it does have a full keyboard. It’s great for text messaging and email. Also has this little feature called Loopt. You add your friends and you can see where everyone is due to the fact that every phone out there today sends out GPS data.

The web browsing and camera on the other hand are OK to use in a pinch. The camera will be useful for those quick shots but I’ll keep the Sanyo in the pack for those times when you want a little more than 1.3MP. Also has full on Bluetooth support. Sure enough, I paired my Motorola Rockr S-9’s and they work flawlessly.

I’ll be getting one for Keyron too. In fact it’s interesting when I got a new computer I had to get one for him. I get a new phone, I have to get one for him.

They do offer a slight break for family plans and at that point I may just disconnect the Vonage line entirely. It’s becoming too expensive in my view.

And I have a Google Talk number that I can point at the cell so it’s all good.

It’s now been leaked that the turnout for the Bigot Cavalcade here in Providence was pretty much brought in by the busload from places OUTSIDE the state. This seems to be a recurring theme for NOM here in RI.

And I’m pleased that Brian Brown got a dose of his own medicine in Providence. Good on Vito and his friends for getting right in Brown’s face. The video from the event was interesting what with Xtians speaking in tongues (psycho babble) and imploring their gawd to help US! The nerve! If I wanted your ‘help’ I’d ask for it.

But not to be on the bottom for too long, when the Cavalcade landed in Annapolis, Brown didn’t like that a videographer for the NOM Tour Trackers was taking video of the sparse crowd and asking Brown about his expectations for the turnout, etc.

Brown then sent one of the local cops over to harass the videographer.

Let me make it clear. Just because you have a permit doesn’t mean you have exclusive use of a PUBLIC place. Brown used the same bullshit about Providence, that they had a permit etc. and how dare we confront him on the grounds of the State House.

I have news for him, it is OUR State House and you and your group of liars aren’t welcome here.

A friend summed it up nicely. He said that what we’re seeing is the dying gasps of the religious bigots. My thing is, they just can’t die soon enough.

Watch this video:

Let me tell Brian Brown and his ilk at the National Organization for Marriage (There’s that oxymoron again because if they really were FOR marriage they wouldn’t be opposed to full equality in marriage rights.) that whether or not you have a ‘permit’ you are still in a public space.

As it was I got a little bit of video from the Providence event. Not a very good crowd for NOM at all.

And

Wind was pretty bad up there.
I’d have let the cop arrest me because it would have been one hell of a test case.

And as it was, NOM got what they deserved here in RI. They tried turning the cops on our side but they too were told to stay on their own side and start packing up to get going.

Sometimes the Capitol Police and State Police in RI are class acts all the way.

I’m reminded of a marriage equality hearing last year where Chris Young, candidate for Mayor of Providence (And anti-equality bigot) and still crazy after all these years, was ejected by capitol police for mouthing off. I have to admit I did call him a bigot and that sent him off on a tear but each year we bet how long Young will be allowed in the room before he gets tossed. Year after year the Capitol Police seem to have less patience with him.

Lets see: I’ve got at least four of em’.

1) Drunkards – Yeah I like beer, and wine!

2) Blasphemers – God Fucking Damn it!

3) Money Lovers – Come on, who doesn’t love money?

4) Homosexuals – Bing, got me.

5) Atheists – there is no god.

6) Evolutionists – Are you kidding me?

7) Fornicators – what good is life if you can’t fornicate?

8) Masturbators – Or is that Master Baiters? There is difference.

I score 8 out of 22 or 36%.

If I believed in such claptrap I’d be destined for a hell. Hell doesn’t exist btw, its just a creation to keep the faithful fearful.