This is a great long-ish segment from the new Countdown with Keith Olbermann, where he and Dan Savage talk about everything from The Book of Mormon [which I really want to see now] to religion to the way that gays and lesbians have moved into a new phase of demanding full acceptance and equality in society.  I think this is a generational thing, as many older activists have noted that the younger generations simply aren’t asking for equality anymore — they are taking it as a given that it’s deserved, and demanding it.  I really love the section that starts around 8:30, when Dan talks about being on a show with a “raving, anti-gay bigot,” who purportedly views Dan and by extension, all of us, as this huge threat to the family, to society, to the world, to the universe, etc.  Of course, the guy ended up chit-chatting with Dan in the green room and comparing notes about parenting toddlers.  It’s a great anecdote that goes a long way to explain how so many of the people who fight against us don’t even believe the stuff they say — it’s all about politics, money and controlling people.  This is also why we’re winning, because we have integrity on our side.

As to the title of the post, Dan invites Tony Perkins, he of the ilk that claims that homosexuality is a choice, to choose it, and to choose him!  Show us all how homosexuality is a choice, Tony, by doing it with a guy!  It’s a great argument, but Tony’s probably the only anti-gay activist cute enough to use that argument on, as the mental images that would come along with saying that to every other male anti-gay bigot I can think of are likely to provoke dry heaves.

Oh, also, thanks to Dan for the shout-out to Truth Wins Out!

[h/t Towleroad]

Remember a few months ago when it was snowing in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states and right wing commentators, such as Glenn Beck, were making fun of Al Gore and deriding climate change?

Well, this week, New York City is setting record temperatures. People are sweating and drinking ice coffee in April. Yet, no liberal commentators are claiming that this proves global warming will melt the globe. Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are not opportunistically claiming the sudden heat wave portends the precipice of doom.

You see, the right and the left are not mirror opposites balancing a great philosophical see-saw. On the left you have smart people trying to make sense of a complicated world by using empirical wisdom and raw data to extrapolate the truth to the best of their abilities. To this group, science is important and the truth is where the facts lead.

The extreme right is different. You have paranoid, conspiratorial people who have created a fantasy version of reality and cherry pick facts to support a narrow worldview. This explains why the right opportunistically used the snowstorms this winter to bash Al Gore for his great work on climate change, while there is no similar effort on the left to exploit the spring heatwave.

– Watch the video of Glenn Beck lying and exploiting the snow as evidence that global warming was a hoax