Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread…

So below is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob & I have been looking at so far this week.

• Bay Windows‘ Gender police at the gym :

During the Beacon Hill Judiciary Committee hearing July 14 on the transgender rights bill, a group of representatives of the gym and health club industry testified that such a bill would hurt their businesses by allowing people to use locker room and bathroom facilities based on their gender identity or expression, rather than on their biological sex. They argued that women would feel uncomfortable sharing facilities with anatomical males, particularly if the women had young children with them. Yet at gyms in Boston, where a similar transgender non-discrimination ordinance has been on the books since 2002, there have been seemingly no negative repercussions to extending non-discrimination protections to transgender people. The current transgender rights bill, House Bill 1728, would rewrite the state’s hate crimes and non-discrimination laws-including around public accommodations-to make them trans-inclusive.

Kerry Campbell, sales director for Boston Athletic Club, said that her club has never had any complaints from members about transgender people using inappropriate locker room facilities. Campbell was among the group of gym representatives who testified against the bill, and she said her primary concern was not that it would allow transgender people to use the locker rooms, but that it would allow people falsely claiming to be transgender to abuse the law. She said she believes that based on how the transgender rights bill is currently written, it would deny gym managers any discretion in deciding who can use which locker room…

This reminds one of the Thompson Twins song — Lies Lies Lies — regarding the non-issues people seem to always bring up when discussing civil rights for trans people.

• FindLaw Writ‘s The New York Catholic Conference’s Aggressive Bid to Stop Reform of Child Sex Abuse Laws:

The proposed Child Victims Act (CVA) is currently being considered in the New York State legislature, which is expected to hold several special sessions this fall in the wake of its recent, circus-like sessions in May and June. The CVA would modestly extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse – by five years for both civil and criminal claims – as well as open a “window” for all past victims to be able to go to court for one year despite the currently expired statutes of limitations on their claims.

As I have discussed in previous columns such as this one, this kind of window legislation has already been enacted in other states, where it has led to the public identification of previously unknown child predators.

The CVA’s most active opponent is the New York Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm for the Roman Catholic bishops. (Some ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups have tagged onto the Conference, but the vast majority of Orthodox and other Jewish groups have chosen to side with the victims, as has the National Black Church Initiative.) While other state Catholic Conferences have fought such legislation, the New York group has let no ethical or humane interest stand in its way, hiring numerous top-dollar, seasoned lobbyists to try to kill the CVA through one devious approach after another. Also new in New York is the willingness of the bishops themselves to publicly rail against statute of limitations reform as though it were the equivalent of mandatory abortion…

Yes. Minimizing lawsuits by people abused as children by adults — adults that include priests — is exactly what Jesus Christ would be for, right?

• A tweet from the Los Angeles Times:

@LATimes Professor, policeman set for Obama’s “beer summit.” On tap: Bud Light, Red Stripe and Blue Moon. http://bit.ly/sII7o

From the Los Angeles Times article:

“As I understand it — I have not heard this, I’ve read this, so I’ll just repeat what I’ve read — that professor Gates said he liked Red Stripe, and I believe Sgt. Crowley mentioned to the president that he liked Blue Moon,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

And then things changed. This tweet from MSNBC:

@msnbc Obama’s chat with black prof, white cop and VP under way. Menu: Sam Adams, Bud Light, Blue Moon. No booze for Biden. http://ow.ly/iDru

Prof. Gates switched from Red Stripe to the domestic beer Sam Adams, while Vice President Biden joined the Beer Summit to make it a gang of four, and had a non-alcoholic brew. And, they drank out of beer mugs…no cans or bottles at this White House summit!

I think it’s so much more important to know which beers are being drank at this summit than what’s discussed at the summit, don’t you think?

By the way, my beer, should I ever get a Presidential Beer Summit date, would be Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve Classic Dark. So here’s a mini-Q of the Day: What would be your Beer Summit beer, should you ever be invited to the White House for a Beer Summit?

And also by the way, are YOU following PamsHouseBlend‘s tweets on twitter? Hmm?

• To fill out our Pam’s House Blend article James L. Evans: “Americans’ freedom to speak is not in jeopardy” a bit with some Southern Baptist viewpointing comes this from the Baptist Press piece Senate, House to negotiate gay hate crimes:

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and others oppose efforts to expand hate-crimes protections based not only on their inclusion of categories defined by sexual behavior or identity but also because of concerns about the potential impact on religious freedom.

They fear the measure, combined with existing law, could expose to prosecution Christians and others who proclaim the Bible’s teaching that homosexual behavior and other sexual relations outside marriage are sinful. For example, if a person commits a violent act based on a victim’s “sexual orientation” after hearing biblical teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual behavior, the preacher or teacher could be open to a charge of inducing the person to commit the crime, some foes say.

Note that it’s fear — and their idea that they don’t want the federal government to condone sin — that’s driving the decision of the ERLC’s decision, and not facts. It’s not loving their neighbors as themselves that’s driving their policy position. Is it any wonder that when I write conservative “Christians” in this blog, I put quotation marks around “Christian”?

• Hot dog related story of the day (see item 4 in the list below): Planadvisor‘s Snackers Beware:

Eating can often be a source of the above distractions, but you’re not alone if you need your coffee in the car: An Exxon survey of 1,000 drivers found more than 70% of drivers eat while driving and 83% drink beverages.

Most likely you are aware of the disasters messy foods can cause not just to your steering wheel, but the tie you put on for your next meeting. You might still be guilty of some of the items on “the top 10 foods to avoid while driving” list from Insurance.com:

1. Coffee: “Even with a travel lid, hot coffee can find its way out of the opening when you hit a bump.”

2. Hot soup: “Many people drink it like coffee and run the same risks.”

3. Tacos: “Any food that can disassemble itself will leave your car looking like a salad bar.”

4. Chili dogs: “Huge potential for drips and slops down the front of clothing.”

5. Hamburgers: “From the grease to the toppings, it could end up on your hands and the steering wheel.”

6. Ribs and wings: “What’s more distracting than licking your fingers?”

7. Fried chicken: “More greasy hands. You’ve got to wipe them off while you’re driving.”

8. Jelly donuts: “It’s not possible to eat one without watching the center ooze out.”

9. Soda: “Carbonation. Fizz in the nose. Lids that leak. Disaster.”

10 Chocolate: “Try to clean melted chocolate off the steering wheel without swerving.”

So anywho…It’s an open thread! What are you reading or thinking about today?