Hardaway Explains

The poor guy thinks he committed a "hate crime." More reason to hate hate crime laws. He also uses this somewhat unfortunate metaphor:

I don’t have a hate bone in my body.

Ahem. Money quote:

You know, we were brought up to not even condone or associate yourself with a gay person. If you knew of a gay person, disassociate yourself with them.

But Tim, you’ve been in Miami for years now and there is a strong and public gay community there. How have you still held on to that same mentality while living in Miami all of these years?

I just get away from it. I just walk away. I see it, I just go the other way, cross the street.

So at no point did you ever try to understand their lifestyle or way of life?

No. Never did. Never wanted to.

I have to say I’m impressed with Hardaway’s honesty, and defend his right to his opinions and beliefs, even if I don’t share them. I hope he sees that he’s missing a lot in excluding gay people from his life, but it’s his life, not mine. Leave him alone.

Face of the Day

Civilunioncolinarchergetty

Degn Schubert, 40, with hair stylist Kristina Pinto as he prepares for his civil union ceremony with partner Mark Rado that will take place at midnight February 22, 2007 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The couple had a domestic partnership formed in California June 28, 2003 and celebrate that date as their anniversary. Schubert says, "I’m happy for the couples that are doing it for the first time, but for this one, we’re doing it because it allows us more rights." (Photo by Colin Archer/Getty Images)

“Acting White”

This African-American blogger does not recall that in his high school, black achievers were ridiculed for "acting white." But he knows many other African-Americans who testify that this is indeed a damaging phenomenon and that Barack Obama is right to talk about and tackle it as a cultural burden on young black Americans. Then James Forman Jr notices a possible explanation for the discrepancy between his experience and so many others’: he went to an all-black school. Data back this up.

Beards!

Linden014

Here’s more than you ever wanted to see or know. But I’m completely hooked. Beards are not easy things to grow, groom or tender. But this site helps you stay focused; and even provides several success stories. Here’s one, for example. Money quote:

Has the site’s information on beard grooming been useful?

I’ve tried many times to grow a beard – and never really understood the importance behind grooming or choosing a style that added to the shape, contours and symmetry of my face. In early attempts, I always trimmed back my beard by simply shaving the areas where I wanted to shape an outline of what I thought would look good — this was universally unsuccessful and would always result in my shaving the entire beard off (leading to much comment from work colleagues, family and friends — usually accompanied with a "thank god" or "that looks much better" — without the beard). As I finally let my beard grow, grooming became a deliberate expression of some personal aesthetic. I invested in a beard trimmer after six scruffy weeks and quickly learned how to keep my beard shaped and defined in a way that pleased me.

Mark Steyn’s is hot, by the way. I hope he never culls it.

Steyn and Bosnia

More evidence that he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about:

I agree with your reader’s assessment of Bosnian Muslim and Serb dynamics in your post. My mother suggested evidence from the Croatian point of view, as well. She’s from Zagreb. She said the Hercegovinian Croats who moved to Zagreb were much more ambitious and "good at business" than the Croats from Croatia, and for that reason resented. But she said that the Muslims in Bosnia were considered to be even more ambitious and better at business than the Croats there–they were called "the Jews of Bosnia" (ironic, considering the generalized antipathy between Jews and Muslims today) for their business and financial prowess.

Memo to Steyn: some anti-Muslim bigotry is a lot like the old anti-Semitism. You need to be a little more careful who you’re rooting for.

T.C. Republicans

Terry Jeffrey makes a pragmatic case for sticking to t.c. (theologically correct) politics:

Bottom line question: If the GOP runs a candidate such as Rudy Giuliani, who mirrors the Democratic candidate’s liberal positions on key social issues, and who will not benefit from the presence of a marriage amendment on the ballot, does the GOP increase or decrease its chances of winning Ohio?

Running against a senator who just won a landslide reelection in New York, Giuliani is far more likely to paint Ohio blue than his home state red.

Kate O’Beirne is concerned that a socially inclusive Catholic like Giuliani could expose the extremism of theoconservative politics. She’s right. It’s one reason I find Giuliani appealing.