Recent reports indicated that conservative “family values” groups have been instrumental in keeping the film alive at the box office, booking large blocks of seats and asserting that the film provides proof of “intelligent design.” On the other hand London Times film writer Caitlin Moran observed last week, “To be honest, this is good news. If American Christians want to go public on the fact that they’re now morally guided by penguins, at least we know where we all stand.”

I don’t know if these family values Christians with their heads in the sand about evolution have been following other news, but they might be surprised to hear that there are homosexual penguins. How does their intelligent designer explain that?

More bad news for Christians comes from the swinging world of chinstrap penguins. Roy and Silo are two gay chinstraps who live in Manhattan’s Central Park Zoo. Contrary to the erratic behaviour of their heterosexual peers, Roy and Silo have been going steady for six years straight (or should that be six years bent?). In addition to hanging out, these lovebirds exhibit what penguin pundits call “ecstatic behaviour” including neck entwining, vocalising and getting it on.

Roy and Silo have refused all offers of lady friends and are so family minded they attempted to incubate a rock. Eventually their sympathetic keeper offered them a fertile egg and the pair hatched and raised a daughter called Tango. The zoo is also home to another young, gay chinstrap couple as well as two lesbian gentoos.

Let’s face it, if the universe has a designer, I hope he’s not a micromanager. If there is a spiritual side to this existence, I’d always assumed it was of our own making (sheer force of will) and has nothing to do with any “plan.”

Well, on that boat was a reporter from the LA Times outdoor section.

Here’s his eloquent version of events.

Annoyed about the registration login? Try this:

access

Of course, just like hurricanes, they’re named in alphabetical order. We’re only up to K. (In case you didn’t freeze frame, here you go:)

Abu Graib
Bin Laden
Chalabi
Deficit
Enron
Failure to find WMDs
Halliburton
Iraq
John Bolton
Katrina
Locusts
Mars Attacks
North Korea
Osama & Jenna
Pregnancy: Osama & Jenna
Queer Revolt
Rodents of Ununsual Size
Syrian War
Tigers
Unicyclist, Nuclear
Voldemort
WW III
X-Rated Tape: Osama & Jenna
Yam Shortage
Zero People Left on Earth

Since I’m traveling, I pre-wrote most of my candy blog entries for the next few days.

I feel uncomfortable even posting them at the moment. I’m not reading a lot of the news (some ... believe me, enough) and I haven’t been watching TV (I’m at my brother’s and it’s not something you’d want the kids to see).

I know that part of us, after seeing or reading want to be reminded of the comfortable things in life. Candy or sweets or nostalgia or just something that’s not suffering.

So, for anyone clicking around and finds no mention of the Katrina on candyblog, please know that it’s not that I don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the country, but I’d like it to be a safe little haven for a while. Forget about things for just a moment, remember what it is that we struggle for (not candy, I don’t think it’s THAT important) - we struggle to find a place of comfort.

There’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t save anyone from their flooded attic or off a roof or ease the pain of losing a loved one or everything they own, their neighborhoods, their livelihoods. But there are other people who can help. This is one of those times where I don’t have a problem with throwing money at a problem.

I don’t know what the right choices are going to be but in the short term they’re gonna need some bare necessities so those of us who have more than the bare necessities should send what we’re comfortable with their way.

I’m in Pittsburgh right now, I flew right over this beautiful country today. Thousands of miles of hills, mountains, farms, rivers and canyons. The puffy clouds were stunning and sad because they were so unkind earlier this week.

I haven’t much else to say. Except go do something about it. Donate or write something compelling that will make other people donate. I did up a pretty good list over at blogging.la (and you can buy a T-shirt there too, if that’s what you like). Practically everyone is taking donations right now and PayPal is waiving their processing fees so that more money goes where it should. If you don’t like giving to a big organization, find a small one that you believe in. Or just spend some time volunteering around your area to make up for that organization’s loss of possible support because so much will be focused on Katrina for the next few years.

Also, Will, as usual, has posted something that pretty much echos my sentiments at the moment. So go read that.

There you go: donate, read, empathize and for heaven’s sake - keep yourself out of harm’s way whenever you can.

Yesterday on my way home from work I threw all the change I could find in the house at the coinstar machine at the drug store. It was about $45. Not too shabby for absolutely no effort and no pain. It’s a start. I can do better. I will do better.