Dirac Angestun Gesept

These three appeared side-by-side in my RSS reader, and the juxtaposition just required a blog entry.

Choir chief fired for backing gay marriage

Or, according to the pastor, for claiming that half the congregation agreed with him. In any case, not a First Amendment case per se, but a freedom of speech issue.

Man defends spreading manure at gay parade

According to Wesley Bono, dumping cow manure in front of a gay couple’s home and spreading it along two city streets is just exercising his First Amendment right to protest.

Husband arrested for murder of his missing wife

A shining advertisement for the folks who want to restrict marriage only to opposite-sex couples, since only such a restriction could prevent anti-family activities like lying about enrolling in medical school.

Well, they didn’t announce “terrorists may strike at any of the following locations” and then list off the Kerry/Edwards campaign itinerary, but I’m sure I’m not the only person suspicious of Tom Ridge’s timing.

I mean, they could be trying to overshadow new evidence that Sibel Edmonds was fired for whistleblowing or perhaps they just want to reiterate that “threat potential remains through the Nov. 2 elections” (Tom Ridge) in order to keep a damper on the post-convention bounce.

Or, of course, they may actually have new evidence, but to quote Teresa Neilsen Hayden I deeply resent the way this administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist.

UPDATE: CNN has a Howard Dean comment that he’s “concerned that every time something happens that’s not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism.”