Birdcage’s jaundiced view of Republicans never really bothered me because, well, it’s just a story. No Republican as narrow as Gene Hackman’s Kevin Keeley could win election to statewide office, especially not in Ohio. Still, Hackman inhabited the role with such class that he made it enjoyable, even made his character sympathetic. And anyway, his extremism helped accentuate the culture clash, making the film more outrageous and definitely more entertaining.

This time, however, as i watched I wondered some gay people (and even some straights) see Republicans as the caricature portrayed by Hackman. Judging my my e-mail and some of the comments here, I would dare say they do.

Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm

Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills.

Ah, yes, the poor misunderstood gay conservatives - it's certainly an ongoing whiny theme over at that zoo. They cling to their demented belief that just because they are homosexuals, we progressive gay folk owe them some kind of "get out of jail free card" when it comes to their crackpot ideology. Sorry, I trash their sorry ideology just as much when it's spewed by straight whackjobs. Their being homosexual only makes them somewhat pathetic, an attribute that's reinforced by their continual complaining about the issue.

I am so angry over what the GOP thugs have done to this country that I will no longer give a pass to any of my friends that vote for McSame in November. Any such "friends" will be persona non grata in my life.