Departmental Review

"I Just Don't Get It" Dept.:

The constant battle over same sex marriage is once again in the news as a California state appellate court over turned Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.  The courts reasoning is that same-sex marriage was allowed, albeit briefly, in California and, under the Equal Protection Clause, once a right is given, it can't then be taken away.  This case will now most likely head to the Supreme Court where the outcome is anyone's guess.  Will the Supremes allow political/personal bias to color their judgement, or will they be able to objectively decide this on the basis of Constitutional law.  If I had to lay odds, the court will overturn the appellate court 5-4 on the strength of the current bench's conservative tilt.

My problem with the whole issue is that I just don't see what the big deal is.  People say that gay or lesbian couples getting married will ruin the sanctity of the institution of marriage.  Really?  And heterosexual couples have been doing such a good job?  Let's ask that paragon of family values, Newt Gingrich.  Or, to be fair, should we talk to Bill Clinton about the sanctity of the marriage bed? A quick Google search for divorce statistics show that while the divorce rate is the lowest it's been in years: approx. 37% down from close to 50%. This is not because people are entering into more stable relationships; it is basically because fewer people are getting married.

Let's face the facts, a successful marriage requires a great deal of hard work.  As my ex-wife's grandmother once said after being married to one of the grumpiest men in history for 51 years, "Don't worry dears, it's the first 52 years that are the hardest." That said, if two people, regardless of sexual orientation, are willing to take on that kind of commitment, then more power to 'em.

"Blessed by the Evil High Priest of Metal" Dept.:

Judas Priest brought their Epitaph Tour to Korea last weekend and KICKED BUTT! After forty years of touring, the mighty Priest has decided to call it quits. However, they are definitely going out with a bang.  Priest played for 2.5 hours and played a great selection of songs spanning their entire career including my personal favorites: "Pain Killer" and Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust".  One of the highlights of the show came when they played "Breakin' The Law".  Rob Halford, who is the "Evil High Priest of Metal", simply turned the mic towards the crowd who sang the entire song at full scream!  It was awesome!

Set List:

1. Rapid Fire
2. Metal Gods
3. Heading Out To The Highway
4. Judas Rising
5. Starbreaker
6. Victim Of Changes
7. Never Satisfied
8. Diamonds & Rust
9. Prophecy
10. Night Crawler
11. Turbo Lover
12. Beyond The Realms Of Death
13. The Sentinel
14. Blood Red Skies
15. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)
16. Breaking The Law
17. Painkiller
Encore
18. Electric Eye
19. Hell Bent For Leather
Encore 2
20. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Encore 3
21. Living After Midnight

"Goin' back to Daejeon, to Daejeon" Dept.:

Starting in March, I will be changing jobs and working at Woosong University in Daejeon. This is a great move for me in that it gets me the Hell out of Gongju for one, but offers a great opportunity in the form of a masters degree in TESOL-MAL, which in turn, hopefully will improve my chances of finally getting a job in Taiwan.  There are good and bad things about this move.  The good is the above mentioned masters as well as more pay and off-campus housing (and close to the baseball stadium!).  The not so good is that there is less vacation time.  All in all this will be a positive move, and I'm looking forward to it.