Utah Senators Howard Stephenson (R) and Dennis Stowell (R) admitted on a conservative radio show Saturday that fellow Senator Chris Buttars was not stripped of his committee posts for anti-gay comments made during an interview, but because he broke a previous agreement not talk about gay issues.

As reported in the Deseret News…

“I have to tell you publicly that most of what Sen. Buttars said — I agree with,” Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said on the weekly radio program “Inside Utah Politics” on KTKK-AM. “However, my concern is that we, as a Senate caucus, had an agreement that because Senator Buttars has become such a lightning rod on this issue, that he would not be the spokesperson on the issue.”

Buttars violated that agreement, Stephenson said, adding that the comments undermined “everything we’ve done” in the last three weeks of the legislative session.

“I think the bulk of people in Utah agree with 90 percent of what he said,” Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, chimed in on the radio program. “He is a lightning rod, and I’m afraid the gay community’s using him a little bit to get more publicity.”‘

Audio clip of the radio show below, relevant segment 38:20 minutes in — be sure to listen to the end of that segment — particularly the caller. The entire clip may be worth a listen as well… just to get a sense of how clueless these folks really are…

A new nationwide study examining the consumption of internet pornography revealed some pretty interesting tidbits, especially when viewed through the prism of faith and politics. Among the conclusions reached by the study, as reported by NewScientist…

The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. “The differences here are not so stark,” Edelman says.

Perhaps getting out of the magical underwear is not as difficult as it appears…

Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year’s presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.

What’s the deal Hawaii and Florida? You can operate the computer but not the ballot box?

Church-goers bought less online porn on Sundays – a 1% increase in a postal code’s religious attendance was associated with a 0.1% drop in subscriptions that day. However, expenditures on other days of the week brought them in line with the rest of the country, Edelman finds.

Less guilt, Monday through Saturday I guess…

Residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11% more porn subscribers than states that don’t explicitly restrict gay marriage.

States where a majority of residents agreed with the statement “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage,” bought 3.6 more subscriptions per thousand people than states where a majority disagreed. A similar difference emerged for the statement “AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behaviour.”

Oh the hypocrisy. I wonder how many of those 11% are closeted, homosexual homophobe? Or perhaps like anyone who is repressed, they want what they aren’t supposed to have all the more…

Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black on Oprah’s Live Fridays show discusses his Oscar win and his memorable speech.

200 posts and 500 comments later, Inside Looking Out (ILO) turns 5 years old this week!

It’s been a long and bumpy ride, but I am glad most of my original readers are still hanging around… and am thankful for the new ones too.

Today I went back and re-visited the very first post on ILO, and much of it surprisingly still applies… so I am posting it again today.

Well, this has been a long time in coming. I’ve wanted to set up an online journal, or “blog” for some time. I am sure you are all understandably curious. I thought this was a good way to let everyone know what’s going on with me, because as you know it’s always about me. Plus, it gives me a place to blow off some steam, sometimes serious, sometimes not so much. It also provides a forum for the lively exchange of ideas. Oh. Who am I kidding? Most of y’all will simply drop by for the free links, as I often stumble across cool things on the web… and this is a great place to post them. 🙂 But what ever your reason for visiting, hopefully you’ll make it part of your routine. As I hope to make it part of mine.

Now, those of you visiting for the first time are doing so because your are on my notify list which sends you an email whenever I post to my “blog.” I promise not to fill up your email with idle and pedantic banter. But if you prefer not partake of my blog and all it has to offer, just let me know and I’ll remove you from the list to make room for someone else. 🙂

There are of course a few subtle differences (and some not so subtle) between then and now; today ILO is little less personal, and focuses a lot more on politics and gay issues. It also, I think, looks quite a bit nicer. But none of those changes would have been possible without the encouragement and the participation of those who frequently visit ILO, and to them my dearest thanks.

When I started ILO back in early 2004 I was in the midst of a long unemployment drought that lasted nearly a year. And now on the 5th anniversary of ILO, I look apprehensively toward the future as I am soon to be unemployed once more. During this break (which hopefully will be brief), I will of course be looking for new work, and hopefully, a new direction. I’ll also be spending a lot more time here.

So once again thanks… Thanks for making Inside, Looking Out, a part of your routine.