Doing major maintenance/upgrades to both the Web site (including the blogs - both mine and Tony’s) and the Comstock Films DVD Shop today. The Web store is offline until upgrades are completed. Very sorry for the delay, but it’s necessary for site security and all that jazz.

Thanks for your patience!

Just when you thought George W. Bush was done with his ability to wreak havoc on women’s reproductive health rights, he drops this lovely parting shot:

The Bush administration announced its “conscience protection” rule for the healthcare industry Thursday, giving doctors, hospitals, and even receptionists and volunteers in medical experiments the right to refuse to participate in medical care they find morally objectionable.

“This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience,” said outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

The right-to-refuse rule includes abortion and other aspects of healthcare where moral concerns could arise, Leavitt’s office said, such as birth control, emergency contraception, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and assisted suicide.

The rule, to be published today in the Federal Register, takes effect the day before President Bush leaves office. (From The LA Times, today)

So, basically, if you’re unlucky enough to stumble into the “care” of a health provider who has “moral objections” to certain options or services, you might never be informed they even exist because the provider can’t be “pressured” into discussing things they object to.

Are you really supposed to need to quiz your healthcare practitioners (and pharmacists, and anyone even tangentially involved in the process) as to their moral views before agreeing to be seen by them? When you’re highly likely to be distraught or in crisis? How are you even supposed to know what things you’re not being informed of?

And yeah, I mean, of course the law can be reversed once Obama is in office, but it’s going to take time to do that, and it just seems like such an egregious, aggressive, move — like what, you’re going to ’sneak’ this in at the last minute on your way out the door and nobody’s going to notice?

Crap like this is making me really wish I weren’t mad at Obama at the moment over this whole Saddleback thing. Aaaagh!

I blame my shameful lack of posting on a confluence of events including: a couple of “vacation” days in NYC to drink wine with my girlfriends and decompress, and the sudden, sad, and catastrophic loss of my MacBook’s HD after a prolonged battle with injuries suffered at the hands of my three-year-old daughter.

Happily, I can report that I am now significantly decompressed, and I’ve got a new HD winging my way via FedEx as we speak, and hopefully by this time tomorrow evening, my laptop will be back and better than ever with a spiffy new harddrive — nearly double the size of the old one, which means I can stash away even more pointless videos and episodes of guilty pleasure TV shows. (What? Like you don’t? Sheez.)

In actual Comstockian news, I’m pleased to report that stock of Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless is on its way to our warehouse and orders will be shipping imminently. I’m loving the early responses to this film, and can’t wait until people get their copies and the reactions begin to permeate. This one’s a game-changer, methinks.

I’m so proud of Tony for this film. It’s a beautiful piece of work and just a gorgeous portrait of a warm, generous couple. I can’t wait until people really get a chance to watch it. So, here, now, officially:

Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless

Bill and Desiree’s story starts in the second half of life: a chance meeting, a powerful attraction, a carnal connection, and a deep, sensual love. Through an intimate and lively interview, we hear the story of how Bill and Desiree met, and what drew them to each other. When we witness the playful intensity of their beautifully photographed lovemaking, we see that pleasure is ageless, and that love is indeed timeless!

Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless is a film about passion, about desire; a film that gives older lovers a reason to celebrate, and younger lovers something to look forward to. Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless is a film that invites us to re-imagine what love can be and should be in our later years.

The thing that pisses me off the most about all the digging into Google that Tony is doing isn’t the facts of what he’s finding. It’s my own cynicism.

Like, when he comes into the room and announces that the word ‘clitoris’ returns zero results in Google’s “safe search” mode while ‘penis’ returns 36 million, my first thought is… Duh. This is a surprise? I roll my eyes and Google “vagina”, which gets over 21 million results and my dark, angry brain thinks:

[bitterness] “Of course, because you need a vagina to squeeze out the next generation (for the patriarchy.) A clitoris? That’s about female pleasure, not reproduction — just ask the millions of women worldwide who’ve had theirs removed. [/bitterness]

So, you know, thanks Google, for reinforcing what I already know about “values.” Thanks a fucking lot.

So while Google is busy doing its part to (presumably) keep our nation’s impressionable youngsters “safe” from sexual terminology and content (check out Tony’s blog for more,) I get called upon to explain erectile dysfunction to my nine year old daughter while innocently trying to watch a PG-rated show at 9:00pm on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Hilariously, I’m almost afraid to type the brand name of the product being advertised for fear the Google-bot will find the offending name on this blog and penalize the Comstock Films site as a drug-spamming, malware breeding, den of iniquity. We’ve got enough problems with the Google-bot already, thanks. So let’s just say the commercial was for a drug, name beginning with the letter ‘C,’ famous for featuring attractive and affluent looking middle-aged couples lounging in side by side bathtubs with smarmy faux-cool jazz playing in the background. (Because nothing says intimacy like individual high-walled ceramic pods-for-one, but that’s a head-scratcher for another day.)

So, back to the sofa in the Comstock family den, daughter #1 and I curled up for our weekly dose of implausible science-fictional fun, and whammo: commercial break after commercial break, here comes that smarmy faux-cool jazz and alarming quick-spoken fine print babble about “erections lasting more than four hours.” Wonderful family viewing, piped right into our home, no searching required! Fabulous!

“Mom,” daughter #1 asks finally after being bombarded by these ads, wrinkling her little brow in consternation. “What is E.D.?”

I’m a good little arugula-munching liberal: I’ve talked about sex with her before, she’s got a copy of Where Did I Come From, she’s seen me go through a pregnancy, etc. — she knows the basics. I assure you, none of that made it any less awkward to have this “teachable moment” thrust upon me unawares by the good folks at Eli Lilly and the SciFi Channel while I was just trying to enjoy a little escapist TV.

But hey, this is life as a parent, isn’t it? You don’t always get to pick and choose where your teachable moments come from. Even the best filters don’t always work. Life comes at you and your kids, and you are responsible for seeing them through it. You stay involved with your kids’ lives, you watch what they’re watching on TV, you stay aware of where they’re going online, and you talk with them about their experiences and understandings. Sometimes, you have to explain things that make you uncomfortable. Sometimes, you have to (try to) explain society’s strange hypocrisies and priorities.

For my kids, for my family, this responsibility — no matter the subject — is not Google’s job, it’s not the Sci-Fi Channel’s, it’s not some arbitrary filter’s. It’s mine.

Not *that* kind of backend. Sheez, people! Web site stuff. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to the past few days — working on making some large and some small alterations to the Comstock Films site in anticipation of the holiday season, and the release of our new title, Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless.

We’re also cooking up some new special promotions for the next few weeks, to go along with the site re-launch, the new title release, and all the usual holiday goodies. In particular, I’m working on a special feature for Valentine’s Day that I think will be a lot of fun!

I suppose I’m still processing the news out of California that Proposition 8 has passed. Can’t pretend that I’m not disappointed, and I can only imagine how much worse it is for the citizens of California who have just had an important and still-fresh civil rights gain stripped away with such callous finality.

I can’t imagine it’s very comforting to hear things like: I guess people just aren’t ready to recognize you yet, either.

I know lawsuits have been filed challenging the validity of the method used (calling Prop 8 a revision, rather than simple amendment) and I hope it proves fruitful. But it’s certainly a sober reminder that there’s still a long way to go in this country before we’re really all included in that old “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” ideal.

If you’re reading this, and you’re a U.S. citizen of voting age (and you’d better be of voting age!) … I hope you’re registered and get on out there to cast your ballot today.

It’s a beautiful day here in my small town (too bad it’s not in “real” America. ::koff::) There aren’t enough of us here to ever experience anything close to a line, but the parking lot was full this morning, and the poll volunteers were fortifying themselves with coffee and donuts for the hours ahead.

I feel for anyone who’s got to face long lines at their local polling place today — but try to look at the bright side? After years of an apathetic and cynical American electorate, it’s inspiring to see so many people fired up for this historic election. I hope the re-engagement of so many previously disenfranchised citizens makes the wait worthwhile.

After the Presidential race, the result I’m most anxious about, of course, is the decision the good people of California render on Proposition 8. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a simple majority do the right thing.

We could sure use some healing in this country, huh?

First off, I just wanted to give my sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on my post The Strange Alchemy of Love, or: Why I Believe in Marriage Equality. I have to confess to a certain amount of “Blogger’s Remorse” after I hit publish on that post — I was afraid it sounded hopelessly corny or naive. And then I thought to myself, ‘well Self, you kind of are hopelessly corny and naive, so suck it up and let the post stand.’ Now I’m glad I did.

Speaking of Prop 8, it’s getting down to nail-biting time now, huh? Just a few days left and the latest polls I’ve seen look tight. I guess one of the things I’m a little boggled over is that all it takes is a simple majority vote to alter California’s Constitution. (And let me point you to Tony’s very cogent thoughts on that in his latest post: Can I Vote on Your Marriage?)

I honestly cannot wait until Tuesday has come and gone. I find myself driven to distraction by Election news, polls, and blogs — let’s not even talk about YouTube. At first I thought I wished New York had early voting so I could go do it already, but now upon reflection, I realize it wouldn’t have made any difference to my degree of distraction — it’s not like I’d get the results any sooner. At least it’s just a couple more days…