Saturday, December 20, 2008

Afternoon View - Swagauguration

DC is awash in inauguration swag - from Obama bottled water and breath mints- to pink "First Lady" sippy-cups, so you can look all feminique and shit while you get your inaugural krunk on.

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Maddow: More On Rick Warren

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Friday, December 19, 2008

Prop 8: Good News/Bad News

First the good news.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown changed course on the state's new same-sex marriage ban Friday and urged the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. "The amendment-initiative process does not encompass a power to abrogate fundamental constitutional rights without a compelling justification," he wrote. "Proposition 8 lacks such a justification."
Now the bad news.
The sponsors of Proposition 8 on Friday revealed for the first time that they would fight to undo the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters banned gay marriage at the ballot box last month. The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief telling the court that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions. "Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton. Both Brown and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.

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Blago's Terrible Hair Declares Itself Innocent Of Everything


Via HuffPo:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich defiantly proclaimed his innocence Friday and said that he will not let a "political lynch mob" force him to resign. "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath," Blagojevich said in his first official statement since being arrested last week on federal corruption charges. "And I'm not going to quit a job that people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob."
Wait a minute, did Blago seriously just recite a Kipling poem? I couldn't stop staring at his hair.

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Afternoon View - East 70th Street

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Ted Haggard: I Never Claimed To Be Heterosexual

Ted Haggard, the gay that won't go away, now says he never claimed to be "completely heterosexual", as was widely reported last year.
In an HBO documentary set to air Jan. 29, disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says he never claimed to be heterosexual, as was once reported, and he continues to struggle with same-sex attraction. But he's committed to living a heterosexual life because he believes it's better for children to be raised by a mother and a father.
The "completely heterosexual" quote came from Rev. Tim Ralph, one of a four-member oversight board that was trying to figure out whether Haggard should be allowed to return to his ministry.
He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting- out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing." Ralph said three weeks of counseling at an undisclosed Arizona treatment center helped Haggard immensely and left Haggard sure of one thing.

Yesterday Haggard told the Colorado Springs Gazette that he's been struggling with his sexualtiy for his entire life.
"The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more," he says.
The Gazette story closes with this:
Haggard now sells insurance -- which the documentary shows - but he laments that he's not good at it. He says he left hundreds of fliers on people's doors, and didn't get any responses. "At this stage in my life, I am a loser," he says.

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Daily Grumble

I think about half of almost 900 unread emails in the JMG box are about Rick Warren, but I'm hoping to plow through most of them on my way to DC tomorrow. My apologies to the JMG tippers, I do appreciate your suggestions and messages. And here I had the inbox whittled down to under 100 just a couple of weeks ago. Sigh.

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Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, 76

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, actress, and voice of the Enterprise's computer ("Working"), has died of leukemia at age 76.
Since the death of Gene Roddenberry, who created "Star Trek," Majel Berrett was recognized as the franchise's "first lady." In the years after he died in 1991, she developed several of his unfinished ideas into new projects, which included two syndicated shows. According to reports, Barrett had been battling leukemia, and died early Thursday morning with her son, Eugene, by her side.

Barrett first appeared in "Star Trek"'s first pilot which aired in 1964. Her role as the Enterprise's first officer (referred to simply as "Number One") did not go well with NBC execs, and was later changed. When the series was retooled, Barrett eventually returned in a new role as the blonde Nurse Chapel.
Fans of the series may best know Majel as the Spock-smitten Nurse Chapel, but it was her return to Star Trek: The Next Generation as the bawdy and flamboyant Lwaxana Troi that most endeared her to me. "You poor dear! Don't they ever let you change those colorless uniforms?" Barrett-Roddenberry's final performance will be in the upcoming Star Trek movie to be released in 2009.

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Crashing Diva

Gotham is being belted with its first snowstorm of the year and already I've fallen on my ass, right in front of a window full of women sitting under nail dryers at Dashing Diva. Eight winters in NYC and I still don't know how to walk on icy sidewalks. Anyway, it's sucky timing for holiday travel - JFK and LaGuardia are reporting delays of two to three hours.

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Ribbon-Cutting For Passionate Struggle

Last night the San Francisco GLBT Historical Society held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Passionate Struggle, the new Castro exhibit I mentioned here earlier this week. Go here for my slideshow of the exhibit. Among those at the ribbon are Levi's vice president Robert Cameron (first man on the left) and openly gay SF Supervisor Bevan Dufty (kneeling with his daughter Sydney). It's a wonderful exhibit, moving on many levels. Highly recommended. A Facebook gallery of the ceremony is here.

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NY Sen-Elect Dem Arrested For Assault

Democratic New York Senator-elect Hiram Monserrate was arrested yesterday for hitting his girlfriend with a beer bottle. The injury reportedly lacerated the woman's face severely and required 20-40 stitches to close.

A former NYC Councilman representing Queens (yesterday was his last day), Monserrate was at one time in league with the "Gang Of Three" dissident NY Senate Democrats, although he cut a deal to support Sen. Malcolm Smith for Senate Majority Leader, reportedly in return for being named chairman of the Consumer Affairs Committee.

The NYPD charged Monserrate with first-degree assault. It's unclear how this arrest may affect his taking office next month, or how it may affect the balance of power in the New York Senate.

And the nightmare in Albany rolls on.

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Rachel Maddow: Picking Rick Warren Is A "Lose-Lose" Move For Obama


Last night Rachel Maddow made the correct observation that inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration was not mere reciprocity for having been invited to speak at Warren's Saddleback Church. As Maddow notes, Obama invited Warren to our inauguration, to the nation's stage.

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Historic First: Gay Rights Declaration At United Nations

Delayed by one week, the declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality was read to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. The declaration was supported by 66 nations but not the United States.
An unprecedented declaration seeking to decriminalize homosexuality won the support of 66 countries in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, but opponents criticized it as an attempt to legitimize pedophilia and other “deplorable acts.”

The United States refused to support the nonbinding measure
, as did Russia, China, the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Holy See’s observer mission issued a statement saying that the declaration “challenges existing human rights norms.” The declaration, sponsored by France with broad support in Europe and Latin America, condemned human rights violations based on homophobia, saying such measures run counter to the universal declaration of human rights.

“How can we tolerate the fact that people are stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured only because of their sexual orientation?” said Rama Yade, the French state secretary for human rights, noting that homosexuality is banned in nearly 80 countries and subject to the death penalty in at least six. France decided to use the format of a declaration because it did not have the support for an official resolution. Read out by Ambassador Jorge Argüello of Argentina, the declaration was the first on gay rights read in the 192-member General Assembly itself.
An outrageous opposing statement supported by 60 (mostly Muslim) nations called the declaration an attempt to "normalize pedophilia." The statement was sponsored by the Organization of Islamic Conference. The United States did not support that declaration either.

Openly gay New York Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell sent a letter yesterday to George Bush, Condoleezaa Rice, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama requesting they support the declaration.
“To date, over 50 countries have voiced support for the resolution. I am disappointed to learn that the United States is not among them. The United States must declare that there is no safe haven for discrimination and intolerance in this world. No individual should ever face punishment for loving someone of the same gender. I implore you to support this important human rights initiative and champion the resolution abroad. Our founding documents declare that all people were created equal and it is time that the United States lives up to that promise and serves as a model to the world.”
American diplomats weaseled out of supporting the declaration by calling its wording too broad, claiming it could be seen as an attempt by the federal government to override states' rights on same-sex marriage. There was a contingent within the U.S. State Department that wanted to support the declaration, but "pro-family advocates" intervened to prevent that. Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch, said, “The Bush administration is trying to come up with Christmas presents for the religious right so it will be remembered."

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Levi Johnston's Mom Busted For Drugs

Sarah Palin's co-grandma-to-be was arrested on drug charges yesterday.
A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Sherry L. Johnston was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance. Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath. Troopers served the warrant at Johnston's home at the "conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation," said a statement issued Thursday by the troopers as part of the normal daily summary of activity around the state. Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- generally manufacturing or delivering drugs -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.
Bristol is due to give birth on Saturday. Hopefully MethMaw will be able to attend.

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Deep Throat Dead At 95

Mark Felt, aka "Deep Throat", the secret tipster who helped bring down Richard Nixon, died yesterday at 95 years old.
As the second-highest official in the FBI under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover and interim director L. Patrick Gray, Felt detested the Nixon administration's attempt to subvert the bureau's investigation into the complex of crimes and coverups known as the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

He secretly guided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and his colleague Carl Bernstein pursued the story of the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office building, and subsequent revelations of the Nixon administration's campaign of spying and sabotage against its perceived political enemies.

Felt insisted on remaining completely anonymous, or on "deep background." A Post editor dubbed him "Deep Throat," a bit of wordplay based on the title of a pornographic movie of the time. The source's existence, but not his identity, became known in Woodward and Bernstein's 1974 book, "All the President's Men," and in the subsequent movie version, in which actor Hal Holbrook played the charismatic but shadowy source.
In my 9th grade civics class, we were not allowed to refer to "Deep Throat" as the teacher found the name pornographic. Which it was, of course.

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More Warren Reactions: Frank, Solmonese, GLAAD, LA LGBT Center

I've been inundated with emails from various groups denouncing the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. I'll add to this post through the day as I get to them.

Barney Frank
:
“I am very disappointed by President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to honor Reverend Rick Warren with a prominent role in his inauguration. Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage. But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause.

“It is irrelevant that Rev. Warren invited Senator Obama to address his congregation, since he extended an equal invitation to Senator McCain. Furthermore, the President-Elect has not simply invited Rev. Warren to give a speech as part of a series in which various views are presented. The selection of a member of the clergy to occupy this uniquely elevated position has always been considered a mark of respect and approval by those who are being inaugurated.”
Joe Solmonese:

What the Obama team needs to understand is that for many LGBT Americans, this November was bittersweet. We were thrilled with Obama's victory and, in fact, many of us worked the phones, pounded the pavement and wrote checks to make that happen. But the next day, we learned that Proposition 8 passed in California, and our hearts sank. It was the biggest loss our community has faced in decades.

One of the biggest reasons for that hurtful outcome was the Rev. Rick Warren, who publicly endorsed Proposition 8 in late October. He told his parishioners and reporters alike that "any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn't think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships." But civil marriage rights for same-sex couples had nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

More recently, he even compared same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia and polygamy. He may cloak himself in media-friendly happy talk that plays well on television, but he stands steadfastly against any measure of equality for LGBT Americans.

President-elect Obama must now, as my mother used to say, put some meat on the bone. We've seen appointment after appointment of talented Americans who come from constituencies that are part of this country and that helped gain his election. Well, we're one of those constituencies who actually worked and voted for Obama, unlike Warren and probably most of his 21,000 parishioners. Yet, we're the ones left waiting for some real evidence of inclusion.

So, are we angry about Rick Warren? You bet we are. And including a gay marching band in the inaugural festivities doesn't heal this wound. It only serves to make us question the promises that Barack Obama made in his historic quest to be president. We pray we weren't misled.

LA Gay & Lesbian Center:
Obama’s response to press inquiries on the subject rings hollow. He talks about others like Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Joseph Lowery who will share the spotlight and bring alternative views to the stage, as though it’s important to have “balanced” representation regarding the issue of our civil rights. Joseph Lowery does not represent an alternative viewpoint to Warren. He represents an ethical and just choice on behalf of people historically oppressed and left off the presidential stage. Is it important to “balance” the work of a person who has spent his life fighting racial bigotry and discrimination with someone who opposes those ideals? Are these the politics of hope we have heard so much about?

Continuing his defense, Obama spoke eloquently about his campaign’s support for full equality for lesbians and gay men as an indication of how he will govern. Unfortunately, he did not and does not now stand for our full equality since he has made it clear that he opposes marriage equality. In this regard, he walks in lock step with Warren, even though Obama opposed the passage of Prop 8.

Warren played an important role in helping to re-write the California constitution to eliminate our rights. So now it is clear. If President-elect Obama does not disinvite Rick Warren, then he is defining what inclusion in America will mean under his administration. It will mean that the practice of bigotry is acceptable, and that as president—in the name of “inclusion”—he will provide a place and platform for that bigotry to be expressed and grow. Apparently we are welcome into the big tent of hope, but if we choose to enter, we should do so knowing we are in hostile, yet “balanced” territory.”
GLAAD:
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today called on the media to examine Rick Warren's history of anti-gay rhetoric and efforts to oppose marriage equality upon his selection to deliver the invocation at President-elect Obama's inauguration.

"The inauguration of a new President is a day when Americans should be brought together, to signal a new beginning for our country. It is therefore deeply troubling that the President-elect has selected someone whose defamatory and damaging anti-gay statements and views, including linking marriage for committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia, clearly divide rather than unite Americans," said GLAAD President Neil Giuliano. "Media outlets have a responsibility to scrutinize Rick Warren's history of using his powerful platform to advance anti-gay rhetoric and prevent loving couples from being able to take care of and be responsible for one another."

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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Victory Fund Unhappy With Obama Cabinet

The Victory Fund has expressed their disappointment that Barack Obama has tapped Rep. Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor, rather than openly lesbian labor activist Mary Beth Maxwell. Solis' appointment closes out the last major position in the Obama Cabinet, leaving nothing open for the selection of an LGBT candidate.
With the rumored nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to the post of Labor Secretary, it’s apparent Barack Obama’s cabinet will not include a member of the LGBT community. Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, expressed the community’s disappointment.

“It’s now clear that President Obama’s top appointees will gather in a Cabinet Room that does not reflect the living rooms, board rooms or rooms of worship across this country. Openly LGBT people are accepted and involved in nearly all aspects of American life, but they still will not have a place at the table at the highest reaches of their government,” Wolfe said.

The LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project does not have an express goal of attaining a cabinet-level appointment, but the floating of several names of openly gay and lesbian contenders to head the Labor and Interior Departments stirred hope that Obama would make an historic nomination. Still, Obama will make thousands more appointments in the coming months, and the Project has so far collected some 1,400 applications from openly LGBT at all levels of experience.

“Floating names is not enough. We expect President-elect Obama to live up to his word to appoint a diverse administration,” Wolfe said. “Our community is ready to help lead this country.”
As reported here two weeks ago, Maxwell had the backing of the HRC, as well as major labor union leaders.

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Saturday: Light Up The Night

Join The Impact sends a reminder about this Saturday's Light Up The Night rally in NYC which includes the corrected locations to the ones I posted earlier this week. Find the protest in your city via the links at bottom.
NYC MARCH FOR EQUAL RIGHTS AND GAY MARRIAGE

Saturday, December 20, 6 PM, 35th Street And Sixth Avenue

This Saturday, December 20, the LGBT community of New York will again take to the streets to demand equality in marriage and all civil rights. The march is part of "Light Up The Night," a nationwide protest organized by Join The Impact. JTI organized the previous national day of protest on November 15, which included a rally at New York City Hall attended by more than 5,000 people.

For "Light Up The Night," we will meet on Saturday at 6 PM, at the intersection of 35th Street and Sixth Avenue (the north side of Herald Square) for a candlelight march to Times Square. (Bring your own candles, flashlights, etc.) We will end the march at 7 PM with a rally at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Gay and lesbian couples will talk about their personal struggle for equality in the face of discriminatory marriage laws.

JTI is also holding a food drive to show that the LGBT community also gives back to society. On Saturday, December 20, from 10 AM to 4 PM, we will be collecting canned and dry food in front of the Whole Foods Store on the south side of Union Square, and in front of the Trader Joe's Store on 14th Street and Third Avenue. We will be donating the collection to the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry, which serves the LGBT and HIV communities and all of New York.
Links:
Join The Impact Nationwide

Light Up The Night NYC
Facebook Group Page

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Moral Majority Co-Founder And Top-Rung Homophobe Paul Weyrich Dies At 66

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the anti-gay Moral Majority, architect of the Christian Coalition, reputed Dominionist, and ardent opponent of LGBT rights, has died at age 66.
Conservative activist Paul Weyrich, who coined the phrase "moral majority" and helped turn social conservatives into a powerful force in the Republican Party, died Thursday. He was 66. Weyrich's death was announced by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think thank that he had helped to create.

Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said Weyrich "was instrumental in the development of conservative thought" in America. As the first president of the Heritage Foundation and the leader of other conservative organizations, Weyrich's service "embodied and further advanced the Republican Party's core values of limited government, lower taxes and individual responsibility," added Duncan. Lee Edwards, a Heritage Foundation scholar and a friend, said Weyrich had suffered from ill health in recent years and had both legs amputated.
Condolences and tributes are pouring across the internet from groups like the Concerned Women For America, the Eagle Forum's Phylis Schafly, and Campaign for Working Families head Gary Bauer.

RECENTLY: Two weeks ago Weyrich penned a column for Townhall in which he again warned that Barack Obama would "emasculate the military" by repealing DADT and would force Catholic doctors to perform abortions or lose their medical license.

ASSHAT HALL OF FAME: On the 700 Club in 2006, Weyrich asserted that all gay men are child predators a la Mark Foley.

He will not be missed.

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Gotham 3-D

Coolness from Google Earth Blog:
Google has updated the 3D buildings in Google Earth for New York City! This is a HUGE update with at least hundreds (if not thousands) of new 3D buildings with photo textures applied. Basically, Google has completed nearly every building in Manhattan Island for Google Earth. Just fly to "New York City" and turn on the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. Tilt your view so you can see the buildings in all their glory.
According to the story, if you upload Google Earth 4.3, you can "swoop" between Manhattan buildings "like Spiderman."

(Via - Gothamist)

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Obama Responds To Rick Warren Flap

Barack Obama was questioned about his selection of Rick Warren during a televised press conference this morning. His response:
I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and -- well, let me start by talking about my own views. I think it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something I have been consistent on and something I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency. What I've also said is that it is important for America to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues. And I would note that a couple of years ago I was invited to Rick Warren's church to speak, despite his awareness that I held views entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion. Nevertheless, I had an opportunity to speak, and that dialogue, I think, is a part of what my campaign's been all about, that we're never going to agree on every single issue. What we have to do is create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans. So Rick Warren has been invited to speak, Dr. Joseph Lowery -- who has deeply contrasting views to Rick Warren about a whole host of issues -- is also speaking.
John Aravosis at AmericaBlog reacts:
Great, then where are the racists, Mr. Obama? We don't see you embracing too many of them in the name of learning to agree to disagree. Or does your desire to create a new "atmosphere," and reach out to our enemies, stop when it's your own people, your own children, you'd be betraying? Funny how you only reach across the aisle when it's someone else's family, gay families in particular, getting the shaft.
UPDATE: Here's the clip.

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Secretary Of Conflict?

A just-released donors list reveals that Bill Clinton's charitable foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments that Hillary will have deal with as Secretary of State.
Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $46 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica. The Dutch national lottery gave $5 million to $10 million.

The Blackwater Training Center donated $10,001 to $25,000. The State Department — to be led by Hillary Clinton if she is confirmed — will have to decide next year whether to renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Five Blackwater guards have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury on manslaughter and weapons charges stemming from a September 2007 firefight in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which 17 Iraqis died. The foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. While the list is heavy with international business leaders and billionaires, some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less.
You can bet this issue will come up during Hillary's confirmation hearing.

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Chrysler To Shut Down For One Month

Whoa.
Struggling U.S. automakers are launching a round of severe cutbacks as they wait for a government rescue, with Chrysler saying yesterday it will idle all 30 of its U.S. factories for one month. Chrysler's plants will furlough 46,000 workers beginning Friday, as a planned two-week holiday shutdown is extended to a month and possibly longer. The company, which has told Congress it needed $7 billion to survive the month, also told dealers that it may suspend financing for new cars in a bid to conserve cash.

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The Trials Of Ted Haggard

A new documentary about Ted Haggard's post-scandal life is coming next month from HBO and Haggard will help the network promote it.
Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard has agreed to help promote a new documentary following his life in exile after a 2006 sex scandal — no longer bound by an agreement with his former church that prohibited him from talking publicly about the events that led to his downfall.

"The Trials of Ted Haggard," directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is set to air next month on HBO. Haggard has agreed to take part in publicity for the project, HBO said. "We look forward to presenting the film, Ted Haggard and his family at a press tour in Los Angeles next month," a spokeswoman for the cable network said Wednesday.

Haggard's latest return to the public eye comes after he re-emerged last month at a rural Illinois church, where he delivered guest sermons and said he was sexually abused as a second-grader.Haggard, 52, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., in November 2006 after a former male prostitute went public with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and used methamphetamine. A married father of five, Haggard said he bought the drugs but never used them. He confessed to undisclosed "sexual immorality" and has said, "I really did sin."

In February, New Life Church announced that Haggard prematurely ended a "restoration" process designed to help him heal. Neither Pelosi nor Haggard responded to requests for comment on the documentary, which is scheduled to first air Jan. 29. However, a Web site for a Toronto-based entertainment company that promotes HBO and other television projects describes it as "a behind-scenes-look at the rise and fall of Pastor Ted Haggard." The 41-minute documentary "follows Haggard and his family as they move from houses to motels as the excommunicated pastor tries to redeem himself and support his loved ones," it says.
I'll email Mike Jones and see if he's in the show.

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Shoe Thrower Wants A Pardon

Maybe a few beatings have him changing his tune?
A spokesman for Iraq's prime minister says the journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has asked for a pardon. Spokesman Yassin Majid says that in a letter sent Thursday to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the journalist described his behavior as "an ugly act" and asked to be pardoned. Majid says that Muntadhar al-Zeidi in the letter recalls the kindness the prime minister once showed him during an interview in 2005 and asked for al-Maliki to show him kindness once again. Al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader.
Al-Zeidi's brother says the apology either is a fake or was issued "under pressure". I'm guessing "pressure".

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The Gayest Xmas Special Ever

Over at Listverse they have counted down the best and worst Christmas specials of all time.

Top Five Best:

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas
2. How The Grinch Stole Chrismas
3. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
4. Frosty The Snowman
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

But my personal favorite will always be Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Gay, gay, gay. The guest list alone! And played at my house every year.

By the way, those aren't actual Marines. It's the UCLA Men's Chorus. Gay, gay, gay.

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Gay Man Backed For Secretary Of Navy

Openly gay William White, currently the CEO of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, is being pitched to Barack Obama's transition team as the right choice for Secretary of the Navy.
Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy - a move that would put the first openly gay person at the top of one of the services. The secretary's job is a civilian position, so it would not run afoul of the ban on gays serving in the military, but it would renew focus on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

"He would be phenomenal," said retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, pointing to Mr. White's extensive background as a fundraiser for veterans' and military causes. Retired members of the Joint Chiefs have contacted Mr. Obama's transition team to urge them to pick Mr. White, and members of Congress said he would be a good choice for a service secretary.
As the story notes, the job is a civilian post, but White's selection would certainly ramp up the call for an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

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The Price Is *Exactly* Right


For the first time in almost 30 years, this week a Price Is Right contestant guessed the exact cost of his final round showcase. But watch how completely "meh" Drew Carey is about it. Rosie O'Donnell really should have gotten that gig.

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Gay Orgs React To Warren Selection

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:
"President-elect Obama campaigned on a theme of inclusivity, yet the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation is a direct affront to that very principle. This was a divisive choice, and clearly not one that will help our country come together and heal. We urge President-elect Obama to withdraw his invitation to Rick Warren and instead select a faith leader who embraces fairness, equality and the ideals the president-elect himself has called the nation to uphold."
Joe Solmonese, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign:
Dear President-elect Obama

Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, "there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.

Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.

We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends.

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.
Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California:
"It is appalling that President-elect Barack Obama would invite California Pastor Rev. Rick Warren, an ardent supporter of Prop 8 and someone who is opposed to the equality of LGBT Americans, to give the invocation at his inauguration. Would President-elect Obama invite someone to give the invocation who supported eliminating the civil rights of a minority other than the LGBT community? Of course he wouldn't! This is a slap in the face to the millions of LGBT Americans who supported his historic candidacy"

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Maloney Quits Paterson Office

Last week openly gay politico Sean Patrick Maloney resigned his job as First Deputy Secretary with NY Gov. David Paterson.
Maloney, an aide to disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer who continued to work for Governor David Paterson, resigned his post as first deputy secretary on December 9. The New York Post reported that Maloney had the title of "special counsel" to Spitzer, "allowing him to invoke attorney-client privilege to avoid testifying to investigators probing the scandal" surrounding the use of the State Police to investigate former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. As the newspaper noted, Maloney survived a scandal that took down four Spitzer aides. Paterson called Maloney "a trusted adviser and friend," but the Post reported that "the governor had told associates in recent weeks that he had lost confidence in Maloney," who was an unsuccessful out gay candidate for New York attorney general in 2006.
(Via - Gay City News)

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Anderson Cooper On Rick Warren


On Anderson Cooper 360 last night, Roland Martin, Hilary Rosen, and Robert Zimmerman debated the choice of Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration.

Obama's spokesman: "This is going to be the most inclusive, open, accessible inauguration in American history. The president-elect certainly disagrees with him [Warren] on [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] issues. But it has always been his goal to find common ground with people with whom you may disagree on some issues."

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Open Thread Thursday

Where will you spend the holidays?

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Our Passionate Struggle

Two weeks ago I visited a new exhibit from the SF GLBT Historical Society called Passionate Struggle: The Dynamics Of San Francisco's GLBT History, which is housed on the corner of Castro and 18th Streets in a storefront that once was the site of Wolf Camera.
This exhibit explores the dynamic tensions between passion and struggle that have forged San Francisco's very queer past century. Through four lenses-Places, Politics, Pleasures, and People -this extraordinary show invites you to take a peek into the world-renowned archives of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.
Principally funded by Levis Strauss and Washington Mutual (with additional support from many others), the exhibit reaches back to the very beginnings of the gay movement right up through such relatively recent events as the murder of Matthew Shepard. Two extremely moving highlights for me were a gloriously gaudy beaded pantsuit worn by Sylvester and the blood-soaked, bullet-riddled suit worn by Harvey Milk when he was murdered. I was also fascinated to find the sewing machine on which Gilbert Baker made the first rainbow flag.

Photos are allowed at the exhibit, below is my slideshow. Go here for full-screen versions.

UPDATE: Robert Cameron of Levi Strauss writes to mention that the show will run until October 2009, not the "several weeks" noted on the Society's homepage. Kudos to Levis, Washington Mutual, the Folsom Street Fair, and all the other sponsors.

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Homophobe Rick Warren To Give Invocation At Obama Inauguration

Infamous marriage equality opponent Rick Warren has been tapped to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration and outrage is ripping through the progressive blogosphere.

Via Right Wing Watch:
In 2004 Warren declared that marriage, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were "non-negotiable" issues for Christian voters and has admitted that the main difference between himself and James Dobson is a matter of tone. He criticized Obama's answers at the Faith Forum he hosted before the election and vowed to continue to pressure him to change his views on the issue of reproductive choice. He came out strongly in support of Prop 8, saying "there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." He's declared that those who do not believe in God should not be allowed to hold public office. So why has this man been tapped to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration?
In a recent interview with BeliefNet, Warren compared same-sex marriage to incestuous and pedophile marriages, saying that he saw no difference. But hey, it's OK, after all he loves the gays and has even eaten in their homes.

Very disappointing, Mr. Obama.

UPDATE: Here's Rick Warren advising his flock on how to vote on Prop 8.


UPDATE II: The Freepers are pissed about this too, but for a different reason.

-"Rick Warren should recuse himself from this ministerial assignment. Obama is a pro-abort extremist. That is hardly a position worth a blessing from a Christian pastor."
-"0bama supports outright INFANTICIDE. He should be shunned by anyone that does not also support INFANTICIDE."
-"Warren must care more about being seen than he does about killing babies."

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Georgia: Headscarf Leads To Jail

A Georgia woman was cited for contempt of court and jailed after she refused to remove her headscarf before entering the courthouse.
Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, 40, was arrested at the Douglasville Municipal Court for violating a court policy of no headgear, said Chris Womack, deputy chief of operations for the Douglasville Police Department.

Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, 40, was arrested at the Douglasville Municipal Court for violating a court policy of no headgear. She was taken before Judge Keith Rollins, who ordered her held in jail for 10 days. However, her husband said she was released Tuesday evening. The reason for her release wasn’t immediately clear.

Last week, the same judge apparently threw out another Muslim woman from his courtroom. Sabreen Abdul Rahman, 55, said she had gone to court with her son when she was asked to take off her scarf. “I can’t. I’m Muslim,” she mouthed silently to the bailiff, who then removed her from the courtroom, Rahman said. “This is a religious right,” she said. “This is unconstitutional. And humiliating.” Many Muslim women cover their heads to comply with modesty mandated by Islam. This practice has come up against policies aimed at maintaining decorum in public places across the country.
Valentine was handcuffed and taken to the judge's chamber after she cursed a bailiff at the security checkpoint of the courthouse. There's a "no headgear" rule in place at the courthouse, but I can't imagine they'd ask a Catholic nun to remove her wimple.

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Top Ten Rejected Names For
Adolph Hitler Campbell

Via Phillyist, here's the Top Ten Rejected Names For Adolph Hitler Campbell.

10. Osama bin Ambulance Chaser Campbell
9. Dahmer Amin Stalin Telemarketer Campbell
8. Torquemada Hussein Waterboarder Campbell
7. Progresso Chunky Minestrone Campbell (They enjoy soup; who knew?)
6. Oswald Sirhan Booth Insurance Company Campbell
5. Rove Cheney Bush Limbaugh Campbell
4. Stained For Life Future Juvenile Delinquent Campbell
3. Save Time And Arrest Me Now Campbell
2. Better Not Get Pulled Over By Any Jewish Cops Campbell

And the Number One Rejected Name for Adolf Hitler Campbell:

1. Terrell Owens Campbell

How about Strom Helms Falwell Campbell?

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The Return Of Chest Hair

Today the Daily Beast takes note of Hollywood's rediscovered love of hairy chests, something that happened in popular gay male culture at least a decade ago.
Clive Owen, the brooding, British Sin City hunk (and my number one personal distraction) has unabashedly displayed his sexily untamed man fur. Aussie Hugh Jackman (the newly anointed Oscar host and People‘s latest “Sexiest Man Alive” pick) is only a hair or two behind his X-Men alter-ego Wolverine, and he is all the hotter for it.

Is this good news the silver lining to otherwise cloudy headlines? In these troubled times of war and craptastic financial news, are we yearning once again for leading manly men with comfortingly warm pelts in which to hide our anxious faces?

Even the Tiger Beat crowd is sporting post-pubescent chest curls these days. Robert Pattison, the delicately anemic looking young star of Twilight, has unbuttoned just enough on the red carpet to reveal a healthy crop of pectoral fuzz. And Gossip Girl fave Ed Westwick, while barely of legal drinking age, has the dark downy appearance of someone who has spent all day frolicking with a black Pug.

Then there are the ubiquitous everyman hunks of the Judd Apatow empire, the thinking woman’s boyfriends: Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and Seth Rogen. All three are endowed with chest hair that could best be described as “enough for a handful” (employing the phrase I’ve heard men use to evoke the ideal-sized breast.) And while they all play man-children with immature tendencies, their resolute hairiness is a reminder of their ultimately full-grown hearts.
By the way, I find the present-day Alec Baldwin just as hot as he is in the old photo I've used in this post.

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Gay Youth At Higher Risk For Teen Pregnancy

The headline is a shocker but the conclusions of this Canadian survey make sense.
Lesbian and bisexual youth are up to seven times more likely to get pregnant than their heterosexual peers, a study of British Columbia students has found. The surprising findings were published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. The data used for the research were gathered from adolescent health surveys done in B.C. schools in 1992, 1998, and 2003.

The heightened risk is explained by several factors, including an attempt among closeted gay, lesbian and bisexual teens to prove they are heterosexual to avoid harassment and discrimination. “For some gay, lesbian and bisexual teens it’s camouflage,” said Elizabeth Saewyc, lead author of the study and an associate professor at the University of B.C.’s school of nursing, “because it’s still pretty stigmatized and they still face a lot of harassment at school.”

Results from the surveys, which were conducted anonymously among about 30,000 students in grades 7 through 12, indicated as well that boys are more likely to cause a pregnancy if they identify as gay or bisexual. In the 1998 survey, 10.6 per cent of girls who identified as bisexual reported pregnancy, and 7.3 per cent of lesbians reported pregnancy. Among the heterosexual girls, 1.8 per cent reported pregnancy.

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Marriage Equality Flag?

Opinions? I like that the field of stars will grow with each victory. Source. Can anybody ID the flag's creator? The person who pointed me to it on Facebook a couple of days ago has not yet responded about that.

UPDATE: The flag is the creation of JMG reader Mark, who writes to explain.
The flag is based in the custom of 19th century suffragettes. At their annual convention they would add a star to the flag for each state that had adopted a women's right to vote. Although there is no official order - the stars are generally read right to left in the order they were admitted to the Union. Represented are - Massachusetts and Connecticut.

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Shoe Protest Spreads To U.S.

Via press release:
Please join CODE PINK: Women for Peace, AfterDowningStreet, and Democrats.com this Wednesday, December 17, 2008, in Washington, D.C., at Lafayette Square Park in front of the White House. We will have with us a large supply of shoes labeled with the names of Iraqis who have died in Bush’s war. We encourage you to bring your old shoes as well. Come rally with us in solidarity with the Iraqi people to demand an immediate and complete end to the occupation of Iraq.
More here. I'll have photos when they become available.

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Colmes To Coulter: YOU Are A Hate Crime


Alan Colmes called Ann Coulter a hate crime herself for continually harping on Barack Obama's middle name.

(Via - Towleroad)

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TIME's Person Of The Year Selection Causes Millions To Say "Well, Duh"

Seriously, who else could it have been? From the story:
[I]f he has shown anything this year, Obama has made it clear that he knows how to write new playbooks and do things in new ways. Which is a compelling quality right now. His arrival on the scene feels like a step into the next century — his genome is global, his mind is innovative, his world is networked, and his spirit is democratic. Perhaps it takes a new face to see the promise in a future that now looks dark. What's in store for Obama's America? "I don't have a crystal ball," he says. But the measure of his success in menacing times can be found in the number and variety of people who consider the question with eagerness alongside their dread.

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iGross

Via By The Bayou we learn that there's a new iPhone app that lets you track the menstrual cycles of women in your life so that you know when they're PMS-ing. Colored lights advise when the women should be avoided, sort of like a Cubicle Homeland Security warning.

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Sarah Palin Talks About Church Fire And Defends "Ex-Gay" Program

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HomoQuotable - Rev. Irene Monroe

"The problem of saying 'Gay is the new black' poses the following problems for many African Americans:
● The Marriage Equality movement exploits black suffering and experiences to legitimate its own;

● The Marriage Equality movement’s rallying cry against heterosexist oppression dismisses its own responsibility when it comes to white skin privilege.

● The Marriage Equality movement appropriates the content of the black civil rights movement, but discards the context and history that brought about it.
"But this is not surprising because the larger LGBTQ movement has distorted, if not erased, its own history when it come to the Stonewall Riot of June 27-29, 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York City, which started on the backs of working-class African-American and Latino transgender patrons of the bar. Those brown and black LGBTQ people are not only absent from the photos of that historic night, but they are also bleached from the annals of queer history and gay pride events.

"Because of the bleaching of the Stonewall Riots, the beginnings of LGBTQ movement post-Stonewall is an appropriation of black and brown transgender liberation narratives absent of black and brown people. And it is the visible absence of these black, brown and yellow LGBTQ people that makes it harder for white queer elites in our movement to confront their racism and trans-phobia.

"If African American LGBTQ people are not included in the history and in the decision -making issues involving queer life, how then can the movement expect our participation, let alone the rest of the African American community? Sadly, if racism continues to go unchecked in the Marriage Equality movement it won’t only cost California's LGBTQ community the right to marry, it will cost us all." - Rev. Irene Monroe, Ford Fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School, writing in UK Gay News.

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Nancy Sutley Named First LGBT Person In Obama's Cabinet

History was made yesterday.
Barack Obama’s selection of Nancy Sutley as chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality marks the first prominent, openly gay or lesbian to join his cabinet. The news was widely covered in the gay press and Web sites.

“President-elect Obama’s nomination of Nancy Sutley is another step toward full equality for gay Americans,” Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, said in a statement. “It sends a signal to young people that they can participate in their government at its highest levels, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender or ethnicity.”

Sutley is currently the Los Angeles deputy mayor for energy and environment and the mayor's rep on the board of directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. She also was a member of Hillary Clinton's California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender steering committee during the state's primary.

Sutley has spent more than a decade in senior environmental, energy and water policy-making positions in California, according to The New York Times. A former aide to Carol Browner, the former EPA director during the Clinton administration and now Obama’s czar for policy, Sutley also has experience dealing with budget and legislative matters at the state and federal level. She is closely tied to figures in Los Angeles city and California state politics. Sutley, 46, holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard.
Not to quibble and I did go with it in the headline, but is the Council On Environmental Quality really a Cabinet-level position?

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Final Tally: Prop 8 Won By 600K Votes

California has released the final official vote count for Proposition 8.
Final election results show that 599,602 more California voters cast ballots in favor of outlawing same-sex marriage than voted to keep such unions legal. The official tally certified Saturday by Secretary of State Debra Bowen has Proposition 8 passing 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent — the same spread the gay marriage ban held based on early results from the Nov. 4 election. The final numbers indicate that Proposition 8 passed in 43 of the state's 58 counties. The measure secured its greatest support in Kern and Tulare counties, where three-quarters of the voters approved it. Opposition was strongest in Marin and San Francisco, where three-quarters of voters rebuffed Proposition 8.

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Etheridge Takes On Hasselbeck

On The View yesterday, Melissa Etheridge called out Elizabeth Hasselbeck for misleading viewers about the ramifications of marriage equality, then asked Hasselbeck directly for her personal opinion on the issue. Surprisingly, Hasselbeck allowed that "the rights should be equal" but added that the Prop 8 vote should stand.

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MTA's Latest Folly

The MTA is fighting two battles - a massive budget shortfall and the increasing cost of replacing train windows damaged by so-called scratchiti artists. The latest solution being tested: full window advertisments. The ads both bring in additional revenue and supposedly discourage vandalism of the windows.

However the ads are made of some material that only allow riders to see out, not in, making it impossible for people outside the train to see potential muggings. And any New Yorker will tell you that if a packed train with one empty car pulls into the station, there is probably a good and very stinky reason that car is empty. These days NYC subway cars are virtually free of graffiti, with only the ugly scratched up windows to mar their appearance. I hate the shitheads that scratch up the windows with their double-dumbass tags, but this is a supremely stupid solution.

(Via - Gothamist)

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Letters To Santa Really Do Work

A man in Texas was arrested for child molestation after a 9-year old girl wrote a letter to Santa asking for it to stop.
The 9-year-old's plea to Santa, written as a school assignment, launched the investigation and led to the first charge of continuous sexual abuse last week. On Tuesday, Cantu was accused of abusing the girl's older sister, who was also mentioned in the letter. Investigators have refused to share the letter to Santa, saying it is evidence in an ongoing investigation. But the charging affidavit described it as "a wish list to Santa" asking that the girl's relative stop touching her and her sister. Pharr Police spokesman Lt. Guadalupe Salinas said the girls' mother had been unaware of any abuse but that the relative had moved out of the home after an earlier falling out.
The kid's teacher had read the letter and called a school counselor, who brought in the cops.

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Arizona: Attorneys Protest Adding Sexual Orientation To Anti-Discrimination Oath

Conservatives are protesting a proposed revision to the oath attorneys must swear for inclusion to the Arizona Bar. Via GOP USA:
Throwing our constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of association down the drain, the State Bar of Arizona is considering a revision to the attorneys' oath of office that would silence conservative viewpoints on gay issues. The oath would be revised to add the language in red as follows: “I will not permit considerations of gender, race, religion, age, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or social standing to influence my duty of care.”

Several attorneys including myself have expressed their opposition in a letter to the Bar. They point out that the language is so broad, it could be used to ban an attorney from publicly expressing a viewpoint on gay issues. It could also prohibit an organization of Christian attorneys like the Alliance Defense Fund or the Christian Legal Society, which holds Bible studies at law schools, from refusing to admit persons of alternative sexual preference to their organizations.

The State Bar of Arizona is a mandatory association for attorneys wishing to practice law in Arizona. As such, they have the power to revoke the license to practice law in Arizona of any attorney they believe has violated this provision. A clause like this has no place in an oath of office, which should consist of nothing more but generally swearing allegiance to the laws of the land. Adding a controversial restriction on our First Amendment rights in order to promote a politically correct left wing agenda is inappropriate and a gross abuse of power by the Bar. If they go ahead with this curtailing of our rights, there will be plenty of lawsuits, and rightly so. Please call or email the president of the State Bar of Arizona and express your objection to this outrageous infringement upon our rights, Ed.Novak@azbar.org or 602-340-7239.

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

On Drunkenfreude

Susan Cheever has a great essay up on the NY Times in which she observes that nobody in Gotham seems to get stumbling down drunk at parties anymore. The first two paragraphs:
As dessert ended, the woman in the red dress got up and stumbled toward the bathroom. Her husband, whose head had been sinking toward the bûche de Noël, put a clumsily lecherous arm around the reluctant hostess. As coffee splashed into porcelain demitasse cups, the woman in the red dress returned, sank sloppily into her chair and reached for the Courvoisier. Someone gently moved the bottle away. “Are you shaying I’m drunk?” she demanded. Even in the candlelight I noticed that the lipstick she had reapplied was slightly to the left of her lips. Her husband, suddenly bellicose, sprang from his chair to defend his wife’s honor. But on the way across the room he slipped and went down like a tray of dishes. “Frank! Are you hurt?” she screamed. Somehow she had gotten hold of the brandy. “S’nothing,” he replied, “just lay down for a little nap. Can I bum a smoke?”

That dinner party was almost 10 years ago; it was the last time I saw anyone visibly drunk at a New York party. The New York apartments and lofts which were once the scenes of old-fashioned drunken carnage — slurred speech, broken crockery, broken legs and arms, broken marriages and broken dreams — are now the scene of parties where both friendships and glassware survive intact. Everyone comes on time, behaves well, drinks a little wine, eats a few tiny canapés, and leaves on time. They all still drink, but no one gets drunk anymore. Neither do they smoke. What on earth has happened?
I too have noticed a pulling back in public drunkenness (all those Blowoff nights very excepted), but I've always attributed it to my now running in much older circles.

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RuPaul As Both Obamas

RuPaul werks this holiday greeting card as both Obamas. Back when I had roommates and still bothered with a Christmas tree, we always had my RuPaul ornament near the top.

(Via - Towleroad)

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