British Government Warns Ex-Pats Of Potential Riots Over Euro Collapse

The British government has advised its embassies across Europe that they are to write up emergency plans to assist ex-pats in the event of rioting over the collapse of the Euro.

Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way. A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time. “It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph. Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest.

The treaties that set up the Euro Zone provide no mechanism for member nations to leave the group, setting the stage for widespread chaos.

New Hampshire: A Battle For Second Place

#1 Twenty-Five Years Ago Today

An uncharacteristic blemish on their discography. Corn!

WASHINGTON: President & Kids Visit Gay-Friendly Dupont Circle Bookstore

In support of Small Business Saturday, the president today treated his kids to an armful of items from Dupont Circle's gay-friendly Kramer Books. Part of the bookstore is a brunch spot packed with gay men on most weekends.

The retail industry is encouraging shoppers to patronize mom-and-pop businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's a counterpoint to Black Friday and the sales and special deals offered by department stores and other large retailers. The Obamas walked out with a selection of books including "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever" and "Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia."

Among the gay patrons who tweeted their encounter with the First Family was GOProud president Jimmy LaSalvia.

Bjork - Crystalline (Live)

Weirdly magical.

Gay Marriage Is Unconstitutional Because It Gives Women An Unfair Advantage

So says David Usher of the just-formed Center for Marriage Policy, who claims that non-gay women will marry other women just to get the financial benefits of "feminist marriage."

Feminist marriage directly violates 14th Amendment protection against sex discrimination, and the 5th Amendment is violated at the Federal level. The Constitution cannot accept a structure of three-party marriage establishing an arrangement of government-sponsored economic polygyny as a protected, superior class of marriage under any rational-basis test. Secondly, the Constitution cannot accept any marital arrangement structurally establishing three classes of marriage, where the classes are crisply defined and either rewarded or discriminated against because of the natural reproductive capacity one sex is born with that the other sex does not have.

Corporations supporting the repeal of DOMA are making a tragic mistake supporting feminist marriage. Feminist marriage will demolish men’s drive to be successful, motivated workers. It will also further weaken the American job market and harm women’s employment opportunities. Our “Competitiveness Gap” with marriage-based Asian economies will expand as men’s productivity and educational attainment continues to decline, while growing social problems, violence, and higher taxes stimulate businesses to move jobs overseas.

A Dance Version Of "It Gets Better"

George Michael Hospitalized

George Michael is reportedly worsening after being admitted on Monday to an Austrian hospital for the treatment of pneumonia. His management has announced the cancellation of the remaining dates on his world tour. Via yesterday's Vienna Times:

He is currently in intensive care on the 13th floor of the red tower as a result of heart problems believed to be caused by the shortage of oxygen caused by his pneumonia. On Thursday afternoon he was fitted into a special full-body bed designed to keep all the pressure off his lungs and to help them to function - so far without any sign of improvement. Head doctor from the nearby Otto Wagner Hospital, Norbert Vetter, said that the reason a person with a lung problem was being treated in the cardiac unit probably lay in the fact that if there was a lung problem - and not enough oxygen being taken into the body - then that could affect the heart especially if the heart had already been damaged in some way. He added in the worst case the heart could cease to function.

Business Week quotes one of the singer's doctors as saying he has "severe community acquired pneumonia." Michael's spokesman confirmed his condition as "bad." Some tabloids are already rushing out with AIDS rumors and commenters on anti-gay sites like Free Republic are saying exactly the sort of things you'd expect from loving Christians.

UPDATE: Pink News reports that Michael's team is denying the Vienna Times report about his heart.

The star’s spokeswoman said in a statement: “George Michael is ill with pneumonia and any other speculation regarding his illness is unfounded and untrue. “He is receiving excellent medical care, he is responding to treatment and slowly improving”. A source told the Daily Mail: “George has woken up and he’s in good spirits. Doctors are very pleased with him, and he’s making progress.” “He’s been in terrible pain. He’s had a dreadful chest infection, but he’s been in good care. He’s in very capable hands”.

Grinding America Down

The YouTube channel "Stop Homosexual Terror" has posted last year's Agenda: Grinding America Down in full. So if you've got 90 minutes, here's a documentary about how we commie pinkos are destroying the nation from within.

First Gay Wedding For The Comics

For the mainstream comics, that is. Bleeding Cool has the backstory.

Jennifer Saunders On AbFab

U.S. Strike Force Enters Syrian Waters?

So claims Russia Today.


UPDATE: Forbes has more.

Of course, any intervention into Syria will prompt an Iranian response. War with Syria and Iran would make the Iraq War look like a leisurely stroll along the Tigris. Are we going to war with Syria? It’s much too early to say, but the ominous warnings to leave the country, the sudden arrival of the aircraft carrier, and the increasing tension in Syria along with the inability of anyone to force Syria’s hand makes it look increasingly, and frighteningly, more likely.

Forbes notes that a conflicting report says the U.S. carrier is still parked off the coast of France.

UPDATE II: The New York Times makes no mention of U.S. forces but notes another development from this afternoon.

Syria on Friday ignored an Arab League deadline to accept observers to oversee a peace deal to end more than eight months of bloodshed, with activists saying that several protesters and soldiers were killed during clashes across the country. Arab League officials said Thursday that if the government of President Bashar al-Assad failed to agree by Friday to sign a protocol detailing the mission of the observers, Arab finance ministers would meet in Cairo on Saturday to discuss imposing economic sanctions that could include halting flights to Syria, curbing trade and stopping transactions with the country’s central bank.

UPDATE III: China's English-language news service is now also claiming that "intelligence reports" show the U.S. carrier off the coast of Syria.


NOTE: I've added a question mark to this post's headline because I still can't find confirmation of the carrier claim from any western news source. Here's the message posted on the U.S. State Department's site on Wednesday night.

Quote Of The Day - Robert Mugabe

"It becomes worse and Satanic when you get a prime minister like Cameron saying countries that want British aid should accept homosexuality. To come with that diabolical suggestion to our people is a stupid offer. Do not get tempted into homosexuality. You are young people. We will punish you severely. It is condemned by nature. It is condemned by insects and that is why I have said they are worse than pigs and dogs." - Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

What Happened To Crazy Eyes?

Afternoon View

Headline Of The Day

Read all about it.

Obama/Hillary 2012?

The Wall Street Journal speculates:

Paul Starr, co-editor of The American Prospect, a liberal-left magazine, has observed that 45 percent of the people who disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance view Mrs. Clinton favorably. It is fair to say that Mrs. Clinton's addition to the ticket would be a substantial gain for President Obama that he badly needs next November, since she is, as Mr. Starr notes, a member of the part of his administration that has the highest approval rating, and more important she has not at all been a part of the disastrous economic policies that have caused the Obama drop in popularity.

Even better for Election Day, she would gain support among older white voters, who did not support Mr. Obama very much in 2008. Mr. Starr also cites a Suffolk University Florida poll that shows that Mrs. Clinton on the Obama ticket would win Florida for the two of them, even if Sen. Marco Rubio is the Republican's vice presidential candidate. One more advantage: With Mrs. Clinton comes her husband, who would very much want to get his wife elected, and also might be interested in a position in the Obama-Clinton administration.

Put me down as a "yes."

It's National Leftover Sandwich Day

More leftovers suggestions here. What's for lunch?

Chaos At Occupy Oakland

Church Sign Of The Day

(Source)

Christians Shouldn't Be So Nice

"The truth is not always pleasant; it is often scalding. In Nathaniel, Jesus saw someone willing to acknowledge what was true, even if it exposed him as imperfect-in-love—as are we all. If, as is generally agreed, there is freedom in naming a thing for what it is, then there can only be oppression in refusing to do so, all for the sake of being nice. Chiding others for daring to say (with lamentable levity) what many others are thinking is not a productive means of promoting truth or of serving Christ, in whom is our freedom.

"Quite the opposite; it serves only to shut down those realities that make us uncomfortable, or shake our illusions or stab at our worldviews. In which case a sanctimonious 'shush, be nice,'—far from being an admonishment to charity—equates only to 'shut up,' delivered sometimes from the mouths of those who think they’re too nice to ever say something that rude, and often from the self-knowing tyrants who just want you to believe it." - Catholic blogger Elizabeth Scalia, who says Jesus doesn't want "nice" Christians.

Black Friday

Has anybody been killed this year?

AUSTRALIA: It's Time For Marriage

My grinchy heart just grew two sizes.

Guest Post - Carl Siciliano

The holiday season frightens me. It is the time of year our homeless kids are most likely to attempt suicide. Kids who have been cast out of their homes suffer badly during a season that celebrates and idealizes family togetherness.

Yesterday I met with a group of kids at our drop-in center in Chelsea. They were all out in the cold at night, waiting for beds to open up in our shelters. One boy, who is 16 years old, told me how everything went bad for him when he was eleven. His father demanded to know if he was gay and when the boy was honest, his father refused to speak to him for three years. His mother tells him that he is a mistake and that she wishes she never had him. He has been running away repeatedly since then. There is nothing to celebrate at his home. I had a hard time sleeping last night, wondering what he had suffered.

What a sick, toxic force homophobia is in our society, destroying homes, making parents turn on their own children. Tens of thousands of teens in our country have been forced out of their homes. An LGBT teen is eight times more likely to suffer homelessness than a straight teen. The religious and political leaders who promote homophobia are causing terrible human suffering. They lie when they say they are promoting family values.

The waiting list for our shelter beds skyrocketed in the last year. More than half the kids coming to us for help are from out of state. Most are from the red states. Even though we recently opened a new 20-bed shelter, we now have a waiting list of over 200 kids. In New York City there are only 250 youth shelter beds for a population of 3,800 kids, 40% of whom are LGBT.

I am haunted by the perception that these kids are paying the price for our victories. I believe that when there is a lot of conflict about gay rights, parents who give credence to homophobic religious and political leaders take it out on their LGBT kids. It is no coincidence that our waiting list grew more than ever before in a year that saw the overturning of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the achievement of Marriage Equality in New York.

The fight for LGBT equality for adults is often a matter of changing laws. But for these kids, who have been made destitute by homophobia, it is a fight for resources. A gay teen may not be able to depend on their parent's love, but they should be able to depend on our community to protect them. We cannot allow them to be left out in the streets.We need to marshall our resources to provide for them, and demand that our tax dollars help to create a safety net for them.

At the Ali Forney Center we are doing our best to protect the kids. We now house 77 every night in eight different shelter and longer-term housing sites. We serve hundreds more daily in our two drop-in centers. We work especially hard during the holiday season to create a warm and joyful environment for the kids. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts at all of our housing sites and drop-in centers. We bring together many people to help us with all the food and withassembling abundant presents for all the hundreds of kids. Honestly, making the kids feel as happy and loved as possible during this season can be a matter of life and death.

I am deeply grateful to the community of people surrounding JMG for your generosity to the Ali Forney Center. Over the past few years the appeals Joe has invited me to write have generated over $65K. On this Thanksgiving day, I give my thanks to all of you who have been so kind and caring.

I hope that you will consider continuing to support our work. Donations can be made online or can be mailed to:

Ali Forney Center
224 West 35th Street, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10001

Thank you!

Carl Siciliano
Executive Director
Ali Forney Center

NOTE FROM JOE: The Ali Forney Center rates highly per the Best Practices guidelines of Charity Navigator, which judges non-profits on how efficiently they handle their funding. Donations are tax-deductible.

Wingnuts Slam Newt On Immigration

Within moments of Newt Gingrich's relatively kind words about immigrant families, right wing debate watchers were predicting that his words will end his campaign.

After watching the recent GOP presidential debate on CNN, William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), believes Gingrich could see his poll numbers drop significantly for calling for a "humane" immigration policy -- similar to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's declaration in an earlier debate that if you do not support helping illegal aliens afford college, "you don't have heart." "The main prediction we're making is that Newt Gingrich's campaign will derail or implode like Rick Perry's did based off of polling data that we believe was accurate that shows over 80 percent opposition to DREAM Act amnesty and in-state tuition measures," Gheen cites.

Brian Brownshirt: Thankful For Donations

"I cannot begin to describe how much you have done to protect marriage from being destroyed in America. If not for you, the anti-marriage radicals — with their rich Hollywood friends and their campaigns of violence and intimidation* — would have won a long time ago. Thanks to you, not only are we standing up to them, we are winning. And I hope you will enable us to win one more critical victory by making an urgent tax-deductible gift to the NOM Education Fund today.

"Anything you can donate right now will help fund our high-stakes legal battle to uphold Proposition 8 in California. We've just won a key victory at the California Supreme Court, allowing the Prop 8 sponsors to defend Proposition 8 in court. This victory is crucial – it prevents Governor Jerry Brown from single-handedly vetoing the will of 7 million California voters – but it also sets us on a path that will be long and very expensive, likely culminating at the U.S. Supreme Court next year." - Brian Brownshirt, writing on NOM's hate blog.

*Emphasis motherfucking mine.

Samsung Vs. Apple Hipsters

"If it looks the same, HOW will people know I upgraded?"

Tomorrow: Buy Nothing Day

From the same folks that brought you OWS.

Canadian Court Upholds Ban On Polygamy

British Columbia's Supreme Court has upheld Canada's ban on polygamy. Which will surely disappoint anti-gay activists in America.

In a 335-page decision released on Wednesday, Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled in favour of the section of the Criminal Code outlawing polygamous unions. In his ruling, Bauman said while the law does infringe on religious freedom, it is justified given the harm polygamy causes to children, women and society. “I have concluded that this case is essentially about harm,” Bauman wrote in the decision that was handed down Wednesday morning in Vancouver.

Interestingly, a spokesperson for a Canadian polyamorists group applauded the decision, saying, "The formality of marriage is really not a big issue in the polyamorous community."

Tagging Crazy Eyes

My pal Homer points us to the product tags on Michele Bachmann's new book. Snork!

Tired Old Queen At The Movies #88

1944's Meet Me In St. Louis starring Judy Garland.

CBS Deletes Letterman's "Ex-Gay" Cracks About Ladybird Bachmann From Web

Last night David Letterman made some cracks about Michele Bachmann which included jabs at Ladybird: "And if you're a homosexual, her husband will take care of ya. He's got a thing, a camp or a clinic or something. And if you're a homosexual and you feel you're in the need of some special treatment or counseling, he'll take care of you." Towleroad reports that Letterman's bit about Mr. Bachmann have been deleted from the web archive of the show. YouTube's still got it, for now.

(Via Enzo at Aksarbent)

FRC's Peter Sprigg: Pro Baseball Is Siding With Gays In The Culture War

"In the larger picture, the homosexual activists are trying to have their ideology become dominant not only in the most liberal segments of society, like academia, but in the most conservative institutions, such as the military, the church, and now in sports. Liberals attack conservatives for the idea of legislating morality, but this is exactly what’s happening when one of these codes is adopted. It’s saying that anyone who disapproves of homosexual conduct, for whatever reason, is a bigot and we are taking a moral stance against that. This is not a neutral act. It’s taking sides in the culture war." - Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council senior fellow, on Major League Baseball adding sexual orientation to its union agreement.

Crazy Eyes: NBC Owes Me An Apology

Michele Bachmann isn't satisfied with an apology from Jimmy Fallon, she wants his network to apologize too.

"I think the point is," she told Fox News's America's Newsroom, "if that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer, at least suspended him, none of that happened from NBC and this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite but it’s also I think it’s sexism as well."

Michele Bachmann wants your family destroyed, your partner ripped from your arms, and your gayness "fixed." In this case, I find it very fucking hard to care what anybody thinks is sexist.

DNC On Romney's Lying Ad

PEW REPORTS: Anti-Gay Religious Groups Spending Big Despite Economy

Virulently anti-gay Christian groups figure prominently in the Pew Forum's ranking of spending for religious advocacy. Roll Call notes that NOM more than doubled its spending the year after the passage of Prop 8.

Keep in mind that all of the above groups maintain separate arms for "political advocacy" and other spending. For example, the total 2010 expenditure for Focus On The Family alone was $138,000,000. That's about two times the combined annual budgets of the ten largest LGBT rights groups.

POLAND: Neo-Nazis Register Anti-Gay Symbol As Official Party Logo

AFP reports:

In a little-noticed decision at the end of October, a court allowed the small National Rebirth of Poland (NOP) party to register two symbols. One was the Celtic cross, used by far-right movements internationally, while the other was a stylized illustration of gay sex with a bar through it. The NOP trumpeted the court ruling on its website earlier this week, saying it capped a two-year legal battle. Grzegorz Schetyna, a senior player in Poland's ruling centrist Civic Platform, accused the judge who made the ruling of failing in his duties. "Such symbols are unacceptable," he told the station Radio Zet. The NOP turns out regularly to oppose gay rights rallies in Poland.

RELATED: Last summer friends of mine were attacked by neo-Nazi and Catholic extremists while attending EuroPride in Warsaw. Over 2000 Polish riot police were deployed to protect those attending the parade.

Gay Activists Killed Larry King

And forcing gay kids to act less gay will save their lives.

$13M Spent Nationally On OWS

Think Progress reports that wingnut blogs are going apeshit over the just-released estimate on police overtime and other costs related to OWS. The above chart provides some perspective.

SPAIN: Gay Men Make Out During Live News Report On New Government

NOM Boots "Spit On Gays" Blogger

NOM's Ruth Institute announced yesterday that it had canned the blogger who suggested spitting on the women who tried to buy a wedding cake in Iowa. Because that kind of "sarcasm" is over the line. Yeah, right. Sarcasm. That's what it was.

She's Got A New Hat Store!

Gothamist gives us a look at the still shrouded in secrecy Apple Store at Grand Central Terminal, which when it opens on December 9th will be the world's largest. And the sixth Apple Store in Manhattan. Artist's rendering below. No glass cube or staircase.

Slaggie Gilamonster: How To Demonize Gays Over The Thanksgiving Table

(Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Quote Of The Day - Pamela Geller

"Why did Anderson Cooper cancel my appearance and instead victimize Melanie Oberg, subjecting her to the scorn and derision of a subjective audience, not to mention that of the notoriously Islamophilic Cooper (whose enthusiasm for Islamic supremacism confounds me: as a gay man he should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anti-Shariah activists). Why did Anderson Cooper have room for only one person who opposed the show on principle? Why couldn't he have put together a panel that included an equal number of people on either side? Why was Anderson Cooper afraid to have me or any other seasoned counter-jihadists on the show? [snip] Was he afraid that people might hear and consider the truth? What a snake." - NYC-based nutjob blogger and "Sharia Law" opponent Pamela Geller, complaining to World Net Daily.

Happy T-Day From The Prop 8 Plaintiffs

Gay Group To Sue "Ex-Gay" Tool?

"Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth WIns Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric." - PFOX president Greg Quinlan, speaking in a televised interview.

Wayne Besen reacts:

Unfortunately for Quinlan nothing he said about me or Truth Wins Out is true or accurate. What he said was outright libel and a complete fabrication that he invented out of thin air. It speaks to Quinlan’s character that he lies so easily and simply makes things up. As for me, I’d be more than happy to take a lie detector test or a NoLie MRI to prove that I’ve never said such vile words. Will Quinlan also take these tests to prove the “veracity” of his calumny? Truth Wins Out is exploring its legal options. Do our readers think that we should sue PFOX and Quinlan for libel and defamation?

Atheism Billboards Are Offensive

It's OK to tell strangers they're going to hell, but it's SO not OK to tell them they aren't. So says a billboard company in Ohio.

The inflammatory nature of the proposed displays would no doubt be considered offensive to much of the community and would be harmful to Lind’s community reputation and goodwill. Lind has always and will continue to reserve the right not to publish advertisements which, in its sole opinion, are obscene, unnecessarily offensive and/or not in the best interests of the community at large.

(Via - The Friendly Atheist)

Walgreens Caves To Hate Group

The American Family Association is sending out triumphant emails declaring victory over Walgreens and their campaign to oppress religious liberty. The boycott is suspended, y'all! What, you didn't know there WAS a boycott?

Today In Mildly Interesting Trivia

And a big hello to my Twitter followers in Somewhere, which I hear is just lovely this time of year. Follow JMG on Twitter.

A Thanksgiving Message From Eugene

"Dear Joe, I hate to bring up this disgusting matter during your holiday celebrations, but this cannot wait. While American families everywhere are gathering together to celebrate and give thanks for their many blessings, the radical liberals will try to sneak this perversion by unnoticed. The Offense of Marriage Act already has 30 co-sponsors in the Senate -- it is up to you and I to make as many of them as we can change their minds. You must call your U.S. Senators right now if we are going to have any shot at killing this bill!

"Without your financial support, I am afraid this fight will grind to a halt. In fact, I know it will. I have led Public Advocate into so many fights this year -- the Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the Homosexual Classrooms Act, and the Gay Bill of Special Rights -- that I have nearly exhausted our funds. The Offense of Marriage Act MUST be defeated, but I can only do it if you are willing to sacrifice just a little bit of your time and a little bit more financially." - Eugene Delgaudio, supervisor for Loundon County, Virginia and self-named Public Advocate of the United States.

FAKERY: About That Stigmata, Father...

In 2002 Pope John Paul II made some dead priest a saint because of the way his palms bled every day for 50 years. Just like Jeebus! Of course, that's assuming that Jeebus also used carbolic acid to eat away his hands.

Italian historian Professor Sergio Luzzatto has discovered documents including a letter from a pharmacist who arranged carbolic acid for Pio. Professor Luzzatto suggests in Padre Pio: Miracle and Politics in a Secular Age that it was the corrosive acid that caused the bleeding on the saint's hands. He also said many had expressed doubts and suggested the Vatican only canonised Pio – real name Francesco Forgione – because of public pressure. "Human beings – and particularly the most fragile among them – will still need to look at figures such as Padre Pio to get, if not miracles, then at least consolation and hope," Professor Luzzatto said, according the the Sun.

The Catholic Anti-Defamation League dismissed the new claims by reminding everybody that "papal infallibility" makes it impossible to wrongly name someone to be a saint. So there! (Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

The Cadillac Of Citizen Repression

Ever since the UC Davis incident, wiseguys have been flooding Amazon with reviews of the pepper spray on sale. At this writing, the below is the "most helpful" review.

Whenever I need to breezily inflict discipline on unruly citizens, I know I can trust Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream, 1.3% Red Band/1.3% Blue Band Pepper Spray to get the job done! The power of reason is no match for Defense Technology's superior repression power. When I reach for my can of Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream, 1.3% Red Band/1.3% Blue Band Pepper Spray, I know that even the mighty First Amendment doesn't stand a chance against its many scovil units of civil rights suppression. When I feel threatened by students, no matter how unarmed, peaceful and seated they may be, I know that Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream, 1.3% Red Band/1.3% Blue Band Pepper Spray has got my back as I casually spray away at point blank range. It really is the Cadillac of citizen repression technology.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jubal)

ACLU's Memo To Bachmann

DNC Attacks Mittens On Immigration

In which Newt is actually the good guy.

Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About Gay Marriage Ruining Europe

"While the social science research clearly and unequivocally shows that marriage is central to the welfare of individuals and the entire social order, unwarranted changes in family structure are profoundly reshaping our post-modern society and even our global economies. [snip] Ireland has the brightest fertility outlook, with total fertility measured at 2.1 (children per woman) and Greece, following at 1.5. Italy, Portugal, and Spain all have fertility rates of 1.4 children per woman, which is a growing concern in terms of exasperating the old-age dependency ratio. Throughout the years, what we have learned, to our sorrow, is that the consequences of the decline in marriage and breakdown of the family have not only negatively affected generations of individuals on a personal level, the decline of marriage has undermined social institutions and shaken the stability and economic viability of nations." - Janet Crouse, writing on the Concerned Women blog.

God Teleported Him To China

(Source)

The War On Xmas Commences

The anti-gay Liberty Counsel has launched this year's "Friend Or Foe" campaign to make sure that retailers and employers don't oppress your religious freedom by using the words "holiday" or "Xmas." It's the fucking Christmas season, you heathen bitches.

Jimmy Fallon Apologizes To Bachmann

The Debate In 100 Seconds

How many debates is this now? 85?

Tap Tap Tap

So who's cutting out early today?

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of Fly Life, this week's Swag Tuesday prize is a double diva DVD package of concert films from gay icons Lady Gaga and Adele, both of which are available today online and at music/video retailers nationwide.

Adele: Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Live At The Royal Albert Hall was recorded on September 22 at the height of what has been an amazing year for Adele. Available on DVD and Blu-ray, "Live At The Royal Albert Hall" features the full 90 minute concert performance, plus special behind the scenes footage shot throughout the day leading up to the concert. The package also includes an exclusive live CD of the entire show. This is the first time all of Adele's hits and best loved songs will be on one CD plus her stunning covers of Bonnie Raitt's "If I Can't Make You Love Me" and The Steeldrivers "If It Hadn't Been For Love"

Lady Gaga: The Monster Ball Tour

Multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning artist Lady Gaga will release a Blu-Ray & DVD copy of the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award winning HBO special Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden that includes exclusive, never before seen footage. Also being released is the album Born This Way The Remix – a 14 track collection of remixes by some of today’s most prominent artists, DJs and producers, including TBD and TBD. The new products are also available in a special package called Born This Way The Collection, that will include the multi-platinum 17-track record Born This Way, the brand new Born This Way The Remix album and the Monster Ball Tour DVD.

Enter to win the double diva DVD package by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to include your email address in the text of your comment. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Tweet Of The Day - Ellen Barkin

One of my favorite celebs on Twitter.

GOProud: Those Kids Deserved It

UPDATE: Once again I have angered Herr Barron by screen-capping his words verbatim and posting them without comment. And as always, he responds with an infantile "you're FAT" response like the one below. I've always wondered how a certain member of GOProud's board of directors feels about these comments.

Gingrich Won't Be On Missouri's Ballot

Newt Gingrich's campaign team failed to file the paperwork necessary to have his name appear on Missouri's primary ballot in February. Does it matter? Maybe.

Missouri's primary is a "beauty contest," meaning that no delegates will be awarded. The state Republican Party will hold caucuses in March for that purpose. However, Missouri is a major state, and the nonbinding contest will be the only primary in the country between the Florida primary on Jan. 31 and the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Feb. 28. Candidates wishing to maintain their momentum, and media visibility, through that dry spell in February may well see Missouri as a place to compete for bragging rights.

The omission is fueling rumors that Gingrich has never been serious about being president and has only used the visibility of his campaign to further his books sales and lobbying career.

Headline Of The Day

Story here.

SCOTUS Won't Block R-71 Names

The Supreme Court has declined to block the release of the names on Washington State's Referendum 71 petition. The decision is seen as portending against NOM, should their similar battle ever reach the nation's highest court.

“This means we can once again release these public records,” said Katie Blinn, co-director of state elections in the office of Secretary of State Sam Reed. The case entitled Doe v. Reed has bounced up and down in the federal court system. The Supreme Court earlier ruled, in an 8-1 decision, that signatures on initiative petitions should be a matter of public record. The Supremes sent the case back to U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma. Leighton has ruled that sponsors of the anti-gay measure did not prove that they have been harassed — or would face harassment — if named on the Ref. 71 petitions were released.

Photo Of The Day - OWS Note To Obama

That's the president's hand clutching the note that an OWS protester slipped him after his jobs speech in New Hampshire this afternoon.

INDIA: 15 Mourners Killed By Fire At Trans Day Of Remembrance Ceremony

Fifteen members of India's trans-identified hijra community were killed in a tent fire yesterday as they gathered to observer the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Members of Sangama and the Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum on Monday condemned the Delhi Government for not putting fire safety systems in place which, they said, led to the charring to death of 15 hijras in a fire at Nand Nagri in north-east Delhi on Sunday. The fire blazed through a makeshift tent where a large number of hijras had gathered to honour deceased friends. The incident created panic among community members who had gathered for the ceremony. Several others who tried to escape were also injured.

Major League Baseball Adds "Sexual Orientation" To Union Agreement

More good news in the world of sports.

Major League Baseball, which saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in 1947, today will announce incremental progress in another civil rights issue. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement adds “sexual orientation” to its section on discrimination, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement told the Daily News. Article XV, Section A of the MLB’s expiring Basic Agreement, in effect from 2006-2011, states: “The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” In the new agreement, which will be made public this afternoon, the words “sexual orientation” will be added to the equivalent section.

RELATED: You may recall that the San Francisco Giants, upon the urging of local activist Sean Chapin, became the first pro sports team to create an "It Gets Better" video. Several other pro baseball teams have since followed suit. I don't think it's far-fetched to give Chapin some credit for today's news.

Another Christian Hate Group Raises Funds By Claiming DOMA Repeal By Congress

You are OPPRESSING their campaign to deny you the civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution! Stop that fucking oppression, you homofascists! STOP IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

Think Progress Vs. Mitt Romney

This morning I posted Mitt Romney's first national TV ad, which shamelessly uses an old McCain quote being re-quoted by the president. In the clip below, Think Progress gives Romney a taste of his own medicine.

NEW YORK CITY: Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer First Gay Elected Official To Marry

NYC Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (in the dark shirt), who represents Queens, will become the city's first openly gay elected official to marry since it became legal in June. The Sunnyside Post reports:

Last Monday at a Puerto Rican restaurant, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer was presented with an engagement ring and a marriage proposal from his long-time partner. Van Bramer, despite being caught off guard, said “yes” and is now scheduled to marry Sunnyside Gardens resident Dan Hendrick next summer. The pair have been in a relationship for more than 12 years. “It did catch me by surprise even though we had talked about getting married for years,” Van Bramer said. “I was at a conference and marriage was not on my mind that day.”

Van Bramer says his mother wept with joy at the news. He was elected to the City Council in 2009 after a decade as an administrator for the Queens Public Library. Prior to that he was a reporter for Gay City News.