Open Thread: HBO's Game Change

No point in a "spoiler alert." We know how it ended.

The Winter That Wasn't

The fourth-warmest winter ever. New York City saved tens of millions on the snow removal they didn't have to do. Don't forget to spring forward tonight.

Pastor Opens OK House Session With Deranged Rant Blaming Katrina On Gays

Pastor Bill Ledbetter of Fairview Baptist Church opened last week's session of the Oklahoma House with a lengthy deranged rant that denounces the separation of church and state as non-existent. Then he veers into the old chestnut that God destroyed New Orleans because of Southern Decadence. Then it's "something something Jeebus blood damnation hellfire something wharrgarbl wharrgarbl yahtzee!" And the democratically elected body of legislators sat reverently and nodded along. The Republic of Gilead is upon us, people.

CORRECTION: I was watching the Kansas caucus results on CNN when I posted this and stupidly wrote that this happened in the Kansas House. OKLAHOMA.

Headline Of The Day II

Washington Post has the details.

Frothy Wins Kansas

Washington's R-71 Loser Is Super Pissed About JMG Reader's Email Campaign

On Thursday I told you about Paul Thomasson, the JMG reader who has launched a campaign to email every person who signed the petition to place Washington state's failed Referendum 71 on the ballot. Yesterday Gary Randall of Protect Marriage Washington, the group that lost every court battle to cloak those names, bitterly complained about Thomasson.

I would suggest you not respond to him, however if you do, please know that your comments and probably your name will be further publicized to his readers. KOMO proudly reports, "Thomasson 's campaign may actually be working." From what I'm seeing on the I-1192 petition reports, his efforts don't seem to be working at all. The response is terrific. I am certain it will be on R-74 as well. Most of his emails that I have seen are the same with a little variation. He touts his military service, but fails to say he was removed from the military over issues with the "Don't ask, Don't Tell" policy. He was one of the first cases to challenge the Constitution on the matter. He was also one of the first to sign up for domestic partnerships. He also appears on most of the LGBT activist lists. While he presents himself as the "guy next door," he is a hard core homosexual activist.

Notice the scare tactic I've bolded in the very first sentence. Thomasson has not published any person's name and has redacted them from every response he's published. The laughable irony, of course, is that because of Randall's losing legal battles, those names are in fact available to any person in the entire world who visits the court-allowed site, WhoSigned.org.

Randall goes on to attempt to smear Thomasson as a "hard core homosexual activist." (HURRAY!) He also attempts to insinuate some sort of scandal over Thomasson's DADT-related dismissal from the military. Ah, the smell of desperation.

Eurovision 2012: France's Anggun

Anggun is already a major pop star, having sold many millions of records worldwide, particularly in her native Indonesia. Americans might remember her 1998 smash Snow On The Sahara, which was fairly inescapable in gay clubs that summer. As for this, I'm not feeling it.

Tweet Of The Day

Bond, Drag Bond

In drag to mark Internatio​nal Women's Day.

(Tipped by JMG reader Joseph)

Headline Of The Day

Details.

Red-Caped Catholic Loons Protest New Planned Parenthood Facility

FRC: Obama Wants Sexual Welfare

Nate Phelps Talks To Rosie

Intrade's Bettors Predict The Winners

"This scoreboard shows the up-to-the-minute probability of victory for each candidate fighting for the Republican Presidential nomination, and in the upcoming Republican primaries and caucuses."

MINNESOTA: Last Night's Northern Lights

Did anybody see it? Tonight should be even better.

Flight Attendant Meltdown At DFW

As her jetliner rolled down the runway at Dallas-Fort Worth today, an American Airlines flight attendant took to the intercom to scream that the plane was going to crash. Passengers found that upsetting.

Chicago-bound Flight 2332 had departed the gate at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport this morning and was preparing for takeoff when, according to the law enforcement officer, a female flight attendant began talking on the plane's public address system about mechanical problems. She also began "ranting" about 9/11. Another flight attendant tried to calm others on board, as the woman continued to rant about the airline's bankruptcy. Some passengers helped to restrain the flight attendant. Two other crew members were reportedly injured in the altercation.

The plane returned to the gate where the flight attendant was removed by state troopers and taken to a hospital. The incident made national news almost immediately when it was tweeted by dozens of passengers.

Today In Christian Love™

The above image can be found on the website of Faith Baptist Church, Primrose, Georgia, which yesterday was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center's 2012 list of anti-gay hate groups. And here's what these whackadoodles claim:

Smokers and drug addicts don't live as long as non-smokers or non-addicts, so we consider smoking and narcotics abuse harmful. The typical life-span of homosexuals suggests that their activities are more destructive than smoking and as dangerous as drugs. Two and eight-tenths percent (2.8%) of gays died violently. They were 116 times more apt to be murdered; 24 times more apt to commit suicide; and had a traffic-accident death-rate 18 times the rate of comparably-aged white males. Heart attacks, cancer and liver failure were exceptionally common. Twenty percent of lesbians died of murder, suicide, or accident--a rate 487 times higher than that of white females aged 25-44. The age distribution of samples of homosexuals in the scientific literature from 1989 to 1992 suggests a similarly shortened life-span.

How can there be any of us left at ALL?

Robertson: Baby Jesus Will Cry If You Attend Your Gay Sister's Wedding

AFA: Write To Kirk Cameron

Well, go ahead! (Via Dan Savage)

SYRIA: Paper Claims Gays Are "Infesting" Cities In Wake Of Rebel Uprising

A Syrian newspaper claims that gay men are "infesting" the cities now that the police have their hands full dealing with the rebel uprising. Pink News reports:

The article states the uprising ‘gave homosexuals a freedom they would’ve never dreamt of’ and that since March 2011, the number of Syrian members in a popular online dating site has increased from 20,000 to 100,000 members. The website is not mentioned explicitly but it is presumed to be ManJam, a popular gay dating site. In reality, the number of members on ManJam whose location on the site is stated as within Syria does not exceed 10,000. The Baladna article also says that before the uprising, gays looking for meets or cruising were a priority for the Mukhabarat – the Syrian ‘secret’ intelligence service. But it claims now they have bigger problems at their hands they’ve left gays alone, thus facilitating their ‘proliferation’.

The paper offers these tips for spotting gays in Syria: "A loose wrist, a noticeable way of using the fingers, sitting and crossing the legs together in a feminine manner and an interest in gossip and whispers are among homosexuals’ main distinctive features."

World Net Daily Poll Of The Day

So far 50% have chosen the first answer. Surprising? Or evidence of blind allegiance to Pat Robertson?

OMAHA: Deranged Christianists Testify Against Civil Rights For LGBT People

JMG tipster and fellow blogger Arksarbent took this video at a hearing for a proposed bill to protect LGBT residents of Omaha from discrimination. Get the net! Get a LOT of nets.

Elderly Pedophile Enabler Commands U.S. Clergy To Oppress LGBT People

Emperor Palpatine hates the eeeevillle of gay marriage.

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday condemned gay marriage in a speech to bishops from the United States after Maryland last week became the eighth US state to legalise same-sex unions. "Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage," the pope said, warning against "the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage". "Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature." He also said bishops could not overlook "the serious pastoral problem presented by the widespread practice of cohabitation". "The contemporary crisis of marriage and the family... has led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost"

Following his speech, Pope Benedict returned to his private chamber where he rolled naked with altar boys on piles of jewels and gold.

Concerned Women Are Concernstipated That NC Teens Don't Hate Gay Marriage

Therefore: An essay contest about it! (Via Good As You)

It's Time To Protect Rush Limbaugh

Porno Pete Is Ever So Pissed

Weird. When Porno Pete made the list last year, I would have sworn he declared it a "badge of honor."

Christian Teens Sing For Frothy

It's worse than you'd think. SRSLY.

Quote Of The Day - Bill Donohue

"Never has there been a more vicious anti-Catholic advertisement in a prominent American newspaper than the one in today’s New York Times by Freedom From Religion Foundation. The demonization of Catholicism is palpable. [snip] Not a single Catholic who reads this ad will be impelled to leave the Church. That is not the issue (Catholicism, unlike many other religions, is actually growing in the U.S., and worldwide). The issue is the increase in hate speech directed at Catholics. Nothing will stop Catholics from demanding that the Obama administration respect their First Amendment rights, this vile assault by FFRF notwithstanding. Why the Times allowed this ad is another issue altogether." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue.

Full Page Ad In Today's NYTimes Urges Liberals To Quit The Catholic Church

The Freedom From Religion Foundation asks:

"Can't you see how misplaced your loyalty is after two decades of sex scandals involving preying priests, church complicity, collusion and cover-up going all way to the top? Apparently, you're like the battered woman who, after being beaten down every Sunday, feels she has no other place to go. There's a more welcoming home for you! Join those of us who put humanity above dogma. We invite you to free yourself from incense-fogged ritual, from ideas uttered long ago by ignorant men, from blind obedience to an illusory religious authority."

BAM! Full-screen PDF.

Morning View - First Avenue

I'm over this tepid winter. Spring me, already.

Today In Primary Pandering

Email Of The Day - Eugene Delgaudio

"Dear Joe, The Radical Homosexual Lobby knows that they will never win the support of mainstream America. But, they can buy off a few politicians in each state. This is exactly how homosexual 'marriage' was passed in New York last summer -- backroom deals and homosexual slush funds. In both Maryland and Washington State, pro-Family citizens are rallying to overturn this usurpation of their wishes. Public Advocate is organizing on the ground in both states right now -- but I need your help. To overturn homosexual 'marriage,' pro-Family advocates will have to get the bills placed on the November ballot -- and in order to do that they will need to gather tens of thousands of signatures in Maryland; Washington State will require almost 300,000 signatures!" - Eugene Delgaudio, begging money to launch petition campaigns.

NOTE: Other than in Virginia, has anybody actually seen a Public Advocate action? I suspect that Delgaudio's one man show is exactly that.

#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

RELATED: Trammps lead singer Jimmy Ellis died yesterday at the age of 74. The New York Times has the obit.

Mr. Ellis’s melodious voice overlaid the funky guitar riffs and driving bass and drums of the Trammps’s dance music. He sang lead on most of the group’s songs, backed by the bass singer Earl Young, and later harmonized with Robert Upchurch, who joined the band in the mid-1970s. The Trammps were formed in the early ’70s, according to their keyboard player and manager, Edward Cermanski. Mr. Cermanski said the second “m” in the group’s name came from the days when Mr. Ellis and his friends sang on street corners. “The police called them tramps,” he said. “So they said they wanted to be high-class tramps, with two ‘m’s in the name.”

Ricky Martin As Che

Previews begin Monday at the Marquis Theatre.

KENTUCKY: Senate Passes Bill Allowing "Religious Refusal" On State Laws

The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill granting broad exemptions to people who disobey state laws on the basis of religious objections.

The sponsor of Senate Bill 158, Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, said it is designed to protect the free exercise of religion from unnecessary restriction by government. He said it would give courts "more ammunition in favor of religion" when considering cases such as the jailing of Amish residents in Western Kentucky who refused to use orange safety triangles on their buggies and Christians in Bell County who want to hold public prayer at school athletic events. The bill would "prohibit any human authority from burdening actions that are based on religious beliefs, except in support of a compelling governmental interest using the least restrictive means to further that interest." The government would have to prove it has a "compelling interest" before it could restrict someone's religious freedom, Higdon said.

The bill is backed the Kentucky Family Foundation and the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.

MN Couple Against Same-Sex Marriage

Another clip in the series from Minnesota Public Radio, but this couple is not on our side.

LA Times Marriage Map

Funny Or Not Funny?

An excerpt:

McElroy, who sources reported has been called "faggot" on 43 separate occasions in the past month, confirmed his favorite lunch spot is strategically located on the exact opposite end of the building from both the gymnasium and the hall most frequented by the school's eighth-graders. The 12-year-old also told reporters it "felt cool" knowing he had a little corner of the school largely to himself for a moment.

We should be able to laugh at ourselves just like anybody else, but this just doesn't feel funny to me. Maybe because so many of us were this kid. (Tipped by JMG reader Ivan)

Dr. Suess Is Brainwashing Kids

"The Lorax is the quintessential Hollywood propaganda film. It's all animation, it's designed to look like it's ideal for kids, and, of course, it's designed to motivate your children and turn them into little eco-warriors. I know a lot of conservatives who are good stewards of the planet. I think Rick Santorum said recently that Obama's focus is sort of more 'earth first' and not 'human first'. And we have to be 'human first.'" - Media Research Center tool Dan Gainor.

FRC Bribes Kids With Candy & Presents

Swingrich Vs Frothy

JMG Reader Reaches Out To Signers Of Washington State's Referendum 71

JMG reader Paul Thomasson writes to tip us to a project he's embarked upon in which he is using the just-released list of names on an anti-gay petition to write and ask for a reconsidered attitude in Washington state's upcoming ballot battle on marriage. Hit the link to read Paul's full email and to see the more than 50 responses he's gotten so far.

Yesterday Seattle's KOMO learned of Paul's campaign. Travis Mayfield reports:

Those who fought the effort to keep the R-71 signatures secret argued that not doing so would lead to harassment and intimidation of the signers. And some who have replied to Thomasson may believe that’s what he’s doing. “sick . dont send me email,” reads one reply. Supporters of gay rights argued they only wanted to see the names to have personal conversations with opponents to try to respectfully change minds. Clearly some of those contacted by Thomasson believe his efforts are sincere. “Thank you for your letter and for sharing something so personal with me. I value your communication and the love you have found,” wrote a woman identified as Alanna. With 1,600 emails sent, Thomasson is just getting started working his way through the list of 121,757 names. "I intend to continue this effort until I have transcribed and emailed all of the legible email addresses.”

The Newly Official Faces Of Hate

Among the ten groups added today to the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of 27 anti-gay hate groups are three names that are very familiar to us here on JMG. Eugene Delgaudio (Public Advocate), Randy Thomasson (Save California), and Linda Harvey (Mission America). We can only hope that our relentless coverage of these evil, horrible people had some tiny role in their elevation to the most ignominious list in American culture. Congratulations you three pigs, you're now in the history books alongside the Ku Klux Klan.

Prop 8 Overturn Highlights Reel

Just posted by AFER. Three minutes of gay history.

Dead Air On Rush Limbaugh's Show

Rush Limbaugh has characterized the almost 50 advertisers that have ditched him as an insignificant number compared to those that remain. "It's like the couple of french fries left in the bottom of the bag you get at the drive thru." And yet Media Matters reports today that twice during the Limbaugh show there were periods of dead air, the second of which lasted 2:38. How many french fries was that again?

GOProud Issues Joint Statement With Sam "Joe The Plumber" Werzelbacher

"The left and their friends in the main stream media don’t want to talk about the issue most Americans in this country today care about – jobs. Instead, they want a culture war. They want a culture war because they cannot defend this President’s record of failure when it comes to creating jobs and growing our economy. They hope to cynically distract Americans to protect President Obama and his liberal allies in Congress in November." - From a joint statement issued today by GOProud and GOP congressional candidate Samuel Werzelbacher.

RELATED: This morning Werzelbacher got testy when the CNN host asked him if he'd evolved since the below 2009 claim that gay people are inherent pedophiles. That's when Werzelbacher revealed his association with GOProud.

New Entry On Urban Dictionary

Porno Pete and Pastor Wooden are gonna give berf with pride! Somebody call their gerbil and give them the good news!

AP Tackles Homeless Gay Kids

In a news story titled "Homeless youth: the next battle for gay equality," the Associated Press today examines the burgeoning epidemic of LGBT kids ejected from their homes by their own families.

Iro Uikka clutches his throat as he describes the violent clash that led to spending his nights sleeping in New York City subway cars. "When I told my mother I was gay, she grabbed me by the neck and threw me out," he says. "Then she threw my coat on top of me and shut the door." That was five years ago when he was 18, still living at home in Florida. Uikka is among tens of thousands of homeless youths across America who are LGBT — lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Most are on the streets because they have nowhere else to go — outcasts who leave home after being rejected by family members or flee shelters because residents bully or beat them. LGBT young people represent a dramatically high proportion of an estimated 600,000 or more homeless youths across the country — between 20 percent and 40 percent, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute.

Many times I've heard Carl Siciliano tell audiences that these kids are often the paradoxical victims of advances in gay rights. Emboldened by a widening acceptance in society, gay kids are sometimes now coming out at ages too young to fend for themselves when their parent don't accept the news. In the above-linked article, Siciliano says, "These kids are the collateral damage of our cultural wars."

OMM Claims GCB Victory

Catholic Diocese Defunds Homeless Shelter Because New Director Supports Marriage

In the Catholic Church's national campaign to make themselves ever more repulsive to the average American, the Diocese of Sacramento has cut off their funding of a local homeless shelter because its new director supports marriage equality.

In a letter last month, the diocese's director of social services said the Rev. Faith Whitmore's public statements on the issues clash with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Therefore, said the Rev. Michael Kiernan, the social services director, it is "impossible for the diocese to continue funding Francis House" as part of its annual Catholic Appeal. Each morning, dozens of poor people line up at Francis House, located in Sacramento's homeless services epicenter, for help with basic services such as housing and transportation. Now in its 42nd year, the organization is one of the largest homeless services agencies in the Sacramento region, serving upward of 25,000 people. It has an an annual budget of about $500,000.

The Catholic Church would rather see you homeless and starving to death than disobedient to their dogma. That can't be any more fucking apparent, can it? What will they do next to turn our stomachs? A puppy kicking contest?

Donate to Francis House.

Eurovision 2012: Russia's Babushki

OMG! Finally! THIS is Eurovision. Party For Everybody!

SF Pride Grand Marshal Nominees

Bay Area Reporter has the details and the bios of all the nominees. At first glance, my personal picks would be Kate Kendell and Sister Roma. The public can vote at the SF Pride site.

Photo Of The Day - Subway Cavern

Somehow I was not invited to last night's press tour of the subway construction that has rattled my apartment with twice-daily explosions for the last year or so. Gothamist reports:

The focus of work is now completing the massive new stations at 72nd Street, 86th Street, and 96th Street. Blasting is about 75% complete at the 72nd Street cavern, which we visited last night on a press tour. The MTA expects the blasting to be complete by the end of June. Then more blasting will begin on the 86th Street cavern around the end of this month. If the state and local governments can come up with another $950MM, and everything goes right with the current construction plan, subway service will commence in December 2016.

Hit the link for many more cool photos.

Kids Are Stressed Out Over Gay Marriage

"The question is sometimes asked, how would same-sex marriage harm your marriage? There are several simple answers. One, it changes what is considered normal and legal throughout our culture and therefore what is taught and modeled to our children and grandchildren. Do we want little Morgan in second grade to learn that when she grows up she might marry a boy or might marry a girl and either one is perfectly fine and she won’t know until she’s older which she prefers, but that’s OK. Do you think Morgan will develop with a secure and stable idea about her identity as a girl and woman with this shaky and morally irrational guidance? No wonder our kids are anxious, stressed out and feel they have nothing to believe in sometimes, they are being told what they can see themselves is foolishness and being told to swallow these lies and stay quiet if you don’t agree." - Hate group leader Linda Harvey, as quoted by Right Wing Watch.

Reverend Sister Go-Go Jane Wiedlin Is Available For Your Gay Wedding

Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin emails us today to promote her Married By Jane site, where she offers to officiate weddings for "all creeds, genders & persuasions." You may recall that last fall Wiedlin performed the wedding for two lesbians in Central Park.

RELATED: Our own Father Tony has also performed a number of gay weddings since it became legal last summer in New York state. Email me if you'd like to speak with Reverend Sister Go-Go's equally short, cute, and white-haired male counterpart.

HRC Toots Its Own Horn

Joe The Plumber Gets Bitchy On Gay Rights: I Have An Agreement With GOProud To Work For All Americans

In 2009 Samuel Werzelbacher, aka Joe The Plumber, infamously declared that he wouldn't let gay people be around his children. Having just won his Ohio GOP primary for the U.S. House, this morning he appeared on CNN where he was asked if he's evolved on gay issues. That prompted Werzelbacher to accuse the host of "gotcha" journalism and compared CNN to the gossip site TMZ. To her credit host Zoraida Sambolin continued to press Werzelbacher on his stance on gay people.

His answer: "I have spoke with Jimmy O'Salvia over at GOProud and he and I have an agreement that I'm gonna work towards all Americans, homoshexuals, straight - they want jobs. That's what it comes down to. I'm allowed to have my opinions as an American, but it seems like the left becomes very intolerant when you have an opinion other than what they state."

View Ladies Discuss Kirk Cameron

SPLC: Hate Groups Rise In Number, Anti-Gay Hate Groups Almost Double

According to a just-issued report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups across the United States rose in 2011.

The radical right grew explosively in 2011, the third such dramatic expansion in as many years. The growth was fueled by superheated fears generated by economic dislocation, a proliferation of demonizing conspiracy theories, the changing racial makeup of America, and the prospect of four more years under a black president who many on the far right view as an enemy to their country. The number of hate groups counted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) last year reached a total of 1,018, up slightly from the year before but continuing a trend of significant growth that is now more than a decade old. The truly stunning growth came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement — conspiracy-minded groups that see the federal government as their primary enemy.

The SPLC notes that because of advances in LGBT rights, the number of anti-gay hate groups has exploded even as those same groups focus their attention on immigrants and Muslims.

The gay-bashing Traditional Values Coalition, for instance, last year redesigned its website to emphasize a new section entitled “Islam vs. the Constitution,” published a report on Shariah law, and joined anti-Shariah conferences. Overall, the number of anti-gay hate groups in the United States rose markedly, going from 17 in 2010 to 27 last year.

View the anti-gay groups here.

More On Tonight's Solar Storm

Twitter is abuzz with plans for Northern Lights watching parties across Britain, Canada and Europe. Astronomers say the aurora borealis may be viewable in some parts of the United States "below the Great Lakes," but a full moon tonight may dampen the effect.

The New York Times has the down side of the event.

The largest solar storm in five years was due to arrive on Earth early Thursday, promising to shake the globe's magnetic field while expanding the Northern Lights. The storm started with a massive solar flare earlier in the week and grew as it raced outward from the sun, expanding like a giant soap bubble, scientists said. When it strikes, the particles will be moving at 4 million mph. "It's hitting us right in the nose," said Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo. The massive cloud of charged particles could disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services, especially in northern areas.

A 1989 solar storm destroyed transformers in some parts of Canada, causing about nine million Quebec residents to lose power. [Image via BBC]

UPDATE: A reader tips us to the below aurora forecast. Activity will be "extreme" in the green band and also visible in the band below which includes New York City.

Atheism Billboard Blocked In Brooklyn

The atheism billboard that some of you felt was unnecessarily provocative has been blocked from being posted in one of Brooklyn's Hasidic neighborhoods.

Landlord Kenny Stier refused to allow workers from the advertising company Clear Channel into his building, according to American Atheists president David Silverman. Silverman claims powerful neighborhood rabbis convinced Stier to block the non-believing billboard and called the religious leaders and the landlord “anti-atheist bigots.” “The Jews have stopped the billboard,” said Silverman. “It’s really ugly bigotry. As a former Jew, it’s repugnant to see Jews act like this.”

The billboard would have greeted drivers as they exited the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn.

The plan immediately outraged Williamsburg’s Jewish like Rabbi David Niederman, who called the sign “inappropriate” and the atheists a “group of crazies.” “They lost their purpose in life,” said Niederman, who heads the Jewish social services group United Jewish Organizations. “They’re not even going to make a dent. It’s a disgrace. The name of god is very holy to us and to the whole world.”

A companion Arabic billboard has been posted in one of New Jersey's heavily Muslim neighborhoods. (Via Gothamist)

Sluts For Obama

The Family Research Council is appalled.

The left is so embracing of calling themselves prostitutes, hookers and whores that they have made a line of clothing “Sluts for Obama.” Most offensive – they even have baby clothing with the phrase. (I would assume the Obama “O” is trademarked – will the Obama campaign try to put a stop to it?) Words have meaning and power. To your relatively small circle it might seem you are laughing in the face of evil but the simple fact is you are laughing at a joke where you are the punch line. Is this really where the feminist movement has fallen?

Obama Will Mandate One Child Per Family

"Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary, she said that it's important that we have contraceptives because that prevents pregnancy, and pregnancy is more expensive to the federal government. Going with that logic, according to our own Health and Human Services secretary, it isn't farfetched to think that the president of the United States could say, we need to save healthcare expenses, the federal government will only pay for one baby to be born in the hospital per family, or two babies to be born per family. That could happen. You think it couldn't?" - Michele Bachmann, speaking to Glenn Beck's internet show.

Your Disco Needs You

Here's a novel way to launch an org.

The Community Brave Foundation is a brand new organisation that aims to make bullying, homophobia, transphobia and youth suicide a thing of the past. The project is inspired by The Trevor Project, It Gets Better and Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation. The Community Brave Foundation is the brainchild of Rami Mandow - it's 100% Australian-based and open to participation from everyone from around the world! Rock Your Box teamed up with Rami to create a series of videos to raise awareness for the cause. The first two videos were shot at Sydney Mardi Gras parade on the weekend, with the initial aim being to bring attention to the foundation.

Headline Of The Day

Details.

A Monthly HIV Preventive?

More news from the conference in Seattle.

The first trial in humans of an injectable, once-a-month formulation of an HIV drug has found that drug levels were maintained at a level that should in theory be high enough to protect recipients against infection, and that the drug has so far produced very few side effects. The research was presented at the 19th Conference on Opportunistic Infections (CROI), in Seattle. The small trial at the St Stephen’s AIDS Trust (SSAT) at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital gave 27 women and six men a single injection of the long-acting formulation of the drug rilpivirine, which was licensed as an oral HIV treatment last year as Edurant and is also in the tenofovir/FTC/rilpivirine pill Complera. Rilpivirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) drug and is especially suitable to be turned into a long-lasting injectable form because the daily dose of it required to suppress HIV is very small.

(Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

KONY 2012

27M views in three days. The Guardian has questions.

Since Monday more than 21m people have viewed this film, made by an American charity called Invisible Children, about the plight of children in Uganda at the hands of the warlord Joseph Kony, leader of the guerilla group the Lords Resistance Army. His army is said to have abducted 60,000 children. But it has also attracted criticisms: there are questions about the the charity's funding, it's targeting of American leaders instead of African leaders to instigate change and accusations that it is failing to criticise the Ugandan government, with its poor human rights record.

OMM Surrenders On JC Penney

One Million Moms says that since it's clear that JC Penney doesn't care what fascist hate groups think, they are moving on to antagonize other companies. From the AFA:

Despite opposition from the American Family Association's advocacy group One Million Moms, the retailer is backing its commitment to the Ellen DeGeneres (see earlier story). Director Monica Cole tells OneNewsNow that other issues require her group's attention, so OMM is moving on. "But we have heard back from so many of our members," she shares. "We have heard back from men and women -- not just moms -- saying they will no longer shop there at JC Penney, as long as Ellen DeGeneres is their spokesperson." Cole believes One Million Moms has done its job by educating members about the retailer and urging them to take their business elsewhere. She says only time will tell how business goes for JC Penney.

Cole closes by bitchily pointing out JC Penney's recent credit rating downgrade. That action has been coming since long before DeGeneres was hired, of course.

TRAILER: Black Party XXXIII

Barney Frank Benched In House Spat

Talking Points Memo reports:

House GOP Leaders are pushing a modest, but bipartisan bill called the JOBS Act, which includes a handful of measures with broad support in both parties. One measure in that bill would quadruple the number of shareholders that can invest in local banks. Republicans credit Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) for drafting this portion of the legislation, but the real legwork on the issue was done in the Financial Services Committee — of which Frank is the ranking member — by Reps. David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Jim Himes (D-CT). On Wednesday, Frank called out the House GOP leadership for purloining that measure, slapping Quayle’s name on it, and handing him the credit.

FRC: The Press Slanders Kirk Cameron

Open Thread Thursday

What's on your DVR right now?

Buzzfeed Scoops Dead Breitbart

As we learned over the weekend, President Obama had Andrew Breitbart murdered because he was about to publish a "devastating" video from the president's college days. Today Buzzfeed beat the Breitbart sites to the punch by publishing the below 1991 clip in which the future president argues in support for Harvard Professor Derrick Bell's plea for campus diversity.

Obama was a major figure on campus, the first black president of the Law Review. Some friends, in a prescient joke, just referred to him as "the first black president." He had a reputation as a conciliatory figure, not a confrontational one like Bell. ""How Obama would react to Derrick Bell's protest was a matter of some interest," New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote in his exploration of Obama and race, The Bridge. It was a situation in which clear lines had been drawn, and Obama sided with Bell. In a speech before the law school's Harkness Commons — and sounding very much like his future presidential self — he described Bell as "the Rosa Parks of legal education."

Breitbart.com claims the video "has been selectively edited--either by the Boston television station or by Buzzfeed itself." Buzzfeed says this is the whole thing.

Space Weather Alert!

NOAA warns that a solar storm could fuck things up starting tonight.

The CME that erupted late on March 4 passed ACE around 0400 UTC March 7 (11:00 p.m. EST March 6). As a result, storming reaching the G2 (Moderate) level continues at this time. Another CME, part of the recent R3 (Strong) Radio Blackout event at 0024 UTC March 7 (7:24 p.m. EST March 6) is forecast to pass ACE early morning UTC on March 8 (start of day EST March 8) . Geomagnetic storm periods reaching the G3 (Strong) level are likely from that CME. Finally, a Solar Radiation Storm is also in progress and levels are currently above the S3 (Strong) threshold. Region 1429 remains potent and subsequent activity is certainly possible. Updates here as conditions warrant.

Gothamist has the video.

Jessie Ware - Running

Sade + Billie Ray Martin + Eve Gallagher = YES.

Four-In-One HIV Med News

Gilead has announced the results of Stage 3 clinical trials of "the Quad," which would be the world's first four-in-one daily HIV pill. The Quad contains two new (and not yet FDA approved) drugs: the integrase inhibitor, Elvitegravir, and Cobicistat, which is meant to mitigate the side-effects of Elvitegravir.

Via press release:

“These data show that the Quad is as effective [as Atripla] as a current standard of care in HIV therapy. The safety profile of Quad was also comparable to that of Atripla, and was better tolerated in terms of key neurological side effects,” said Paul Sax, MD, Clinical Director of the HIV Program and Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and principal investigator of Study 102. “Based on these results, I believe the Quad could represent a potentially important new treatment regimen for a wide range of HIV patients initiating therapy.”

Gilead also produces Atripla. Both Atripla and the Quad contain Truvada, which is under consideration as a daily pre-exposure prophylactic (PReP) for the uninfected.

Reuters has more:

The safety data, presented here on Wednesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, showed that patients on Atripla had significantly higher rates of dizziness, abnormal dreams, insomnia and rash, compared with the Quad. The experimental pill did result in higher rates of nausea, 21 percent vs 14 percent. The study found that at 48 weeks of treatment, 88 percent of Quad patients, compared with 84 percent of Atripla patients, achieved target levels of HIV virus.

As millions of patients are well into their second decade of daily HIV therapy, we'll see more of this focus on refining the treatments to reduce their immediate and long-term side-effects.

New Yogurt Ad

Copyranter sez: "Scan this code with your smartphone, and it'll splooge you in the face. I used to like Voskos yogurt."

VIDEO: She's Got A New HD Hat

Promising New Poll For Maine

Public Policy Polling reports on their just-released results:

It looks like Maine voters will reverse their 2009 decision and legalize gay marriage in the state this fall. 54% think that gay marriage should be legal to only 41% who think it should be illegal. And when we asked about the issue using the exact language voters will see on the ballot this fall, they say they're inclined to support the referendum by a 47-32 margin.

New Website: I Stand With Rush

Just launched by Brent "Obama is a skinny ghetto crackhead" Bozell and his Media Research Center.

World's Highest Rents

Above are the average rents for "high-end three bedroom flats." The Economist does not stipulate what qualifies as "high-end," but the number quoted for New York City (presumably Manhattan) seems about right.

Church Sign Of The Day

Source.