Newsbites, 7/28/24

Republicans fall in line; Democrats fall in love.

--Amerian truism, 21st century

What a week it's been since Biden bowed out of the presidential race!  For once it's the Democrats who have "fallen in line" behind Kamala, with no exceptions that I've heard of.  Which is a damn good thing, because there's only 101 days left till the election, and no time to waste.

(Another time we'll talk about the absurdity of election campaigns that go on for months and years.  Britain and France just had elections - it was 6 weeks of campaigning for the Brits and only 4 weeks for the French.  How wonderful it would be if ours were that short.)

A few newsbites from the weekend.  First, Pete B. rips Vance and the whole Republican scheme:

 

Kamala raises $200 million in the first week:

 

Washington Week in Review panel discussion:

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Newsbites 7/26/24

There are 103 days left until the election, November 5th.  Check your voter registration, and be sure it's up to date.

What a difference a week makes - from depression to elation!  I Hope the Dems keep the campaign train fired up and steaming right on to victory - not just for the good of the party, but also for the country and the world, and all us little people who live and love and work in it.

Here are a few news clips worth watching.  First, the Obamas endorse Kamala: 

 

Governor Walz on the "he-man woman haters" in the Republican party:

 

Secretary Pete on Trump's fear of debating Kamala:

 

Former Ambassador Susan Rice on Kamala's creds to be Commander-in-Chief:

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War in Ukraine - Day 24

An apartment block in Mariuopol after a Russian airstrike, 
from Sky News.  Click to enlarge.

Newsbites from or about Ukraine today:

Full text of Zelensky's speech here.

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Rumors of War

Map of Ukraine.
Click to enlarge.

Yesterday, Putin sent troops into the breakaway territories of eastern Ukraine and proclaimed them independent states.   The Secretary-General of the United Nations says Putin has violated international law.  President Biden and other Western leaders have announced stiff financial sanctions against Russian money and elites.  And suddenly, this faraway pot on the back burner of the world seems to be boiling over, and may set the whole place on fire.

The parallels with the Nazi threat to the peace of Europe in 1938-39 are striking, though not exact.  If you care to read up on the period, I recommend Churchill's The Gathering Storm, the first volume of his World War II memoirs, as an excellent, incisive introduction.

Your Head Trucker is not a pacifist per se, but neither is he a warmonger.  To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose . . . .  But what time is it now?  And whose turn is it to die?  The obvious answer is not always the best answer.  I offer these few newsbites as food for thought, and leave you to draw your own conclusions.

1.  A voice from the grave:  the late Senator John McCain interviewed in 2014, after Russia annexed parts of Ukraine.

 

2. Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba, quoted on the BBC News website today: 

Click to enlarge.

 3. Political analyst Fareed Zakaria on the Russian-Chinese bruderbund:

 

4. Guess who thinks Putin is the greatest?

 

 5. President Biden announces sanctions against Russia:

 

Give us peace in our time, O Lord.

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Newsbites, 6/15/16

 A few more-or-less positive things I gleaned from today's news, all of which are well worth your time to watch or read.

1. Prince William appears on the cover of British gay magazine Attitude, the first member of the Royal Family ever to do so:

Following a meeting on May 12 at Kensington Palace with young LGBT people, HRH issued this statement:

No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives. The young gay, lesbian and transgender individuals I met through Attitude are truly brave to speak out and to give hope to people who are going through terrible bullying right now. Their sense of strength and optimism should give us all encouragement to stand up to bullying wherever we see it. What I would say to any young person reading this who’s being bullied for their sexuality: don’t put up with it – speak to a trusted adult, a friend, a teacher, Childline, Diana Award or some other service and get the help you need. You should be proud of the person you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

2. Utah's Republican Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox speaks at vigil, apologizes for past behavior to gays, calls for change of hearts:




3. Liberal Redneck Trae Crowder breaks it down in plain English: Which fucking side are you on, bubba?

I can't embed the video, but do go watch it at the New York Daily News website.


4. In case anyone is in doubt, Stephen Colbert kindly diagrams the meaning of Trumpery:

Newsbites, 4/8/14

Mickey Rooney Dies at 93 - a comedic genius and a highly underrated performer.  The Los Angeles Times reports:

When such leading actors of his generation as Cary Grant and Anthony Quinn were asked who was the best actor in Hollywood, they both immediately named Rooney, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne recalled while interviewing author Gore Vidal, who said the same.

"Tennessee Williams, who knew more about actors than anybody in our time … said, 'There's only one great actor in the United States and that is Mickey Rooney.... He can do anything. He sings, he dances, he can make you weep. He can play tragedy, he can play comedy,'" Vidal said in 2007 while introducing "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the 1935 film with a teenage Rooney as Puck.

May he rest in peace with Judy and all his other fabulous co-stars from 90 years of delighting audiences around the world.

LBJ's Daughters Say Daddy Would Have Supported Marriage Equality:

“I think my father felt very strongly that when there was bigotry anywhere, prejudice anywhere, all of us lose out,” said Luci Baines Johnson. “Because it’s just one more expression of hate.”

Added her sister, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb: “It’s hard to project what Daddy would have thought about that because that wasn’t an issue that had come upon the States at that time. But I know he really wanted everybody to be able to live up to the best that God gave them.”

I think he would too if he were still alive. Texans who aren't brainbound by religious fundamentalism have an instinct for fair play and root for the underdog. But oh my gosh, I remember Lynda and Luci as teenagers, watched their weddings on TV - and now here they are old women, immaculately dressed and groomed, but grandma age. Of course, I'm not far behind them, and getting pretty damn long in the tooth myself.

UVA Swimmers Embrace Their Gay Teammates - Okay, so which two do you think are the gay ones?


Louisiana Congressman Defends "Our Christian Way of Life" by Making Out with Staffer - Another lying, hypocritical sack of shit Tea Party Republican has been busted - on video - because he just can't keep his Traditional Family Values in his pants. But it's cool - he's asked the wife and five kids to forgive him, so that's just all right with God then.  He was elected just last November; here's a campaign ad of McAllister promising to do his duty to God and his country:



The betrayed husband of the woman McAllister was putting a lip lock on says:

I know his beliefs. When he ran one of his commercials, he said "I need your prayers," and I asked, "When did you get religious?" He said, "When I needed votes." He broke out the religious card and he's about the most non-religious person I know. He's apologized to everyone in the world except me. I’m just freaking devastated by the whole deal, man. I loved my wife so much. I cannot believe this. I cannot freaking believe it. I feel like I’m going to wake up here in a minute and this is all going to be a bad nightmare. It was just a kiss, that was all it was, but it embarrassed me and my family.

Westboro Protesters Chased Away by Mob in Oklahoma - Hundreds of local residents jeered and put to flight a group of Westboro Baptist Church protesters in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, on Sunday. The Westboro gang were there to praise God for sending a tornado that killed several children last year. KFOR in Oklahoma City reports:

Westboro’s permit to picket was for half an hour. They had been there a mere eight minutes when several people took matters into their own hands. Some Moore residents crossed the picket line to go after Westboro members. Dan Eccles said, “I was afraid of a riot really. I didn’t know how long Westboro would stay, which they were smart to leave.” Police were able to hold back the Moore residents while the Westboro bunch rushed to pack their signs in their cars and leave.

Dan Eccles said, “They shagged tail, got in them cars and was leaving in a hurry. Oh yeah, they was gone!” "I thought it was hilarious. I mean I really did. We sat there and laughed the whole time,” said Tina Johnson. “They were running, yeah.”

This week's New Yorker cover just makes me laugh out loud.  Brilliant.

The Best Medicine by Barry Blitt.

The Quality of Mercy - Regarding the flap over the resignation of Mozilla's CEO last week, Andrew Sullivan says:

The ability to work alongside or for people with whom we have a deep political disagreement is not a minor issue in a liberal society. It is a core foundation of toleration. We either develop the ability to tolerate those with whom we deeply disagree, or liberal society is basically impossible. Civil conversation becomes culture war; arguments and reason cede to emotion and anger. And let me reiterate: this principle of toleration has recently been attacked by many more on the far right than on the far left. I’m appalled, for example, at how great gay teachers have been fired by Catholic schools, even though it is within the right of the schools to do so. It’s awful that individuals are fired for being gay with no legal recourse all over the country. But if we rightly feel this way about gays in the workplace, why do we not feel the same about our opponents? And on what grounds can we celebrate the resignation of someone for his off-workplace political beliefs? Payback? Revenge? Some liberal principles, in my view, are worth defending whether they are assailed by left or right. . . .

A civil rights movement without toleration is not a civil rights movement; it is a cultural campaign to expunge and destroy its opponents. A moral movement without mercy is not moral; it is, when push comes to shove, cruel. For a decade and half, we have fought the battle for equal dignity for gay people with sincerity, openness, toleration and reason. It appears increasingly as if we will have to fight and fight again to prevent this precious and highly successful legacy from being hijacked by a righteous, absolutely certain, and often hateful mob. We are better than this. And we must not give in to it.

And Jim Burroway over at Box Turtle Bulletin concurs:

Mozilla describes itself as “an open source project governed as a meritocracy.” Eich had been with Mozilla since the very beginning and developed the ubiquitous Javascript that powers much of the web today. If meritocracy means anything at any company, it should certainly mean something to the company’s most visible job at the very top. But Eich was caught in an impossible quagmire that had nothing to do with merit. In the name of tolerance, he learned that we don’t have to tolerate his opinions, opinions which he kept private and away from the workplace.

Which means that everyone who has had to endure corporate diversity training now has the same lesson lodged in their heads. Until now, they had been told that they can do whatever they want and believe whatever they want outside the workplace, but when they crossed the company’s threshold, they had to treat their fellow workers with dignity and respect, and to respect and encourage diversity in the workforce. They’ve now learned that it was all a lie. We do care about what they do outside of work and we can demand their ouster if we don’t like it. Eich learned that lesson the hard way and resigned yesterday. I can’t think of a better way to encourage even more cynicism toward company diversity programs than that.

In a highly interesting development in this affair, Mother Jones reports that OKCupid's CEO, Sam Yagen, contributed $500 to an antigay congressman's campaign back in 2004.  OKCupid announced last week that it would block all users with Mozilla's Firefox browser from OKCupid's site while Eich remained at the head of that company. Yagen has now apologized for his thoughtcrime, saying he had no clue about the candidate's antigay views.

And Joe Jervis disagrees with Sullivan but says:

Demands for ideological purity are killing the Republican Party and are no less a danger for the LGBT rights movement. . . . My larger point is that there is room for people for have different ideas about how to get to the same place. Every social movement in history has been torn by infighting and ours is definitely no exception. So yes, call out our own and call them out strongly when you think they are wrong about tactics. We can do that without the same vitriol we direct at our actual enemies.

Newsbites, 3/22/14

Just getting caught up with the news here after being out of town for a few days.

Clarissa Dickson Wright, fondly remembered as one of the Two Fat Ladies, has died at age 66.   May she rest in well-buttered peace.

Bigot died, age 84.  Not worth remembering.  Come to find out, Time magazine wrote about him as a busybody college student in 1951.  Apparently he was always morbidly obsessed with religion and other's people's sex lives.

The hits just keep on coming:  yesterday afternoon, federal district judge Bernard Friedman struck down Michigan's same-sex marriage ban, approved by voters in 2004, as an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Judge Friedman brought down the ban with a ringing salvo of the heavy artillery:

The Court is not aware of any legal authority that entitles a ballot-approved measure to special deference in the event it raises a constitutional question. On the contrary, the Supreme Court has clearly stated that if . . . an enactment violates the U.S. Constitution - whether passed by the people or their representatives - judicial review is necessary to preserve the rule of law . . . [t]he electorate cannot order a violation of the Due Process or Equal Protection Clauses by referendum or otherwise, just as the state may not avoid their application by deferring to the wishes or objections of its citizens. . . .

In attempting to define this case as a challenge to “the will of the people,” Tr. 2/25/14 p. 40, state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people. No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples. It is the Court’s fervent hope that these children will grow up “to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.” Windsor, 133 S. Ct. at 2694. Today’s decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.

Read the full decision here. Unlike other judges who have recently issued similar rulings in several states, Judge Friedman did not issue a stay of his order, so this morning at least four county clerks in Michigan opened their offices to issue marriage licenses and perform wedding ceremonies. Hooray for all the happy couples.

BTW, Judge Friedman, a Reagan appointee, also torpedoed that fatally flawed anti-gay "study" by Mark Regnerus, concluding:

The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration. . . . While Regnerus maintained that the funding source [i.e., the Republican Heritage Foundation] did not affect his impartiality as a researcher, the Court finds this testimony unbelievable. The funder clearly wanted a certain result, and Regnerus obliged.

Yeow!


And finally, in overseas news:

U.S. Freezes Putin's Netflix Account

CNN Apologizes for Briefly Airing Non-Flight 370 Story


Update, 5:25 p.m.: At the request of Michigan's attorney general, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals this afternoon issued a stay of the district court ruling, but not before dozens of couples had obtained marriage licenses and married at several county courthouses across the state.  The circuit court will hear arguments on Tuesday.


And Rachel Maddow serves up some reflections on the life and death of a hate-filled bigot - worth watching for some truly laugh-out-loud counterprotesters' signs.

Newsbites, 4/9/13

• Both mourned and reviled by her compatriots even in death, Britain's Iron Lady, Baroness Thatcher, is dead at 87:

• America's Sweetheart and and favorite Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello, also died yesterday at age 70:

• Detroit's Catholic archbishop orders gay-marriage supporters among his flock to abstain from communion or risk further penalties for disrepecting the teachings of the Church - which, as he puts it, amounts to a kind of criminal perjury.

• Westboro Baptist announces they will picket the funeral of "fag enabler" Roger Ebert. Your Head Trucker thinks they should be barred from appearing at anybody's funeral, period, and given very hefty fines and jail terms if they don't mind their own fucking business. But you know, it's practically gotten to the point that now, you're nobody if Westboro doesn't picket your funeral.

• Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights brings us up to date on developments in marriage equality this week:

• Gay activist and Democratic political strategist Richard Socarides talks about coming out to his psychiatrist father, who founded the so-called reparative therapy movement to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals:

• The trailer for Behind the Candelabra, set to premiere on HBO in May, starring Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Dan Ackroyd, and Debbie Reynolds (as Mama Liberace) is here:

Your Head Trucker saw Liberace in concert back in the 80's and can attest that the man was indeed "Mr. Showmanship" - I took my mom, thinking it might be a bit of a bore, but to my amazement, he kept everyone on the edge of their seats the whole time with a dazzling display of sequined costumes and two hours of non-stop excitement. Quite a memory.

Sometime in the next decade, I happened to see in the paper that Scott Thorson, Liberace's ex-lover and adopted son, was going to be speaking about his life with Liberace at the biggest Baptist church in town - the kind built like an auditorium, with vast tiers of rocking, thickly-padded, movie-theater chairs instead of pews. And he stood up there, golden-haired and movie-star handsome, in the midst of all those tut-tutting Baptists and told a long, rambling tale of how he was "molested by my own father" - weeping on cue while doing so. Then after milking that angle for all it was worth, carried on with some sordid, convoluted story of being taken into FBI custody and hidden for months in a windowless skyscraper room for his own protection as a witness against some drug dealers or something like that. Not to mention all his personal failings with drugs, booze, sex, and you-name-it.  The Baptists, rocking contentedly and purring like old cats, ate up every word.

I thought there was something fishy about all this at the time - and I'm sure the rich Baptists paid him very nicely to come warn them of the wages of sin - but we didn't have the Internet back then to double-check with, so I just filed it away under Suspicious Stories in my mind. And wondered how many of those hatchet-faced old blue-haired ladies had flocked to hear the great entertainer - that awful sinner, you know - back when he had filled the civic center.

Assorted News and Views

Well I've read some things today that I thought about sharing with you fellas, but for some reason I just don't have the oomph to work any of them up into a blog post.  It come up a storm this afternoon about 4:30 and we got a good little shower of rain.  But it got so dark outside it made me feel like time to go back in the chicken house and roost for the night.  So I'll just post the links here and let y'all read the ones that pique your interest; they're all quite fascinating, for various reasons.

Mother of Transgender Toddler Gets a Lesson in Love

When the author's fourth daughter insisted as a toddler that she was really a boy, it took years to figure out that he was really right.

The Crime Committed in France, by France

The speech given by President François Hollande to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv Roundup on July 16 and 17, 1942, when the French police arrested 13,152 Jewish men, women, and children from Paris and its suburbs, and confined them to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, a bicycle stadium in Paris. They were later deported to German concentration camps.

The Last Book Sale

For years, your Head Trucker has been meaning to get up to Archer City and wander through renowned author (Hud, The Last Picture Show, Lonesome Dove, even the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, etc.) Larry McMurtry's book store, but now it's too late:  after fifty-five years, he's selling out and closing down.

 Earhart's Anti-Freckle Creme Jar Possibly Found

A small cosmetic jar found on a remote island in the Pacific offers new clues in the Amelia Earhart mystery.  [Be sure to click on the "More Photos" link.]

Destroyed.  For No Good Reason.

Kit home author and researcher Rosemary Thornton laments the wanton destruction of a unique and lovely Montgomery Ward home built by an aspiring Ohio homeowner in 1932.  Be sure to click the links to her previous posts on this topic too.

Newsbites

A mix of interesting articles I came across this evening, thought my truckbuddies might like to see them too:

Why Progressives Are Losing the National Debate -

Americans are grappling with struggling markets, captured regulators, languishing employment, and rising inequality. Self-identified progressives, mostly found on or to the left of the Democratic Party, have for years made these issues central to their agenda. The moment seems ripe for the popular embrace of progressive policies. Instead, progressives find themselves embattled. "Voters feel ever more estranged from government -- and . . . they associate Democrats with government," explains Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. The result is that "a crisis of government legitimacy is a crisis of liberalism."

Lasers for the Dead: A Story About Gravestone Technology -

Death doesn't change. But that doesn't mean that death escapes its time or culture. The older sections of Washington Cemetery have an identifiable style, too, Ciamaga said. The new stones are just the latest one. But if that's true, then these stones say something about the times in which we now live and die.

Our death stones are shiny and global and technologized to display high-resolution portraits of our loved ones. Our death stones are not quite as durable as the gray granite of the 20th century, but they are stitched between the rocks that came before.

World War II: The American Home Front in Color -

In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color. OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies in the early war years depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. (45 photos)

Riots in London -

Riots that erupted in London neighborhoods over the weekend spread to four other cities yesterday, as hundreds were arrested and at least one person was killed. What began as a protest against the police shooting of Tottenham resident Mark Duggan spread quickly into general rioting and opportunistic looting -- what Prime Minister David Cameron has called "criminality pure and simple." For three days now, buildings and vehicles have been smashed and set on fire, while stores and warehouses were looted. Police have been unable to do much to slow the mayhem. Tonight, some 16,000 police officers will be deployed to London's streets in an effort to quash the worst unrest in the city in decades. Collected here are images of the violence in the U.K. from the past several days. (41 photos)

The Chav Revolt -

"Why are there so many kids who have no ambition but to be horrible, criminal people that don't want to do anything other than cause misery for others? Their only aspiration in life is to be like someone in a rap video or to win the Lottery. All they want is a quick fix and that's fuelled by the media and by advertising.

And then there's all the good people out there who work hard and break our backs and do our best, and stay within the boundaries of what is right. I'm attempting to start my own small business but that's going to be even harder in this area now. I don't blame the police for not reacting fast enough. There are just thousands of scumbag criminals out there and not enough police," - Jon Davis, 32, an outraged resident of Croydon, South London.

Looters mugging an injured man:



Londoners volunteers turned out en masse today for cleanup duty in the debris-strewn streets:

photo via the Atlantic

photo via Joe.My.God.

Newsbites


At the moment it's actually 99 degrees here in Texas, which feels like one big toaster oven.  Don't feel like writing much today, so you guys can go read these stories if you want to:

Ghana Regional Minister Orders All Gays Arrested

--Both Christian and Muslim groups rejoice, now that God's wrath has been averted; an MP looks forward to lynching parties.

Senate Confirms First Openly Gay Man as Federal Judge, 80-13
 
--A surprising yawn.  Even major homophobes like John Cornyn (R-TX) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) didn't bat an eye while voting for J. Paul Oetken's lifetime appointment to the Manhattan bench.  Go figure.

15 Years after DOMA, Hearing Reveals a Nation Transformed

--This last article gives a good recap of pre-DOMA attempts to win marriage recognition, and profiles two early leaders in the marriage fight:  Evan Wolfson and Andrew Sullivan.

Boehner Says No House Vote on DOMA Repeal

--The Republican Speaker of the House will not allow a vote on DOMA, regardless of the Senate hearings on this topic.

DOMA Repeal and the Truth about Full Faith & Credit

--Gay law professor and activist gives a very detailed explanation of why repealing DOMA won't force all states to recognize same-sex marriages.

Photo:  Honk to Shawn Stingel.

Newsbites

Well now that the BFD of healthcare reform is finally almost sorta kinda over - the Senate had to do some last-minute tweaks on the bill and sent it back to the House today for final approval, which makes me wonder how the President could sign something on Tuesday that wasn't absolutely final, but - well, here are a few other stories that have caught my eye in the last few days that I haven't had time to comment on, thought I'd post them for your information.

--Pentagon Relaxes DADT - making it a little harder for the military to boot people out based on third-party outings.



--Pope Should Resign - so says Andrew Sullivan, a devout Catholic, in light of the deepening crisis over Benedict's role in covering up sexual abuse scandals in Germany and the United States, including a case where one priest allegedly molested 200 deaf boys at a Wisconsin school.



--National party identification, registered voters and likely voters only, at this point in time:



All adults:



State of the Country, all adults:



--Legal Pot?  Come November, California voters will get a chance to legalize marijuana in that state, and not just for medical purposes - no doubt while still looking down their noses at us lowly but perfectly legal tobacco smokers.  Marijuana, of course, is as harmless as sugar candy, and doesn't rot your teeth.  Right . . . .

--Ten Democrats Attacked - Capitol Hill police are dealing with reports of bricks and bullets through office windows, vandalism, and in one case, a cut propane gas line.  CS Monitor:

Complicating matters for Republicans is the rhetoric of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), a favorite of tea partyers. On a Twitter feed Tuesday, Ms. Palin called on conservatives not to retreat, but to “RELOAD!” On her Facebook page, she posted a US map with cross-hair targets on the states where she plans to campaign against Democrats who voted for healthcare reform.

In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona defended Palin, his running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign, saying that such “battleground” language is typical for political campaigns.

Palin, BTW, has just signed a deal for her new reality TV show on TLC, asking $1+ million per episode.  Ah, no wonder she gave up that crappy little lowlife job as, um, what was it?  Oh yeah, Governor of Alaska.  Sales of her book, Going Rogue, are already up to $7 million, and she signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Fox News a while back too.

And here I worked my ass off all these years, slaving away through college and dead-end jobs and poverty and all sorts of difficulties, and still have very damn little to show for all that honest work - and may still be a homeless man in retirement.  I don't care what you say, boys - brazen, busty, and dumb always wins the pot hands down, always has, always will.

--And finally:  Texas Christians outraged over "Gay Jesus" play - big-ass uproar in Stephenville at the Tarleton State campus over a student workshop production of Terrence McNally's 1998 passion play, Corpus Christi, depicting Jesus and the apostles as gay men living in modern-day Texas.  Local Bible-thumpers say it demeans Christianity to portray Jesus as a gay man.  Video report here.

I never heard of the play before, but I sure would like to see it now.  From the 1998 production:

Honks to Andrew Sullivan and Joe.My.God. for some of these stories/images.

Update:  9:08 p.m., Texas time:  the House just passed the reconciliation bill, 220-207, so now the healthcare reform fight is really over.  And with this week's victory, the President's balls are starting to clank a little - good for him:

Newsbites

• In a major reversal of attitude, General Colin Powell comes out for DADT repeal, saying "In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed.  I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen."  As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton, Powell opposed allowing gays to serve openly, and presided over the application of the DADT policy.

• Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) says if gays are let loose in the military, it will "lead to alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art. If we change this rule of 'Don't Ask, Dont Tell' what are we going to do with these other rules?"  Joe Jervis responds:  "[He's] worried that if DADT is repealed, soldiers will get drunk, visit whorehouses, and get tattoos. Unprecedented!"

• Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council not only doesn't want the big, bad, drunken, tattooed, rapist gays in the military - he wants Lawrence v. Texas overturned, so homosex in civilian life can be recriminalized. 

• Rob Tisinai reacts:  "We see what their position is — and how can you compromise between full civil equality and being thrown in prison? What would that compromise even look like?"

• The ACLU and Lambda Legal are planning to sue the state of Hawaii over marriage equality, after the Hawaii House defeated a civil-unions bill last week by voice vote - the same bill they had already approved in two previous sessions, and which had passed the Hawaii Senate.

• Nine Republican senators have introduced a bill to block same-sex marriages in Washington, D. C., pending a voter referendum on the issue.

• Former Eagle Scout, Air Force Captain, and Congressman, and current Republican Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford, who came to national attention last summer while hiking the Appalachian Trail some Argentinian tail at taxpayer's expense, insisted on removing the fidelity clause from their marriage vows when he wed his wife Jenny in 1989, Mrs. Sanford has revealed in a Barbara Walters interview that will air this Friday.  They are the parents of four sons; Mrs. Sanford filed for divorce in December.  Governor Sanford has publicly opposed civil unions, same-sex marriage, and gay adoptions.  Of course.

• And finally, not only does it seem to this old dude totally astounding that the world has changed so much that a Cosmo centerfold can grow up to be a United States Senator; and likewise totally amazing that there has not been one single fucking word of objection to that fact on anyone's part, most specifically the oh-so-holy "family values" right; but it also seems totally pornographic to watch this blonde newswoman getting her panties soaking wet right on national television at the very thought of stroking some good, solid Republican cock, even the plastic kind:

Obviously, for the Republican gals, Brown has that same "starburst" effect that Palin has for the men.  And they all think that's so cute, so funny, so adorable, so Christian.  So "normal."  So "natural."  Oh, yes, all the good Republican heteros are so upright, so moral, so totally on God's side.

But me and my husband and the little dog, living a quiet, obscure life in a tiny town far out on the prairie, we were a "locus of evil" in the world. 

Fuck 'em all, is what I say, the filthy grandstanding hypocrite lying bastards.  And you can quote me on that, boys.

Newsbites

Still sounds funny to say "2010," don't it, guys?  It's a new year all right, but still a lot of the same old, same old going on:

Rick Warren's Money Plea Nets $2.4M

Lordy, lordy, if only I'd a-known when I was coming up how lucrative the preaching business is.  Makes me wonder about making a plea for contributions to the Blue Truck here.

But hell, you reckon I'd pull in even 2 cents?  Shit.

NOM: Keep Rhode Island's Ban On Gays Burying Their Partners

Joe Jervis says:  "Just when you think that NOM cannot possibly get more fucking repulsive, they prove you wrong."

When your husband's family scoops him up and buries him where and how they want; and when you can never go visit his grave, never even lay a flower there - then you'll understand what that means, fellas.

The Five Worst Antigay Rants of the Year

I think I remember some worse than these, but I guess this gives you the gist of what the haters think about us, for the historical record.

The Mircle of Marijuana

I suppose some of you will be delighted to learn that not only is pot as harmless as sugar candy, but it's actually good for ya, too.  Even better than spinach or prunes.  If only Mom had known when she was raising you.

Ain't God science good?  My, my, my.  All you righteous folk who want to bitch me about my Marlboros . . . and just what is it you're smoking?  D-O-P-E.  Enuff said.

Somali charged over attack on Danish cartoonist

Five years after the big uproar, a 28-year-old Somali goes after a cartoonist and his granddaughter - with an axe.  Sullivan reprints the cartoon as "the only effective response to this disgusting act of terror."

Let's be clear:  not all Christians are fundamentalists, and neither are all Muslims.  I have known, myself, a number of very lovely people who were Muslim.  And believe it or not, pardners, once I even hooked up with a very sweet Muslim fellow from North Africa, many years ago now, who was over here for a business seminar.  We had a great time.  Even if he did think I talked funny.  But hell, you shoulda heard his accent.

But this whole fundamentalist attitude - that being righteous is more important than loving your neighbor - is low-down filthy dirty, whether Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Zubangi, or whatnot. 

Righteousness, as commonly practiced, is a very nasty thing.  And you can quote me on that, fellas.

If Tiger Woods Had Been a Christian, None of This Would Have Happened

Right . . . I just don't dare say a fucking thing about this one, boys.

The View from the Base

Sullivan also posts a photo that shows where the far right thinks Obama belongs - at Palin's feet.

But the news is never all bad, guys.  Like my mama always said, you got to take the bitter with the sweet:

NH Couples Ring In 2010 With Weddings

As of January 1, New Hampshire is one of the five states where you can be really, truly, legally married to your husband.  The others are Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and Iowa.

First Trans Person Appointed By Obama

Amanda Simpson is the first transwoman ever appointed by a U.S. President; she's now a senior technical advisor in the Department of Commerce, with a very impressive resume in the aerospace industry.

And finally, with a honk to my truckbuddy Mark, who first told me about this - last week One Life to Live celebrated New Year's Eve with some warm, fuzzy homosex.  In living color.  On nationwide TV.  In broad daylight.  And there's no riots in the streets, nobody is trying to burn down the television stations, at least not that I've heard.  And the world keeps right on turning, the old sun coming up ever morning just like always.

Lord a-mercy.  I can hardly believe I have lived to see this day.

Newsbites

At this holiday time, when the Christian world is - theoretically - piously commemorating the birth of Christ, a little good cheer from Mexico . . . and a lot of fake-Christian crap from elsewhere.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage, including adoption rights, passes  Mexico City's legislative assembly by 39-20.  The city enacted civil unions in 2007, and will be the first jurisdiction in all of Latin America to have equal marriage.  Population, 2009:  8.8 million, and 21 million in the metro area.

City lawmaker Victor Romo, a member of the mayor's leftist party, called it a historic day.  "For centuries unjust laws banned marriage between blacks and whites or Indians and Europeans," he said. "Today all barriers have disappeared."

But in New Mexico, whose statutes do not specify that married couples have to be male and female, a state legislator has filed a bill to close that theoretical loophole by constitutional amendment.  (New Mexico has never recognized or performed same-sex marriages.)  A domestic partnership bill was defeated there earlier this year, but Governor Bill Richardson says he hopes to get such a bill passed next year.

Up in Canada, where equal marriage became the law of the land in 2005, the gay-haters are foaming at the mouth over this wicked, disgusting, totally obscene Christmas card sent out by Member of Parliament Scott Brison to 5,000 friends and constituents:

Nova Scotian Brison, on the left, married his husband, Maxime St. Pierre, in 2007, the first federal MP to marry a same-sex partner while in office.  The wedding was attended by the cream of Canadian politicians, including two former prime ministers.  And still, even in liberal, gay-friendly Canada - the haters just can't stand even the merest suggestion that two men can love each other.  Especially at Christmas time!

Back in the U.S., Prominent right-wing homophobes Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber are slugging it out over who should take the rap for this repulsive description of gay relationships:  "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’”  Joe Jervis, as usual, is on the case, with glee. 

Notice, guys - this is a scared-shitless straight boy's nightmare concept of what it's like.  Not at all the reality as we experience it.  Not the truth.  A lie - but a Big Lie that straight boys for centuries have built up and spread in the name of their self-reflecting Heterosexual God - and have used, and are still using, to absolutely crush the life out of gay people wherever they can.

Joe is also keeping track of the freeper-creepers whose maniacal calls for Civil War II are growing more strident:

A violent overthrow of the socialist bastard traitors BEFORE this hellish health care debacle gets enacted is the only way we will ever be able to stop our plunge into socialist-fascist tyranny. I only hope that we have enough patriotic military officers & soldiers who will fight with us & for us.

 Uh-huh.  Socialist-fascist tyranny.  Can you say oxymoron, you morons?

Over in the United Kingdom, where civil partnerships have been in place for four years now, they have their extremists too:  Stephen Green, leader of Christian Voice, says Jesus approves killing the gays - and adulteresses too: 

The Bible calls for the ultimate penalty for sodomy (Lev 20:13) and for rape (Deut 22:25), and our Lord upheld the death penalty when He called for the accusers of the woman caught in adultery to cast the first stone (John 8:7) – if, that is, they were not implicated in adultery themselves. The contrast between our politicians and those of Uganda could not be more stark. A Parliamentarian in Uganda is trying to protect his nation's children. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is trying to corrupt ours.

Hmm, so just Who Would Jesus Kill? - and would that include all the family-loving, Bible-believing, adulterous Republican politicians in this country?

Also, in Northern England, an Anglican priest in York, the Rev. Tim Jones, has delivered a sermon advising his congregation to shoplift from big retailers - not small ones, mind you - because "God's love for the poor is more important than the property rights of the rich."  Help me out here guys - I just can't find this verse in the Sermon on the Mount, can you?  And just What Would Jesus Steal, anyway?

Down in Puerto Rico, though, a voice of sanity:  out bisexual closeted I-never-said-I-was-gay singing star and single dad Ricky Martin has a timely message of peace and goodwill to men posted on his website:

The murders of James Byrd, Matthew Shepard, Jorge Steven Lopez [Mercado], Marcelo Lucero, Luis Ramirez and countless others who were victims of violent 'hate crimes' should be completely unacceptable to every human being; because we're all human beings. . . .  Accepting diversity is the first and most important step we can take towards eliminating hate crimes and uniting humanity. If we ACCEPT, humanity unites. If humanity unites, equal human rights will become a reality. And if equal human rights become a reality, peace will be within our reach.

And finally, on an archaeological note, the remains of a small, modest house dating from the time of Jesus have been found in Nazareth, illustrating the typical living accommodations of that time and place.  Nothing fancy, just little bitty houses in a little hick town way out in the boonies:  you'd never think anything worth mentioning would come from a place like that, would you?

Newsbites

The good, the bad, and the WTF:

D.C. Council Passes Equal Marriage Law:  By 11 to 2.  Now, unless the mayor or Congress scuttle it, gays could start marrying in the nation's capital as early as March; and not only D.C. residents, but couples from anywhere in the country.  Of course, their marriage will disappear the moment they leave the District, unless they live in one of the states that recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.  But still, a tiny bit of good news to offset the recent disappointments in Maine and New York.  Black Christianists in D.C. are still fuming, though:  "God's war has just started," one church leader said, vowing to continue efforts to torpedo the new law.

Another African Antigay Bill:  The parliament of Rwanda, a next-door neighbor of Uganda, is now considering a bill to criminalize homosex or the encouraging of it, with a penalty of five to ten years in prison.  Bloggers are pointing fingers at - you guessed it - Rick Warren, whose Saddleback Church has had operations in both countries.  I'm not saying he's behind this bill, just reporting what Pink News says.

Teen Kidnapped and Raped in West Texas:  Last Sunday, a 19-year-old man was kidnapped by two older men outside a bar in Terlingua, near the Texas-Mexico border, repeatedly sexually assaulted, and his car set on fire.  He managed to escape from the private residence where he was being held by running three miles across the desert to a highway.  The suspects have been arrested and charged, but the Brewster County sheriff isn't replying to inquiries from the Dallas Voice.  Equality Texas director Randall Terrell says that although all the facts aren't yet known, "it sounds like Matthew Shepard all over again."

Roosters in the Hen House:  The famed Shady Lady brothel out in Nevada (the only state where prositution is legal) plans to add men to its roster.  Owner Bobbi Davis, who's already received four applications for the job, says they don't have to be muscle men but should be in good shape, and able to perform once or twice a day:  "Some guys can. Some guys can't."  Dan Savage says a legal, regulated market for male prostitutes would be a good thing; and your Head Trucker agrees. 

Hey, it's honest work:  you can't get a better example of a "service industry" than that, now can you, fellas?  And no middleman.  Unless you pay extra.

Oral Roberts Dead at 91:  Finally. The multimillionaire grandaddy of the "prosperity gospel" movement, who famously threatened in 1987 that "God could call Oral Roberts home by March" if his followers didn't cough up enough dough ($8 million) to fund his medical center in Tulsa. They did, and he lived, but became the butt of a thousand comedians' jokes. Your Head Trucker remembers watching his big tent-revival show as a little kid, and the people coming down front to be touched and "healed" by him - right there on TV - and then how he would pray for the viewers' needs - "You, yes, you! Just put your hands on the television set and pray with me . . . " he would say. I'm not making this up.

Bonus:  Honk to Joe.My.God. for posting this revelation of the really, really nasty mind of Oral Roberts - who spent a lot of time, obviously, pondering all the many parts of the body where you can or can't place the male organ:  "Not in the ear, not in the nose, not in the navel . . . ."

Texas Newsbites

When I write about Texas attitudes, it's from my perspective stuck out here in Bumfuck County, where if you squint and overlook the tatoo parlors, meth labs, and cell phones, it could easily seem nothing has changed since Eisenhower was president.  But in the big cities, I reckon things are loosening up when it comes to the gays . . . and about damn time.  I just don't get to see it happening - as I have to remind myself.

Several good news items today.  As I mentioned yesterday, City Controller Annise Parker may just be the next mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city; she'll face former City Attorney Gene Locke Parker in a runoff on December 12th:

More Texas gay news from Austin, Fort Worth, and Denton below the jump.

Newsbites: No Healthcare, No Homos

Joe.My.God. has posted these gems of rightwing froth today.  First, from Washington, D.C.:

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the honorable (?) Congresswoman who stood up on the floor of the House and declared that Matthew Shepard's murder was not a hate crime, now says that there are "no Americans without healthcare," and that healthcare reform is a greater threat to the United States than "any terrorist right now in any country."  Hmm.  She and Sally Kern, Okalahoma lawmaker, need to get their story straight:  Ms. Kern says we homos are worse than the terrorists.  So which is it, girls?

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) says healthcare reform will mean the end of the two-party system in this country because then everybody will be dependent on the "diabolical" Democrats - for everything!  "That's their goal.  That's what keeps Democrats in power."  Mwuhaha!

And across the pond, Bishop Janusz Kaleta doesn't want any fag tourists visiting the Vatican:  "I consider if someone is homosexual, it is a provocation and an abuse of this place. . . .  If you have different ideas, go to a different location."  So when in Rome, save your bus fare out to Vatican City, boys, and just have another Campari and soda instead.  You have been warned:  God hates fags, even in Italian - Prada shoes notwithstanding.