Not the Full Johnston

The leaked set of Levi's Playgirl pics.  Doesn't do much for me, but what do you guys think?

Contest Winner

Your Head Trucker is pretty knocked out with a heavy cold this weekend, so blogging may be light in the Blue Truck.

But I did want to award the prize for last week's contest, which goes to David of Midwestern Malaise.  For getting all the answers right, David wins a set of really big screws:

Nuts included.  Enjoy.

Film Buffs, Take Note

Timothy Bottoms and Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show, 1971

Your Head Trucker is happy to recommend a new blog by Truckbuddy Marty from the UK:  Film-Daily, which focuses on American and European cinema, as well as film history and world film festivals.  It's a pretty cool site if you're into movies, go give it a try.  Tell him Russ sent you.

Open Thread Friday: Thanksgiving

First there's the trip, then the relatives you're glad to see, then the other relatives, then the turkey and dressing, then the shopping, then the pooping out and the long trip home.

What's the gayest thing you're going to do next week?

Today's Quote: Not in My Throat

Sullivan and others have posted this around the blogosphere already, but it's worth reposting here:

"I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time," - Utah Senator Chris Buttars, explaining his opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Have you noticed how very often this "stuff-down-my-throat" metaphor is used by straight guys when they are ranting against the gays?

Are they all really so clueless not see what this metaphor reveals about their deepest fears - or fantasies?  Hello?

Hilarious, if you ask me.

BTW, the patronizing remark about "they were in my house" reminds me very strongly of the Louisiana judge a few weeks ago who refused to marry an interracial couple - "but I have nothing against black people, I let them use my toilet."

That plantation mentality is like, so last century, ya know?  Whether about the blacks or about the gays.

Afternoon Drive: Cowboy Love

Need some cowboy lovin' this weekend? Well pony up, boys, and take your pick from this lineup . . . .

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

BTW guys, I just found out how to make my own music vids online.  Okay, okay, I know y'all are saying, "Well duh, Russ . . . ."

But hell, nobody tells me a fucking thing out here in BFE, ya know?  First attempt is not so great, but I'll work on it for next time. . . .

Sign the Uganda Petition

Encouraged by some U.S. evangelical preachers, the parliament of Uganda is poised to enact in January a draconian anti-gay law that some think could lead to a wholesale slaughter of LGBT folk in that country, where homosexual activity is already punished with life imprisonment.  The new law would:

Extend the definition of prosecutable homosexuality from sexual activity to merely “touch[ing] another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”

Create a new category of “aggravated homosexuality” which provides for the death penalty for “repeat offenders” and for cases where the individual is HIV-positive.

Criminalize all speech and peaceful assembly for those who defend LGBT Ugandans with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.

Criminalize the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.

Add a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24 hours of learning about the individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.

Add extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.

As Integrity USA, the advocacy group for LGBT Episcopalians, says,

The new bill would outlaw Integrity Uganda and would put clergy, physicians and relatives who support their gay and lesbian neighbors and family members at risk for severe fines and possible imprisonment. The proposed law may mean neighbors who do not inform on each other for supporting LGBT civil rights are subject to punishment. We have not seen such a draconian system of isolation and institutional rejection of a minority community in Uganda since the anti-Jewish laws passed by the Third Reich.

Truth Wins Out has several articles detailing the situation in Uganda.  Only a handful of countries and churches outside Uganda have condemned the proposed law. 
 
If you're a churchgoer, why not ask what your church leaders are doing about this evil, murderous law - which is supported by the Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council, as well as the Orthodox, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist and Anglican churches in Uganda. 

And please sign the petition to religious leaders in Uganda; I have.

Warning: We Know What You Did

Couple things I've recently learned, and want to share with my Truckbuddies as a warning.

First, can you be fired from your job for posting an anonymous sexual comment online?

Yup.  It's just happened to a guy in Missouri.

Second, can somebody look up all the comments you've ever made online?

Apparently so.  Check out this Backtype website I just came across.  Type your screen name into the search box and see what pulls up.

Who knew? 

Shit.

Probly there's even more ways to dig up everything you've said and done online that this country boy doesn't have any clue about.  So I'm thinking maybe starting up my Toolbox site under the same screen name wasn't such a great idea.

Well guys, think about your own cyberlife and act accordingly.  You have been warned.

Imaginary Playmate

The mind of Sarah Palin is just too bizarre to figure out.  After trying to make sense of her autobiography, even the brilliant Andrew Sullivan has thrown up his hands:

I thought there might be some new facts in here that would illuminate my confusion and dispel the whole thing.

There is, rather, more barely-credible myth-making and descriptions of actions taken that really make no sense even on their own terms. But since we now know that Palin tells odd lies all the time even when she doesn't have to, we cannot hold her to common sense readings. The story she tells is largely incredible if you assume a rational actor at the center of it. But we do not have a rational actor in the center of it; we have an unbalanced, delusional, ambitious fanatic whose relationship to reality is entirely instrumental and can change from minute to minute. And so we cannot even say: that doesn't make sense so it probably isn't true. With Palin, anything is possible her world is so imaginary and magical. Much that makes sense with others may not make sense with her. And without external evidence, how can we tell which is which?

Clever women from Cleopatra on down have known that boobs and bravado will take you a long, long way:  as Mae West used to say, "Five will get you ten if you know how to work it."  She wasn't talking about the stock market. 

Which is, IMO, why Sullivan calls Palin "one of the most dangerous demagogues this country has seen in a long time."  Those straight boys would follow her anywhere.

But a new thought just occurred to me - isn't Palin the closest thing to a comic book/video game character you've ever seen in the flesh?  Trailing starbursts all the way . . . .

At Least Dolly Loves Us

The Advocate reports on Dolly's chat with Joy Behar last week:

“Would you say that you are pro–gay marriage?” asked Behar, noting that Parton’s background might suggest otherwise.

“I know that’s true,” acknowledged Parton. “I always say, ‘Sure, why can’t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do.’”

Dolly also didn't think much of Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen's recent remark that gays are "not God's best work."

On why so many gays are fans of hers:  "I think they know I'm different too, and it took me a long time to be accepted also."

Video clip of Joy and Dolly here.

Because of Who You Are

Last week, Sullivan had just this one criticism about the President's magnificent speech at Arlington on Veterans' Day:

It is not a right, military service. But it is transformative of a citizen's place in the world. We rightly see servicemembers as special - because they make possible everything else. Without defense, we would have no secure country. And without citizens prepared to risk their lives, we would have no defense. And when a country says that one section of its own citizenry is barred from service simply because of who they are, even though they may be fine soldiers, it is saying a very clear thing to them:

You are not real Americans. This is not your country. Because of who you are, you must take an observer's role in the defense of your own country. More to the point, if we discover that you are in the ranks, we will expel you. We will do this to you at any time, even if you have served honorably for years. We will strip you of your pension. We will allow anyone to expose you. And even if your skills - like fluent Arabic - are desperately needed, you are so repulsive to the military, and so disruptive to its cohesion, that we will throw you out anyway. There is nothing you can do to avoid this. There is no act heroic enough to overcome this. There is no record good enough to avoid it. You are beneath this ultimate act of citizenship because of who you are.

The sad truth, then, is that the president was wrong yesterday. When he said

We are a nation that is dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal. We live that truth within our military,

he misspoke. We do not live that truth. We betray it.

And there are some Americans whose open, proud chance for glory is yet to come.

Guys, after all these years I'm tired as hell of being treated like a third-class citizen - the scum of the earth - in my own country.  Aren't you?