In Today's News

- From HuffPo via Americablog, a way to help shield the Iranian protesters from attack by the fascist regime, for you Twitter people out there:

Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.

- A couple more high-profile gays have dropped out of attending the DNC fundraiser.

- Author Mitchell Gold still plans to attend but will hand out copies of his book Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing The Personal, Social, And Religious Pain And Trauma Of Growing Up Gay In America as an insider protest to attendees.

- Pam Spaulding on the three out gay Congresspeople who have had NOTHING to say for five days now on the Administration's backstabbing betrayal of the community:

If you feel so inclined, please politely contact our out LGBT representatives on the Hill to ask them why they still plan to hold the event in the wake of lack of leadership re: DADT repeal and the horrible DOMA brief and 2) do they see anything problematic about financially supporting a party that runs for cover when our issues come up on the Hill.

Rep. Barney Frank:
2252 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
tel: (202) 225-5931
fax: (202) 225-0182

Rep. Tammy Baldwin
2446 Rayburn Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-6942 Fax
(202) 225-2906
Email Form

Rep. Jared Polis
Washington, DC Office
501 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
p. 202.225.2161
f. 202.226.7840

- The Wall Street Journal published an article, "Gay Group Slams Policies of President" today. Okay, so it only made page 6 of the print edition; still, it's recognition by the MSM (gee, we are so grateful for tiny scraps of recognition, aren't we?) In it, reporter Laura Meckler says:

A Justice Department spokeswoman said in a statement that the department was following routine in the filing, and wasn't making a policy statement. "As it generally does with existing statutes, the Justice Department is defending the law on the books in court," said Tracy Schmaler. "Until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system."

In a statement, White House spokesman Shin Inouye said it has already begun working to help gay and lesbian Americans achieve equal rights. "The president remains strongly committed to signing a legislative repeal of DOMA into law," he said.

Now read the last three sentences again, boys and girls, and then look at the message between the lines: the Prez is not about to lead the charge on repealing DOMA. He's not going to lift a finger until and unless Congress passes a repeal of it; in which case he will gladly sign it. But otherwise, he's not going there. Period.

Some Days

Woke up with a toothache that's been with me a few days, and will probably require some major dental work to fix. Got a bunch of bills to pay. The birds out back are eating up my tomato plants. The weather is so hot, it's exhausting just to go to the store and back. And yada, yada, yada. I know, I know, these are very minor complaints in the big scheme of things. I'm just in a real blah mood today. And my tooth hurts.

Some days, you just get really, really tired of hearing about all the foolishness in the world. Just scanning around on some of the news blogs, today I see there's been a shooter at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.; a pregnant woman, HIV+, jailed in Maine till her due date because the judge thinks that's the best way to protect her baby; some fundamentalist has smeared prayer and holy oil around the room where Sotomayor's confirmation hearing will take place; a Kentucky pastor is planning a guns-for-Jesus service at his church; Pat Robertson says most gay men are gay because they were molested by teachers and coaches as kids; and down in Austin, the cops tasered a 72-year-old granny during a traffic stop for using profanity and resisting arrest. I'm too lazy right now to add the URL's to all these stories, guess you guys can find them easily enuf if you want to.

Some days, you just wonder if there's any point in even speaking out about all the stupidity and cruelty in the world; because it seems so wide and so unstoppable. Like old King Canute stretching out his arm to stop the advance of the ocean tide; he did that to teach his followers a lesson. Guess you can google that up too if you want to read about it.

Some days, you just wonder if there's any point in giving a damn, because so many millions of other people don't. And you know from reading history that there never was a time when everybody was happy and contented and peaceable with their neighbors; we like to think there was a golden age back there somewhere in some Mayberry place, but there wasn't. Not ever.

Some days, you feel very small and inconsequential and totally useless in the scheme of things; just one grain of sand, not even a pebble, on the immense cosmic shore between time and eternity, a bit of dust blown by the winds of fate and circumstance to who knows where.

Some days, you can't even imagine escaping to a nice deserted island far from the madding crowd; because you know you'd be bored to tears, and miserable without the internet, Diet Coke, or air conditioning. Or even a studly native boy to keep you company.

Some days, you feel like a miserable old grouch. And then you glance in the mirror and realize you even look like a miserable old grouch. And you understand with a flash of recognition how all the other old geezer grumps you've known in your life got to be that way.

Some days, you look back over your life up to date and wonder what was that all about, because damned if you can see a point or purpose to it all, this tangled mess of hopes and wishes, frustrations and disappointments, all the good intentions gone haywire that brought you to this day.

Some days, it's better to just stay home, shut up, and not even wonder why life sucks so bad.

Some days, you feel very guilty for being such a whiner.

Some days, you just can't help it.

Some days, you wake up with a toothache . . . .

In Today's News

Political shocker: Reuters reports that the revised marriage-equality bill was defeated by just two votes in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, although the Senate approved it. One of the voices raised against the amended bill was that of gay Republican Steve Vaillancourt. Figures. The bill now goes to a joint committee for further negotiation.

And the Christian Science Monitor has a miscellany of interesting articles, none of them gay-related, but all of them thought-provoking:

- A review of Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, by veteran NPR religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty. A quote:

‘God’ may not be, as the atheists have it, a delusion – but perhaps a conclusion driven by the math of the universe. [R]ather than dispel the spiritual, science is cracking it open for all to see. It seems to me that the instruments of brain science are picking up something beyond this material world.

- The Republican National Committee abandoned its attempt to pass a formal resolution asking the Democrats to call themselves the Democrat Socialist Party. The roommate laughed out loud and didn't believe me when I told him this, but I'm not making this up. Geez. Those RNC lamebrains have no clue what a real socialist party even looks like - and it's sure not the Dems, who I have to say are starting to work my nerves with their pussyfooting around.

- The RNC also got a pass today from the Federal Elections Commission, which ruled that Sarah Palin's dress-to-impress $150,000 Neiman-Marcus wardrobe was A-OK with them, because the money came from party funds, not contributions. BTW, she's hard at work on writing her memoirs right now - don't you know that will be a hoot to read?

- A professor of media economics writes an insightful opinion piece on "why journalists deserve low pay": in this age of bloggetry and twitteraciousness, journalists must adapt or die, giving consumers value-added expertise and information that they can't get for free just by surfing the 'Net.

- And the U.S. Senate voted 90-5 to impose limits on how bad the credit-card companies can jerk you around. About damn time, too; the last 20 years, the conniving, money-grubbing, effing Republicans have let the credit and banking industries screw consumers mercilessly. If you don't read any of the other stories, do check out the list of what the legislation will specifically do (and not do) to protect you, if passed by the House as expected.

In Today's News

--the New Hampshire House passed a marriage equality bill, 178-167, and sent it to Governor John Lynch, who thinks marriage is for straights but hasn't said whether or not he'll sign the bill.

--McDonald's has agreed to a cash settlement and diversity training for its Louisville, Kentucky, stores, after an employee in a downtown store called five gay customers "faggots" and "cocksuckers" last fall, and the store manager refused to refund their purchases.

--Christianist role models of traditional family values brought hope and inspiritation from Alaska to the nation's youth today - but, um, couldn't quite seem to agree on message:

Bristol Palin today embarked on Abstinence Tour 2009, making appearances on Good Morning America and the Today show followed by a town hall chat for teens.

"There's one way to prevent [teen pregnancy], and that's not having sex," she told Chris Cuomo on GMA. "I do think it's realistic. It's definitely the harder choice, but it's the safer choice. It's the best choice."

Her baby daddy, Levi Johnston, disagreed with her on the Early Show.

"Abstinence is a great idea, but I also think that you need to enforce, you know, condoms and birth control and other things like that to have safe sex," he said. "I don't think just telling young kids, 'you can't have sex'—it's not going to work. It's not realistic."

--Rep. Virginia Foxx, who last week called Matthew Shepard's brutal murder a "hoax," today wrote a letter of apology to his mother, Judy, head of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. The Foundation declined to comment further, saying it's time to move on and work to pass the federal hate-crimes bill.

--Distinguished actor David Ogden Stiers, 66, came out of the closet. I said, Who knew? The roommate said, Who didn't know?

Eat at Joe's

Several tasty morsels on the menu today at Joe.My.God. (sorry, no Cheetos):

--Topless photo of Christian role model Carrie Prejean, Miss California. Also, Joe quotes 1 Tim. 2:9, (how'd he steal my idea?) which apparently is one of those old dusty Bible verses that's totally outmoded and doesn't make sense in the modern world, so it can just be ignored (oh but don't you dare cut out a single word about the perverted homosexuals!).

--Speaking of pervs, erudite Joe the Plumber (no relation to the other Joe) defines the word queer for the uneducated among us, and says all his gay friends know he won't let them anywhere near his kids.

--Speaking of idiots, Muslim clerics in the African nation of Senegal are calling for all gay people to be killed. But even death is not enough: outraged believers have dug up the body of a gay man who died of natural causes last week and deposited the remains on his parents' doorstep. Twice. Only holy people are fit to be buried in a Muslim cemetery, you see.

--Speaking of holy men, a professor at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University - also pastor of a local church - was charged this week with "sexual object penetration" on a 21-year-old female student to whom he gave a back massage on the floor of his office, where she innocently fell asleep. Riiiiiight.

--On the Supreme Court's ruling in the Janet Jackson case, Joe does a nice job of summing up the blind hypocrisy of the modern world this way: "Thousands of gruesome murders on every channel at every hour, but $550,000 for less than a second of titty. Insanity."

--and he posts Rachel Maddow's take on the White House weasel-wording about DADT (it still doesn't sound good for us, guys):

For the record, here is White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, January 9, 2009:

In Today's News

Joe.My.God. caught a couple of interesting newsbits today:

The Oklahoma House of Representatives - Sally Kern's home away from home, you know - has passed a joint resolution by 83 votes to 13:

"That the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. "The language of HJR 1003 further serves notice to the federal government "to cease and desist, effectively immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers." . . .

Eight other states have sovereignty bills pending, another twelve have bills on the way. Some legal sources call the bills merely symbolic, saying that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution renders such efforts moot. Others are calling the sovereignty movement the thin wedge of a coming secessionist effort largely driven by disagreements over social policy issues such as gay rights, immigration, and freedom of religion.

Oh dear, are we back to the whole States' Rights thing now? That is exactly the line the segregationists took, starting in the 1940's, to oppose the civil rights movement: Dixiecrats, interposition, nullification, standing in the schoolhouse door, and all such as that. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

Joe also reprints part of lesbian blogger Keori's report from the legislative hearings in Hawaii on a proposed civil unions bill:

You know, it gets really tiresome to be called diseased and a pedophile and a rapist and an abomination and a threat to America three dozen times in one day. It infuriates me to hear that yes, heterosexuals have special rights (at least they admitted it finally!) and that is how it should be because The Big Book of Bronze Age Fairy Tales says so. To hear little old ladies screaming that they would rather see their grandchildren commit suicide than "be part of that disgusting, filthy, evil lifestyle", isn't even remotely amusing anymore.

Even better is to, due to the concussion headache beginning to blind me, forget to take off my little green and gold "equality" sticker on the way out of the building, and be followed to the bus stop by a bunch of red shirts with signs. Three 6'5", 200 pound Islander guys with signs saying "Gay marriage is wrong" and "John 3:16" followed the lone little white girl with her laptop case across the street, yelling at me, "Repent!", calling me a bitch and a whore, telling me, "You just need a real man to fuck you straight." Nothing I haven't heard before.

Then one of them said, "We know who you are now, and what you drive. We saw you last Thursday. You better watch yourself, fucking haole bitch." Not one of the 20 people standing around the bus stop said anything to them. I got on the first bus that came along, got off three stops down the street, and caught my right bus a few minutes later. I rode home all alone, with my headphones on, praying no one bothered me. I don't want to ever hear another fake apology from these people saying that they don't actually hate queers, they're just "protecting traditional marriage". It's just the latest lie in their christian hate grab bag.

Now fellas, you remember last fall, all those big strapping gay guys who swarmed the little old lady carrying a styrofoam cross at a Prop 8 rally? If we act nasty like that, we have no moral standing to complain when the other side treats our people that way, do we? It's wrong and it's ugly, no matter who does it; and what goes around, comes around.

And David Mixner summarizes several more examples of Republican asshattery in the last week, including these gems:

-Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) used a major forum in his home state of Alabama to question if President Obama is even a citizen of America!

-Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) used another speaking opportunity in Kentucky to proclaim loudly that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be dead in six months! In an attempt to quell the bad publicity generated, he issued a formal apology to the feisty Madame Justice, who returned to the bench this week.

-Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) wrote in a letter that Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were not real Catholics! Didn't know the senator was a papal representative. So much for his message on Stimulus!

-The newly elected Chair of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, was asked about the possibility of the Republican Party supporting civil unions down the road he responded, "No, no, no. What would we do that for? What are you, crazy?" So much for inclusiveness!

Plus this bizarre video of failed Republican candidate Alan Keyes:

What I say: Tell you what, guys. Let's be fair about this and give the wingnuts their very own state: Alaska. Hell, let's cut Alaska loose, and let them have it for their own Holy Nation. Then they can all sit up there and beat their Bibles and stare at Putin to their heart's content. Give 'em all a one-way ticket, plus moving expenses, hell we already got a deficit going, it won't cost that much more and everybody would be happy then. Right?

Palin-Jindal 2012. Yes, please God. Pass it around.

In Today's News

* The United Kingdom has banned fag-hating Fred Phelps and his daughter from entering that country to protest a college production of The Laramie Project, a play about Matthew Shepherd.

* Indiana legislators have effectively 86'd an anti-gay-marriage amendment in that state. A tiny bit of good news.

* But in Utah, where the Mormon Church said it's not against gay people, just the misuse of the word marriage, legislators have axed every single one of the Common Ground bills, even including the simple right to visit your partner in the hospital.

* A straight married woman is appalled that the state of Florida makes her and her husband check off their sexual orientation status on an adoption application form.

* While a Georgia man is fighting a custody order than forbids him to expose his children to any of his gay partners or friends.

* And finally, Sally Kern's soul sistah in the Georgia legislature wants to fire all faculty and staff at Georgia universities who teach queer studies or the like, which is such a waste of taxpayers' money in these troubled economic times, you know. Here's Rep. Charlice Byrd's priceless video on the subject:

In Today's News

Guess you guys realize I don't have the time or the energy to keep up with every piece of gay-related news that happens; I'll leave that to the big dogs who are getting paid to blog, or have lots of helpers. But just for the record, here's a few recent news items worth remarking, in case you missed them:

* Iceland now boasts the world's first openly gay head of government - Johanna Sigurdardottir, who will be interim prime minister there until elections are held in May. Please do not book vacation tickets to Iceland, you know how God is about these things. Probably the whole island will sink to the bottom of the ocean, or something like that, now that the dreaded gayz are in charge. Wink.

* Australia, you may be surprised to learn, has had an openly gay High Court Justice (think supreme court over here) since 1996, Michael Kirby, who is now retiring at age 70 after a renowned and outspoken career as a jurist. Hmm. Gee, why is Australia still afloat after all these years? Wink.

* And I was certainly surprised to learn that Texas had an openly gay city court judge, John Paul Barnich, who passed away this week after serving on the bench from 1999 to 2007, when health problems forced him to retire. Apparently he was a good judge but quite a character, too. At his confirmation hearings before the city council, when asked how a gay judge would differ from a heterosexual judge, he responded that he would upgrade the courtroom’s sound system in order to play show tunes. Wink.

* Finally, today it just so happens that three state legislatures are considering important gay rights issues: the New Hampshire Marriage Equality bill, the Hawaii Civil Unions bill and Washington Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009. Hmm, wonder if the fundies are praying for a hat trick - film at 11. Wink.

* Oh and one more thing. Sadly, the Massachusetts couple whose 2003 court case led to this nation's first legal gay marriages, Julie and Hillary Goodridge, are getting a divorce. Pity.

In Today's News

Also online, a wonderful family picture from First Sister Maya's 2003 wedding.

On Day 2 in the ObamaNation, as reported by the New York Times:

* At the White House, the President was sworn in again by the Chief Justice "out of an abundance of caution" following yesterday's tongue-twister on the steps of the Capitol. White House legal counsel thought the re-do was unneccesary, but this should silence the mad-dog rightwing nuts, who've been foaming at the mouth about it.

* Ted Kennedy was released from hospital with apparently no ill effects from the seizure he suffered yesterday at the Capitol during the Inaugural luncheon.

* His niece, Caroline Kennedy, announced she was withdrawing herself from consideration for being appointed to Hillary Clinton's vacated Senate seat, citing concerns about her uncle's health.

* Hillary was confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of State, and resigned her Senate seat (D-NY), which she has held for the past 8 years.

* The President ordered a halt to prosecutions at Gitmo while the new administration reviews the system of war-crimes trials held there.

* The stock market bounced back up after about a 4 percent dip on Inauguration Day.

* The Obamas, Bidens, and Clintons maintained post-Inaugural tradition by attending a morning prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, with 20 interfaith ministers, including women leaders of the Muslim and Hindu faiths, and featuring a sermon by a woman, the president of the Disciples of Christ church. "The service featured a gospel choir of African-American children in crisp white shirts and black pants and dresses, many of whom broke into smiles as they glimpsed the new president when they filed in. They sang a rocking rendition of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” as if giving a commentary not only on the Almighty, but on the new president’s job description. Mr. Obama sang along, and the First Lady clapped. "

* And the NYT had a feature article on the extended First Family:

For well over two centuries, the United States has been vastly more diverse than its ruling families. Now the Obama family has flipped that around, with a Technicolor cast that looks almost nothing like their overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly Protestant predecessors in the role. The family that produced Barack and Michelle Obama is black and white and Asian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. They speak English; Indonesian; French; Cantonese; German; Hebrew; African languages including Swahili, Luo and Igbo; and even a few phrases of Gullah, the Creole dialect of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Very few are wealthy, and some — like Sarah Obama, the stepgrandmother who only recently got electricity and running water in her metal-roofed shack — are quite poor.

“Our family is new in terms of the White House, but I don’t think it’s new in terms of the country,” Maya Soetoro-Ng, the president’s younger half-sister, said last week. “I don’t think the White House has always reflected the textures and flavors of this country.”

It does now. All in all, a very good day in America. I'm so glad we finally got here.

In Today's News . . .

Too lazy today to give you the links, but you can go find these news bits at the sites listed:

1. Mike Huckabee declares he is not now, and has never been, "pro-sodomy." (Joe.My.God.)

2. Child protection up in New Jersey has removed little Adolph Hitler Campbell and Aryan Nation Campbell from their parents. (also JMG)

3. Andrew Sullivan had an off-the-record chat with Mr. O. and came away feeling soooo relieved that this brilliant man is about to be our new president. (Andrew Sullivan)

4. An openly gay man, Michael Smith, has been tagged to re-do the White House family quarters, and he has some absolutely fabulous ideas for the place already. (Queerty)

Now why am I not fucking surprised at any of this?

PS - Just for the record, your Head Trucker has always been pro-sodomy, all the way. References available upon request.