Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1. A slender crescent moon, just 15-percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter. People who are unaware or have no advance notice will almost certainly wonder, as they cast a casual glance toward the moon on that night, what those two "large silvery stars" happen to be? Sometimes, such an occasion brings with it a sudden spike of phone calls to local planetariums, weather offices and even police precincts. Not a few of these calls excitedly inquire about "the UFOs" that are hovering in the vicinity of our natural satellite.
SPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including space image of the day and other space pictures, space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by the users. Join its community, sign up for its free newsletters and register for its RSS Feeds today!
Share Me
Let's eat!
This month we cook a lot of dishes from Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are a melting pot bubbling over with tourists, inhabitants and expatriates from all parts of the world, and these people naturally have diverse eating habits. Through the ages, the Chinese, Malay, Indians and the foreigners (westerners) have cast their influence on Singapore's food recipes and there is no doubt that Singapore is a food lovers' paradise. We are bringing the fantastic Singapore/Malay dishes to you and our friends who will be couchsurfing with us...Cheers! Tiger & Marlon
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Andrew and the doctor!!!
Shawn Pyfrom plays Andrew van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives
Oh my God, we just watched Desperate Housewives. Brie's gay son, Andrew, is having a boyfriend - his parents' doctor, no less! Hot. And they are getting married! Thanks ABC!
Oh my God, we just watched Desperate Housewives. Brie's gay son, Andrew, is having a boyfriend - his parents' doctor, no less! Hot. And they are getting married! Thanks ABC!
The HIV/Aids epidemic will spiral out of control unless...
Unless more money and effort is devoted to stopping its spread, the UK's development minister, Gareth Thomas, will warn a meeting of scientists and experts convened by the government in London today. Although UN statistics show an apparent slow-down in the growth of the epidemic, and drugs to keep people alive are now at least partly available in heavily affected parts of the developing world, Thomas will stress that all the progress will be in vain unless a means is found to stop the spread of infection.
"The reality is that the spread of HIV is set to spiral out of control unless we act now," he will say. "Five people are infected with HIV every minute. We must increase our efforts - and increase them now."
The message is backed by a new UK £220m fund for research into technological solutions to halt the spread, such as vaccines and microbicide gels, which women could use during sex. Five more people are infected for every two who are put on life-saving drugs, 33 million people now live with the virus and 15 million children have been orphaned.
"The reality is that the spread of HIV is set to spiral out of control unless we act now," he will say. "Five people are infected with HIV every minute. We must increase our efforts - and increase them now."
The message is backed by a new UK £220m fund for research into technological solutions to halt the spread, such as vaccines and microbicide gels, which women could use during sex. Five more people are infected for every two who are put on life-saving drugs, 33 million people now live with the virus and 15 million children have been orphaned.
Britain is criticised for deporting HIV patients
The British government, on World Aids Day, accused of double standards for permitting the deportation of people diagnosed in the UK with HIV to countries where they may not get the drugs they need to stay alive. The UK has strongly supported the G8 pledge to get treatment to all people who need it in poor countries, and yet it is sending back people who have discovered they have HIV and been put on drugs while in the UK, to places where they have little hope of continuing their medication. The African HIV Policy Network, which is attempting to change UK policy, has many examples of people who are struggling to get hold of life-saving medication. Its campaign is supported by Neil Gerrard, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on refugees and previously chaired the group on Aids.
HIV/AIDS cases on the rise in Malaysia
An HIV patient feeds his disabled fellow at a community home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, in 2007.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia's HIV/AIDS infection rates are on the rise, dealing a blow to the country's bid to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to eradicate the virus, according to a UN official. Kamal Malhotra, the UN's resident coordinator in Malaysia told state news agency Bernama that up to June this year, 82,704 Malaysians have so far been infected with the virus since records began in 1986. In 2006, eight percent of Malaysia's population were infected with HIV/AIDS compared to five percent in 2000, according to the United Nations Development Programme Malaysia website.
Malhotra told Bernama the country could face an epidemic if efforts were not focused on drug users, sex workers, transsexuals, male homosexuals and migrant workers. He said one of the best methods to prevent this continuous spread was better education and understanding of the virus itself. Malaysia has embarked on a five-year plan to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, launching a pilot needle exchange programmes for drug addicts in 2006.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia's HIV/AIDS infection rates are on the rise, dealing a blow to the country's bid to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to eradicate the virus, according to a UN official. Kamal Malhotra, the UN's resident coordinator in Malaysia told state news agency Bernama that up to June this year, 82,704 Malaysians have so far been infected with the virus since records began in 1986. In 2006, eight percent of Malaysia's population were infected with HIV/AIDS compared to five percent in 2000, according to the United Nations Development Programme Malaysia website.
Malhotra told Bernama the country could face an epidemic if efforts were not focused on drug users, sex workers, transsexuals, male homosexuals and migrant workers. He said one of the best methods to prevent this continuous spread was better education and understanding of the virus itself. Malaysia has embarked on a five-year plan to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, launching a pilot needle exchange programmes for drug addicts in 2006.
Singapore Airlines: A New Luxury. A class beyond first
A luxury and a class beyond first. Even other airlines talked about.
Harvey Milk: "We have rights. We just don't have equal rights."
Early this month, when it looked like same-sex marriage was on the rocks in California, gay rights activists summed up their angst about the upcoming Proposition 8 vote with four wistful words: What would Harvey do?
Harvey was Harvey Milk, the late San Francisco supervisor and subject of "Milk," the film that opened this week about the pioneering gay politician assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone 30 years ago Thursday. There are parallels between the gay rights battle of Milk's time and today. Defeating a ballot measure — a ban on openly gay teachers in public schools — was the apex of Milk's short career. And now, with passage of California's ban on gay marriage, activists re-examining Milk's legacy are questioning whether an outsized political leader could have made the difference this time. Harvey Milk came from a politics of real discomfort. There was a righteous rage that was motivating him and the people he was working with. Maybe the community got too comfortable.
Harvey was Harvey Milk, the late San Francisco supervisor and subject of "Milk," the film that opened this week about the pioneering gay politician assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone 30 years ago Thursday. There are parallels between the gay rights battle of Milk's time and today. Defeating a ballot measure — a ban on openly gay teachers in public schools — was the apex of Milk's short career. And now, with passage of California's ban on gay marriage, activists re-examining Milk's legacy are questioning whether an outsized political leader could have made the difference this time. Harvey Milk came from a politics of real discomfort. There was a righteous rage that was motivating him and the people he was working with. Maybe the community got too comfortable.
Gay marriage backers to protest at Mormon display
Why not? They hate us. We must not support them. With the passage of Prop 8, there is no room for kindness or forgiveness anymore. There is no more room to forgive and forget. They have stripped away our rights to marry the ones we love. They have taken away our basic human rights.
Supporters of gay marriage are vowing to be out in force when Mormons light their massive Christmas displays Friday night on the grounds of the Mesa Arizona Temple.
They're upset with Mormons' opposition to same-sex marriage and the passage of state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in Arizona, California and Florida in the Nov. 4 election. Organizers say they're hoping thousands will turn out in solidarity for gays and lesbians seeking full civil rights.
The Mormon church urged members to donate money and vote for the gay marriage bans.
Mormon spokesman Don Evans says the church finds it surprising it is being singled out by protesters. He says the amendments were also supported by the Catholic church and various evangelical denominations.
Supporters of gay marriage are vowing to be out in force when Mormons light their massive Christmas displays Friday night on the grounds of the Mesa Arizona Temple.
They're upset with Mormons' opposition to same-sex marriage and the passage of state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in Arizona, California and Florida in the Nov. 4 election. Organizers say they're hoping thousands will turn out in solidarity for gays and lesbians seeking full civil rights.
The Mormon church urged members to donate money and vote for the gay marriage bans.
Mormon spokesman Don Evans says the church finds it surprising it is being singled out by protesters. He says the amendments were also supported by the Catholic church and various evangelical denominations.
Gay Soldier to be Paid for Sex Harassment
A British employment tribunal ruled Wednesday that the Ministry of Defense must pay heavy damages to a lesbian soldier harassed by a male colleague. The tribunal found that Lance Bombardier Kerry Fletcher is entitled to almost $290,000, the BBC reported.
“This is as severe a case of victimization following an allegation of sexual harassment as one could see in an employment tribunal,” the ruling said. “The claimant was subjected to a sustained campaign of victimization over a lengthy period. The victimization extended to imposition of disciplinary sanctions, impinging the claimant’s mental stability and obstructing her transfer to a more suitable posting.”
Fletcher, 32, who is open about her sexual orientation, has served for more than a decade in the Royal Artillery. She testified in 2007 that a staff sergeant at a stables in North Yorkshire began a campaign of harassment that included sexual invitations and explicit text messages, the BBC said. When she rejected his advances and complained to superiors, the sergeant and others destroyed her career, she said.
Fletcher submitted her resignation from the army in February, effective next year, the BBC said.
“This is as severe a case of victimization following an allegation of sexual harassment as one could see in an employment tribunal,” the ruling said. “The claimant was subjected to a sustained campaign of victimization over a lengthy period. The victimization extended to imposition of disciplinary sanctions, impinging the claimant’s mental stability and obstructing her transfer to a more suitable posting.”
Fletcher, 32, who is open about her sexual orientation, has served for more than a decade in the Royal Artillery. She testified in 2007 that a staff sergeant at a stables in North Yorkshire began a campaign of harassment that included sexual invitations and explicit text messages, the BBC said. When she rejected his advances and complained to superiors, the sergeant and others destroyed her career, she said.
Fletcher submitted her resignation from the army in February, effective next year, the BBC said.
This shows how little I know about our economy?
Ambrose Aban
Chief Blogger, QueerGasm
Do you understand the economy? I don't. The only very limited education I received was in a broadcast journalism class that goes back so far as to pre-date the loss of my virginity to a married man. Which isn't saying much, but still...I'm about the last thing from an expert as they come. Still...I'm finding myself completely baffled by what seems to pass as basic orthodox assumptions about our current cesspool of economic travails. And it really has me wondering what I'm not seeing that they (the economic intelligentsia) are. This confusion I have with many facets of our economy is so widespread, that I figured I'd lay them out issue by issue. This will give my loyal 1 to 2 readers something to chew over on the upcoming days AND an electric sense of excitement regarding what fascinating new economic topic I will raise with each new post.
Are you ready for this?
Let me start with the housing crisis. It seems I've repeatedly heard from the mainstream media and established economic gurus that we have to get home values rising again. And it's not difficult to see why there's concern. Just this past quarter, home values dropped by 16.6%. In fact, I just got back visiting my der friend and his family in South San Francisco, where in the past year or so, the house they recently bought has dropped in value by $150,000.00. That's just painful to think about. So clearly, I can see in their situation how that's a goal worth fighting for.
But then I'm confronted with a larger concern - home values, by and large, have grown to ridiculous proportions. I saw it in the Bay Area where there was a time that homes were selling faster and growing in price at a pace that made no sense because I knew SF was not an undertapped economic activity creating mecca due to its limited opportunities. The main question that kept rolling through my mind was "who can afford to buy these houses?"
And it's apparent now that, in reality, not that many could. I was told by my friend that the people just took advantage of the ubiquitous array of financing schemes (interest-only loans, adjustable rate loans, interest balloon rates, etc) that they were able to get their foot in the door of a house with little actual wealth put in and zero to little income available for the spikes in monthly payments. And in the end, far too many people were overextended and living beyond their means.
I have very little doubt that this effect was far more pronounced in California, where just hearing the average housing prices consistently gave me the willies. I couldn't fathom the deep yawning chasm between a 2,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in need of much repair in the Bay Area of California and a similar home in Brooklyn Heights. Surely, the average salary in those areas were not THAT much higher than here (and I'll put up my dukes on the issue of 'quality of life').
Of course, I had no notion of the depth of sub prime mortgage lending (because I don't own a home or can afford to think of owning a home at this time) and other ridiculously risky financing options that buyers had. So I can't help but come to the conclusion that the housing prices we saw in the early to mid 2000's were epically aberrational. A veritable house of straw, an illusion that didn't even come close to reflecting the "intrinsic value" of housing (if there is such a thing as intrinsic value).
If I'm right in perceiving it this way - and I would love for someone to correct me for I know precious little about the economy or how things work - how on earth could we possibly be able to maintain those housing prices? With all of these financing schemes laid to waste, who can now possibly afford to live in them? What kind of economic activity could possibly allow that many people to make that much MORE money than they were making to be able to afford these houses?
Shouldn't we just accept that we NEED the values of our homes to go down? I realize the cost to people who bought houses and are dutifully paying off their mortgages (some of you would be included in that group).
Shouldn't our governmental rescue efforts focus on compensating homeowners for the reduction in their home values rather than finding ways (and I don't even know what these techniques would be) to maintain or raise current values?
I'm certainly of a mind that, for the most part, it was the unregulated collateralized debt obligation system that is responsible for coaxing people to purchase homes with risky financing, with the promise that home values will grow continuously over time, so I don't feel that most of the homeowners facing foreclosure or who've seen the value of their homes drop precipitously bear the cost of our political failure to fairly regulate and manage the financial industry.
Am I crazy? Is there something wrong with approaching the housing market this way? This is not a rhetorical question. In my opinion, housing prices - particularly in bloated areas like the California and New York City - need to go down substantially so that more people can afford to buy them on their current salaries. This seems to make much more sense to me than trying to shoehorn home buyers back into an inflated market with more governmental protections
Chief Blogger, QueerGasm
Do you understand the economy? I don't. The only very limited education I received was in a broadcast journalism class that goes back so far as to pre-date the loss of my virginity to a married man. Which isn't saying much, but still...I'm about the last thing from an expert as they come. Still...I'm finding myself completely baffled by what seems to pass as basic orthodox assumptions about our current cesspool of economic travails. And it really has me wondering what I'm not seeing that they (the economic intelligentsia) are. This confusion I have with many facets of our economy is so widespread, that I figured I'd lay them out issue by issue. This will give my loyal 1 to 2 readers something to chew over on the upcoming days AND an electric sense of excitement regarding what fascinating new economic topic I will raise with each new post.
Are you ready for this?
Let me start with the housing crisis. It seems I've repeatedly heard from the mainstream media and established economic gurus that we have to get home values rising again. And it's not difficult to see why there's concern. Just this past quarter, home values dropped by 16.6%. In fact, I just got back visiting my der friend and his family in South San Francisco, where in the past year or so, the house they recently bought has dropped in value by $150,000.00. That's just painful to think about. So clearly, I can see in their situation how that's a goal worth fighting for.
But then I'm confronted with a larger concern - home values, by and large, have grown to ridiculous proportions. I saw it in the Bay Area where there was a time that homes were selling faster and growing in price at a pace that made no sense because I knew SF was not an undertapped economic activity creating mecca due to its limited opportunities. The main question that kept rolling through my mind was "who can afford to buy these houses?"
And it's apparent now that, in reality, not that many could. I was told by my friend that the people just took advantage of the ubiquitous array of financing schemes (interest-only loans, adjustable rate loans, interest balloon rates, etc) that they were able to get their foot in the door of a house with little actual wealth put in and zero to little income available for the spikes in monthly payments. And in the end, far too many people were overextended and living beyond their means.
I have very little doubt that this effect was far more pronounced in California, where just hearing the average housing prices consistently gave me the willies. I couldn't fathom the deep yawning chasm between a 2,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in need of much repair in the Bay Area of California and a similar home in Brooklyn Heights. Surely, the average salary in those areas were not THAT much higher than here (and I'll put up my dukes on the issue of 'quality of life').
Of course, I had no notion of the depth of sub prime mortgage lending (because I don't own a home or can afford to think of owning a home at this time) and other ridiculously risky financing options that buyers had. So I can't help but come to the conclusion that the housing prices we saw in the early to mid 2000's were epically aberrational. A veritable house of straw, an illusion that didn't even come close to reflecting the "intrinsic value" of housing (if there is such a thing as intrinsic value).
If I'm right in perceiving it this way - and I would love for someone to correct me for I know precious little about the economy or how things work - how on earth could we possibly be able to maintain those housing prices? With all of these financing schemes laid to waste, who can now possibly afford to live in them? What kind of economic activity could possibly allow that many people to make that much MORE money than they were making to be able to afford these houses?
Shouldn't we just accept that we NEED the values of our homes to go down? I realize the cost to people who bought houses and are dutifully paying off their mortgages (some of you would be included in that group).
Shouldn't our governmental rescue efforts focus on compensating homeowners for the reduction in their home values rather than finding ways (and I don't even know what these techniques would be) to maintain or raise current values?
I'm certainly of a mind that, for the most part, it was the unregulated collateralized debt obligation system that is responsible for coaxing people to purchase homes with risky financing, with the promise that home values will grow continuously over time, so I don't feel that most of the homeowners facing foreclosure or who've seen the value of their homes drop precipitously bear the cost of our political failure to fairly regulate and manage the financial industry.
Am I crazy? Is there something wrong with approaching the housing market this way? This is not a rhetorical question. In my opinion, housing prices - particularly in bloated areas like the California and New York City - need to go down substantially so that more people can afford to buy them on their current salaries. This seems to make much more sense to me than trying to shoehorn home buyers back into an inflated market with more governmental protections
Gay marriage...it is a big deal in America the beautiful.
Or maybe it's just we hear different things. For gay Americans, the issue of marriage speaks to our identity. For many years -- too many to count, really -- we were told our relationships were unworthy of legal recognition because they were too different from marriage; now we're told our relationships are unworthy of recognition because they're too similar to marriage -- so very similar that they might kill off marriage altogether.
This is more than a bait-and-switch operation, it is an injustice, and one that gay couples live through every day. And that's how we tend to see this issue: through the context of our lives. By contrast, many straight Americans see gay marriage -- how could they not? -- through the prism of politics. From the moment the California Supreme Court announced its decision, presidential campaigns kicked into overdrive, crafting carefully parsed statements that would reassure the faithful without alienating the people, while party apparatchiks and mainstream media fell over themselves trying to answer the all-consuming question: How will this affect the new administration?
We know what to expect in the months ahead. GOP operatives will be cranking up as much hysteria as they can around "Mr. and Mr. Smith," and Democratic operatives will be trying, in the same breath, to crank it down. One side will be launching get-out-the-vote operations to save marriage; one side will be asking us (silently or aloud) why we had to bring up the subject now. Couldn't we have waited till December?
It's all very familiar, the parts we're supposed to play, but I'm tired of mine. I'm tired of being a scare tactic; I'm equally tired of being a ball-and-chain. I'm tired of being told by one side that I'm a threat to their kids and by the other that I'm a threat to their candidate.
And God help me, I am tired of turning on the TV or opening the newspaper and seeing this issue illustrated by the same stock footage of two men or two women in matching tuxes -- as if the right to marry were just the right to have a bitching wedding.
The wedding trope is particularly nonsensical because, for several generations, gay couples have been showing America how marriages can be created without benefit of weddings. You may have seen us. Signing onto mortgages and joint checking accounts. Hosting barbecues, buying cars, planning for retirement. Starting families or not starting them. Wondering where the years have gone. Without any blessing from the state, we've married each other; we're just waiting for the rest of America to catch up.
This is more than a bait-and-switch operation, it is an injustice, and one that gay couples live through every day. And that's how we tend to see this issue: through the context of our lives. By contrast, many straight Americans see gay marriage -- how could they not? -- through the prism of politics. From the moment the California Supreme Court announced its decision, presidential campaigns kicked into overdrive, crafting carefully parsed statements that would reassure the faithful without alienating the people, while party apparatchiks and mainstream media fell over themselves trying to answer the all-consuming question: How will this affect the new administration?
We know what to expect in the months ahead. GOP operatives will be cranking up as much hysteria as they can around "Mr. and Mr. Smith," and Democratic operatives will be trying, in the same breath, to crank it down. One side will be launching get-out-the-vote operations to save marriage; one side will be asking us (silently or aloud) why we had to bring up the subject now. Couldn't we have waited till December?
It's all very familiar, the parts we're supposed to play, but I'm tired of mine. I'm tired of being a scare tactic; I'm equally tired of being a ball-and-chain. I'm tired of being told by one side that I'm a threat to their kids and by the other that I'm a threat to their candidate.
And God help me, I am tired of turning on the TV or opening the newspaper and seeing this issue illustrated by the same stock footage of two men or two women in matching tuxes -- as if the right to marry were just the right to have a bitching wedding.
The wedding trope is particularly nonsensical because, for several generations, gay couples have been showing America how marriages can be created without benefit of weddings. You may have seen us. Signing onto mortgages and joint checking accounts. Hosting barbecues, buying cars, planning for retirement. Starting families or not starting them. Wondering where the years have gone. Without any blessing from the state, we've married each other; we're just waiting for the rest of America to catch up.
Why gay marriage threatens churches...
The crusade for Prop 8 was fueled by the broken American family, explains gay Catholic author Richard Rodriguez.
While conservative churches are busy trying to whip up another round of culture wars over same-sex marriage, Rodriguez says the real reason for their panic lies elsewhere: the breakdown of the traditional heterosexual family and the shifting role of women in society and the church itself. As the American family fractures and the majority of women choose to live without men, churches are losing their grip on power and scapegoating gays and lesbians for their failures.
Rodriguez, who is Mexican-American, gay and a practicing Catholic, refuses to let any single part of himself define the whole. Born in San Francisco in 1944 and raised by his Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant parents to embrace mainstream American culture and the English language, he went on to study literature and religion at Stanford and Columbia. His first book, "The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez," explores his journey from working-class immigrant to a fully assimilated intellectual -- angering many Latinos with his view that English fluency is essential. "Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father," which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1993, continued his investigation into how family, culture, religion, race, sexuality and other strands of his life all contribute to the whole, a complex "brownness" of contradictions and ironies. "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" completes the trilogy -- but not his insatiable intellectual curiosity, which he is now shining on monotheism.
Rodriguez' stinging critiques of religious hypocrisy are all the richer for his passionate love of Catholicism and the Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco, where he and his partner of 28 years are devoted members. Today, Rodriguez is at work on a new book about the monotheistic "desert religions" -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Ever since Sept. 11, "when havoc descended in the name of the desert God," Rodriguez said in one of his Peabody Award-winning radio commentaries for PBS's News Hour, he has been trying to understand the strands of darkness that run through these religions.
[taken from Salon.com]
Salon spoke to Richard Rodriguez by phone at his home in San Francisco.
What was your reaction to California voters' going heavily for Obama and also passing Proposition 8, banning gay marriage?
I was like a lot of other Americans at the moment when the West Coast tipped the balance in favor of Obama. I didn't so much think it represented the end of racism but the possibility of change. At the same time, I also knew that large numbers of Californians in religious communities were voting against gay marriage and that Latinos and blacks were continuing to take part in this terribly tragedy. We persecute each other. The very communities that get discriminated against discriminate against other Americans.
The Spanish language newspaper La Opinión called the results an "embarrassment," saying "California still has two faces." Do you agree?
La Opinión represents the opinion of a lot of Latinos who are more educated and -- what should I say? -- more cosmopolitan. But Latinos in both my family and the Catholic Church belong to a more traditional America. This is a troubling aspect of the way our country is formed right now. It is a time of great change but also a time when people are afraid of change.
You said recently the real issue behind the anti-gay marriage movement is the crisis in the family. What do you mean?
American families are under a great deal of stress. The divorce rate isn't declining, it's increasing. And the majority of American women are now living alone. We are raising children in America without fathers. I think of Michael Phelps at the Olympics with his mother in the stands. His father was completely absent. He was negligible; no one refers to him, no one noticed his absence. The possibility that a whole new generation of American males is being raised by women without men is very challenging for the churches. I think they want to reassert some sort of male authority over the order of things. I think the pro-Proposition 8 movement was really galvanized by an insecurity that churches are feeling now with the rise of women. Monotheistic religions feel threatened by the rise of feminism and the insistence, in many communities, that women take a bigger role in the church. At the same time that women are claiming more responsibility for their religious life, they are also moving out of traditional roles as wife and mother. This is why abortion is so threatening to many religious people -- it represents some rejection of the traditional role of mother.
In such a world, we need to identify the relationship between feminism and homosexuality. These movements began, in some sense, to achieve visibility alongside one another. I know a lot of black churches take offense when gay activists say that the gay movement is somehow analogous to the black civil rights movement. And while there is some relationship between the persecution of gays and the anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, I think the true analogy is to the women's movement. What we represent as gays in America is an alternative to the traditional male-structured society. The possibility that we can form ourselves sexually -- even form our sense of what a sex is -- sets us apart from the traditional roles we were given by our fathers.
I think Proposition 8 was also galvanized by insecurity around gay families.
I agree. But the real challenge to the family right now is male irresponsibility and misbehavior toward women. If the Hispanic Catholic and evangelical churches really wanted to protect the family, they should address the issue of wife beating in Hispanic families and the misbehaviors of the father against the mother. But no, they go after gay marriage. It doesn't take any brilliance to notice that this is hypocrisy of such magnitude that you blame the gay couple living next door for the fact that you've just beaten your wife.
The pro-8 campaign calls itself the Protect Family Movement, even though the issue of family was the very reason gays needed to have marriage. There are partners in gay unions now who have children, and those children need to be protected. If my partner and I had children, either through a previous marriage or because we adopted them, I would need to be able to take them to the emergency room. I would need to be able to protect them with the parental rights that marriage would give me. It was for the benefit of the family that marriage was extended to homosexuals.
Religions have the capacity for being noble and ennobling but they are also the expression of some of the darkest impulses in us -- to go after the "other." For Christians, if the other isn't the Muslim, it's the homosexual. That is the most discouraging part.
Speaking of hypocrisy, churches have plenty of sexual skeletons in their closet.
Right. The Mormon Church has this incredible notoriety in America for polygamy and has been persecuted because of it. The very church that became notorious because of polygamy is now insisting that marriage is one man and one woman. That is, at least, an irony of history. But as a number of Mormon women friends of mine say, the same church that espouses the centrality of family in their lives is also the church that urges them to reject their gay children.
While conservative churches are busy trying to whip up another round of culture wars over same-sex marriage, Rodriguez says the real reason for their panic lies elsewhere: the breakdown of the traditional heterosexual family and the shifting role of women in society and the church itself. As the American family fractures and the majority of women choose to live without men, churches are losing their grip on power and scapegoating gays and lesbians for their failures.
Rodriguez, who is Mexican-American, gay and a practicing Catholic, refuses to let any single part of himself define the whole. Born in San Francisco in 1944 and raised by his Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant parents to embrace mainstream American culture and the English language, he went on to study literature and religion at Stanford and Columbia. His first book, "The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez," explores his journey from working-class immigrant to a fully assimilated intellectual -- angering many Latinos with his view that English fluency is essential. "Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father," which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1993, continued his investigation into how family, culture, religion, race, sexuality and other strands of his life all contribute to the whole, a complex "brownness" of contradictions and ironies. "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" completes the trilogy -- but not his insatiable intellectual curiosity, which he is now shining on monotheism.
Rodriguez' stinging critiques of religious hypocrisy are all the richer for his passionate love of Catholicism and the Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco, where he and his partner of 28 years are devoted members. Today, Rodriguez is at work on a new book about the monotheistic "desert religions" -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Ever since Sept. 11, "when havoc descended in the name of the desert God," Rodriguez said in one of his Peabody Award-winning radio commentaries for PBS's News Hour, he has been trying to understand the strands of darkness that run through these religions.
[taken from Salon.com]
Salon spoke to Richard Rodriguez by phone at his home in San Francisco.
What was your reaction to California voters' going heavily for Obama and also passing Proposition 8, banning gay marriage?
I was like a lot of other Americans at the moment when the West Coast tipped the balance in favor of Obama. I didn't so much think it represented the end of racism but the possibility of change. At the same time, I also knew that large numbers of Californians in religious communities were voting against gay marriage and that Latinos and blacks were continuing to take part in this terribly tragedy. We persecute each other. The very communities that get discriminated against discriminate against other Americans.
The Spanish language newspaper La Opinión called the results an "embarrassment," saying "California still has two faces." Do you agree?
La Opinión represents the opinion of a lot of Latinos who are more educated and -- what should I say? -- more cosmopolitan. But Latinos in both my family and the Catholic Church belong to a more traditional America. This is a troubling aspect of the way our country is formed right now. It is a time of great change but also a time when people are afraid of change.
You said recently the real issue behind the anti-gay marriage movement is the crisis in the family. What do you mean?
American families are under a great deal of stress. The divorce rate isn't declining, it's increasing. And the majority of American women are now living alone. We are raising children in America without fathers. I think of Michael Phelps at the Olympics with his mother in the stands. His father was completely absent. He was negligible; no one refers to him, no one noticed his absence. The possibility that a whole new generation of American males is being raised by women without men is very challenging for the churches. I think they want to reassert some sort of male authority over the order of things. I think the pro-Proposition 8 movement was really galvanized by an insecurity that churches are feeling now with the rise of women. Monotheistic religions feel threatened by the rise of feminism and the insistence, in many communities, that women take a bigger role in the church. At the same time that women are claiming more responsibility for their religious life, they are also moving out of traditional roles as wife and mother. This is why abortion is so threatening to many religious people -- it represents some rejection of the traditional role of mother.
In such a world, we need to identify the relationship between feminism and homosexuality. These movements began, in some sense, to achieve visibility alongside one another. I know a lot of black churches take offense when gay activists say that the gay movement is somehow analogous to the black civil rights movement. And while there is some relationship between the persecution of gays and the anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, I think the true analogy is to the women's movement. What we represent as gays in America is an alternative to the traditional male-structured society. The possibility that we can form ourselves sexually -- even form our sense of what a sex is -- sets us apart from the traditional roles we were given by our fathers.
I think Proposition 8 was also galvanized by insecurity around gay families.
I agree. But the real challenge to the family right now is male irresponsibility and misbehavior toward women. If the Hispanic Catholic and evangelical churches really wanted to protect the family, they should address the issue of wife beating in Hispanic families and the misbehaviors of the father against the mother. But no, they go after gay marriage. It doesn't take any brilliance to notice that this is hypocrisy of such magnitude that you blame the gay couple living next door for the fact that you've just beaten your wife.
The pro-8 campaign calls itself the Protect Family Movement, even though the issue of family was the very reason gays needed to have marriage. There are partners in gay unions now who have children, and those children need to be protected. If my partner and I had children, either through a previous marriage or because we adopted them, I would need to be able to take them to the emergency room. I would need to be able to protect them with the parental rights that marriage would give me. It was for the benefit of the family that marriage was extended to homosexuals.
Religions have the capacity for being noble and ennobling but they are also the expression of some of the darkest impulses in us -- to go after the "other." For Christians, if the other isn't the Muslim, it's the homosexual. That is the most discouraging part.
Speaking of hypocrisy, churches have plenty of sexual skeletons in their closet.
Right. The Mormon Church has this incredible notoriety in America for polygamy and has been persecuted because of it. The very church that became notorious because of polygamy is now insisting that marriage is one man and one woman. That is, at least, an irony of history. But as a number of Mormon women friends of mine say, the same church that espouses the centrality of family in their lives is also the church that urges them to reject their gay children.
Bam to announce his SecState gal tomorrow...and the person is likely to be Hillary Rodham Clinton...
What else is new? Really, when you think about it, the more thing change, the more they stay the same. Same old same old.
Anyways, to clear the way for his wife to take the job, former President Bill Clinton agreed to disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation. He’ll also refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference, and will cease holding C.G.I. meetings overseas. Bill Clinton’s business deals and global charitable endeavors were expected to create problems for the former first lady’s nomination. But in negotiations with the Obama transition team, the former president agreed to several measures designed to bring transparency to his post-presidential work.
Anyways, to clear the way for his wife to take the job, former President Bill Clinton agreed to disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation. He’ll also refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference, and will cease holding C.G.I. meetings overseas. Bill Clinton’s business deals and global charitable endeavors were expected to create problems for the former first lady’s nomination. But in negotiations with the Obama transition team, the former president agreed to several measures designed to bring transparency to his post-presidential work.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Scary times ahead in India
The Mumbai massacre killed some 185 people and wounded about 300 others. What is scarier is the possibility that this incident may spell danger for India-Pakistan relations at a time when a much-needed thaw seems to be emerging. Islamist militants fear that the increasing cooperation between India and Pakistan against terrorism and President Asif Ali Zardari's effusive words on warmer relations with India will leave them without a recruiting base in Pakistan. They would rather derail the nascent peace process between Pakistan and India, using, among other things, the rising unhappiness among Muslim youth in India about their lack of economic and social development.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Black Friday kills Wal-Mart employee
A crowd of bargain seekers killed a worker at a Wal-Mart store in suburban New York when people literally broke down the door to get at "door buster" specials inside the store. The New York Daily News reported that witnesses said shoppers continued to stream past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the 34-year-old worker's life, before the Valley Stream, N.Y., store was closed. A statement by Nassau County Police said the incident occurred shortly after the store's 5 a.m. opening time, when shoppers physically broke down the doors, knocking [the worker] to the ground.
Your Holiday Gift Bailout! Don't splurge. Don't be stingy either...
Sure there's another $800B to save the economy but what's the message to the rest of us? Open your wallets this season and save our economy! Sure, but don't spend the money you don't have. Save yourself first. Be realistic, be street smart...and be responsible.
Opponents of Prop 8 are ralling that churches that supported 8 violated their tax-exempt status
Phil Spencer
Guest Blogger, QueerGasm
The lawyers are investigating the issue and find ways to punish churches that over-stepped their boundaries by being a tax-exempt organization. Common! The Mormon Church in questioned PUMPED in a lot of money to ban gay marriage. Jesus Christ Barry Lynn! What is wrong with you? Have you been smoking crack? They clearly are not supposed to be involved in political activities.
Guest Blogger, QueerGasm
The lawyers are investigating the issue and find ways to punish churches that over-stepped their boundaries by being a tax-exempt organization. Common! The Mormon Church in questioned PUMPED in a lot of money to ban gay marriage. Jesus Christ Barry Lynn! What is wrong with you? Have you been smoking crack? They clearly are not supposed to be involved in political activities.
Singapore Airlines: Always the best. Even other airlines talked about. New First Class and A380 Business Class
New First Class from the world's most talked about airlines, Singapore Airlines.
New First Class and A380 Business Class...watch.
New First Class and A380 Business Class...watch.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Map locates terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
The White House has held a meeting of top intelligence and counter-terrorism officials after the deadly attacks in Mumbai and President Bush said it stood ready to help the Indian government.
GLAAD announces layoffs. Staff cuts 'touched all departments'
[Taken from Washington Blade]
As the nation’s economic crisis deepens, gay rights organizations are feeling the pinch. The Gay &Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced it eliminated some staff positions last Friday. GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said that he has not seen actual numbers of positions eliminated, but that "the reduction in force touched all departments."
"We looked at the work we're doing and the mission we have and we had to make a strategic plan to make reductions," he said. "Fundraising has slowed dramatically and the non-profit sector is not immune to what's going on, and sometimes we're impacted more."
As the nation’s economic crisis deepens, gay rights organizations are feeling the pinch. The Gay &Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced it eliminated some staff positions last Friday. GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said that he has not seen actual numbers of positions eliminated, but that "the reduction in force touched all departments."
"We looked at the work we're doing and the mission we have and we had to make a strategic plan to make reductions," he said. "Fundraising has slowed dramatically and the non-profit sector is not immune to what's going on, and sometimes we're impacted more."
Wassup spacemen? Thanks Bjork!
Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, lost a tool bag last week during a spacewalk on the International Space Station, and it drifted off into space to begin its own orbit of the Earth.
"Amateur astronomer Kevin Fetter filmed the bag after locating it on Saturday and posted the video to YouTube. 'The U.S. military tracks this stuff so because they released the information I could actually point exactly where it was going to pass,' Fetter told CTV Newsnet on Tuesday. 'I was surprised it was as bright as it was, I wasn't sure how bright it would actually be when it passed.' Fetter said anyone can spot the bag with a pair of binoculars if they know where to look. He said the bag will keep orbiting the earth until it's orbit decays and it burns up upon re-entry to earth."
MEANWHILE...former tennis pro-turned underwear mogul Bjorn Borg has launched an online dating business and is promoting it with this viral video of two fictional priests who get married. It may not be the most lucrative approach, but Borg's "love for all" message should be commended, and, well, it did happen.
Will the latest round of bailout bucks—$800 billion promised Tuesday by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve—finally do the trick?
What trick? A trick to resuscitate credit markets and slow the shrinking of the economy? Or, is Washington, D.C., just needlessly throwing money at a problem too big to fix with taxpayer's cash?
On the pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal this morning, economists and market pundits of all stripes are debating the latest stimulus plans designed to finance consumer loans and push down mortgage rates. According to the NYT's calculation, the latest bailout brings the federal government's tab this year alone to a staggering level.
The feds are now on the hook for "$7.8 trillion in direct and indirect financial obligations"-that's equal to "about half the size of the nation's entire economy and far eclipses the $700 billion that Congress authorized for the Treasury's financial rescue plan," the newspaper writes.
MEANWHILE...Fight continues to save Citibank...
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal lead with the late-night announcement of a plan to rescue ailing banking giant Citigroup. Under a plan that the NYT describes as "radical" and "complex," the federal government will protect Citigroup from potential losses on a pool of troubled assets worth around $306 billion. On top of that, the Treasury Department will inject $20 billion into the company—in addition to the $25 billion the financial institution has already received from the department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The LAT highlights that this is "the largest single rescue effort thus far in the current financial crisis."
On the pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal this morning, economists and market pundits of all stripes are debating the latest stimulus plans designed to finance consumer loans and push down mortgage rates. According to the NYT's calculation, the latest bailout brings the federal government's tab this year alone to a staggering level.
The feds are now on the hook for "$7.8 trillion in direct and indirect financial obligations"-that's equal to "about half the size of the nation's entire economy and far eclipses the $700 billion that Congress authorized for the Treasury's financial rescue plan," the newspaper writes.
MEANWHILE...Fight continues to save Citibank...
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal lead with the late-night announcement of a plan to rescue ailing banking giant Citigroup. Under a plan that the NYT describes as "radical" and "complex," the federal government will protect Citigroup from potential losses on a pool of troubled assets worth around $306 billion. On top of that, the Treasury Department will inject $20 billion into the company—in addition to the $25 billion the financial institution has already received from the department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The LAT highlights that this is "the largest single rescue effort thus far in the current financial crisis."
Breaking News: Gay people can now adopt children in Florida
A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state's arguments that there is "a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children."
She noted that gay people are allowed to be foster parents in Florida. "There is no rational basis to prohibit gay parents from adopting," she wrote in a 53-page ruling.
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Arkansas voters last month approved a measure similar to a law in Utah that bans any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting. The ruling means that Martin Gill, 47, and his male partner can adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, whom he has cared for as foster children since December 2004.
Len kills Lance's chances...Brooke Burke wins DWTS
Lance to AfterElton: "I think he’s (Len Goodman) being really hard, actually."
It was too much killing by Len Goodman from the start of the show. Truth is, Lance didn't stand a chance. Len didn't give him the chance to win. Lance was the threat. I am a ballroom dance enthusiast and I can say this very proudly: Lance is better than Brooke Burke. I still cannot get over it - Len gave Warren Sap a perfect 10 "for entertainment" yesterday. A "10" is a serious point. Lance was shortchanged. Well, Len, success without honor is like an unseasoned food, it fills you up, yes, but taste no good. Lance, we are very very very proud of you. You danced your butt off on that floor. Lacey, we thank you for being our friend and for loving Lance. Thank you.
Stepping out with Lance Bass: Our exclusive interview
by Michael Jensen, Editor, AfterElton
October 12, 2008 v
[taken from AfterElton]
2006 was an extraordinary year in gay visibility with Lance Bass, T.R. Knight, and Neil Patrick Harris all coming out within six months of each other. The ensuing two years has seen Harris’ profile and success grow beyond all expectations with a hit show on CBS, two Emmy nominations, and fingers in so many pies that it often seems he has more than two hands.
Meanwhile, T.R. Knight also landed an Emmy nod, received a large pay raise on his hit show, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, and found love with boyfriend Mark Cornelsen.
Bass, on the other hand, didn’t initially seem to thrive quite as much. His relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl floundered in the harsh glare of the media spotlight, a sitcom with fellow ‘N Sync member Joey Fatone didn’t come to pass and Bass seemed to draw more than his fair share of the gay community’s ire.
But all of that might now be past Bass. He’s currently doing well on Dancing with the Stars as that show’s first out gay contestant and earlier this year Bass showed he wasn't above poking fun at himself when he appeared on Bravo's A-List Awards Show with friend Kathy Griffin.
Bass has become an active spokesperson for the community working with several groups including the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) which honored him at their RESPECT Awards last Friday night. He is also using his name and time to help efforts to defeat California’s anti-gay Proposition 8 which would take away the right of gays and lesbians to marry in California.
AfterElton.com recently caught up with the busy entertainer to discuss his dancing, his thoughts on Perez Hilton the man who helped publicly out him and what it’s like to try and date when you’re Lance Bass.
AfterElton.com: What's going on over at Dancing with the Stars? Is one of the other contestants trying to knock off the competition?
Lance Bass: I don’t know what’s happening. I think our stage is cursed for the amount of injuries we’re having. I don’t know. Hopefully the last person has been injured, so the next few weeks we’ll all be safe.
AE: I’m starting to suspect Cloris Leachman . . .
LB: [Laughs] Trying to off us, one by one.
AE: Congrats on surviving so far. What's been the biggest surprise about being on the show?
LB: There really are no big surprises. I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. I knew the crazy hours we were going to have, the rehearsals. I was expecting to have a lot of new friends and really make it seem like a family. And everyone is very family-oriented.
AE: How are you feeling about your chances at this point?
LB: I think the chances are really hard to say right now because everyone’s doing such a great job. We’re definitely in a fight for that trophy, but there are a lot of good people on the show.
AE: Is head judge Len Goodman being too hard on you and your partner Lacey Schwimmer?
LB: I think he’s being really hard, actually. I’m a huge fan of the show so I can step back and look at more material and the way the judges have judged before and yeah, I’ve seen that he’s been really hard on us. I don’t know if that means that he sees the potential in us and wants us to kick it up a notch? I was really surprised at a lot of the low scores.
AE: Who picked the song “I Kissed A Girl”? It was a pretty inspired choice.
LB: That was definitely on our list of songs that we gave them, but in the end the producers choose what song we perform. We like to entertain.
AE: The show has had a few fun "nods" to the fact you are gay. Can we expect to see anything else?
LB: Nothing is planned, that’s for sure. I think all the little pokes at everyone on the show come as just a natural fun thing that are usually just added in there last minute.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Alan Colmes is leaving "Hannity & Colmes" after 12 years of debating Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel
Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes (right) on Hannity & Colmes on Fox News Channel
Fox News announced that after 12 years, Alan Colmes will be leaving the top-rated "Hannity & Colmes" at the end of the year.
“I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network," Colmes said in a statement. "Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”
Sean Hannity said Colmes was "a remarkable co-host," "great friend," and "skillful debate partner.” Colmes will remain a Fox commentator, and continue hosting "The Alan Colmes Show" on Fox News Radio.
Fox News announced that after 12 years, Alan Colmes will be leaving the top-rated "Hannity & Colmes" at the end of the year. “I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network," Colmes said in a statement. "Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”
Sean Hannity said Colmes was "a remarkable co-host," "great friend," and "skillful debate partner.” Colmes will remain a Fox commentator, and continue hosting "The Alan Colmes Show" on Fox News Radio.
Thanks Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel gave a rousing shout out to Lance Bass tonight, asking viewers to vote for him, calling him a champion like Lance Armstrong. Cute. Did you vote for Lance yet? Go to ABC.com and vote for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer.
Monday, November 24, 2008
$20B for Citibank
Ok, Citibank will get its $20b from the Fed...as more and more Americans are tightening their belts. People buy cheaper toilette rolls, cheaper diapers, cheaper stuff at cheaper supermarkets...staying away from brandnames at grocery stores...they take pride in using coupons...the shopping is about people saving money...the focus is balancing price and quality...
MILK will screen in theaters owned by Cinemark. Cinemark gave a lot of money to kill gay marriage in CA. No to Cinemark!
Cinemark is wrong for queers! As of right now, the movie, MILK, will screen in theaters owned by Cinemark. Cinemark's CEO had made a $9,999 donation to YES ON 8 and since then, those who follow Milk's message closely are calling for the downfall of the theatre chain.FOCUS FEATURES (Team "Business Decision Beats Moralle") and CINEMARK (Team 'We don't want you to have civil rights! $10 please, to the left - auditorium 5. Enjoy the show.") both defended that decision. James Schamus, who also produced the "universal lovestory" BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, hopes that "whole thing gets settled" and reminds people that CINEMARK was one of the first national chains in the country to embrace (read: realize there might be money to be made when Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall make out on screen) that film.
Cinemark:
"It would be inappropriate to influence our employees’ position on personal issues outside the work environment, especially on political, social or religious activities."
As long as CINEMARK continues to ignore that recent behavior by one of its key employees stands against EVERYTHING the title real-person in the movie is about, why bother giving them our money? As for other movies that play only at CINEMARK theaters in my area? Well, there's always NETFLIX...say No to Cinemark!
Bam introduces his economic team as AMA bores viewers
Obama today introduced his economic team to the nation, praising each one with superlatives. Obama called on the new Congress to act quickly in passing a costly stimulus package to create jobs as a follow-up to the hundreds of billions of dollars the Bush administration has committed to rescue financial markets.He said once he sees a plan, he expects "we're going to be able to shape a rescue."
Obama declined to say how large a stimulus package he wants from Congress. Democratic lawmakers speculated over the weekend that the price tag could reach $700 billion over two years as the nation struggles to emerge from a recession compounded by a credit crunch. "It's going to be costly," the president-elect said. Obama made his comments as he unveiled the top members of his economic team, beginning with New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner to be his Treasury Secretary. Geithner, 47, is a veteran of financial crises at home and overseas and has worked closely with the Bush administration in recent months. Obama chose Lawrence Summers as director of his National Economic Council. Summers was treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton.
Obama also said his newly minted economic team offered "sound judgment and fresh thinking" at a time of economic peril. He expressed confidence the nation would weather the crisis "because we've done it before." Obama also announced two other members of his economic team in the making. He named Christina Romer as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers, and Melody Barnes as director of his White House Domestic Policy Council.
Yahoo! News:
Obama: "The economy is likely to get worse before it gets better."
At the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS last night...
And the winner is...Boring! I've never been bored! I am missing the old days when Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Brandy, plucked the mike of its stand and sang their butts off like there was no tomorrow. Last night's show was truly uninspiring...except for Christina's opening, Beyonce (much talked about "Single Ladies"), Alicia and the Queen and a surprise guest (the soprano), Sarah and Pink singing together. There were no big upsets and no truly jaw-dropping performances. Thank God we still can count on Mariah, Christina, Beyonce, Pink and Alicia.
Obama declined to say how large a stimulus package he wants from Congress. Democratic lawmakers speculated over the weekend that the price tag could reach $700 billion over two years as the nation struggles to emerge from a recession compounded by a credit crunch. "It's going to be costly," the president-elect said. Obama made his comments as he unveiled the top members of his economic team, beginning with New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner to be his Treasury Secretary. Geithner, 47, is a veteran of financial crises at home and overseas and has worked closely with the Bush administration in recent months. Obama chose Lawrence Summers as director of his National Economic Council. Summers was treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton.
Obama also said his newly minted economic team offered "sound judgment and fresh thinking" at a time of economic peril. He expressed confidence the nation would weather the crisis "because we've done it before." Obama also announced two other members of his economic team in the making. He named Christina Romer as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers, and Melody Barnes as director of his White House Domestic Policy Council.
Yahoo! News:
Obama: "The economy is likely to get worse before it gets better."
At the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS last night...
And the winner is...Boring! I've never been bored! I am missing the old days when Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Brandy, plucked the mike of its stand and sang their butts off like there was no tomorrow. Last night's show was truly uninspiring...except for Christina's opening, Beyonce (much talked about "Single Ladies"), Alicia and the Queen and a surprise guest (the soprano), Sarah and Pink singing together. There were no big upsets and no truly jaw-dropping performances. Thank God we still can count on Mariah, Christina, Beyonce, Pink and Alicia.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Does the GOP not realize that it needs openly gay people in its ranks to show that it is not completely anachronistic or regional?
Ambrose Aban
Some Republicans believe that their reputation for intolerance is costing the party the votes of the next generation of Americans. But that argument got harder to make when California, one of the most liberal states in the country, passed a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage. But the next generation of Californians, even after the dreadful No on 8 campaign, still favored marriage equality by huge margins. Gay-bashing can still produce some small gains for the GOP (although in most states, it cannot be banned any more than it has been), but California sure didn't disprove the generational argument. And assume also that banning marriage rights is popular for a while. When is the GOP going to realize that it needs openly gay people in its ranks to show that it is not completely anachronistic or regional?
Some Republicans believe that their reputation for intolerance is costing the party the votes of the next generation of Americans. But that argument got harder to make when California, one of the most liberal states in the country, passed a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage. But the next generation of Californians, even after the dreadful No on 8 campaign, still favored marriage equality by huge margins. Gay-bashing can still produce some small gains for the GOP (although in most states, it cannot be banned any more than it has been), but California sure didn't disprove the generational argument. And assume also that banning marriage rights is popular for a while. When is the GOP going to realize that it needs openly gay people in its ranks to show that it is not completely anachronistic or regional?
Timothy Giethner and Hillary Clinton? Noam Chomsky and Colin Powel were unavailable?
Ambrose Aban
Meanwhile, Obama loyalists wonder whether the same people who attacked Obama on foreign policy during the primaries can implement Obama’s agenda from State Dept. perches. Look, Clinton and Obama are both smart people. We're sure their one-on-one relationship would be fine. See here's the thing: Fine is not good enough. It has to be excellent. And when you hire a Clinton, you hire more than just that one person, you get the entire package. If Clinton becomes secretary of state, it’s possible that the fissures between her loyalists and Obama’s would be a significant undercurrent of the administration’s foreign-policy decision-making We stil think that Clinton is not the right job for the SecState job. Not because she is not good or qualified? She is way too good and qualified and it is only selling her short.
Meanwhile, Obama loyalists wonder whether the same people who attacked Obama on foreign policy during the primaries can implement Obama’s agenda from State Dept. perches. Look, Clinton and Obama are both smart people. We're sure their one-on-one relationship would be fine. See here's the thing: Fine is not good enough. It has to be excellent. And when you hire a Clinton, you hire more than just that one person, you get the entire package. If Clinton becomes secretary of state, it’s possible that the fissures between her loyalists and Obama’s would be a significant undercurrent of the administration’s foreign-policy decision-making We stil think that Clinton is not the right job for the SecState job. Not because she is not good or qualified? She is way too good and qualified and it is only selling her short.
Teen kills self on Justin.tv!
[taken from The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan]
A 19-year-old Florida teen's suicide broadcast Wednesday on Justin.tv was a result of an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, the Broward County Medical Examiner & Trauma Services Division said Friday.
The Pembroke Pines teen was pronounced dead about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, coroner spokeswoman Sherri Baker said in a telephone interview. She said benzodiazepine is used for depression and insomnia.
About 185 people were viewing the feed on the San Francisco-based live-streaming service. The teen had announced his pending suicide on a bodybuilding.com chat forum, which linked to the broadcast. He left an online suicide note. Viewers were seen egging him on.
The chat's moderator called the authorities, Baker said, and police broke into the residence.
Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said in an e-mail: "We regret that this has occurred and respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time. We have policies in place to discourage the distribution of distressing content, and our community monitors the site accordingly. This content was flagged by our community, reviewed, and removed according to our terms of service."
Public suicides are common; people jump from bridges and buildings. But the phenomenon is now encroaching on to the global arena offered by the internet. A British man suffered the same fate two years ago after being goaded to hang himself while in a webcam chatroom. And the net is also a known medium for organizing suicide pacts.
While online viewers watched a police officer prodding the Florida teen to see if he was alive, their chat comments ranged from OMG to LOL.
Justin.tv is an open network of thousands of live streaming channels. The network, named after Justin Kan, its first star, has been the target of pranksters and hackers.
Soon after Justin.tv launched, viewers played a prank on Kan, calling the cops from his cellphone to report a stabbing. With guns drawn, the authorities broke into Kan's apartment to the delight of viewers.
A 19-year-old Florida teen's suicide broadcast Wednesday on Justin.tv was a result of an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, the Broward County Medical Examiner & Trauma Services Division said Friday.
The Pembroke Pines teen was pronounced dead about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, coroner spokeswoman Sherri Baker said in a telephone interview. She said benzodiazepine is used for depression and insomnia.
About 185 people were viewing the feed on the San Francisco-based live-streaming service. The teen had announced his pending suicide on a bodybuilding.com chat forum, which linked to the broadcast. He left an online suicide note. Viewers were seen egging him on.
The chat's moderator called the authorities, Baker said, and police broke into the residence.
Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said in an e-mail: "We regret that this has occurred and respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time. We have policies in place to discourage the distribution of distressing content, and our community monitors the site accordingly. This content was flagged by our community, reviewed, and removed according to our terms of service."
Public suicides are common; people jump from bridges and buildings. But the phenomenon is now encroaching on to the global arena offered by the internet. A British man suffered the same fate two years ago after being goaded to hang himself while in a webcam chatroom. And the net is also a known medium for organizing suicide pacts.
While online viewers watched a police officer prodding the Florida teen to see if he was alive, their chat comments ranged from OMG to LOL.
Justin.tv is an open network of thousands of live streaming channels. The network, named after Justin Kan, its first star, has been the target of pranksters and hackers.
Soon after Justin.tv launched, viewers played a prank on Kan, calling the cops from his cellphone to report a stabbing. With guns drawn, the authorities broke into Kan's apartment to the delight of viewers.
Only government jobs, Bam?
Phil Spencer
Media sources (and Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller, Roland Martin and all the liberal "Obama" journalists on the extreme left must be shaking their heads, feeling embarrassed by now) seemed to be thrilled that Obama is promising to save or create millions of new jobs. The only problem is they seem to purposefully fail to mention that these will primarily be government jobs. From Libertarian Republican: A check of all the major mainstream media sources this morning, finds that not a single one of them are using either the phase "Government Jobs," or "Public Sector," in their reporting on Obama's 2.5 million Jobs Program.
Media sources (and Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller, Roland Martin and all the liberal "Obama" journalists on the extreme left must be shaking their heads, feeling embarrassed by now) seemed to be thrilled that Obama is promising to save or create millions of new jobs. The only problem is they seem to purposefully fail to mention that these will primarily be government jobs. From Libertarian Republican: A check of all the major mainstream media sources this morning, finds that not a single one of them are using either the phase "Government Jobs," or "Public Sector," in their reporting on Obama's 2.5 million Jobs Program.
What? Citibank? Not Citibank!
Jefferey Johnson
When I woke up this morning, a financial news was breaking. Yes, the news broke as many of us sipped our coffee or brushed our teeth this Sunday morning. I thought: It is not happening. Not to Citibank. But it is happening...and it is in the category of "the fallen bank". Citigroup Inc. will probably get rescued by the U.S. government after a crisis in confidence erased half its stock-market value in three days, investors and analysts said. Citigroup has more than $2 trillion of assets, dwarfing companies such as American International Group Inc. that got U.S. support this year. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may favor a rescue to avoid the chaotic aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy in September. How in the world can the Government and Obama save our Citibank?
When I woke up this morning, a financial news was breaking. Yes, the news broke as many of us sipped our coffee or brushed our teeth this Sunday morning. I thought: It is not happening. Not to Citibank. But it is happening...and it is in the category of "the fallen bank". Citigroup Inc. will probably get rescued by the U.S. government after a crisis in confidence erased half its stock-market value in three days, investors and analysts said. Citigroup has more than $2 trillion of assets, dwarfing companies such as American International Group Inc. that got U.S. support this year. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may favor a rescue to avoid the chaotic aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy in September. How in the world can the Government and Obama save our Citibank?
Can GAY-kind win Dancing With The Stars? Can Lance pull it off for the love of Gay?
Ambrose Aban
All eyes really are being focused on Lance Bass this week. Can he win that ugly trophy? Will he lives up to our great expectations? The answers are mostly "Yes he can" from queers and the not-so-queers from coast to coast. Lance and his professional dance partner, Lacey Schwimmer, are in the finals of Dancing With The Stars after nailing the hot, spicy, flirtatious Samba and the cheeky, quirky, catch-me-if-you-can Jitterbug, earning them the highest point from the judges and from the viewers who voted for them last Tuesday. The cute-as-a-button, Hannah Montana's star, Cody Linley, was eliminated. Tomorrow night, Lance will compete against Brooke Burke Hough) Warren Sap (Kym Johnson). VOTE! for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer!
Here are videos of past winners. Drew Lacey and Emmit Smith. Golden moments after a 9-week, long and grueling competition. Watch
All eyes really are being focused on Lance Bass this week. Can he win that ugly trophy? Will he lives up to our great expectations? The answers are mostly "Yes he can" from queers and the not-so-queers from coast to coast. Lance and his professional dance partner, Lacey Schwimmer, are in the finals of Dancing With The Stars after nailing the hot, spicy, flirtatious Samba and the cheeky, quirky, catch-me-if-you-can Jitterbug, earning them the highest point from the judges and from the viewers who voted for them last Tuesday. The cute-as-a-button, Hannah Montana's star, Cody Linley, was eliminated. Tomorrow night, Lance will compete against Brooke Burke Hough) Warren Sap (Kym Johnson). VOTE! for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer!
Here are videos of past winners. Drew Lacey and Emmit Smith. Golden moments after a 9-week, long and grueling competition. Watch
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Compatiblepartners.com is a gay sister of eHarmony.
Ambrose Aban
For those of you missiing my previous report (scroll down) on this, here is the latest on the newly born gay sister of eHarmony. The site is compatiblepartners.com
Matching for gay couples, however, will be handled through a separate site, dubbed Compatible Partners. Registration will be free for the first 10,000 customers in the first year, after which the rate structure will be equal to that of eHarmony.com.
EHarmony will also pay $50,000 to the attorney general's office to cover expenses and $5,000 to Eric McKinley, who initiated the lawsuit.
McKinley sued eHarmony in 2005 for violating the state's Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by refusing to offer its services to gay patrons.
For those of you missiing my previous report (scroll down) on this, here is the latest on the newly born gay sister of eHarmony. The site is compatiblepartners.com
Matching for gay couples, however, will be handled through a separate site, dubbed Compatible Partners. Registration will be free for the first 10,000 customers in the first year, after which the rate structure will be equal to that of eHarmony.com.
EHarmony will also pay $50,000 to the attorney general's office to cover expenses and $5,000 to Eric McKinley, who initiated the lawsuit.
McKinley sued eHarmony in 2005 for violating the state's Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by refusing to offer its services to gay patrons.
Cheryl to Ellen: "I have the summer off for the first time in five years...and people make a big deal about it..."
Ellen to Cheryl:
People would trade you for that body (size 4). Whoever is saying it, they have to be stopped. It is dangerous for women to be influenced like that and think they have to respond to it in any way. You are a beautiful person. Don't hear it anymore. Don't listen to it. They are stupid people...Watch!
People would trade you for that body (size 4). Whoever is saying it, they have to be stopped. It is dangerous for women to be influenced like that and think they have to respond to it in any way. You are a beautiful person. Don't hear it anymore. Don't listen to it. They are stupid people...Watch!
Cheryl Burke to fans: You don't have to be a size zero to be beautiful
Cheryl Burke, dropped by E! recently and danced with Mario Lopez, setting the record straight. She is looking thin! "I gained five pounds, I am not pregnant"
We called someone who goes to Cheryl Burke Dance in Potrero Hill, San Francisco, and was told by her people that Cheryl is back and "she's looking great, super thin and super sexy"...watch!
We called someone who goes to Cheryl Burke Dance in Potrero Hill, San Francisco, and was told by her people that Cheryl is back and "she's looking great, super thin and super sexy"...watch!
Friday, November 21, 2008
All eyes are on Lance "GAY" Bass, ABC, Mon, 8pm PT
Vote for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer this Monday, ABC, 8pm PT.
Ambrose Aban:
Who knew. I didn't think it was going to be this good. But Dancing With The Stars has become a pheno and it commands primetime TV. In the beginning, it seemed like a disaster: Pair a bunch of B-list celebrities with cheesy-costumed professional ballroom dancers and see who survives the humiliation of a contest.
Phil Spencer:
"Dancing With the Stars" should have been (so you think) a flop, but now, in its seventh season, the ABC competition is one of the most-watched series on television. When it's not No. 1, it's No. 2, close behind "CSI," with 20 million to 25 million viewers tuning in to the weekly two-episode punch. And it's not just big-band-loving geezers who are watching.
Ambrose Aban:
The demographics run the gamut, from kids who love "The Cheetah Girls" and "Hannah Montana" to boomers who remember Cloris Leachman on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Chris Goodridge:
I am so-so fan but next Monday I will be voting for Lance Bass. "Dancing" is not quite the mega-phenomenon that "American Idol" has become, but it's definitely a pop-culture player. And it's showing no signs of slowing. When the current season's finale arrives and a new winning pair is crowned next Tuesday, the episode is sure to be the top-rated program of the week.
Ambrose Aban:
What's the key to success of "Dancing With the Stars"? Like most hit reality competitions, it's a combination of casting, hosting, judging and the unexpected dramatizing that can happen only on a live telecast.
Chris Goodridge:
Add to that mixture some really beautiful dancing, a little toe-tapping music and costumes that leave nothing to the imagination, and you have a winner.
Current controversy:
Among the tabloid-headlining developments this season: the "fat controversy" surrounding pro dancers Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer.
Ambrose Aban:
Both women gained weight over the summer, but were they actually fat, as a couple of the male dancers sneered in TV Guide? In the real world, they were not. In other startling medical disasters, both pro dancing cutie Julianne Hough and Schwimmer were diagnosed with endometriosis, singer-competitor Toni Braxton wrestled with a chronic heart problem and Olympic beach volleyball champ Misty May-Treanor suffered a contest-ending leg injury.
Phil Spencer:
Last season's melodrama included Latino soap star Cristian de la Fuente's awesome bicep pop, Derek Hough snapping his neck in rehearsal and Marie Osmond dropping to the ground in a dead faint after a performance and before the judges rendered their verdicts.
Chris Goodridge:
For the uninitiated, here's how "Dancing With the Stars" works: Dancers dance specific ballroom dances on Mondays, with scores handed down by entertaining judges Len Goodman (tough guy), Carrie Ann Inaba (sweet gal) and Bruno Tonioli (excitable Italian). Then viewers phone or text in their votes. On Tuesday, after lots of recaps, guest performances and behind-the-scenes shenanigans, the viewers' and judges' votes are tabulated and someone is kicked off the show.
Ambrose Aban:
The studio audience gasps and boos, the rejects weep, and hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris crack lame jokes. Somehow it all comes together. Viewers root for their favorites and secretly wonder, "Could I twirl around the dance floor like that if a fabulously well-muscled professional dancer barked and bent me for a week?" Probably not ... but maybe.
Phil Spencer:
So, who's the hoofer you're rooting for now?
Chris Goodridge:
Queers are rooting for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer.
Ambrose Aban:
Sorry Brooke and Warren. We love you guys. But we are voting for Lance Bass.
Ambrose Aban:
Who knew. I didn't think it was going to be this good. But Dancing With The Stars has become a pheno and it commands primetime TV. In the beginning, it seemed like a disaster: Pair a bunch of B-list celebrities with cheesy-costumed professional ballroom dancers and see who survives the humiliation of a contest.
Phil Spencer:
"Dancing With the Stars" should have been (so you think) a flop, but now, in its seventh season, the ABC competition is one of the most-watched series on television. When it's not No. 1, it's No. 2, close behind "CSI," with 20 million to 25 million viewers tuning in to the weekly two-episode punch. And it's not just big-band-loving geezers who are watching.
Ambrose Aban:
The demographics run the gamut, from kids who love "The Cheetah Girls" and "Hannah Montana" to boomers who remember Cloris Leachman on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Chris Goodridge:
I am so-so fan but next Monday I will be voting for Lance Bass. "Dancing" is not quite the mega-phenomenon that "American Idol" has become, but it's definitely a pop-culture player. And it's showing no signs of slowing. When the current season's finale arrives and a new winning pair is crowned next Tuesday, the episode is sure to be the top-rated program of the week.
Ambrose Aban:
What's the key to success of "Dancing With the Stars"? Like most hit reality competitions, it's a combination of casting, hosting, judging and the unexpected dramatizing that can happen only on a live telecast.
Chris Goodridge:
Add to that mixture some really beautiful dancing, a little toe-tapping music and costumes that leave nothing to the imagination, and you have a winner.
Current controversy:
Among the tabloid-headlining developments this season: the "fat controversy" surrounding pro dancers Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer.
Ambrose Aban:
Both women gained weight over the summer, but were they actually fat, as a couple of the male dancers sneered in TV Guide? In the real world, they were not. In other startling medical disasters, both pro dancing cutie Julianne Hough and Schwimmer were diagnosed with endometriosis, singer-competitor Toni Braxton wrestled with a chronic heart problem and Olympic beach volleyball champ Misty May-Treanor suffered a contest-ending leg injury.
Phil Spencer:
Last season's melodrama included Latino soap star Cristian de la Fuente's awesome bicep pop, Derek Hough snapping his neck in rehearsal and Marie Osmond dropping to the ground in a dead faint after a performance and before the judges rendered their verdicts.
Chris Goodridge:
For the uninitiated, here's how "Dancing With the Stars" works: Dancers dance specific ballroom dances on Mondays, with scores handed down by entertaining judges Len Goodman (tough guy), Carrie Ann Inaba (sweet gal) and Bruno Tonioli (excitable Italian). Then viewers phone or text in their votes. On Tuesday, after lots of recaps, guest performances and behind-the-scenes shenanigans, the viewers' and judges' votes are tabulated and someone is kicked off the show.
Ambrose Aban:
The studio audience gasps and boos, the rejects weep, and hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris crack lame jokes. Somehow it all comes together. Viewers root for their favorites and secretly wonder, "Could I twirl around the dance floor like that if a fabulously well-muscled professional dancer barked and bent me for a week?" Probably not ... but maybe.
Phil Spencer:
So, who's the hoofer you're rooting for now?
Chris Goodridge:
Queers are rooting for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer.
Ambrose Aban:
Sorry Brooke and Warren. We love you guys. But we are voting for Lance Bass.
Clash of the Choirs...for the holiday seasons LIVE on NBC
Clash of the Choirs...LIVE NBC, Dec 17, 8pm PT...featuring Blake Shelton, Michael Bolton, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Patti Labelle
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Prop. 8 suits win supreme court review
The California Supreme Court will hear Proposition 8 challenge, but denies request to postpone its implementation. The California Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear lawsuits challenging Proposition 8 but denied a request to postpone its implementation until the lawsuits are resolved. Several lawsuits have been filed seeking to invalidate the proposition — which amended the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages — on the grounds that it makes such significant changes that it is a constitutional revision, which would need legislative approval. On Tuesday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to join an anti-Proposition 8 lawsuit initiated by San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera. Oakland's City Council did the same yesterday, and the city of Berkeley is likely to join in the coming weeks.
John Highleyman
San Jose, CA
QueerGasm, the disgusting proposition 8 needs to be struck down. This is a civil rights issue. Advances in civil rights are rarely ever brought on by popular vote. It's the Supreme Court's job to rule a law or amendment unconstitutional, and prop 8 is definately unconstitutional. America, we may be on the verge of another huge step forward for civil rights. I can guarantee that however the court rules on prop 8, there will be huge riots. I think gay marriage will prevail in California even if we have to wait a while longer. After this is settled, I am sure more states will follow.
John Highleyman
San Jose, CA
QueerGasm, the disgusting proposition 8 needs to be struck down. This is a civil rights issue. Advances in civil rights are rarely ever brought on by popular vote. It's the Supreme Court's job to rule a law or amendment unconstitutional, and prop 8 is definately unconstitutional. America, we may be on the verge of another huge step forward for civil rights. I can guarantee that however the court rules on prop 8, there will be huge riots. I think gay marriage will prevail in California even if we have to wait a while longer. After this is settled, I am sure more states will follow.
It is a PR disaster! Lots of sticky issues in Washington...
All these jets flying to DC today, asking for $25b! Unbelievable.
Obama takes a big risk by giving his former adversary, whose foreign policy judgment he criticized, the most important job in his administration.
Word is out that Hillary will accept the SecState job, the most important job in the White House. We’ve heard all the rational arguments: Hillary Rodham Clinton has more star power than Richard Holbrooke, more discipline than Bill Richardson, fewer bad jokes than John Kerry. She’s tough and competent. She’s a woman and a Democrat, making space for a Republican guy at Defense. It would get her out of the Senate. Both Obama and Clinton loved Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, “Team of Rivals.” But the sum of those parts seems something less than the whole explanation for Obama’s first great presidential gamble: his move toward giving his former adversary, whose judgment on foreign policy he criticized relentlessly, by offering her the most important Cabinet position in his administration.
"Big 3", show us your plans, tell us how you are planning to use the $25b?
As Wall Street lost $700b at the end of trading day today, the automakers, who have the audacity to drop by Washington DC today, couldn't answer tough questions from Congress. Can they get their act together and present a case on how they would spend the $25 billion they are begging the taxpayers? And why are they still flying in their private jets to get around? Congress cannot be an idiot again, giving badly managed businesses a blank check!
Queers to WSJ: "Really, is it the Government's fault that the "Big 3" is screwed ?"
At the Congressional hearings with auto CEOs recently, one story said that U.S. automakers spend an extra $1500 on each car (vs. competitors) to pay for pension and health care obligations. LOL, these costs don't help Detroit. And the journalist asked something to this effect: "so Detroit is struggling because of that $1500...and the fact that it's known for making low-quality cars?" LOL. This is funny.
Go to Borders and get a Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, focusing on the importance of "Facing the Brutal Facts". Pretending that evil regulations are the primary cause of Detroit's fall does not help our automakers. Acknowledging that they were making the wrong cars at the wrong time is at least admitting we have a problem (in whatever 12 or 200 steps Detroit needs to heal). The predicament that Detroit has found itself in is an American business tragedy. Let's not make it worse by lying to ourselves.
Go to Borders and get a Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, focusing on the importance of "Facing the Brutal Facts". Pretending that evil regulations are the primary cause of Detroit's fall does not help our automakers. Acknowledging that they were making the wrong cars at the wrong time is at least admitting we have a problem (in whatever 12 or 200 steps Detroit needs to heal). The predicament that Detroit has found itself in is an American business tragedy. Let's not make it worse by lying to ourselves.
Suze Orman to Larry King: "Do not use your credit cards this holiday seasons"
Yes, she said it. Don't overspend on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Be careful with your money. Don't use your credit cards and use the money you don't have. Listen!
Wall Street is free falling again today as your 401K is getting lesser and lesser...
Don't scream when you see your next 401K statement! Your money will be lesser, much lesser than your last statement. More companies will be closing and more people will be losing their jobs (especially those smart kids handling publicly listed accounts in the PR and IR firms). And today, Suze Orman told Larry King that the situation is only going to get badder than bad because "there is no leadership" to handle the economy that cannot handle itself as stocks see no bottom in sight...what is Obama going to do? Can this very very troubled Wall Street help him again?
Ok...what is new? A dating website by eHarmony to cater for Adams and Steves -- Compatiblepartners.net.
I am very happy to know that (and finally!) justice is served! Yesterday, eHarmony has agreed (it was forced!) to offer same-sex dating services. The settlement, which did not find that eHarmony broke any laws, called for the company to either offer the gay matches on its current venue or create a new site for them. eHarmony has opted to create a site called Compatiblepartners.net.
I wrote about this months ago on www.edgenewyork.com and have received so many emails from the LGBT community, expressing their strong p.o.v on this issue (see my story below)
This Christian-targeted dating site (though not very Jesus-like as many of my straight Christian male friends have been very naughty with their "dates" via the site on many occasions, if you know what I mean), was sued by a gay man this time, demanding that the business match him up with a same-sex partner. According to reports, eHarmony agreed not only to offer same-sex dating services on its new sister site, but also to offer six-month subscriptions for free to 10,000 gay users.
This is not the first LGBT member to have sued eHarmony. A lesbian sued it last year, (see my story below) demanding the same thing. The much-maligned Pasadena-based dating website, has finally agreed in a civil rights settlement to give up its heterosexuals-only policy and offer same-sex matches. Neil Clark Warren, the founder, will implement the new policy by March 31 but also give the first 10,000 same-sex registrants a free six-month subscription. The settlement, which did not find that EHarmony broke any laws, calls for the company to either offer the gay matches on its current venue or create a new site for them. EHarmony has opted to create Compatiblepartners.net.
Below, my previous article, via www.edgenewyork.com:
Lesbian’s eHarmony Lawsuit Stirs Passions on Both Sides
by Ambrose Aban
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Jun 21, 2007
It all started with a lesbian in San Francisco, Linda Carlson, who tried to post a personal ad on eHarmony.com, a popular dating site. She was apparently hoping to find love, but she ended up only getting her ad rejected. Her recent lawsuit has gotten bloggers, pundits and gay rights groups weighing in with a broad range of opinion.
eHarmony, a straight dating site, has long rattled the LGBT community by refusing to men-seeking-men and women-seeking-women options on its site. eHarmony’s 12 million members, see it as playing to its own niche market: straight Christian singles (although not exclusively religious).
Dale Carpenter, Julius E. Davis professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, believes that the lawsuit has merit and a chance of success. "Since I’m not an expert in California law I do not know how high its chances are," says Carpenter, who contributes to Independent Gay Forum. "If this suit is successful then, yes, in California it would seem they must."
California has an anti-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation. The lawsuit is being argued on the merits of that law. It is one in a series of similar lawsuits testing the limits of gender and sexual-orientation exclusion, here and in Canada.
Just as Carlson began her lawsuit, a Montreal man filed a human-rights complaint against Curves, a U.S.-based chain of women-only fitness clubs on the grounds he was denied membership. The case comes after a Montreal woman filed a sexual discrimination complaint after being evicted from Le Stud, a men-only bar in the city’s gay district. And a gay couple filed a lawsuit against Adoption.com for not allowing them to adopt kids based on sexual orientation.
Brian Chase, a counsel for Lambda Legal, says California law protects LGBT people from discrimination by places of public accommodation. "The court will have to determine whether or not eHarmony’s policies are discriminatory and, if they are, whether or not e-Harmony has a legal defense that would excuse their discrimination," he says. "Cases involving disputes in cyberspace get a lot of attention because it’s a new area of law. The disputes can be quite contentious in part because the rules haven’t been clarified yet."
Some bloggers have been agreeing with the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. A new site, Chemistry.com, has been ridiculing eHarmony and is pointedly offering gay and lesbian entries. The brouhaha began last month after Barry Diller’s Chemistry started running television and print ads taking on the eHarmony’s gay ban. "Chemistry is not backing down from eHarmony’s threats," says Queerty, a gay blog.
"Discrimination sure is convenient, huh?," a senior blogger at Queerty writes. "It certainly is for Chemistry advertising agents, who concocted the aforementioned ads to prove their gay worth. In addition, they are certainly getting in the thick of the gays this and next weekend: the company has booked two ads in New York fag rag, Next Magazine. "Something tells us eHarmony hasn’t booked any space in the weekly’s pages. Perhaps they are too busy fending off Carlson’s discrimination lawsuit." Will eHarmony’s anti-gay tenacity take them down? We fucking hope so," the blogger stresses.
But eHarmony members believe it is wrong to force it to change its business policy for a lesbian’s convenience. eHarmony’s owners insist they do not discriminate against gays because they disapprove of them, but because their psychological tests are not calibrated for the queer mind. And because the site is a niche site with its own unique niche market--millions of straight Christian singles--its unique selling point (USP) is its scientific matching system. Then there’s the whole no-gay-marriage aspect: eHarmony boasts its marriage-oriented goals.
Loyal eHarmony members are responding by calling out gay bloggers and their readers. "The LGBT community and all the new sites out there should learn from eHarmony’s phenomenal success and adopt its winning strategies instead, and not simply introducing a new site just to ridicule eHarmony, " a fan of eHarmony, Tim Geller, 44, a self-described single Christian, has written.
"There is a reason why it is a niche site with its own niche market, " a member of eHarmony wrote. "Site owners and gay bloggers must be responsible and must not take revenge. Chemistry must do it genuinely for the LGBT community with good intention and not with a mission to destroy the site or take its business or members away. That is revenge if you asked me. And revenge is no good to anyone."
eHarmony appears to be highly successful as a serious dating site. It is not a "hookup" site pretending to be a dating site, where it closes one eye and allows members and visitors to find their own matches by using photographs. Controlling the online crowd is no easy task for dating sites. eHarmony differentiates itself from other sites that allow members to find their own matches using pictures. Besides, the owners maintain that changes aren’t very "sticky" for its users. Abstaining from sex is part of eHarmony’s Christian ethos.
"The research that eHarmony has developed, through years of research, to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages," went an eHarmony statement. "Nothing precludes us from providing same-sex matching in the future, it’s just not a service we offer now based upon the research we have conducted."
"Successful sites do create sex culture and self-exploration for love or money," Geller says. "Or in many cases, for the heck of it. We are not sure whether it is a good or a bad thing to allow men and women seeking each on the Internet like letting them look for a used daybed on Craigslist’s garage sales. For us, this is still new--a new way to find love, a complex issue, a complicated modern 21st century online tradition."
"eHarmony pleases its target market and pleases it all the way. What is so wrong about that?" asked a lesbian radio talk show host recently. "eHarmony should be respected and left alone as a site specializing in matching straight singles--men and women seeking each other with intentions to fall in love-not looking ’looking for now when online’ like most LGBT sites-get married and start a family."
Audacia Ray, author of "Naked on the Internet," adds, "I think constantly about what online culture is worth to lesbians, particularly what they’re making and participating in. User-generated content is shifting culture in a major way."
"As a single woman seeking a single man, I do not want to stumble upon a lesbian on my dating site, purposely or by accident," wrote an eHarmony user. "As it is, it is a long shot at finding compatibility on line, so I really appreciate eHarmony for connecting me with the right matches. I am not anti-lesbian, but for the love of God, I do not want to tell lesbians to fuck off for cordially or accidentally contacting me."
’As a single woman seeking a single man, I do not want to stumble upon a lesbian on my dating site, purposely or by accident.’But do lawsuits like this eventually help or hurt the long-term goals of equal rights?
"Lawsuits like Carlson’s ultimately will not help the long-term goals of equal rights, and in fact they may hurt if people think that gays are trying to force antidiscrimination into every aspect of life, no matter how trivial and personal the underlying issue is," Carpenter says.
In fact, some members of popular lesbian dating sites, such as Lesbotronic.com, wonder what got into Carlson’s head when she tried to place an ad on a Christian, straight site like eHarmony.
"You don’t go around and sue everyone for not including your ’needs’ in their sites," wrote one eHarmony member. "That is not right. And you don’t go around push the boundaries and expect to have your cake and eat it too. And there are so many LGBT-based sites that lesbians can use socially, casually or seriously to find their matches. I would never use a lesbian dating site like Lesbostronic to find straight men and would never sue the site for not catering to me unless they reject my online job application".
There’s also the question of whether Carlson’s suit will force gay sites to open to heterosexuals.
"I have always been angered by eHarmony’s straight-only policy, which implies that gays and lesbians are not interested in long-term committed relationships (which is what eHarmony promotes). I hope LGBT wins through Carlson," says a gay activist in New York City. "I think they should allow gays and lesbians to look for partners there. The only reason they don’t is that they’re run by a right-wing fundamentalist Christian. As to gay sites allowing straights: sure, but I don’t think there will be much of a demand."
A Yahoo Personals executive agrees that the site is successful with its one-way policy compared with other dating sites "because, unlike Craigslist, it is not anonymous where people can post ads for just about anything. For example, if I wanted another lesbian to come over and piss on me and let me spank her while we clean up, I couldn’t with eHarmony." A male member of Craigslist, who is not a fan of eHarmony or Carlson, says that most members of the site are members of "dirty sites" too, so there is no point in believing that there is only one site that is "pure and holy".
Carlson’s lawyer Todd Schneider was reported as saying that the lawsuit was "about changing the landscape and making a statement out there that gay people, just like heterosexuals, have the right and desire to meet other people with whom they can fall in love." The lawyers expect a significant number of gays and lesbians to join as a class action.
Blogger Janet Folger advises eHarmony to "stand strong for your freedom of conscience or you’ll invite a whole new batch of lawsuits from the Mary Kay LeTerneau’s of the world, because there’s no ’teachers seeking students’ category, the Pete the Pedophiles for age discrimination (no ’men seeking children"’ category), the Chris the Cross Dresser because there’s no category for cross dressers (and whatever they seek) leading people on-line to believe that he’s just a very ugly woman."
Carpenter, who also wrote about this lawsuit on Independent Gay Forum, says the dating service matches people based on a very long list of questions they answer about their likes and dislikes, lifestyle, philosophy, religious and political views, and so on. "That’s part-for-the-course with these services, but this one adds a twist. Unlike almost every other dating site, it will not match people with members of the same sex," he wrote. "This upset the lesbian, claiming that this practice amounted to illegal anti-gay discrimination under state law. While eHarmony’s practice is indefensible and likely bigoted, the lawsuit trivializes the serious phenomenon of anti-gay discrimination. I support antidiscrimination laws that prohibit certain types of group-based discrimination by government, including discrimination based on sexual orientation. I also support extending these principles to the private sphere on important matters like employment and housing, with some limitations and exemptions."
Many lawyers, however, are dubious that eHarmony’s questions and answers are based on research tailored to heterosexuals that may not fit well for homosexuals. The dynamics of gay and straight relationships are very similar if not identical: the same sorts of problems arise (e.g., financial, division of labor, differences over child rearing), the same traits are desired in mates (e.g., honesty), and so on. Given that eHarmony’s founder is a Christian evangelical with longstanding ties to James Dobson and the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, the real objection is probably that eHarmony does not want to facilitate what it regards as immoral and unbiblical relationships.
But regardless of whether it is viable under California law, is the suit against eHarmony an example of a frivolous use of an important legal protection?
Carpenter believes that, indeed, Carlson’s suit "allows some opponents of antidiscrimination law to point with some justification to excesses as evidence that the underlying idea is bad. It also allows anti-gay activists to belittle claims that gays are subject to serious and ongoing discrimination that should be remedied in law," he says. "The claim against eHarmony forgets the four most important words in public policy: up to a point. That point is passed when we make trivial and harmless discrimination, however dumb or prejudiced it is, a matter of legal concern."
Ray adds, that "the social and internet-social significance of it" points to niches, which "are increasingly important in online social networking. Sites like Lesbotronic.com and STDSingles.com create an online safe space for people who identify as lesbians or who have sexually transmitted diseases, respectively. However, smaller sites do not offer the same incredible variety of functions that a big site with many Web developers behind it has."
Match.com, for example, allows gays and lesbians to use the site (though Ray says it discriminates against bisexuals, because you can’t say that you are looking for both a man and a woman). And that doesn’t detract from the overall functioning of the site. "There is really no good reason for eHarmony to exclude an entire population based on their sexuality," Ray adds, "allowing men to search for men and women to search for women wouldn’t require a whole new compatibility test on eHarmony. Many gay men and women are searching for the same things that straight people are searching for, and by excluding them, eHarmony is treating gays as entirely different kinds of people. A lesbian might want to use eHarmony to have access to their personality profile, which is a pretty unique feature of the site. Because the site is full of straight women, she might not find many promising matches, but it[’s better to for people to have the option of exploring rather than being told by a site that their business isn’t welcome.
A former prosecutor and a full time soccer mom in Brooklyn, N.Y., has written that Carlson might have a case. "California has no-fault divorce, abolished its heart balm torts, and decriminalized adultery. Therefore, there is no legal reason why a service could not enable adulterers, either technical or actual. eHarmony’s preferences, and even its market research, must bow to California law," she explains
A female member of Singlesnet.com disagrees. "I like the fact they do not allow married men and married women to join the site," she writes. "It’s unfair to everyone in the situation--the cheating spouse, the cheating spouse’s family, and the potential date (if unaware).’
Most recently, eHarmony has said that its research to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages is a genuine hard work and not used to discriminate the LGBT community. Nothing precludes it from providing same-sex matching in the future, it is just not a service it offers now based upon the research it has conducted.
Caught between the moon and New York City which he calls home since 2000, Ambrose Aban wrote for Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok Tatler, reviewed restaurants and wrote special ad supplement, "Christopher Street", for HX Magazine New York, contributed to leading English dailies in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Ambrose loves giving up the secrets of everything from where to find the most delicious Orange Glazed Peking Duck to how to prepare extravagant chic soirees in the city.
I wrote about this months ago on www.edgenewyork.com and have received so many emails from the LGBT community, expressing their strong p.o.v on this issue (see my story below)
This Christian-targeted dating site (though not very Jesus-like as many of my straight Christian male friends have been very naughty with their "dates" via the site on many occasions, if you know what I mean), was sued by a gay man this time, demanding that the business match him up with a same-sex partner. According to reports, eHarmony agreed not only to offer same-sex dating services on its new sister site, but also to offer six-month subscriptions for free to 10,000 gay users.
This is not the first LGBT member to have sued eHarmony. A lesbian sued it last year, (see my story below) demanding the same thing. The much-maligned Pasadena-based dating website, has finally agreed in a civil rights settlement to give up its heterosexuals-only policy and offer same-sex matches. Neil Clark Warren, the founder, will implement the new policy by March 31 but also give the first 10,000 same-sex registrants a free six-month subscription. The settlement, which did not find that EHarmony broke any laws, calls for the company to either offer the gay matches on its current venue or create a new site for them. EHarmony has opted to create Compatiblepartners.net.
Below, my previous article, via www.edgenewyork.com:
Lesbian’s eHarmony Lawsuit Stirs Passions on Both Sides
by Ambrose Aban
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Jun 21, 2007
It all started with a lesbian in San Francisco, Linda Carlson, who tried to post a personal ad on eHarmony.com, a popular dating site. She was apparently hoping to find love, but she ended up only getting her ad rejected. Her recent lawsuit has gotten bloggers, pundits and gay rights groups weighing in with a broad range of opinion.
eHarmony, a straight dating site, has long rattled the LGBT community by refusing to men-seeking-men and women-seeking-women options on its site. eHarmony’s 12 million members, see it as playing to its own niche market: straight Christian singles (although not exclusively religious).
Dale Carpenter, Julius E. Davis professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, believes that the lawsuit has merit and a chance of success. "Since I’m not an expert in California law I do not know how high its chances are," says Carpenter, who contributes to Independent Gay Forum. "If this suit is successful then, yes, in California it would seem they must."
California has an anti-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation. The lawsuit is being argued on the merits of that law. It is one in a series of similar lawsuits testing the limits of gender and sexual-orientation exclusion, here and in Canada.
Just as Carlson began her lawsuit, a Montreal man filed a human-rights complaint against Curves, a U.S.-based chain of women-only fitness clubs on the grounds he was denied membership. The case comes after a Montreal woman filed a sexual discrimination complaint after being evicted from Le Stud, a men-only bar in the city’s gay district. And a gay couple filed a lawsuit against Adoption.com for not allowing them to adopt kids based on sexual orientation.
Brian Chase, a counsel for Lambda Legal, says California law protects LGBT people from discrimination by places of public accommodation. "The court will have to determine whether or not eHarmony’s policies are discriminatory and, if they are, whether or not e-Harmony has a legal defense that would excuse their discrimination," he says. "Cases involving disputes in cyberspace get a lot of attention because it’s a new area of law. The disputes can be quite contentious in part because the rules haven’t been clarified yet."
Some bloggers have been agreeing with the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. A new site, Chemistry.com, has been ridiculing eHarmony and is pointedly offering gay and lesbian entries. The brouhaha began last month after Barry Diller’s Chemistry started running television and print ads taking on the eHarmony’s gay ban. "Chemistry is not backing down from eHarmony’s threats," says Queerty, a gay blog.
"Discrimination sure is convenient, huh?," a senior blogger at Queerty writes. "It certainly is for Chemistry advertising agents, who concocted the aforementioned ads to prove their gay worth. In addition, they are certainly getting in the thick of the gays this and next weekend: the company has booked two ads in New York fag rag, Next Magazine. "Something tells us eHarmony hasn’t booked any space in the weekly’s pages. Perhaps they are too busy fending off Carlson’s discrimination lawsuit." Will eHarmony’s anti-gay tenacity take them down? We fucking hope so," the blogger stresses.
But eHarmony members believe it is wrong to force it to change its business policy for a lesbian’s convenience. eHarmony’s owners insist they do not discriminate against gays because they disapprove of them, but because their psychological tests are not calibrated for the queer mind. And because the site is a niche site with its own unique niche market--millions of straight Christian singles--its unique selling point (USP) is its scientific matching system. Then there’s the whole no-gay-marriage aspect: eHarmony boasts its marriage-oriented goals.
Loyal eHarmony members are responding by calling out gay bloggers and their readers. "The LGBT community and all the new sites out there should learn from eHarmony’s phenomenal success and adopt its winning strategies instead, and not simply introducing a new site just to ridicule eHarmony, " a fan of eHarmony, Tim Geller, 44, a self-described single Christian, has written.
"There is a reason why it is a niche site with its own niche market, " a member of eHarmony wrote. "Site owners and gay bloggers must be responsible and must not take revenge. Chemistry must do it genuinely for the LGBT community with good intention and not with a mission to destroy the site or take its business or members away. That is revenge if you asked me. And revenge is no good to anyone."
eHarmony appears to be highly successful as a serious dating site. It is not a "hookup" site pretending to be a dating site, where it closes one eye and allows members and visitors to find their own matches by using photographs. Controlling the online crowd is no easy task for dating sites. eHarmony differentiates itself from other sites that allow members to find their own matches using pictures. Besides, the owners maintain that changes aren’t very "sticky" for its users. Abstaining from sex is part of eHarmony’s Christian ethos.
"The research that eHarmony has developed, through years of research, to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages," went an eHarmony statement. "Nothing precludes us from providing same-sex matching in the future, it’s just not a service we offer now based upon the research we have conducted."
"Successful sites do create sex culture and self-exploration for love or money," Geller says. "Or in many cases, for the heck of it. We are not sure whether it is a good or a bad thing to allow men and women seeking each on the Internet like letting them look for a used daybed on Craigslist’s garage sales. For us, this is still new--a new way to find love, a complex issue, a complicated modern 21st century online tradition."
"eHarmony pleases its target market and pleases it all the way. What is so wrong about that?" asked a lesbian radio talk show host recently. "eHarmony should be respected and left alone as a site specializing in matching straight singles--men and women seeking each other with intentions to fall in love-not looking ’looking for now when online’ like most LGBT sites-get married and start a family."
Audacia Ray, author of "Naked on the Internet," adds, "I think constantly about what online culture is worth to lesbians, particularly what they’re making and participating in. User-generated content is shifting culture in a major way."
"As a single woman seeking a single man, I do not want to stumble upon a lesbian on my dating site, purposely or by accident," wrote an eHarmony user. "As it is, it is a long shot at finding compatibility on line, so I really appreciate eHarmony for connecting me with the right matches. I am not anti-lesbian, but for the love of God, I do not want to tell lesbians to fuck off for cordially or accidentally contacting me."
’As a single woman seeking a single man, I do not want to stumble upon a lesbian on my dating site, purposely or by accident.’But do lawsuits like this eventually help or hurt the long-term goals of equal rights?
"Lawsuits like Carlson’s ultimately will not help the long-term goals of equal rights, and in fact they may hurt if people think that gays are trying to force antidiscrimination into every aspect of life, no matter how trivial and personal the underlying issue is," Carpenter says.
In fact, some members of popular lesbian dating sites, such as Lesbotronic.com, wonder what got into Carlson’s head when she tried to place an ad on a Christian, straight site like eHarmony.
"You don’t go around and sue everyone for not including your ’needs’ in their sites," wrote one eHarmony member. "That is not right. And you don’t go around push the boundaries and expect to have your cake and eat it too. And there are so many LGBT-based sites that lesbians can use socially, casually or seriously to find their matches. I would never use a lesbian dating site like Lesbostronic to find straight men and would never sue the site for not catering to me unless they reject my online job application".
There’s also the question of whether Carlson’s suit will force gay sites to open to heterosexuals.
"I have always been angered by eHarmony’s straight-only policy, which implies that gays and lesbians are not interested in long-term committed relationships (which is what eHarmony promotes). I hope LGBT wins through Carlson," says a gay activist in New York City. "I think they should allow gays and lesbians to look for partners there. The only reason they don’t is that they’re run by a right-wing fundamentalist Christian. As to gay sites allowing straights: sure, but I don’t think there will be much of a demand."
A Yahoo Personals executive agrees that the site is successful with its one-way policy compared with other dating sites "because, unlike Craigslist, it is not anonymous where people can post ads for just about anything. For example, if I wanted another lesbian to come over and piss on me and let me spank her while we clean up, I couldn’t with eHarmony." A male member of Craigslist, who is not a fan of eHarmony or Carlson, says that most members of the site are members of "dirty sites" too, so there is no point in believing that there is only one site that is "pure and holy".
Carlson’s lawyer Todd Schneider was reported as saying that the lawsuit was "about changing the landscape and making a statement out there that gay people, just like heterosexuals, have the right and desire to meet other people with whom they can fall in love." The lawyers expect a significant number of gays and lesbians to join as a class action.
Blogger Janet Folger advises eHarmony to "stand strong for your freedom of conscience or you’ll invite a whole new batch of lawsuits from the Mary Kay LeTerneau’s of the world, because there’s no ’teachers seeking students’ category, the Pete the Pedophiles for age discrimination (no ’men seeking children"’ category), the Chris the Cross Dresser because there’s no category for cross dressers (and whatever they seek) leading people on-line to believe that he’s just a very ugly woman."
Carpenter, who also wrote about this lawsuit on Independent Gay Forum, says the dating service matches people based on a very long list of questions they answer about their likes and dislikes, lifestyle, philosophy, religious and political views, and so on. "That’s part-for-the-course with these services, but this one adds a twist. Unlike almost every other dating site, it will not match people with members of the same sex," he wrote. "This upset the lesbian, claiming that this practice amounted to illegal anti-gay discrimination under state law. While eHarmony’s practice is indefensible and likely bigoted, the lawsuit trivializes the serious phenomenon of anti-gay discrimination. I support antidiscrimination laws that prohibit certain types of group-based discrimination by government, including discrimination based on sexual orientation. I also support extending these principles to the private sphere on important matters like employment and housing, with some limitations and exemptions."
Many lawyers, however, are dubious that eHarmony’s questions and answers are based on research tailored to heterosexuals that may not fit well for homosexuals. The dynamics of gay and straight relationships are very similar if not identical: the same sorts of problems arise (e.g., financial, division of labor, differences over child rearing), the same traits are desired in mates (e.g., honesty), and so on. Given that eHarmony’s founder is a Christian evangelical with longstanding ties to James Dobson and the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, the real objection is probably that eHarmony does not want to facilitate what it regards as immoral and unbiblical relationships.
But regardless of whether it is viable under California law, is the suit against eHarmony an example of a frivolous use of an important legal protection?
Carpenter believes that, indeed, Carlson’s suit "allows some opponents of antidiscrimination law to point with some justification to excesses as evidence that the underlying idea is bad. It also allows anti-gay activists to belittle claims that gays are subject to serious and ongoing discrimination that should be remedied in law," he says. "The claim against eHarmony forgets the four most important words in public policy: up to a point. That point is passed when we make trivial and harmless discrimination, however dumb or prejudiced it is, a matter of legal concern."
Ray adds, that "the social and internet-social significance of it" points to niches, which "are increasingly important in online social networking. Sites like Lesbotronic.com and STDSingles.com create an online safe space for people who identify as lesbians or who have sexually transmitted diseases, respectively. However, smaller sites do not offer the same incredible variety of functions that a big site with many Web developers behind it has."
Match.com, for example, allows gays and lesbians to use the site (though Ray says it discriminates against bisexuals, because you can’t say that you are looking for both a man and a woman). And that doesn’t detract from the overall functioning of the site. "There is really no good reason for eHarmony to exclude an entire population based on their sexuality," Ray adds, "allowing men to search for men and women to search for women wouldn’t require a whole new compatibility test on eHarmony. Many gay men and women are searching for the same things that straight people are searching for, and by excluding them, eHarmony is treating gays as entirely different kinds of people. A lesbian might want to use eHarmony to have access to their personality profile, which is a pretty unique feature of the site. Because the site is full of straight women, she might not find many promising matches, but it[’s better to for people to have the option of exploring rather than being told by a site that their business isn’t welcome.
A former prosecutor and a full time soccer mom in Brooklyn, N.Y., has written that Carlson might have a case. "California has no-fault divorce, abolished its heart balm torts, and decriminalized adultery. Therefore, there is no legal reason why a service could not enable adulterers, either technical or actual. eHarmony’s preferences, and even its market research, must bow to California law," she explains
A female member of Singlesnet.com disagrees. "I like the fact they do not allow married men and married women to join the site," she writes. "It’s unfair to everyone in the situation--the cheating spouse, the cheating spouse’s family, and the potential date (if unaware).’
Most recently, eHarmony has said that its research to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages is a genuine hard work and not used to discriminate the LGBT community. Nothing precludes it from providing same-sex matching in the future, it is just not a service it offers now based upon the research it has conducted.
Caught between the moon and New York City which he calls home since 2000, Ambrose Aban wrote for Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok Tatler, reviewed restaurants and wrote special ad supplement, "Christopher Street", for HX Magazine New York, contributed to leading English dailies in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Ambrose loves giving up the secrets of everything from where to find the most delicious Orange Glazed Peking Duck to how to prepare extravagant chic soirees in the city.
Liberal media bias exposed...
CNN today finally exposed 12 of Obama's voters (the liberal media journalists) saying their coverage was biased agqainst McCain and Palin during the presidential election. And it was Tina Fey who said "I can see Russia from my house" and not Sarah Palin. Are journalists starting to come out, one by one, and admit that they have been terribly biased against McCain and Palin? Palin cleary stated, to both Larry King and Wolf Blitzer, that there were definitely bad apples in the basket.
AfterElton Briefs: Breaking Proposition 8 news, the stars come out for another "Milk" screening, and more!
[taken from Afterelton.com]
Marc Jacob kissing his brazilian boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone at the premier of "Milk"
Last night in NYC Details Magazine and The Cinema Society held a screening of Milk which brought out the film's stars Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin, as well as out director Gus Van Sant. Also walking the red carpet were fashion god Marc Jacobs and his Brazilian boyfriend Lorenzo Martone, who obviously have been too busy admiring each other's hotness to shave.
Marc Jacob kissing his brazilian boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone at the premier of "Milk"
Last night in NYC Details Magazine and The Cinema Society held a screening of Milk which brought out the film's stars Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin, as well as out director Gus Van Sant. Also walking the red carpet were fashion god Marc Jacobs and his Brazilian boyfriend Lorenzo Martone, who obviously have been too busy admiring each other's hotness to shave.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
We love Justin and Becca, too! And not just Kevin and Scotty
The Walkers on Brothers & Sisters on ABC, Sunday 10pm PT.
Justin, the gorgeous Walker boy...
Dave Annable (Justin) and Emily Vancamp (Rebecca) have the best chemistry in primetime. Even stronger than Kevin and Scotty, and Kitty and Robert.
Rebecca, a great character we all can easily relate to...
It's too sizzling for siblings. Queers are happy that they are not siblings and are in love.
Holly, Becca's mom
We can't wait to see how far they go this season and next season.
Justin, the gorgeous Walker boy...
Dave Annable (Justin) and Emily Vancamp (Rebecca) have the best chemistry in primetime. Even stronger than Kevin and Scotty, and Kitty and Robert.
Rebecca, a great character we all can easily relate to...
It's too sizzling for siblings. Queers are happy that they are not siblings and are in love.
Holly, Becca's mom
We can't wait to see how far they go this season and next season.
Looking back...Lance to Tyra: "I am a strong gay man"
Tyra: I have to ask you a question...what is more likely to happen, N'Sync getting back together or Lance Bass hooking up with a woman"
Lance: "I would definitely say the N'Syn getting back together. I am not out there to confuse anyone. I know exactly what I want...I am a strong gay man"
Vote for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer next Monday, ABC, 8PT at the finals of Dancing With The Stars.
Lance: "I would definitely say the N'Syn getting back together. I am not out there to confuse anyone. I know exactly what I want...I am a strong gay man"
Vote for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer next Monday, ABC, 8PT at the finals of Dancing With The Stars.
Looking back....Lance Bass accepting an award at HRC's event
Lance Bass speaking to the HRC family, thanking them for their love...watch.
He ain't Country for nothin', he's the man.
He's Country's hottest thang...Blake Shelton's new album is finally out, queers. Check out my future wedding song "Never Loving You". on track 6. Excellent stuff. Keep on listening babes...
It's not hard to figure out why Blake Shelton is leading country's next generation of stars. He's a blue-eyed CMT dreamboat with a famous voice, and he's equally adept at schmaltz-dipped ballads and laugh-out-loud novelty hits. His fifth album leans toward slow, thoughtful stuff, like "Never Loving You" and "Home Sweet Home," in which Shelton flees the Nashville circus for the comforts of a breadbasket backwater. But he's at his best in funny songs like "Green," a proud-to-be-a-redneck anthem that one-ups blue-state environmentalists: "People used to call me backwards/Living out here with a tractor....I was green before green was a thing."
It's not hard to figure out why Blake Shelton is leading country's next generation of stars. He's a blue-eyed CMT dreamboat with a famous voice, and he's equally adept at schmaltz-dipped ballads and laugh-out-loud novelty hits. His fifth album leans toward slow, thoughtful stuff, like "Never Loving You" and "Home Sweet Home," in which Shelton flees the Nashville circus for the comforts of a breadbasket backwater. But he's at his best in funny songs like "Green," a proud-to-be-a-redneck anthem that one-ups blue-state environmentalists: "People used to call me backwards/Living out here with a tractor....I was green before green was a thing."
What is "Green Revolution"? Can America be the leader in ET (Environment Technology)? Is America ready to give birth to a new industry - Clean Power
Is the world now really that Hot, Flat and Crowded? Is Green the new red, white and blue in America? And the REAL global warming: the "hot" will get hotter, dry will get dryer, wet will get wetter and cold will get colder. The hurricane will get worse...(from F5 and above?) Can America be the world leader in ET? Being "Green" is not being a tree hugger...Being "Green" is understanding the geo-politics of the climate issue...Is America ready to give birth to a new industry -- Clean Power?
The news is right here. The story of America is the most compelling in the world today because the "Green Revolution" (not just Sarah Palin and the Clintons) is going to renew America.
The news is right here. The story of America is the most compelling in the world today because the "Green Revolution" (not just Sarah Palin and the Clintons) is going to renew America.
Hill would be the best candidate for the SoS job, not accepting it would make the others look and feel small...
Hillary is the best woman to do the job. She can also handle domestic issues and bring American people together to support all her decisions and her meetings with world leaders. Not having her as the SoS (after all this) would make the next guy (John Kerry and the others?) so small. Hillary is the hottest topic for bloggers today. Most of the bloggers think it is not a good idea. Her husband, President Bill Clinton's charity business overseas might be a big problem for the White House and Hillary if she is the SoS. By bringing back all the Clinton's people, is Obama really going to give the American people the BIG CHANGE he has promised them. Or is it going to be the same old shit? People are waiting...for the BIG change.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Yes! Lance is in the finals! Queers across the nation are celebrating. Can a gay man win Dancing With The Stars?
We are tired of losing! Can Lance win? Will Lance win next week? Yes he can! Vote for Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer. Dancing With The Stars season finale is scheduled for next Monday, ABC, 8pm PT/7 Central. VOTE!
Cody Linley and Julianne Hough (below) got voted off tonight. The cute-as-a-button Cody Linley of Hannah Montana, took the announcement as well as he could and expressed his gratitude for the experience. And of course the boy cried. Their goodbye song tonight "You Can't Always Get What You Want" .
Also in the finals -- Brooke Burke/Derek Hough and Warren Sap/Kym Johnson. Kym has never looked so sexy and beautiful this season (minus the botox!!!) Loveyou Kym.
Cody Linley and Julianne Hough (below) got voted off tonight. The cute-as-a-button Cody Linley of Hannah Montana, took the announcement as well as he could and expressed his gratitude for the experience. And of course the boy cried. Their goodbye song tonight "You Can't Always Get What You Want" .
Also in the finals -- Brooke Burke/Derek Hough and Warren Sap/Kym Johnson. Kym has never looked so sexy and beautiful this season (minus the botox!!!) Loveyou Kym.
It seems like the more thing change, the more they stay the same in Obama's administration. Should our girl, Hillary, accept the offer?
We don't think so. We don't think she is ready to be blamed (by Sarah Palin in 2012) for Obama's foreign policy's failure. Not that she is not good -- she is way too good for the job -- but because she is much bigger than that. She still is a presidential material. And to ask her to be SoS is only selling her short. Obama was elected on CHANGE. We badly needed it. And we are so happy he is our president-elect. But more and more Clintonoids are infesting his new administration. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. This will give Sarah Palin a chance to "plow through the door" in 2012. Anyways, Obama will need Hillary to meet with the enemies even without preconditions. Do you think Hillary will be an effective SoS? Hillary expressed it very clearly and loudly during the primaries that she would not meet with the enemies without preconditions. Hillary also said it very clearly that (especially on foreign issues) that McCain and her would bring with them a lifetime experience, Obama would bring the speech he made in 2002. No, we don't think she should accept the offer. She is way too good for that.
Monday, November 17, 2008
And Lance tops the scoreboard! Vote!!
Absolutely fabulous! Stunning. Lance brought it home again tonight with his stunning Samba and Jitterbug, scoring the highest point for the night. The judges, Len included, were more than entertained, they were thrilled. So were we!
Lance and Lacey dancing the Jitterbug...watch.
And they continue to mesmerize the judges and the viewers with their cheeky samba. It was flawless. Watch. Lance, you have an excellent shot at this. You go gurrrls!
Brothers and Sisters: Watch the drama! Thanks Sarah!
Verbotene Liebe: Watch. Christian helping Judith to express her love for Constantin.
Lance and Lacey dancing the Jitterbug...watch.
And they continue to mesmerize the judges and the viewers with their cheeky samba. It was flawless. Watch. Lance, you have an excellent shot at this. You go gurrrls!
Brothers and Sisters: Watch the drama! Thanks Sarah!
Verbotene Liebe: Watch. Christian helping Judith to express her love for Constantin.
Is it a deal or no deal for the "Big 3"?
Is it a loan or a bail out? Whatever you call you it, you are paying for it first, should they put a gun to our head again.
Obama said yesterday: "Collapse will be a disaster" Of course!
How important is it for them to make a concession? When are the Big 3's CEOs going to testify and educate the senators and the house members? Has the management of the "Big 3" been good? When are they going to make smaller and more fuel-efficient cars?
The "Big 3" and other big companies should stop rolling on the floor like dogs on their back, begging for affection!
Obama said yesterday: "Collapse will be a disaster" Of course!
How important is it for them to make a concession? When are the Big 3's CEOs going to testify and educate the senators and the house members? Has the management of the "Big 3" been good? When are they going to make smaller and more fuel-efficient cars?
The "Big 3" and other big companies should stop rolling on the floor like dogs on their back, begging for affection!
Breaking News: Charlize Theron signs up for UN
Yep, Charlize Theron Named UN Peace Messenger
Charlize Theron has been named a United Nations Messenger Of Peace for her work towards ending violence against women. She will be joining Angelina Jolie in the U.N. The gorgeous oscar-winner will further strengthen the U.N with her skills, talent, grace, and beauty.
Charlize Theron has been named a United Nations Messenger Of Peace for her work towards ending violence against women. She will be joining Angelina Jolie in the U.N. The gorgeous oscar-winner will further strengthen the U.N with her skills, talent, grace, and beauty.
Breaking News: One of the "Big 3" pleas for help on Youtube. Is it a loan or a bail out that they are begging now?
Carlos Gutierrez, Treasury Secretary, said no. None of the $700B should be used to bail out the "Big 3" And GM is already making plea on Youtube for us to bail it! There is something very strange about using our money to solve badly managed businesses in America.
Steven Shue via "Ambrose Aban" Facebook:
"Bail out. And it won't stop with $25B. The US auto industry failed and we're being told to prop them up to produce more failed products. When will they get a clue? The government needs to make it very painful for the companies to get money. Lots of strings attached, such as executive pay cuts, firing of executives who put them in this mess, and a complete overhaul of their culture."
Steven Shue via "Ambrose Aban" Facebook:
"Bail out. And it won't stop with $25B. The US auto industry failed and we're being told to prop them up to produce more failed products. When will they get a clue? The government needs to make it very painful for the companies to get money. Lots of strings attached, such as executive pay cuts, firing of executives who put them in this mess, and a complete overhaul of their culture."
Special Comment on Gay Marriage
MSNBC - Keith Olbermann's special comment in support of same sex marriage in California.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)