Craig Resigns

As expected, Sen. Larry Craig resigned today, saying, "The people of Idaho deserve a senator who can devote 100 percent of his time and effort to the critical issues of our state and of our nation. Therefore it is with sadness and deep regret that I announce that it is my intent to resign from the Senate, effective September 30th."

Craig added that he intends to work to have his disorderly conduct conviction expunged, saying, "We'll fight this like hell." Idaho Governor Butch Otter (really) is expected to appoint another Republican to replace Craig.

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fashion

"When you look at this recent photo of Britney Spears, are you thinking what I’m thinking? I mean, that’s an awesome handbag, am I right?" - Leigh Ann Wilson on Lock The Bedroom Door.

I don't usually make these kind of posts, but Wilson's quote was irresistible.

Merkel Über Alles

Forbes has published their annual list of the most powerful women in the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the list for the second year in a row, but Condoleeza Rice falls to #4. Oprah's at #21, Hillary at #25, Nancy Pelosi at #26. Rankings are calculated based on a composite of visibility (based on press mentions) and economic impact (based on a complex formula of job title and company sales or assets.) Here's the rest of the top ten:

1. Angela Merkel - Chancellor, Germany
2. Wu Yi - Vice Premier, China
3. Ho Ching -CEO, Temasek Holdings, Singapore
4. Condoleeza Rice - Secretary of State, U.S.
5. Indra K. Nooyi - CEO, PepsiCo, U.S
6. Sonia Gandhi - President, National Congress Party, India
7. Cynthia Carroll - CEO, Anglo American Co., U.K.
8. Patricia A. Woertz - Chairman, Archer Daniels Midland, U.S.
9. Irene Rosenfeld -Chairman/CEO, Kraft Foods, U.S.
10. Patricia Russo - CEO, Alcatel-Lucent, U.S.

HomoQuotable - Keith Griffith

"Most cruisers don’t want to engage in sex in public. They want to meet someone in a public space and then try to be discreet—maybe in a stall or a cubicle or maybe behind a bush. The most important thing to note about Senator Craig is that there was no sex involved. I keep waiting for the news media to grab on to the fact that this man has been arrested for tapping his foot. When did that become a crime? If this guy had the balls he should have had, he would have fought this thing. Any good lawyer would have told him he had a strong case." - Keith Griffith, founder of CruisingForSex.com, in a Newsweek article titled, The Secret World Of Online Cruising.

CORRECTION: Newsweek misspelled Keith Griffith's name in their article. There is no "s" on the end of his name.

Iowa Judge: Not So Fast

As mentioned several posts down, yesterday an Iowa judge struck down that state's Defense of Marriage Act. Wasting no time, two Iowa men were married on their front lawn this morning. But at 11am, after 20 gay couples had filed for marriage licenses, the same judge issued a verbal stay of his order, pending the appeal of his decision to the Iowa Supreme Court. There's no word on the legality of the one marriage performed or on the validity of the other licenses issued.

Seedy Senators

Breathing so heavy
Next to my neighbour
Let's get acquainted
Getting to know you
Feeling sleazy
In seedy sin city

Hands of a stranger
Getting to know you
And I'm getting to like yoooooooou

In tribute to Sen. Craig, here's a flashback to 1981, Soft Cell's paean to anonymous sex, Seedy Films, from their fantastic debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. Man, I love this track.

Tony Snow Steps Down

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow announced his resignation today, effective Sept. 14th. Snow's resignation has been expected for weeks as he has mentioned recently that his government salary is inadequate. Snow is also suffering from cancer.

Some blogs are buzzing that Snow stepped up his stepping down as a Republican ploy to help smother the potential news of Larry Craig's resignation. Likewise, some think that Craig's arrest was finally leaked on Monday (months after it occurred) to squash the news of Alberto Gonazales' resignation. That seems rather likely. The media has gone 24/7 on Craig, with the Gonzales story left in the dust.

So. Rove, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Snow. Who's next?

Craig Likely To Resign Today

GOP insiders are leaking news of Sen. Larry Craig's probable resignation today. Several prominent Republicans have called for Craig to resign, but the RNC has held off doing the same so far, hoping that Craig would take the step on his own. Barney Frank, who's had his own run with sexual scandal, said earlier this week that Craig should not resign and that what Craig did "was not an abuse of his office."

Others have noted the Republican double-standard of not calling for the resignation of Sen. David Vitter for having admitted patronizing prostitutes. National Gay & Lesbian Task Force head Matt Foreman notes, “Let’s see — one Republican senator is involved in soliciting sex from a man and the Republican leadership calls for a Senate investigation and yanks the rug from underneath him. Another Republican senator admits to soliciting the services of a female prostitute and there’s not only no investigation but the senator is greeted with a standing ovation by his Republican peers. What explains the starkly different responses? I’d say rank and homophobic hypocrisy.”

Hillary On Letterman

Sen. Clinton appeared on Letterman last night, talking about the Iraq morass and reading the show's top ten list, "Hillary Clinton's Top Ten Campaign Promises." Mildly amusing.

Broadway Friday

- The 25th anniversary edition of Forbidden Broadway opens in previews today at the 47th Street Theatre. Spoofing Grey Gardens, Curtains, Spring Awakening, and Legally Blonde among others, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakenings features Jared Bradshaw, Janet Dickinson, Valerie Fagan and Michael West with David Caldwell on piano.

- Dolly Parton's 9 To 5: The Musical will hit Broadway in the spring of 2009. Earlier this summer, director Joe Montello oversaw a workshop of the show with a cast that included Allison Janney (in the Lily Tomlin role), Stephanie J. Block (in the Jane Fonda role) and Megan Hilty (in the Dolly Parton role). Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago) read as office snitch Roz. Parton has an new album due in early 2008, Backwoods Barbie, which is also the title of a song headed for the musical.

- Casting has been announced for the Boston pre-Broadway run of The 39 Steps, a "comedic take" on the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. Jennifer Ferrin, Arnie Burton, Cliff Saunders, and Charles Edwards will play more than 100 characters in the show. The London run of the show won a 2007 Lawrence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. The 39 Steps opens in Boston on Sept.14th with Broadway dates TBD.

No Room At The Inn For LaBarbera

Worried about protests from gay activists, a Holiday Inn in Naperville, Illinois has cancelled an October fund-raising banquet for "Americans For Truth", the anti-gay group headed by the butt-sex obsessed Peter LaBarbera. "When a hotel chain is willing to cancel a Christian group’s event due to a potential protest by a homosexual activist group, it’s a sad day in America," says LaBarbera. According to the AFT website, the banquet's location is now "TBD". A keynote speaker will be Charlene Cothran, the lesbian publisher of Venus Magazine who recently found Jeebus and changed to the magazine to an "ex-gay" theme.

Morning View - Feral Cats

Riding my bike around Roosevelt Island, I ran across a few volunteers tending to a large colony of feral cats. The cat ladies out there recently formed a group called Island Cats, which operates a TNR (trap/neuter/return) program. They told me that the feral colonies on the island number about 100 cats, but many die during the winter. I don't recall having seen any feral cats in Manhattan.

GOP Closet Cruisers' Profiles Exposed!

I ripped this bit of hilarity off from Queerty, who got it from a "particularly clever, presumably unemployed, bored reader." Well done, mystery man. Please come forward for some well-earned credit.

Iowa Judge Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

An Iowa judge struck down that state's Defense of Marriage Act today, ruling it unconstitutional. Lambda Legal and Iowa's former counsel general represented six couples denied marriage licenses in 2005, arguing that under equal access and due process guarantees in Iowa's state constitution, the couples should not have been barred from marrying. The Iowa Civil Liberties Union and others filed "friends of the court" briefs supporting the gay couples' case, which is likely headed for the Iowa Supreme Court.

Zing Tones

OK, I can't decide. Will the PC police get bent out of shape over this? I gotta admit, it made me laugh. It's hard to tell if this is a real ad or a parody, but I'm guessing parody.

NYC Knows Where You Are

In a precedent-setting decision, a New York judge has ruled that the city can fire a 21-year employee of the school system after GPS-tracking secretly installed on his city-issued cellphone revealed that he had left the job early on 83 occasions and may have falsified his timecards to cover his tracks.

Although the secret tracking also revealed that the employee had come in to work hours early on many occasions, for which he requested no overtime, the judge decided the early departures were grounds for dismissal and that the city is not obligated to reveal to employees the means by which they monitor misconduct. The employee contends that his privacy was invaded because the city also tracked his whereabouts while he wasn't supposed to be at work. Privacy experts are flummoxed, with one saying that she knew of few similar cases because the law has not yet caught up with the technology.

What say you, privacy advocates? Did the city have an obligation to tell employees about the phone tracking? Is phone tracking an invasion of privacy even if the employees know?

Looney Tunes

One-time Jon-Benet Ramsey murder suspect and batshit loon John Mark Karr told the Bay Area Reporter this week that the reason he was in Thailand when police caught up with him was that he was seeking gender reassignment surgery to alter his appearance enough to elude capture. Karr says he doesn't have any "driving desire" to become a woman and that he was in Thailand merely because of their expedited process for transitioning. When arrested last year, Karr said that he'd been taking female hormones to change to appearance of his face.

In the B.A.R. interview, Karr still brags that he murdered Jon-Benet, claiming to have buried a "Gothic box" with the dead child's panties inside and that if found, the box would result in his re-arrest. Police and psychiatrists believe that Karr is a mentally unstable publicity-seeker. (No shit, really?) Sexologist Carol Queen says the news of Karr's MTF plan could reinforce public perception that transsexuals are "deceivers".

Karr says he no longer plans to become a woman and is living in Atlanta with his 23 year-old fiance' and her 3 year-old daughter, whom his fiance' "completely trusts" him to be around. After all, the DNA didn't match AND the kiddie porn charges were dropped when the cops lost his computer. So what if he still says he did it? Bad boys are hot.

Craigapalooza

Step aside Miss Teen South Carolina, move over Chocolate Rain, YouTube is sagging under the weight of hundreds of Larry Craig parodies, news clips, and late night recaps. Here's a few of the best ones, including some common sense from Dan Savage, who is interviewed by Rick "Shocking!" Sanchez. Was there comedy before YouTube? It's hard to remember.

Open Thread Thursday

This morning I had to wait about 10 minutes to buy a bagel at Hot & Crusty, which, by the way, is just about the worst name for a chain of restaurants ever. While in line, I was treated to one of the dumbest/funniest/oldest discussions, with the conversation eventually taking over all the customers. The cashiers were even chiming in. So naturally, I thought to bring the question here.

Are cats smarter than dogs?

The prevailing opinions fell on two sides. A- Dogs are most easily trained than cats, therefore they are smarter. B- Dogs are more easily trained than cats, therefore they are dumber.

People were getting seriously into their arguments.

Morning View - Cedar Hill

The Central Park Conservancy has been rehabbing Cedar Hill over the last two decades, transforming one of the most blighted areas of the park into the lush picnicking and sunbathing area you see here. Before pictures are here.

HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"Oh, man. What a great day. I fucking live for the day when every asshole out there bilking gullible Christians out of their hard-earned dough—from the Nazi pope on down—is told the same damn thing: Get a fucking job, you parasite." - Dan Savage, responding to the statement by Ted Haggard's "overseers" that Haggard "won't be fundraising for a Monument nonprofit run by a sex offender, won't be ministering to anyone and needs to get a job." Hells to the yeah, Dan!

GLAAD: Tucker Carlson And MSNBC Must Apologize

GLAAD has issued a statement demanding that Tucker Carlson and MSNBC apologize for "remarks made Tuesday night that appear to condone violent assault." As several JMG readers noted in the post below this one, today Carlson issued this statement, written in response to GLAAD's complaint:

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men's room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men's room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That's absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn't angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he
assaulted me.

GLAAD's response:

The statement is not only a failed attempt to justify Carlson's advocacy of violence, but also changes key details of the previous night's on-air story. First, Carlson does not repeat his assertion that he "hit him against the stall with his head," instead changing his story to say that he "seized the man and held him down until a security guard arrived." The security guard element is also newly invented. In his on-air statement, Carlson said that "the cops came and arrested him."

"Carlson's story was difficult to watch on two levels," said GLAAD Senior Director of Media Programs Rashad Robinson. "To see someone brag on national television of returning, with an accomplice, to the scene of an unwanted advance to violently attack the person who made it is incredibly disturbing. But it was also hard to watch because of the sheer absurdity of most of what Carlson was saying."

"Whether Abrams and Scarborough were laughing with Carlson or laughing at him, the fact remains that MSNBC and NBC News have some explaining to do about their standards and practices," Robinson said. "They need to explain whether bragging about physically assaulting a man in response to an unwanted advance is appropriate on-air behavior for one of their employees, and whether laughter by two others is an appropriate on-air response."

GLAAD suggests writing or calling NBC News and MSNBC to demand Carlson's apology and ask if his comments are reflective of network standards and practices.

Allison Gollust
Senior Vice President of Communications, NBC News
allison.gollust@nbcuni.com
212.664.3220

Jeremy Gaines
Vice President of Communications, MSNBC
jeremy.gaines@msnbc.com
201.583.5000

Leslie Schwartz
Director of Media Relations, MSNBC
leslie.schwartz@msnbc.com
201.583.5000

Tucker Carlson
Host, "Tucker"
tucker.carlson@msnbc.com
201.583.5000

MSNBC's Tucker Carlson: I Smack Down Cruising Homos

The gays-as-dirty-potty-cruisers angle seems to be overtaking the coverage of Sen. Craig's arrest. Last night on MSNBC, Tucker Carlson recounted having, with friends, beaten up a man who allegedly hit on him in a men's room, much to the hilarity of his co-hosts. Carlson described himself as "the least anti-gay right-winger you'll ever meet". Yeah, cuz gay-friendly guys beat up guys that hit on them. Gawker headlined their coverage of this as "Tucker Carlson Beats Up Gay Men With His Friends". As Gawker notes, it sure sounds like Carlson admitted to a crime on-air, doesn't it? Carlson claims his tearoom-troller was arrested. Surely somebody out there can find proof of this, if it actually happened.



I like this comment on the Gawker post:

Dear Tucker,

Just a quick note to remind you about:

a)Dancing With The Stars
b)Your bowtie collection

Sincerely,
Your Repressed Homosexuality
.

Larry Craig Remixed!

David Guggenheim, producer of Michelangelo Signorile's SiriusOutQ show, has done a hilarious remix of Sen. Tearoom's "I am not gay" speech.

Meanie Dearest

Apparently directly quoting Joan Crawford, mean queen to the end Leona Helmsley leaves nothing in her will to two of her grandchildren "for reasons that are known to them." Two of her other grandchildren will get $5M each, but her dog, a Maltese named Trouble, gets $12 million. Helmsley's brother gets a few mil, but only if he takes care of the dog and she also tossed $100K to her chauffeur. The remainder of her billions will go to a charitable trust set in her and late husband's name.

Helmsley's will also stipulates that upon his death, Trouble will be interred in the mausoleum that she shares with her late husband and that the crypt be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year", for which she bequested anther $3M. Years ago she had her husband's remains removed from its original location when she learned that new, bigger, fancier mausoleum was going up next to theirs.

CNN On Airport Cruising And Craig's Press Conference

CNN interviewed the head of Atlanta's Hartsfield airport security to ask about their recent restroom sting operations, which have netted 45 "CEO's, bank presidents, and college professors" among others. To his credit, the airport cop says, "You would think that it would be a gay issue but overwhelmingly, more and more, we're seeing that these are people with families." The niggling implication that gay men don't have families aside, it's good to see him frame this as an issue of closeted "straight" men. He also describes the gay public cruising website (unnamed, but obviously CruisingForSex.com) as a "valuable resource" for the police. (Video via - Towleroad.) And just for fun, here's then Representative Craig's 1982 denial of having had sex with male minor Capitol Hill pages. It's kind of amazing that it took 25 years for Craig to get busted.

Haggard's Web Of Lies Unravels

The head of the halfway house that Ted Haggard claims to be moving into says he had no knowledge of Haggard's plan, saying of Haggard's email plea to former parishioners, "That was something that was totally unbeknownst to us when he sent it." Additionally, the registered sex offender that runs the charity that Haggard requested donations be sent to, Paul Huberty of Families With A Mission, says that Haggard acted on his own.

Monday, Paul Huberty wrote to the Colorado Springs Gazette, saying, "Our non-profit organization never authorized a mass public appeal for donations for the Haggard family, nor were we even aware of it until published by the media. Not one donation has been solicited by our non-profit organization designated to or supporting the Haggard family — and our organization has not sent any solicited financial support to Pastor Haggard."

According to the Gazette, Huberty spent six months in military prison after being convicted in 1996 of "consensual sodomy, fondling his genitals in public, indecent acts and adultery." The charges involved a 17 year-old girl in Huberty's care. In 2004, Huberty was convicted of sexual assault in Hawaii, where he is now a registered sex offender. His sentence stipulates that he not contact minors over the internet or visit schools.

Man, the Rev can't catch a break. Even the pervs don't got his back.

Naugle Booted From Tourism Board

Yesterday Broward County commissioners voted unanimously to boot Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle from their Tourism Development Board, citing his hate speech which has already cost the city vacation and convention business. During his remarks before the vote, out gay County Commissioner Ken Keechi said, "Let do the right thing, let's throw him off this board." Fight OUT Loud president Waymon Hudson said he is "very happy" with the decision, calling it a first step to reclaiming Fort Lauderdale (Video).

UNITE Fort Lauderdale reps had told me before the vote that they were only certain of getting three of the commissioners to vote to remove Naugle. I'm happily surprised too as I wrote to all nine commissioners, but only got replies from two, including a nice note from Ken Keechi. There is no mechanism to recall Naugle, who is term-limited from running again.

John Waters: Don't Tell Your Parents You're A Bear

John Waters is doing stand-up these days, it seems. Some funny stuff here, but unsurprisingly, totally NSFW.

Morning View - Central Park Tunnel

There are lots of these neat little pedestrian tunnels scattered around Central Park. This one is just off the Boathouse.

HomoQuotable - Sen. Larry Craig

"I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure resolution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, 'Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy.' The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy. I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy." - Nasty, bad, naughty Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), speaking to Meet The Press in 1999 about the Clinton blowjob affair. What goes around, cums around 12:15PM in the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport men's room.

Craig made this statement this afternoon: "First, please let me apologize to my family, friends, staff, and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho. I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I regret my decision to plead guilty and the sadness that decision has brought to my wife, family, friends, staff, and fellow Idahoans. For that I apologize. "

"In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision. While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away. I did not seek any counsel, either from an attorney, staff, friends, or family. That was a mistake, and I deeply regret it. Because of that, I have now retained counsel and I am asking my counsel to review this matter and to advise me on how to proceed."

"For a moment, I want to put my state of mind into context on June 11. For 8 months leading up to June, my family and I had been relentlessly and viciously harassed by the Idaho Statesman. If you’ve seen today’s paper, you know why. Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been. It's just...did you SEE that cop? I don't care how straight you are, that there's one fine hanging hunk of man meat. "

Sen. Craig Already In Senate Hotseat

This story is moving quickly. A photo of Sen. Craig's arresting officer is already out. And a government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has filed a complaint with the Senate ethics committee requesting an inquiry into Sen. Larry Craig's tearoom antics. And the Idaho Statesman has already dug up a man "with close ties to Republican officials" who claims to have sex with Craig in DC's Union Station. I wonder if this is the same guy that Mike Rogers referenced on BlogACTIVE last year? [UPDATE: It is. Here's his story.] Craig's spokesman says it's "too early" to decide if the scandal will affect Craig's re-election plans.

There's some great commentary on Craig's arrest popping up:

National Review: "What remains baffling is why Craig got arrested. Short of being caught, ahem, more ferarum, it’s hard to imagine that tapping your right foot in a bathroom stall loudly enough amounts to doing the homosexual hokey-pokey. (“You put your right foot in, I put my … WHAT? WHERE?!”) The fact that Craig was trying to pokey and instead ended up in the pokey only reaffirms that when it comes to sex and politics, context is everything."

Carpetbagger Report: "I realize the circumstances of the arrest must be humiliating for the senator, but fabricating a ridiculous defense only exacerbates the political problem here. Why did he rub his foot against the police officer’s? Because, he said, he “has a wide stance when going to the bathroom.” Why did he wave his hand repeatedly under the stall divider? Because he was reaching for a piece of paper (that did not apparently exist). Why did he plead guilty to criminal charges? Because he was in a hurry. This was bound to be a disaster for Craig either way, but Crisis Management 101 tells us to come clean immediately, apologize, get the facts out, hunker down, and hope for the story to blow over. Bizarre fabrications are only going to make this worse."

And the Washington Post is already speculating about the dispostion of Craig's Senate seat: "Two factors mitigate the damage for Republicans. First, if Craig resigns, Gov. Butch Otter (R) would be tasked with naming an interim replacement until the race for Craig's full six-year term comes about in 2008. Otter would (of course) name a Republican, giving whomever he chooses -- most likely either Lt. Gov. Jim Risch or Rep. Mike Simpson (R) -- a major edge next November."

GHB Wreaking Havoc On Fire Island

Having been out of town the last few weekends, I'm only just now hearing the tragic news of this year's Fire Island Pines Party, during which 16 partygoers overdosed on GHB. And August 18th, a 31 year-old man died of a GHB overdose in his Pines rental home, allegedly after his physician roommate recommended he be allowed to "sleep it off".

Calling the number of overdoses "unprecedented", Dr. Ed Schulhafer of the Pines Care Center, said, " [T]here is a strong likelihood that the GHB being distributed in the community is particularly toxic and dangerous. We circulate this information to encourage all Pines and Grove residents to stay away from any GHB. Of course it is better not to take any illegal drugs as there are no known ways to reverse their side effects. But all the overdoses we have seen in the last four weeks have included GHB."

You may recall that the famous Fire Island Morning Party, a huge annual fund-raiser for Gay Men's Health Crisis for 16 years, was cancelled in 1999 after a GHB-related death forced GMHC to withdraw their involvement. I imagine that the Pines Party may go the same way.

Just seven weeks ago, leaving the Pier Dance, my friends and I all marveled that we'd seen no overdoses, something that had been an all-too common sight at circuit parties in years past. It seemed to us at the time that gay men were finally dropping GHB from their party menu, but since none of us attend these events more than once or twice a year, we were only hopeful. I guess we have our answer.

Judge: Allen's Statements Out

A Florida judge has ruled that since Florida legislator Bob Allen was not read his Miranda rights, statements he subsequently made to the police will not be admissible in his trial, including his stated fear of black men and his (as far as I know) previously undisclosed mention that he had "$800 in his car". Hmm, that seems kinda bribe-ish, don't it? Unless he was planning on blowing 40 black dudes in that park.

The trial will go on, beginning Sept. 19th. The Speaker of the Florida House has stripped Allen of his committee appointments, but Allen has sworn that he will not resign and in fact, plans to run for higher office. Yeah, that'll happen.

NGLTF: Fight 2257 Regulations!

Attention Manhunters, Facebookers, and DudesNudies: the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has issued an alert regarding pending new regulations that may kill social networking sites, rules ostensibily meant to fight child pornography.

The federal government is proposing regulations that would effectively kill adult social-networking sites. This is being done under the guise of fighting child pornography. You have until September 10 to object to these regulations. It’s easy to do and essential. A sample e-mail comment is at the bottom of this page. Please forward this information to your friends!

What’s the Deal?
The Department of Justice is proposing regulations to implement a federal law designed to combat child pornography, known as Section 2257. The law was first enacted in 1998 and was amended in 2006 and significantly expanded to include regulation of the Internet.

While many of the regulations pertain to companies that produce adult entertainment magazines and videos (and are extremely burdensome), they would also affect anyone who uses an adult social-networking site. Here’s how:

The regulations would require the people running a site to get and maintain personal information from every user (that means you) who posts a “sexually explicit” photo, including your photo ID (driver’s license, passport, or military ID).

The regulations would allow the Attorney General to conduct warrantless searches at will on the sites’ records, including your personal information. There are few safeguards over what the FBI can do with the information it obtains. If a site operator fails to comply with the regulations, he or she would face a prison sentence of up to 5 years.

For more detailed information on Sec. 2257, read our fact sheet. (PDF).

Obviously, none of this has anything to do with child pornography. Instead, it is a blatant attempt to end the ability of consenting adults to use adult social-networking sites to meet other people for sex. Obviously, if these regulations go into effect, they will kill this industry.

What You Can Do: The Department of Justice has published these proposed regulations and the public has until September 10 to comment on them.

Write to voice your objection to these regulations at Admin.ceos@usdoj.gov. Put "Section 2257 Docket No. CRM 104" in your subject line. For a sample/easy-to-copy message, visit the NGLTF site here. Please take 30 seconds and do it right now, before you move on to the next post. Do you want Manhunt to have your driver's license? Nothing against the noble operators of that site, but I don't.

Morning View - 4 Train Station, Bronx

This is the Mt. Eden Avenue 4 train station in the Bronx.

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the vital showbiz info site, Playbill.com, this week's Swag Tuesday prize is a hardback copy of the Playbill Broadway Yearbook 2006-2007, a fantastic compendium of everything Broadway from the last 12 months. Playbill.com sent me a copy last week and it's like an encyclopedia, over 500 pages.

Many people who work on Broadway keep scrapbooks of their experiences, with photos, signed posters, ticket stubs, and of course Playbills. Playbill Books has expanded this idea into an annual project that is becoming a Broadway institution: The Playbill Broadway Yearbook. Taking the form of a school yearbook, the third edition is packed with photos and memorabilia from the 2006-2007 Broadway season.

The new edition includes chapters on all 67 Broadway shows that ran during the season - new shows like Curtains and Spring Awakening as well as long-running ones like Wicked. In addition to headshots of all the actors who appeared in Playbill, the book has photos of producers, writers, designers, stage managers, stagehands, musicians - even ushers. The Playbill Broadway Yearbook also has a correspondent on each production to report on inside information: opening-night gifts, who got the Gypsy Robe, daily rituals, celebrity visits, memorable ad-libs, and more. Correspondents range from dressers and stage doormen to stage managers, dancers, featured players, and even stars of the shows.

Enter to win your copy of the Playbill Broadway Yearbook 2006-2007 by commenting on this post. Only your first comment counts and please remember to include your email. Publicists: if you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Separated At Birth

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID): Another Busted Republican Tearoom Cruiser

Stridently anti-gay Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig was revealed today to have been arrested on June 11th for lewd public conduct in the men's restroom of Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. Craig pled guilty on August 8th.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon. Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

From the police report filed by plainclothes officer Dave Karsina, via TPM Election Central:

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes. At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig “either disagreed with me or ‘didn’t recall’ the events as they happened,” the report states.

Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

“It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper,” the arresting officer said in the report.

JMG readers may recall that in October 2006, I blogged several times about the likelihood of Sen. Craig being a closeted pole-smoker, based on allegations reported by Mike Rogers of BlogACTIVE that Craig was known to cruise the restrooms of Washington DC's Union Station. Sen. Craig is married and has voted to define marriage in Idaho as between a man and a woman and voted in favor of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Once again, Mike Rogers has been proven correct.

UPDATE: Republicans are burning rubber as they squeal backwards from Larry Craig. Below (via AMERICAblog) is a screencap of a YouTube video just yanked by Romney's campaign in which Craig had praised Gov Romney. I guess ol' Mitt doesn't wanna feel Craig's love anymore. Not in that way. Craig was serving as co-Senate liaison of Mitt Romney's campaign, but Romney's spokesman says, "Senator Craig has stepped down from his role with the campaign. He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision."

HomoQuotable - Larry Gierer

"Let me start by saying that I'm truly a happy homosexual, And not only that, I'm a happy homosexual who is HIV-positive. So he really slaps me upside the head." - Larry Gierer, mayor of Oakland Park, Florida, speaking about Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. Oakland Park is just north of Fort Lauderdale, also in Broward County. Gierer adds, "It's a flashback to Anita Bryant. His logic, his views...it just sounds antiquated and foolish. He needs to dust the cobwebs off, because so many people have happy homosexuals in their life. I just think he's grasping at straws. It's a way for him to get the spotlight."

And Naugle is getting the spotlight, having been interviewed last week by CNN and the NY Times. The new darling of the Christianist right, Naugle is being groomed for bigger things. But on the upside, Waymon Hudson of Fight OUT Loud reports today that the Broward County Commission will be voting tomorrow to remove Naugle from its tourism board. Fort Lauderdale is already feeling fallout from Naugle's hate speech, with the tourism board reporting hundreds of emails from people vowing not to vacation there. Only one tour group is known to have cancelled so far, but with those events planned so far in advance, the full effect remains to be seen.

While some (San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter, for example) are calling for a boycott of Fort Lauderdale, local gay activists are urging queers to continue to patronize the city. I agree. Enjoy beautiful Fort Lauderdale and take an hour out of your vacation to drop by City Hall to register your displeasure with the major. Bring toilet paper.

Wrappers Delight

Ugh. According the NY Times, advertisers are stepping up their car-wrapping campaigns, which offer free cars or monthly stipends of up to $800 to folks willing to turn their vehicles into rolling billboards for Coca-Cola, Jamba Juice, whatever. Ad-wrapped personal vehicles have been around for more than a decade, but with fewer people reading newspapers and magazines, the trend is accelerating. Of course, you have to pledge to abide by some potentially lifestyle-altering rules, such as not-smoking in your vehicle and not parking in front of businesses that sell the competition's products. So if you're driving a Coke car, no visiting Taco Bell or Pizza Hut. Still, a free car is a free car. I must guiltily admit that I'd probably take one, if the ride was sweet and product was cool. But you have to ponder whether we'll ever reach the tipping-point on advertising, says the guy with ads on his blog.

Show Me The Swag

Kansas City's David, pictured here with his Alex, was randomly chosen to win last week's Swag Tuesday prize, the DVD of Schwarzwald: The Movie You Can Dance To. David sez: "What a great surprise. I don't know which I'm more excited about, the copy of Schwarzwald, or simply being able to say I'm a JMG Swag Tuesday winner. Thanks so much!" Publicists: if you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Fortune 500: 93% Protect Gay Employees

Equality Forum reports that a whopping 466 of Fortune 500 companies now offer protection to their gay employees. Highest ranked of the holdouts is #2 Exxon Mobil, but you have to go all the way down to #95, Liberty Mutual, to find the next company still witholding protection. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Texas leads the list of states with the most non-compliant companies, with 14, including Exxon Mobil. I'm a bit shocked to see that the only non-compliant company in New York is Virgin Media. And here I thought Richard Branson was a righteous dude.

Albert Gonzales Resigns

And the walls come tumblin' down. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned, effective September 17th. The Justice Department will be issuing a statement this morning. Talking heads are speculating Secretary of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff will be tapped to replace Gonzales. During his Senate testimony earlier this year, Gonzales repeatedly "did not recall" key portions of his involvement in the dismisall of nine U.S. Attorneys. He's also accused of lying to Congress about the National Security Agency's spying program.

Haggard Charity Run By Sex Offender

Adding another level of slime to the affair, Dan Savage emailed me on Friday to hip me that one of his readers has uncovered that the charity that Ted Haggard directed his former flock to donate to on his behalf, Families With A Mission, was "voluntarily dissolved" in February of this year and that the "registered agent" of the charity, Paul Huberty, is a registered sex offender in Hawaii and was previously arrested (while station in the military in Germany) for for having sex with a 17 year-old female in his care. This is the guy who gets 10% of the donations for "administrative costs"? Excellent investigative sleuthing by Savage and crew. As Dan puts it, "How do you get a tax deduction from a dissolved charity?"

Morning View - Union Station, New Haven

The Three Faces Of Father Tony

Father Tony has this wonderful self-triptych hanging in his great room. The backgrounds are made of NY Times headlines, Powerbar wrappers, and dozens of pics of C. The boys are scattered around the house, drinking coffee, reading newspapers, yakking on the terrace. A perfect do-nothing weekend. We visited the Mark Twain House yesterday (yaaaaawn) but other than that, the nine of us have done nothing but lounge. Oh, and there was a rather contentious game of Trivial Pursuit which my team lost thanks to outrageous cheating.

UPDATE: Chris has a succinct recap of the weekend.