Rugby Drinking Party
Like Jimbo, I don't think this is very effective advertising. What was the product again?
Labels: advertising, rugby
Labels: advertising, rugby
Russian president Vladimir Putin: "It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world. It is not our fault, because we did not start it." Putin is alarmed by U.S. plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a new missile defense shield.
Labels: military, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Microsoft is ceasing sales of Windows XP and that's got some PC wonks in a dither.
Goodbye, Windows XP.I'm hanging on to my XP as long as I can.
Microsoft, which released its latest operating system, Vista, last year, plans to stop selling Windows XP in stores and through its PC partners on June 30.
It's a typical move in the high-tech industry, as older models make way for new ones. But in this case, the shift has been met with some grumbling, given the criticism Windows Vista has received and reports that users were "upgrading" their Vista computers to XP.
InfoWorld, a site for information technology specialists, started a petition last month urging Microsoft to continue selling XP. So far, it has collected 80,000 signatures and impassioned pleas.
"It's a pretty strong response," said InfoWorld Executive Editor Galen Gruman. "Consumers are the most affected because they won't be able to buy XP themselves on a new computer and at stores. ... Consumers will be the ones caught unaware."
Labels: Microsoft, technology
Crap. There was another big high-rise fire a couple of blocks from my apartment yesterday. Dozens of injuries. What is it about the Upper East Side and disaster? Remember the plane that crashed into a high-rise three blocks from me? And the brownstone that exploded? (That one was made into an episode of Law & Order.) Then there was the flower pot fire upstairs last week. And I don't think I ever mentioned that when I moved into this building two years ago, my old apartment next door was damaged by fire exactly one week later. We's cursed. Cursed, I tells ya.
Labels: daily grumble, UES
Labels: Colbert Report, HRC, Joe Solmonese
Labels: Creating Change, Julian Bond, NGLTF
WingNutDaily is claiming that 10% of California's public school students may be leaving for private and home schooling due to the state's anti-bullying bill, SB777.
Only months after a new state law effectively banned "mom" and "dad" from California schools [JMG: It doesn't.], a total of 600,000 students could follow because of what has been described as the "repudiation" of 2,000 years of Christian morality, according to leaders of a new campaign assembling education alternatives.Blah, blah, blah. And of course, over on Free Republic this story is being linked to photos from the Folsom Street Fair. Because SB777 not only bans "mom" and "dad", it requires a fisting & flogging slideshow for 3rd graders. That 600,000 figure is completely imaginary, but I fully support any Jeebus-folk in pulling their spawn from public school.
The campaign is called California Exodus, and is being headed by Ron Gleason, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, who said while the country excels in social, economic, scientific and political accomplishments, it "gets low grades on the education of its children."
The issue is the state legislature's adoption of Senate Bill 777, which requires only positive portrayals of homosexual, bisexual, transgender and other alternative lifestyle choices.
"First, the law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to six million children in California government-controlled schools," said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families and one of those who originally called for an abandonment of public schools.
"To rescue their children, loving parents need to find an alternative to government schools, and every church needs to make it a priority to help parents be in charge of their children's education again," he said.
He has condemned public school districts as "no longer a safe emotional environment for children" under the new law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that will introduce children as young as kindergarten to the homosexuality and other alternative lifestyle choices.
Labels: California, religion, SB777, wingnuts
After Mitt Romney pulled out of the race yesterday, the evangelical leader of Focus On The Family, James Dobson, gave his long-sought endorsement to Mike Huckabee. Dobson is the largest evangelical endorsee of Huckabee, most of whom have shied away from the candidate due to his admonitions that evangelicals should be more involved in poverty and environmental causes.
"The remaining candidate for whom I could vote is Governor Huckabee," Dobson said. "His unwavering positions on the social issues, notably the institution of marriage, the importance of faith and the sanctity of human life, resonate deeply with me and with many others ... Obviously, the governor faces an uphill struggle, given the delegates already committed to Senator McCain. Nevertheless, I believe he is our best remaining choice for president of the United States."Dobson has been a vehement opponent of John McCain. Making his endorsement of Huckabee, he said that he did so as a private citizen, not as the head of his tax-exempt group. (But he still emailed them all to tell them about it.)
Labels: 2008 elections, James Dobson, Mike Huckabee, religion
Barack Obama told members of the press yesterday that Hillary Clinton should release the Clinton's tax returns so the public can see where she got the $5M she just gave to her campaign.
Labels: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
The new musical Passing Strange begins previews tonight at the Belasco Theatre. The show made its New York premiere at The Public Theater last summer and opens with its original cast.
Labels: Broadway Friday
Dr. Rowan Williams, head of communion for England's Anglican Church, says that it is "unavoidable" that Islamic Sharia law will be adopted in parts of the country and that a "reasonable accommodation" must be made over the issue.
"It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of Sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law, so it is not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system," said Dr Williams.There are almost as many variants of Sharia law as there are Islamic sects, but a few of the laws in Mohammed's hit parade include a ban on all intoxicants, pork, tobacco, and pornography. Criminals are subject to amputations of hands or feet. In many places, women are not allowed to hold prominent jobs and are forbidden to work in government.
"There is a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law as we already do with aspects of other kinds of religious law.
"It would be quite wrong to say that we could ever license a system of law for some community which gave people no right of appeal, no way of exercising the rights that are guaranteed to them as citizens in general.
"But there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we understand them. In some cultural and religious settings they would seem more appropriate."
Labels: Anglican Church, Britain, England, Islam, multiculturalism, religion, Sharia Law
HRC head Joe Solmonese appeared on The Colbert Report last night and played "straight" man to Steve Colbert's usual convolutedly hilarious logic. Here's Part 1 of Solmonese's bit.
Labels: Colbert Report, Comedy Central, HRC, Joe Solmonese
ABC News is reporting that Mitt Romney is dropping out of the presidential race. His announcement will come shortly at the CPAC conference in Washington, DC. With the increasing chumminess between McCain and Huckabee, it appears that the Republican side may be settled.
Labels: 2008 elections, Mitt Romney
Via TwinCities.com:
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a mother who didn't like the way her baby's circumcision looked cannot sue a Fridley hospital for medical malpractice.I'm an agnostic on the cut/uncut issue, but I am rather devout on the "pretty" issue.
Dawn Nelson sued Unity Hospital and Dr. Steven Berestka, claiming the doctor removed "the most erogenous tissue" after the boy was born on Jan. 21, 2000—without consulting either parent. Nelson and the boy's father, David Nelson, were unhappy with the result.
But the Appeals Court noted in its Tuesday decision that the mother indicated on a prenatal form that the baby should be circumcised. Attorney Zenas Baer, who is representing the mother and son, said he was disappointed with the court ruling.
Dawn Nelson initially sued the doctor, alleging assault and battery and negligence. That claim was settled separately. The claims against Unity Hospital and its parent company, Allina Health System, went forward.
Nelson claimed the hospital had a duty to verify that the doctor obtained informed consent and she claimed the hospital had been deceptive or misleading in its informed consent policy.
A Hennepin County judge disagreed and dismissed the case. The appellate court affirmed the lower court decision. As for the child, another surgeon "performed a revision for cosmetic purposes" shortly after the initial circumcision, the ruling said.
Mark Whitmore, an Allina attorney, said the company was pleased with the ruling.
According to Baer's Web site, he "contributes substantial amounts of time to ending the barbaric practice of routine infant male circumcision worldwide, insuring genital integrity for all citizens of the world."
Labels: circumcision, medicine
"On every list, I was always on my way out. Gay men understand that I understand what it's like to be an outsider. To singers, I wasn't a singer. To actors, I wasn't an actor. I know what it's like to fight for your place. Besides, gay men are very choosy, and they have great taste." - Cher, telling USA Today why she's proud to be a gay icon.
Hillary Clinton's campaign is running out money. Yesterday it was revealed that she has just "loaned" her campaign $5M and that senior staff members have "volunteered" to go without a salary this month.
Labels: 2008 elections, Hillary Clinton, Pam Spaulding
"I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year that they've pulled out all the stops. And you know I think what is absolutely true is whoever the Democratic nominee is the Republicans will go after them. The notion that somehow Senator Clinton is going to be immune from attack or there's not a whole dump truck they can't back up in a match between her and John McCain is just not true." - Barack Obama, responding to Hillary Clinton's statement that she would not allow herself to be swift-boated in the manner in which John Kerry was in 2004.
Labels: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, swift-boating
The California Supreme Court announced today that they will hear arguments over the state's ban on gay marriage on March 4th in San Francisco.
Labels: ACLU, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, gay marriage, justice, Lambda Legal, LGBT rights, Shannon Minter
Even though MetroNorth runs trains past 2am, by 12:30am Monday night, I found Grand Central almost completely deserted. In thousands of visits, I've never seen it like this. Eerily beautiful. I could actually hear the echo of my footsteps. This month, PBS's American Experience devotes an hour to the history of Grand Central Terminal, calling it "the greatest station of any type in the world." It's certainly my favorite public space in NYC. The PBS documentary runs several times this month.
Labels: Grand Central Terminal, NYC
The Minority Report is coming true.
The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.Fly Clear was just the beginning.
The FBI wants to use eye scans, combined with other data, to help identify suspects. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.
The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.
Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."
But it's unnerving to privacy experts.
"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.
Labels: biometrics, FBI, fourth amendment, privacy
Karl Rove started his new gig at Fox News yesterday.
Rove has been contributing opinion pieces to The Wall Street Journal, which also belongs to Murdoch's NewsCorp, and will debut on the television network with live coverage on Tuesday of the biggest day of the presidential primary election season, Fox said on Monday.Talking Points Memo described Rove's new job as "an interdepartmental transfer." Snork!
The New York City medical examiner has just ruled that Heath Ledger's death was due to "accidental overdose of prescription drugs." Not a suicide. Not a heroin or cocaine overdose. The tabloids weep.
Labels: Heath Ledger, NYC
Andrew Sullivan, October 30th: "Allowing this guy [Donnie McClurkin] to preach strikes me as a step far too far. [snip] I don't blame any gay American for jumping the Obama ship over it."
Labels: 2008 elections, Andrew Sullivan, Barack Obama, Donnie McClurkin
As expected, yesterday's Super Tuesday primary did little to reveal a clear Democratic frontrunner. Hillary Clinton took eight states including the biggest: California and New York. Barack Obama took 13 states, including Illinois, his home state.
Labels: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, California, Donnie McClurkin, Hillary Clinton, Super Tuesday
The new pastor at Denver's New Life Church, former home to Ted Haggard, has issued a press release announcing that Haggard has requested to leave the team created to "restore" him as a Jeebus-fearing breeder and that as Haggard's restoration is "incomplete", he is not welcome to return to New Life. It appears that the best brainwashers in the business have failed with their most famous subject.
Brady BoydCould it be that Haggard has been unable to give up the menz? Should we be alarmed by the prospect of Haggard finally coming out, however unlikely? Would you welcome him to the family? It would certainly prove an interesting experiment to see the wingnut reaction, not to mention the spin gay activists might put on such an outcome.
Senior Pastor
New Life Church
Colorado Springs, CO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ted Haggard's leadership of New Life Church for many years was extraordinary and the depth of spiritual maturity that is found today in the church is in large part attributed to his leadership as the founding senior pastor.
In January 2007, Ted Haggard voluntarily agreed to enter a process of spiritual restoration. He has selected Phoenix First Assembly and Pastor Tommy Barnett as his local church fellowship and is maintaining an accountability relationship there. He has recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them.
New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry. However, we wish him and his family only success in the future.
Because spiritual restoration is a necessarily confidential process, the church does not anticipate that it, or its Overseers or Restorers will make further comment about it.
Labels: Colorado Confidential, religion, Ted Haggard
In which my journey towards full-blown theater queen
Neil Patrick Harris (TV's "How I Met Your Mother"); Tony Award Winners Gary Beach (The Producers) and Len Cariou (Sweeny Todd); Tony Award nominees Brooks Ashmanskas (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me), Charles Busch (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife), Sandy Duncan (TV's "The Hogan Family," Peter Pan), Malcolm Gets (TV's "Caroline in the City," Amour), and Lainie Kazan (My Favorite Year); Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, All Shook Up); Kerry Butler (Xanadu); Anthony Rapp (Rent); Ann Harada (Avenue Q); Julie HalstonGypsy); Michelle Blakely (Annie Get Your Gun); Aaron Lazar (The Light in the Piazza); Tituss Burgess (The Little Mermaid); David Burtka (Gypsy); Tastiskank (Broadway duo of Kate Reinders and Sarah Litzsinger); Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!); Julia Murney (Lennon, Wicked); Jen Colella (High Fidelity); Jose Llana (...Spelling Bee, Rent); Disney's Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Sierra Boggess; and more.The show was created and directed by Robert Bartley and this year actually played on Broadway in the American Airlines Theater, which was donated by the Roundabout Theatre Company. Co-chairs for the event were the legendary playwright Terrence McNally and composer John Kander.
Labels: Broadway, Broadway Backwards 3, good work, LGBT Community Center, NYC, theatre
Watching the New York Giants roll through the Canyon of Heroes in this morning's ticker-tape parade, the first such NYC event since 9/11, it's more than a little disquieting to watch thousands of pieces of paper tumble from lower Manhattan's skyscrapers.
A fascinating change of policy at the Department Of Justice:
Five years after a gay advocacy group was told that it could no longer use the e-mail, bulletin boards and meeting rooms at the Justice Department, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has reversed that decision and issued a revised equal-employment-opportunity policy barring discrimination against any group.DOJ Pride president Chris Hook says about Attorney General Mukasey: "He has gone out of his way to ensure that the department has a new air of inclusiveness and an open and welcoming environment for all employees." Kinda unexpected, innit?.
Mukasey informed leaders of DOJ Pride last week that the department would give it the same rights as all other DOJ employee organizations, said the group's president, Chris Hook. In a statement, Mukasey said the department will "foster an environment in which diversity is valued, understood and sought" and maintain "an environment that's free of discrimination."
DOJ Pride and its 110 members had been barred from holding an annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Month celebration since 2003, when then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told the group that the Bush administration observed an unwritten policy of not sponsoring events without a presidential proclamation, Hook said. The group also was told it could not post notices of general meetings and events on department bulletin boards, he said.
Labels: feds, LGBT rights, Michael Mukasey
Hillary Clinton has guest posted on The Bilerico Project, the country's largest group LBGT blog where dozens of prominent gay activists contribute.
"As I have traveled around the country these past twelve months, what I sensed in my heart has been confirmed – America is embracing its LGBT sons and daughters with an acceptance and understanding as never before. On the campaign trail, a father of a gay son will ask about ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. A woman will ask why she can be discriminated against just because of who she is. Sometimes they wait furtively for the crowd to thin and then whisper their confidences in a soft voice and sometimes they stand up proudly at town meetings and want me to share my views on how I will help lead the change to assure that this country fulfills its promise to everyone.
"Let me tell you what I have been telling voters across America. I am fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of LGBT Americans. For seven long years, the Bush Administration has tried to divide us - only seeing people who matter to them. It's been a government of the few, by the few, and for the few. And no community has been more invisible to this administration than the LGBT community."
Read the rest of the post, in which Clinton talks about pride parades, HIV, and Matthew Shepard. And good for Bilerico editor Bil Browning for getting the statement. Let's see if Obama does the same.
Labels: 2008 elections, Bilerico, Hillary Clinton
Labels: Barack Obama, music, Pointer Sisters
Labels: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, music
"I have a very small life now. Literally, this street, down ten blocks, then two streets each way, it's a box, and that's my whole life. Inside this box, I'm comfortable and safe. I have a room I work in at home that's a special place to me. But the rest of D.C. is weird, because both the military and the government are based here -- aggression and deception. And it takes a certain kind of person to move here to work in the industries of aggression and deception.
Labels: Bob Mould, HomoQuotable, music
Labels: candidate rock, Mike Huckabee
The Philadelphia Inquirer published a sweet story about gay grandparents yesterday.
"Lesbian grandmother" or "gay grandpa" used to sound like a contradiction in terms. But now gay grandfolk are a quietly emerging demographic - men and women who married in the 1960s and '70s, had children, and came out later, sometimes only after their children were grown.I have a couple of gay grampas in my circle of friends. They are all much older than me, of course. Uh, although, if a certain incident had gone a different way for me in 1979, I'd guess I'd probably be one now too.
There's still no grandparent equivalent of the children's picture book Heather Has Two Mommies. But a recent novel, Grampa Jack, chronicles a gay grandfather's fight for custody of his 6-year-old grandson. And an online boutique sells kids' T-shirts emblazoned with the words "I love my. . .trailblazing. . .woman-loving. . .out and proud grandma."
"There is a growing number of gay grandparents who are looking for ways to explain to their grandchildren who they are and who they love," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council.
Even the youngest gay and lesbian grandparents, those in their early 50s, can remember the Stonewall riots that kick-started the gay civil rights movement in 1969. In 40 years, the world has changed. And so have they.
Labels: aging, gay grandparents, LGBT culture
If yesterday's Super Bowl party has left your gut in distress, a Clemson professor says you might blame the double-dippers.
Last year the food microbiologist's undergraduate students examined the effects of double dipping using volunteers, wheat crackers and several sample dips. They found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from an eater's mouth to the remaining dip sample.Unlike George Costanza, I never double-dip. If anybody's looking.
Labels: science
Improv Everywhere struck again, this time with a couple of hundred "agents" who, on cue, froze in place for five minutes at Grand Central Terminal. One of their more amusing pranks. I seriously gotta do the next one.
Labels: Grand Central Terminal, Improv Everywhere, NYC, silliness
According to the latest Gallup national poll, Clinton and Obama are effectively tied going into tomorrow's primary. You gotta admit, this has been quite the exciting primary season.
Labels: 2008 elections, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
A state appellate court has ruled that all public and private employers in New York must now recognize same-sex couples legally married elsewhere.
A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said the ruling applied to all public and private employers in the state.And in Oregon:
Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation.
A state law allowing gay couples to register as domestic partners belatedly took effect Friday after a federal judge ruled the state's process of disqualifying petition signatures was consistent enough to be valid.One bit of bad news: thanks to a last minute push outside polling places during last week's primary, the haters in Florida did succeed in getting enough signatures to put an anti-gay marriage amendment on this year's ballot.
The state quickly announced that the domestic partnership applications were available online, and jubilant gay-rights activists predicted hundreds of couples would line up on Monday morning at county offices to register.
Labels: Florida, gay marriage, LGBT rights, New York state, Oregon
Responding to "citizen complaints" about this in-store poster, Virginia Beach police charged the manager of the local Abercrombie & Fitch outlet with displaying "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles." Police say they only acted after store management refused to heed previous warnings. The cops took the poster away to use it as, uh, evidence. Yeah, that's it. Evidence.
Labels: advertising, silliness, Virginia
- It's raining men. And scaffolding. And concrete. Construction workers are falling out of the sky on almost a weekly basis these days. Manhattan's high-rise boom has created an 83% spike in construction accidents over the last year.
Labels: Manhattan Monday
The Super Bowl was pretty exciting this year, wasn't it? My back is bothering me a bit so I watched the game at home with Shelter Kitty. She liked the team in the aubergine blouses (she's that gay), but I was happy to see the New