BIZARRE: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Refuses To Take Debate Stage Because Charlie Crist Had A Small Fan Blowing On Him

Tonight Rick Scott might have cost himself the election.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott refused to go onstage for the first seven minutes of a debate Thursday night, because his opponent had a fan. No, not a rowdy supporter in the audience. An actual electric fan. Scott's Democratic challenger, former Gov. Charlie Crist, had set up a small fan underneath his podium, apparently trying to keep himself from sweating under the Broward College stage's lights. Scott saw the fan, a prop that often accompanies Crist at public appearances, as a violation of the debate's rules and said he wouldn't participate. The moderators tried to explain the disagreement while Republicans in the audience chided Crist for breaking rules -- at least as Scott saw them -- against props on stage. "We have an extremely peculiar situation right now," moderator Elliott Rodriguez, a local news anchor, said as the broadcast started. "Are we really going to debate a fan?" Crist said while standing alone on stage. Several minutes later, Scott relented and joined the debate. "That has to be the most unique beginning to any debate," Rodriguez said as Scott walked onto the stage.

Scott's handlers point out that the debate contract signed by both candidates bans the use of electronic devices. Crist's handlers point out that the fan was electric, not electronic. Twitter is blowing up at #FanGate.

(Image via Wonkette)

IOWA: Bizarre Gay Marriage Fraud Case

A former Iowa court official pleaded guilty yesterday to filing a fraudulent marriage license on behalf of a Florida gay couple that she'd only spoken to on the phone.

Former Grundy County deputy clerk Brigitte Van Nice, 42, received a fine and a suspended sentence after entering the guilty pleas to perjury and forgery charges at the courthouse in Grundy Center, where she used to work. Van Nice was arrested and suspended from her job in October after investigators discovered that she issued a license last year to Joab Penney and his then-boyfriend Joseph Parker, who had never set foot in Iowa. She was later fired for violating judicial branch policies, court administrator Linda Nilges said.

Penney and Parker contacted Van Nice's office randomly when inquiring about how to get a license, which they could not get in Florida, where same-sex marriage is outlawed. Iowa allows same-sex marriage for couples who come to the state for a ceremony witnessed by two people. Prosecutors say Van Nice issued them a license after she filed documents falsely claiming she had officiated a Valentine's Day wedding for the couple and faked two witness signatures. Van Nice falsely told colleagues that she had met the men at a Waterloo truck stop, where they asked her to officiate and had lined up the witnesses.

Penney said he discovered the fraud when he attempted to file for divorce from Parker so that he could marry a woman. We can expect the right wing to somehow make hay out of this story.

Czech Republic To Gay Asylum Seekers: Let's See If Straight Porn Gets You Hard

The Czech Republic is being criticized for its bizarre requirement that gay men seeking asylum from persecution in their home countries must first prove their gayness by submitting to a penile tumescence test while viewing straight porn.

According to information provided by the Czech Ministry of the Interior, ‘phallometric testing’ for asylum seekers who claim to be gay may be used “where inconsistencies appear in [an] interview”. This procedure came to light in a German court regarding the claim of a gay Iranian man. In principle, asylum seekers cannot be forced to undergo the test and must give written consent and be fully briefed about the technique. However, those who refuse the test may be assumed to be lying and may fear that their application will be rejected outright if they refuse. In addition, bisexual people are unlikely to pass the test. Hungary is also said to have been using psychiatrists to test whether asylum seekers are really gay.

According to rules set forth by the European Union, such a test violates their ban on inhumane or degrading treatment.

Somebody Slipped Him A Mickey

Responding to a burglary call, cops in South Carolina say they were forced to taser and club a deranged naked man that they later said may have hallucinating on mushrooms. After transporting the man to a hospital, a small discovery was made.

During a medical exam at a nearby hospital, medical personnel found a mouse tail hanging from Smith's rectum. An X-ray revealed a mouse lodged inside Smith. He told emergency room personnel that he could not remember what had happened to him. After the medical exam, he was charged with resisting arrest, 1st and 3rd degree assault a battery charges, and indecent exposure. Smith was transported to the Oconee County Detention Center.

I denounce myself for the headline and this post!

Bizarre Death During Gay Cruise

I've been getting emails about this bizarre story all morning from people who were there.

San Diego Harbor Police fatally shot a man late Saturday after he began fighting with officers who had just rescued him from the water. Harbor Police responded to a call from a boat chartered for a gay pride cruise about a man overboard about 11:50 p.m., said Harbor Police Sgt. David Fouser. A police boat found the man in the water about 500 feet south of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station on Harbor Drive across from Lindbergh Field.

The man was identified by the Medical Examiner's Office as 37-year-old Steven Paul Hirschfield. He boarded the boat and began fighting with two officers, Harbor Police said. He knocked one officer to the deck, took the officer's Taser stun gun and began beating him in the face with it. Hirschfield then tried to get the injured officer's gun. As he struggled to “get control” of the gun, the second officer shot the man once in the chest, Harbor Police said.

The police boat went to a nearby dock at the Embarcadero and met paramedics. Hirschfield was pronounced dead by paramedics. The injured officer was transported to a hospital with face and leg injuries. He was released Sunday morning, according to Fouser. San Diego police officers are investigating the shooting with the assistance of Harbor Police and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. An autopsy for Hirschfield has been scheduled for Monday.

Local TV coverage is here. The dead man was a go-go boy hired to dance at the party. It's unclear whether he jumped overboard or fell accidentally, but the fact that he fought with the people trying to rescue him indicates that drugs were probably involved.

UPDATE: Here's a few screen grabs from a 2001 straight porn movie that the deceased appeared in.

No Hangers

Three North Carolina men were sentenced to time already served for performing at-home castrations on six men who willingly submitted during SM/dungeon scenes held in a remodeled carport. "Master Rick" and "Slave Danny" will now have three years of supervised probation. I wonder if that means they can still go to IML this year?