Saturday Male Beauty

Weekend Happiness

It is Saturday and I will be spending most of the weekend with my new b/f at his wonderful home. We have had a number of social engagements - cocktail party, dinner with a group of his friends and the theater - today as I meet his friends. I will not be spending much time on line and, as a result, I will not be posting very often over the next few days.

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The weekend started wonderfully last night when he took me for a romantic dinner. Today was a most enjoyable day too. I feel a sense of peace and saftey when I'm with him and he has further shown himself to be a sweet and wonderful guy. When he holds me in his arms, I could have the moment last forever. It is truly amazing for me and I think that I give him similar happiness. I am letting go of fear and opening my heart to him and he is filling it with love and affection. I feel blessed that we found each other and I am enjoying living in the moment with him. More about the weekend on Monday or Tuesday.

McCain's Horrendous VP Pick

I have spent a goodly amount of time pondering John McSenile's pick for the Vice President slot on the GOP ticket. I guess I am baffled because McSenile and the GOP minions have relentlessly complained that Obama lacks foreign policy experience, etc., yet McSenile then proceeds to select a running mate with ZERO foreign policy experience and who has served only two years as governor of a state with a smaller population that numerous cities around the country. Here are a few facts on Alaska:

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In 2006 Alaska had an estimated population of 670,053 and ranked 48th out of 50 states by population. Alaska is the least densely populated state, at 0.42 people per square kilometer (1.1 per square mile), with the next state, Wyoming, at 1.97 (5.1 per square mile).

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For a frame of reference, the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach combined have a larger population that Alaska and the Hampton Roads area as a whole has two and one half times the population of Alaska. Thus, whatever "executive experience" Ms. Palin may have, the mayors of MANY cities in the USA have more arguably have more experience since they represent larger populations. I would also add that we all know what the nation received from Wyoming in the former of Emperor Palpatine Cheney. Do we really want another small state mindset at this level of government?

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In addition to her utter lack of experience, Palin seems to have some potential ethical issues (have you noticed how the candidates of God's party on a whole always seem to have more ethical/moral issues in their personal lives than the allegedly Godless Democrats?). As CNN reports, it is said that Palin abused her power as governor to fire a state official who would not fire Palin's former brother-in-law who has divorced Palin's sister:

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[S]he is under investigation for her firing of a state official, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. She has been instructed to hand over documents and recordings of telephone conversations as part of the inquiry, which grew out of allegations that she sacked Monegan for refusing to fire her former brother-in-law from the state police. She has denied wrongdoing.

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But Palin acknowledged that a member of her staff made a call to a trooper in which the staffer suggested that he was speaking for the governor. Palin has admitted that the call could be interpreted as pressure to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was locked in a child-custody battle with Palin's sister. She suspended the staffer who made the call.

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Seems a bit odd to me that a staffer would take it upon them self to make such a phone call. Putting aside her possible abuse of power, Palin is also troubling because she appears to be a Kool-Aid drinking member of the Christian Right. She has even gone so far as to state that Creationism - p i.e., religion - should be taught in the public schools. Here are highlights from the Anchorage daily News:

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The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms.

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The teaching of creationism, which relies on the biblical account of the creation of life, has been ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court as an unconstitutional injection of religion into public education.

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No wonder the Christianist base of the GOP is elated with Palin as the VP candidate, particularly since she's anti-abortion and supports an anti-gay amendment to the Constitution.

More Friday Male Beauty

LGBT Section Causes Virginia GOP Delegation to Cancels Order for Minneapolis-St. Paul Guide

If you want to get an idea of just how fucked up the Republican Party of Virginia has become, this story from KSTP-TV 5 in Dayton, Ohio, gives you a good idea (thanks to the reader who sent me the story link). Back in the days when I was involved in the Republican Party of Virginia, I felt the vast majority of party members were rational and not foaming at the mouth homophobes. My, my how things have changed. There must be some severe self-hating closet cases for this kind of insane reaction (maybe Mike Rogers needs to check up on Lt. Governor Bill Bolling). On the other hand, this irrational behavior is consistent with the desire of the Christianist faction that now controls the GOP to have gays simply become invisible if not cease to exist. Maybe the GOP needs to hold it's convention in Bum Fuck Nowhere so none of us homos are around. Here are some highlights:

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The Virginia delegation canceled their order of The Rake magazine's Secrets of the City guide because it includes a section for gays and lesbians. The publication is a guide to various attractions in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The campaign for Virginia's Lt. Governor Bill Bolling ordered 150 of the guides to give to Virginia delegates as gifts when they arrived in the Twin Cities. But after reviewing the guide and finding it had a six-page section for gays and lesbians, they canceled their order, said AJ Kiefer, The Rake's advertising director.

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The original cancellation request e-mail from Melissa Busse, Bolling's political director sent to Tom Bartel, of The Rake:

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I am so terribly sorry to do this, especially when the both of you have been so "out of your way" helpful, generous and easy to work with. But, we need to cancel the order for 150 of the "Secrets of the City" guidebooks.

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Thanks for sending a copy to me so expediently, Tom. Upon looking at it, though, having a section dedicated solely to GLBT will be a BIG problem for many of our folks. We simply can't hand them out.

Friday Male Beauty

MSNBC questions Charlie Crist's engagement

Long rumored closet case, Florida Governor Charlie Crist's faux engagement became a topic of discussion on MSNBC the other night. Crist, whom I have discussed in numerous posts in the past - use the blog's search function to find them all - got engaged many believe so that John McSenile would be more likely to select him for the Vice President slot on the GOP ticket. While the talk of a staged engagement/marriage has been all over the gay media, it's interesting that talking heads on MSNBC brought it up as well. Here's highlights from the Washington Blade:

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A writer at Think Progress was watching MSNBC—someone has to, better him than us— as the talking heads discussed potential running mates for John Mccain, and whether there is a “glass ceiling” for unmarried politicians. Andrea Mitchell used Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) as an example, suggesting he'll miss out on the VP nomination because he isn't married; but then the other pundits became confused. Is he married? Or is he engaged? Chuck Todd cleared things up, however, when he suggested the engagement may be staged so Crist can have a shot at the Vice Presidency:

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SCARBOROUGH: Did he get married? I thought he was engaged. Is he engaged or did he get married?

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TODD: After Friday the engagement might be off if he's not the running mate, right?...I don't know!

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We hate to say it, but Crist's marital status probably isn't the reason he won't get the nomination. He was probably included in the list just to woo voters in Florida, a.k.a. "Largest Swing State In America." He's certainly worked hard for the job—he even endorsed Florida's Amendment 2, which would define man/woman marriage in the state constitution, just so he could seem like a good right-winger for Uncle John. Sorry, Charlie.

Anti-Marriage Dishonor Roll

I have often said that I believe that LGBT Americans need to do a much better job of targeting their huge collective purchasing power to shun companies and products directly or indirectly affiliated with anti-gay positions. For example, unless I'm in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no other option, I NEVER buy gas at Exxon-Mobil stations due to Exxon's refusal to grant employment non-discrimination protections to its employees (and worse yet elimination of those that Mobil Oil had had in place prior to its take over by Exxon).

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Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Californians Against Hate will be publishing a "Dishonor Roll" that list of individual and corporate donors who give $5,000 or more to groups campaigning on behalf of Proposition 8. The list will include the donor's name, employer and the corporate logo of that employer -- even if the company itself didn't donate to the Proposition 8 fight. Needless to say there will be many anti-gay bigots who shriek and whine about being identified since they prefer to quietly work to deprive LGBT citizens of equality under the law. My feeling is that if one is afraid to have the entire world know what you are doing to harm others, then perhaps you should not be doing it in the first place. Oh, and note how the anti-family Knights of Columbus which has done NOTHING to hold bishops and cardinals accountable for sexual abuse cover ups has donated $1 million to write bigotry into the California Constitution. Here are some story highlights:

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When William Bolthouse, a California philanthropist, donated $100,000 in March to support a proposition to ban gay marriage in California, calls and emails poured in -- not to Mr. Bolthouse, but to the corporate offices of a company that bears his name -- even though he sold it three years earlier.

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"Mr. Bolthouse has said, 'I'm not connected to Bolthouse Farms at all.' But we don't accept that," says Fred Karger, who runs Californians Against Hate, a new gay-rights group that is leading the charge to identify and publicize corporate connections to significant donors. He notes that Mr. Bolthouse's son-in-law is chairman of the company and that Bolthouse Farms markets itself as a fourth-generation company.

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Next week, Californians Against Hate is planning to push its tactic further by publishing a "Dishonor Roll," a list of individual and corporate donors who give $5,000 or more to groups campaigning on behalf of Proposition 8. The list will include the donor's name, employer and the corporate logo of that employer -- even if the company itself didn't donate to the Proposition 8 fight.

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Mr. Karger said the tactic isn't intended to keep individuals or companies from donating, but is meant to educate the public so consumers can make informed choices. He said including corporate logos of businesses whose employees donate is fair game, since that information is publicly available on government Web sites that track donors. "Our larger message is to other business people," Mr. Karger says. "It's a free country, you can give as much money to this campaign, but we are going to publicize that and people can make a decision on whether or not they want to support those businesses."

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Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for ProtectMarriage.com, the largest fund-raiser for the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, says she expects it will become more difficult to entice corporations to contribute to her cause. "The moment [Mr. Manchester] wrote the check, he found himself to be the target of numerous boycotts and protests," she said. "Our side has a significant challenge in that." Ms. Kerns noted that the greater chunk of her group's funding will likely come from individuals and religious groups, such as the national Catholic organization Knights of Columbus, which recently contributed $1 million to the campaign.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Cindy McCain's Half Sister: "I'm Voting for Barack Obama"

I recently posted a piece about the way Cindy McCain has written off her half-sisters after walking away with just about all of her their late father's tremendous wealth. Kathleen Hensley Portalski seems to be repaying Cindy for her coldness and regular comments that she was raised an only child. I may not get along wonderfully with all of my siblings, but I don't go around basically telling people that they do not even exist. Does the nation need an out of touch president and a cold, aloof wife in the White House? Here are some highlights from US magazine:
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Cindy McCain's half sister is planning on voting for Barack Obama, she tells Usmagazine.com. "I'm not voting for McCain," Kathleen Hensley Portalski tells Us. "I have a different political standpoint. "I'm voting for Obama," the Phoenix resident says. "I think his proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer."

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"She's kinda cool, standoffish," Portalski tells Us of her half sister. Portalski also doesn't expect Cindy McCain to make an effort to reconcile their relationship. "She never has, and I doubt that she ever will," she tells Us.

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Portalski's son Nathan, a 45-year-old aerospace machinist, is also backing Obama. "I wouldn't vote for John McCain if he was a Democrat," he tells Us. "I would not vote at all before I'd vote for him. "I question whether Cindy is someone I'd want to see in the White House as first lady," he adds.

U.S. Bankruptcy Filings Rise 28.9%

As the presidential campaign rhetoric picks up this week it is telling that John McCain still doesn't get it when it comes to what is happening to many formerly middle class families. As the the Los Angeles Times is reporting, the number of individuals filing bankruptcy is up by nearly a third from a year ago. I know that a number of my clients who were very prosperous as recently as two years ago have now been forced to seek Chapter 13 protections or have placed their businesses into Chapter 7 because of the fall out from the collapse of the real estate market. Even though the new bankruptcy code makes it harder for people to file, the number of filings is up. The economy IS BAD whether or not McCain notices it as he travels from one of his wife's mansions to the next. Here are some story highlights:

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NEW YORK -- Nearly 1 million individuals and businesses filed bankruptcy in the 12 months ended June 30, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court data released Wednesday.There were 967,831 bankruptcy cases filed since July 1, 2007, up 28.9% from the prior 12 months, when cases totaled 751,056.

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Nonbusiness filings made up 96.5% of the bankruptcies nationwide, totaling 934,009. Of those cases 592,376 were Chapter 7 filings, which involve liquidation of nonprotected assets, such as family homes. The total also included 340,852 filings for Chapter 13 protection, which allows individuals to reorganize their finances and pay down their debt.

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Another economic report Wednesday found that U.S. thrifts lost $5.4 billion in the second quarter and set aside a record amount to cover losses from bad mortgages and other loans.Data from the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision showed federally insured savings and loans posted their second-largest quarterly loss ever in the April-June period, after the $8.8-billion loss in the fourth quarter of last year.

Thursday Male Beauty

Delicate Sensibilities

Apparently, this blog offends the delicate sensibilities of some members of HRBOR and the Equality Virginia Legends Gala committee and some have demanded that the content of the blog be changed. In particular, it has been said that all "eye candy" photos must go. As regular readers know, this blog is very important to me and it has brought me unique and extremely valued friendships. I will not have my personal life and thoughts censored by the dictates of others. I spent nearly 30 years being controlled by an ex-wife for whom nothing I ever did was good enough and others who likewise tried to control and monitor my life and/or make me unhappy with myself or stiffle my ideas. Those days are over.

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I have already edited out or deleted posts that referenced the Legends Gala (except for this one) and over the next few days I will be deleting all posts about HRBOR events and/or my involvement in HRBOR. No promotion of these organizations or their events will hence forth appear on this blog. The male beauty photos will remain.

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I have also added a disclaimer pertaining to the opinions and content of the blog on the column at right making it clear that the views and content of this blog are solely attributable to me, the blogger.

Don’t Vote Insane

As I have said before, how any LGBT citizen can vote for candidates of today's GOP is mind boggling. The Log Cabin Republicans remind me of Jews who worked to assist the Nazi regime, the difference being that the Jews were forced to do so. What's the LCR's excuse? How can the support a party and/or candidates who would if possible recriminalize gays and make us forever less than full citizens? The Iraq War debacle and the current economic melt down make it clear that the GOP is NOT the party of national security or financial security. Just the opposite. That's the question being raised by a number of attendees at the Democratic National Convention. Do we really want our legal rights determined by people like Tony Perkins, James Dobson and Schlafly? Here are some highlights from a new 365gay.com story:

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“Don’t vote insane,” Cyndi Lauper said from Denver’s Fillmore theater Tuesday night. “As my friend Rosie O’Donnell says, ‘Listen to mama, vote for Obama; John McCain, same, same, same.” At every LGBT event this week at the Democratic National Convention, gay leaders and friends had the same message: If you want marriage, an end to the military ban, and an anti-discrimination employment bill, you must vote Obama.

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There was Barney Frank: “If Barack Obama wins and we pick up a few Senate and House seats, we will remove absolutely every legal expression of prejudice against us at the Federal level. Be part of it, so you can say you were there when we broke the back of bigotry.”

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Over the past few days, speakers have rattled off facts. Barney Frank said John McCain voted to impeach Bill Clinton and that “he’s not a friend of the Clintons and not a friend of the community.” Several speakers noted that McCain has never voted for a gay-friendly bill - including the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act.

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The campaign is concerned, too - today they released a document to the press comparing Obama and McCain’s take on gay issues. Read a document from the campaign on Obama’s commitment to equality.

Final Wednesday Male Beauty

Legal Status Helps Gay Relationships Last Longer

One of the smears that the anti-gay Christianist throw at gays is that gay relationships are unstable and/or that gays are unable/unwilling to be faithfully monogamous. Of course meanwhile, they do everything in their power to undermine gay relationships and make sure they have no recognized legal status. If anything, I believe it's amazing how many stable, long last gay relationships manage to endure given all the negatives that are working against them. A new story in The Advocate is reporting what to me ought to be self-evident: Same-sex couples in legally recognized relationships stay in their relationships longer than those who are not legally recognized. Hello, why is this a surprise? Personally, I think the Christianists are afraid that broadly available marriage rights for same-sex couples will demonstrate that gays are as stable in relationships as their heterosexual counterparts. Should this occur, the Christianists lose yet another stone to throw at LGBT citizens. Here are some highlights:

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Same-sex couples in legally bound relationships appear to stay in their relationships longer than those who are not legally recognized, according to a new study published in Developmental Psychology.

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Robert-Jay Green, executive director of LGBT research organization Rockway Institute, said the study shows that civil union status itself may help preserve relationships. "There are many ways that a legal couple status may support a relationship -- more family understanding, acceptance by friends and coworkers, greater commitment that results from a public declaration, and enhanced legal protections in the form of health care benefits and community property," Green said in a statement on Tuesday.

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About 9% of same-sex couples not in civil unions ended their relationship, while only 3.8% of same-sex couples in a civil union ended their relationships. The study was conducted by Kimberly F. Balsam and Theodore P. Beauchaine of the University of Washington, Esther D. Rothblum of San Diego State University, and Sondra E. Solomon of the University of Vermont.

94% of Fortune 500 Companies Bar Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

Even as the Republican Party prepares a party platform that (1) is strongly anti-gay and seeks to write discrimination into the U.S Constitution, and (2) panders to the Christianist who now control the GOP and John McCain, private enterprise continues to increasingly see the merits of employment non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees. As 365gay.com is reporting, now fully 94% of the nation's Fortune 500 companies bar employment discrimination based on an employee's sexual orientation.

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The importance of these private employment protections cannot be overstated. In a strongly anti-gay state such as Virginia which has NO non-discrimination laws that protect gay citizens, private employment protections are virtually the only protections available to most LGBT Virginians. Unfortunately, in the Tidewater area there are few Fortune 500 employers and I often wonder whether the region's backwardness is due to the lack of such employers or is the region's backwardness the reason that so few such employers find the region attractive. Even gay owned businesses in Hampton Roads all too often be intimidated and censored by the homophobes and Christianists who are too prevalent in the area. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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(New York City) The list of Fortune 500 companies providing written workplace protections on the basis of sexual orientation has grown to 471 Equality Forum, an LGBT civil rights organization, said Wednesday. The figure represents 94.2 percent of the companies listed in 2008.

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“The Fortune 500 have overwhelmingly decided that including sexual orientation is in the best corporate interest and helps communicate corporate values to the estimated $660 billion annual domestic GLBT consumer market,” said Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum.

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According to Gallup’s May 2008 Values and Beliefs Poll, 89 percent of U.S. citizens believe gays and lesbians should have equal rights in job opportunities. Twenty states include sexual orientation nondiscrimination in their workplace statutes but there currently is no federal workplace protection based on sexual orientation.

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Senator Obama favors and Senator McCain opposes including sexual orientation in the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Do Kill

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Do Kill" is the title of a new article in Newsweek magazine that looks at the horrific plight of gays in Iraq. Despite the US military presence, it appears to be open season for randomly ceasing and executing gay Iraqis who appear to have fared far better under the regime of Saddam Hussein notwithstanding all its brutality. What is happening to gay Iraqis is symptomatic of what happens when religious based fanaticism is allowed to run unchecked and/or creep into the civil laws. Unfortunately, the Chimperator's puppet government doesn't even want to acknowledge the atrocities taking place. Sadly, the mentality of the Iraqi death squads that are rounding up and killing gays is not exclusive to Islamic fundamentalist based on some of the comments to the article posted by American Christianists. As I had said before, I believe that too often religion - be it Christianity or Islam - is a malignant force for evil. Here are some highlights from Newsweek:

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When militiamen from the Mahdi Army came by the compact, two-story stone home in the Doura neighborhood of Baghdad, they weren't looking for Sunnis to harass. They were hunting gays. "Bring us your son's cell phone," one ordered the middle-aged man who came to the gate. They wanted to check if his son, Nadir, had been calling foreigners . . . This time they left, but vowed to come back if they found any evidence he was gay--or was talking to undesirable foreigners. Now that Iraq's sectarian war has cooled off, it's open season on homosexuals and others who infuriate religious hardliners.

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Iraqi authorities scoffed at the subject--when not scolding a reporter for even asking about it. Some of NEWSWEEK's own local staff were wary of the story. Virtually no government officials would sit for an interview. And the United Nations human-rights office, which has a big presence in Iraq, dodged the subject like a mine field.

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[T]he policy in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule was "don't ask, don't tell." But that has changed. Iraqi LGBT, the London NGO that Nadir works for, says more than 430 gay men have been murdered in Iraq since 2003. For the country's beleaguered gays, it's a friendless landscape. Many officials say they feel that in a country at war, there are more pressing concerns than gay rights.

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Saif, one of the older residents at an Iraqi LGBT house, recalls Saddam's repressive but secular regime wistfully. "Those were the most beautiful days of our lives," he says. "The fall [of Saddam] was the worst thing to happen." . . . . Most people seem to prefer that the subject just go away. A written request for an interview at the Legal Section of the Ministry of Human Rights was greeted with a suggestion to delete the word "gays." A sympathetic senior government official warned that a direct request to talk to a minister about gays could result in a short conversation.

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Insisting that gays are just a few undesirable perverts who "should be killed"--as one Iraqi who works in journalism put it--encourages an atmosphere of impunity no matter the offense. Killing gays becomes "honorable." And raping them is OK because it isn't considered a homosexual act--only being penetrated or providing oral sex is.

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Ali Hili [who secured asylum in Britain] says the government, security forces, judiciary and religious establishment are complicit in terrorizing gays.

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As I indicated, the mentality of some in this country is little better. Illustrative of the comments posted by Christianist on the Newsweek article is this one which basically supports what is being done to gays in Iraq. Why do I think this jerk is a McCain supporter? Here's his comment (the misspellings are his):

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Posted By: bobomack @ 08/27/2008 8:52:32 AM
Comment: Being gay is an unnatural act, although gays seem to glamorize their experience. The attraction 2 people of the same sex feel for eachother is against God's laws. Permitting gays to marry one another, as well as allowing gays to flaunt their homosexuality in public weakens any countries infastructure. Gays who adopt or raise children are sending the wrong message to our young people, and our society is weakened because of it. The Bible spells it out for us, It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Homosexuality is a scourge on our society, and being gay is an obomination that needs to be punished as the crime it is.

China Rising - Is America Awake?

Thomas Friedman has a timely column in today's New York Times that is a bookend to what Hillary Clinton said last night about the challenges and changes in direction that must be addressed by the next president. John McCain is clearly not up to the job because he doesn't seem to even realize that major changes and reinvestment in America are needed. Perhaps he doesn't see the need because he's always staying at one of his family's posh mansions or fabulous condos. The problems are real and Friedman's column highlights just how essential it is that America wake up and fix its own house if it is to avoid fallen to a fallen power status. The choices are clear. Will Americans close their eyes and elect McCain and his anti-knowledge Christianist party to take us backwards in time or elect Obama and act for the future? Here are some column highlights:

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After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: “Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, two: “We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin.”

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[A]s snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful — and it’s one that Americans need to reflect upon this election season. China did not build the magnificent $43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.

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I couldn’t help but reflect on how China and America have spent the last seven years: China has been preparing for the Olympics; we’ve been preparing for Al Qaeda. They’ve been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And we’ve been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees and pilotless drones.

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The difference is starting to show. Just compare arriving at La Guardia’s dumpy terminal in New York City and driving through the crumbling infrastructure into Manhattan with arriving at Shanghai’s sleek airport and taking the 220-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train, which uses electromagnetic propulsion instead of steel wheels and tracks, to get to town in a blink. Then ask yourself: Who is living in the third world country?

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But the first rule of holes is that when you’re in one, stop digging. When you see how much modern infrastructure has been built in China since 2001, under the banner of the Olympics, and you see how much infrastructure has been postponed in America since 2001, under the banner of the war on terrorism, it’s clear that the next seven years need to be devoted to nation-building in America.

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Obama got this far because many voters projected onto him that he could be the leader of an American renewal. They know we need nation-building at home now — not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Georgia, but in America. Obama cannot lose that theme. He cannot let Republicans make this election about who is tough enough to stand up to Russia or bin Laden.

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Obama is more right than he knows when he proclaims that this is “our” moment, this is “our” time. But it is our time to get back to work on the only home we have, our time for nation-building in America. I never want to tell my girls — and I’m sure Obama feels the same about his — that they have to go to China to see the future.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Southern Baptists Launch Get-Out-the-Vote Effort

Every LGBT citizen should feel the hair on the back of their neck raise up at the news that the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") - an organization as corrupt in its handling of sex abuse by clergy and as contemptuous of the separation of church and state as the Vatican - is launching an effort to get its gay-hating members out to the polls in November. The effort will run from September 24th through November 2nd, two days before the general election. All as the GOP works on an anti-gay plank for its platform going into the fall election. As Hillary Clinton said last night, it is crucial that John McCain and the policies of the Bush regime be defeated, not just in the interests of gay rights but for many other reasons. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (liberty that is for only those who live by the SBC religious beliefs), is an ardent opponent of gay rights and leading Christo-fascist. He and those like him truly scare me - I believe he views gay Americans as a vermin to be exterminated or at minimum driven into hiding. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

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Southern Baptists are organizing a nationwide prayer campaign to accompany their values-voter registration drive, seeking spiritual renewal for families and churches, and God's favor for public officials who are guided by the Bible. . . . The effort . . . is jointly led this year by Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant group in the country, and the Family Research Council, a conservative Washington-based advocacy group.

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The Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the 16.3 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, said Tuesday that more than 1,300 churches have signed up for the prayer campaign so far.

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"Our vision statement is an American society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority," Land said. "America will be better off if people who are voting are seeking God's guidance."

HRC Addresses the DNC

Regular readers of this blog know that I am no fan of Hillary Rodham Clinton and certainly did not support her candidacy during the primary contests. Nevertheless, HRC gave a tremendous speech tonight seeking to unify the Democrats to go forward and defeat John McCain and the forces of division, intolerance and rights and privileges for the few. She did a wonderful job and for a few moments - just a few, believe me - I thought that had she given more speech like the one tonight during the primaries she might have won.

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One other thing that caught my attention during tonight's speech was that Hillary actually said the word "gay" in front of the entire convention crowd and on national television. During the primaries, Hillary seemed unable and/or unwilling time and time again to utter the word gay. Thank you for acknowledging that we exist and that we deserve equal civil rights.

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I was also happy to see that Hillary laid out a clear reason why her supporters should jump on board and help make sure Obama wins in November. She made it very clear that a vote for McCain is a vote against everything that Hillary fought for during the primary battles. I truly shudder to contemplate what will happen to the nation should McCain somehow win in November. The word "emigrate" definitely springs to thought.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Idaho Fundies Reject Hallmark's Same-Sex Cards

True to form, Christianist business owners in some areas - including those in one area of Idaho, home of toe-tapping gay sex cruiser Senator Larry Craig - are rebuffing Hallmark's effort to reach out and meet the needs of a lucrative consumer market niche. While Idaho offers amazing natural beauty, personally, I would never spend money visiting an area that is strongly anti-gay. It's bad enough living in a backwards area. Why would I want to visit one that's even worse in terms of intolerance? I hope LGBT citizens will vote with their wallets and avoid Idaho like the plague. Here are some highlights from KBCI-TV in Boise, Idaho:

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NAMPA (AP) - A manager says seven Hallmark greeting card stores in the Treasure Valley will not carry the company's new same-sex marriage cards.Cassi Jacobsen, an assistant manager for the Jordan's Hallmark store in Nampa's Karcher Mall, says the family that owns the seven area stores has decided against carrying the new line of greeting cards. She said the owners were out of town and not immediately available for comment.

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Reaction to the cards has been mixed. Idaho Family Values Alliance Executive Director Bryan Fischer sent out a press release Thursday calling for local-area Hallmark stores not to carry the cards. But Delmar Stone of Nampa, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers Idaho Chapter, called the cards "wonderful."Jody May-Chang, the Boise editor of the gay rights Web site PrideDEPOT.com, called the decision a bullying tactic.

Disingenuous Archbishop of Denver Scolds Biden

UPDATED: Now The Hill is reporting that Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl (pictured at left) is piling on Catholic politicians with his criticism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, for not voting as dictated by the Vatican and hypocrites like himself. Here's what the Dallas Morning News had to say about the good archbishop when he was bishop of Pittsburgh:

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Early this year [2002], he [Wuerl] removed from ministry several priests he had allowed to keep working in spite of "credible" abuse allegations. The bishop and his spokesman would not identify the men or say how many there were or characterize the accusations. The priests had been kept on the job after church investigators could not substantiate the claims against them, a diocesan spokesman said. Now, he explained, "we raised the bar."

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As the parent of three children, that these effete celibate "princes of the Church" cared nothing for children and youths disgusts me beyond description. Wuerl should be defrocked himself and publicly horsewhipped or worse. It is rather telling that Wuerl only acted to remove these priests AFTER the sex abuse scandal in Boston blew up in a huge fireball, thus bring scrutiny to other diocese. As is the norm, the then bishop appears to have chosen to protect predatory priests as opposed to children and youth.

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The disgustingly corrupt Roman Catholic Church hierarchy continues to take pot shots at Catholic politicians who vote as their constituents want them to vote. The latest example is windbag Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver (pictured at left and looking like a real queen) who is bleating about Joe Biden needing to avoid taking Communion as a result of his pro-choice stand on abortion. Naturally, Chaput is SILENT on the need for the resignation of all his fellow bishops and cardinals who have covered up and/or facilitated the sexual molestation of minors.

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Why the news media even gives these phony hypocrites a drop of ink or news coverage is disappointing. Would that every article quoting these falsely pious frauds would be required to contain a brief paragraph reminding readers/listeners that two thirds (2/3) of the Catholic bishops were implicated in cover ups of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. As for the Catholic laity that continues to listen to these hypocrites, I think sheep and lemmings display a higher degree of intelligence. Here are some highlights from the GOP mouth piece Washington Times:

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DENVER Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived at the Democratic National Convention on Monday amid rumblings over whether his pro-choice Catholicism would help or hurt the Democratic ticket.

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Although he represents Delaware in the Senate, Mr. Biden grew up in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for Democrats in November. But the party's hopes of winning the critical Catholic vote took a hit Sunday when Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said Mr. Biden should avoid taking Communion as a result of his pro-choice stand on abortion.

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The archbishop, who was not invited to speak at any convention events in what appeared to be a deliberate snub, told the Associated Press that he would like to speak privately with Mr. Biden.
The debate underscored what has emerged as a central theme of this year's convention: the tension between the Democratic Party's renewed outreach to religious voters and its long-standing support for unfettered access to abortion.

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Fortunately, more and more Catholics ARE catching on to the hypocrisy of the Church hierarchy and pick and choose what they will adhere to and ignore from the fiats issued by the out of touch Vatican and its swarms of old queens in dresses. I hope Chaput's remarks are disregarded by thinking Catholics. P.S. For the record, I am not pro-abortion. However, the CIVIL laws should not be based on the religious views of a minority.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Racism and White Trash Alive and Well

My one time New Orleans belle grandmother had no use for racists and white trash, the latter being what she considered the lowest form of life. As a child I recall be out shopping with her one time and she dressed down someone for a racist comment. The Rocky Mountain News is reporting a purported plot by what appear from their looks to be loser white trash types - the type who only feel good about themselves by hating and looking down on others be they blacks, gays or some other group. As Jacob Weisberg has noted in Newsweek recently, the reason Obama isn't ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He lags with them for a simple reason: the color of his skin. Personally, this mind set disgusts me, all the more so because I'm sure the majority of these haters view themselves as good Christians. Here are some highlights from the Rocky Mountain News:

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AURORA — The U.S. Attorney for Colorado said authorities are "absolutely confident" three men arrested on weapons and drug charges posed no threat to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. . . . Earlier Monday, CBS4 News reported that at least three people had been arrested in connection with a possible plot to kill Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High.

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CBS4 had reported one of the suspects told authorities that they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle … sighted at 750 yards." Law-enforcement sources told CBS4 that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative." A second source told CBS4 News that they are concerned they may have come upon a possible "assasination plot."

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As far as the larger cloud of racism that still plagues this country all these years after Martin Luther King's assassination, here are a few highlights from Weisberg's column:

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Such prejudice usually comes coded in distortions about Obama and his background. To the willfully ignorant, he's a secret Muslim married to a black-power radical. Or—thanks, Geraldine Ferraro—he got where he is only because of the special treatment accorded those lucky enough to be born with African blood. Some Jews assume Obama is insufficiently supportive of Israel, the way they assume other black politicians to be. To some white voters (14 percent in the CBS/New York Times poll), Obama is someone who as president would favor blacks over whites. Or he's an "elitist," who cannot understand ordinary (read: white) people because he isn't one of them. We're just not comfortable with, you know, a Hawaiian.

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Then there's the overt stuff. In May, Pat Buchanan, who frets about the European-Americans losing control of their country, ranted on MSNBC in defense of white West Virginians voting on the basis of racial solidarity.

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If Obama loses, our children will grow up thinking of equal opportunity as a myth. His defeat would say that when handed a perfect opportunity to put the worst part of our history behind us, we chose not to. In this event, the world's judgment will be severe and inescapable: the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race.

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You may or may not agree with Obama's policy prescriptions, but they are, by and large, serious attempts to deal with the biggest issues we face: a failing health-care system, oil dependency, income stagnation and climate change. To the rest of the world, a rejection of the promise he represents wouldn't just be an odd choice by the United States. It would be taken for what it would be: sign and symptom of a nation's historical decline.

Final Monday Male Beauty

Ted Kennedy Adrresses the DNC

I am watching the opening night of the Democrat National Convention and Caroline and Ted Kennedy just spoke. I found it very moving, perhaps all the more so since I had the opportunity to meet Ted Kennedy many years ago when he spoke at UVA when I was in college. The ravages of time were obvious as Kennedy spoke and the knowledge that he's battling brain cancer made his address all the more poignant. At one point he spoke of Obama's goal of ending the old politics of division based on race, gender and other factors, including pitting gays versus straights. I truly believe that unless the politics of hate and division which have become the hallmark of the Republican Party, this country will never achieve justice and equality under the law for all citizens. I find it obscene that the USA does not have universal health care while citizens of other industrialized countries have better health care services for ALL citizens. Here are a few highlights from Kennedy's remarks via MSNBC:

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“This is the cause of my life,” Kennedy declared: “New hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American — North, South, East and West, young, old — will have decent health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.

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“Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race, gender and group against group and straight against gay,” Kennedy said, bringing the convention to its feet.

More Monday Male Beauty

Creationist's Anti-Knowledge Agenda

The New York Times has an article that looks at the challenges of teaching evolution and other legitimate science education courses in the face of the ongoing efforts of Christianists and Creationists to dumb down school curriculum to satisfy their whacked out religious beliefs and literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. Some states are trying to resist these anti-knowledge efforts but the outcome is perilously dependent on voters getting out and voting against Christianist candidates. In today's global economy and information age, it is imperative that the USA and other western nations maintain first class, science based educational systems in order to insure future economic prosperity. The Dark Ages are proof that knowledge can be lost when the forces of ignorance and religious fanaticism are allowed to prevail. Here are highlights from the NYT article:

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ORANGE PARK, Fla. — David Campbell switched on the overhead projector and wrote “Evolution” in the rectangle of light on the screen. He scanned the faces of the sophomores in his Biology I class. Many of them, he knew from years of teaching high school in this Jacksonville suburb, had been raised to take the biblical creation story as fact.

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In February, the Florida Department of Education modified its standards to explicitly require, for the first time, the state’s public schools to teach evolution, calling it “the organizing principle of life science.” Spurred in part by legal rulings against school districts seeking to favor religious versions of natural history, over a dozen other states have also given more emphasis in recent years to what has long been the scientific consensus: that all of the diverse life forms on Earth descended from a common ancestor, through a process of mutation and natural selection, over billions of years.

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But in a nation where evangelical Protestantism and other religious traditions stress a literal reading of the biblical description of God’s individually creating each species, students often arrive at school fearing that evolution, and perhaps science itself, is hostile to their faith.

Republican Arizona Secretary of State Doen't Want to Tell Voters a Constitutional Amendment is Unnecessary

Jan Brewer, the Republican Secretary of State of Arizona, does not want voters to know that the yet again proposed anti-gay marriage amendment to the Arizona Constitution is unnecessary since same-sex marriage is already illegal under existing Arizona law. Not only is Brewer a Republican, but she is also a member of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. The Missouri Synod is NOT in communion with the much larger and far more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - the denomination I belong to - and is VERY, VERY anti-gay. Thus it seems that Ms. Brewer (as is typical of the Christianists) is allowing her own strongly anti-gay religious beliefs to interfere with her duties as Arizona Attorney General. Obviously, Brewer doesn't want voters to know that the proposed amendment only serves to (a) trying bring out wingnut voters in November, and (b) further marginalize LGBT citizens. Here are some highlights from the Arizona Daily Star:

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PHOENIX — Secretary of State Jan Brewer has gone to court to avoid having to tell Arizona voters that state law already bars same-sex marriage. In a lawsuit filed Friday, Brewer said the only thing she needs to explain on the ballot is approval of Proposition 102 would amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman She wants to limit the legally required explanation of the effect of voting "no" on the measure would "have the effect of retaining the current laws regarding marriage."

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[S]he wants Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Aceto to block efforts by Attorney General Terry Goddard to expand the explanation to say existing laws already include "a statutory ban on same-sex marriage." . . . Goddard said voters are entitled to know what laws already are on the books. He contends that adopting the limited description Brewer wants actually could cause more confusion, that some people might conclude that if they vote against Proposition 102 they would be allowing gays to marry.

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The fight comes as proponents, stung by the defeat two years ago, seek to get it approved this time. One thing they did is narrow the scope. The 2006 measure would have not only constitutionally banned gay marriage but also barred state and local governments from recognizing civil unions or providing benefits such as health insurance to the domestic partners of their employees.

Successful Fund Raiser

The fundraiser for TACT - the Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce - Saturday night was hugely successful with a turn out of perhaps 300 attendees and significant funds were collected to support this worthwhile non-profit organization. The weather was great with a cooling breeze sweeping in off of Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. What is equally exciting about the pier party fundraisers (there have been three this summer) is that they have also provided a wonderful venue for other LGBT related organizations to interact and hopefully in time work more in concert with one another to wield more influence throughout this relatively backwards area. The photos above give a flavor of the event and I am pictured below - second from left - with friends. Also well represented were officers and members of Hampton Roads OUTreach Center’s (HROC) which is working to develop a LGBTQ community center for Hampton Roads. A number of other LGBT and LGBT friendly organizations were likewise well represented.