News 8/16/10

(Today in hair: Wella Balsam.)

• Defenders of "Traditional Marriage" must submit their brief at 9AM PST to thwart the happiness of expectant couples across California. Will the 9th Circuit's three judge panel grant their motion to stay? or will Judge Walker's ruling striking down Prop 8 go into effect?

• New Jersey Supreme Court refuses to hear Marriage Equality case. Three judge panel may fear retribution from homophobic governor.

• Daniel Radcliffe thinks narrow-minded fear of LGBTs is gradually fading from society. Is he right? or does this prove the path to hell is paved with Harry Potter novels?

• Anti-equality Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to keep her job by denying marriage rights to gays and pretending there's no such thing as global warming.

• ISS crew attempts another spacewalk to fix ailing station. One astronaut offers to walk to nearest gas station.

News 8/03/10

(Today in cute: A kitten opens her eyes for the first time.)

• NOM Spokesdick Brian Brown paints himself into a rhetorical corner refusing to agree with Blankenhorn "expert testimony." (via Joe My God)

• Expensive Iraq war must end on schedule. President keen on keeping that promise. Oh yeah, and Afghanistan is a big drag too.

• List of gay-friendly universities includes two from Oregon. Slowly but surely, the climate improves.

• Michigan, Missouri and Kansas hold primaries this Tuesday over senate seats and governorships.

• Gay, anti-gay preacher back on the job preaching about how icky and awful gay people are.

News 7/31/10

(Today in public domain wedding photography: Ron and Nancy Reagan slicin' up the nup' cake, Toluca Lake California, March 4th 1952.)

• Chelsea Clinton heterosexually marries a person of the opposite sex in Upstate New York. Madeleine Albright catches bouquet, squeals with glee. Congrats.

• Male Argentinian couple celebrates 27 years together by marrying under that nation's new equality law. Catholic Church still being a bunch of dicks about it.

• Speaking of dicks: Senator John Cornyn (who opposes marriage equality and the repeal of DADT) will speak at the next gathering of Log Cabin Republicans.

• Study shows gay teens in gay relationships experience higher self esteem and lower internalized homophobia. Isn't that nice?

• (PS to the screaming hordes who can't get enough of The Flaming Chef: Guess who's unemployed again? Sometimes you just can't stop people from flushing diamonds down the toilet. I prefer to look on the bright side: This means I have more time to write ...and drink heavily.)

7/28/10 Special News Update via Mikey!

The jerk who is running for governor of Florida explains why he hired a homophobic jerk at great taxpayer expense.

You all remember George "Long Stroke" Rekers?

Well, he's the best the republicans can dig up to bash the gays in court. Have a look, he has a go at single mothers too.

(Special hat tip to Wicker Parker.)

News 7/02/10

(Today's public domain, celebrity mugshot: Mel Gibson.)

• Sexist, homophobic dick turns out to be a racist, sexist, homophobic dick. I speak (to quote Rajiv Vindaloo) of "the ultimate piece of meat" Mel Gibson. (Via Joe My God.)

• Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is totally not gay. "Sorry fellas," says Graham. What am I supposed to do now? just pine away for such a hot piece of manflesh? It's all so unfair.

• Flying the flags at half staff to honor old, dead white guy conflict with flying the flags at full mast to honor independence day. Deceased former Klansman, Senator Robert Byrd has had it up to here with all your rules.

• M. Knight Shyamalan's new movie described as lumpish and leaden.

• I guess we find out today about that there blog contest thingy. I'll keep y'all posted and thanks again for all your help.

News 6/30/10

(Another nifty picture from God knows where.)

Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds gay marriage ban. This challenge, based on whether the ban effects two points of law simultaneously has been attempted before and has never worked.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not uphold the ban on equal protection or due process grounds.

Deep Cover Russian spy story begins to unravel in court. I smell a book deal and a movie. I'd say "made for TV" but, I don't know if people still do that sort of thing.

"Atta Girl!" In her Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Elena Kagan comes out forcefully against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Violent oppression of gay rights in Eastern Europe reminds us of the justness of the freedoms we seek.

Morning News 6/06/10

(Poster for MGM's 1946 technicolor, musical extravaganza "The Harvey Girls." Today's cure for drippy, cold skies. And perhaps Mummy needs a drink...)

Friend Request? Facebook helps mom locate her two kidnapped kids, 15 years later.

Oy Gevalt! A bunch of high school students in trouble for playing a game called "Beat The Jew."

Knock Me Over With A Feather. 3/4 of Iowa Republican primary voters want the opportunity to undo marriage equality at the ballot box. Republicans? Opposed to gay marriage? What are the chances of that?

God Save The Queens, As Long As They Take Their Business Elsewhere. London pub under fire for refusing service to Labour Party LGBT society. BBC quotes society member James Asser: "What century are we living in here?"

Raining, cool and overcast in Portland, OR today. Plan to stay cozy, snuggle with the cats and watch "The Harvey Girls."

Morning News 5/26/10

(Achilles and Patroclus: Undermining military readiness, or a couple of bad-ass soldiers?)

Hey Democrats! Don't F This Up. WaPo favors the DADT compromise even though it's not ideal. NYT refers to "unnecessary hand-wringing and delay" over implementation. What the hell is there to "study" people? Should we study whether racial segregation is acceptable policy or not? Give me a minute, I'm "studying" it. I know these things "take time," but there is overwhelming public support to lift the ban and my people are being destroyed by this policy RIGHT NOW - TODAY.

Grrr...

"Young Gun" Loses. Raul Labrador beats Palin-endorsed Vaughn Ward in Idaho GOP upset.

"Thank You, You're All Fired." Rand Paul plans major staff shake-up in wake of his stupid, racist blurtings.

Duh. Study reveals wasting time online playing video games is a waste of time.  I wonder how much time they wasted studying that?

"Well, The Truth Is We're Lying." Huffpo has a nice summary of how the religious right systematically distorts research on LGBTQ's in order to justify their b*llshit.

Afternoon News Update 5/18/10

Oy Vey! Teabagger defeats Republican in Kentucky.

Oy Gevalt! Family Values/Homophobe/Jackass Republican Rep. resigns 'cause he was diddling a staffer.

Ooh! Groovy space pix of Mt. St. Helens before, during and after the eruption.

Oh! Vote expected next week on DADT.

Oh? Prop 8 Judge Vaughn Walker enjoys a Martini in the Castro with a handsome companion.

(I don't know where these acrobats came from.)

Morning News 5/18/10

30 years ago this morning...

On May 18th 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted releasing 1,600 times the energy of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, blanketing 11 US states, destroying hundreds of square miles of forest and killing almost 60 people. My house in Portland was covered with ash and we all thought it was terribly exciting. (Photo from USGS via Wikipedia.)

You're Fired, and You're An Asshole Too. JMG tells us this morning that "proud homophobe" Jonathan I. Katz will not be contributing his awesome intellectual powers to the BP spill clean-up.

Dammit. Judge finds Malawian gay couple guilty... of being gay. They face a possible 14 years hard labor.

Which Way Is The Wind Blowing? Voters heading to polls today in four US states, including my home state of Oregon.

Port, Sardines and Marriage Equality. Portugal joins a growing list of civilized countries. Take that, Pope!

Report from Asia: Homophobia makes everything worse.

To balance out all that here's a picture of New York style Cheesecake covered with strawberries from Carnegie Deli in New York. Picture courtesy Pilauricey at en.wikipedia:

Stare deeply into the cheesecake and feel all the troubles of the world melt away. There's no such thing as bad news when you can lie back and think of cheesecake.

Morning News 5/15/10 (Pancakes!)

Yeah! Pancakes, bacon and eggs, coffee and orange juice for breakfast over at Sam's Billiards.

Nooo! US, UK embassies urge citizens to stay away from Bangkok, even essential travel.

Yeah! Mary Glasspool will be ordained Episcopal Bishop on Saturday.

Maybe! Elena Kagan's marital status discussed over at NYT.

They're a hot-blooded lot. Former Food Network Chef "the Calorie Commando" arrested for trying to hire homeless hitmen. (What did I tell you about food people?)

Kinder, gentler my ass. FB group calls on David Cameron to sack homophobic Equality Minister Theresa May.

(Photo of Pancakes from Brandon Martin-Anderson via Wikipedia. "North Americans sometimes garnish their pancakes with banana slices." Thanks Wikipedia!)

Homophobia is Alive and Well

So last night Dr. Snickerdoodle and I were walking home from dinner and a guy started shouting homophobic slurs at us from the roof of the local library.

Dr. Snickerdoodle remained calm but I lost my sh*t and started screaming at the guy.

You'd think that after 25 years I would be used to this, but it always catches me off guard.

What do the billions of Flaming Chef Fans think of this?