Vanity, Lovely Vanity

I got my new personalized plates today.

Oh, yeah, like I'm going to tell you that. Take a guess.

And no, California limits you to 7 letters and one half-space, so "SLF LTHNG" wouldn't fit. :)

What, Indeed, Is Progress?

Today, supposedly, mankind reached a new evolutionary pinnacle with the release of Halo 3.

All I know is that the Irish guy (green jersey) in the Mountain Dew Game Fuel commercial is pretty damn hot.

How Do You Say "Boorish" in Farsi?

Because this certainly qualifies.

Columbia University president Lee Bollinger took Iran's president to task Monday, bluntly criticizing his record and saying he exhibits "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."

Bollinger's assessment came as he introduced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to an audience of students and faculty.

As he read a long list of documented actions and remarks by the firebrand Iranian leader and his government, the crowd of 600 applauded.

Seriously, what was Bollinger thinking? You don't invite someone to speak, then introduce them by ripping them apart on stage. It's impolite at best, flat-out rude at worst -- and in the case of Ahmadinejad, who has a long and storied history of trying to provoke such behavior, moronic.

Ahmadinejad opened his remarks by saying Bollinger's introduction was discourteous, intellectually dishonest and inaccurate.

He said academic freedom should prohibit the "vaccination" of the audience with negative comments about a guest speaker and his ideas.

"I think the text read by the dear gentleman here, more than addressing me, was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here, present here," Ahmadinejad said through a translator.

"In a university environment we must allow people to speak their mind, to allow everyone to talk so that the truth is eventually revealed by all," he said.

And Ahmadinejad is right. That IS the point of a university environment -- something which Bollinger threw out in the name of appealing to God-knows-what.

Bollinger needs to learn the most basic rule of a Southern hostess; if you are faced with an uncultured lunatic with no manners, don't invite them -- or invite them and kill them with kindness.

After all, why bother making a scene and being the impolite one -- when they invariably make an idiot of themselves?


UPDATE: QuakerJono is thinking the same thing, only more eloquently and stuff.

CubsTracks, 'Cause I Haven't Posted Squat in Nearly a Week Edition

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Life and all that, if you can call preparing 2008 long-term budget forecasts with data that has more exceptions and caveats than a Best Buy mail-in rebate to be living.

At any rate, a few of the songs that have been keeping me sane of late -- with pictures.

Put 'Em Up, Edun

No, that isn't the original video. But honestly, do you care?

Beautiful Liar, Beyonce (featuring Shakira), Freemasons Club Mix

Once again, there is no song featuring a Hispanic musician that cannot be made better with Latin rhythms and ambiguous sexuality (aka the Ricky Martin Theorem).


And speaking of ambiguous, as a nice wrapup......

Oh L'Amour, Erasure (Kenny Hayes dance remix, compiled by DJ Patrick Phillips)


And as a birthday reminder to John of Caulk is Cheap.....beware of attempts to recapture your lost youth.



Oy.

Pointless Gay Action of the Day

Chris Crain is upset because a TV station in Mobile, Alabama chose to emphasize what was done to a murder victim.....versus the fact that he was gay.

Personally, I think he's pissed that the good people of Alabama and their judges gave these criminals harsh sentences, rather than letting them off because they killed a gay man; it ruins their meme about how gay victims don't receive justice without special treatment "hate crimes" laws, and how everyone in Alabama is a homophobic hick.

Which is, of course, why he's criticizing a journalist who actually stuck to the facts and didn't try to sensationalize something.

Meme du Jour

Jamie started it.

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Twenty-Five Years Later.....

and we still haven't learned squat.

But that's probably Ronald Reagan's fault, too.

So True, So True.....

read and learn.

Your Handy Field Guide to Homo Ursus, Part Two

And you knew this was coming, didn't you?

In our first installment, we discussed the Zen-like behavior attributes of the modern metrosexual-free gay bear, explaining once and for all that it's more about the aspirations than it is the size of the ass.

Now we need to hit on the next part, which is, "What most stirs one's loins?"

For this, we will ask you to view the associated images and clips and make your choice based on the usual, "If I were stranded on a desert island...."

Would you fight for the right to karate .....or would you rather wrestle?

When you're looking for a ride, does your motor run for a Mack .........or a Freightliner?

And finally, do you prefer yours shaken........ or stirred?

Please report your score in the Comments (i.e. "karate", "freightliner", "shaken") and compare.

(Note to the FCC: This qualifies as educational programming! It's the History Channel for heaven's sake! OK, maybe not the last, but it's still....uh.....uh...)

My Weekend in Three Words

DIE, MONSTERS......DIE!

Seriously.

And of course, what soundtrack did my husband decide would be good accompaniment to our ceaseless work with pickax and shovel, chasing roots that were well on their way back to China?

On the Political Waterfront

The lovely thing about dealing with insane gay partisan Democrats is that, if you wait long enough, their stories about why they do what they do invariably collapse and unravel under their own weight.

For instance, Mike Rogers, courtesy of GayOrbit:

For example. Is it ok to be in the closet, getting laid, while voting against the community’s interests? Well, it depends. When I met MN State Sen. Paul Koering a GOP’er he was against marriage equality. I realized that even though Koering was going to vote against the community that he was on a journey, so outing him would not have been helpful.

Well, first, Rogers contradicts his own "out them all" hatemongering and screaming elsewhere with that.

But this....this is the kicker.

(Koering eventually became a friend, came out an voted the right way — AND got reelected….He’s the only GOP state legislator in America who is out…. and all because I did NOT out him.)

Read that again...Rogers himself admits that outing is counterproductive to having out gay Republican legislators, and would certainly seem to apply to gay Republican staffers as well.

Which is why he does it.

Rogers's ranting about hypocrisy or gay rights is at best a smokescreen; as I've demonstrated innumerable times, he goes completely and hypocritically blind when it's Democrats practicing the former or opposing the latter, and he attacks Republicans who support the latter. In actuality, his whole reason for doing what he does is to eliminate gay Republicans from elective office and from being Congressional staffers.

Why?

The same reason that bloggers like Steve Gilliard, activists like Harry Belafonte, and Democrat leaders like Mike Miller attack black Republicans and conservatives as "house slaves", "oreos", "Simple Sambos", and "Uncle Toms" -- with the support of their party, who is more than happy to pay these people and provide them with things like candidates' illegally-gotten credit reports. In the matter of gays, "minority rights" organizations like HRC and even (at the time) LCR, even devote staffers and staffer time to helping them, and organizations like "Equality" California reject openly-gay Republican candidates in favor of endorsing their Democrat opponents, regardless of record.

The whole thing smacks of mafia and corrupt union practices; these are the Democrat Party's docks, and if you try anything, they'll send their hired thugs to break your legs (and, given the penchant of the outers for harassing employers, coworkers, friends, family, other journalists, and mere associates, theirs too). Everything is devoted to opposing and making it as painful as possible for gay people who deviate from the required Democrat Party allegiance, or, even worse, dare to run anywhere but under the proper plantation flag.

As I have always stated, the problem here is simple; as long as gays automatically support Democrats and oppose Republicans, regardless of action, they will be treated as a hostile force by Republicans and as a high-dollar prostitute by Democrats.

The actions of Rogers and his supporters only perpetuate that.

I Can Die Happy Now.....

since I finally won a day of Famous Author Rob Byrne's Triviality contest.

September 5.

I rule.

Who bad? :)

Unfortunate Headline of the...Um, Year

Any bets on how long this stays unchanged?

"Lawyer Says Senate Should Not Probe Craig"

Random Kosmicity

Labor Day weekend is drawing to a close here in San Francisco, the temperature gently falling from a toasty Indian-summer 80 to a thoroughly pleasant 60; a reminder indeed to all of us why, in addition to better architecture, finer culture, and less plastic surgery, we live here and not there. It was indeed a wonderful time, filled with visits from friends, delectable meals out, and the burly bearded bacchanal that is the Hairrison Street Fair.

Chief among these pleasures, though, was three consecutive days of more than eight hours of sleep -- a rare and exciting thing that has left me with a feeling I'm not sure I've had since high school. Normally, I function on a generous seven, sometimes six, and, too often than I should, five; this is like David Banda Mwale Ciccone Ritchie walking into his new bedroom.

As a result, though, I've had the occasional random odd thought, and one of them is this: I have never been single ever since I started blogging. And, oddly enough, both of the people I've been with -- the boyfriend I hooked up with almost the minute after I assumed the mantle of North Dallas Thirty, and then my partner who followed, have been liberal Democrats.

I'm not sure what the implications of this are, but if the general principles hold true.............GayPatriotWest and QuakerJono are in for one hell of a surprise.

More Than a Bit of Difference

It's a rare occasion when I disagree with Steve Miller, the blog runner person for the Independent Gay Forum.

And this thing with Larry Craig is one of them.

Steve appears to be under the impression that the fact that Craig was pressured to resign is an indication of a double standard in treatment of sex scandals.

Yet more still. I'm away for an extended Labor Day weekend so haven't added much. Assuredly, Craig is no poster boy but a sad story of the closet (the near total lack of any sympathy for him, from left or right, is another story). Even so, here's a thought:

* A president is caught having sex with an intern in the Oval Office and lies to cover it up; he finishes his term (and may yet return as president-consort).
* A congressman sends salacious e-mails to former pages now of legal age; he resigns in disgrace.
* A senator engages in the illegal activity of hiring prostitutes; he's finishing his term and no one is suggesting prosecution.
* A senator taps his toes in a men's room in a subtle signal only a fellow seeker would recognize and respond to; he's entrapped, charged with a crime and forced to resign in disgrace.

All together, guess which orientation is cut no slack?

However, as I pointed out:

• Congressman is accused of lewd sexual behavior and assault against staffers and lobbyists; forced to resign in disgrace.

• Congressman has "consensual" affair with 17-year-old congressional page; issues profuse apologies, but is voted out of office in next election.

Meanwhile:

• Congressman not only solicits, but appears to facilitate operation of prostitution ring out of his apartment; not only does not resign, but is given high-level chairmanship position

• Congressman has "consensual" affair with 17-year-old page; does not resign and continues to receive support, fundraising, and committee assignments

The last two were gay (Barney Frank and Gerry Studds); the first two were straight (Bob Packwood and Dan Crane).

So which orientation is it that's being "cut no slack"?

UPDATE: I missed a point about Dan Crane. Turns out I had originally said he had resigned, when in fact he apologized, but was defeated again when he ran for re-election.

Which moves the point to voters cutting people like Crane no slack.