Sen. Chambliss Calls Joe.My.God

You may have read that blogger Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God got a comment that read "all faggots must die."  He determined that the comment came from the Atlanta office of Senator Saxby "Max Cleland is unpatriotic even though he lost his legs in Viet Nam" Chambliss.  Today, Sen. Chambliss personally called Joe to apologize.  He said that the staffer had been identified and "removed."  Joe accepted the apology contingent on the Senator issuing a statement repeating the apology and making the disposition of the staffer's job status public.  A statement was issued stating that the comments were "unacceptable" and the staffer had been "removed."  Interesting choice of words, don't you think?  Why didn't he say "fired?"  The Atlanta Journal Constitution may have an answer.  Jim Galloway reported the following:  "We’re picking up that the staffer was a military liaison assigned by the Pentagon — a fact that Chambliss’ office would not confirm."  The AJC also found that the comment came from Chambliss' Washington office, not the Atlanta office.  Jervis, ever classy, said:

“I was never calling for this guy’s head. I just wanted the senator himself to address the issue and say that this can’t happen in my office. He has done that.”

Julian Bond on Eddie Long

Required viewing:



H/T:  LC NY Bureau Chief Doug

Sound of Music Cast to Reunite on Oprah!

LC NY Bureau Chief Doug has just earned his salary by alerting me to this exciting news - the entire cast of The Sound of Music will reunite on Oprah!

"Stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, along with fellow cast members Charmian Carr (Liesl), Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich), Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa), Duane Chase (Kurt), Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Debbie Turner (Marta) and Kym Karath (Gretl) will appear on the Oct. 29 broadcast of the chat show."

I just fainted, revived long enough to post this and put it in my Blackberry calendar, then fainted again. 

October 29. Set your DVRs now. Seriously, go do it.  I'll wait.  Wes is bringing the smelling salts anyway, so I have a minute. 

Oh, by the way, I don't really pay Doug, even though he's worth it. 

Sexiest New Yorkers?

The New York Post has come up with it's list of the 10 Sexiest New Yorkers.  What a crock!  Sure, 23 year old Donny Cornell, picured above, is cute and all (who isn't at 23?), but where is Lazy Circles New York Bureau Chief Doug?  Where is Junior of Juice With Junior?  Where is Lazy Circles reader Ray? 

Conway - Paul Race Dead Heat

In the Kentucky Senate race, Rand Paul has been enjoyng a significant lead over Democrat and state Attorney General Jack Conway.  That appears to be changing fast.  In the just-released Courier Journal/WHAS11 Bluegrass Poll, Paul leads Conway 49 to 47%, which is within the margin of error. The previous poll, released the first week of September, gave Paul a lead of 55 to 40%.  The results indicate that Conway has moved well ahead among women while Paul still leads among men. 

Is Tea Party strength weakening?  Perhaps November won't be the Republican blow-out the press has been endlessly predicting?  This is just one poll, but it's interesting.       

Monday's Man: Harry Shum, Jr.

In honor of Glee's return, I present Mike Chang, AKA Harry Shum, Jr. 

I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying he's this year's Glee break-out star.  He was criminally underused last season, but he burst into this season's first episode, abs-first.  

Here he is doing what he does best, dancing:

 

Hollywood is overdue for a star who can really dance, don't you think?

Quote of the Day

"There’s not much to do except to keep fighting the epidemic, and those whose actions or inactions prolong it, until I get too sick to fight. I’ll try to die a good death, if I can figure out what one is. After that, thanks to the epidemic and what it taught me about myself, I expect to rest in peace."

--Robert Rafsky, in an editorial first published in the New York Times on April 19, 1992.  It was reprinted today in a retrospective on the 40th anniversary of the Op/Ed page.  Mr. Rafsky died in 1993.  Read the rest here.    His obituary is here.

It's a Job Search Day, Not a Blogging Day

Off to Austin for a job interview today, so no blogging.  Wish me luck!

Crist Announces Florida Will Stop Enforcing Gay Adoption Ban

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has announced that Florida will stop enforcing it's ban on gays adopting children.  This comes in the wake of a state appeals court upholding a lower court ruling that the ban is unconstitutional.  Crist praised the ruling, said he would meet with the adoptive father at the heart of the case, and said he believed the Supreme Court would not overrule the case. 

I know Crist is running for the Senate as an independent and I'm sure there's a political motivation for this, but I don't care.  This is great news. 

DA/DT Vote Today

The Senate is currently debating the Defense Authorization bill, which includes repeal of the gay ban.  You can watch the proceedings here.

UPDATE:  Of course it failed, blocked by a Republican filibuster that couldn't be broken.  There certainly wasn't much leadership from the White House on this.  Disappointing.  Not surprising, but disappointing.  Here's what Rachel Maddow had to say:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Majority of Americans Support Marriage Equality

For the second time in the past few months, a major national poll has found majority support for full marriage equality for gays.  The AP-National Constitution Center poll found 52 of Americans support equality, up from 46% a year ago.

Clearly, the tide of history favors our equality.

Corker Called on his Hypocracy

Did you ever notice how all the Republicans who voted against the stimulus and the auto industry bail-out are the first to show up for the photo ops when the bail-outs work?  So did the United Auto Workers of Tennessee.  It seems that GM has re-opened it's Spring Hill, TN plant and re-hired 483 workers.  This is the same GM that wouldn't exist without a massive federal bail-out.  Senator Bob Corker, who voted against the bail-out, was only too happy to show up for the good times and pretend he didn't do everything in his power to prevent keep people in Tennessee out of work.  Then a little justice happened.  He was booed.  He, along with Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, all of whom voted against the bail-out, were booed by workers who remember who's on their side and who's not.  483 Tennesseans are employed tonight.  No thanks to Bob Corker. 

Monday's Man: Wayne Besen

Is there anything hotter than a passionate activist?  Wayne Besen has been in the forefront of the fight against the "ex-gay" snake oil salesman for years.  He's devoted his life to unmasking the lies and distortions of those who would deny our lives, loves and humanity.  He's pretty darn good looking, too.

Obviously, this week's tribute was inspired by Wayne's appearance on Rachel Maddow's show on Thursday.  He didn't mince words about Christine O'Donnell's history as a crackpot who thinks we can be magically cured of the gay...even though we're not sick.  

Be sure to check out Wayne's site, Truth Wins Out.  While you're there, drop him a few bucks.  It's a great cause.

Christine O'Donnell "Dabbled" in Witchcraft

Christine O'Donnell is the ultimate expression of the Tea Party Movement.  The hits just keep right on coming:



I find that when people say "I'm not making this stuff up," they usually mean "I'm making this stuff up." 

O'Donnell has spent her entire life trying desperately to be famous and get attention.  It's all she's ever done.  Now she's famous.  I hope she enjoys it.     

Wayne Besen on Christine O'Donnell's "Ex-Gay" Advocacy

Last night, Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out appeared on Rachel Maddow to discuss Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell and her deep involvement in the crackpot "ex-gay" industry, which takes troubled and desperate gay people and, for a price, promises to cure them of the gay.  It's all a lie and a scam, but Wayne can explain it much better than I can:



Besen also wrote the book Anything But Straight, which I have read and highly recommend. 

By the way, I loved his tie.    

Nate Rings My Bell

 

Nate Berkus rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange as part of a media blitz for his new show.  For the record, Wes watched the show today and was underwhelmed, even though he agrees with me that Nate is dreamy.  I actually have a navy double-breasted blazer left over from the 90s.  Should I pull it out?  Before I do that, maybe I should get hair plugs, grow some scruff, become Oprah-famous and loose 10 pounds 20 pounds 10 pounds develop an eating disorder a tiny bit of weight. 

Quote of the Day

"Somebody just made a hypocrisy boom-boom in their diaper."

--Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God, blogging about Sen. David Vitter signing the Tea Party Patriots Morality Pledge in which he promised to conduct himself "personally and professionally in a moral and socially appropriate manner."  Is playing out your diaper fetish with prostitutes considered "socially appropriate" in New Orleans?

Are We Supposed to Dress Like Lumberjacks This Fall?

Maybe I don't keep up with all the fashion trends, but consider Zac Efron pictured above, playing dress-up in his Daddy's clothes, and the Hot Fashion men pictured below.  I guess I need to break out the flannel and grow some facial hair.  If this is going to be the year of the Bear, I'm totally in favor of it.    

Hot Fashion

From Cheyenne Jackson's Twitter feed comes this picture of True Blood's Joe Manganiello, Six Feet Under's Eric Balfour, Tony winner Alan Cumming and Mr. Jackson at the G-Star fashion show.  Wow.  Just wow. 

America's Hottest Mayor Loses

Washington, DC mayor Adrian Fenty, who signed the DC marriage equality bill into law, has lost his bid for the Democratic nomination to City Council Chairman Vince Gray.  Fenty blamed his image problems on unpopular decisions he had to make to improve the city.  The Democratic primary is tantamount to the general election in DC.  The Republicans aren't even fielding a candidate. 

Gray has strong pro-gay rights credentials and has been endorsed by the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, a gay organization.

Masturbation Will Soon Be Illegal in Delaware

If the new Republican candidate for the Senate has her way.  Delaware Republicans have just made Christine O'Donnell the GOP nominee for the Senate, defeating long-time Congressman Mike Castle who was gay-baited shamelessly by O'Donnell.  O'Donnell is famous for believing that people shouldn't masturbate and for founding an organization called SALT that tricks troubled people into subjecting themselves to "ex-gay" torture.  She believes that gay people can be magically changed into non-masturbatory heterosexuals.  Now, she's one step away from being a United States Senator and the Republican Party is one step closer to total insanity.

Why DA/DT Must Go

"A colleague of mine relayed a story of a soldier whose boyfriend was killed by a roadside blast while both were deployed. The only person the grieving soldier could safely talk to was an Australian officer he didn’t even know. His most trusted teammates — members of his unit — were not allowed to be there for him when he needed them most."

--Jonathan Hopkins, former Army Captain, writing in The Washington Post. 

Harry Reid has promised a vote on DA/DT repeal next week.  It won't be easy to get the 60 votes necessary to over come a fillibuster. 

Kevin McCarthy: 1914 - 2010

Handsome actor Kevin McCarthy has died in Hyannis, Mass. at the age of 96.  He was probably best known for his role in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  He played Dr. Miles Bennell, the man who ran into traffic screaming "They're not human!"  Previously, he had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Biff Loman in the 1951 production of Death of a Salesman, a role he had also played on stage in London.  He won the Golden Globe that year, for most promising male newcomer. 

He was born in Seattle.  He and his siblings, who include the author Mary McCarthy, were orphaned by the 1918 influenza epidemic and were raised by relatives.  He is survived by his wife, 6 children, 1 step-child, a brother, and 3 grandchildren.     

Monday's Man: Ryan Succop

In honor of yesterday's Gamecock victory over Georgia, I present former Gamecocks place kicker and current Kansas City Chief Ryan Succop.  It's pronounced suck-up.  Below is a picture of Ryan (on the left) practicing his kicks. I don't know who the other dude is, but I figured my readers wouldn't mind if I didn't edit him out.

Now, don't get the idea that I'm some sort of butch jock type who spends his fall glued to football on the boob toob.  Like I told Ann in comments to the previous post, I'm from the South and it's the law that we have to pull for some football team or another.  Here in Texas, I'm pretty sure that law carries the death penalty.  USC is the only school I attended that has a football team, so Go Cocks!  It's kind of fun, but this was my one game of the season.  OK, maybe I'll watch the Clemson game.   

South Carolina Gamecocks 17 - Georgia Bulldogs 6

GO COCKS!

WE LOVE OUR COCKS!

YOU CAN'T BEAT OUR COCKS!

And my favorite, from our victory over Southern California sometime during the 80s:

NO TROJAN CAN HOLD OUR COCKS!

Honestly, Carolina boys scream all of these without a hint of irony.  Except for the Trojan one.  It's kind of obvious.

I can report that my dad, who's blood runs Georgia red, was graceful in defeat.

Rachel Maddow on Christine O'Donnell

Of all the crackpots running in - and winning - Republican primaries this year, probably the freakiest of them all is Cristine O'Donnell, Republican candidate for the Senate from the great state of Delaware.  She's running against long-time Congressman Mike Castle and since he's apparently reality-based, it's a close race.  Christine thinks masturbation should be illegal (so much for being a small government candidate), and homosexuality can be cured.  In fact, she founded one of those snakeoil "ex-gay" scams called SALT.  Here's what Rachel Maddow had to say about Ms. O'D.:  

9 Years

Federal Judge Rules DA/DT Unconstitutional

A Federal judge in Riverside, CA has ruled that the military's Don't Ask/Don't tell law violates the 1st Amendment and due process rights of gays and lesbians.  Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled that the law violates free speech rights because heterosexual service members are free to state their sexual orientation while gay soldiers who do so face discharge.  DA/DT provides for discharge for "homosexual acts" which are defined so as to include speech that "indicates a propensity to engage in homosexual acts," like the words "I am gay."  When DA/DT was first being implemented, a military lawyer I knew at the time said that wording was stupid and created a needless 1st Amendment issue.  Apparently, he was right.

Judge Phillips gave a scathing critique of the gay ban noting that the military's own actions of delaying discharge of gay soldiers who are deployed demonstrates that openly gay soldiers pose no harm to military readiness.  You can read more about it here.    

Tornadoes Batter Dallas

Bands of storms for Tropical Storm Hermine hit Dallas for two days and I thought we were all going to float away.  The sun came out this afternoon and it was almost startling.  Last night, several tornadoes hit the city.  I was cooking dinner when the tornado siren started blasting.  Wes was watching the live radar on TV, so we knew it was actually about two miles away.  A friend's husband captured this footage.  He was driving near Love Field when the storm got so bad that he pulled off the road.  The twister came right for him:

 

The storm picked up an 18-wheeler and threw it into an industrial building very near where this footage was shot. 

Quote of the Day

"When this sort of thing happens, it is important to remember that about 5 percent of our population is and always will be totally crazy."

--Gail Collins, in a column about the Koran burning Florida "pastor."

I haven't talked about that guy because he's just some dumb Florida cracker who doesn't know his elbow from his asshole, but since this is apparently the biggest news story since a mid-level Department of Agriculture staffer allegedly said something racist 25 years ago, I'll throw in my two cents.

I guess if I wanted to get really famous all I'd have to do is announce that I'm going to pull some douchebag stunt?  Is that the formula?  Would it help if I lived in the sticks?  How did this guy, who leads a flock of 50, become the center of the universe?  Hell, Shirley Phelps Roper, spawn of Fred Phelps, has whined that they burned a Koran and nobody noticed.  Not that Shirl is lacking media attention, but her crowd had to protest military funerals to get anybody to notice.  They tried protesting the funerals of AIDS victims, but nobody cared.  All Pastor Mutton Chops had to do was threaten to burn Korans and the whole world flew into a tissy.  Actually, that's not completely true.  He tried generating attention with his "no homo mayor" signs last year when Craig Lowe ran for mayor of Gainsville.  He won, btw.  Obviously, homophobia is not the way to get attention.

Even President Obama has urged this guy to stand down, which I think was a mistake.  The President should stay above such things.

I suppose it's the fault of the 24-hour media culture we live in.  With competing cable news networks trying to fill so much time and a zillion news sites and blogs on this internet machine, journalism has been completely jettisoned.  I understand that this guy (I'm not going to name him) is doing something completely asinine, but my mother taught me to me to ignore crazy people doing crazy things.  Instead, he's getting  the attention he desperately craves.  The media has just created another Westboro Baptist Church and he'll keep ratcheting up the assholery to get more attention. 

How many crazies are waiting in the wings for their moment in the spotlight?

UPDATE:  The Krazy Kracker has cancelled the Koran burning.  Bizarrely, he said he had reached an agreement with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque (which isn't at Ground Zero and isn't a mosque) for the NY mosque to be re-located in exchange for the cancellation of the book burning.  Imam Rauf denied any contact with Rev. Muttonchops.  In other words, the pastor lied.  Like a dog.  Apologies to dogs. 

UPDATE II:  Keith Olbermann is reporting that the cancellation is off, which apparently means the Koran burning is on.  Maybe.  The pastor says he was "lied to," probably by the NY Imam he never talked to in the first place.  Associate pastor Wayne Sapp (an appropriate name if I've ever heard one) said the burning is not cancelled. 

Why are crazy preachers and death row inmates always named Wayne?

The world media needs to pull the plug on these clowns and leave them howling in the swamp.

Betty White is the Queen of the World

First, there was the Snickers Super Bowl commercial which spawned a successful facebook campaign to get her to host SNL.  Then there was the SAG lifetime achievement award.  She got her own new sitcom.  She won her 298th Emmy, give or take, and she got Jon Hamm to back it up for her during the opening number.  All this at age 88.  What's next?  A comic book, of course!  "Female Force: Betty White" will be produced by Bluewater Productions and will hit stores in November.

Look for a Best Supporting Actress nomination for You Again.    

Monday's Man: Jason Sudeikis

I saw the new Drew Barrymore romantic comedy, Going the Distance, over the weekend.  It wasn't bad compared to the last 30 or so Jennifer Anniston bombs, but I'd still wait for Netflix.  Or cable.  It starred adorable Drew and her adorable real life boyfriend, Justin Long, who looks about 12 even though he's obviously been working out.  Jason Sudeikis played Justin's father uncle older brother slacker buddy  who wears a 70s porn stash to pick up supposedly older ladies who actually aren't much older than he is.  I felt like the role was written for someone considerably younger, but that's OK, Jason worked the facial hair. Here he is with annoying co-star Charlie Day, teaching the young Justin a thing or two about mature women. 

Exclusive Going The Distance Redband Clip

Movies & TV
SPIKE.com

I would totally pick Sudeikis out of that line-up. 

Bonnie Blue Dies Again

Cammie King Conlon, who played the doomed Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With the Wind, has died at the age of 76 in Fort Bragg, California.  The cause of death was lung cancer.  She was only 4 when she made GWTW, but she played Bonnie Blue with confidence beyond her years.  She went on to graduate from the University of Southern California and had a career as a publicist.  She often appeared at parades, museums and retrospectives, "having fun" with her status as part of a landmark movie.  She stayed in touch with other cast members through the years and, touchingly, she took a call from Olivia de Havilland on Sunday night before dying on Wednesday. 

She is survived by two children.   There will be services in Fort Bragg, California, Los Angeles, and Marietta, GA, home of the Gone With the Wind Museum.        

Blog Recommendation of the Day

If you like smart writing, beautiful photography, and a wry understanding of the South (and how doesn't?), check out My Life a Bit South of Normal.  It's my college friend Ann Currie's creation and it won't disappoint. 

Quote of the Day

"So here's where we're at: everyone who cares about gay issues is mad at the Democrats. The homophobes are angry because the Democrats suggested that they might do something about gay rights; gays and lesbians are furious with the Democrats for failing to do something—failing to do anything—about gay rights. Since doing nothing pisses off the gay haters just as much as doing something, perhaps the Dems should've have done something and won the enthusiastic support of someone."


--Dan Savage on his lack of enthusiasm for Democrats this year.  Read it all here.

It's 09-02-10 Day

I shamelessly stole this from Joe.My.God, but celebrate appropriately.  Go to the beach, wear something from the Donna Martin Man collection, vow to remain a virgin until marriage (option may not be available to all my readers), choose a fake university over Yale, or just get all mooney over Luke Perry and Jason Priestly.  Or maybe Ian Ziering?  Brian Austin Green is probably the hottest one today. 

FOF Fights for the Right to Bully

Focus on the Homo Family may be on the verge of bankruptcy and laying people off, but they still have money to fight for the God-given right of kids to bully those dirty sissys.  They have launched a campaign to counter efforts by GLSEN to address bullying.  According to FOF spokes-bot Candi Cushman (who shares her name with at least a hundred strippers in Texas alone):

"We feel more and more that activists are being deceptive in using anti-bullying rhetoric to introduce their viewpoints, while the viewpoint of Christian students and parents are increasingly belittled."

That's funny, I was raised in a Christian household and my parents were opposed to bullying of any kind.  I don't know what kind of "Christian" Miss Candi is, but I'm very sure it is not the kind I was raised to be.

Candi's words are, of course, a complete distortion, which is a polite way of saying lie.  Eliza Byard, GLSEN Executive Director, had this to say:

"Focus on the Family has tried to discredit GLSEN's efforts to make schools safe for all students since our founding in 1990. These most recent attempts show that, once again, Focus on the Family either doesn't know what it is talking about or simply don't care about addressing bullying, or both. The policies we support - which, by the way, include protections for bullying based on religion - have been shown by years of research to make a difference in young people's lives. That is why nearly 70 national education, youth service and civil and human rights organizations endorse the Safe Schools Improvement Act. In terms of LGBT youth, we certainly hope that Focus on the Family agrees that the current environment in which nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment each year in school is simply unacceptable. But we won't hold our breath."

Finally, as usual, Dan Savage says it best:

"They bully gay teenagers to death and then point to high suicide rates among gay and lesbian teenagers as evidence that our "lifestyle" is destructive. Every dead gay teenager is a win for them."