Seven-time felon Sen. Ted Stevens was officially declared the loser in his reelection bid yesterday. This brings the Democratic count in the Senate to 58 seats, with Al Franken’s contest still to be called. And it also means that Caribou Barbie is staying in Juneau.

The economic crisis has prompted NYC’s transit authority to announce major budget and service cutbacks. The NY Daily News ticks off the damage: Positions: More than 1,500 axed – including approximately 350 administrators and managers; approximately 700 station agents and bus drivers combined. Subways W and Z lines shut down completely. No more express J-train service, makes all local stops. …

Under the title The Elijah-Jezebel Showdown, wingnut anti-gay preacher Lou Engle has posted a lengthy diatribe/sermon about Friday night’s incident in the Castro. Engle is the architect of the massive anti-gay rally at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. (The clips were sent to me by a straight Mormon woman who says she’s left her church in outrage over their assault on …

Word leaked today that Barack Obama has selected Eric Holder as his Attorney General. If the appointment is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Holder would be the first African-American to head up the U.S. Justice Department. Officials say Mr. Obama’s aides have been talking with senators to determine whether they would support the selection. At issue is Holder’s involvement in …

“The organization No On 8 failed us. Before the TV ad war started, we were up 14-17 points in the polls. Then No On 8 spent some $37 million of your money to spam the California airwaves with really lousy ads, while the other side spent a similar amount to spam the California airwaves with ads that were, whatever else …

OMFG, get out a Kleenex for this one. Yesterday on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, 7 year-old piano prodigy Emily Bear performed her original composition Once Upon A Wish for Ellen “because you got your wish and got married.” Start the clip at the 4:00 mark. I have a feeling that we’ll be hearing this song at a LOT of gay …

From the Beastie Boys Blog:Intergalactic planetary, planetary intergalactic! (Via – Good As You)

The NY Daily News reports today that the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa has called out NY Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) for blocking progress on marriage equality. El Diario: “Rev. Diaz and others are supposedly not for denying rights to gays and lesbians but believe that marriage should be between a man and woman. Yet, it’s this very discriminatory position …

Courtesy of the Karpel Group, today’s Swag Tuesday giftie is the long-awaited DVD release of Boys In The Band, the classic and ground-breaking William Friedkin film now available nationwide. A sensitive yet humorous adaptation of the stage play, this 1970 film directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) is one of the first films to openly address gay …

File this under “Boo Fucking Hoo”: Focus on the Family is poised to announce major layoffs to its Colorado Springs-based ministry and media empire today. The cutbacks come just weeks after the group pumped more than half a million dollars into the successful effort to pass a gay-marriage ban in California. Critics are holding up the layoffs, which come just …

Oh, man…this is brutal. Citigroup Inc.’s reduction of 52,000 employees announced on Monday is the second-largest job cut ever undertaken by any company on record, according to consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. Only the 1993 bloodbath at Big Blue, when IBM let go 60,000 people, was larger. Put another way, the number of jobs being eliminated at Citi is …

Is Sarah Palin getting $7M for a book deal? Via Radar Online: Sarah Palin has garnered more than fame from her failed Vice-Presidential bid. She is reportedly close to making a book deal for $7 million. “Bill Clinton made over $10 million for his deal seven years ago,” a publishing insider told Radar. “That was more than any other former …

Washington DC is bracing for an expected four million visitors for Barack Obama’s inauguration. District and federal officials are preparing for as many as 4 million people for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, a crowd that would be three or four times larger than previous big events on the Mall. Only a fraction of those people will be close …

“God keeps trying to get their attention. They, for their part, are shouting so loud for the acceptance of homosexuality, that they cannot hear the thunderous warnings of God: “Repent! For the judgment comes soon!” “Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape. “Today, people …

From Barack Obama’s site, Change.gov: Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. Barack Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or …

Yesterday California Attorney General Jerry Brown asked the state Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of Proposition 8. The attorney general, Jerry Brown, said in a brief that such a review was necessary to provide closure and clarity on the ballot measure, which has prompted protests across the country and several challenges filed with the court. “There is significant …

Over 100 high-ranking retired military officers have signed a letter demanding an end to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the hopes the Barack Obama will make a swift move to repeal the policy. More than 100 retired U.S. military leaders — including the former head of the Naval Academy — have signed a statement calling for an end to the …

I’ve posted the Woolworth Building before, but I couldn’t resist this shot I got at Saturday’s rally. More than 90 years after it was built, it’s still one of the fifty tallest buildings in country.

It’s so laughable when serial adulterers defend “traditional marriage.” Newt Gingrich: “I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think …