Yearly Archives: 2008

Diaz Steps Up The Hate

Anti-gay New York Sen. Ruben Diaz, the ringleader of New York’s now-infamous “Gang Of Three” dissident Democratic senators, has been distributing the flyer below to the press, apparently in reaction to criticism from gay rights and labor groups.Via New York Magazine: It appears that Ruben “I hate gay people more than I like getting things done” Diaz Sr. is beginning …

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O’Donnell Interviews For Clinton Seat

Openly gay NY state Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell interviewed with Gov. Paterson yesterday for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. To say Mr. O’Donnell, known for his active support of gay rights issues, including same-sex marriage, was overly optimistic about his chances would be a stretch. He put his odds of getting the seat at about one in 10, or “about the same …

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Buzzed

Australian scientists gave cocaine to bees and discovered that while high the bees acted just like human cokeheads. “When foraging honeybees discover a particularly good source of pollen or nectar, they fly back to the hive and perform a symbolic dance for their nest mates,” said Dr Andrew Barron. “This is a specialised form of communication to tell their nest …

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Bill Kristol Thinks He’s A Poetry Critic

From Bill Kristol’s op/ed piece in the NY Times: Obama has selected Yale’s Elizabeth Alexander to compose and read a poem. I still remember watching Maya Angelou read “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 — and thinking that American culture really was in a state of irreversible decline, as she indulged in that multicultural cataloguing …

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Morning View – Slave Memorial

In 1991, excavation for a new office tower in lower Manhattan revealed a centuries-old burial ground for the slaves of New Yorkers, grim testament to the nearly 200 years that slavery was legal here. An estimated 15,000 Africans are buried on the seven acre site, which in those days was just outside of the city limits as slave cemeteries were …

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Year-End Swag Tuesday

As is tradition, the final Swag Tuesday prize for the year is the JMG Mystery Box O’ Swag. Contained therein is an assortment of items that were never offered as prizes or are extra copies of earlier giveaways this year. I haven’t counted it up yet, but there should be a least two dozen items in total – books, CDs, …

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AIDS Denialist Christine Maggiore Dies Of The Disease She Claimed Doesn’t Exist

Christine Maggiore, the notorious AIDS denialist who barely escaped felony charges in 2006 after her baby died untreated for HIV, has herself succumbed to the disease she claimed did not exist. Maggiore, 52, was founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, a nonprofit that challenges “common assumptions” about AIDS. Her group’s website and toll-free hotline cater to expectant HIV-positive mothers …

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Prop 8 Backlash Spurs Calls To End Donation Disclosure Laws

Last month the gays justifiably dug into the public records on who donated to Proposition 8, resulting in protests, boycotts and a handful of people losing their jobs. The haters screamed bloody murder (even though their side used the tactic as well) and now there’s a call to repeal laws that require political donations be public. From an op/ed piece …

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Lesbian Couple Wins NJ Discrimination Suit

Last year a lesbian couple sued after a church group in Ocean Grove, New Jersey refused to let them hold their wedding at a beach pavilion that they had regularly been renting to the public. The case is routinely trumpeted by the Christianist right as an example of how same-sex marriage will trample religious freedom. Today the women won their …

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Thousands Of Gifts For Bristol’s Baby

Wasn’t Bristol Palin supposed to have a baby ten days ago? She’d better hurry because the baby presents are piling up. According to an interview with her grandfather, Bristol and the baby have already received thousands of presents from around the world, in fact he estimates they’ve gotten over 100,000 packages and letters. Seriously. Meanwhile the details of the drug …

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Dick Cheney Doesn’t Know Why Everybody Thinks He’s A Complete Douche Nozzle

Dick Cheney has an approval rating of 29% and he says he doesn’t know why. From his hometown newspaper, the Casper Star-Tribune: How do you explain your low approval rating? “I don’t have any idea. I don’t follow the polls. My experience has been over the years that if you govern based upon poll numbers, upon trying to improve your …

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Virginity Pledgers More Like To Get Knocked Up

So much for those creepy purity balls and abstinence pledge cards. Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today. The new analysis …

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All Dogs Go To Heaven

Charles Blow has an interesting opinion piece in the NY Times about the Pew Forum’s recent survey which surprisingly shows that 70% of Americans believe that people from religions other than theirs (and even atheists) can go to heaven. One very plausible explanation is that Americans just want good things to come to good people, regardless of their faith. As …

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NH House To Get Marriage Bill

On January 7th, openly gay New Hampshire state Rep. Jim Splaine will introduce an amendment to change that state’s recent civil union law into one that provides for full marriage equality. When legislators meet in 2009, there will be several bills to consider that deal with civil unions and gay marriage. State Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, submitted a bill asking …

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On Hulu: The Times Of Harvey Milk

Towleroad tips us that the Oscar-winning documentary The Times Of Harvey Milk is up on Hulu. So here it is.

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Please Don’t Divorce Us

The Courage Campaign is soliciting submissions for their “Please Don’t Divorce Us” photo essay. Infamous prosecutor Ken Starr has filed a legal brief — on behalf of the “Yes on 8” campaign — to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California between May and November of 2008. It’s time to put a face to Ken Starr’s shameful legal proceedings. …

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In Which New York Joins The EU

The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian media is giving a lot of attention to a local academic who is predicting that the United States will collapse by 2010 in a civil war brought about by “mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation.” Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean …

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HomoQuotable – Anderson Cooper

“Rachel Maddow is an incredible talent — she’s funny, and smart, obviously well researched on subjects. I’m just not interested as a viewer in listening to anchors’ opinions. It seems like there’s an awful lot of yelling, and this year yelling’s been replaced by sarcasm and snarkiness.” Anderson Cooper, taking a swipe at Rachel Maddow in an interview by Choire …

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Morning View – Subway Diva

In 2004 artist Nancy Spero installed a series of tile murals in the subway station under Lincoln Center. This one’s my favorite, see the rest here.

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But Will He Still Get The Job?

Here’s the audio of Barack, The Magic Negro, the song that RNC chair hopeful Chip Saltsman sent out to his friends as a Christmas gift. The GOP leadership is reportedly horrified and embarrassed by Saltsman’s action. A leading contender to become chairman of the Republican Party has left senior officials horrified after he distributed a CD featuring a parody song …

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