The last photo is from today’s Israeli Day Parade. The Farmboyz and I watched from Fifth Avenue for an hour or so, but after two or three dozen yeshivas had gone by, the thrill was gone. There were some floats, including one bearing the only Israeli WNBA player, but otherwise it was a rather sedate event, as NYC parades go. …

In today’s On Language column, William Safire is taken to task for having referred to Harrison Ford, 64, as “middle-aged.” A reader points out, “If he were literally middle-aged, then he could expect to live to 128.” I’m reminded of my 36th birthday, when my mother called with good wishes and to welcome me to middle-age, because the life expectancy …

Since today seems to be Hookers In The News Day, you might be amused to learn that Jeff Gannon/Guckert is now the spokesho for the International Bible Reading Association. It’s a crazy world, somebody outta sell tickets. I’d buy one!

For the first time, Brazil will ignore patent laws and manufacture a generic version of an HIV medication, citing the World Trade Organization’s “compulsory license” mechanism that allows a country to bypass a drug patent in a health emergency or if the manufacturer uses abusive pricing. The medication is Merck’s Sustiva, a powerful non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which Merck offered …

Microsoft and Yahoo! are in merger talks, with Microsoft reportedly prepared to offer $50 billion for Yahoo, in a move seen as a challenge to Google’s dominance of internet advertising. Last month Google further entrenched at the pole position when it purchased branded placement experts DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. A merged Microsoft/Yahoo would still trail Google in search market share, …

NYC Eagle, Thursday, 11pm At a birthday party on the Eagle’s rooftop, I ran into a recent acquaintance. Joe: Oh, hi. Nice to see you again, you’re looking good. Guy: Thanks, I’ve just started on testosterone. Joe: Oh, really? Are you taking the gel stuff or getting shots? Guy: The shots. Joe (shuddering): Yikes, do you have somebody giving them …

In a seemingly pointless move, the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column has outed an employee of the Israeli consulate at the United Nations as a gay porn actor, after tricking administrative worker Dror Barak into revealing his sideline career as a “model” and budding porn actor. Although Barak specified that he did not escort, he did solicit a …

Yesterday Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed a repeal of the 2002 authority Congress gave Bush to invade Iraq, joining Sen. Robert Bird in a call to end that authority by Oct. 11th, the 5th anniversary of the original vote. Analysts believe that such a repeal would undoubtedly become an issue for the federal courts, as it would raise constitutional issues about …

Yesterday Oregon’s Senate approved a domestic partnership bill that will give the state’s gay couple most of the rights of full marriage. The bill is expected to be signed into law next week by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Oregon will join New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Hampshire as one of the five states to offer civil unions to gay couples. …

Riverside Church, in Morningside Heights near Columbia University, was finished in 1933 and has the world’s largest carillon, including the world’s largest cast and tuned bell, at 20 tons. The tower is 22 stories tall and is modeled on a 13th century gothic cathedral in Chartes, France. Normally church architecture leaves me kinda “meh”, but I like the Riverside because …

A 2/3 majority would be needed in both the House and Senate to override Dubya’s possible veto of the Hate Crimes Act, which the bill’s backers do not think they can achieve. Although his senior advisors are recommending a veto, historically, the Decider has been very hesitant to use his veto privilege, so we might still have a chance. In …

Here is the result of the just completed House vote on the Hate Crimes Act, HR 1592: Democratic: Yes: 212 No: 14 Republican: Yes: 25 No: 166 Total: Yes: 237 No: 180 To applause and a few cheers, from the podium, Barney Frank exhulted, “The bill is passed!” Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese: “This is a historic day that …

From the It Can’t Get Weirder department comes news that former NJ gov Jim McGreevey now wants to become an Episcopal priest. McGreevey, raised Catholic, has been accepted into the faith at Manhattan’s St. Bartholemew’s, where he is in the “discernment” phase, which usually preceeds entering a seminary. Considering the gov’s turnpike rest stop history, he certainly has experience working …

Blogs are buzzing this morning after a gay couple in the Fort Lauderdale airport heard the following intercom announcement at the baggage carousel: “‘A man who lies with another man as he would a woman is subject to death.” The announcement, which came at 12:45am, was repeated several minutes later. I wrote to a friend who runs one of the …

Wednesday, 7pm, the S trainPreppie Girl 1: So my parents are making me spend the summer with my grandparents in Switzerland. Preppie Girl 2: Oh, I didn’t know your family was from Germany. Preppie Girl 1: They’re not. Switzerland is like, in France..

Rosie O’Donnell has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. I’d been more impressed if the list didn’t include such opinion makers and shakers as Kate Blanchett and Justin Timberlake. But still, we have an out, angry, politically active gay person on the list and that makes me happy.

Shelter Kitty has turned into a competely wacky, manic, galloping, nuzzling, purr monster. Which suits me perfectly. Her socialization took about 48 hours and now she can’t bear to be more than 10 feet away from me, which isn’t that hard in a studio apartment. Her hobbies are chirping, laying in her windowsill sun bed, stalking the pigeons outside my …

I have lost one of my “top eight” MySpace friends, for the moment. Barack Obama’s campaign has wrestled control of the MySpace page being operated by one of his supporters after they decided that with more than four times more “friends” than the other candidates, it would be best if the page were run by his actual campaign staff. A …

The complaint box is open..

Today is the last day to call your representative and urge their support of the LGBT-inclusive hate crimes act. Late last night, the measure passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and now goes to a vote before the full House chamber tomorrow. As I mentioned yesterday, right-wingnuts are deluging Congress with calls and backers of the bill are becoming …