Dear Abby is for Gay Rights

"I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em," Jeanne Phillips (AKA Dear Abby) told The Associated Press. "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake."

She goes on to say, "If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break. That is my opinion."

Read the whole article on Gay.com here.

General Wesley Clark on The Colbert Report

General Wesley Clark states President Bush's bad leadership inspired him to write his new book.

The Advocate's 40th

The Advocate magazine is celebrating it's 40th year in publication. Their anniversary website is here.

Check out the 40 years of Gay History timeline they have compiled here.

HRC's Corporate Equality Index 2008

The annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is now available for download. Read it here.

The results? 195 companies received a perfect score -- a 41% increase from 2007. 15 of these companies appeared in the CEI for the first time.

Wal-mart slipped from 65% last year to 40% in 2008. Why? In response to conservative critics, Wal-mart no longer supports GLBT organizations. Their new stance is to not to "support or oppose highly controversial issues." Read more about Wal-mart's GLBT policies here.

The worst:

• Meijer - 0%
• Exxon Mobil - 0%
• Perot Systems Corp - 0%

Wal-mart: I don't recall those toys...

As most of us know, Congress has been having hearings about the recent toxic toy recalls. They've summoned Toys "R" Us and Mattel, which makes sense: Toys "R" Us sells 18% of the toys in the United States and Mattel is one of the largest toy distibutors in the U.S. (notice I said "distributor" and not "manufacturer." Like most companies these days, Mattel can't afford to manufacture their own toys cheap enough to sell to Wal-mart; so they outsource to Chinese factories, who outsource to other factories, etc.)

Why wasn't Wal-mart asked to be a part of the toxic toys hearings? They sell more toys in the U.S. than Toys "R" Us does; in fact, they almost sell twice as many toys. Wal-mart sells 30% of the countries toys vs. 18% at Toys "R" Us. So why wasn't Wal-mart a part of the hearings? One word: lobbying.

Read more about Wal-mart & the Congressional Safety hearings here.

Curious about the relationship between China and Wal-mart? Read more here.

Keith Olbermann calls out the Bush Administration re: 9/11

The Promotion of Failure in the Bush Administration.

Iran invasion in the near future

In a speech by President Bush on August 28, 2007, the president clues us in on his plans to invade Iran:

We meet today at a critical time for our country. America is engaged in a great
ideological struggle — fighting Islamic extremists across the globe. Today I
want to talk to you and to the American people about a key aspect of the
struggle: the fight for the future of the Middle East. I’m going to explain why
defeating the extremists in this troubled region is essential to our nation’s
security….

The other strain of radicalism in the Middle East is Shia extremism, supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran. Iran has long been a source of trouble in the region. It is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Iran backs Hezbollah who are trying to undermine the democratic government of Lebanon. Iran funds terrorist groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which murder the innocent, and target Israel, and destabilize the Palestinian territories.

Iran is sending arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which could be used to attack American and NATO troops. Iran has arrested visiting American scholars who have committed no crimes and pose no threat to their regime. And Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.

Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. And that is why the United States is rallying friends and allies around the world to isolate the regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late.

Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our
forces and the Iraqi people. Members of the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps are supplying extremist groups with funding and
weapons, including sophisticated IEDs. And with the assistance of Hezbollah,
they’ve provided training for these violent forces inside of Iraq. Recently,
coalition forces seized 240-millimeter rockets that had been manufactured in
Iran this year and that had been provided to Iraqi extremist groups by Iranian
agents. The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions
have increased in the last few months — despite pledges by Iran to help
stabilize the security situation in Iraq.

Some say Iran’s leaders are not aware of what members of their own regime are doing. Others say Iran’s leaders are actively seeking to provoke the West. Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis. The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops. I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.

Fox Noise: Dems like Bin Laden?

Raw Story does a great job of showing how Fox News tries to connect the Democrats to Bin Laden.

Read the full article here.

Make sure you check out the video clips at the bottom of the article.

We'll be back...

The gove-nator, Arnold Scwarzenegger, is set to veto the gay marriage bill that passed the California Senate 22-15. This is the second time in two years the actor-turned-politician has denied the citizens of the second-largest gay population in the nation the rights to marry.

Read the disappointment here.

HRC Candidate Forum Wrap-up

Did you miss the HRC Logo Democratic Debates (like I did)? Watch the synopsis above to catch the highlights.

And stay tuned for the update on the Republican candidates responses to their invites... I'm sure they'll say yes soon...

Cheney vs. Cheney

So, what happened between 1994 and 2003 that made invading Iraq a good idea, Mr. Cheney? It seems all of the negative outcomes of invading Iraq in 1994 are exactly what happened when your administration invaded Iraq in 2003. Did your interest in oil increase?

Gay Marriage Poll

I came across this poll on About.com regarding gay marriage, and of course I had to vote.

In the article accompanying the poll, there is a great paragraph that I must quote:

If the Christian Right were to be believed, legalized gay marriage might usher in the Apocalypse, but then again the Christian Right so often uses apocalyptic terms it's difficult to take them very seriously. Similarly grave forecasts were made about ending slavery, desegregation, interracial marriage, letting women vote, etc. Somehow, the Earth has managed to keep spinning and the sun hasn't exploded. Why imagine that gay marriage is any different?

Let your voice be heard. Vote in the poll here.

Fox Attacks: Iran

Fox News is setting up the "facts" to support an invasion into Iran? They do that kind of stuff? Please make note of the similarities between the "facts" they are touting for Iran vs. the "facts" they used for Iraq... you know, the ones that were proven false.

Click here to sign the open letter asking the other networks not to follow Fox News down the same path they did for the Iraqi War.

Talk About It

National coming out day is October 11, 2007.

This falls on the 20th anniversary of the 1987 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington and the unfurling of the AIDS Quilt on the National Mall. National Coming Out day began on October 11th of the following year as a way of continuing the spirit openness, honesty, and visibility that the march and the AIDS Quilt presentation inspired.

Do your part to keep the spirit alive.

Talk About It.

No End in Sight

Check out this clip from the movie "No End in Sight" a well-made film chronicling the current administrations policies in Iraq.

Go to the movie's website here.

The Ten (Gay Marriage) Commandments

Ten Reasons Gay Marriage is Un-American

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Hot & Fathered

The Daily Show discusses the recent $660 million "award" to those 508 persons who were abused by priests in the Los Angeles area.

Over half of the money came from insurance companies... which means the church had sexual abuse insurance...

But the church was not aware of any of this before it all came out in public... yeah, right.

Michael Moore's next movie: Gay Rights?

Michael Moore has mentioned his next movie may be about gay rights. (article here)

“If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all, especially for people most affected by bigotry and discrimination, then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society.”

Can I buy a ticket to the movie now?

Another Republican in a sex scandal? What are the odds?

Yup, "Republican" and "sex scandal" are wed yet again... and this time, it's even one of those evil same-sex marriages.

You heard me correct; Florida state Representative Bob Allen (R) was charged last week for offering to perform oral sex on a male undercover officer for $20. (article here) Did I mention he is co-chair of John McCain's campaign in Florida?

Which is worse in the eyes of the right wing: performing an act of sodomy or being a prostitute? I'm guessing the combination of the two is grounds for being shot in the face by Dick Cheney.