Morning Roundup

Iraq is at a violent and "precarious juncture," while al-Qaeda is significantly expanding its global reach, effectively immune to the loss of leaders in battle, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte told Congress yesterday. He also warned that the Taliban is mounting a vigorous insurgency in Afghanistan, that Pakistan has become a safe haven for top terrorists and that Iran's growing regional power is threatening Middle East stability.

-- Intelligence Chiefs Pessimistic In Assessing Worldwide Threats

BAGHDAD, Jan. 11 -- A few hours before another mission into the cauldron of Baghdad, Spec. Daniel Caldwell's wife instant-messaged him Thursday morning. President Bush, Kelly wrote, wanted to send more than 20,000 U.S. troops and extend deployments in Iraq. Eight weeks pregnant, she was worried.

Caldwell, a tall, lean 20-year-old from Montesano, Wash., wondered whether he would miss the birth of his child. He walked outside and joined his comrades of Apache Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Stryker Brigade. They, too, had heard the news.

Moments before he stepped into his squad's Stryker -- a large, bathtub-shaped vehicle encased in a cage -- Caldwell echoed a sentiment shared by many in his squad: "They're kicking a dead horse here. The Iraqi army can't stand up on their own."

- -- U.S. Unit Patrolling Baghdad Sees Flaws in Bush Strategy

Just Because

I found this photo of our son while looking for something else...his Pappa and I were taking him on a hike of Manassas battlefield last spring and it was a warm day. We took our shirts off. A short time later, he decided he needed to be shirtless too.

Six Degrees of Dan

It seems like everywhere I go everyone knows Dan Kaufman.

My former boss knows him. A friend I met for dinner tonight knows him. Someone else I know emailed me to say that Dan designed those well-known bumper stickers we love: Hate is NOT a Family Value. The Christian Right is Neither.

Don't know if that last part is true or not but it's what I was told. And it just seems that every day since I put up my first Dan Kaufman post everyone has been talking to me about him.

When My Partner Does Well at the Gym

My partner, my long term relationship of nearly 20 years (a.k.a the LTR) always has an intersting way of expressing himself.

He's a competitive powerlifter and won the silver medal for bench press in his age and weight class in the Gay Games in Chicago this past summer. He set the state record for bench press in VA, also in his age and weight class.

I come home tonight from dinner with a friend to find him elated -- he put up 315 pounds, twice, in the decline bench, the most he's ever done (that's three 45 pound plates on each side of the bar).

So what's he doing to celebrate? Dancing around the house, singing and listening on his IPOD to Shania's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman."

You go, LTR!

Romney vs. Romney

I guess the Republicans learned a lesson from George Allen. Here's Romney v. Romney thank to Youtube.

The Weak Spot in Bush's Plan

is this (from the Post):

Bush and his top advisers said they expect their new approach to succeed where previous ones failed because of a new commitment from Maliki to provide resources and crack down on violent sectarian militias, even Shiite ones. But they are placing great faith in an untested Iraqi government that has not yet demonstrated a capacity to bridge the sectarian divisions that have caused an upsurge in violence over the past year.

Seems like a big gamble to me.

Romeny has a Good Day

Eyeon08 has a good review of Romeny's early success in the GOP nomination. And overall it's a good sight for the scoop on the Republican nomination.

Iraqi Veep: Don't Give Up on Us!

Tariq al-Hishimi, the Iraqi veep, has an op-ed in today's WashPo imploring Americans not to give up on Iraq.

But he wants us to peg our endurance (not to mention the lives of our troops) on: the success of the Iraqi soccer team in the Asian finals. Quote of note:

During the Asian Games in Qatar last month, Iraq became quiet, if only for a few hours. Citizens united as brothers behind the national soccer team, which against all odds fought its way to the finals. The team didn't battle for a militia or a sect but for an idea -- the nation of Iraq. The players didn't win the medal but gained something far greater: They won us hope. From children on the streets to politicians to parents, we were all one, and we were all Iraqi. This tells me that all is not lost, that a deep-rooted sense of nationalism still lies within all Iraqis, and that it can and must be rekindled.

Well.

I don't deny the power of sports to instill national pride. Any American old enough to remember 1980 can't forget the "Miracle on Ice" when the underdog US hockey olympic team took the gold over the Soviet Union's favored team.

But, asking Americans to spill blood based on "a few hours" of soccer pride is a bit much. We need proof that the current Iraqi government is more than sectarian thugs in power.

And yes, by all means, let the "deep rooted sense of nationalism" that "lies within the Iraqi people" be "rekindled" -- but that's something that must come from Iraqis and be led by their leaders. It can't come from the point of an American gun. Show us your government is up to that challenge, Mr. Hashimi, and you'll show us something we can support. It has to be more than your soccer team.

The Washington Post Requests Scott's Take Readers To Help Dan Find Love

I posted earlier about a Washington Post series called Date Lab, where random people are sent on blind dates to then have their experiences reported on in the paper. One such person was Dan Kaufman (pictured left), a friend of a friend. As I wrote earlier, Dan's first blind date went well, (you can read about it here) but didn't result in a romantic match.

Well, Dan has been selected to be a candidate for a second chance, if readers make him one of the top vote getters. I made a pitch for him because, if he gets selected, a charity of his choice (in this case the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington) gets a donation from the Post. I think that's a worthy cause.

I said you didn't have to want to date him to vote for him.

To which one of the Washington Post editors for the date lab left the following comment on this blog:

Hi there. I'm one of the editors the WPost Mag's Date Lab. We definitely appreciate the item on the re-Date contest, and Dan is indeed ahead right now. One important thing: While it's true you don't have to want to date Dan to vote, we do want encourage matchmaking. I mean, wouldn't it be great if aside from helping him contribute to charity, we could find him true love? The more nominations, the likelier it is. So c'mon folks: The perfect guy is out there--let's find 'im for Dan!

I figure if the Washington Post needs my help to find Dan a perfect match, who am I to say no?

See, you can not only vote for Dan to get a second date, you can nominate someone to be the potential perfect match he will go out on a date with.

From what I've been able to glean about Dan from the Post story:

• He's 41
• He's lived in DC for 18 years.
• He has his own business which supports gay causes and organizations
• Has a great smile
• Likes Las Vegas
• Playful and adventurous
  
• Prefers an average to muscular build but not gym bots
• He likes Remingtons (a DC gay C-W bar), or meeting guys there
• Wants someone understanding and caring who is clean and organized.

Hmm? Dennis Weaver maybe?


So Dan, if you're reading this -- and you bloody well should be as it's 10:25 pm, I haven't had my dinner yet and I'm writing about you to help you get laid find romance -- give us more to go on here.

"O Star

The fairest one in sight..."

From NASA's "picuture of the day:"

'Pushing the limits of its powerful vision, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope uncovered the oldest burned-out stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. These extremely old, dim "clockwork stars" provide a completely independent reading on the age of the universe.

The ancient white dwarf stars, as seen by Hubble, are 12-13 billion years old. Because earlier Hubble observations show that the first stars formed less than 1 billion years after the universe's birth in the big bang, finding the oldest stars puts astronomers well within arm's reach of calculating the absolute age of the universe.'"

The quotation is from Robert Frosts poem, "Take Something Like a Star, which is one of my favorites and is what I recite to myself when I get too worked up about something:

O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud -
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says, "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may take something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.

Gators Eat the Buckeyes

The LTR, a die-hard OSU fan and alumn, is moping about this news.

Charlotte's Web before the 12-Step Program

A New Idea for the Bathroom

The new Fish-N-Flush.

I could go for it if I could train the fish to nudge the flapper thing closed when it sticks so the toilet doesn't run.

via Best Gay Blogs. And if you link over there scroll down to find Reese.

Quote of the Day

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices."

-- Voltaire

Sex at Columbia University

Bjorn posted a link to a New York Daily News article with the headline "Wild Sex 101."

It's about the S&M, sex toys and nude and sex parties that go on at one of the nation's most elite schools, sometimes on school property.

The article details one such party:

Late on the night of Nov. 13, a Daily News reporter sat in room 303 of Hamilton Hall, a venerable classroom building where Columbia students have studied Poe, Plato and Plutarch for nearly 100 years.

As a female student volunteer stood facing the blackboard, and two dozen Columbians watched, a lecturer who identified himself only as Dov flogged her repeatedly with leather whips, rubber hoses - and a cat-o'-nine-tails.

As unusual as that may sound, there really isn't much shocking here-- you'd expect kids with raging hormones to be raging sex fiends. I remember the existence of a co-ed nude study group on campus when I was a student. There were probably S&M clubs but I was too naive at the time to have noticed them.

But the real surprise of the article is buried at the end. Quote of Note:

So does anything go at Columbia? Actually, no. Flogging and bondage are accepted, but the school apparently draws the line at another form of communication between the sexes: love letters.

They were good enough for Cleopatra, who sent them to Mark Antony, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who exchanged them with his wife, Zelda. But Columbia University Health Services lists love letters as a form of nonphysical sexual harassment, according to its Web site.

Let me see if I got this right: I can flog my significant other in front of the student body, on school property, but I can't send him a love letter after?

Gimme a break.

Queer as Nature

And that's why birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Homosexuality is as natural as nature. That's the conclusion of Bruce Bagemihl's book, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.

Quote of note:

Bagemihl had scoured every scientific journal and paper he could lay his hands on for references to homosexuality in animals. Tucked away at the end of long and erudite texts, or consigned to footnotes and appendices, he found that homosexuality had been observed in no fewer than 1,500 species, and well documented in 500 of them. The earliest mention of animal homosexuality probably came 2,300 years ago when Aristotle described two female hyenas cavorting with each other.

The Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, has an exhibit devoted to this topic.

Just doin what come naturally...

More on Faith

During my grandmother's funeral the pastor made the statements you would expect about life after death and being united with departed loved ones in heaven. As I've noted before, I tend to think this is a convenient conceit thought up by humans as preferable to oblivion.

But I don't know. And I want to know more. During the ride back to DC from the funeral, my cousin, who is getting her graduate degree in theology at American University as she prepares to be a minister, shared a book summarizing the world's three major religions.

During Christmas I read a book by Daniel Helminiak, "What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality." During the course of reading that book I pulled out a bible and re-read parts I had long forgotten.

Two digressions:

1) I live in a haunted house. Meaning -- both the LTR and I (and houseguests) have experienced phenomena that can't be explained, like the sound of a woman's voice, footsteps on the floor when no one is there, strange behavior by the dogs acting as if another was present, and, for two houseguests, an apparition. I don't know what to make of all this, but I have heard things in this house that I can't explain. I have therefore witnessed phenomena that could support claims of an afterlife.

2) This has been a tough year for me and I'm lately struggling with debilitating anxiety. Starting my own business was in so many ways freeing but it also put enormous pressure on me. There is no steady paycheck and success or failure is 100 percent my responsibility. That pressure, coupled with my tendency for self-doubt, has sometimes created periods where I am so anxious I can do nothing. I started taking an anxiety medication and it is helping me cope, but it doesn't erase the nagging questions in my mind about whether I am up to the task at hand and able enough to be successful.

With that in mind, the other day I was walking the dogs and a garbage truck went by. On the tailgate was painted: Jerimiah 29:11. I focused on it, wondering what the significance was to that particular verse and thought I should look it up when I got home. Of course, I forgot.

Then, this morning, I was surfing the web, and happened over to a blog called Straight Not Narrow.

I read through a few posts then came across one focused on .....Jerimiah 29:11.

'For I know the plans that I have for you,'' declares the Lord, ''Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future. Then you will call upon Me and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and FIND Me when you seek Me with ALL of your heart.''

This verse seemed oddly relevant to what is happening in my life and my inner mind at the moment that I couldn't believe that I had randomly come across it twice in as many days. Coincidence? I don't know. Or is it like a horoscope where you can read whatever meaning you wish in the prediction. I don't know.

But it sure makes me wonder.

Taking Down the Christmas Tree Music

I was trying to decide what music to play to accompany the ritual destruction of the Christmas tree. The soundtrack for decorating is simple enough -- this year Bette's new Christmas album and the inevitable Rosemary Clooney "White Christmas." What to play while taking it down?

I settled on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. It works.

Happy Trails to You

I'm pretty traditional when it comes to weather...I like the winters to be cool and the summers to be hot. When those things get reversed my system goes a little out of kilter.

Still, the best thing about yesterdays temps topping 70 was....

Shirtless joggers!
And plenty of them too on the Rock Creek Park trail.

The next best thing to a shirtless jogger is that move joggers do to wipe sweat off their faces, by lifting their shirts up to their brow, briefly exposing a hot, sweaty mid-section and, if you're lucky, a hot sweaty happy trail.

Speaking of happy trails, as an avid biker I'm constantly amazed and horrified by the careless and dangerous behavior of pedestrians on the trial. Yes, yes, I know bikers can be reckless and dangerous but I'm a biker and this is my blog so we're going to focus on peds.

1) Walk on the right. I know it may seem safer to walk on the left and thereby face oncoming traffic, but that move will get you tangled up in someone's spokes for sure on a trail as winding as Rock Creek. There are too many blind curves and I've come close to taking out several peds who were walking on "my" side as we both rounded a corner heading straight into each other.

2) Don't walk in the middle. I have no idea then which way you are going to move as I pass.

3) If you must listen to music as you walk, keep the volume down enough so you can hear my audible warning as I pass.

4) If you hear my audible warning this means you should move over, instead of thinking that the pretty bell sound and "passing left" are just things I do for my own amusement,

5) Don't cross in the middle of the street. I can't see you step out between two parked SUVs until I hit you. And in city traffic I have little margin for error.

6) And whenever possible, jog shirtless.

Purge the Surge

I've come around to the conclusion that a surge makes no sense -- not just because the commanders don't want it but because there's no political goal it would serve.

By political I don't mean politics here at home, I'm talking Iraqi politics. It seems to me that military goals must be in sync with political goals. And the political goals of the al-Maliki government appear, as shown by the state sponsored lynching of Saddam, are sectarian violence, obviously something we can't support (or condone).

I'm moving closer and closer to the conclusion for some type of orderly withdrawal (I'll use the word, even if Speaker Pelosi won't). The Iraqis will have to determine the fate of their country. The blood-soaked lesson we've come to is that you can remove a dictator with force. But you can't force Democracy on a people. They have to want it and work towards it. And they don't appear to want it.

Hell, 200 years on and we still haven't got it right.

What Musical Are You?

Take the quiz and find out what musical you are (Dean, this is for you!)

I was (horror) Chorus Line:

"You're A Chorus Line! You're wild, kinky, and love dance. Music is your life. You've had a dramatic past, but then again, who hasn't?"

Dramatic past? Hardly. And everyone knows I can't dance.

Your Nation's Capital

The Post has a good graphic of DC.

Note two stats in particular: 395,926 registered voters -- 1.36 million parking tickets issued. The ONE thing the DC govt does most efficiently is issue tickets. The parking Nazi who patrols my 'hood has to be DC's most dedicated public servant. I see her every morning, right on time, writing tickets as I walk the dogs in the morning then again in the evening.

Handball Tournament

Yesterday's hunk of the week got me intrigued about Handball. Turns out the sport has been around a long time. Quote of note from the International Handball Federation:

The sport of handball as it is played today certainly has a chequered history. The very fact that man has always been more adept at using his hands than his feet lends credibility to the claim made by famous sports historians that he started playing handball much earlier than, say, football.

The 2007 International Handball Tournament will take place next month in Stuttgart, Germany. Our hunk of the week, Kristian Kjelling, (who can also be seen here) plays for the Norway team, which is expected to finish second.

Gays Can't Get Married, Straights Can't Divorce

If the Family Foundation of Virginia gets their way.

Let's see:

1) Two people who love each other can't have their releationship legally recognized if they are of the same sex; and,

2) If you're straight and married and hate each other you can't be legally separated.

Yep, makes sense to me.

As Will stated on Metro Weekly's Mincing Words blog:

I hope that majority of Virginia voters who were willing to trample on the rights of same-sex commonwealth couples will be as eager to rein in their own personal freedoms. Here’s to the Family Foundation of Virginia getting everything it wants in 2007!

Send Dan on a Re-Date to help the Gay Men's Chorus

This is Dan Kaufman, a friend of a friend.

The Washington Post, says Dan, "sent me and Robert Falk on a blind date back in October, and they interviewed us and wrote about it in the Sunday Magazine a few weeks ago. The date was nice, and Robert and I got along great--there just wasn't any romantic interest."

And Now:

"they asked me back, with a twist. Instead of a completely blind date, if I'm chosen as the guy who gets to go out on a second date, I'll get to choose from 3 candi-dates. But more important than that is the fact that, if I'm the top male vote-getter, they'll donate $500 to my favorite local charity. I chose the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, as I've been a member of this amazing group for 16 years and I think the mission of the group is spot-on: "To entertain through excellent musical performance, to affirm the place of Gay people in society, and to educate about the Gay experience."

You don't have to date him (though you can apply for that with the Post if you wish), all you have to do is vote for him, by clicking here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/datelab/redate/index.html

The friend who sent this to me notes Dan was also active with the local Names Project (AIDS Memorial Quilt) here in DC.

Cooler Temps on the Way. But Will They Stay?

Forecasters predict cooler temps by the 15th for the East Coast...but don't agree if we'll stay cool.

I want snow.

Madonna -- a True Conservative

If you really listen to the lyrics of Madonna's songs you can only come to the conclusion she's an arch-conservative!

That's the conclusion of Juste Mileu. The top three most conservative songs:

1. Like a Virgin. A chastity promise set to music, this hit glorifies virginity and reminds us that born-again virgins can be just as chaste—and sexy—as any other kind. In this song, Madonna teaches us that a saving oneself can be a struggle, but it is worth it when you find that one true love: “I made it through the wilderness/Somehow I made it through/Didn't know how lost I was/Until I found you”

2. Papa Don’t Preach. In this battle cry against big government, she’s not going to let those nanny liberals talk her into an abortion: “I’ve made up my mind/ I’m keeping my baby. Ooh. I’m gonna keep my baby. Ooh, yeah.”

3. Music. The bourgeoisie and the rebel come together to dance. Take that Karl Marx.

Go here for the full list (hat tip: Madge fan A.D.)

DC Gay Marriage Watch

Chris Crain points out in his blog the main obstacle to gay marriage in DC. Quote of Note:

But the political support [for same sex marriage] in Washington is far more solid. Adrian Fenty, a Democrat sworn in as mayor on Jan. 2, is on record supporting full marriage, as did his predecessor. So does a clear majority of the D.C. Council, which includes one openly gay Democrat and one openly gay Republican who turned independent in 2004 after President Bush pushed for a federal marriage amendment.

Believe it or not, in Washington, D.C., of all places, the politicians aren't the problem. It's the gays — or more accurately, the local gay activists. Or to put it even more accurately, the few local and very vocal gay activists who make up the D.C. Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance.

Read the whole post here.

The next move is Fenty's - let's see if he'll act on his stated support for gay marriage, or if he'll use GLAA's reticence as an excuse not to, the same as his predecessor did.

DC Schools

This fight will be good, if both sides in the debate go beyond who's in charge and talk specifics about what will be done to improve DC's miserable public schools.

I'm inclined to favor Fenty's mayoral takeover as I think something drastic needs to be done and putting the power and clout of the mayor's office behind school reform -- not to mention Fenty's political future -- seems to be the right step.

Friday Meat of the Week

Kristian Kjelling -- Norwegian Hand Ball athlete.

Via Bjorn and Brun og Blid

Hand ball?

Russian Rocket Lights Night Sky over Denver

Video here.

Why didn't Pat warn us?

Condoms at Reagan National

Over at MetrobloggingDC Carl wonders why there are condom machines in the men's room at Reagan National.

It might be for guys like this one.

With all the security, how does someone manage a hookup at an airport?

Full disclosure: I've never had sex at an airport, or on an airplane. I will admit to thinking about it in those places, especially that time I was sitting next to the muscular black-haired dude in a tight black tee shirt that one time en route to La Guardia.

UPDATE: So, I couldn't resist. I emailed the guy who posted the craigslist ad, linked above. I posed my question to him. And, he responded with the answer, a "private" spot at DCA. And no, I don't intend to "use" this information. My interest is purely prurient intellectual. And, btw, the guy wasn't successful.

Al Qaeda Mormans and Mormons on Mormons

Average Gay Joe has two funny video clips lampooning Mormon conformity and Al Qaeda recruitment efforts.

Quote of note:

"Wow, that buns of steel thing is really paying off..."

Here and here.

Martin Scorsese's Sesame Street

If Scorsese had directed (via the other 42 year old blogging Scott Barker):

Warning: Foul language from the large fowl and other characters!

The Reason for the Weather

Here's the reason why there is no snow falling on the Capitol dome in the nation's capital and the principle reason NE US school principals are not having to call school for snow.

But whether the weather is warm or cold, two grammatical corrections in one day is too much, though I will always try to hear the feedback of my readers as long as I'm here.

:-p

Oh the Weather Outside is

mild.

15 degrees above average and expected to rise by the weekend.

The LTR and I both want snow, but the only flakes to be seen in the nation's capitol capital are the ones at both ends of Pennsylvania Ave.

God to Robertson: U.S. to be Attacked

via Christopher:

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday that God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a "mass killing" late in 2007.

Okay.

But later in the story, commenting on previous revelations from God that didn't pan out (like a tsunami striking the U.S. in 06), Robertson says:

"I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss."

Huh? Since he says God tells him these things doesn't he mean God missed? Or -- wait -- maybe he means sometimes he doesn't really understand what he thinks God is telling him.

Now, there's a thought.

Thomas Jefferson's Koran

Rep. Elect-Keith Ellison -- you remember him, the newly elected representative from Minnesota who happens to be Muslim and who will place his hand on the Koran, not the bible during his swearing-in ceremony -- will use a special Koran, one owned by Thomas Jefferson.

That surely won't blunt the attacks of right wing Christian mongrel Virgil Goode, who has attacked Ellison for daring to have religious beliefs different than his own and having the audacity to want to take an oath using a book of personal religious significance to himself instead of the book that Goode prefers. In fact, Goode wants to go so far as make it illegal for any book other than the Bible to be used in Congress.

The use of Jefferson's Koran is a delicious bit of irony and symbolism.

It's kind of hard for religious nutjobs like Goode to get past Jefferson. When they talk about the Founding Fathers they have to exclude Jefferson, who does not fit into their picture of American leadership:

• Jefferson doubted the divinity of Jesus and in fact wrote his own version of the Gospel.
• He wrote that the "pursuit of happiness" was an inalienable right, a right that Goode and his ilk spend a great deal of their time and money trying to keep the rest of us from pursuing.
• He based his beliefs and values on a close study of science and history.
• He believed and fought for the separation of church and state (he coined that phrase) and wrote Virginia's bill for religious freedom, an accomplishment he ranked with having authored the Declaration of Independence
• And, his personal life was a bit messy, having children outside of marriage and conducting an affair with a married French woman.

All in all, America's greatest founding father.

Rep.-elect Ellison is quite right, and should be quite proud, to put his hand on President Jefferson's Koran.

Up in Smoke

After working out at the gym, I stopped at JR's -- one of DC's many gay watering holes -- and enjoyed a smoke-free drink.

DC's smoking ban went into effect with the new year which means no more smoking in DC bars...however one may feel about that, it is nice to stop for a drink then come home without reeking of smoke.

BTW, one of the hottest bartenders in DC works at JR's. Pity his pic is not on the staff area of the JR's Web site.

Don't Forget Your Promises to Gays, Mayor Fenty

Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff has a good piece in the Washington Post, reminding Adrian Fenty, who will be sworn in today as DC's new mayor, of the promises he made to the gay community during his election campaign. Primarily this one:

"I believe that the government should never discriminate against people because of who they are. The state should make it possible for every committed couple to obtain an official civil marriage with all of the legal rights and responsibilities that married heterosexual couples currently enjoy."

Civil recognition of same sex marriage has never been pursued in the district because Congress has the right to step in and override the will of the people here, a galling situation given we have no elected representative who can actually vote in Congress (though this may be changing). Local gay activists, primarily the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), have argued against legalizing civil same sex marriage because it would antagonize the Republican Congress. Naff points out that objection no longer exists.

Mayor Fenty has plenty of issues that should top his agenda, including take over of the school system which should be his top priority. But let's hope he doesn't forget this promise.

My prediction, though, is nothing will come of it. DC is too conservative to be on the forefront of social change. I hope to be surprised. But I suspect that the new Democratic leaders in Congress won't want to have to deal with this issue in 2008, once again proving the Democrats will take our money and our votes but refuse to take risks on our behalf. If that happens, hopefully our gay rights organizations will spurn their natural instincts to roll over for the Democratic party and will actually try to hold them accountable to their promises.

Holiday Highlights

Won't bore you all with the details of the last nine days, but some highlights:

1) Hearing my 27-month old son say "Merry Christmas, Daddy" for the first time
2) Having my own father hug me hello and goodbye -- this from a man not known for displays of affection
3) Seeing my niece, 14, at the cusp between being a girl and being a young woman. This one was a little bittersweet as I will miss the girl...but I look forward to seeing her blossom.
4) The realization that the one thing about Christmas that hasn't changed since I was a little boy is that my mom's home baked cookies taste just as good as they did 35 years ago.
5) Last and not least -- nine uninterrupted days with the LTR, the last four of which were spent in a cozy mountain cabin in the Blue Ridge. Great memories from that time -- a 12.5 mile hike, great conversation, snacks in front of the fire, great food prepared by his hand and the warm comfort of his company as we enter our 20th year together.

All in all, a great Christmas.

Happy New Year

The LTR and I are back from our Christmas travels. I hope everyone had as nice a holiday as we did.

My new Year's goals (I prefer to think of them as goals) are:

1) Laugh more
2) Drop another 5-10 pounds
3) Be more productive
4) Let go of anxiety and face some things in my life I've been dreading

Happy New Year!

It's Not Too Late to Get Your Festivus Pole

Tommorow is Festivus and here is a place you can get your Festivus pole.

Dissembling Hillary

From a Mother Jones article on Sen. Former First Lady Would be President Hillary Clinton:

"Hillary is an avatar of an existential dread skulking in the hearts of every couple who've tried to put together a life since the feminist revolution. This anxiety explains why the darkest question a liberal feminist can ask is: Why didn't she leave the [SOB]? And it's why the coarsest question a conservative man can ask is: Who would do the [B-word]? . . . Hillary has come to embody a dark fear in the hearts of modern men: the wife who neglects the joys of the bedroom for her career . . .

"The flip side to Hillary's ambition evokes every career woman's greatest fear. How fragile is marriage? It can come apart as quickly as that girl delivering the pizza can snap her thong . . .

Ouch. More Hil analysis in today's Howie Kurtz column.

Celebrating the Winter Solstice

The link to Christmas and the winter solstice here.

A quicktime movie showing the tilt of the earth throughout the year here

A graph of the sun's path on the solstice here.

An explanation of the solstice and some clarity on the 21st vs. 22 date here.

Friday Hunk of the Week

It's been a year since Brokeback...but I'd still invite him to my pup tent...

Green Lantern -- the Old Krazy Kat

The LTR has organized one of his occasional jaunts to the DC gay bar the Green Lantern (called the Green Latrine by locals) for shirtless night. On shirtless night between 10-11 pm all shirtless men drink free. As you can imagine this draws quite a crowd. Two years ago I wouldn't be caught dead in public sans shirt but recently I've been feeling better about myself so I've gone with the LTR and am going tonight (though I still have qualms about this whole shirtless thing).

Anyway, the point of this wasn't to go on about my self-conscious body image, but to bring to light this historical fact.

The Green Lantern is in a building that was once used as a carriage house, a place where they kept horse-drawn carriages and sometimes the horses too. Most carriage houses in DC -- as I imagine is true in most cities -- were converted into livable dwellings for people when people no longer needed carriages and cities grew.

The carriage house that is now the Green Lantern was converted into a watering hole at least as early as 1920. It was called the Krazy Kat. A gay diarist at the time (Jeb Alexander) makes this entry about it on July 23, 1920:

Tonight he tried to get me to persuade me to go with him to the Krazy Kat, a 'Bohemian" joint in an old stable up near Thomas Circle. He told me about the conversation in there, of artists, musicians, atheists, professors.

In short -- queers! I just think it's cool to be going to a gay bar in 2006 that was a gathering place for gays nearly 100 years ago. The Krazy Kat figures several times in Jeb's diary. I know he'd get a kick out of what it has become.

Blog Moved

They said it would take two minutes but it took three hours. But it's done.

Important Safety Tip

Via Metroblogging DC

It's not Christmas

Until you've seen this clip.

Blogger

Blogger has been pestering me to switch over to their beta version which I'm going to do probably today.

I'm nervous about this because I don't have much faith in Blogger support if I have problems.

So if I dissapear from the blogosphere you know my incompetence combined with Blogger's lack of support has eliminated Scott's Take.

Iran Says It's Nuclear

Uh-oh.

The announcement of Iran as a "nuclear power" is bound to significantly escalate tensions between the West and Iran, and marks a dramatic stage in the Islamic Republic's nuclear campaign.

Ya Think?

"Dude, That's Your Mom!"

1) When young she posed nude for an artist who became famous
2) Many years later she took in a foster son
3) The foster son -- now 15 -- found the nude photos , now quite valuable and thought he found a secret porn stash.
4) The foster son did what boys will do when finding a secret porn stash. The pictures are ruined.
5) The mom sues the foster agency that gave her her son.

Full story here.

Thanks to Gay Orbit, whom I'm quoting in the title of this post.

A Milestone

Today, my two year old son took his first dump in a toilet on his own.

He anncounced the news to me "I poop!"

I'm so proud.

And a little sad, because, there was a part of me that, aside from the odor, really enjoyed changing his diaper. When I took him back to his mothers in Hawaii last month I changed him at the airport before handing him over and it occured to me that I was likely changing his last diaper.

Diaper changing is a very intimate bonding experience, in case you've never done it. He and I would make a game of it. Or we'd talk. During diaper changing you see total trust. It was while changing his diaper I saw him pull two concepts together. He asked for the LTR, whom he calls "Pappa." I said "Pappa's at work." To which he said, "Pappa, work. Daddy, home." On his own he put two people and two seperate concepts together. It's really amazing to watch that process come together -- almost like you can see the synapses connecting before you very eyes.

But, he's pooping like a big boy now.

I'm so proud.

DC's Flunking School System's Leader to Get $25,000 Bonus

Let's look at the record:

The number of failing schools in DC rose from 80 to 118
Test Scores have not risen
The Feds have said the DC schools system is "high risk" for misusing funds
Enrollment declined from 62,000 to 58,000

The DC Schoolboard Superintendent Clifford B. Janey earns $250,000 per year and is the highest paid DC government official.

The DC School Board is about to give him a $25,000 bonus.

For what? It's a crime -- once again the adults in this city fail our kids because they prove, over and over again, that we're not serious about improving our schools. That this pathetic record could be rewarded with a $25,000 bonus is an outrage.

Bush Admits Stalemate

The Washington Post reports this morning that Bush admits we're not winning in Iraq.

Ok, so the guy at 1600 Penna Ave. gets it after all.

Maybe.

"We're not winning, we're not losing." Any run-of-the-mill high school football coach would say if you're not winning, you're losing.

Some random thoughts:

• The American people deserve an honest assessment of where things stand. But are our interests really served by comments like Colin Powell's that the military is almost "broken?" What message does that send to the enemy?
• Where are the extra troops going to come from? I met a marine recruiter Sunday at a Christmas party who was complaining about the dearth of new recruits. Does this move us a step closer to the re-instatement of the draft?
• John Kerry: The Post notes he advocated an additional 40,000 troops in Iraq in 2004. But not now. He was for more troops before he was against them.

All I want for Christmas

A friend of mine has informed all of his friends: Don't buy me any gifts for Christmas. Instead he said, "donate to a charity of your choice and just let me know about it."

And then, he said, let's all get together for dinner and just share a small moment of selflessness.

A cool concept. Christmas just got a little brighter.

Iraq

I've avoided posting on Iraq because I don't really know what to say nor do I know what should be done. There's no need for me to lament what a disaster it is as that seems to be obvious to everyone but the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

I think I'd support a withdrawl except that I fear a massive bloodbath - and that blood would be on our hands (as is the blood of innocent Iraqis who have died since we invaded). That outcome seems morally indefensible. A withdrawl leaving Iraq in ruins would show allies that the U.S. can't be trusted or depended upon.

But staying and asking U.S. troops to die for a lost cause is morally wrong as well.

The conundrum of Bush ignoring his Joint Chiefs' criticism of his idea of a "surge" of troops is of his own making, since he has famously said he'd do whatever the commanders on the ground tell him is needed. I would point out that Presidents have often ignored their generals' advice and issued pointed orders -- Lincoln would be the obvious example and more recently, JFK in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Unfortunately, Bush is no JFK or Honest Abe. He's not even a GHWB.

So...we can't stay and we can't leave.

Checkmate?

Run, Rudy Run

The WashPo writes on Rudy's chances in the GOP primary.

I think they're nil.

But let Rudy do what Perot tried and failed - run as an independent. The two-party process which has polarized the country into extremes -- at least as far as presidential primary politics are concerned -- has failed us. In 2004 it produced two candidates miserably unequal to our times, and likely will again. I'm not quite ready to jump on the Rudy bandwagon, but an independent run by the hawkish but socially libertarian sounds interesting and may be just what the presidential campaign needs.

Astronomy Pics of the Day

The sky over Iowa gets the holiday spirit.

The result of a tsunami of cosmic porportions on the sun.

Matt Damon as....Capt. Kirk?

In the next Star Trek movie...that's the rumor I just stumbled across here.

Oh my. It just gets me all excited all over again to go where no man has gone before (with the possible exception of Ben Afleck).

Update: Just a rumor. For now.

Meanwhile, in Norway

Bjorn celebrates Swimming Bronze medals.

Apparently the prize, judging from the second photo, is a giant bottle of lube.

Go Norway!

Dobson Flubs Facts on Same Sex Parenting

Focus on Family leader JamesDobson should spend a little less time focusing on everyone else's family and more time focusing on the facts.

In a Time column he cited the research of psychologists Carol Gilligan and Dr. Kyle Pruett and asserted that same sex parenting is harmful to children. The two psychologists are crying foul. Writes Gilligan:

My work in no way suggests same-gender families are harmful to children or can't raise these children to be as healthy and well adjusted as those brought up in traditional households.

Adds Pruett:

On page 134 of the book you site in your piece, I wrote, "What we do know is that there is no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers. It is love that binds relationships, not sex."

But let's give the final word to Terrance, who is proud of to be the son of two fathers.

Virginia Churches Secede to Nigeria

Two large Episcopal Churches in Virginia -- the most anti-gay state in America -- have unsurprisingly bolted the U.S. Episcopal Church to join the Nigerian Episcopal Church, whose leader advocates criminilization of homosexual activity.

Said a congregant:

"I want to do what's right in the Lord's eyes," said Vicki Robb, 53, an Alexandria public relations executive, who said the church's leftward drift was becoming intolerable. "It's kind of embarrassing when you tell people that you're Episcopal."

But soon it may be embarrassing to tell people you're from Virginia.

Some Good News From Iran

Moderates dominate the election .

Bush's biggest blunder was choosing the wrong enemey. Iran is the real threat.

The Only Thing

I want less than these things is Christmas fruitcake.

A Phrase that Should be Retired

"Drink the Kool-Aide."

This has been as overused in 06 political writing as "At the end of the day." Let's give it a burial with the demise of 2006, shall we? And invent something fresh for 2007.

Faith Takes a Holiday

In this Season of Universal Love (see below) it's not unnatural for me to start re-examining my own faith (or lack thereof). I've been in my life at times a very faith-based person (to borrow a phrase) and at other times, like now, more doubting than believing. At the same time, the world is enmeshed in dealing with the rise of religious extremism -- and I'm not talking just about the rise of radical Islamism -- I'm also talking about the rise of powerful "Christianists" as Andrew Sullivan calls them here at home.

Christopher Scott gets to heart of what I've been thinking lately in a thoughtful post on his blog.

On personal faith vs. religion, he says:

I've always struggled with maintaining faith. While I do have faith in a great many things, I increasingly find myself questioning my ability to continue to believe in that which cannot be proven.

I'm not referring to religion, per se, because with religion I know exactly where I stand. As a sociologist, I see religion as a quantifiable social construction, a functional template of culture and philosophy and ideology molded together to serve a common societal cause. Sometimes that cause is to oppress (as Marx suggested), other times it is to unite (as postulated by Durkheim), but always it is to guide.

On the rise of Christianism he says:

But today I see my faith waning. I'm having difficulty believing in the goodness of my fellow man as the hate-spewing fundamentalists that compose the Religious Right continue to find new and repugnant ways to spread their corrupt message of fear and ignorance to the masses. Take, for example, the new video game based on the popular Left Behind series of books about the Rapture. As I discovered earlier this week in an eloquently-written post by thephoenixnyc, the game lifts religious intolerance to staggering new heights by creating a playable scenario in which gamers must either convert people to Christianity or else kill them.

It would be tempting to write this disturbance off as the nonsensical babblings of a lunatic fringe, but prominent groups like Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition, groups that boast memberships in the hundreds of thousands, have a strong voice that rings out loud and clear. Terrified of progress and evolution, they reinforce their backwards conservative agenda in more than just the church, reaching government, education, community, and the media. These people are powerful, and they're everywhere.

And quite frankly that scares me. Because when it comes to issues of diversity, freedom, and human rights, we all know where these groups stand. Rather than truly embracing the teachings of Jesus — teachings of togetherness and brotherhood and acceptance — as they falsely purport to do, they redefine the concept of "people of faith" to exclude people like me and use video games to teach children that it's okay — no, necessary ‚— to murder those who are different.

It's quite right to be afraid. We're living in a time when those who think they have a right to force their religious beliefs on others with the backing of the law have gained acendancy. A Christianist president has ended habeas corpus, the bedrock of limited government power and individual freedom. Christianist groups demand that the Bible be made the only book that can be used to swear in Members of Congress. Kids are trained at Jesus Camp that George W. Bush is a God-chosen president.

So forgive me if I can't help feeling like that popular bumper sticker -- "Jesus, save me from your followers."

Christmas Shopping

The LTR and I are venturing out today to be lured by retailer's charms as we try in one fell swoop to complete all our Christmas shopping in one day.

Christmas is, of course the "Season of Universal Love" according to Bette Midler's ill-advised remake of "From a Distance." It's also a time of sibling rivalry and this year, regarding my sister, I'm gonna get the bitch.

Each year there's a competition for who can get the "best" gifts for mom and dad. Last year she set me up. When I called her and innocently asked what she was getting our parents, she ran through a typical, run of the mill Christmas gift exchange. Then on Christmas day, I sat there in horror as my Dad unwrapped my sister's present -- a beautifully framed montage of photos of my sister and him through the years, along with a poem about a daughter's love for her Dad. I fumed as I watched the tears roll down his craggy face while I contemplated the sweaters and ties for him in my Sears gift wrapped packages.

Of course, the year before, I won. I had an old -- ancient, really -- album (you know those round vinyl things you put on turntables, put a needle on it, made it spin so you could hear scratchy sounding music) of my mom's high school band, circa 1959. I took it to the recording studio I use, and we re-mastered it and I turned it into a CD. I even re-created the label that was on the original LP. Mom loved it. And she commented to me recently about how much she plays it. So take that, Sis.

So yes, Christmas shopping...love, Santa, peace, joy...and Sister...you can just wipe last year's smirk off your face.

Blogging

I haven't been blogging much this week as I've been crazy busy but also for one reason or another been incredibly anxious. And anxiety tends to stop the creative impulse, in me at least.

Hoopefully my schedule and my tension will abate soon and I'll be back writing my regular useless fluff.

In the meantime, pass the prozac.

Talking Cows

So, Billy Graham's son wants to bury the evangalist at a "library" whose host is a talking cow. I'd object too. What a sad spectacle.

But it's always the case when a visionary, such as Billy Graham, becomes an institution. Someone will try to exploit it. Sad it's Graham's own son. Family values, anyone?

An Imposter

He just doesn't live up to the name.

The Sarah Brightman Challenge

Here's one of my favorite games:

Can you understand what the hell Sarah Brightman is singing? I mean, the woman can't enunciate to save her marriage. And what's with the Morticia look in a Christmas concert?

(Yes, I woke up on the catty side today...)

A Good "Sentimental" Song

For A.D. Hat Tip: M.D.

One of my favorite Tori Amos songs (though I'm not wild about the video).

Presidential Tantrums

I'm starting to think the guy is pathological.

Jump up and down and scream you're the commander and chief all you want, but you still lost the war in Iraq and maybe even the War on Terror.

Priest of the Month

Apparently I'm not the only one pushing a little beefcake. It appears the Roman Catholic Church is tacitly parading its hottest priest flesh for charity. Read about it here.

The Sappiest Love Song Ever

The comment about sappy love songs got me thinking -- what love song is the sappiest?

The answer, is surely this one. Can anyone think of others?

Overheard

At Lambda Rising:

Hunky Male Clerk (unfortunately with bad teeth): The Metro Weekly Coverboys are either too boring or too gay.

Female Clerk: Can't they be both at the same time?

HMC (uwbt): Not lately. Look, his "most unusual place to have sex" is in a car. That's not unusual.

Me: Unless the car was on the showroom floor.

(and thinking to myself: or in a traffic jam on I-95 while heading north from Virginia Beach)

Friday Hunk of the Week

It's back, by popular demand of two Scott's Take readers.

This is actor Sebastian LaCause, nominated by a Scott's Take reader (we think we're up to five, now). The staff at Scott's Take is glad to be responsive to our readers (especially when we're sitting here scratching our balls trying to decide who the hell to feature).

This photo is from Sebastian's very helpful "beefcake" gallery.

He can sing and dance, too! (Note to the LTR: He's from Akron)

Remembering John Lennon

On this day, in 1980, John Lennon was killed.

Here's his unfulfilled Christmas wish.

Grandma and Me

I can't resist posting this. Call it self-indulgent. Two years ago at Thanksgiving I sat with my grandmother and put my arm around her shoulders. Her comment: "It's been a long time since someone held me," she said. When I saw her again (Thanksgiving, 2005) I wanted to give her human, physical contact and held her hand. This is a photo of that moment. It was the last picture taken of my grandmother and I. She died almost exactly a year later.

Love, Right-Wing Style

It's interesting to see the religious right's reaction to the news that Mary Cheney's child will have two mommies. Here's an example from Amercians for Truth:

Obviously, we're saddened at the spectacle of the Vice President's daughter, Mary Cheney, living in an open lesbian relationship, and now bringing a child into a home that is fatherless by design. In our view, this is another case of the "gay" movement putting its wants (in this case, having a child) above what'’s best for children. "Two mommies" or "two daddies"” will never substitute for a home with a married mom and a dad, and it is sad when men or women model immoral homosexual behavior before innocent children in a home setting. -- Peter LaBarbera

I guess Dick Cheney will not be a strong enough masculine presence in his grandchild's life.

The irony to me is that every gay couple I know who has decided to have children, whether through adoption or through biological means, has done so after an agonizing soul searching process. Those children will grow up surronded by love. Never substitute for male-female parents? Gimme a break. If this child grows up in a household with a mom and dad who hate each other and where there is physical violence present it's preferable to growing up in a household filled with same sex non-violent love.? Growing up in a household with a mom and a dad is no sure fire bet for happiness.

And by the way, it's none of these fucking right wing nut job's business what Dick Cheney's daughter does in her private life. And that's the larger issue...they want to legislate the type of personal, private family life we all can have. And life is simply larger than their little pea brains can comphrehend.

From a Distance Part II

One of my four readers writes:

And I have to say that I don't like Bette's song, From A Distance as I always thought of it as too sappy.

Too sappy? But honey, Bette delivers sap with such style and art that it works. Unlike, say, hmm, let me think...Celine Dion?

From a Distance

Bette artfully makes the point I was trying to make in the post below in her song, From a Distance. I much prefer this original to the "Christmas version" on her new Christmas CD, despite the Celine Dion-like body language Bette seems to be channelling here.

The Best Hope for Mankind

Or peoplekind, if you prefer.

NASA's decision to pursue a permanent base on the moon is welcome news. And the Russkis want in, another good sign. Although these still represent baby steps towards space exploration and colonization, it's a step in the right direction. To doubters that space exploration can pay big dividends here on Earth I commend you to Dr. Jerry Pournelle's book, A Step Farther Out. The announcement of water existing on Mars this week is just another example there's a lot out there we don't know. To paraphrase old Willy again, there's more to heaven than dreamt of in our philosophies.

Exploring space has another benefit -- as we realize how vast the universe is our problems on this tiny planet get awfully small. Maybe I'm pollyanna but as the opportunities out there manifest themselves surely they will be a catalyst for some unity here on old home Terra. And if not, in a few generations, some of us will be able to escape and get another chance to create a workable human society.

Mary Cheney's Child

Good for her and Heather. Mary may have failed the community in her silence on gay marriage and other issues within the GOP, but her example of gay family may well go farther than any political positions she may or may not have taken. Not that she's having a baby to make a political point, but it has been my experience as an openly gay man who chose to have a baby (as opposed to a closeted gay man hiding in a sham marriage who has kids) is that children give focus to the true familial nature of gay relationships.

It gives the lie to the notion that gays don't have kids. A large number of us do. True, some will never except that -- including a physician I was debating while my son was still in the womb. He referred to my son as "artificial." Hmm, nothing artificial his mother's morning sickness. And nothing artificial in the thousands of poopy, smelly diapers that have been hurriedly and lovingly changed in the last two years.

And, I would have to guess gay parents on average are probably better parents than our straight cohorts. Why? Simply because we are more likely to have put more pre-thought and planning into the decision even to have a baby. No doubt Mary and Heather spent a great deal of time discussing and agonizing over whether to have a baby and a great deal of time deciding how to go about it. I know we did. I'm equally sure my parents never did. If you're straight you grow up, get married, have kids, end of discussion.

I will admit to having fears about how accepted my son would be within my family. I never doubted my parents would accept him and they have. I was uncertain about my extended family. With the doctor's word "artificial" ringing in my ears, I was worried that my extended family would not really look upon him as one of their own.

I shouldn't have worried. My son is impossible to resist and my family -- regardless of their deeply held "red state" political beliefs -- has a big heart. I was proud to say that on the picture display that my Uncle produced for my Grandmother's funeral, my sons picture was there with the rest of the grandchildren and great grandchildren.

It's a paradox I've noticed...as an out gay man in a conservative family, my family's actions aren't consistent with their political beliefs. One day that paradox will be resolved and it won't be resolved by casting me, my partner and our son out. It will be resolved by abandoning their homophobia. That day may not be tomorrow, but it is on the horizon. And the day will be hastened only when everyone comes out.

So, congratulations Mary Cheney and Heather Poe. May your child be healthy and happy. And may your child do all that mine has done to open hearts to your "non-traditional" family.

This is my son and his Great-Grandmother, taken last Thanksgiving, a year before her death at 93.

The Original Version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

The song was written for the show "Meet Me in St. Louis," a play about a St. Louis family being uprooted at the turn of the century by the father who wanted to move the family. Judy played one of the eldest daughters. Garland's signature songs "Clang, Clang, Clang Went the Trolley" and "Boy Next Door" both come from the movie version of the musical adaptation.

Garland felt the original version of the lryics for "Have Yourself" were too dark. They were:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

It may be your last

Next year we may all be living in the past

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Pop that champagne cork

Next year we may all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days,

Happy golden days of yore,

Faithful friends who were dear to us

Will be near to us no more.

But at least we all will be together

If the Lord allows.

From now on we'll have to muddle through somehow.

So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

At her urging it was written to the version we know today -- although there is still some variation in the last stanza. Sometime it is sung "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. Hang a shining star across the highest bough." The original rewrite -- and the lines used by Garland in the movie -- are : "Through the years we all will be together, it the fates allow. Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow."

I much prefer the latter. Families muddling through the years together. It's kinda the boiled down truth of life.

incidentally, Bette uses the "highest bough" version. Another reason I'm disappointed.

Judy Garland's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

From the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis." It's been edited to use pictures of WWII soldiers. The shot of the soldier sharing food with his buddies put the lump in my throat. Enjoy.

Bette Midler's New CD -- Cool Yule

I read about this CD today and bought it with great expectations.

It sucks.

Well, no it doesn't suck, but it didn't live up to my expectations. Miss M can really sing but this performance was just ho-hum. Part of the problem is that for a female crooner who admires Rosemary Clooney she falls short in comparison to her idol whose voice is so identified with the season. Clooney's last Christmas album, "White Christmas"has the best renditions (that I've heard, anyway) of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (my favorite) and White Christmas that everything else pales next to it. Including Bette's version of "Have Yourself" and "White Christmas." Her rendition of I'll Be Home for Christmas is nice and on first hearing my favorite on the CD. Her remake of From a Distance, a song I first heard in 1990 as we prepared for the first Gulf War into a Christmas "version" didn't do anything to enhance the song. The original recording is superior.

I love Bette. Like Madonna, she is a gay icon. Unlike Madonna, she can sing. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "she can suck melancholy out of a song as weasel sucks eggs." Unfortunately she fails to do that here and has put just another bland Christmas album on the market.

Getting Old

The Wash Po has a depressing graphic on what happens to us as we age.

The vision loss has hit me right on schedule. This really sucks.

The Bible is Not "America's" Book

Check out this email from the American Family Association

It's about the newly elected Rep. from Minnesota, who wants to be sworn into Congress with his hand on the Quran, not the Bible. The AFA is asking Congress to pass a law that would make it illegal for a Member of Congress to be sworn in using any book other than the Bible. Money quote:

What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Well, yes...don't dictate to me what is holy. And "America's Holiest Book?" Sweet Jesus...how can you claim to be so "American" and have such total disdain for the First Amendment? If making the Bible "America's book" isn't establishing religion I don't know what is.

This email, though shows the AFA for what it is -- another group that wants to pass laws making its version of Christianity legally compelled for everyone.

Bass and Lehmkhul Splitsville?

Say it ain't so.

But if it is, Lance, I'll get the convertible. You bring the champagne. Just leave your CDs at home.

Rauch on Kameny

Frank Kameny has gotten a lot of good press lately -- deservedly so. Here is a great column by Jonathan Rauch explaining why.

Torture Watch

Padilla was not captured on a battlefield, he was captured in Chicago, locked up and tortured for four years. The original charges against him have been dropped.

Back Once Again

Back from Grandma's funeral. Everything went well. I showed my dad the piece I wrote on Grandma and he wanted it read at the service. That wasn't my intention when I wrote it but since he wanted it I agreed. But I knew I'd get all choked up if I read it, so my sister read it on my behalf. She did a great job. All my dad brother's save one made a point to tell me how much they appreciated it. I'm glad I was able to contribute something.

I am glad to be home. Since Thanksgiving, I have been home a total of three nights and have travelled nearly 16,000 miles.

More Irreverent than the Village People

The Polynesian Beach Hostel vs. the Cabana at Waikiki

So, with having to make multiple trips to Hawaii to pick up and return my son, and, wanting to take advantage of that opportunity to laze in paradise (it is paradise, you know, I have it on the highest authority) I sought affordable accommodations.

Now, in past trips, including the one with the LTR, we stayed at the Cabana at Waikiki.

I thought this trip I'd try a hostel, the Polynesian Beach Hostel. After all, I could get a private room and only have to share a bath...and pay less than $50 per night and actually be closer to the beach than is the Cabana.

When I checked in, the buff shirtless older (my age) surfer at the front desk told me my private room was only accessible by walking through one of the dorm rooms. My first thought was, what do you mean, walk through a dorm room?

My second thought was....SURFER BOYS!!!

Imagine my horror when I went to put my key in the lock and I spied through the window into the said dorm room and saw...tits. As in the female breast. The surfer dude failed to mention it was a CO-ED dorm. And apparently I was the only co to the female ed in this particular menage.

They didn't seem to mind as I hauled my luggage through their room to mine to nurse my dashed expectations.

My room was okay if austere but one object grabbed my attention. An extra bed. Although this was supposed to be a private room how private could it be if I had to walk through a gauntlet of surfer chicks, past a shared bathroom into a room with another bed? What if I were there peacefully sleeping and some complete stranger walked in and pushed my suitcase of what I assumed was a spare bed and sprawled out there?

To make matters worse, the shared bathroom was filthy. Now, I am no neatnik. But there were dark curly hairs on the toilet seat that I knew were not from me. And there was no toilet paper, which meant I had to walk down to the front desk and ask for some, then, carrying it like a urine sample through a crowded doctor's office, through the co-ed dormitory back to the place where it was needed most.

I decided I would give it a night.

And I did. And the next morning I called the Cabana.

They welcomed this prodigal gay traveler with open arms...and clean toilet seats.

I learned some things this trip...including the fact I'm not as bohemian as I thought I was (or wanted to be). I figured some other things out as well...stay tuned.

The Average Blog

according to Google, has one reader. Hi Mom.

Actually, I think I have four readers. Although I may have lost some of you over my inability to update over the last few weeks.

Blogging in Hawaii

There was a lot I wanted to blog about in Hawaii. I had the desire, could have made time, but I lacked one thing -- I had no idea what my blogger.com username and password are. Damn cookies.

But I hope to catch up...