Eugene Polley

Eugene Polley, an inventor whose best-known creation has fostered blissful sloth, caused decades of domestic discord and forever altered the way consumers watch television, died on Sunday in Downers Grove, Ill. Mr. Polley, the inventor of the wireless television remote control, was 96.

His death was announced by the Zenith Electronics Corporation, where Mr. Polley began his career in the stockroom before rising through the engineering ranks to invent the device, called the Flash-Matic, in 1955.

An ad for Zenith’s Flash-Matic. Zenith sold 30,000 televisions with the remote control.

“Just think!,” an advertisement breathlessly proclaimed that year. “Without budging from your easy chair you can turn your new Zenith Flash-Matic set on, off, or change channels. You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.”

The Flash-Matic remote, which worked like a flashlight, was shaped like a snub-nosed revolver. The shape was a considered choice on Mr. Polley’s part, as he explained in 2000, letting viewers in the age of ubiquitous TV westerns “shoot out” commercials.

Flash-Matic made the TV audience less captive, though also less active. For the first time, viewers could comfortably exercise dominion over sound and image without simultaneously exercising the body on the march between couch and dial.

B&W TV w/ Dials

(The “dial” was a round thing with numbers on it — all the way up to 13 — by which viewers changed the channel through the direct application of fingers and wrist. One did not so much surf channels in those days as ride their gentle swells with all due deliberateness.)

As Mr. Polley, by then 86, proudly told an interviewer in 2002: “The flush toilet may have been the most civilized invention ever devised, but the remote control is the next most important. It’s almost as important as sex.”

For his invention, Mr. Polley received a thousand-dollar bonus. But his device was soon supplanted by a more efficient, more enduring and far better-selling one, developed by a Zenith colleague, Robert Adler.

News accounts over the years have often described Mr. Adler erroneously as the TV remote’s sole inventor. Mr. Polley, a plain-spoken man who seemed to avail himself of his own internal mute button only rarely, was largely relegated to the margins of history, a condition that rankled.

“Not only did I not get credit for doing anything,” he told The Chicago Tribune in 2006, “I got a kick in the rear end.”

BIOGRAPHY

Eugene Theodore Polley was born in Chicago on Nov. 29, 1915. (He disliked the name Theodore and adopted his confirmation name, Joseph, as his middle name.) His father, a bootlegger, abandoned the family when Gene was about 10.

A Zenith Radio

The young Mr. Polley studied at the City Colleges of Chicago and the Armour Institute of Technology (now the Illinois Institute of Technology), but lacked the money to complete a degree. At 20 he joined the Zenith Radio Company, as it was then known, as a stock boy earning 40 cents an hour.

Mechanically adept, he worked his way into the engineering department. During World War II Mr. Polley, on loan from Zenith, worked for the United States military on bomb fuses and ship-detecting radar.

After the war, as TV sets began to colonize American homes, Zenith’s president, Eugene F. McDonald, faced a quandary. Mr. McDonald, who held a utopian view of the new medium, was certain that viewers would revolt en masse against television commercials, by his lights a growing scourge.

But until that halcyon day arrived, Mr. McDonald knew, he needed to offer consumers a stopgap, and he enlisted the company’s engineers to make it.

Ad of Lazybones remote

The first TV remote, called Lazy Bones, was introduced by Zenith in 1950. It had one profound drawback, however: a cable snaking from the remote to the set, over which users were inclined to trip.

Mr. McDonald enlisted Mr. Polley to build a wireless remote, and the Flash-Matic was born. The hand-held device emitted a visible beam of light, which consumers could point at a compatible TV set.

The new, purpose-built sets had a photo cell embedded in each corner of the screen; the viewer activated the cell by “shooting” it with the remote. One cell changed the channel up, another changed the channel down, a third muted the sound, and the fourth turned the set on and off.

A 1955 Flash-matic remote

The device proved popular: during its first and only year of existence, 30,000 Flash-Matic sets were sold.

But there were difficulties. Because the system was light-activated, sunlight hitting the TV screen could cause the channels to change in spontaneous roulette. Viewers also had trouble remembering which corner of the screen controlled which function.

Mr. Adler improved Mr. Polley’s device by making it responsive to sound instead of light. His remote, called Space Command, used inaudible, high-frequency sound waves to control the set. It, too, had problems — it could be set off by the sound of jangling keys or rattling coins — but was deemed enough of an improvement on its predecessor to be brought to market in 1956.

A Space Command Remote

From that year to the early 1980s, when infrared remotes became standard, more than nine million sets controlled by Space Command technology were sold.

Mr. Polley, a longtime resident of Lombard, Ill., had lived most recently in Glen Ellyn, Ill. He is survived by a son, Eugene Jr., and a grandson. His wife, the former Blanche Wiley, died before him, as did a daughter, Joan Polley.

With other colleagues, Mr. Adler and Mr. Polley represented Zenith when it was given a special Emmy Award in 1997 for its development of wireless remotes.

Mr. Adler died in 2007. Zenith has said publicly that it considers him and Mr. Polley the joint inventors of the device. Mr. Polley begged to differ. “A father has to be present at conception,” he said in a 2002 interview. “And if you’re not, you’re not that father.”

From one lazybones who spend a lot of time in front of the tv, Thank you Mr. Polley. I’d be much more active if it were not for you.

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Comedian Bill Maher

In defending Rush Limbaugh, conservatives keep pointing to comedian Bill Maher. Maher has said a lot of nasty things over the years. It’s what he’s famous for – being a foul-mouthed man with very strong opinions. But is he the equivalent of Rush Limbaugh? Not bloody hardly.

Maher has a show on the pay-cable channel HBO called Real Time with Bill Maher. He ended up on HBO because he was too politically incorrect for network and basic cable where he had shows before HBO. Real Time is an hour long and HBO runs a half-dozen repeats during a week. The show celebrated its ninth anniversary on February 21. In nine years and one month, there have been 242 episodes of Real Time. That’s an average of 27 episodes a year.

The Rush Limbaugh Show runs Monday through Friday for three hours each day on FM radio. I’ll be nice and assume he doesn’t broadcast on the ten national holidays. When he is on vacation or another honeymoon, he has a substitute host. The Rush Limbaugh Showwent national in August, 1988. He has broadcast approximately 5,900 times since then, at three hours each time.

That’s 17,700 hours of Rush Limbaugh compared to 243 hours of Bill Maher. Nice equivalent, isn’t it? It’s a 73:1 ratio.

Then, there’s the venue itself. The last time I asked, when managing a laundromat, pay cable cannot be piped into commercial spaces. You will not see an HBO movie in the laundromat any more than you will see a DVD. In order to see Bill Maher, one must first subscribe to HBO and then choose to watch the show, which is on late in the evening. Limbaugh is on FM radio, which is not restricted from commercial spaces. It is broadcast from noon to three. I have heard it in offices, both businesses and doctors’, in laundromats, in the waiting area of auto repair shops, in restaurants and even on a public bus. Rush Limbaugh is not restricted to the privacy of the listeners’ homes. His fans think nothing of imposing their choice of venom on innocent bystanders. Maher averages 300,000 viewers for the first run of his show. He may double that with the repeats. Limbaugh claims to have 15 million listeners daily, though that number is disputed because of the way radio ratings are done. That does not include the number of people who are stuck listening to him against their will. Another nice equivalent, a 25:1 ratio if we are very, very generous to Maher.

But, the right is having the vapors over Bill Maher. They keep quoting his shows to prove that the left is just as vile as Limbaugh. That may be true, but there is no way that Maher’s impact is equal to Limbaugh’s.

Ann Coulter (by Stephen Lovekin, Getty Images)

The ever caustic Ann Coulter has decided that because Bill Maher said some nasty things about Sarah Palin’s kids, conservatives should “go after” the Obama girls. She and Sean Hannity alleged that liberals have made fun of Palin’s Down’s Syndrome son and Rick Santorum’s sick daughter. The very worst you can accuse liberals of is being slow on the uptake for political correctness for Down’s Syndrome. People still use the words “retard” and “retarded” without thinking. But the references to Palin’s son and Santorum’s daughter have less to do with the children’s conditions than with what their parents did. Palin used to lug her son around like a sack of potatoes, with him always facing away from her. She passed him off to her youngest daughter constantly. She was never seen to actually interact with him, other than to show off his Halloween costume once. And knowing that he was going to be a Down’s Syndrome child, she decided to fly from Texas to Alaska when she went into labor with him, risking having him born in the plane without medical assistance. We criticized her parenting, not the child. The same for Rick and Karen Santorum. We questioned parents who brought a premature baby who was either dying or had just died home to “meet” his siblings and questioned why a man would put his family through a vigorous political campaign knowing that his daughter was already a year past her expected life span and could pass away any time. It is very hard to reconcile the whole “family values” thing in Republicans when these two candidates behave this way. That’s the part the right wing doesn’t get. If the Republicans didn’t claim to be the champions of families and traditional values, we wouldn’t be so derisive of them when they are exposed as sinners and bad parents.  It’s not that we have a double standard on morality, attacking Republican but not Democrats.  It’s that Democrats never claim to be channeling God or being more moral than the next person. 

When you are a voice for a party that claims a monopoly on morality and God, it is never a good idea to let your teenaged daughter attend a biker rally in a skin-tight t-shirt and painted-on jeans. 

So, Coulter and Hannity want open season on Malia and Sasha, and Bristol Palin has blogged that President Obama should call her and apologize for Bill Maher. She claims that since Obama called Sandra Fluke, he should call her. Otherwise, he is ignoring the insults Maher flung at the Palin girls because they are Republicans.

President Obama did address the attacks on Bristol, at the time they happened. He asked the press and the nation’s comedians to leave the children of the candidates out of the campaign. But, Bristol Palin was already a public figure. Her mother had dragged her into the public arena and she took root there. Sandra Fluke did not ask to be in the public arena other than as a witness in a Congressional hearing. She did give a handful of interviews when asked, but she didn’t sign a contract for Dancing With the Stars, didn’t get her face on the cover of People Magazine, didn’t get on two reality shows – her mother’s and her own.

Sean Hannity

I have a couple of questions for Coulter and Hannity. When will Coulter apologize for calling a group of 9-11 widows “money grubbing bitches” for opposing the invasion of Iraq? When will Hannity apologize for telling his television and radio audiences for three solid years that President Obama and Attorney General Holder stopped the investigation into voter intimidation by the Philadelphia New Black Panthers, charging that Obama and Holder supported the intimidation, when it was the Bush administration that decided that no intimidation had taken place? Those are words out of their own mouths, not the words of someone else. So, which Republican politician should apologize for them? While Coulter made her remarks at an event (I think it was a book signing), Hannity has been making it to a combined audience even larger than Limbaugh’s, and being believed by every one of them.

That is the real difference between Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh. Maher’s audience knows that he’s just bloviating. Limbaugh’s audience believes that he is telling them facts.

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Brian Lamb

During World War II, the British Houses of Parliament were damaged by German bombs. After the war, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was asked if, during the repair, they might expand the chamber of the House of Commons. Churchill decided to retain the original space. He explained that too often, the chamber is not a full house, and if it were bigger, the absence of members would be more noticeable on television. The television cameras were not installed until 1989, 24 years after Churchill died.

Brian Lamb brought Churchill’s wild vision to America ten years before it happened in England. On March 19, 1979, Lamb launched the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, commonly called C-SPAN. C-SPAN has brought us live broadcasts from the House of Representatives ever since, along with committee hearings, tours of historic places, interviews and panel discussions. It expanded into C-SPAN 2 and 3 and brings us the workings of the Senate. And, in a small piece of irony, it brings us the British Parliament for Prime Minister’s question and important sessions like the ceremonial opening of Parliament. It brings a few other national legislatures and the local BBC coverage of the British parliamentary elections. C-SPAN is live government in our homes.

Brian Lamb created C-SPAN out of nothing but an idea and he has been at its helm for thirty-three years. And now, shockingly, Mr. Lamb has decided to retire.

He certainly deserves to retire. After all, he is 70 years old. He has lead a very active, very full life. Still, it is hard to imagine C-SPAN without him. He gave so much to his work. He met his wife Victoria, when they were in grade school, but didn’t start dating until 1998. They finally married in 2005. Now, Mrs. Lamb can enjoy his company.

Mr. Lamb made history by making us witnesses to history and witnesses to the processes of governance, without the gloss and editing of the news media. We can see and understand what is going on in our government because Brian Lamb shared a wild idea with one of the greatest statesmen of all times – citizens should be able to see how they are being governed.

Thank you, sir, for everything.

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Rush Limbaugh, by Donkey Hotey, Creative Commons

Rush Limbaugh has moved on from Sandra Fluke to attacking author Tracie McMillan, who wrote a book about food inequality called The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Wal-mart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table. It is the work of an investigative reporter who spent time working in all those places. Limbaugh held on to the story for two weeks, upset over the New York Times book review of McMillan’s work. Wednesday, he put her down. “What is it with all these young, single white women? Overeducated doesn’t mean intelligent.” He objects to Ms. McMillan’s exposé because it is not flattering to corporate America. She’s another one of those unacceptable “feminazis” – you know, educated, self-supporting, liberal women who have no interest in bowing down to his male superiority.

On the same program, Limbaugh dismissed the loss of advertisers by comparing the situation to dropping a couple of french fries out of the container at the drive-through. He claims to have over 18,000 advertisers, so 45 doesn’t seem like very much, unless you start to question who those 18,000 might be.

Limbaugh’s advertisers are a combination of national ads and local ads. The only way to impact the local ads is if the people who object to his attacks on women to listen to his show and find out who his local advertisers are, then deal with them.

WABC radio in New York is the flagship station for Limbaugh’s show and a catalog of the advertisers who were on his show yesterday points to the larger problem of boycotting his sponsors. They don’t actually sponsor him. Well, most of them don’t.

The Ad Council is a group that provides advertising free of charge to radio and television stations. They are the public service announcements intended to inform us of government programs or agencies, charitable groups and the like. The agencies and organizations have no control over where their ads are placed, but the intention of the Ad Council is to place them where they will get the most listeners or viewers, not bury them in middle of the night.

Of all the ads run on Limbaugh’s show on WABC on Wednesday, only Cintas, RightSize Smoothies, Peerless Boilers, Eos Sleep, and Raw Nation (Hot Rawks) were private companies. The rest were PSAs for the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Feeding America, Save the Children, and UNICEF. The ads for the New York Mint and the Small Business Authority in association with the Corporation Tax Network were not easily categorized without actually hearing them.

The Department of Health and Human Services is a frequent target of Limbaugh’s disdain and is part of the Sandra Fluke controversy, as the agency trying to work out the specifics of the Affordable Care Act.

It is possible to contact the rest of these organizations, charities and agencies and express disapproval of their PSAs being aired on Limbaugh. They have no control over when their messages air, and probably don’t know when they are on, but most of them are groups that have nothing in common with Limbaugh’s politics or positions. They at least need to know where their messages are being heard.

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Rush Limbaugh and wife #4, Kathryn Rogers

AOL, Tax Resolutions Services, Bonobos, Allstate Insurance, Sears and K-Mart are the latest of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors to pull out of his show. Sears and K-Mart are a single company, but the stores advertise separately. They joined ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, California chain Sleep Train, Sleep Number, Citrix Systems (GOTOMYPC), Carbonite, and Legal Zoom in removing their ads. The Cleveland Cavaliers have pulled their ads off the show on the Cleveland radio station that carries their games. KPUA, an AM station in Hilo, Hawaii, has dropped the show from its line-up, the first radio station to do so. KPUA’s owner, New West, issued a statement saying that the Fluke insults “crossed a line of decency. We are strong believers in the first amendment and have recognized Mr. Limbaugh’s right to express opinions that often times differ from our own, but it has never been our goal to allow our station to be used for personal attacks and intolerance.”

Singer/songwriter Peter Gabriel posted this message on his website: “Peter Gabriel has asked that this response be published when he found out that his track ‘Sledgehammer’ has been used on the Rush Limbaugh show. Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh’s extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke. It is obvious from anyone what know Peter’s work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair, aggressive and ignorant comments.”

It’s beginning to look like Glenn Beck-time for the bouncing darling of the right wing.

Limbaugh didn’t help his situation any with today’s version of an apology. He blamed the liberals. “In fighting this issue last week, I became like them….I descended to their level…I became like them, and I feel very badly about that. I do not think that she is either of those two words…the apology over the weekend was sincere…I became like the people we oppose.” The issue, in Limbaugh’s view, is the President’s “socialist agenda” and his habit of doing things “extra-constitutionally.” Then, he attacked Fluke again. He claimed that her stories about women at Georgetown University who need the pill for medical reasons were anecdotal and “unprovable” hearsay and said that she went to Georgetown for the express purpose of changing the school’s policy about student insurance. Limbaugh repeated his “apology” and said that he was responding to reports that Fluke had said she could not afford her birth control, and “I acted too much like the leftists that despise me. It’s wrong, and that’s why I apologized. Don’t be mad at them or mad at her. Everybody was being true to their nature except me.”

Oh, really? The night Bill Clinton won the Presidency, Limbaugh had a television show. When discussing the election results, Limbaugh said that there would be a new dog in the White House in January, and flashed a picture of 12-year-old Chelsea. His half-hour show actually survived that piece of viciousness, staying on the air for another three years. He invented the word “feminazis” to describe women who weren’t being proper ladies in his view – anyone who advocated and fought for women’s equality and women’s health care.

Other right wing media personalities have been defending him with the “equivalency defense,” – the list of things liberal media personalities have said about conservative women, you know, like Keith Olbermann’s “That woman is an idiot.” A couple of differences here – first, when Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a “slut” he ended up suspended without pay; second, the targets of the liberal media’s nastiness are all either politicians or other media personalities, not private citizens who only want a chance to testify on a vital issue.

Interesting fact about Limbaugh….his Vietnam War birthday-determined draft number was 152, and the cut off ended up being #125. However, he was re-classified as a 4-F because of a Pilonidal cyst. Never heard of those? Think it might be something really important if it rates a medical exclusion from the draft? It must be something that can’t be easily treated and cured, right? Well, a Pilonidal cyst is a butt-crack abscess made up of hair and skin debris. Insert your own joke here…..

Clear Channel signed a contract with him in 2008 for $400 million over eight years. They pay him $50 million a year to be an abusive, nasty, lying bastard. It would cost them at least $250 million to buy out his contract. But if more advertisers decide to follow the nine, Clear Channel may decide that they can’t afford to keep him. With all the Republican presidential candidates disavowing him, his value to the party has also been seriously compromised. It’s a hard crash from the Republican gathering a couple of years ago when the audience was chanting “Rush, Rush, Rush!” and he started belly-bouncing to the syncopation. The Republican Party might just start thinking that they could really, really do better without the extremes of people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Coulter, Malkin, Ingraham and O’Reilly, as they are doing without Beck.

Now, wouldn’t it be loverly????

Okay, here’s a partial list of Limbaugh sponsors, from topplebush.com, in no particular order: Geico, Capitol One, John Deere, United Healthcare, NetFlix, Goodwill Industries, Amberen, Lear Capital, Polycom Federal, Winning Our Future (Gingrich’s superPAC), IncomeAtHome.com, ExergenCorporation, Nova Amament LLC, Vitacost, Sensa, HotProps, Network Capital Funding Corp., Department of Veterans Affairs, Right Size Health and Nutrition, Insperity, Ackerman, RealGoldCoins.com, Goodwill Industries, Merit Financial, Robert Steinberg (mesothelioma lawyer), Hillsdale College, Mid-West Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, American Forces Network.

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Update: It was brought to our attention that the following statement was issued by Georgetown University Law Center on March 2, 2012, signed by 250 members of the faculty:

The undersigned faculty members, administrators and students of Georgetown University Law Center and other law schools strongly condemn the recent personal attacks on our student, Sandra Fluke. Ms. Fluke has had the courage to publicly defend and advocate for her beliefs about an important issue of widespread concern. She has done so with passion and intelligence. And she has been rewarded with the basest sort of name-calling and vilification, words that aim only to belittle and intimidate. As scholars and teachers who aim to train public-spirited lawyers, no matter what their politics, to engage intelligently and meaningfully with the world, we abhor these attacks on Ms. Fluke and applaud her strength and grace in the face of them

Rush Limbaugh, by the incomparable Donkey Hotey, Creative Commons, Flickr

Bridgett Nicholson Boyd’s car broke down on the side of a Houston freeway on October 4, 2010. A Harris County sheriff’s deputy named Mark Goad decided that she was actually driving on the shoulder, not broken down, so, instead of offering her assistance in accordance with Sheriff’s Office policy, he wrote her a ticket then decided to arrest her. Boyd started to suffer a racing heart, so paramedics were called. After Boyd was treated at the hospital, Goad arrested her and transported her to the sheriff’s office in his patrol car. The handcuffs he used were “painfully tight” and Goad “tortured” her by using his patrol car’s radio to make Boyd, an African American, endure a Rush Limbaugh broadcast in which Limbaugh was making derogatory remarks about African Americans. Boyd has sued the Harris County Sheriff’s Department for her torture and false arrest.

The only response to the suit that has come from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is an explanation of their roadside assistance program. Limbaugh, in typical Limbaugh fashion, insists that he is not a racist and never, ever, cross his heart ever made any racist remarks.

Google “Rush Limbaugh racial slurs” and you get 191,000 hits. Google “Rush Limbaugh racist slurs” and get 2,380,000, and for “Rush Limbaugh Racist Quotes,” you’ll get 802,000. Let’s just average them out at 1,124,333 references to Rush’s racism. But we’ll just touch on my favorite “Top 10 Racist Limbaugh Quotes” from NewsOne for Black America, written by Casey Gane-McCalla on July 16, 2010:

1. “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?

2. “Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela – who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.”

3. “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

4. “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

5. “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

6. [To an African-American female caller] “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

7. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”

8. “We need segregated buses….This is Obama’s America.”

9. Obama’s entire economic program is reparations [for slavery.]

10. Take you pick of the slurs aimed at President Obama…from “halfrican-American” to saying the President isn’t black, but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region (that may explain the lady at the McCain rally), to calling the President the “affirmative action candidate” to calling the Prez “Barack the Magic Negro.” And that’s just the President. Then there’s the personal attacks against Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Colin Powell, who Limbaugh said was not as important to the 2008 campaign than the endorsement of Joe the [not a] Plumber.

And of course, there’s all that socialist/communist/fascist/Hitler-esque/Marxist/Maoist/anti-American stuff about the President that all the right wing radio hosts indulge in until their listeners are chanting “kill him” “terrorist” “traitor” “off with his head” “socialist” and all the rest of that nonsense that just proves none of them know the meaning of the words they are using.

There are two more quotes on Gane-McCalla’s list, but they have been contested:

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite, slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed killer of Martin Luther King] We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

The first one, at least, sounds very Rush. It sounds very Glenn Beck as well.

Not in a racist vein, but I’ve always liked “If they pass the health care bill, I’m moving to Costa Rica!”  We’re still waiting.

I once had to accompany my mother on the disabled bus that our city runs. It’s a door to door service for the handicapped to and from doctors’ appointments and such. The driver had Rush on the radio. Trust me…..no matter what his topic is for the day, listening to that man in a closed space when you have no control over it really is torture.

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Jailhouse Rock

It was August 16, 1977, my niece’s third birthday. We were all putting on brave, happy faces for her party because her Daddy was a continent away fighting a raging forest fire in California. The phone rang and we all hoped against all hope and reason that it was my brother-in-law calling his little girl. Instead, it was my sister’s best friend, hysterical, sobbing, barely comprehensible – Elvis was dead!

So, here we are 34 years later. Someone in Michele Bachmann’s entourage had noted the news reports of “Elvis Week” in Memphis and assumed it must celebrate something, so they pipelined the info to Bachmann and she started off a campaign speech in South Carolina with a shout out of “Happy Birthday to Elvis Presley. We played you a little bit of ‘Promised Land’ when we pulled up. You can’t do better than Elvis Presley.”

Well, actually you can. I prefer Dwight Yoakum’s version of “Suspicious Minds,”even if it makes me want to scream ARTICULATE! at the radio.

I have always assumed that Memphis made a big deal over the anniversary of Elvis’ death because even in Tennessee it’s freaking cold in January. I can’t see a lot of people doing a candlelight vigil in winter anywhere north of Atlanta, and even Atlanta might be a mite chilly.

Oh well, we’ve heard worse from her: Americorps is a re-education camp, Congress should be investigated for anti-Americanism, the Revolution started in New Hampshire, the Founding Fathers fought on until slavery was abolished – about half a century after the last one died. At least she didn’t pull this gaffe in Memphis – they’d have chased her down Beale with tar and feathers.

In the meantime, 9 p.m. Eastern on TNT tonight, season finale of Memphis Beat. If you haven’t caught this one yet, give it a try. There is no way this show, knowing in advance when it would be aired, will not do something about Elvis. The show tends to be quirky, eccentric and funny, with occasional moments of crime drama.

Related articles

• Bachmann gives Elvis birthday wishes on the anniversary of his death (politico.com)
• Michele Bachmann’s Elvis Birthday Message Comes On Anniversary Of ‘The King’s’ Death (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Elvis Presley PHOTOS: 12 Timeless Images Of The King To Remember Him By (huffingtonpost.com)
• All shook up: Bachmann flubs Elvis birthday (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Michele Bachmann Confuses Elvis’ Birthday And Date Of Death, On Anniversary Of King’s Death (dekerivers.wordpress.com)

15 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Odds on are that you have never heard the name Edmund Kean, nor that he was once the most famous and most talented actor in the world. This would be because he died in 1833. You may even be wondering what this has to do with Adam Carolla. As it is, quite a lot.

You see, it is said that Edmund Kean once insulted then Prince George of Great Britain. This would be the son of King George III. Kean, it is said, got up on stage with the Prince Regent in the audience and apologized to the future George IV. The apology was made up of all the right words and included quotes from a variety of Shakespearean plays. It was wonderful, from what has been said. It was also a load of horse manure. Kean did not mean a single word he said, according to all that is known.

So, what does this have to do with Adam Carolla? Well, in a recent podcast, the “comedian” said “When did we start giving a sh*t about [transgender] people?”

He has now apologized. He stated via TMZ “I’m sorry my comments were hurtful. I’m a comedian, not a politician.”

If you are a comedian, you are a lousy one. GLAAD is hardly impressed. Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs at GLAAD reiterated “Adam Carolla has a history of making anti-LGBT and racist statements, and advertisers should remember that attacking people who are different from him, and following it with empty apologies, is just a regular part of Carolla’s routine.”

How do we say this…apology not accepted.

15 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Corolla is a “comedian”. He certainly does not appear to be anywhere near the caliber of, say, Jon Stewart. In fact, he appears to be somewhere down towards the bottom of the comedy barrel. The former host of The Man Show recently went on a homophobic rant on his pod cast The Adam Carolla Show. This is a man who once said that Hawaiians are dumb and accused a Filipino boxer of praying over animal bones.

According to GLAAD, this is not the first time that Carolla has attacked the LGBT Community. They stated “Two years ago, on the syndicated radio program ‘Loveline,’ Carolla said that ‘all things being equal’ – gay parents are ‘not as good as’ straight parents.”

This time, he went a lot further. According to GLAAD:

Last Thursday, during ‘The Adam Carolla Show,’ the host spoke out against the LGBT community. In his rant, he also told LGBT people to “shut up” because they are “ruining his life” by speaking out about equality. He went on to say that members of the LGBT community should stop using the letters “LGBT” to describe themselves, and should instead use “YUCK.” Regarding transgender people, Carolla at one point asked: “When did we start giving a sh-t about these people?”

GLAAD is now reaching out to its allies in the entertainment industry in order to expose this man’s history of racism and homophobia. Indeed, if this is all that this man has in the way of humor, then equality is ruining his life because, if all you have is offensive material to be funny with, eventually it gets stale and starts offending everyone.

Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs at GLAAD stated “Given his history of anti-gay and racist comments, networks and advertisers should know what their money is supporting if they choose to hire Adam Carolla. The gross intolerance that he tries to pass off as comedy should not have a place on our airwaves.”

GLAAD also wrote:

GLAAD asked listeners of the show to learn about the hardships that Carolla makes light of and directed them to a column in The Advocate written by Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which reviewed the landmark study “Injustice at Every Turn” which was co-produced with the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Transgender people can be legally fired in 35 states for being transgender. They are twice as likely to be unemployed.
Transgender individuals live in poverty at nearly four times the national rate.
Over 25% reported that they had lost a job due to their transgender identity.
They are twice as likely to be homeless.
41% have attempted suicide, more than 26 times the rate (1.6%) of the general population.

As for children of lesbian and gay parents, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Child Welfare League of America have found that parent’s sexual orientation has nothing to do with the ability of their children growing up well-adjusted and healthy.

As a comedian, it should be pointed out that Carolla pretty much fails miserably. This is not just unfunny, it is offensive, and not just because of the fact that the lesbian and gay community is going to be upset. The joke in this case just inspires no laughter at all.

TMZ has audio related to his rant.

For more information please visit http://www.glaad.org/adamcarolla.

Image via Wikipedia

08-15-2011 by Linda S. Carbonell

A very long time ago, I received a booklet in the mail the use of which would make us a “Neilson Family.” We had to record every 15 minutes of television viewing by everyone in the house over a seven-day period. We filled it out, laughing the whole time because our principal viewing was The Weather Channel (it was summer tornado season in Florida), The Discovery Channel and BBCAmerica. We figured we were doing serious damage to their statistics.

Today, my mail included an envelope from Arbitron Ratings. They are the other company, the one that primarily does radio ratings. I opened it expecting a booklet, a means of recording individual shows or radio programs…..on the back of the “Your opinion counts!  You’ve been specially chosen to help with an important research study about television viewing and radio listening in the Rutland area.” introduction was a one page “study.”

Arbitron should be ashamed of itself. This was the most pathetic excuse for a media study imaginable. The “important research” questions consisted of:

1. Which types of shows do you watch regularly? (Check all that apply) Comedy, Drama, News, Sports, Other:___________. What year is this? Where are the reality shows, the DIY shows, the alternative entertainment networks, movies, documentaries? We have hundreds of channels with the greatest range of entertainment and information in history and their question could have been asked in 1955.

2. In a typical day, about how many hours of TV do you watch? 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7+. Where’s the tag for “it’s on all day as background noise”? Where’s the choice between “actually sit down and watch” and “sort of listen to while doing something else”?

3. What is your favorite TV show or channel? Wow, finally, something that resembles a ratings question. Show or channel? What is that supposed to prove?  There are four shows I watch regularly which are the only shows I watch on those channels. 

Repeat those three questions for radio, then there were access questions. Do you have internet, a cell phone, a landline? How about, how much television do you watch on your computer or even on your cell phone instead of your television?

The rest of the questions were demographics, ethnicity, age, race. I can use the pre-paid snail mail envelope, call a telephone number or log on to their website. My $5 for participating was mentioned five times.

This is a media study? For what purpose?

Someone will use the results of this “study” to prove something, but it won’t be an accurate picture of Rutland’s viewing habits or preferences. According to Ipsos, 51% of American homes have at least basic cable, 26% have satellite, 1% have both and 22% have neither. That 22% should have been broken down into “have antennas” and “don’t have TVs.” I would be willing to wager that cable and satellite usage in Vermont is above the national norm. Thirty years ago, half the kids in my elder daughter’s second grade class had HBO already. Seventy-eight percent of Americans can provide completely accurate ratings through our systems. People who use computers to watch TV can also have their viewing habits collected for accurate measures. The only thing that can’t be determined by gathering our cable, satellite or internet viewing patterns is our demographics. The census bureau will not allow a ratings company to match an address to a census record and find out the ages and ethnicities of the residents. The demographics are important so that advertisers know which programs to put their products on.

Arbitron sent $2 with the survey, and promised $5 when I return it. This idiotic excuse for a media survey is costing someone some substantial greenbacks. Someone is going to use this to justify something.

So, if you ever see the words “According to Arbitron…” you now know exactly what information Arbitron gathered and how totally useless the survey is. It sort of makes you wonder about all the other “surveys” and “polls” and statistics used to excuse, justify or prove anything.

Related articles

• I’m the reason you don’t like what’s on the radio (toddpack.com)
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It was an interesting final week for Glenn Beck on Fox News. He made headlines by saying that he and his family were harassed and someone kicked wine on his wife during a film showing in New York’s Bryant Park. He made headlines again when the woman who was sitting behind him at the Park went on-line and denied his version of the events. No harassment, no kicking, her friends half-filled glass of wine fell over on the uneven ground (though the witness did think it was well deserved, probably because Beck’s bodyguards were harassing other viewers of the movie.)

Today was his final day. He had no guests. It was just Beck, dressed in Christ-like robes and carrying a staff, circling around his many blackboards. Talking, talking on and on and on.

He will be starting his own “television network” GBTV, which is actually a pay-for-stream set-up. For $4.95 a month you can just watch his nightly show. For $9.95 a month you get…..whatever. Beck will be going to Israel this summer “in search of courage.” He’s been selling tickets for a rally in Israel similar to the one he held in Washington.

One last word about the Washington rally. Beck held up aerial photos of his rally the next day, insisting that everyone on the Mall was attending his rally. Not true. The Park Service had limited his crowd to the areas immediately surrounding the Reflecting Pool. It was the last weekend in August and one of the most important weekends in Washington for tourists. Beck’s permit was contingent on allowing free access for tourists to the war monuments separated from the Reflecting Pool by a row of trees, and to the Smithsonian which is on the Mall. The official count on his rally was around 35,000, not the 100,000 to a million that Republicans insisted on. And we still haven’t found out how much of the money that was donated through that rally actually made it to the Wounded Warriors Foundation. The fine print on the website said that the donations would go to the Special Ops Wounded Warriors AFTER paying the expenses of the rally. This man made over $30 million last year, but syphoned off the donations people thought they were making for scholarships for the children of the fallen to pay for the rally where he had said he was going to deliver “God’s Plan, well, not really a plan….” for America.

Back to the last hurrah.

Beck’s closing speech was pure Beck “We tried to teach you things to help. I’m a dad, too. I want my country to be around. What we have been trying to tell you lately, over the last year, is that you are the answer. We must have faith, hope and charity in our hearts.”

Pure Beck – What did he “teach”? Where to start? How about his warped versions of history? Just one, I don’t have all night. He taught that the “Black Robe Regiment” was ministers who fought in the Revolution, proof of the Christian heritage of our nation. The “Black Robe Regiment” were Scots Presbyterians who were deeply opposed to the Hanover dynasty and still fighting the deposing of James II Stuart. It had nothing to do with Christianity and even less to do with our freedom. The overwhelming majority of clergy were Anglican and faithful to the Crown, particularly since the King was titular head of their church.

His charity does not extend to the people at that Bryant Park movie, or to President Obama’s daughters, or to George Soros (who hasn’t made any meaningful contributions to any political campaign since John Kerry), or to anyone who doesn’t believe that Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover weren’t financial geniuses – you know, the guys who gave us the Great Depression.

As for his faith, well, what can we say? The man heard a voice while visiting the Vatican, a voice telling him how important his work was. Right, a Mormon in St. Peter’s hearing a disembodied voice. Got it. He never did deliver “God’s Plan, well, not really a plan…..” as promised.

And hope? This is the man who declared our republic dead. Often. That’s hope, in his view. I think he meant that we were seeing the rise of the oligarchy, but he would never use that word to describe the corporatization of America, would he?

Beck is gone. Personally, I can think of only one immediate consequence. If one were logged into the Yahoo News Service comments between 5 and 6 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday, one would notice a drop-off in the rightwingnut posting hate-filled, obscene, offensive comments. They don’t even evacuate the sites during church hours on Sunday as regularly as they did to watch Beck. Those five hours a week of reasonable debate on the sites are now gone, never to be enjoyed again. I will miss those five hours.

Gosh, it seems like forever I’ve been waiting to write this……BECK IS GONE!

Related articles

• Glenn Beck Restoring Courage Rally in Jerusalem (rightpundits.com)
• Red Eye Panel Wonders What Glenn Beck Was Doing In Bryant Park (mediaite.com)
• Glenn Beck: I’m Better Than Jon Stewart Because I Talk Longer And Have Fewer Writers (mediaite.com)
• Tearful Glenn Beck Describes How He And His Family Were Attacked In New York Park (mediaite.com)
• Glenn Beck and FOX – it’s over! (rt.com)
• The Mystery Of How Spilt Wine Landed On Glenn Beck’s Blanket In Bryant Park (mediaite.com)
• Ann Coulter: GLENN BECK VS. THE MOB (A Relentless Demonic Mob) (gunnyg.wordpress.com)

To some, British comedienne and writer Dawn French is the Fat Lady in the portrait who opens the door to Gryffindor Tower, to others, the star of The Vicar of Dibley. For thirty years, she has been partnered with Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame in a team that formed part of the center of a generation of British comedians and actors whose one-degree-of-separation includes Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and just about everyone in British television and movies who’s around 50 years old. People tend to forget that Laurie, of House, and Fry, of Bones, started as a comedy duo within an overlapping group of skit comedy shows.

To women of a certain size, though, Dawn French was an earth goddess who celebrated her “19 stones” weight (265 pounds) on a five-foot tall body and posed nude for some absolutely fabulous artistic portraits during her “Big Is Beautiful” campaign aimed at improving British women’s self-image problems. She carried that weight with far more dignity than Kirstie Alley, but could make fun of it constantly in Dibley with candy-bar binges and jokes about growing up nurturing dreams of being a super model, but never getting tall enough. Geraldine Granger’s romantic encounters were both glorious hosannas to huge boobs and poignant reminders of the manner in which society equates boney rib cages with sex appeal. I was disappointed when she was cast as the Fat Lady in the Gryffindor portrait. I wanted her to play Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons. The Vicar of Dibley was both slapstick comedy and social commentary, touching on such issues as hunger in the third world and the quiet coming-out of an older gay man.

Dawn French, now

At this week’s Glamour Magazine awards in London, French revealed her new body, nearly 25% slimmer than her former self, having shed “four-and-a-half stones” (63 lbs.). Still favoring the tent-like tunic-and-pants look of the past (where are Trini and Suzanne when someone needs to learn What Not To Wear?) Dawn’s new figure became the headline, instead of her award-winning first novel A Tiny Bit Marvellous. She had previously written Dear Fatty, which was not addressed to herself, but was a collection of fictionalized letters to her jokingly-nicknamed, skinnier partner Jennifer Saunders.

The novel was the result of her British-cliche separation and divorce from fellow comedian Lennie Henry, best known to American PBS audiences as the title character in the series Chef!  They continued to share their Cornwall home for nearly a year after separating, just as Prince Andrew and Fergie have continued to share homes. A Tiny Bit Marvellous draws on the people in French’s life for the story of a family in meltdown. French retreated to a few rooms in her home and began writing as a coping mechanism. She continued performing primarily as a guest, but French and Saunders were on a hiatus from their joint work as writers, directors, producers and performers in a broad range of projects while Saunders successfully battled breast cancer.

French explained the weight loss as something that just evolved. She reached the age of 50 and accepted what professionals had been saying about her weight for years in their condemnation of her “Big Is Beautiful” campaign – being overweight is unhealthy. For the sake of her daughter Billie, (now 19) French changed her “life priorities” from “my daughter, writing, chocolate and kissing” to her daughter, writing, walking and kissing, though she’s not revealing who she’s kissing these days. In the course of her career, she’s kissed Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, chef Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Grant – and that doesn’t even include her co-stars. French’s “diet” consisted of making healthy food choices and doing a lot of walking. Though nowhere near the size 0 that is the current standard of beauty on both sides of the ocean, French is poised to become the next role model in the mold of Queen Latifah – a woman who can publicly express the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and strong body while still being voluptuous. We don’t have to trade in our grapefruits for Keira Knightly’s grapes. We can exalt in our natural cleavage instead of relying on Victoria’s Secret trickery.

Now fully recovered from both breast cancer and the debilitating effects of chemo, Saunders is apparently moving ahead with a reunion show for AbFab with Joanna Lumley, and hopefully to more joint projects with French. As individuals, they are extraordinary performers, as a partnership, they have always been greater than the sum of their parts, no matter how zaftig those parts were.

Related articles

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• Dawn French reveals health fears inspired her weight loss (mirror.co.uk)
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• My Crushes (mradclyffe.wordpress.com)
• The 9 0′Clock News – Victoria Beckham converts her gym to a new nursery (heatworld.com)
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New York, Hot 97 host, Mister Cee (aka Calvin LeBrun) entered a plea of guilty from his March 30 arrest for engaging in oral sex with Lawrence Campbell in Cee’s parked car in Manhattan.

Courtesy of Getty Images

This comes as not much of a surprise being that this isn’t exactly Cee’s first offense. He was popped on October 8th in Manhattan for a similar charge and the famed rap DJ ended up pleading guilty to that case as well.

Even though, both Cee and Funkmaster Flex (Cee’s friend and colleague at Hot 97) came out strongly defending Cee’s “manhood.” Flex even entered into radio beef with another DJ from a rival NY station to squash rumors of Cee’s same-sex dalliances – currently, there is no word on how Flex took Cee’s recent guilt admission. Unfortunately for Flex and Hot 97, whom also supported Cee through all this – their reputation might be dinged due to Cee’s deceit and selfishness. Hot 97 has released no comment since the entering of Cee’s guilty plea.

Cee was ordered to complete 3 months (equal to 12 sessions) of counseling with a doctor as punishment for his second offense. Let’s hope that male chauvinism aside that Cee finally owns up to who he really is and becomes comfortable with himself, in order to live his life freely.

Related articles

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Not sure what is happening in the sports world as of late but we are loving it! Jared Max, a host on ESPN New York 1050 radio, revealed to his listeners this morning that he is gay. It appears that Rick Welts’ recent revelation to the New York Times, along with several sports athletes coming out in support of gay rights, Max reacting to the change taking place in sports, decided to address his

Jared Max

audience about the recent excitement surrounding gay people involved in sports. After listing off those who have either recently come out or those who are in support of LGBT rights and equality; Max decided to end the show with a startling admission.

“Are we ready to have our sports information delivered by someone who’s gay? Well, you know what, we are gonna find out. Because for the last 16 years I’ve been living a free life among my close friends and family, and I’ve hidden behind what is a gargantuan-size secret here in the sports world. I am gay. I don’t share this news with you today to get a reaction or to make news, of being a New York sportscaster working on an all-sports radio station. I do this today because it seems to me there’s never been a better time.”

Max, 37, decided to unleash his big secret after being inspired by both Welts and Will Sheridan, who used to play with Villanova. Citing his age, Max remarked, “”I’m 37 — I think it’s time I’ve released myself from these self-imposed shackles that have kept me living in fear for too long.”

Nice to hear that someone else involved in the sports environment has had the guts to come out and live their lives openly and honestly. The times are definitely a-changin’ and it is about time.

Max’s podcast can be heard here.

05/09/2011 – by Cynthia S. Wright

A source linked to famed singer Whitney Houston has let it slip that The Bodyguard star is back in rehab. The source told TMZ that Houston reportedly entered the program 10 days ago, in order to “cleanse” herself for an upcoming movie. The star was seen last weekend with her daughter (who has also been rumored to have a drug problem) at a Prince concert. Houston seemed to be enjoying the time spent with her daughter, she even got up on stage with Prince towards the end of the night.

This the third stint for the “Crack is whack” songstress but the first time she’s been admitted since 2005. It is sad that drug use has already taken a toll on her gifted voice, let’s hope she can get it together to get some of her credibility back.

UPDATED: Today, hearings were held at the Ugandan Parliament regarding the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. They are also scheduled for Monday with a vote possible next week. The bill is being fast tracked after months of sitting in committee. Despite opposition from the Museveni administration, the Parliament seems intent to bring the bill to the floor before they close the 8^th parliament on the 18^th. It is definitely crunch time for this bill. Although Bahati has noted that he has seat in parliament until 2016.

The blogger GayUganda reports that the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill authored and being pushed heavily now by MP David Bahati, is under discussion in the Ugandan Parliament today precisely because “the government needs a heady diversion for the country.”

Recently Uganda has seen unrest and has come down hard on all opposition to the Museveni Regime – including arrests and torture of political opponents who ran for local office in opposition to the government.  Whereas the Museveni led government on the one hand may seem to talk the talk of  holding the Kill-the gays Bill in abeyance, it serves their current situation to allow Bahati to push and provide traction to it, as a way of re-focusing the Ugandans away from the real issues at hand in the Country.

A true scapegoat!  We know where that will lead…. the violence has and will escalate against the already tenuous LGBT community in Uganda.

Even though this is the tail end of a Parliament ending next week, GayUganda says that the bill will be passed in the next one.

I spoke to David Bahati who informed me that he will ensure that the Bill will pass, especially that he will be in parliament until 2016. Mr. Bahati’s reverberation can be hear in my Radio interview with him and Michelle Meow of  radio interview on Swirl Radio, tomorrow at 1:00pm Green 960, Bay Area, (San Francisco) California.  It will also air in Boston and Seattle and then will be located as a podcast on www.Swirlradio.com and www.Lezgetreal.com

Reporting this news GayUganda says it will appall the international community. But – as he thanks us for our help – he has a clear message: (Via Paul Canning, LGBT Asylum News)

GAY UGANDA:- Hey, so, what should you do?

People, I am a gay man, who is Ugandan. I can be killed because of being gay in Uganda. But, I can also be killed because of the general abuse of human rights in the country.

I REQUEST, AND BEG OF YOU, OUR ALLIES, NOT TO BE FOOLED.

That is very important.

If you want to condemn the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, please CONDEMN in the strongest terms possible, the general state of Human rights in Uganda.

UPDATED: 9.32 AM 5/6/2010 – With Thanks to Warren Throckmorten:

Today, public hearings on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill took place before the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, according to the bill author, David Bahati. In an interview, Bahati said that the Uganda Law Reform Commission and several religious leaders were on the list of those slated to provide testimony. He added, “I know that the process of legislation is moving forward.”

Bahati declined to say that the bill would be voted on next week, saying that the actual end of Parliament is not until May 18 when the 9th Parliament also begins. According to Charles Tuhaise, a researcher for parliament’s research office, most of the business will be concluded by the end of next week. He told me that the hearings for the Marriage and Divorce Bill have concluded and those for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill began today. In addition to the Law Reform Commission, those providing testimony today included the Attorney General’s Office, Martin Ssempa and Stephen Langa’s Family Life Network.  Tuhaise said the antigay bill hearings will probably conclude on Monday with the NGO Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law being one group on the agenda.

The fate of the antigay measure has been uncertain since it was introduced on October 14, 2009. From the beginning, the bill had support from the public as well as from religious and political leaders. However, legislative progress on the bill was slowed by massive international opposition. Contrary to false reports that the bill had been shelved, it has remained before a Ugandan parliamentary committee. In December, 2010, committee chair Stephen Tashobya told me that he hoped to move the Anti-Homosexuality Bill through his committee in time for a vote before the end of Parliament. Tashobya also said that the hearings would precede a vote.

Bahati also told me that a resolution he offered to call for common ground between the government and opposition leaders was adopted by Parliament during today’s session. The bipartisan resolution was offered in the wake of protests over inflation and the violent response from the government.

Tune in for part one, Saturday May 7, and thereafter on podcast at www.swirlradio.com or connect via www.lezgetreal.com‘

Broadcast Swirl Radio on the air:
San Francisco (Green 960am) Saturday – 1pm
Seattle (1090am) Saturday – 5pm
Boston (1510am) Saturday – 5pm.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

Allen West, Congressman from Florida’s district Broward County seems to have lost sight of the meaning of the word Town Hall Meeting, and in doing so may well be complicit in what may have been the unlawful arrest and humiliating treatment of a local mother and radio show host. He is certainly up for a lawsuit as I believe that he may well be responsible for ordering harsh treatment against hecklers (so called) from his security detail.

Allen West ‘s Town Hall meeting was attended by young mother, Nicole Sandler who went along as a constituent, wanting to ask questions of the Congressman. Apparently questions were taken on cards and vetted prior to the meeting The meeting was held at a mega church, in fact outside of the Congressman’s district.

Prior to his appearance the Pastor of the Church introduced Mr. West, who had stood for office on a Republican – Tea Party ticket.

Ms. Sandler, a well known radio show host and often stand in for randy Rhodes, sat near the front of the auditorium.  After West made a comment about Health Care- Ms. Sandler told listeners today, on the Randi Rhodes show,  that she asked a follow up question.  What ensued was so reprehensible that I could barely believe I was listening to a story about a political event in the United States of America.

When attending a Town Hall meeting, there are certain expectations on the part of audience members.  I assume that every constituent of the Congressional representative has an equal right to be at a Town Hall Meeting – regardless of venue.  I further assume that asking a question and even speaking one’s mind is an absolute in terms of the first amendment – especially in the context of Town Hall Meeting.

How does one distinguish a heckler and even if deemed a heckler how should an American  be treated at the behest of one’s congressional representative?   These are questions that came up for me when I heard Ms. Sandler’s story a few moments ago.

While asking the question, the Congressman’s wife, sitting next to Ms. Sandler tried to grab her cell phone /  or other equipment from her.   What makes this a very reliable story is the verification of everything that Ms. Sanders told via her recording of the event both on tape and video.

A private security person came up to Ms. Sanders and pointed her out to a uniformed local police officer. The police officer grabbed hold of Sandler.   Sandler is heard on tape saying I am leaving.  Then, “get your hands off me.” (repeatedly.)

I listened on Randy’s show intently – not imagining that it could get any worse and it did, progressively worse…

She then gets cuffed with hands behind her back.  A later witness who called Randy Rhodes show said she witnessed MS. Sanders being “man handled.”

Sandlerwas shoved into the Police vehicle where she was held for hours.  When Alan West came out, she called out to him and he ignored her and did nothing to stop the arrest.  When asked what she was being arrested for she was told something about a trespass.  Since when did freedom of speech turn into trespass. At what point did the change in status occur.

She then gets taken to the jail to be booked. If I recall there were two separate jails she landed in.  The second one sounded horrific.  This all occurred in the late afternoon. At 2.00 am she was told that she was being released on $25.00.  She called her boyfriend to pick her up who fortunately was able to take care of her daughter while she was incarcerated for what became almost 24 hours.  She was released at noon the next day.

This was after being locked in storage  closet with 2 other inmates, without air where she was forgotten about while the  cell was being cleaned. She spent 3 hours also in a solitary confinement cell after being maced by a police officer, for no viable reason.

It was astounding to note the disgusting treatment at the hands of the Broward County, Florida  Police and jail.

Yet what remains the most disgusting to me is that the Congressman did not have the graciousness to intervene and stop the terrible trauma to Ms. Sandler; if anything he exacerbated it – and was unapologetic and defiant when later he tweeted that all “hecklers will be removed and he will win at all costs…

Allen West for Congress Mailing Address
PO Box 1028
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
877-906-2010

Boca Raton Office (Main Headquarters)
2108 N. Federal Highway
Boca Raton, FL 33432
877-906-2010

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

Rapper Lil B’s upcoming album, “I’m Gay” is proving to not be a hit with all of his fans. MTV News has reported that several fans

Lil B

have sent the rapper death threats using different types of social media.

“People been hitting me up like, ‘I’m gonna bash your head in,’ ‘you f—-t,’ ‘I’m gonna kill you,’ ” the rapper told the entertainment news source.

Lil B, who insists the album is not a gimmick, explains that even though he is a heterosexual man – to him, “gay” means “happy” not homosexual. His goal is to break down the barriers that exist between the straight, rap lovers and the LGBT community.

“I got major love for the gay and lesbian community, and I just want to push less separation and that’s why I’m doing it. I hope GLAAD sees that I’m taking initial steps to breaking barriers.”

While some fans have turned against him, he is adamant that he will release his album under the “I’m Gay” title. The album is scheduled for release on iTunes within the next couple of months.

Lil B announced the upcoming name of the album, last weekend during his performance at Coachella.

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• Lil B Says I’m Gay LP Title Provoking Death Threats, Slurs (mtv.com)
• “I’m a gay, heterosexual male.”-Lil B (redbeardedoctopus.wordpress.com)
• Rapper Lil’ B Announces New Album Will Be Titled “I’m Gay” (lezgetreal.com)

San Francisco, CA – With a more than 300% increase in voting turnout this year, the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Committee is pleased to present their 2011 Grand Marshals. Debuting their new online voting system back on March 26th, SF Pride saw an early and dramatic increase in total votes cast. Over the next fifteen days, 2,736 people made their choices known, surpassing a previous high count by more than 500 ballots cast.

The combined votes of the General Membership, Board of Directors, SF Pride Electoral College, and the community at large have elected the following:

Community Grand Marshals: Dr. Aaron Belkin (SFSU professor and key advocate for the repeal of DADT), Victoria Kolakowski (first openly elected transgender Superior Court judge), Christiana Remington (community activist and event producer), Terry Stewart (defense attorney, challenger of Prop. 8), Rev. Roland Stringfellow (builder of relationships between the LGBT and religious communities), and Graylin K. Thornton (Leather Community activist and past-board member for New Leaf Services).

Honorary Grand Marshals: Susie Bright (editor of first women’s magazine: On Our Backs, sexologist, activist), and Ron Wong (API activist, past-board member for SF Pride).

In a vote so close that there was just a 6-point lead, the vote for Local Organizational Grand Marshal goes to the GLBT Historical Society and History Museum.

In addition to the above, Bishop Yvette Flunder has been selected as the Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal, and The Trevor Project has been named as the National Organizational Grand Marshal. A contingent of folks from The Trevor Project, the It Gets Better Project, and various other anti-bullying and anti-suicide organizations have been invited to lead off the 2011 Parade, behind the Dykes on Bikes contingent. This honor is given to a different faction or vital issue of the community each year.

When learning the news, Bishop Flunder commented, “As a native San Franciscan and an out leader in the faith community, I am honored and humbled to be recognized as the Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal by my own community.“

Celebrity Grand Marshals confirmed to date are Chaz Bono, Olympia Dukakis, and Yigit Pura.

Finally, the Pink Brick Award Recipient — the one person who has done the most damage to the LGBT community and/or movement — is Lou Engle.

For full biographies of the grand marshals, and for more information about San Francisco LGBT Pride, please visit sfpride.org

About SF Pride

SF Pride is a nonprofit organization that produces the annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration. With over 200 parade contingents, 300 exhibitors, and more than a dozen community-run stages and venues, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration is the largest gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation. Since 1997, SF Pride has granted over $1.4 million dollars from donations and proceeds received at the annual event, to local non-profit LGBT organizations and those organizations serving the HIV/AIDS and breast cancer communities. The annual budget is approximately $1.7 million. SF Pride is dedicated to education about the LGBT community, the commemoration of LGBT heritage, and the celebration of LGBT culture and liberation.

This Year Michelle Meow of Swirl Radio will host the Pride TV Program again and Yours truly – yes Mel Nathan -has been invited to join her on the live Interviews.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda
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Funkmaster Flex, famed hip-hop DJ has come out in support of his friend, Mister Cee who was recently caught engaging in a sexual act with a transgendered prostitute in Manhattan’s West

Cover of Funkmaster Flex

Village last Wednesday. Flex, who also DJ’s at Hot 97 took to the airwaves Monday night when he heard that rival station, Power-105’s morning talk show host Charlemagne addressed Cee’s dalliances on air.

Apparently, Flex didn’t take too kindly to his friend being discussed on the morning radio show, leading him to “address” the situation later on during his music set. During his late night radio show, Flex spent five minutes going in abo

ut how the charges against Cee were untrue (even though there are mug shots of the two online), while continually launching that if certain people kept saying otherwise, that payback would be coming. Flex didn’t end there, during his thinly veiled attacks, he said, “I know everything that goes on in that building… You know who I’m talking about. You know the shot I’m sending today. You know the gun I’m loading up today. The choice is yours.”

Clearly, Flex was gearing up for some sort of radio beef and being that Charlemagne feeds off that stuff, he wasted no time in returning his opinions. At the same time, Flex never directly hinted that he was aiming his coded attacks at the Power-105’s morning crew.

Yesterday, during his radio show, Charlemagne prepped his response by first playing back Flex’s late night attack while dubbing the older DJ, Flex Hogan (a play on Hulk Hogan, due to the fact that Wrestlemania happened on Sunday). He then launched into the charges surrounding Cee, mentioning that this is not the first time Cee’s antics have caught up with him. “Don’t get mad at us. Get mad at him. Tell him, I don’t care if you like men, but you got to move a little better,” he said.

Of course, Charlemagne had to engage in some thinly veiled punches of his own, warning the older radio DJ by stating, “If we’re ready for war…the pictures we got can break up a happy home.” Adding insult to injury, he then scolded Flex for not being direct with his attacks, instead of relying on subliminal messages.

This radio beef, as entertaining at it might be, still doesn’t seem to address the question at hand. With Cee’s business put out there, hip-hop has to acknowledge that not everyone is straight within the business and some people like certain things outside of heterosexual partnerships. Instead of resorting to bashing each other on air, why not address the reasons why Flex is willing to support his friend, even though there is hardcore evidence against him. Obviously, they have the fan base that would listen, so instead of worrying about veiled attacks and who said what; why not address hip-hop and why it insists on keeping homophobia alive and well – instead of trying to cater to the male ego.

As first reported on the Show and Tell blog and NY Daily News.

Mister Cee

One of New York’s Hot 97 DJ’s, Mister Cee (government name: Calvin Lebrun) was arrested last Wednesday for taking part in a public sex act involving 20 year-old transgendered prostitute, Lawrence Campbell.

Gay Socialites.com has reported that the two men were engaging in public sex in Manhattan’s West Village, known by police as the location where men go to engage in gay sex.  Not a smart move, if the DJ wanted to keep his illicit rendezvous under wraps.

Although, this wasn’t the first time that the DJ has been linked with said activity. Gossip queen, Wendy Williams alluded to another incident involving Cee and another transgendered man during her radio show on Kiss FM back in 2007.

Cee of course is denying the whole incident and took to defending himself on his Twitter account.

“Time to clear my name NY. Stand Up Brooklyn they shootin (Haters) this is my city you can’t hurt me lets gooooooooo.”

The problem is why does Cee need to take to defending his honor? Even though, engaging in said act publicly is illegal – whom he chooses to engage with is his own business and not something that needs to be justified. Unfortunately, in hip-hop and the extremist machismo that governs its way of thinking, Cee feels he needs to protect his manliness.  Even so, it seems that even with Cee’s denial, along with famed DJ’s Funkmaster Flex (who works at Hot 97) and Ed Lover coming out in support of Cee’s innocent – the damage may already be done.

During his recent tweets, Cee also alluded to the “rumored” NYPD squad that seems to be attacking hip-hop stars and DJ’s.

“Time to get this sh*t cleared up so make it quick cause I ain’t feeling this Twitter sh*t NYPD has a detective squad after all Rappers & DJ’S.”

How the NYPD would benefit by attacking DJ’s – remains to be seen.

What seems to be clear though, that this incident, more than likely, will be etched in Cee’s legacy. Should this shadow a DJ, that at one time scratched for the likes of Big Daddy Kane and served as associate executive producer on Ready to Die, the debut album of Notorious B.I.G., an album considered a classic by old and new hip-hop heads alike. Cee’s perceived sexual orientation shouldn’t but in an industry rife with homophobic tendencies, along with with how Cee is conducting himself during this particular time shows how far hip-hop has to go to even consider anyone being openly gay within their ranks.

DADT has nothing on the secrecy and shame of hip-hop homophobia – hopefully that will soon change.

Related articles

• Hip-Hop DJ Arrested for Public Gay Sex (advocate.com)
• DJ MISTER CEE ARRESTED FOR A ‘LEWD ACT’ w/ A TRANNEY! (thehiphopconsultant.com)
• OOPS! Hip-Hop DJ Arrested for Public Gay Sex (redbeardedoctopus.wordpress.com)

Donald Trump (photo by Gage Skidmore)

Now we know that Friday was April Fools’ Day.

On The O’Reilly Factor, Glenn Beck cti cized Donald Trump’s statements about President Obama’s birth certificate. Beck – the guy who convinced his fans that financier George Soros, who spent billions of his own money helping Eastern Europe transition to capitalism, is actually a puppet master pushing America into socialism. Beck – the guy who told his fans that the democracy movement in the Middle East is not just the first move in the establishment of a global caliphate, but foreshadows the end of the world. Beck – well, you know…..He of the blackboards and extreme conspiracy theories criticized someone for making him “a little uncomfortable recently.”

The Donald has launched his “presidential campaign” on two ideas, first that he’s a “very smart guy” and second that the President wasn’t born in America and is perpetrating the biggest scam in American political history. He’s probably right on the first score. It takes brains to pull together an empire by using a little-known provision in the tax code that makes it possible to trade up a $1,000,000 property, by incremental steps into a $100,000,000 property and pay no taxes along the way. No kidding, but don’t ask me to explain how it’s done. I’m smart too, and it made no sense to me. It somehow involves trading buildings instead of purchasing them, and always trading up.

As to his second campaign position, The Donald is grandstanding. As O’Reilly noted, Trump is “getting a massive amount of attention quickly.” Beck argued that this country need “serious candidates who could shake things up by not saying provocative things,” adding that we don’t need a “show boat.” Okay, it was an April Fools, wasn’t it? Beck could not possibly be advocating intelligent debate and an end to hysterical fear-mongering, could he? He can’t be suggesting that the idea that President Obama wasn’t born in America, an idea relentlessly pushed by Fox News and right wing radio was false?

Beck’s audience has shrunk to about half the size it was before his little rally last August and the renewal of his contract with Fox is in jeopardy. Do we detect a little jealousy about being upstaged by someone even crazier than he is?

Related articles

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• Beck on O’Reilly, scoffs and sneers at Donald Trump (truebluenz.wordpress.com)
• Glenn Beck On Trump: ‘The Last Thing The Country Needs Is A Showboat’ (mediaite.com)
• Becks’s Hair Apparent?…. (tagg-lines.com)
• Glenn Beck To Middle East: ‘We’ll Help You, You Write Us A Big Fat Check Right Now’ (mediaite.com)
• Bill O’Reilly Calls Out Donald Trump Over His Birtherism Talk Show Tour (VIDEO) (tvsquad.com)
• April Fools Jokes and Pranks: Is Dick Cheney The Chupacabra (waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com)
• Watch: Donald Trump Tells O’Reilly He’s Opposed to Gay Marriage Because He Doesn’t ‘Feel Good’ About It (towleroad.com)

I was watching Bill O’Reilly and Chris Wallace doing the Fox News “Union Bash” last night when it suddenly occurred to me – these guys are completely disconnected from their own reality. Almost every person who makes it possible for them to be on television belongs to a union. Can we count the ways: camera operators, sound engineers, lighting engineers, writers, the carpenters who built their sets, the people who built and maintain the buildings they are broadcasting from, the people who built the transmission towers and satellites that make their network possible, the people who keep electricity and water flowing in those buildings, the people who educate their children and protect and serve them – union workers all.

And that’s just the ones I know about in the news business. Then there’s Fox Entertainment. Introducing “union goon” Jane Lynch! Every actor, every actress, every composer, every songwriter, every writer, every director, and all the support personnel for every drama, comedy or variety program on television or in the movie theater belongs to a union. Every person involved in the production of a Broadway show belongs to a union. Every musician from the New York Philharmonic to Justin Beiber’s backing band belongs to a union. Every dancer in a professional show from Broadway to Las Vegas belongs to a union. Last week I explained that guilds morphed into unions and organization of workers moved downwards from craftsmen to assembly lines. In some fields, the guilds still rule. The SAG awards are handed out by the Screen Actors Guild. You have to belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote on the Oscars. A performer has to meet minimum standards and pay his/her dues to get one of those ballots in the mail. That’s a union. One of the reasons so many television shows, especially cable drama shows and SyFy movies, are made in Canada is because their unions have lower wage contracts than Hollywood’s unions, not because there aren’t any unions in Canada.

All those radio hate-mongers? Their crews are unionized too, in many situations, or the radio stations that transmit them across the country are unionized. Without unions, Rush Limbaugh’s audience would fit in his living room.

Did you know that over at Fox and Friends, Gretchen Carlson’s husband is a sports agent? She puts up with one of the smaller on-air personality salaries at Fox because her husband gets 10% of people like Derek Jeter – who belongs to a union. What? Professional athletes don’t belong to a union, you say? How do you think they can go on strike? Don’t confuse free agency in contracts with sports teams for non-union status. Strikes only happen when everyone involved can be directed to strike and that takes a union. Those multi-million dollar sports contracts are in addition to the basic contracts collectively bargained on behalf of all athletes in that sport. Referees belong to a union, umpires belong to a union. Those grand old stadiums that we all loved were built by union workers. In some states, they still are. And, sorry guys, the beer you drink is made by unionized workers. Right now, Moosehead Beer in Canada is dealing with a union strike.

And let’s not forget all those attack ads that all those corporate 501(c)s paid for. Made by the same union workers who bring you Glee and Bones.

Conservatives like to focus on the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad AFSCME and SEIU, and don’t understand the reason Hollywood is so pro-Democrat. It’s unionized. MSNBC’S Lawrence O’Donnell, who belongs to at least two of them, acknowledged that last week.

I’m dreaming for the day when all those unionized workers at Fox and throughout their network get tired of listening to the crap being spewed by their Republican shills and pull a blue flu. The silence will truly be golden. At some point it has to occur to them that if the Republican governors get their way and destroy AFSCME, their own unions will be next.

Related articles

• Of Scabs, Goons and Republican Union Busting (lezgetreal.com)
• Could government-union battle happen in Penna., Jersey? (philly.com)
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• Ethan Rome: Wisconsin’s Workers are Fighting for All of Us (huffingtonpost.com)
• Political Fight Over Unions Escalates (online.wsj.com)

Melanie Nathan- Feb 17-2011

“My Mama told me when I was young – we are all born superstars – She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on in the glass of her boudoir There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are  so hold your head up girl and you will go far Listen to me when I say …………………   Born this Way!   Love yourself and you are all set – No other way – Born this way ………..  on  right track. Don’t be a drag – just be a queen!!! Rejoice and love your self today.  I’m beautiful….”

… and so the snippets from Lady Gaga’s new number 1 hit – already covered and felt  by a bevy of little and bigger than little Monsters.

Lady Gaga has  indeed birthed a movement and this song tops its impetus as kids as young as the little Monster in the Video below realize and absorb its truth… the new generation and the new reality….. Born Queer, born gay, born lesbian, born straight, born transgender, born inter-sex – BORN FREE!

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By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

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Related articles

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• Listen: Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ (towleroad.com)

Mel Nathan and Michelle Meow

Last night I went to EQCA Award dinner with Michelle Meow of Swirl Radio. Uncontrived and unrehearsed we made a significant team, having fun, doing what we both like to do most – work! Michelle is extraordinary – she is a force to be reckoned with; socially shy – until she pulls the weapon – her microphone and recorder- and then Meow the natural born talent purrs… Unscripted she exudes confidence and style and asks pointed and engaging questions, indicative of her flair with a myriad of issues.

Michelle took the lead and together we interviewed Geoff Kors and the Equality and Justice Award winner, Judge Kolakowski who made history last year, becoming the nation’s first openly transgender trial judge. A trailblazing pioneer and inspiration to the LGBT community, Kolakowski has been a longtime advocate for LGBT equality, previously serving on the board of the Transgender Law Center and Equality California, where she was a founding board member.

Michelle Meow, Phyliis Lyon, Sandy and Kate Kendell

Michelle asked the Judge what her biggest challenge had been since being elected, the Judge said that because she is now a Judge she is unable to speak as an activist or provide her opinion on issues. She mentioned she had been quite vocal through her professional  life; and now her expression would be curbed

Michelle will air portions of our interviews and LGR will publish the transcript linking to SWIRL Radio.

In this vein Swirl and LezGetReal will collaborate in more endeavors.

Like all years past, this EQCA Gala Dinner was a terrific success,  amidst awards and inspiring speeches,  supporters had to say a sad farewell to Geoff Kors, Executive Director of the  organization.  Kate Kendell of NCLR spoke about Geoff’s service with EQCA, highlighting the  accomplishments  of EQCA in the California legislature.

Judge Victoria thanked her wife and moved the audience to a standing ovation.

Stay tuned…over to you Mich………………………

Related articles

• EQCA to Honor Kamala Harris at San Francisco Gala Award (lezgetr eal.com)
• EQCA Director Geoff Kors Stepping Down (lezgetreal.com)
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Cover of Howard Stern

02/03/2011- by Natasia Langfelder

Howard Stern was asked a question about how he felt about comic Lisa Lampanelli’s use of the word fag…and his answer will surprise you. Stern said he was uncomfortable with it and that “fag” was a word he was working on removing from his vocabulary. He says:

[Gays are] bullied and abused in our society they… take so much shit just because they like to be with the same sex. There are so many people out there who would like to knock their brains out… it must be a horrible thing to be hated because of your homosexuality. It’s starting to bother me. I’ve tried to change my thought about that word, I’ve tried to stop using it. I’d rather not use it. I feel like gay people are so downtrodden… “we shouldn’t get rid of don’t ask don’t tell” it’s crazy. You go to other countries… they’ll kill you for being gay. I am sympathetic to the gay movement and I am very aware now of what I say about gay people. My whole life I’ve heard the word fag…and I don’t think it was meant out of hatred but there are some people who are so fucking homophobic it’s insane. Gay people can’t get married, it drives me insane.

Wow…who knew?! Watch the video for yourself below:

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10/15/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

We all know that guy, the one who when someone accidentally brushes against him in the subway turns around and punches the other person in the face? Yeah, Nick Cannon is that guy. I want to like him, because he’s married to Mariah Carrey and now she’s happy Mariah and not nervous breakdown Mariah, but bitch is acting like a bitch.

On Thursday evening, Chelsea Handler, who hosts an E! late night talk show that lambasts the foibles of celebrities, tweeted:

I just heard nick cannon is starting a comedy tour. Who’s going to do the comedy?

Just one line, just a silly, vague joke and then Nick Cannon exploded in RAGE. He has been tweeting insults at Chelsea for HOURS, basically non-stop and has even bought 50 Cent (whom Chelsea has been rumored to be involved with), Eminem and Howard Stern into the mix. How random is that?  Below are his tweets, no I did not correct the spelling, it appears exactly as he wrote it.

Wow @chelseahandler I actaully used to have respect for you as a comic. But for one artist to diss another in the same art form. #Tasteless

@chelseahandler just ask your boy Joe Koi about how I smashed this years Montreal fest! RealComicSh!t# about 4 hours ago via Twitter for Android

Soon as I get off stage tonight, I’m going in on @chelseahandler I’m about to be relentless! OFF WITH HER HEAD but right now I got to focus about 4 hours ago via Twitter for Android

Okay just left the gotham comedy club in NY, STANDING OVATION! Back tomorrow night! Now let’s address this @chelseahandler negativity… about 1 hour ago via Twitter for Android

B4 we get to the jokes @chelseahandler … All Comics, on sum real shit, Isn’t it comedy 101 that one comic never heckles another comic? 27 minutes ago via web

B4 we get to the jokes @chelseahandler … All Comics, on sum real shit, Isn’t it comedy 101 that one comic never heckles another comic? 27 minutes ago via web

Funny how all of @chelseahandler fans are coming at my like I did something to her. I don’t even know this broad! She on my shit! 25 minutes ago via web

Comics don’t heckles comics that’s like a Pimp snitching on a Pimp! #fakeshit 24 minutes ago via web

@chelseahandler But since it’s all in fun and supposedly just comedy, Let’s get to the muthafukin’ JOKES!! 21 minutes ago via web

Everyone knows @Chelseahandler had sex with the head of E! for her show. So when its canceled does he get residual pussy for the reruns? 13 minutes ago via web

@chelseahandler Looks like she got hit in the face with a hot bag nickels! 10 minutes ago via web

Just talked to @50cent He said he made @chelseahandler get G-Unit tattooed on her balls! 5 minutes ago via web

@50cent wasn’t hitting @chelseahandler they was just sharing testosterone tips less than 5 seconds ago via web

@Chelseahandler @Howardstern @Eminem Why do all these angry ugly whitetrash folks want beef with me? What I do? I’m a harmless corny dude! @chelseahandler is like the new @joanrivers just without the funny and more plastic surgery

Just jokes people, LOL! Well I got to be at my next job in a few hours so I will continue the jokes on my morning show. Tune in @923nowfm

Someone needs to tell Nick that it’s not that serious and he is just giving Chelsea more material by freaking out over it. I’m sure there is going to be more crazy on his morning show, but you will have to check it out for yourself, it’s been four hours of this junk and I’m done. If you listen, let me know how this thrilling saga ends.  

Related articles

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Since then, One Iowa and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) have urged Clear Channel to correct the ‘misinformation.’ Clear Channel, which has had its own problems with the LGBT Community in the past, sent out remarks regarding what Mickelson stated. They stated that Mickelson “confused strong opinion with medical fact, and contained factual errors regarding HIV/AIDS, it’s spread and current efforts to inform the public about this disease.” Apparently, people are going to go on assuming that Mickelson was just being dense and did not understand the current research on HIV/AIDS.

Carolyn Jenison, the Executive Director of One Iowa, stated “Jan Mickelson’s comments on HIV/AIDS are reprehensible. Stigma and discrimination surrounding the discussion of this epidemic are barriers to prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Clear Channel did the appropriate thing in responding to and correcting this misinformation.”

Cindi Creager, GLAAD Director of National News stated “We thank Clear Channel for addressing this issue in an on air clarification, to ensure that WHO-AM’s millions of listeners will have the facts about HIV/AIDS, and dismiss the highly offensive, anti-gay and misinformed statements made my Jan Mickelson last week. We’ll continue to pay close attention to future broadcasts, and Mickelson’s defamation will not go unchallenged.”

In truth, the comments are far from out of character and far from ‘factual errors’ given that Mickelson has a long history of anti-LGBT commentary. The day before he made those remarks, he had a heated argument on air with openly gay GOP presidential prospect Fred Karger.

Source

08/18/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Dr. Laura is quitting her radio show! YAY! The hate filled right winger announced on Larry King that she is quitting her show to protect her first amendment rights. Does that make sense? No, but neither does Dr. Laura.

Dr. Laura was called out for using the N word on her show last week. In an effort to help Dr. Laura understand what she did wrong, King points out that it’s ok when a group goes after each other but it’s not ok when someone outside the group does it. Dr. Laura defended her actions by saying she was trying to help her guest by saying the n word to illustrate a point about hypersensitivity. She said she realized she wasn’t helping, apologized to the guest later that night and that she had policed herself without media help.

She went on to say that her contract with the network is up at the end of the year and she has made the decision not to do radio anymore. “The reason is I want to regain my first amendent right…without some special interest group…attacking.” She feels “stronger and freer to say the things that need to be said,” now that she is ending her program. She also says that times have changed, and ‘now if people don’t like what you say they threaten sponsors. These are angry hateful groups that don’t want to debate but to eliminate.” Or one can look at it as, hateful speech is no longer recepted well in this country because we want to encourage acceptance, tolerance and diversity. But hey, what do I know?   

Don’t worry, Dr. Laura will still be around, speaking, writing books and blogging. “This is the era of the internet!” She crowed triumphantly to a confused Larry King, “My career isn’t over!”

Unfortunately.  

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• Dr. Laura Ending Radio Show (advocate.com)
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• The Real L Word Recap: Episode 9 (lezgetreal.com)

The forty-eight year old told her listeners “I’m a gay woman. I’ve got the gay on me. There, that’s wasn’t so hard, was it?” She went on to say “The fact that I’m kind of a single loser – that’s mostly true. I still think firemen are hot. I’ve always thought, do I owe everybody my sexual history? I’ve been out to everybody – my family my friends. Who really didn’t know this?”

She joins several celebrities including Cheley Wright who have come out of the closet in the last year.

Source

http://www.spreadit.org/stephanie-miller-gay-comes-out-of-the-closet-lesbian/

Of course, Quinn cited some rather disturbing and debunked theories that pedophilia is more common among gay men than among straight men in order to prove his point. The debate between Quinn and Tennent went on for nearly three minutes. It is the third time in three years that Quinn, who is a Clear Channel host, has defamed LGBT people. This ‘debate’ happened on 28 July.

Here is the worst section of the “debate”:

QUINN: By the way, speaking of the boy scouts and the gay community, there was recently a decision, much unheralded in the media, on behalf of the boy scouts. The court, I believe, in Philadelphia, ruled in favor of the boy scouts. They wanted to stay in this building in Philadelphia that they were renting. See the back story.. the back channel story to that is, and most people have forgotten, that the boy scouts built this building for the people of Philadelphia.

ROSE: Unbelievable.

QUINN: And then out of sheer altruism gave it to them, and then rented it, and now because of their position on gay scout masters, who by the way they’re defending themselves about a couple of gay scout masters who have engaged in pedophilia. They’re defending themselves in a couple of court cases right now. It’s perfectly logical. You don’t send gay men and young boys out together, okay?

ROSE: Not all gay.. I mean most gay men have nothing to do with the young boys..

QUINN: Of course, but..

ROSE: Make sure that you understand that.

QUINN: But I would give you that pedophilia is far more rampant among the gay community than it is among the straight community. Now you can argue that if you want to, but the bottom line here is, this is not about discrimination, it’s about chemistry. It’s about sexual chemistry. You just don’t put… You don’t send a 21-year-old male out with a bunch of girl scouts who are 13 and 14 years old.

ROSE: I don’t care what it is, to be honest with you. They have a right to decide who they want to lead their troops and who they do not. They probably… If they want to say they want no women leading Boy Scout troops, so be it. They have that right. I wouldn’t want to say that all gays, you risk any gay leader, you risk a pedophile moment, because that’s not true. I have many gay friends who would never even consider that. So the bottom line is that they can decide whatever they want. Whatever they wanna do, they have the right to decide, I feel. You don’t want a female leader, you don’t want a gay leader, whatever It’s your organization.

While Tennent is correct, up to a point, Quinn is wrong because the evidence show that the majority of true pedophiles are actually oriented towards children without regards to their sex, and that the majority of pedophiles identify as straight.

Quinn has constantly pushed his anti-LGBT beliefs that are, of course, based in next to no real information. In 2008, he stated “Gay marriage doesn’t produce anything that the state has an interest in. Gay sex produces AIDS, which the state doesn’t have – or should have an interest in. They should charge homosexuals more for their – for their health insurance than they charge the rest of us.’”

In January of this year he stated “When you get AIDS, pal, the door opens up to you. You have got all kinds of government goodies, including a maid to clean your house, transportation – I mean it’s – there’s just a wealth of wonders that come.” Of course, it is actually very difficult for someone with HIV/AIDS to even get placed on SSID.

GLAAD has issued a statement calling on Clear Channel to live up to its past statements in support of the LGBT Community, but their response was, in part:

“Clear Channel presents opinion programming that covers a wide range of perspectives, and which we believe ultimately achieves balance through the clash and tumult in the public forum of at-times conflicting ideas – and not by our exercise of editorial control over those opinions. Indeed, on the broadcast in question of The War Room with Quinn and Rose, Jim Quinn’s on-air partner Rose Tennent challenged his opinions regarding homosexuality. Recognizing that some members of our audience will inevitably disagree with him and at times may find his opinions flatly offensive, we believe that Jim Quinn’s commentaries and debates take place within the wide boundaries of that public forum. Differing views were presented in the broadcast itself and no apology for this discussion is warranted.”

Of course, Clear Channel might want to consider what is going on with Target and Best Buy right now before they continue to give Quinn a platform to spew anti-LGBT nonsense.

Source

St. John Fernando & Greg at SF Pride 2010

Fans ecstatic as Radio Personalities attend SF Pride;

Little did famed radio personalities, St. John, and team Greg and Fernando know that  being outlawed from the 2010 Pride festivities, by complicit Clear Channel and Pride San Francisco (2010) would in fact turn out a ‘blessing in disguise.”

St John has been  a San Francisco Pride feature  celebrity  DJ each Pride for the past fourteen years,  Greg and Fernando have been bashing on doors trying to get a spot, year after year and to no  avail.   It seemed their unwelcome fate was sealed when they quit the airwaves of Pride sponsor  Clear Channel.

Joining CBS, the two sets of scorching talent  brought their magnetic pull to CBS, their new home, willing to shake fist in the face of  what may well have been the homophobic culture generated by Clear Channel home to the likes of mega –right wing stars Limbaugh and Beck.

St John, as host and creator of San Francisco’s longest running global dance radio show HouseNation  and  on air personality  for CBS Radio’s MOViN99.7… nominated at WMC for mix show of the year, has performed at SF Pride for the past fourteen years.  From the airwaves to the dance floors of the hottest clubs and undergrounds, St. John’s energetic style has made him a staple internationally from Brazil to Canada, and nation-wide from New York’s Limelight to San Francisco’s Ruby Skye. With multiple CD releases on major labels such as Thrive and UBL Recordings, St. John has sold over a quarter-million albums and in 2010 , contributed to HIV/AIDS funding and cast Pride on a community of teens confused by coming out.

In complimentary contrast, and with standing fan base as profound, is beloved duo, team “ Greg and Fernando” who shake the morning commuters with humor and rancor, so unique in its gay-straight blend that their own ‘bridge’ belies that of the reach of the very Golden Gate most commuters cross each of those blaring CBS mornings. Be assured that despite the hefty $6.00 toll (or is it $7 yet?) these fans are adding laughter and fun to the beauty of that extraordinary Bay Area commute.

In the week leading to 2010 San Francisco Pride, Lez Get Real published an article, exposing, exclusively, the impending ban excluding the iconic hosts from performing at the SF Gay Pride Festival.

Despite the article’s virility and the hullabaloo it caused, Pride did not change its stance and nor did it answer our specific e-mail questions calling for an explanation.

After the Pride Festivities, we spoke to St. John as well as Fernando, on behalf of illustrious duo Greg and Fernando.  Clearly the sentiment was unified – annual San Francisco LGBT festival and parade crossed the implicit boundary from Pride to corporate control, delivered through exclusionary terms and conditions in sponsorship contracts, that not only excluded these superb talents but the very saints of “gay is okay!”, and hence served to tacitly disparage them in the eyes of fans and populace alike.

When Lezgetreal.com broke the story in its exclusive article, St. John’s fans were shocked.  The internet and St. John’s Facebook site, spiraled into the world of viral and the comments came pouring in, via email, bloggers, and the usual fan channels.

Feeling the pulse and camaraderie, nothing could keep the famed verbally flamboyant duo, Greg and Fernando, nor the LGR featured and talented magic-mix-machine St. John, away from Pride San Francisco and so of course they showed up; after all they are family.  They  were about to find out, however, that they were there not for themselves but for Pride after all, because the FANS did not let them forget that! They were there- for the fans, who recognized and all but swarmed both sets of talent.

Sparked by the previous article, they were incensed and happy to see the guys!

St. John told us that together with Greg and Fernando, and keen CBS interns, the band of  buddies attended San Francisco Pride, as any ordinary members of the population would have the right to do. “We made our rainbow signs and went to Pride,” quipped St. John.

“Truthfully,” says St. John, “I had the best time in memory of any of the San Francisco Pride events that I have attended, always as performer.  In all my fourteen years attending I have been on a stage performing, but this time I was amongst my fans and able to connect on a personal basis.  It was an extraordinary experience. “

St. John told me that he spoke to a young fan coming out at this Pride for the first time. The youngster was so grateful for the help when St. spent time talking to the young person.  “If that was all I accomplished with just that one person, this year at Pride” said St. John, “it was humbling and made the ban worthwhile.”

But that was clearly not all that they accomplished.  “I really felt like I was there for the people this time.  It was a very personal Pride experience for me.  Fan after fan came up to me and ironically while I was having a great time, they were reminding me and commiserating about the ban on my performing at Pride; many were sad and angry with San Francisco Pride Organizers and Clear Channel.”  According to St. John.

When I spoke to Fernando, he echoed the same sentiment, both he and Greg had a fantastic time; invited to the mike as they passed almost every performer and stage.  It seems it will be hard to keep them off future gigs  especially as their fame is growing exponentially.

St John said that the Lezgetreal Article had generated huge publicity for him and CBS and that awareness and recognition had increased “a hundred times. The number of people who came up to me at Pride was incredible and I had no idea how much buzz the article had generated.”  But it is much more than that – all tree hosts are much beloved and have given so much to the gay community that their presence would undoubtedly have NOT gone unn

St. John Spinning Despite BAN

oticed, regardless of the controversy.

Then came the unexpected, a coup of sorts, as they passed the Clear Channel Group, who had been pivotal in the Ban, the buddies sensed a  tasteless discomfort as their fellow DJ’s who, while perfectly entitled to replace the ex- clear channel and now CBS icons, must surely have been uneasy about the out and out ban.

Passing the Toyota Stage, fans rallied around and the next thing St. knew he was behind the controls and spinning the reputable mix to the delight of fans and all around.  Unplanned, and impromptu he found himself, not only caught in a united throng of festivities but showcasing his formidable talent nonetheless. No he had the best of both worlds.

While, St. John, has been the mix spin of Pride gig for fourteen years, the refusal to comment by Pride organizers, has prompted an omission begging for its own spin, any spin;   “Hey SF Pride- pray tell – who is pushing the buttons – what is going on here?” This is the resounding common denominator- a roar from comments generated by my earlier Article. “Has Pride been bought to the extent that the People of San Francisco are compelled to celebrate without their heroes? Is Pride the San Francisco Pride or is it now the Corporate Who has More Money Pride.

I do not know about you fellow queers, but as for me I have marched and paraded and celebrated in the name of San Francisco pride for many years and when I see those who model excellence for our community I feel good about myself and proud that my maker made me the perfect lesbian.

With this all said, I will be featuring an article in the next few days that will bring more of the Fernando Interview (Greg and Fernando) interview. Please visit our FB Page and make sure you subscribe.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

Article  by Melanie Nathan and Lezgetreal © -  Can be re-blogged with the following accredation:
Article  at www.lezgetreal.com, by Melanie Nathan. (Include direct Link)

©Photos. Copyright  N. Collins /Melanie Nathan.

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San Francisco: Breaking – For the past 15 years openly gay, renowned DJ, radio host, and creator of San Francisco’s longest running global dance radio show “House Nation, who goes by the name St John, has been a feature, honing his iconic talent and superstar ACT at the annual San Francisco LGBT Pride.

But this year something smells a little off.  Sources inform us, that the event which would usually pride itself on tradition has succumbed to the demands of one of its  corporate sponsors, CLEAR CHANNEL.   Clear Chanel (yes the very clear channel, air-wave home to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck,) and a major SF Pride 2010 sponsor has demanded the banning of ST. John and two other well known GAY Morning DJ’s; all three axed, shunned and rejected despite their years of entrenched relationship with the event.

St. John, described as  Superstar in the growing world of  mix was extremely popular at Clear Channel’s Wild 94.9 for 14 years, and then moved to CBS’s. Movin’ 99.7, KMVQ-FM.

St. John’s energetic style has made him a staple internationally from Brazil to Canada, and nation-wide from New York’s Limelight to San Francisco’s Ruby Skye. With multiple CD releases on major labels such as Thrive and UBL Recordings, St. John has sold over a quarter-million albums and in 2010 continues to work on exciting new projects.

The exclusion may be attributed to corporate wrangling and competitive venom between CBS and Clear Channel. Yet on wonders just how San Francisco pride fits into this mix of loyalty gone awry?

Since it was not only St John who made the move, but also other DJ’s and Michael Martin, once Program Director for Clear Channel and now Vice President of Programming for CBS RADIO San Francisco. The retribution could also be attributed to Martin who did not hide his excitement when St John left  Clear Channel to join CBS: “I am beyond excited to have him join MOViN!  His skill, passion, precision and drive to win are an inspiration to all who work with him and the detriment to those who try to compete against him,” said Martin.

Should we as a marginalized and discriminated against community stand behind our heroes? Or should we accept demanding sponsors who are giving SF Pride the profits off the  millions made and paid to the likes of homophobic and anti American  Limbaugh and Beck.

For St. John the feelings were mutual when he joined CBS; – “I’m thrilled to be reunited with programming legend Michael Martin. Together we’ve dominated ratings in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles and when St John moved asserted: “I can’t wait to work with him to do it again at my new home CBS RADIO San Francisco.”

Each year, Pride works with the event media partners, such as Clear Channel home to the likes of right wing lunatics – Limbaugh and Beck, to bring a televised and  radio broadcasts of the SF Pride Parade. SF Pride producers assert that they have been able to expand the coverage of the Parade to include a full-length, unedited online broadcast in addition to televised coverage the evening following the Parade’s conclusion.

Since St. John left clear channel, it is became apparent that punitive motives would follow the star, and that attempts would  be made to relegate his well earned reverence in the world of cool music and especially his vested platform at PRIDE.

St. John, clearly hurt by San Francisco Pride’s rejection of his talent, and his years of service was loathe to make any derogatory remarks at all either toward SF Pride or Clear Channel.

From my interview it was clear that not only is St John a good man, he is modest and is not willing to speak of  the enormous contributions he has made to fighting HIV/AIDS and helping those in need.

In furthering his career he is now being punished by his own community.  Not only is he a talent but he is an open voice to tens and thousands of a younger generation who hold him in the highest esteem, reaching across the gay- straight lines amongst the youngsters, where it really counts.

When asked for his comments  he told me: “Its been a long  journey with San Francisco Pride; I am proud  to have  been  apart of a great service to the community and hope that maybe I can find a way to continue to be so.”

I will say one thing and that is if Clear Channel tried to impose a ban on any gay performer of any kind with a history and credentials such as ST, John, I for one would rather risk their sponsorship!

The Organizers of San Francisco Pride were contacted for comment but no response was received.

Clear Channel Communications,  Inc.. (OTCBB:CCMO) is a global media and entertainment company specializing in mobile and on-demand entertainment and information services for local communities and premiere opportunities for advertisers. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the company’s businesses include radio and outdoor displays. More information is available at www.clearchannel.com.

By Melanie Nathan
Nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
Get me on – FACE BOOK .

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Karel – well known out gay radio personality/host and pro equality proponent blasted the fact that Larry King gets to marry so often and to divorce so often. Karel went on to say that Gay people have  no marital rights under the federal law in the USA.  He makes the point that protecting the sanctity of marriage (for straights people,) an unsubstantiated argument against gay marriage, is impacted by people being allowed to divorce especially as often as the likes of Larry King.

While Karel’s thesis is to restrict divorce, mine is to ban divorce.  His idea is based on the fact that people get to divorce too many times and that surely impacts the so called sanctity of marriage.  However my argument speaks to the fact that same-sex marriage is outlawed under federal law based purely on the mindset and argument that same-sex couples will disturb the sanctity of marriage.

What could be worse to the sanctity of marriage than the couple, who exercised their  legal right to marry, signed the legal contract and even made a religious vow to stay together until ‘death do us part,’ terminating the marriage?   What could be more rift causing, family breaking, troublesome than that?

I guess what to those proponents it is worse if same gender couples marry and stay together until “death do them part!”

So gays and lesbians are denied their inherent right, to marry; and specifically discriminated against by virtue of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) for an absolutely fallacious reason – while the real cause of harm to marriage is a day to day occurrence for many different people and for some a regular occurrence every few years or so.   True Larry King is indeed an old bloke – 80 plus… I do not know so that gives him a marriage every ten years since the day he was born! See my November, 2009 Article  BAN DIVORCE …

Karel’s show: ‘if you want to hear the comments including the authors go to the podcast at www.radiokrl.com or iTunes

Hear and SEE Karel On Green960 KKGN San Francisco, KRXA 540 Monterey, KUDO Anchorage, KYNS San Luis Obispo, iTunes, More To Follow 3pm to 6pm M-F Live!

Thanks to Karel for correcting me – 8th divorce and 7th wife. Even bigger chutzpah he got to marry one twice!

Melanie Nathan

by Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

@oblogdeeoblogda

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Tomorrow, Wednesday April, 14, 2010, I will be participating in a blog radio fund raiser to help of Millicent Gaika, the South African woman who after being brutally raped, is destitute. In a state of shock and trauma, she is unable to pursue her medical needs and the organization that has been helping her has exhausted all their funds.

Ndumi Funda , who lost her partner to such viscous rape, is one of the founding members of the the group, “Luleki ‘Isizwe Womyn’s Project,” which was born from what has now become systemic, the corrective rape of Township lesbians in South Africa.  Desperate for money they continue to help 8 victims who they are currently housing, not knowing how many more sisters may seek help, at any time.

In African culture names are not just names, they have deep meaning.  It connects the child to the family and community.  Because of this connectedness, the child’s duty is to live in harmony with this name.

This is What Ndumi has written  -

“So where does our name come from?

The first part of our name comes from Luleka Makiwane, who was a lesbian woman.  She lived openly and had no shame about her sexuality.  She was a strong and powerful woman, and even though she fought for lesbian women’s rights, she connected strongly to the struggles of the poor in general.  She worked tireless to fight against violence against all women.  This did not protect her though, and she was violated by her own cousin who raped her.  The reason he did it ‘was to prove that she was a woman, not a man.’    As a result of the rape she became a victim to HIV AIDS and died in 2005.  She spoke about her rape and status with many of the gay community to try and educate and bring awareness of sexual and sexuality abuse.

The second part of our name comes from Nosizwe Nomsa Bizana, who was a lesbian woman.  She too was raped, gang raped by five men, because of her sexuality.  Unfortunately as a result of the vicious rape, she succumbed to Cripto Meningitis in December 16, 2007. Her story is sad, the trauma of the rape silenced her in the beginning, and she could not share this with the community.  It took a while before she could share this experience with her mother and her partner at the time.  In the end, before she passed away she was happy to be involved in the HIV Booklets of Triangle Project and thus disclose her HIV status to the broader community.

There is a general belief that lesbian women are a low risk group in terms of sexually transmitted diseases and especially HIV/AIDS.  This opinion does not however take into consideration the high levels of rape, also called ‘corrective rape,’  that particularly township-based lesbians are exposed to and which puts them at risk for STI’s and HIV/AIDS.

The stories of Luleka and Nosizwe are not the only stories that we can tell.  There are many whose stories will most probably never be told or their lives being honored in the way which we are trying to do with our initiative.  Nonetheless, we have named our project as a means to celebrate and recognize the lives and contributions of these two lesbian women who have experienced great hardship and struggle when they were alive.  Yet they continued to fight and resist against homophobia and gender based violence in the communities that they lived in.

FOUNDING MEMBERS: Ndumie Funda /  Nozuko /  Olivia /  Nkulie /  Puleng / Pam 

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04/5/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Yes, that is the most ridiculous headline ever, but it’s true. This morning,  I almost fell off my treadmill when Perez Hilton spilled the (fake?) beans. Nick Cannon, erstwhile husband of the beautiful Mariah Carey (seriously, it makes me happy that she’s happy, which makes me a moron) was hosting NYC‘s new hit music station 92.3′s morning music/gossip blend. 92.3 is personally my new favorite station and is giving z100 a run for their money. Cannon hosted a great mix of music and gossip, enough to keep my hour long treadmill run interesting when he announced his next guest was Perez Hilton. Cannon and Perez exchanged pleasantries, ignoring the jabs Hilton has made botth at Cannon for being “Mr. Mariah Carey” and for Carey’s weight fluctuation. The two talked about Lindsay Lohan and what a wreck she is and then Cannon turned the tables on Perez and asked who he was dating. Perez played it cool and said he was dating “a few guys,” meaning he had gone on a few dates with them. Cannon pushed the issue further and asked for named, this is when Perez replied “His initials are Z. E.” Cannon wiled out  and was like “Zac Efron!?!” and Perez didn’t deny.

So great. I don’t know if this is a case of Hilton having a huge celebrity crush, no one can really hate on him for that. We all have them, he just has a larger stage with which to proclaim his love. (KATE MOENNIG I LOVE YOU) But…Hilton is hard on all celebrities, except Efron, whom he has never had a mean word for. Perez also constantly disses Efron’s gf and fellow High School Musical co-star, Vanessa Hudgens. Calling the girl ugly, a slut, a ho and Vanexxxa. She certainly has not proved herself to be any of those things, as she has been dating Efron for most of her career and doesn’t have a rep for sleeping around, despite the naked picture that hit the internet a few years ago. Perez’s vendetta against Hudgens seems almost personal. Hilton has also scored tongue time with another “straight” celeb prettyboy, John Mayer. One has to wonder, is a Perez Hilton and Zac Efron hookup fact or fiction?  

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Kevin and Bean is the morning show on KROQ FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California.

On March 30, the show began talking about the recent coming out of singer Ricky Martin. During that conversation the topic turned towards the question “Does it matter if a celebrity is gay?”

They wondered if now-openly gay Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert had come out as being gay during the shows they were on, would they still have done as well as they had by staying in the closet?

They went on to discuss various celebrities who are commonly assumed to be gay but living in the closet and pondered whether their career would be impacted or not if they were to come out as being gay.

The celebs they discussed were Anderson Cooper, Kevin Spacey, George Clooney, and Queen Latifah.

…another outstanding example of a woman who everybody believes is gay – Queen Latifah. Enormously popular actress. In a lot of family movies, does she not come out because she thinks somehow she won’t get those roles or people wont take their kids to see those movies anymore because she lives with a woman?

This led them to ponder many questions such as “Does the gay and lesbian community resent people that don’t come out?”

Please leave a comment and let us know what YOU think if you are a member of the gay and lesbian community.

If you are able to listen you might enjoy this audio clip of the March 30th show which airs the conversation:
View Full Clip

For more Kevin and Bean you can find them on:

Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, BlackBerry, and iPhone or visit their website at KROQ.Radio.com

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.

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1/26/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

The radio morning show Sarah & Vinnie, which airs from 5:30 to 10am every morning on San Francisco radio station 97.3 has recently come under fire for suspected use of gay slurs. Monday morning Sarah and Vinnie were suspiciously missing from the air. Rumors are floating around the internet that the show received an outpouring of angry remarks from viewers regarding on the January 22^nd show.

Many suspect this is a hoax meant to rouse interest in the show.  No one, most surprisingly the bloggers who make the rounds in the blogosphere have the details on what was actually said or who said it. Some bloggers going to far as to check Sarah and Vinnie’s facebook pages for updates or comments from fans about the remarks. There are none. Sarah is also reportedly on vacation and was not set to appear on the show on Monday anyway.   Vinnie is already notorious for being kicked off the show for allegedly passing out at a company function due to excessive alcohol consumption in 2002. He rejoined the show in August of 2008.  

Whether or not this particular incident is a marketing ploy, using a serious issue such as discrimination against the LGBT community is a disgusting way to generate interest in a morning radio show. Sarah & Vinnie’s marketing team should be taken to task if they are using homophobia as a way to promote their show.

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“The Colony”,

The “experiment”, and I put it in quotes because you can’t take a reality show that seriously, is 10 survivors for 10 weeks in an elaborate post-apocalyptic setup. They even have a road warrior type gang come in at some point. The show has an elaborate site set up for you to “make your own colony”, offers plans for machines you’ll need after the collapse, and follow along with the show.

Now I’m a big fan of the art and talent that’s going into this. What I’m not a fan of is the possibility that The Colony will play a vital role in the process of propagandizing the public, exaggerating the threat and conditioning people to line up and demand they be injected with the swine flu vaccine. Meanwhile they are not being properly informed about the serious side effects that this vaccine, which is being rushed through testing to the public in a matter of weeks, might have.

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'Marcia Brazil' and 'Brandy M'

Marcia Brazil, a reality show contestant on VH1′s Rock of Love and currently Ricki Lake’s Charm School, was seen this weekend at the Spearmint Rhino gentleman’s club in Southern California, baring her breasts on stage.

According to our source, Marcia was at the gentleman’s club for a promotional event when she was encouraged onto the stage by the club’s DJ. When he said the words “take it off”, according to our source Marcia Brazil made a gesture with her hand asking for money. Someone threw a handful of bills into the air showering her with the bills, yet she didn’t see them and grabbed the microphone to address the crowd.

She told the crowd she’s never shown her breasts in public and if they wanted to see “they would have to pay”.

Someone else showered her with bills, and again she didn’t see this. She went on to say that her breasts were “all natural”, at which point another woman told her to look on the ground and when she saw the money laying there she then lifted her top completely.

Marcia Brazil has been on promotional events at gentleman’s clubs before, and there have been no prior reports of her ever going topless.

LezGetReal was unable to confirm whether Marcia Brazil was actually doing a promotional event at the time of the display, or whether she was at Spearmint Rhino that night simply to enjoy the show. There are still a few episodes of Ricki Lake’s Charm School left, and it is not clear how this weekend’s public display will affect her relationship with the show or VH1.

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The inclusion of the HRC logo was confirmed by Brian Hoyt, Orbitz’s vice president of corporate communications and government affairs.

This is not the first time Orbitz has marketed to the gay community. In June 2002, Orbitz launched www.orbitz.com/gaytravel within its main Web site. Going to the address you will find information about gay-friendly destinations and events.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

]]> http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/video-perez-hilton-vs-maggie-gallagher-on-larry-king/feed/ 4 http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/the-l-word-interrogation-tapes/ http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/the-l-word-interrogation-tapes/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 11:00:46 +0000 ~Julie Phineas~ http://lezgetreal.com/?p=12168 Are you an L Word fan? Have you been wondering who killed Jenny Schechter in the final episode of the last season?

Since the finale aired the interrogation tapes have been released one by one at the shows website on Sho.com.

The first tape was of Tina Kinard, which you can watch below:

The next interrogation tape is of Shane:

Next is the interrogation of Helena, but you have to watch that one here.

The next interrogation tape released is the interrogation of Nikki Stevens (who was my prime suspect):

Next interrogation tape is the interrogation of Max, but you have to watch that one here.

The next interrogation is Bette:

And finally the interrogation of Alice:

Word is now that Alice is heading to the slammer, in a new spin-of show. Alice will be convicted of some sort of crime related to the Season Six death of the much-hated Jenny, though Alice claims she is innocent and falsely convicted.

“L Word” creator Ilene Chaiken thinks the subject of Alice’s guilt, should the series get picked up, “could be an open question for a long time.”

After watching the interrogation tapes… who do YOU think killed Jenny?

]]> http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/the-l-word-interrogation-tapes/feed/ 2 http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/keith-olbermann-on-carrie-prejeans-semi-nude-photo-and-joe-the-plumbers-queer-comment/ http://lezgetreal.com/2009/05/keith-olbermann-on-carrie-prejeans-semi-nude-photo-and-joe-the-plumbers-queer-comment/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 09:00:15 +0000 ~Julie Phineas~ http://lezgetreal.com/?p=12145 Keith Olbermann tackled two topics of interest to the LGBT community on his show last night, and is a must watch if you are confused about the malstorm brought down upon Carrie Prejean after the Miss USA pageant, or if you haven’t yet learned of the anti-gay comments made by “Joe the Plumber” (aka Samuel Wurzelbacher).

Do you think Carrie Prejean’s photo scandal is relevant to marriage equality?
What do you think about Joe the Plumber’s ‘queer’ comment?

Here is the YouTube video:

I am glad to see Oprah becoming more vocal on the topic. I wish she had been more vocal about Prop. 8 before it was passed. Hopefully her participation in highlighting the topic now will have some affect on the Obama administration and the future of LGBT rights.

You can see the video below where Patti and her staff discuss the upcoming experience and dish about setting up single millionaires who are gay and lesbian.

Do you agree with what Patti Stanger had to say or do you disagree?

Billy Ray Cyrus is not taking comments made about his daughter Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) so lightly.

Recently comedy and hip-hop artist turned talk show host Jamie Foxx made comments about the young actress and singer on Foxx’s radio talk show called the Foxxhole.

After a female co-host said “Miley is a little white bitch” this is what Foxx had to say:

“Make a sex tape and grow up. Get like Britney Spears and do some heroin. Do like Lindsay Lohan and start seeing a lesbian and get some crack in your pipe. Catch chlamydia on a bicycle seat.”

Too hard to believe??

Well… it’s on YouTube.

Foxx later apologized for the remarks, insisting he made the joke as a comedian.

Miley’s father, country music legend Billy Ray Cyrus, is not taking the comments so lightly saying there was “Nothing funny about it.” Billy Ray was quoted as saying “It was hurtful” and “Quite frankly, I think if I said those things about his daughter, he might not find it so comedic.”

What are your thoughts on the matter??

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her online by visiting her website at www.juliephineas.com.

Here’s the video:

What do you think about what Laurel Holloman had to say? And what’s up with Paris Hilton calling it The L World? Didn’t she have a walk-on on that show before? Hmm…

In any case, tell us what you think!