Only one day before it was scheduled to begin, New York City's popular black gay pride function, Pride in the City, has canceled events amidst a dramatic upheaval at its sponsoring agency, the HIV/AIDS group People of Color in Crisis (POCC). Rod 2.0 has exclusive details on the last-minute event cancellation and firing of former executive director Michael Roberson—including a lawsuit just filed against POCC, alleged financial improprieties, state and federal investigation, and, a possible possible criminal investigation.
Orson Scott Card, author of the multiple award-winning Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead among other acclaimed works of speculative fiction, has recently published an anti-gay diatribe in the Mormon Times which is getting noticed by an influential gay blog, AfterElton.com as well as on the popular Whatever blog by science fiction author John Scalzi. Scalzi says it best for many:
Speaking as one of the heterosexually-married people OSC clearly hopes will respond to this clarion call of his, I have to say to him: Dude, no. Just, no. On the list of government actions that have genuinely threatened the well-being of the United States over the years, same-sex marriage is probably about number 36,000, wedged between cashmere subsidies and funding for whatever set of still pictures Ken Burns is slow-panning across on PBS this next year. On the other hand, initiatives intended to cancel out existing marriages and deprive citizens of rights they already have under law jump up to near the top of the list of things I personally worry about tearing at the national fabric. Call it a difference in perspective.
I’ve read almost all of Card’s books, some of which are excellent and a few of which even include somewhat sympathetic portrayals of gay people. But I’ll never give another cent to this paranoid, delusional man.And Paul Constant over at Slog in a piece entitled "Let’s Call a Jackass a Jackass" is trying to publicize "Orson Scott Card is a hateful homophobe." Mad Professah agrees.
[...]
Card has been saying outrageous, openly bigoted things about gays for years. But he has received little mainstream criticism, and major media players such as Marvel Comics, Warner Brothers, and Card's publisher Tom Doherty Associates continue to work with him.
Earlier this year, Card was given the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Award by the Young Adults Library Services Association for his contributions to young adult literature. As my author friend David Levithan argued at the time, would they have given the award to an author who is as openly racist or sexist as Card is homophobic? Would an author who advocates a return to South Africa's apartheid be welcome at an awards ceremony anywhere other than a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan?
Orson Scott Card is a hateful, dangerous man. It’s high time more people treat him as such.
Here is the text of the resolution (co-sponsored by a white Congressman named steve Cohen representing a majority Black district in Tennessee--Harold Ford, Jr.'s old district) that passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a voice vote on Wednesday.
"Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.Thoughts? I'm curious to see what Barack Obama's reaction is.
Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies from 1619 through 1865;
Whereas slavery in America resembled no other form of involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or animals;
Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage;
Whereas enslaved families were torn apart after having been sold separately from one another;
Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism against persons of African descent upon which it depended became entrenched in the Nation's social fabric;
Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865 after the end of the Civil War, which was fought over the slavery issue;
Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery, African-Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social, and economic gains they made during Reconstruction eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial segregation in virtually all areas of life;
» Continue reading House to take up apology for slavery and racial segregation
Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as `Jim Crow,' which arose in certain parts of the Nation following the Civil War to create separate and unequal societies for whites and African-Americans, was a direct result of the racism against persons of African descent engendered by slavery;
Whereas the system of Jim Crow laws officially existed into the 1960's--a century after the official end of slavery in America--until Congress took action to end it, but the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day;
Whereas African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow--long after both systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity;
Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure segregation of African-Americans and the dehumanizing atrocities committed against them should not be purged from or minimized in the telling of American history;
Whereas on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush acknowledged slavery's continuing legacy in American life and the need to confront that legacy when he stated that slavery `was . . . one of the greatest crimes of history . . . The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destiny is set: liberty and justice for all.';
Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism against African-Americans that began with slavery when he initiated a national dialogue about race;
Whereas a genuine apology is an important and necessary first step in the process of racial reconciliation;
Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help Americans confront the ghosts of their past;
Whereas the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia has recently taken the lead in adopting a resolution officially expressing appropriate remorse for slavery and other State legislatures are considering similar resolutions; and
Whereas it is important for this country, which legally recognized slavery through its Constitution and its laws, to make a formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;
(2) apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and
(3) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future."
This is interesting news. Equality California is announcing the creation of a Equality Business Advisory Council with a founding donation of $250,000 made by Pacific Gas & Electric Company to oppose Proposition 8 and protect the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California.
In 2000, very few companies took stands (on either side) on Proposition 22, which was an anti-gay marriage ballot measure which passed. This time is different.
“We are proud to join NO on 8 and Equality California to protect the freedom to marry for all Californians,” said PG&E Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Nancy McFadden. “For years, PG&E has advocated for equality and fairness in the workplace, and across California. In that same spirit, PG&E is honored to be a founding member of the Equality Business Advisory Council and urge our business colleagues to join us as we work to guarantee the same rights and freedoms for every Californian.”
A recent Field Poll of likely voters showed that a majority of Californians oppose Proposition 8 and would vote against it in November.
Joe.My.God has the scoop on openly gay Wordperfect co-founder Bruce Bastian's one million dollar donation to the No on Proposition 8 campaign announced at HRC's San Francisco gala (boycotted by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Senator-elect Mark Leno, State Senator Carole Migden and Assemblymember-elect Tom Ammiano) this past weekend.
The Bay Area Reporter has some useful details:
Bastian, a member of the Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors, announced his gift at the group's annual gala fundraiser in San Francisco Saturday, July 26. It is the largest personal contribution toward the campaign against Prop 8 to date, according to HRC officials.
Although Bastian is single, does not live in the state, and does not have any close gay friends who are Californians planning to marry, he said he sees the marriage fight in the state as a "battle line." And with the Mormon Church already raising funds to pass Prop 8, Bastian said it was imperative that he become involved in the fight.
"As a Mormon I know it costs a lot of money to preach. The Mormons will raise a lot of money in support of Prop 8 in November," said Bastian, who divorced his wife in 1994 and is the father of four sons. "It upsets me deeply. I want to tell the Mormon Church to stay out of my business."
[...]
A graduate of Brigham Young University, Bastian excelled at computer programming and co-founded the WordPerfect Software Company with Alan Ashton in 1978. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth to be $1.1 billion at one time, and Bastian has funneled his money to gay causes and numerous arts groups in Utah.
More good news! There will soon be two states in the United States where LGBT Americans (who live in states that have not passed Super-DOMAs) can travel to and get married.
The Massachusetts State House has just passed a bill by a vote of 118-35 that would repeal a 1913 law that restricted issuing Massachusetts marriage licences to couples whose marriage would be recognized in the state in which they resided. This was initially passed to reduce the number of interracial marriages and was enforced by former Massachusetts Governor (and possible Republican Vice Presidential candidate) Mitt Romney when the state opened up its marriages to same-sex couples on May 17, 2004.
Current Governor Deval Patrick (who has an openly lesbian teenaged daughter and has worked tirelessly to protect marriage equality in the state) has announced that he will happily sign the repeal measure into law.
Rea Carey, newly named Executive Director of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a statement applauding the move:
“Massachusetts lawmakers wisely dismantled the barrier to same-sex couples from other states who wish to marry in the Commonwealth. We look forward to the signature of Governor Patrick on this legislation. The 1913 law, a shameful vestige from another wrong-headed time of denying marriage to interracial couples, became Gov. Mitt Romney’s archaic tool in his unsuccessful bid to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples. Not only does today’s House vote repudiate Romney’s efforts to block our marriages in Massachusetts, it also invites couples from around the United States to experience the joy and happiness of celebrating their lives by becoming married in the Bay State.
“We applaud MassEquality, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and the many others who worked so long and hard to achieve and protect marriage equality in Massachusetts.”
former VA Gov. Tom Kaine and Obama
McCain and former MA Gov Mitt RomneyRod2.0:
Choosing the first term Virginia governor for the number two slot appears to be the conventional wisdom, albeit a bland and uninspiring choice. The Dixiecrat endorsed Obama early in the primary and is anti-choice, pro-death penalty and supported the Iraq War—the perfect resume for the "post-partisan" Republican lite politics of the new "Democratic" Party.The icing on the cake is Kaine's woeful record on gay rights—against gay adoption, partner benefits, discrimination legislation, and ,of course, against same-sex marriage and supported the amendment that now bans gay marriage in the Commonwealth. The Virginia governor also has the distinction of running one of the more creative gay-baiting campaigns in recent history, branding his anti-gay Republican opponent "having a gay sounding voice." Kaine is hardly presidential timber—more like pressed plywood.Melissa McEwan:
Suffice it to say I am as decidedly unthrilled as I am (unfortunately) totally unsurprised that the Obama campaign is even considering putting a gay-baiting DINO war hawk whose personal "views on abortion are roughly in line with those of George W. Bush" on the ticket.Matt Stoller:
Kaine is a very bad choice for VP. He's done nothing as Governor except turn a functional state government into a partisan cesspool of giveaways to the rich and anger everyone in the process. And on national positions, the only thing he brings to the table is that he can play the Lieberman as VP role again. And sequels usually suck, especially if the original was bad.
You can read more from those who know him best and even helped get him elected at RK, the blog that no longer bears his name out of disgust for what he has done as Governor.
As reported by MadProfessah yesterday, the title and summary of Proposition 8 was revised from the relatively innocuous "Limit on Marriage" to the more direct "Elimination of Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry." The heterosexual supremacists who are promoting Proposition 8 are not pleased and have gone to court.
Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Protect Marriage coalition, called the new language "inherently argumentative" and said it could "prejudice voters against the initiative."
Proponents of the measure said they want voters to see ballot language similar to what was on the petitions that began circulating last fall.
"This is a complete about-face from the ballot title that was assigned" when the measure was being circulated for signatures, Kerns said.
On the other side, Steve Smith, campaign manager for No on Proposition 8, applauded the language change.
"What Proposition 8 would do is eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, which is exactly what the attorney general put in the title of the measure," he said. "It will be very difficult for them to win the case."
Political analysts on both sides suggest that the language change will make passage of the initiative more difficult, noting that voters might be more reluctant to pass a measure that makes clear it is taking away existing rights.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declined to attend Saturday's HRC Gala in San Francisco depite being listed as the Headliner Speaker. The mayor explained his last-minute withdrawal by issuing a brief statement:
"As Mayor of the largest city in California, I am committed to creating a world in which no member or group in society is denied full and equal rights. It is my hope that this time next year will find us all united by victory in the fight against Proposition 8 and ever more determined to establish equal rights, with no exceptions, for every one of us."The Mayor had intended to attend the gala when the controversy was just about ENDA but when the Sam Francisco Labor Coucil joined the boycott of the HRC event his decision was made for him. Villaraigosa has the 2009 re-election campaign approaching as well as the 2010 gubernatorial primary a year later. Clearly he made a decision to shore up both his LGBT support and labor support. His other main pro-gay rival for the Governor's office, Gavin Newsom, was unavailable because he was getting married himself last weekend. (Hat tip to Joe.My.God)
Quelle Surprise! Officials at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) have now cancelled a previously announced meeting to be held with gay Mormons next month.
Latter Day Saints President Thomas S. Monson agreed to a meeting in April with leaders of Affirmation, an organization for LGBT members of the LDS church, Fred Riley, commissioner of family services for the LDS, and Harold C. Brown, the agency’s past commissioner.Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.
Affirmation had sought such a meeting for several years. It was to have taken place Aug. 11.
But in a letter to Affirmation, Riley suddenly called off the discussion, noting he was preparing to leave his position and that the meeting would best be handled by his successor, who has not yet been named.
“We feel badly about this, but believe that for this to be the best experience for all parties and to ensure appropriate consistency and continuity of the process, it would be best to postpone the meeting until the new commissioner is named,” Riley said in the letter.
Good news! The official title and summary of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 has been changed by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, in favor of fairness and equality. The previous title was "LIMIT ON MARRIAGE" Initiative Constitutional Amendment, the new title is "ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY."
ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.There will almost definitely be litigation over these changes, and although two weeks ago the good guys lost the lawsuit to boot Proposition 8 from the ballot completely, since it now eliminates marriage rights for (and possibly annuls current marriages of) same-sex couples instead of just limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, the good guys will probably win the legal battle over this title and summary.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.
Although the changes to the proposed amendment are subject to legal challenge, this summary accurately describes what the proposition will do. Prop. 8 would eliminate a constitutional right guaranteed to same-gender couples and would decrease revenues coming in to the state from marriages between same-gender couples.
Brandon McInerney, the 14-year-old killer of openly-gay 15-year-old Lawrence King will be tried as an adult. The question of whether McInerney should be treated as an adult has divided the LGBT cmmunity, with the largest LGBT organizations sending a joint letter to the prosecutor arguing that the teenager should be tried as a juvenile. However, thanks to 2000's Proposition 21 (which MadProfessah opposed) juveniles as young as 14 can be tried as an adult in certain cases.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox, who is prosecuting the case, argued that McInerney’s age should not play a factor in him being charged as an adult in the murder of Lawrence King. In a statement to The Advocate, Fox said that McInerney’s ability to “premeditate and deliberate this kind of crime and pull it off in front of their entire class I think is cause for serious alarm… he should spend a good long time behind bars.”
“When you were 14, when you were 10, when you were 8, did you know it was wrong to kill someone?” Fox asked. “The answer inevitably is yes.” Because 14 and 15-year-olds cannot receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole in California, The Advocate notes, McInerney could still be released on parole in the future even if sentence to life in prison.
Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 6-2 to win the ATP Masters Series title at the Rogers Cup in Toronto yesterday. It was his 29th consecutive match win and his 5th consecutive title (Hamburg Masters, Roland Garros, Queen's, Wimbledon and now the Toronto Masters). He has now won 30 ATP titles (12 ATP Masters Series) in his career at the age of 22. He won his first match on the ATP tour at the age of 15(!) and has been the World #2 for a record 156 consecutive weeks. He is now a mere 300 points behind current World #1 Roger Federer of Switzerland, who has held that position since February 2, 2004. Depending on the results at this week's ATP Masters Series event Cincinnati Nadal could become World #1 by next week.
More at Craig Hickman's blog.
Saw The Dark Knight this weekend. Since it's release at 12:01am Friday July 18th the film has been repeatedly breaking box-office records, and as of this writing has grossed $312 million(!) in 10 days putting it a mere $2 million behind the box-office champ for 2008: Iron Man (MadProfessah's review). Some industry observers are predicting a $500 million final gross and say that Titanic's $1.8 billion worldwide gross may be in jeopardy (I doubt that).
The movie is directed by one of my favorite directors, Christopher Nolan, who made Memento and The Prestige (see MadProfessah's review), two of my favorite films of all time. In fact, in my opinion, Christopher Nolan (who co-writes and also produces his films) has yet to make a bad movie in the six feature films in his oeuvre so far: The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Insomnia and Memento.
The Dark Knight is a fitting member of this club. Although it is not as intellectually satisfying as Memento or The Prestige it is another example of damned good film-making similar to Batman Begins but it is better than that movie.
The cast (like in the original) is quite impressive and uniformly excellent: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal with even minor roles filled with excellent actors like Nestor Carbonell (The Mayor of Gotham City) and Anthony Michael Hall (an important cop) and Eric Roberts (an important gangster).
A little over half-way through the film I whispered to The Other Half "How much did this film cost?!" It looks incredible and you really can't believe all the things they were able to do on-screen, even with the magic of computerized visual effects.
The film does have a significant flaw: the film is simply too long. It is his longest film to date, and I think it's because he wanted to give the fans a summer entertainment where they feel they got their money's worth. Well, he had me after the first hour. The running time could really be anywhere between 15-30 minutes shorter. There's simply too much plot for a popcorn movie (how often does say that about a summer blockbuster?) which leads to a sense of enervated appreciation by the end.
The strengths of the film are many and much celebrated at this point, with the most significant being the performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. He is absolutely riveting to watch, at times terrifying, funny and violent. It is an Oscar-calibre performance for which he will almost certainly win year-end acting awards posthumously (personally I would not vote for him for Best Supporting Academy Award if it were up to me because I think living actors should benefit from the exposure of winning the film industry's highest honor but there's no question it is one of the strongest supprting performances by a male actor in any film this year so far).
Unsurprisingly, Oscar-winners Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are also incredibly strong in their supporting roles, as is Aaron Eckhart as the politically ambitious District Attorney Harvey Dent. Gary Oldman is almost unrecognizable in his Sir Albert Finney-like disappearance into his character. The only slight weakness in the top tier talent is Maggie Gyllenhaal's although I do think she was an improvement on Katie Holmes who originated the role of Bruce Wayne's love interest Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins.
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (he doesn't really get to do any acting as Batman) is solid and I found it signficant that there are almost no scenes of Bale's incredible body shirtless--in fact there is almost no sexuality whatever in the film.
The film, instead seems to be more about the puzzle of vigilante-ism and the nature of the body politic of a city, as well as the nature of madness and criminality and how far "the good guys" will go to stop the "bad guys" from getting their way, even if that means the line between good and bad get blurred. But, ultimately, it is an incredibly entertaining way to spend almost 3 hours in the dark.
OVERALL GRADE: A-.
ACTING: A+.
IMAGERY: A-.
PLOT: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
Saw Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D Friday as an opening act for The Dark Knight. I enjoyed watching Beowulf in 3-D last fall and I believe the technology has a great future for the movie industry.
This is the first live-action 3-D movie that I have seen and generally I would say that the 3-D effects were not really necessary for most of the film but they were extremely effective when incorporated with more standard visual effects like floating individual water droplets, flying luminescent birds and snapping fish.
Interestingly, the credits were surprisingly exciting because they moved towards the viewer rather rapidly. In fact, any sudden moves of objects towards the viewer are pretty fun. The 3-D effects applied to water in multiple different forms (spraying droplets, undulating waves and falling water) were definite standouts.
It's definitely a kid's movie but it is relatively engrossing for the 90 minute running time although it is somewhat marred by completely implausible physics which are offensive to any scientifically trained individual.(Stable equilibria for magnetic objects in magnetic fields do not exist!) Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem are all agreeable and have reasonable chemistry.
OVERALL GRADE: B-.
IMAGERY: B+.
ACTING: C+.
PLOT: C-.
IMPACT: B-.
There are 100 days until Tuesday November 4, 2008. Vote NO on Proposition 8.
Black and brown people unite! There's a new poll out showing that Hispanic voters prefer Barack Obama to John McCain for President.
Obama's approval rating with registered Latino voters, the nationwide Pew Hispanic Center poll found, is at 66 percent versus 23 percent favoring McCain.
[...]
Obama's favorability among Latinos is slightly up from a Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May, which showed Obama with 62 percent of Latino voters nationwide, compared with 29 percent for McCain.
"He now appears to be even more popular than Hillary Clinton among Latinos," Lopez said.
Pew Hispanic Center's deputy director, Susan Minushkin, added that Obama is "enjoying broad-based support among Hispanics who don't see great differences by age, by gender, by education, by income."
Rapper Nas and the Color Of Change organization delivered over 600, 000 petitions to Fix News Corporation to protest its racist smears of Barack Obama, his family and Black America in general.
Saw Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy 2: The Golden Army this weekend while Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight was crushing box-office records.
The sequel to the 2004 Hellboy has been received relatively warmly by critics and the public in general (87% critics and 80% users at rottentomatoes.com).
As usual, the sequels to sucessful films that become summer blockbusters become bigger, louder and longer. Actually, Hellboy 2 is a few minutes shorter than the original's two-hour running time but seems much longer.
del Toro is clearly an extremely talented director and the images he includes in the film are truly breath-taking, even more imaginative than the amazing creations that appeared in his Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth (MadProfessah's review). This is one of the reason's he has been tapped to take on what is probably the #1 directing job in the world today, the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
However, Hellboy 2 is a good example of the importance of a good script and being faithful to the internal consistencies of a fantastical world. In Hellboy 2, the entire plot revolves around the prevention of the activation of an indestructible, unstoppable Golden Army. When the question of whether the Golden Army will be stopped is resolved, one of the characters grabs the device which controls the activation of the Golden Army and completely destroys it in a few seconds. WTF? If the character ccould have demolished the key device at any point in time, what was the point of the last 90 minutes of the film? This is a fatal flaw and basically ruined the film for me. And my attention was already starting to flag because right before this point the action had become extremely frenetic and appeared to be unending. However, at no point does the film look bad, and overall, the action scenes were well-paced throughout the running time of the film.
OVERALL GRADE: B.
IMAGERY: A+.
ACTING: A-.
PLOT: D.
IMPACT: B-.
Late Thursday night, by a vote of 303-115, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 5501, a bill to re-authorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and remove HIV/AIDS from the list of communicable diseases that can bar an individual from entering the country.
The always excellent Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report summarizes the news thusly:
The legislation allocates a total of $50 billion -- $48 billion of which would go to PEPFAR and $2 billion of which would go to American Indian issues. The bill also includes an amendment intended to increase oversight of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and encourage cost-sharing and transition strategies as part of agreements with countries that receive PEPFAR aid. The measure also includes a provision that would ease U.S. HIV/AIDS travel restrictions.Woo hoo! Still-President Bush has announced that he intends to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
One primary difference between the original House version of the legislation and the version passed on Thursday is that the original version would have allowed groups to use PEPFAR funding for HIV testing and education in family planning clinics but not for contraception or abortion services. The bill passed on Thursday does not mention family planning programs.
The measure approved on Thursday also includes a provision that more than half of the program's aid go toward HIV/AIDS treatment and care. In addition, it would overturn an existing law that requires one-third of prevention funds be spent on abstinence and fidelity programs, instead requiring a report to Congress if countries do not spend half of prevention money on such programs. The bill also would direct 10% of funding to programs for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as allocate $2 billion for the Global Fund in fiscal year 2009. The legislation contains an existing requirement that organizations receiving PEPFAR aid have a policy that opposes commercial sex work. The bill would create links between HIV/AIDS and nutrition programs and set a target of recruiting 140,000 health care workers. In addition, the measure would allocate $5 billion for malaria programs and $4 billion for tuberculosis initiatives (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/24).
Rod 2.0 scoops MadProfessah on this latest casting news of my favorite Arab hottie: Haaz Sleiman. Apparently, Haaz has been cast in the new Edie Falco comedy Nurse Jackie on Showtime. Haaz will be playing one of the six lead characters on the show, he is playing Maurice, a gay Muslim-American best friend of the lead character, Nurse Jackie. The series will debut on Showtime in early 2009 and its first season will be 12 episodes.
According to Tina Daunt's gossip column at the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton (and his wife Rikki Kleinman) have come out strongly and publicly against Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that would ban and possibly annul marriages of gay and lesbian couples. They have also heartily endorsed marriage equality.
You can also help promote fairness and equality for gay and lesbian couples by donating to VOW TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 8 / Equality for All campaign."The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Bratton said this week. "I see no reason why gays can't pursue happiness through marriage."
After learning of the union [between celebrity publicist Howard Bragman and his longtime partner Chuck O'Donnell] a few days ago, Bratton and Kleiman asked the couple what they would like as a wedding present. Bragman was direct: No gifts -- instead, make a donation to Equality California to help stop Prop. 8. And please make it public.Other friends of Bragman and O'Donnell -- who was USC's Tommy Trojan for 10 years -- have done the same. They include tennis star Martina Navratilova and former "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington. (He's been trying to make amends with the gay community since he was caught uttering an antigay slur backstage at the Golden Globes in January 2007; Bragman is his PR rep.)
"The hardcourt season just started so it is not the end of the world but I wish I could have started better," Federer said. "I like this surface, I like this tournament, I have done well in the past here so it definitely hurts.
"I have to regroup and look forward. The bigger picture is the Olympic Games and the US Open and those are the places I really want to win so I have to make sure I am ready for that."
The 22nd-ranked Simon represented a tricky opponent for the rusty Federer, who had only resumed practice four days before arriving in Toronto and received a first-round bye.
[...]
"I was playing like I was in a dream," Simon said. "I just saw the ball and hit it as hard as possible."
[...]
After starting 2008 with a lead of 1,445 ranking points over the Spaniard [Rafael Nadal], an off-the-boil season which now includes 10 defeats in 53 matches has Federer facing the possibility of losing the top spot he has held for 234 weeks since 2004.
While Nadal cannot overtake him even with a second title in Canada, site of his first career hardcourt crown, the pressure is now intense on 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer.
Only a few hundred points will separate the leading pair if Nadal does well this week.
My favorite mystery writer, John Morgan Wilson, wrote me an e-mail note today thanking me for MadProfessah's review of his most recently published book, Rhapsody in Blood, and to tell me that he has a new book, entitled Spider Season coming out late this Fall! December 9, 2008, according to Amazon.com. You can read the first chapter of the book at Wilson's personal website.
First of all, how cool of it is to get a letter from a writer whose work you admire and they tell you that they like the review you wrote of their work?
Secondly, how exciting is that finally after two long years, a new episode in the Benjamin Justice series will be out soon?
If you haven't heard of Benjamin Justice, he is the fictional openly gay, ex-reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for the Los Angeles Times that had to be returned after a huge scandal.
He always seems to find himself in complicated murder mysteries set in Southern California and Los Angeles (the first several books are actually set in the heart of the gay ghetto itself: West Hollywood).
The first seven books in the series are: Simple Justice (1996), Revision of Justice (1997), Justice at Risk (1999), The Limits of Justice (2000), Blind Eye (2003), Moth and Flame (2004) and Rhapsody in Blood (2006).
I am thinking of re-reading (and reviewing) the first 6 books or so for this blog before the 8th one comes out in December. I would strongly recommend reading them in order, although each one is self-contained, the impact of the events on the character is deepened if you have experienced the events of the previous books.
John Aravosis over at AmericaBlog caught this gaffe by John McCain on Sunday. Talking to ABC's Diane Sawyer, the 71-year-old Republican presidential candidate said:
"I think it’s serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," said McCain, R-Ariz., said on "Good Morning America."
Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.
Forever Peace is the second book by Joe Handelman to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also achieved this doubly prestigious honor before with his book The Forever War, which I have previously read and reviewed and greatly enjoyed.
Unfortunately, Forever Peace is not as well-written as The Forever War, although it is as inventive. That's part of the problem. There are two great ideas in The Forever War: the notion that some percentage of humans have the ability to be "jacked" so that all sensory input can be shared between two or more people AND the discovery that a long-running astrophysical experiment to recreate the Big Bang will actually destroy a significant portion of our Galaxy and there is a secret society that has infiltrated the Government that believes that it is God's will that the Universe be destroyed.
Either one of these ideas would have been enough to make a pretty decent sciemce fiction novel. However, in Forever Peace I think that Haldeman over-reaches and tries to include two ideas that really don't have much to do with each other. In general, I am a fan of sci-fi books that are brimming with ideas but there's just something ill-posed about the way the ideas in Forever Peace seem to unspool. I was quite surprised, because most reviews seem to think that it is at least as a good as The Forever War but I had difficulty finishing it (and was not really invested in the main character's well-being) which was not the case with The Forever War, which is really a collection of short stories and novellas that feature the same character.
Forever Peace and The Forever War are not really sequels, their similarities are in their author and they both are told from the first-person perspective of a soldier in aseemingly unterminable war. Forever Peace does not distinguish itself in a head-to-head cmparison between the two, but is still worth a try (after reading The Forever War).
OVERALL GRADE: B+.
IMPACT: B-.
IDEAS: A.
WRITING: B.
TowleRoad and Joe.My.God are both reporting on an online Harris Interactive poll of LGBT Americans which says that Barack Obama is ahead 60% to 14%.
I must agree with both bloggers that it is surprising that 14% would be voting for John McCain when:
This is a man who doesn't even know what the acronym LGBT stands for.
He also doesn't really believe in gay adoption, supports a ban on gays in the military, is worried if his clothing looks too gay, isn't sure if condoms stop the spread of HIV, thinks same-sex marriage ceremonies are okay as long as they're just pretend, and has promised right-wing religious groups that he'll start speaking out more vocally against LGBT causes.
According to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, there will be a legislative hearing on the military's anti-LGBT "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy at 12pm on Wednesday July 23rd chaired by Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego).
Scheduled to testify against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are U.S. Army Major General Vance Coleman (Ret.), U.S. Navy Captain Joan E. Darrah (Ret.), and former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric F. Alva.Many bloggers have been remarking on the recently released ABC/Washington Post poll showing nearly overwhelming support by the American public for allowing openly LGBT soldiers to serve their country in the military. Towleroad has the number at 75% of all Americans approving of openly gay servicemembers.
General Coleman, who served as a Division Commander, sits on the SLDN Military Advisory Council. His decorations include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Captain Darrah’s assignments included serving as Deputy Director of the Human Resources Directorate at the Office of Naval Intelligence. A graduate of the Naval War College, she also belongs to the SLDN Military Advisory Council.
Sergeant Alva was the first American wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served in the Marine Corps for 13 years.
Since its implementation in 1993, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has resulted in the dismissal of more than 12,500 men and women from the armed forces. Nearly 800 of those dismissed under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” had skills deemed 'mission-critical' by the Department of Defense. More than 300 of those discharged were language specialists, including 58 Arabic linguists. The cost to U.S. taxpayers for maintaining the ban is estimated at more than $363 million.
I finally read the classic 1974 sci-fi novel by Joe Haldeman called The Forever War which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1975 and 1976, respectively. These are pretty significant achievement and it would be difficult for a book to live up to it.
Awful news for the East West Bank Classic in Carson, CA: American tennis stars Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Serena Williams have withdrawn from the WTA Tier II tournament that starts tomorrow.
Venus and Lindsay withdrew on Friday with knee injuries. Serena retired from her semifinal match against Aleksandra Wozniak on Saturday at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with an aggravation of her left knee injury. She was not moving at all and was down 2-6, 1-3, 40-15 when she stopped playing.
All three Americans are scheduled to represent their country at the Olympics which start on Friday August 8.
More good news for people who believe in fairness and equality for all: Proposition 8 is opposed by a majority of California likely voters. Calitics has links to more details but there is also encouraging words from Mark DiCamillo: “Starting out behind is usually an ominous sign for a proposition. Over 90 percent of propositions that start out behind get taken down."
The new poll found a predictable partisan division: Republicans support the constitutional ban 68 percent to 27 percent while Democrats oppose it 63 percent to 30 percent. Nonpartisan and minor-party members are even more strongly against it, 66 percent to 27 percent.
DiCamillo said he was not surprised that unaffiliated voters opposed Proposition 8 more than Democrats because those voters tend to be younger than Democrats or Republicans.
[...]However, the recent poll found the opposition to the ban strongest among voters between 50 and 64 years old, with 57 percent opposed and 38 percent in support.
[...]Regionally, the poll showed the strongest opposition to Proposition 8 came from voters in the San Francisco Bay Area, who were opposed 67 percent to 26 percent. The strongest support came from the Central Valley, where the amendment was backed 54 percent to 39 percent.
In Los Angeles County, the poll showed that likely voters oppose the measure, 51 percent to 41 percent, while Southern California counties outside Los Angeles – including San Diego – are more evenly split, with 50 percent against and 45 percent in favor.
[...]
The Field Poll, conducted July 8 through Monday, is based on surveys with 672 likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
The 2008 Emmy Award nominations have been announced reflecting excellence in television.
DRAMA SERIES:
"Boston Legal," ABC
"Damages," FX
"Dexter," Showtime
"House," Fox
"Lost," ABC
"Mad Men," AMC
MadProfessah's pick: Lost
COMEDY SERIES:
"Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO
"Entourage," HBO
"The Office," NBC
"30 Rock," NBC
"Two and a Half Men," CBS
MadProfessah's pick: 30 Rock
ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES:
Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
James Spader, "Boston Legal"
MadProfessah's pick: Since no one from Lost (Terry O'Quinn or Michael Fox or Naveen Andrews) was nominated I really don't care. I've only seen like two episodes of Dexter and was not very impressed.
ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES:
Glenn Close, "Damages"
Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit"
Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
MadProfessah's pick: Glenn Close. This is an insane category. As opportunities for Oscar-calibre actresses of a certain age diminish in the movies they are increasing on television. Glenn Close was robbed of an Oscar (a couple of times) in the early 90s, Sally Field has won two (!) and Holly Hunter has won one Best Actress Oscar. I have just started watching The Closer and I am impressed with Kyra Sedgwick's work.
ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES:
Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "New Adventures of Old Christine"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"
MadProfessah's pick: Tina Fey (or Mary-Louise Parker).
ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES:
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Lee Pace, "Pushing Daisies"
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men"
MadProfessah's pick: Tony Shalhoub has won this category 3 times already! But I'd love to see Steve Carell win this year.
SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY SERIES:
Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men"
Kevin Dillon, "Entourage"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Rainn Wilson, "The Office"
MadProfessah's pick: Hopefully if Steve Carell wins then his sidekick-in-comedy played with absolute verisimiltiude by Rainn Wilson will also win.
SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES:
Ted Danson, "Damages"
Michael Emerson, "Lost"
Zeljko Ivanek, "Damages"
William Shatner, "Boston Legal"
John Slattery, "Mad Men"
MadProfessah's pick: Damages was some kind of awesome, but Ted Danson was not a strong pointof the series--Zeljko Ivanek was. However, Lost would just be a weird show with an interestingly multiracial cast and an intriguing concept without the amazing work of Michael Emerson. It's tragic that this is the only acting nomination the series received this year.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES:
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal"
Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers and Sisters"
Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy"
Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"
Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy"
MadProfessah's pick: After Katherine Heigl took herself out of the running (which I think people who have won before should always do) that improved the chances for Chandra Wilson. Sandra Oh has won a Golden Globe, Rachel Griffiths did amazing work on Six Feet Under and Dianne Wiest has not one but two Supporting Actress Oscars on her mantle already.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY SERIES:
Kristin Chenoweth, "Pushing Daisies"
Amy Poehler, "Saturday Night Live"
Jean Smart, "Samantha Who?
Holland Taylor, "Two and a Half Men"
Vanessa Williams, "Ugly Betty"
MadProfessah's pick: I have no dog in this hunt. I think it would be great if Amy Poehler was recognized for her brilliant work on SNL.
Blogger (and HIV-positive immigrant) Andrew Sullivan is ecstatic about the United States Senate's 80-16 vote approving the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) bill on Wednesday. Included in the bill was the Smith-Kerry Amendment that would repeal the United States' ban on travel and immigration by HIV+ individuals. Joe.My.God clarifies the significance of the vote (if the bill becomes law):
1. People with HIV are now eligible to visit and immigrate to the United States.Congratulations are in order to Rachel Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality, the national LGBT organization devoted to advocating on behalf og HIV+ and LGBT imigrants.
2. Third world countries will get desperately needed funds to fight AIDS.
3. Opposition to Elizabeth Dole's re-election has been supercharged.
4. Andrew Sullivan gets to stay in the United States.
The legislation now goes to a House-Senate conference committee, where lawmakers can work out differences before sending the measure to Bush.
[...]One provision in the Senate bill would end a ban on immigration and travel to the U.S. by people with HIV. It would lift the 1993 prohibition imposed by Congress and allow the Department of Health and Human Services to decide whether to take HIV off its list of communicable diseases. The disease has been on the department's list since 1987.
"The key piece is that Congress should not substitute its judgment for the judgment of Health and Human Services," said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a New York-based group that advocates repealing the ban. "Public health should be left to the public health experts."
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| salmon rilette (l) and pickled zucchini | |
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| butter with amazing warm fresh bread. | |
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| cream of broccoli soup | |
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| heirloom tomato salad | |
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| skirt steak fillet with grilled lettuce | |
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| wild seabass with calamari and scallop | |
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| chocolate pudding | |
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| panna cotta with strawberry |
The food was excellent and the service was attentive. The atmosphere at 7pm on a Thursday was a but noisy, and that was with the place not completely full. The 15 (20?) foot ceilings are impressive but are definitely not conducive to a quiet atmosphere. Of course, this is probably a conscious choice but I disapprove of eating in the presence of a din.
It's very exciting to have such a high-quality (and not overly expensive) in NELA (North East Los Angeles). The food was almost uniformly outstanding, with some exceptions. The cream of broccoli soup was a bit bland and the salmon rillette was so cold it was almost too hard to spread. Particularly excellent were the delightfully warm and fresh bread, the extremely tenderness of the beef, the subtle flavors in the fish dish and the overwhelmingly smoothness of the chocolate pudding.
A four course meal (appetizer, soup or salad, entree and dessert) for two (plus drinks) was under $100.
MadProfessah will be back!
AMBIANCE: B.
SERVICE: A-.
VALUE: A.
FOOD: A.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $52 million dollars in the month of June. This is $30 million more than John McCain's total of $22 million.
Chicago lawyer W.B. Kelley has just informed me that the California Supreme Court has issued a response to the motion requesting a stay in preventing Proposition 8 from appearing on the November 4, 2008 statewide ballot.
Here's the official order:
BENNETT v. BOWEN (HOLLINGSWORTH)
Case: S164520, Supreme Court of California
Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2008-07-16
Event Description: Petition for writ of mandate/prohibition & stay denied
Notes:
The Request For Judicial Notice In Support Of Petition For Extraordinary Relief, Including Writ Of Mandate And Request For Stay, received June 20, 2008, is
granted. Secretary of State Bowen's request that we judicially notice the excerpts from the Summary of General Election Calendar contained in her preliminary
response to the Petition For Extraordinary Relief, Including Writ of Mandate And Request For Stay, filed June 30, 2008, is granted. The Request For Judicial Notice
In Support of letter brief of Amici Curiae, received July 11, 2008, is granted. The Application for Stay and Petition For Extraordinary Relief, Including Writ of Mandate, filed June 20, 2008, is DENIED. [emphasis added]The Motion By Campaign For California Families, Randy Thomasson, And Larry Bowler To Intervene As Real
Parties In Interest, filed June 30, 2008, is denied as moot.
Joe.My.God has the goods on a story about legislative action that would repeal a Massachusetts law that bans people from marrying in that state if that marriage would not be accepted in the state in which they live. The 1913 law was initially passed to prevent interracial couples from marrying in Massachusetts and going back to other states which prohibited the practice.
The law was largely unnoticed until then-Governor Mitt Romney publicized its existence following the legalization of same-sex marriage on May 17, 2004.
Current Governor Deval Patrick (whose lesbian daughter Katherine recently came out publicly and was warmly embraced by her family) has said that he will gladly sign the repeal legislation when it reaches his desk.
The blogosphere is buzzing about the fact the Federal Government's terrorist watch list has reached 1,000,000 names. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a website where people on the list can register their complaints and recount their experiences: http://www.aclu.org/watchlist.
From the press release:
Don't you feel safer knowing that the Justice Department is adding twenty thousand names per month to the terrorist watch list?"America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. "It must be fixed without delay."
"Putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning," said Steinhardt. "I doubt this thing would even be effective at catching a real terrorist."
Controls on the watch lists called for by the ACLU included:The ACLU also called for the president - if not this one then the next - to issue an executive order requiring the lists to be reviewed and limited to only those for whom there is credible evidence of terrorist ties or activities. The review should be concluded within 3 months.
- due process
- a right to access and challenge data upon which listing is based
tight
criteria for adding names to the lists- rigorous procedures for updating and cleansing names from the lists.
In February, the ACLU unveiled an online "watch list counter," which has tracked the size of the watch list based on a September 2007 report by the inspector general of the Justice Department, which reported that it was growing by 20,000 names per month.
At Daily Kos front pager brownsox notes, Obama is leading in swing states lost by both John Kerry and Al Gore:
NATIONAL
Quinnipiac. 7/8-13. MoE 2.4%.
Obama (D) 50 McCain (R) 41
NATIONAL
Rasmussen. 7/14. MoE 4.5%. (3-day average tracking numbers in parentheses)
Obama (D) 44 (44) McCain (R) 40 (42)
MISSOURI
Research 2000. MoE 3.5%.
Obama (D) 48 McCain (R) 43
COLORADO
Public Policy Polling. 7/9-10. MoE 3%.
Obama (D) 47 McCain (R) 43
Saw the movie WALL-E last week and it has taken me awhile to think about my review. It is definitely another hit in Pixar's amazingly long list of consecutive succesful films, both artistically and commercially. Wall-E is the ninth film in a row from the computer anination geniuses who brought the world Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille.
As many other critics have said, the first half of the film is quite extra-ordinary--practically a silent film with almost no dialogue for 45 minutes. It really can't be emphasized enough how unusual and effective this bit of film making is.
The message of the film has started to get attention from both liberal and conservative commentators.
The film depicts a future for the earth in which the planet has been abandoned due to a complete depletion of natural resources and uncontrolled dumping of trash which resulted in piles of garbage taller than most skyscrapers. WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is left behind on Earth for 700 years to clean up the mess. Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, came up with the idea of the lonely robot left behind all alone on Earth for hundreds of years cleaning up after them. WALL-E falls in love with another robot, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) and eventually follows her off-planet when EVE leaves to return to the former inhabitants of Earth who have been cruising around in space in cosseted comfort for centuries.
When we finally see the humans they are morbidly obese, mainly white and spend all their time being catered to be robots while gliding around in motorized comfy chairs with personalized video screens in a zero gravity atmosphere. This portrayal of humans (apparently Americans) as fat, pampered, oblivious creatures wasting away their lives consuming whatever the mega-corporation Buy-N-Large puts in front of them has been recognized by other reviewers as an unsubtle critical commentary on contemporary American living.
This is thecontroversial cover of the July 21st issue of the New Yorker magazine which is starting to gather criticism (well-founded).
The U.S. Census Bureau has announced that it will not include counts of the number of legally married same-sex couples nationwide, due the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
The Census Bureau followed the same procedure for the 2000 census, and it does not plan to change in 2010 even though courts in Massachusetts and now California have ruled gay men and lesbians can marry lawfully.This is absolutely insane. Of course, it is very possible that Sthe offensive sections of DOMA will be repealed in 2009 so that the Census can count and reflect reality instead of a politically motivated fantasyland where same-sex legally married couples do not exist.
"This has been a question we've been looking at for quite a long time," said Martin O'Connell, chief of the Census Bureau's Fertility and Family Statistics Branch. "It's not something the bureau could arbitrarily or casually decide to change on a whim, because our data is used by virtually every federal agency."
The Census Bureau is not falsifying people's responses, O'Connell said, because the bureau will retain people's original census responses.
The State Board of Education by a vote of 8-1 has approved a policy by which every 8th grader will be tested on algebra whether they are ready or not.
Proponents say the new policy will push school districts to ensure that eighth-graders are ready for the demands of algebra. Critics say the anticipated three-year time frame is unrealistic. The new mandate, they contend, overlooks the real need to help school districts better prepare students.
[...]
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, more than half of eighth-graders, along with more than 2,000 seventh-graders, took algebra in 2007. But only 21% of eighth-graders tested proficient. About two-thirds of those who failed the class passed on their second try.
[...]
Statewide, only 24% of students, regardless of age or grade, scored proficient in algebra in 2007.
In eighth grade, 38% tested proficient -- a number virtually unchanged since 2003. But more students are taking algebra: less than a third in 2002 and more than half today.
Queerty has the goods on the oral argument that didn't go so well for the heterosexual supremacists who are trying to revive their anti-LGBT ballot measures for a vote on the November 2008 election in Oregon.
Domestic partnership opponents gathered signatures for a referendum that would delay the law from going into effect and put it up for a public vote. Elections officials said opponents came up about 100 short of the required 55,000 signatures, but the group complained that valid signatures had been rejected and filed a federal lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman initially delayed the law from going into effect, but on Feb. 1 rejected the lawsuit.
Since then, 2,114 gay and lesbian couples have registered as domestic partners statewide.
[...]
The 9th Circuit judges didn't indicate when they will rule but will have to do so quickly if they want to reverse Mosman and order the referendum onto the Nov. 4 ballot.
Don Hamilton, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said the state's deadline for certifying initiatives is Aug. 2. The deadline for telling county elections officials what is going on the November ballot is Sept. 4.
Craig Hickman in his review of Wimbledon called the Kieran Slam Awards has said that Nicolas Kiefer has "the biggest basket on the ATP". on th basis of these pictures from Kiefer's match against Rafael Nadal in the 3rd round of Wimbledon.
Mad Professah doesn't disagree, but would like to hear from others, who do you think "shows the most" of male tennis players? I would nominate Marcos Baghdatis and Roger Federer for contenders but can't really think of any others. What say you? Who has the Biggest Basket in Men's Tennis?
The new Apple IPhone is being made available on Friday July 11. (hat/tip Joe Hawkins)
I plan on picking up my own pretty soon after.
The 2008 Wimbledon Women's Singles title has been won by Venus Williams. Mad Professah correcly predicted 4 of the last 7 matches. Here are my reviews of the performances for the Top 10 Seeded players comparing my predictions from the start of the tournament to their actual performance.
1. Ana IVANOVIC (SRB). The reigning Roland Garros champion is still holding on to the title of the World #1 player by 143 ranking points after her unceremonious defeat in the thrd round by shock semifinalist Jie Zheng. The upside for Ivanovic is that she has generally underperformed on the American hard courts and does not have that many points to defend, including at the US Open. PREDICTION: Semi-finalist. RESULT: 3rd Round Loss.
2. Jelena JANKOVIC (SRB). The "second Serb" under-performed my prediction by failing to get to her scheduled quarterfinal with Venus Williams. Surprisingly, now that Jelena has reduced her playing schedule she seems to be more plagued with injury than last year when she played more! But then again, Jankovic not only relishes the spotlight she seems to flourish in it. However, when it became public knowledge that all she had to do was out-perform Kuznetsova in order to become the new World #1 she inexplicably lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn. PREDICTION: Quarter-finalist. RESULT: 4th Round Loss.
3. Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS). Despite a dream draw that only contained a hobbled Lindsay Davenport and well-known head cases Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina. However, Sharapova went out to the hard-hitting Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round who one year before had almost taken out Venus Williams and had played a good set with Sharapova herself at the French Open also. Despite this, Sharapova played nervously and went out early at the venus where she had won her first Slam 4 years before. PREDICTION: Semi-finalist. RESULT: 2nd Round Loss.
4. Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS). Oh, Sveta! Despite having been up 4-2 in the third set, somehow the 2004 U.S. Open Champion was unable to reach the Quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the fourth time despite being one of the contenders for the World #1 position at the time thanks to the even earlier exit of brand new #1 Ana Ivanovic. She lost to up-and-comer Agnieska Radwanska, who cemented her status as a Top 10 player. PREDICTION: Quarter-finalist (at best). RESULT: 4th Round Loss.
5. Elena DEMENTIEVA (RUS). Elena had a very lovely draw with the early departure of Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport from her quarter and made the most of it by reaching her first Wimbledon semi-final against eventual champ Venus Williams. PREDICTION: 3rd Round Loss. RESULT: Semi-finalist.
6. Serena WILLIAMS (USA). Serena looked good for the entire tournament and most tennis pundits (except yours truly) picked the younger Williams would take the title. At the beginning of the tournament I was confident she would make it to the final match but postponed my title choice until I saw how they were both playing during the second week. I'm convinced that Serena was as surprised as anyone that Venus was able to beat her on Saturday, and woe betide the rest of the field in the next two slams. A vengeful Serena is a winning Serena. PREDICTION: Finalist. RESULT: Finalist.
7. Venus WILLIAMS (USA). For the third time in her storied career, Venus Williams was able to defend a major title from year-to-year. Interestingly, she had to do so by defeating her best friend and younger sister, someone who had previously beaten her in the five consecutive Grand Slam finals that they had contested. Venus was lucky that the players ranked above her happened to have bad losses early so that the only seed that Venus had to face before Serena in the final was Elena Dementieva, someone that she had not lost to in over four years. With her seventh major title she moves into a tie with recently retired Justine Henin and still has the possibility to move higher in the annals of tennis history. PREDICTION: Finalist. RESULT: Champion.
8. Anna CHAKVETADZE (RUS). The quietest Russian lost a tough match she should have won to Nicole Vaidisova in the fourth round which should have led to her first Wimbledon quarterfinal. Happily for her, the summer of hard court tennis awaits her where she plays her best tennis. PREDICTION: Quarter-finalist. RESULT: 4th Round.
9. Dinara SAFINA (RUS). The 2008 French Open finalist had never played well at Wimbledon and I expected her to be the member of the Safin family to finally make a respectable run at Wimbledon and lo and behold it ends up being her brother who didn't even bother showing up to watch his sister's first major final. Safina ended up losing an excruciating 3 1/2 hour match to Shahar Pe'er 8-6 in the third set. PREDICTION: Quarter-finalist. RESULT: 3rd Round.
10. Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK). The Czech player is comfortable on grass and was the other performer in the most dramatic match at Wimbledon last year: Serena Williams 4th round win. I had hoped that she would stay in the tournament long enough to have an equally interesting match against Venus but, alas, Daniela lost early and has now dropped out of the Top 10. PREDICTION: 4th Round Loss. RESULT: 2nd Round.
Rafael Nadal has won 2 of the 3 major chamionships played in 2008 (Roland Garros and Wimbledon) and been to the semifinals of Melbourne.
Roger Federer made it to the semifinals of Melbourne and lost in the finals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Nadal is #1 for the year to date.
Who will be #1 by the end of the year?
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| Roger Federer SUI (1) | vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). |
Here we go again. Federer-Nadal III. The top two players are playing in the Wimbledon final for the third consecutive year. Actually this will be the seventh time the two have played against each other in a major final and only 4 weeks after the last time they played.
Nadal has a 4-2 lead in the head-to-head but Nadal has won the 4 Grand Slam matches they have played on clay (3 finals and the 2005 semifinal) while Federer ha won the two times they have played on grass (2007 and 2006 Wimbledon finals). However, Nadal put a beatdown on Federer in this year's French Open final 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 as well as beating Federer 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3 despite the World #1 having 5-2 leads in the first two sets of the Hamburg final on clay 6 weeks ago.
Nadal is also one of three players (Dominic Hrbaty and Andy Murray are the others) who have a favorable head-to-head career record against Federer. In fact, Nadal leads 11-6 but 9 of those wins have been on clay. Nadal hasn't beaten Federer on a surface other than clay since 2004.
However, the Nadal of 2008 is a much better player than the Nadal of 2004 and even the Nadal of 2007 who almost beat Federer in last year's Wimbledon final.
However, if Federer is serious about being the Greatest Of All Time, he will find a way to win tomorrow. If Nadal wins, it will be interesting to see if that inspires Federer to improve his game so that he actually does break Pete Sampras record of 14 majors.
We shall see.
PREDICTION: Federer in 5 sets or Nadal in 3 sets.
Venus Williams beat her sister Serena 7-5, 6-4 in a closely fought, competitive match and then a few hours later teamed up with her sister to easily win the doubles title 6-2, 6-2.
Craig has more at his blog.
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| Serena Williams USA (6) | vs. Venus Williams USA (7) |
For the third time this decade the most prestigious title in tennis will be contested between two sisters: Venus and Serena Williams. Serena and Venus have played 6 major championship finals against each other. Venus won the first (2001 US Open) and Serena has won every single one since, ending with the 2003 Wimbledon championships. Serena leads the sister's head-to-head by a scant 8-7 and earlier this year won a tight 3rd set tiebreak over her sister in the semifinals of Bangalore in a match which was never broadcast in the United States. Serena has won 8 Grand Slam champions, 2 more than Venus.
However, at Wimbledon Venus has been in every Ladies' final played this century except for the 2004 final (which Serena lost to Maria Sharapova) and the 2006 final in which Amelie Mauresmo defeated Justine Henin. Venus has won four Wimbledon championships, but lost two (to Serena).
Now, for the first time in 5 years the two sisters are playing each other again in a Wimbledon final (as well as playing with each other in the Wimbledon Ladies Doubles Final for the third time).
Many commentators are giving the edge to Serena, due to her impressive serve (14 aces in her semifinal win compared to a mere 4 for Venus and a 48-44 lead in total aces for the tournament, although Venus has the fastest serve ever struck at Wimbledon by a woman, at 127 mph).
However, in their post-2004 phase of their careers Venus has won two major finals (2005 and 2007) while Serena has only won one (2007 Australian Open) also won two (2005 and 2007 Australiam Open).
Serena is the more intense of the two and has always seemed to be hungrier for tennis success. It will be a fascinating match, possibly of the quality of the amazing 2005 Lindsay Davenport-Venus Williams final (won by Venus 9-7 in the 3rd after saving match points) which many observers call the best woman's tennis match of the decade. I think Venus will use that tenacity to finally defeat her little sister on the tennis world's biggest stage.
Mad Professah's pick: Venus in 3 sets.
The 2008 Wimbledon Men' s semifinals are now set. Mad Professah correctly predicted Federer and Schuettler's quarterfinal wins. This Men's semifinal preview (like the Women's Semifinal Preview posted yesterday) are all about inevitability and the Number 3.
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Marat Safin RUS. Federer has played the mercurial Russian ten times before and beaten the 2-time Grand Slam champion eight times. Of course the most famous match the two have played was at the 2005 Australian Open where Safin defeated Federer in a thrilling 5-set semifinal match saving a 4th set match point in the process. Safin used to despise playing on grass and had never played well at Wimbledon before this year. In fact, Safin hasn't been playing well at any tournament since his 2005 win in Melbourne---he hasn't won a single ATP title since and has 15 total. Federer has 55 titles and last played Safin at Wimbledon in last year's 3rd round and won in 3 relatively tight sets 6-1 6-4 7-6(4). Safin (and Federer) are playing better this year, but the result will still be the same, the inevitable third match-up betweek Federer and Nadal in the Wimbledon final. PREDICTION: Federer in 4 sets.
Rainer Schuettler GER vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). The "accidental semifinalist" Rainer Schuettler has had a pretty lucky draw since the only seed in his path to this point was a second round showdown with American James Blake in the second round which he won 6-4 in the 5th. Schuettler also had to win a 5-set match again Arnaud Clement in a 5 hour, 12 minute match spread over two days just to reach this semifinal showdown with World #2 Rafael Nadal. Nadal has only dropped one set this tournament, against talented big-serving Ernest Gulbis in the second round, and played 3 tiebreaks, winning all of them. It's unlikely that Schuettler, who is known for being in incredible shape but has no singular weapon, will be able to win as many as 6 games in a set. PREDICTION: Nadal in 3 sets.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he has filed paperwork to explore a run for Governor of California in 2010.
The good-looking Mayor of San Francisco was re-elected in 2007 with ony token opposition and has used the marriage equality issue to raise his national profile among progressives and Democrats.
The record of mayors becoming Governor is not a good one.
Interestingly, both of Newsom's most talked-about rivals for the governorship are current or former mayors. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles shares extremely vocal gay rights support and marital infidelity with Newsom.
Current California Attorney General Jerry Brown served two terms as California's youngest ever Governor from 1975-1983 and was elected to his current position after being Mayor of Oakland from 1998-2006. Since term limits were enacted after Brown served as Governor, he could (theoretically) be elected for two more terms. However, he was born in 1938 and will be 72 years old on election day in 2010.
Other 2010 gubernatorial contenders are Supeintendent of Instruction Jack O'Connell, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and State Controller (and former Attorney General) Bill Lockyer.
American Tyson Gay ran the 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.68 seconds on Sunday, the fastest time a human has ever been recorded running that distance. Also in the race, were second place (right) Walter Dix at 9.80 seconds and Darvis Patton was third in 9.84 seconds.
Interestingly, Mr. Gay's last name has led to some amusing news stories, first noticed by OutSports.Com.
Did they really think someone's name was "Tyson Homosexual"?
In the Sunday Los Angeles Times openly gay Yale Law School Professor Kenji Yoshino, the author of the brilliant Covering published a commentary entitled "Can California same-sex marriages be saved?" in which he argues that f the voters enact Proposition 8, the courts are likely to invalidate all same-sex marriages entered before November 4 and would definitely ban any attempted after Election Day.
The first argument would be that the constitutional amendment was not intended to apply retroactively to same-sex marriages. But it is hard to see how this case would be made. The proposed amendment does not say that "only a man and woman may get married in California," which might reasonably be construed to apply just to future marriages. It says that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The language leaves room for other states to recognize the June-November marriages as valid, but it leaves no discernible discretion for any governmental body in California to continue extending marriage rights to the June-November crowd.This is very saddening news.
The second argument that might protect the existing same-sex marriages is that the retroactive application of the amendment would violate the federal Constitution. This is a more credible argument -- as every first-year law student knows, if a state constitution conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, the latter will trump the former as "the supreme law of the land." Moreover, Article I of the U.S. Constitution contains a provision that seems directly on point: "No state shall ... pass any ... ex post facto law." As "ex post facto" means "after the fact," this provision appears to prohibit states from legislating retroactively.
However, since the 1798 Supreme Court case of Calder vs. Bull, the ex post facto clause has generally been deemed to apply only to criminal laws. Thus, a state legislature cannot increase the punishment for a crime after it has been committed, but it remains free to impose retroactive civil disabilities. In the Calder case, for instance, the ex post facto clause did not bar the Connecticut Legislature from reopening an ostensibly final probate proceeding. In the centuries since then, the Supreme Court has on occasion stretched the definition of what constitutes an "essentially criminal" penalty, thereby extending the protections offered by the clause. But it is highly unlikely that any court would treat the annulment of same-sex marriages as a criminal punishment in civil dress.
One could still argue that other provisions of the U.S. Constitution prohibit California from applying the proposed amendment retroactively. The most likely candidates are the prohibition on state action that impairs the obligation of contracts (which falls under Article I), or the 14th Amendment's due-process clause, which has been understood to guarantee fundamental fairness under the law. But these arguments are also long shots. There is direct Supreme Court precedent holding that marriages do not fall under the protection of the contracts clause. Similarly, the argument that retroactive application of civil laws violates the due-process clause has been a repeat loser in the courts.
The Los Angeles Times website is leading with a story about a drug posession trial in which charges were dismissed after the defense played a video which directly contradicted sworn testimony by three LAPD officers.
Chief Wiliam Bratton has reassigned the three officers to "home duty" while an investigation was initiated by the Department.
Samuel and LAPD Officer Richard Amio testified Friday that they were on patrol in Los Angeles last year when they chased Alarcon, 29, into his Hollywood apartment building. There, they told jurors, they saw him throw away a black object. They testified that Samuel had picked up the object and found about $260 worth of powder and crack cocaine inside.
But footage from the grainy video, which Alarcon's attorney used to confront the officers, shows that it took the two officers more than 20 minutes to find the drugs. They were aided in their search by other officers.
After viewing the tape, Los Angeles County prosecutors said they believed about 13 seconds of audio had been edited out. Nevertheless, they asked Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner to dismiss the charges. Bachner did so and took the unusual step of declaring Alarcon factually innocent.
[...]
Alarcon's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Victor Acevedo, said the videotape came from a surveillance camera mounted in the apartment building. Alarcon's mother, he said, is the building manager and turned on the camera soon after police detained her son.
Acevedo said he provided LAPD internal affairs investigators with a copy Tuesday, adding that his client would cooperate with the investigation.
The defense attorney accused the officers of perjury and planting evidence on his client. And he called on investigators to pay special attention to one particular portion of the videotape, where an officer appears to refer to the subsequent arrest report.
"Be creative in your writing," the officer appears to tell another after the discovery of drugs.
The tapes contain more dialogue from the officers. But the quality of the video and audio is poor and it is often difficult to clearly hear what is being said.
The 2008 Wimbledon Women's semifinals are now set. Mad Professah correctly predicted 2 of 4 of the women's quarterfinal match results.
Jie Zheng CHN vs. Serena Williams USA (6). For the first time ever, a Chinese woman has made it to a Grand Slam final. Pam Shriver thinks that in 5-10 years there will be as many Chinese players in the draw as there are curently Russians. I'll believe it when I see it. However, Zheng clearly has the belief that she can beat many players on grass but she has not faced someone with Serena's consistent power on this surface. I'm not sure what is going on with the Wimbledon website's match statistics, (why did they stop recording winner totals?) but they are claiming that Serena had 9 unforced errors against Bethanie Mattek in the 4th round and a scary 6 unforced errors against Aggie Radwanska in the quarters. If a Williams sister is in positive territory in the winners to errors differential it's difficult to see how she loses to anyone! Serena played Zheng a few months ago on clay and won easily in straight sets. I doubt that playing on grass in the biggest match of her life will turn things in the Chinese player's favor. PREDICTION: Williams in 2 sets.
Elena Dementieva RUS (5) vs. Venus Williams USA (7). The Russian with the shaky serve and the outstanding ground strokes will be playing the American with the outsnading serve and the (sometimes) shaky ground strokes. But the American is Venus Williams, who has never lost in the semifinal round at Wimbledon and is the current defending champion.
Even if Dementieva were to miraculously start serving as well as her quarterfinal opponent Nadia Petrova, she would still have a less than 10 per cent chance of beating Venus. Dementieva led 6-1,5-1 in her quarterfinal and yet somehow took another hour to (finally) get through that match against an even more mentally fragile (and far less fit) Russian opponent. Venus leads the head-to-head with Dementieva 5-2 and the last time the Russian beat her was in a 3rd set tiebreak more than 4 years ago on hard courts.
It will be interesting to see which Williams sister loses more games on the way to their 3rd final. I suspect it will be Venus, but that will not change the result.
PREDICTION: Williams in 2 sets.
Barack Obama sent a letter to the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club last weekend on the occasion of San Francisco LGBT Pride which inluded his opposition to the anti-marriage constitutional amendment currently on the California November 4 statewide ballot.
Dear Friends,
Thank you for the opportunity to welcome everyone to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's Pride Breakfast and to congratulate you on continuing a legacy of success, stretching back thirty-six years. As one of the oldest and most influential LGBT organizations in the country, you have continually rallied to support Democratic candidates and causes, and have fought tirelessly to secure equal rights and opportunities for LGBT Americans in California and throughout the country.
As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states. (Emphasis added)
For too long. issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.
Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks. My thanks again to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club for allowing me to be a part of today's celebration. I look forward to working with you in the coming months and years, and I wish you all continued success.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
The 2008 Wimbledon Men's Quarterfinals have now been set.
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs Mario Ancic CRO. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic was the last player to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, 39 matches ago. Since then, Federer has become the potential Greatest Of All Time and won 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles and 38 consecutive matches at Wimbledon. Ancic has become a lawyer and helped his country win the Davis Cup. In the previous round he had to come back from 2 sets down against Spanish lefty Fernando Verdasco to win 13-11 in the 5th. Ancic has a huge serve and is a good volleyer but has a suspect ground game. Federer will not underestimate the Croat and be prepared to take him out in as few sets as possible in order to save energy for what may turn out to be a tricky semifinal match for the World #1. Mad Professah's Pick: Federer in 3 sets.Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (13) Marat Safin RUS vs Marcos Baghdatis CYP (10) Feliciano Lopez ESP (31). I really didn't think "Crazy Marat" could continue playing good tennis for so many consecutive rounds (I bet Marat didn't think he could either!) plus I was looking forward to a possible all-Swiss semifinal. I also thought that the excessively talented Marcis Baghdatis would be able to make a break through against the pulchritudinous lefty Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. But Lopez continued his excellent serving and volleying to take out the Cypriot 8-6 in the 5th set. Predicting a winner between Safin and Lopez is difficult. Which Safin will show up? Clearly he has enough talent to beat anyone in the field, if he's on and his opponent is not playing their best. Somehow I suspect that Feliciano will figure out a way to frustrate the mercurial Russian and give himself anothre chance to show that his play at the 2007 U.S. Open against Federer was no fluke. Mad Professah's pick: Lopez in 4 sets.Janko Tipsarevic SRB Rainer Schuettler GER vs Marin Cilic CRO Arnaud Clement FRA. Does anyone care? Somehow youth was not served in the round of 16, with the Serbian and the Croat both going out to the wily veterans. The Powers That Be have scheduled this match on Court 1 at the same time as the Nadal-Murray Gotterdamerung on Center Court. There's not much between these two players, They both have won 4 career titles. They both have reached one major final (Clement Australian Open in 2001, Schuettler the Australian Open in 2003). It's doubtful that anyone will be watching. However although both of these veterans are playing well, Schuettler leads their rivalry 4-1 and I suspect the German will win this battle of the Europeans. Mad Professah's pick: Schuettler in 4 sets.Richard Gasquet FRA (8) Andy Murray GBR (12) vs Rafael Nadal ESP (2). Yes, Murray has never beaten Nadal in 3 tries. And yes, Nadal is playing bat-shit crazy good tennis this year---probably the best of everyone in the field. But still I think Nadal is likely to lose this match. Murray does have the game to beat both Federer and Nadal, and after Monday's heroics versus Richard Gasquet he now has the good will of the entire British Empire behind him. Whomever wins this match basically gets a walk into the 2008 Wimbledon Men's Final. Can an audience lift a player over a superior opponent? We will see on Wednesday. Mad Professah's pick: Murray in 5 sets.
The At The Beach Beach Party has been cancelled this year. The Beach Party is part of the circuit of Black Gay Pride events which occur every summer (Los Angeles, July 3-6; Atlanta, August 27-September 1, Chicago July 3-6, New York City, August 2-10; and Washington, DC May 21-26).
Apparently only the Beach Party itself is cancelled, but all the other satellite events will continue to happen and I'm sure many people will still be in town this weekend.
This is the second ad of the general election campaign by Barack Obama.
Marc Ambinder has the text of the ad (and some analysis):
OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message. Announcer: He worked his way through college and Harvard Law. Turned down big money offers, and helped lift neighborhoods stung by job loss. Fought for workers’ rights. He passed a law to move people from welfare to work, slashed the rolls by eighty percent. Passed tax cuts for workers; health care for kids. As president, he’ll end tax breaks for companies that export jobs, reward those that create jobs in America. And never forget the dignity that comes from work.It's interesting that the ad is going directly to economics as well as introducing listeners to more of Obama's biography. It should work well in the 18 states (Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia) that it is airing.
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