Rahm Emanuel: “Political McEnroe”

Ryan Lizza’s interesting New Yorker profile of Rahm Emanuel reveals why he didn’t want to be Obama’s chief of staff, his penchant of creative revenge, and why the New York Times’s Paul Krugman can shove it.

Read it here.

PS: Am I crazy or is he a little bit sexy in this pic?!

Bobby Jindal Is A Liar

In “I’m Bobby Jindal and I want to be the GOP’s Supreme Douche Nozzle” News:

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night — about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?

Turns out it wasn’t actually, you know, true.

*Sigh*  Most of America just met you and you’re already lying to get ahead? You are going to have one promising political career.

Full story at Talking Points Memo.

Related: The Daily Beast has a slightly sensationalized piece on Jindal’s past, including the exorcism (?!). Read it here.

No Words, Diddy, No Words.

Diddy is currently live-tweeting 36 hours of tantric sex.

What. The. Fuck.

I would really like to hear a couple days from now that this account was hacked into…

I cringe saying this, but if you want to follow his posts, do so here.

My Current Desktop

Taken from my old office, on the second floor in the Finacial District. Click pic to enlarge

Music Spotlight: Siobhán Donaghy

Most Americans probably won’t recognize the name Siobhán (pronounced “SHI-von”) Donaghy or, sadly, the name of the group she helped form, Britain’s all-female Sugababes.

Sugababes, “with sixteen of their twenty-three single releases achieving top ten chart success, album sales in excess of 5,000,000, and 7 Brit award nominations, … [are] the UK’s most successful female act of the 21st century.” (Yes, even more than Madonna.) (Source)

Siobhán only recorded one album with the group and left in 2001 (cat fight! no, just kidding) to eventually pursue a solo career.  In 2003, she released her first solo album – “Revolution In Me” – which was not heavily promoted and, consequently, somewhat of a commercial disappointment.

In 2007, under a new label, Siobhán released “Ghosts,” her second solo album. (That’s the bitchin’ album art above.) The album was produced by, among others, James Singer, who has producing credits with U2, Dido, and Keane. Unfortunately, the album received scant radio play and negligible chart success. Adding to Siobhán’s woes was the CD manufacturer’s incompetence: they put the wrong CD in the “Ghosts” sleeve, so when people got home and popped in the CD, they heard some instrumental bullshit, not Siobhán’s pop album.  All of this likely contributed to “Ghosts” being voted the most underrated album of all time and I have to agree: Siobhán’s lyrics and vocals are great and she creates lush, intricate, haunting, driving melodies that are far more  mature than the fluffier, pop sounds of “Revolution In Me” (which I don’t really care for).

Sadly, Siobhán’s rocky solo career has seemed to take it toll:

“At this point in time I have no further plans to undertake another record of my own. Ultimately, the true nature of the business side of the music industry is enough to keep me away. Nonetheless, if I find myself in the future bursting with ideas and experiences I feel the need to share through music, I will be back.” (Source)

In describing Siobhán’s music (or the “Ghosts” album, at least), the closest comparison I can make is to Imogen Heap – since both have interesting, layered, and electronic-tinged arrangements – although I think Siobhán has perhaps more… warmth (soul?).  I’m not sure, it’s hard to describe. Regardless, while it’s an older release, there are some really great tracks on “Ghosts” that warrant sharing; below are my favorites.  (Note: Siobhán said that the title track was probably her favorite and I agree it’s definitely one of the stronger tracks; you may even catch that part of the track is played backwards during the song.)

Siobhán Donaghy - Ghosts

Siobhán Donaghy - Medevac

Siobhán Donaghy - Goldfish

“Ghosts” isn’t available digitally in the US (or not that I can find) but you can buy the CD import at Amazon.

More Siobhán: MySpace / Website

Enjoy!

There Is No Such Thing As Clean Coal

From the Coen brothers (!):

I liked this so much more than that one where it’s just that guy yelling.

Via Towleroad.

CO Pol: No HIV Tests For Mothers; An HIV+ Baby Will Be Punishment For Your Promiscuity

First a Colorado state senator equates homosexuals with murderers and now this…!?

Yesterday, the Colorado state senate voted on a bill that would require HIV testing for pregnant woman. The benefit of this, as any quasi-educated individual knows, is that early detection of HIV in pregnant women can completely block its transmission to the fetus, thus saving an individual from an entire lifetime of HIV.

Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis, apparently attempting to become the GOP’s Supreme Douche Nozzle, was the only individual in the senate who voted against the bill because HIV “stems from sexual promiscuity” and he thinks that testing a mother for HIV (which she would only have if she were promiscuous) would “remove the negative consequences that take place from poor behavior and unacceptable behavior.”

Whaaat?

First of all, the obvious (since it has clearly escaped this dumb fuck): you don’t have to be promiscuous to get HIV.  (He must be a graduate of Bush’s School of Abstinence-Only Education.) Second, how would testing remove “the negative consequences” of such behavior? And third, what the hell are those consequences?! Thankfully, the Supreme Douche Nozzle kept talking:

“What I’m hoping is that, yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that. The family will see the negative consequences of that promiscuity and it may make a number of people over the coming years begin to realize that there are negative consequences and maybe they should adjust their behavior.”

Oh, I see, the negative consequence of being promiscuous is not HIV (which you obviously already have because you’re promiscuous, duh) but having a HIV+ baby (who has it “seriously“) and whose disease will bring shame and guilt to you and your family, ultimately guilting you into changing your super-slutty ways.

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

There was, of course, a doctor testifying before the senate about the relevant medical FACTS and STATISTICS and trying to correct Supreme Douche Nozzle’s TOTAL IGNORANCE but Supreme Douche Nozzle had no need for those trivialities, he’s too smart for facts and numbers and medicine.

Here is Senator Schultheis’s contact information – be sure to let him know what you think (I did!):

State Capitol
200 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
Room # 274
Office: (303) 866-4835
Fax: (303) 866-2012

senatorschultheis@gmail.com

Related: the following poll (non-scientific, since Schultheis obviously doesn’t do science) is up at Schultheis’s webpage (vote now!):

Legislators see a lot of bills to make life easier for people who make immoral choices. For example, giving away free condoms in schools so that high school-aged children can engage in sexual acts guilt-free. Should government ease the consequences of immoral behavior?

More at the Colorado Independent here and here. BIG THANKS to Joe. My. God. for his excellent post.

Seinfeld To Bring Reality Show To NBC

AP Photo/Jim Cooper

It’s being reported that Jerry Seinfeld has teamed with longtime Oprah producer Ellen Rakieten to bring a reality comedy show about marriage to NBC, possibly as soon as the fall.

The hour-long episodes will introduce the couples through filmed reports and show them fighting. A panel of celebrity guests will weigh in to offer advice and observations before the final arbiter, a “ref” who hasn’t been selected yet, will settle things.

Jerry said that concept came from experiences in his own life and that the show – which will be comedic, not therapeutic – will be highly ‘relatable.’ Jerry further stated that he doesn’t intend to do any work in front of the camera but will do narration/voice-over work for the show.

The show is tentatively titled, “The Marriage Ref.”

Source.

Pentagon Reverses Media Ban On Flag-Draped Coffins

The ban, which prevented the media from capturing images of fallen soldiers returning to America in flag-draped coffins, was put into place in 1991 by Bush the 41st and was also exercised during Bush the 43rd’s administration.

Critics have argued that it is a form of censorship intended to hide the human cost of war from the public while others claim its only meant to protect and respect the family of the dead and those otherwise affected.

Since the ban, only a few exceptions have been made, all on an individual case basis.

The decision on whether the media will have access will now rest with the departed’s family.

More via the AP.

Unfortunate Topiary

From Manticore’s Moustache; Via BuzzFeed.

Abstinence-Only Education Still Included In ‘09 Federal Budget

Image: Salon.com

The good news? It was reduced by 13% or $14 million.

The bad news? There’s still $95 million going to “education” that study after study show is ineffective.

More here. (Via Slog).

Everyone remembers saddlebacking, right?

Bloomberg To Close More Of Broadway For Pedestrians

Building on his well-received experiment last year, Mayor Bloomberg is expected to announce today that beginning in May, Broadway from 47th to 42nd Street and from 35th to 33rd (i.e., Herald Square) will be closed to vehicular traffic.

It’s believed that eliminating traffic from Broadway’s diagonal intersections for these blocks and relegating traffic to the grid will actually improve traffic flow.

If deemed successful, the changes could be permanent.

I’m never on Broadway between 47th & 42nd Streets but I can say that Herald Square with half the traffic would be a dream.

Source.

“Please Don’t Kill Me” And Other Highlights Of Owning A Monkey

Since the unfortunate recent incident in Connecticut where a 200-pound chimpanzee ripped off the face of a friend of the chimp’s 70-year-old owner, a new spotlight has been focused upon the practice of living with monkeys as pets. Case-in-point, the Times has a great article examining the bizarre, curious, and oddly similar experiences of several individuals who live with monkeys.

All of those interviewed made considerable financial and personal concessions (sacrifices?) for the sake of their pets: one woman is estranged from her children and in serious debt and two experienced such vicious attacks that they attempted to kill their pet in order to escape. (They, of course continued to keep the pets after these attacks.) The owners all agree that monkeys are dangerous once they reach adolescence (3-5 years old). As one owner bluntly stated: “As a chimp grows up, any being that is smaller they want to dominate, meaning they will kill them.” But many owners continue to keep the pets past the adorable human-infant-like childhood phase, often out of the commitment they feel they made to keep the pet until it’s death. This is a considerable commitment, though,  since monkeys can live for 40-60 years (depending on the species) or 37+ years after the cuteness fades and the “kill everything that is small” period begins.

What is most clear from this article is the extreme bond that is created between these pets and their owners. While the lengths some of the owners go to to accommodate these pets can be read as foolish (HDTVs; separate, heated homes; moving your son to the basement so the chimp can live in his bedroom), it can also be read as evidence of that powerful connection. This is only further demonstrated by the fact that many of these owners have experienced serious injuries (punctured scrotum) at the hands of their pets but continue to care for them in a way could only be described as, or virtually identical to, unconditional love.

Definitely check out the incredibly fascinating read: My Monkey, My Self [NYT].

“Gay,” “Lesbian” Censored From Oscars Re-Broadcast

[... V]iewers who caught recorded telecasts in the evening on STAR, an Asian satellite TV service that says it reaches more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, noticed that the sound was removed whenever [winners Dustin Lance Black or Sean Penn] mentioned “gay” or “lesbian.”

[...] STAR’s preliminary ratings for the Oscar broadcasts indicated “record-breaking” audiences, especially in India and Taiwan.

The live broadcast was aired in its original form, unfortunately, the live broadcast was Monday morning across most of Asia and probably didn’t receive nearly the viewership the as the re-broadcast, which was aired in the evening.

The article only addresses utterances of the words “gay” and “lesbian” during the acceptance speeches and does not address the fate of the gay kisses seen in the video montages (although I would assume they saw a similar fate.)

Complaints from Malyasia, Singapore and India have surfaced so far. Given the criminalization of homosexuality in much of the region, it’s admirable anyone complained…

Milk’s screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, gave a particularly moving acceptance speech:

When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married.

I want to thank my mom who has always loved me for who I am, even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you, thank you, and thank you God for giving us Harvey Milk.

Story from the AP via Towleroad; transcript via GLAAD.

NYT: Court Battle Over a Child Strains Ties in Two Nations

And you thought the last four years of your life sucked.  Meet David Goldman:

• June 2004: Ms. Bruna Goldman boards a plane with her son, Sean, for Brazil; Her husband, David, is going to catch a flight in a week.
• Several days later, Mom calls Dad and says that she’s divorcing him (surprise!)… and that she’s keeping their son, Sean, in Brazil, Mom’s home country (double surprise!).
• Dad sues in the US and Brazil for custody, Mom retains lawyer in Brazil.
• Mom remarries her lawyer and is impregnated by him… but then dies in childbirth in 2008.
• FOUR YEARS LATER, Sean is still in Brazil living with his stepfather. He attends a top school, has friends, and is well-adjusted. In those four years, Brazilian courts have only allowed Dad to see Sean once (a 12-hour supervised visit spanning two days).

So what’s best for Sean?! Which life is better for him?! Will it matter or will simply come down to the specifics of international law?!

While the article describes Brazil as Mom’s native country, it’s not stated whether Sean actually has any contact with his blood relatives.  Even so, Sean had probably never meet these relatives before his abduction – is it even relevant that they’re blood relatives if they hardly knew Sean at the time of his abduction?

If Sean is not in contact with his blood relatives, then all he has in Brazil are non-blood relatives like his step father.  It’s unclear when Mom remarried her lawyer but, given Sean’s age – between 4 and 8 years old – even a year or two with his stepfather may be plenty to form a substantive bond, although there is no guaranteed this happened.  If it did, however, is this bond to be discounted because it’s not through blood?

Furthermore, Dad hasn’t seen Sean – although not for lack of trying – for over 4 years (save that 12 hour supervised visitation)! How has their bond changed?! How intact is it still?! Dad says it’s still intact but that’s obviously not an objective opinion. If a four-year-old goes four years without seeing a father, how much of that bond still exists?

Hopefully the psychologist supervising the visit will have some insights for the courts, if they care.

This could only be more of a clusterfuck if the parents were gay.

Read the whole saga, with a discussion of the applicable law, here.

Under The Covers

“Great Things Are Covered” – Anonymous

Random collection of three great covers today:

Antony & The Johnsons – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan Cover).  I’ve been a huge fan of A&TJ for a while now and I was still completely blown away at how gut-wrenchingly beautiful they made this song.  Instant favorite.

The Fray – Heartless (Kanye West Cover).  This one is hot off the presses and is definitely worth a listen.  The Fray attack this song with guitar while I think it may have been more interesting with a piano and while there is so. much. pain. in this song lyrically, I’m not sure I feel all of that pain in The Fray’s intrepetation.

Shirley Bassey – Get This Party Started (Pink Cover). We’ll end on a fun note. Ms. Bassey provides a predictable spin on this song but that’s not a criticism as she turns Pink’s fluffy Top 40 hit into something worthy of it’s own Bond film.

Enjoy!

Obama’s State Of The Nation Address; Recovery.gov [Updated]

Obama announced in his quasi-State of the Union address Tuesday night the launch of Recovery.gov, which allows citizens to track where all the stimulus money is going:

Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going. There are going to be a few different ways to search for information. The money is being distributed by Federal agencies, and soon you’ll be able to see where it’s going — to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors. As soon as we are able to, we’ll display that information visually in maps, charts, and graphics.

Great idea.  Too bad it didn’t track the last – what was it? – $700B?

You can watch the speech at the White House website or read the full transcript. Some highlights follow (definitely read the education section).

On energy:

“We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century.  And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.  We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it.  New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.

Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either.  It is time for America to lead again.”

On education:

“And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.  This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship.  But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.  And dropping out of high school is no longer an option.  It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American.  That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal:  by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

On budgetary transparency:

“That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  For seven years, we have been a nation at war.  No longer will we hide its price.

On tax cuts:

“[...] 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut – a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.

Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college.  And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm.

On housing relief:

“…we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages.  It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values – Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about.  In fact, the average family who re-finances today can save nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage.”

On Guantanamo and civil liberties: (AKA “Fuck you Cheney!”)

“That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists – because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger.  And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.”

Token hopey-ness: (Ty’Sheoma was seated next to Michelle)

“And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom.  She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room.  She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp.  The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world.  We are not quitters.

We are not quitters.

These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here.  They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.”

-

Mississippi Governor Bobby Jindal provided a gag-inducing Republican response that summarized Obama’s rise to prominence in the same tone and language a parent reserves for the first time a child ties their own shoes. Basically, he said that the government should get out of the way of the private sector (YEAH, because that’s worked so well thus far) and just cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes. I’ve never been this annoyed by a Republican speech since W. CNN has some (text) excerpts; [Update:] Talking Points Memo has clips of the speech and reaction from the Fox News Panel. (Spoiler: they were not impressed!) Thanks to Jindal, gays in Mississippi can now be legally fired from their private or public sector jobs solely for being gay, a protection they formerly had. I can’t believe this douche nozzle is the presumed Republican challenge to Obama in 2012.

[Trivia: Did you catch Obama claim that the automobile was invented by Americans? Well, any car freak (me) knows that the invention of the automobile is actually credited to Mr. Benz, a German. It was only popularized by Ford.]

Update: I’m not a huge fan of Rachel Maddow but her response on Jindal’s statement (and his BIZARRE use of a government assistance/Katrina reference), and the new leadership of the GOP (Michael Steele, etc), are right-on.  Highly-recommended (thanks, JMG):

New-ish Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand’s third LP, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand,” came out over a month ago but it wasn’t until I kept hearing the below iPod touch commercial that I got hooked on the second single:

Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls

Enjoy!

My Current Desktop

Taken on the Brooklyn Bridge, facing the financial district, while walking home during the 2005 NYC Transit strike. Click pic to enlarge.

Being Gay = Being A Murderer and More GOP Fun!

In regards to potentially giving the gay partners of employees of the state of Colorado access to their partner’s health benefits (danger!), Sen. Renfroe had this to say:

“I’m not saying this (homosexuality) is the only sin that’s out there,” said Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. “We have murder. We have all sorts of sin. We have adultery. And we don’t make laws making those legal, and we would never think to make murder legal.”

Um, you’re a buffoon.

Full story.

But wait! There’s more fun GOP news!

On the fast track to become the GOP’s Supreme Douche Nozzle (sorry Cheney), RNC Chairman Michael Steele first said that the GOP should reach out to gays and now he says a compromise like civil unions are “crazy,” stating that marriage is “a founding value of our country.”  Ahh, double-talk.  Towleroad sorts it out and Dan Savage has a suggestion for another “founding value of our country” that Mr. Steele may want to consider defending.

Apple Releases Safari 4 Beta

Apple has released a new version of it’s Safari web browser and they’re claiming it is once again the fastest browser available.

Some of the new features in this version are a relocated tab toolbar, “smart” address and search fields, full page zoom, a “top sites” feature, and a native look for Windows users.

Additionally, “Safari is the first — and only — web browser to pass Acid 3. Acid 3 tests a browser’s ability to fully render pages using the web standards used to build dynamic, next-generation websites, including CSS, JavaScript, XML, and SVG.”

Read about all of Safari’s features or just what’s new.

Additional coverage at Apple Insider.

Download the Safari beta here.

Greg Rutter’s Best Of The Internet

“Greg Rutter’s Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Unless You’re a Loser or Old or Something”

Apparently I’m (not?) a loser because I recognize a lot of these by the title alone.

Old favorites:

01) Grape Stomp
29) Lazy Sunday
32) Christian The Lion
35) Leprechaun in Alabama
42) Gay Mount Everest
44) Cop Shoots Himself In Leg In Classroom
56) Ms. South Carolina Answers A Question
57) I’m F*#king Matt Damon
59) Spaghetti Cat
61) Tom Cruise Scientology Video
83) Katana Sword Infomercial Goes Wrong
89) Battle at Kruger (lions vs. buffalo vs. crocodiles)
99) Reporter Gets A Fly In The Mouth

New favorites:

55) The Pet Penguin
63) Pretty Much Everywhere It’s Going To Be Hot
64) I Like Turtles
65) Who Needs A Movie
68) Aussie Party
70) Flirting with Magic
71) Look At The Horse
81) Best Wedding Toast Ever (Amy’s Song)
93) Zero G Dog

Check the whole list here.

PS: I have no idea who Greg Rutter is. Should I?

The Relationship Bill

From The Relationship Bill:

“Once upon a time I had a boyfriend who lived with me. Together we had 3 cats and a couple birds and he was a douchebag.

Finally one day I kicked him out and two weeks later he came back, with his large father, and took his stuff. Before he finished taking everything; he handed me this and made me sign it. [...]

Here is everything he spent on me for a year and a half, itemized and billed to me. Luckily this won’t hold up in court, but also luckily for you, I am posting it by popular demand for the world to see!”

Click the photo to see the entire bill, including the statement he made her sign.

PS: LOVE that Daddy came to this boy’s rescue.  (Anyone surprised?)

Via BuzzFeed.

Pepsi Co. & Arnell Screw It Up Again

Anyone that gets  OJ with their “two eggs scrambled on an everything not toasted” Saturday mornings can attest to the fact that Tropicana’s new packaging (right) is totally fugly.

Well, the backlash over the packaging has been so severe (“It looks like a store brand”) that Pepsi Co, Tropicana’s owner, has announced that the company is going to revert back to the original (left).

I don’t understand: did they not do any market research before launching this ugliness? Not only is the new carton ugly, the straw in the orange on the original carton is simply iconic.

It turns out that Arnell, the same company that designed the painful new Pepsi logo also designed the new Tropicana cartons. My god they need to be fired from the business.

Trivia: Mr. Arnell, the company’s Chief Creative Officer declined to comment on the authenticity of the ridiculous 27-page Pepsi globe pitch I talked about here. Something tells me it’s totally authentic.

New Cyndi Lauper Remixes

Cyndi released “Floor Remixes,”  a Japan-only (C’mon Epic!) remix album on February 18.  Here are the album’s stand-outs, in my opinion:

Set Your Heart (Freedombunch Remix)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun x Set Your Heart Mashup (Rich Morel)

Enjoy!

NYT: A Reconciliation On Gay Marriage

The Times this weekend featured an op-ed piece co-written by David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values and the author of “The Future of Marriage,” and Jonathan Rauch, guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and the author of “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America.”

These two opposites got together to agree that federal civil unions need to be a short-term compromise for gay marriage, provided that there are sufficient clauses protecting churches and their affiliate organizations (hospitals, day cares, etc.) from discrimination law suits if they don’t recognize gay unions:

Further sharpening the conflict is the potential interaction of same-sex marriage with antidiscrimination laws. The First Amendment may make it unlikely that a church, say, would ever be coerced by law into performing same-sex wedding rites in its sanctuary. But religious organizations are also involved in many activities outside the sanctuary. What if a church auxiliary or charity is told it must grant spousal benefits to a secretary who marries her same-sex partner or else face legal penalties for discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status? What if a faith-based nonprofit is told it will lose its tax-exempt status if it refuses to allow a same-sex wedding on its property?

For better or for worse, cases like this are already popping up, drawing parallels to Catholic hospitals’ right to abstain from performing abortions.

While I generally prefer marriage to civil unions, I think any pro-gay legislation on the federal level would be welcomed by most, since even if you’re fully gay married in your state, you’re still denied tons of federal-level privileges reserved for married people.

Read the full article here.

The Always Entertaining Mickey Rourke

I was pleasantly surprised last night when Sean Penn took the Oscar for Best Actor away from the presumed winner Mickey Rourke.  Nevertheless, after watching his acceptance speech at the Spirit awards, I kinda wish we could have seen what the hell he would have pulled at the Oscars.

I feel drunk just watching it. (Audio mildly NSFW).

What’s incredible is that Mickey has been winning tons of awards for this performance and really should have these speeches (and, um, the names of his co-stars) down pat.  Oh, Mickey…

Via Dlisted. Thanks Echo!

The Best Blog Post About Cell Phone Insurance You’ll Ever Read

I recently came across some cell phone advice that is so good I had to share it with you. When I got my first cell phone, I chose to pay for the insurance from Verizon because I knew that, being the picky person I am, if my phone was lost or stolen I would insist on replacing it with the idential model and not the bargain basement shit they would most likely throw at me slash I could afford. Anyone that currently has an iPhone obviously understands: if you lose your iPhone, you’re not going to say, “Oh, well, just give me the free LG flip phone.”

So, for those people, cell phone insurance makes a lot of sense because it will cover the repair or replacement costs for a model idential to your original. Unfortunately, the insurance policies that are offered by the cell phone companies are often pretty shitty: they commonly cost $7 or $8 every month ($84-96/year!) and they often have a relatively large deductible ($50) when you do file a claim.

Enter Cody Hebden, former telecom man and current insurance underwriter.

Cody advises you go to your local insurance company and get an “inland marine policy” AKA Personal Articles Floater:

The main thing is to get this as a separate policy from your car and/or home and insure your cell phone for the replacement cost. That means that if you were to walk into a store today and buy your phone, how much it would cost WITHOUT a contract. So, say it would be $400. Now, since the policy is already inexpensive, elect to have a zero dollar deductable. Be surprised when the agent asks for an annual premium of $35. Congratulations, you have just insured your cell phone for $400, with a zero dollar deductible, and what happens when your phone is dropped on accident, lost or stolen? Either the insurance company will reimburse for repair costs or they issue you a check to buy your phone at any retailer.

Cody states that you can also add your cell phone as a rider to your home insurance policy – which make your phone even cheaper to insure – but warns that too many claims under that umbrella policy may cause your homeowner’s premiums to go up; having a separate policy for your phone, as per above, would avoid this possibility.

Lastly, Cody notes that this can be done with all your expensive electronic equipment: “I have insured my $450 Smartphone and my $125 digital camera on an inland marine policy, and I pay a $35 annual premium, with no deductibles.“

HOT.

Via QueerCents.

Kelly Clarkson & U2 Leaked

Kelly Clarkson’s new album (due Mar 10) and U2’s new album (due Mar 3) have each leaked. I’m on the eighth track (of 14!) on the Kelly album and am loving it.  Totally impressed.  Haven’t listened to the U2 album yet but Rolling Stone apparently gave it 5 stars, if that means something.

Head to ALi’s Blog right now as the U2 link is getting yanked on Friday and the Kelly link on Sunday:

Kelly Clarkson, “All I Ever Wanted”
U2, “No Line On The Horizon”

Enjoy!

Do You Wanna Be So Gay!?

Then you should try Anal Blast! (audio NSFW; video mildly NSFW)

PS: That was made way before Gayken came out, by the way.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Gary.