I’m going to write about something because of what happened last Sunday. We were at a bar. Not a big fancy one or anything just what looked more like a tavern except without pool tables and they had a band. On that, I’ll change their names because they may not want me writing about them/this.

I get there and meet up with a couple of friends. We’ll call them Fred and Sam. I walk in and see Fred lean back from the bar and wave. I walked up and sat in between them in a vacant bar stool. We sat, had a few drinks and had a good time. Sam tells me that there is another guy who keeps staring at him. As time goes on I see what Sam was talking about. Wow. This guy was reeaallly having a long stare and going well out of his way to get into a spot where he could get a good view and keep staring. It made Sam very uncomfortable. Sam and Fred are both straight and this guy was not. He had approached them before I got there and asked them if they were from the area and whatnot. They replied that they were and then tried to ignore him. He knew they were not gay yet he persisted in blatant staring and ogling of Sam. I’ve been around enough people that are gay and I’ve never seen anyone act like this guy was.

Eventually, I looked over at him, he was continuing his long gaze at Sam, Sam is totally skeeved out and he and Fred are both fairly intoxicated. I told the gay guy that Sam and Fred were both with me and spoken for. They weren’t of course but I had to say something. When I said that, Fred gave me “the look” and told me to not get involved. Clearly it was out of hand and somebody needed to do something before something bad happened. Sam would not hurt the guy but still…. There is no reason for the guy to act like that when Sam isn’t gay.  Or even if he was gay it still would not be ok. Lack of interest is lack of interest dude, take a hint please. Eventually Fred realizes the problem is bigger than he may have realized and invited the gay guy over. His name was Tom. He turned out to be nice but he had been drinking way too much. He was wasted. That explains the poor behavior of staring incessantly at a straight guy. Fred is cool and he sat and talked with Tom for awhile. Tom was still flirting heavily with Sam and looking at him, right at him and he’d be hanging his tongue out and stuff. It was out of line. Sam just ignored him and I did too. Fred talked with him for awhile and got Tom’s attention off of Sam and eventually I think Tom left.

Fred saved this guy from a butt whooping I’m sure of it. If it had been any other guys at a bar and intoxicated when a gay man insisted on pushing his gayness on him, they’d have reacted MUCH differently. There’s no mistaking that Fred and Sam both are manly men and neither are homophobic. The gay guy was no threat to anyone but himself and he was wasted. Fred did the guy a favor by having him sit down. He partly did it to bug Sam… they’re like that with each other sometimes and partly to just keep the situation under control.

All of the above brings me to a couple of points. 1 being how awesome my friends are and that they truly do not care who you are or what you’re about as long as you aren’t harming anyone, including yourself. They’ll even help you out if you might get into trouble like ole’ Tom there at the bar. Fred is awesome! He really is a manly man who is not afraid to sit down with a gay man who’s been flirting with his buddy, buy him a drink and BS with him and keep him out of trouble. That guy had a rather large set of cojones to walk up to the 2 biggest men in the bar, me sitting in between them having already said “they’re both mine” and flirt with them! :-)  2^nd, that that type of behavior is a big no no as far as I know, in the gay community. He was what cause homophobes. That fear really is unfounded, Tom was an exception and if ole’ Tom doesn’t end up getting beat up by straight guys, he’ll get beat up by gay ones for propagating what homophobes fear most and what the gay community rallies against. I’ve no doubt that the next morning Tom is full of regret and was counting his blessings that it was us he encountered and not the type of people who typically would have taken him outside and kicked his ass. We have, especially in Dunedin, a rather large gay population. We’re a gay friendly community and I’ve never, ever met any gay person who acted like that before. Yes, Tom is very lucky he met us and not some other folks while misbehaving like that.

The RNC has developed a useful tool to organize wide spread critique of their party principles over the Thanksgiving holiday. Here is my first stab at it but don’t worry I will return to it later for more scrutiny and reflection.

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;

(1a) We support policies that will diminish the governments ability to regulate our persistent decimation of common resources and financial market abuses.

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care;

(2a) We support being free to terrorize or most vulnerable citizens into becoming the captive market ATM of our closest friends and campaign contributors.

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

(3a) Refer to (1a).

(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(4a)We support the ability of our close friends and campaign contributors to crush any and all attempts by workers to earn enough to live on or to any way  disrespect the Godly hand that feedeth them.

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(5a) We are scared of Latinos.

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(6a)We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military recommended surges of billions of dollars into our home state defense industry.

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(7a) We support one line declarations for political impact even if it might result in turning 5 billion people into gristle on principle.

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(8a)We are strictly homophobic.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

(9a)Refer to (2a)

(9b) We support the ability to manipulate our base regardless of how revolting and disingenuous.

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.

(10a) We support the right to shoot people.

Colin and Justin praying to the God of Soft Furnishings

So, Colin is out of the jungle. I think I’m as shocked as most. I mean I guess it’s not that surprising that Colin or Justin were near the first to be out as they aren’t that well known to Joe Public. I fell in love with them during their Million Pound Property Experiment several years back, but if you didn’t see that, then you wouldn’t have had many opportunities to to catch them on TV since unless you live in Canada or Scotland. The big (read: HUGE) surprise is that Justin received more votes than Colin to remain.

Colin was always the cutesy one, the compassionate one, the emotional one. You can’t help but have a soft spot for him, but by contrast, I always found that Justin grated on me. I found him that little bit too loud, a smidgen over-opinionated, a tad obnoxious, and I didn’t like the way he treated Colin on their TV shows. However, these two have been together for many years, lived together for 20 years; they are very much in love, suit each-other immensely, and I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that their relationship is confusing, or wrong. So enter Joe Swash, he’ll suggest it live on ITV2, he will also suggest that there is no reason that anyone should like Justin, and no reason why Colin would be dating him. SHAME ON YOU JOE! You may have formed the same opinion as me over Justin’s TV persona, but what on Earth qualifies you to know who the REAL Colin and Justin are? How do you know what life they’ve shared together, or how much they are in love? FOR SHAME!!! Next time, be careful about what you say on TV as an impartial commentator.

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Peanut butter…

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JedWard of the Jungle???

Edward and John (Edwohn)

My only comment is YAAAAAAAAY! I hope they sign! I hope they sign!! I’m going to miss them on Saturday nights. They were always the act I looked forward to seeing the most. Don’t get me wrong, they can’t sing for toffee, and I certainly won’t buy any albums, but boy are they fun to watch on TV!

To read the original story, click here

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AMA-BOWB-AMA-TIDDL-AMA-WOW-AMA!

Adam Lambert and mysterious stranger. Seriously, does this guy know how to kiss without mashing your face in?

Adam Lambert of American Idol fame has got into a spot a bother over a gay ‘kiss’ live on TV during a performance of his new single ‘For Your Entertainment’. First of all, it wasn’t a kiss; it was a mauling. A kiss that aggressive is usually only performed at 4am after a heavy night of drink and debauchery. Secondly, it only recieved 1500 complaints to the relevant authority, which considering the size of the audience, shows that there may be some hope for the American race yet. Thirdly, I thought it was pretty gross, and laughed for at least 15 seconds before trying to pick which of the dancers I would have prefered to snog if I absolutely HAD to live on TV (as the thing he picked wasn’t pretty), which brings me to point Four: If any Americans did have an issue with explaining to their young children why two blokes were kissing on TV, they could have easily just told them that Adam was kissing a pretty young girl wearing WAY too much make-up, and one of those ‘progressive’ European hairstyles.

The ‘uproar’ has proved to be relatively tame, and Adam has now gained a new ‘fan’ in Me; NOT for performing the grossest kiss in live television history, but for remarking the following: that if people had been upset by his performance, then that it is a “form of discrimination and it’s too bad”, adding “I had fun, my dancers had fun, the audience that was in the Nokia [Theatre] had fun. Anybody else who was watching it and enjoying it, thank you for being entertained”.

I take my hat off to you Adam Lambert. In recent times you would have heard a Celebrity apologising even when they did nothing wrongin order to please their more moderate public, in an attempt to increase their ‘brand’ appeal, and whilst it is sometimes necessary to apologise for ‘offending’ people, but not apologise for the ‘offensive act’ itself, in this case, the kiss would only have been offensive to prudes and bigots, and a heterosexual kiss shown at the same time, in the same scenario would most certainly not have offended America’s heartland, and therefore Adam is 100% justified in his response, and it is refreshing to see a celebrity, especially one at the start of his career with so much to lose, being so firm and backing his convictions with very public words.

Hear, hear!

To read the original story, click here

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Michael Sheen

I’ve just realised I really like him, as an actor and TV personality. Shame he’s Welsh. Ho Hum.

فديو, فيديو كليب انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه الرومانسىافلام لك تحميل من

شاهد فديو, فيديو كليب انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى – سعد الصغير 2009
تحمل وتنزيل فديو, فيديو كليب سعد الصغير من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى انا بيه ورومانسى

لمشاهدة وتحميل الفديو, فيديو كليب …

شاهد فديو, فيديو كليب اغنية سعد الصغير انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى
يو, فيديو كليب سعد الصغير من فلم, فيلم البية الرومانسى – انا بيه ورومانسى

اضغط هنا لمشاهدة الكليب

|اغانى|فديو, فيديو كليب|مقطع|هدف|مسلسل|اعلان|فلم, فيلم|برنامج|حلقة|شاهد|مشاهدة|اون لاين|سرعة عالية |بدون
تحميل|اغانى|عربى|اجنبى|MP3, mp3, ام بي ثري|البوم|
2009|سينجل|نغمات|تنزيل|نزل|شعبي|راب|حمل|موسيقى|MP3, mp3, ام بي ثري

|افراح|فديو, فيديو كليب|راديو||اون لاين|بدون تحميل|مجانا|بدون اشتراك|2010

فديو, فيديو كليب انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه الرومانسىافلام لك تحميل من

شاهد فديو, فيديو كليب انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى – سعد الصغير 2009
تحمل وتنزيل فديو, فيديو كليب سعد الصغير من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى انا بيه ورومانسى

لمشاهدة وتحميل الفديو, فيديو كليب …

شاهد فديو, فيديو كليب اغنية سعد الصغير انا بيه ورومانسى من فلم, فيلم البيه رومانسى
يو, فيديو كليب سعد الصغير من فلم, فيلم البية الرومانسى – انا بيه ورومانسى

اضغط هنا لمشاهدة الكليب

|اغانى|فديو, فيديو كليب|مقطع|هدف|مسلسل|اعلان|فلم, فيلم|برنامج|حلقة|شاهد|مشاهدة|اون لاين|سرعة عالية |بدون
تحميل|اغانى|عربى|اجنبى|MP3, mp3, ام بي ثري|البوم|
2009|سينجل|نغمات|تنزيل|نزل|شعبي|راب|حمل|موسيقى|MP3, mp3, ام بي ثري

|افراح|فديو, فيديو كليب|راديو||اون لاين|بدون تحميل|مجانا|بدون اشتراك|2010

موالى كل الجديد فى عالم النت

Quite a while since I’d attended Diamonds as I’d been away in USA and busy with various family things, I went along with Jem this week. It was good to see such a good turn out and to see old friends and meet a couple of new folk.

I was  shocked to hear that the landlord of the Bird had been attacked outside the pub in an apparently homophobic attack and is in hospital with head injuries. This is just appalling, I simply can’t understand anyone who has a problem with LGBT people going to a ‘gay’ pub and then being upset and going of on one. of course the cynic in me says that’s why they choose to go to the Bird in the first place.  I hope this will be born in mind when they are prosecuted and sentenced for this crime.

I spent much of the evening talking with Amba and a new acquaintance Kelly, when they left I caught up with Lucinda, Di, Hannah and Pauline another new girl. And this week we actually took some pictures in the pub (see below)

Q: Why are homophobic attitudes so prevalent among Christians?

A: No offense to anyone, but authentic Christianity considers homosexual practices to be gravely sinful, seriously disordered, and harmful to both the homosexual and to society.

This is not homophobic. It is simply proper discernment, being able to tell the difference between true diversity (which is perfectly acceptable) and grave depravity (which most certainly is not).

Steeped in their essentially narcissistic behavior, gays continue to crave official acceptance and approval, while Christians (and most others) find the open and flagrant practice of homosexuality naturally repugnant. Typically recoiling against it, in disgust.

It’s only natural.

Having dealt with homosexuality in various world cultures for the last 2000 years, the Catholic Church actually understands the true scope of this problem pretty well.

According to the Vatican:

“It has been argued that the homosexual orientation in certain cases is not the result of deliberate choice; and so the homosexual person would then have no choice but to behave in a homosexual fashion. Lacking freedom, such a person, even if engaged in homosexual activity, would not be culpable.

Here, the Church’s wise moral tradition is necessary since it warns against generalizations in judging individual cases. In fact, circumstances may exist, or may have existed in the past, which would reduce or remove the culpability of the individual in a given instance; or other circumstances may increase it.

What is at all costs to be avoided is the unfounded and demeaning assumption that the sexual behaviour of homosexual persons is always and totally compulsive and therefore inculpable. What is essential is that the fundamental liberty which characterizes the human person and gives him his dignity be recognized as belonging to the homosexual person as well.”

More on this matter here:

http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/homosexuality/

My favorite conversations in this office are when the old people solve complex social issues with “common sense.”  Today’s chat started with news that Scotland is requiring 20% of all transportation to be via bicycle by 2012 (I’d link an article here supporting that claim if I could find one).  As always this lead to complaining that the liberals keep pissing away money on mass transit.  A few excerpts:

• Bicycling could only work in Scotland because they don’t have cities (the residents of Glasgow might disagree)
• Mass transit only works in England because it was built around trains (the steam engine was patented in 1794; England is a little older than that)
• We need to quit building underwater tunnels and build bridges, even if it does disturb some damn snails
• Treehuggers in California shouldn’t build houses in forests and then act all surprised when they burn down.

Naturally the subject got around to politics.  It always does…

• Everyone in the military hates Obama.  Actually he was called Mr. Dipshit.  At least they called him Mister.
• Michelle Obama is a lesbian.
• If the election were today Obama might not win.
• They don’t donate money to disabled veterans or firefighters because they’re pretty sure the money goes to Obama.
• The United Way is a scam.  Just like the government.

It never ceases to amaze me how gay friendly Melbourne is. The past couple of months I’ve in a few different towns and cities where it’s probably not the best idea to make it apparent you like cock. It probably doesn’t help either that I live in the inner city and probably one of the most homo-friendly suburbs in Melbourne. So, when I leave this sanctuary, I tend to put myself in some positions I never thought I’d be in…

Lately I was in Hobart. Now, APPARENTLY there are supposed to be a LOT of gays living down there, but considering only some 200,000 people live there, I’m guessing that probably equates to around… 23. It was early morning, and there were NO cabs in site, so I asked an approachable couple where the nearest taxi rank was. This seemed like a simple question to me, but the guy carrying the box of Carlton decided he didn’t like the fact I was wearing cologne…

Man: “Are you GAY!?”
Me: “ahh, yeah?”
Man: “Well why don’t you just FUCK OFF then!”
Me: (laughing) “… … ahhh… That’s not very nice!”
Man: “Nah. It’s not very nice… but it’s FAIR!”

Wait?! I think this man MAY have confused the definition of ‘fair’, because last time I heard a definition, Lily Allen told me ‘not fair’ meant sleeping with someone with a small dick who cums too quickly AND doesn’t finish you off!? Maybe I should have updated him…

Back on the mainland, I take you to my hometown of Batemans Bay. Going out in your hometown can always prove fun, especially when you haven’t seen people for 4 years, and they haven’t seen you ‘out’. I didn’t think this would be a problem; SURELY there are no gays in Batemans!? But yes, it seemed there was.

Maybe I should have taken the advice I took when in Geelong one time of “don’t kiss me! We’ll probably be beaten up!” After hearing that, I assumed head on the lounge upstairs would have been out of the question… Back to Batemans though, and one guy thought it was inappropriate for me to briefly kiss another boy… While trying to make his way to me, and people blocking him, he cooled down. It seems what set him off was me winking at him. Perhaps I should have saved my affection for someone who deserved it…

Quote of the blog goes to Perth though. When passing by a couple of drunk men, one goes to the others “I don’t wanna go to some poofta bar!! I just wanna go to a peep show and jerk off!” Charming … and we wonder why straight women complain about men?!

Probably one of the most intriguing and talked about articles of the year, Jan Moir excelled at low brow journalism. I find it quite disturbing that the Daily Mail allowed for such nonsense to be published. When reading the article, it’s hard not to gasp at the homophobic things she says – “Another real sadness about Gately’s death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships.”

On the other hand it poses the question of press freedom. Is there too much liberty in Britain, when we allow articles like this to be published. Or is it just that we are too politically correct?

In my opinion, this column was not only inaccurate but also focused too much on sensationalism which tabloids feed on. The deep connotations of sexually perverted gay men only plays into the hands of bigots who wish to stereotype that community.

Moir, now at the hands of public outcry, may not be so ready to criticise next time. With the likes of Stephen Fry and Derren Brown fighting to end your career on Twitter, I would be worried.

However, what is ironic, Moir claims Tara Palmer-Tompkinson has sheer audacity. I wonder did Moir give her some tips?

Read article here…

Monkey Toasted: Who drinks the profits?

Disclaimer: If you are offended by articles criticizing the Toronto comedy community then now would be the time to stop reading. On the other hand, if you are interested in how artists are taken advantage of in our community then you should definitely keep reading.

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Actors, improvisers and musicians will do just about anything to get stage time in Toronto, and usually they are taken advantage of in one way or another. I was involved with Monkey Toasted, the improvised talk show for many years, occasionally as an improviser but mostly as a music director. The show is very popular around town, it has had top notch guests and it has won Canadian Comedy Awards. In fact, the producer brags that the show’s members have collectively been nominated for 98 Canadian Comedy Awards (some of those are mine). I’m not sure what this proves other than you can collectively be nominated for 98 awards and still no one can pay the rent or get paid for their craft.

I had personal and political reasons for being involved with the troupe. For one, I love to improvise and the producer and I had made a deal that if I music directed the show that I could also play on stage on occasion. Normally I would have to be paid to be a music director. I knew they didn’t really have piles of money to pay, but I believed in the troupe. My own problems with the more “corporate” improv troupe in the city (lets call it Melonville) were troubling. Racism was rampant with the new American, male-dominated regime of Melonville. As well, the politics of someone’s personal relationship in the workplace finally killed my paying job there.

Monkey Toasted was a bit of a safe haven. I overlooked certain problems with the troupe. I hoped to make it successful. I did a free corporate gig so that Reader’s Digest could write a story about how we do corporate gigs, even though we weren’t doing any corporate gigs. But we had to look like we were.

At the end of every show these performers, some of whom are very well known actors, are reduced to scavenging loose change from the audience. When the bowls of money are returned the money is apparently split up 50/50. The show would get fifty percent for promotion and the actors and musician (me) would split the rest between us. This would amount to, on a good night, maybe fifteen dollars for three hours of my work. The basic going rate for a music director in an improv show starts at $50.00 an hour. One night I overheard the producer say that he actually used his fifty percent to buy his dinner at a chinese food restaurant next door, and the rest went to buy some of his “smoke” – if you catch my natural mystic. So much for show promotion.

Actors will do this kind of non-union show (even if they are members of Actor’s Equity) simply because they love improv. It is different as a music director. Music directors are not given the same kind of glory. They are expected to sit there and not have an opinion and when it is time for awards they are swept unceremoniously under a rug. Even if you also happen to be a performer, a producer and a director – as well as a piano player – there is still this weird opinion that you should be subservient. You have to carry a lot of equipment so financial compensation is usually a given. Not with this show.

The last time I performed on stage as an actor in the show I kissed a man. I’m not saying the producer is homophobic (ahem…knowing glance) but that was the last time I was allowed to be on the stage. He doesn’t want to offend his mother or something. I was still expected to play the piano week after week for very little pay, even though that was not the original arrangement.

Fool me once, I can hear some of you say (if anyone is reading this). My anger at Melonville drove me to stay with Monkey Toasted, to try and make it work. The producer constantly dangled the carrot of a television show in front of me. But I never thought it would ever be a good telelvision show. Improv rarely translates to the boob tube. But he would constantly threaten to use another music director for the imaginary television show.

One time the head of CBC came to be the guest. This was supposed to be an important show. I was asked to bring my big heavy keyboard to make the show work. This was our chance. I was excited because the guest also happened to be a movie producer of some of my favourite films. I played the intro and they sat down for the interview. The producer of Monkey Toasted  glared at me and said “That sounds really weird. Can you turn that down?” Then during the interview he fumbled a question and couldn’t recover. I knew our chances of being on TV were instantly down the toilet. Afterward I overheard the CBC/film producer tell him that the music was the best part of the show. I’m not bragging here. Just sticking up for myself. I’m not sure Monkey Toasted ever appreciated what they had.

He doesn’t really appreciate the actors either. One time at the Fringe he told the improvisers, in front of an audience, that they had performed the worst scene ever (nice). The guests he interviews were told night after night, before the show, that they weren’t allowed to be funny. Moreover,  during the intermission he gives the improvisers a lecture and chastises them for any off-colour choices they might have made. This coming from a guy who couldn’t improvise his way out of a paper bag. Not surprisingly a lot of players leave, but they are always replaced by whoever leaves the Melonville stage, which unfortunately brings the politics of that insane asylum directly into Monkey Toasted.

The two people who had ruined my job with their stupid affair in the workplace insisted that they had a right to be in Monkey Toasted. Then they were caught red-handed in a lie and the Monkey Toasted producer told me he wouldn’t be able to work with them for at least a year. For a moment it seemed like the clouds opened up and the sun shined on me. Finally justice! But they eventually changed the producer’s mind with some arm-twisting and more lies. He then simply insisted that I should work with these people – for free – even though they had ruined my paying job at Melonville. So in the summer of 2007 I left Monkey Toasted. When it was nominated for best improv troupe he left my name off of the list of troupe members. And thankfully my own troupe won that year anyway. IN YOUR FACE MOFO!

This is a big load of whining I know. Why do I dwell on it? I suppose it is because I still have to hear about how great Monkey Toast is constantly. It’s all over my Facebook. I’m still friends with a lot of the improvisers on the show. But there were so many slaps in the face that I realize this will be a never-ending rant if I really mentioned every little humiliation I suffered at the hands of this awful producer. If there is a lesson in all this rubbish it is this: Anytime anyone asks you to do any work for free, or for a pittance of your usual wage, then simply don’t do it. That is when you will be treated the worst and you will leave feeling burned…

Come on. Eat your shitty toast and smile.

Hello and welcome.

I Loooooaaaaatttthhhheee my job entirely.  There is not one thing that I enjoy about my job and there are many, many things which I constantly barely tolerate.  I work for the state of Texas and am surrounded by incompetent management, lazy management and co-workers, and ungrateful “clients” for the service we provide.

This blog is an attempt to shed some light on my craptastic job, on how your tax dollars are wasted, and on how this work seems to attract the most ignorant, racist, sexist, and homophobic people in the state to be my co-workers.

Welcome to my whining rants!

Is Miley homophobic?

Pretty sure that’s not what 911 is for, dude.

Winona Judd is the new Kanye West.

Wanna make some fast money?

Oh god. Please don’t let there be a Jon Gosselin sex tape.

5 colors you need to eat.

I recently had a long and “interesting” exchange with an individual on a Reddit.com story about the Yes / No on 1 vote in the American State of Maine.

You can read the entire debate here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/a0ty0/the_faces_of_the_yes_on_1_campaigners_in_maine_as/

..and my particular conversation thread here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/a0ty0/the_faces_of_the_yes_on_1_campaigners_in_maine_as/c0fcl3z

Needless to say I wasn’t very happy about the result of the vote, whereas my main opponent took the opposite stance. But I was reminded in the course of our conversation about cognitive framing biases—as is so often the case in matters where one side blindly argues X is a valid reason for turning reason Y on its head—such as arguing night is day, black is white or that old favourite, which is in-fact a corruption of something Bertrand Russell once said about mathematical axioms, 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal 2. Because these kinds of mental gymnastics are the only way a deeply misinformed opinion might begin to make some kind of sense, in the mind of the person who holds onto it, they are very easy to spot in someone else, but very difficult to identify in oneself.

Then, thanks to the power of the internets, this little gem came to my attention and things started to become a little bit clearer…

From Wikipedia:

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it”. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than relatively more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. “Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”

Question: If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?

Answer: If a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I will confront them. It is their opinion in the end, but I will question it and spark a conversation about it.  It doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t offend me or if someone else doesn’t speak up. I will say something if I want to, it’s in my nature.  I strongly believe that we need to be less ignorant and more accepting in this world.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true when it comes to family and relatives.  It’s difficult for me to confront a relative because of my culture and family dynamics. I was raised to respect your elders and to never speak back.  While I don’t always obey the “respect your elders”, this is kept to myself. As for never speaking back, that I must follow. Misbehavior on my part reflects directly upon my parents, and these relatives are their brothers, sisters, and parents. A few cousins, only one that is older than me, and the others that are younger than me, I will confront. This is okay because they are younger than me (except the one that’s older, but him and I have a very open and honest relationship and I can yell at him for anything. He’s the one I’m closest to).  The younger cousins, I believe I can and should say something, because their view on society is still being shaped, and I want to provide a different perspective from the rest of the family. If I can influence one of them to be less ignorant and more accepting, then I’m happy.  My relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents, and some cousins) are all racist and homophobic.  It bothers me a great deal, but after failed attempts at speaking with my mother about it, I know better than to confront them about it.  They are set in their ways and there’s nothing I can do about it.  It makes my skin crawl when they make offensive comments, so I walk away because I can’t be around it. Some people might call me a coward, but after 24 years, I recognize it is a battle that I can never win.

How about you?

How employable is a unpoligetic homophobic NFL star?

The chiefs have released Larry Johnson, and put him on waivers.

Larry Johnson is about to find that out, first hand. If he is to look for any encouragement, he must remember that even Michael Vick was given a second chance, by the National Football League for killing dogs, but the actor Isiah Thomas has not had that much good luck with his career after using a similar gay slur.

I do not even think it has anything to do with how many gay people are, or not involved with football as they are in the acting profession, I would imagine it is the national average, but what business wants to have this level of a public relations disaster associated with their product?

Larry Johnson is not trying to make amends with the gay community,it all seems to be about him getting out of his contract.

The Chiefs and Larry Johnson are in the middle of a case to determine whether or not the Chiefs have to pay Johnson this year’s installment of his signing bonus. The Chiefs are contending that Larry violated his contract when he was suspended for one game in 2008.

The Chiefs confirmed Monday that they are releasing Larry Johnson the day he was due to come back from his second suspension in a year.

Johnson, who turns 30 on Nov. 19, was just 75 yards away from breaking Priest Holmes’ team rushing record.

The Chiefs were furious with Johnson for a series of actions, including mocking Coach Todd Haley’s lack of football playing experience on his Twitter account; using a gay slur on Twitter and again in the locker room when addressing a group of reporters; and, in the incident that most angered General Manager Scott Pioli, belittling a fan on Twitter by saying he made more money.

They are seeking to have the contract voided.

 Whether they win or lose the case, the Chiefs have sealed the deal. They are over Johnson, and his on-line antics, and characterized  him as a ”Cancer” that is spreading in the locker room.

The Kansas City organization vowed to not allow Johnson to ever take the field again as a Chief, following a drubbing they received from the San Diego Chargers.

The teams rumored to be courting the homophobic running back is the hapless Washington Redskins, which have to replace the injured Clinton Portis, who sustained a concussion in this past Sundays loss.

Just what the Redskin’s need, another disaster of a player to cause even more distractions for them to lose focus on, away from football.

Get ready to protest my fellow D.C. football fans.Your season is about to get that much more worst.

You can not make this stuff up.

Johnson is currently on waivers,which he must clear.

The New York Times is reporting…Johnson is almost certain to clear waivers, because a team that claims him would have to pay his salary of more than $2 million, which the Chiefs will pay if he is not picked up. But if he clears waivers and a team signs him, Johnson will still collect his salary from the Chiefs in addition to whatever he makes with his new team…

Johnson was the subject of an online petition last week calling on the Chiefs not to let him break the team rushing record. His on-line apology came one year after issuing a similar apology for alleged incidents involving women in Kansas City night clubs.

The door has shut for him in Kansas city, so I wonder which team out there has the room for Larry Johnson, who is Americas most notorious unapologetic homophobes.

I wonder how that title will work for his new teams marketing strategy.

Follow the story here, and from these trusted sources…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/sports/football/10chiefs.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/09/larry-johnson-released-ch_n_350758.html

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/149746-see-ya-larry-johnson-released-by-the-chiefs

Species Name:  Ignoramicus Stubbornius

I live in California, one of the most progressive states in the entire country, or at least I thought it was until its constituents passed Proposition 8 a year ago, which banned gay marriage.  This was a real wake up call that homophobia still runs rampant in this country, and I find it a little fucking ridiculous.  On Tuesday, Maine became the 31st state to shoot down the rights of gays to get married.  I don’t understand what the fuck peoples’ issue is here.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Bible apparently says that marriage is intended to be between a man and a woman.  However, the Bible also says that women shalt not teach, nor hold authority positions over men (Timothy 2:11-15).  Maybe the Bible isn’t right about everything, did you ever think of that?  These homophobes are so deluded by their blind devotion to the word of God, that they can’t fathom that it might all be a lie.  Sorry to potentially burst your bubble.

Homophobes make me sick.  Look, no one is asking you guys to strap on some ass-less chaps and strut through West Hollywood singing Madonna songs, we’re simply asking that you be tolerant of people’s inalienable rights.  This anti-gay mentality is no different than racism or antisemitism, and as we all know, those still run rampant in our society as well.  Since these homophobes are so pathetically hellbent on trying to wipe the homosexual population from the planet, lets imagine a world where these ignoramuses didn’t exist.

In a world where homophobes weren’t around to mouth off like the dipshits that they are:

• Gays would be allowed to get married and in turn be as miserable as most straight, married couples.
• The derogatory term, “fag,” would go back to being slang for a cigarette in England.
• The population of the United States would significantly drop which would benefit everyone.  No homophobes = No traffic!
• The most outspoken homophobes, ultra right wing conservatives, wouldn’t have the chance to be the biggest hypocrites in our entire society.

• Harvey Milk, along with many other gay activists, would still be alive.
• George W. Bush would never have been alive to become our President and ruin this country.
• The number of hate crimes would dramatically decrease across the country.
• People wouldn’t hate other sexual orientations because they are insecure of their own.
• People would realize that the Bible is not necessarily the end all, be all of human existence.
• The Catholic Church would’ve imploded, and those poor altar boys would’ve been spared the molestation by their hypocritical, homophobic priests.

These homophobic fucks need to grow up and live in the now.  The gays aren’t going anywhere, so either you can accept them and let them live the life they want to live or you can go on being narrow-minded shit for brains.  Would it kill us to take a cue from Europe and be a little more progressive?  They’re gay!  Who cares!  You don’t have to engage in sodomy with them for god’s sake!  If you people had one functioning brain cell, you’d realize that giving gays the right to marry wouldn’t affect you in the slightest way.  Morons!  I’d like to believe that the homophobes would eventually give up their crusade against gay rights, but they’re much too stubborn for that.  I hate to say it, but I truly believe that the anti-gay sentiment running a muck in this country is here to stay for quite a while.

But one has to have dreams right?

Miss California Carrie Prejean and yes, she is as dumb as she looks...