December Ipod Mix

The new Snow Partol single is "Chasing Cars" but more confessional, heartfelt, and less poppy. Which means, radio may play it, but bad ABC meolodramas about life being bittersweet will not. In other words, it's more awesome as a single (The LP is even better). Glasvegas is quickly become my new fav debut LP to fawn over. The new Kaiser Chiefs LP is ho hum, but the first two singles are stronger, including this second one. 3OH!3 is a cross between guilty pleasure and just guilty. Martha Wainwright continues to entrace me with that voice and guitar arrangements. Sterophonics released a greatest hits (about time, really) and dropped a rocking new single, if predictable and symbolic of their most popular works.

1. Snow Patrol - "Crack The Shutters" [A Hundred Million Suns (2008)]
2. Stereophonics - "You're My Star" [Decade In The Sun (2008)]
3. Kaiser Chiefs - "Good Days Bad Days" [Off With Their Heads (2008)]
4. Martha Wainwright - "You Cheated Me" [I Know You're Married, But I've Got Feelings Too (2008)]
5. Glasvegas - "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry" [Glasvegas (2008)]
6. The Verve - "Rather Be" [Forth (2008)]
7. TV On The Radio - "Golden Age" [Dear Science (2008)]
8. 30H!3 - "Don't Trust Me" [Want (2008)]
9. Keane - "The Lovers Are Losing" [Perfect Symmetry (2008)]
10. We Are Scientists - "Impatience" [Brain Thrust Mystery (2008)]

November Ipod Mix

The new Secret Machines LP is awesome, simply awesome. It's also great to see Razorlight together again, The Automatic follow up the comeback single "Steve McQueen," and I guarantee you that "Daylight" will be stuck in your head for days if you dare to give it a listen.


1. Secret Machines - "Atomic Heels" [Secret Machines (2008)]
2. The Automatic - "Magazines" [This is a Fix (2008)]
3. Razorlight - "Wire to Wire" [Slipway Fires (2008)]
4. The Pigeon Detectives - "Say It Like You Mean It" [Emergency (2008)]
5. The Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound" [The '59 Sound (2008)]
6. Franz Ferdinand - "Lucid Dreams" [Lucid Dreams - Single (2008)]
7. Bloc Party - "Talons" [Intimacy (2008)]
8. Matt and Kim - "Daylight" [Grand (2008)]
9. Rise Against - "Re-Education (Through Labor)" [Appeal To Reason (2008)]
10. Kings of Leon - "Use Somebody" [Only By the Night (2008)]

Past Ipod Mixes

I'm going to start adding my monthly Ipod Mix lists to my blog...here are the last several months. I'll post this month's soon:


October Ipod MixOct 3, 2008
1. Snow Patrol - Take Back The City [One Hundred Million Suns (2008)]
2. Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat [Off With Their Heads (2008)]
3. Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone [Glasvegas (2008)]
4. Noah And The Whale - 5 Years Time [Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down (2008)]
5. Oasis - The Shock Of Lightning [Dig Out Your Soul (2008)]
6. The Virgins - Rich Girls [The Virgins (2008)]
7. The Maybes - Boys [Promise (2008)]
8. Travis - Something Anything [Ode To J. Smith (2008)]
9. The Toxic Airborne Event - Sometime Around Midnight [The Toxic Airborne Event (2008)]
10. The Killers - Human [Day & Age (2008)]

Sept. Ipod MixSep 3, 2008
1. Snow Patrol - Take Back the City [One Hundred Million Suns (2008)]
2. The Verve - Love Is Noise [Forth (2008)]
3. The Stills - Being Here [Oceans Will Rise (2008)]
4. Biffy Clyro - Mountains [Mountains - EP (2008)]
5. MGMT - Kids [Oracular Spectacular (2008)]
6. The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved [The Script (2008)]
7. Keane - Spirlling [Perfect Symmetry (2008)]
8. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire [Only By the Night (2008)]
9. Cold War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me [Loyalty to Loyalty (2008)]
10. Axle Whitehead - I Don't Do Surprises [Losing Sleep (2008)]

August Ipod MixAug 9, 2008
1. The Automatic Steve McQueen [This Is a Fix (2008)]
2. Alphabeat 10,000 Nights of Thunder [This Is Alphabeat (2008)]
3. The Subways Alright [All Or Nothing (2008)]
4. Bloc Party Mercury [Mercury - EP (2008)]
5. UNKLE feat. Gavin Clark Broken [The X Files: I Want To Believe OST (2008)]
6. Faker This Heart Attack [Be the Twilight (2008)]
7. Sixpence None the Richer My Dear Machine [My Dear Machine EP (2008)]
8. McFly One For the Radio [Radio:ACTIVE (2008)]
9. The Bridges Pieces [Limits of the Sky (2008)]
10. Black Kids Hurricane Jane [Partie Traumatic (2008)]

July Ipod MixJul 2, 2008
1. The Pigeon Detectives Everybody Wants Me [Emergency (2008)]
2. Mystery Jets Two Doors Down [Twenty One (2008)]
3. Little Man Tate What Your Boyfriend Said [What Your Boyfriend Said (2008)]
4. The Ting Tings That's Not My Name [We Started Nothing (2008)]
5. The Kooks Sway [Konk (2008)]
6. Infadels Free Things For Poor People [Universe In Reverse (2008)]
7. Delays Keep It Simple [Everything's The Rush (2008)]
8. The Futureheads Radio Heart [This Is Not The World (2008)]
9. The Rascals Freakbeat Phantom [Rascalize (2008)]
10. Sharleen Spiteri All The Times I Cried [Melody (2008)]

June Ipod MixJun 10, 2008
1. Alphabeats Fascination [We Are Alphabeats (2008)]
2. We Are Scientists Chick Lit [Brain Thrust Mystery (2008)]
3. The Teenagers Make It Happen [Homecoming (2008)]
4. Hadouken! Liquid Lives [Music for an Accelerated Culture (2008)]
5. Martha Wainwright Bleeding All Over You [I Know You're Married But... (2008)]
6. The Fratellis Mistress Mabel [Make It Happen (2008)]
7. Black Kids I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You [Partie Traumatic (2008)]
8. Switches Drama Queen [Lay Down The Law (2008)]
9. Guillemots Get Over It [Red (2008)]
10. Be Your Own Pet The Kelly Affair [Get Awkward (2008)]

May Ipod MixMay 7, 2008
1. The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement [The Age of the Understatement (2008)]
2. The Pigeon Detectives This Is an Emergency [Emergency (2008)]
3. Parka Better Anyway [Attack of the Hundred Yard Hardman (2008)]
4. The Kooks Shine On [Konk (2008)]
5. One Night Only It's About Time [Started a Fire (2008)]
6. The Ting Tings Shut Up and Let Me Go [We Started Nothing (2008)]
7. The Matches Point Me Towards the Morning [A Band in Hope (2008)]
8. Robyn With Every Heartbeat [Robyn (2008)]
9. MGMT Time to Pretend [Oracular Spectacular (2008)]
10. Scouting for Girls Heartbeat [Scouting for Girls (2008)]

April Ipod MixApr 4, 2008
1. The Teenagers Homecoming [Reality Check (2008)]
2. The Futureheads The Beginning of the Twist [This Is Not the World (2008)]
3. Switches Lay Down the Law [Lay Down the Law (2008)]
4. The Enemy This Song Is About You [This Song Is About You (2008)]
5. Boy Kill Boy Promises [Stars and the Sea (2008)]
6. British Sea Power No Lucifer [Do You Like Rock Music (2008)]
7. The Courteeners Not Nineteen Forever [St. Jude (2008)]
8. We Are Scientists After Hours [Brain Thrust Mastery (2008)]
9. Foals Cassius [Antidoes (2008)]
10. The Young Knives Turn Tail [Superabundance (2008)]

New '08 SinglesMar 4, 2008
1. The Kooks Always Where I Need To Be [Konk [2008]]
2. Biffy Clyro Who's Got a Match? [Puzzle [2008]]
3. Editors Push Your Head Towards the Air [An End Has a Start [2008]]
4. Mute Math Control (New Edit) [Control - Single [2008]]
5. Mêlée Drive Away [Devils and Angels [2008]]
6. The Matches Wake the Sun [A Band in Hope [2008]]
7. The Wombats Backfire at the Disco [The Wombats Proudly Present...[2008]]
8. Vampire Weekend A-Punk [Vampire Weekend [2008]]
9. Athlete Second Hand Stores [Beyond the Neighbourhood [2008]]
10. Adele Chasing Pavements [19 [2008]]

March Ipod MixMar 3, 2008
1. The Shout Out Louds Tonight I Have To Leave It [Our Ill Will [2007]]
2. Sons and Daughters Darling [This Gift [2008]]
3. The National Mistaken for Stangers [Boxer [2007]]
4. Band of Horses No One's Gonna Love You [Cease To Begin [2008]]
5. The Ting Tings Great DJ [We Started Nothing [2008]]
6. Hot Chip Ready for the Floor [Made in the Dark [2008]]
7. Operator Please Just a Song About Ping Pong [Yes Yes Vindictive [2007]]
8. The Duke Spirit The Step and the Walk [Neptune [2008]]
9. The Feeling I Thought It Was Over [Join With Us [2008]]
10. Radiohead Jigsaw Falling Into Place [In Rainbows [2008]]

Feb. Ipod MixFeb 6, 2008
1. Bell X1 Rocky Took a Lover [Flock [2008]]
2. These New Puritans Elvis [Beat Pyramid [2008]]
3. Hard-Fi I Shall Overcome [Once Upon a Time In the West [2008]]
4. One Night Only Just For Tonight [Started a Fire [2008]]
5. The Courteeners What Took You So Long [St. Jude [2008]]
6. The Young Knives Here Comes the Rumour Mill [Voices of Animals and Men [2007]]
7. The Cribs Don't You Wanna Be Relevant? [Don't You Wanna Be Relevant? [2008]]
8. The Dandy Warhols We Used To Be Friends [Welcome To the Monkey House [2003]]
9. Turin Brakes Something In My Eye [Dark on Fire [2008]]
10. Switches Lay Down the Law [Heart Turned to D.E.A.D. [2007]]

Jan. Ipod MixJan 15, 2008
1. The Wombats Moving to New York [The Wombats Present: A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation (2008)]
2. British Sea Power Waving Flags [Do You Like Rock Music? (2008)]
3. Arctic Monkeys Teddy Picker [Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)]
4. Foals Balloons [Balloons - Single (2007)]
5. Babyshambles You Talk [Shotter's Nation (2007)]
6. 1990s See You at the Lights [Cookies (2007)]
7. Switches Lay Down the Law [Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D. (2007)]
8. The Displacements Lazy Bones [Lazy Bones - Single (2007)]
9. The Futureheads Decent Days and Nights (Remixed) [The Futureheads: Special Edition (2005)]
10. Stars Take Me to the Riot [In Our Bedroom After the War (2007)]

Top Ten Favorite Albums Released in 2007Dec 26, 2007
1. The Pigeon Detectives Wait for Me [Dance to the Radio]
2. The Enemy We'll Live and Die in These Towns [Warner Music Group]
3. Hard-Fi Once Upon a Time in the West [Necessary Records/Warner]
4. Tiny Dancers Free School Milk [Parlophone]
5. The Cinematics A Strange Education [TVT Records]
6. Interpol Our Love to Admire [Capitol Records]
7. Dolores O'Riordan Are You Listening? [Sanctuary Records]
8. The Automatic Not Accepted Anywhere [B-Unique Records]
9. The View Hats Off to the Buskers [1965 Records]
10. The Cribs Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever [Warner Brothers Records]

Top Ten Favorite Singles Released in 2007Dec 26, 2007
1. Hard-Fi Suburban Knights [Once Upon a Time in the West]
2. Athlete Hurricane [Beyond the Neighbourhood]
3. Stereophonics It Means Nothing [Pull the Pin]
4. Against Me! Thrash Unreal [New Wave]
5. Silverchair Straight Lines [Young Modern]
6. Klaxons Golden Skans [Myths of the Near Future]
7. Interpol Mammoth [Our Love to Admire]
8. Snow Patrol Shut Your Eyes [Eyes Open]
9. Biffy Clyro Folding Stars [Puzzle]
10. Bloc Party I Still Remember [A Weekend in the City]

Dec. Ipod MixDec 5, 2007
1. Biffy Cyclo Folding Stars [Puzzle [2007]]
2. Little Man Tate This Must Be Love [About What You Know [2007]]
3. Ian Brown Feat. Sinead O'Connor Illegal Attacks [The World Is Yours [2007]]
4. Against Me! Stop [New Wave [2007]]
5. Klaxons Golden Skans (live) [Radio 1's Live Lounge Vol. 2 [2007]]
6. Babyshambles Fuck Forever [Down in Albion [2005]]
7. Hard-Fi Television [Once Upon a Time in the West [2007]]
8. Arctic Monkeys Teddy Picker [Favourite Worst Nightmare [2007]]
9. Oasis Lord Don't Slow Me Down [Lord Don't Slow Me Down [2007]]
10. Athlete Tokyo [Beyond the Neighbourhood [2007]]

November's New Ipod MixNov 8, 2007
1. Athlete feat. Iain Archer Hurricane [Hurricane EP (2007)]
2. Dogs Solider On [Tall Stories From Under the Table (2007)]
3. The Courteeners Acrylic [Acrylic (2007)]
4. The Wombats Let's Dance to Joy Division [The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation (2007)]
5. Stereophonics My Friends [Pull the Pin (2007)]
6. Turin Brakes Stalker [Dark on Fire (2007)]
7. Interpol No I in Threesome [Our Love To Admire (2007)]
8. Kaiser Chiefs The Angry Mob [Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007)]
9. The Secret Machines Lightning Blue Eyes [Ten Silver Drops (2006)]
10. Orson Ain't No Party [Culture Vultures (2007)]

Oct. Ipod MixOct 22, 2007
1. Republic of Loose Feat. Snow Patrol Comeback Girl [Aaagh! (2007)]
2. The View Wasted Little DJs [Hats Off to the Buskers (2007)]
3. Hard-Fi Can't Get Along (Without You) [Once Upon a Time in the West (2007)]
4. The Cribs Men's Needs [Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)]
5. Boy Kill Boy Suzie [Civilian (2006)]
6. Scouting For Girls It's Not About You [Scouting For Girls (2007)]
7. The Killers Tranquilize [Control (2007)]
8. Editors Racing Rats [An End Has a Start (2007)]
9. Dogs London Bridge [Turn Against This Land (2005)]
10. Dropkick Murphys Fairmount Hill [The Meanest of Times (2007)]

Sept. Ipod MixSep 21, 2007
1. Hard-Fi Tonight [Once Upon a Time in These Towns [2007]]
2. Athlete Tokyo [Beyond the Neighbourhood [2007]]
3. Stereophonics It Means Nothing [Pull the Pin [2007]]
4. The Pigeon Detectives Take Her Back [Wait for Me [2007]]
5. The Twang Drinking in L.A. [Love It When I Feel Like This [2007]]
6. Iain Archer When It Kicks In [Magnetic North [2007]]
7. The Corrs Love in the Milky Way [Works [2007]]
8. Kasbian Fast Fuse [Fast Fuse EP [2007]]
9. Interpol Mammoth [Our Love to Admire [2007]]
10. Newton Faulkner Dream Catch Me [Hand Built by Robots [2007]]

What I'm Listening to...Aug 26, 2007
1. Against Me! Thrash Unreal [New Wave [2007]]
2. Silverchair Straight Lines [Young Modern [2007]]
3. Tiny Dancers Shame [Free School Milk [2007]]
4. Hard-Fi Suburban Knights [Once Upon a Time in the West [2007]]
5. Snow Patrol Isolation [Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur [2007]]
6. Stars Bitches in Tokyo [In Our Bedroom After the War [2007]]
7. Kate Nash Foundations [Made of Bricks [2007]]
8. Kings of Leon Fans [Because of the Times [2007]]
9. Klaxons It's Not Over Yet [Myths of the Near Future [2007]]
10. The Enemy It's Not OK [We'll Live and Die in These Towns [2007]]

New Music on my IpodJul 27, 2007
1. Athlete Hurricane [Beyond the Neighbourhood (2007)]
2. The Enemy Had Enough [We'll Live and Die in These Towns (2007)]
3. Editors An End Has a Start [And End Has a Start (2007)]
4. Arctic Monkeys Flourescent Adolescent [Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)]
5. Tiny Dancers I Will Wait for You [Free School Milk (2007)]
6. The Twang Don't Wait Up [Love It When I Feel Like This (2007)]
7. Kaiser Chiefs Everything Is Average Nowadays [Yours Truly Angry Mob (2007)]
8. The View Same Jeans [Hats Off to the Buskers (2007)]
9. Spoon The Underdog [Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)]
10. The Pigeon Detectives I Found Out [Wait for Me (2007)]
mute | tweak

it's horses...on a beach...

ladies...you're welcome

let the posting re-commence

now that I have reliable internet at home again, I will re-commence the posting of then things on the blog.

the best thing that's been going on in the meantime: tina fey as sarah palin. this has helped me get through this economic nova that's been going down (literally).

so, what happens if mccain manages to steal, I mean, win the election:

"If she wins, I'm done. I can't do that for four years. And by 'I'm done,' I mean I'm leaving Earth." - Tina Fey

taking back the city

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDGzB82bIZc


new snow patrol. awwwwwwwwwwwwsome.

cnn does something worthwhile

great t-shirt. oh, and there more "breaking news" shirts here.

personally, i want one of these to use as a duster for my computer table.

What the channel you're watching says about you

way to go, um, Jesse Ventura?!?!

wow...that professional boy builder entertainer-turned-governor that isn't Arnold actually made some sense and while schooling Pat "why is he still on TV" Buchanan on the MSNBC:

Ventura: “Well, first of all, I made a statement when I was governor and stand by it today. Love is bigger than government. Who the hell are we as a government to tell people who you can fall in love with? I think it‘s absurd that fact it‘s even being debated. 

Reason #577 CNN Blows

"Next on the Situation Room, an iguana gets caught in a net..."

Stay classy, CNN.

NY police on Pope watch snatch river beaver.... no, really.

great headline, reuters.  

NY police on Pope watch snatch river beaver

New York police guarding the United Nations during Pope Benedict's visit on Friday made a rare discovery and rescue -- of a beaver struggling to swim past the world body's headquarters.

Soon after the pope left the United Nations, police harbour and scuba units patrolling the East River spotted the four-foot (1.20 metre) long, 40-pound (18-kg) animal. Beavers have only recently returned to the city with the first sighting of one in more than 200 years made in February 2007.

Lt. John Harkins, commanding officer, NYPD SCUBA, said in a statement that the animal had been tilting unnaturally and showed "laboured breathing." After securing it in a safety noose the officers pulled it aboard their vessel.

"It has pretty big claws," Harkins said of the beaver which will be taken to an animal hospital.

McCain Booed on the Anniversary of MLK's Death

In the 80's, McCain voted against MLK Day as a holiday.  Not a big surprise right?  But now, he no longer thinks this...kinda like his position on torture and tax cuts except sans all that bigotry.  Anyways, he decided to talk about this in a speech on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's death.  In Memphis.  Outside the hotel Dr. was shot at.  In the pouring rain.  Really bad idea.  He gets deservedly booed:

and what's with all the umbrellas, ellas, ellas, eh, eh, eh?  damn you, Rihanna.

McCain doesn't know Shiite

Granted, I'm no foreign policy genius, but even I know that Iran is Shiite and loathes the Sunni al Qaeda. How is this not HUGELY important news?! Imagine if Sen. Clinton or Obama said this; it'd be all over the news for weeks.

Come on Senator McCain, at least get your facts right when you're trying to hype up war with Iran. Via wonkette:

Nobody understands the military and the Middle East like John McCain does, because he invented them. He also invented calculus, and the Cleveland Steamer, and the French poetry form known as the villanelle. But today we will be talking about Sunnis and Shias, which John McCain also invented, back when he was a young pup hanging out with Mohammed. It's been so long that McCain has forgotten which is which!

Today he told reporters that Iran was training al Qaeda fighters and sending them into Iraq. This is hilarious because of course Iran is Shiite and al Qaeda is Sunni, so they hate each other.

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."

Joe Lieberman quickly intervened, suggesting that Iran is training Shiite extremists and sending them into Iraq. So there you have it, old foreign policy wonk and most-credible-war-on-terror-guy McCain can't remember which religious sect aligns with which ancient hatred, because he is senile.

Deportation of gay Iranian temporarily halted

From BBC News:

The home secretary is to review the case of Iranian homosexual teenager Mehdi Kazemi, who has said he will be executed if forced to return to Iran.

The UK rejected his first asylum plea, but Jacqui Smith has now granted him a temporary reprieve from deportation while she reconsiders his case.

Mr Kazemi, 19, had failed to gain asylum in the Netherlands.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Iran and Mr Kazemi's boyfriend had named him as his partner before his own execution.

Ms Smith said: "Following representations made on behalf of Mehdi Kazemi, and in the light of new circumstances since the original decision was made, I have decided that Mr Kazemi's case should be reconsidered on his return to the UK from the Netherlands."

Urgent meeting

Following the announcement of a review, the Liberal Democrat MP for Southwark and Bermondsey, Simon Hughes, pledged to support Mr Kazemi if he was returned to the UK.

"I hope Mr Kazemi will now come back to Britain where arrangements are already in place for an urgent meeting with him, his family, specialist lawyers and myself to prepare a new application to the Home Office," he said.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall, said the group was "delighted" that the home secretary had "listened to the representations that were made in this case".

"There are overwhelming reasons why people should not be deported to Iran in the current circumstances and it is important that Britain is seen as a safe haven," said Mr Summerskill.

Campaign cause

The teenager's case has become a campaign cause for gay rights activists across Europe.

More than 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed in Iran since the Ayatollahs seized power there in 1979, according to human rights campaigners from the country.

Mr Kazemi came to London in 2005 to study English but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.

Mr Kazemi fled to the Netherlands after the Home Office rejected his case late last year.

Hillary's "3 AM" ad girl....Obama supporter?!

yeah, not only supporter, but a precinct captain for Obama. so, obviously, the footage of her used in the ad is way old, but it;s still pretty great to hear her call Hillary a "fearmonger"

Obama's Open Letter to the LGBT Community

Well, better now than never, Senator. Personally, I find his position of wanting to leave it up to the states to decide how many or what specific civil rights LGBT folks have downright awful and reeking of pandering. Not to mention how reminiscent of the calls for states' rights in the South during the Civil Rights Movement. If equality is a "moral imperative," why would you let Gerogia or Vermont or Utah decide how equal LGBT people are to everyone else? Anyways, at least he's at long last finally "talking" about the issues:

I’m running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all – a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.

Equality is a moral imperative. That’s why throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees. And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal only part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system.

The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not have to choose between values and science. While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense. We should have age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception. We should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And we should lift the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. In addition, local governments can protect public health by distributing contraceptives.

We also need a president who’s willing to confront the stigma – too often tied to homophobia – that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to evangelicals at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and will continue to speak out as president. That is where I stand on the major issues of the day. But having the right positions on the issues is only half the battle. The other half is to win broad support for those positions. And winning broad support will require stepping outside our comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones – and that’s what I’ve done throughout my career. I brought this message of inclusiveness to all of America in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention. I talked about the need to fight homophobia when I announced my candidacy for President, and I have been talking about LGBT equality to a number of groups during this campaign – from local LGBT activists to rural farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached.

Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary.

Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike.

Happy President's Day!

(lower the volume if surrounded by impressionable youths...or not)

There Will Be Milkshakes

ok, enjoy this until this "I drink your milkshake" becomes the next endlessly referenced quote a la anything mike myers did as that 007 satire guy who shagged everything...cause you know it will...but in the meantime, it's hilarious:

It's Not an American Election Without Voting Irregularities!

hmmm, zero votes for Obama on Supecalifragilistic Tuesday in Harlem and 80 of NYC's election districts? Yeah, I'm sure it's just a "clerical error." Via NY Times:

Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district.

City election officials this week said that their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city...On Feb. 5, Mrs. Clinton carried 61 of the state’s 62 counties but won Brooklyn by a margin of less than 2 percent. Because delegates are awarded proportionately on the basis of the primary vote in each Congressional district, Obama supporters expressed hope that if the official count continued in their favor, they might gain an additional delegate or two.

Washington Post Hails John McCain As Hobbit King Of The Potomac

Last night, America elected its first co-presidents of Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia: a charismatic young senator, and some sort of midget goblin.
via wonkette

god supports obama over clinton

...or maybe god is simply pissed at hillary supporters. mind you, i did not create this map, it's all the fault of the new york times, those morally bankrupts heathens of far-leftism. actually, gawker took two nyt maps and superimposed them, but lets be trendy and blame the times anyway!

*note: obama won alabama, but hillary won each county in that state with a recorded death from tuesday's storms.

super tuesday thoughts

so, i will be off later today to vote in the primary, and for once it will mean something. my good friend (and sorkin pal) meredith sent me a wonderful piece she wrote, and i feel the need to share it with y'all:

Hello my fellow friends and family - thought you might be interested in what I came up with at 11:30pm last night when I couldn't sleep:

My version of the (almost) perfect world. It's simplistic and idealistic, I know, but whatever. It's my (almost) perfect world. It is what I say it is. FYI - I limited myself to the "real" world, so while I would like to see a female president in my lifetime, I don't think there's anyone in U.S. politics right now that really fits the bill (and that includes Billary) and therefore I had a choose a different "perfect" president.

Enjoy!


In my (almost) perfect world, Al Gore would be president. Because we need a president who already has an Oscar, an Emmy and a Nobel Peace Prize. We need someone who actually cares about more than his (or her) political agendas.

John Edwards and Barack Obama would be Co-Vice Presidents. Because in my (almost) perfect world, I say two people can get twice as much done. Then maybe the VEEP wouldn't be such a do-nothing position.

Bill Richardson would be Secretary of Energy and Joe Biden would be Secretary of State. Mike Gravel would have some kind of Cabinet job because I like crazy Alaskans.

The Clintons would drop out of public life and retire to fight with each other for all eternity.

The Axis of Evil - Bush, Cheney and Rove - would be in jail in The Hague, on trial in the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The county would discover that, in a wonderful little twist of irony, Larry Craig and Rick Santorum have been having a secret affair for years.

All overtly radical right-wing media would be shut down - Rupert Murdoch would be bankrupt, Bill-O and Rush Limbaugh would be forced off the air and have permanent pieces of duck tape slapped across their mouths.

Education would be free and universal all the way through high school. Schools would be palaces, with the best equipment and technology. Competition for teachers would be fierce. Teachers would have passion and high salaries. There would be a national curriculum that still gives each state, school district and school its own flexibility and creativity. Classes would emphasize world history and culture, languages, math, literature, science, art and music. Creationism would be laughed at and everyone would recognize Darwin and evolution.
Every single citizen would have free and quality health care. No one would ever be turned down for coverage based on their ability to pay. Prescriptions for seniors and low-income citizens would be covered by health care and no one would ever have to choose between paying rent or buying medicine. Preventative care would help stop most emergency cases before they became emergencies. Stem-cell research would thrive and flourish and medical professionals would have all the funding they needed to eradicate diseases.

There would be no threats to a woman's right to choose. Abortions would be safe and legal (as they mostly are now) and free from radical attacks. Schools would be required to teach more than abstinence only in sex ed classes. And with the proper education about safe and effective birth control, abortions and teen/unwanted pregnancies would be less frequent because people would actually use the birth control.

Marriage would be possible for any two people who wanted to get married, regardless of their gender. Gay and lesbian couples would be afforded the same rights and privileges as any hetrosexual couple. "Family values" would actually value the family, in any form the family happened to take.

The U.S. would ratify the Kyoto Protocol and take serious and significant steps to reverse global warming and protect the environment. American cars would have better gas mileage, people would strive to reduce their own carbon footprints and the naysayers would be silenced. ANWR would be protected from drilling and the U.S. would develop alternative energy sources and ween itself off Middle Eastern oil.

There would be no such thing as the NRA and the U.S. would have strict gun control laws. It would be nearly impossible for anyone (besides law enforcement officials and the military) to own or buy a gun. Wal-Mart and Kmart wouldn't be allowed to sell bullets.

The War in Iraq would end. The U.S. and its allies would defeat the Taliban and Al Queda in Afghanistan and establish stable local governments (i.e. governments made up of the people of that country, not U.S. military forces) in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. would devise of policy to diplomacy over war and would never again invade a sovereign nation that had not attacked us first. It would use the military to help with humanitarian missions, esp. in Darfur (and possibly in Kenya and Chad).

There would be a multi-nation, multi-religion world peace summit to address issues and problems, especially in the Middle East. While world peace may not be achieved in my (almost) perfect world, the U.S. would at least try to get fighting countries to listen to each other. A real effort would be made to establish a Palestinian state. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wouldn't be allowed to speak publicly unless he had something constructive and helpful to say. Radicals and/or fundamentalists of ANY religion who would seek to harm people whose faith disagreed with theirs would not be tolerated.

No one, in any part of the world, would be discriminated against based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or political views.

And Britney Spears would finally get her act together and behave like an adult and mother, but no one would be paying attention because they're all too busy with more important things.

in memory of st. rudy of 9-11...

wonkette has complied the top 6 rudy "i'm running for president of 9/11" giuliani sept. 11 references in honor of his now-imploded campaign. i know, how can you pick just six out of...well, at least 911 of them...oh rudy...

6: After Rudy placed sixth in the Iowa caucus, all the newspaper and teevee reporters wanted to know if this in any way “worried him,” it being sixth place and all. But he told the New York Daily News that it didn’t, although another time in his life something else happened and, indeed, he was worried: “None of this worries me - Sept. 11, there were times I was worried.”

5: After Hillary sobbed like a little whore in New Hampshire, the folks at MSNBC wanted to know if the Mayor of Everything ever sobbed. And he did, at the various 9/11 funerals! Was this because of the death surrounding him? Or was it then when he realized he could turn this into a lucrative “security” firm as well as a failed presidential bid?

4: When Rudy’s firewall in Florida collapsed — other humans forgot he existed after a while — he knew just the trick to win over those similarly one-track-minded Floridians: mention that 9/11 and hurricanes are both bad things, and that he should be the president by default.

3: Muslims are torturing, killing, Americans are dying, a religion bastardized, fires, mayhem, planes, illegal guns, Iran, nuclear weapons, fear, fear, jihad, Al Qaeda, no freedom, rape, Muslim rape. Image of World Trade Center rubble. Rudy’s best ad.

2. Rudy was on fire one night before the John Birch society, which drinks as much if not more blood than Rudy on a Saturday night. He let it all out:

“This war ends when they stop coming here to kill us!” Giuliani said in his speech. “Never, ever again will this country ever be on defense waiting for [terrorists] to attack us if I have anything to say about it. And make no mistake, the Democrats want to put us back on defense!” Giuliani said terrorists “hate us and not because of anything bad we have done; it has nothing to do with Israel and Palestine. They hate us for the freedoms we have and the freedoms we want to share with the world.”

1. In September — the same month that 9/11 happened several years ago — an “independent, non-denominational grass-roots campaign to raise $10,000” organized a special “theme” for its fundraiser: it requested $9.11 donations for a delightful fear party. The Giuliani team distanced itself from the private event after, you know, the media heard about it, and they even returned the $9.11 donations after many weeks. This may not have been Rudy himself, but nothing more accurately described the Giuliani Campaign’s basis for existence, ever.

she's like the black patti labelle!

the view's resident conservative town fool (and i don't mean that hassleback chick), sherri "i'm not sure if the world is flat cause i'm too busy feeding my kid" shepherd has once again made joy behar look like a nobel laureate:

mitt let the dogs out and looked like an idiot

nothing good ever comes from referencing the baha men on mlk jr. day. nothing.

later....

At a King parade in Florida Mitt Romney offered advice to African Americans. “Teach kids they should get married before they have babies and encourage the formation of families. It’s an enormous advantage to kids.”