The Malcontent

Comfort and Joy

Some people get off on the arrival of le Beaujolais Nouveau.  (OK, the snooty drunks do.)

Me, I always love to see the new issue of DNA magazine in my mailbox.

It's getting cold up north, but things are just starting to heat up Down Under.  Come to think of it, it's always summer at DNA – whose models are so gorgeous it might just as well stand for "Don't Need Airbrushing."

Coverboy Rusty Joiner (who himself comes from "down under" the Mason-Dixon line in Georgia) is in fine fettle this month, showing off even more than than this barely clad photo on the inside pages.

More of Rusty (much more) after the jump ...

"Transitory" vs. "Deep-Seated"

In light of the new Vatican policy, PAYOR has a handy guide for all would-be priests.  (I was going to make a joke about things that are "deep-seated," but will instead refrain.)

Profiles in Cowardice?

The year is 2010.  The White House chief of staff rushes into the Oval Office and informs the president that a Middle Eastern country is going to supply a nuclear bomb to a terrorist cell bent on detonating it in the middle of a major American city.

"We must take preemptive action," the chief of staff says.

"But we can't!" President Mark Warner replies.  "If we attack, it will be the 20th war with American involvement since our country was founded, and I don't want such a milestone on my watch."

Of course, it is a future that is likely never to play out if Warner, the soon-to-be former governor of Virginia, keeps it up.  He granted clemency to convicted murderer Robin Lovitt who, by sheer coincidence, would have been the 1000th person put to death since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States.

It was also, coincidentally, the first death sentence to be commuted by Warner in four years in office.

I will take Warner at his word that this was a matter regarding evidence and not about the taint such a memorable action would leave in the minds of primary voters in 2008, a process that is driven largely by the wilder of the wild-eyed lefties.  But the fact remains that he has let a convicted, brutal killer live.  (Indeed, the courts have rejected the arguments of Lovitt's attorneys.)

If Warner's motivation was political, however, his choice could have repercussions in a country where 70 to 75 percent of the populous consistently favors the death penalty, making any future primary victory for him a Pyrrhic one.

So Long, Corky

It was a fleeting happiness, reading a random article about the decrease in children born with Down's syndrome. In a three second span of naivete, I thought to myself, "Interesting. How have they done it? Gene therapy in the womb? A new class of drugs?"

No, we're simply aborting them.

So it goes with a recent article in the Washington Post, a chilling display of Brave New World language with full-on Gattacan sensibility. Read the sub-headline. Women are not aborting children with disabilities, they simply "make decisions."

As a gay man, I exist in a class of people who arguably possess the least stake in the abortion debate. As a result, I tend to steer clear of the issue, considering myself mildly pro-choice, but drawing the line at infanticide. Leave the scissors for arts and crafts, people.

However, as science, genetics, and early fetal detection methods are developed and perfected, we find ourselves on the outer rim of a future world where homosexual activists will find themselves waking up one day and asking, "My god, what did we just do?"

Quentin Bites Some Pillow

While Christian was busy playing "put the candle in the pumpkin" with a fat girl wearing a paper bag, last night we finally got to see Dr. Quentin Costa's O-face.

Hunkalicious Brazilian Bruno Campos's character on "Nip/Tuck" belatedly lived up to his advance billing as a bisexual in an episode in which he gets his keg tapped by a closeted military hero – played by Bryce Johnson, a cutie himself.  (Uh huh, corporal, we get it: You're not a faggot!)

The pipe-cleaning is witnessed by Dr. McNamara, who in recounting the four-legged frolic to his ex-wife (and Quentin's thus far platonic girlfriend) lets rip with one of the best lines on TV during all of November.

Has basic cable in the U.S. ever before shown such graphic man-on-man mattress mambo?  "Queer As Folk" and "Dante's Cove" come to mind, but you have to pay for those.

Digression with potential SPOILER: I would note that message boards are starting to pick up on a theory that I first propounded more than two months ago: that Quentin and the Carver (who made a chilling cameo last night, the context of which I also predicted [privately] last week) are one and the same.

If true, I will feel vindicated, but also more than a little depressed that such one of the smartest and edgiest TV show ever would resort to the old Hollywood trope conflating homosexuals/bisexuals with depraved killers or criminals.  [/digression]

Warning: The following clip does not contain graphic nudity but is still not 100 percent SFW nonetheless.

[Watch video – 4:19, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 4:19, WMV format, low bandwidth]

Leno's Couch Not the Only One Perrin Should Visit

Everyone's favorite God Warrior, Margaret "Marguerite" Perrin, is squeezing everything she possibly can out of her 15 minutes of rapture.

Last night, she dropped by Jay Leno's "big estrogen special" (which also included Roseanne Barr-Pentland-Arnold-Nolastname-Thomas-Barr-Fortensky) to talk about astrology, "the melt-down" and her fortuitous fame.

Mainly I tuned in to see whether she would eat Leno, but I would be disappointed on that count.  While the atheist-reviling Perrin was as pleasant as punch, she did admit that "being nice don't get ya anywhere."

Surely not onto The Tonight Show – just ask Helen Kushnik.

[Watch video – 7:25, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 7:25, WMV format, low bandwidth]

The Leno-safe Perrin was hardly worth staying up until 11:35 for, but at least we'll always have those six minutes on Fox ...

PC's Progress

Do you think if these people ever figured out what the Aztecs were up to, they'd begin picketing Taco Bell?

The Max Bohm painting of the Pilgrims voting for the Mayflower Compact, which has hung above the board of selectmen for as long as anyone can remember, will come down soon. [...]

Peake said the idea came to her after touring the new Provincetown Art Association and Museum wing, which was opened to the public over the weekend. She was so impressed to see that many of the paintings on display were on loan from the town's collection, she said.

Peake argued that the painting should be taken down because it does not show a single woman, and "the only one not holding a ballot in the painting is the Native American."

Lady, it also doesn't include a depiction of John Smith blowing Squanto right there on the table, but you don't see me complaining.

So, there you have it. In Provincetown, where the Mayflower Compact was signed, the hysterically PC are removing a portrayal of it because it offends their delicate sensibilities. History, eh? It's so mean to people.

Brokeback-o-Meter

The excitement continues to build in advance of the Brokeback Mountain premiere (limited release Dec. 9, everywhere Dec. 16.)

In anticipation, I have added a temporary feature to the right sidebar: the "Tomato Meter" reading for Brokeback, as calculated by RottenTomatoes.com.  (The score is basically just a numerical average of all critics' reviews for a movie, on a scale of 1-100.)

While the critics and wild horses quite literally won't keep me from seeing Brokeback, I am curious to track the buzz in advance of Oscar season.

Also: See Andy's indispensable guide to all things Brokeback.

Reaping What You Sow

Apparently even naked appeasement of terrorism still isn't enough for the terrorists, as these now-captive peace activists can probably attest:

Folks, as much as we may want peace, the bad guys simply do not.  Surrender is not an option.

[HT: Drudge]

Bad Pictures of Famous People, III

The Malcontent hit the red carpet again last night in Midtown (click all to enlarge):

Lucy Liu, with Ralph Lauren in background	Quincy Jones

Matt Lauer	Bryant Gumbel
Chris Rock	Ralph Lauren

"Groping and Grabbing and Fondling"

A former meth addict talked about his life of drug-fueled bathhouse sex binges on yesterday's Oprah.

Oh, yes, he's also something of a poster child for many of the other wonderful accoutrements of his fast-paced lifestyle: unsafe sex, HIV, addiction, homelessness, hunger, prostitution, and suicide attempts.

Yeah, makes me wanna rush right out and try the stuff.

Video clips deleted at demand of Jeffrey Friedman, attorney for Oprah Winfrey

Sex Is, Like, Icky

I'm not affiliated with these people.

The Log Cabin Republicans of Greater St. Louis have asked for an investigation of a drag show at the University of Missouri at St. Louis last month.

Stadtlander said performers in the show mocked heterosexual people in the audience, wore revealing outfits, used inappropriate language and simulated sex acts.

Mocking heterosexuals, skimpy outfits, crude language, and sexual innuendo? At a drag show?! Outrageous!

You gotta love how irrelevant the LCRs are making themselves. Because if you're seeking to recruit gay men for your organization, oh yeah, you want to be known for complete and total prudery.

With a Glass Crack Pipe and a Button Nose?

Be grateful these people have probably never heard of snow-balling.

The snowman shirt has been made famous by the rapper, Young Jeezy. The snow refers to cocaine and the snowman the cocaine dealer. The shirt doesn't look like frosty, but like an angry snowman.

After the guidance of Johnstown Police and two students wearing shirts like these, Johnstown High School and Middle School banned all snowman clothing for both children and teachers. Teachers are also being asked to refrain from snowman decorations. School administrators say the clothing, no matter how innocent, now has the aura of drugs.

Rabid atheists and the interminably politically correct are going about the extermination of Christmas entirely the wrong way. Lawsuits? So unimaginative. What they really need to do is grab some reindeer for a porn flick, refer to marijuana plants as Christmas trees, and make Santa slang for child molester.

See? Problem solved.

A Club Worth Joining

We here at Malcontent are nothing if not slavish devotees of our advertisers. After receiving a blog ad for Brent Hartinger's gay teen novel, The Order of the Poison Oak, I approached Mal with the idea of a book review. We contacted the author, and he very graciously offered to send not only TOotPO, but also the preceding novel in the series, Geography Club.

Literally a day later, controversy hit over Hartinger's previous novel. Parents of a Tacoma, Washington school district claimed to be distressed over an internet meeting depicted in GC and sought to ban the book. As Hartinger's interview today with Queerty makes clear, the complaints primarily targeted the homosexual content, and rattled school officials used the internet meet-up as a transparent excuse to justify the banning.

Well, now I had to read both novels and review them to see what all the parental apoplexy was about. Not a natural reader of the gay genre, much less teen literature or your average coming out saga, I was originally worried about writing these reviews. There are only so many ways the material can be presented before a certain repetitiveness sets in.

With that in mind, I cannot believe how immensely I enjoyed these books. I intended to read them on and off over the long weekend, but found myself devouring Geography Club in a single sitting. After a fifteen minute coffee break, I cracked open the Order of the Poison Oak and continued reading until I polished off that entire novel as well.

Full reviews after the jump.

Rent+15

My straightforward mini-review of "Rent" can't touch Faggoty-Ass Faggot's "where are they now?" for the show's main characters.

Let me just plant a flag and say I'd like the role of Mark in "Rent 2: Condo Fee."

Schadenfreude, Thy Name Is Sheehan

Being no mathematician and not understanding what you get when you divide by zero, I'm not even sure you can express in real terms how greatly the press outnumbered the fans at Cindy Sheehan's book signing.

But I do know, as far as royalties go, that zero percent of zero isn't too good.

[HT: Gay Patriot, Queer Conservative]

Ripped, Indeed

Is it just me, or does Genre's featured workout boy this month have definition between his abs that puts the Grand Canyon to shame (click to enlarge)?

Blog-Rolling

Wow, I actually just got a little misty at Robbie's Thanksgiving post.  Thanks, man.  (I will be sure to pull that one out to respond to the next "fan" telling me what a louse I am!)

I didn't plant as many holiday "time bombs" as Robbie implied.  In fact, the only one I was able to complete ("Targeting Target") already detonated at around 1 a.m. on Thursday.  This blogging thing is a harsh mistress, I tells ya'.

I started writing this on Thanksgiving Day as we were headed east on Long Island (quite literally, blog "rolling") on the Hampton Jitney.  I wasn't able to finish before we pulled into Southampton, so I am finishing now as we head back west.  This is their "Ambassador" line, which means you get the same crummy Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and WiFi, but a little more legroom.  (UPDATE: We just got a complementary glass of wine.  Huzzah!)

There were only a couple of celebrity sightings to report this weekend.  First we saw the fashion designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka at the restuaurant James on Main in Southampton.  Honestly, I wouldn't have known them from Bartles and Jaymes if my husband weren't such a clotheshorse.  I'd share the picture I tried to take of them if it weren't such a joke.  But at least I think I discovered a better camera setting for clandestine, no-flash photos.

The fact is, I am becoming something of an expert at taking bad pictures of famous people.  See, when I encounter celebrities, I want to take their picture, but I don't want them to know that I am taking their picture.  So when I stand behind Alec Baldwin and his Asian girlfriend in line at the Starbucks in East Hampton like I did today, the result is something like the picture I took of them at the "fixins" station:

The Few, The Proud, The Naked

This man's army, indeed.

THE News of the World exposes the bullying culture of Britain's elite armed forces with a secret video documenting a sickening catalogue of abuse.

Secret video . . . of royal marines . . . wrestling naked . . .

I realize this is a serious story, but as a gay man, it is simply distracting when they throw in details such as:

He ordered them to take their clothes off and run round the field giving each other naked piggy backs.

Is this article a warning or a recruitment video for people like me?

h/t Oh la la Paris

Butching Up By Force

There's so much wrong with this story, I wouldn't even know where to begin.

More than two dozen people described by the government as gay have been arrested at what police called "a mass homosexual wedding" and could face Sharia court imposed male hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities in the United Arab Emirates told the Associated Press on Saturday.

I'm not one to bandy about this term lightly, but it is increasingly unsettling how similar Islamic Sharia law is to actual Nazism.

The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the wedding ceremony. It was the latest in a string of recent group arrests of suspected gay men.

Fellas, we can't even get America to embrace gay marriage without getting a lot of derision and insanity from the religious right. You're having a massive gay wedding party in the middle of sharia country?

A Horse of a Pinkish Color

From a new gay conservative blogger, Average Gay Joe, comes this story about the perils of equine gaydar, and how even doting policemen don't want to hear the difficult truths about the creatures they love:

An ex-Balliol student fined by police for calling a horse 'gay' has been summoned to Oxford magistrates court after refusing to pay his fine. Sam Brown, who graduated last summer, was arrested in May this year after a drunken conversation with a pair of mounted policemen on Cornmarket Street. [...]

Brown had just left the Cellar Bar when he allegedly called out to the policemen “Mate, you know your horse is gay, I hope you don’t have a problem with that.” Warned by one officer not to repeat his comment, Brown reassured him that he was not insulting both horses, and said: “No, don’t worry. Your horse is fine, it’s his horse, his horse is gay.” He then proceeded to follow the policemen down the street, repeating his comments.

Sam was adamant his equine gaydar was accurate,” eyewitness Daniel Cooper told The Oxford Student at the time. However, the officers considered the comments to be a breach of the Public Order Act, and took him into custody, calling on two squad cars and six policemen to make the arrest. Among those present was ex-Balliol LGB Officer, Matthew Williams. “Aside from the hilariousness of the event there’s a serious question here,” he commented at the time.

“Isn’t it offensive to assume categorically the word ‘gay’ is insulting? I kept drunkenly shouting at the police that I was offended that they assumed ‘gay’ was being used as an insult.”

The metropolitan department had no comment when rumors spread that the horse in question moonlights as Swiftwind in its off duty hours.

Self-Mockery Abounds

Chad at Cake or Death has a hilarious post about the recent decision made by San Francisco to outfit their toll collectors in body armor a mere two weeks after voters passed a gun ban.

Because nothing expresses confidence in a gun ban more than immediately outfitting public employees with body armor.

Gay Bits

If you have £100k, one in ten men would like to have a threesome with you.

Elton John is preparing to bring us the gayest gay wedding of all time. British florists are said to be trembling in mortal terror.

As we anxiously await the upcoming release of Brokeback Mountain, the Independent profiles America's gay rodeo culture.

So-called family groups are attempting to bring a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to my home state of Illinois. Should it make it to the ballot, expect yours truly to do personal battle with people like this man.

When it comes to documenting gay experiences in American fraternities, this author wrote the book.

Charlize Theron shows solidarity with gays and lesbians. I still don't forgive her for stealing Stuart Townsend from me.

Reading, Writing, and Propaganda

While reading one of those longish annual lists full of useless holiday trivia yesterday, I learned 4% of Americans believe Thanksgiving commemorates the defeat of the Canadians. So, naturally, I'm over-joyed to learn our schools have so much free time, they can fill children's heads with this vital knowledge:

An essay contest at a New Mexico high school asks students to explain why preserving marriage between men and women is vital society and why unborn children merit respect and protection.

The contest, at Farmington's Piedra Vista High School, is being held in connection with an essay contest sponsored by United Families International, an organization whose primary mission is "to strengthen the family by promoting marriage between one man and woman and the protection of human life, including unborn children."

Not to be outdone in the race to indoctrinate our children, the Left has its own heroes:

The school superintendent whose district includes Mount Anthony Union High School has labeled "inappropriate" and "irresponsible" an English teacher's use of liberal statements in a vocabulary quiz.

"I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring (sic) him Republican votes," said one question on a quiz written by English and social studies teacher Bret Chenkin.

I cannot wait to see how the next generation turns out.

Hot Slug on Slug Action

With Mal away for the weekend, I find myself unarmed with our patented Malco-vision. Still, I like to think I can provide interesting, thought-provoking video all on my own. Hey, everyone loves a skin flick, right?

This video from the BBC of slugs mating is spectacular—it's got mucus ropes, everting male organs, entwining penises, and penises forming a translucent flower-like globe.

View the fascinating video here. Glowing blue penises. Hot hot hot.

h/t Obsidian Wing

Paging Tipper Gore

For all their condescension and pretentious snobbery, it's something of a relief to realize European politicians are more or less just as dim as their American counterparts.

A French MP has publicly accused rappers of fuelling the country's recent riots with their songs.

It comes a day after 200 politicians backed his petition calling for legal action against seven rap musicians and bands it alleges have incited racism.

MP Francois Grosdidier told France-Info radio it was no surprise youths "saw red" after listening to violent lyrics.

Those blasted rappers. France's socialist economic system, deeply embedded racism, failure to address immigrant assimilation, and weakness in the face of multiculturalism would've worked out perfectly if it weren't for those vile hip hop artists out to destroy society!

RTU: Who's Robbie and what are we updating?

Moral Authority vs Moral Authority

One of the endless things I'm thankful for is lacking all sense of political correctness or victimization. Be thankful you're not wasting your holiday posting minor novels on this nonsense.

This is too rich. Apparently, Cindy Sheehan wrote a diary (since deleted) using or comparing her situation to the “Trail of Tears,” and a diarist named StarkRavingLunaticRadical posted a long diary taking her to task- “How Dare You, Cindy Sheehan?”

It's a Victim vs Victim Holiday Deathmatch! Can a Native American generally pissed off about Thanksgiving overcome the absolute moral authority of a grieving mother? Tune in! They'll wrassle, we'll eat turkey. It's win-win.

Cindy did eventually apologize with the kind of thought and sentiment that goes into most of Jessica Simpson's brilliant off the cuff commentary.

Robbie Thanksgiving Update (from here on out to be known as RTU): Two glasses of white wine. I'm one glass behind my nearest competitor.

Thanksgiving Blogging

It may be light this weekend, but probably not. While Mal is doing something customarily fabulous like going to the Hamptons with his adorable hubby, I do know he has hatched some insidious scheme involving pre-set blog posts that go off like time bombs. He does it to challenge me. The man is harsh gay blogging task master, and just be thankful you don't get strange e-mails at four in the morning with "Robbie, your unhinged right-wing screed to hot guy post ratio is down, down, down!"

But seriously, one of the many things I am thankful for this year is the opportunity to blog here. I've enjoyed getting to know our readers, correspond in IM and e-mail, and hear from so many people with such varied opinions, interests, and personalities. I also have the opportunity to work with Mal who is truly a genuinely nice, thoroughly decent guy, which isn't always the easiest thing to find while mucking about the gay world.

Hopefully this holiday finds all of you well, fed, and happy. Being the Irish-American type I am, we've set aside many a bottle of wine, the Bailey's Irish Cream, the liquor, and the crazy relatives. Armed with the laptop, I'll no doubt be blogging throughout the day while wedged on the couch between over-perfumed, lipsticky cousin and her evil twin, "I'm on several mood enhancers/inhibitors, so of course I'd love some vodka!" The key today will be seeing whether or not I can blog without degenerating completely under rum assault.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Targeting Target

First the leftist wackadoos said I needed to boycott Target stores.  Something about "AmericaBlog" wanting to force individual pharmacists to dispense drugs that ran counter to their religious beliefs.

Now the right-wingnuts told me I needed to boycott Target stores.  I guess their ads use phrases other than "Merry Christmas."  (Memo to the religious cuckoos: Like it or not, that is how enlightened people who don't want to offend the world's 4.3 billion non-Christians interact these days.)

Finally something to unite the two political fringes!  But what is a good centrist to do?

Well, I might be a Hugo Boss boy now, but this holiday season and always, this Minnesota native's heart will belong to my home-state retailer.

There's Potential Here

Justin Timberlake has plans to release his own cologne and line of underwear:

The ROCK YOUR BODY singer recently teamed up with his best pal TRACE AYALA to unveil their clothing line William Rast, which currently only offers T-shirts and jeans to fans.

The real question (and hope) is whether or not he will follow in the steps of Michael Bergin and model them himself.

As far as the cologne, eh, I can't imagine buying a celebrity's fragrance. Still, perhaps Timberlake will succeed where David Beckham failed.

Kolbe to Retire

The only openly gay Republican in Congress, Jim Kolbe, is retiring:

You may remember him as the subject of an ever so charming protest by the Texas delegation during the 2000 Republican National Convention. The protestors bowed their heads in prayer while Rep. Kolbe (AZ) was speaking in a prime time slot.

A longer profile of the soon to be former congressman can be found here.

Update: GayPatriotWest reminisces about his personal experiences with Kolbe here.

Pope Catholic, Activists Outraged

The long-dreaded Document of Homosexual Doom has made its way into the media in all its satanic glory:

The Vatican is ordering seminaries to bar candidates for the priesthood who "practice homosexuality," have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or support "gay culture," according to a document published Tuesday by Adista, a Catholic news agency in Rome.

As the article notes, there is very little new in the Church's position. Their theology isn't exactly keen on homosexuality, and there are plenty of seminaries that more resemble gay frat houses than places of prayer and celibacy. Believe me, I have personal experience and have written on this issue in greater detail here.

Suffice to say, the Church's sex abuse scandal had an 80% rate of male priests with teenaged boys. That is not pedophilia, but ephebophilia - an almost entirely different creature. They had to do something about it. They have by going after seminary culture.

I don't care for the Church's attitudes on homosexuality. It is one of the many reasons why I didn't retain my Catholicism into adulthood. However, there is a major, major problem with same-sex abuse and celibacy in Catholic seminaries. The LGBT groups currently going apoplectic by thinking the Church is entirely off-base in what they're doing need to get a grip. All of this didn't appear out of thin air.

Blown for the Holidays?

Copy editors in Juneau, Alaska, are either deeply oblivious or laughing themselves silly right now at this heart-warming holiday headline about a local, unfortunately named food pantry (reg. req.):

(Thanks, Emerson!)

Behold the Next Generation of "Reporters"

Robert Jensen embodies everything that is evil and self-destructive about the tenure system on U.S. college campuses:

One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting. [...]

But in the United States, this reluctance to acknowledge our original sin -- the genocide of indigenous people -- is of special importance today. It's now routine -- even among conservative commentators -- to describe the United States as an empire, so long as everyone understands we are an inherently benevolent one. Because all our history contradicts that claim, history must be twisted and tortured to serve the purposes of the powerful. [Emphasis mine]

"All our history" contradicts the United States as a benevolent power.  Indeed.  This is so self-delusional and incendiary that such excrescence doesn't even merit a response.

But what's most dangerous about Robert Jensen is not that he is teaching some far-left subject steeped in identity politics and victimhood, such as "gender studies"; he is teaching journalism.  (On second thought, I am probably being redundant.)  [HT: Malkin]

Scalia Wins By TKO

"Saturday Night Live" alum Al Franken learned what it truly means to be "not ready for primetime" after getting totally housed by Antonin Scalia.  (Or the link active here for only seven days starting Nov. 24.)

At an interview of the Supreme Court Justice by outgoing Time Inc. editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine, "Franken stood up in the back row and started talking about 'judicial demeanor' and asking 'hypothetically' about whether a judge should recuse himself if he had gone duck-hunting or flown in a private jet with a party in a case before his court.":

Franken was clumsily referring to the fact that Scalia had gone hunting and flying with Dick Cheney before the 2000 election.

First, Scalia lectured Franken, "Demeanor is the wrong word. You mean ethics." Then he explained, "Ethics is governed by tradition. It has never been the case where you recuse because of friendship."

"Demeanor," of course, relates not to conflicts of interest, but to how a judge comports himself or herself on the bench: i.e., whether he uses disparaging terms when referring to female attorneys, for instance.

Clearly, "demeanor" is a concept that someone who pompously interjects himself into someone else's interview would know nothing about.

Gay Bits

"Scapegoating": Gay-rights groups decry new Vatican policy on gay priests.

Purple Pew: Vatican "bears false witness."

"Defend Marriage Canada": Past opponents unite, enter the gay-marriage fray.

Dogged by controversy: "Postcards From Buster" gets gay financial backing.

Pay no attention to the mullah behind the curtain: Gay Muslim group calls for silence on Iranian executions.

Haven't they heard of Lawrence v Texas?: Old Dominion upholds sodomy-solicitation convictions.

Bated breath: Washington State awaits gay-marriage ruling.

Feast of Fools: The Malcontent's favorite gay podcast celebrates 200^th episode.

A Quarter-Mill

The little odometer on our lower-left sidebar just rolled past 250,000 unique visits, and after not even four months in business.

Robbie and I can't tell you how much all the nice emails, comments, links and ads have meant.

As always, we appreciate suggestions on how to do things better, as well as tips that flummox the rest of the 'sphere.  (Sorry, been wanting to use the word "flummox" for a while now.)  Thanks for stopping by, y'all!

I Love Holiday Specials