The Malcontent

No Pink Triangles?

While the American Left nitters and natters about how our nation is on the road to fascism and President Bush is merely a reincarnation of Hitler, Iran and its maniacal leader are simply going ahead and doing it:

Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear a yellow, red or blue strip of cloth, respectively, on the front of their clothes

Though my initial impulse is to scream about the discrimination of it all (as there will be no special minority laws crafted without the gays, damnit! See: California schools), I realized, oh yeah, they just hang us over there.

So really, if our typically quiet gay rights groups could lobby for an Iranian pink triangle, it would actually be a step up for those beleaguered folks.

h/t Chad

Update: The National Post apologizes and retracts its original story. So, Iran only wants to exterminate the Jews and hang homosexuals as a matter of course. Nothing at all like Nazi Germany. Very much my grievous error for implying otherwise. Tch.

Can We Question Their Patriotism Now?

Witness how the howling mad moonbats are reveling (link is to anti-AMERICAblog's comments) in a wholly unscientific Web poll showing a significant majority — 64 percent at this writing — answering in the affirmative to the following:

Do you agree with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's severe criticism of U.S President George W. Bush?

This is Hugo Chavez, people.  Not Hugo Boss or Hugo Weaving or even the late Victor Hugo.

Hugo Chavez, who hates not just George Bush but this country.

Hugo Chavez, best buddy and protege of the most retrograde and despicable dictator in the Western Hemisphere.

Hugo Chavez, who might just make the current price of gas look like a Costco-style bargain.

Hugo Chavez, who apparently wants to sell our own warplanes to the most fanatical regimes on Earth, regimes that constantly threaten their neighbors with complete annihilation and lie about their production of nuclear weaponry.

So are you one of those 64 percent?  If so, then congratulations: You have crossed the line from run-of-the-mill, blinkered Bush-hatred to borderline treason.

Sometimes the enemy of your enemy should just be ... your enemy.

Leftward GLBT Soldiers

Oh where to begin with this recent op-ed in the Washington Blade. There is the subhead, "Only three years ago, states could turn gays into felons. Will we stand by while it happens to immigrants?" Sexual privacy vs. the border integrity of a sovereign nation. They're about equivalent. When you think about it. While heavily under the influence. It degenerates from there:

As I watched the marches in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and New York of immigrants from all walks of life stand up for their rights, I wondered: Where are the gay marchers?

Hopefully marching for gay causes. Not always a given, I realize, but I'm a silly optimist.

The author then goes on to explain how illegal immigrants are exactly like gay folk. There are a few good points about same-sex binational relationships and the attendant inequality in legal immigration policy, the abhorrent treatment of HIV-positive individuals in obtaining visas, and a flawed asylum system that is far harsher towards gay individuals under persecution in their home countries. These are good, solid gay issues.

However, the author's basic thrust is "Illegal immigrants are a persecuted minority, and gay people are a persecuted minority, so let's back whatever they want." There is that whole illegal bit, but the author seems unconcerned with border protection, the law, national sovereignty, the work force, social costs, and other pesky issues that interfere in the assignation of special victim status.

Of course there is the requisite left-wing fun thrown in:

Congress would still require that local police enforce complicated immigration laws and allow them to detain those whom they simply believe to be in violation. Gays know well the problems with police misconduct and brutality, particularly those of color and gay youth. [. . .] Those who despise and scapegoat immigrants have no love for gays, either. The gay rights movement needs allies. But we must be real allies to others as well and rise to the occasion. Until we are all free, none of us are free.

The police are always suspect, and if you have serious concerns about illegal immigration, you probably hate gay people, too. Impeccable logic, no? As for blinkered liberal allegiance, is NARAL not enough? We've been sucking them off for ages to absolutely staggering returns.

Furthermore, the author is aware most illegal immigrants are conservative Catholics, yes? Good luck with that.

Drive-By Blogging

Miserable old troll Mike Rogers, the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of the gay blogosphere, is up to his old tricks.  I'm not sure what to call it anymore, because it isn't really even an "outing" campaign: His latest victim was never "in."  (And no, Mike, it isn't "reporting."  Your partisan hackery is a brown santorum stain on real journalists everywhere.)

The case for the prosecution this time seems to be that his target works for a guy who doesn't want the international community to be associated with a group that has had past ties to pedophiles, and he's also supposedly a bit brusque – according to a hard-left New York publication, that is.  Rogers apparently hasn't worked with many PR folks before.

Mike Rogers eats up to three square meals a day.  Meanwhile, 842 million innocent people are starving around the globe.

There truly is no justice in this world.

Allow Me To Quote Nelson Muntz

Haw haw!:

Six employees at a seafood restaurant in Houston were fired this week after skipping work to take part in a pro-immigration march. In Detroit, 21 immigrants lost their jobs as meat cutters after attending a similar protest last month.

And they were all replaced by undocumented workers.

A Northern Shoe Drops

Another conservative is moving not just to block so-called "special rights" for gays, but to take away their existing rights.  (See also: Fletcher item from yesterday.)

Aligning himself with Fred Phelps on the issue of same-sex marriage, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now confirming Canadian gays' worst fears.

Ottawa and Washington might be 455 miles apart, but they haven't been this close together in a long time.

[h/t Anthony]

Slight Curve Ahead

Queer Beacon has funny road signs.

The 1.609-Kilometer-High Club

I'll admit that I look at YouTube a bit the way Ma and Pa at the corner store look at WalMart: We're small-timers at this video thing, but we like to think the quality and focus of our clips keep people coming back.

And, of course, we are not a faceless, soulless Web goliath.  We love our readers. 

That said, I thought this French PSA was as effective as it was hot.  And it could never air in this puritanical country (which goes without saying that it's NSFW):

[Thanks, Neil!]

DNA: The Marriage Issue (Plus Obligatory Sex)

Just in time for spring, the new issue of DNA magazine is all about love and marriage.  Apropos of nothing and dropped in the midst of the nuptial bliss is one of the hot guys of menaustralia.com.

Click to "uncensor" the image (NSFW).

More from DNA after the jump, including why porn star Lucas Ridgeston hung up the cum-rag ... and the gay Catholic blogger who opposes marriage equality.

Life After the Taliban

From time to time, I do wonder why American troops should continue putting their lives on the line for a government that would still kill people for making independent choices about their religious affiliation.

Sadly, as I watch the tarpit that is the countries we freed from retrograde, maniacal dictatorships, my response is increasingly becoming: Fuck 'em.

Michelangel-oh!

The famous Florentine Michelangelo, for whom the term "Renaissance Man" practically could have been invented, was infatuated with painting and sculpting the male form.  But as we now know, he loved to do other things to them too.

He liked to write poems about them.  (What did you think I meant?)

On Thursday, a new exhibit of Michelangelo's drawings taken from virtually his entire career opens at the British Museum in London.

So the timing was right for the UK's superb Gay Times magazine to run a spread of photos inspired by some of those 500-year-old images, courtesy of male model "Petr."

He seems a little "softer" than what we're used to in American magazines.  But to me, that only adds to the sexiness.  Or maybe I was just in shock from seeing Gay Times in Germany surrounded by several other mainstream publications with naked ladies on the cover.

What follows after the jump is NSFW, unless your boss likes it when you look at man-ass ...

Islamic Martin Luther Censored By Death Threats

Modern Britain may have civil unions, but they also have this:

The liberal Islamic theologian, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Yusuf, has been pressured to pull out of a lecture he was due to give tonight in London to raise funds for the gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, following protests and warnings by Muslim leaders.

Dr Yusuf was due to call for an "Islamic Reformation" to an audience primarily made up of gay men and women. The engagement has allegedly provoked the wrath of senior Islamic clerics, who warned they could not guarantee his safety if the lecture went ahead.

Dr Yusuf was due to argue that "the moment has come for the development of an authentically British and European Islam. We need an Islamic Reformation that reconciles Islam with democracy and human rights, including human rights for women and gay people. A progressive Islam can and should be part of a liberal, humanitarian reawakening of British society and culture." [emphasis added]

The face of "moderate" Islam in Europe grows uglier by the day. Religious leaders across the pond almost make the Pat Robertsons of America seem like kindly, befuddled uncles in comparison. Could anyone imagine Jerry Falwell appearing on television and telling Bishop Gene Robinson if he speaks in favor of a more liberal Christianity, he's likely to be murdered by evangelicals?

Americans would be calling for his head - and rightfully so.

Britain? Hello? Anyone there?

The Scent of Gay Cologne: [Sniffs Airs, Walks East]

Wow, based on what I knew about Cologne, I expected to find a lively gay life here.

But who knew that I would wind up a short slog from Rudolfplatz, one of Cologne's hippest, youngest and cutest areas for the ho's and the 'mos.

I'm going to have to give whoever booked me this place a big hug!

I think I will try some reconnaissance in between my meetings for more active indulging later in the week.

(Still waiting for reader suggestions!  Tap tap tap ...)

Slingbox

Does anyone have any experience with Slingbox?  Good, bad, indifferent?  I know the video quality isn't as high as being in the living room watching it, but are there other limitations, such as what kinds of set-top boxes it works with?

One can only watch so much CNN International before you start to talk like Fionnula Sweeney.

Open Thread at 30,000 Feet

OK, this is quite possibly the coolest fucking thing ever. I am currently about 30,000 feet above either Nova Scotia or the Atlantic, and I am blogging. The only thing that's different about Typepad here is that, for some reason, I don't have the user-friendly "GUI" interface, so I have to do links, graphics, etc. the old-fashioned way. I used to be such a pro at HTML ...

Can I just say I love Lufthansa? The picture at right – assuming it shows up properly with my coding – made me very happy. But why in the hell can't American airlines follow suit?

I haven't tried an open thread before, and certainly not at 5:45 p.m. (EST), but I have had a couple of glasses of wine, I figure what the hell.

So what's on y'all's minds?? (Argh, turbulence ...)

Bis Später

OK, y'all, I'm headed out the door for Cologne, Germany.  I anticipate being much more successful blogging from there than from the jungle.

I'll post my poison-pen letter to my apartment's management company soon enough.

In the meantime, it's still not too late to tell me about the hot-spots (gay or otherwise) in Cologne, aside from the Dom.  Toodles!

Questions For People Smarter Than I

Normally a discussion I'd field privately to Josh, but hey, we have smart readers so perhaps people are familiar with arguments I am not.

Very recently, I snatched up my European history texts to refresh my knowledge in that area. When one doesn't have to memorize or study, it's easy to lose grasp of historical events and concepts through disuse. Though the following originates with European History, the questions I have by the end will concern Iraq, but also a little EU pondering about their attempts at federalization and the potential problems of unassimilated Muslim immigration. And just a note: A lot of this is generalized because 10,000 word essays aren't fun for anyone. (Shhhh, Josh).

Allah Hu FUBAR!

Richard Rosendall chalks up another must-read with his article about the perils of gays throwing in their lot with Muslim, albeit outwardly gay-friendly, groups like Al-Fatiha:

[O]ne difference between the West and the Islamic world that comes to mind is that the West has substantially repented of its past wrongs. One can talk of economic colonialism continuing today (although the familiar Marxist alternative amounts to sharing the misery instead of the wealth); but one can hardly blame the West for Islamic countries' continued oppression of gays and women, intolerance of dissent, and lack of religious freedom. Proponents of moral equivalence, including Al-Fatiha, are so determined to see Muslims as victims that they make excuses for people who would push walls over on them.

When it comes to the American Left, as Robbie is wont to say, support for Islam always trumps support for gays and lesbians.  Gays in the U.S. who support groups like Al-Fatiha raise that maxim to perverse, new levels.

[h/t: Sullivan]

French Wave Yet Another White Flag

This time, they're surrendering in the fight to compete in the global economy:

A top economic expert has warned against growing economic nationalism in Europe, as reports say the French government will move to protect 20 companies, including Danone and Carrefour, from foreign takeovers. [...]

Some analysts have noted the tones of hypocrisy in the French government's protection plan. French companies, after all, bought into more foreign rivals last year than most other European countries' firms, statistics show.

Gentlemen, Start Your Bandwidth!

Barring technical or other unforeseen problems, this should be a big MalcoVision day.  Robbie has recorded practically the entire network television schedule, while I will probably make a contribution or two myself.

I hope y'all don't mind the brief ads before the videos.  They're something extra I wanted to do to thank the Premium sponsors.  I promise I will always keep them brief (~10 to 12 seconds), and will try not to have more than one before the start of a video.

As I had been warning for some time, we were on a razor's edge with the old ISP, which is still hosting videos we posted up until a few weeks ago.  Well, they finally got their head of of their ass and realized that I was exceeding monthly bandwidth allotments by several degrees of magnitude, and now they have been calling daily, harassing my husband.  So to keep those videos running (and many people still watch them), I'll probably have to shell out yet again.

So thanks for tolerating our advertisers, if not worshiping, adoring, clicking on and shelling out scads of cash to people like our Premium Sponsor (411metro.com) and our Bandwidth Supporters (Geography Club, Scott-o-Rama, Ghost Whisperer, and Jeff Cook for Congress.)

On a separate topic ...

If you read the right sidebar on a regular basis (and who doesn't?), you'll see that I will be traveling again, this time to Cologne, Germany.  I leave Tuesday evening and return the following Sunday.  I'm not sure if I will be going solo or if I can convince my man to come along, but either way I'm looking for suggestions what to do while I'm there – either gay-related or general touristy.

I do know that Lufthansa has WiFi on a lot of its routes (I would assume between JFK and Germany), so with any luck, I can do the Internet equivalent of those annoying calls people make from airplanes: "Guess where I'm blogging from?!"