Discrepancies surrounding Cheney case remain. Scientific ballistics test alleges Cheney was much closer to Whittington than he admitted. Also, the only publicly available report on the shooting is "wrong, by all accounts," according to Newsday: "It shows Whittington hit on the left side of his face, neck and chest when Cheney, the Kennedy County Sheriff's office and the report itself say the wounds were on the right side."
After figure skater Johnny Weir dropped from contention yesterday, a news reporter asked him about a Tribune poll which had been taken in response to Rudy Galindo's calls to hound Weir about his sexuality. Weir's response: "I think it's funny that people care. I don't have a problem [with] people saying anything. People could be saying, 'Let's poll about Bode Miller, let's poll Michelle Kwan being a lesbian [or not].' Something like that. And it's not a big deal. Who I sleep with doesn't affect what I'm doing on the ice or what I'm doing in a press conference." As far as the poll results went, approximately 93% of respondents said they didn't care about Weir's sexual orientation.
New York State court rejects argument that the state's marriage laws are unconstitutional. Case heads to Court of Appeals
Posted Feb. 17,2006 at 10:46 AM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
M S; I am getting scared again on the same side. But I think I saw a hint there that all is good because of the conservative agenda. Or maybe I am just looking for a subtext in your posting.
Posted by: Donald | Feb 17, 2006 3:50:32 PM
I think Johnny's response is consistent with LOTS of guys his age. The only thing he's doing that could be considered a political act is being a fully integrated human being. Of course he's gay. Would hearing him talk about it change how he skates? No. The difference between Johnny Weir and some other people in the public eye who haven't come out yet is that Johnny isn't working to portray a public image that is inconsistent with his authentic self. He's a big ol' princess, and comes across that way 100% of the time... unlike other men who are "butch in the streets, bitch in the sheets".
Johnny doesn't need to justify himself to anyone. His actions and demeanor speak volumes to anyone who will stop to listen.
Posted by: Brian | Feb 17, 2006 3:57:38 PM
Donald,
No I do not think the world would have changed if he came out as big pig top either! :-)
peace
Posted by: James | Feb 17, 2006 4:42:53 PM
Donald,
No subtext in the message. Not today. I am in 'a can't we all just get along' mood.
Posted by: Matthew Schooler | Feb 17, 2006 5:09:05 PM
Andy, what's your point? So Cheney might have been 10 feet closer and the sheriff was an idiot who doesn't know his left from his right. What are you and the wingnuts getting at?
I've been involved in a hunting accident. I don't recall if we were 20 or thirty feet apart, but I could give you a rough estimate. Ballistic tests might prove me wrong, but that doesn't indicate a conspiracy.
Jeez..it just must be positively painful sometimes to obsess about things like this, but thank God, once you guys establish the exact range and direction Mr. Whittington was struck at you'll be able to figure out why you guys keep losing elections and why we invaded Iraq.
Posted by: Mitch | Feb 17, 2006 5:37:21 PM
"The new kids don't care what people think. They grew up in an America that is far more accepting then most of you experienced in your youth." Yeah, forget about that 18 yr. old with the knife, hatchet, and gun who terrorized that gay bar in Bedford, Mass. He just got pissed off when he found out there weren't any flouncy figure skaters in the bar to give him points on his flying camel [the White Citizens Nationals were apparently coming up]. Unfortunately, they were all next door at the Ambiguously Gay Lounge, comparing fashion tips with owner Gloria Vanderbilt.
Posted by: Leland | Feb 17, 2006 5:43:46 PM
"..but thank God, once you guys establish the exact range and direction Mr. Whittington was struck at you'll be able to figure out why you guys keep losing elections and why we invaded Iraq."
ouch! that must have stung like a face full of bird shot.
Posted by: Tom | Feb 17, 2006 5:47:35 PM
Leland, did you forget to take your medication today? I think that guy could have walked into any number of places. Fortunately we don't have places like Jew bars or Black bars anymore. Maybe one day we won’t have the need to have gay bars. Oh wait then you won’t be able to get your dates drunk and then how will you get laid? I guess you will have to just go and fuck yourself.
I was in such a good mood.
Posted by: Matthew Schooler | Feb 17, 2006 6:21:33 PM
Oh, I've tried, but I realized the only way I could ever fuck myself is to become a gay Republican.
Posted by: Leland | Feb 17, 2006 6:55:03 PM
LMFAO at Leland's response. Priceless Leland, just priceless. Thanks for the laugh!
Posted by: Tom C | Feb 17, 2006 7:53:53 PM
Leland, you're already fucked.
As for Rudy and Johnny, I want to see them duke it out in a Jello wrestling contest.
Can you picture these two flamers in a tub of lime Jello? I'm beginning to sweat just thinking about it. All that writhing and jiggling.... and they should have those olympic rings on their speedos. That would make the bastards at the USOC cry.
Gay Games indeed.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Feb 17, 2006 8:24:43 PM
"Wingnuts" would be the diehard ideologue sheep that side with Bush and Dick every chance they get. They are not people who ask questions about why some people are above the law or think they are above the law, even if that someone is the vice president, who may have been experiencing an alcohol-medication interaction at the time of the shooting which wasn't dealt with for how many hours? Just saying.
Posted by: sean | Feb 17, 2006 9:43:53 PM
The bitch about this blog is, I'm hearing all of y'all. Larry, Blue, Midnight, James - contrary, yet right. But my gut goes with Larry.
Re trigger-happy Cheney: only this admin could take a stupid, embarrassing, pathetic screw-up and, in no time at all, festoon it with so many futile, blatantly self-defeating attempts at lessening the imbecility of it. I have despised the Bush House for its evil. But I continue to revile it far, far more for its terrifying idiocy.
Posted by: Jacko | Feb 18, 2006 6:23:17 AM
Hear you, feel you, Jacko, and yet the America people still give them a pass. Bush/Cheney cronies are about to spend another $6 million to keep the 10,000 plus, fully-furnished but unused "Hurricane Katrina Trailers"—that they spent over $400 million on—from sinking any further into the Arkansas mud. Nota bene: NOT Louisiana mud, whose displaced residents they were bought for MONTHS ago, but states and "states of stupidity" away. WHAT did they put into the drinking water that allows them to stay in power after so many screw ups, e.g., the entire, ignominious botch of their Katrina response, "Ooooh Wee! Look at all those poor 'darkies' down there floating away. Pilot, when do we get to San Diego?"; over-priced Medicare prescription drug plans while legally forbidding people from purchasing medicine they need cheaper anywhere else; the flu vaccine fiasco; a Pentagon bureaucracy that, in just one of their countless idiocies, recently refused to discharge a wounded American soldier in Iraq until HE paid to replace the body armor damaged when he was blown up. He had to borrow money from his fellow soldiers. But they're the lucky ones, unlike the 2000+ Americans who've been killed in the invasion which is nothing more than an attempt at a sleight of hand trick to keep people distracted from the fact that they are totally incapable of capturing or killing the real terrorists out to destroy us HERE—not those simply trying to drive us out of their own country. Ad infinitum. Ad nauseum. And, oh yeah, the fags are destroying marriage and the family.....
Posted by: Leland | Feb 18, 2006 2:13:34 PM
Leland,
"WHAT did they put into the drinking water that allows them to stay in power after so many screw ups?..."
George Bush refers to his base as the "haves" and the "have-mores". The answer is always money.
They all have a price.
Posted by: Gilli | Feb 18, 2006 2:43:43 PM
I don't see why Weir is even in the spotlight. More CHAD H!
As for Greg L. not getting the attendtion of his str8 olympic counterparts, I disagree. I may be too young, but I would have no idea who Greg was if it weren't for him having HIV and being gay! Do you remember any of the other divers out there?
Posted by: Britt | Feb 18, 2006 4:04:28 PM
BTW, if Cheney's friend had died from a heart attack, then Cheney would probably face some sort of charges and have to step down, leaving an opening for a new VP who will have a better chance of winning in 2008 than any of the other options they have right now.
BTW, why do people thing Condi will win if she runs as a republican? I honestly think that in the end, most republican angry white men (you know, the ones who put them in charge of the house in the 90s) will vote for her. In the end, she's a BLACK WOMAN, and i don't see a lot of republicans voting for her when it comes down to it!
Posted by: Britt | Feb 18, 2006 4:06:56 PM
Britt,
I'm no fan of Condi, but I can see white Republicans giving them their vote. Why do you think they are pushing for her to run?
peace
Posted by: James | Feb 18, 2006 5:06:31 PM
>>"WHAT did they put into the drinking water that allows them to stay in power after so many screw ups?..."
It seems that the mudslinging Liberals have polluted the water to the point that the Conservatives look clean by comparison. You don't hear the Republicans engaging in arguments with the Democrats, because they have learned it's counter-productive. They all toe the Party line, and avoid confrontation whenever they can.
The Democrat party lacks the cohesion to effectively put their point across. It doesn't help that their "platform" is too broad, and all encompassing. There's no way to get everyone to agree on anything, if they're constantly fighting about something.
The Republicans remain the majority party because they have the ability to focus their attention and resources on a narrowly defined goal. It's a lesson the Democrats have to learn if they want to regain power.
It's not the water, it's the Kool Aid.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Feb 18, 2006 9:18:03 PM
Jay,
While I totally agree that the Democratic Party is a mess strategically and has been for some time [I've not gotten an e-mail from the Kerry camp for some time—I guess, thankfully, that he finally gave up on running again.], I wasn't talking about the Republican Party itself, whom I think far more fit the "Kool Aid" analogy as they line up like Jim Jones drones [except for those who were ordered to drink at gun point] behind one person/one ideology, while the Dems are all over the place, as you pointed out. I was talking about the average American voter who, who choosing not to read the fine print, believe Bush is saving them money despite the deficit, the cost of the war, and how much Repug fat cats are NOT paying in taxes.
Posted by: Leland | Feb 19, 2006 12:15:10 AM
Is money too "simple" an answer?
Republicans
*Advertising Scare tactics
*Campaign "giving"/"promises"
*Massive implementation of Volunteer incentives...
Are these not all financed by mmoney?
Posted by: Gilli | Feb 19, 2006 2:54:33 AM
Democrats have, and depend upon, just as much money as Republicans, Gilli. Campaign contributions and campaign promises are as much a part of politics as voting. As for scare tactics, they've been used by both parties, pretty equally.
If there's a division, it might be in the area of Volunteer incentives. Conservatives tend to think of using corporate, community, and religious resources to achieve the same goals that liberals want to achieve through government funding. There's an argument to be made in favor of both approaches, but volunteerism isn't the sole property of conservatives. Democrats like Jimmy Carter make extensive use of private funds to accomplish works of charity.
Leland, and many other liberals, think that tax reductions lead to larger deficits. It's an easy path to follow. Conservatives, like the ones that have advised the Republicans since the Reagan era, are convinced that lower taxes result in more disposable income for taxpayers, enabling consumers to spend more, and investors to invest more.
I don't think either theory is entirely sound. I think the past reduction of interest rates by the Fed will have some long-term, negative repercussions, and I'm glad to see them on the rise. I think tax increases will also have a negative impact, but they'll be felt in a more short-term way.
This is so much more involved than I intended, but let me say this; it's a complicated issue, and hating Bush doesn't solve the problem.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Feb 19, 2006 5:08:59 AM
Jay, can I ask you a few questions? As someone who believes in impartiality as well, I do not understand how you can be pro-Bush as a gay male. With the statistical increase in gay hate crimes on the rise in direct correlation to Bush's moral agenda campaigning (rise in hate crimes in the days following the State of the Union Address, ex. two in Oregon and the one now semi-infamous in Mass), supporting Bush is the equivalent in hammering a nail in our civil liberties coffin. Wire tapping (which, incidentally, was extremely similar to Nixon I may remind you), campaign spending (Abramoff and Delay both are knee deep in this one), Browns and others testimony regarding the White Houses lack of quick action in Hurricane Katrina costing billions and hundreds in lives, a war which is 99.9% oil (do you REALLY think Bush is up at night worried about Habib Jarar Smith's family not being free in Iraq???), Medicare, taking away US rights to buy cheaper prescription drugs in Canada (cause you know, Canadians are so unhealthy with Witch Doctors brewing up vats of drugs in warehouses in Toronto) forcing big companies like Lilly and Merck to make billions off of the elderly who can't afford med's for staying alive, Republicans constant support for Big Business (hello, Cheney, Halliburton, war contracts, need I say more?), and let's just face it, I haven't seen such public idiocy since Kalo Kalen and the OJ Simpson trials. While I realize corruption on both sides is rampant, you would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to realize lately, it's tipping more on the Republican side. The DNC reported $15,699,473 to the RNC's $38,888,315 ($9,731,977 from individuals). Christ, even some members of the Republican party are against Bush:
Here are a dozen examples of what Republicans are saying about George W. Bush--and John Kerry--during the Nov. 2 elections:
"As son of a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration's decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry."
-- Ambassador John Eisenhower, endorsing Kerry in an opinion piece published in The Manchester Union Leader, September 28, 2004.
"The two 'Say No to Bush' signs in my yard say it all. The present Republican president has led us into an unjustified war -- based on misguided and blatantly false misrepresentations of the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The terror seat was Afghanistan. Iraq had no connection to these acts of terror and was not a serious threat to the United States, as this president claimed, and there was no relation, it's now obvious, to any serious weaponry. Although Saddam Hussein is a frightful tyrant, he posed no threat to the United States when we entered the war. George W. Bush's arrogant actions to jump into Iraq when he had no plan how to get out have alienated the United States from our most trusted allies and weakened us immeasurably around the world... This imperialistic, stubborn adherence to wrongful policies and known untruths by the Cheney-Bush administration -- and that's the accurate order -- has simply become more than I can stand."
-- Former Minnesota Governor Elmer Andersen, a Republican, endorsing Kerry in an opinion piece published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, October 13, 2004. Andersen argued in the piece that, "I am more fearful for the state of this nation than I have ever been -- because this country is in the hands of an evil man: Dick Cheney. It is eminently clear that it is he who is running the country, not George W. Bush."
"I am not enamored with John Kerry, but I am frightened to death of George Bush. I fear a secret government. I abhor a government that refuses to supply the Congress with requested information. I am against a government that refuses to tell the country with whom the leaders of our country sat down and determined our energy policy, and to prove how much they want to keep the secret, they took it all the way to the Supreme Court."
-- Former US Senator Marlow Cook, Republican from Kentucky, endorsing Kerry in an opinion piece that appeared in The Louisville Courier-Journal, October 20, 2004.
"My Republican Party is the party of Theodore Roosevelt, who fought to preserve our natural resources and environment. This president has pursued policies that will cause irreparable damage to our environmental laws that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the public lands we share with future generations."
-- Former US Representative Pete McCloskey, R-California, from an article in the Palo Alto Weekly, September 8, 2004. McCloskey, who is active with Republicans for Kerry, says of members of the Bush administration, "These people believe God has told them what to do. They've high jacked the Republican Party we once knew."
"The war is just a misbegotten thing that's spiraling down. It's a matter of conscience for me. After 9/11, the whole world was behind us. That's all gone now. That's been squandered. Now we've made the entire Muslim world hate us. And for what? For what?"
-- Former US Senator Bob Smith, Republican from New Hampshire, from an endorsement letter sent to John Kerry, October 28, 2004.
"Nixon was a prince compared to these guys."
-- Former Michigan Governor William Milliken, from a statement published in the Traverse City Record Eagle, October 17, 2004.
"As an environmentalist who served as chairman of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, I know that this administration has turned environmental policy over to lobbyists for the oil, gas and mining interests. On the other hand, I know first-hand of your commitment to a more balanced approach to environmental policy -- one where we can have both jobs and profit for industry as well as clean air and water. There is no stronger evidence of this than your outstanding leadership and support in the restoration of the Florida Everglades. John, for each of these reasons I believe President Bush has failed our country and my party. Accordingly, I want you to know that when I go into the booth next Tuesday I am going to cast my vote for you."
Need I go on? Look, my point being, I have seen you attack people on this site constantly for their opinions about Bush, the RNC, Democrats, etc. and it's unfair. People have their opinions. Unfortunately I fear you may be so enraged by their comments you become defensive and fail to see the big picture. Politicians are corrupt, especially in this country, more so than ever. However, I have never seen as much blatant corruption as I have with this current administration. Bush's public opinion is at an all time low of 34% and I hope this is in direct relation to people finally opening their eyes and minds to what is really happening. The middle class is quickly diminishing, the poor are getting poorer and the rich are benefiting from lowering capital gains and tax benefits. I will not bore anyone any further with my point, but I sincerely hope, at least for the gay community, in re-thinking your support for such a dictator, hypocrite and inept man as Bush and his cabinet. My God, how could a nation who had worldwide sympathy and understanding from 9/11 become so widely hated in such a short time? It's mind-boggling. I was born in the states, raised in London, lived in NYC, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, traveled to Australia, Japan, China, South Africa, South America. My point is I have many friends from many different cultures, I take a more global view and I live outside the US bubble. It's a different world and it's time we, as American's, begin to realize our impact on it before it's too late...
Posted by: Tom | Feb 19, 2006 4:35:41 PM
Ooo, but wait a minute, is that pic of "Boo Radley" you? You're a cutie. Ok, I take it all back LOL... but you know it wasn't meant as a personal attack, just an impersonal point of view...
Posted by: Tom | Feb 19, 2006 4:44:58 PM
>>Need I go on?
No Tom, you've proved my point really well.
It really is counter-productive to dissect the past failures of this administration, or past injustices, as you perceive them. My entire point was that Democrats in particular have to drop the hate and focus on the future.
What do you have to offer? Who will lead us into the future? What can be done to make this world a better place? How are you going to unify a party as diverse as the Democrats?
Forget the Bush administration. It's almost over. Focus on the past, and you'll have another Republican President in office, and another Republican Congress. That doesn't bother me, because I really don't think it matters.
I'm a cynic. If you care, don't be cynical, and don't dwell on what's wrong. Focus on the future and do something to change it.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Feb 19, 2006 7:09:15 PM