03/06/2007
News: Scooter Libby, Latvia, Americone Dream, Wyoming
Scooter Libby found guilty on four counts in CIA leak case: "Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. The case brought new attention to the Bush administration's much-criticized handling of weapons of mass destruction intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war." Bush saddened by verdict...
Stephen Colbert, Ben & Jerry launch Americone Dream.
Riga, Latvia's new mayor says he'll back a gay rights march later this year: "In an interview with Diena newspaper, Janis Birks said he was ashamed at events last year, when bags of human excrement were thrown at gay marchers. The Mayor called for tolerance and understanding on all sides."
Isaiah Washington may actually pay for calling T.R. Knight a "faggot".
Not to beat a dead horse, but here's more on why Ann Coulter's argument is so wrong.
UK lesbian shopkeeper will receive a possible award of more than £120,000 after suffering months of bullying at the hands of a co-worker: "Mrs Davies, a practising Jehovah's Witness, pushed Miss Bielak and started shouting and swearing at her, calling her a '******* dyke'. A tribunal also heard that she would play the Morrissey track ["All the Lazy Dykes"] every time Miss Bielak came into the stockroom at the Next store in St Helens, Merseyside. "
Straight Republican legislator from Wyoming, Dan Zwonitzer, makes headlines after taking public stand against anti-gay marriage amendment: "Zwonitzer told the House Rules Committee on Feb. 22 that he needed to publicly oppose the measure -- even if it cost him his seat -- because he believed that was the right thing to do. He told the committee that gay rights were the civil rights struggle of his generation. 'I will tell my children that when this debate went on, I stood up for basic rights for people,' he said."
With civil unions already legal, New Jersey Republicans vow to block next steps of adding the "marriage" term to it.
Gerard Butler, Rodrigo Santoro on hand for 300 premiere in Hollywood. AfterElton review: solid film needlessly disrespects homosexuals...
Equality Texas rallies at state capitol in Austin: "Equality Texas wants to protect foster families, ensure safe learning environments for schoolchildren and end workplace discrimination based on real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. They met with legislators to voice concerns over these issues."
Posted 6:08 PM EST by Andy Towle in Bullying, Dick Cheney, Food & Drink, Gay Marriage, Gay Pride, Gay Rights, George W. Bush, Gerard Butler, Great Britain, Isaiah Washington, Latvia, New Jersey, News, Rodrigo Santoro, Stephen Colbert, Texas, Wyoming | Permalink
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I still cannot forgive Ben & Jerry for supporting the spoiler Ralph Nader in the 2000 election.
Posted by: John | Mar 6, 2007 6:17:08 PM
The person at The Stranger doesn't do us any favors by continuing the tirade and use of the word. Rise above it. Practice what you preach.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 6, 2007 6:18:10 PM
Dan Zwonitzer is my new hero. I think we all need to take a moment to write a note of thanks to him.
Posted by: peterparker | Mar 6, 2007 6:19:49 PM
Yeah, Brian, I am with you on this. When does it become OK for a liberal to call a conservative a "faggot" but when a conservative calls a liberal a "faggot" it's a vilification?
Posted by: JT | Mar 6, 2007 6:22:20 PM
WOW Peterparker...I am proud of you! I know that it took everything within you to make the statement "Dan Zwonitzer is my new hero" knowing that he is a Repub!!!! And you are 100% correct in your statement. He did a remarkable thing by standing up for what is right. I told you that I was not the only repub with a conscience. And he is even straight! Way to go Dan!!!!
Posted by: RB | Mar 6, 2007 6:30:15 PM
Ann Coulter would love for you to read this: http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Charlie | Mar 6, 2007 6:40:26 PM
Though I sprinkle optimism on top whenever I deep throat Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia or New York Super Fudge Chunk, I'm skeptical than anything other than greed might motivate the powers that be to use Isaiah Washington's misdeeds against him in contract negotiations. Just as it's greed and homophobia [in the sense that they don't believe that the F-word is as bad as the N-word] that keeps him employed long after he should have been terminated.
And, quelle triste, that the NAACP STILL gave him their best TV actor award recently. Technically, it is for acting, but its title, "IMAGE Award," makes the honor reprehensible.
PS: Please go to http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/contact_us/forms/resurrect.cfm and vote to resurrect "Rainforest Crunch."
Posted by: Leland | Mar 6, 2007 6:59:18 PM
Did I read correctly that Isaiah Washington WON the naccp image award this past Friday? Wow...
Posted by: Sparty | Mar 6, 2007 7:01:08 PM
I don't think the Ben & Jerry's company knows what they are doing. I'm not just talking about this stupid Americone product, which is similar to several other ice creams already on the market, but I just get the feeling that the company is sort of coasting along aimlessly. Does anyone get what I'm saying?
Posted by: Big Dave | Mar 6, 2007 7:09:12 PM
Please don't consider that this story is a "dead horse," although it was certainly started by one.
I think reality has finally got her attention.
Posted by: FASTLAD | Mar 6, 2007 7:11:06 PM
Rb
:-)
Here is another shocker...this liberal totaly agrees with Peter Parker. ^5 to yes, a republican Dan Zwonitzer
We need to honor our supporters even if they are a (shiver, shake, chill up the spine ) Republican
:-)
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 6, 2007 7:13:09 PM
Peter, if you don't have it already...and anybody else who wants to join this liberal in sending a ^5 and Kudos to a Republican who has our backs
dzwonitzer@wyoming.com
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 6, 2007 7:17:11 PM
re: NAACP Awards
I just checked the website of the Image Awards. Yes, Isaiah Washington won the Award for Best Actor in a Drama.
Wow.
Posted by: Mike | Mar 6, 2007 7:21:32 PM
i'm not suprised, but it's a shame that '300' misses the opportunity to bring some historical accuracy of the homosexual kind to the film. the spartans, in fact, encouraged romantic relationships between their soldiers in the theory that they would fight all the more fiercely defending their lovers on the battlefield. instead, what we get is tons of hot (str8) beef and a screaming queen...ugh.
Posted by: el polacko | Mar 6, 2007 7:22:00 PM
I appreciate Janis Birks and Dan Zwonitzer's stand for equality. Bravo!
UK lesbian shopkeeper, we support you.
Shame on the "300" movie makers. I watched a preview of it last night and I could tell that it wasn't LGBT friendly. The villian looks nothing like anyone in Roman culture. He looks like an African or Indian mystic with effeminate tendencies. They clearly wanted to show that he was not like the others.
Thank you Equality Texas for your service.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 6, 2007 7:31:31 PM
Wow! The story on Isaiah Washington losing millions over the "f-word" incident...it's just the beginning. I predict, of a WONDERFUL innovation..."Homophobia Offsets!"
Just as Al Gore can buy his way out of being a hypocrite by purchasing "Carbon Offsets" for his 20 x the national average energy consumption mansion...homophobic celebrities like Washington and Ann Coulter will soon be able to purchase "Homophobia Offsets" for f-word utterences in public!
Great idea...I like it! So much so I'm going to patent the idea, and be the official clearinghouse for Homophobia Offsets (taking a mild percentage as a fee, of course).
Posted by: Mr. Smartypants | Mar 6, 2007 7:44:39 PM
EL
I find it a bit more ironic because gerard butler in an interview in the past admited point blank that he went both ways, had relations with both sexes and enjoyed both sexes. Not 100% on our team but not a homophobe either
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 6, 2007 7:51:27 PM
Jimmyboyo, please post links! Thanks!
Posted by: Jason | Mar 6, 2007 8:14:23 PM
Having never read anything by Coulter, I dropped by her website today and read her piece on global warming. For some reason, I had the (obviously mistaken) impression she was an intellectual of sorts with a big mouth and a penchant for lobbing attention-grabbing verbal bombs. I was half wrong.
The piece was ridiculous beyond belief. I can't imagine reading an entire book of her dreck.
Poor Ann is not only pathetic, she's stupid, to boot.
Posted by: zinc alloy | Mar 6, 2007 9:25:10 PM
strange on 300, since it seemed that the culture of "that time" recognized male-male association, relation, and adoration beyond "don't ask, don't tell".
ann coulter -- yawn. camille paglia at colorado college -- very quick and amusing.
love the go-go boy movement.
amusing yet ultimately sad, very sad, the embracing of 'certain' religions that i've witnessed by non-caucasians, in particular, who subvert, erase, demonize, or attack their native culture due to gutter level acceptance from a smattering of particular "faiths".
then, leaking of operatives information when wmd intelligence didn't turn up much of anything other than a vendetta to roll their positions due to raising a huge red flag about questionable wmd intelligence. what's the body count at this point??
where's that article on alternative energy that i found earlier?? no, it wasn't burning the usfs property, as that effects the atmosphere with negative ions as well.
peace.
Posted by: ricardo | Mar 6, 2007 9:29:20 PM
I just wrote a letter of thanks to Dan Zwonitzer. It felt good to say thank you to a Republican and to imagine a country not irrevocably divided down the middle. I hope he gets support from all sides for his brave stand because he is going to get REAMED by Ann Coulter-loving, gay bashing Republicans across the country.
I expect Fred Phelps is booking his plane ticket to Wyoming and writing anti-Zwonitzer placards as I write this.
Email Zwonitzer at: dzwonitzer@wyoming.com.
Posted by: Jeffrey | Mar 6, 2007 10:13:45 PM
Frank Miller, creator of 300 (and Sin City), seems to have some issues with gay people. Look no further than his Give Me Liberty comic book series from the 1990s where he imagined a future America under attack from a gay Nazi group called Aryan Thrust (I kid you not).
Frank loves to push the macho quotient until it's verging on self-parody but seems unable to bring himself to show any positive gay characters.
Posted by: John C | Mar 6, 2007 10:45:26 PM
About 300, I'm reserving judgement till I actually see it myself--which I will since this is just one guy's opinion.
Posted by: Fred | Mar 7, 2007 12:59:14 AM
RB,
I'm not sure why you are surprised that I stated my admiration for Dan Zwonitzer. While I consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, I'm not completely inflexible in my support for Democrats. I've even told you before that I was a big fan of former Republican mayor of Los Angeles, Richard Riordan, based on his attempt to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in L.A. by giving unwavering support to needle exchange programs. Unfortunately, I find such compassionate, progressive social policies amongst Republicans to be as rare as wire hangers in the Crawford household. Pity.
xo
peterparker
Posted by: peterparker | Mar 7, 2007 1:23:38 AM
Regarding 300, note that it's from Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers was also associated with Troy, the epic starring Brad Pitt. In Troy, the sexual relationship between two of the male leads, which has been documented historically, was turned into a platonic relationship between cousins. This is just another example of studio homophobia. Whether it's 300 or Troy, the studios are censoring the male-male relationships.
Shame on Warner Brothers. I will never watch another movie by them.
Posted by: janes | Mar 7, 2007 1:27:29 AM