NEWS: Athens Burns, FOX Fans Discuss Whitney, Starry Night Comes Alive

Facing austerity, Athens burns:

... Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament.

State television reported the violence spread to the tourist islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were looted in the capital where police said 34 buildings were ablaze.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos denounced the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy.

"Vandalism, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won't be tolerated," he told parliament as it prepared to vote on the new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a chaotic bankruptcy.

Bishops unhappy with Obama's contraception compromise:

The bishops’ decision to rebuff the compromise means that “religious freedom” will continue to be a rallying cry for some Catholics who have heard it preached from the pulpit for the last three weeks, for evangelical Christians on the religious right, for Republican candidates on the campaign trail and for members of Congress who are supporting a legislative fix on Capitol Hill.

... Mr. Obama said that the compromise would take the Catholic institutions out of the equation by relieving them from either paying for coverage for contraceptives or providing any referral to their employees for the coverage. Instead, insurance companies would be required to pay for the contraceptives, and to arrange it. The insurers will agree, the White House said, because it is more expensive for them to pay for pregnancies than to pay for contraceptives.

Churches and houses of worship that object to birth control coverage are already exempted. The compromise applies to primarily Catholic institutions, such as hospitals, universities and charities, that employ and serve large numbers of non-Catholics.

The bishops said the plan offered insufficient protection for their institutions: “In the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer’s plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.”

A history of terrestrial nuclear explosions, in time lapse -- a video both frightening and lyrical.

Dose a male snake with estrogen, and other male snakes go wild.

Is gay lit dead?

Dick Polman: Marriage equality no longer a wedge issue:

During the 2004 campaign, Republican strategists put gay marriage on referendum ballots in key swing states as a "wedge" issue to unnerve Democrats and gin up the conservative base for President George W. Bush. The Massachusetts high court had just ruled for legalization, and hostility toward the concept was the centrist position in America.

This is no longer true.

Granted, social conservatives voiced anger Tuesday when, for the first time, a federal court of appeals declared that gay marriage was a constitutional expression of equal rights. But most Americans will shrug and move on. As evidenced by all the polls, tolerance is the new centrism.

Gay consumers reward JCPenny's defense of Ellen DeGeneres with a buycott.

The trials and tenacity of The Washington Post:

... That has left the newspaper and the company’s other businesses exposed. The newsroom, once with more than 1,000 employees, now stands at less than 640 people, depleted by buyouts and staff defections. The newspaper’s Style section, once one of the most coveted assignments in American journalism, has shrunk from nearly 100 people to a quarter of that size. Bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are gone. There were so many Friday afternoon cake-cutting send-offs for departing employees last summer that editors had to coordinate them so they didn’t overlap.

New York Times bloggers' surprisingly fun live-blog of the Grammys.

As expected, the classiest comments on Whitney Houston's demise come from FOX News fans.

Van Gogh's Starry Night, as you've never seen it before.

NEWS: Gabbie Giffords Retires; Joe Paterno Dies; Rich Kids Love Romney, And Sex Ed -- Ugh!

Gabbie Giffords, sounding sure of voice and better than she has all year, nevertheless announces that she'll retire this week. Watch her announcement AFTER THE JUMP.

A Greek anti-discrimination bill is shelved.:

... in order to avoid a government crisis, plans for a parliamentary debate of a new bill that would  punish “serious manifestations of racism and xenophobia” are cancelled indefinitely. The bill would have punished those "who incite, provoke or promote violence or hatred against people or groups based on their race, color, religion, origins, nationality or sexual orientation” with a prison term of up to three years.

... The bill was a project of the previous socialist government, that was replaced by a three-party coaltion last November in order to come to terms with the escalating fiscal crisis that plagues the country.

...The bill was supposed to be debated in the full house last week, after being approved in a parliamentary committee with the support of the socialists and a smaller leftist party. Last Thursday it was revealed that the bill will be shelved indefinitely ... The contents of the bill was for many months the target of angry reactions from nationalist right-wing opinion in the country.

Ever visit Fox Nation? If not, here's what you're missing.

Aerosmith was my first concert when I was 14 years old, and I still incubate a special kind of love for Steven Tyler. Which is why I wish people would stop hiring him to sing the National Anthem.

It's a city of strangers: The subway as musical instrument.

Although adorable rich kids love Mitt Romney ...

... The New Yorker thinks Newt might win this thing. John Cassidy invokes the Muskie Curse:

... the main reason I think Newt could win is what is happening to Mitt's campaign. Outside of his own backyard, the former Massachusetts governor has yet to win more than twenty-seven per cent of the vote. At this stage, he is beginning to look ominously like another establishment favorite from the North East who had everything going for him except the voters in his own party: Ed Muskie.

Of course, the real winner of the Republian primaries so far, other than Barack Obama, is the National Organization for Marriage.

A "coalition of health and education group" released new standards for American sexual education earlier this month ...

... and wow! CitizenLink's Candi Cushman and Focus On The Family's Janet Mefferd are really unhappy about it:

Cushman: The important things for parents to understand is that these standards are supposed to start in kindergarten so at the elementary level students are going to start to be taught to ‘identify different types of family structures.’

Mefferd: Ugh.

Cushman: And then demonstrate respect for these different types of families. That’s basically codes for, ‘We’re going to teach your kids about same-sex marriage and homosexual relationships and this is an option worthy of being embraced just like heterosexual marriages and relationships.’ Not only are they going to be willing to embrace it but they’re going to respect it and they’re going to get that down by the second grade. So they will need to start that probably around kindergarten so they’ll have it down in their heads by second grade. That’s just one example of them dealing with the homosexuality topic.

Mefferd: Well and in most states we don’t have same-sex marriage, so why the need for that?

Cushman: Right, it’s totally undemocratic.

Joe Paterno, coach, philanthropist, and alleged enabler of child rape, is dead.

NEWS: Harvey Milk, The Canadian Age of Consent, And Pamela Geller Vs. Turkeys

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone. It's a good time to relisten to that "Hope" speech, which resonates as powerfully now as ever. (Next year, it looks like Harvey will be getting a street.)

This 56-year-old had sex with a 15-year-old three times, and now he's a registered sex offender. (But if they'd slept together exactly one year earlier, somehow, that would have been completely legal.)

 Slate brownnoses an unelected Michigan technocrat who's gutting towns' public services by diktat under an emergency law.

Famed anti-Muslim crazy lady Pamela Geller is courageously uncovering Butterball's stealth campaign to inculcate turkeys with Islamism:

Yesterday I published the latest in the Butterball coverup of foisting halal turkeys on an unsuspecting public. After being exposed in my article in the American Thinker (all Butterball halal turkeys are ‘certfied halal’ but not labeled) the Butterball company is scrubbing their website and telling a completely different story despite repeated confirmations last week that all their whole turkeys were halal.

Their halal happy website has been scrubbed of all of their halal references but they are still in the doanloadable [sic] pdf on the Glossary of cooking terms page:

Arab League imposes sanctions on Syria.

Greek's new Minister of Infrastructure is literally an ax-wielding fascist ...

... and UC Davis's current head has an interesting backstory in Greece.

Fran Drescher on her 18-year marriage to a gay man:

About two thirds of the way through our marriage he started therapy and he realized that he was bisexual but choosing to live his life with me, so I had already known that he had feelings but had never acted upon them, and really didn’t want to lose me. I was still at that place where I didn’t really absorb how that made me feel, only that he must really love me if he’s not only being honest with me but choosing to live his life with me and so we stayed the course. So when he finally came out it was a huge relief for me because I had harbored so much guilt for having hurt him by abandoning him and divorcing him. I just felt like it took a load off my shoulders. That the divorce he so adamantly didn’t want at the time gave him the opportunity to explore his authentic self. I was a little ahead of him in realizing something was wrong.

It's about time to get that anti-sodomy law off the books in Kansas. Think Brownback'll help?

Violence follows the A-List wherever it goes ...

Levi Crocker—the cowboy Cassanova of LOGO’s The A-List Dallas—says that he got attacked by four men at an Oklahoma City gay bar last night just because they hate his show. One even allegedly busted a barstool over his head.

... Crocker posted several messages on Twitter including a shot of his bleeding head after the alleged attack. No word yet on police or other news reports.

Fashion designers of the 1930's predict what you'll wear in 2000, AFTER THE JUMP ... [HT: BuzzFeed]

Greek Basketball Coach Orders Players to Remove Shirts After Loss, Apologizes to Fans for 'Queer Game'

A basketball coach for the pro team Iraklis from Thessaloniki, Greece has reportedly tried to shame his team after a bad loss by ordering them to remove their shirts and leave them in the the center of the court, and then apologizing to fans for the "queer game" that the athletes played. The coach has been condemned by the players union.

Talk Basket reports:

Some of the players obeyed the orders and indeed took them off and throw them in the court centre. A couple of hours later the president of Iraklis BC made an announcement apologising to the fans for the "queer game" by the players.

The club's move has outraged the Players' Union who made an announcement against the club accusing them of "homophobic sentiments" and understanding the "outrage of of their Iraklis colleagues" for the humiliation suffered by the club's administration.

the club later retaliated again by quoting the team's captain Vladimir Petrovic that "the players don't deserve to wear this team's jerseys" and again hinting against the players saying that "a club is not a contract, a car and house with internet".

More at Ballin Europe...

Watch the incident, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Dinosaur, Ted Koppel, Atlantis, Marina Abramovic, Sweden

The Rise of GetEQUAL.

Politico's Ben Smith profiles SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis, 'Don't Ask Deal's Unlikely Activist'...

Recently-discovered dinosaur was extremely horny...

Jeremy Piven is a waxing fanatic.

Texans hold "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" protest outside Fort Hood: "More than two dozen people from all over Central Texas held up signs that read 'Gay or straight, all are heroes' and 'Stop unjust discharge of gays and lesbians.' Organizers say they gathered there not only to honor gay and lesbian soldiers who have served and died, but to show their support for gay and lesbian soldiers who are currently serving as well. 'They can't reach out to us. They can't be out to tell us. We have to reach out to them,' organizer Irene Andrews said."

Ted Koppel's son found dead after daylong drinking binge.

Senate confirms Laura Duffy as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California in San Diego: "Duffy, an out lesbian, is known for her successful efforts fighting drug cartels that operate on the U.S.-Mexican border. Her prosecution of Tijuana’s Arellano Felix cartel resulted in a life sentence for its leader, a notorious drug kingpin."

Puerto Rican activist Pedro Julio Serrano has cancer biopsy.

Neil Patrick Harris threw a surprise party for David Burtka in NYC.

The artist is no longer present: Performance Marina Abramovic finishes sitting at the MOMA.

Is the real Atlantis beneath the isle of Santorini in Greece?

New Hampshire to celebrate first anniversary of marriage equality: "New Hampshire Stonewall Democrats are celebrating the one-year anniversary of Gov. John Lynch signing gay marriage into law. The group and other supporters will celebrate Tuesday in Concord. Lynch signed the law a year ago this coming Thursday... Senate President Sylvia Larsen, House Speaker Terie Norelli and other legislative leaders are expected to attend as is Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes. The celebration will be a 105 N. State St. at 6 p.m."

Backpacker shoots Grizzly with handgun in Denali National Park.

Ellen and Portia spend Memorial Day in Mexico.

 Bradley Cooper does Details.

The NYT looks at the vetting of priests by the Catholic Church: "Beyond his assertion that 'I know it when I see it,' no one interviewed for this article was able to describe exactly how screeners or seminary directors determine whether someone’s sexual orientation defines him. Some Catholics have expressed fear that such vagueness leads to bias and arbitrariness. .. 'And not the least irony here,” he added, 'is that these new regulations are being enforced in many cases by seminary directors who are themselves gay.'"

A League of Their Own inspiration dies.

Male model fix: Bruno Rosendo.

David Silver is looking good.

Sweden named Europe's most pro-gay country.

Britain's youngest mayor is a gay man: "Apart from their red robes and gold bling, mayors are known primarily for their venerable age. But Retford, in Nottinghamshire, has taken the radical step of appointing the youngest mayor in the country, 23-year-old Ian Campbell. Campbell was this month elected as a Labour district councillor for Bassetlaw, beating his Conservative rival by just 15 votes. Surprisingly, the Conservative-controlled council then nominated and voted Campbell to be mayor for the year...Campbell rose to prominence as a gay rights activist after being thrown out of his family home for coming out. In 2009, he was named Nottinghamshire's young person of the year for his work visiting schools and colleges nationwide, and running workshops to counter homophobic bullying. His sexuality was not an issue during his campaign to be elected a councillor, which pleased him.

Watch: Thousands of Frogs Swarm Greek Highway

Signs of the apocalypse?

Swarms of frogs forced closure of a northern highway in Greece this week after three cars (cringe) skidded off the road.

Watch a news report, AFTER THE JUMP...