Hundreds Dead in Samoa, Indonesia Following Earthquakes, Tsunami

Dozens remain missing following a powerful tsunami caused by an earthquake on the ocean floor struck the South Pacific island of Samoa yesterday. And then devasatation in Indonesia:

"Seventeen hours after the magnitude 8.0 temblor struck, another massive ocean earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island early today killed at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble. A tsunami warning was issued in the region but was later lifted. The earlier quake was centered about 120 miles south of the islands of Samoa and American Samoa. It sent four waves, each 15 to 20 feet high, crashing up to a mile inland, according to the Associated Press."

The toll in Samoa was at 99 this morning, a figure likely to increase. Relief has been dispatched to the islands.

Some video from Samoa, AFTER THE JUMP...

Southern California in State of Emergency as Fires Rage

Our thoughts are with those of you in Southern California affected by the fires. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as fires encroach on a set of important media communications towers atop Mount Wilson.

Whatever you do, don't try to ride out the fire in a hot tub: "While thousands have already fled the Station fire, two people who tried to ride out the firestorm in a backyard hot tub were critically burned. The pair in Big Tujunga Canyon, on the southwestern edge of the fire, 'completely underestimated the fire' and the hot tub provided 'no protection whatsoever,' Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Sunday."

A news report as well as a time-lapse video of plumes of smoke from the Station Fire over L.A., AFTER THE JUMP...

Charlie Crist: Florida Hurricane-Free Since I Sent Prayers to God

Florida Governor Charlie Crist half-joked to a group of real estate agents that the state's lack of hurricane activity is because God is listening to him:

"Crist said he isn't trying to take credit, but he told a group of real estate agents Friday that he's had prayer notes placed in the Western Wall in Jerusalem each year and no major storms have hit Florida. Crist noted that just before his election in 2006, Florida had been affected by a total of eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. 'Do you know the last time it was we had a hurricane in Florida? It's been awhile. In 2007, I took my first trade mission. Do you know where I went?' said Crist, a Methodist, referring to a trip to Israel. He then told of going to the Western Wall and inserting a note with a prayer. He said it read, 'Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties. Charlie.' ...'Time goes on - May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December - no hurricanes,' Crist said. 'Thank God.' Last year, Sen. Nan Rich was traveling to Israel and Crist asked her to put a note in the Western Wall, a holy site in Judaism and a place where written prayers are traditionally placed.' It was the same note, by the way, the same prayer,' Crist said."

Wonder if Crist used that power to pray a few other things away as well?

Related...
Minneapolis Pastor: Tornado a Warning to Gay-Loving Lutherans [tr]

News: Humpback Whale, Simpsons, Outrage, Scottish Male Barbie

Kirby Dick's Outrage hopes to shake anti-gay Republican hypocrisy to its core.

Father and Son: "My life has been redefined by this statistic, 'The odds of getting pregnant from a one-time sexual encounter are about 11%.' I often think if it can happen, yes, it will happen to me. Now, I’m a single gay dad under thirty, that didn’t adopt, didn’t get married and isn’t bisexual, and inadvertently ends up with a best friend getting pregnant from the solitary experience."

The #1 male Barbie of Scotland.

Not a clue: "Here is another great moment in A.P. history. In its quest to become the RIAA of the newspaper industry, the A.P.’s executives and lawyers are beginning to match their counterparts in the music industry for cluelessness. A country radio station in Tennessee, WTNQ-FM, received a cease-and-desist letter from an A.P. vice president of affiliate relations for posting videos from the A.P.’s official Youtube channel on its Website."

Humpback whale spotted in Hudson River near Manhattan.

Madonna donates $500,000 to Italian earthquake victims.

Speculation over a city council run for openly gay Fox 2 anchorman Charles Pugh has Detroit buzzing.

New Hampshire House passes anti-discrimination bill extending protections to transgender persons, by one vote: "The House debated more than three hours before voting 188-187 to send it to the Senate. Republicans call it the 'bathroom bill' based on the argument it would open all bathrooms to both men and women." 

Anybody need a Brazilian?

Napa's neighbor Yountville, California passes resolution opposing discrimination of any kind, including the prohibition of same-sex marriage.

Tell your Coming Out story to Showtime.

Bono checks for crabs.

Ken Blackwell and Christopher Hitchens spar over the end of Christianity in America.

The Simpsons to get their own postage stamps.

Polish sausage bitten off: "Horrified Marian Milczarek, 53, from Lesna in south west Poland, was attacked following a row with his friend - apparently over borrowing a trailer. 'He began hitting me with a chain and then pulled down my trousers and started biting. It was agony,' he said. Police and medics could find no trace of Marian's missing genitalia, and believe his attacker Wojciech Sowinski - now facing 10 years in jail - may have eaten it. 'If we'd had the other bit of his penis we could have sewn it back on,' said Dr Adam Domanasiewicz from the hospital in nearby Trzebnica, where Marian is recovering."

Stonewall Library & Archives to have grand opening in Fort Lauderdale on April 23. you may remember that moving SLA to this new space became a national story during the anti-gay campaign of Fort Lauderdale’s former mayor, who opposed a city building, which is leased by Broward County, providing space to the library. The move required the approval of the Fort Lauderdale City Commission and the Broward County Commission.

News: Mount Redoubt, Cal Thomas, McGill, Matt Drudge, Malaysia

Conservative columnist Cal Thomas: Same-sex marriage battle lost. "To those on the political and religious right who are intent on continuing the battle to preserve 'traditional marriage' in a nation that is rapidly discarding its traditions, I would ask this question: What poses a greater threat to our remaining moral underpinnings? Is it two homosexuals living together, or is it the number of heterosexuals who are divorcing and the increasing number of children born to unmarried women, now at nearly 40 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"

The Big Picture looks into the cone of the Mount Redoubt Volcano.

Ever been to a penis festival?

Iowa same-sex marriages delayed by three days.

Russian court finds activists guilty of "popularizing" homosexuality.

From the diaries of Matt Drudge's gay ex-roommate.

White House advisory panel on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships: Anti-gay former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy declines, openly gay director of the religion and faith program at Human Rights Campaign, Harry Knox, accepts.

Robert Pattinson injures his arse.

Advocate: Is porn recession-proof? "Jet Set and others in the adult industry are facing a double whammy: the worst recession in decades coupled with nothing less than a tectonic shift in the way people are consuming their products. Much as Napster did to the record industry 10 years ago, websites like XTube are shaking traditional porn businesses to their core. And now an industry that is perhaps best known for going for broke could go, well, broke."

Newsweek on LGBT youth and the search for a welcoming college.

Ronson family issues restraining order against Lindsay Lohan.

McGill student writes about being targeted in anti-gay hate crime in Montreal: "It seemed it was not a joke, or at least not one my friend and I were allowed to laugh at. These four men were quite serious. They had identified us as gay, and they were not okay with that."

Madonna goes out on the town following return from Malawi.

Vandals desecrate park dedicated to Matthew Shepard in West Hollywood: "The trees, one a flowering Chinese Magnolia and the other a California Live Oak, suffered considerable damage in the attacks. Morris Kight, who died just weeks after his tree’s planting in 2002, was honored at that time for his pioneering of the gay movement; founding Gay Pride, co-founding the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, Stonewall Democratic Club are just a sampling of his achievement."

Rose McGowan discusses her gays.

Mike Alvear: At least have the decency to lie about your sexuality.

Gay, singer/serial killer receives death sentence in Malaysia: "A self-confessed Indonesian serial killer who recorded a pop album and wrote a grisly tell-all book from his prison cell was sentenced to death on Monday for the murder of a romantic rival.A district court in Depok outside the Indonesian capital found Verry Idham Henyansyah, known popularly as Ryan, guilty of murdering and dismembering Herry Santoso and dumping of his body in bags on a Jakarta roadside last year."

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #459

DEREK & ROMAINE: Stockard Channing presents the Sirius XM radio hosts a Special Recognition award from GLAAD in New York. Their  radio documentary, The Laramie Project 10 Years Later, is being offered as a free download (the station's first ever) from Sirius OutQ.

ITALY EARTHQUAKE: 6.3 strikes Abruzzo region. 90 fatalities and counting... Scientist predicted quake, but was silenced: "Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for 'spreading alarm' and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet."

SMILEY FACE KILLER: CNN looks into possible links between the murders of college age men around the country.

NORTH KOREA: The launch of its long-range rocket over the weekend. Didn't reach orbit...

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