News: Whoopi Goldberg, Burger King, Botox, Rick Warren, Idaho

South Carolina Governor Sanford returns from AWOL trip, says he went to Argentina. Now we know why.

Blade Runner Frank Lloyd Wright house on sale.

The most blatantly sexual Burger King ad ever.

Washington Post debuts gay-inclusive marriage announcement section.

Whoopi Goldberg conquers fear; flies for the first time in 13 years.

Gavin Newsom raises rainbow flag at San Francisco City Hall.

Robert Pattinson bloodied up.

Rick Warren tells breakaway Episcopalians and Anglicans: "We are to love the people of the world no matter what they believe; we are to not love the value system of the world. And the problem today is lot of Christians are getting that reversed. They love the value system and hate the people."

Mormon breakaway group wants reconciliation with gays.

Limited-edition Harvey Milk photomosaic to raise money for LGBT Community Center and the GLBT Historical Society: "Called 'Milk,' the artwork uses 2,300 black and white photos of Milk and the Castro during the 1970s from the historical society's archives to recreate a photo of the slain San Francisco supervisor taken by his close friend and photographer Dan Nicoletta."

Sally Kern goes off on Obama's radical homosexual agenda.

Not only is Botox a remedy for emotion, it may be effective against baldness.

SURVEY: 23% of people in Northern Ireland would mind having a gay person as a neighbor.

Boise, Idaho authorities target men in outdoor sex sting: "We were 100 feet from Mystic Cove Park where school's out, kids play, it is a secluded area. But who's to say that children can't be down there running around? We have been monitoring this particular area of the Boise River. We have zero tolerance for this behavior and will continue all necessary enforcement efforts necessary to stop it from re-occurring."

More beefcake from Milan fashion week.

But when will they ditch their promise rings?

Obama drafting federal protections for trans employees.

New gay travel portal launched in Tel Aviv.

San Diego City Council passes resolution urging repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

Mixner: What if the Obamas had to live under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? "First of all, Michelle Obama and the children would have to immediately move out of the White House. Base housing would absolutely not be available for same sex couples and their families. In fact, they would be ineligible for any housing, PX or other benefits accorded to straight people. While serving as Commander in Chief, Barack Obama would have to find ways to secretly and safely meet with his wife and children since if anyone knew he had a same sex family he would lose his job and all his benefits. In some cases, they could impeach him for having a same sex relationship."

Pastor Rick Warren in Wikipedia Whitewash War Over Prop 8?

It has been suggested recently that Pastor Rick Warren, who urged his followers to support Proposition 8 in the months leading to last November's election, is trying to distance himself from that position. Earlier this month he told Larry King, "I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be."

Later that week he canceled an Easter appearance with George Stephanopoulos in which he would have likely been asked about the conflict between that statement and the Prop 8 video, citing exhaustion.

Now, it appears as if a Warren minion is trying to whitewash his Wikipedia page to reflect that as well. Living in the Bonus Round writes:

Among the contentions made by the Warren Wikipedia Whitewashers:

- Warren did not compare same sex marriage to incest, polygamy and pedophilia during his notorious Beliefnet interview.
- Gay and lesbian people have never had the right to marry in California.
- Controversies surrounding Warren's position on gay marriage are, according to CarverM, "a tempest in a teapot" and unworthy of more discussion than a link to Wikipedia's Proposition 8 page.

After weeks of voluminous and sometimes heated debate, it was uncovered that CarverM is in fact Mark Carver, the International Director of Purpose Driven Ministries.

Soulforce's Mel White Admonishes Tony Perkins on AC360

Soulforce founder (and Amazing Race contestant) Mel White (above, right) and Family Research Council's Tony Perkins appeared on AC 360 last night to discuss the recent chatter that the religious right-wing have lost the culture war, as well as recent conflicting statements by Rick Warren.

White certainly gets the right point across in the end:

COOPER: I've got to give Mel the last word, because I gave Tony the first word -- Mel.

WHITE: It's really important for people to realize that Tony and Dobson and these others have been misleading the public for so many years about sexual orientation and gender identity. It's so important to see through their half-truths and their hyperboles. It's really important to realize the damage they're doing by not saying that God created us gay. God loves us gay. And we should have all the rights that the American people provide all of us. So Tony sounds good like Rick, but they're really saying things that are horrible and destructive.

COOPER: Tony, I'll give you a quick response, because it was directed at you.

PERKINS: Well, I would just say it's not true. The Bible speaks for itself.

WHITE: The Bible says nothing about homosexuality, Tony.

PERKINS: You know that very well that it does. But Mel, nonetheless, Mel, I love you. Appreciate you as a human being.

WHITE: Don't say that because as soon as you say about gay people lead to destruction, the break-up of families... You continue this, "We love you, but we hate you. We love you, but...We don't want you to have rights. Tony, I've read your material. I've monitored you for ten years. You've got to get off this anti-gay stuff, because they're leaving the churches, because they've seen through your fundamentalist stuff."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rick Warren's This Week No-Show Excuse: He Inhaled Pulpit Fumes

Politico received an email from a Rick Warren aide explaining why he bowed out at the last moment from his This Week appearance with George Stephanopoulos. The aide said that Easter was like the Super Bowl for Warren and he was under the weather from preparing for the many services he was to preach. Plus, he had inhaled fumes from a new pulpit:

“My understanding was that Dr. Warren’s condition was related to fatigue and exhaustion — which affected his voice — exacerbated by inhalation of fumes from the newly refurbished (but still drying) pulpit used in the televised services the previous night. After initially informing George Stephanopoulos of his inability to pre-tape on Saturday, I put him directly in touch with his chief-of-staff after doctor consultation to pursue the remote possibility of an early [Sunday] AM pre-tape. That turned out to not be a possibility as he had to cancel half of his sermons today, though he was able to preach several of the six services at which he was scheduled to preach...“There has been a lot of blog chatter trying to connect the dots with the interviews this weekend and comments Dr. Warren made on CNN Larry King Live, but his cancellations were related to health and fatigue."

And the aide said that Warren had been responding to the Larry King Prop 8 controversy with this statement on a per-inquiry basis:

“Throughout his pastoral ministry spanning nearly 30 years, Pastor Warren has remained committed to the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, for life — a position held by most fellow Evangelical pastors. He has further stressed that for 5,000 years, EVERY culture and EVERY religion has maintained this worldview.

“When Pastor Warren told Larry King that he never campaigned for California's Proposition 8, he was referring to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state, based on his focus and leadership on other compassion issues. Because he's a pastor, not an activist, in response to inquiries from church members, he issued an email and video message to his congregation days before the election confirming where he and Saddleback Church stood on this issue.

“During the King interview, Pastor Warren also referenced a letter of apology that he sent to gay leaders whom he knew personally. However, that mea culpa was not with respect to his statements or position on Proposition 8 nor the biblical worldview on marriage. Rather, he apologized for his comments in an earlier Beliefnet interview expressing his concern about expanding or redefining the definition of marriage beyond a husband-wife relationship, during which he unintentionally and regrettably gave the impression that consensual adult same sex relationships were equivalent to incest or pedophilia.”

Related...
Pastor Rick Warren Evades Prop 8 Conflict in Talker Cancellation [tr]
Rick Warren: 'I am Not an Anti-Gay or Anti-Gay Marriage Activist' [tr]

Pastor Rick Warren Evades Prop 8 Conflict in Talker Cancellation

Pastor Rick Warren canceled an Easter Sunday appearance on This Week with Geroge Stephanopolous “moments before the scheduled interview." Stephanopolous explained Warren was “sick with exhaustion.”

The appearance would have likely forced Warren to confront his conflicting statements about Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage. Last week, Warren told Larry King: "You know, Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be. During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never -- never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going."

Religious right wing groups were flummoxed by the statement. Said Wendy Wright, president of Cooncerned Women for America: "Whether he supports Proposition 8 now, after the fact, is overshadowed by the bizarre claim that he did not say what the evidence so clearly proves he said."

What Wright refers to is a video Warren posted shortly before the election, in which he clearly expressed support for Proposition 8 and urged voters to do the same.

Watch Stephanopolous' announcement, and the damning Prop 8 video, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rick Warren: 'I am Not an Anti-Gay or Anti-Gay Marriage Activist'

Pastor Rick Warren appeared on Larry King Live last night and King asked him about the controversy that erupted when Barack Obama asked him to deliver the invocation at the inauguration.

Said Warren: "You know, Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be. During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never -- never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going. The week before the -- the vote, somebody in my church said, Pastor Rick, what -- what do you think about this? And I sent a note to my own members that said, I actually believe that marriage is -- really should be defined, that that definition should be -- say between a man and a woman.

"And then all of a sudden out of it, they made me, you know, something that I really wasn't. And I actually -- there were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends -- the leaders that I knew -- and actually apologized to them. That never got out. There were some things said that -- you know, everybody should have 10 percent grace when they say public statements. And I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that. All of the criticism came from people that didn't know me. Not a single criticism came from any gay leader who knows me and knows that for years, we've been working together on AIDS issues and all these other things."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...