Sacha Baron Cohen Dupes Ron Paul, Alabama National Guard

Just as the first snippets of Bruno were being screened to preview audiences at Austin's SXSW festival, it was reported that Sacha Baron Cohen had targeted two more entities for his Borat-style comedy about a gay Austrian news reporter.

Baron Cohen tricked the Alabama National Guard into allowing him to embed with them for a short while:

"The ruse, which included comedian Sacha Baron Cohen exposing his thong underwear while changing clothes, was going well until a young cadet recognized Cohen and notified older officers who weren't familiar with the actor. 'It's an embarrassment to the Alabama National Guard,' Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons said Monday. 'Since then we have put in protocols to make sure this doesn't happen again.' A film crew pulled the stunt Feb. 13 at the Alabama Military Academy, which trains officer candidates from across the nation. The school is located at the Army's old Fort McClellan in Anniston, about 65 miles east of Birmingham."

"Bruno" also punked former presidential candidate Ron Paul, Slate reports: "In a five-minute scene, comedian Cohen tries—and fails—to seduce the Texas congressman and former Republican presidential candidate in a Washington hotel room. A spokeswoman for Paul confirmed the appearance but declined to discuss details, which were provided by two people who attended a test screening last week."

TheBrunoMovie.com talked to critics outside the screening in Austin. Watch it,
AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Wicked, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mars, Mamma Mia, Ron Paul

The NYT on the potential repeal of the 1913 Massachusetts marriage law.

The Martian landscape revealed...

Cristiano Ronaldo hits L.A. on crutches and doesn't waste any time snubbing Paris Hilton.

Ron Paul's openly gay campaign chair dies of pneumonia at 49, without health insurance: "Snyder, who served as Paul’s campaign chair, died of pneumonia on June 26 after being hospitalized for about two months and after running up medical bills exceeding $400,000, according to friends and family members, who said he did not have health insurance."

A Mamma-Mia cheat sheet.

Moscow authorities ban gay picket of Iranian embassy set for July 19: "About 30 people were due to take part, Moscow gay pride parade organizer Nikolay Alexeyev told the Interfax-Religion. He said the application was submitted last Friday in strict compliance with Russian laws, but the prefecture retorted it could not guarantee the security of those taking part in the picket. 'This is a flagrant violation of the Russian constitution and laws on public actions,' Alexeyev said."

Will the knowledge that Banksy may be bourgeois make his works less valuable?

The L.A. Times profiles Paul Colichman and his growing "gay media empire": "Five years ago, Colichman and his business partner launched Here, television's only premium gay cable network. Now, with an eye toward building their empire, they recently made a $6.5-million deal to buy the popular news magazine the Advocate, style monthly Out and other sister publications. Colichman, who also owns the gay entertainment Internet portal GayWired.com, plans to expand the online presence of his new publications once the acquisition closes. 'People say, 'Why would you buy a print publication when you're really in the television business?'' said Colichman. 'But our point of view is that everything is cross-platformed now -- we are in the content business, and to generate profit you need to be everywhere.'"

Tyson shows off his tatts.

Broadway's Wicked coming to the big screen.

Chris Evans to answer questions at San Diego's Comic-Con.

First openly gay leader of a national labor union elected: "New York based United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has been elected to succeed Edward McElroy as President of the American Federation of Teachers...Weingarten served for 10 years as UFT head and under her tenure she negotiated a 43 percent increase in educator salaries and helped organize 28,000 home childcare workers."

Andy Dick in sex and drugs arrest.

North Carolina Family Policy Council supports bullying of LGBT kids in schools...

Pew Poll: 28% say gay marriage will affect their vote. "As it did in October 2004, gay marriage ranks lowest in importance among 16 campaign issues for the average U.S. voter; overall, 28% say gay marriage will be very important to their vote, down slightly from 32% in 2004. Far more Republicans than Democrats (19 points) rate gay marriage as very important. White evangelical Protestants (49%) place the most importance on the issue. Currently, 49% of the public opposes allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, while 38% support gay marriage."

Ron Paul Excavation Reveals Ugly Artifacts of Candidate's Past

UPDATE: Ron Paul has issued a statement regarding this article. Read it at the end of the post.

James Kirchik of The New Republic has published an article detailing the contents of Republican candidate Ron Paul's newsletters over the years — published under various titles like Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report, etc. The most recent iteration, the Freedom Report, was archived back only until 1999, but because of Paul's refusal to release earlier copies of the newsletters, Kirchik investigated further and was able to dig up newsletters going back to the 70's. Kirchick reports that "what they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays."

The results of his findings, which perhaps were not all written by Paul but certainly came "under a banner containing Paul's name," can be read in the article, although these couple of paragraphs will probably be of particular interest:

***EXCERPT - Angry White Man***

"Like blacks, gays earn plenty of animus in Paul's newsletters. They frequently quoted Paul's 'old colleague,' Congressman William Dannemeyer--who advocated quarantining people with AIDS--praising him for 'speak[ing] out fearlessly despite the organized power of the gay lobby.' In 1990, one newsletter mentioned a reporter from a gay magazine 'who certainly had an axe to grind, and that's not easy with a limp wrist.' In an item titled, 'The Pink House?' the author of a newsletter--again, presumably Paul--complained about President George H.W. Bush's decision to sign a hate crimes bill and invite 'the heads of homosexual lobbying groups to the White House for the ceremony,' adding, 'I miss the closet.' 'Homosexuals,' it said, 'not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.' When Marvin Liebman, a founder of the conservative Young Americans for Freedom and a longtime political activist, announced that he was gay in the pages of National Review, a Paul newsletter implored, 'Bring Back the Closet!' Surprisingly, one item expressed ambivalence about the contentious issue of gays in the military, but ultimately concluded, 'Homosexuals, if admitted, should be put in a special category and not allowed in close physical contact with heterosexuals.'

Continued...AFTER THE JUMP...

20/20: Ron Paul on Gay Marriage

ABC's John Stossel interviewed GOP presidential hopeful Representative Ron Paul on 20/20 about personal freedoms, drug legalization, gay marriage, and prostitution. Here's what Paul had to say about gay marriage (it begins at 2:01 in the clip above).

STOSSEL: Homosexuality. Should gays be allowed to marry?

PAUL: Sure.

STOSSEL: The State says, we will believe in this?

PAUL: Sure they can do whatever they want and they can call it whatever they want , just so they don't expect to impose their relationship on somebody else. They can't make me, personally, accept what they do, but they gay couples can do whatever they want. In fact, I'd like to see all governments out of the marriage question. I don't think it's a state function. I think it's a religious function. There was a time when only churches dealt with marriage, and they determined what it was. But 100 years or so ago for health reasons they claim that the state would protect us if we knew more about our spouses and we did health testing and you had to get a license to get married and I don't agree with that.

News: Camilla Parker-Bowles, Reggae, Whale, Keith Olbermann

The Rev. D. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which hosted the "Love Won Out" "ex-gay" conference in 2006, has retired.

Japanese "eco-tourists" hoping to catch glimpse of majestic whale in its natural habitat instead witness whale's slaughter at the hands of fishermen.

Camilla Parker-Bowles says she won't attend memorial service marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana this week.

Keith Olbermann names Mike McConnell, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh the "World's Worst" in network debut.

Janice Dickinson's models just can't stop getting naked.

Ron Paul on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell': "If a heterosexual or homosexual sins, that to me is the category of dealing with their own soul. Since we cannot have only perfect people going in the military I want to separate the two because I don't want to know the heterosexual flaws, nor the homosexual flaws and that's why I got in some trouble with some of the civil libertarians because I don't have any problem with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Because I don't think that, for the practicality of running a military, I'd just as soon not know every serious thing that any heterosexual or homosexual did, and those flaws have to do with all our flaws because each and everyone one of us has those imperfections."

Gays in Polish media distance themselves from recently-published list of homophobic politicians: "[This] is a private initiative of the authors, reflects private opinions of the authors and their friends, and by no means represents an opinion of sexual minorities’ organisations or gay people in general. We do not accept placing names of politicians known for their actions for rights of sexual minorities close to those whose homophobia is apparent."

Great White Shark under observation in pen off coast of Malibu.

Whistleblowers on contractor fraud in Iraq face stiff penalties: "If you do it, you will be destroyed."

Florida Rep. Bob Allen to appear in court today on blowjob charges: "Judge Oscar Hotusing will decide whether the evidence presented in the case constitutes a crime. Police say in a Titusville park restroom July 11, Allen agreed to pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercover officer, a charge the seven-year lawmaker has vehemently denied. Whether Allen testifies in the 2:30 p.m. hearing depends on what the state attorney's office presents, said Greg Eisenmenger, one of his attorneys."

Reggae Carifest goes on despite protests from GLAAD.

GOP Candidates on Gays: Discrimination Trumps National Security

Despite the fact that former General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili, former Defense Secretary William Cohen and many Republicans have come out in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, the GOP candidates issued an across-the-board "no" on the issue in last night's New Hampshire presidential debate.

Not a huge surprise, but the lack of thoughtful consideration and understanding of the current national feeling about it was both telling and disappointing. Recent polls have consistently shown that a majority of the American public favors repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

Aside from Romney, who actually flip-flopped once again in support of discrimination, this line-up of bigots wouldn't consider changing the policy at this point in time, with a few agreeing that such a consideration would be "disruptive".

Disruptive is discharging 58 talented Arabic linguists as we're losing a war in the Middle East, just because they're gay. For these candidates, pandering to their bigoted base is more important than thoughtfully considering the national security of the country.

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Former General Shalikashvili: Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell [tr]
First Marine Wounded in Iraq Comes Out of the Closet; Calls for Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" [tr]
General Pace's Remarks Ignite National Debate on Gays in Military [tr]
More Gay Linguists Discharged Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' [tr]