HomoElectus

A few short poems

2009-03-28T23:08:00.004-04:00

"The Hangover"

Last night I drank too many things,
as I never learned not to mix.

I woke up to find rain-soaked clothes
Scattered through my empty room.

[You said love was money and money, love,
So I had nothing for you.]

and.this.blood.soaked.morning.while.you.brunched
i.vacuumed.up.crumbs.at.work

"Good Rain Music"

If I hadn't listened to Corinne that night
Driving to Carolina through the storm
I probably still would have cried,
probably still wished myself dead,
And definitely still've known that i'd miss you all my life.

But if I hadn't listened
to sweet, soft, Corinne,
I probably
wouldve thought
that i
was the
only
one.

"Untitled"

Lately I see poetry in everything around me,
but most of
my poems
are sad

Pictoral Predestination

2009-03-21T22:48:00.002-04:00

There is one photo of me
From a few years back
(When my hair was longer
And my eyes squinted in the sun)

Where i feel
that i look
exactly
like my father

It's something in the way my mouth is curving --

i look at it and wonder if i am a 50-something straight man.

fuckfuckfuckfuck
fuckfuckfuck

calvin has a weird way of playing hobbes

A Spring Haiku

2009-03-21T13:47:00.002-04:00

Tyranny falling,
Buds on trees begin to bloom...
O Wynter, fuck you.

Ode to Some Dude

2009-03-18T10:06:00.002-04:00

Cute boy in the coffee shop window,
come and caffeinate me.

The line's moving up and you're
already outside
of my
view
..,

These Small Steps

2009-03-16T11:30:00.003-04:00

I run across the yard,
My feet pitter-pattering over fallen walnuts
The weight of my thick legs breaking sticks and crushing leaves

Into your door I fly,
My heart still racing head still spinning
I come into the kitchen like a tornado touching down

A few seconds pass,
And then you notice me standing beside you
Slowly you straighten your legs and rise up with great care

Before long, I run home again, my muscles moving in sync together, taking that short distance like it is nothing. I move fast.

Before long, I think about what you said, that you've only got a few more good years left, and then you'll be gone. Time passes quickly.

Before long, these small steps will be laborious, and it will take more energy to stand than it did to run from house to house, from sea to sea. Things change elusively.

Before long, alone in the city, I will wait to hear the pitter-patter of a young man running to me, moving so freely.

Slowly
I will
stand and
realize
I was just
hearing
things

Woman on 16th Street

2009-03-06T23:28:00.003-05:00

You found god
On the street tonight
With your ugly coat and dog
And your tale of eviction.

You found god
When, once I ceded my dollar,
You shouted god bless you
And I said, umm, you, too

You had found god
But you lost her a bit later
As you bought a pack of Reds
And a store-brand diaphragm.

"Aftermath" - a short poem based on a dream I had...

2009-03-02T17:34:00.002-05:00

I held you there
At the end of the world
You felt so small,
But then, so did I.
I remember mother saying
In the end it'd just be us,
But I had always hoped
That I'd find someone to love.

I looked for him there
With the sun exploding
Our earth the sacrificial lamb
Of god's cold intent.
But he'd already fallen off
The edge of our existence
And I found myself wondering
Why I still screamed his name.

Darkness followed, and I was surprised that it felt un-climactic.*

*(There was a brief limbo after the end of the world, with our computers marred in a weird off-line mode... I reread the old headlines that had predicted coming doom, "World Ending in Three Days," it was down by A+E.)

Things I Have Done Tonight

2009-02-13T00:09:00.002-05:00

1) Somehow caused gray water to materialize all over my kitchen counter.
2) Yoga.
3) Sat in bed, dunking a protein bar in peanut butter while watching Sex and the City.
4) Comprised a mental history of pants-wetting.
5) Made a LOLcat.
6) Complained to myself about the slow speed on the DunkinDonuts website.
7) Pondered the sadness of one's "sexy Parisian" underwear becoming one's "I haven't done laundry in so long that I have to wear these" underwear.
8) Laundry.
9) Used a dirty towel to wipe off all the crap from my back that I got stuck on me from laying, sweaty, on my yoga mat.
10) Covered my bed in cardboard boxes.
11) Ate too many fiber tablets.
12) Almost washed a kitten.
13) Made an omelet.
14) Learned how to spell the word "omelet."
15) Realized that if you leave my room and come back, you can definitely tell that I cook omelets down here.
16) Got a bloody nose.
17) Got blood all over my keyboard.
18) Filed my nails so I'll stop biting them.
19) Bit my nails some more.
20) Wondered why I am not in better shape, despite food-related statements made above.

What I have not done tonight:

1) Anything productive.

Cooking with Sarah Palin

2009-02-03T20:49:00.003-05:00

for some reason this popped into my head tonight. old habits die hard, y'all.

Moose Stew Recipe

1 large moose, chopped
3 cans of workin-class broth
Any and all spices, really, that have been put in fronnaya over the years
Also, too, in addition, a little potatoe, also (thanks, Mr. Quayle!)
None of those liberal, anti-gun, Peta-loving vegetables
All under the umbrella of a dash of salt and pepper

Just say the Lord's prayer and serve.

FIRST MUSIC VIDEO!

2009-01-26T20:13:00.003-05:00

It has arrived! Kristen at Neonlight117 Productions has released my first ever music video - "Come to Find Out," a song I wrote almost three years ago. Please check it out below, and visit my MySpace music page here for more songs, pics, and news.

Microcosms

2009-01-21T12:34:00.002-05:00

For the past week, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Georgetown-Israel Alliance have been fighting for space through my office. Neither is willing to actually follow the policies we have in place, and the massive bureaucracy that is Georgetown seems more content to bounce them around from office to office rather than actually address their concerns.

Today, after someone from the Georgetown-Israel Alliance argued with my boss for 20 minutes trying to get a space for tomorrow, the president of the group called asking to cancel the same space. "Didn't someone just call arguing that you really needed it?" I asked. "Oh," she answered, "that must have been our other president."

*Sigh.*

What Bush Got Right

2009-01-17T17:34:00.003-05:00

So far, these are the only things I can remember on which I felt Bush got it right:

1) Immigration Reform: At least he tried. If Bush had actually gotten his legislation through the GOP-blocked Congress, I think we would at least be in a better place than we are now. He didn't really get it "right," but it was one of the few issues where I didn't hate his position, and thought would have worked out okay if not great.

2) Dubai Ports Deal: Congress - including many Democrats - behaved shamefully in their racist and Islamaphobic attacks on the deal that would have put US ports under the control of a Dubai-owned security company. I don't love the idea of our security being outsourced, but it's happening anyway. No one said "Don't outsource this to a private company"; they said "Don't outsource it to Arabs." As much as he played the whole "radical Islamic terrorists" card, Bush did a decent job of showing that Islam is not inherently bad - despite, of course, the horrible wars and policies of torture he inflicted on many Muslims. It seems ridiculous that I would have to put this down as a "good position" - what? not all Muslims are evil? for real? - but we live in ridiculous times.

3) The Transition: You have to hand it to him: Bush seemed to put the country first during the transition, trying to work with the president-elect. He went against his party and his general ideological stances to move the economy in the direction he knew Obama would take it, rather than trying to steer the economy in his own direction only to have a mid-January change of course. Maybe it's just that I am happy to see him go, but I think he did a decent job.

And that's all I can think of. Well done, Dubbya.

American Still Sucks

2009-01-14T13:01:00.002-05:00

With all the excitement coming up next week, I ask you to remember that America is still a disgusting nation in many ways. Consider this poll from Ipsos / McClatchy, taken this week:

"As you may know, violence has recently erupted in the Middle East in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Based on what you have seen, read or heard, do you think that the use of force by [RANDOMIZE: Israel/Hamas] has been excessive or is appropriate given the circumstances?"

Hamas

57% Excessive
18% Appropriate

Israel

36% Excessive
44% Appropriate

And regardless of your personal feelings, who do you believe is more to blame for the current conflict?

44% Hamas
14% Israel
9% Both
4% Neither

Entitlement, Doctors, & Walks in the Future

2009-01-14T11:23:00.003-05:00

I was too good a waiter, or food service professional more broadly. I knew that when a customer asked for something, you had one chance to get it right. Consequently, I don't like reminding people of things. If I ask for a drink and it is not brought to me, I refuse to ask again. That person has failed to do their job.

I waited in the doctor's office yesterday trying to get an appointment - not the regular doctor office, but the crazy doctor office. I haven't been in a while. Waited 30 minutes to try to see someone just to talk about scheduling the actual appointment. I was told to go home and I'd be called. I wasn't.

And now I don't want to call them back. Like that table asking for some more bread, they had their chance to get it right, and they failed. I will just have to eat somewhere else. Maybe that's what they mean by "sense of entitlement."

Last night, after being dumped by the doctor's office, I went for a long walk. Eight miles across the city, at night, in the cold. The signs of inauguration were everywhere. Bleachers going up, park rangers driving around, working overtime to make sure everything is prepared. It's the dawn of a new era, but I couldn't care less. Obama is the lesser of evils, but still just a Poser-in-Chief.

Got a little dizzy. The last time I felt like that I ended up sick for two weeks. Had to go to the ER. My insurance doesn't cover ER bills anymore, and since last time it would have been $1,000 sans coverage, I know that's not going to happen now.

My coffee is watery now. I have been trying to brew my own at work, to save money. But the ground-up beans are old and stale, and the product too weak to stand a bit of cream added in. I drink it black, with one splenda, and it tastes like a tiny piece of candy got dissolved in a bowl of boiling water.

My watch ticks very loudly.

Daily Beast's Yearly Worst

2009-01-08T12:06:00.003-05:00

If you aren't already reading The Daily Beast, you're behind the times as it is and probably really need to check out their Worst Fashion of '08 feature. I always love/hate these fashion pieces; it's hard not to be ambivalent to all the snark they entail.

I especially enjoyed their calling out of "Uggs," which I thought went out of style in about 2006... if they had ever been there to begin with. Though they "may win style points in the halls of your Orange County high school if you wear them," the Daily Beast - as well as all reasonable common sense - suggests against it:

"As with fleece-lined Crocs, comfort is not an excuse (though in 70 degree weather, how could they be?). Salvage the parts and turn them into a vest or a dog bed."

Is it just me or is uggs-dog bed the BEST COMPARISON EVER MADE OF TWO THINGS, EVER.

American Hero

2009-01-07T19:27:00.002-05:00

Larry Flynt may be the greatest political activist of our time.

In addition to battling for First Amendment rights and offering money to folks for providing details on political sex scandals, he is now asking Congress for a $5 billion bailout of the porn industry. Not because business is hurting, but because people are downtrodden, depressed, and need more porn in this time of global crisis.

Oh. He also sends free copies of Hustler to every member of Congress. Something I discovered, with some embarrassment, on my first day as a Capital Hill intern.

Video Shoot

2009-01-06T10:33:00.002-05:00

This weekend I had the fun and enlightening experience of being filmed for a music video. My friend and #1 fan (literally), Kristen, is into video production and asked if I was interested in her directing it. Of course, I said yes.

The song we selected for the shoot is Kristen's favorite and one of mine, as well. I wrote the track - "Come to Find Out" - in the summer of 2007. It's about the experience of finding out that a close friend was gay. This was before I had come out myself, so the realization carried with it a lot of emotion.

We filmed the video in my Burleith apartment here in DC, as well as throughout the neighborhood of Georgetown. Based on the raw footage I've seen, Kristen did a terrific job and the shots along the C & O Canal and Potomac River are particularly beautiful. Carrying my guitar through the streets and down into the woods required a little wear and tear, but the small scuffs on my trusty guitarrro were worth it.

Hopefully we'll get the thing edited and finished before too long. Meanwhile, please check out my MySpace page, where I have newly-added lyrics, pictures, and songs - including the new cut of "Come to Find Out." As soon as the video is done, that will be up there, too.

White Christmas(time)

2008-12-20T00:36:00.002-05:00

Until 12/31, I'm back in Connecticut, where my dermatologist today had the audacity to tell me my skin looked pretty good. Clearly, she has never been a gay man.

I brought stormy skies with me. It started snowing a few hours after my train arrived. My dad played chauffeur all day, and as we drove around doing errands, I realized that I got more accomplished in 5 hours with him today than... ever, in the 3 1/2 years I have lived in DC.

My sister arrives in town tomorrow. We will be going to pick out a Christmas tree. My choice this year, which means by 5pm tomorrow, she will no longer be speaking to me.

And in other holiday news, I am the worst present wrapper of all times. From now on I am just putting gifts in packing boxes and dunking them in a big tub of green paint.

The New Gay is going dark until 1/5, by the way... So I may actually have some substantial posts here again soon! After I catch up on sleep, that is.

Linguistic Limits

2008-12-13T17:13:00.001-05:00

discussing boy problems:

Krissy: je ne sais pas

me: les hommes sont tres stupid
tout les hommes

Krissy: tres vrais

me: je voudrais une limonade.

Why I Hate CNN

2008-12-11T09:45:00.002-05:00

Yes, clearly this is breaking news. And requires a spiraling yellow background. And an exclamation point after the headline!

I mean, sure, this is the politics page, and we are amidst the biggest political scandal in decades, and there are major presidential transition announcements today. But OMG ITS SNOWING!!1!

Family

2008-12-10T22:50:00.001-05:00

Krissy: so how are things
me: ahh, like the drums on the deck of a warring ship, they teeter on as always, pounding along steady and sometimes sweet, but always with the dread of having to keep time
Krissy: thats cool

Why the F Not? Fran Drescher for Senate

2008-12-09T09:06:00.003-05:00

Fran Drescher, who once played the title character on the hit series "The Nanny," has officially thrown her name into the mix to be New York's next senator. NY Governor Dave Paterson will be replacing Hillary Rodham Clinton when she becomes the next Secretary of State.

Why not appoint Drescher? She is actually a resident of New York, unlike Clinton. And she has experience working as an advocate for women and for cancer research, including lobbying for a bill in Congress. She was recently named a "diplomatic envoy" for the State Department on women's issues. In other words, she has more experience than Caroline Kennedy, who is currently considering the position and - if she decides she wants it - may well be the frontrunner.

What has Kennedy done to earn this? Not a whole fuck of a lot. She was born into a rich, famous family... She worked at a museum... She's on the board of a ballet group... She endorsed Obama in the primary, and went to a few rallies... And she helped him pick his vice president. That's about it. If doing volunteer work for Obama qualifies you to be a senator, I guess I should put my name in for consideration, as well.

Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Caroline's uncle, had the audacity to contact Gov. Paterson and say, basically, that because Caroline is a Kennedy people will do things for her and send lots of money to NY. Is this what our political system should be about? Picking leaders based on their lineage and not their merits? Offering favors for politicians who give our family positions? This very often turns out to be the case - Bush, anyone? - and I hope it's not this time around.

So why not Fran Drescher? As she says, she's honest and genuine. I can't picture her ever not putting what she honestly felt were the best interests of her constituents first. She has shown an ability to put politics aside and work for common good, to a greater degree than Kennedy or most of the politicians being considered have done. And I'd rather see a hard-working, cancer-surviving girl from Queens get a boost than another snobby Manhattan heiress who has had life handed to her on a silver platter, and now, despite having zero political experience, would love a free senate seat. Plus, can't you hear her now? "Awwwwwww, but Mistah Leaduh.... I wanna be on the comitteeeeeeeee!"

I endorse Fran The Nanny for NY senator. The Kennedys can kiss my ass.

Poetry & Creative Prose

2008-12-08T07:57:00.003-05:00

Throughout high school and into college, my writing would go in cycles between creative prose, song writing, and poetry. Over the past few years, however, I've been doing almost exclusively song writing, with a lot of academic and journalistic writing but little else of a creative variety. After I finished writing a novel the summer after Freshman year, I kind of lost my appetite for prose, and it seems as though after my depression sophomore year - which produced a lot of bad, sleep deprived, drugged up poetry - all of my poetic voice turned to song.

This isn't a totally bad thing, except for the fact that I could actually have a chance at getting my poetry or creative prose published at some point. Not saying anything big would happen, but in small journals, online, etc. I love writing songs, but the problem is that I'm the only one who ever really hears them. That's good in some ways, but part of the joy of writing is also sharing one's craft.

I have an idea for a new novel, one which I think would be really interesting to develop. But what with classes, blog posting, a thesis due, teaching exams to study for, and a 40+ hour a week job, it's really hard to find time to sit down and write a book. My first novel was so easy to write - the words just flowed onto the pages each night, as I had already arranged them in my mind throughout the day - but even so, just the process of typing out and editing that much text is a huge undertaking.

Then again, why not start? What's the worst that could happen? Say I get three chapters done and it goes nowhere. Would four or five songs that no one will listen to be any better? It's great to do something quick and easy, and have a finished product, but it's never really finished until it's out of your hands and into someone else's consciousness. My songs never really give me a sense of completion anyway. Might as well take a leap, try something new, see what happens. I don't know why I chose to write this here, except maybe as motivation to get my ass in gear. We'll see if I actually follow through.

First Thoughts on Britney's Latest

2008-12-05T12:02:00.003-05:00

I have so much to say about Britney's new CD that I will never get it all out at once. This probably seems really sad. Keep in mind that I was never a Britney fan, or a fan of pop in general; I can't stand most of the shit prior to her last 2 albums. I don't listen to Top 40 or anything like that, and only have a few pop artists that I own music for and listen to.

But something has been happening with Britney lately, and I like it. As someone who considers himself somewhat of an, albeit it shitty, musician, I try not to think about her as a creator of music. Rather, I look at her as a creator of a fetish, of an icon, and of a product. What she really is is an amazing saleswoman, one who takes "sex sells" to the max and uses her life as a billboard. Not only is she very talented at this, but she also has some of the best producers in the world on board, without which these last two albums would never have been made.

Here are some thoughts on some of the tracks:

#1: Womanizer
I've written about this already. Watch the video if you live in a fucking cave and haven't seen it. It's probably the second-best song on the album.

#2: Circus
This is the second single and it's not bad. The video is out today - again, it's not as good as Womanizer, but I like it. It's definitely catchy and is keeping with the "comeback theme" of "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me" - it addresses issues of celebrity and performance, which has always been one of her strong suits (looking back to similar motifs in "Lucky" and "Me Against the Music").

#4: Kill the Lights
Best song on the album, and - I suspect - the next single following Circus. It has really bad-ass horns thing going on, and starts out with one of those "Hey guess what Britney's gonna sing" intros that overpopulated Blackout but that I still love. I think this is an even better single than "Womanizer" in that it's slightly more generic and more relateable - it's just about dancing and going crazy, something easier to meld with at a club or party than a song about a dude who sleeps around.

#6: If U Seek Amy
I didn't get this song for the first 10 listens. Everyone wants to hang with this woman, Amy, at a club but no one can have her or even find her, apparently. The words of title "If U Seek Amy" was in the song many times, but didn't make sense and seemed like code. Was it about drugs? Fame? Date rape? Finally I realized that you have to play Mad Gab when the chorus is on: "Love me, hate me, say what you want about me / But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to If U Seek Amy." If U Seek Amy. F-U-C-K me. Yeah. That's right. Now I am fucking in love with it (no pun intended). Also, doesn't she sound like she's channeling "Bathwater" by No Doubt in that intro? You know it.

There are other good dance songs, too, like Mannequin and Lace and Leather, the latter of which sounds suspiciously like every goddamn song on Madonna's last album, Hard Candy. And the slower songs ("Out From Under," "Unusual You," and "My Baby") are not anywhere near as painful as the sole ballad from the last album, "Why Should I Be Sad," which was a self-answering question. I actually really enjoy "Unusual You," which is the only one with any single-release potential.

Overall, it is a much more diverse album than was Blackout, which is good and bad. It shows her ability to sing songs that sound, ya know, different from one another, but it's also less instantly recognizable as cohesive and a full product. In other words, you can't just put it on and dance or work out right on through - there is more here than just songs for the club. Even after a few days, however, this is already turning into a big plus. Whereas before I had to be in a very particular mood to listen to Britney, this new one appeals to multiple moods and that can be nice.

And let's face it. The fact that she is even capable of making records is kind of a Madonna-sized miracle. And I mean the Mother of Jesus in this case, not the faux-British pop granny.

Few Thoughts on the Cabinet

2008-12-01T16:28:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, Obama made several announcements today of posts that most of us knew for some time now:

Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secy / State
Robert Gates to stay @ Defense
Eric Holder for Attorney General
Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security
Jim Jones for National Security Adviser
Susan Rice for UN Ambassador

Those represent 3 of the 4 biggest cabinet positions and 2 prominent cabinet-level positions. At this point, when we include Geithner's nomination for Secy / Treasury (and the Richardson for Commerce / Daschle for HHS nominations that are all but official) the cabinet is getting pretty well filled out.

What do we see so far? Very little "change," for one thing. Obama is keeping Bush's Defense Secretary, who - while viewed as being fairly non-ideological and well respected in the District - is hardly an appointment that suggests Obama will be taking very drastic measures in Iraq. Jones, while technically not a Republican, does not want to set a time table in Iraq and campaigned with McCain this year.

We also have several people who served in the Clinton administration (Richardson as Secy / Engergy and UN Ambassador; Clinton as First Lady; Rice as undersecy / State; Holder as assistant AG; not to mention Larry Summers, now WH economic adviser and then Secy / Treasury). We also have Daschle, another veteran Dem and former senate majority leader. Granted, a lot of Obama's administration will be staffed by people who were involved in the last Democratic administration. But it is notable that there haven't been a lot of fresh faces in the nominations thus far.

I've spent much of today frustrated that no other positions have even the smallest, daintiest of leaks surrounding them. There isn't even much buzz up on the political sites and blogs, and if those people aren't willing to speculate and pull stories out of their asses, you KNOW there must be a shortage of data. So far we've had one republican nomination - Gates - and that is kind of an ambivalent one: it's certainly way more high profile than Bush's token appointment of Norm Mineta to Transportation, but it's also clearly designed to be a temporary appointment, and Gates isn't exactly a partisan figure. I'm hoping to see a few more bipartisan appointments - I think Olympia Snowe would be great for just about anything; Hagel would be good at Vets Affairs; and Lincoln Chaffee, while now an Indy after losing his '06 Senate race in RI as a GOPer, would be great at Interior or EPA administrator (he was endorsed by the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters). Plus, why not endorse an independent, former pro-gay marriage Republican to the cabinet? If Obama wants to be more post-partisan than just bi-partisan, that's the way to go.

After all, what he's done so far - while not terribly anti-status quo in the amount of Republicans he's picked - is shown a willingness to bring together people from a variety of backgrounds, affiliations, and viewpoints, and try to put together a strong team of leaders who will bring the nation in a bold, new direction. Let's hope it works.

Who Said the Economy's Dead?

2008-12-01T16:12:00.003-05:00

Fuck you, universe.

Back from Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T10:32:00.002-05:00

I thought the 9 hour drive from DC to my home in Connecticut on Wednesday was bad... Yesterday I left my house at 3:15 in the afternoon and didn't arrive at my home in the District until after 2AM. We hit traffic throughout Connecticut, even the rural/suburban part; we took 2 hours to travel 15 miles leading up to the Tappan Zee Bridge, where they closed a lane for no apparent reason; hit more traffic in Jersey; and an accident in Maryland caused huge delays on the Beltway. Yikes.

Nonetheless, it was a nice few days at home - busy, but still a nice break from school, work, etc. I am back at my office now, where the absence of two staff members has caused the university assistant VP who oversees us to work out of our space today. I'm always nervous when she's around, and doubly so when there are fewer staffers here to take any heat.

Obama will be announcing Clinton for State, Gates for Defense, Holder for AG, Jones for NSA, and Rice (Susan, NOT Condi, thank Jesus) in just a few minutes so I should have more on that in the afternoon. Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Napolitano for What, Now?

2008-11-20T09:08:00.003-05:00

I was disappointed earlier in the week when news broke that Eric Holder had been picked for AG over Gov Janet Napolitano (D-Ariz.) - not for any particular reason, other than the fact that I think she's cool and have been following her career with interest.

Then last night I read that Napolitano had been selected for Secretary of Homeland Security. WOW. She has experience as a U.S. Attorney and the state's Attorney General, and has done a lot of work on immigration (which falls into DHS jurisdiction). However, I thought that they would pick someone with intelligence and/or military experience, like Jack Reed (D-R.I.) for example.

The DHS has only existed for a few years, so saying that Napolitano will be its first female head isn't a big deal... except when you consider that even if it had been around for 100 years, she probably still would be the first. Did Obama miss the memo that women are supposed to handle only issues like education, health care, and other motherly things?? ;-)

Also... elephant in the room... Napolitano is 50 and single (unusual for a politician), and looks pretty damn gay. I don't want to judge based on stereotypes, but she's definitely the most prominent gay-in-waiting politician in the country. If she wants to keep this private, or, in fact, is not gay, I totally understand and support her. However, if she is gay, that makes her appointment - to no less than the Department of Homeland Security - pretty awesome.

But whatever. Congrats to Gov. Napolitano. She has had a really outstanding career, and this is an excellent move. I tend to think that, unfortunately, America's first female president will have to be more like Sarah Palin (fitting of our stereotypes, young, attractive) than Napolitano (threatening to our notions of gender roles, not getting the Republican male base hot and bothered). Might as well keep hoping, though.

BREAKING: PAPAL SCANDAL

2008-11-19T19:53:00.003-05:00

Okay, this post is not at all what the title suggests. Well, not exactly.

Back when I identified as Baptist (which was after Catholic, before non-denom Christian, and today's agnostic) I would often refer to Beyonce as "the Baptist Pope" when my Catholic friends talked endlessly about their catholicism. She is definitely one of the most famous baptists; she sings way better than Catholic priests (why the fuck do they SING everything? some things should just be STATED); and she's way cooler than the Catholic leadership. Would little kids ever complain about Beyonce getting a little too close? No. She's too classy, and no one would complain about that, anyway. It's not psychological or physical abuse if you enjoy it, and leave with "Crazy In Love" stuck in your head.

I'm digging Beyonce's new CD, even if it's kind of weird that 1/2 of it is dedicated to her alter-ego, "Sasha Fierce." I mean... let's all think about how creepy that is for the moment.

Anyway, I got past that because the songs are great, until I heard one track called "Ave Maria." It's basically about a woman having problems, she prays, blah blah blah. It's on the boring 1/2 of Beyonce's personality, so I skipped it at first. But what is the BAPTIST POPE doing singing about "Ave Maria," which is a Catholicy / Eastern Orthodoxy thing about Mary, Jesus' Earth Momma? I feel like the residents of Idaho must have felt like when they realized for sure that Larry Craig was gay as fuck.

Where does this leave us, Beyonce? I mean, I'm no longer Baptist, but I like to think that if we Baptists have a Pope we can be a bit more like Catholics, and still keep the cultural parts of the religion we like, even if we don't believe the same shit anymore. In other words, I still want you to be my pope. Can we just forget that this whole Ave Maria thing ever happened, and include some songs on your new CD about having crosses with no Jesus on them, how much you love singing in the vernacular, and maybe a new pop hit, "Saints R Stupid"? COME BACK BEYONCE... come back, girl.

TFA: Denver

2008-11-19T13:23:00.006-05:00

Finally slept last night after 1 sleepless night and 1 almost-sleepless night to get a term paper done - which, luckily, I did. And this all followed a very busy, fun weekend of bars and movies and dinners out. So I am back to blogging and getting caught up on the rest of life.

What have I missed? Well, Beyonce is schizophrenic. Somali pirates have taken over the world. And, I got accepted to Teach For America and will be going to Denver for two years.

It's pretty crazy to think about and I'm really excited, at least in those few moments when I'm able to wrap my head around it. I have never been to Denver before but ended up picking it because of all that I heard about it, my strong appreciation for the Western states after this summer, and my general love for traveling and seeing new places. Not only will I get to experience living in a new city, but I will get to travel through a whole new region; Colorado has beautiful and diverse landscapes itself, and I will be 90 miles from Wyoming and have the whole Southwest fairly easily accessible.

And of course there's a ton of stuff to figure out, but luckily I have plenty of time. I just made plans to go to Denver in March with my dad to take the necessary teaching exam, scope out the city, and hopefully meet the TFA staff there with whom I will be working. Should be great.

Keep an eye out for posts on TNG from me - one at 1:50 today on Jim Martin, who I've discussed before here, and one tomorrow morning on the weird culture wars of Georgetown.

For now - YAY for Teach for America, YAY for Denver, and I'll be back with more soon...

Sam Nunn, Voting Rights, Nixon, More Lutherans

2008-11-12T13:05:00.004-05:00

Ready for a post that has very neat parallels to yesterday's?

I'm still working on the first chunk of my thesis draft. Have to turn it in at 4pm. It's coming along well, though, and I've got enough done now to not look like an idiot.
Despite having to do that today, went to see FROST/NIXON at the Kennedy Center last night (since I had already bought my ticket before this deadline was set.) It was great, and seeing it a few blocks from the White House and right next door to Watergate was a really cool experience. Lots of parallels to the current administration as well. Definitely recommend you hit it up.
Again I have a post up over at TNG. This one is about Sam Nunn getting selected to head Obama's transition of the Dept. of Defense - a troubling sign as Nunn was the architect of the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Also again (see what I meant about this being like yesterday?), I am in my home town / region newspaper, The Day of Connecticut, again today. This is a piece about my efforts on the constitutional amendment that just got passed which allows 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 in time for the general election. The piece makes me look like I'm taking a lot of the credit, but that's because - bizarrely - none of my partners in crime got back to the reporter to be interviewed. Back in our high school days, we would all be fighting for media attention for our projects (a fight that I'd usually win, as I can drop sound bites like a pro.) Oh well. It was nice to know that it got picked up by the local media, at least, as this should be good inspiration for other young people to get invovled - which was the purpose not only of the content of the ammendment, but of the act of pursuing it, as well.

Still not sure how I pulled off that thesis work. There really must be a god, because there's no way I'm bullshitting this on my own.

Lieberman, Bradley, Lutherans, etc

2008-11-11T10:43:00.002-05:00

Life is pretty crazy right now, as I have a chapter of my thesis due tomorrow and a term paper due next week, neither of which I am particularly prepared for. It's funny how I am always happy to write unless it's actually something I'm supposed to be writing. My thesis, for the record, is on the conflict within the ELCA (the main Lutheran organization in America) on homosexuality, so it's not exactly something that should be like pulling teeth to write!

My procrastination projects, meanwhile, have included a piece in The New Gay today on the "Bradley Effect" that occurred with Proposition 8 polling, and also a letter in The Day of Connecticut, voicing support for efforts within Congressional leadership to strip Lieberman of his leadership post. He did, after all, betray not only the Democratic party (and the best interests of his country), but also the people of Connecticut, to whom he pledged to support the Democrats while in office as an independent. We'll see if he actually gets punished; frankly, I'd rather have him as a moderate Republican than as a cowardly, treasonous Democrat.

But now it's back to working on this thesis... At least the portion which is due in draft form by tomorrow... Wish me luck!

Legacy

2008-11-09T12:54:00.002-05:00

It seems that President Bush could be due for just a little bit of redemption. He appears to be handling the transition remarkably well; it's the first wartime transition we've had to deal with in quite a while, and with the economy in shambles as well, this is definitely an important period.

I also felt that he has shown a lot of grace in the days following Obama's win. His speech in the Rose Garden seemed genuine and heartfelt, as well as one in which he put the interests of the country before politics; same could be said of his and Laura Bush's invitation of the Obamas to the White House tomorrow. Furthermore, the fact that his administration (especially Press Sec'y Dana Perino and Homeland Security Sec'y Michael Chertoff) continue to talk about the possibility of terrorist attacks suggests that maybe this wasn't JUST a partisan scare game, and that they might legitimately be concerned that - in the midst of a major change of power - we could be struck.

After such a hyper-partisan, unethical, and disastrously mismanaged presidency, could George Bush be improving his legacy a tiny bit by at least making sure the next guy arrives ready to go?

For Your Consideration: Jim Martin

2008-11-06T23:30:00.003-05:00

I know that I just blogged about the election being over, but guess what? As I mentioned, there's still the Senate run-off in Georgia. Basically, the sitting republican, Saxby Chambliss, got 49.8% to Democrat Jim Martin's 46.8%. Since no one got over 50%, they're headed to an early December run-off.

The senate currently rests at 57 Democrats and 40 Republicans - races in Minnesota and Alaska are still being counted. Don't forget that with 60 seats, the Democrats are filibuster-proof and will be able to accomplish amazing things with our new President Elect.

The point is... Do something to help!!!! Give a few dollars to help make sure a progressive agenda is passed through our legislature! Imagine how angry you will be if Martin loses by 1 or 2 points, and a bill on the Iraq War or health care or education gets stalled by 1 vote. I was giving to Democratic senate races in amounts like $7 this election. If you can buy a sandwich, you can give the guy $5.

If you don't have $5, you can sign up here to call voters from your cell phone on the weekend, or you can at least ask your progressive friends to give a few bucks.

CMON FOLKS, ride that election high and make President Elect Barack Obama's job a little bit easier!!! We saw this week that anything is possible, so let's get this done!

Reflections

2008-11-06T21:34:00.005-05:00

The White House, on election night... as caught on my cell phone.

Wow.

After two years, it's over. And we have a new President-Elect - the man who will in a few short months become America's first black president.

Not only are the results surreal, but so is the fact that the election is over. I keep bouncing over to polling sites and then remembering that there's nothing to check. I look at the electoral map, with states shaded in red or blue, and realize that that's the final tally (minus Missouri, for now).

But the great thing about elections is that they always come around again, usually before you know it. We still have the Georgia senate run-off election in December, and then the 2009 governor's races will be starting, and then it'll be midterms, and then it'll be 2012, and I will hopefully be standing behind a successful President Obama. See how it is to jump light-years ahead of ourselves?

My posts here have been light the past few days as I've been doing a lot of political stories over at The New Gay. My post from today is a personal and political reflection of where I was on election night, where gay rights stand in light of Prop 8 passing in California, and some general thoughts.

Part of that story includes my wild and crazy Tuesday night. I watched the results come in at a friend's house, and when the race was called, I led a mob of Georgetown students running through the sidewalks and sometimes streets straight to the White House. There was a mosh pit, and secret service agents I tried (often successfully) to make smile by yelling "OBAMA!!!", there were people I haven't seen since freshman year who I ran up and hugged, there was cheering, there was celebration. I lost my voice. I called everyone I could think in my current state to call. I felt really and truly proud to be an American, something I've never felt before.

It's been a wild ride, and I'm thankful for the people who have been a part of my political journey. From New Hampshire last fall, volunteering for Richardson; to the deserts of Egypt, trying to find a net cafe to see who won the primaries; from staying up until the morning call to prayer in Turkey to watch results come in during the great Clinton-v-Obama battle; to working for our president elect this summer in the great state of Oregon. Thanks to everyone who joined with me in conversation, in taking action, and in being a part of this incredible movement.

MSNBC's Dirty Trick

2008-11-01T13:17:00.002-04:00

MSNBC may be viewed as the liberal equivalent to Fox News, but for a "liberal" network, the following really angered me today.

They had a video posted called, "Parents horrified as kids show up in gay ad." What does that make you think the story is about? First, I think of homophobia - of a great fear of the gays. And I think that the story is probably about gay groups manipulating children somehow, destroying America's families one at a time.

Turns out that it is regarding Prop 8 in California, which seeks to ban gay marriage in that state. Only the ad is for Prop 8, meaning AGAINST gay marriage rights. The kids in question showed up in an anti-gay rights, homophobic ad, not in a "gay ad."

And as it turns out, the scummy, small-minded advertisers didn't even do anything illegal. They used footage of kids attending a gay wedding, which is legal in California, where for political campaigns public footage can be used without the permission of the people in the video.

Thanks, MSNBC, for letting your true colors show in your own false advertising of this "news story."

Friday Memos

2008-10-31T13:10:00.000-04:00

For politics:

I count down the Top 10 Moments of Campaign '08 over at The New Gay, reaching all the way back to the candidate announcements... in 2000-and-freaking-6.
The Fix has his final senate predictions, with which I tend to agree. I still think that we may be more likely to see a surprise in Mississippi than in Kentucky, but that's mostly just going on gut feelings.
Politico has a conversation on whether or not another Republican would have done better this cycle. Most say that the "real McCain" or "McCain 2000" would have done better than... cyborg McCain? I personally think that Mitt Romney would have been a m uch better candidate - more youth and vigor, more political savvy, better on the economy, and less tied down to Bush. But hard to look in that rear view mirror, isn't it?

And on a more fun level, there is this reminder from Best Week Ever to have a very gay old Halloween.

UPDATED Final Presidential Analysis

2008-10-31T12:16:00.001-04:00

Ed. note: Jeez, could I have had ANY more technical problems with that last post? Everything should be working now...

Here's my final take on the race - not with a straight-up prediction, but rather based on three models.

Model One is based on conservative estimates of voter turnout and preference. This is what I think is most likely to happen. Note that Florida stays red, a decision I made based on the hesitance of FL voters to move to Obama in the past month and a half, and the fact that McCain and the RNC have putting in a lot of resources here.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.
(If you can't see this map, click here.)

Model Two is based on a blue collar back down / Bradley Effect scenario in which voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio get into the voting booths and can't quite bring themselves to vote for Senator Obama. Pennsylvania has been looking safe, but the GOP is trying its damnedest for the state, and the polling numbers seem to be dropping. And Ohio, while trending better than Florida as of late, is still too close to call. If anywhere we'd see a reluctance of the "Hillary Clinton Democrats" to actually vote for Obama, it's in these two states. Note, though, that in this model, Obama still holds onto Nevada, Colorado, and Nevada - three states that I think are a lock for Obama at this point - as well as Bush '04 state Iowa, which is also sure to swing. It all comes down to Virginia, where I believe there will be less of a Bradley effect, less of a Clinton Dem problem (recall that Obama won Virginia's primary 2-to-1), and where Obama has put in much more effort and money than McCain. Therefore, even in this model, Obama still - barely - ekes out a win.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.
(can't see this map? click here.)

Model Three is based on massive African American and youth turnout - which some of the early voting numbers are suggesting - which would push Obama over in several southern states and also win him current toss-up (and major bellwether) Missouri. I don't realistically see other states, like Arizona, Montana, or North Dakota, switching - pending a McCain disaster in the next three days. This is kind of my vision of a best case scenario for Team Obama.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.
(can't see this map? click here.)

In a few days, we'll finally know for sure. Until then... we wait ;-)

Five Days Out...

2008-10-30T14:55:00.001-04:00

We're five days away from the 2008 election and there are developments, polls, and new stories every minute - and yet, at the same time, there is a growing sense that it's over. We don't know the results yet, but after 2 long years, all that it comes down to is for Americans to walk into those polls and cast their ballots.

Starting today, I will be running a series of political countdowns on The New Gay, and I hope you'll pop over and check them out. Today's post is a fun one on Halloween, but they'll be getting more serious as the election draws even nearer, and then actually - finally - concludes. I hope that you'll follow my posts over there, and I'll continue to have updates here, as well. Here's my tentative schedule:

Today, 10/30: Top 5 Ways to Politicize Halloween
Friday, 10/31: Top 10 Moments of Campaign '08
Monday, 11/3: Top Reasons to Vote
Tuesday, 11/4: Top Things to Watch For on Election Day
Wednesday, 11/5: Top Surprises in the Results

TNG also has a lot of other great election coverage, including the presidential campaign of fellow blogger, Ben. I may or may not have a high-ranking appointment in my future... But if I told you, I'd have to kill you. (Not really, though.) So please stay tuned for the all the latest.

Equality

2008-10-29T18:47:00.002-04:00

First off, there's the story of a 109-year-old daughter of a slave who sent in her ballot for Obama this week... Reminding me that despite it's shortcomings, America is a land of remarkable stories and redeemable qualities.

Second, on a personal note, I had my full-day, final interview for Teach for America today. I think it went pretty well, and I am keeping my fingers crossed; I will find out if I am accepted on November 17th. And after weeks of research, reading, thinking, applying, writing, applying, putting together references, picking locations, picking teaching preferences, and APPLYING, I am really hoping to have an opportunity to help bridge the achievement gap among American youths. We'll see :-)

Presidential Update: Too Good to be True?

2008-10-28T19:32:00.003-04:00

I don't have much time to post - my TeachForAmerica final interview is in 13 hours - but things are really looking up for Sen. Obama a week before the election day. Almost too good. Like, crazy-good. Go to pollster.com and check out that map.

Obama has every single Kerry state (including PA and NH) as solid Blue states. He is also solid in Virginia (up 8 points) and Iowa (up 12 points), two states George Bush carried in '04. That puts him at 272 electoral votes already - enough to win the election.

Four states - Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado - are also leaning Blue. With NM and CO, the two most solidly for Obama, he has 286 EVs; with OH and NV as well, he has 311.

Looking at the swing states, with 85 EVs up for grabs, Obama is currently ahead in Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, and North Dakota, which would put him at at 367 EVs to McCain's 171. If Obama sweeps the other swing states, all of which are within the margin of error, he has 396 - the biggest landslide in many years.

And if Obama picks up the current Lean McCain states, plus the one Nebraska EV which is allocated just to the district containing Omaha, he would win 416-122.

*** A FEW NOTES ***

(a) I am not saying this is going to happen. But that is Obama's window of possibility right now. By contrast, even if McCain swept the swing states and the Lean Obama states, he would still lose the election with 261 votes. This means that McCain needs to run the table on every swing state and state leaning Obama, AND pick up another state like NH or PA.

(b) As per the title of this post, things may also be too good to be true. Keep in mind that national polling numbers, while up and down, have been declining a bit for Obama in the past few days. The national polling numbers are usually about 3 days behind what's actually happening, as most of them take a few days to be gathered and released.

State polls take longer. They're usually almost a week behind what people are actually thinking (maybe a bit less now that things are heating up). Meaning the "trends" are usually over a week behind, because they incorporate not only few-day-old info but also polls from before that. So there could be a decline from state to state that we're not really seeing yet.

Still. OMG. One week left. One election that's ours to lose.

BREAKING SENATE UPDATE

2008-10-27T16:06:00.001-04:00

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is found guilty in his trial, which should be more than enough to put his democratic challenger over the top - and bringing the senate one step closer to a Democratic super-majority.

Senate Predictions

2008-10-27T12:53:00.003-04:00

With the election ONE WEEK from tomorrow, and an Obama win looking more and more likely, a lot more attention has been paid in the media to the senate races. I, of course, have been following them forever, because I am a freaking junkie.

The Democrats need to pick up 9 seats to get a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the senate, which pretty much will mean they can pass whatever they'd like. So below is my map of the most hotly-contested seats, showing which way I think they will flip. Only Louisiana is currently held by a Democrat, which means my map shows 9 pickups putting the Dems right at 60. Explanations after the map.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;strong&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/strong&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

(If you can't see the map, click here.)

New Mexico and Virginia are open seats and are beyond safe. Virginia is looking to go by about a 30 point margin for popular former Gov. Mark Warner over not-so-popular former lunatic governor and prez candidate Jim Gilmore (who incomprehensibly said that the GOP would never pick "Rudy McRomney" as a candidate).

Colorado and New Hamshire have stayed tighter, but both states should go for Obama, and in a year tilting this heavily Democratic, neither will fall to the Republicans this time around. CO is open, and in NH Sununu - a known political brand - has been trailing for months.

Louisiana, once considered a good pick-up opportunity for Republicans, shows Mary Landrieu (D-inc.) leading by 13 points - more than the Republican incumbents lead by in Texas, South Carolina, and freaking Oklahoma. This seat is safely Democratic.

North Carolina, Oregon, and Minnesota will all be closer. OR is safest of the three; while Jeff Merkley is not the most exciting dude in the world (trust me, I worked for OR for Obama, remember? snorrre), Oregon is pissed about the war, the economy, the environment, etc, and doesn't care that incumbent Gordon Smith is fairly moderate. N.C. should be pretty safe, even given the closeness of the presidential race, but Elizabeth Dole is an idiot, the DSCC has done a good job of branding her as such, and - well - no seat is safe this year. Speaking of which - Norm Coleman, Republican incument of Minnesota, looks to lose his seat to comedian Al Franken in a three-way race in which an independent candidate is polling at around 17 percent - taking more from Coleman than Franken. MN will go for Obama; all Franken needs to do is hold on to the democratic base.

The last four states - Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, and Alaska are tougher calls. All could go either way. But here are my thoughts.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is currently on trial for being a corrupt bastard. It should be decided this week. If he is found guilty, he will lose. If not, he will probably win, even though in ANY OTHER STATE this would be a deal-breaker. The truth is, Alaskans know their state is corrupt, and as long as it brings them tons of money, they don't really care. They can keep looking themselves in the mirror as long as he's not actually labeled a criminal, as shown by the tightening polls here (particularly post-Palin VP selection).

Kentucky is home to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who faces a tough race. However, his state will be going for McCain by about 12% most likely, which will help him. McConnell is no Liddy Dole, and while the polls have tightened, challenger Bruce Lundsford is still trailing. Kentucky also isn't a state where record-breaking African American turnout will be enough to make up the difference, unlike...

Mississippi and Georgia. Black turnout in these states, if large enough, could make a HUGE difference. Both have been polling within a few points as of late. And both have certain advantages for dems. In Georgia, Obama has invested more money and advertising than McCain; while he basically pulled out several weeks ago, the damage has been done, and it looks like he is but a few points behind McCain. Dems churned out huge registration numbers and with high enough turn-out challenger Jim Martin has a real shot. In Mississippi, the GOP "incumbent" just took over a year ago from the retiring Senator Trent Lott. GOPer Wicker actually has less name recognition than former governor and Dem candidate Roger Musgrove, and - get this - in MS special elections, the name of the party doesn't appear on the ballot. The Republicans have been hammering Musgrove, but he is still within a few points, especially post-economic crisis. It is, once again, all a turnout game.

What happens with undecideds, get out the vote, etc during the next week could largely decide a lot of these seats, but things are looking pretty good for the Democrats. *Shocker.

How Obama Takes Montana and Georgia

2008-10-26T11:48:00.004-04:00

Despite the name of this post, I am not saying that Obama will necessarily win these two states. Based on the polls, it would appear he will come somewhat close - a lot closer than a Dem has in a while - but not prevail over McCain. Still, consider this.

Montana is in the part of the country with the largest number of cell phone-only voters - people who are generally missed by pollsters and who are overwhelmingly supporting Obama. If it is a 2 point difference in favor of Obama nationally (which a lot of people have been predicting), that number could well be something like 3 or 4% in Montana, enough to make up a big chunk of Obama's small deficit.

Another factor is that Ron Paul will be on the ballot in Montana. I think this is the only state where this is so. It is not inconceivable that some disgruntled Republicans will go into the voting booth on Nov. 4th, see Paul's name, and figure "what the hell" - and some may have been planning on doing this, and telling pollsters "other" or "undecided." Could strip away another point or two from McCain, and in a tight race, that's a lot.

Georgia, as I have written before, could well be a place where unprecedented African American turnout - especially people who haven't voted before, and thus are not counted in most "Likely Voter" polls - could really help Obama. That's a given.

But I also read yesterday a statement from Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, who predicted McCain will lose Georgia. While Barr won't pick up many points most places, I had forgotten that he was a Republican congressman from Georgia for several years, so he should do well in this state. Again these may be folks who are ticked off at McCain and the republicans, especially post-bailout, but can't bring themselves to vote for a Democrat (especially an African American one). McCain has never been popular with a lot of base voters.

All this is in addition to a national climate very favorable towards Obama, as well as his huge fund raising, advertising, and organizational edges in these places. Granted, if he wins these states, it will probably be a national landslide, but it is still very interesting to consider how the traditional political maps could well be thrown out the window this cycle.

HSM3 Recap

2008-10-25T14:30:00.003-04:00

Went to see High School Musical 3 last night, and let me tell you: it was quite the experience. The evening was greatly enhanced by the fact that my friend Christine and I pounded back a few beers first, and that the 10:45pm showing was mostly older high school students and college kids - all people who knew they were too damn old to be there, but had a great time anyway.

During the film, we laughed every time the HSM kids broke out into song or delivered a trademark cheesy line, and cheered each time there was horribly awkward sexual tension. For a "G"-rated movie, there were a lot of moments of hot, sleeveless Zac Efron flexing, and one shown-from-behind, angry shirt removal in the locker room that led to thunderous, knowingly-ironic applause from the audience. Zeke was shown shirtless - and let me tell you, he's been hiding a lot beneath those basketball jerseys - and Sharpay showed off her super hot legs once again in an outfit so sexy the crowd gasped when they saw it. And there was kissing, moments when you know they WOULD have been kissing if it were PG-13, and just so very, very many examples of awkward sexual repression you have to see it to believe it.

It was the ultimate guilty pleasure: guilty enough to laugh at yourselves, but not so guilty that you feel kind of gross afterward. The transitions were better this time around, with most of the musical numbers appearing to be staged acts themselves, fitting in with the movie's theme of putting on a musical about their senior year (which was actually a lot less cheesy than it sounded). The dancing was incredible - a vast improvement from the very amateur quality of the first, and even over the fairly intricate second film. There was no "Bet On It" moment, in which you wondered if they have $2,000 and one day to film the scene and just told the actor to fake it. And the music was memorable, lively, and more harmoniously and melodically complex than the previous films. Without losing the pop quality of the music that has defined the film, it managed to gain a slightly more musical feel, which - as a fan of musicals, had been one of my perceived shortcomings of the previous films.

It was a little shameless how they tried to set up new characters to fill the same architects (down to race and hairstyle) for follow-up movies with a younger cast - Zac has already said, of course, that this will be his last "High School Musical," and no one breaks the Geneva Convention torture rules on franchises quite like Disney. But at the same time, I felt myself hoping that they did continue to pump out musicals, even if the quality goes down (which it inevitably will).

Does that make me a bad person? Probably. But it's hard to hear my conscience over the blaring HSM3 soundtrack.

My Endorsement

2008-10-24T13:47:00.002-04:00

Dear friends,

Many of you probably figure that an endorsement from me is no big deal, because (a) I am not an important person and (b) you probably presume I had my mind made up. While I can't challenge being just an average American, I actually have not been planning on voting for the candidate I am about to endorse. However, after reflecting on the state of our nation and a strange turn of events in my personal life, I am announcing to anyone who's listening that I'll be voting for Senator Obama for president.

Your first question is probably, "Umm, why weren't you voting for Obama to begin with? You WORKED FOR HIM this summer!" Well, here's the story. Back in the summer of 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon and Congress signed a nonbinding resolution condemning Lebanon's allowance of Hezbollah and giving full support to Israel's actions. As you may recall, the part of the Lebanese government still functioning had no control whatsoever over Hezbollah's actions. It'd be something akin to blaming the Democrats in the Senate for allowing the Republicans to exist. The government hardly wanted the civil warfare and invasion that resulted from all of this, but they were powerless to control it. Meanwhile, Israel came in, dealt far more destruction than had been directed at it, and gave a completely disproportionate response. They held very little regard for minimizing civilian casualties, and killed thousands. And to this, the U.S. Congress said, "great job, keep up the good work."

A few representatives, led by Lebanese-American Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.), tried to instead pass a more moderate resolution, which gave support to Israel while requesting that they try to minimize civilian casualties and civic destruction. It failed. Most members of congress voted in support, with three former or current "on the fringe" presidential candidates - Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, and Dennis Kucinich - voting against or abstaining. Every sitting senator signed the bill, including Barack Obama and John McCain.

I was so disappointed in our government that day, so appalled that we would consider that to be an appropriate reaction to a delicate international and humanitarian crisis, that I vowed never to vote for anyone who supported the resolution. While normally I hate single-issue voters, I figured that it would be worth it to share with people my concerns about this foreign policy issue - namely, an untempered support for Israel and a horrible Middle East policy in general. I also figured that, hey, I am likely to donate to campaigns and help out with them anyway, so this wouldn't totally take my voice away. In fact, being from the solid blue state of Connecticut, and having been in an Egyptian desert during the primary, I figured that voting in the presidential race was about the less effective action I could take regardless. So I still donated to Obama and worked, unpaid, for seven weeks for him. I just planned on not voting for him.

Last week I sent in my ballot, having voted - why not? - for Nader, whose positions I happen to agree with anyway, but who obviously has no chance in hell of even breaking 2% nationwide. I realized an hour after I sent in the absentee form that I had forgotten to place it in the interior envelope. My vote would not be counted.

Imagine my surprise when I got a form in the mail to request a new ballot, with a hand-written note from my town clerk explaining what happened. My town was so small that, not only did she take the time to do this, but when I called up to confirm she even remembered my name and knew that she had received it a few days ago.

That she had taken that trouble made me think about just how important my vote is, even if - realistically - it has no chance of impacting the state of the race. Indeed, the few dollars I just donated today to three democrats running for senate had a lot more impact than a vote in a sure-blue state. But at the same time, the symbolic importance of the vote is not to be taken lightly. That's why the town clerk saw my vote, for Nader of all people, and went above and beyond to make sure it was counted regardless.

My new ballot should be in the mail today or tomorrow. And I will be voting for Senator Obama.

He is not a perfect candidate. I disagree with him on many issues. But in this time in our country, the stakes are too high and responsibility on our shoulders as American citizens that we can't let our hesitations and misgivings get in the way of standing up and standing strong.

Elections are not about ideology, and they aren't about pie-in-the-sky. They are about the real choices that we have to make. Looking back on this election in ten, twenty, or fifty years, I want to be able to say that I stood with Senator Obama one hundred percent - not because I agreed with him completely, and not because my one voice on its own even made much of a difference. I want to be able to tell the next generation that I took a stand for their future, for their education, for their health care, for their rights, for their security, for their opportunities, and for the values our nation stands for. And I don't want to think for a moment that anything stood in the way of me taking that position, and voting in the best interest of this people and of this world.

TGIF: High School Musical THREEEE

2008-10-24T10:28:00.002-04:00

Today is a very special day for me.

Fourteen months ago, I came out. This was largely due to my recent viewings of High School Musical 1 and 2 and Hairspray, believe it or not. That probably sounds like the stupidest thing in the world - or at least the most stereotypical - but let me explain.

I had just watched all these movies and realized three things: (a) I really like musicals, (b) I was really attracted to Zac Efron, even though I hadn't been attracted to guys like him in the past, and (c) the love that the characters in these movies were searching for, despite the challenges and the prejudices and the odds that they faced, was what I wanted, too.

And somewhere in the wake of all that, I finally allowed myself to accept that - yep - I was gay, and it was pointless to hide it. In the following weeks I came out to all of my friends and basically everyone in my life here in DC (with Connecticut kept in the dark for a while).

So today, it is with great pleasure that I will go to see the final chapter of High School Musical, and not worry if it fulfills a stupid stereotype, because in this one instance I am completely stereotypical. To quote Pam from the office, "I know that sounds cliche and I know saying it sounds cliche sounds cliche. Maybe I'm being cliche, I don't care cause I am what I am... that's Popeye."

I will leave you with the following amazing clip. Happy Friday, and Happy High School Musical.

Worrying about 2012

2008-10-23T09:43:00.003-04:00

In researching for my TeachForAmerica lesson, I stumbled across this estimation of changes in representation following the 2010 census. Hard to say whether it will favor democrats or republicans in the House itself - that largely depends on where the growth is, gerrymandering, etc - but it is easy to see how it will affect the 2012 presidential contest. I've broken down the list into changes to Red, Swing, and Blue states.

Red State Changes:
TX + 4
AZ + 2
GA + 1
NC + 1
SC + 1
UT + 1
LA - 1
NET GOP GAIN: 9 votes

Swing State Changes:
FL + 2
NV + 1
IA - 1
MO - 1
OH - 2
NET SWING LOSS: 1

Blue State Changes:
OR + 1
CA - 1
IL - 1
MA - 1
MI - 1
MN - 1
NJ - 1
PA - 1
NY - 2
NET DEM LOSS: 8

Basically, red state power grows by 9 electoral votes, and blue state declines by 8 electoral votes, for a net GOP gain of 17 electoral points - about as big a difference as Ohio or Pennsylvania - just by holding states that are already red.

Of course, it's largely these same demographic changes that have made some red states like VA and NC to be competitive to the democrats this time around, and that locked in a state like OR. So it's hard to complain. On the other hand, it shows that the party really does need to continue expanding into red states like Georgia, the Carolinas, even Texas - or at least solidify support in swing states like OH and FL - if it wants to remain competitive.

And before anyone says it... Yes, I know it's four *years off... And there's an election in 2 weeks... leave me alone ;-)

The New Battlegrounds

2008-10-21T12:14:00.004-04:00

I wrote yesterday that, because of the unusual nature of this election cycle and Obama's huge spending advantages in states outside the traditional few "battlegrounds," some normal swing states (OH, FL, etc) are looking better for McCain than are normally safe red states (VA, CO, NC, etc).

News is out today that McCain, realizing he has lost N.M. and Iowa for sure (out of the Bush '04 states) and will probably lose at least one other red state - enough to put Obama over the top - he will have to pick up a blue state. This has been his thinking for weeks, as he continued campaigning in Wisconsin and Minnesota despite poll numbers saying he was dead there.

Now he is aiming for Pennsylvania - a state that has been trending blue in the mid-double digits for the past several weeks. But does he have a choice?

Looking at the map, let's say that McCain manages to hold on to Ohio and Florida. Let's say he holds Missouri, too, which has only been trending blue as of late. Then let's shade in all the states that have been trending consistently blue or within the margin of error since the economic meltdown. That puts Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, and Nevada all in Obama's column. That puts him at 306.

Now say that McCain - SOMEHOW - picks up Pennsylvania. Obama still wins with 285. And in fact, he can lose any one of those other states and still beat McCain. Of those four, North Carolina seems the least safe - the others have all been showing SOLID Obama leads for weeks - and that would still give Obama 270 electoral votes, beating McCain by 2.

So even IF McCain holds Florida, Ohio, and Missouri, and takes Pennsylvania, he is still on track to lose the election if even most of those other swing states keep up their blue trends.

A NOTE ON THE BRADLEY EFFECT:

I personally think we'll have a bigger chance of seeing this in a northeastern state like New Hampshire, Ohio, or Pennsylvania than one like Virginia and North Carolina. PA / OH / NH are two states where, arguably, we saw some of that in the primaries; not true of VA and NC. In most parts of the northeast, it is pretty expected of people to not show any racial bias, so they may be less likely to tell a pollster they won't vote for Obama. In the southern states, where there is obviously a much broader history of racial conflict, I think that people are already on one side or the other and willing to be honest about their vote. Unlike voters in rural N.H. who don't have any African Americans in their towns and may just feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar with that idea, in N.C. or VA they should probably already have their feelings straight on this. We are furthermore unlikely to see any effect in the west, where African American - white racial strife has been a much smaller marker on history. In the case of NH and PA, at least, Obama is polling far enough ahead that even a huge 5 point effect would still not be enough to ruin him, but my thought is that the McCain campaign probably feels its better to try in places where his numbers might be a little soft than states where they know he is actually, definitely leading by 8 or 12 points.

Election Update: The Big MO

2008-10-20T18:33:00.004-04:00

With 15 days to go, it's all about the momentum.

Obama's numbers have leveled off somewhat nationally, and things are likely to tighten more in the final two weeks. In the states, it's somewhat of a different story with some showing him losing steam (Ohio), some showing him standing steady (Florida and Nevada), and some gaining (N.C. and Missouri). If nothing else, read the take on Missouri, which is the real story today.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.
(Click here if you can't see my map.)

Here's where we stand: things out West are standing still, with Obama keeping modest leads in N.M. and Colorado, and a slight lead in Nevada. The Northeast and Upper Midwest are locked. Here are the five closest calls from the map above:

FLORIDA:
Florida will stay close until the end, no doubt about it. But Obama's lead there has remained consistent, and at this point, it seems like there's not a lot McCain can do to make up for Obama's big money advantage.

OHIO:
On the other hand, Ohio has been moving in the other direction - away from Obama and back to McCain. The margin is small and Obama could still take the state, but it's looking better for McCain and with only two weeks left, Obama has not a lot of time to close the deal.

NORTH CAROLINA:
With Virginia looking better and better for Obama and having similar demographics to the Tarheel state, I guess this makes sense... and yet, it is still pretty shocking to see North Carolina here. A few weeks ago I'd have said it'd be close but probably wouldn't actually flip blue. With the Colin Powell endorsement sure to help with military families, economic times rough in factory towns, and Obama with a big grassroots / money / ad-time edge, it now looks very much like a pickup opportunity for Obama - even if it's not a landslide nationwide.

NEVADA:
Not much to say about Nevada because no one is doing much polling here. What has been done shows an Obama trend. I think that CW says, why bother polling in Nevada? It's only 5 electoral votes. This is true, but with Obama almost sure to carry the Kerry states plus N.M. and Iowa, 5 electoral votes will give Obama 269 - and he wins in the House if it's a tie.

MISSOURI:
It's often called the election bellweather state, and that's starting to be something the Obama team can appreciate. Here again MOMENTUM is key. Whereas Ohio has shown Obama losing steam, he has polled ahead or tied in every poll out of MO in the past 2 weeks. He had a crowd of 100,000 in St. Louis over the weekend (compared to McCain's crowd of 3,000 there today. Why is OH moving red and MO blue? Well, why are VA and NC moving blue despite being "red" states while the "toss-up" of OH moves red? Probably because Ohio is one of the few states McCain and the GOP have actually put a lot of time and money into. Had they been able to invest more in VA, NC, and MO, they wouldn't be so far behind right now. But they couldn't and so behind is where they are. Thus a state like Missouri can be trending more and more blue, even though McCain has held on to some toss-ups.

OTHER STATES TO WATCH...

McCain still has a small shot at Colorado, New Hampshire, and Virginia.

Obama could win in Indiana and West Virginia if he spends enough and the economy story comes back. He could win Georgia if African American turnout is high enough. He has a real shot at the Nebraska 2nd District (MSNBC is now predicting it for Obama) and who knows about North Dakota and, less so, Montana...

Sarah Palin and the Courage To Be Uninformed

2008-10-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I said I wouldn't have time for posting this weekend, but this was too much to pass up. Palin told a crowd at a N.C. fundraiser that her staff has advised her against watching campaign news at it would likely depress her.

All I'm going to say is: after eight years of a president who is so drastically out of touch - not just with the concerns of average Americans and the challenges they face each day, but with reality itself - who has been living in a staff-induced fantasy about the state of our economy, illegal occupations of foreign lands, and the environment - and who from day one hasn't had a fucking clue what to do in that highest of offices in which he sits whilst not on vacation in Texas - this is the last thing America, or the world, needs right now. This is W. all over again, only with less experience and female anatomy. We could not make a more stupid choice then electing this woman to anything above dog catcher.

And one more thing - people like Palin and Bush - fundamentalist religious zealots - their whole existence is built on the steady and unquestioned rejection of information and facts and the incredible ability to make up their own world, or, more accurately, to listen to someone else's made up bullshit and accept it as the truth, despite glaring objections, because they are just that. f'ing. stupid. They are that cowardly that they cannot face reality. They cannot accept the world in which people actually live. They live in fantasy, with the unfortunate ammendment that they often affect the real world in very serious ways. Not this time. Maybe in 4 years from now, or 8 or 12. But not today.

A Few Updates...

2008-10-16T21:24:00.002-04:00

Over the past few days I've made a few updates to the interface on the blog - nothing major, but hopefully they have made it easier to read (in terms of formatting, spacing, width, etc.) Also some purely aesthetic detailing that I hope you like. If you had been a fly on the wall when I was doing all this, you probably would have found my attempted navigation of HTML to be pretty damn funny. But, it's done!

You also may have noticed that I have been contributing some posts to The New Gay, a great DC-area alterna-queer blog. It's got a big following (as I learned by being the 1,999th facebook fan) and it's well earned. If you don't already have it bookmarked, be sure to do so - and check out my latest piece, Lessons from the Campaign Trail.

Finally, on a personal note, my bootiful sister will be driving down tomorrow from the great state of New York and staying with me until Sunday, at which time several midterms will be colliding shit-showingly. So expect posts to be light for the next few days, unless I decide I just want to flunk out of Gtown.

Thanks for visiting and keep reading! And please email me at homoelectus@gmail.com with any thoughts or comments.

---Corey

How Long Till This McCain Ad Hits?

2008-10-15T20:05:00.004-04:00

In response to Fox's request that the World Series game 6 be delayed 15 minutes so they can air Obama's national, 30 minute ad, the RNC said, "It’s unfortunate that the World Series’ first pitch is being delayed for Obama’s political pitch... Not only is Obama putting politics before principle, he’s putting it before our national pastime.”

Can't you just hear McCain's next ad?

He was the biggest celebrity in the world... But now, when America grows tired of his rhetoric, he decided to postpone the World Series. HOW DISHONORABLE. Barack Obama wants our citizens to engage in political discourse, instead of watching a sporting event and forgetting about the economy. HOW UNAMERICAN. If you can't trust Senator Obama to not steal your TV show, how can you trust him to run our country? BARACK OBAMA - A dangerous choice, who'll *change* nothing but the channel. "I'm John McCain and I approve this message because nobody touches the flipper in MY house except ME."

Because you know he still calls it a "flipper."

Eternal Sanguine of the Sleepless Mind

2008-10-15T15:31:00.002-04:00

Working 60 hours a week while being a full-time student at a pretty demanding school can take a lot out of a person. I have been doing pretty well going to bed early as I am usually up by 8 at the latest, often earlier. Last night was one of the cases when that failed.

I ended up going to bed at 1am with my alarm set for 4am. I had a bunch of reading to finish (and I'm a hopelessly slow reader) and a short paper to write on it. Unfortunately, I had been drinking coffee that kicked in around 2am, and found myself in kind of a 1/2 awake daze for a while. I am always greatly intrigued by those states of mind in which I am neither asleep nor awake, as I'm usually giving a completely rational analysis of something based off a completely absurd premise. I don't remember what it was last night, but a week ago, I had devised the whole plan for a paper I was writing on gender studies and Christianity... only it was built around an electoral polling map. (Feminist interpretations of Christ picked up Ohio and Virginia. That was my thesis.)

And today I am kind of all over the place. Nothing really bothers me, nothing makes me very excited... My mind is just floating around, up in the clouds somewhere, ever so sleepy.

I have been known to do really weird stuff while in a sleepless mindset - coming out, coming out again to different people, applying for jobs I have no business applying for, sending out bizarre emails, and coming out. But most of it is very peaceful - even if it is to express a great anger or concern that I had had, the present tense of the mood is always "meh. oh well. lolz. i like kitties."

And thus I think all of our nation's policy decisions should be made when our leaders haven't gotten much sleep. We will do random things, yes, like sending the government of Nigeria lemon-flavored cupcakes, creating a national Zac Efron day, and mandating that all tax breaks be in the form of Outback Steakhouse coupons. But we would never go to war, never legislate hate, and never bother anyone. We would be too sleepy.

:-) lolz <3 zzzzzzzzzz

White Men Are Just the Worst

2008-10-14T10:43:00.003-04:00

Seriously. Look at this data from today's Diageo/Hotline tracking poll:

- Obama maintained his 48-42% lead from yesterday's release. The WH contest also remains largely status quo among men, while women (including white women) appear to be breaking more towards Obama.

- Among all men, Obama leads by 1% -- exactly his margin one week ago, in the survey completed 10/6. Among women, however, Obama's lead has grown from 3% to 12% over the same period.

- The same trends are evident among whites. McCain today leads white men by 11% -- exactly his margin one week ago. Among white women, however, the GOP nominee's advantage has fallen from 12% to 6%.

I think that, because the right to vote by minorities and women was curtailed for so long, white men should be barred from voting for the next 50 years. During that time, we would have approximately 12.5 democratic terms in the White House, and about 435 Democratic congressmen and, mostly, women. And women would make equal pay, and have guaranteed pregnancy leave, and there would be gay marriage, and the minority-white education gap would close, and the new flag would be a giant smiley face, and the national anthen would be "Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey.

Editor's Note: While writing this it didn't occur to me that I am, in fact, a white male. AT LEAST THATS WHAT SOCIETY IS TELLING ME. DOWN WITH THE MAN.

McCain Schedules Campaign Stop at Mother's Home

2008-10-13T14:05:00.002-04:00

Showing continuing signs of trouble in demographics that should be safe for him, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced today that he will campaign at his mother's home in Washington, DC, tomorrow afternoon.

The visit to widow and Oklahoma native Roberta McCain, age 96, will follow campaign stops in traditionally Republican states Virginia and North Carolina, where Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is making surprisingly strong plays.

"We are positive that we will have Roberta's vote come election day," said Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, at a press event this afternoon. "This is just part of our effort in the last few weeks to get our base excited and make sure they make it to the polls."

Davis added that sometimes Mrs. McCain has a tough time remembering when election day is, and often cannot find her purse as she tries to head the polls.

"I love Johnny," Roberta told reporters last night, "but I'm concerned about the economy and need to know that my son isn't going to cut off my social security benefits."

"He already canceled my cell phone" after she used too many daytime minutes, Mrs. McCain added.

While McCain is at his mother's home Tuesday afternoon, his running mate - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin - will be making a final pitch to members of the House GOP, many of whom have privately told journalists that they don't really give a shit if McCain wins or not.

"While Obama's pallin' around with terrorists up in Ohio and Colorado, I'm gonna be talkin with the average folks who will win us this election," Palin said today. "And that means the Republican secretaries of state who will validate stolen election results."

In the latest HomoElectus Poll of Polls, Sen. Obama is leading in 54 of 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Guam.

Election Update!

2008-10-13T10:20:00.003-04:00

Three weeks from tomorrow. That's how long there is left in the most open presidential election in decades. It's been a long race and things are - finally - starting to come into focus, with time running out for candidates to change the story. With the economy dominating the headlines, McCain locked into public financing restrictions, and Obama with a huge advantage in ads and dollars to spend, things are looking sour for the GOP ticket. Here's what I think things look like:

&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;strong&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'&amp;amp;gt;2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/strong&amp;amp;gt; - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election and enter to win a $500 prize.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;

(If you can't see my map, click here.)

Now as for an explanation of the choices I made... At this point, Obama has the Upper Midwest, Pacific Coast, and Northeast locked. This includes potential swing states of OR, WA, IA, MN, WI, MI, PA, and NH. None of those are likely to switch, pending something dramatic.

Out west, I put Colorado and New Mexico in Obama's campaign. The latter is a done deal; while CO will be close, it has been trending Obama consistently since early in the race. Any state where a candidate hasn't led in a while, no matter how close it has been, they are unlikely to win at this point. That's an important piece of logic that a lot of prediction-makers are ignoring. I have similarly put Nevada in Senator McCain's column, as it has stayed very close or, often, leaning his way since the start of the election.

In the south, Virginia goes to Obama by the same logic - it has been close the entire election, and has been trending Obama for a while. The dems have registered tons of new voters there, Obama has been dominating the airwaves, and he, Senator Biden, and Mrs. Obama have made far more campaign stops there. On the other hand, North Carolina will certainly be a lot closer than it has in recent years, but it seems unlikely that - having been behind for so long and it being such a conservative state - that Obama will hold onto a lead here when voters finally head to the polls. Still, it is doable.

Further south, I'm predicting Florida for Obama. Polling has shown him with a pretty large average lead here over the past few weeks. He has the money needed for the costly advertising that will need to happen. Also, with Florida's housing market in shambles, and the high proportion of senior citizens, the fact that Obama has taken big leads in who's best to lead the economy and manage social security will help Obama here. It being a Southern state and one with a lot of older, white voters, one wonders if this could be a Bradley Effect victim, but I tend to think that idea is overemphasized.

Into the Midwest, Indiana and Missouri can probably be put in McCain's tally. Even in the heat of the economic crisis, where Obama's numbers probably peaked, he didn't really come ahead here, he just closed the gap. They will be close but will probably stay read. I have also predicted Ohio for McCain. It is truly a toss-up right now, but polling suggests that Obama's post-econ meltdown numbers have dropped more here than, say, Florida. If the economy gets worse, Obama could win here, but honestly, if he couldn't poll outside of the margin of error during the bailout scare, it's hard to see him coming ahead when he's been trailing all year.

This puts Obama at an 88 electoral vote lead, with far more room for expansion than McCain. Obama could end up winning this by 200 electoral votes or more if things went well enough; it's hard to picture McCain winning by more than a few dozen by even the rosiest predictions.

Don't call the race over yet, however; as the Post pointed out this morning, while a candidate losing after seeing leads like this would be unprecedented in recent history, races like that (Carter in '76 and Clinton in '92) both showed major tightening in the final two or three weeks.

BREAKING: Connecticut Legalizes Gay Marriage

2008-10-10T13:28:00.003-04:00

My homestate of Connecticut - which was the first state in the nation to legislate civil unions - has today universalized the right to marriage with a 4-3 state supreme court ruling. This places it third behind MA and CA (which hopefully will retain its legal status after the November 4th ballot initiative.)

And that makes 47 to go.

Please Read if You're Considering John McCain

2008-10-10T06:41:00.003-04:00

This is an open letter to friends and acquaintances of mine who are thinking about voting for John McCain next month. I hope that you read this and take me seriously.

If you pull the level or send in your absentee for Sen. McCain, you really need to think about why you are even friends with me.

Clearly we disagree on all of the fundamental issues of our time. You would be voting for someone who wants to continue the destruction of our economy, helping out the rich and screwing over the poor. You would be partially responsible for this continue pillage of the American working classes, and I do not like thieves.

You would be voting for someone who wants to continue an erratic foreign policy of aggression and war. You would therefore be held partially accountable for the wars that John McCain would inevitably get us into, and I do not like murderers.

You would be voting in support of policies that hurt our environment and fail to secure the future of our energy. I cannot respect someone who would put profits for oil companies over our nation's safety and ability to go forward in prosperity.

You would be voting for a continued stoppage of health care for children whose parents could not afford to cover them. If you are willing to watch some children die while others get top-notch care, on the basis of their parents' wealth, you are an immoral person.

And finally, and most personally for me, you would be voting for a candidate who is against workplace equality for LGBT persons, who is against covering LGBT persons in hate crime legislation (something we could really use here at Georgetown), who supports the continued barring of individuals from the armed forces on the basis of their sexual orientation, who wants to continue the biggest legal discrimination in our nation today by preventing rights for LGBT couples, and who wants to cut AIDS prevention measures for LGBT people.

If you do no think that I deserve equal rights, that I deserve to be protected from violent crimes, that I deserve to have the same chances at jobs than everyone else, and that I don't deserve to live as a safe and free citizen in this country, why are we friends? This isn't a rhetorical question. I would love to know why you would want to be friends with someone who you thought it was okay to discriminate against, segregate, and even commit violent crimes against.

Because frankly, I have a lot of reasons to not be friends with you.

Liveblogging 957th Listen of "WOMANIZER"

2008-10-09T19:54:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, Britney's new single, "Womanizer," was released for download on iTunes.

It. Is. Amazing.

Shocker, I know. Anyway I have already listened around a bajillion times (or I guess 957 to keep my exaggeration consistent with this entry's title) but felt that it would be worth everyone's time for me to LIVEBLOG it. Slow news day, right?

0:00 OMG so excited!!1!
0:02 HOLY SHIT is the spaceship I'm on gonna crash?
0:16 Yay BritBot is back!
0:30 Is a "re-up" a prepaid phone refill??
0:41 Chorus starts out with word "womanizer"...
0:54 Okay she's still saying it.
1:00 She really likes the repetition thing... so hot right now...
1:16 Anyone else noticing that it sounds like she's really singing this time?
1:37 SO MANY COOL "DRUM" SOUND FX
1:50 I totally already know the words to the chorus, omigosh!
2:03 Boy don't try to front, you fucker. She knows just what you are. A... sexist guy thingy.
2:28 To be fair, Brits, a lot of non-womanizers also call you crazy
2:50 I love when she says "OOO" in the chorus. Just saying.
3:15 I never want it to end. Dear Jesus, don't let it end.
3:27 Breakdown bitch!
3:36 ooo god its gonna end with the womanizer repeating isn't it
3:44 yes. HIT REPLAY.

*dies

Everyone Hates the World

2008-10-07T12:04:00.003-04:00

Wow, look at the recent status updates on my facebook friends. I didn't edit these at all (except to remove names).

---- wishes this day was over!!!! Tuesdays suck... 9 minutes ago
---- is this week sucks so far. 14 minutes ago
---- is at work. 3 hours ago
---- is falling behind once again - story of my life. 4 hours ago
---- is sick, sick and sickened...ew. 23 hours ago
---- hates obnoxiously loud neighbors. on Friday

Maybe we should just all declare it to be Friday a few days early? CITIZENS REVOLT

Can McCain Win?

2008-10-07T10:53:00.003-04:00

With new polling data coming out over the past few weeks, it has become increasingly clear that John McCain is in serious, serious trouble. The question is - outside of a huge national change over the next 4 weeks - can John McCain win?

Despite the campaign's laughable talk about picking up Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania, the only state they really have a shot at picking up from Kerry's 2004 wins is New Hampshire, and that has been trending heavily towards Obama post-GOP convention. It is also certain that (again, minus a big change) Obama will pick up the Bush wins of New Mexico and Iowa.

That means Obama will win at least 264 votes. In a tie of 269, Obama will be voted in as president by the House of Representatives. That means McCain must win all of the following swing states to prevent an Obama victory; losing any would mean defeat for the GOP ticket.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election and enter to win a $500 prize.

(if you don't see the map, click here)

How likely is it that McCain will do this? Let's break it down state by state, with from easiest for McCain to hold (and that's a relative term at this point) to most difficult:

5. NEVADA
Unlike other Western potential swing states that have been pro-Obama from the start (WA, OR, NM, and even CO), Nevada has taken longer to come around. The economic issues, which gave Obama a big bump in industrial states and the senior-filled Florida, haven't hit home as much out here. Registration has moved in favor of the dems, but that's true everywhere. Nevada may well flip, but it is the least likely of these five to do so.

4. COLORADO
Last week I said Colorado was looking safer all the time, but it is clear that while Obama may well win it is going to be very close. Like I said about NV, Obama hasn't gotten an "economy bump" in Colorado, and most polls show him within the margin of error. The race will probably stay that way through the end, and so if McCain can get high enough base turnout - which will be likelier if the election nationally looks close but doable for the Republican ticket - he may yet hold this state.

3. OHIO
It's the economy, stupid. If this issue stays as dominant as it is today, McCain loses Ohio by a few points. If things calm down at all on that front (unlikely), something sparks a national security concern (who knows), or the character assault on Obama works (most likely), he may hold on to it. If the economy shows more signs of trouble, he is doomed.

2. FLORIDA
The Sunshine State is in a similar position as Ohio, although it's not just the economy that has hurt McCain here in the past few weeks. His choice of a young, crazy-evangelical running mate didn't help him with senior or Jewish voters, or with moderates, or with anyone but the Panhandle base. The other thing about Florida is that it is a state where both camps have invested a lot of money, but where Obama is more likely to have the dough to see things through. McCain has been somewhat neglectful of Florida as a few months ago it looked safe. The fact that it has changed so dramatically, and that factors are working increasingly in Obama's favor, should make the GOP very, very worried about this one.

1. VIRGINIA
Obama has put time, money, and energy into this state - ads, volunteers, voter registration efforts, campaign visits, prominent convention speaking roles for its Democratic leaders, etc. McCain has done nothing. Democrats registered scores of thousands of voters here, and the state has been trending increasingly democratic for the past few years. McCain cannot afford ads here, especially coming out of the pricey DC media market. Some recent polls have shown Obama with a double-digit lead, many with smaller leads, and none has shown McCain favored outside the margin of error in a month. Unlike Ohio and Florida - where Obama is playing well now but was always considered poorly suited for - Virginia has always liked the Illinois senator, as was demonstrated by his surprising landslide victory here in the primaries. Obama won't win big here but he very likely will win.

Bill versus Barney

2008-10-03T13:40:00.004-04:00

This is probably a lot less interesting than the title makes it sound, as it is not a booze-tainted fist fight between Bill Clinton and Barney the Dinosaur. Rather, it is a face-off between Bill O'Reilly and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on the "No-Spin Zone" last evening. If you can't stomach 6 minutes of O'Reilly's shit, skip ahead to the 4 minute mark and watch O'Reilly tell Frank - the only openly gay male member of the United States Congress - that he isn't "man enough" to accept full responsibility for the current financial crisis.

Rep. Frank is very polite about the whole thing, but you can tell by his response that if the average (idiotic and homophobic) Fox News viewer hasn't figured it out, there's a pretty obvious scent of anti-gay slur in O'Reilly's comments. Not that I would expect anything less from him, but it just amazes me the kind of stuff that counts as acceptable on television, even if it is FoxNews.

No doubt there will be plenty of straight, middle-class, white people who can't recognize discrimination even when it's biting someone in the ass. And they will probably preface their "oh please!" comments with disclaimers that they don't agree with everything O'Reilly says - which is code for, "TRUST ME, I'm not a biggot! I just don't believe in calling anyone else out on it." And that is probably the crappiest part of this.

Swing State Update!

2008-10-03T00:21:00.004-04:00

Since I last blogged about it, there has been some movement in the swing states. Below I show what I now feel are safe Obama and McCain spots - provided that nothing major in the election changes. For example, Colorado is one state that I moved from Swing to Obama as the Illinois senator has remained strong there for many weeks now and seems to be on track to win, unless something big tilts the race in McCain's favor.

You'll notice that the race has gone from 252 Obama / 200 McCain to 269 Obama / 163 McCain. This means that Obama only needs 1 electoral vote from the swing states I've labeled to win. Therefore, I am listing the swing states in the order in which I believe they are LEAST TO MOST LIKELY to go for the democratic ticket, and put Obama over the top.

(if you can't see my map, click here)

8. Missouri (close red in 2004)
MO is said to be a bellweather, but it has been pretty much in the red throughout the election. Polls show a tightening race there, but in this week that has seen Obama up in high single digits in some Florida and Ohio polls, MO remains close. It is possible, but not exceedingly likely.

7. Indiana (strong red in 2004)
No one probably expected IN to be on this list - after all, Bush carried it by almost 20 points in 2004. But things have been close here for months. Obama has 2 big advantages: he had a very high-profile primary here, in which he came very close to besting the favorite in the Hoosier state, Hillary Clinton; and, he has been up with ads since the beginning, whereas McCain has done nothing. McCain's advantage, though, is that this is still a pretty conservative state that will probably only flip for Obama if national conditions stay at LEAST as good as they are now for the dems.

6. Ohio (close red in 2004)
If the economy is as big an issue on Nov. 4th as it is today, Obama should win Ohio. If not, it is hard to see it happening. His troubles in the primary underline that Ohioans are skeptical of the freshman senator and it is simply not one of his stronger pick-up opportunities. But if things keep moving in this direction, it could happen.

5 (tie). New Hamshire (close blue in 2004)
Maybe I'm just being overly skeptical, but Obama just isn't a good match for NH. He lost the primary here to Clinton after many thought his Iowa victory would change enough minds in the Granite State; not so. And as I wrote last week, the focus on the economy means a shift from the Iraq War - a big plus for Obama here - to taxes - a big minus.

5 (tie). North Carolina (strong red in 2004)
Why is Obama doing so well in NC, a state that has been safely red for years and that is home to many military families who should be in McCain's pocket? Probably because of demographic changes and the national environment as a whole, which also has Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) in big trouble here. With big turnout expected from African Americans and college students, this one could be surprisingly close - the numbers out of NC have been looking better and better, and many of Obama's displaced GA staffers were moved here in an effort to jack things up.

3. Florida (moderate red in 2004)
A few months ago it looked like FL was a non-starter this year. McCain led consistently in the mid- to high-single digits. Millions of dollars in ads and campaign infrastructure later, and Obama is running ahead of McCain in the polling this week. Biden helps him here with older voters, and Palin hurts the GOP ticket with Jews and doesn't help with moderates. The economy will certainly help Obama as it puts a lot of fixed-income, elderly households into play. Florida could well return to the spotlight as the swing state to watch, much as it was in 2000 (versus '04 when Bush won fairly easily.)

2. Nevada (close red in 2004)
It's hard to tell what's going on in NV as there is very little reliable polling coming out of there of late. What we do know is that it was getting closer here before things swung in Obama's direction nationally, that registration efforts have created a new Democratic majority, and that trends in the West have been moving more and more Democratic this year, as well. I'm putting it here mostly because I don't know where else to put it, but it seems like - based on the makeup of the state - Nevada should turn out more like NM and CO (which should both go for Obama) than OH or even FL (where things have been closer.)

1. Virginia (strong red in 2004)
I almost ranked Virginia as an Obama state this time around, but hesitated to do so only while numbers have been trending his way for a few weeks - even during the Palin/convention GOP bump - they have been close. His lead has expanded in most polls this week, sure, but then again if the election were this week what with the economic crisis and all Obama would probably win the electoral college by 175 points. VA is looking like a VERY good pickup for Obama, but it is still too close to be moved into his column decisively.

McCain Camp Remembers that Gay People Exist

2008-10-02T11:40:00.006-04:00

A few quick updates on a busy day for me (I have about 100 pages of Freud left for a presentation... yikes):

- I have a post up on The New Gay about Palin's brave choice not to be gay.

- John McCain submitted a written interview to the Washington Blade in which he tells us about all his cool gay friends who probably loath him. He also makes a plea that, though he doesn't support any gay rights, that gays will consider voting for him because... why not.

- If the election were today, Obama would win about 56 states, give or take a Katherine Harris intervention.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

2008-09-29T11:41:00.003-04:00

Forget that my fave political pundit, Chris Cillizza, has the race tightening in his weekly roundup. Take a look at these numbers below from Real Clear Politics. These are the 19 states that could legitimately be considered potential swing states. Of them, Obama is leading in all but 5. Apart from those, McCain has 119 electoral votes in the bag and Obama has 126 - meaning that for Obama to have a lead in 14 out of 19 swing states is pretty impressive. With the swing states figured in, Obama leads 301 to 237 in the electoral college - a pretty good margin 5 weeks out. Sure, it's a little concerning that the race has tightened for Obama in some unexpected states, but that's to be expected as the race closes. Besides, when he's less than 2 points down in Ohio, Florida, and Nevada - all of which are probably must-win for McCain to have a chance - it's hard to complain.

Ohio (20) 45.1 46.3 McCain +1.2
Florida (27) 46.0 47.6 McCain +1.6
Nevada (5) 45.3 47.0 McCain +1.7
Missouri (11) 45.8 49.0 McCain +3.2
Indiana (11) 45.5 47.8 McCain +2.3
NH (4) 46.7 45.4 Obama +1.3
Virginia (13) 48.0 46.2 Obama +1.8
NC (15) 46.8 46.5 Obama +0.3
Wisconsin (10) 48.2 44.4 Obama +3.8
Penn. (21) 48.2 43.8 Obama +4.4
Minnesota (10) 48.0 45.2 Obama +2.8
Colorado (9) 50.2 44.8 Obama +5.4
Michigan (17) 48.9 42.3 Obama +6.6
Washington (11) 48.8 42.8 Obama +6.0
New Mexico (5) 50.3 44.3 Obama +6.0
New Jersey (15) 49.8 42.8 Obama +7.0
Maine (4) 50.3 42.7 Obama +7.6
Oregon (7) 49.8 40.8 Obama +9.0
Iowa (7) 51.0 41.8 Obama +9.2

LiLo and Stitch

2008-09-26T16:10:00.004-04:00

This week saw two "outings" in the wonderful world of media - Clay Aiken and Lindsay Lohan. A lot of the trashy entertainment sites are carrying the two stories together. But are they really similar?

In the case of Clay Aiken, we have a man who has arguably faced discrimination over the years (see: now-infamous cohosting of Regis and Kelly), privacy concerns (see: now-infamous Diane Sawyer interview), and being made fun of (see: everything ever) over questions of his sexual orientation. He comes out as being gay so that he can raise his newborn child in a way that's totally honest about who he is.

In the case of Lindsay Lohan, we have a woman who is a crazy trainwreck, who sleeps around with anyone that moves, who would do just about anything (and - oh wait - has) to get her face in the magazines, and who has no self-respect nor real reason to demand public interest. She comes out as being bi after months of coyly stoking media attention.

Why even place these stories together? Aiken's story is one of struggle and courage and honesty. Lohan's is one that will surely only hurt the queer rights movement; young queer persons do not need her as a role model, and her behavior will only fuel notions that bisexual people (especially women) are merely seeking attention or sex in any way that they can get it.

If Lohan is actually being honest, and not just looking for media coverage and for a way to further anger her parents, I guess I'm happy for her that she seems to be in a relationship she enjoys and can be open about it. But please, "journalists" covering these stories - do me and all gays a favor and don't put these stories on par with one another.

John McCain is Yelluh

2008-09-24T17:26:00.001-04:00

I had to share the fact that not only does only one politics expert on Politico's new Arena feature think that McCain's campaign suspension is smart (and that is a GOP strategist), but read this below, from a former GOP congressman. Yes, one of McCain's own has this to say:

Mickey Edwards, Princeton lecturer and former Republican congressman:

Oh, brother. What idiot came up with this stunt?

It ranks somewhere on the stupidity scale between plain silly and numbingly desperate. McCain and Obama are both members of the senate and they're both able to help craft a solution if they wish to do so without putting the presidential campaign on hold; after all, I'm sure congressional leaders would be willing to accept their calls if they have some important insights to impart. And while one of them will eventually become president, neither one is president yet, nor is either one a member of the congressional leadership; I'm confident that somehow the administration and the other 533 members of congress will be able to muddle through without tapping into the superior wisdom and intellect of their nominees. Sorry, john; it really sounds like you're afraid to debate. This sounds like the sort of ploy we used to use in junior high school elections.

Then again, remember what happened the last time McCain took a risky move and all the pundits and liberals like me were laughing - I'm referring to Palin, of course, and while McCain has already lost his bump he hasn't lost the enthusiasm. That move may yet end up hurting him in November (since it kills his experience argument) but it wasn't the shot through the heart that many predicted it would be.

Go Steelers

2008-09-24T11:41:00.002-04:00

Some updates on this Wednesday morning...

- Americans are finally deciding that if we're all going to be poor, we might as well have a Democrat in the White House; Washington Post now has Obama-Biden up by 9 points.

- Hey, there is are senate elections, too! Like 35 of them. And the Dems will probably end up with a 56-60 seat majority (probably on the low end).

- And finally, the American Enterprise Institute has informed me that all of America's hopes rest in the hand of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Electoral College: 6 Weeks Left!

2008-09-22T11:47:00.003-04:00

Six weeks from tomorrow, Americans will stumble clueless into polling booths across our nation and vote for one of two "meh" candidates based on a completely arbitrary, last-minute decision. And though they all will feel important and democratic, only people in a few of these states are actually going to matter. Here is my take of the states that could actually make a difference. Some of the states I've coded blue or red could flip, but - for example - if McCain wins Pennsylvania, chances are he wins by a landslide anyway.

><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election and enter to win a $500 prize.

NEVADA (dead heat) - Nevada is probably the last real swing state left out West. Obama has a lock on N.M., unless it comes out that he is gay or something, and Colorado is probably gonna swing his way, too. Nevada is pretty much a dead heat. WashPost's Cillizza says that from 2004 to now, registration has gone from favoring Republicans by 4,000 to favoring Democrats by 40,000. But if we were going to use that do make decisions, this election would be a landslide. A lot of folks changed for the high-profile democratic caucuses but still may vote for McCain (particularly the 51% who went with Clinton). I say it's a dead heat.

MICHIGAN (leans Obama) - Should go for Obama. If Obama loses Michigan he will almost certainly lose the election. And yet I keep it in this category because it has been much closer than it should be in the polls, and it wouldn't be impossible for Obama to lose here but keepthe election close with wins out West or in Virginia.

OHIO (leans McCain) - Like Obama in Michigan, if McCain loses Ohio, it's probably a done deal. Both of these midwestern states will probably stay where they were in 2004 - blue and red, respectively - unless one of the candidates gains a much bigger advantage on the economy than either currently has.

FLORIDA (barely McCain) - This state has gone from looking pretty solidly red to more of a dead heat as of late. I've been reading a lot of experts who think that it will be closer than people have predicted. Palin probably hurts McCain with two groups - Jewish and older voters - whereas Biden probably helps Obama with both of these. And as the economy collapses around us, Obama calling McCain out on social security privatization is a great strategy that could really hurt McCain here. Again, McCain needs to win this shit if he is gonna have a chance at the election.

VIRGINIA (dead heat) - I've always thought that strategists had been overly optimistic about Obama's chances here, but Virginia was probably the one state that stayed consistent through the post-RNC/Palin bump McCain enjoyed. Through all of that, the polls here stayed the same, with McCain never up by more than two points or so. Add that to increased democratic enthusiasm and registration, and I'd say that Virginia has to be considered a toss-up right now.

NEW HAMPSHIRE (dead heat) - The Granite State may be extremely anti-war, but it's also very anti-tax, and this election is not about Iraq or foreign policy; it's about the economy. With folks here looking at their wallets as they head in to vote, I would not be surprised at all to see a McCain win here, even in a democratic year.

ANALYSIS - Obama remains the frontrunner, and if the race is close, it will probably come down to who can close the deal in these few key states. If I had to call them right now, I'd say Nevada, Ohio, and Florida for McCain; NH, Virginia, and Michigan for Obama, which would be an Obama victory.

Gossip Whirl

2008-09-20T15:33:00.002-04:00

At about two in the morning a few days ago, I received a series of instant messages from a friend who eagerly told me about a new gossip site, Juicy Campus, which has been making a big splash at Georgetown and elsewhere. Basically, he explained, it is a place for people to post salacious rumors about each other without having to register or be identified in any way. It was the kind of thing that seemed perfectly tailored to his interests (which include talking about others and judging people) until he found himself mentioned.

He was too panicked to tell me where this post was, but I quickly found it myself under a thread called "Hottest Gays." That didn't seem so bad, until I saw the sub-thread - a slightly less complimentary section about gay men who, well, are all but too eager to play catch with other guys.

This may not seem like the biggest of deals, especially for someone who is actively looking for hookups seven nights a week and who, much to my dismay, can only see the world in terms of tops and bottoms. But that did not mean that he wanted it to be on a gossip site for the whole world to see and comment on and discuss.

I've been poking around on the site for a few days now, worried more and more about the effect things like this might have on college campuses. The site is getting more and more popular, and expanding to a greater number of universities, all the time. And a lot of the posts have to do with queer students - who the closeted guys on the crew team are, which gay and bi women are the hottest, who is quickest to give it up on a Saturday night, etc. There seems to be a huge potential for outing people who are not completely comfortable with their orientation being public or who are not even out in their own minds yet; in fact, there's a whole section for doing this. And at a school which has had its share of recent gay hate crimes, located within a city that has had even more, having lists ready to copy-and-paste of all the queer students on campus does not give me a huge feeling of security.

Speaking of hate, the site provides another kind of forum, and that is for people who need an outlet for their homophobia but prefer for it to be anonymous. One thread complains about gays "taking over this site," "bitching," and making "life hell for the rest of the world." Several topics use the word "gay" as an insult, proving that there's still a place for language most people stopped using in kindergarten. And there are plenty of stereotypes used and abused, and bad language hurled around, and all of the things that many people can't really get away with saying in public but still have on their minds.

It seems to me that this is another sign of the tension in our society right now, where we are open enough to be able to talk about people being gay, but not open enough to do it in a respectful way; where people can come out and probably still have friends supporting them, but may not be able to come out on their own terms; where we can on the one hand joke about listing queer students on a stupid gossip website, and on the other find one of those students assaulted on their way home from class the following week. Maybe the moral of the story is that people should mind their own business, be who they are, and live their own lives - but I guess that's not as "juicy" of a world to live in.

It's Only Wednesday...

2008-09-17T14:08:00.002-04:00

... And I am already about to fall apart, at the seams, like the Bush economy. Here are a few things goin on:

- JuicyCampus.com launches, and everybody is talking about it. If you are into the whole same sex lovin' thing but like to keep that on the DL, better watch out. This new campus gossip site loves to out folks and hates privacy. Yikes. (Still has to beat my coming out via facebook though, right? Right.)

- Barack Obama brings in $11 million in Hollywood for his team and the DNC thanks to Barbra Streisand. When this is your campaign strategy for the week, something is probably off.

- Remember how even though the national polling numbers were going bad, you could still depend on the state-by-state polls to keep you happy and optimistic? Yeah, that's over.

- But fear not! Here is something to make you smile, and maybe wonder a little:

True Lies

2008-09-16T12:56:00.001-04:00

It's really sad to even think about, but the fact is that the McCain-Palin campaign is lying about a lot of things day in and day out. There were the allegations that Obama supported sex-ed for kindergartens, that Palin was against the bridge to nowhere, that Obama made sexist remarks about Palin, and just today that McCain evidently invented the blackberry - quite a feat for a man who couldn't turn on a computer to save his political life.

But I was just reading this piece by the Post's Fact Checker about how Palin and the campaign continue to claim that she was responsible for "oversee[ing] nearly 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas," even though it has already been pointed out as completely false several times. In fact, Alaska's oil production has dropped it down to the #3 state in the country (behind TX and LA) and it only produces 3.5% of the country's overall energy. Also, it is hard to see how a supposedly small government / free market-championing republican "oversaw" a private industry as governor.

The media, to its credit, has pointed out again and again that the McCain campaign has been dishonest on countless issues in recent weeks. The Obama team is striking back hard (or at least harder), and even Karl Rove said this Sunday that their ads went too far and weren't completely true.

My question is: does it matter? Will the charges of dishonesty stick, or will the lies? I tend to think, in a nation with such a short attention span, the answer is the latter.

Two things about the campaign

2008-09-15T17:42:00.004-04:00

The video below from CNN about Obama's lead in New Hampshire brings up two interesting points for me.

First, the conservative radio host says that "John McCain couldn't be more different than George Bush. The only thing they have in common is they're both men over 60 and they have gray hair!" The newscaster, bless his heart, says, umm, yeah, except he votes with George Bush like it's his job. Then she says that John McCain reaches across party lines while Bush is "a party puppet." Can the leader of the party really be the puppet, though? I can't imagine people being stupid enough to buy that. The real answer here is that John McCain is a little less stupid than George Bush, a fact neutralized by his temper, attitude, and policy positions.

Second, notice how smug and obnoxious the conservative host is when the newscaster asks the liberal host if Obama should have picked Clinton. I'm hoping that this attitude - displayed even by Palin herself in last week's Charles Gibson interview - will reveal to people just how calculative and manipulative the Palin pick was.

FAVORITE ALBUMS

2008-09-13T10:04:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I have been working on compiling a list of my 12 favorite albums, and it's finally here. (And I am excessively excited.) I really love sharing and experiencing music, and am a big dork, so this shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone. This isn't supposed to be a list of the greatest albums of all time - although some have been ranked as such by Rolling Stone and others - but rather a list of the records from my library that I think are the most complete, most interesting, and most enjoyable to listen to straight through. Without further ado, here are my top 12.

12. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
Two words: Rock. Opera. Okay, so to go a little deeper... It still amazes me how, as much as this was supposed to be listened to as a whole, Green Day still was so successful launching singles from it. The nine-minute-long "Jesus of Suburbia" is a masterpiece of complications and simplicities, and the title track is the perfect anthem for those of us who are proud to not always fit in with the nation we're living in.

11. Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae (2006)
Rae's soulful, colorful, and all-sorts-of-ful debut is (like Idiot) great not only as a sum of its parts, but also in the uncanny way it flows from piece to piece, seeming to chronicle the ups and downs of love and of life. For example, she moves from track #5, in which she has "Trouble Sleeping," to track #6, "Call Me When You Get This," where she seems to awaken in the middle of the night and get that feeling that it can't wait til the morning; in #7, "Choux Pastry Heart," she starts by saying "I was just waiting for your phone call," and then goes on in a rich, slow, inescapably sad song in which it all seems to fall apart. Subtle, and brilliant.

10. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill (1995)
Probably the best "break-up album," or just fuck-off album, ever made. Whenever I am pissed, this goes on. Today it sounds kind of cliche, but back when it came out it was the real deal.

9. Johnny Cash - American Recordings (1994)
You can't let the fact that the fifth volume of this eventual series was a recent gift from Laura Bush to Dubbya stand in its way as amazing. It's stripped down, soulful, and rough on all the right edges. Just when you think it can't get any more sullen, the final track, "The Man Who Couldn't Cry," shows that Cash can make even killing a joke an art.

8. Diana Krall - The Girl in the Other Room (2004)
Also known as, "Why I Hate The Grammy's." The one time Krall deviates from her usual collection of spruced-up old standards, and comes up with an album of more abstract numbers - many of them originals written by her and her husband, Elvis Costello - they snub her from any recognition. Hard to imagine why her next album was a Christmas-themed collection (*gags). In truth, it's a great showpiece of modern, almost alternative jazz, and it's got a great sense of mood and cool warmth to it.

7. No Doubt - The Singles 1992-2003 (2003)
WTF is a greatest hits album doing on here? It's not, jerk. Rather, No Doubt's singles album is more a portrait of a band than a collection of "hits," a story through the sounds of the radio we all (at least half) recognize. And whereas with a "hits" album there are usually a few songs that are intolerable outside of their time and place, I dare you to find one on this collection.

6. Paris Combo - Attraction (2002)
After seeing this French gypsy-jazz band twice live (at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, no less) it's hard for any album to capture the same experience. But this one is really captivating, and captures some of the madness of seeing them live. The lyrics are also really funny, or at least trippy, pending your ability to understand French. So weird and so good.

5. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966)
Even if I go months without listening to it, the songs from Blonde on Blonde always pop back into my head and refuse to leave. It's hard not to love an album that starts with a song called "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." I'm not a Dylan expert and don't really care to compare this album to his others, except to say that this is the one that sticks with me longest. It also has the dubious honor of being the favorite album of fictional presidential candidate Matt Santos from the West Wing... and has an awesome name.

4. KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic (2007)
Forget what you've heard from Tunstall on the radio; those light poppy numbers don't come close to resembling the tone of her second album, Drastic Fantastic. Even when upbeat and happy, it maintains a really deep, dark tone, and is the rare album that can maintain an organic feel while also being slick and - somehow - metalic. "Hopeless" has been my theme song since the day I heard it, and "I Don't Want You Now" is a much more fun way to tell someone to fuck off than Morissette ever managed.

3. Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971) and Court and Spark (1974)
Generally considered to be Mitchell's artistic and commercial highs, respectively, these are two truly great albums. I can never make up my mind as to which is my favorite, and it generally depends more or less on my mood. My real favorite Joni Mitchell album is below, but these two are such an important part of my music library that I couldn't keep them off.

2. Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way (2006)
I'm not really a fan of D.C.'s earlier works, as well-done as they might be. Not really my thing. In Taking the Long Way, however, they do three things. First, the defy the very idea of genre in a way that modern country hasn't even approached; just trying to put your finger on each song will drive you crazy. Second, they challenged society, stood their ground, and made an album that most artists of their magnitude wouldn't have dared to do; it's as socially risky as it was musically, and yet never feels like a soap box stand. And finally, they made an album that's truly enjoyable and enlightening to listen to. Every song is masterfully done.

1. Joni Mitchell - Miles of Aisles (1974)
This live album, which captures Mitchell's tour at the commercial height of her career, has amazing versions of most of her best songs that will make it hard to go back to the original studio versions. Rather than being just the very well-known numbers, she picks out some others as well (including one of my favorites, "People's Parties," that is the type of song that never makes it onto most live records.) Normally I hate live records, which is what makes this so special. You really get a sense of Mitchell's personality and genious in both her witty commentary and also in some of the slight changes she makes to the pieces; in "The Last Time I Saw Richard," she takes on the voice of a midwestern waitress for a line and it is impossible not to fall totally in love. There is no better experience than putting this album on (preferably in its original vinyl version) and just letting the world slip away.

Friday Afternoon Laugh Track

2008-09-12T16:16:00.001-04:00

Well, it's almost 5, which means I've been sitting in my office all -d-a-y- week and am ready to get home. But before I do, I thought I would share this wonderful website, DemsMoveOn, which tells Democrats that if they're still pissed about Clinton, there's only one thing to do: vote for McCain. Sure, you may disagree with him on all the issues, but whereas Obama had the audacity to beat her and take her job, McCain hired a nice lady as his -b-a-i-t- vice presidential running-mate. Plus this way, Hillary can run in 2012 and beat the man who you are ironically supporting to hold our nation's highest office right now.

And that's all, folks.

Most Ever?

2008-09-12T08:52:00.001-04:00

There have been a ton of claims this election - mostly, SHOCKER, from the GOP - that one thing or other about this campaign is the "most ever" in history. Quite-former-Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Couch) said the other day that Obama would be the "most anti-gun president" in history, and the GOP has said that he would also be the most liberal president ever elected; these are but two of ten thousand such claims made. I tend not to believe most of them coming from either side because, well, nothing brings out drama queens like a national election.

And yet, I can't help to pose this question myself - might the McCain-Palin ticket be the most exploitative major ticket towards women in history? It's hard to imagine a campaign objectifying women as much as this campaign has in picking her because they thought they could trick women into voting for the ticket, or demeaning women as much as they have with these false and utterly insane charges of sexism, not to mention the damage that a McCain-Palin administration would do towards women's liberation in this country.

I think that you could safely say, this campaign has already set women back a decade in this country, as they have made it much more difficult for a pro-women female candidate to get a presidential nod already. If they win, given the possibility of several supreme court appointments, they will literally set women - and with that, our nation as a whole - back 50 years.

Or maybe I'm just being dramatic.

War with Russia! (the big blob near Alaska - no, not Canada, the other one)

2008-09-11T22:05:00.001-04:00

So this crazy woman wants us to invade Russia. I think she is homeless and schizophrenic. Actually, apparently she was elected to something? Oh wait, that's right, she is going to be our president in like five months.

The end.

Jesus-Crist '08 is a losing ticket.

2008-09-10T15:28:00.003-04:00

Just saw an ad for this book that raises the question, what would happen if Jesus came back and ran for president?

First, there would be charges of nepotism. Clearly he is just running on his Father's coattails, and look how that turned out.

Second, his return to earth would mean returning to Jerusalem or something and destroying all the non-Christians, which would definitely not play well with the Israel lobby.

Third, he has flip-flopped or offered unclear positions on all the major issues - abortion, homosexuality, the death penalty, etc etc etc. Have you read His Work? No one knows what to make of it. It's like he had a bunch of advisers copy and paste their notes together on a three-day weekend.

And finally, there's the whole lifetime bachelor / probably gay issue, which will not fly well with the party's base. They've been burned before.

In keeping with that closeted gay theme, the only positive thing about this election would be his obvious select of Charlie Crist, super gay governor of Florida, as his running mate. But even a Jesus-Crist ticket wouldn't be enough to win over those Sunshine State moderate Jewish votes, not with such a prominent Evangelical Christian at the top.

The Jesus campaign would get crucified in November, and honey, He's been there, done that, and got the Shroud of Turin.

How is Palin More Sexist Than Me? Let Me Count the Ways...

2008-09-10T10:57:00.003-04:00

Even though their campaign would love for you to think that she is a feminist idol, and everyone that stands in their way hates all women, Sarah Palin is a sexist hypocrite who happens to be an idiot. Here are but a few of the ways in which Palin is much more sexist than, say, me:

1. I do not believe that young women's lives should be risked by not informing them how to have safe sex in our schools.

2. I do not believe in teaching our young people, in public classrooms, creationism - a religious interpretation of the Bible which stresses female subordination to men and a heteronormative, repressed role for women within society.

3. I do not believe in criminalizing a women for choosing to have an abortion (despite my own moral questions on the matter) because I don't think that American women should be forced to pump out babies because of other people's moral and religious beliefs.

3 1/2. ...and I especially find it crucial that women whose lives are in danger or who faced the horrors of rape and incest should not be told that their duty to have kids outweighs their right to make decisions so greatly affecting their lives.

4. I am against a legal code that rewards women for having babies but punishes them for having a job.

5. I am against a tax system that only benefits women if they maintain heteronormative gender roles, i.e. marrying a man and having children, and support a tax code that does not reward childbirth and that is equally fair to women married to other women.

6. I find it reprehensible that someone would try to manipulate women into supporting them based on their gender, as if women are just smart enough to pick out a fellow female but not smart enough to know about the issues. Sarah Palin finds this to be a career.

7. I do not use the idea of a women's liberation movement to progress a decidedly anti-feminist agenda, thereby demeaning women who are fighting for equal rights and social understanding.

8. I also don't use masculinity to criminalize people, as Sarah Palin did in her cries against the "Good Ol' Boys" of Alaskan politics. I think that all GOP Alaskan politicians are equally guilty of being horrible, special-interest-serving slime buckets, regardless of their gender.

9. I did not expect Hillary Clinton to be America's representation of a woman, as Sarah Palin did when she said Clinton's claims of sexism were giving all women a bad name...

10. ...and I also did not call Hillary Clinton a "bitch," at least not to a kindly waitress named Lucille.

And keep in mind that I am an asshole. Just think about how much less sexist good human beings must be than Sarah Palin.

4.1% !

2008-09-08T14:34:00.001-04:00

That's the percentage of Americans between 18 and 45 who self-identified as being gay, lesbian, or bisexual in a 2006 U.S. government survey. Which means it's actually probably about 54.1%, if we include the 50% of the population that is Republican, gay, and horribly closeted.

It also profiles the estimated percentage of queer folks by city, metropolitan area, state, congressional district, and reality TV preference (kidding on the last one.) Which is why I am using it to judge how gay cities I may move to are. SHOCKER, Portland and Washington are both super gay. Baltimore is pretty gay too (6.9%) so it passed with flying (rainbow) colors.

You can read the whole thing here, if you have no life.

That's MRS. Alaska to You!

2008-09-08T13:54:00.001-04:00

The only good thing about Palin being on the GOP ticket - well, other than these - is that we will get some questions answered about sexism and politics in America that were somewhat unanswered during Clinton's candidacy. There have already been a slew of articles about the double standards, with Republicans using the same "gender card" now that they mocked during the primaries, but that's to be expected.

One question I had was: if Clinton did not have an incredibly famous husband of the same last name, would we have gotten so many references to "Hillary" rather than "Clinton"? The issue was also murky because Clinton herself was, I think, trying to play up her likability and the ease with which average voters could relate to her. Still, it obviously has some degree of sexist undertones.

So far, though, there hasn't been a real lot of calling Palin "Sarah." Some chanting in the crowds at events, and that kind of thing, but the TV commentators are all calling her by her last name, not her first. This doesn't mean that the Hillary-calling wasn't sexist, as it still might have been done to define Clinton as a wife with no credentials as her own rather than to just avoid confusion with her husband. Still I have found it really interesting to have my question - would a female candidate with no last name confusion be called by her first name? - somewhat answered.

Palin's selection has rehashed a lot of conversation (for me at least) about whether our wonderful country has been more racist or sexist this campaign. My friend and I agreed that while moderate sexism is more acceptable in America than moderate racism, there has tended to be a lot more overt, extreme racism than sexism. Sure, there were those "Iron My Shirt" guys at Clinton events, but the TV pundits didn't debate the merits of the argument that Clinton should do their laundry the way that reports about - say - Obama's "Muslim" faith have been discussed. There has also been plenty of overt racism in discussing his alleged un-American traits, the fact that he clearly is under the control of his minister (he's Christian for these purposes), or sounds like a minister himself (because clearly an African American cannot speak elloquently unless he is behind the pulpit of a holy roller church).

If you need a reminder about America's racist racist racist folks, check out this story in the Philly Daily News, as picked up by Politico blogger Jonathan Martin:

"I told him I'm not going to vote for him," Bauer said [to Joe Biden at a rally]. "Anybody who runs with a guy with a name like that is not going to get my vote. It'd be disgusting to get a man named Barack Obama as president of the United States. No way. I mean it . . . I'm going to vote for McCain and the lady."

"[Obama's] a Muslim," Bauer added. "He pretends to be a Christian, and he isn't, he's a Muslim."

Teach for (Pretty Gay) America

2008-09-07T15:26:00.001-04:00

In considering my possible placement preferences for Teach for America, I have been doing a bit of research as to gay life and population in various cities. Not surprisingly, a lot of the cities I had already picked are on the lists with most gays, haha. Some I'm most seriously considering are DC, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, and Chicago... Now take a look below at the cities w/ the highest raw number of GLB folks, and with the highest percentages, respectively. (And also take note of the biggest non-shocker ever - that there are tons of gays in DC. And that's not even counting closeted republican congressmen!)

Rank	City	Percentage of City Population	GLB Population
Rank	City	Percentage of City Population	population	rank
1	New York City	6%	272,493	1
2	Los Angeles	5.6%	154,270	2
3	Chicago	5.7%	114,449	3
4	San Francisco	15.4%	94,234	4
5	Phoenix	6.4%	63,222	5
6	Houston	4.4%	61,976	6
7	San Diego	6.8%	61,945	7
8	Dallas	7.0%	58,473	8
9	Seattle	12.9%	57,993	9
10	Boston	12.3%	50,540	10
11	Philadelphia	4.2%	43,320	11
12	Atlanta	12.8%	39,085	12
13	San Jose	5.8%	37,260	13

Rank	City	Percentage of City Population	GLB Population
Rank	City	Percentage of City Population	population	rank
1	San Francisco	15.4%	94,234	4
2	Seattle	12.9%	57,993	9
3	Atlanta	12.8%	39,805	12
4	Minneapolis	12.5%	34,295	16
5	Boston	12.3%	50,540	10
6	Sacramento	9.8%	32,108	20
7	Portland	8.8%	35,413	14
8	Denver	8.2%	33,698	17
9	Washington	8.1%	32,599	18
10	Orlando	7.7%	12,508	36

McCain's Record

2008-09-06T14:45:00.002-04:00

Check out this video on John McCain's record on gay civil liberty issues, and then realize why I consider it a personal insult to me and all queer Americans if you vote for this guy...

PS, if you're one of the gays I know who is not behind Obama... what the fuck are you thinking? Honestly.

Twitter Updates!

2008-09-06T01:28:00.001-04:00

So now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I am able to have my twitter updates posted here on my blog, over on the right hand side in a fun little box. This way everyone who reads these things will have one-stop shopping. Which should save Meredith 10 minutes a week. The end!

At Georgetown, Being Gay is Crime Enough

2008-09-04T01:48:00.001-04:00

Here's a piece that I submitted to the Hoya, was told that they would publish it, and was then told that it might contain "untruths" and was then held from being printed. Or maybe, as a friend suggested, they were just afraid to publish it because - well, they're the Hoya - which is why I thought it was hilarious I sent it to them to begin with. Anyway, here goes...

    Students are barely back on campus for the fall, and already a familiar topic is again dominating the student newspapers: security at Georgetown. Walking around campus and taking note of the many "See Something? Say Something!" posters, it is hard not to feel as though perhaps George Bush himself is driving the conversation.

    Considering this, I could not help but laugh when I read through a recent email from the Department of Public Safety on a student facing homophobic harassment while walking through Burleith this weekend. The crime, of course, was anything but funny, but the response the university gave was too much for me to take with a straight face.

    After the hate crimes committed last year, it is undoubtedly uncomfortable for some queer Hoyas to be out at Georgetown. As the most legally discriminated against group in the country, why shouldn't LGBT students also be the most likely to be harassed or assaulted by daring to walk around campus?

    The university's half-hearted efforts to balance its "religious" traditions with actually supporting the queer community have done little to help, and perhaps the administration is not to blame; real change probably has to come, first and foremost, from the student body. The student who was harassed this weekend faced what was described as a group of ten male students, and if not one of those ten had the decency to protest when the harassment started, university policy doesn't really matter.

    Nonetheless, the administration apparently feels it necessary to put out a security alert just to cover its bases and be sure it is not seen as being indifferent towards the crime. In fact, all the email proved was that the university has absolutely no solutions.

    First off, the report does not seem to suggest that there was a victim in this act, as under the "Victim(s)" category we learn only that no physical injuries were obtained by anyone present. The "Victim(s) status" is left empty, so we are able to ponder the results of homophobic harassment ourselves. I suppose that after students were physically assaulted last year based on their sexuality, getting yelled at doesn't seem to victimize anyone too greatly.

    The report then lists the same wonderful safety tips the administration always provides: If anything happens to you, call us so that we can search for the culprit with no results. Don't ever leave your doors unlocked, though that won't really help you if the crime happens on the streets. And if you need to go anywhere safely, call us and we'll pick you up, just like Enterprise. There is nothing like an irrelevant form email to say that you care about the student involved.

    What is the real message here? This incident occurred at 7:50pm. Before sunset. It was not a case of someone traveling alone in the wee hours of the morning, stumbling through Burleith wasted in the dark. Should LGBT students call for SafeRides to go to class in the afternoon, lest they risk being attacked on the streets?

    It seems to me that the new "Driving While Black" is "Walking While Gay." You don't have to do anything to be harassed, and if you are there's nothing anyone can do about it. The university can only send out a worthless email telling you to make sure your windows aren't unlocked, and at any time of day you may be harassed or assaulted without reason. Being yourself and existing is crime enough.

    But again, I try not to blame the administration. It is largely the student body that is responsible. Georgetown students are far more likely to sign up for a queer rights Facebook group or pull the level for a liberal candidate than they are to actually stand up to daily homophobia they themselves encounter. Most people would rather put a Human Rights Campaign magnet on their fridge than tell a friend to apologize for calling something "gay" or using a homophobic slur. The culture will never change until we stand up together and say it's unacceptable.

    Until then, some free advice to the incoming first-year students: Keep your doors locked at all times. Program the DPS number into your cellphone. And please, please try not to be gay.

Sarah Palin: Shitty Governor, Shittier Mom

2008-09-02T01:27:00.001-04:00

Let's review the facts, shall we?

In the few days since McCain announced that the first female name he drew from a hat was Sarah Palin, we have learned that she fired a security director because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law; that she was a director of one of Sen. Stevens' PACs which now has scandalous ties; that she recently supported the bridge to nowhere before changing course, and also secured millions in earmarks for her rinky-dink town; that she supports drilling in ANWR, creationism in schools, and criminalizing abortion even in cases of rape; and, oh yeah, that she may have lied about her pregnancy to cover for her daughter, or at the very least has a pregnant daughter now.

So it's established that she's a pretty shitty choice for McCain's VP nominee. Now onto that other matter.

I don't really care that some people say families should be off-limit. Bullshit. Clinton's affair was made into a national circus event, and Bush's daddy is the reason he's in office. Where Obama takes his family to church is up for debate, and so is the health of John Edwards' wife and the health of their marriage. Family stuff isn't off limits, not any more.

After all, maybe it says something about Sarah Palin, and what kind of figure she would be leading our nation, that she chose to run for vice president knowing that it would expose her daughter to scrutiny she NEVER would have experienced as the daughter of Alaska's governor (in fact, a TIME reporter tells us that most people in their hometown already seemed to know what was going on, but were quiet about it out of respect for the family. It also says something that Palin thinks kids should be taught creationism in school, but not how to put on a condom - indeed, she is for abstinence-only sex "ed," a view generally linked to the principle that families should be responsible for this kind of education. Well, it's a stupid idea to start, and what this incident shows is that Palin wasn't a good enough mother to teach her daughter how not to get knocked up.

Both of these examples demonstrate Palin putting her ideological views and political ambitions against actually protecting her family. Hard to be a fighter for America's families when you can't take care of your own, and hard to be a spokeswoman for an All-Jesus-All-the-Time education policy when you as a parent couldn't keep such an educational system from fucking over your own family. All this is presuming that Bristol is even really pregnant, and this isn't just a cover-up for the larger looming baby scandal (that Palin's fifth child is actually Bristol's) - in which case this new layer of lies will completely sink the GOP ticket.

At least we can take solace in the fact that, when Bristol Palin brings her child into the world, she will be able to teach him or her how Yahweh made the world in 6 days, how a condom is just a funny kind of balloon, and how to be a pretty shitty vice presidential nominee and a really shitty mom. Those are all lessons Gov. Sar-Sar will have taught her well.

Convention Watch

2008-08-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

So last night marked the end of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, at which Barack Obama accepted his party's nod for the presidency. Shocking, I know - thought he was going to turn them down. I had commented earlier in the election about the lack of mention queer rights had gotten so far in his candidacy, even in the primary, when he hypothetically should have been moving to the left. So I was interested to note two points from last night.

First, when Al Gore - who, sense his failed run for the White House, has been more outspoken on queer rights - took the stage in the night's second biggest speech, he said that if he had been president all people would have been treated equally in his administration. He went through the list (race, gender, etc) and ended in adding sexual orientation. Note that this is in contrast to most of Obama's mentions on civil liberties and ending discrimination.

But then Obama did give a shout-out to the queer rights movement, and maybe a slightly dangerous one. In talking towards the end of the address about finding common ground on divisive issues, Obama said:

"I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination."

Well, I'm actually not sure that all Americans can agree with that. It's interesting that Obama chose "same sex marriage" rather than, say, civil unions. To me the quote seems to be saying, I'm for gay marriage, you may not be, but let's work it out. In fact, Obama is of course against gay marriage, and is barely in support of civil union rights. So it seems strange that he would choose those particular words, words which may well have put some socially conservative voters off unnecessarily.

Putting that aside, however, it was good to hear him have the courage - in the biggest speech of his life - to bring up the issue, challenging America to move beyond battering each other on this wedge issue and denying basic civil liberties to millions of people.

I will be very interested to see whether Republicans go after this issue during their convention or try to just leave it alone. My hunch is that, in trying to show McCain is a "different" kind of GOPer - a little piece of fiction that needs lots of help to look realistic - they will need to stick to positive issues rather than one which is strictly against something and which makes the 2008 GOP campaign look just like the 2000 and 2004 ones. McCain is also on thin ice with social conservatives and it would make sense for him to not try too hard to rally them on issues which they think he is soft on, and thus remind them why they didn't like him to begin with. National security is the order of the day for Republicans, not social issues, it would seem.

Totally Random "Poetry," Maybe

2008-08-25T02:47:00.000-04:00

THE GANG'S ALL HERE //
but i say frig it
HE COMES ON STRONG //
and the chicks all dig it
HOLLYWOOD AND VINE //
it's all just a show
REUNION PRTS. 1 & 2 //
tell me somethin i dont know

it goes round
and round
and round
and round
and suddenly i realize what i've lost, what i've found

it goes up
and down
and down
and down
and suddenly you're ancient and i'm outta this town

CHARITY //
when will there be brunch?
FAMINE //
now i have a hunch
DISASTER //
i see it in his eyes
SECURITY //
running down my thighs

TAKE THE SHOT //
it's a trillion dollar world
I KNOW YOU ARE //
but what am i doesn't unfurl
TIL THE SECOND ACT IS OVER //
have you ever been abroad?
AND THE CROWD IS SCREAMING //
or a young woman since maude?

i get high
i get high
i get high
and i get by

THE. GANG'S. ALL. HERE. //
reunion, prts. 1 & 2

Back to Blogging

2008-07-29T02:51:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I had to go on hiatus for a while because the Obama campaign really frowns upon blogging, talking to the press, or other situations that could backfire against them if people should, you know, read it. Now that my fellowship is over, I am back to being able to show my true, cynical nature and offer all of my hearty insight and analysis.

I'm in Portland for a few days, doing a bit of volunteering and a bit of sightseeing, and then going to San Francisco for a few fun-filled days. Just bought 1/2 price tickets to Cabaret for next Saturday night!! So now I got that going for me.

I really gotta go to bed. Didn't get much sleep last night between packing and getting up early to go out with my Eugene host for a goodbye breakfast. Just came online to check up on a few things and, well, chat with someone :-) But now I must sleep. Blogging to followwwww.

The Clinton Show

2008-06-04T15:01:00.002-04:00

Okay, haven't posted in a while. Finals, papers, traveling, etc etc etc. Getting ready to go out and work for my main man, Senator Obama, in the Pacific northwest. But this is a fitting day on which to return to the blogosphere, because last night Obama secured the nomination. Kind of.

Clinton, of course, still hasn't conceded. Even though she now is behind by like 230 delegates (and counting), and has been unable to win for weeks. Her surrogates are saying that she deserves time to make her decision, and the respect of the political community, media, and country.

But here's the thing. They've been saying that for weeks now. Let's wait until everyone has voted! Let's wait until Florida and Michigan are resolved! Endorse Obama and you are either a "judas" (Bill Richardson), "incredibly disrespectful" (NARAL), or irrelevant (all African Americans.) They've been giving her time and letting the people vote - something she didn't seem to care about when she said it would be wrapped up by Super Tuesday - and letting the votes count - something she didn't seem to care about when she said "we all know this election [in Michigan] isn't going to count for anything."

And yet, they keep saying it. It's the same old tune. And last night, when the voting ended and Obama got the numbers to win the nomination by a pretty wide margin, they said should be her night, not his. She's won 18 million votes (a made up number which is somehow up a million from when they made up 17 million last week, even though the population of Montana and S.D. combined is like 400 people.) She's the leader of the party (even though she wasn't before the election, which she lost, and certainly isn't now.)

This isn't Clinton's night. It isn't her party. It isn't her nomination. She lost, and it is over, and has been over for several weeks. But it always has to be about her, because she is the center of the universe. So it makes sense that now she's pushing herself for VP - trying to at once make it both impossible for Obama to accept her and impossible for him to reject her, so that either way, he is fucked. Clinton cannot possibly imagine that a party without her and her husband at its center could succeed, or that a nation led by such a party could excel. With Clinton, it's always been about me, me, me.

And I love that her supporters are still "holding out for a miracle," which at this point means either a political catastrophe for Obama (which would wreck the party, even if he stepped down and she took his place) or his assassination, an idea which she seemed to champion a few weeks ago when she cited the death of RFK as her reasoning for staying in the race. It takes a pretty sick mind to hold out for such a scenario, especially considering that any logical supporter of Clinton would have to prefer Obama over McCain, but unfortunately there are a lot of people in that mindset in this country today. And I have a pretty good idea of who deserves the blame.

Such a person does not deserve time, or respect, and certainly not the vice presidency. Such a person deserves to be ignored, once and for all.

Turkish perceptions of homosexuality

2008-05-20T19:14:00.003-04:00

So for those of you who were terribly intrigued by my last post (I can pretend that someone is reading this and interested, can't I?) and want to read my full study, it is available as a PD-freaking-F which you can download and read and enjoy. There are all sorts of interesting tidbits inside, such as accounts of people who think gay guys simply weren't up to the task on women; why the idea that only the "passive" sexual partner is gay is... fun; and why all the gay people doing these polls are basically just as biased about Turkey as the majority of the population here is about gays.

Download the full effing thing here, while I meanwhile work on my next paper, this one a 15 page study of Middle Eastern media coverage of the U.S. primary election. *Dies.*

One of my many public services

2008-05-19T09:40:00.003-04:00

So I am doing a paper for one of my classes on perceptions of homosexuality amongst Turks, and most of it will be focused specifically on college students. A lot of it hasn't been terribly surprising - women are more okay in general with it then men, and both are more comfortable with queer people of the opposite gender than their own.

Also not terribly shocking, but interesting, is that the biggest factor in influencing perceptions of homosexuality is whether or not you actually know someone who is queer. So basically... my going around Turkey and meeting people is kind of like a public service for the gays! Right? I should get some kind of medal or something.

Can't wait until finals are done. Even this paper, which should be of interest to me, is driving me crazy. Need to move on from the semester, pronto.

We like the gays (but not in a gay way)

2008-05-17T04:08:00.002-04:00

The way that the candidates have been treating the queer community this election season has already been.... interesting. The democrats, while forced for the first time to go to an LGBT-specific question and answer forum, have been largely trying to ignore the issue. All of them are "friendly" towards queer issues - but not that friendly. Civil unions, fine; gay marriage, well, let's not get carried away, you silly gays. John McCain has also been staying away from this realm of issues, probably because (a) it reminds conservatives of one of the areas in which they hate him, and (b) conservative positions will probably hurt him w/ some indy voters and not really help him much w/ others.

Enter: California's confusing decision to overturn the law banning gay marriage. Confusing because... I don't really get what that means. A source tells me that this means Ellen Degeneres and Portia di Rossi are getting married. But the decision just makes it not illegal for queers to marry, it doesn't make it legal for them to do so. Which makes my head hurt (that, and fading of last night's vodka.)

Regardless, their have been a whole slew of op-eds and whatnot saying that this apparently means social issues are back on the table. In case you forgot, Republicans used the fear of gay marriage to get out the vote in 2004 and reelect that retarded ape who serves as America's president. And now that gays have reminded old white Southerners that they exist, the old white Southerners are going to stop at nothing until McCain gets elected and doesn't do what they want, anyway, because he is crazy and senile.

All I know is, when Obama is the nominee, he will have some work to do with the gay community, which for whatever reason has never really warmed to him. Clinton has had the lead in this department from early on. Leading Edwards wasn't hard, as he had those comments about him being uncomfortable with gays lurking always above his head. But I think a lot of LGBT felt better with Clinton because gay guys are often more comfortable with women than with men (for a whole host of psychological reasons I won't worry about while hung over) and for queer women I think that Clinton's challenges breaking gender stereotypes was probably something they could relate to. It is interesting that Clinton did so much better with these voters, even though their positions on LGBT issues are pretty much the same, so you'd think that gay voters would split between them roughly with the same ratio that voters nationwide did.

At least if gay marriage ends up dooming another election, we will have a new state to blame for fucking everything up. Florida, you may be off the hook this year.

BREAKING: CA Supreme Court strikes gay marriage ban

2008-05-15T14:44:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't heard already, California's Supreme Court today declared the state's gay marriage ban, approved by referendum popular vote, to be unconstitutional. The case was brought to the court by the city of San Fransisco and a number of queer individuals and groups. There is a measure to create a constitutional ban by state-wide referendum vote, but I think this would be unlikely to pass; furthermore, Gov. Arnie says he will uphold the court's decision and does not support the constitutional ban referendum.

More on this tomorrow, when I do not have 30 pages worth of papers due in 20 hours.

7% of WV voters too racist, sexist to vote for either candidate actually running

2008-05-14T02:52:00.006-04:00

W. Virginia Primary:

67% - Hillary Clinton
26% - Barack Obama
7% - John Edwards WTF

Why are these people even democrats? Together with Louisiana, they are the only people who haven't yet figured out that the Democratic party isn't for segregation anymore. It's not 1956, West Virginia. Take off the white bed sheet, register republican, and proceed to leave me alone.

The empress's clothes

2008-05-12T14:44:00.003-04:00

Maybe it's the gay in me, but one thing that I will really miss about Hillary Clinton's presence in this race (presuming she doesn't somehow win the nom or get selected at VP) is her expression through clothing and style. She has been criticized at times for it, and those making the criticism have then been attacked for being misogynistic or sexist. I suppose that critiques have often been fueled by people's presumption of what femininity should look like, or of an idea that Clinton's fashion does not fit in because it is not the masculine norm of political attire. John Edwards' now infamous comment at a debate, "I don't know about that jacket," comes to mind (though when he said it, I thought more about how stupid it was for a candidate accused of being fruity to dare use satire and fashion critique in one statement!)

Anyway, I don't always like her choices (yellow isn't her color, and someone needs to break it to her), her clothing choices do present maturity but agility, strength but warmth, class but approachability. Her large, simple necklaces, bright scarves, and well-trimmed suits are at once disarming - for we see something there that is familiar, comfortable and safe - and also powerful - for we see a person who is confident, steadfast, and self-assured. Clinton's presentation of herself certainly has to do with the fact that her and her husband's 9-figure assets don't get in the way with her connecting to blue-collar, working-class people in a way that Barack Obama (who comes from a much humbler background) and John Edwards (who was raised working-class and even now maintains a populist charm) were simply not able to do.

Clinton demonstrates that a woman can be both feminine and professional, motherly and successful. Her style, and her life narrative, are a testament to breaking loose from the strict social confines of gender identity - a structure which, even today, says it's okay for women to work in a "man's world" but only if they abandon their femininity. Clinton never sacrificed her own expression of gender even as she competed in one of the most male-dominated arenas in America today.

Portrait of an election

2008-05-11T06:27:00.002-04:00

Facebook groups tell an interesting narrative.

Hillary Clinton for President - One Million STRONG
26,500 members

Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)
528,000 members

Stop Hillary Clinton (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)
1,017,000 members

The end.

Electability?

2008-05-10T06:47:00.002-04:00

If you go to Pollster and read through the state-by-state general election info, you'll find some pretty interesting gems.... Obama and Clinton each have their strong states against McCain, with Obama beating McCain but Clinton losing in states like Iowa and Colorado. But look at Nevada, Michigan, and Indiana - three states which Clinton won handily (at least in terms of state-wide popular vote.) In general election match-ups, Obama beats McCain in each one, and Clinton loses. Michigan is perhaps most astonishing, as Clinton has been pushing counting their sham election in which Obama wasn't even on the ballot and suggesting that it's an important state in Nov. which only she can win.

Yeah. Right.

True, Clinton does better in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida (the last of which I think will likely go R regardless), but these are states that have big primary wounds that haven't healed. I think we'll see Obama go up in them as the party embraces him as the nominee. Whereas if Clinton is polling down in places like MI now, she'll never be up (unless of course voters see through her attempts to use their voters as hostages in this process... her camp just rejected a plan to give her 69 delegates and Obama 59 - pretty generous for her. But she wants ALL the votes counted EVEN THOUGH HE WASN'T ON THE FUCKING BALLOT WHICH IS INSANE. She's crazy, okay?)

On hubris, and idiots

2008-05-09T17:01:00.002-04:00

You'd think given the high unpredictability of this election so far (no one would have predicted McCain and Obama a year ago), people would quit with the "I just KNOW" statements. I mean, a lot of people are still pretty embarrassed that the sure-thing, practically-an-incumbent candidate Hillary Clinton seems to have no path to the nomination short of Obama dying or worshiping a golden calf in the streets. This is based on political fact and expert analysis, not my own version of what I want reality to be.

After so many people said for months now - despite the fact that Clinton's campaign has continued to crumble - that she would find a way to bounce back, that she ALWAYS does, that there's no way Obama will beat her, you'd think that these people would be sufficiently embarrassed by their pathetic analysis to give it a break. Admit that they were wrong, that Obama proved surprisingly strong and that Clinton made some major mistakes (not contesting caucus states, going too negative, lying, allowing Bill to speak), and agree to see where the election goes from here.

But instead, many of these same people who look like douches for giving snide smiles and saying, "oh, Hillary will win, don't you worry," have now moved, without blinking an eye, to "well there's no WAY Obama will win in November." Yes - your candidate lost, so there is no way on earth that the other candidate could possibly accomplish anything. You ignored facts and instead were motivated in your opinions only by your desires and made ridiculous predictions, and now are deciding to do the same thing again.

Obama does not have an easy road to the White House; both he and Clinton are somewhat to the left in a generally center-right country (though I would hesitate before calling Clinton a liberal). And McCain, for all his faults, is a decent candidate for the Republicans to field. So it was never going to be easy. But for people to continue to discount him after that same approach just proved them very wrong (and mirrors the attitude of the Clinton camp that actually lost the election)? That's just stupid.

Clinton was a force so strong that only her own hubris could undue her. And it did. And a lot of her supporters seem keen on following suit.