Issue #139
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
Dare,This truly was well-named. It was a meaningless rant. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do all you straight allegedly progressive guys do this squeamish abandonment on gay rights?Thank you massa, so much sir, for conceding that gays should be endowed with the same legal rights as you massa. It's the "but" that makes you sound like my grandfather.I wonder if you crave a special word for straights having a glass of water? Shopping? Do you resent that "blow job" is used to mean both male and female mouths sucking a cock? What kind of bullshit false romanticist crap are you spewing? You long for the bygone days when gays knew their place? Why do you wince when Cary Grant says he feels gay? Why even dwell on such a thing? MANY words have changed meaning over time, do you mourn those as well? As a writer, wouldn't the context be clear anyway if you said "John and Jane were a married couple"? I just don't get how its a loss to expand the meaning of that word to include ALL adults. Its not a bad concept, its a bigoted concept.Despite your niggling, condescending attempt to cover your own ass, I think deep down you hate gay men. I bet you even want to assume that I'm gay, in order to psychologically justify your dismissal of my message.You remind me a lot of my grandfather...the one who was terrified of Martin Luther King when he was alive.I haven't decided yet whether to stop reading your blog or not. My tolerance for bigotry is pretty narrow these days....--Tim OmachiGunma, JapanSorry, guy, but this is one of the STUPIDEST arguments I've ever come across. Why don't we make the word "marriage" apply only to same-race couples, too? Why don't we make the word "sex" (the act) apply.only to same-race, different-gender couples? Did you ever hear of something called an ADJECTIVE that can be used to modify a noun to narrow its meaning? Are you too fucking lazy to stick the word "heterosexual" in front of the word marriage when that's what you mean? Or are you unwilling to admit, maybe to yourself, that you REALLY want to assert the primacy of "the union of a man and woman" over other unions?- Perry L. AdlerMichael, we wouldn't have the words we all love to play with, to twist, turn, and spend hours sourcing three dictionaries and a thesaurus to joke with if it were not for CHANGE! Sorry man, but as writers we THRIVE on change, and to be frank, so does society. Marriage as we know it now was not what it was a hundred years ago, or a thousand...yes, same sex has thrown quite a wrench into the works, but if the only issue is definition and the dictionary, you should be applauding. So, is it just a case of definition?- MikeWhat Dare misses, in his push for equality across the board for everyone, is the simple fact we ain't equal. None of us. We don't all have the same rights. Never will. Won't happen. Can't happen. If you force the right of a man to marry a man on us, then you remove MY right as an ordained minister to follow what the word of God tells me to do. Whose rights are more important? Mine or theirs?- Ben Baker
You wrote: The word "gay" used to mean happy. Watch a movie from the 30s or 40s and wince in embarrassment as someone like Cary Grant says "I feel so gay," knowing full well that he didn't really mean he likes sucking cock. In the 60s, we lost the word "gay" forever as a synonym for happy, but it was no great loss. Writers with nothing but words at their disposal had no reason to mourn because they still had "happy" and "merry" and "festive" and "joyful" and lots of other words that meant the same thing.The word "gay" as a reference to a homosexual started being used in that context early in the 19th century. There are even earlier references of gay used in that context. The example you use of Cary Grant saying "I feel so gay" is a misquote. Katharine Hepburn comes into the scene and Grant is wearing her frilly bathrobe. She looks at him questioningly. He says referring to the bathrobe that he has just "gone gay all of a sudden," not I feel gay. It is a direct gay reference. It was also an inside joke in Hollywood since Cary Grant had been living off and on with Randolph Scott for years. They had lived together for years and only stopped living together when one of them would briefly marry. There is even an article in Life Magazine and famous photo of one of them (I believe it was Grant) wearing an apron. The article talked about their domesticity. The studio went ballistic and made them stop living together. Over the course of their lives they lived together more than the time they each lived with their various wives combined.As to marriage. The religious right in the last 15-20 years has been saying that traditionally marriage was always a union between a man and a woman. This is completely untrue. Unfortunately, you, the media, and ordinary folk have bought into this. Historically the word marriage and marry has meant to bind something together. Sailors marry rope together, for example. The Catholic Church has many marriage ceremonies to sanctify different types of unions. Nuns marry Jesus in a marriage ceremony. The consecration of a Catholic Priest is nothing more than a marriage ceremony between the Catholic priest and the Mother Church. In medieval times the Catholic Church actually had a marriage type ritual that two men could engage in if they wanted to sanctify their friendship and put it on a higher spiritual plane.So, anytime you hear someone say that marriage has been traditionally between a man and a woman, dispute it. There is no historical data to support that statement.Keep up the good work with your column. I read it religiously. :-)Sincerely, Heilan Yvette Grimes
'Best of TBH Politoons'
Weekly Link
Sick Of This Crap
The Grammys are over as a nauseating chacophany of Skynard, Gospel and Crotch Grabbing Hip Hop recede into our primal memories. Now that Iraq is free, Iran is nukesque and North Korea is playing three card monty with fissionable masses, it's time again for our weakly analysis.
* Kim Jong be Ill - nutcase's got nukes
* Our Justice Department wants you to carry your rapist's baby
* Slash and Burn - the Bush budget
Join us won't you join us? We're just a click away....
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dan Frosch: Your Money or Your Life (The Nation. Posted on Alternet)
Jessica Naomi Valadez : Eight Ways To Stop Pissing Off the Person Who's Ringing You Up (Silicon Valley De-Bug)
ROGER EBERT: Late Spring (1972)
Jackie Chan, your days are numbered.
Cartoons: A Wandering Monk's Tale
Cartoon: Become Republican
Cartoons: The Frown
Cartoon: Buy Buy, Love
Code Pink: Women Against War
Pro-Bush Propaganda
Regular Link
Humor Gazette
Former pro baseball knucklehead Jose Canseco claims in a new book that he shared
steroids not only with the slugger Mark McGwire, but also with George W. Bush.
Canseco goes on to speculate that Bush's subsequent behavior -- including his
dishonest and boneheaded leadership in the Iraq war -- may be a result of the
phenomenon known as "roid rage." MORE
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny & soggy. More rain ahead.
The kid had today off - in-service day for teachers.
Train Named for Clash Singer
Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer, lead singer of British punk band The Clash, has been honored with a train named for him.
Strummer, who died in 2002 at age 50, was remembered at a naming ceremony Saturday at a railway station in Bristol, southwest England.
The Strummer train, a diesel locomotive built in 1965, follows a 200-year-old tradition of British trains being named after famous people. It will be operated in England by Cotswold Rail company.
Joe Strummer
Ignores Local Politicals
TV News
Despite its windfall from political advertising last fall, local TV news in 11 major markets spent little time covering local politics, a new study has concluded.
More than 90 percent of newscasts examined last fall had no news about campaigns for the House of Representatives, local or state governments. They devoted eight times the amount of coverage to people injured in accidents, said the Lear Center Local News Archive.
"If you want to get on local news, it's easier to be in a freak accident than to run for local office," said Marty Kaplan, professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School, which worked with the University of Wisconsin on the study. Researchers looked at all the evening and late-night newscasts in 11 cities for the 29 days before the Nov. 2, 2004 election.
TV News
Unscrolled for First Time
'On the Road'
The manuscript begins simply enough: "I first met Neal not long after my father died."
The conclusion, once located at the other end of a 120-foot long scroll, is a different story. It's missing, rumored to have been chewed by a dog, an alibi seemingly supported by the stains and jagged tear across the final page.
The tale that flows in between, pounded out in single-space type on paper made yellow and brittle by time, is the American classic "On the Road," written by the godfather of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac.
For the first time, fans of Kerouac and beatniks old and new have a chance to see every word, edit and smudge of his original manuscript, unrolled end to end and under glass at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. It is the first time during its international tour that the yellowed and brittle manuscript has been shown unspooled.
The exhibit will be on display through March 12, before a run at the Las Vegas Public Library, March 24-May 15.
'On the Road'
Gets Record 10th Season
'7th Heaven'
Fashions may come and go, but on the WB television network, the Camden family goes on and on. The network has ordered a 10th season of "7th Heaven" episodes, which will make it the longest-running family drama ever on prime-time TV.
It will surpass "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie," which both lasted nine seasons.
'7th Heaven'
Shares Bulimia Struggle With Teens
Jane Fonda
Actress Jane Fonda shared her struggle with bulimia and quest for physical perfection at a conference of teenage girls here, urging them to realize what it took her some 60 years to understand.
"The reason I've been excited about coming here is because I believe if we're going to solve the problems confronting the world on every level, it's going to have to be the girls who do it," Fonda said. The keynote speaker for Montana State University's Girls for a Change Conference on Saturday, Fonda told her audience of about 250 that her years of trying to look perfect have taken a great toll on her.
Fonda said that growing up, she never felt she was good enough, and learned at a young age that a woman's role was to please her husband. "I knew intuitively that to be loved, I have to be perfect," she said.
Jane Fonda
Your Tax $ At Work - IOKIYAR
Medicare
HealthSouth Corp. booked singers like Faith Hill, Reba McIntire and the band Alabama for its annual management meetings at Disney World between 1996 and 2001 - then billed Medicare to cover the cost, according to a report in The Birmingham News.
HealthSouth had previously acknowledged improperly billing Medicare for lavish entertainment and other expenses as part of a $325 million settlement announced by the Justice Department in December, but the agreement did not mention who performed at the meetings.
The entertainers performed at an awards banquet known as "the prom," culminating two days of meetings by about 1,000 of HealthSouth's medical center heads, top executives, board members and guests. Between 1998 and 2001, all were invited to bring spouses and children, with all those expenses improperly passed along to Medicare, according to the government settlement.
Medicare
Sues Ex-Manager for $1M
Paul Rodriguez
Comedian Paul Rodriguez has sued his former manager for $1 million, alleging that he forged a signature to gain ownership of the film "The Latin Kings of Comedy" and struck a deal with a major studio.
The Superior Court lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that Scott Montoya and his company, Payaso Entertainment, forged the comedian's signature on a contract and then entered into a deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute the film after the two men agreed in 2001 to split profits from the movie.
That agreement would give Montoya, who was hired in 1997, control of the production and make Rodriguez simply an "employee," the lawsuit said.
Paul Rodriguez
It's Not Nepotism - IOKIYAR
Elizabeth Cheney
Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, will become the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, the State Department said on Monday.
Cheney, who previously worked in the department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and left to work on her father's 2004 re-election campaign, will become the bureau's principal deputy assistant secretary of state.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Cheney would also serve as "coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives" -- a U.S.-backed idea to try to spread democratic and economic reform in the region.
Elizabeth Cheney
Spaghetti Western Star Saddles Up with Berlusconi
Bud Spencer
Spaghetti Western star Bud Spencer said Monday he would be hitching his wagon to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and standing for election at a forthcoming regional ballot.
The bearded, brawny Spencer, who starred in a slew of low-budget action movies alongside his blue-eyed partner Terence Hill, told reporters that politics was one of the last challenges left open to him.
Spencer, whose real name is Carlo Pedersoli, began his career as a water polo player, appearing with the Italian team at both the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
He later became a singer, but found more success as an actor. Looking to win a bigger international following, he changed his name to Bud Spencer in 1967, using one of his favorite actors -- Spencer Tracy -- and his favorite beer as inspiration.
Bud Spencer
In Memory
Beverly Dennis
Beverly Dennis, a former film and television actress who starred on "The Red Buttons Show" until she was blacklisted in the 1950s, died on Jan. 20. She was 79.
She died of multiple myeloma at her Beverly Hills home, said her daughter, Amanda Kramer.
Dennis played Buttons' wife on the show but was dropped in its first year after she was accused of belonging to "subversive organizations" in the notorious 1950 anti-communist pamphlet "Red Channels" - probably because she "signed a few petitions," her friend actress Lee Grant said.
Dennis' film credits included 1951's "Westward the Women" and "Take Care of My Little Girl."
She later abandoned acting to become a psychotherapist, earning degrees from New York University and Columbia University.
Beverly Dennis
In Memory
John Patterson
John Patterson, an award-winning television director who worked on dozens of shows such as "The Sopranos," "Law & Order" and "Hill Street Blues," died Feb. 7 of prostate cancer. He was 64.
Over his 40-year career, Patterson worked on a number of made-for-TV movies but was best known for directing popular dramatic series including "The Rockford Files," "Magnum P.I.," "The Practice," "CSI" and "Six Feet Under."
He also directed 13 episodes, including every season finale, of HBO's "The Sopranos," claiming Emmy nominations in 2000 and 2003 as well as a Directors Guild award for TV drama.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Patterson graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served in the Air Force and earned a master's degree from Stanford University before moving to Los Angeles.
John Patterson
In Memory
Jack L. Chalker
Jack L. Chalker, who wrote more than 60 science-fiction and fantasy novels, died Friday. He was 60.
Chalker died of kidney failure at a Baltimore hospital, The (Baltimore) Sun reported.
He won numerous awards during a career that began in his early teens. His 1977 novel "Midnight at the Well of Souls," sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
As a teen, Chalker also launched a literary magazine, Mirage, that he produced on an electric mimeograph machine and assembled with friends in his home.
The magazine earned the 14-year-old Chalker a nomination for the Hugo Award, the genre's highest honor, presented by the World Science Fiction Society. Chalker would be nominated for three more Hugos in his career.
Chalker was 13 when he took a bus from Baltimore to Washington for his first science-fiction meeting. Several years later, he and a high-school friend founded the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, holding regular meetings at friends' homes.
Chalker later organized the society's first Balticon, an annual conference, now in its 39th year, that has grown from a few dozen attendees to as many as 2,000.
Jack L. Chalker
