Turns out that the participation the huge US military survey on DADT is self-selected:

Sunday was the deadline for troops to complete the Defense Department's "don't ask, don't tell" attitudes survey, and officials at the Pentagon said the final tally on completed responses was 109,883 -- a response rate of only about 27.5 percent.

A guy I know in the Air Force got the survey and he filled it out (he told me his responses... they weren't half bad). But if I'd hazard a guess the people who filled it out were those who felt strongly on the topic, and we all know that the people who feel strongly on this topic tend to be on the opposite side of the spectrum from the rest of us.

We don't really know who were the 27.5% were, but when you have a response rate that low (of people who knew in advance what the topic of the survey was), it does introduce a new element. Why would some people choose to respond and others wouldn't? Who knows, but whatever the reasons were, they may affect the end result of the survey.

The Stars and Stripes article linked above does mention who's better at filling out these surveys:

Continue reading "DADT survey results won't be accurate" »

You never know when tragedy will strike. All you can hope for is you're not in the middle of it when it does.

Continue reading "The Flat Tire I" »

I like this as an ad. Go MoveOn.org:

Of course, I find this problematic in a few ways; that's after the jump. But I'm still glad that they're putting it out there. Don't try to negotiate with these businesses, because that's fruitless. Their interests are fundamentally opposed to the people's interests.

The left needs to do a better job conscripting the people, because, fundamentally, these issues are about them and people are always the left's greatest resource.

Continue reading "Keep focused on the target, not Target" »

Now that Republicans have found a new boogeyman, they've started to ignore our community somewhat. They've discovered brown people (as versus black people - it's not okay to be racist/xenophobic toward them anymore because they'll loudly complain about it, you see) are more likely to cause knee-jerk panic among their target voters than the threat of gay rights.

Combine that with quickly changing social positions on everything from employment protections to same-sex marriage and suddenly terror babies and Islamic cultural centers are the frenzied new priorities for the GOP. Meanwhile, the Democrats have sat around with their thumbs up their butt waiting for just the right political wind to champion civil rights again. Because, you know, that's what champions do...

Watch this great segment from MSNBC's The Ed Show (which is almost always better when Ed's not there) with guest host Cenk Uygur talking to Keith Boykin about the Democrats' lack of fortitude recently on LGBT issues. Does anyone really believe that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama oppose gay marriage when even Laura Bush and Glenn Beck support it? The clip is after the jump.

Continue reading "Mexicans & Muslims vs Teh Gayz" »

This kid got caught; other people who watch too much To Catch a Predator but were less greedy probably didn't.

Kelz Sutherland, 19, tried to lure callers into talking about sex with children before threatening to play tapes of the calls to their families, employers and the police.

He talked in one voice as he set out to trap victims, then switched to another and claimed to be the line's "monitor" or "moderator" before making his threats.

The scheming teenager ordered the terrified men to pay thousands of pounds each to have their calls "deleted from the system".

The cash was paid into the bank account of Sutherland's mother.

Sutherland extorted a total of £87,700 from callers including teachers and a company secretary with a charity.

One man paid him £34,000 in three months and another handed over £24,000 in just a month.

This is a product of the way our cultures, both in the UK and the US and elsewhere, are just so unable to discuss sexuality with any modicum of sanity that people feel ashamed about things they didn't even do. So ashamed that they're willing to pay good money to keep everything quiet.

Sutherland, though, isn't all that remorseful. If anything, he sounds like a typical professional moral scold:

Continue reading "Scottish sex line used to extort money " »

Don't you just want to slap the bitch for dissing Ruth's mothering skills? Oh, sorry, that's just me.

This seems to have been a popular thread running through toilet paper ads of old: women are falling down on the job if they don't select the perfect ass-wipes for their family. This concept bothers me.

Continue reading "TP or not TP, that is the vintage ad" »

Good news for those of you who wanted to see my presentation at the BlogIndiana conference on Friday but weren't in the Indianapolis area. The conference has had enough interest in the session that they'll be broadcasting it live online for free.

The session, "Blogging About Issue Politics," is scheduled for 11:30am Eastern time on Friday, August 20th (this Friday!). I'll be discussing political blogging with a focus on issue advocacy.

It can be rough pushing a progressive message in a red state. We'll explore some of the challenges facing bloggers focused on one specific issue, how to escape the trap of being overlooked and underestimated, and ways you can translate your online work into offline engagement.

There's plenty of other sessions being broadcast on Friday and Saturday, so be sure to check out the full broadcast schedule. There's also a Twitter wall that will be used during the presentation so online watchers can ask questions during the Q&A; too.

I'm off for a few days of renewal and self-reflection to Hot Springs, North Carolina.

It's been an incredibly busy summer, not the quiet one I hoped for.

Kindred Spirits is "a global network based in the Southern Appalachians near Asheville, North Carolina since 1993." They put on a spiritual retreat every year where people get together to think about and be in the presence of the "spirit of transgender."

A friend told me about it, and it sounded awesome. So we're driving down together.

"Each of our four days together, we share in daily sacred circles. Our Laurel River hike culminates in a ritual swim-frolic. Special teaching sessions will be offered by some of our veteran attendees, often including various intuitive and shamanic sorts of work. Our ceremonies climax on an ancient Cherokee bald mountaintop with a 360-degree vista. This retreat can be a life-changing experience for you, connecting with your trans-spiritual family, as well as launching you further along your own spiritual path. You are encouraged to bring your own unique visions and expertise to share within this powerful gathering of your own kindred spirits."

Whoa, right? I hear the cell service is hit or miss, and I'm not sure about the internet. Here's some more about the retreat.

Continue reading "A Trans Spiritual Retreat" »

Last week I posted Dr. Laura's bizarre rant against a caller who asked how to deal with casual racism in her family. Dr. Laura went from "You're probably hypersensitive" to "Black people ruin everything for white people like me!" in about 60 seconds, which, if anything, showed that the caller struck a nerve without even trying. She also said the word "nigger" eleven times, which got the "You can't tell if someone is racist unless you can read their mind" crowd to pay attention.

And now Dr. "Personal Responsibility Means Suck It Up, Assholes" is really mad at how everyone else is causing all the problems in her life so she's holding her breath until she turns blue ending her radio show when her contract runs out.

Continue reading "You won't have Dr. Laura to kick around anymore" »

Editors' Note: Guest blogger Josh Olson is an Academy Award nominated screenwriter who lives, works, and loves in Los Angeles. He is profoundly heterosexual, and living in sin with a lovely woman because he can.

Seriously, folks, the world's a mess. We have so many real issues facing us right now, so many problems that really do threaten to eradicate not just our way of life, but life itself, that piddling around with crap like this is starting to feel not just self-indulgent, but suicidal.

It is deeply and profoundly important that we recognize how absurd this situation is, and get over it as soon as possible. The world is harsh and mean and ugly enough that anyone who devotes one single solitary erg of energy towards making it harder for two people to love each other needs to be labeled as exactly what they are: A hatemonger.

This piece ran on CNN's blog a few days ago, and it struck me as quintessential in its quiet, casual ugliness. It's a piece by a Bishop Harry Jackson, a Christian pastor from Maryland, who's also African American. He makes just about every argument that the opponents of civil rights always make on the subject, and because it struck me so hard today, I'm going to dissect this bigot's words line by line and explain to anyone out there who's unsure exactly how demented, ugly and vicious this campaign is.

Let's dig in:

Continue reading "Enough already with the gay marriage thing" »

I'll be honest. I got nothing. I put myself on the schedule for this time slot and then I got busy with stuff around the house and forgot I was supposed to be writing. To fill time until this afternoon when I can post something a little more substantive, I bring you a cute Brazilian boy dancing for you (while watching himself in the mirror).

That camera operator should be fired though. That many pelvis thrusts and the video never pans to catch most of it? Now that's a cinematographic shame.

(Hat tip to Matthew who gave it the awesome title "YouTubeSteak & Shake")

Now that there's been a few successful P2P lawsuits hammered forth by the RIAA and other large media companies, the idea has spread to gay porn empire Lucas Entertainment, who recently filed the first of its kind lawsuit against 53 alleged gay [porn] pirates. The ill-gotten booty in question "Kings of New York," a porn about people "fucking their way to the top" in the big city.

obligatory gay pirates photo [Charles Roffey's flickr under a creative common license.]

Continue reading "Gay pirates sued over Kings of New York" »