The good guys

Lest I leave you with pictures of Hannity and Gillespie, there were some good guy sightings today as well, including...


Michael Moore, of course. Moore is easily visible because EVERYWHERE he travels at the convention he is surrounded by like 50 people oogling and ogling and trying to get photos and interviews. The man is hotter than, well, Ben Affleck. I couldn't hear a thing he was saying, but I do have a fun Michael Moore story a friend told me yesterday. Apparently my friend was in the bathroom at the convention center and Michael Moore was peeing next to him. Moore finished up, turned around, and the entire bathroom full of men gasped audibly once they realized who it was who was just peeing with them. Reportedly it was a rather odd moment, especially since no one could really shake his hand, considering the circumstances. I know, weird story - not to mention the fact that people didn't think Michael Moore peed (how many e's does that word have anyway?) - but hey, you wanted the flavor of the day. :-)


I came out of the gay caucus meeting and looked at the table next to me, and who was there, but Bobby Kennedy, Jr. I'm telling you, this place is crawling with famous Democrats. It's just so cool. RFK, Jr. was apparently signing copies of his book.


And around 4:30 today I finally got to meet Duncan Black (?), the blogger known as Atrios. Atrios was doing an interview on Mike Signorile's radio show. We got to chat for a few minutes afterwards. He's a good guy, not surprisingly, and interesting as well. I met a friend of his and fellow blogger who was quite interesting as well, Matt Stoller of BOPNews.com.

And I think, hope, that that's it for today. JOHN Read More......

The Evildoers

Well, I had to add a few photos of the evildoers attending the convention. I understand that Ann Nosferatu Coulter is here. (Wasn't there an article about them flying in people like her especially for the convention from like Asia and Europe? Oh no, wait, that was hookers.) Also saw Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of KY roaming the halls in attack-dog mode, and William Bennett again (he was on my plane).


Here's Ed Gillespie, the head of the Republican National Committee, and, as far as the TV appearances I've seen, not a very nice man. As for his position on gay issues, well, let's just put it this way. There's been a rumor going around of late that he may have a very close family member who's gay... Say no more. Gillespie was doing a radio interview a few tables down from the Sirius table.

Then across the hall, Jeanine Garofolo of Air America was taking on Sean Hannity at the ABC Radio table. Hannity was being his usual condescending self - I frankly found his behavior borderline sexist. It seemed to me at least that he was acting "nicer" to Garofolo because she's a woman, but in a very "the way straight guys treat cute dumb women" kind of way. Well, that's the way it struck me at least. Garofolo wasn't buying it. She call him "cretinous." LOL

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Ben Afleck and other celeb sightings from today's gay caucus meeting

Mmmm... Bennnnn....


Mama Teresa speaking to the gay caucus - as I indicated below, the lady totally rocks. We NEED HER in the White House, big time ;-)


Queers As Folk's Robert Gant (I think that's his name) in a rather engaged but short speech to the gay caucus today.


Former Clinton UN Ambassador and Cabinet Secretary Bill Richardson Read More......

Ben Afleck, Michael Moore, Jeanine Garofolo and more

Wow, this day has been out of control. I've had enough celebrity sitings to make my head spin. This morning, saw Teresa Heinz speak at the gay caucus. Ben Afleck spoke as well, and was amazingly good. Afleck talked about his "partner" Ben Afleck :-) He also mentioned he has a gay cousin who's very cute and single, and a gay godfather. He concluded by shouting out to the crowd that gays and lesbians are "entitled to every other God damn right as any other American. Everyone went wild. And as an aside, he really is cute in person - I never understood the attraction to the guy - I get it now.

Other speakers today included Rob Reiner, former Clinton cabinet secretary Bill Richards, and Robert Gant (?), you know, the guy on Queer as Folk who's dating Hal Sparks (very cute guy, I hear he went to law school with me - now I find out).

While having lunch, I got to see Tucker Carlson hop out of a cab, looking all spiffy in his trademark bow-tie (he was VERY nice to the cab driver, I might add - seems like a nice guy). I got to see Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie jogging by my cab in a hot sweat (I tried to yell "hit him!" but it was too late). Later saw Jerry Springer, Michael Moore surrounded by A MILLION PEOPLE, I got to finally meet blogger-extraordinaire Atrios (nee Duncan Smith), ran into my friend David Brock, and lots more.

More later tonight. Read More......

Teresa Heinz rocks!

I just saw Teresa Heinz Kerry speak at the gay and lesbian caucus meeting, and let me tell you, this woman rocks. Screw the critics. She is fabulous. Yes, she has a brain and courage and backbone - something the men running the Republican Party find awfully threatening. Mrs. Heinz brought the house down.

She started by telling the largely-gay crowd "you are a symbol of family, you are a symbol of faith, you are a symbol of hope, you are a symbol of persistence, and you are a symbol of tolerance." (These are near exact quotes - I was jotting down quickly.) She then introduced her two drop-dead gorgeous sons, Andrea and Christopher, and told the crowd that if she were to ever find out one of her kids was gay, she would "feel as a mother free to share my joy and pride [of my child] with all my friends."

But she brought the crowd to a standing ovation when she told the story of a young man who came up to her after a speech recently gave out west. The young man told her "I wish you were my mom." The crowd then laughed, and Mrs. Kerry interjected "this is actually quite serious." (Again, I'm paraphrasing.) She then explained that this man clearly did not have a mother who accepted him, and she told the crowd "If John Kerry becomes president, at the very least you will have a mom in the White House." Everyone went nuts. I still get chills when I recount the story. It was genuine, loving, and wonderful.

This woman gets it, guys. The Kerry campaign, in my view, tried very hard with today's speeches at the caucus to win over any gay doubters, and I have to tell you, they won me. The caucus rocked. Read More......

Florida Poised For More Voting Scandals

The New York Times reports that anyone holding their breath to see if Florida will have a repeat of its 2000 election fiasco can exhale -- it's already happened. Almost all the voting records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost. (Among other things, they never backed up the harddrives via blank CDs or other media.) Also, Florida law now says it's illegal to do a recount of electronic voting because it's impossible for voters to make a mistake by voting for two people. However, touch-screen voters were EIGHT times more likely not to register any vote at all -- obviously a sign of error on the machine's part rather than disinterest from the voter in the booth. Add this to the shameful incident where the Republicans in power tried to keep Hispanic felons on the voter rolls while eliminating blacks and you've got yourself a full-blown scandal.
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Message to Dick: 195,000 deaths due to hospital errors

Now what was it that Cheney was saying just days ago?  Oh yes, it was this:

"This problem doesn't start in the waiting room," Cheney said in remarks released by the campaign. "It doesn't start in the operating room. The problem starts in the courtroom."

Sounds like Dick might not have been exactly right about that one, sort of like the WMDs.

"The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have underestimated the number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is little evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years," said Dr. Samantha Collier, vice president of medical affairs at the company.

It said it found about 1.14 million "patient-safety incidents" occurred among the 37 million hospitalizations.  "Of the total 323,993 deaths among Medicare patients in those years who developed one or more patient-safety incidents, 263,864, or 81 percent, of these deaths were directly attributable to the incidents," it added.   "One in every four Medicare patients who were hospitalized from 2000 to 2002 and experienced a patient-safety incident died."

Springfield to legalize gay marriage

The question now is who will be getting married under the new law?  Who is going to play the role of religious reactionary who will rile up the crowds with hatred? 

"We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield legalizes gay marriage," producer Al Jean told comic book fans. "Homer becomes a minister by going on the Internet and filling out a form. A longtime character comes out of the closet, but I'm not saying who."

And with that, Simpsons aficionados got their gaydar on and began winnowing down the list of potential suspects.