Some indy music by my nephew, just curious what you folks think

I figure once in a while why not share some personal stuff, lightens the mood a little. This was done by my freshman in college nephew for a class. All the vocals, instrumentals, everything is him alone, mixed together by himself. He needs to rework the levels, but still, I was kind of blown away. Perhaps I'm being the biased uncle, but I love the mood this song evokes. Just curious what you guys felt.

Sunset Lullaby (2.7meg MP3) Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Microsoft sucks. Read the rest of this post...

NEW Microsoft Scandal: General counsel accused of killing support for gay marriage. Gay-run DC office also opposed gays initially.

Even more interesting news from the Stranger.

Ten of Microsoft's 11 departments signed off on the company joining an amicus brief supporting the legalization of gay marriage in Washington state. The only office not to sign off was the DC federal government affairs shop, run by an openly gay man (the guy who co-authored the Unofficial Gay Manual). Nice job, guy. Fortunately, his concerns, whatever they were, were apparently resolved, so all the departments were on board - unanimous agreement - until... You guessed it.

Microsoft's General Counsel Brad Smith, that great defender of anti-gay bigots, killed the company's support for gay rights, yet again.

At this point, it's becoming increasingly clear what and who the problem is at Microsoft. The anti-gay preacher knew EXACTLY who to put pressure on - the man who apparently runs Microsoft instead of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. A man who by most accounts is doing all he can to kill the company's progressive stances on gay rights legislation. Too bad Gates and Ballmer appear to have no balls. I'm dying to know what this Smith guy has on them.

Here's a quick excerpt from the Stranger:

Beginning in September, same-sex marriage advocates approached Microsoft and other local corporations to see if they would be willing to sign a brief arguing that the legalization of same-sex marriage would foster a tolerant image for Washington State that would in turn improve the business community's ability to recruit top-level national talent to local companies, the sources confirmed.

Microsoft put the request through extensive internal deliberation. Of 11 company departments that weighed in on the matter, 10 were initially receptive, with only the company's federal-government-affairs shop in D.C. objecting (according to recent news reports, former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed is a paid Microsoft lobbyist on international trade and competition issues). That objection was resolved, the sources confirmed, but in mid-December Smith vetoed the internal recommendations and decided not to sign off on the brief.

And a brief word. Regardless of the merits of a company signing off on the gay marriage issue, we again have a situation where Microsoft's departments, all of them, have signed off on something pro-gay, and Brad Smith the general counsel kills it. There isn't just smoke here, there's fire. This man is trouble, he has an anti-gay agenda and is forcing it quite successfully down Microsoft's throat, and Gates and Ballmer couldn't care less - or perhaps they're complicit and letting Smith be the fall guy. Either way, that company stinks. Read the rest of this post...

The Sanctity of Marriage by Cong. Don Sherwood

In today's update to this sordid story about the 64 year old Congressman, Don Sherwood, we learn a lesson in family values. You will recall that Sherwood, the married GOP member of Congress from PA, was involved in an incident last fall with a 29 year old woman who claims they were lovers. She said he tried to choke her, he said it was a back rub. No charges were filed.

However, we learn from the Times Leader why marriage is important to this stalwart GOPer:

The woman, Cynthia Ore of Rockville, Md., says Sherwood has been her lover since 1999.

“When I met him he told me he was getting a divorce,” Ore has said.

Last week, the Times Leader exclusively reported her story about calling 911. She said she made the call on Sept. 15 after Sherwood “choked her for no apparent reason” while giving her a back rub at his apartment on D Street, according to a police report.

“He never did get a divorce,” Ore has said. “He said he has to stay married to get elected."

So, that's why they make such a big deal about marriage. It's to get re-elected. Read the rest of this post...

Key gay employee quits Microsoft, says General Counsel Brad Smith LIED about anti-gay brouhaha

Well, this is getting more interesting by the day.

According to The Stranger, the Seattle alternative weekly that broke the Microsoft story, a leader of Microsoft's gay and lesbian group, GLEAM, has announced his resignation from the company, blasting Microsoft General Counsel for lying about how the company's anti-gay policy developed over the past two months.

Mind you, this is now the 4th or 5th source ,at least, to say the exact same thing, that General Counsel Brad Smith is a liar.

Jeff Koertzen, an operations program manager and the secretary-treasurer of GLEAM, the gay and lesbian group at Microsoft that met on April 4 with Bradford L. Smith, the Microsoft senior vice-president and general counsel at the center of a furor over the company's decision, spoke to The Stranger after giving notice on Monday, May 2. The six-year Microsoft employee said he could no longer work at the company, given his belief that Smith and other company spokespeople are not being honest about what happened.

"I believe [Smith] is lying based on statements he made to us," Koertzen said. "My principles do not allow me to work for a company that does that."

Read the rest of this post...

Video of Microsoft accepting 2001 LA Gay & Lesbian Center award. Wonder if MSFT's lawyer will deny them making these statements too...

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Just watch Microsoft gush about how proud they are to be so pro-gay, supporting the gay agenda, gay rights bills, and all the rest.

Some of my favorite parts:

- Microsoft calls people like Ken Hutcherson's anti-gay religious bigotry "extreme views":

When some of the most respected companies in America made it clear that they supported equality for gays and lesbians they also implicitly told those who oppose this equality that they were no longer in the mainstream and that their views were the extreme views.

- Microsoft is proud to be a strong supporter of gay rights legislation:

I'm proud to say that Microsoft has worked to defeat several anti-gay ballot initiatives and is also a strong supporter of ENDA, the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

- And here is my personal favorite:

We share your goals, we share your values, and most importantly Microsoft shares your commitment to equality and empowerment.

Uh, not so much.

(Video courtesy of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, who have asked for their award back from Microsoft - not a peep from Microsoft about the award - and to Crooks and Liars for editing and posting the video.) Read the rest of this post...

AOL throws FL emergency emails into SPAM box

The trigger happy people at AOL used all of their pricey trend analysis software to block out emergency emails from Indian River, Florida during the busy hurricane season last year. Brillant move there people. I'm glad to see the story getting covered because I am so sick and tired of my emails getting blocked and returned when I try to send notes to friends with AOL accounts.

Sure, the problem has to do with my ISP (I'm on my second one in the last few years) who probably has a miserable defense system in place but I can't help that and it's too much of a hassle to change again and again. AOL's advice in the past has been to tell me to contact my ISP, somehow in the belief that I was living in the US and customer service rep's actually cared. The end result is that I rarely ever send emails to those AOL friends, unfortunately. Read the rest of this post...

Cambodia's "Killing Fields" to be privatized

After the death of 20-25% of Cambodia's population in a four year period, anything related to Choueng Ek is controversial. Getting there is an uncomfortable ride even though it's just outside of Phnom Penh and apparently the new owner will be responsible for making it easier to get to for visitors. Perhaps during the process they can do something to improve the lives of those who inhabit the area and not just the one day tourists. If they maintain the spirit of the location and make it more accessible to visitors so that people do not forget the dark period of modern Cambodian history, why not? What would be wrong would be forgetting what happened or ignoring the event. People ought to know more about the genocide in places such as Cambodia and Rwanda so whatever needs to be done to facilitate that learning is important.

For any recent visitors to Cambodia, does anyone know if this is the same museum that Aki Ra started just outside of the Angkor complex? Aki Ra was a child soldier in the Khmer Rouge and dedicated his life to removing land mines from the Cambodian countryside. His old website is no longer active and I know that the government wanted to shut him down for various reasons, mostly political spin control. If it's the same, it is well worth while to visit and to help. He's still digging up mines left from the war in the 60's and 70's including the American intervention there, not to mention unexploded bombs from US bombers which litter SE Asia and still kill and injure people.

Read the rest of this post...

It's now illegal to ask Ann Coulter a question in public

I have no background on this story other than what's posted here at Daily Kos. Fair enough, we don't know the facts from the other side, but this certainly rings true considering what's been going on of late in our country. Read the rest of this post...

Can anyone email me a copy of the Vanity Fair article on GG? Done

Someone posted the advance copy link in the comments, thanks guys.

It's on the streets of NYC today, the rest of the country next week. I've not seen it, and there may apparently be a photo of me in it, so I'm rather curious to see it. Can anyone in NYC either scan or take a jpeg of the article and send it to me? Thanks, JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Have at it Read the rest of this post...

57% of Americans now believe Iraq war not worth it

56% say it's going "badly" or "very badly" so it looks like Bush is battling quite a few unpopular PR wars at the moment. It's a good thing Bush pissed off the world and has so much support at home and abroad for this bottomless pit of spending. Read the rest of this post...

DeLay's name recognition at 77%

Uh oh. Read the rest of this post...

The Abu Ghraib saga continues

The shocking aspect is not that Lynddie England is claiming she was oxygen deprived at birth (though if that was the case, what does this say about the people in our armed forces?) but that so much attention continues to be focused on her. Why is it that despite similar stories at Gitmo and Afghanistan, mysteriously nobody at the top is guilty of anything? Oh sorry, I forgot that there was a reprimand against Brig. General Janis Karpinski who was clearly the mastermind of this global program.

It's an interesting coincidence that Karpinski and England are both women and are being shouldered with so much of the blame in the media. It's also probably well noted in the region that the one person in the US forces who is receiving the harshest possible sentence (death by lethal injection) for crimes committed in the region, is a Muslim.

Looks like the old boy network is alive and well in the US military. A real bang-up job once again on the PR front as well. Read the rest of this post...