Video of Russian police breaking up gay pride (warning, the CNN coverage is incredibly homophobic)

Unfortunately, an otherwise good story is marred by some incredibly homophobic editing from CNN.

They took an otherwise serious story and injected as many pictures of drag queens and half naked guys as they could find - and the footage isn't even from Russia, so how is it relevant? The actual Russian pride gathering was incredibly conservative, judging by the footage CNN did show. That must be why they felt the need to include lots and lots and LOTS of additional footage from around the world of half-naked guys undulating and big big BIG drag queens.

Now, I love a good drag queen, and I also love a good guy. But this kind of "aren't the gays such cute freaks" kind of coverage is meant to shock, that's why they choose those images. And it's an anti-gay news bias that went by the wayside years ago. Other than FOX, no one pulls the drag queen half-naked-guy card when doing a serious report on gays anymore - and certainly when there didn't appear to be either drag queens or half naked guys in Moscow today anyway, so why inject them in the story at all (repeatedly, no less). It only serves to reinforce the very prejudices that led to the problems the story is covering.

CNN is better than this. Read the rest of this post...

Suu Kyi's house arrest to continue

Damn. The thugs continue to rule Myanmar with an iron grip. Earlier in the week many were hoping that the house arrest would be lifted, but no luck, again. Read the rest of this post...

Pat Robertson story continues to get coverage

Now remind me again if it is a sin to tell a lie? Pat was hoping to hawk his snake oil and instead seems to have been exposed. Oh dear.

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says he has leg-pressed 2,000 pounds, but some say he'd be in a pretty tough spot if he tried.

The "700 Club" host's feat of strength is recounted on the Web site of his Christian Broadcasting Network, in a posting headlined "How Pat Robertson Leg Pressed 2,000 Pounds."

According to the CBN Web site, Robertson worked his way up to lifting a ton with the help of his physician, who is not named. The posting does not say when the lift occurred, but a CBN spokeswoman released photos to The Associated Press that she said showed Robertson lifting 2,000 pounds in 2003, when Robertson was 73. He is now 76....

This photo provided by the Christian Broadcasting Network shows religious broadcaster Pat Robertson leg pressing what is claimed to be 2,000 pounds at the fitness center at the Founders Inn on Regent University campus in Virginia Beach, Va., Feb. 1, 2003. A CBN spokesman claims the photo is from 2003 even though the date stamp on the photo says 8/1/1994.

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Off to dinner. Read the rest of this post...

Intolerant Canada

How sad. I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be writing something about Canada being an intolerant society.

You folks who helped elect this new Prime Minister, you're getting the same lesson in democracy that we got here in the states. You have no one to blame but yourselves for the government you chose to put in power. These conservative governments tell you what they're going to do, then you act surprised when they do it. They tell you quite clearly that they do not believe in tolerance, they do not believe in an open and free and liberal society. Then when they get elected and slowly destroy your freedoms, who you are as a country, you act surprised. Or worse, you don't act at all.

Canada's once pristine image as the much kinder and gentler America is quickly being destroyed by your own Prime Minister.

Congratulations, and welcome to the club.

I hope you find being hated around the world as lovely and helpful as we do. But don't worry, you can always just pretend you're American. Read the rest of this post...

Mass arrests, violence, injuries reported in Moscow

Revolution? Chechen rebels? Terrorists?

No. Gay pride parade.

Our wonderful allies, the Russians - you remember them, George Bush saw Vladimir Putin's "soul" and it was good - well, that wonderfully free and Democratic Russia banned gay Russians from holding a pride parade. And the courts upheld the ban. Apparently gays are now as dangerous as Chechens in Moscow.

Well, the parade was today. And initial reports from gay journalist Rex Wockner are that there were mass arrests, violence and injuries. They sent 1,000 cops to meet the parade. 1,000 cops.

Then again, who are we to complain. Putin is simply following the anti-Democratic lead of his favorite buddy, George Bush.

I'm just so darn proud of the beacon of hope we've spread around the world.

Disgusting. Read the rest of this post...

Alberto Gonzales trying to invade more of your privacy online

Imagine the Postal Service keeping a copy of every single letter you've ever written (for those of you who are older than 30, you'll appreciate what I mean).

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller on Friday urged telecommunications officials to record their customers' Internet activities, CNET News.com has learned.

In a private meeting with industry representatives, Gonzales, Mueller and other senior members of the Justice Department said Internet service providers should retain subscriber information and network data for two years, according to two sources familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Yes, what we need is MORE tracking of everything you do online. And my favorite part of this, Gonzales is claiming it's to help fight child pornography.

Supporters of the idea say it will help prosecutions of child pornography because in many cases, logs are deleted during the routine course of business.... It was not immediately clear what Gonzales and Mueller meant by suggesting that network data be retained. One possibility is requiring Internet providers to record the Internet addresses their customers are temporarily assigned. A more extensive mandate would require companies to keep track of e-mail messages sent, Web pages visited and perhaps even instant-messaging correspondents.

I guess it's no longer kosher justifying the creation of a police state on the threat posed by Jews (though I hear Mexicans are still acceptable fodder). Read the rest of this post...

Open thread... and... who sent me that cats vs dogs list last summer?

When I was cat-sitting last summer, someone emailed me a hysterical list of descriptions of cats vs dogs (it was like 30 different things, describing how a cat would react and a dog would react, or something like that). I was trying to find it the other day, I usually save things like that, and can't. And forget google, there are a bazillion bad cat jokes online. Anybody out there remember sending me this? Or anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Thanks, JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Iraqi athletes murdered in Baghdad for wearing shorts

Yeah, much better place without Saddam. Read the rest of this post...

25 worst tech products

It's a funny article for the weekend and brings back plenty of memories. No surprise that AOL is on top of this list. I still never know when I will succeed in sending a mail to friends who still use it because they block out mail from entire ISPs when they have spam problems. I understand the problem but everyone? Sheesh. Who do you think deserves to be on the list? Read the rest of this post...

"Especially cantankerous conservative" Sensenbrenner ready to battle White House over immigration

The Republican immigrant bashers, led by Tex Sensenbrenner (described by the Washington Post as an "especially cantankerous conservative"), are girding for battle with their Republican counterparts led by Bush. This will be a very ugly and divisive intra-GOP battle. Tex even did a little Rove bashing at his press conference yesterday too:

The immigration issue threatened to cleave the Republican Party yesterday, as a key GOP House member chided President Bush's top political adviser and labeled a central element of the Senate's hard-fought immigration bill a "non-starter."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a prominent player in the approaching House-Senate negotiations over immigration legislation, told reporters that the two chambers are "180 degrees apart" and that compromise is possible only if the Senate jettisons some of its bill's most prized provisions. The Senate proposal to allow millions of illegal immigrants to pursue citizenship, he said, amounts to amnesty, and "amnesty is wrong, because amnesty rewards someone for illegal behavior."

Bush has no political capital. And, the hard core right wingers are relishing their chance to kick around Karl Rove. If this issue didn't affect the lives of 12 million immigrants and key segments of our economy, it would almost be fun to watch. Read the rest of this post...

Ney and Ralph Reed ties to Abramoff exposed in court

The trial of David Safavian, the White House aide, is keeping Abramoff and his GOP cronies in the news:

The names of Rep. Bob Ney and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed spilled onto the public record in a federal criminal trial Friday, highlighting the peril politicians face in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

In the first case arising from the Abramoff influence-peddling probe, an FBI agent read out the names of the participants on a weeklong golf excursion to Scotland and London that Ney, R-Ohio, Reed and two of Ney's congressional staffers went on with Abramoff in August 2002.

They're all so dirty. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Yeah, it's early...and it's the weekend...but we need to know what's going on. Read the rest of this post...

6.2 earthquake hits Indonesia

It's been a tough time lately in Indonesia. The tsunami wasn't that long ago and more recently Mount Merapi has been acting up for weeks, threatening the lives of those nearby. Today an earthquake struck near Yogyakarta, with 450 people being reported as dead so far. Read the rest of this post...

Hate crimes in Germany on rise, just before World Cup

But I wonder if it is just making more news now because the world spotlight will soon be on Germany. Europe in general has struggled and failed miserably with immigration and integration, not quite appreciating the reality that Europe has a substantial percentage of immigrants. Germany still has those creepy "blood laws" that often deny foreigners the ability to become German citizens and despite a substantial population of Turks and other foreigners (though I would not consider second and third generation Turks just Turkish any more), integration seems far off, it is no wonder there are problems. Read the rest of this post...

Judge says TIME must turn over some reporter documents to Libby defense team

Interesting. Read the rest of this post...