dunner's stunners

on the dangers of flirting at national conferences

2006-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

What's hotter than a 5'6", shaved headed, dark, handsome, muscled, hairy, witty, kinda shy law student at a first tier law school who might have an even drier sense of humor than I do?

A 5'6", shaved headed, dark, handsome, muscled, hairy, witty, kinda shy law student at a first tier law school who might have an even drier sense of humor than I do and WHO DOESN'T LIVE IN NEW YORK.

:-(

racist republicans and other redundancies

2006-09-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

The unconscious racism that many conservatives will demonstrate only in private (that I wrote about only weeks ago), trusted circles has reared its ugly head again. This time, the darling of many "moderate" Republicans, our governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has taken a page of his Nazi father's eugenics textbook and linked having mixed black and Latino blood as being "hot."

Governor Apologizes for Remarks About Latina Lawmaker - LA Times

On the recording, Schwarzenegger describes Republican legislators as the "wild bunch" and refers to Garcia, casually saying that "black blood" mixed with "Latino blood" equals "hot."

"I mean, they are all very hot," the governor says on the audio recording. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

The lawmaker Schwarzenegger refers to as "hot" is a Republican and has graciously accepted Schwarzenegger's apology, even going so far as to suggest that it wasn't needed.

Questions of which flavor of Kool-Aid she is drinking went unanswered, but she can rest assured that many brown and black Californian women I talked to aren't as satisfied with Schwarzenegger's apology.

Schwarzenegger said he had called several Latino and African American community leaders to discuss his taped remarks with them, but did not name them. They understood the remarks were part of an "off-the record conversation, and it was not meant to be in any negative way," Schwarzenegger said.

Off-the-record or not, this is a dangerous precedent and is merely more proof of the unspoken racism that many on the right (and in that group I include Arnold) demonstrate. While of course Schwarzenegger should be surprised that his comments, taped for his posterity and his speechwriters, appeared in the largest newspaper in California, it should give him no less cover in defending his racist beliefs.

"The fact is that if I would hear this kind of comments in my house, by my kids, I would be upset, and today, when I read it in the papers, it's something when you say things, but it is another thing when you read it in the paper. It made me cringe. It made me feel uncomfortable. And so this is why I thought I should come out and address the issue right away." [Schwarzenegger said.]

This again is a half-apology and does nothing to dispell the notion that he actually feels this way. If Arnold thinks it is okay to describe these feelings in private with other elected officials, it's simply another indication, along with the recent missteps by other Republicans like George Allen, that racial issues have not disappeared in this country and that many Republicans from all sections of their party are harboring the racist beliefs.

Statements like this should make Arnold more than just uncomfortable, they should be cause for self reflection. That he can jump from the characteristics that one of his Cuban bodybuilding buddies had in the 1970's to group a significant portion of his state's population is as appalling as Allen's comments. Just as I questioned Allen's fitness to be a senator from Virginia, I question Schwarzenegger's ability to govern this state, home to millions he immediately deems and dismisses as "hot."

jetset ain't just a bar in minneapolis

2006-09-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't bring home any of that delicious La Crosse Lager home for my roommates in LA, but my visit, aside from the aforementioned news, was great. I saw some good friends in both Madison and Minneapolis, partied in the rain with family, enjoyed a gourmet meal with some Frenchmen, perused the newest outlet mall in Wisconsin Dells, and flew back to LA this morning, only to turn around and fly to DC tomorrow for the Lavender Law conference.

This law school thing is TOUGH...

cranky

2006-08-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

If the mother of the three boys sitting in the row immediately behind me on the 12:30 AM flight(!) this "morning" from Los Angeles to Minneapolis could figure out how she got all three boys to a) stay awake during the entire duration of the 3 1/2 hour flight, in the dark and b) calculate the correct intervals at which to kick my seat so as to limit my sleep on that flight to its absolute minimum, she'd be a fucking millionaire.

But Daddy got high-speed internet at my house back in La Crosse so I'll at least have something to do after a lonely run here. Seriously, there are more people on the streets of New York circa Summer of Sam than in suburban La Crosse at just about any time of the day.

I can't wait to get back to reality and visit a smoky-ass restaurant and have a side of Marlboro with my prime rib and City Light while I'm here.

Tomorrow: Skinnyapolis.

adios saint frankie

2006-08-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

the castro and beyond at dawn, from my summer balcony

For my last official act as a temporary San Franciscan I handed off my August SF Muni flash pass, still good until the 3rd of September, to a friend of mine after we enjoyed a couple adult beverages at Martuni's.

It's been a pretty good summer, all around. I kept in touch with some great friends, made a few more great friends, and had an okay, if not spectacular job experience. The end of August brought winds and fog to San Francisco, making those 80-degree days I enjoyed last weekend in Los Angeles all that more appealing. With sources reporting word of unrest in the LGBT...XYZ community at UCLAw (now called OUTlaw, thank you) I can't return fast enough, if only to bring joy and laughter to the 1Ls who will quickly feel the dread and remorse that all first-year law students should feel early in their first semester. The hairy-armpitted lesbians will hold down the impressionable baby law fags no longer, once I have returned to Westwood.

I've been describing the choice between San Francisco and Los Angeles as having to choose between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, or, for those Ben and Jerry fiends, the choice between Phish Food and One Sweet Whirled. It's difficult because each is so good in its own way, and at different times a person might be more inclined to choose one or the other...but never to swear off one or the other, either. San Francisco is a place that's easy to fall in love with in a weekend, a day, even an hour. Los Angeles is a place that requires a person to take time and careful consideration to find a niche, and therefore takes longer to love.

I'll be spending the next week in the Midwest, further cementing my position as that crazy liberal to my school-marmish gay friends in Minneapolis and as that weird Californian to my family in Wisconsin. I'm not sure either set will get my stories of living with an older gay man in the Castro who shamelessly offered to cruise Silverdaddies.com to find me a date in Madison, but we shall see.

these easy spirits are made for aids walkin'

2006-08-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

(Note: The first time you'll see this post, but not the last...)

I'm competing in AIDS Walk 2006, Los Angeles. My good friend and the funniest man in West Hollywood, Sean Hetherington, has put together a dynamite team and we are going to show West Hollywood what Faggle Rock is made of. We're either bringing home the gold or getting hella drunk at brunch afterwards. Or both.

I've bought a new pair of Easy Spirits and have been walking the hills of San Francisco in preparation for the race in West Hollywood on October 15. But to win it will take more than just a few calloused feet, it takes some dough-re-mi. So feel free to cruise on over to my donation page, perhaps while drunk and singing show tunes, with credit card in hand, and drop a few bucks for a great cause, AIDS Programs of Los Angeles.

Donate here!

boy? girl? who cares?

2006-08-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

The lack of sympathy that many mainstream gay men I know have for the other prongs of the queer community frustrates me. While many offer harangues stressing equality and tolerance, they later treat poorly those who don't fit the accepted ideal of masculinity. "Straight-acting" desires, wishes that the gays could just "express their sexuality like everyone else" and disinterest or even outright disdain for transgender issues or expressions of alternate forms of sexuality are typical.

Granted, this story appears in the San Francisco Chronicle, but having such an article is a big step towards bringing this issue, one that still cleaves many purporting to be members of the queer community, is a big step towards a broader dialogue that I think we desperately need.

When is it OK for boys to be girls, and girls to be boys? - SF Chronicle

For some children, it's a passing phase. Some grow up to be heterosexual, some gay. Some children insist they are the opposite sex although they might have a hard time explaining it. One nurse therapist said a boy once told her, "I think I swallowed a girl."

"The point is we don't know the outcome and don't need to know," said Catherine Tuerk, who runs the gender variance outreach program at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., considered a leader in the field.

"What we need is a place where children can express what they want to," said Tuerk, who has been working on gender variance for three decades.

...

"If you are forced to be something you don't want to be as a kid, you are miserable," said Carla Odiaga of Boston, the consultant hired at Park Day.

Odiaga speaks from a decade of experience counseling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens who she says are scarred by early memories -- a daughter forced to dress like a girl or a son whose dad hit him when he refused to play sports.

In the worst cases, children pushed by parents and picked on by peers grow depressed, suicidal or physically ill, said Caitlin Ryan, a clinical social worker at San Francisco State University who is conducting a long-term survey of gay youths and their families. She said many adolescents she talked to were picked on from kindergarten age -- long before they knew their sexual identity -- for looking or acting "too feminine" or "too butch."

...

Petaluma mom Leslie Hansen knew something was different when her daughter was 2.

"She refused to wear pink, barrettes or anything fancy in her hair. She wanted her hair short. She didn't want to wear lace, dresses, patent leather shoes. She didn't want to play with dolls. Well, she had a dollhouse, but she put animals in it," Hansen said.

Her daughter, now 15, has short blond hair, braces, earrings in both ears. She binds her breasts in a too-small sports bra and could pass either as either a boy or a girl. She rides a skateboard and horses. Her room is filled with her collection of horses and J.R.R. Tolkien books.

Her birth name is Marisa, but she decided to enter 10th grade this month at Petaluma High School as Sasha, a name as androgynous to her as her cargo pants and T-shirts. She told her parents last year that she feels more like a boy than a girl.

Her mom, a family therapist, wasn't surprised. But she said not everyone understands Marisa or her family's response to her feelings. Even close friends have asked, "Haven't you tried to talk Marisa out of it?"

"People just don't get it. She's just who she is," Leslie Hansen said.

log cabin masochists

2006-08-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

While Arnold shucks and jives California to a successful (to this point, it seems) re-election campaign, the hateful spirit of the Republican Party comes to the forefront once again in Sacramento.

Name-calling mars Calif. Assembly tax-rights vote - PlanetOut

Debate over a bill that would let California's registered domestic partners file joint state tax returns devolved into a shouting match Wednesday as Assembly members in Sacramento accused each other of intolerance and one Republican said his gay colleagues live a deviant lifestyle.

Discussion of the bill began to heat up when Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa, called the measure "part of the homosexual agenda." He said it would negatively affect California's children by teaching them "that this is an acceptable lifestyle."

...

The debate took a personal turn when Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, said she felt personally offended by La Suer's remarks, telling him he was "castigating me and mine."

After La Suer argued that he had every right to disagree with Goldberg's lifestyle, efforts to bring the discussion back to the specifics of the bill were thwarted by an outburst from Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, a Republican.

"What you seek in society is acceptance," he said to Goldberg, addressing his comments to her and the other two openly gay members of the Assembly. "But your lifestyle is abnormal. It is sexually deviant."

The Democrats immediately broke for a caucus meeting, an apparent effort to cool the rhetoric. When the session resumed, Mountjoy apologized if he had personally offended anyone, saying his remarks were an effort to defend his values and principles.

Again I ask the question if it is more appropriate to compare Log Cabin Republicans (even in a state as progressive as California) to battered wives who stay with abusive husbands and refuse help, or leather S&M boys who just can't get enough of daddy's sweet, sweet whippin'. Either metaphor seems perfectly appropriate.

Moutjoy's apology is bullshit. I am unclear how one's values and principles are attacked when others are allowed to live peacefully as a couple and are provided a few of the same benefits that heterosexual couples get. My "values and principles" certainly don't include attending church services on Sunday morning yet I would never use a legislative seat in an attempt to deny believers an appropriate venue to do so.

Regardless of Mountjoy's apology when the rhetoric got heated, the true colors of the Republican Party have shown through. Again. Where not one Republican voted for the domestic partnership taxation law and not one Democrat voted against it. Votes like this should make it more than simply "difficult" to be a Log Cabin Republican, it should make it impossible, and should have made it impossible a long time ago.

those damn liberal trial attorneys strike again...not!

2006-08-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

See, it's not the judges, lawyers or public interest groups like the ACLU that fuck everything up and get criminals off the hook, it's the juries. Even when a defense attorney admits that his client should be convicted of manslaughter, a jury in Minnesota still let the guy go, after the suspect filled someone with 21 bullets.

Open-and-shut case in killing? Ramsey County jury says otherwise - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Moua's attorney told a jury that his client was guilty of manslaughter, and the White Bear Lake man did not claim he was insane or that he acted in self-defense.

Yet the 21-year-old Moua walked out of a Ramsey County courtroom Tuesday night a free man after the jury acquitted him of first- and second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.

...

Peterson refused to discuss specifics about the prosecution's case, but he said that jurors did not believe prosecutors had proven all the essential elements of the three crimes in which Moua was accused.

Gary Bryant-Wolf, Moua's attorney, had asked the jury to find his client guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.

Jurors went further than even he had dreamed, he said, because they agreed with him that the prosecution relied on suspect testimony from Lee's friends and some police officers.

"They decided to nullify this prosecution," Bryant-Wolf said. "They just said, 'We don't believe anything about this prosecution.' "

Despite the verdict, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said she still believes her office had "a first-degree murder case, and a strong one" against Moua.

"We've certainly had verdicts that don't seem to reflect how we view the evidence and the law ... but I can't say I've seen anything quite like this," she said. "If someone shoots once or twice, there might be some room for [doubt]. But 21 shots, I think, is different."

god, i love satire

2006-08-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

Absolutely perfect, as usual from The Onion (born and raised in my college stomping grounds of Madison, Wisconsin).

Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood - The Onion

When I first moved in, I loved the 50-cent coffees—it was like living in the '80s—but I wish they'd listen to me and start making lattes. I know I'd pay the extra three bucks, and I'm sure everyone else around here would, too.

I've tried being proactive. But none of the locals I've talked to about bringing in a co-op health-food grocery store have seemed excited at all. Nor have I gotten any of them to take part in my community open-house idea for hip young people to come see what this neighborhood is capable of. What did they do instead? They had a barbecue. With very loud music.

I mean, I don't want the people here to leave. I just want them to stay inside more. Especially if they're not going to do anything to bring this community to life. But they're always out on their stoops, just playing dominoes or talking. I like talking, but I do it inside, where it was meant to be done. It makes me uncomfortable to have people watching me all the time. Not that I think they'd do anything, but I just like to be a little more private.

network television worth watching

2006-08-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh has already stuck his foot in his mouth and proved again to the world how racist conservatives like him really are in regards to this latest news, but I must say that I am tickled pink that Survivor, the erstwhile reality show on CBS (and perhaps the second least "real" show of the genre, next to MTV's The Real World) will be splitting the "tribes" on that show along racial lines.

It's enough to give me a reason to regularly tune into a network show that doesn't include that cute little Benji Schwimmer.

'Survivor’ to Divide Teams Along Racial Lines - NY Times

For the first half of the series this fall, four teams of five members will be made up of blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and whites. They will compete in weekly challenges against each other, and the losing group will have to vote out a member of its own team.

Mark Burnett, the series producer, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the decision to organize the teams by race was made in group discussions with CBS executives and was in no way intended to promote racial divisiveness.

Come on, Mark. The point of shows like this is to display the divisiveness of the cast. You're giving your divisiveness a new dimension that I find intriguing. Own it, baby.

Mr. Burnett said that “Survivor” and other shows had often been criticized for a lack of ethnic diversity. “We’re always hearing about how we only have two token blacks on the show,” he said. And the predominance of whites has been reflected in the show’s applicants, with more than 80 percent of them white, he said.

While the show is known for having a majority white cast, I also think it does a great job of showing the diversity of America; you know, having the schoolteacher from Bumblefuck, Nebraska and the banker from Manhattan working together. I'm guessing the cast list has something to do with the targeted audience of the show...my mother in Wisconsin is still a regular viewer, my friends in California not so much.

But like The Real World, Survivor does tend to simply have a few members of minority races on their shows, almost as a quota. The Real World does the same with gays; I believe on every season thus far (and I admittedly haven't watched the last half-dozen or so) there has been at least one queer (and usually just one) out of the seven cast members, and at least one person to whom that is either a problem or a surprise, and a disproportionate amount of camera time focused on the sexual relations of that roommate if he or she is sexually active. (Notwithstanding these quibbles, I do think The Real World is one of the true gems that television has produced in the past two decades and I feel it's a big reason why so many Gen Xers are not homophobic.)

In a statement, CBS said it “fully recognizes the controversial nature” of the format change. But it expressed confidence in the program’s ability to handle the situation sensitively.

Let's hope they don't cop out like ABC did with Welcome to the Neighborhood.

it's only too bad i'm still in sf for another week

2006-08-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

We get letters...

From: Xxx
Date: Aug 23, 2006 11:27 PM
Subject: In LA
To: rtdunn at gmail.com

Hello. I came across your blog on blogger.com. I'm in LA for another week or so and am looking for someone to help wrap up the experience - whether that be taking me to where the action is, showing me around, or just a shaved headed guy to beat off with.

Can you help?

Xxx

If you're going to send a note like that, at least include a shirtless pic. Jeez.

"collide" my ass

2006-08-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

The stunning dismissal of the idea that bicyclists deserve equal treatment as vehicles on the road continues, the San Francisco Chronicle series this week on pedestrian and bike safety notwithstanding.

This headline and story, while brief, demonstrates this point clearly.

Bicyclist dies after colliding with truck in St. Cloud - AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune

ST. CLOUD — A bicyclist has died after colliding with a truck in St. Cloud.

Police say the incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The victim was pronounced dead at St. Cloud Hospital. He's not been identified yet.

First, the headline. Now, I might be wrong, but I don't think that this bicyclist died because he ran into a parked truck (especially at 1:45 on a Tuesday afternoon), which is what the headline suggests to me. "Collide" is an intransitive verb and as such implies activity on the part of the subject.

In my personal experience bicycling, talking with bicyclists who have been in incidents with cars and trucks, and reading stories about bicyclists who have died after being hit by cars and trucks, the bicyclist rarely simply "collides" with the motor vehicle in question. Usually the cars and trucks involved in these collisions have strayed far from the rules of the road that require a buffer of space for bicyclists and pedestrians.

What's next, "Man Killed When His Chest Collides With Bullet"?

UPDATE: From the local St. Cloud newspaper:

A 22-year-old St. Cloud man died Tuesday afternoon after he was hit by a recycling truck while bicycling in the 100 block of Lincoln Avenue Northeast.

...

The collision happened about 1:45 p.m. in front of Phillips Recycling, Sgt. Jerry Edblad said.

A Phillips truck and the bicyclist were traveling north on Lincoln Avenue, he said.

Preliminary investigation shows that the bicyclist might have driven into the side of the truck, Sgt. Jim Feeny said.

This possibly raises more questions than it answers. From my first glance it seems that the truck may have made a right or left turn in front of the bicyclist, possibly without signaling, and the bicyclist couldn't stop in time.

on defending abusive boyfriends to spite the gays

2006-08-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

via Eleventh Avenue South

I've always said that I respect those who I disagree with much more as long as they are committed to their cause. The wafflers who try to have it both ways are despicable. Thus, I'm pleased to see "family" groups in Ohio sticking up for abusive boyfriends, all in an effort to protect the "family" or something.

Ohio's FRI Submits Brief in Support of Abusive Boyfriend - Fair Wisconsin

Ohio's version of the Family Research Institute, Citizens for Community Values (CCV), recently filed a friend-of-the court brief in the case supporting an abusive boyfriend. "CCV's strong interest in this case," they write, "is to ensure that the plain and unambiguous text of the Marriage Amendment is properly applied by this Court." In other words, not only does the ban invalidate domestic violence protections for unmarried couples, it does so plainly and unambiguously.

...

CCV writes: "The focus of the second sentence of the Marriage Amendment is not on the benefits or obligations assigned to those in the relationship which is given a legal status--it is on the status itself" (emphasis in original).

Translation: it doesn't matter what benefits go into a recognition of gay families; what's unconstitutional is the recognition, period. And then, just in case there's any misunderstanding, they go on to say that the ban "proscribes the very legal recognition of the relationships in the first place, for any purpose" (and again, that's their emphasis).

I've always feared the slippery slope on laws like this. The backlash against the nascent struggle for LGBT rights is far-reaching, and is intended to not only disadvantage queers but to disadvantage those who choose not to enter the traditional married paradigm. The people behind these "family" groups clearly hate unwed mothers and couples living in sin as much, if not more, than the dirty gays. They won't stop until we as a nation have returned to the era before birth control, before the idea of the woman as an independent individual, and before queers dared express their biological desires openly.

johnny knoxville is scared of the gays

2006-08-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday I was a proud participant of the third installment of the LA Guerrilla Gay Bar phenomenon. Our target: the White Horse, a hole-in-the-wall establishment near the corner of Sunset and Western in Hollywood.

I arrived with the GGB organizers not long before our announced time of arrival, a little after ten. We were decked out in white t-shirts, and a pair of ripped black corduroys was sacrificed to the ghost of Jack Daniel and cut into strips to serve as our ceremonial black armbands.

Inside the bar, a moderately dumpy Hollywood dive complete with photos of clientele on the walls, bowls of free pretzels and popcorn, couches for the patrons, a pool table covered for the Friday rush and a busy Hungarian woman furiously pouring drinks, a significant number of straights were enjoying their drinks. Soon after we arrived, many other gays did. Aging lesbians, skinny twinks, a cute tall dude one of my friends nicknamed "Paul Bunyan," and an assortment of trannies, gay men, and other queers tired of the We Ho and Silver Lake scenes joined us, and we had a time.

A line soon formed outside the White Horse, capacity 100, and many angry queers were turned away. As it turns out, another group had plans to have a birthday party at the White Horse, and many revelers were stuck outside, furiously calling their friends inside the bar to find out what was up. When told of the GGB phenomenon, most straights in line were sympathetic, and some gladly joined in our fun. The birthday partiers gathered their cake and were gone by midnight, defeated by the guerrilla warfare we employed.

It was clearly the busiest the White Horse had been on a Friday night in a while, as represented by the counter behind the bar full of credit cards and corresponding receipts, the run to the neighborhood 7-Eleven for ice made by the busy bouncer, and the dancing proprietor/bartender as seen in this blog. (I'm the guy with the shiny bald head at the left, just below our organizers who are making a toast.) Rumor has it that Johnny Knoxville, a regular at the Horse, took a peek inside, saw the pandemonium, and turned away.

While LA might be behind the gay times when it comes to the guerrilla gay bar idea, we still had quite a crew interested in our endeavor. Plans are huge (Saddle Ranch, anyone?) and logistics still need to be worked out (we need a big bar to fit everyone, but not one too big so as to diminish our impact) but it was the most fun I've had in a bar in LA in a long time.

The next GGB is September 8.

no more christmas lights on la's front porch all year long

2006-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

My 1999 Honda Accord does not have a CD player installed nor do I subscribe to a satellite radio service. From time to time I'll hook up my rickety old CD player and listen to some tunes while I drive, but for the most part, since my drives are few and far between, since I'm not too particular with the type of music I listen to while I drive, and because Los Angeles in particular has some kick-ass radio stations (KCRW is the best on the planet that I've heard) I haven't found the desire to install a CD player in my car.

Thus, my twin six-hour drives south and north this weekend were accompanied by various California radio stations. I took a more scenic way south, driving south down the Peninsula on 280, taking 85 around San Jose to the 101, then 101 south to 152 east at Gilroy, past the magnificent, immense San Luis Reservoir to the 5.

Throughout my drive I was surprised to find as much Spanish radio as I did. Through the Central Valley I would receive a few rock and country stations originating out of Fresno or Bakersfield, but most of the stations had programming in Spanish. Thus, it caught my eye this morning that the last remaining country station in Los Angeles has changed its format. Yes, 10 million people in one county and no country radio station.

The Reason KZLA Up and Left for Another Fan - LA Times

Los Angeles listeners would have trouble finding Hill, McGraw or any other twangy troubadours on the radio dial: On Thursday, the city lost its last country music broadcaster when KZLA-FM (93.9), self-billed as "America's most listened-to country station," changed its format for the first time in 25 years — to a pop format focusing on beat-heavy R&B and dance tunes.

That a country radio station can't find a place in the calico quilt that is Los Angeles can mean many things. What it doesn't mean, obviously, is racism. But that's not what some angry two-steppers and clueless (communist?) industry execs say.

KZLA's switch drew widespread anger. Fans called the station and complained on message boards after the station announced the shift Thursday morning, right after rush hour. After its final country tune, by Keith Urban, came a pop anthem by the Black Eyed Peas.

...

Country music executives were ... dismayed.

"This is a huge disappointment," said Gary Borman, a manager representing country superstar Faith Hill, among other artists. "KZLA did a fantastic job building a country music community here, and our artists were proud to contribute to that. If radio executives can focus on urban and Latino listeners, why can't they focus on white America? This seems like the arbitrary hand of corporate America at work."

Of course it's the arbitrary hand of corporate America at work. It's called the entrepreneurial spirit; capitalism; business. Gary doesn't schedule shows for Faith Hill at 100-seat elementary school auditoriums in rural Nebraska, he schedules them at the 19,000-seat Staples Center in the second biggest metropolitan area in the country.

"I almost threw up, I was so upset," said longtime KZLA listener and Mission Viejo resident Ruth Rogers, 53. "I think it's racist. This is becoming a nation of minorities. I'm not going to turn on my radio anymore. Country music promotes patriotism and family values, and they've replaced it with something that just promotes money and hate."

I'm not sure how the somewhat typical country song "Redneck Woman" represents family values, what with Gretchen demanding that women give her a "hell yeah" and bragging about her ability to down alcohol in the lyrics, but I'll concede that point to Ms. Rogers. She's from Orange County, after all, so who am I to question her patriotism?

The decision of KZLA to switch formats is no more racist than Walgreen's decision not to stock as many hair straightening products aimed at African American women in their suburban (read: majority white) stores. It is no more racist than it is to find an abundance of Kosher diners in Jewish areas of the San Fernando Valley. I would rightfully be laughed at should I call Tower Records "homophobic" should I not find a sufficient selection of gay-friendly movies when I shop at a store in suburban Fresno as opposed to the Castro.

It's clear with Ms. Rogers's "nation of minorities" comment, made with clear negative connotations, that she might be the one harboring the racism. If someone can name for me three African American recording artists currently played on any contemporary country station in the US, I'll gladly retract that comment.

until the sun comes up over santa monica boulevard

2006-08-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when it hit me that I was glad to be back in LA, albeit only for a long weekend. It could have been sitting in a courtyard in 80-degree weather with not a cloud in the sky, welcoming in the next batch of progressive law students and LGBTers at the UCLA Law School. Or, it could have been gay porn star Michael Brandon's "performance" at Fubar's "Big Fat Dick" last night.

think before you snip

2006-08-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Two conflicting stories today about one of my favorite topics over cocktails with the faggle: circumcision.

AIDS meeting spotlight on circumcision - SF Chronicle

Male circumcision -- the surgical removal of the foreskin from the penis -- has been shown in at least one major clinical trial in Africa to reduce the chance of female-to-male transmission of HIV by 60 percent, and policymakers and leaders as prominent as Bill Gates and Bill Clinton have begun to consider ways to vastly expand the practice in regions of the world hardest hit by AIDS.

Why circumcise? - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Many of Sara Stephenson's friends are taken aback when she tells them that her son will not be circumcised after his birth next month. Some have reminded her of an episode in the TV series "Sex and the City" in which the female characters are repulsed by the thought of having sex with an uncircumcised man.

She wouldn't want that to happen to her son, would she?

"I tell them it's just a TV show," said Stephenson, 34, of Chaska.

While we make jokes about circumcision in industrialized America, it's been given serious thought in Africa as a way to slow the AIDS epidemic.

Conversations about circumcision among gay men are often colorful and surprise me. I have known several men who refuse, out of principle, to date a man who is uncircumcised. Others find no preference. Some, like me, find it intriguing and almost prefer our partners to be uncircumcised. Even others, including many of my Midwestern friends, haven't had the pleasure of coming across a natural penis. I've taken pride during the last two San Francisco Pride parades for cheering wildly when the anti-circumcision contingent marches up Market Street.

Now while the practice may have a logical basis in sub-Saharan Africa, in America insurers are now questioning whether coverage should be granted for circumcision. It's about time, if you ask me.

This year the state of Minnesota stopped covering routine circumcisions for the 670,000 low-income Minnesotans covered by taxpayer-funded health plans. Before that, about 10,000 baby boys were circumcised annually at an average cost of $54 each.

But that change in circumcision policy has prompted many physicians to predict that private insurance won't be far behind. Most private plans still cover routine circumcision and have no plans to change, said health plan officials. But "the writing is on the wall," said Dr. John O'Connell, a pediatrician who practices at clinics in Edina, Burnsville and Shakopee.

At this rate, being shorn will be a status symbol a la Dior sunglasses or a BMW.

The reasons given by expectant mothers for doing circumcision are silly.

And most parents choose circumcision because they want their sons to look like their fathers, or because they are worried that their sons might look different than other boys, doctors say.

"It's not what the girls think, it's what the boys will think," said Coleman. "It's that father and son will go into the shower and be comparing their penises, that this is what a good man looks like."

Sounds like a recipe for a therapist in ten years, if you ask me. Perhaps I'm one of the few from a prudish family, but I never remember comparing my penis with my father's, and never remember hearing stories from my friends as such. Size, yes, but a lack of skin on the end, no.

"I remember telling one of my friends, 'If your husband had blue eyes and your son had brown, would you give him contacts?' "said Michelle Cunningham, 45, of Minneapolis, who has two sons. "Why do their penises have to match?"

Exactly.

Finding an uncircumcised guy in the Midwest was something like finding a really good restaurant nobody knew about, and you didn't dare talk about for the risk of making it the talk of the town. Thankfully, given the immigrant population of California and the trend towards not performing circumcisions (28% on the West Coast; 71% in the Midwest), it's not quite an event here. I've heard.

The debate should continue, but much like clipping the ears of dogs to match accepted norms, expectant mothers should truly question circumcision unless they're planning on sending their sons to sub-Saharan Africa to start a family or they're doing it for religious reasons. It is a medical procedure and thus has inherent risks, and medically it's unnecessary.

The foreskin is supposed to be a part of every man's body, for crying out loud. Let's treat it as such.

california republicans: honoring gays is "ridiculous"

2006-08-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Any doubt about the relationship between the Republican Party and LGBTs should be dismissed by this point, as even in my adopted, progressive home state of California, Republicans go out of their way to slam the LGBT community.

Calif. GOP lawmakers snub gay honorees - PlanetOut

Several California GOP lawmakers stormed off the Assembly floor in the state Capitol Monday during a ceremony to honor the achievements of six high-profile gay Californians, Sacramento television station KXTV reported.

The Legislature's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus sponsored the first Pride Recognition Awards, a program members say is designed to recognize the accomplishments of people in various fields who happen to be gay.

But approximately 10 Republicans either walked out or boycotted the event altogether.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I rise to point out the ridiculousness of the exercise," said Assembly Republican leader George Plescia of San Diego. "We're wasting a lot of time; we have a lot of bills on the floor."

Yeah, they gotta get back to Plescia's important stuff like fining people who steal newspapers out of a machine and advertising horse racing.

uncovering the republican agenda

2006-08-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

The most destructive racism isn't that which is publicly displayed, such as burning crosses on a front lawn or scrawling racial epithets on school walls, it's in our private communications and shared thoughts.

Long after MLK marched on Washington, long after "Civil Rights Acts" were passed by Congress, long after we've had the first black this and the first black that, we still have far too much racial oppression and stereotyping in this country. Exhibit 1: Virginia Republican (yeah, I'm surprised too) George Allen's comments about his opponent's staffer this week, when he called the Indian American a "Macaca," a slur of French origin.

Macaque - Atrios

I was thinking that the assumption that George Felix Allen had been invoking a species of monkey was a bit of a stretch and that he was probably just speaking gibberish for "furrin name." But it is actually an established racial/slur, specifically directed at North Africans. If you search the nastier corners of the internet you'll find it's in surprisingly common usage.

George Allen's America - Washington Post

Let's consider which positive, constructive or inspirational ideas Mr. Allen had in mind when he chose to mock S.R. Sidarth of Dunn Loring, who was recording the event with a video camera on behalf of James Webb, the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat Mr. Allen holds. The idea that holding up minorities to public scorn in front of an all-white crowd will elicit chortles and guffaws? (It did.) The idea that a candidate for public office can say "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!" to an American of Indian descent and really mean nothing offensive by it? (So insisted Mr. Allen's aides.) Or perhaps the idea that bullying your opponents and calling them strange names -- Mr. Allen twice referred to Mr. Sidarth as "Macaca" -- is within the bounds of decency on the campaign trail?

I see the same sentiments when I cruise the reader comment sections of my hometown newspaper, the La Crosse (WI) Tribune. Stories about drug busts in our 50,000-person hamlet on the shores of the Mississippi River often refer to those being arrested as from "Chicago" or "Milwaukee," which, all of us who grew up in La Crosse know, is code for "black." Those who rail about the "drug problem" often don't couch their comments with such code words, and group in with the drug offenders entire minority-heavy neighborhoods (if such a thing can be possible in a city that is 90%+ white) while imploring city fathers to raze these areas to start anew.

Other times, when the topic of illegal immigration comes up, some of the same commenters talk about how "minorities" have moved into La Crosse and the surrounding areas, taking away jobs from local workers. But their arguments are seldom solely economic in nature, they often cross the bounds into xenophobic rantings about how back in the "good old days" when the area was even whiter than it is today, everyone went to church, knew each other, spoke English complete while abusing words like "gotten" and "crick," and life was dandy.

Supposed "slips of the tongue" a la George Allen and Mel Gibson are evidence that we have much further to go in this country before the scourge of racism is vanquished. When it's only by chance that we hear such fateful words from such public figures, I can only wonder how often such words are uttered behind closed doors or between friends. We've all been in situations where hateful words have been spoken by our family and friends, and while these words aren't accepted in public places, they are still evidence of the hateful beliefs that underlie them.

George Allen needs to not only make an apology to the communities of people of color in Virginia, he should seriously reconsider his capability of serving his state as a member of the United States Senate. There should be ZERO tolerance not only for public officials who dare disparage others based upon their ethnicity, but for all Americans.

fun at nordstrom rack

2006-08-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's time for a caption contest. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Our model, Sean, performs at the Punch Line in San Francisco on Tuesday.

the city and the second city

2006-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that one of the few things the San Francisco Chronicle does well is in their architecture/urban design column. John King writes a great piece nearly every week, and he does so again this week, comparing two of my favorite cities, Chicago and San Francisco.

MAYOR OF S.F. LOOKS EASTWARD FOR URBAN INSPIRATION - SF Chronicle

But while Newsom uses government initiatives in Chicago as models for his own programs, his predecessor is skeptical that San Franciscans are ready to change the way things work.

"I don't think there's any similarity between the two cities as it relates to how you can govern," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. "San Francisco's about process, totally. In Chicago, the process begins and ends with results."

...

For starters, Chicago, with its 2.7 million residents and 228 square miles, is four times the size of San Francisco. It still has a strong industrial base and working-class neighborhoods where families stay for generations.

There's a political gulf as well: Chicago lacks the term limits that restrict a mayor's time in office. San Francisco mayors are limited to two four-year terms.

In the case of the current Mayor Daley, the creative urbanism for which he is now acclaimed began in 1996, late in his second term and after a trip to Paris. Convinced that Chicago should be as attractive as the City of Light, he had city workers install lushly landscaped medians and planters downtown.

Considering the self-image of a city celebrated by poet Carl Sandburg as "proud to be alive and coarse and strong," not everyone was impressed. There also was snickering when Daley confessed to Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin that "I enjoy Martha Stewart, all her books and, uh, everything else."

But Daley didn't flinch. Now, Chicago has 73 linear miles of medians that stretch like tentacles from the city's high-profile core of the Loop and North Michigan Avenue, leading to such incongruous sights as beds of black-eyed Susans across from auto body shops and the Erotic Warehouse on West Randolph Street.

Term limits are an idea that I believe California has taken too far. I argue that they haven't had their intended impact, as now instead of elected officials serving their eight years and returning to the private industry, they simply trade posts with each other. State assembly members run for the state senate, members of the state senate run for state treasurer, former governors run for attorney general...it's just one big merry-go-round and term limits merely force them to trade titles every few years.

The same goes for local officials. I don't see a lifetime of government service being a bad thing, I see it as a demonstration that certain people are well suited for forging political compromises. Joe Lieberman is a good example of what happens when those people forget their constituents. I'm sure I'm not the only (temporary) San Franciscan to embrace the Newsom regime (80%+ popularity) and wish he could continue long after his two terms are up, if he should choose to do so.

Willie Brown's statement on the difference between the means and the ends getting the focus in Chicago and San Francisco is spot on. Now, if we can only convince San Francisco to embrace the architectural spirit of Chicago, we'd all be better off.

mandate, schmandate

2006-08-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Either it's a mandate, or it's not. Your choice, conservatives:

With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont led Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent, according to The Associated Press.

Candidate........Votes........%
George W. Bush...62,040,606...50.77
John Kerry.......59,028,109...48.31

While I'm not sure what the implications of Joe Lieberman losing his primary are (but I can't help thinking that a three-term, sitting senator losing his own party's primary can't mean anything other than he's out of step with his party) I don't think it necessarily bodes well for Democrats. There's a palpable sense that America is fed up with the Iraq war, but I don't think a message of "pull out now" necessarily plays well, especially when given the Republican spin machine.

because guys with uzis at airports are fucking cool, that's why

2006-08-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm real glad that I decided to drive next week from SF to LA instead of snatching up that cheap flight I spotted on Expedia.

CALIFORNIA: Governor sends Guard to four major airports -- CHP to keep an eye on bridges, other possible targets - SF Chronicle

Three hundred National Guard troops were ordered Thursday to airports in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego as state and local officials ramped up security measures around California in response to the arrests of suspected terrorists accused of plotting to blow up airplanes headed from Britain to the United States.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger assigned troops to the three largest airports that regularly receive flights from Europe in the first such deployment of the California National Guard since the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago. Uniformed troops carrying guns were to arrive at airports this morning and will stay in place for at least a week, according to Adjutant Gen. William H. Wade II, the head of the state's National Guard.

The government's efforts in response to the terror plot seem to me to be nothing more than a little psychological reassurance to the flying public and a demonstration of the seriousness with which we view the war on terror. Needless to say, it is now almost five years (four years and eleven months today) after the World Trade Center came down, and we now have to dump out contact solution and taste baby food in front of authorities before we dare get on a plane. Perhaps the terrorists have won.

Sending National Guardsmen to the airports is a lot like praying. It makes some people feel better to do it, while there are others of us that know that doing it won't mean a hill of beans. It might help get a skittish grandma on a plane, knowing that the boys in camo and packing heat are watching her back, so maybe it's not all bad.

Does it seem silly to anyone else that we're taking precautions based upon what terrorists have ALREADY supposedly done? One guy tries to blow up a plane with his shoe, and now we're forcing thousands of travelers to take off their shoes every day before boarding a plane. Terrorists use box cutters to attack plane staff on 9/11, and so other sharp objects like nail files and cuticle scissors are banned for a few years, with nary another similar incident to show for it. Now, since it's believed that liquid explosives were the weapon of choice for these terrorists, that bottle of Fiji water you bought for eight bucks at the airport snack shop will be dumped out before you get on that flight to Palm Springs.

Have the precautions prevented another attack? The precautions we had in place apparently wouldn't have stopped the terrorists from London from carrying out their plan, making the entire escapade of shoe removal and wanding Grandpa because he has an artificial hip an expensive failure. If we are attacking terrorism at all costs, why even allow commercial air travel at all? Nearly anything is a potential weapon, as MacGyver showed us.

Will we forever be banned from carrying liquids on planes? If not, why will we be able to at a certain point and not now? What will have made the situation any better that toothpaste is not a potentially lethal weapon? When we have won the war on terror? When will that be?

Meanwhile, security measures on public transportation stay somewhere between "non-existent" and "laughable."

Also in the Bay Area, BART increased its security in response to Thursday's heightened terror alert.

"The bomb dogs and our officers are conducting random sweeps of trains," said BART spokesman Linton Johnson. "Additionally, we have brought in more managers to help patrol trains and stations, and they are leading additional inspections behind the scenes to sensitive areas."

Johnson said the added precautions may result in brief delays -- two to three minutes -- for some passengers.

The Municipal Railway, San Francisco's public transit system, did not adjust its security protocol, agency spokeswoman Maggie Lynch said.

She said the Muni already was on high alert. Station agents keep a lookout for suspicious packages and people, and police periodically board streetcars and buses, she said.

"We haven't let our guard down," Lynch said. "We never stepped back our vigilance."

So those folks sleeping in the BART booth or chatting about last night's episode of CSI are supposed to be patrolling? Someone forgot to tell them. And given that anyone can get on a two-car Muni train packed with hundreds of people without buying a ticket, let alone passing a pair of "trained" eyes, leads me to think the Department of Homeland Security is simply another term for Department of Continuing the Military Industrial Complex.

When we're dumping out lip gloss at airports, the terrorists have won.

earn that capital r, honey

2006-08-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

One of my guilty pleasures is reading the "Homes" section of the LA Times. I rail about folks who buy In Touch and People and the rest of those rags, so I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite.

The Real Estate section of the LA Times is part society page, part real estate trend analysis, and part advertising for Realtors that deserve the capital "r" and the registered trademark symbol that other realtors so pretentiously put on advertisements and business cards. Gimme a break, what's next, Hairdressers(R)? After all, they gotta be licensed, too.

And, whaddaya know, a gay cowboy made the page today.

He and his spurs leave Lancaster

And while we're talking about cowboys, real-life rodeo champ Todd Tee Tramp is planning to giddyap soon to Missouri now that he has listed his 5-acre Lancaster ranch at $719,900.

The 5-year-plus veteran of gay and regular rodeo circuits has purchased a 20-acre ranch in the Show Me State. Tramp, in his 30s, has owned the Lancaster ranch for seven years.

Set back from the street, on a gentle knoll, the property has a nearly 2,000-square-foot main house, built in 1991. The house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms plus a kitchen overlooking the corrals and arenas. The home also has a patio, spa, wading pool, deck and fenced backyard.

The ranch can accommodate 30 horses in two large barns. There is also a small barn for hay storage, a three-story lookout tower, a hot-walker, a horse shower and a tack room. There are plenty of pastures and lots of trailer space.

Laurie Hedlund of Realty Executives in Palmdale has the listing.