Wednesday: "We have been told by Carrie Prejean there are no other photos other than the one circulating in existence. She should know better than anyone," Miss California USA Director Keith Lewis said. Today: A second lingerie-modeling photo of Miss California USA Carrie Prejean has appeared after she assured pageant officials this week that the earlier shot was the only … Read More
Co-Ed Dorms And Helicopter Parenting
First of all, let me say this. If you have some problem with your children, don't deal with it by writing about it in a nationally-syndicated column. You embarrass them, yourself, and it doesn't solve anything. Kathy Venable Morin wouldn't agree with me there. Last Monday, she wrote an article for National Review online, the subject of which was her … Read More
Gay Marriage
It's official. Maine has joined Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts in confirming marriage equality. New Hampshire's next.
Gay Marriage In Maine
The bill passed the Senate last week. Conventional wisdom was that the more conservative House would balk. But conventional wisdom was wrong. From TPM: From TPM Reader-Legislator SB … I'm a state rep from Bangor, Maine, and I'm in the chamber of the state House of Representatives right now as we "debate" LD 1020, Maine's marriage equality bill, which was … Read More
The Darling Of The Christian Right
…may not be so darling anymore. “I can assure you they were quite inappropriate, and certainly not photos befitting a beauty queen,” Jacobs, a reporter for NBC’s Las Vegas affiliate, told NBC News. She's talking about six photos of Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, taken of her as a teenager. They contain partial and total nudity. Here's a description of … Read More
Tipping Point?
First Read: For the first time ever, more Americans say they support gay marriage (49%) than oppose it (46%), according to the latest Washington Post/ABC poll. That 49% supporting gay marriage, in fact, is a significant jump from 2004, when the Post/ABC poll found just 32% in favor. This surge within the past month suggests that any backlash against the recent … Read More
North Carolina Rep: Matthew Shepard Incident Was a “Hoax”
You will recall that Matthew Shepard was the young gay man in Laramie, Wyoming who, a decade ago, was tied to a fence, Jesus-like, pistol whipped in the head some 50 times, then left for dead in the cold fall night, only to be found a day later clinging to life. Shepard died five days later. Here is what this state's Republican representative, … Read More
NH SSM
Looks like my home state of New Hampshire might become the fifth state to recognize same-sex marriages. Both houses have passed the bill, and I think the governor is going to sign it. New Hampshire is a very strange breed politically. On the one hand, it is very progressive — full of granola-eating environmentalists and new-agers (not unlike its western neighbor, … Read More
An Open Letter To Miss California
Dear Miss Prejean: You are entitled to your views. However, you need to understand that those views are offensive to many people, including some of those people who made you what you are. "Made you what you are". I mean that literally. Because it seems that you have benefitted from a gay man — the guy who gave you your boobs (if I am reading … Read More
FDA Approves Use Of Morning-After Birth Control Pills For 17 Year Olds
…without a prescription. Cue hysteria from the social conservatives. 3…2…1…
“Stop It Right Now Or I’ll Pull This Car Over And Let You Out”
Ah, the classic parental threat to the bickering kids in the back seat of the car. One parent actually went through with the threat. Result? FAIL: Madlyn Primoff, a 45-year-old Park Avenue lawyer, has been accused of doing just that Sunday evening in downtown White Plains, N.Y. Police say she ordered her two quarreling daughters from the car and drove … Read More
The Gaythering Storm
Spoofs of that "Gathering Storm" public service announcement are still all the rage. There's some very good ones on Youtube (check it out). But this one is kind of special, because it's star-studded: Jane Lynch, Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass, George Takei, and more. From the same people at Funny or Die who brought us Prop 8 — the Musical. A … Read More
Bryan Fischer’s Religious Right To Hate Is Being Threatened
Renew America columnist Bryan Fischer writes ("Our choice: liberty or homosexual agenda"): On the pages of the Idaho Statesman, the Gem State's largest newspaper, Amy Herzfeld recently expressed her determination to continue pressing for legislation at the state level that will grant special workplace protections to those who engage in homosexual and transgender sexual behaviors. Laws that provide special rights and … Read More
The Worst Answer In Pageant History?
I'm not a pageant watcher, but the big scandal is that Miss North Carolina won the Miss USA contest this weekend. Conservative conventional wisdom is that Miss California, who was first runner-up, was a shoe-in to take the crown, except that she failed to give the "politically correct" answer to a question about same-sex marriage: Hilton asked Miss California's Carrie … Read More
More Storm’s A Comin’
Colbert's spoof of that anti-gay marriage ad. But let's have a recap. First, the original ad: And one of the leaked "rough cut"s that someone found and posted on YouTube: And now, Colbert's spoof: