Obscanity: You’ll know it when you see it

Until August 31, if you spend $59 on selected items from Amazon Grocery, you’ll get a $25 instant rebate! I got a whole bunch of Clif Luna Bar products and 100-Calorie Packs from Nabisco. Yay for cheap snackage! Read more about this offer!

By the way, if you have any problems redeeming this rebate, you can email Customer Service and they should be able to apply the refund manually from their end. There should not be any problems, though!

From EQCA:

August 27, 2008

It is with great sadness that I share with you that today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend.

Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco with Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner and spouse, by her side. Martin was one of the nation’s first and most visible lesbian rights activists who dedicated her life to combating homophobia, sexism, violence and racism. Martin’s many contributions to the LGBT movement will resonate for decades to come.

We are saddened to lose such a wonderful friend to our community and our love goes out to Phyllis and her family during this most difficult time. We would not be at this incredible moment in history, where all couples have equal rights under California law, if it had not been for Del’s lifetime of courage and leadership.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in California on June 16, 2008 after 55 years together. EQCA honored Del and Phyllis with the Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award in 2003, an award the organization gives every year in their honor.

Read more about Del Martin.

Gifts in lieu of flowers can be made to honor Del’s life and commitment and to defeat the California marriage ban through the National Center for Lesbian Rights NO on 8 committee at www.nclrights.org/NoOn8.

Our community will forever honor Del’s life and legacy.

Respectfully,

Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

Equality California is dedicated to achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.

Our work depends on individual financial contributions. Donate now using our secure website or download a donation form to send via fax or mail.

Donations to EQCA support our political work and are therefore not tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

Great article on CNN.com right now about “gifted” children vs. gifted children: Is your kid really gifted? Probably not. As one who was “diagnosed” as intellectually highly gifted when I was about six, I can tell you that if you’re hoping for a kid who will excel in school, follow directions, and never challenge you or cause any problems, you do NOT want a gifted kid. Trust me. I think the people over at tagfam.org put it best when they posted this chart comparing “bright” children to “gifted” children:

Comparison of Bright vs. Gifted
Bright Child	Gifted Child
Knows the answers.	Asks the questions.
Interested.	Extremely curious.
Pays attention.	Gets involved physically and mentally.
Works hard.	Plays around, still gets good test scores.
Answers questions.	Questions the answers.
Enjoys same-age peers.	Prefers adults or older children.
Good at memorization.	Good at guessing.
Learns easily.	Bored. Already knew the answers.
Listens well.	Shows strong feelings and opinions.
Self-satisfied.	Highly critical of self (perfectionistic).

Yep. Sounds about right.

No, seriously? That’s his answer?

I don’t give a shit if his wife’s father happened to be very successful in his business. When you are a HAVE, and you vote incessantly to beat down the HAVE NOTS, I don’t CARE how that money was accumulated, and I don’t CARE that it was made in the process of living out the American Dream. The American Dream is not supposed to include pissing on the people below you as you move up the ladder. You’re supposed to turn around and lend people a hand, damn it.

CNN has an interesting story about bartering sex for stuff or services. It doesn’t even portray people who do this as evil and depraved. Golly. Could it be that we’re actually making some progress in eliminating our status as one of the most prudish and Puritanical of free and industrialized countries?

At long last, it has arrived! After 22 years, the made-for-TV celebrity extravaganza has FINALLY been released on DVD! Yes, you heard me correctly - the 1985 TV movie Alice in Wonderland is now available on DVD for your viewing pleasure! This movie is PACKED with celebrities - some of them in their prime, some of them past their prime, and some of them not quite ready for prime time (hello, young John Stamos! hahaha). Natalie Gregory plays Alice, and throughout her adventures she runs into… let’s see… Sammy Davis Jr., Carol Channing, Sally Struthers, Ann Jillian, Lloyd Bridges, Red Buttons, Sherman Hemsley, Sheila Allen, Shelley Winters, Scott Baio, John Stamos, Imogene Coca, Telly Savalas, Roddy McDowall, Sid Caesar, Ringo Starr, Steve Allen, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick Duffy, Harvey Korman, Eydie Gorme, Pat Morita, and others! I think these days you can pretty much only see such a star-studded list of names if you go down to Hollywood and take a stroll along the Walk of Fame. What more can I say? It’s a fabulous movie and is my very favorite remake, and one of my favorite movies from my youth. Share it with YOUR children! You can find it for $7.99 at Amazon.com.

*squeals* No, seriously. I’m so excited.

I have a question: just who does the IOC think it is kidding? Government-issued documents are the last place they should look for reliable information. I have no doubt whatsoever that a government like China’s would not hesitate to reissue birth certificates and passports with falsified ages if it meant they would come out ahead in the Olympics. In fact, medal-winning Chinese gymnast Yang Yun has already admitted that she was 14 at the 2000 Olympics. Surely she, too, submitted legal government-issued documents proving her age? Documents provided by, oh, I don’t know, the Chinese government?

As Norm MacDonald would say on SNL’s Weekend Update, “From the Medical Journal DUH“: Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water supply.

Yet another reason why Big Pharma needs to be cut down to size. This has been public knowledge for ages; anybody in any kind of environmental work could have told you this a long time ago. So why is it only being publicized in the mainstream media NOW?

The alleged “Bigfoot” that was “discovered” last week was revealed recently to be nothing more than a RUBBER SUIT. Why do people bother with a hoax like this? Don’t they realize it’s going to be revealed?

Well, he did it. He’s the man of the hour! Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal earlier this week, meaning he has won more gold medals than any other athlete at a single Olympiad. The record was previously held by Mark Spitz.

In other news, does anybody else think that Nastia Liukin was robbed of that gold medal on the uneven bars? What was up with that tie-breaking method? I still want to know how China expects us to believe that tiny kid who won is really sixteen. I don’t believe it for a minute. Ah well. At least Liukin got her all-around gold.

Americans for Safe Access is reporting that the DEA now claims the agent wearing the Blackwater shirt is not actually a Blackwater employee, but rather, merely a DEA agent. Not only that, but they’re also requesting censorship of the photo involved for the “safety” of that employee, who allegedly sometimes does undercover work. They asked the LA Times to blur the face of the agent in the Blackwater shirt. Since the LA Times has a policy of not altering photos, ASA reports, they removed the photo altogether.

Let’s get a few things straight… First of all, if you do undercover work, exactly how wise is it to be involved in a very public raid of a legal medicinal cannabis co-op? Shouldn’t undercover people STAY undercover, and not make themselves even more conspicuous by wearing extremely controversial and noticeable clothing in a situation where media and cameras are certain to be present? Or you know, by being involved at all in such a raid?

Second… do private security companies frequently offer their logo-bearing t-shirts to the public? And do DEA agents frequently wear logo-bearing t-shirts to raids? Do raids call for casual street attire? Wouldn’t the only logical logo for a DEA agent to be wearing during a raid be… oh, I don’t know, the DEA logo???? When’s the last time you saw a DEA raid in which the agents were wearing Abercrombie or Disney t-shirts? So this Blackwater shirt was just a coincidence? Sure. I believe that. Uh huh.

• New Yorkers try to swallow calorie sticker shock: “600 calorie muffins? The first city to adopt law faces unappetizing surprises.”
• Golden retriever adopts tiger cubs at Kansas zoo (and related but much older story, “The abandoned monkey who has found love with a pigeon“)
• World’s oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC
• Man presumed dead in 1976 Colo. flood found alive

As if the recent raid on a Culver City medicinal marijuana cooperative by DEA agents wasn’t enough, it’s now become apparent that this raid was conducted not only by DEA agents, but also by Blackwater employees. Yes, that would be the same Blackwater that has government contracts for private security in Iraq, and the same Blackwater whose trigger-happy thugs killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians for no particular reason. What’s next - will Blackwater agents start shooting medicinal marijuana patients too?

As I browsed pages while reading about this story, I came across this article about Blackwater’s broader functions in the present and in the future. Then I came across this chilling paragraph:

What could prove to be one of Blackwater’s most profitable and enduring enterprises is one of the company’s most secretive initiatives–a move into the world of privatized intelligence services. In April 2006, Prince quietly began building Total Intelligence Solutions, which boasts that it “brings CIA-style” services to the open market for Fortune 500 companies. Among its offerings are “surveillance and countersurveillance, deployed intelligence collection, and rapid safeguarding of employees or other key assets.”

Now, if you read the LA Times article you’ll find that while the DEA agents and Blackwater people ransacked people’s bedrooms and stole all of the marijuana and live plants on the premises (and uprooted their vegetable garden too), they did NOT arrest anybody. They did, however, crack open the ATM and help themselves to its contents. More importantly, they also seized medical records, which basically would include the names of all of the co-op’s customers. Why does this matter? Well, those patients are not breaking any California laws, but until the CA legislature passes a new employment protection bill, employers can still fire patients who test positive for marijuana use, even if they have a valid prescription, are not medicated while at work, and there has been no negative impact on job performance (although apparently it’s perfectly fine to come to work hopped up on Vicodin or Xanax or suffering a hangover from a massive drinking binge the night before). There are also other non-criminal ramifications of being a known cannabis user.

So what I’m thinking is that we’re seeing Blackwater doing its “CIA-style” intelligence gathering, with the generous and convenient help of the DEA. If you’re a patient who goes to Organica Collective, you can bet both dollars AND donuts that Blackwater has your information now, and will be keeping it on file for those Fortune 500 companies and selling it on the open market.

I think Organica employee Brian V. Birbiglia, a disabled former Marine who was handcuffed for more than four hours during the “raid,” said it best: “We follow the law,” he yelled, his face red and his eyes teary. “We might as well have just got robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown.”

Brian, I think you were closer to the truth than you imagined.

Another great video, this one from TheRealMcCain.com - more specifically, from Robert Greenwald at Brave New Films, creators of the amazing film, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

This great “Commander In Chief Test” video is definitely worth watching. I particularly like the bit about getting Bush re-elected. I think that little clip should be played on every network television station across America. Multiple times.

The quake’s intensity was downgraded from 5.8 to 5.4 by The Powers That Be over at Caltech. Still no major damage or injuries, although people are being asked to cut down on their telephone use because the phone system is maxed out. I assume the same goes for cell phones.

[Edit: Some reports of power outages from Southern California Edison, around Diamond Bar, Chino, Chino Hills, etc. SCE says the outages could be prolonged.]

NPR just reported that other people are having problems with their cell phones as well. No reports of cell towers down - the speaker made the same guess that I did, which is that this is a capacity issue and not a matter of damaged towers.

We’re still having cell phone difficulties out here - anybody else experiencing this? News is reporting no disruptions in utilities, but this still makes me nervous - what good will our cell phones do in a major emergency if a little earthquake slows them all down? My guess is that cell phone use is so elevated right now that everything is slowing down - that’s what happens at major events like West Hollywood Halloween, where there are thousands of people all trying to find each other. Probably the same right now with everybody trying to confirm that everybody is okay.

Look how many aftershocks! It was a long quake too - went on for quite a bit, although those may have been immediate aftershocks we were feeling. So far there have been no reports of injuries or structural damage, and power in Los Angeles has not been interrupted. Not sure if it was cut off in Chino. Will update later!

Did you feel it?

[Edit: The one thing people seem to be having trouble with is cell phone use - but that is probably because eeeeeverybody is trying to use their cell phones. Text messages are taking a little longer than usual to go through, and a few calls haven't gone through either. Are you having the same problem?]

There are a few entertaining bits in this Daily Show clip - but the most entertaining for me is that FAUX News has resorted to showing 8-year old clips of McCain’s Election 2000 press conferences so they can get a shot of him looking younger.

From the NY Times:

SAN FRANCISCO — To the ever-expanding résumé of Gavin Newsom — San Francisco mayor, California hopeful for governor, Montana-bound groom — one may now add this: code-breaker.

In a story that seems equal parts spy novel and potential municipal fiasco, Mr. Newsom was enlisted on Monday to coax a secret code out of a city engineer who prosecutors say had effectively hijacked a large part of the city’s computer systems. [Read more.]

Next stop, starring in the next Mission: Impossible sequel? *g* Could just picture it.

If the ban on offshore oil drilling is lifted, you can expect to see more oil spills like this one in Louisiana. Ironically, rumor has it McCain was scheduled to visit an oil rig the same day but cancelled his trip after the spill. Guess it wouldn’t have gone well with his “oil drilling is good” rhetoric.

This awesome story is making the rounds on the Internet and in the news lately.

In 1969, Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall rescued a lion cub from the “exotic animals” department at Harrod’s Department Store in London. They named him “Christian” and raised him in their apartment, exercising the cub on the grounds of the local church. After a year, though, Christian the lion became too large to keep in their home.

As luck would have it, the two men coincidentally ran into actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who had recently starred in Born Free, the 1966 film about another domesticated lion who had been reintroduced into the wild by the couple whom the actors had portrayed, George and Joy Adamson (author of Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds). They suggested that the two men contact George Adamson in Kenya.

Bourke and Rendall eventually brought the lion to Kenya, and after a few years, they returned to visit him. They were informed at that point that Christian was the leader of his own pride and was fully wild now, and that he would not remember them. See for yourself what really happened when the lion and the men met again.

You can purchase the DVD made about Christian the lion at the Born Free Foundation website.

Some free shipping and other deals from Target.com. The free shipping is where the real discount is; Target’s shipping fees are so high that sometimes the cost of shipping cancels out the economic benefit of shopping at Target’s website. Take advantage of the free shipping offers whenever you see them!

• Spend $125, save 15% on Furniture. Exp. 7/26
• Spend $125, save 15% on Patio Furniture. Exp. 7/26
• Spend $125, save 15% on Lawn and Garden. Exp. 7/26.
• Spend $50, get Free Shipping on Home Items. Exp. 7/26
• Spend $50, get Free Shipping on Home Décor. Exp. 7/26
• Spend $50, get Free Shipping in Men's. Exp. 8/2
• Spend $50 in Women's, get Free Shipping. Exp. 8/2
• Spend $50 in Shoes, get Free Shipping. Exp. 8/2
• Spend $50 in Accessories, get Free Shipping. Exp. 8/2
• Spend $50 in Jewelry, get Free Shipping. Exp. 8/2
• Spend $50 in Beauty & Fragrance, get Free Shipping. Exp. 8/2
• Free Shipping on Select Baby Gear. Exp. 8/9
• Free Shipping on Select Luggage. Exp. 8/9
• Free Shipping on Select Kitchen Items. Exp. 8/16
• Free Shipping on Select Appliances . Exp. 8/16
• Free Shipping on Select Electronics. Exp. 8/23
• Free Shipping on Select Toys. Exp. 8/23
• Free Shipping on Select Hardware. Exp. 8/23
• Free Shipping on Select Storage & Organization Items. Exp. 8/23
• Free Shipping on Select Sports & Outdoor Items. Exp. 8/23

Summer savings at Kmart.com:

• Save 20% off Outdoor Grills and Grill Accessories. Valid 7/20 - 7/26
• Save 25% off Pools and Inflatables. Valid 7/20-7/26
• Save 25% off Pools and Inflatables. Valid 7/27-8/2
• Semi-Annual Lingerie Event: Entire stock of Sleepwear and Women’s Intimates on Sale Valid 7/27-8/2
• Big Men’s and Ladies Plus Clothing Save 25% off $100 order with code KPLUS7. Exp. 8/2

A great sale at Kohls.com:

• 40-55% Off Student Lounge and Dorm Accessories
• 30-65% Off Juniors' SO Apparel
• 40% Off Young Men's Graphic Tees

Some other great deals:

• A&E: Clearance! No Joke! Up to 65% off British Comedy Classics at the A&E SHOP. Exp. 8/6
• Vistaprint - Buy One, Get One FREE. See website for details.
• VistaPrint - 50% Off Premium Business Cards + Free Return Address Labels